Heavy Metal Tribune

Germ [Australia]
Wish
2012
Full Length
Eisenwald
Black Metal/Electronic

After numerous contributions to prominent Australian bands like Pestilential Shadows, Nazxul, Woods of Desolation and Austere, Tim Yatras this year presents to fans of his works the debut album of his new project, Germ. With most of the aforementioned bands playing the depressive/melancholic style of black metal, followers of Tim Yatras' works can therefore know roughly what to expect with his first solo album, Wish.

Imagine the surprise then, when strong electronic influences greet the listener from the beginning of opening track An Overdose on Cosmic Galaxy, along with what sounds like what later, gothic metal-era Sentenced would play with the melodic and melancholic melodies and the basic rock drum beats. The listener should not expect a (later) Beherit with the mention of electronic and black metal though, as there is totally no attempt by Germ to hide the electronic influences or make them subtle at all. Furthermore, as Tim's vocals comes in, one is taken aback once more, with him choosing to utilise clean vocals, and up to the middle of the track there is hardly any black metal references at all. While this is certainly not what one would expect considering his past credentials, it is hard to deny the charm of the music on the album, with the sincere singing of Tim, backed by the epic atmospheric soundscape at the background.

It is not until halfway through the opening track where any semblance of black metal comes in, and even then, it leans more towards the black metal style that French bands like Alcest and Amesoeurs have crafted, with the calming atmosphere pierced by the inhuman shrieks, giving rise to a somewhat ironic and chilling effect, contradicting the soothing mood that has been built up so far. The intro riffs on songs like Asteroid of Sorrow also brings to mind such bands as Pestilential Shadows, with the bleak and desolate melody that is backed by that same haunting shrieks, and it is on tracks like these where one can see how Tim has managed to fuse elements of both black metal and electronic music together to create a huge sounding wall of sound that either guitars or synths could create by themselves. The track also sees Tim displaying his skills on the guitars, and his playing style leans more towards a heavy metal style rather than an extreme metal style, further showing the wide range of influences that have been put into the writing of Wish.

The more mainstream-sounding pop and electronic influences are also extremely audible, with tracks like Oxygen sounding like what would be pumped out in a club, and this could easily put off the narrow-minded metalhead, though personally, this has certainly provided something fresh for my ears. One thing that has impressed me is that despite how simple the music may sound, when listened to carefully, one can tell the amount of attention that has been put in the details, and it is precisely things like these that make Wish such an enjoyable record.

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©2012 Heavy Metal Tribune | Hong Rui