Style: Black Metal, Progressive Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Enslaved, Windir, Borknagar
Country: Germany
Release date: 6 January 2025
The long-awaited comeback of a band can be a decidedly hit-or-miss experience: it’s fairly difficult to predict with accuracy whether an artist’s return will show success or be considered a cynical and hollow reunion. Wintersun, comical as their situation was, made a fairly triumphant return with the highly anticipated release of Time II in the latter half of 2024. At the very least, Jari Mäenpää weathered the wait much better than bands like Pestilence, who continue to put out mediocre death metal while doubling down on shitty AI art takes—or the 80s doom metal band Black Hole, whose 2017 release Evil in the Dark is nothing short of a testament to ignominy. Bergthron‘s Neu Asen Land comes fifteen years after their last release, Expedition Autarktis: do Bergthron still have their mojo, or was fifteen years in the cold too many?
Bergthron have always shown an experimental streak in their black metal: while not quite reaching ‘progressive’ tendencies in the same way as genre contemporaries Enslaved and Borknagar, Bergthron indulge in amorphous song structures and idiosyncratic instrumental breaks to give their sound an air of eccentricity. Despite the fifteen-year gap, Bergthron have picked their sound up exactly where they left it on Expedition Autarktis. Melancholic guitars recall the gloomy atmospheres of Agalloch’s Pale Folklore (“Gefangene der Polarnacht – In Nacht und Eis,” “Sog”); pieces are replete with drum fills and double-bass kicks (“Aufbruch nach Neu Asen Land – Von Pol zu Pol”); and Mondfürst’s gruff vocal delivery adorns the frostbitten instrumentals with a toughened carapace (“Schiffbruch im Sonnengrab – Wrackmente”). Occasionally, Neu Asen Land’s breakdowns even betray a post-rock sensibility through spacious production and chilling Windir-style keyboards (“Horizont in Flammen – Sólfeuer’s Fall”).
Neu Asen Land decently executes high-energy black metal riffage on tracks like “Aufbruch nach Neu Asen Land” and “Skaldenruhm erstarrt in Zeit – Arktischer Sarkophag,” but Bergthron are at their best when conjuring feelings of wintry desolation. Tracks like “Sog” and “Horizont in Flammen – Sólfeuer’s Fall” use plaintive guitars to evoke imagery of a barren glacier, the latter track including a keyboard-led instrumental breakdown that evokes the wonder of gazing at an aurora in the Arctic. While the breakdown in “Horizont in Flammen” feels a bit non-sequitur, Bergthron get away with it by sticking the landing, even if the lead-up is less than exemplary.
Despite a propensity for effective atmospherics, Neu Asen Land is marred by a bevy of problems, rendering its relatively short runtime a burdensome slog. At the top of the list is the grating clean vocal performance: I enjoy unpolished vocals as much as (nay, significantly more than) the next guy, but many of Mondfürst’s clean vocal lines teeter on headache-inducing, as if he is straining his voice. Rough vocal patches wouldn’t be a problem if they were localized to any one song or moment, but this problem manifests virtually any time Mondfürst switches away from harshes. Although the gruff execution is in theory a welcome addition to Neu Asen Land—and I wouldn’t want to see a thoroughly polished and clean performance on the next Bergthron release—Mondfürst would greatly benefit from a touch of control in his execution.
Additionally, Neu Asen Land is plagued by instances of sloppy guitar work that wavers in and out of time. “Gegfangener der Polernacht – In Nacht und Eis” is a prime offender, beginning as a messy amalgamation of black metal riffage that later executes ideas totally out of time with the rest of the instrumentation. Guitar issues also crop up in “Horizont in Flammen – Sólfeuer’s Fall,” where the otherwise interesting keyboard breakdowns are led in by awkward and jarring riffage that detracts from Neu Asen Land’s atmosphere. Moreover, the production does not work in anyone’s favor, particularly on “Schiffbruch im Sonnengrab – Wrackmente” and “Skaldenruhm erstarrt in Zeit – Arktischer Sarkophag,” which sound absolutely brickwalled compared to the other tracks for no discernible reason. Neu Asen Land’s ideas aren’t fundamentally bad, but many good moments are diminished by frustrating execution and baffling changes in production.
While not the most offensive return I’ve ever heard, Neu Asen Land left me feeling cold, and not in the way that was likely intended. Bergthron are skilled at crafting beautiful keyboard-led passages that transport me to an aurora-tinged glacial vista, but these moments are unceremoniously interrupted by weird production choices, stumbling guitarwork, and grating vocals. Let’s hope that Neu Asen Land is just Bergthron shaking off the cobwebs after a long hibernation because if they can focus more on their strength as soundscape artists while polishing the surrounding black metal, then I’d be more than happy to make the trek back into their frozen soundscapes.
Recommended tracks: Horizont in Flammen – Sólfeuer’s Fall, Aufbruch nach Neu Asen Land – Von Pol zu Pol, Sog
You may also like: Havukruunu, Ungfell, Liljevars Brann, Saor
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Trollzorn Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Bergthron is:
– Mondfürst (drums, vocals)
– Fürst der Finsternis (guitars, vocals)
– Sven Leonhardt (drums, keyboards, bass)
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