attachment-Soldat Hans promo 1

Soldat Hans' "Anthaupt" Defies Genre (Full Album Stream)


I hesitate to call Soldat Hans post-metal, or any single genre, in a strict sense. The ambitious Swiss band agrees, opting to call themselves something else entirely: “downtempo folk doom metal.” Genre is a difficult game to play, and many choose individual paths as a means of honing whatever genre they choose, but Soldat Hans takes more of a “shotgun approach” to it, often playing multiple styles of music at any given moment. Upcoming album Anthaupt, for instance, draws heavily from a vast pool of influence, ranging from cinematic post-rock and alt-country to ambient, pop, blues, and neo jazz noir musics, all superimposed over a heavier, atmospheric, metallic base. On Anthaupt, the listener is taken on a much different journey than on either Es taut or Dress Rehearsal in that the extremes to which Soldat Hans are willing to go are that much further in either direction on the dynamics scale. Opening with a folk-tinged post-rock song, it’s the album’s eponymous track’s opening explosion which shows a new Soldat Hans, one which deals with apocalyptic dynamics, and when the blues singing comes in? Genius. Listen to Anthaupt in full ahead of its release below.

Anthaupt releases April 22nd on Wolves and Vibrancy Records alongside a reissue of Dress Rehearsal.