The rich German forests are full of culture and history. The Romans lost legions in them, the old gods were worshipped for many years and truth be told, there have been some horrible sights to take place. That is why, to me, these are the most wonderful places for certain sub genres of music, its why I thin that Wacken Winter Nights took over a small section of forest to run their brutal Blackened Metal festival. In short, they are places that ooze atmosphere. This is where DAUÞUZ have come to light, nit the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany the relatively young band have had some relative success with a raft of releases, culminating in their most recent fifth, titled "Vom Schwarzen Schmied: Bergkgesænge". The artwork for this album is really interesting, it's like it is an etching, and the longer that I look at it the more I am dragged into it.

Opening the record is "Der Bergschmied I: Mein Berg" and what starts as fairly innocuous beginnings builds over time through some fairly strong layering to create this unique sound. The musicianship is superb, with intricate tracking intertwining to create the DAUÞUZ sound, with the vocals really acting as the icing on the production. "Der Bergschmied IV: Zauberwerk" sees the intensity maintained and that beautifully woven tapestry of riffs, rhythms and chorale vocal lines operating all together to create this overarching euphoric sound.

"Der Bergchmied VI: Cognitio" may be the shortest track on the record, but it is no less superb than those that come before it. Whilst it may not be the high octane, intense barrage that one can assume to be presented with in a Black Metal record, it has this stripped back beauty and vulnerability rarely seen in the genre. The three and a half minute acoustic instrumental really was quite touching and should not be missed on this album. Finally, "Der Bergschmied VIII: Sargdeckel" closes out the record in some serious style. Really, it takes everything that has been built over the tracking and delivers it as one final monumental display for the world to see. If you listen to nothing else, be sure to check out this track.

Overall, this was a superb album and an interesting breath of fresh air on the Black Metal genre. I really liked the prevalence of clean vocals throughout, as sometimes I feel that the quality of the music can be affected by trying to produce 'brutal' vocals. I think that any fan of Metal should have this on their radar, as there won't be much else out there like it.