Now and then, something comes across your desk that just plain blows you away. Those are the sort of moments that us jaded metal critics live for. And Germany's Verdunkeln has provided another one. A product of the excellent Van Records label, run by Alex of Ruins of Beverast fame, this enigmatic project has created a true grand opera of immensely heavy and dark music.

Very few metal albums deserve the term "Wagnerian", but none more so than "Einblick in den Qualenfall", which translates as "Insight into Torture". The music conjured by Verdunkeln is massive, gloomy and very, very German. Not only are the lyrics all "auf Deutsch" but everything on this record has the peculiar atmosphere of medieval Germany to it, right down to the black and white nature photography and the scary demon on the cover. Wagner would have loved these guys! Who are Verdunkeln? I have no clue. No information is provided. This release has a lot of the mystique that black metal has been missing for so long.

Here we have six brooding odes of darkness, leaning on the doomy side but not totally devoted to slow motion. The production is incredibly dynamic and heavy, with the guitars sounding like a wall of steel falling on the listener. The power chords totally crush, but atmosphere and melody fix themselves in layers on this brutal foundation. The main theme of every song is relatively simple, but the band uses ripping guitar solos, atmospheric clean chords and synthesized ambience to create strata of interest. The songs have droning, hypnotic power, but are never really boring. The best example is "Der Quell", propelled by a brilliantly repeating power riff but featuring singsong German vocals and shredding solos to keep things from monotony.

Two monster epics dominate the album, each of which is a virtual album to itself. "Im Zwiespalt" emphasizes doom and atmosphere while the titantic "Der Herrscher" throws in a little bit of everything you can think of with tremendous results. If you've ever heard the longer tracks from Ruins of Beverast, you'll have an idea of what Verdunkeln is doing here. Only they are produced a 1000 times heavier and clearer than R.O.B. and they have their own Germanic sensibility.

Dark and heavy metal fit for the gloomiest of Gothic cathedrals, "Einblick in den Qualenfalls" is an awesome achievement that brings extreme music to the level of Wagner's "Die Niebelungen".