Review of Bockreiter - Spirits of the Swamp / Abstruse Eerie Radiance

At first I wasn’t fully sold on this one. The opening stretch of "Staub der Sterne" is heavy enough, no problem there, but it took a while before the riffs really started sinking in. A lot of the slower parts just sit and grind instead of pushing anywhere, which can either pull you in or lose you completely depending on the moment. A couple times it almost lost me. Then the black metal parts kick in and suddenly the whole thing sharpens up. Faster, colder, more movement. That’s where the album started making more sense to me. Not because it gets more aggressive, but because the contrast gives those slow doom sections more weight when they come back. That’s the part Bockreiter handle best.

The Buckriders folklore could’ve been corny as hell. Devil pacts, outlaw ghosts, goats flying through the dark - sounds like too much on paper. Somehow it works here. The whole record feels old and rotten enough to carry it.

Some riffs hit harder than others. A few stayed with me, a few disappeared as soon as the track changed. Same with some of the longer stretches - there are moments where it hangs on a little too long. Didn’t ruin it, but I felt it.

The melodies took longer. I barely caught them the first time.

Production’s rough, which helps. Too clean and this would probably lose half its bite. Déhà knew where to leave the dirt in.

By the second listen it clicked more. Not all of it. But enough of it. And with this kind of record, that’s usually a good sign.

https://www.facebook.com/Bockreiterdoommetal

Thanks to Grand Sounds PR.