Zeit – Trümmer – EP Review

Source // f1.bcbits.com

Germany’s Zeit are a difficult band to define, while they do channel the atmosphere and vocal stylings of Black Metal, many of their riffs and rhythms lean towards straight-up Heavy Metal. Taking Swedish Death Metal pioneers Entombed’s open-minded approach to genre limitation, Zeit also appropriate Doom Metal’s love for repetition and a bleak Doomy atmosphere certainly shrouds the majority of the material.

The opening and closing tracks, “Trümmer” and “Moment Der Klarheit” respectfully adhere to Black Metal’s tried and tested practices, complete with some epic Emperor-esque tremolo riffing on “Moment Der Klarheit”, but it’s the middle 3 songs on this raw 5 track album that flaunt the Black Metal rulebook most spectacularly.

“Splitter”, “Stillstand” and “Groll” quicken the pace dramatically, powered by frenetic drumming and assured shrieking courtesy of the inhuman vocal chords of Guitarist Fur, the band covert everything from Traditional Black Metal to Thrash Metal, circa early Destruction and Sodom, to the bleak urban decay of Industrial Metal.

Misery, hardship and the struggles of society at large blanket proceedings but Trümmer is not simply an exercise in depression; the particularly mosh-worthy central riff of “Stillstand” providing a moment of sheer Metal bliss for those that desire a neck-wrecking riff to accompany their social commentary.

It’s Black Metal then…but not as we know it! 7/10