Geliebte des Regens

Nargaroth is always full of surprises - from the heavily atmospheric Herbstleyd, to the raw overhyped Black Metal Ist Krieg, and to the thematic and mature Jahreszeiten, it would be difficult to predict that right in the middle of Kanwulf's discography is something like Geliebte Des Regens. At first glance, Geliebte des Regens looks like something you can't just dive into because while there are only a few songs, nearly all of them have a duration of at least 11 minutes where some of them even break the 15 mark. It might look like another Herbstleyd, but it's far away from that notion.

The production is designed so that the sound comes in heavy, but really raw. Guitars have a thick, dense sound but are in fierce competition with drums, which have a strong presence as well. The heavy impacts on the snares are extremely noticeable throughout the entire album. Kanwulf's vocals are still the same - an agonizing, wailing type of shriek with lots of slurs and ties. For the most part the music is slow, dry, and monotonous. There is very little variation in terms of tempo and riffs. Sometimes you can hear ambient effects like thundering and rain - I guess it makes sense as Regen = rain in German. This is integrated occasionally in the middle of some of the metal tracks, but comes up mostly in the not-so-exciting introduction. Moving on...

As soon as Manchmal wenn sie schläft starts, you can tell immediately that this is going to be a depressing album, filled with agony and melancholy. The effect works really well with the monotonous sound and the really long tracks. The music sorts of just "drags" but this works well in sync with the mood Kanwulf is trying to convey. There's very little variation, but I think that was the point - to engross you in a world filled with misery and make it seem like an eternity. Many critics might think it's a stupid idea, but if this was intentional, it was really well done. Wenn Regen liebt is an even more depressing track, which is a bit more melodic than the previous one, but still has that same, dragging format.

Now here's where things get interesting: Von Scherbengestalten und Regenspaziergang, a song that turns sadness into hate. I thought this song was ridiculous at first but I grew to appreciate the general instrumentation and style. The guitars come very heavily and are well backed up by powerful drums. The drums easily add to the agression in the song as they bring a whole new level of angst, hatred, and misery. The funny thing is that the drums are too slow, but the guitars seem fast. They aren't even in sync! This track is anything but smooth, and instead is extremely abrupt and ugly to listen to. There are a total of nearly 12 minutes of this awkward sound, but for what it's worth, I find the product as a whole very interesting. The final mood that is conveyed is that of one of the most unsettling and ugly songs I ever heard. It fits perfectly on this album and I wouldn't change it one bit.

Unfortunately, there's only so much good you can say about this album. Kanwulf and crew had the nerve to put the second track again as the fifth track. According to the digipack, the song is actually titled Manchmal wenn sie schläft (In musikalisch differenter und kristalliner Lebensform), where the content in parentheses imply a different, cleaner approach. Lies! I've regretably listened to both versions many times and the only thing I could differentiate was some of the drumming bits. To make matters worse, this "alternate" version is 17 minutes as well! Was this in any way necessary? Then you have the overly long outro, which isn't a bad way to end the album, but the band members could have easily stuck with the accoustics in the beginning and called it a day.

I'd say Nargaroth was pretty bold to make a release like this filled with tons of repetition and dry sounding riffs, let alone make these tracks nearly 12 minutes each! They even had the nerve to clone the longest song within the same album. I'd wager that most metal fans would find this incredibly difficult to listen to because of its odd sounds and dragging style, but if you're willing to get past that, you'll find Geliebte des Regen to be pretty interesting. It has a certain level of disgust, hate, and bitterness that really does make it stand out.

The opinion of Nargaroth has declined over time due to many reasons. There are many bands out there that are much the same. Generally, when a band hits the spotlight, the opinion of them falls dramatically. The same has happened in this case. Upon first listening to this band, I took into account the opinions offered by both sides of the spectrum and decided, as the overall opinion of the band was so mixed, i'd listen and judge for myself.


So, here I am. Listening to Geliebte des Regens and what do I make of it? I thoroughly enjoyed it. The simplistic under current, the hate inducing vocals and the rhythmic patterns all made for a very enjoyable listen. I like the repetitive nature. It allows for one to grasp the feelings and emotions being portrayed by the constantly buzzing affects of the heavily distorted guitars. The minimalistic drums were imperative in establishing and maintaining the mood. The atmosphere of Geliebte des Regens was appealing to the senses. The steady and constant nature was well thought out and well executed. I felt that the lyrical themes were apt and depicted well through the music. The vocals were strong and outspoken. They enhanced the mood and carried the music along with them.


Generally speaking, Geliebte des Regens was what I had expected from a band tagged as both suicidal and depressive black metal. It's typical of the genre and although it isn't ground breaking material, it's good. The sad and ethereal tones and textures are what makes this full-length release better than a vast majority of the bands out there. It's slow and constantly driving on through the sadness. The varying production may tend to confuse some listeners. Clear production on to a hazy lo-fi stereotypical version of what black metal is usually seen as is quite confusing. The sheer fact that Nargaroth have decided to use the same song twice on one full-length may outrage some. Fans generally tend to what to hear new material, not the same song played almost EXACTLY the same way twice.


A point many listeners may not be comfortable with is, as aforementioned, the full-length isn't ground breaking. Nargaroth fans will have become accustomed to the style and perhaps may be wanting a slight variation from what they have heard before. On the other hand this may be perfect for the vast majority of suicidal/depressive black metal fans. As an avid fan of both genres, which are essentially the same, this was of course very appealing to me.


The repetitive style isn't to the liking of everyone. It may become tedious, especially the drums which severely lack variation at times. The lack of variation may prove to difficult for some to swallow. The same droning beats may lack a certain quality to make a huge impact upon the impression of the listener. The lack of an ability to grab the listeners attention may prove pivotal in turning some away. A lack of direction and innovation is a turn-off for a lot of people. It's quite easy to fall into the trap of the majority of listeners. You either love it or hate it.


Highlight: Manchmal wenn Sie schläft (alternative version).

This is an incredible album, Kanwulf out does even the mighty Herbstelyd with this release, this is some of the most intense and emotional music I've ever heard. Geliebte Des Regens often draws comparisons to Burzum's Filosofem (which happens to be my favourite album) and I agree with this at least partially, the two albums are very similar, both utilize heavy amounts of repetition to impart their emotions on the listener and both album have agoniizingly depressive lyrics. Whilst Varg relies on keyboards and electronic ambience to create he's depressive atmosphere, Kanwulf achieves he's in a different way entirely, soley with he's guitar and the hauntingly beautiful riff's he has crafted. Manchmal Wenn Sie Schlaft the 17minute epic is repeated again later in the album (slightly changed) and serves the same effect as Decripitude I and II does on Filosofem, it ties together the beginning and ending of the album into a cohessive whole, the people complaining about this miss the point of the album entirely. This is not an album you listen to 1 track at a time, it needs to be digested as a whole entity for full effect.

The packaging of the album bears mention as well, I own the digi-pack cd version and its obvious a lot of time has been spent on the packaging, the cardboard digipack folds out into two sides, representing the two "halves of the album, the lyrics are written in a flowing script and are surrounded by "serene" pictures of nature. On the subject of the lyrics themselves, Kanwulf has been greatful enough to provide the English translations of the lyrics alongside the original German, while not essential to the enjoyment of the cd reading Kanwulf's lyrics help to convey the amount of feeling put into the work by the artst.

Kanwulf puts a lot of intensity into all he's releases but I feel this one he's put something extra special into it, its almost like Kanwulf is pouring out he's heart and soul into the music I highly reccomend this album.

With this release, Nargaroth take the basic concept of Rasluka pts I and II and make it darker, moodier, and longer. The basic chord textures are thicker on this album than the last, and the songs are slower and are a lot more poignant. The vocals were sparse and blended in with the rest of the music when they were belted out. The overall production was kinda fuzzy and distorted, like Rasluka pts I and II but more distorted and fuzzy, and that only aided the music. The drumming is painfully slow in some songs, and mid paced in others, but the mystical Kanwulf always makes it a point to never make a single instrument stand out. This album is a work of the collective thought, not of a bunch of instruments thrown together. Each song features sounds of rain, as this album translates to Beloved of the Rain. I felt, when listening to it, that this album was Nargaroth's take on the Filosofem album released by Burzum. (Likewise, I felt the two Rasluka's were Nargaroth's take on Hvis Lyset Tar Oss; Nargaroth seems heavily influenced by Burzum.) The melodies flow slowly, but not impedingly slow; the ideas slowly unfolded and gave the listener time to ponder them. While few riffs were present in each song, each riff stood out, and sometimes time needed to be taken so that each riff could be really taken into consideration as part of the overall song.

The overall mood never changed from being very dark, poignant, and drunkenly frustrated. It is a glimpse into a view of the world as something frustratingly stupid. The raw emotion present is deeply immersing, I found. The most common feeling was almost a somber tenderness, as if one was totally frustrated with this world. The rain was almost symbolic, yet I have yet to pick out what that means...

The intro consisted of rain falling, and a digeridoo playing. While not really a gripe about the album (it can easily be skipped over) it is a good first listen. The rest of the songs are still well worth your money. The second song is repeated with slightly different drumming in song five, but that doesn't matter; it's a logical point reached by the previous song. The outro features rain, then a vocal-less song, which is a great song, and then goes back to the rain.

All in all, this album is one of my favorite albums. My only gripe is that *sometimes* the album can get a bit boring, but that's for only a few minutes. It's great if you are in your room or in the forest camping or somewhere isolated. You really have to pay attention to this album for it to have the maximum effect. I will recommend it whole heartedly.

Fav. songs: Wenn Regen Leibt, Von Scherbengestalten und Regenspaziergang, Outro (Leb' Wohl).

Repetitiveness, repetitiveness, repetitiveness. I always loved "Rasluka Part II"-MCD. This full-length sounds like it's "lost/erased tracks from Rasluka II". In the intro you can hear the sound of the rain (geliebte des regens = something about love and rain, heh) and some didgeridoo (or how the hell that is typed). Boring ambience.

Track 2 : "Manchmal Wenn Sie Schläft". Slow, agonizing, and depressive black metal. All instruments clearly heard, except bass once again is missing... But here's the flaws : This fucking songs lasts almost 18 minutes, and it recycles 2-3 riffs, and the drumming never changes the style. The first change of riff comes after +4 minutes. I mean... Bah, you can figure THAT point out very well yourself.

Track 3 : "Wenn Regen Liebt". The highlight of this album. 12 minutes of fast drumming and once again, riff-recycling... But this time the overall tempo is high, and the drumming actually changes in some parts. Damn good broken and sad vocals, too bad I can't understand a bit since they're in german (as all the songs in this album). Last 3-4 minutes of this song are again one riff, one drumming style, and no vocals. Otherwise a candidate for the best song from Nargaroth.

Track 4 : "Von Scherbengestalten Ünd Regenspaziergang". This has the worst sounds on the album. Slow and odd drumming, and the recycable riffs are very high-pitched. Don't like it a bit. This stupidness lasts for 12 minutes... For diehard Nargaroth-fans only.

Track 5 : "Manchmal Wenn Sie Schläft". Slow, agonizing, and depr... OH WAIT A MINUTE, IT'S THE SAME SONG AS TRACK 2. There's like 3-4 parts in here where Kanwulf plays the drums a BIT differently than on track 2. NOT worth wasting over 17 minutes of disc space. If this was a rehearsal/live version, I'd understand. But not this.

Track 6 : "Outro - Leb' Wohl". Death to outros? This isn't a regular outro. It even lasts for freaking 11 minutes. A new record. First there's ambience, then there's acoustic guitars, after that in comes a "hidden instrumental song" (my description of it). A slow song, recycling one riff again. But oh well, better than most of the outros in any records.

Ach, I can hear the agony, sadness, and depression that must've ruled over Kanwulf's head by the time of recording these songs. But still... These songs have too much length and repetitiveness -> quite a low score. Well worth buying anyway.

NOTE : UNLESS YOU ARE A DIE HARD VINYL-COLLECTOR, DON'T BUY THIS 2LP. It's a major disappointment to see that side D is EMPTY (there's not even the band's logo pressed on it, no bonus tracks, no nothing). If I had known that, I'd bought the fucking digipack-CD.

That's the cobnclussion that I take from this last release of the german Kanwulf. I have to confess that i've been a huge fan of albums as "Herbstleyd" or "Rasluka Pt. II", but this last album is one of the most boring releases that I've heard in all my life. Now I'm going to explain what I think so. After a quite long intro, with the typical bird sounds, starts the second song, with a good riff in the beginning. But almost 8 minutes later the riff and the rythm of the song is exactly the same as in the beginning. The result, 17 minutes of absolute boredom, with a good athmosphere, but repeating the same guitar riff again and again.

The third song begins better, with a fast athmospheric rythm, but, what's my surprise when, after a couple of minutes, we have to hear again the same drumming as in the previous song... and obviously boredom returns.

Ok! Let's give a chance to the fourth one... and again the same kind of riffs, and drumming, and obviously one idea comes to my mind: Kanwulf has finished all his good ideas.

Well, we're arriving to the end of the allbum, and to end the album completely "amazing" (in the bad sense) me, what can we hear? Nothing else that the second track of the album again, pffff....

No we introduce another ambiental song, and what do we have? One of the most boring Black Metal albums of the last years and I have the sensation that I've totally lost the latest 72 minutes of my life.

I totally think that this album is a big joke, and a good way of showing "how to make 72 minutes of music with only three riffs". But we should be honest to ourselves and recognize that we will only find three new songs in "Geliebte des Regens", and in fact the songs are really boring and simple.

A really weak release by Kanwulf. The best things of the album: the sound and some athmospheres.

Nargaroth’s fourth full-length album, Geliebte des Regens, is noticeably different from previous releases; I would say that, of his other works, what I have heard of the Raluska EP is probably closest in similarities. The production quality is somewhat raw, and slightly distorted at times, but not to the point that it sounds especially ugly (better speakers will pick up some static along with the music).

The album opens with a short Intro, consisting of the sound of rain and other sound effects. The following songs are all long (11-17 minutes each), and make heavy use of repetition of guitar chords (though without becoming tedious or dull). Vocals (which are done in German) are scarce, and are scattered throughout the songs. Kanwulf’s growls are mostly slow and drawn out, and sound slightly distant from the music, which creates a nice effect; I would say that this release contains some of Kanwulf’s better vocals. The drumming is fairly simple, though not enough to really detract from the music. Each of the songs ends with the sound of rain (fitting, seeing as Geliebte des Regens translates to “Beloved of the Rain”). The music all has a mood and feel of depression and sadness and sounds very emotional.

The second track, Manchmall wenn Sie Schlaft, starts out fairly fast, with the speed slowing down further into the song. There isn’t a huge amount of variation in the song, but it still avoids being tedious. Wenn Regen Liebt, the third song, is superior to Manchmall, with somewhat more variation, and just better sounding chords. This is followed by Von Scherbengestalten Und Regenspaziergang, another excellent song (though with very little variations in the music).

The fifth track is an alternate version of Manchmall wenn Sie Schlaft, though (as far as I can tell) there don’t seem to be many significant differences between the two versions. The guitars sound a little bit different, but there don’t seem to be any major differences. The alternate version is about 30 seconds shorter then the first version, so evidently something has been changed; what it is, I’m really not sure.

The album is concluded with Outro, which (despite what its name would suggest) is a full-length instrumental song (clocking in at about 10 minutes long). It begins with the sounds of gentle waves (sort of like the sound effects at the beginning of Amarok III), and some relatively tranquil sounding guitar riffs. The guitar slowly fades away to be replaced with the sound of thunder and rain, and then to come back in full force moments later, continuing on like this for the rest of the song (with some distortion, or so it seems).

Undoubtedly, some listeners will probably be bored by the album’s length and relatively minimal variation within the songs; because of this, it may be in your best interest to preview some of the album before buying it (especially if the only Nargaroth you have heard is the stuff from Black Metal ist Krieg, which is extremely different from this album). It will probably require a few listens to really appreciate and enjoy this album, but it is certainly well worth it, as this is a truly excellent album.