Animo Aeger - Impuls

Very little is known about the black metal band Animo Aeger. Aside from the duo being from Germany, they have no home page, no Myspace, and the only way to hear their music is to find it scattered across the Internet, or hunt down their latest CD, Impuls. Impuls, the band's debut, is one of those albums that may seem like a piece of trash, but there's a few appreciative tracks here and there that make listeners want to make a second listen of the disc. The album opens with "Nuancen / Disparitaten: Das R-Kapitel" which is raw and buzzing with a depressive black metal atmosphere. The drums are slow and plodding and the vocals are an agonized moan. They sound inhuman and deranged, evil to the core. For the most part the guitars buzz in the same riffs over and over, focusing more on atmosphere rather than for musical structure. A slow, but interesting start.

"Den Laufstall Zu Brechen..." picks up the pace a little bit to make Animo Aeger seem like a regular black metal band. The riffs are faster along with the drums and the vocals have that audible rasping shriek to them that almost all black metal bands do. At this point Impuls seems to lose its individuality as it begins to sound like the stuff that most black metal bands would produce. There's a few moments where the guitars break form and perform a few riffs that aren't the same buzzing strums that have been playing for the last five minutes, but for the most part this is a standard black metal song. As the album goes on things don't really seem to get much better. "Verheissungsvolle Felder, Geschutzt Von Ebenjenem Eis" and "The Box" have the same tempos and formula. The drums sound almost braindead with the way they beat on the kit, like they're bored. The vocals sound a bit better than the agonizing wail that was heard on the first track, but the guitars still keep to playing the same few riffs over and over, which makes the music more stale than evil and chilling the way black metal should be. At least "The Box" has some rock n' groove to it...

Once "Grossstadtlyrik" comes into play, Animo Aeger jump back into depressive metal gear. It is still a bit steadier and faster than the average depressive metal band, but the guitars just buzz away creating a static laden atmosphere rather than just riffs. The vocals become that painful wail again, but at least every once in a while the music changes so it doesn't become completely boring. "Der Maskierte Blinde" is the one track that is the complete blindside. It is pure piano! No guitars, no drums, no raspy vocals. There's some muddled spoken word passages and a few screams but for the entire time expect a very simple piano melody. This may seem a bit odd but it is a kind of odd that is creepy and works wonders for depressive black metal standards. If Animo Aeger had thrown in the piano at random parts during the rest of their tracks, then perhaps Impuls would have been much more dynamic.

As it is, Impuls is pretty stiff to listen to. The blackened riffs have their moments but its the repetitiveness that gets to the earhole. There's a certain lack of creativity and ingenuity from the album, save from the last track. It's too groove laden to be considered depressive black metal, and yet too monotonous to be considered black rock n' roll. However, fans of Dodsferd or other bands like Ordo Templi Orientes.

  1. Nuancen / Disparitaten: Das R-Kapitel
  2. Den Laufstall Zu Brechen...
  3. Verheissungsvolle Felder, Geschutzt Von Ebenjenem Eis
  4. The Box
  5. Der Begriff Der Reinheit, Getrankt Von Graberschweiß
  6. Grossstadtlyrik
  7. Der Maskierte Blinde

Ashen Productions
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jun 15, 2010

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