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I'm a bit surprised that I'll be the first one to review this album, considering that it was one of the creators who got me into this band.  Sear Bliss is known for changing things up about every album, and it typically pans out, even if the end results aren't always perfect.  In fact, some Sear Bliss albums are a bit samey when they focus on a singular sound.  Their debut album, Phantoms, was just like that, and there aren't many variations in Letters from the Edge or Glory and Perdition.  This album is completely different.  After the soaring Elysian vibes ruled their debut album, they took a completely different direction, one that's inches away from not being black metal, being dirty and traditional, and even featuring doom riffs.  Every song takes a different turn, but still bears the essentials needed for black metal.  However, songs like Soulless would rather be made up of part dungeon synth and part traditional doom metal.  The point is made as soon as the album's turned on, leaving an earthy texture in your brain.  The instrumentation is constantly impressive, boasting some of the band's healthiest melodies.  But there is one drawback in all of this: the voice doesn't always fit the melodies, and sometimes (though not most of the time), he feels like he's just there.  Hell, even the opener will probably tell you that, unfortunately.  Otherwise, this is one of Sear Bliss's most unique, least atmospheric and hardest hitting albums they've done.

97

Here it is, the final album I need to review before I finally earn my fourth clan symbol on Metal Academy, the last of the Black Metal Challenge: Nemesis Divina.  I've heard absolutely nothing but revery for this album.  When I heard their debut, Dark Medieval Times, I was quite impressed with the playfulness, but the second seemed to do away with that playfulness, so I was a bit worried.

The mixing is practically infernal.  It sounds like fire coming from the ground just to grab you in the face and yell at you.  And these guys have a lot to yell about.  The maelstrom of flame will drown out all sound even at low volumes, but nothing suffers in the mixing.  It's incredible.  Nothing lo-fi about it like in the first two albums.  Frost is at his most aggressive and challenging with his drumkit, making for a good deal of the blackened noise that adds to the maelstrom, and the new bassist, Kveldulv, adds an extra layer that they didn't have before.  and the new And it looks like some of their playfulness is back as well.  I honestly wasn't expecting that jazzy piano outro Forhekset.  And it's nice to see them getting more heavily invested in the symphonic sound with Mother North, as well as getting into some proggier territory, especially with their opener, The Dawn of a New Age (could that be any more poetic?)  And for their grand finale, they don't go for some standard dungeon synth track like they did last time, they went for a weird piece of softer blackened rock, tribal drums and some ambient on the side.  I'd have liked to see more of that throughout the album.

Easily their most challenging and brutal, it's easy to see why the world fell in love with this album.  This is basically fire, both in the sense that it's really good and the sense that it burns you up from the inside out.  Unfortunately, this is supposed to be where the great stuff ends for the rest of their career, but if this is to be considered a sendoff to that age, then it's a hell of a good one.

95

What I greatly appreciated about the Satyricon debut was the boldness and the exploration of Norwegian influences in black metal.  There was a lot going on that added a good deal of personality to the album without ever feeling like too much.  This second album, however, trades some of that inventiveness for a more straightforward black metal sound and improved production.  This is not to say that it's a bad album, just that a more straightforward direction isn't the kind of direction I would want to take after only one album.  Inferior, but still worth checking out.

Now the structures here are very good.  There's a lot of clever riffage and some good progressiveness that drives the whole album, even when the songs last ten minutes.  It never gets tiring no matter how long any song gets, already helping it to stand out from a bunch of other early black releases that were mostly worried about the sound, the heaviness and saying something rude against Christians.  On that latter note, the lyrical poetry remains full of imagery and class.  While the typical themes such as anti-religion and Norse wartime are present, they're certainly more full of life than the standard black metal band of the early days.  And there's none of that obnoxious gore and vulgarity that Bathory was so proud of when he wrote The Golden Walls of Heaven.  I also feel that Satyr, the lead vocalist, improved his range a little on some of these songs, allowing his unique (at the time) voice to go even farther when the back's style took a step backwards.  There's more professionalism in his voice this time around.  Of course, it finally produces a dungeon synth song at the end, but that doesn't really say "variety" as much as it says "slow and mysterious ending."

This second Satyricon piece was a fun album with a lot of creativity invested in the melodies, but there was an identity shift here that I didn't care for.  Still, considering how much effort they put into the melodies and lyrics, I would still say this manages to be a great album.

90

I think I may have made the right choice in choosing Satyricon to end my Metal Academy black metal challenge.  Their third album, Nemesis Divina, is the one I need to hear, and is considered their best album.  On top of which, there's the coincidence that the previous album I heard for this, Thorns, features the lead singer as a vocalist.  Now I say that they were the right choice because right from the getgo, they dive into the artistry, genre-bending and unpredictability I generally look for.

The lo-fi production in this instance helps the tremolos a lot, which is a bit of a breath of fresh air considering how many lo-fi debuts don't manage anything with the production.  These guys knew how to utilize it.  But softer and flute-driven areas, such as the ones in the title track, have no background noise whatsoever, so the abrupt switches are much more sudden and surprising.  The first couple tracks on the album are built on these kinds of shifts, but this is not to say that the band is simply showing off.  These songs are just as intriguing and melodic as they are poetic, so this works out for the better on a consistent basis.  Some exclusions, such as the folk interlude Min hyllest til vinterland, are a welcome break from it simply because the album already made a point of exploring the world of the North through various musical styles with black at the front.  As well, the next track is pure black metal, adding a faint amount of synths in the early days, but not enough to really count towards the extreme development of the symphonic black genre that Emperor pioneered.  And while the last two tracks largely go for the black metal aspects already previously established, the songwriting remains intriguing in their own ways.  I still prefer the first two tracks, however.

Satyricon's debut album proved that they already knew what they were doing on day one.  These guys were built for black metal, and if they're only gonna keep getting better from there for a while, I expect brilliant things from them.

94

Not sure why I didn't get to this album before.  Taake exploration has typically been really on and off for me.  I've always liked his albums well enough, but never really loved them.  But since I heard a few, I guess that obligates me to hear Nattestid ser porten vid.  It's conisder his best by many of his fans, after all, and it IS an influential debut album.

I have to say I have mixed feeling about... the mixing.  It's nice that the Paysage sound that is known for drowning things out creates a noisy, despondent atmosphere, but the issue is that the drumming is way too drowned out, and flows to closely to the sound of a poorly recorded demo in the guise of a studio album, when Paysage's demo was handled LIKE a studio album.  Even when I was on Taake's topic page listening to the official playlist, I thought I landed on a video with bad mixing and that video somehow landed in the topic page by mistake.  But I'm not gonna complain about the compositions.  They were a lot of fun.  There was an ass-ton of energy that was just begging to be released, like a battery is about to explode.  I would even go as far as to say some of these songs are absolutely genius, and thankfully, a couple of them have better mixing for the percussions than others.  The problem is mostly fixed on III, which is flat-out one of the best black metal songs I've ever heard.  The raw ferocity and the incurable rage are on STRIPPER display.  There isn't a lot of variation between tracks, but it remains fun throughout, and ends with an incredible nine-minute bang that almost matches III.

So despite its mixing problem, I would agree with those who say this is his best album.  The mania of the album is enough to drive you insane from metalhead zealousness.  For the most part, Furia certainly knew what he was doing.

92

Now you don't have to look too closely to notice some stylistic similarities to Dissection, Necrophobic and Dawn, but they developed their own identity by focusing more on the atmosphere than the riffs.  Their have the tremolos of one a careful mix of evil and serenity.  Hell, it doesn't even have to be black metal.  That 3.5 minute piano interlude called So Far Beyond is truly appreciated, considering that most black metal artists will just include a weird sound effect at the start for a few seconds before blasting right into the black metal.  And Vinterskogen is basically a slow instrumental ballad praising everything that's supposed to make the more beautiful side of black metal what it is.  That's easily one of my favorite melodic black metal songs ever, and melody only comes second to the artistry.  But even though they're not as riff-based as Dissection, whatever solos and riffs they do carry are generally very impressive.  But one negative I need to point out is the drums.  It kinda of beats in the back of my head in an awkward way, like a woodpecker doing its natural duty.  That can be a big distraction, and should've been replaced with another drum.  Still, it's very nice to hear a black metal band focus more on delivery and variation than on trying to set up a formula to follow.

Now there are only two things getting in the way of a five-star release: a little familiarity and the bass drums.  Otherwise, this is totally solid.  It's evil, it's melancholy, it's serene and it's gorgeous.  Yet another iconic one-album-wonder from the black metal scene gets my stamp of approval.

93

Yet another unfortunate tale of a clever and skillful metal band having only released one album, just like Weakling released Dead As Dreams and we never heard from them again.  Apparently, the people behind this album, Kvist, only managed to release one single 25 years after this album.  And the worst part?  We don't know a damn thing about the reasoning behind it all!  The band said nothing.  There is nothing.  It's blank.  There is no secret ingredient.  Thus, considering the shorter length and the melodic tag, I had a feeling I would like this even more, and be even more disappointed by the one-album-wonder status.

With just a noticeable amount of the fantasy synths and abnormal guitar tricks that make up dark metal albums like this, the band is able to play up the melodic side quite easily, no matter what mood they set up for their songs.  The vast majority of their rhythms are just as enchanting as they are intriguing, like I'm listening to an alternative soundtrack to The Dark Crystal.  Honestly should've listened to this when I was writing the first Nialoca book.  One of my favorite things about the album is how hard-hitting the percussions are.  There's a real force to them that's clear and not too loud but effective.  As well, there are just enough ventures into the symphonic side to occasionally spruce it up without feeling generic (although it DOES tend to recall Summoning occasionally).  And even though many of the songs are quite similar, nothing ever overstays its welcome.  So this ended up being a cool gem to add to the black metal catalog, one that will keep people begging for a second album, even if they have to beg God for time travel.

91

Having fully differentiated themselves from blackened thrash acts of the past while improving on the strengths of their own debut as well as the strengths of the albums that influenced them, Destroyer 666 continued to prove themselves with another album that took the metal world by an apocalyptic storm.  The improved blackened production adds yet another layer of depth to an already pretty deep band.  You can hardly find any black or thrash metal that sounds this harsh.  I Am the War God will tell you everything you need to know about how far their blackened production has gone.  The first half might really impress you, and the second half is even better.  The extra ferocity in the production and riffs goes hand in hand with the more creative solos.

But I do have this to say.  In their efforts to cement themselves as great artists, there were a couple things they forgot.  For example: The Last Revelation is only 2.5 minutes long when it could've had so much more potential on its own, what with how easy these guys make complex and weird guitar solos look.  Just look at the title track.  That one needs a few people to lasso it in.  I guess they really wanted to make sure the title track specifically stood out, and they did.  As well, the diversity factor was a little bit weakened to make room for the new sound.  Otherwise, this album is five kinds of insane.

90

If there's one thing I want to see in an album, it's a strong sense of art.  On their debut album, Destroyer 666 seemed to utilize that a lot more than a lot of other thrash bands did with their debuts.  After having finished a Metal Academy Thrash Albums Challenge, comparing them to Unchain the Wolves was pretty easy.  The band is really trying to exceed their artistic limits here.  Slow-paced melodies and tempos like the ones present on Genesis to Genocide and Tyranny are so carefully handled for their long runtimes due to a strong sense of epic atmospheres.  And then you have rocket-speed hitters like Australian and Anti-Christ which makes a point of emulating the blackened thrash sound of early Bathory but with the band's own presence, and then moments that can go pure black and assault your ears and brain like Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland.  Now the melodies aren't always the best, but they're operable and they're varied enough in each song to ensure than nothing gets tiring.  Even a shorter song can go to three different places before it reaches the halfway point and still feel like its own song.  However, with the sharing of standard thrash and black tempos, there's also an are of familiarity present through the album.  These are most present in Side B, and they get a little tiring by that time.  Otherwise, the album is pretty well done.  These guys seem to have an authantic hatred for organized religion, and that anger drives both their creative side and the ferocious mood of the album.

87

The first two Rotting Christ albums, Thy Might Contract and Non Serviam, built themselves on a dirtier sound and a plethora of riffs, while the first one favored riffs over structure and the second album was a slim improvement in structure and production.  While I liked them, they weren't necessarily the legendary albums I was hearing about.  In fact, I even started these first three albums a couple of times in the hopes of that PERFECT melo-death album for my top 100 metal albums, and they didn't deliver due to sameyness.  But now I'm getting through them, and I'm mostly satisfied with what they did, but this third album is closest to living up to its legend than the other two were.

The third work, Triarchy of the Lost Lovers,  doesn't have dense blackened backgrounds, but rather clean and crystal production, allowing the percussions and the guitars do the talking as they are.  No noise factor, no reverb.  All clarity.  Even when the blast beats are going at their fastest and when the guitars are at their noisiest like in Shadows Follow, the whole thing is straightforward.  This is about the band, not the engineering.  Early on, the band shows off a much needed boost in layout structures balanced out with clever riffs, and a lot of those take the stage in both verse and solo.  As well, the sound is less darkened and more melodic, which means the band is trying to shift their focus, and it works out quite well.  And while many songs share some of the same ideas, the band is branching out into other emotional territories and more tempos as well, when the first two albums were quite samey and used production and technicality, as well as short length, to justify what skill they had.  While it's not as dirty and muddy, and more akin to standard black metal, the sound itself is fully justified by the extra boost in creativity and cleverness. And while the lengths of the songs are a little longer, this time, the band can fully justify the lengths without feeling incomplete because their songwriting has gotten that much better from the debut.

I get why so many people love this album, and I'll bet the Greek metal underground is more than happy to have this album representing their country while influencing an extreme metal scene of their own.  This is the most fun of the classic three albums, and shows several steps forward for the band.

91

Thy Mighty Contract, debut album of influential Hellenic black metal band Rotting Christ, has some very rough, deep and a downright dirty sound to it which feels similar to death metal or war metal.  The album is loaded with fun riffs of various shapes and sizes, which is kind of a sigh of relief considering that the songs rarely break the vibe or genre meant for it.  I imagine that a lot of these riffs would be a lot of fun to play.  One of the rare examples I can think of are the Metroid electronics heard for a few seconds in the middle of Exiled Angels, and another being only a couple of instances of angelic synths that barely make an appearance for more than five seconds.  If they were going for developing a signature sound, then they certainly did the job.  And thanks to the production, everything comes out clearly, and they still manage to make it sound really dirty in their own way.  I think that's actually very impressive.  Of course, being their first time, I'm not surprised that the album had some noteworthy flaws.  For one thing, some of the songs feel like they need another verse, like the were incomplete.  I mean, if the opener, The Sign of Evil Existence, was showing the band going for a two-minute song rather than a two-minute intro, they should've stuck with the intro, because the song had a lot of potential that could be explored.  Same goes for the next couple tracks.  As a result, the album goes by much more quickly than it probably should, clocking in at 37 minutes.  But all of these songs manage a fun perspective anyway.  So this is a good debut that shows personality and technical / melodic skill in lieu of variety and structure.

78

I can only imagine what it was like for those in the know throughout the metal scene to get invested in such an awesome band only for them to break up after one album.  I can at least understand the disappointments of a good band breaking up and the disappointment of a great band only having one album.  For the most part, I've never had to deal with the gut blow of both happening in conjunction.  In fact, it's for that reason that I didn't bother with this 70-minute album for a while.  But now that I'm taking Metal Academy tests to cement myself as a true black metal fan, whether or not this album was required to pass is irrelevant to me (although it is).  I have to stop putting this off.

This album was made just as atmospheric black metal had already made its mark on the underground world.  People were already more than familiar with the likes of Blut Aus Nord and Burzum, but this was a different monster entirely.  The muddy drum sound, the despairing and disturbing guitar tones and the overall emotional core of the music is absolutely haunting.  It might've been their first album, but as Salieri said, this was no piece by a performing monkey.  With the right doses of blackened noise, doom metal and prog metal taking the stage, the album is not only a product of its time but an aural mirror into human torment.  Hell, even the lo-fi production adds an essential factor to the construction of the mirror.  I can't imagine this album sounding as good if it has polished production.

Don't expect to bang your head to this, don't expect to dance.  Find a good chair, sit back, and let the sorrow and lapse in sanity take you away.  Breathe in every second of this muddy and horrid soundscape that throws emotions at you with the speed of a whirlwind and the strength of a hydraulic press.

91

The 90's metal scene was all about two things: crossing the dark side to the radio world of alternative and exploring the true darkness by experimenting with the limitations of extreme metal.  In the blackened vein, after Emperor and Cradle of FIlth built up symphonics, and winter atmospheres were growing, Windir took the stage for the raw, untamed sound of old time Scandinavia.  While the viking aspects of the intro sound dated and cheesy, the sound of the rest of the album is quite good.  It fleshes out the style they built for themselves on their debut with a stronger sense of melody.  The production of the edition I'm listening to isn't bad.  I'm given the black metal feel I demand, which is busy, somewhat noisy, and yet clear enough for everything to be properly displayed.  I understand that many RYMers wrote reviews long ago about how the production was below average.  Considering that I may be listening to a rerelease on YT, I have to wonder if they remastered this edition.

As opposed to the outright evil displayed in many different kinds of black metal bands, Windir took a very different approach.  This album shows how far they can go into the triumphant, positive and epic vibes that come with the pride of being a viking.  This is music right of the the ancient North.  And it rarely even takes this direction to weird, seemingly inappropriate directions, like playing up the vibes to an obnoxious extent.  The most obnoxious and not-so-serious thing about this album is the dated intro.  In fact, the album is even so much fun that when I checked the name of the track I was on, The Blacksmith and the Troll of Lundamyri, I didn't realize I had heard four-and-a-half minutes of it, and that I was halfway through.  I honestly thought I was three minutes in at most.  But because the band was focused on developing a sound, there's not a lot of room for branching out beyond that.  In other words, the album is mostly about the identity of the band, and justify it with the skills they have.

This is one of those albums I gave a 100 to when I was first exploring black metal, which was a whole new world for me on a multitude of levels.  But now that I'm much more familiar with it years later, I've been lowering the ratings of many black metal albums.  So I would even go as far as to say that this album is more on the level of Cruelty and the Beast, being a 9/10.  I'm pretty happy about this though, as this common element of my recent reviews showcases how much I've grown and become aware of standards to develop.  This is a fun and influential album, but having started this earlier a few days ago and having fallen out of favor is what lead me to start a plethora of melo-black albums in an effort to find that PERFECT one.  So, Windir's re-evaluation helped me grow and discover something new.

89

We online metal nerds are basically ordinary people, except we listen to Cradle of Filth.  These guys were one of the several bands who were key in developing the symphonic black sound, largely through their second and third albums, Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast.  As you can probably tell from the album names, they were all about the romantic side of Gothic imagery as opposed to just singing about the devil.  Their signature sound made heavy usage of the Gothic metal sound, and it helped that they were easily able to switch between various vocal styles ranging from low death to shrieking black, and include heavy usage of whispers and occasional soft, female singing.  This helps the creative flow a lot, but isn't perfect.  It honestly sounds like Dani Filth's shrieks are largely made up of one vowel.  He might as well be going, "DA DA DA DA!"  His growls are fine, but still.  It's also nice to see that early on in their career, the had the right production quality to allow their Gothic sounds to mature properly.  It's not OUTSTANDING production but it works well for the sound they have.  A cheesy band like that needs the synths to shine a bit, right?  And these guys love their synths as much as their blast beats.  The compositions themselves are quite fun and energetic, going to a lot of places quite naturally.  Some are very impressive while most are good and fun.  The album stays like this throughout the whole, so the band maintains the style they've cemented quite well on the sophomore.  That right there showed some kind of prowess, and that sound would last for quite a while.  Cradle of Filth was all about a new identity, and this album shows them doing everything they could to maintain it, even if the combination of genres didn't fully allow them to write "different types" of songs.

90

God was finding a melo-black release with some real creativity an annoying three days.  Everything I tried on my own from Windir re-evaluations to key players of the development to modern giants were basically writing the same song over and over again.  I had to rely on two different Reddit metal communities and Metal Academy to pass around recs.  After starting many and deciding they weren't the creative geniuses I was looking for, I finally checked out Ben's recommendation, The Arcade Odyssey by Sear Bliss.  This was the one.

Now the album started out with a clever rewriting of the standard tropes you often find in the atmospheric brand, but it wasn't long before these impressive melodies found their way into other territories.  The first two songs were good, but I was worried that the rest of the album would follow too closely to the examples of the first too songs.  This worry was largely counteracted by a moody and somewhat slow venture into blackened doom with Lost and Not Found, and almost completely eradicated when they decided to go hard, heavy, fast and furious immediately afterward with Thorns of Deception, the shortest song at exactly four minutes.  There were psychedelic moments, symphonic moments, the experimental package I was looking for, but never once did the band steer so fast as the destroy their sound or endanger the flow or the consistency.  I can't see myself picking favorites out of this bunch, even.  But the best thing about the album is this: when the second to last track, Somewhere, fades out 7 minutes in and stays silent for two minutes, we get this surprisingly folksy black metal song which basically screams at you: we're not done yet!  We're giving you the ending twist you didn't see coming!

This is my current new standard for melodic black metal albums to beat.  This is my first Sear Bliss album, and I'm perfectly satisfied.  They restrained themselves while allowing other influences the have a strong enough say to differentiate everything, even if they never fully broke away from the melo-black that they have been working on since their debut in the 90's.  But who knows?  Maybe I'll like one of their other albums even more.  And if not, I still found what I was looking for.

Black metal releases from my more established favourites in 2025 have been mixed affairs. After the recent disappointment with the new BAN record and my growing distance from Drudkh’s offering this year, my EOY black metal list is full of a few less than familiar faces this year. Enter Canadian one-man outfit, Nordicwinter. By all accounts still very much a recent discovery of mine from the past three or four years, it is up to him to maybe forge a space in the top 10 or top 20 of my list for this year.

The early signs are good. The stabbing melancholy of ‘Whispers of the Frozen Abyss’ is a delicious interjection in the slow-moving pace of the track, emphasising the harrowing tone of the guitar brilliantly. With the haunting, yet strangely calming opening of ‘The Howling Void’ perfectly setting the track up for an exploration of a truly vast and dark space indeed. It is clear, even at this early stage of proceedings, that evillair is not deviating away from his established sound that I have experienced over all his albums to date. This traversal of a well-trodden path as something I was particularly critical of the latest BAN record for doing. However, by way of context, Nordicwinter is no experimental artist. Over multiple releases he has honed his sound to the point where I personally do not want it change. As a result, a Nordicwinter album is something of a safe space for me.

I am expectant of the inclusion of a morose sounding piano. Greeting those slow-picked strings with welcoming arms as the notes appear through the thick atmospheres of the tracks. The depressive melodies resonate through the speakers into my very soul, ironically filling me full of emptiness. As usual, production values are high and all the instruments are audible in the mix to the point where they can easily be picked out. This is the standard that evillair has set over eight albums and I doubt I would ever want it to change.

His ghastly, rasping vocals never stray into clean territory and this is an important feature for maintaining the darkness in the core black metal sound. Thankfully, Solitude sticks to a core atmo-black vibe, staying well away from gaze and post-metal territory. The album possesses a great comfort for me, something that only actual solitude itself can usually offer. As someone who revels in my own company, easily going for days without seeing or hearing from anyone, this album is the very embodiment of the state that its title uses. Time alone with your own thoughts and reasoned choice is precious, permitting you to ponder your own mortality and contemplate what is important to your very existence. That’s the setting for how I will endeavour to enjoy this album moving forwards.

Neura Bunget are a band I've always somewhat appreciated for balancing their boldness in the avant-garde department with a consistent flow.  The album tight before their signature OM, named 'n crugu bradului, is known among black metal fans for pushing those boundaries, walking the tightrope until picking a love or hate side is basically unavoidable.  I suppose this is the album that cemented them as an experimental band.  I never really had a problem with it, personally.

When I first heard this album, I gave it a 94/100, almost matching their signature, OM, which had a 97.  In fact, I would even go as far as to say the opening epic (the album is divided into four 12-13 minute epics, each numerically named in Roman) is one of the finest black metal songs I've ever heard.  It's like what would happen if Rod Serling and Edgar Rice Burroughs decided to collab, and the end result was a Twilight Zone venture into the mythology of an ancient tribe.  As for the other songs, they deliver some new ideas while following up on the same format as the first, also showcasing another side of them by perfectly implementing light amounts of the folk sounds of their home country, Romania, like people have been doing it for fifty years.  There's one very mellow, lengthy and carefully constructed solo in the middle of III that just tugs at the back of your head, demanding that you try to go to sleep and let yourself be absorbed in the sound until you're rudely awakened by a black metal alarm blaring like a vulture.  Now some of the general black metal riffs here are not the most originally compose, but the production style allows the storminess of their black metal genre to burst through the headphones while going above the Richter scale.  The windiness aspect is made into a piece of wonderfully empty but chilling ambiance on IV which only allows the faint echoes of singing and guitars to bleed out, giving it personality.  It drags on just a little longer than I'd like before the black metal comes back, but it was still impressive.  even then, it includes alien whistling in the midsection that I honestly wanted more of.

This may come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who knows me, but IMO, 'n crugu bradului boasts a lot of brilliance in the way genres are played with among the more typical black metal riffs.  This could make the album a regular for me to blast while trying to drown out noises on the outside, and maybe just because I wanna soak up some of the weirdness.  Like I said in the first paragraph, when I first gave this album a spin, I gave it a 94.  I think I was right.

Along with Dissection, Sacramentum is considered essential to the development of the melodic black metal subgenre.  When I was first exploring the satanic side of black metal, I finally got around to trying these guys and many other classics.  This album specifically was one of the 95/100's, when the other Sacramentum albums couldn't even keep up with it.  Ironically, I just heard both Dissections as well as the first two releases by a more recent band called Stormkeep, and both bands blow this beloved debut album out of the water.  From a genre perspective, it has more strengths than weaknesses.  The epic personality matches perfectly with its production technique.  Somewhat noisy yet still somehow clear, everything comes out beautifully.  A collective of fine melodies and riffs rules the album front to back, never once even allowing a dull moment to enter through the gates of the castle painted on the cover.  For a fan of the genre, this would be some good, easy fun, and because of its influence it remains a revered classic.  But the thing is, I can't revere it the way I used to back when I was still new to black metal.  I admit, this album's a good amount of fun, but I can't compare any one of these melodies, rhythms and riffs favorably to the things I heard in those two Dissection albums or those two Stormkeep albums.  It's like The Aaron Carter to Dissection's Nick Carter, except still listenable.  Either way, unlike the first two Dissection albums, this didn't age quite as well for me, now that we have so many emulators of the two at least being able to match and surpass this one when they usually can't do so with Dissection.  ANd strangely enough, now the other albums are closer to keeping up with this on in my honest opinion.

83

Dimmu Borgir is a much more accessible black metal band than most, so they're probably a very good starting point for exploring black metal in general.  In their best albums, there isn't as strong of a blackened atmosphere as most black metal albums, and their melodies are a bit poppier.  But I haven't heard anyone complain about Dimmu Borgir the way metalheads have done when other bands from other extreme genres end up sounding too "poppy," and maybe this is because Dimmu Borgir maintains a dense sound loaded with gothic energy and textures.  I've even heard that they're one of the highest selling black metal bands in the world.

While the symphonic / melodic / gothic combo prominent in Enthrone Darkness Triumphant is maintained as a constant with minimal variation through the album, the accessibility of the album is lived up to due to the melodic strengths and clever production.  There isn't a single part of it that's not balanced perfectly between catchiness and darkness.  This was different from a much more revered symphonic black album, Emperor's Anthems to the Welkins at Dusk, in the sense that it was more about having fun than it was about developing a style.  And they had done that beautifully, keeping things entertaining and somewhat mystical along the way.  While riffs and extreme technicalities are absent, overall, the catchiness and mystical vibes are almost addicting.  And since the songs are typically between 4 and 6 minutes, it's a miracle than none of them feel too long because they kept on delivering various kinds of catchy and mystical ideas as opposed to be guitar wankers.

I suppose many imitators these days may end up beating this album at its own game with some extra creativity, and part of the reason I'm such an Emperor fan is because of what was done on Welkins.  But I won't deny that every time I hear this album, which is rare, I have fun with it.  They make it easy to get invested in the mystical moods without drawing away from black metal tremelo textures.  The two go together perfectly on this album, and in my opinion, an excellent sense of melody definitely justified the fanbase, historical status and the high sales for a black metal album.

90

I haven't heard the first two Deathspell Omega albums yet, and I heard they were actually kinda mediocre.  That's not gonna stop me from checking them out at some point, but as far as their best stuff goes, Si Monumentum is the album that put them on the map.  Helping to popularize Orthodox Satanism in black metal, revitalizing a topic that was becoming cheesy and unoriginal, they created a repetitive yet complex take on black metal that's just as scary as it is intriguing.  With the right headphones, this production style makes the blackened guitars sound like a freaking tornado.  The title track will even say all of that.  It's like their are constant specks of dirty flying against your window.  If you could drive into an album the way you do on the road, you would NOT want to drive into this.  It'll turn you upside down the way it'll do to your mind and soul.  And it maintains this ride throughout.  However, at 77 minutes, I would say this is a bit much, since the band was able to prove its point time and time again across the first 40 minutes alone.  Still, if the first two albums are considered mediocre by the masses, then Deathspell Omega's tertiary effort is a step forward not only for the band, but for black metal in general.  Easily an important album worth exploring.

87

I believe this is the third time I've heard this album.  I've given several Drudkh albums high marks as I was less experienced in atmo-black, and loved the production and the autumn vibes.  I don't feel like I forced myself to enjoy them, but now that I've heard more than enough metal for a couple lifetimes, going back to this album, I can see why people like it... but not why people love it.  The album's music is basically the equivalent of a musical white noise machine.  There's excellent percussions that are light, speedy and creative, backing up every perfectly produced piece of atmosphere.  Slow melodies can be hypnotic if you just want some slow melodies to send you into a state of total calm.  Drudkh is one of those bands that can make perfect examples of total calm with extreme metal last 40 minutes on end.  But as a guy who craves creativity, suffice it to say, while this album feels like it would be good for the brain and soul, nine minutes without changing pace, especially when all forty minutes of the album do this, doesn't necessarily say great things.  The band is good at this one thing that they can do, but now I don't feel any need to go back to this ever again if I want something calming yet more inventive.  Still, no fear factor, total atmosphere and an almost heavenly sound make this stand out amongst others who try the same thing, at least vibe and production-wise.

75

Leviathan is one of the forerunners of the more emotional brand of black metal.  He has an almost unmatched ability to create sonic textures that leave you haunted, angry or crying.  This is most artistically present in his side project, Lurker of Chalice.  Not sure why he chose a different name, as I imagine that's not great marketing (maybe I'm naive about that), but the album still ended up being a staple in modern day atmo-black metal.  I ignored it for a while because I didn't realize it was a Leviathan project until only a few months ago.  Kickstarting my new List Challenge on Metal Academy, I figured this diversified work would be a good starting point, and it really was.  Songs are drenched in atmosphere, flawless and even elegantly disturbing soundscapes that are more shift in atmospheres than compositional melodies.  This is one of those albums that shouldn't, and I mean SHOULD NOT, build itself on melody, and I'm addicted to melody.  There are moments that are doomy and sorrowful, noisy and disturbing, beautiful and slightly melodic, all organized to put you through an alternate would where pain lies on every road and you're smackdab in the intersection, where the forks in the road stab you and feed you to the wolves.  There are a million different ways for the album to do this, and on most occasions it justifies absurd lengths, such as the ten minute This Blood Falls as Mortal Pt. 3.  Ironically, I found the first song, Piercing Where They Might, to be a bit too repetitive, even at six minutes.  The rest of the album is largely perfect.  I had a feeling this would end up being my pick for the best Leviathan release, and I was right.

98

I'm not very well versed in Abigor, but since I'll be joining Metal Academy's North Clan soon, it's time for me to get started on a North List Challenge. But first, before I handle the 2nd Decade Challenge, I'll celebrate with some classic black metal from Abigor.  I'm familiar with their debut album and thought it was quite good, but nothing special.  This is special, in a million ways.  There's a cinematic approach which allows the band to maximize their abilities.  Flawless production and mixing allows the full extent of their black metal prowess to bleed through like a big gash in the gut.  Not only is the balance between black metal speed and proper compositions perfected, allowing the band to constantly surprise every half a minute without breaking the essence of any song or the album itself, but the crystal production allows that second layer in the background to be heard quietly but clearly.  It would be nice to see them diversify their ideas more, but at least we have some brilliant playing and clever layering to back it all up.  To be honest, the first couple songs astounded me, but it felt less original as it went along.  Still, I'm happy to get through yet another classic in the traditional black metal scene, and I'll definitely check out more Abigor albums later on.

93

The latest BAN album is not the conclusion to the Disharmonium series then, instead it sounds more akin to the Memoria Vetusta era of the band with its sweeping atmospheric black metal. Devoid of some of the elements that can make the band such a tricky prospect at times, Ethereal Horizons feels like a bit of a safe record in the sense that it does little to expand on the established sound of the band, electing to stick with a tried and tested formula with perhaps a couple of nuances for variety’s sake. As I said in my review of Hallucinogen, there is a sense that BAN can release anything and it would still get lauded from a brand perspective anyways. That probably sounds a bit harsh, especially given the fact that there is nothing wrong with their latest opus, in fact it sounds just as accomplished as anything else they have done. A comparison to any of the Memoria Vetusta records is no shaming benchmark either, but there is a sense of the band now just getting a little too close to that sound on too regular a basis though.

Familiarity should not always breed contempt though. Barring perhaps A Flock Named Murder, The Great Old Ones or (at a push) Veilburner, there are not many releases from this year that can hold a candle to Ethereal Horizons in terms of dissonant expansionism. Granting that the cleaner, post-punk vocals do add a different dimension to BAN when comparing them to any of the other black metal brethren that are active in the same year as one of their releases, the soaring melodies, haunting atmospheres and crisp, clean notes are probably all unrivalled is the brutal reality. Whilst the sound may lack the cold abrasiveness of the black metal of Leviathan, the ambient passages are more than a match for Wrest’s.

Ethereal Horizons plays with a warmth at its heart which is a rare description for a BAN record. I find it hard to source any glacial emptiness for any reasonable length of time across these seven tracks. Instead, I am left with an almost tepid version of Greek black metal, only without the Hellenic temperature being present. The almost electronic nature to the tremolo on ‘What Burns Now Listens’ borders on the serene with its sheer shrillness. In many ways, in the face of this positivism, I do find myself longing for the protracted hopelessness of the 777 trilogy or the sheer avant-garde ugliness of MoRT, let alone perhaps the cold industrial atmosphere of The Work Which Transforms God. Hell, even the second Disharmonium album held a more threatening sound for me to admire.

Despite its obvious qualities therefore, I still find Ethereal Horizons somewhat slips through the cracks somewhat. I cannot fault the effort and will remain respectfully flummoxed at the unfathomable depths of imagination that it takes to create an album like this. The feeling that I have heard so much of it before is nigh on impossible to fight though and hence I am already looking for the conclusion to the much more promising Disharmonium trio of albums.

I haven't listened to Finland's Hexvessel before, but a quick bit of background digging tells me that they began life as a psychedelic rock act and feature the UK's Kvohst on guitar and vocals. They have travelled a fair way from those beginnings because this, their seventh full-length, is undoubtedly a metal album, but one that isn't easy to pigeonhole and which weaves together a number of disparate influences into a very modern-sounding record. There are certainly doom metal elements present, particularly of the more -gazey, post-metally type, but that is a long way from the full story here.

Beginning with a short, wistful piano intro, fittingly titled "Opening", which segues seamlessly into a very nice melody and the opener proper, "Sapphire Zephyrs", it becomes apparent that we are dealing with a crew who know a little bit about decent songwriting and musical transitions. The track's initial wistfulness is soon usurped by black metal-derived blasting, but with atypically clean vocals which allow it to maintain its overridingly mournful atmosphere. During its eight minutes the track takes a number of turns with changes in tempo and delivery, yet still sounds exceedingly coherent and consistent, surely the hallmark of good songwriting. This approach is the band's modus operandi for the album as a whole which makes it feel quite progressive, especially on the longer tracks, whilst the post-metally, -gazey elements infuse it with it's doomy and melancholy atmosphere. The production is very clean and allows all the band members contributions to be heard perfectly well, with drums, bass and keys all clearly represented.

All-in-all I enjoyed this, it features some really nice melodies which resonated with me quite deeply and, as I said earlier, the songwriting is top-knotch. It isn't the heaviest album you will hear this year, but it isn't trying to be. It succeeds in it's atmosphere-building, which feels consistent throughout and it's skillful pulling together of its various component influences into a coherent whole is impressive, be it doom, black metal, post-punk or whatever else they throw into this witch's magical brew.

There are some genuine scream vocals and pleasant textures in this album that I am so down for. This album reminds me of everything about winter, and writing this as I am listening to it for the first time in December, I have to say I am very hooked on it. It is packed with memorable melodies and solid riffs. Can't wait for it to snow so I could bump this album even more.

I've been eagerly awaiting the ability to review this, because I've got some things I wanna get off my chest.  Now, I often play Hallucinogen to drown out noise when I need it.  It's one of my go-to albums for that purpose, especially for its dense, mind-warping and just nearly Lynchian psychedelia.  So I was pretty happy that Ethereal Horizons was a return to the Hallucinogen sound.  But as fun as it was, as epic in its approach and as beautifully produced as one would expect from an atmo-black metal band with this much experience, the psychedelia felt a bit nerfed in comparison.  There were some proggier elements scattered around as well, as I often note in reviews for good albums, and many of these were the better parts.  But as epic as they kept things, melodies and vibes were also a little typical.  It was dreadfully easy to compare this negatively to Hallucinogen, although I acknowledged the strengths of the album as well and believe this will satisfy those who like the more sci-fi-oriented sound of this beautifully multi-faceted band.  Hell, it's decisions like that which makes Blut Aus Nord my second favorite black metal band.

77

“This is the album Drudkh should have released this year.” That is what I wrote in my comments cell in my spreadsheet when listening through the first couple of runs of this album. There are a couple of reasons behind that statement. Firstly, Stworz sounds pretty much the same as Drudkh, vocally and musically. Therefore, it is easy to get stuck in treating U śmierci na komornem as the album the Ukrainians failed to release this year. Secondly, and most importantly, it is much more direct and immediate than Shadow Play. For an artist advertised as atmospheric/pagan black metal and neofolk there is some real grit behind the stylings of Stworz. Think Swan Road era Drudkh and you are (again) at a relevant benchmark. Wojsław, is also one half of Polish atmospheric black metallers, Wędrujący Wiatr and anyone familiar with his excellent work there will not be surprised to hear the quality of his song craft in his solo work. Involved in several other projects, Stworz is his longest running artistic stream. Since 2007 he has produced now seven albums alongside various EPs and splits, easily falling into the classification tag of “prolific” with his musical output.

U śmierci na komornem, flows effortlessly both in-track and across the whole album. Seemingly with an inexhaustible level of endurance, the album just keeps going, workmanlike, for ten tracks over fifty-five-minutes. It is hard to find fault in such a devotional level of commitment to one’s artform when it clearly translates into such quality output. Stworz thinks about balance too. Although the folk/pagan elements are present, they are not forced into tracks. Instead, they complement the more aggressive direction, acting almost as a connection (hook even) to a more simplistic yet endearing form of music. Even the instrumental, interludes work well here, although I note on the CD version the final track is some nine-minutes long as opposed to the near three-minutes on the digital version, so the final track might not be all instrumental depending on the version you have.

We are getting to the point in the year where my top 20 albums in black metal are about to be culled to a top ten, which is a sign of a good year if I am having to narrow that number down. Looking at the other artists in the running, Stworz more than hold their own against the other contenders. U śmierci na komornem matches the passion of Gràb’s Kremess, it drives along the same earthy paths as Havukruunu’s Tavastland, exists in the same atmospheric hue as Afsky’s Fællesskab and carries the same level of maturity so obvious on A Flock Named Murder’s Incendiary Sanctum. Without constructing unfathomable complexity or alienating sounds, Stworz’s album blends styles sublimely. It creates atmosphere without getting into ethereal spaces that come across as lofty or overdone. Above all it feels like it was made for you, the listener. It has personality.

Following their debut album from 2021, Malakhim have added a follow up to their discography. My review of their debut, Theion cited a lack of “oomph” to proceedings as being the main spanner in the works on what was an otherwise solid effort. This time around, taking a unique slant on Satanism in the sense that the Devil lives in our very own hearts, singing. The sophomore picks up largely where the debut left off, with the Watain similarities soon easy to pick up on once again. That tempestuous intensity, coupled with the trademark melodicism that is also present makes for a great combination.

There is a timeless nature to black metal in general. With so many artists and albums available in just a few clicks of a mouse it is easy to get lost in the glut of repetitive releases that make up this genre of metal. What releases like And in Our Hearts the Devil Sings can do though is show us that there is nothing wrong in framing something established (there’s no reframing happening here) if you can balance that well executed musicianship and quality song writing. There is a sense of individualism to each of the seven tracks on the album. All still play their part in the overall album experience, showcasing that all too familiar black metal beast that fans of the conventional form will know and love. However, there is a strength that rarely yields across these tracks. This gives the album a sense of completeness. As such this is a very consistent album, built on very firm foundations that can endure the weight of its own expectations that it sets very early on in the record.

The missing “oomph” that I levelled criticism at their debut for misplacing has most certainly been added this time around and it is always good to see a band grow from release to release. Tale the second track, ‘Solar Crucifixion’ that goes with a blinding intensity level from the off but achieves great balance as it goes, placing a suitable reduction in pace appropriately before resetting itself back on the hellish path it first ventured out on. Whilst I would struggle to apply the word “epic” to any of the tracks here, there is certainly a sense of grandeur glancing across some of the songs, with album closer ‘The Firmament Submits’ being a particular high point on the record. Unafraid to embellish songs with leads, Malakhim do so without diluting the darkness that their music generally conjures up.

I can only hope that the band continue this upwards trajectory on future releases. Adding to both the power and the quality of their music shows that Malakhim are certainly going in the right direction. All eyes (well, mine anyway) on album number three then.

At some point around the turn of the decade, I came to the unfortunate realization that old school black metal wasn't for me. The Scandinavian giants that pushed the genre to new heights during the 1990s (Darkthrone, Mayhem, etc.) had a flare for the cold and atmospheric, but lacked any of that cool songwriting stuff that made their material memorable beyond initial contact. The genre has grown throughout the years sure, but I've found that the type of black metal that I enjoy is not considered black metal by the consensus of its audience. And so, I've been forced into solitary confinement with atmo-black and progressive black giants until something a little less demanding comes along to sink my teeth into.

Enter Warmoon Lord, a modern Scandinavian black metal band whose influence is worn on the cover of the debut album, Burning Banners of the Funeral War. Now, four records in, I was hoping to see some growth through the music, or more specifically, if any of these songs had any staying power. After all, if bands are just going to release fluff pieces to their influences, why wouldn't I just listen to those bands instead?

Sacrosanct Demonopathy is a tough listen. I can tell that their is some effort going into it based on how its written. The songs themselves have direction and the flow of the album is quite well done. I like how the album bookends with deliberately slow and controlled instrumentals, before filling the remaining tracks with relentless original black metal. The record is concise and hooks are given some level of appreciation on each song, allowing them to stand out on their own. It's too bad it was all wasted on a black metal album.

I'm sorry, but the production on Sacrosanct Demonopathy is ass. I hate how the most authentic sounding portions of this record are the intros on "Warpoems & Tragedies" and "His Enigmatic Ways". The clean guitar intro sound full and driving, and then the electric guitar and percussion enters and it gets completely neutered. The guitar is compressed to all hell and the bass is practically non-existent. The vocals, which should be front and center, are viewed as an afterthought in how low they are in the hierarchy of sound. And the synth elements? While sparse in their delivery, the few times they do show up they get completely drowned out by the multi-tracked guitars and percussion.

I understand that a lot of my criticism of Sacrosanct Demonopathy and its production is what a lot of black metal like in this style of music. And I have, on occasion, enjoyed a compressed, muted black metal album in the past. What makes this one stand out among the rest is that Warmoon Lord were trying to make something that was more epic, with its power metal and thrash riffs on tracks like "Invoking the Retribution Eidolon" and the poor production does not do any favours. In the end, it's an album that tries to be more progressive and melodic, but the roots of the genre that Warmoon Lord try to keep severely kneecap whatever growth this record might have had.

Best Songs: Invoking the Retribution Eidolon, Tartaros Offering, Daemonic Supremacy Enthroned 

If there is one modern black metal act that I am guilty of neglecting, it is Lamp of Murmuur. Barring a brief flirtation with his debut and a cursory listen to Saturnian Bloodstorm, I have never really invested much time in one of black metal’s most talked about acts of recent times. Buoyed by the two singles that came out ahead of the new album, I made a note to ensure that I listen through the latest offering with a consciously critical ear. Amidst the dashing keys and chimes that accompany the riffs and grim (if not somehow watery sounding) rasps there is clearly more going on than any simple black metal album and so a critical ear is very much needed for this one. Background music this is not.

The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy bases its core sound in the rudimentary elements of black metal. Embellished with the symphonic flourishes of Emperor it still retains the attack of Immortal whilst maintaining an often-simplistic approach to riffs. Where things do get interesting is when the post-punk elements come into play. Now, I personally enjoy post-punk and do have a few albums in my collection. The connection to black metal is not hard to make from a thematic perspective with angst, repression and societal decay (to mention but a few) being common across both sub-genres. That is not to say that LoM get the inclusion of this style correct in my view. As much as I accept that clean vocals can have their place in black metal, there placement on this album does feel off at times. Adopting that familiar Attila crooning style that I picked up on in the debut album, LoM again deploy this style here alongside some more cleaner singing. The cleaner parts work well on the more post-punk obvious tracks (‘The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part I – Moondance’ & ‘The Dreaming Prince in Ectasy Part II - Twilight Orgasm’), yet there is a couple of occasions when they feel invasive and detract from the enjoyment of the track.

Overall though this fusion of styles is refreshing and is well balanced enough to still make this feel like a cohesive opus. Would the three tracks that make up the component parts of the title work as a standalone offering (as an EP, for example)? Hell yes. However, by being included on the album they show the variety available in the LoM arsenal. The lead work on Part III is sublime in a post-metal styling, yet the vocal element is classic Emperor to my ears. The more ambient parts are the only part of the album that is lost on me really, but even this may grow on me with repeated listens. It is just a shame for me that the album ends on a sour note since it is an acoustic number that stands out as being of different character to everything else present on the record.

Featuring Brouillard from many other projects in the black and doom world (Alukta, Les Légions du Déclin, Transcending Rites...the list goes on), French duo 1928 give us all a respectful nod to the old school with this their debut full length album.  Following on from their 2024 EP, Les meutes sé​ditieuses this album is advertised as raw French black metal.  In reality, I have heard rawer, but that's not to say that the conventional black metal that is coupled on occasion with some black 'n roll isn't thoroughly entertaining.  There is a lot of heart behind what 1928 put together here and it is clear where Déclin and Brouillard's passion lies.  Whilst this release does not quite keep up with the likes of Altar of Woe from this year, the intent to do harm is clear and present at all times.

With an album cover not dissimilar to the 2021 album by Spectral Wound, A Diabolic Thirst 1928 possess a similar potency in their attack without quite straying into the more melodic teritory inhabited by Canada's black metal terrors.  With Brouillard on vocals, she rasps and howls her way through nine resplendent tracks of black metal.  The album detail I have does not specify who plays what on the record in fact.  Whomever it is who is howling their very soul out, props to them.  The punky/black 'n roll riff that opens ' Le royaume incondé' catches you off-guard at first but then the track soon settles down into a mid-paced mauling before increasing the tempo later in the track.  In short, 1928 keep things interesting.

Opening the album with a short burst of the French national anthem is another unexpected moment, and one that threatened some concern from me in that this was going to be a theme for the album.  It isn't.  This is perhaps one of the more immediate and direct balck metal albums of 2025 if I am honest.  These two aren't here to fuck around after all.  If I am being picky, I think it could benefit from a more raw sound than it has, and I acknowledge there is a decent level of rawness here already.  I think the direction here is clearly supposed to be a dark and scathing one and the production job does not necessarily do justice to that ethos.  Still, I cannot shy away from what is still agreat record though, and on which has been on rotation for a solid couple of weeks already. 

Listening through Vemod by the now sadly defunct Solbrud earlier today, I was struck by how such rich textures could be created from such chaotic sources. With a sixteen-minute plus length track sat during the record, it is testimony to the quality on display that my attention could be held for the entire duration of the track. This incursion into Danish black metal reminded me that I was overdue another run through of the latest album from fellow Danes, Sunken. Lykke is made up of tracks that are all over the ten-minute mark, and so my earlier session with Vemod served as good training it seems.

Sunken occupy a more atmospheric space than their fellow countrymen and as a result their sound has the requisite expansiveness that one would expect from such a style. Lykke successfully combines the misery of DSBM in the vocals with the vast open spaces that get conjured from the music of WITTR. The harrowing vocal performance on ‘Og det er lykke’ that contrasts with the atmospheres of the track gives a real sense of the futility of howling into the void. Yet at the same time it is impossible to deny the comfort I find in those very same textures. In fact, the album title translates in English as “happiness”, which is one of the rarest of emotions to explore in black metal. However, Sunken do this to great success I feel. My overall experience of the record is that I find it a very uplifting experience.

The Afsky influence is there (the band shares live members with Afsky) but there is a lot more density to this record. The weight of the ocean is obvious in Sunken’s sound. This is an album of unfathomable depths that does not assume darkness to be the overarching theme to such unseen realms. Whilst melancholy is certainly one of the key themes of the sound, it is not entirely painted in noir shades. The grey instead facilitates reflection within that pensive sadness, as opposed to just blind acceptance that it is happening, regardless of often not knowing the cause. Take a moment to revel in the glory of ‘Glædesfærd’ with its slow to mid-tempo balancing the weight of this emotion perfectly.

Over the past year, I have become more interested in Danish black metal, and Lykke is one of the albums that typifies why I find it such an interesting scene. Whilst I cannot deny the size of the sound that is present, it possesses real subtlety at the same time. The immense opening of closing track ‘Når livet går på hæld’ stays with me long after the track and indeed the album has finished. This experience is common amongst the Solbrud, Afsky, Gespenst and Glemsel releases I have listened to recently, all of which leads me to believe that Denmark is a gem of a country for black metal that needs further exploration.

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.

Poland is at it again. Producing great black metal is hardly a rarity in terms of a country that has Mgla and Deus Mortem to answer for. Martwa Aura deploy the production skills of Mgla/Kriegsmsachine maestro, M. for Lament, and a mighty fine job he does too. This is another blend of intense black metal that permeates any room it is played in, coating the walls in its acrid output, teasing melodies into the ether like a gang of insane dancing imps. Chiming guitar melodies haunt tracks such as ‘Lament czwarty’, whilst spoken word vocals appear here and there to help induce meditative states in the listener. All performed against a solid background of percussion, dashing tremolos and rasping, venomous vocals.

I was familiar with Martwa Aura following their last album from five years ago. Morbus Animus was a four-star album in the end, and it is pleasing to find Martwa Aura picking up where they left off on that album with Lament. There is no doubt from the beginning of opening track ‘Lament pierwszy’ that the band are on the attack, with this riffy little number firmly lining up what to expect from the rest of the album. Unafraid to be creative, these Poles hint at an almost post-punk style to the clean vocals on ‘Lament piąty’, whilst the rest of the track is a certified black metal banger. Gregor’s vocals can take on a real demented edge at times which underlines the urgency in the tone of the band’s sound. Martwa Aura’s music sounds pressing to the point of being smothering. It is in your face all the time, there is no hope of this being background music whatsoever. This is front and centre of your world for the duration of the record.

There is a fine selection of leads to pick from alongside all these riffs, and these blooping and looping melodies enchant and enhance the overall album experience perfectly. Forty minutes in the company of this record just flies by and before you know it you are being pulled through the final throes of the only track that does not conform to the “lament…” prefix. ‘Morbis Animus II’ seems to be a missing track from their previous album that has parts I & III in the track listing. This track is perhaps the slowest tempo on offer here and is almost a palate cleanser for the album to close with when compared to the primal intensity on show for the rest of the release.

I have been slowly building focus on the black metal scene in Denmark. Having soon come across the likes of Afsky, Sunken and Solbrud, my attention was quickly alerted to Kold. A little-known duo who to date have released two full lengths, Kold have proven to be quite the discovery. With nods to WITTR in their sound, Kold also have a very modern take on their black metal, venturing into post and gaze territory (although thankfully not too much of the latter). Whilst similarities could also be drawn with Afsky, this pairing have a more restrained approach overall by comparison. The melancholy in their music really resonates through the notes on the guitar, yet they can also keep pace with the faster elements of black metal (check out ‘Forvitet Fortid’).

It was obvious from my first listen to Det falmede håb that there was something special about this record. My early alarm at the clean and gazey section on ‘Alt vi havde kært’ was unnecessary as this style is isolated to that fifteen-minute track and there is much, much more to savour in this lengthy performance alone. Kold are masters at shifting effortlessly from these cleaner, more melodic passages into the frenzied aggression of conventional, atmospheric black metal. Wielding melody with much the same threat as they do with their more intense movements, Kold deploy climbing riffs, soaring tremolos and icy crystal cut atmospheres to great effect. Even though most of the tracks are well over six-minutes, the total fifty-minute run time does not ever feel bloated or overdone.

Fans of Paysage d’hiver will recognise some of the tricks borrowed from the Swiss maestro here. The Kold sound is full of winter with more than an element of astral projection swirling around in the darkness also. The consistency levels across Det falmede håb are remarkable. As such, this is perhaps only the second album I have ever listened to that I can truly say I never want to end. I get utterly lost in its enduring majesty and can never stop marvelling at the attention to detail involved here. Driven by a clear passion for their artform, Kold have a real fire about what they do and this translates to an almost resplendent level of entertainment for me.

Woods of Belial was created by the Sorvali brothers Henri and Ville, members of Finnish Pagan black metal band Moonsorrow. Adopting the stage names Blood and Wohi, they took on a darker, more experimental sound, industrial black-doom. They already made two demos before this, Thy Unholy Pentagram and Baxabaxaxaxaxabaxaxaxaxa! 666 Yndstr Draconis, both in the late 90s. In 2002, the band began making a 3rd demo, then Firebox Records offered a deal to promote it as a full album...

Deimos XIII is, similarly to Green Carnation's Leaves of Yesteryear, a 5-track album that includes two extras. 5 tracks in 50 minutes, wow! They do their industrial black-doom sound pretty well. Although the old-school black metal elements bleed through, the compositions are slower and darker in the riffing and drums.

"Worm of Na'ruq" is a sinister electronic intro. It leads to "Desolate", which is the more doomy track, even leaning into the post-sludge of Neurosis and Isis. The riffing is a bit repetitive, especially when it keeps getting repeated for a third of the track, but other than that, it's pure high-quality darkness. "Halla" is the shortest full song, but it has their blackened side, including screams and organs. Atmospheric black metal is combined with funeral-ish doom, in a similar vein to Katatonia's debut and Dolorian. Suitable for exploring the dark lands of Morytania in RuneScape.

"The 13th Horror" has some killer moments from all 3 of the main genres, but some parts can a little boring and dragged out throughout those 17 minutes. The ambient industrial instrumental finale "Pervertum II" is, oddly enough, the most memorable part of the album. It pretty much exemplifies the dark temptation of the more experimental side of The Sphere. A breath of fresh dark air!

Deimos XIII is a fresh decent album. I just wish some things would be improved for a less draggy repetitive album. It's always good to try new things, whether the results are exciting or disappointing. The Sorvali brothers would focus on their main band after this....

Favorites: "Desolate", "Halla", "Prevertum II"

When I heard that Labyrinthus Stellarum had a new album in 2025, and in such short order after Vortex of the Worlds, I wasn't expecting the album to be this drastic of a departure. It still has what I would consider the essence of the Ukrainian atmospheric black metal project, but instead of playing into the expected tropes of bands like White Ward and Deafheaven, Labyrinthus Stellarum borrow heavily from Blood Incantation of all groups! Specifically, the minimalist electronics of the album Timewave Zero. Make no mistake, Rift in Reality is an EBM album, and that's not the abbreviation you think it is.

Rift in Reality is, by all accounts, a pop album that just so happens to use black metal foundations. And I could not help being a little bit excited with "Voyagers", "Take Us Home" and "Cosmic Plague". And because the tracks are so short in execution, it becomes really easy to digest a project like this; it feels like you're getting hit by a truck relentlessly, but before you know it, it's over.

I would say that's a good thing most of the time, but Labyrinthus Stellarum litter Rift in Reality with some truly gross mixing. This record has zero grit and no desire to grow or show any dynamic swell. The guitar playing on this record is so neutered by compression that it might not even be here at all. The idea that this album could be considered metal at all should be troubling. The bass might as well not even exist with the exception of the few synth breaks because most of this albums highlighted parts are the percussion and vocals. The vocals are pleasant enough, but the percussion, like with their previous album, has this faded reverb effect throughout the album, which contributed greatly to the spacey and existential themes presented, but without anything to ground it in place, it loses some of that grandeur.

Rift in Reality is an album that might be considered controversial, especially by the black metal purists. But I wanted to like Rift in Reality within its first few moments and its attempts to go more pop. But terrible production choices make the rift between artful black metal and mainstream electronic metal more defined than ever before.

Best Songs: Ravenous Planet, Lost in the Void, Cosmic Plague

Iceland. The country of volcanoes, hot springs, the Northern Lights and black sand. Add to this list black metal of course, more specifically black/death in the form of Reykjavík’s Nexion. With their sophomore album, Sundrung (disharmony, discord or sundering), this five-piece are showing clear signs of hitting their stride early on in their recorded output. Simply put, this record is monstrous. Monstrous in the sense that it has nothing but wicked intent. Monstrous as in it sounds like some crawling beast that is literally dragging all the tortured souls of hell and Hades’ underneath every one of its groundings. If ever a benchmark for true black/death metal is needed then there is a perfect, modern reference sat right here.

You can easily find comparisons to a whole host of other Icelandic metal bands present in Nexion’s sound. Svartidauði, Misþyrming, Sinmara, etc we all know the key players out there. Yet you will also find a host of other influences on Sundrung. Vocally, on more than one occasion, I hear spurts of Tom G Warrior as Josh Rood goes through his range of scathing, blackened styles against a backdrop of dissonance that would not be out of place on an Ulcerate record (‘When Raven Steals the Sun’, being a great example of the dissonance effect). There is variety to in the track arrangement, with atmospheric interlude ‘:Þþþ:’ acting as a fetid palate cleanser in the middle of the album before the horror resumes with the distinctly black/death n’ roll opening of ‘Hymn of the Valkyrjur’.

Chanted or layered vocals seek to only add more mystery and intrigue into the ritual that it is this album. The frenzied attack of ‘Rending the Black Earth’ does not lose any sense of solemn ceremony during its glorious assault. Mining tremolos resonate throughout the track creating enchanting dissonance as they blare like victory horns across a shattered landscape. The sense of foreboding never leaves Sundrung over the eight tracks that make up its forty-eight-minute run time. The tension is masterfully poised by the band throughout which is an achievement in itslf given that its nefarious intentions are always firmly on display also, leaving the listener in no doubt of what they are dealing with here.

The only criticism I can level at Sundrung is the lack of strength in the drums, which is not something that necessarily wounds the album beyond repair, yet it still is a weakness that is obvious in what is otherwise an incredibly strong album. Arguably, with a twin guitar attack set against those vocals, you should expect something to get lost, but when it is an important component such as the drums then it does have an obvious impact.

Dutch black metal quartet, Kaeck kick off their suitably named third album, (translated as) Horrible Welcome, with a horrible sounding track. ‘Door gespleten tongen bezworen’ (‘Conjured by Forked Tongues’) is a real dank sounding piece of black metal, punctuated by stabs of synths that could accompany crawling shadows in any Nosferatu flick in days gone by. These keys are a key component of the albums sound. Creating atmosphere against the barking guitar that growls like a pack of hellhounds, this adds authenticity to the sound most certainly. In using them, the album avoids embarking on a truly symphonic experience and can focus on generating a real sense of horror instead.

The downside is that it soon gets old. Now, I know that nobody listens to conventional black metal for masses of variation, but Kaeck are on their third album here and as much as I admire them for sticking with a tested format, the issue here is that the tracks soon all start to morph into one. Whilst I accept that the pace and tempo do alter throughout the record, the keys end up just droning on in the background. Sometimes, they aren’t deployed fully even and whilst this I could argue gives a bit of respite, it does unfortunately come across as if the keyboard player is just falling asleep and coming back in between power naps.

What starts out as a promising album therefore soon fades into obscurity, and I can’t help but feel a bit robbed. Even though I acknowledge that Kaeck can create a ghastly black metal sound, they just don’t do enough with it to hold my interest. After four tracks, I could guess the structure of the remaining three, very easily. If you like your bm to be based on pure repetition alone, then this one is most definitely for you. Ultimately though this gives very little reward otherwise. Fair play for trying to recreate those early 90’s eerie vibes but the authenticity of that over three decades after the event is questionable.

For the first ten or fifteen seconds of the new Afsky record, the listener can be forgiven for wondering just what the hell they have gotten themselves into. Bright sounding, female vocals kick off the opening track, sounding to all intent and purpose like some foreign pop group has sabotaged the expected black metal opus you have just clicked play on. Thankfully, it is but a ruse. Soon enough the familiar coldness sweeps into the sound as Afsky treats us to an epic opening tremolo, the kind that vibrates your teeth together as it goes on for the best part of two minutes. Fællesskab has a feeling of the grandiose to it from the off really. This cinematic edge to proceedings with explosions of riffs (check out ‘Den der ingenting ved tvivler aldrig’), howls of ghastly despair and rich, undulating melodicism all makes for one hell of a listening experience.

Possessing the earthy tones of Drudkh and the atmospheres of WITTR, Fællesskab might be Afsky’s best effort to date. Ole Pedersen Luk, to give him his proper name, once again handles everything on the record giving a fantastic acquittal of himself in the process. He drops in some traditional metal sounding moments along the way that sit effortlessly alongside the more traditional black metal fare on offer. Afsky’s high-pitched vocals are toned to bring the cold in at a second’s notice, and so when things get a little too far away from the black metal roots, he’s there with his shrill vocals to bring the temperature back down to a suitable level of tundra. The tremolos have a folk style to them, an almost warbling sound in fact, and as a result they seem to swirl in the air around the listener like bastardised songbirds.

With no track under six minutes in length, the forty-five minute run time feels full yet not bloated. Albeit far from a Marduk level of intensity, the record does have a sense of charging momentum to it. The pace of the attack that opens ‘Arveskam’ is a good reference point for this. There’s a balance to the tempo here that keeps the energy but introduces the melodies at the same time. Having referenced Drudkh earlier in the review, I would say this is a much better album than Shadow Play. It has a more direct approach, resulting in more potency in the riffing. The bell tolls of ‘Flagellanternes sang’ herald a superb, morbidly melodic bm track that is positively spellbinding. Fællesskab may not be the darkest, most glum black metal release of the year but it is the most exciting for sure. Four records in and Afsky is really hitting his stride with his maturing brand of black metal. I am unable to point out criticism on Fællesskab, making it a strong contender for AOTY in my book.

Popol Vuh is a total sonic assault on the senses for those who dare to delve into this latest release from the renowned main persona of the Black Twilight Circle, Eduardo “Volahn” Ramirez. It is a complex blend of atmospherics, scathing black metal and indigenous sounds that can be traced back to the Mesoamerican civilisation, the Mayans. Sang entirely in Spanish, these six tracks leave very little room for breath, charging at the listener with an unrelenting fury that is as dizzying as it is terrifying. Popol Vuh is quite the disorientating experience at first, and it took a couple of listens for me to grasp what was going on and understand that despite the raging intensity of the pace, it is a well-balanced record.

This is an album that sounds evil. Reminiscent of the smothering soundscapes of Akhlys at times, Popol Vuh has its roots embedded in the true extreme foundations of the black metal genre. From a guitar perspective, it rarely involves melody when it comes to laying down the grounds of its attack. Favouring acoustics for any requirement to bring the record into less offensive sounding territory, it is the use of native instruments that really sets the sound apart from probably most of what the average black metal fan has heard so far this year. Couple all of this with the icy sonics of Paysage d’hiver and you soon come to an understanding of the quality on offer here.

Absolutely resolute in its Mexican nationalism, this album commemorates “the anniversary of the Spanish defeat at the hands of the triumphant Guatemalan warriors” and heralds “the twilight of Mexican Independence”. The sound of the album portrays superbly the tumult of the history it shares and is delivered with a clear passion. There is a sense of mastery to the album that usually comes when the traditional instrumentation of an ancient civilisation is played so well alongside such an extreme facet of music as it is here. There is almost an astral element to Popol Vuh that I was not expecting to hear at the outset and as such it is an album that has caught me off guard in terms of how much I have ended up enjoying it.

The loosely described “experimental black metal” of Arrows offers a different side to the Jünger Tumilon music collective that explores a much darker aesthetic. Retaining those death doom elements also, Yearning Arrows; Cloven Suns still packs a hefty punch and infuses this brevity of riffs with a level of horror atmospherics to really mix things up. It is hard not to be terrified at various points of ‘At War with Peace’, blending tribal elements with more progressive elements and a driving rhythm too boot, this is a massive track on what is only a(nother) four track release. The clean vocals that are used here fit perfectly into the menacing fade of the track, suggesting this battle is still ongoing long after the record is finished.

Arrows have synths and they are not afraid to use them. Stabbing atmospherics into songs like devilishly sharp blades into flesh, they accompany the guitars perfectly whilst building tension well at the same time. The main point of interest in the sound of Arrows though is the bellicose vocal style that gets used intermittently throughout the record. Clean vocals can be made to sound threatening and this approach is a perfect example of this being done to good effect. I did find this element to be leaning on the too quirky side of things at first. However, I soon found them to be more of a unique identifier in the sound of the album. Darvish and Menetekel share vocal duties, cleverly giving this variety into proceedings without making it sound forced as I suspect it would if one vocalist tried to flex their style.

It is clear to hear Arkhaaik in Arrows, given that all three band members on Yearning Arrows; Cloven Suns are the exact same trio who put together Uihtis this year. What a wonderfully busy and experimental 2025 these three are having. Of the two records, this one shades the other (albeit marginally) as it presents much more directly. Whereas Uihtis relies a lot more on build up, this Arrows release manages to retain that same element of mystery whilst being able to express more of a bloodlust in how it is presented. The experimental tag does not mean a multitude of instruments either, similarly I can also allay any fears of sprawling structures of endless spoken word inserts (thankfully). Despite its clear progressive tendencies, this record retains an earthiness to it still and comes out very near the top of the pile of releases this year. It is The Fallen clan that this one should definitely reside in still, its monolithic pace is still the core of the sound after all.

Jünger Tumilon is described as a musical collective from Switzerland. What it appears to mean is that most of the band that make up the collective all share members or are involved in multiple projects that make up the collective. It’s like a Kibbutz for fucked up music basically. The trio that makes up Arkhaaik all conform to this multi-faceted approach to band membership, with no fewer than eleven different, active bands being listed as containing members of Arkhaaik. Described as blackened doom by at least one reviewer on Bandcamp, they certainly do not conform to any norm when it comes to their sound.

Whilst I would perhaps challenge the blackened element as being that prominent in their sound, there is no question on the doom front when it comes to Uihtis. Riffs are thick and atmospheres often thicker, the tribal aspects to the sound invoking as much mystery into proceedings as they do heaviness. The theme of the album is a Bronze Age hunt, obviously; aren’t all good metal albums themed on this after all? Except the album goes beyond the mere act of hunting and the ceremonial slaughter of an animal and adopts the concept for half of the album of the sun hunting the moon and vice-versa. Did you follow that? Keep up, folks.

Joking aside, Uihtis is not half as bonkers as I expected it to be. The chanting vocals that expand tracks beyond the gruff approach that is generally deployed do fit well in terms of furthering that transcendental aspect to the record. Where those mining black metal riffs do get to stretch their legs, they bring some element of dashing menace to proceedings. Yet in the main, Uihtis is structured on strong percussion and rhythmic riffing to drive the message home. Arkhaaik’s sound is the marching of foot soldiers, not as an army, more as resistance fighters. A small, yet capable band of warriors, relentless in their pursuit of their prey, regardless of whether it be man or beast.

With no track being under ten minutes, the band have lots of time to fill and thankfully their approach to song writing rewards the listener. Cleverly balancing the use of atmosphere and instrumentation to build and temper tracks appropriately, I soon found myself absorbed into tracks such as the mesmerising ‘Hrkþos Heshr Hiagom’. The structure changes regularly enough on this track to keep it interesting without losing momentum or the sense of intrigue either. This is the main reason for the success of Uihtis, it is varied without feeling like it is just lots of things thrown into a studio mix for the hell of it. It won’t make many end of year lists probably as there is more than enough content here to alienate a hardened metalhead. Yet it should be recognised for its ingenuity alone. My advice is to look beyond the length of the tracks and settle into the content.

As I grow older, and my catalogue of music listening grows, fewer things surprise me. ...And Oceans surprised me with some great melodic black metal on Cosmic World Mother in 2020, they surprised me again in 2023 when the album As in Gardens, So in Tombs flew entirely under my radar, and in 2025, The Regeneration Itinerary made it to my review bench with industrial and cyber metal elements!

Now long time fans might find this less than surprising since the band has dabbled in electronics before on albums such as Cypher. But I wonder just how well the electro-industrial tinges will actually work with a band that is already pretty bloated with symphonic orchestras. And here's the thing: I'm not trying to say that ...And Oceans don't deserve some credit for being ambitious, but sometimes the pendulum swings way too far in the opposite direction. In short, The Regeneration Itinerary is an album trying to redirect everything wrong with Lorna Shore's discography, but it ends up becoming too drastic.

While Lorna Shore litter their albums from top to bottom with every single instrument screaming at you nonstop for over an hour, the main criticism is that albums like Pain Remains have no leveling. Conversely, ...And Oceans have the same problem, but the compression here is drastic. And while it certainly makes for a more enjoyable project than anything Lorna Shore has done, I cannot help but feel like the intensity is missing. The necessity by ...And Oceans to compress this album as much as they did is part of the problem; every part of the record sounds purposeful and given attention. When the electro-industrial parts of "Inertiae" and "The Form and the Formless" come out they are present, but when the guitars and drums re-enter, they sound timid. And that carries even more so into Mathias Lillmåns' vocals. 

I won't call it a bad record. Compositionally, The Regeneration Itinerary is a well constructed release with plenty of variety between the individual tracks. But the way in which it has been mixed and mastered does no favours. It's more pleasant than listening to a Lorna Shore album in 2025, but ...And Oceans are left feeling like they are not playing up to their full potential.

Best Songs: Chromium Lungs, Bronze Optics, Prophetical Mercury Implement, The Ways of Sulphur, The Terminal Filter

As the Burzum chimes grow heavier on 'Der Spalt zwischen den Welten' ('the gap between worlds') there is a sense that Rauhnåcht's fifth full length has arrived. I am very much a fan of that particular trait from the Filosofem album, so any use of that sound can only be a good thing in my book. For a band/artist that is advertised as pagan black metal, it was a bit of a surprise to hear ambient chimes, yet it fits the track aesthetic perfectly. There are other influences on show as well, such as the illusions of grandeur of Summoning or the earthy fortitude of Drudkh.

Zwischenwelten (‘between worlds’) is music for times of adversity. Acting as a balm with its soothing atmospheres yet also providing strength and hope in the chants and resonating tremolo riffs. As an album it has a succinctness in how it plays for just under forty-minutes, as if the artist is taking brief respite from some daily labour to share tales of mysticism and dark fantasy. As the album artwork alludes to, there is a darkness to the album that dress its contents as a warning, a collection of tales of what exactly it is that lurks in that gap between worlds; without ever stating which worlds are being spoken about.

Although less direct in approach than Drudkh, the timbre of the guitar matches on track such as ‘Naturgewalten’ (‘forces of nature’) as it builds up to full speed. Cleverly applying atmospherics in the vacant space around the instruments is well done. As with the album overall, the pagan/folk elements are obvious but never intrusive and as such Zwischenwelten feels like a more conventional black metal album than at first expected. I think the release is only let down by the fact that it lacks any genuine standout moments though. There is no raging intensity that takes the breath away at any point, nor any passages of true ethereal beauty to reflect upon either. Closing track ‘Alleinsamkeit’ comes close with its choral vocals and melancholic leanings but still comes up short in the long run.

It has take me a while to catch onto LoM. This one-man black metal project sees high praise regardless of where I look and last night, whilst revelling in the glorious fury of Storm Amy to remind us all of our place on this planet, I watched a couple of USBM documentaries with this guy being called out on both. Whilst I have high hopes for the new album, based on the single that is out currently at least, I have found this debut to be inferior to Saturnian Bloodstorm from 2023, yet not without its merits.

I like how the majority of the similarities come from other contemporary bm acts as opposed to just endless second wave worship (Immortal and Mayhem aside - those yodellingvocal moments are pure Attila, "De Mysteriis..." worshp to my ears). This makes for an interesting album that sounds modern whilst still firmly nodding to the old ways. It has an enduring, ever-forging direction to it. The atmospherics seem to grow as the album presses on, culminating with the Dead Can Dance cover at the end of the record.

Embracing rawness alongside melodicism to much success, Heir of Eclipital Romance is a strong debut album that sets out the stall of LoM well enough I feel. It is a tad too long in hindsight, which could be put down to over-exuberance on the artists part. Credit where it is due though, I enjoy the record enough as the start of my (chronological) LoM journey.

Arkhaaik are a Zurich-based three-piece who, as their name, a stylised version of "archaic" suggests, are interested in exploring pre-history, in particular the culture and practices of Bronze Age Europe. Their debut album, 2019's "*dʰg̑ʰm̥tós", was an exploration of the religion and deities of this culture, with the somewhat questionable claim to being sung in the long dead Indo-European language of the time. This 2025 follow-up takes as its theme The Hunt in both a literal and an analagous religious context.

Musically, this takes the form of blackened, old-school, cavernous death metal with death-doom tendencies, which often utilises pounding rhythms and horn-like effects to give the album a paganistic and sometimes ritualistic vibe. The tracks are fairly lengthy affairs, with the almost fifty minutes of "Uihtis" containg only four, varying from ten to fifteen minutes in duration. This affords the band plenty of leisure to build the atmospheres and vibe of arcane hunting ritual that they are striving for. Whilst metal is rightly most often judged on the quality of its riffs, and the album contains some very nice death metal riffs to be sure, I think the strength of "Uihtis" lies in its percussion and the tribalistic patterns and atmospherics that it conjures up. To this end I think drummer Vâlant deserves huge praise as his work is crucial to the album's success. The vocals also contribute massively with the bellowing roars and growls being supplemented by the whoops and howls of the (presumably successful) hunters alongside some nice native-like chants.

Despite all this aesthetical window-dressing and conceptual exposition, I guess what most metalheads want to know is, "Does it fucking slay"? I would reply with a resounding, "Oh yes, you fucking bet". I don't think it leans as heavily into the death doom side of the equation as the debut did, this being more in the vein of blackened Autopsy-style OSDM than true death doom, but with some pretty fucking brutal blasting sections and those hulking, tribalistic throbs this could indeed slay a woolly mammoth by sheer bludgeoning weight alone.

In conclusion I would say that if you are someone who loves old-school, cavernous death metal and would like to hear it used in a slightly different context then this is definitely a release you should wrap your ears around.

Derby's Abduction are one of those black metal bands who seemingly beaver away with no fanfare or support from the music industry at large, making me wonder how they keep at it. It isn't like the UK has exactly ever been overflowing with good black metal acts now is it? Anyway, Abduction is the brainchild of guitarist and vocalist Phil Illsley, aka A|V, with guest musicians providing drums, bass and additional guitars. I was well behind the band around the time of the 2018 album, "A Crown of Curses" which I have on cassette from the now defunct Death Kvlt Productions label, but I have lost touch with their progress over the last few years.

So here we are in 2025 and album number five. This is a well-produced and written slab of vicious and savage-sounding black metal that makes no pretence to the folky or celtic atmospherics which are often a staple of UK black metal, but which goes for the jugular in full-on attack mode. That doesn't mean the thin and tremolo-heavy sound of true raw black metal, the production is too thick and muscular for that, but it takes a more bludgeoning approach, in the vein of death metal. Even though this is still unambiguously black metal with pummelling blast beats and tremolo riffing, there is a fullness of sound that puts more meat on the genre's usually skeletal bones. The band sound very tight and the playing is excellent throughout.

A|V has an excellent vocal delivery with a howling savagery and angst-ridden desperation borne of emotional frustration that screams in the face of an uncaring universe. His lyrics are poetic and dense and I haven't had much time to sit down with them so far, but I am sure they are much deeper in meaning than I have as yet been able to ascertain. The killer riffs are powerful and are driven by a phenomenal powerhouse of a rhythm section as drummer Ed Gorrod and bassist Gavin Archer blast a path with the force of a high explosive drone strike. The tracks all flow nicely with decent variation of pacing, despite the overarching aggressive feel of the album. and the songwriting seems of as high a standard as the musicianship.

All told, this is a very good slab of UKBM and with, in my opinion, the recent decline of previous UK heavyweights such as Winterfylleth and Saor there is no reason why Abduction should not sweep in and claim the mantle of the premier UK black metal act.

Apocalypse Orchestra are a five-piece from Gävle in Sweden and they have a penchant for doom metal heavily coloured by european folk music. They seamlessly integrate medieval folk instruments such as hurdy-gurdy, mandola, cittern and pipes with the modern electrified instruments of doom metal in a way that feels perfectly natural and unforced. The slow, plodding riffs of doom metal are used as a foundation upon which the band interprete medieval folk melodies for a modern metal-loving audience.

I do love folk music, but I am often disappointed by its unsubtle use when utilised as a trope in metal, with a lot of folk metal sounding trite and just downright cheesy. I never felt that way once though whilst listening to "A Plague Upon Thee" because it is just so tastefully done, with an apparently equal reverence for both folk and metal. You would be forgiven for suspecting AO of playing a doom metal version of viking metal, given their swedish origins, but there is a distinct lack of the whiff of longship and battleaxe within "A Plague Upon Thee", with it often being more celtic-sounding à la Saor than the Norse influences of a Bathory or Wardruna. The doom metal side of the equation is quite functional and, in truth, it doesn't vary hugely from track to track, with most of the eight tracks following the same tempo. It is perfectly well executed, but is utilised more as a foundation or rhythm section if you like, providing the staging upon which the folk melodies and instruments perform their magic.

The lyrical themes revolve around the harshness of medieval life, plague and the ever-pervasive presence and domination of religion over the lives of the peasantry. The lyrics are beautifully delivered by voclist Erik Larsson who has a great line in clean vocals, supported by almost symphonic backing vocals provided by the rest of the band. Despite the inate heaviness and mournfulness of doom metal and the generally bleak tone of the lyrics, the music still often feels almost hopeful, as if, despite the harshness of life, there is still a ray of light or shred of comfort to be gleaned amidst all the darkness and hardship.

I really enjoyed "A Plague Upon Thee" and found its folk-centric take on doom metal to be a refreshing twist on what can often be a conservative and predictable genre. That it also avoids the trap of cringy cheesiness that plagues so much folk metal is testament to the band's skillful songwriting and reverence for their sources of inspiration. If you are looking for a different take on doom metal then I would heartily recommend this.