Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern
Season Of Mist
12/09/2025
Review by Oli Gonzalez
9.5/10
The path of freedom. A rough English translation of Der Weg Einer Freiheit (DWEF) and, really, it could not be more fitting for the German Progressive Black Metal act. They’ve never been one for convention nor following trends, and have always written Black Metal in their own unique image and vision. Which is why I was immediately sold on the band when I discovered them while in a YouTube rabbit hole in late 2023! ‘Aufbruch’ was and still is the crown jewel for the band with the ferocious single being the benchmark that I will compare other material from the band to. How will their upcoming release “Innern” hold up against this standard?
If the first song ‘Marter’ is anything to go off of, it’ll hold up very well indeed! They spend some time (2 minutes or so) building tension with a Post-Metal blend of ambience and a more relaxed tempo before cranking things up considerably with a no holds barred Black Metal assault on the senses! Punishing blast beats, scorching atmospheric lead guitars, and vocalist Nikita’s signature emotionally charged shrieks are the order of the day. The volume on my headset went as loud as possible as I wanted to become fully immersed in this!
‘Xibalba’ continues in a similar vein but the intro is much shorter. Then I can continue allowing this glorious Black Metal wave wash over me! Though they are much calmer and quieter ambient sections in the latter stages of this near 10 minute rollercoaster of a ride. A smart move as realistically no mortal can be subjected to such high octane substances for this long! It’s oddly relaxing and again demonstrates DWEF’s commitment to writing metal on their very own terms.
At the time of writing, ‘Eos’ is currently the only single that has been released for your listening pleasure. This has more traditional elements of Black Metal, in particular the crunching chromatic inverted power chord sequences. At this point, I’m starting to recognise a production value that’s much less refined and polished than on previous releases. They’ve seemingly gone for a more gritty, raw, atmospheric feel. I think it works incredibly well for the band as they need that in order to allow the unfiltered emotion and energy to shine brightest. This emotion is most apparent in Nikita’s cleaner vocal passage at the tail end of the song. I’ve always found the band intriguing as they sing entirely in German. Though it wouldn’t matter if they sang in English, German, Mandarin or Spanish, you’d still get the cavernous emotional depth in Nikita’s voice.
‘Finisterre III’ offers some respite in the form of a short yet spinechilling piano segment. Well, perhaps not so much respite giving the haunting timbre that resonates with each strike of the keys. Nonetheless, it’s a significant change of dynamic which is important in the pacing of this album, which has been stellar so far.
Well, the final song ‘Forlorn’ is here. Remember how I said they sing entirely in German…I lied! This is, to the best of my knowledge, DWEF’s only song in English. I could feel a much tighter emotional connection to the lyrics as a result. Even if English is not your first language, the tone is set with a different emotional quality, more in an ambient melodic almost shoegzae style, like that of Slow Crush or Alcest.
Nikita demonstrates a more gentle side to his voice as he repeats the following lines in songs embryonic stages:
“Please don’t let me know if anybody’s hurt
’cause I don’t wanna know if anybody’s hurt
So please don’t let me know if anybody’s hurt
’cause I don’t wanna know if anybody’s hurt”
Who or what he’s referring to is anybody’s guess. Trying to decipher this is the fun of it all though, right? I do wonder what has motivated this decision to sing entirely in English; a collective band creative decision, imposed by the record label, or… who knows? Will this be a mainstay on future records? Only time will tell. Until then, I’m going to indulge in this epic track, especially when normal order is resumed and the heaviness returns while still retaining a hint of shoegazey goodness.
In between the time I’ve listened to this album and produced this write up, I’ve mentioned this to several in my peer group and advised that they’re in for a treat come September 12th. I’m feeling pretty damn smug knowing I’ve got my hands on this masterpiece weeks before most of the world has had chance. I had my eye on this for a while and was
“Innern” is a clear statement of intent from one of the most underrated and underappreciated bands in the genre. A reminder to the world that they’re not content with simply existing but rather commanding a seat at the top table of Extreme Metal acts today.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Marter
02. Xibalba
03. Eos
04. Fragment
05. Finisterre
06. Forlorn
LINKS:
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