Grabunhold (DEU) – Heldentod LP

Wasting no time with this enviable momentum, GRABUNHOLD return little more than a year later with more medieval madness: Heldentod, their full-length debut. Just as spellbinding as the preceding EP but even more expansive, Heldentod immediately creates a compelling canvas that’s simultaneously tied to tradition and pushing that tradition further. Its songwriting and attendant soundfield suggest strong second-wave vibes – silent citadels, sequestered keeps, dark dungeons – but never whiff of retro posturing or ham-fisted revisionism; rather, their invocation runs parallel to the Old Ways, fluently speaking the ancient dialect instead of stunted pidgin. In other, more telling ways, Heldentod strikes upon braver and less-travelled territory, bristling with a sparkling sort of production that’s palatable in its almost-crystalline sheen and befitting the album’s contents. Here, GRABUNHOLD maintain a more solemn aspect – more “pagan,” if you will – that’s given spectral flight through cascading melodicism and an integration of choral vocals, perhaps most stirringly encapsulated in the Spartan hymn “Trommeln in der Tiefe.” Elsewhere, the fire of old burns hotter than ever, with the band’s bravado amplified by the powerful ‘n’ pro production.