heavy-metal-darkness: Außerwelt | Breath | Moment Of Collapse Records

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Außerwelt | Breath | Moment Of Collapse Records

Release Date: 02.10.2025

Format: Digital/CD/Vinyl

Genre: Post-Metal/Atmospheric Extreme Metal

Country: Germany

Formed in Münster, Germany, Außerwelt has been shaping their sound quietly since the early 2010s through local shows and short releases that hinted at something larger. Their debut full-length "Breath" delivers that promise with precision and emotional gravity. This is a band that has learned patience, allowing ideas to grow across years of rehearsal rooms and live experimentation before committing them to tape. The four members—Manuel Klein (guitars, lead vocals), Kris Lucas (drums, piano, clean vocals), Meredith Schmiedeskamp (guitars), and Steffen Wolter (bass)—have built something deeply personal and unmistakably their own.

"Breath" unfolds as an immersive hour-long journey through heavy soundscapes that blur the borders between genres. There’s a strong foundation in post-metal and blackened textures, but Außerwelt color it with progressive turns, restrained melodic touches, and moments of fragile introspection. The contrast between the storm and the calm is central to how the album works. It’s an experience designed for full immersion, not casual listening.

The production, handled in-house and finalized by Dennis Koehne, gives the music a grounded power. The guitars surge in wide waves, while the drums punch through with an earthy immediacy. The quieter passages, piano and subtle atmospheric layers, draw the listener inward before the heavier passages return like a tide. Nothing sounds overworked, there’s honesty in how the music interacts, a presence that keeps the album alive.

Lyrically and conceptually, "Breath" revolves around the act of breathing as a metaphor for endurance, rhythm, and release. It’s not a rigid concept album, but a reflection on how the simple act of inhaling and exhaling connects survival to emotion. Across songs like “Old Dreams Of The West,” “Whiteout Solace,” and “Eyes To The Sea,” the band moves from meditative calm to moments of near-chaotic intensity. Every passage contributes to an atmosphere that’s human and raw. Außerwelt uses heaviness not just as aggression but as catharsis. There’s weight in the guitars, but also space for silence and decay. The closing track, “In The Night’s Coating, We Contemplate Hope,” stretches that idea further, balancing sorrow and renewal in equal measure.

What gives "Breath" its strength is not only its musical precision but its emotional truth. It’s an album about persistence, resilience, and connection, without falling into sentimentality. Außerwelt’s approach to extreme music is mature and self-assured, grounded in experience and introspection.

In a scene often dominated by noise for its own sake, "Breath" speaks softly and powerfully. It invites the listener to pause, to listen carefully, and to be present within its world. Außerwelt has created something that resonates beyond the genre, music that reflects struggle, survival, and the strange calm in between.

Score: 8.5