Artist: Reich Der Geister
Country: France
Label: Hérésie Nocturne
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2025
Although this French one-man operation already released two demos and a split tape before this latest offering, it never popped up on my radar. But now it did, and, to start off with a conclusion of sorts: this is the sort of Black Metal that never gets old for me. So it took me no more than a few seconds to order this cassette tape, with a limitation of only 20 copies I thought it would be wise not to wait too long. Should you, after reading this text feel the same way, at the time of writing there are still seven copies available.
The fun part is actually that Reich Der Geister doesn’t bring much special to the table. It’s literally nothing you haven’t heard before, at least, if you’ve been around a bit longer or tend to dig a little deeper into Black Metal’s history. When it comes to the feeling and overall atmosphere, ‘Bloody Reliquary’ throws you right back to the Black Metal demo tapes of very late 90’s and early 00’s. This third demo tape is a textbook example of how Black Metal sounded some quarter century ago: a raw and almost Lo-Fi approach, muffled riffs, very deeply tucked away vocals and no bass guitar in sight anywhere at all.
Even though there are hardly any keyboards or anything other than the usual instruments, this 30-minute recording is brimming with atmosphere. An ancient and eerie atmosphere that is not exclusively due to the raw production; the typical dynamics, in which there is skillful shifting between fast pieces and more menacing-sounding passages, are also of vital importance. I hadn’t heard of this project or the musician before, but it’s clear that the person behind Reich Der Geister, which translates to “Realm of Ghosts,” by the way, knows his obscure and forgotten “classics” and/or has a certain talent for gloomy songwriting.
Definitely an interesting listen for both a new generation of Black Metal aficionados and the old farts who are still stuck to the same collection of old demo tapes from half a lifetime ago. It evokes fond memories or shows younger people how Black Metal can sound menacingly evil without going completely Lo-Fi and noisy. So, who is taking those last seven copies?
