By: Anders

Posted: Jul 12, 2005

Here is a band that I never really have checked out. Totenmond is German and delivers a strange mix of militant metal, with influences from death metal, doomy metal and punk.

Atmospheric sinister paintings of downtuned guitar riffs with a punky feel to them. The same punk-spirit goes again in many of the compositions, very direct and simple structures. Catchy and even groovy at times, even though there once in a while are more layers to dive through. The drumming is at times militant and direct, at other times more laid back and works as percussion and bringer of the doomsday. The bass is keeping the rhythm in a tight grip and doesn't do much besides that. The haunting and at times dreamy keyboard spheres, as in for example the quite doomy 'Heidenfeuer' are really good, and it wouldn't have bothered me, if the band had used the likes of it more.

It's a quite strange musical mix Totenmond comes up with on this album. Though it is still interesting and quite catchy. It takes a while to get into the gloomy world of the Germans, but once one gets there, the ride is interesting. There are some nice doomy tracks and some of the more punk influenced tracks are alright as well. I recommend you to give the album a good listen, before picking it up, as it won't speak to all.

Rating: 7,5/10

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