Review: Ellende – Zerfall

Review by K

Ellende – Zerfall

Record Label: AOP Records

Year: 2026

Rating: 9.5/10

Hailing from the mountains of Austria, Ellende have been haunting the airwaves, moderately successfully, since 2011. Consisting of Paul Farber on drums and the astonishingly talented Lukas Gosch doing everything else, and no doubt making the tea as well, Ellende seems to evolve quite splendidly with each successive release.

Kicking off this new offering is the quite beautiful and mournful Nur, swiftly followed by part 1 of the opus “Warheit Teil.” This epic tale has it all, including, for YouTube lovers everywhere, a small but very audible section of cowbell (we need more). That brought a smile.

Production-wise, Ellende are a gifted and intelligent beast, achieving a perfect balance among the instruments. The heavyweight bass is always razor sharp and never outdone by the guitars, which have a traditional grungy tone. Drums and keys are also to the fore, with some excellently placed reverb creating a dynamic atmosphere. The track segues into Part II quite seamlessly and creates an atmospheric pair of tracks that are full of ideas, all brilliantly executed. Warheit Teil, I and II, are a fantastic advert for the genre.

Ellende

The title track is a reflective piano-based piece of music. To begin with, at least. There’s some kind of jazz brass that’s joined by the bass and drums and then….shock horror… the guitar arrives complete with Kirk Hammet’s wah pedal. Just before the 3 minute mark, the band dispenses with all this melodic tomfoolery and proceeds to remove the head with some straightforward fuck you metal. Lukas’ vocals are a pure no-nonsense Black Metal affair, and I haven’t heard any clean singing yet. But this is one of those albums that will probably raise a few more surprises yet. Then, towards the end, the Mighty Wah returns, everything slows down and then stops. Another beauty.

“Übertritt” immediately tests the resilience of your bass speakers, accompanied by some form of metallic Nashville-esque twangy guitar stabs. And once the choral intro vocals are finished, the track bangs and crashes quite slowly through some fairly standard but very pretty chord structures and changes. The middle eight adds a mournful edge and Übertritt comes together very pleasingly indeed. The quiet but effective keys and choral vocals are to be especially commended. 10 points to Slytherin.

Ode ans Licht is another slow burner, with the guitars taking up the legwork of the atmospherics. It’s a simple 2 note affair to begin with, but with a welter of complexity being drawn from the soaring melodic fills. Just when the track, and indeed the album, can’t grow any bigger, it suddenly does in the closing minute with a quite beautiful full choir ending things with a flourish.

So by now, your mood is one of quiet euphoria. Don’t panic, Ellende soon put a pin in that with the astoundingly sad opening to “Zeitenwende Teil” I, the second of the album’s 2 part epic tales. The misery-inducing violins shortly weep out of existence and are replaced by yet another superb track filled with melodic riffs, furious vocals and good ideas aplenty. In preparation for part II, the violins (and wah pedal) make a brief return and wrap up yet another brilliant track. Without hanging around, Part II rather impolitely crashes into existence like a thunderclap. To be fair, it does tend to wallow a bit for the first minute or two, giving you time to glance at your watch, but after a brief and tasteful solo, those soaring melodies return and you can, in your mind’s eye, put yourself back in the Austrian Alps, marching through the clouds and waving your sword.

And so to “Reise,” following the rather sudden demise of the Zeitenwende Teil saga. Heavy, low dark synths give way to a descending guitar-driven first minute, which in turn opens out to a very well executed choral passage, followed by another track of superb atmospherics. The ever evolving nature of the track is a kind of microcosm of the whole of the Zerfall album. It’s just idea after idea, and all executed with almost complete perfection. Ellende is fast becoming one of the standout artists in this saturated scene, not least because they are willing to explore, experiment and execute with consummate professionalism, every single idea. Lukas has certainly wrung out every possible thought from his mind in the making of this album and has managed to surpass a lot of other bands in doing so.

Place Zerfall in the Gold Star section of your collection and leave it there with other legendary albums. Because with time and some good luck, this album will eventually earn its place there.