Shrike are a band from Germany that plays a very heavy and modern form of black metal with some death metal elements and this is a review of their self released 2013 album "Hinab In Die Vertraute Fremdheit".
"Der Morgen" which is the intro the album opens up with distorted sound effects along with some synths a nd you can hear some background guitars before adding in some drum beats along with psychedelic elements and acoustic guitars.
"Der Tag" the first actual song on the album starts up with heavy guitar riffs and drums before adding in some black metal screams as well as going into a mid paced direction but also speeding up at times and adding in blast beats and melodic riffing as well as some death metal growls and halfway through the song there is a brief use of guitar leads being utilized.
"Der Abend" begins with some soft acoustic guitar playing along with some sound effects which also lead up to some drums beats and a mixture of melodic vocals and black metal screams and a minute later heavy guitar riffs start to kick in and after awhile melodic guitar riffing and fast parts as well some deep growls and blast beats make their presence known in the song which also leads up to some guitar solos and leads.
"Die Dammerung" kicks off with some old school black metal guitar and bass riffs along with some blast beats and screams before adding in mid paced sections and growls as well as a small amount of classical guitars but remaining heavy as well as alternating between mid paced and fast parts and as the song moves on melody is added in certain sections along with a small amount of solos and leads along with a brief use of spoken word parts.
"Der Traum" hits off with some heavy and fast guitar and bass riffing along with some drums before adding in screams, blast beats and melodic parts as well as alternating between slow, mid paced and fast part as well as adding in some diverse elements.
"Die Zeit" opens up with with melodic guitar riffing and drums before getting heavier and adding in some screams along with some melodic elements and death metal influences and halfway through the song the music goes into a cleaner direction along with some aggressive sounding spoken word parts while also keeping around the screams while also in dark melodic guitar riffing before getting heavy again as well as adding in some growls.
"Zeitlos" starts up with atmospheric drone sounds before adding in some drums as well as some whispers which evolve into growls and scream along with some clean guitar playing before getting heavy and melodic along with a mid paced direction while also slowing down at times and halfway through the song it returns back to a mid paced direction along with some futuristic sounds for a few seconds and then backs back to being heavy again and towards the end it goes into a faster direction along with some blast beats.
"Schmerzen" which is also the last song on the album begins with some soft acoustic guitar playing which alos leads to a mixture of clean singing male and female vocals as well as some drums, growls and screams before adding in some heavy and melodic guitar riffing while also keeping around the clean parts and adding in spoken words and a couple of minutes later the music starts getting a lot faster in certain parts as well as mixing in blast beats and towards the end there is a brief use of guitar solos and leads.
Song lyrics are written in German and cover anoyance themes, while the production has a very strong, powerful and heavy sound for being a self released recording along with some of the songs being very long and epic in length.
In my opinion Shrike are a very great sounding heavy and melodic black metal band with some elements of death metal and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Der Tag" "Der Traum" and "Zeitlos". RECOMMENDED BUY.
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