Auszaat - Trümmerethik

 Auszaat is a metal band from Salzburg, Austria who formed in 2019.  Their latest album, “Trümmerethik,” is their second full-length album.

According to their Bandcamp page, the band describes their sound as “blackened whatever,” and that pretty much nails it on the head as to what I experienced on this unique and engaging album. 

The production and mix on this album are perfectly suited for music contained within—music that is as mysterious and disturbing as it is intense and violent. Every little detail, of which there are many, can be heard through the album’s atmosphere.  

The band’s use of clean notes is extremely important to the album, oftentimes being used to set the song up for the more intense moments.  But on their own, they are great little dimensions of unnerving notes, serving up a fresh perspective that contrasts while complimenting the heavier parts of the songs.

The base of the album’s sound may be black metal, but it doesn’t get into a hurry with constant high tempos and endless tremolo riffs.  This is a methodical album that unfurls like a quiet dawn at times but there is always a storm on the horizon too.  Doom, post, and sludge are other elements that will be experienced and these influences lend the album an abrasive sound.

“(Hirn) Nekrosen,” is the first song and is a good representation of what the rest of the album has to offer.  Check out the quiet, clean tones that have a layer of danger hidden underneath.  The drums work with them to build up the tension.  The riffs come in next, the song building by layers.  Insane blackened vocals arrive next then the song explodes at the 2:16 mark.  This passage of rubbing riffs and growls is the audio equivalent of an earthquake.   The drums cleverly kick up the tempo in quick bursts after the 4-minute mark, creating an unhinged sound that teeters on madness. 

I like band’s use ominous and alien tones, the beginning of “Schein,” being an example of how weird (in a good way) this album can be but also never forgetting its extreme metal.  This song is packed tight with big grooves and sharp drumming.  The song moves between these grooves and dissonant clean tones with ease, but it isn’t easy on the mind—again, this band can be quite maddening. The middle part is a slow doom/sludge dirge of crushing riffs and clawing vocals and it's a fantastic bridge to the other side, which features more dissonant cleans.  This one kept me on my toes and my mind never really felt at ease.

The sound bites in the beginning of “Dissolve,” are horrific enough on their own but the song itself is a nightmarish journey.  I love, love, love the clean intro that mixes with the raging metal—rather than fading away quickly, it fully integrates itself into the mix.  Metal still has a rep for being ‘scary’ but most of it isn’t.  This song?  Yeah, that is some scary shit.   The whole song is seething with an odd psychosis that is also enthralling.  The tempo of this one is slower than the previous songs, but I think it works very well for their sound—-it truly embraces how outside the box this album can be.

“Gewächs I and II” are the final two songs and the centerpiece of the album, at least for me.  Together, they are just over 17 minutes of extreme metal that isn’t afraid to be different, even when compared to itself.  The first part is sparse and ambient in the beginning, with spacey sounds, sound bites and drums that kick up a long intro.  This moody, murky song opens up a bit just before the halfway mark with some of the album’s best riffs.    The second part has an intro too but it’s more direct and drum heavy, a sort of hypnotic beat.  The riffs are towering but dense and doomy/sludgy.  The bass gets a lot of time to shine, the instrument knowing just what to do with the spaces between the noise.  

Auszaat’s “Trümmerethik,” is an album that has a lot of things, but easy listening is never one of them.  It embraces many identities and becomes all of them at once while also finding a way to present its ideas in a cohesive way that makes it imperative for a return journey.  I’m often fond of metal that steps outside the box while never forgetting that, first and foremost, metal should be an esoteric experience and doesn’t need to sound safe.  Highly recommended. 

Rating: Excellent