L'Âme Immortelle - In tiefem Fall (2022)

There is no happy-end on this record. You will be spared no pain, no hideous facet of life. By painting utterly dark, disillusioning and ruthless musical pictures, the mental fall and ruin of a protagonist comes to life - in an album of broken dreams and the end of all hope.

L’ÂME IMMORTELLE’s latest opus “In tiefem Fall” is pitilessly casting its suffering protagonist into the fathomless depths of his soul. He has lost himself, a creature ridden by fear, pressure, doubt and depression. Every new day he dies a little more inside. This, indeed, is a montage without any compromises, a work that’s not here to convey a message but entirely to express severe emotions. There is a spiritual side to our existence, something beyond our material world, a place in a way more real that any conscious experience. Into this, he plunges. The fatal comedown is imminent.

There probably are no better artists than Thomas Rainer and Sonja Kraushofer to clad this troubled mental state into music. Each to his and her own an artist to the bone, bearing a very distinct voice, a very distinct philosophy, a unique approach, the unity of their talents gave birth to an extraordinary new sound 25 years ago: Melodies like bold brush strokes in minor on the canvas of life. Now, “In tiefem Fall” - once again skilfully produced by maestro Jan-Krischan Wesenberg (of ROTERSAND fame) - somehow manages to unite “Lieder die wie Wunden bluten” with “Als die Liebe starb” and more recent masterpieces like the perennially touching “Namenlos”.

Simply making music, however, has never been enough for this iconic duo. They are very well aware that a fundamental story like this deserves a visual pendant equally moving. Alongside renowned artist Oliver Schlemmer and photographer extraordinaire Torsten Geyer, L'ÂME IMMORTELLE carry their concept onto a powerful and highly sensitive visual level. The furious overpainting of photographies in the accompanying art booklet reveal surprises and leave it to the beholders to find their very own centre.

By its unexpectedly direct and brutally unsparing nature that’s immediately ruling out any attempt of distancing, “In tiefem Fall” is extending the duo’s discography with a record that is thunderously shattering hope into a thousand pieces. There will simply be no end to this fall.