I have been having these weird dreams lately. Let’s go ahead and blame the new cart I switched to that does wonders for my ADHD but makes sleepy time a little more strenuous. It feel like a black cloud is hanging over, not one that necessarily means everything’s falling apart but one that lets me feel uncomfortable for a little while.

“Requiem,” the first EP from German black metal force Celestielle, helmed by Michelle Fallmann (David Trout provides drums), delivers a similar experience to those dreams where you don’t feel imminently threatened, but you know a storm is moving in. This realm of doom metal reminds a little of Jex Thoth and Blood Ceremony (sans the flutes), and the morbid tones that travel over adventurous, haunting music nail stakes into your wrists. You might want to bask in the cold night air or take an accounting of yourself as you listen, as this music works its way into your psyche and addresses your subconsciousness.

“Crucify Him” opens with bells chiming and storms arriving, doomy guitars spilling lavishly, chugging as the singing glazes angelically. The playing chugs harder as calls swirl, and the final notes fall away. “Beyond the Cursed” has guitars blending and Fallmann’s strong singing bellowing, sounds hanging and stinging, haunting passages getting heavier. Speed kicks in as the pace gusts, bustling while gushing fire, the leads torching flesh. “Eye for an Eye” is slow blazing, guitars stirring as Fallmann jabs, “I want you to die,” over the chorus. Leads swarm as the singing swells, the playing continually melting, dropping the hammers with force. “As Above, So Below” is an interlude, or perhaps it’s more accurate to call it a set-up piece. “As above in the sky, as below when you die,” she sings repeatedly, and that refrain resurfaces in “The Huntress” that increases the heaviness. The singing sweeps as Fallmann harmonizes with herself, guitars adding muscle. The “as above” line links to the back end, drums blasting as the pressure gets insurmountable. The title track opens with bent riffs that sound remarkably similar to the one that opens “Beyond the Cursed.” Drums mash as the guitars twist muscle, the pace driving harder, landing blows as singing layers. Closer “Rotting Flesh” opens a capella before the energy lands, Fallmann calling, “Bring us where we belong, destined for the underworld.” The playing fires up as the drums thunder, gazey doom stretching like a weather pattern, the final calls echoing as acoustics wash over with rustic tones, the same bells that greeted you seeing you off.

“Requiem” deserves the wider attention it is getting right now, and Celestielle is bound to enchant and devastate those who are trapped in her gaze. These seven tracks are dark, feral, and attention grabbing, a first shot into the night that chills and savages. I am very excited to see and hear where Fallmann stretches her vision, and it’s bound to go somewhere that stirs the blood in our hearts and veins.  

For more on the band, go here: https://celestielle.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://celestielle.bandcamp.com/album/requiem

For more on the label, go here: https://fiadh.bandcamp.com/