Bavarian black metallers Antrisch live up to their namesake in this eerie and haunting exploration of the adventures of the conquistador Lope de Aguirre. Using the factual 1560 expedition of Pedro de Ursúa’s into the Amazon and the madness that ensues.

ANTRISCH

“A musical and lyrical expedition into the heights of the world and the depths of man”. This is the intention of Antrisch, to delve into the majesty and horror of nature. With that driving them on, they released their first expedition, the EP Dissonanzgrat in 2021. This was quickly followed up with their second expedition, and first full-length: Die Passage. With this outing they focused upon a factual, doomed 19th-century expedition. Upon firmly solidifying themselves as a force to be reckoned with, they released a live album in 2025. This ensured that they exploded in the genre with a reputation worthy of their intent.

Now, they return with Expedition III: Renitenzpfad and the true story of the disturbed conquistador and murderer Lope de Aguirre. Most famous for his expedition down the Amazon River in searched of the fabled city of gold “El Dorado”.

Let me tell you a story…

The album opens to a low growl of spoken word. A gentle guitar comes in, instruments tolling in the background, setting the scene. To me, it conjures the beginning of a story. A lone man starting the adventure, drawing you into the beginning of events that are inevitably going to take a turn. It’s not long until the full band kicks into gear and you’re swept away across the sea, to hostile, unknown environments.

Truly, this album makes me wish I spoke German. I sense that there’s an epic story being told here across the seven remarkable tracks. Having said that, Antrisch manage to create a spellbinding atmosphere and successfully whisk you away to the inhospitable locales regardless.

Throughout the album, the noisescape changes from harsh attacking music and vocals to sedated, beautiful passages of music. Inescapably, these brief respites of beauty and smashed by the brutality of black metal. It creates the sensation that although the part of the world the conquistadors are in is awe-inspiring, it is also relentlessly savage.

Madness, violence and excess

The cohesiveness of the music and vocals to create an atmosphere that so well resembles the hostility and depression of this journey so captivatingly is exquisite. The sound is based mainly on melodic guitar riffs being juxtaposed against the screaming vocals. Being able to balance this so capably is wonderful to behold. Vocalist Maurice Wilson is again at his best, being able to convey such a range of emotion with his performance. He is able to jump from eerie, grating spoken word passages to screams of pure desperation within the same track effortlessly. It perfectly demonstrates the descent into madness of conquistador Lope as his journey delves deeper into the Amazonian jungle.

To further conjure the atmosphere of the expedition and its explorers, the ending of the track Abkehr – Non Svfficit Orbis is narrated in Spanish. It sounds as though one of the conquistadors is writing a diary entry or perhaps a letter home. Given where it comes in the album, one can only assume that its content aren’t good. Following this, the next track starts with another spoken word passage, creating a sense of foreboding. True to form, the music kicks back in with added aggression and violence. As the penultimate track on the album, we know that all is not well. Here madness lies.

it doesn’t take a devil to make god’s absence tangible

Let’s talk about the opening to Canis Lvpvm Edit – Wolfsfalle | Verratener Verräter. Gentle guitars serenade the sound of burning and agonised screams. The intro lingers, burrowing into your brain summoning terrible images of torture, inhumanity and exploitation. Then, with renewed vitriol Maurice Wilson’s snarling spoken introduction comes once more. This time, though, it sounds different. Something has snapped within the narrator of our story. A hideous sound, as though he is relishing the pain of others, drinking it in. He is lost, madness has overcome him. As though to hammer this point home, the guitars take on a menacing rolling, bouncy riff. The vocals scream over the top of this riff and it creates a wall of noise that illustrates the depths to which this man has sunk.

Yet, peaking through this degeneracy, comes a lull at around 2:50. The drums and guitars still crash around you, bodies burning and minds breaking, yet a haunting horn pierces through. It is absolutely devastating. To me, I hear it as the dying cry of his soul, it is undeniably bleak and utterly depressing. However, this man is doomed, and after this fleetingly short respite, the music crashes back and demolishes this final sliver of humanity. The vocals scream and wail, the music pounds and breaks, and any last vestige of compassion is eviscerated. The track fades to rain, and the expedition is over.

I can’t wait for it to begin again.

Antrisch perform at this years sold out Fortress Festival in May.

Antrisch: Bandcamp

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