Since forming in Berlin in 2000, metal maestros Thanateros have been busy shading our world with their deliciously dark sound. After a lengthy hiatus the band are very much back in action (although only vocalist Ben Richter remains from their original incarnation) and ready to take on the world. With a shapeshifting sound that incorporates the whole spectrum of heavy music, Thanateros’ latest album has a ritualistic, shamanistic aesthetic surrounding it that seems to warp the very fabric of time to deliver an album in Tranceforming that is indeed mind altering.

‘Anrufung’ is a brief, discombobulating opener, and one that breathes and ululates like some strange organic creature. It omits crackling sparks of energy and is at once enticing but strange and in that respect it acts as a portent for the rest of the record. It is a skeletal finger at an evil carnival, beckoning and daring you to step inside, but if you are brave enough to step over the threshold then Thanateros are waiting with a dozen tunes with which to dazzle you, and they don’t come much brighter than opener proper ‘The Horned One’. Gothic, folk and Viking metal all rub shoulders and congeal into a unified whole that’s a smorgasbord of all that’s good and heavy. Like a longboat sailing towards a sunrise, there’s a real forward motion to Tranceforming that carries the listener along in its slipstream.

Thanateros’ ability to fuse different forms of metal into a cohesive whole renders them master alchemists and they know just how far to push things; too much and the result would be an eclectic mush, too little and the band could find themselves in a musical no man’s land without an appreciative crowd to play to. Thankfully, tracks such as ‘Shapeshifter’ hit that sweet spot right in the middle, it’s a sound the band have made their very own and finds them planting their flag in fertile soil.

Vocalist Ben Richter proves himself very assured and even on slower songs like ‘I Hold You’ delivers an authoritative performance, but it would be unfair to single out any one member because the whole band lock in tightly and with the core of the group being together since 2018, display an easy chemistry. It means that ‘Raise Your Voices’ becomes a warlike affair whilst ‘The Banshees Of Kealkil’ floats through the air like a witch on broomstick. However, what stitches all these songs together is their cinematic nature, they’re all very evocative and should conjure strong images and Hollywood visions in your mind’s eye.

It’s the varying nature of Tranceforming that holds the listener’s attention over 50 minutes and ensures that things never become staid and it’s the semi-acoustic ‘By The Wind’ that brings Tranceforming to a haunting conclusion, but suggests that there’s much more to come from Thanateros.

• Tranceforming is released via echozone on 11th October 2024.
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Track List:

1. Anrufung
2. The Horned One
3. Everything Decays
4. Shapeshifter
5. I Hold You
6. Raise Your Voices
7. Hagazussa
8. The Banshees Of Kealkil
9. Feel The Fire (Goddess 24)
10. I Am All
11. Rúnir
12. By The Wind