ALBUM REVIEW: Expedition II: Die Passage – Antrisch

In 1845 the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror departed England under the command of Captain Sir John Franklin and Captain Francis Crozier. The two ships were bound for the inhospitable Northwest Passage in the Canadian Artic, but the expedition would unfortunately end in failure. The two ships and every member of their crews perished in the icy wastelands. Now, 178 years later, Würzburg’s ANTRISCH tell their story with crushing atmospheric black metal. The word “antrisch” is an Austro-Bavarian dialect term that means strange, eerie or uncanny, and the band embody these terms with a furious passion, creating powerful and moving black metal atmospheres that capture the harshness of the extreme environments they sing about. Expedition II: Die Passage follows on from the band’s debut EP Expedition I: Dissonanzgrat, and sees ANTRISCH venture into the unknown.

Captain Sir John Franklin and Captain Francis Crozier sought to conquer the unconquerable and chart the then uncharted stretch of the Northwest Passage. Disastrously the ships became icebound for more than a year in the Victoria Strait near King William Island. They were eventually abandoned and many had died, while the survivors fled for the Canadian mainland. Those survivors vanished and presumably perished in various ways, including hypothermia, starvation, disease and lead poisoning. In search operations years later two of the men’s bodies were found, and cut marks were found on some of the bones which supported allegations of cannibalism. This disastrous expedition and harrowing aftermath has been vividly captured by ANTRISCH.

There is a sinister darkness to Expedition II: Die Passage that haunts you. You can feel the absolute dread of being trapped in an inhospitable place with no way out as the bleak snow storms envelope you. With the visceral German lyrics delivered with powerful emotion and venom by Maurice Wilson, you can feel the biting cold of the Arctic and hear the harrowing screams of men fighting for their lives in his voice as ANTRISCH recount this harrowing tale. Yet despite the shocking nature of the album’s concept you’re drawn to it with a morbid fascination. This is a testament to the band’s compositional skill, building atmospheres with masterfully mixed sound effects, old recordings and layered guitar parts. ANTRISCH bring together elements of black, death and doom metal to create a veritable feast of complex emotion that is derived from their concept material.

As a result, Expedition II: Die Passage is an incredibly intense album, and it leaves an indelible mark on you, just like the frosty grip of winter. In comparison to Expedition I, this second venture is a lot more expansive and technical, implementing more melodic passages, and it sounds like ANTRISCH have enjoyed the process of evolving in this way. They have an innate ability to create intense, nuanced emotional depth that makes you stop in your tracks. The stories woven into these songs are about real people and that human aspect in a genre that is heavily misanthropic makes the band stand out.

I Festgefroren opens with the creaking timbers of a ship, the biting winter wind and ominous guitar melodies and chilling vocals. Then an old recording of Rule Britannia comes in before seamlessly transitioning into a triumphant black metal riff and almighty scream. This sets the atmosphere for the album, and you become engrossed in its turmoil and darkness from the very start. II Wahnrationen continues to create an intense, ominous and haunting atmosphere with layers of black metal riffs. Alongside this is the lonely echo of a sonar signal that doesn’t pick up any signs of life beyond this icy death trap. III In Perpetuum is where an overwhelming despair begins to set in as you feel the terrible perpetuity that you are stuck in as you try to survive. Again, it is a song intricately layered with all sorts of atmospheric sounds, alongside the slower tempo which makes the riffs sound more menacing.

IIII Ultima Ratio translates as “the final argument”, and you get the rather eerie, sinister feeling that this is when the men of the ships are starving and looking across at each other with crazed eyes. The song is relentlessly quick and you feel as if someone is looking over your should menacingly. IIIII Exodus is an eight-minute black metal epic; thunderous riffs, soaring vocals and pummelling drums split your skull with ease. The album closes with IIIIII 68° 15′ N 98° 45′ W – 68° 54′ N 98° 56′ W, which is presumably the coordinates in which the ships were trapped. A sombre acoustic melody opens the song, and here ANTRISCH go symphonic; the walls of sound build up around you and despite its dark concept it provides a triumphant end to the album.

Upon the strength of their concept material, compositional skill and innate ability, ANTRISCH have created a harrowingly vivid retelling of this doomed expedition. Expedition II: Die Passage is an album not to be missed.

Rating: 9/10

Expedition II: Die Passage is set for release on April 7th via self-release.

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