The world of Black Metal is a vast and varied one — you could argue there’s something for everyone. Dive in headfirst and you’re bound to stumble upon some truly peculiar acts, such as the Austrian project Ara.
Moederzielalleen en uit eigen kracht (“All Alone and by One’s Own Strength”) is the title of their third full-length, which actually came out back in July but somehow slipped through our net. Still, this album deserves a few words, as it offers an intriguing and unconventional approach.
Their debut Gurre (2022) was a chaotic mess in the best possible way, where the phrase raw production would be an understatement. The follow-up, Blutroter Mond (2024), was a much tighter and more enjoyable record, showing that the project was beginning to find its direction. The new album builds on that foundation but pushes the experimentation even further.
The first thing that comes to mind when listening to Moederzielalleen en uit eigen kracht is a certain Urfaust vibe — lumbering, imperfect tracks that occasionally fall apart but are rich in atmosphere and personality. It’s experimental in its choices, strange yet compelling. This is not a band that plays standard Black Metal by any means. The guitars sometimes drift into something almost Americana-like, while the vocals are mostly indecipherable, buried deep in the mix.
And yet, that slightly muffled production works surprisingly well; it perfectly fits what Mr. Schnee is trying to convey. As it turns out, Ara is essentially a one-man project — though, according to the Metal Encyclopaedia, he’s joined by a few guest musicians this time around.
On the track “Leben”, things seem to go off the rails when the guitar line clashes with the drums, but somehow everything comes back together in the end. Some songs are purely instrumental, made up entirely of synthesizers, and there’s even a full-fledged ballad on the album — an unexpected but oddly fitting addition to Ara’s strange sonic world.
In conclusion: Ara remains an outlier, driven by a manic sense of creative expression and a complete disregard for convention. Not everything works, but that’s part of the charm.
85/100
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