Death Metal and Black Metal, widely considered to be the fathers of Extreme Metal genres that often spring forth from them or have roots in them, are also widely considered the epitome of brutality by your average person. Yet, metal can have a more cerebral side as seen by bands such as SLICE THE CAKE among others, mainly in reference to their last album "Odyssey to the West," or as it comes to genres then one can reference such genres as avant-garde black metal. Today I get to present such a band, and that is Germany's very own FJOERGYN and their newest studio release "Lvcifer es." Though only eight songs, it still manages to clock in at over an hour long, and it is undoubtedly jam packed. Without further ado, I will dive right in.

Opening with the intro that is "MMXVII", despite it being an intro it still deserves its own spot. As with the rest of the album, this song excels in creating an excellent atmosphere, in this case one of foreboding likely meant to serve as a build up for the next song it is an intro for. As is often associated with avant-garde black metal, there is plenty of "Jazzier" sounds and plenty of other instruments, including stretches of operatic sound from a choir. By far my favorite part is near the end with its incredible guitar work. As stated before, this leads up to "Leviathan". As before it features some great guitar work and more experimental sounds, however admittedly I am not a fan of the verses in their structuring, opting for something far more traditional of 80s metal and reminiscent of RAMMSTEIN to a degree, with the purely German lyrics not helping in this one case. Of the entirety of the song, I personally most love the way FJOERGYN employs the choir and some of the riffs, especially those found in the bridge of the song near the end. The song also well invokes the sound and sensation of the movie "28 Days Later" to those who have seen it. Regardless, despite some fault I find with the verses that seem to work against the song it is a strong song that can create great atmosphere 90% of the time.

Next up is "Viva la Inquisition", which is far more relaxed compared to other song as it starts out. For the first two and a half minutes it is a constant begrudging and continuous beat, consistent and foreboding. Once it reaches the two and a half minute mark it becomes more traditional in its beat and progression. Again it features some strong atmospheric guitar work, yet truthfully this song seems weaker. It does not do a great job of getting you invested in the song and wanting to hear more, sometimes at best the most it felt like you could say was "The song is there, but not doing a ton". Even now it feels like I cannot speak a ton on it, as if the song is incomplete so I can't fully say anything. However, the namesake of the album is far more dynamic. "Lvcifer es" opens with a rather interesting yet well-constructed acoustic opening, with backing drums that make it sound akin to the opening of a Spanish salsa song. The song's appeal does die down somewhat once the vocals start, yet this picks up again not long after. It does feel like there are some great aspects whose appeal and strength in the song waver between extremes. Yet I must say the vocals here feel weak at best, kind of working in counter to the song from a personal stand point and detracting from a song that seems to need every advantage it can take. As it begins to close there again is some strong guitar work, yet again I must say the vocals really feel to detract from the song. This song in general teeters on a very narrow edge between great and bad.

Overall, there were some very interesting ideas coming from the band but none of them seemed to materialize into something concrete and successful. Their songs range from good to tedious at times, to downright lacking and non-present in other times. I would recommend a listen because of the experimental nature of their sound causing deeper levels of bias, at least likely do, but I cannot strongly recommend this album in honest opinion.