I’ve been a fan of Der Weg Einer Freiheit since their inception back in 2009. Born out of Würzburg, Bavaria, their self-titled debut took the world of Black Metal by storm in 2010.

Since then, they’ve released five amazing albums filled with Black Metal venom. Each one surpasses the other in terms of raw emotion and unrelenting brutality. This follow-up to 2021’s Noktvrn is a lot more in your face than that album. Innern is a magic carpet ride into the dark corners of humanity.

Hitting straight away with “Marter” you can feel the emotions in the guitar work and in the vocals; there’s a sense of isolation even while the drums blast with extreme precision.

Six tracks in forty-three minutes and twelve seconds is achieved by turning each song into an epic. “Xibalba” takes the cake with an over-ten-minute runtime. It’s a captivating showcase of how much Der Weg Einer Freiheit has grown in the five years since their previous full-length.

Bolstered by a production that gives Innern a bombastic delivery, each instrument is mixed perfectly to a sharpened point. Which brings me to “Eos” the single from Innern. The deceptively mellow introduction is absolutely mesmerizing, echoing the slow-burning style that Emperor and Dimmu Borgir had back around Stormblast and In the Nightside Eclipse, respectively; this is haunting Black Metal played with German precision.

“Fragment” is another slow-burning pounder until the four-minute mark, where the song mutates into this shredding Black Metal monster with rich blasting over the triumphant riffs that propel the track forward. But it’s the final track, “Forlorn” that shows just how diverse Der Weg Einer Freiheit can be. This is a monumental, beautiful song; it slaps between raging Black Metal and mid-paced brutality as easily as changing guitar strings. It’s unrelenting and powerful, doomy and psychotic.

There are bands who constantly remind me of what I love about Black Metal, and Der Weg Einer Freiheit is one of those bands. With blistering weapons, they have laid waste to the churches across the world, and Innern is the shells that have metered out the destruction.

Pick this beast up, you fans of Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Wolves in the Throne Room know who you are. You won’t be disappointed.

[Visit the band's website]

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