Album Review: Der Rote Milan – Verlust

 Album Review 

Artist: Der Rote Milan

Verlust

Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork

Release Date: December, 12, 2025

Score 7/10 

Review by Rick Eaglestone

Germany's Der Rote Milan have been lurking in the underground for a spell now, crafting their particular brand of melancholic black metal, and with this record they've delivered something that demands your undivided attention on a cold, miserable evening with the lights down low.

From the opening moments of the title track, you're transported into Verlust's world – a place of isolation, introspection, and nature's indifferent majesty. The production here is spot-on, giving each instrument room to breathe while maintaining that essential rawness that keeps black metal honest. The guitars shimmer and cascade, utilizing tremolo picking not as a weapon but as a paintbrush, creating layers of texture that shift between anguish and something approaching transcendence.

What immediately strikes you about 'Der Rote Milan' is how comfortable Verlust are with silence and space. Too many bands in this realm feel obligated to fill every second with noise, terrified that a moment's respite might lose the listener's attention. Not here. Verlust understand that sometimes the most devastating moments come in the quiet passages, where a single clean guitar line or ambient soundscape can hit harder than any wall of distortion. 

The vocal performance deserves particular mention. Rather than relying solely on the traditional black metal shriek, III employs a varied approach that ranges from anguished howls to spoken-word passages delivered in German, adding to the album's haunting intimacy. There's genuine emotion in these performances, not the performative aggression that plagues lesser bands. You believe what's being conveyed here, even if you can't understand every word.

Rhythmically, Der Rote Milan keeps you on your toes. The drumming is intelligent and dynamic, knowing when to drive the songs forward with propulsive blast beats and when to pull back into jazz-influenced patterns that give the compositions breathing room. 

Lyrically, from what can be gleaned through the German language barrier and accompanying translations, Verlust are exploring themes of nature, loss, and the passage of time. The red kite serves as both literal subject and metaphor – a creature of beauty and predation, soaring above landscapes marked by human absence or insignificance. There's an environmental melancholy here, a mourning for something being lost that speaks to our current moment without being heavy-handed about it.

The album closer, serves as an appropriate farewell, gradually fading into ambience like the subject of the album disappearing into the distance. It's understated but effective, leaving you in a contemplative state rather than pummelling you into exhaustion.

Der Rote Milan positions Verlust as one of the more interesting acts operating in the atmospheric black metal sphere currently. They're not reinventing the wheel here – you'll hear echoes of Agalloch, Alcest, and Wolves in the Throne Room throughout – but they've digested their influences and created something that feels personal and genuine rather than derivative.

This is an album for patient listeners, for those who appreciate black metal as an vehicle for atmosphere and emotion rather than mere aggression. Put this on during a solitary walk through autumn woods or while watching storm clouds gather, and it'll make perfect sense. In a crowded genre that often values extremity over artistry, Verlust have crafted something worth your time.