The dark, Liechtenstein-based Doom Metal artist Black Reuss’ debut album “Metamorphosis” is finally here as many have awaited for this day. The album is up there with some of the best heavy records that I have heard in recent months, and it likely is the best. The true beauty of this album is in the various forms that it takes throughout the tracklist. Just who is Black Reuss? Why should Black Reuss be on your next playlist?
From the band, they stated the following about how they came up with such a great name and just what it means to them: “Black Reuss is a life flow of a man who describes his life change and life flow through music. Life is like a river, always moving, mostly downward. The name originates from the river Reuss, a Swiss river that rises in the Gotthard massif in the middle of Switzerland, where Black Reuss lived during the writing of Metamorphosis.” It’s always great when there is such a story attached.
When asked, the band went into great detail about their sound as they had this to say: “Stylistically, Black Reuss is at home in heavy metal with a touch of melancholy and a certain heaviness, the heaviness that has accompanied Black Reuss his whole life. And as in the river, which carries more and more water, the experiences and insights that Black Reuss collects on his way are more and more, until one day the light goes out and disappears in the eternal sea.”
The picture that Black Reuss paints is truly limitless in the imagination. Just reading over the description of the band and how the name came to be is a journey.
The album is dark and haunting. I hear a ton of influences from such bands as Alice In Chains and even more modern sounding bands like Gojira. From top to bottom, this is an album that you should have on repeat. There are so many elements here that are lacking in many other bands. In the first track I hear a lot of tecno influence, but that quickly changes to heavy.
By track six, we are greeted with some more of that techno aspect, but this time with a pipe organ as well. Kind of in the style of Ghost. There are a lot of harmonies through this album as well. Kind of like a dark church choir.
At track thirteen, we are on our way out and this right here is truly a Halloween jammer. Mix some White Zombie with Ghost and some Misfits circa the Michael Graves era and you have this one.
Truly a wonderful album and we anticipate what could be next for this band as the destination is already known for where the sound should be. There’s just not a lot of bands like this anymore. A band that truly knows what their sound is all while doing a great justice to the sound. Do yourself a huge favor and just listen to Black Ruess and the new album ‘Metamorphosis’. You’ll be glad you did.
