Feel that chill in the air? The slight bite to the breeze? Maybe some snowflakes drifting across the sky as you go about your day? At least in my neck of the woods, winter is rapidly approaching, and that can only mean one thing: it’s black metal time. Frostier mornings practically demand some frostbitten riffs, and this year Ungfell has gifted us an excellent new black metal album to complement the chilly savagery of classics like classic Enslaved and Borknagar. De Ghörnt approaches, and you best be ready for it.
I’ve only really hopped on the Ungfell bandwagon this year, so I was properly stoked for their next offering of self-styled Alpine black metal. Blending scathing riffs with folky sections aplenty and a love for the folklore of their native Switzerland (without the baggage such interest sometimes implies), the band is just plain fun in a way that desperately little black metal is. Translating to ‘The Horned One‘ in their Swiss-German dialect, De Ghörnt does feel like a shift towards a more direct black metal sound than previous albums like Mythen, Mären, Peztilenz or Es grauet. Acoustic breaks are less numerous, the folk melodies manifest more in the black metal riffing, and there aren’t many samples of, say, villages and cows like previous works. But Ungfell‘s sense of melody is still razor sharp, and De Ghörnt didn’t leave me disappointed in the slightest.
From the opening chords of “S Alpeglüeh”, Ungfell throws an abundance of great riffs and melodies at listeners while recounting its folk tale of a hunter travelling into the mountains and meeting his match against a vengeful spirit of nature. Every song brings out little elements to differentiate itself from the last, and there’s never really a moment across the album that feels like a throwaway. “D Pracht vom Eggishorn” features more acoustics than much of the rest of the album and some great Hammond organ, while leadoff single “Im Ruusch” caught me off guard at first listen with its sheer aggression.
Despite guitars and drums being stars of the show (as is typical for black metal), one of my favorite elements of Ungfell‘s sound is their diverse synth work. While “S Alpeglüeh” features more folky tones, the synth choirs on “De Fährmaa” feel haunting and siren-like. Deeper in on “Rollibock (De Ghörnt vom Gletscher)”, the tones are spooky and cold before a mid-song break where synthetic bleating announces the titular creature’s approach, while “Sturmglöcka” feels more dramatic from its synth backing. The bass likewise makes a lot of effort to cut through the mix with intricate lines, and even provides the driving muscle of certain sections in “Rollibock”. Balanced off riffs that run the gamut from hostile tremolos (“Im Ruusch”) to rocking, punky aggression (“De Geischt vom Märjelesee”), and even a bit of polka bounce (“Rollibock”), Ungfell gets so much variety and mileage out of their folky black metal style that De Ghörnt just never fails to be engaging and fun.
It also helps that the album just sounds excellent, in part due to the mastering from Esoteric main man Greg Chandler. The band is also just clearly masters of their instruments, and the vocal approach, be it harsh mid-range shrieks or burly folk moments that could be genuine singalongs for anyone who knows the language (or just figures it out phonetically) is delightful across the board. Moreover, it must be said that something about De Ghörnt‘s album cover is just perfect to me. Definitely my favorite album artwork this year. Given everything else about the album being honed into excellence, it pains me that my years spent learning German have atrophied into being useless in this case because I’m sure the band’s storytelling is likewise outstanding. But hey, that’s a me problem, and the band’s commitment to their native dialect just adds to the authenticity of the whole affair.
Despite coming out late into the year when focus and time can start to run direly thin, Ungfell pulled me in effortlessly with De Ghörnt. My daily commute through woods and mountains (admittedly far less impressive than the Alps) made for this album being a perfect soundtrack to many mornings and evenings, and I’d fully expect this to be an album I’ll revisit every winter, and even some springs and autumns! Folky black metal is often hit or miss for me, and the concept of black metal being ‘fun’ can sometimes seem blasphemous these days, but Ungfell have proven many times over to be masters at crafting genuinely fun black metal with an abundance of folk. De Ghörnt is one of those delightful late year treats, and some of my favorite black metal I’ve heard across 2024. Raise an ale, give a cheer, and dive in! Just remember to respect the forests and mountains about you, lest they fight back.
