Style: Post-metal, post-rock, post-black metal (harsh vocals, German lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Harakiri for the Sky, Ellende, Svalbard, Alcest
Country: Austria
Release date: 18 April 2025
I’m a big Harakiri for the Sky fan, but even as an apologist I’ll admit their last four albums have been virtually the same. Without a drastic change in sound, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll grow their current audience—and honestly, that’s fine. The formula works for me, and if that’s all they continue to do, I’ll keep showing up. After releasing Scorched Earth earlier this year and touring North America to support it (I’m currently wearing the shirt I got at their stop in Salt Lake City), I didn’t expect a new album from Karg—another post act fronted by Harakiri’s Michael Kogler (aka J.J.). The two bands are currently touring together in Europe, so Kogler is pulling double duty at each stop. The man is a machine.
Though Karg became a fully staffed band in 2014, it began as Kogler’s one-man melodic black metal project in 2006, releasing debut Von den Winden der Sehnsucht in 2008. With each release, the grip on a core black metal sound loosened, as Karg began monkey-branching toward post-metal—and on Marodeur, their tenth full-length, they might just be reaching for a post-rock branch. That’s not to say the black metal roots are gone; Marodeur still offers plenty of double-kick intensity and fiery tremolo-picked passages. The monkey’s tail, so to speak, is still gripping that particular vine for balance. But post-rock has taken firm hold—clean intros frequently give way to distorted walls of sound, vibes and feels from violins and pianos texture the soundscape with a heavy sorrow, and when repetitions occur, they are done with some variation.
My favorite track on Marodeur is undoubtedly the opener, “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” beginning with a spacious ambient gaze, soon joined by a delicate guitar motif that floats just above the mix. As low, distorted power chords and bass-heavy drums crash in, the soft lead line continues threading through the noise, underscored by Kogler’s raw, anguished shouts. A bridge follows, almost nu-metal in its stripped-down power chord structure, and it’s punctuated by flashes of natural harmonics. From there, the song returns to the main motif—now reimagined in a higher octave, inverted, and layered with distortion—before it folds into a lower register and variation while the clean lead line rejoins. The track closes with a gentle dolce piano outro, softly setting down the weight of all the emotion that came befo–… Wait a minute. Doesn’t that description sound vaguely familiar?
For all the introspection and atmosphere Marodeur conjures, I kept circling back to one distracting and unavoidable thought: this sounds so much like Harakiri for the Sky. Kogler’s signature, angst-drenched caterwaul, emotional melodies charged by arpeggiated guitar passages, all pushed along by an intense rhythm section—it’s all here. Which raises the question: Why does this album exist separately at all? If the soundscape, voice, and even the emotional register are nearly identical, what is Marodeur really trying to say that hasn’t already been screamed into the void?
After several playthroughs of Marodeur, I’ve started to think the question isn’t what this album is trying to say, but why it needs to say it. Maybe it’s not about novelty, but necessity. Kogler is still processing the same emotional terrain, but with a different cast of collaborators. Beyond the full Karg lineup, the album features guests like Firtan’s Klara Bachmair, whose mournful violin appears on half the tracks. Svntarer’s Marko Kolac and Perchta’s Julia-Christin Casdorf also lend subtle vocal contributions to “Kimm” and “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” respectively. These voices and textures don’t rewrite the book, but they do help shape its sonic prose a bit differently.
With each listen, the Harakiri déjà vu still lingers—but so do new details that draw me in. The post-rock and alternative elements become more pronounced on repeat spins. “Anemoia” opens with a drum-and-bass groove and high, strummed guitar chords that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early ‘00s alt-rock tune. “Reminiszenzen einer Jugend” is similar to the opener’s dynamic arc, slipping from a quiet bridge into chunky, drop-tuned riffs that pass through nu-metal territory. And “Kimm” features a screechy lead guitar in the opening verse that feels almost like a heavy, mournful echo of Catherine Wheel or Failure. Marodeur rewards revisiting—not because it transforms, but because its layers slowly reveal themselves.
In yet another way that mirrors Harakiri for the Sky (I promise I will commit harakiri for myself if I make this comparison again), Marodeur occasionally stretches its songs beyond what their ideas, hooks, and variety (or lack thereof) can sustain. Even though I enjoy each track, I can’t escape the feeling that the longer ones could say the same things in less time. “Annapurna” delivers all its emotional weight in five minutes, so eight and a half feels bloated. The same goes for “Yūgen,” and even the opener “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”—my favorite track. The emotional core here is powerful, but sometimes the songs linger long after they’ve made their point.
Marodeur redefines Karg in some minor ways compared to their recent releases, but it doesn’t carve out a wholly distinct identity from Harakiri for the Sky. Yet it doesn’t feel redundant either. The album aches with sincerity, draws from a wider musical palette than it first appears, and—despite its length and familiar voice—keeps pulling me back in. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe Marodeur isn’t about saying something new, but about the need to keep saying it.
Recommended tracks: ”Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” “Reminiszenzen einer Jugend,” “Anemoia,” “Verbrannte Brücken”
You may also like: Zéro Absolu, Avast, Artificial Solitude
Final verdict: 6.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives
Label: AOP Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Karg is:
Michael J.J. Kogler – Vocals
Paul Färber – Drums
Daniel Lang – Guitars
Georg Traschwandtner – Guitars
Christopher Pucher – Guitars
With guests:
Klara Bachmair – Violin
Julia-Christin Casdorf (Perchta) – Guest Vocals on “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”
Marko Kolac – Guest Vocals on “Kimm”
Michael Eder – Piano on “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”
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