Schattenreich are a death/ black metal band from Germany and their sophomore effort, 'Von Gedeih Und Verderb,' is just as shredding as their first. The music is a bit gritty as far as production goes, just the way old school black metal tends to be, and is pretty fast. It's not as fast as a band like Dark Funeral, but pretty close. With all the lyrics in German, it can be a bit hard to follow if one doesn't speak the language, but that allows more of a focus on the music itself. The vocals are usually the typical high pitched shrieks, so there is nothing new there, but when layered with the growls they sound extra effective at trying to be demonic. Track after track the music blazes through with little mercy, or variation, to play with. Thankfully, the album slows down a bit in places for more rhythm and melody, much like a heavy older Satyricon song with "Mahnmal," and also features a folkish accordion on the closing, which will either be taken as atmospheric touch up or random silliness. "Das Licht" chugs along with more rhythm compared to the other tracks, and the eased down pace is a welcome thing to hear as it gives Schattenreich more credibility as just being a black metal band out there to make themselves sound as evil as possible by making as much noise as possible.