Review by Felix on March 12, 2025.

"Scheusal" is a nice German word for an ugly, brutal creature, something between monster, beast and notorious criminal. It is almost outdated, but now an upright Teutonic warrior is giving this term new life. He has selected this term for his black metal project. Urwahn marks the first proof of his work mania. Ten tracks, 34 minutes, and none of the songs reaches the four minutes mark; this configuration already indexes the content – no sprawling, large-format songs with meticulously arranged contours await the listener, but compact, relatively primitive pieces. From time to time they reveal a certain affinity for sinisterly thrashing guitars, but the endless black metal forests are still the territory where one can find Scheusal.

The general approach awakens in me memories of Mephisto from Canada. The pretty chunky guitar sound leaves not much room for nuances, if at all, and the guitar lines themselves love to hammer constantly against the listener's head. Due to the fact that the album needs no introduction, "Der Giftler" opens the wild, daring hunt without any warning. The song takes off immediately and moves on the preliminary stage to hysteria. Its straight lines grab the listener at the collar and the traw, distorted voice plays its part effectively as well. Drums and bass are no significant component in this fast-paced track and to be honest, this fact does not change during the entire album. But the artist varies his vocals a lot and he is able to express different moods such as insanity, horror and tragedy. He also has an eye on tempo changes. Urwahn is by no means lame, but it also does not deliver high speed and nothing else. A side effect of this approach is that Scheusal are able to present some more or less catchy moments. Okay, it is catchy in the context of black metal – if you are a follower of bands like Def Leppard or Kiss, you will ask what the hell does this reviewer mean by the term "catchy". But then I may ask why the hell are you reading a review for Scheusal. With all due respect, maybe the time is now to concentrate on another review, those for Twisted Sister surely want to be read right now.

Scheusal's lyrics are comparable with those of labelmates Mavorim. In Germany, everyone seems to nurse their traumas in public, as a glance at parliament proves. The totally cynical nature of Eisenkult, on the other hand, is largely absent. Music-wise, Scheusal's material does not lie in close proximity to these formations. The musical vision is much less unorthodox. The homogeneous density of the guitar lines create a typical black metal experience with the few aforementioned (black) thrash elements. Anyway, this new project sounds fresh and vibrant and the fact that there is no downer among the ten tracks make it easy to consume the debut from the beginning to the end. Ominous guitar tones like those which introduce the raging "Der Nachtmahr" should be given more space and a few overly simple lines ("Der Tod Im Gehölz") should be rejected the next time, but this alone does not hurt the very welcome overall impression. Urwahn, no doubt about it, can grant a 34-minute, intensive black metal session. Its almost melancholic yet violent ending called "Der Spiegel Im Abgrund" marks the final feature which whets the appetite for more material of Scheusal, because albums such as this one are never outdated – no matter under which archaic name they are released.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10