Review by Felix on May 2, 2025.

German black metal incest, sponsored by Purity Through Fire, chapter 135: here comes the fourth full-length of Eisenkult. Just like their label mates and compatriots such as Atronos or Mavorim, the band delivers new material reliably. The musical formula has not changed. Somewhere between black thrash, medieval chamber music and a harsher edition of Rammstein, the band still creates furious parts which find their counterpart in melodic, occasionally almost sweet sections. Dadaistic elements like the ending of "Die Asche Eines Engels" are not forbidden as well – am I listening to frogs croaking at their pond? Sporadically occurring clear vocals (for instance in "Hassgesang") give the album an epic touch, but it does not last long in general. And of course, the most strongly represented emotions are still biting irony and hate-filled mockery. Eisenkult leave no doubt about this right from the outset.

"Vigil" kicks off the album with a duet. A naive fool thinks he has to join a dark secret society, but his light voice can't stand up to a true representative of evil. The latter chases him to the devil, including a few unfriendly insults, of course. Well, hell is here, the album's title does not make false promises. The hatred of everything and everyone thus breaks out very early and it's just a shame that it never leads to an unmitigated outbreak of violence. For example, the band spits infernal fire in "Von Gott Gehasst", but a keyboards-imbued break sets a contrast which would not have been necessary. Of course, this kind of mixing different approaches is a trademark of the malignant dudes, but is it really the best idea to place it in the shop window in each and every track? I doubt it.

Anyway, the album with the... ehm... exquisite artwork is well produced. The guitars meet the vocals on an equal footing and deliver nothing but cold, emotionless steel. Only "Töte Mich" marks an exception. Its soft introduction gives the guitar tones a lot of space while the whispering and tortured vocals express insanity, delusions and obsessive-compulsive disorders. I guess this song wants to be the outstanding hit of the album, but I am sorry: it is just another good track. Maybe this is because the ten regular pieces after the intro have all been given a very similar individuality. Eisenkult have found their pretty exclusive niche, that's true, but they level this exclusivity back down to a completely normal concept when they use it again and again. Perhaps I should give the album more chances to emanate its full strength, but right now, after five or six listening sessions, I can say that Die Hölle Ist Hier houses fascinating, frenetic parts as well as great mid-tempo sections and a lot of different moods. But I have problems to define the highlights of an album, when all songs are more or less on the same quality level and based on the same songwriting formula. This does not mean that Eisenkult have recorded a bad full-length, by far not, and they surely do not need any advices from my side. But if I would be a band member, I would say that two or three straight, violent songs per album would add a strong component to the entire work. Or didn't I understand the concept behind Eisenkult? Am I just a jester like the guy in "Vigil" who is not allowed to piss with the big dogs? Please send any relevant information to my e-mail account while listening to Die Hölle Ist Hier.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10