Ernte – Ernte s/t

Swiss Black Metal bands are pretty rare, but one that you should definitely note down is Ernte, who, after Geist und Hexerei at the beginning of the year, now follow up with a two-track EP.

The female fronted band, who call their style True Helvetic Black Metal, embodies the spirit of misanthropic old-fashioned Black Metal in the style of early Norwegian bands. So, it’s not surprising that they start with the mid-tempo song, A Fen Fire.

This consists of a rather melodic guitar line that repeats itself a couple of times, almost a bit monotonically hypnotic in a good sense to create atmosphere. Like already mentioned, it is more in the vein of old Norwegian bands like early Gorgoroth, Kampfar or Darkthrone. In the middle part the tempo increases with blast beats and double bass attacks which are still kept very melodic. The main guitar riff actually runs more or less through the whole song, creating a truly sublime misanthropic song for cold winter nights or lonely hours.

The second song, Saturnine, starts off rather fast but still has that hateful vibe and although there are fast parts in between, it also creates a cold vibe. At the half of the song there is an interesting twist with calm clean guitars that goes more in the DSBM direction with sad melodies on the guitar. As a reference, old Shinings from the times of Livets ändhållplats can be mentioned here. Especially in this song, you notice the great guitar work of V Noir.

The overall sound is well produced, the guitars have more highs than lows, and the vocals by frontwoman Witch N. sound hateful. The lyrics by her have a gloomy and grim vibe to them. Fen Fire is about a female who gets lost on her way and then drowns. Saturnine makes reference to the planet Saturn, which is said to be a gloomy and slow character. Moreover, the text deals with topics, such as dying and the transformation of the soul.

Summing up, after the strong album Geist und Hexerei, Ernte presents us yet another cold great work. Whoever likes cold, misanthropic Black Metal should really check out Ernte and get their EP.