At hand, we have two releases set on the same year, and from the same band, the German band AGRYPNIE. One is a new album, "Grenzgænger", and on the other, a compilation of old songs, "Pavor Nocturnus". And I mean that comparing both releases in a single review would be a great opportunity for us all, even for the band. We can say that this German duo makes what we can call Progressive/Post-Black Metal. The difference between their music from many others rests not only in their musical personality, but in their particular melodic insight, and even the melancholic touch that the band's songs has is something that isn't show from many bands, so the experience to hear their experimental work turns into a time full of pleasure. And the band's personality doesn't change from one album to the other, it keeps the same, full of tempos changes and an introspective atmosphere that hooks fans of Black Metal.

Phil Hillen mixed and mastered both works, so you can expect a consensus between the sound qualities. Both sounds clear and aggressive (another different point from other bands that uses moldy and raw sound qualities that turns their music into a fuzzy sound mass), with an excellent balance between both aspects. On the instrumental tunes, obviously something that is crude was chose to them, to give their songs the Black Metal feeling. It's a very good work in this matter, indeed. Songs from one to eight are from "Grenzgænger", showing balance between experimental parts with harsh Black Metal elements, being the best ones "Auferstehung" (a brutal and sharp song, created with aggressive guitars, but bearing melancholic hooking melodies as well), the slower and dense tempos of "In die Tiefe" (the contrast between aggressive parts with clean moments is amazing), "Nychthemeron" (that shows some Old School Black Metal traces like BURZUM and MAYHEM, but without tearing apart the band's musical identity), and the melancholic hooking parts of "Die Waisen des Daidalos".

On the other hand, from nine to 18, the songs are from "Pavor Noturnus". To be clear, here we have three re-recorded version from songs of their first release, a Split album with FATED, "Veritas Mutabilis", "Pavor Nocturnus", and "Agrypnie", that are more aggressive and harsh than the modern material, and even with a better sound quality, we can see that AGRYPNIE has evolved a lot, but keeping the same musical personality. "Neon" is a new song, filled with a tender and almost Darkwave insight, with charming female voices. The other songs, "Sinnflut", "Augenblick", "16[485] - Brücke aus Glas", "Fenster zum Hof" and "Cogito Ergo Sum" are keyboards orchestrated versions of the band's old songs., showing a different insight of the band.

The band is truly creative, and the evaluation given is the same for both albums.