Vehemency
After minor delays, Vom Fetisch der Unbeirrtheit’s debut was unleashed in the beginning of this year, offering two discs of pure audial insanity - not to forget the physical package in which the music comes: this hardcover digibook with 26 pages of intricate artwork plus lyrics is one of the sweetest ways I’ve seen an album presented in a while.
To the actual musical content, Psychohygiene is indeed divided into two discs of which the first presents the black metal, not far from the oddness and horror of Blut Aus Nord but in more natural sound, meaning that the drums are real and the whole sound in general is more primitive. The songs are mostly long and meandering but never pretentiously technical, e.g. the convulsing riffing in the beginning of ”Anschließendes Verstummen” that is still - in some weird way - soothing instead of meaninglessly random. Some ambient parts are to be found from this disc, most prominently on the disc highlight ”Non-Narkotikum” that has a five minute breakdown in the middle until it rises to grandiose guitar lines and blast beats again.
The second face of Psychohygiene comprises audial experimentation in the form of ambient and noise - and all kinds of weird experimenting with e.g. piano and techno beats on ”Imperativ: Kategorische Zerstörung, XIIIx losgelöst”. This side of the album might logically receive negative response from the black metal crowd, but I find this style fitting to the band, considering the filthiness of the first disc as well. We are not talking about any masterpiece tracks here, but songs like the traditional, highly distorted and rumbling ”Psychogramm” noise track, and the disturbing sounds à la Will Over Matter on ”Du magst solche Szenen” are pure pleasure to my ears.
Vom Fetisch der Unbeirrtheit and Psychohygiene came out of nowhere but made their way to the top list of 2011 already, and I could see this album among the best come end of the year. Wholly recommended for those who enjoy a lot of dirtiness and chaos in their black metal and don’t mind the experimentation either.