Our review of Knochenkabinett, the sixth full-length from the anonymous German project WALLFAHRER, is now live — and we gave it a 9/10. The album came out on August 7, self-released like the band's 2018 debut Anthologie Der Abkehr.
WALLFAHRER have never revealed who is behind the project: one anonymous person is credited with all instruments and vocals. The title translates as "cabinet of bones", and the statement released with the album sums up the theme: "In the end, nothing remains but bones and dust. No monument, no praise, no homage." The cover shows a vaulted hall hung with skulls and a chandelier made of bones, which took us back to the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora.
In the review we hear something closer to blackened death than pure black metal, with excellent recording quality and a balance that keeps every instrument readable even in the most intense parts. The vocals, all black-metal screams, lead the mix. Our standouts are the fast title track with its catchy chorus melody, "Festung Einsamkeit" with its acoustic opening and calm close, and the ten-minute "Wir Waren Das Volk", whose clean guitar passages recall DRUDKH. Our one complaint is the cover, which doesn't catch the eye the way this music deserves. The verdict: WALLFAHRER deserve as much attention as their compatriots KANONENFIEBER and DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT.
We first covered the album in July, when the eleven-minute lyric video for "Gipfelthron" came out.
Order & Stream "Knochenkabinett": Bandcamp