Black Metal 2025 by Vinny

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.

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.

When I go looking for a black metal record, as in a real black metal record, The Triumph… is the exact type of record I want to find. Full of vicious riffing and strained keys, with ghastly vocals too boot. The percussion is just awash with that shimmering hue of hi-hats over the rest of the music, but they never invade the other elements. The rampant riffs of ‘Necromancer’s Night’ shows this perfectly, the riffs get front and centre at a couple of points and it is glorious in underlining the beastly nature of the track. Despite the raw approach here, I sense some calculation in the arrangement of tracks as the album does only appear to grow in stature as it blazes its way along to completion.

I have listened to a lot of black metal over the years and the albums that I hold in high regard all exude passion for their artform. In a sub-genre that champions the minimalist approach it is easy to become lost in a sea of raw, primitive and yet utterly emotionless music. There is absolutely a time and place for that, however with where I am at in my bm musings nowadays I like to hear some heart in what I am listening to. Luckily for me, Gràb are full of passion for what they do. Yes, the melodicism helps no end here. That smattering of doomy atmosphere also does much to enhance the experience. But at the very core of Kremess is the undeniable presence of musicians revelling in what they love doing and in turn letting the listener revel in the majesty of the music they produce.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

The ghastly rasps of Juuso firmly keeps the mindset in the black metal camp though. The vocals have a delirious tone to them, bordering on howls at times which work well in contrast with the slower, more atmospheric moments also. Tracks such as ‘A Hungering Yoke’ explore the full gamut of Warmoon Lord’s armory, deploying atmospheric keys, frantic riffing, rhythmic riffing and icy cold vocals across its mere five-minute run time. Taken as a whole experience, Sacrosanct Demonopathy is quite a positive sounding black metal record. Not blue skies and rolling green fields by any means. No, I look at the artwork for the previous release from the duo (Battlespells) and I get the sense of the smug pleasure that army of evil knights as they march away from the burning buildings, past a river turned red with blood. In short Sacrosanct Demonopathy feels good in the sense that you have just fucked shit up in an epic way, defeated an enemy or conquered a long-standing civilisation. As a record, it carries a crude sense of achievement.

I am captivated by the time the chants start on opening track ‘Kuolematon laulunhenki’, only to be further hauled into the baying mob by the mining riffs of ‘Havukruunu ja talvenvarjo’. The choral elements of the latter track disperse into the song unexpectedly, without dispelling the more aggressive and driving rhythm that constitutes the main part of the track. I think this is one of the key areas of success for Tavastland. Despite showing a clear penchant for the more extreme parts of metal, the band always keep that apron string back to that very traditional metal sound that their art is built on, very much in reach still. The pagan influence does not get lost either, the title track being heavy with that content across both instrumentation and vocal context also.

The four tracks that run over the hour and three-minute duration are all delivered with a maturity and a sense of patience being applied to the song development. This is not just four tracks of post-metal that grow into raging black metal crescendos at the halfway point, to be then taken into some death metal section before fading away into more minimalist pastures to end. The structures here are varied and are kept interesting throughout the longer than usual runtimes. Think the clever songwriting of Cult of Luna coupled with the innovation of Enslaved and then throw some Agalloch in there to temper everything and you are absolutely on the right track. I would argue that this is more entertaining than anyone of those bands in isolation (notwithstanding that I am not Agalloch’s biggest fan by any means) and being able to take the better elements from just three such well established artists show a talent in itself of course.

I think what stands out most for me on the album is how mature it sounds. This is a band who can layer different instrumentation into a perfectly complimentary arrangement. That bayan never once sounds intrusive. It is tempered perfectly by the tremolo riffs and balanced well in terms of atmospherics with the keyboards of Valentina Astashova. When it does get sole playtime it manages to add welcome depth to the track (the end of Skull Gatherers). But the expected instruments also put in a great shift. A mention must go to the subtle yet effective work of guest drummer Vlad Yungman, who like Morbius and Villhelm is also of Ultar fame. The drums are never a blasting frenzy, yet are interesting and in total keeping with the pace of each track. The tremolo riff is strong here, complimented by strong melodies and leads also. As I say, it is all so beautifully arranged to make tracks such as Impending Death Premonition take on such a haunting, ethereal mood just by this clever use of aggression and melody

The fact is that I enjoy Kadath a lot more than I was expecting to. I have gotten into the habit of getting in bed at a reasonable hour and taking some bedtime listening with me. Kadath was my bedtime listen last night, and I completed a further run through this morning before work. These two more critical listens, done without the distractions of screens or work, proved to be key in my development of understanding the record better. For a start, it struck me that the three guitars are used intelligently and are not allowed to overwhelm tracks. In fact, they fill up space that would otherwise go unused, in the sense that if two of them are maintain the often-powerful rhythm of many tracks then melodies and atmospherics are done by the third guitar in the background, on the periphery of the main drivers of tracks or in the upper stratosphere of some of the more expansive moments on songs. Cleverly, they do this without creating any distractions. All three instruments fit together so well.

The synths are deployed effectively on all the tracks here and the album would be at a loss without them for me. Providing a real supporting role as opposed to dominating proceedings, they swell tracks with a richness within the swirling chaos that they help develop I sense them growing, filling all available space behind those prominent guitars

There’s variety on this record to. Without ever once giving up on the levels of misery in their music to support their lyrical themes, Void of Hope pull in an eleven-minute plus track ('The Hollow Hymn') alongside a just under two-minute piano led palate cleanser immediately after it. The longer track goes through the whole gamut of black metal, from slower sections to blasting fury, atmospherics to blastbeats, melodic passages to driving, near epic sections. As I understand it, one of the guys from Moonlight Sorcery is involved and so I guess this explains the flavour of the epic and some of the expansiveness. There’s variety in the instrumentation too. Synths and keys permeate the space just behind the strings, vocals and percussion, giving a sense of density to the sound of tracks. These are well balanced, and they feel like they are in a true supporting role, breathing in some elements of atmo-black as they create this fog in the background.

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.

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.

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.

The songs here are of the quality we have all come to expect from Austin Lunn. The more atmospheric pieces possess that familiar ethereal appeal to them. Embedding aggression around these tracks with a level of mastery that somehow still retains the atmospheric tropes that are usually so well established, whilst still suggesting varying degrees of emotion being expressed, takes talent, simple as that. The build of ‘The White Mountain View’ shows this perfectly over a near eleven-minute track. Yet the track that follows immediately after it, ‘Haunted America II’ has a much more direct approach with its scathing riffage and myriads of percussions attacking the listener from the off. Indeed, it is testimony to the talent on display here that a compilation record of tracks over fifteen years old could easily make a dent in any end of year list.

The “demonic orchestral” style the band have become renowned for (check out ‘Abbadon’ and closing track ‘All Powers of Darkness) is rampant and this album also sees the return of the saxophone on the title track, which is another regular inclusion on MD albums, apparently. It should not work on so many levels, but it blends so well with the dynamic nature of the closing track that I love it. Everything is superbly played too, especially those leads. Showing a real knack for arrangement, Medieval Demon are an excellent revival of that classic Greek black metal sound.