DER BLUTHARSCH The Philosopher's Stone (2012) Digipak CD

There's a reason Der Blutharsch has always made certain people uneasy. Albin Julius built his Austrian project at the intersection of neofolk, martial industrial and something harder to name, the kind of music that sounds like it was recorded in a room that doesn't quite exist in the present tense.

The Philosopher's Stone from 2012 finds the project in a more hypnotic and meditative register, drawing on the occult and alchemical imagery that has run through Der Blutharsch's catalogue since the mid-nineties. It sits comfortably in the lineage of European industrial and post-industrial dark aesthetic that treats music as ritual rather than product. If you already know what WKN was and why it mattered, or if Death In June is a reference point rather than a passing curiosity, this belongs in your collection.

Full length album. Digipak CD. Released 2012. Origin: Austria. Genre: Industrial.

Fans of: Death In June, Scorpion Wind, Backworld.