Band's List Atmospheric Gothic Nachtreich Von Dornen und Selbstmord

Okay I'm going to go right ahead and say this, Nachtreich are musical geniuses, that's all there is to it. Creating powerful and beautiful Neoclassical music and then mixing it with Black Metal guitars in such a way that creates very beautiful and grandiose soundscapes in a way that no one else could possibly hope to achieve. Nachtreich have proven to me that they are very competent musicians with a lot of talent and an amazing ability to craft beautiful music out of two drastically differing musical styles. In my opinion if you find nothing to enjoy in the works of Nachtreich then I am going to assume you don't like music, they're just fantastic musicians.

Beautiful would be the best word to describe Von Dornen und Selbstmord, the overall sound is very powerful and captivating with a perfect melding of distorted guitars and beautiful Neoclassicism. Although the Neoclassicism is very beautiful and gentle the guitars don't feel out of place in any shape or form, in fact quite the contrary, they're a perfect fit and show that thinking about the box is a good way to ensure musical success. The atmosphere is very powerful, it's not cold or dark like a lot of Black Metal, well that's because this really isn't Black Metal to be honest but the atmosphere is definitely on par with the elites of the genre. The sound is suffused with a large amount of melancholy but it's never depressing, it's just that there's definitely an underlying theme of nostalgia and sadness buried within.

There are no vocals on Von Dornen und Selbstmord and everything is purely instrumental. Although I can sometimes imagine that vocals could occasionally work on Von Dornen und Selbstmord, I don't see them as a necessity and the absence of them by no means hinders the overall quality of the music. The absence of them allows the music to be open to interpretation by the listener and it allows them to craft their own meaning, a meaning that is important to them which in my opinion is where the beauty of instrumental music is.

The guitars used on Von Verzweiflung und Hoffnung and Von Dornen und Selbstmord are used purely to add weight to the songs. They never play any stand alone melodies and are reserved only for adding an underlying sense of depth and weight to the tracks, I don't really remember any guitar line after this album is finished because that's not the forefront of the music, the classical instrumentation is. The violin and viola are the main instruments favoured by Nachtreich, the viola creates a dark almost gothic like feeling to the music while the violin plays gentle and soothing melodies over them. This works perfectly and the music is beautiful as a result of this. Sometimes the viola feels somewhat celtic especially in the first track Von Verzweiflung und Hoffnung where there's a melody that definitely has a celtic folk vibe to it.

Von Dornen und Selbstmord is a very beautiful and captivating listen. The Neoclassicism is absolutely beautiful and phenomenal with the second track Von Wehmut und Einsamkeit being one of the most beautiful instrumentals I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. It's a shame that this band is not better known as Nachtreich are able to convey the most powerful of emotions through the most beautiful and wondrous soundscapes I've heard. I strongly urge anyone with even the slightest interest in Black Metal and Neoclassicism to seek out this release as soon as possible and to experience first hand the music that has come to mean so much to me.