Despite not being a fan of melodic death metal or progressive metal, here I am writing a review for an album that is tagged as Progressive Melodic Death Metal.  My interest in (trying to) check out all the feature releases each month has certainly paid dividends with The Infinite feature release having enjoyed a fair old amount of plays this past week.  If I was pressed to sum up why I have enjoyed The Immortal so much, I would call out the rich and full sound that is on display.  The album is by no means a perfect, or even complete package, yet it carries enough positive markers as it plays for me to continue to come back to it.

One of the unexpected positives for me are the clean vocals.  A fan of the more aggressive style of vocals that occupy the more extreme ends of the metal spectrum, on this occasion the clean vocals work better than the more traditional growls.  I have to agree with Saxy in that the harsh vocals are lacking somewhat.  The opening track manages to hit this vocal sweet spot early on in the album and as it continues to play it almost becomes a contest between the two styles, with the cleaner elements a clear victor.  If I then factor in other moments such as the groovy riff of ‘The Sojourner’ and the post-metal palate-cleanser that follows on ‘Moonless Sky’ as well as the excellent strutting of ‘The Hounding’, I soon have multiple positives to talk to.

I would however like the lead work to have more direction.  What often starts off as luscious sounding injections of melody, never quite seem to expand into any established endpoints.  This sense of going nowhere is frustrating, notwithstanding that there is plenty of melody still over the album as a whole.  I do feel however that the standout moments as a result are limited and that more interesting lead work, as well as perhaps less harsh vocals would have helped here.

Initially, I dismissed this album when pulling together my list of bm releases for last year. In hindsight, I think I was having a bad black metal day and was far too dismissive of this album, basing my distaste solely on the clean vocals that are at best occasional across the track listing. Having spent much more time with Existenialismus over the past week, there have been times when I have considered whether I missed a hidden gem in my haste to expunge the album from my listing. That is not to say that I don’t still have challenges with the cleaner elements that can appear quite amateurish (‘Truth is as Sharp a Sword as Vengeance’ being the main bug bear I have), however whilst they do peg the rating back somewhat, it is more than a little dramatic of me to dismiss the album outright on the basis of their existence alone.

The fact remains that Abduction are a fantastic modern sounding black metal band. The record strays well into territory already occupied by the likes of Mgla, Gaerea and even the chaotic black/death of Grave Miasma. With all these acts being brought to mind whilst listening to Existentialismus. The Derby outfit (appears to be one main member and some guest/session musicians on this album) put in an accomplished performance, sounding like a band who have been at it for a decade or so who have used that time to hone the listeners experience of them. I could not go as far as to call Existentialismus perfect, but it is still a treat of black metal extremity.

Able to apply melody and at times subtle groove (‘Blau ist di Farbe der Ewigkeit’) to the riffs on the album alongside wonderfully squally tremolos shows versatility in the kit bag. Whilst the cleaner sounding aspects do still alienate me, their appeal to fans of the lighter sounds of the genre is not lost on me either. With tracks like ‘Razors of Occam’ leaning into BAN territory, Abduction keep stretching their legs right until the album’s final, and best track, ‘Vomiting at Baalbek’. If more of the tracks sounded like this one the rating here would be even higher.

How do you follow an album like At the Heart of Winter? Widely praised as Immortal’s best album as well as being considered a pinnacle black metal album, AtHoW was always going to be a tough record to follow up. Whilst it is widely acknowledged that Damned in Black does not live up to the standard of AtHoW by any means, I would challenge the notion that this is a bad Immortal album. Its placement in the discography almost gave it a 50/50 shot by proxy. Either this was going to be the best Immortal album ever or it was just going to be another Immortal album.

We most certainly got the latter option. Like Battles in the North, Blizzard Beasts and even Pure Holocaust, Immortal’s 2000 album suffers from the common affliction of lacking much in the way of standout tracks. Memorability of all those albums is low for me and Damned in Black falls into the same category. It has had around seven or eight plays this past week alone and I still feel no closer to being able to run through a track in my head, in its entirety. The familiar smash ‘n bash sound of Immortal is sort of why I love them though, so it is hard to be too disgruntled with DiB.

Whilst individuality of tracks is nowhere near anything on AtHoW, Immortal still were trying on DiB. The razor edge riffage, battering ram drums, grim vocals and even audible bass are all on display. In terms of the energy being applied here, you’d be pushed to call any of the tracks as being half-arsed in terms of effort of delivery. It is obvious however that the bar was just set too high coming into this record. Tracks such as ‘My Dimension’ are completely guilty of exhibiting the blatant hallmarks of filler here and that is a shame given the noted effort behind even the less influential tracks.

There is a flip side to this though that can be found in the structures of tracks like ‘Wrath from Above’ as well as the title track. Still, the promise of ‘The Darkness That Embraces Me’ is ruined by some cringey lyrics that manage to make the evil croak of Abbath seem silly sadly. Whether by proxy or not, the riffs here are the closest to those on AtHoW and as such you are never too far away from a brief memory of that huge record. If there was more of this nostalgia for the previous record then maybe that would have helped the rating here.

Omnium Gatherum are one of those Scandinavian melodic death metal bands that formed out of the second wave during the early 2000s and I've always found them to be one of the standout groups of that time. The music was slightly more progressive than its mainstream contemporaries like Arch Enemy, but still very accessible to that same crowd. Well in 2025, May the Bridge We Burn Light the Way sees this band fully embracing the cheesy side of the genre to its full potential. To me, I don't view this as much of a deterrent because Omnium Gatherum have been able to make solid music for just over two decades and now, not having to worry about being ostracized by the old guard, the synth leads and the strings and choir are more pronounced than ever before. Make no mistake, this record sounds cheesy as hell!

That being said, I can also see May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way as having a very solid base with strong choruses and excellent flow. The songwriting has become more streamlined and far less wasteful than on earlier albums. However, this can also be viewed as a downgrade since as a whole, the record feels quite safe; this album does not have a "White Palace" or "Deep Cold" on it. Now I can give Omnium Gatherum some leeway here; they are entering their third decade and innovation becomes less of a requirement after that much time. This feels like the "let it ride" album where Omnium Gatherum are contempt to stay from now until they eventually call it quits. I hope that isn't the case because I know that this band are capable of so much more, but as a single record, it's very good. 

To me, May the Bridge We Burn Light the Way is AOR metal...and that is as much of a compliment as it can be.

Best Songs: The Last Hero, The Darkest City, Ignite the Flame, Road Closed Ahead

Fuath was originally conceived as a one-off project by Saor's Andy Marshall when he released "I" back in 2016 as an outlet for an album of atmospheric black metal compositions that were more traditionally frostbitten and aggressive than the sweeping, celtic-themed, cinematic paeons to his Scottish homeland that was the usual output of Saor. He obviously felt he had more to say within that sub-sub-genre though because here at the dawning of 2026 the project is onto its third album, predictably entitled "III".

The first Fuath album was a raw-sounding sort of affair compared to his Saor material, with a fairly sparse and frosty production job, but the second had a much fuller sound and some symphonic touched which gave it a more epic feel, but at the cost of the icy edge feeling somewhat blunted. "III" sits nicely somewhere between the two with a frostier feel than the previous album, but with a sweeping, wintry majesty that reaches beyond the scope of "I", like an icier version of Saor.

With only four lengthy tracks featuring in its 43 minutes runtime, it is an album that is inevitably built on a certain degree of repetition. Marshall is such a great writer of black metal riffs and expansive, atmospheric flourishes, though, that the tracks never become boring, but fill the mind's eye with epic wintry scenes that leave the listener feeling awed and inspired, like a musical David Lean. For me, this has always been Marshall's strength, his ability to successfully convey his own obvious love of, and respect for, the natural world through his music to even the most jaded listener. That the man is also an eminently gifted musician as well as songwriter is proved by the fact that he plays all the instruments himself, including real, rather than programmed, drums.

This is probably my favourite of the three Fuath albums as it is a perfect blend of raw and frosty black metal and cinematic imagery, making deft use of synths to round out the sound with a little more subtlety than was employed on "II", yet when at its rawest it is a match even for the likes of Paysage d'Hiver (try "The Sluagh" for proof). Andy Marshall has, over the course of six Saor and three Fuath albums, earned the right to similar acclaim afforded to US atmo-black giants like Panopticon and Wolves in the Throne Room. Whilst Fuath has yet to provide an album quite as breathtaking as Saor's "Aura" or "Forgotten Paths", "III" has left me with the certainty that this is merely a matter of time.