The North
The North Threads
A brand new Blut Aus Nord album is always a cause for rejoicing. Only a single listen as yet, but it contains all the the usual psych-tinged hynotism we have come to expect from the french black metallers in recent times. It may be fanciful on my part as I haven't studied the lyrics as yet, but atmospherically it seems to tap into the feeling of the environmental zeitgeist for me, in a similar way to Caio Lemos' Kaatayra project. I'm enjoying it.
I got alerted last minute to the Bandcamp listening party for this and managed to join to hear most of the album last week. Definitely a strong album but I need to get a few more listens in before deciding if I will add to my BAN vinyl collection.
Also, just seen the new Nordicwinter album has landed (one of my favourite Canadian artists), sat in bed with my headphones on letting it soothe my soul with it’s icy and desolate fingers.
Oracle of the Void - "In Darkness Is Found the Greater Enlightenment" demo (1995)
The Australian underground extreme metal scene was a really exciting place to be back in the mid-1990's & I could spend all day running you through high-quality releases & demos from bands that never amounted to anything of significance, mainly off the back of living in such an isolated part of the world during the pre-internet days. Coffs Harbour-based black metallers Oracle of the Void are one such artist & I doubt that any of you have heard of them but that doesn't stop their 1995 demo tape from being a better listen than those of the big Norwegian names like Emperor, Enslaved, Satyricon or Burzum from earlier in the decade. There can be no doubt that Oracle of the Void were heavily influenced by early Emperor as you could be forgiven for mistaking "In Darkness Is Found the Greater Enlightenment" for some of their early works if you didn't know any better with the high-pitched screams & tasteful use of keyboards clearly having been inspired by Ihsahn & co. These guys utilize a dual vocal attack though, combining those blackened screams with ultra-deep death growls to good effect. My brutal death metal band Neuropath played a show with Oracle of the Void at the Agincourt Hotel in Sydney in around 1996 & it was there that I picked up this demo tape which was re-released as a 10" E.P. in 2006. They put on a great show & were nice enough chaps too. I recall them playing a cover version of Immortal's "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" early on in their setlist, only to repeat it again at the end of the set at the request of various members of the audience.
For fans of Emperor, Abigor & Nazxul.
4/5
Veilburner - "Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy" 2025
Veilburner seem to occupy the same rarified atmosphere within which I would normally encounter Blut Aus Nord, Dødheimsgard, Deathspell Omega or even Oranssi Pazuzu. They are distantly rooted in black metal yet at the same time are multiple football fields away from the genre. On the death metal side of things there are comparisons I could draw with Akercocke and Portal, which are fine benchmarks to be scored against. With this being my first ever listen to the band, my early impression was that this was not a duo that was with or indeed without their own sound or style. The mish mash of influences that had leapt out at me from what at the time of typing this had been just four tracks was intriguing to say the least. Yet, whereas on other, more avant garde releases I would have either hit the skip button multiple times or simply switched off altogether, there was something that kept me in the room with Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy.
Now, it could have been that after consecutive days of listening to conventional black metal, I was just more open to something different. Those dissonant tremolos certainly made short work of the seconds as they danced chillingly along my nerve-endings, whilst those squally riffs seemed to rapidly grow a horrifying backdrop of noise for the more extrovert elements to sit atop of. Yet for all the individual elements that are in play at any given time, I have found it very easy to plot my way through the tracks as they pounce on me. There is also enough memorability to them to permit me to understand them as isolated pieces as opposed to the album becoming just one chaotic glut of noise. A more critical listen leads to me to think the reason for this is that the tracks themselves have very clear points of progression. This is perhaps too hard for me to explain in words for some readers, but riffs have a clear start and end to them. Sounds odd I know, yet this element of closure gives me traceability across what could otherwise soon become a disorientating affair.
This succinctness that sits behind the dissonant and transcendental apparitions that are conjured by the rest of the music acts as an anchor almost. I feel that because of it, I can truly pay attention to all the album much better. As a fan of BAN, Deathspell Omega and Oranssi Pazuzu already, there are elements here, such as the vocals, that are not offering anything new most certainly. The admiration comes for the crafting involved in putting all eight of these tracks together. Thematically exploring trauma, death, infinite reincarnation and the desperate futility of lives that make the same mistakes and meet the same end, this is not the most cheerful of subject matters to be committing to tape. Such ideas remind me very much of Akhlys, who are one of my favourite artists over several releases now.
Yet, the more I listen to the album the more I find it veering away from pretty much all the territory I have called it out for inhabiting already. The rich lead work of ‘Ouroboreal Whorl’ and ‘Matter o’ the Most Awful of Martyrs’ have an almost post-metal level of clarity to them, for example. There is a seemingly purpose-built level of tameness to the record that only reaches the surface with repeated listens, and I find that remarkable for such a challenging piece of music, yet I have already called out the concise nature of part of the album already. Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy is the perfect album title for the work on display here. The record is a triumph yet achieves this with no loss of that sense of stinking human tragedy.
5/5
Alcest - "Les chants de l'aurore" (2024)
So, I've spent a bit of time with the French post-blackgaze stalwarts' seventh full-length now & have developed the feeling that it's not a bad record, if not one that I'm likely to reach for when I feel the urge for some Alcest. The tracklisting is without blemish but the overall atmosphere is extremely whispy & melodic (even for them) with the shoegaze influence being far more prevalent than the post-rock on this occasion. The black metal shrieks aren't used as regularly as they have been in the past either but the instrumentation has plenty of black metal about it. Overall, I'm gonna suggest that "Les chants de l'aurore" is probably Alcest's least impressive album since 2014's "Shelter" but it's still worth a few listens, even if (much like the Frenchmen's previous record "Spiritual Instinct") I can't say that this is an essential release for those looking for the elite-level blackgaze.
For fans of Amesoeurs, Lantlôs & Deafheaven.
3.5/5
Rotting Christ - "Non serviam" (1994)
The highly regarded sophomore album from these Hellenic black metal kings also happens to be my favourite Rotting Christ release. I picked it up on CD at the time of release & have always seen it as a step up from their debut full-length "Thy Mighty Contract". It's a measured, consistent & highly focused release that sees the band keeping well within their limited technical abilities while championing a unique atmosphere built on repetitive mid-range tempos & palm-muted death metal riffs that are given a black metal feel by shrieking vocals & subtle synthesizer use, ending up somewhere between the melodic & conventional black metal subgenres. The use of melodic lead guitar themes definitely borrows from the early doom/death movement too & sees "Non serviam" sitting in the top couple of releases from the whole Hellenic black metal movement in my opinion. Highly recommended.
For fans of Varathron, Samael & Thou Art Lord.
4/5
Here's my updated Top Ten Melodic Black Metal Releases of All Time list:
01. Dissection – “Storm Of The Light’s Bane” (1995)
02. Mare Cognitum – “Solar Paroxysm” (2021)
03. Les Chat de Nihil – “Le tyran et l’esthete” (2021)
04. Rotting Christ – “Non Seriam” (1994)
05. Dawn - "Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher" (1994)
06. Dawn – “Slaughtersun (Crown Of The Triarchy)” (1998)
07. Iskald – “The Sun I Carried Alone” (2011)
08. Naglfar – “Teras” (2012)
09. Abigail Williams - "In The Absence Of Light" (2010)
10. Dissection - "The Somberlain" (1993)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/164
Kvelertak - "Kvelertak" (2010)
The debut album from this Norwegian crew offers a fairly enjoyable example of the black 'n' roll style, combining blackened hardcore screams with really well produced & executed punk & hard rock instrumentation. The energy levels are excellent throughout & one can easily pick up the influence of classic hard rock artists such as AC/DC, Motorhead, Jimi Hendrix & Led Zeppelin along with flashes of black metal aggression. This isn't generally my sort of release on paper but I can't deny that it's been beautifully done & has kept me engaged for the majority of its run time.
For fans of Owls Woods Graves, Wormwitch & Zorn.
3.5/5
Drudkh - Shadow Play (2025)
Genres: Atmo-Black Metal
Now we all know that Drudkh had a leading say in the development of nature-themed black metal. They were basically THE band for the job. They had a bit of a rocky road after their 2009 album Microcosmos, as the people say, but there seemed to be, ahem, light in the forest, during recent years. So while I came into 2025's Shadow Play with some good expectations, I remained aware that those expectations wouldn't be met. So while the album's getting great reviews, I have to say that they've once again become a passable and generic black metal band. This whole album is all about relying on, and drawing out, half of the basics they had already mastered in the 2000's from Forgotten Legends to Blood in Our Wells. The album's going for finely-tuned production above everything else, so black metal riffs and melodies come off as unoriginal. As well, the production doesn't always balance out the ambient backgrounds and the riffs in the foreground, occasionally coming off as muddily-handled despite the ambiance. I mean, Drudkh influenced so many bands that have done this album so many times that it's not a joke. Did you know, if you just check the RYM charts and filter it by year and with only black metal, you'll get 25 pages of 40 black metal albums? And 25 is the maximum they show in custom charts. That means every year, we get over 1000 black metal albums. These days, thanks to other nature-themed atmo-black bands like Panopticon and Ashenspire, I can guarantee you a good portion of those albums is nature-themed. That means Drudkh has gone from influencing a classic form of metal to producing the same tripe that their own imitators make every year, just with better studio production that sometimes gets in the way. What an overrated disappointment. Production will keep it tolerable throughout, but otherwise this is kinda bogus.
52
Have finally had to kiss goodbye this classic Dissection hoodie which became too dodgy looking to wear out in public some time ago. I did the gardening in it this morning & it got so covered in thorns that I decided it was easier to simply toss it out than to remove them all effectively.
Another month flies by, which means it's time to select a new feature release for The North. This time, I've elected to go with the 1997's "Impergium" LP from the short-lived Swedish black metal outfit Niden Div. 187, featuring members of Dawn, Thy Primordial & A Canorous Quintet. Very much in opposition to the mentioned bands' epic & melodic leanings, this is a short (just under 26 minutes) & sweet slab of relentless black metal brutality that should satisfy fans of Legion-era Marduk, Sammath & Zyklon-B. Highly recommended!
https://metal.academy/releases/28870
Ben, Sonny, Xephyr, Rex....this amazing offering of power metal-ish symphonic black metal might just be worth you guys' time:
How's it going, fellas, as it is my turn to nominate the featured release for The North, I would like to, once again, use the opportunity to introduce you to one of my personal highlights of 2024, this time of the black metal variety. My pick this time is going to be the second full-length from the New York-based conventional black metal crew Spite, "The Third Temple". The album offers a nice marriage between the Immortal-esque melodic riffing against the backdrop of cozy pre-Norwegian warmth and heavy/speed metal tendencies reminiscent of the likes of Master's Hammer and Grand Belial's Key. The lyrical themes form another link with the latter, concerning ancient biblical tales and Jewish mysticism, although notably without the antisemitic component that is notorious of GBK. All in all, I've found plenty to enjoy on this record - let me know what you think!
https://metal.academy/releases/55216
So with the start of a new year it's once again time to have a look at the covers for all the releases for each clan. I personally like to rate a whole stack of covers all at once, rather than doing them one at a time throughout the year, as it allows me to get a better feel for where each cover sits in comparison to others. With that in mind, I've just rated every cover for releases in The North for 2024.
Below are some of the releases that are currently competing for the prestigious 2024 The North Cover of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on the 1st of February, so there's still time to get your ratings in.
The following link will take you to the Gallery, displaying the top North releases that you have not rated yet: CLICK HERE
