{"id":274881,"date":"2025-11-06T09:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/274881\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T09:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:46:09","slug":"bergfried-romantik-iii-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/274881\/","title":{"rendered":"Bergfried – Romantik III Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After dropping debut EP Romantik I in 2022 and follow-up Romantic II in 2023, Austrian-Hungarian duo Bergfried rides in on a wave of 80s nostalgia to deliver debut full-length Romantik III. At the conclusion of a trilogy, main character Anna (voiced by Anna de Savoy) tirelessly roams hell in pursuit of her lost lover. During the search, Anna clashes with God and Devil in her quest for love reunited. Bergfried and the Romantik series are the creations of Erech von Lothringen, guitarist on Romantik III and mastermind of Narzissus and Ancient Mastery<\/a>, among others. While his other projects lean toward black metal, Bergfried forges something entirely different\u2014a rock opera. Does Bergfried\u2019s take on the style breathe new life into a tale as old as time, or would it have been kinder to leave it in the past?<\/p>\n

If The Dark Crystal and Star Wars-inspired album art doesn\u2019t clue you in, 80s vibes radiate throughout Romantik III, but not in the way I initially expected. Advance single \u201cQueen of the Dead\u201d sizzles with its Smoulder<\/a>ing good hooks. Upon hearing it the first time, the promise of polished steel, bulging breastplates, and synth-laden heavy metal really rattled my saber. Listening through the entire album, however, reveals an altogether different beast. Lead track \u201cDark Wings\u201d takes off with a riff that could easily nestle into The Cult\u2019s Love, and it doesn\u2019t take long to realize that Romantik III doesn\u2019t follow the boot-trodden, retro heavy metal path of Eternal Champion<\/a> or Blood Star. Instead, Bergfried\u2019s platter favors an intersection of Meatloaf (\u201cDark Wings\u201d) and Pat Benatar (\u201cFallen from Grace\u201d).<\/p>\n

\ufeffRomantik III by Bergfried<\/a><\/p>\n

Romantik III\u2019s success hinges on Anna de Savoy\u2019s performance, and she mostly triumphs alongside von Lothringen and various guests. Never satisfied to linger on one sound for too long, Bergfried bears a handful of ballads (\u201cFor the Cursed,\u201d \u201cStar-Crossed Love\u201d), 80s pop rock anthems (\u201cDark Wings,\u201d \u201cTears of a Thousand Years\u201d), and a touch of pop punk \u00e0 la Blink-182 (\u201cSerenades,\u201d after the unadorned piano-ballad intro). Throughout the album, Anna de Savoy brandishes her voice to carry the story forward, harnessing an earnest, commanding presence. Unfortunately, her voice falters on a few occasions (the pre-chorus of \u201cTears of a Thousand Years,\u201d for example), undermining an otherwise tremendous display of heartfelt conviction. The music supports her effectively, with rollicking guitar, synth, and bass undergirding the tale Anna spins without ever pulling attention away from her for too long. The guitar solos warrant praise as well, expanding Romantik III\u2019s sonic range with snappy licks and quicker paces to keep things moving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An organic mix and slick diversity pervade Romantik III\u2019s nine tracks, preventing Bergfried from getting too mired in morose exposition. That said, some of the slower moments undercut the momentum built by preceding ones. In particular, the transition from \u201cGates of Fate\u201d to \u201cSerenades\u201d dampens impact. The former is a rousing track that yields to a minute-long piano and vocal passage. \u201cSerenades\u201d eventually picks up, but by then the energy has stalled and requires a jump-start. The same issue recurs between \u201cTears of a Thousand Years\u201d and \u201cStar-Crossed Love.\u201d Ballads can offer moments to expound on important story elements without distraction, and can also be an effective mechanism to control pace. What works against Bergfried in Romantik III, though, is that the best moments are the upbeat ones. Still, the individual track lengths are concise, and an easy-to-digest, forty-four-minute runtime makes replays easy. The mix and master are also perfectly suited to the 80s atmosphere, with bouncy bass and natural drums recalling production predating loudness wars and digitally-enhanced perfection.<\/p>\n

Bergfried\u2019s Romantik III does something many bands struggle with by creating a unique vision and sound that leans heavily on influences without aping them. With further refinement, their next project could be something fabulous, but for the time being Bergfried has bestowed listeners with an intriguing and offbeat album. I enjoyed my time with it, yet I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll return to the Romatik series often. Given the talent and care that went into crafting it, though, I\u2019ll be acutely attuned to whatever adventure these romantiks embark on next.<\/p>\n

Rating: Good
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: High Roller Records<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: October 24th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After dropping debut EP Romantik I in 2022 and follow-up Romantic II in 2023, Austrian-Hungarian duo Bergfried rides…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,2967,20792,146500,146501,146502,146503,146504,146505,115659,146506,146507,91406,146508,88,146509,146510,25605,141655,146511,216,146512,114312,146513,12247,146514,899,900,146515,146516,146517],"class_list":{"0":"post-274881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1980s","9":"tag-2967","10":"tag-3-0","11":"tag-80s-metal","12":"tag-ancient-mastery","13":"tag-annihilator","14":"tag-australian-metal","15":"tag-austrian-metal","16":"tag-bergfried","17":"tag-blink-182","18":"tag-blood-star","19":"tag-dragony","20":"tag-elvenking","21":"tag-enforcer","22":"tag-entertainment","23":"tag-eternal-champion","24":"tag-hard-rock","25":"tag-heavy-metal","26":"tag-high-roller-records","27":"tag-meatloaf","28":"tag-music","29":"tag-narzissus","30":"tag-oct25","31":"tag-pat-benatar","32":"tag-pop-rock","33":"tag-red-eye-temple","34":"tag-review","35":"tag-reviews","36":"tag-romantik-iii","37":"tag-smoulder","38":"tag-the-cult"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}