Aufhebung's Luchtbegrafenis – Doom Reborn in Fire

Band : Aufhebung

Album: Luchtbegrafenis

Release Date: 26 February 2026

Released by: Dunk! Records

I first encountered Aufhebung back in 2021 while wading through a sea of new releases in search of something that genuinely resonated. At the time, I was writing for another webzine and remember remarking that they felt like a band destined for Dunk!records. The Belgian connection made the idea feel natural, but it was their sound that truly justified the comparison. Aufhebung possessed that unmistakable blend of heft and heart, with towering, sludge laden weight balanced against fragile melodic undercurrents. It was music that felt both crushing and cathartic. There was melancholy woven deep into their compositions, but it was never really passive, as each track moved with purpose and tension, unfolding in carefully sculpted waves. 

Their debut Chasms captured that dynamic beautifully, presenting a band unafraid to lean into atmosphere while maintaining a visceral, almost physical intensity. It was immersive music, yet patient, expansive, and emotionally articulate....And then, for a while, silence.... The momentum seemed to stall, the narrative left suspended. 

That’s why the arrival of Luchtbegrafenis feels significant. Not simply a new chapter, but a rekindling. The embers that once glowed have flared back to life, and fittingly, the album finds its home on Dunk!records. There’s a sense of symmetry in that union, almost like their potential fully realised. If their earlier work hinted at promise, this forthcoming release suggests conviction. Sometimes the wait doesn’t diminish the fire within a band like Aufhebung, it strengthens it. 

Across six carefully constructed tracks, the band make it clear their time away has been spent refining both craft and vision. Opener “Alle Betekenis Is Broos” immediately justifies that patience. It begins with sparse, desolate guitars moving in tandem, circling each other with quiet tension. The introduction unfolds cinematically, each phrase adding depth before the inevitable shift arrives. When it does, it lands hard with an immense, doom-weighted riff crashing down over crushing, metronomic drums. The groove is hypnotic, heavy without excess, building intensity through sheer force of repetition and atmosphere. Midway through, a narrated passage fractures the surge, pulling the listener into a momentary calm. The tide recedes. Space returns, and for a brief spell there is a deceptive serenity at play, as if the storm has passed. But Aufhebung have mastered  tension, and that calm proves temporary. The cliff edge reappears, and the full, crushing weight cascades down once more, bigger, darker, and more consuming than before. It’s not just dynamic contrast, it’s controlled devastation. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCz6SxyToAg

“6502” surges forward on a wave of razor-edged guitars and a rhythm section that refuses to let go. The groove is addictive, each chord change pulling you with it, each drum pattern locking you deeper into its pulse. There’s restraint here, too. While the guitars retain their bite, the track leans more towards melody than mania, allowing its themes to breathe and unfold. The closing swell, call it a crescendo if you like, doesn’t explode so much as rise and seal the track with a sense of measured triumph. 

“Dokhma,” however, operates on a different axis entirely. It shifts restlessly between stillness and volatility, calm passages giving way to bursts of tightly coiled aggression. Midway through, everything ignites as guitars vault and spiral across the fretboard in fluid, almost acrobatic motion, with bass and drums snapping into perfect alignment beneath them. Just as the momentum peaks, a wash of dark, droning noise seeps in, warping the atmosphere and dragging the track into more ominous territory. The unpredictability is what makes it hit hardest, that unsettling, dynamic, and undeniably a standout track for me. 

“Afterlife” and “Asphodel” continue the album’s shadowed atmosphere, opening in patient, almost dreamlike fashion. There’s a measured calm to their introductions with reverb-soaked guitars stretching into the distance, and rhythmic power unfolding with deliberate poise. Riffs thicken, drums hit with deadly authority, and the melody cuts cleanly through the heft. It’s classic doom-driven heaviness, monolithic yet euphoric, built not just to be heard but to be felt. They are almost engineered to ricochet off venue walls and reverberate through bone and brick alike. 

The title track, “Luchtbegrafenis,” closes the record by distilling everything that makes the album compelling into one final, ferocious statement. It’s savage yet controlled, fresh yet rooted in the band’s core weight. The inclusion of narrated passages once again adds a human gravity to it all, grounding the immensity into something tangible and real. Adding layers of samples and synths through the noise also gives everything a wider and more dynamic perspective across this album, actually, but especially on this track. At nearly ten minutes, this track rewards patience. A driving, hypnotic rhythmic spine carries the track forward, ebbing and flowing with precision yet never loosening its grip. Just when you think you’ve settled into its pulse, a vicious vocal eruption tears through the haze, raw and commanding, sealing the album with unforgettable force. 

With Luchtbegrafenis, Aufhebung sound assured and confident in their dynamics, unafraid of space, and devastating when they choose to strike. The time away has really sharpened them. Doom-laden yet melodically powerful, meticulous yet emotionally unrestrained, this is a band ascending, a band that shows us that weight and restraint can coexist in harmony......call it chaotic harmony! 

Luchtbegrafenis | Aufhebung