Vinny's Reviews

The band Ufomammut and I have history, as anyone who has read my review of Idolum knows. Coming into Eve, my circumstances are very different. Gone are the nights away from home in hotels and the endless paperwork of the travelling consultant. Now I have more time to listen to music in the comfort of my own home than possibly at any other point in my life, and as such my dalliances with Eve have been from a much more stable and centered environment. That is not to say that there is a lot in the way that Eve sounds in comparison to Idolum, it is just that the experience of it lands differently, if no less positively than its predecessor.

If you are familiar with the Italians already, you’ll know that 2010 was very much the classic line up of the band. Existing as a trio since their sophomore release, Eve was back when Vita still did the drums (as he did until 2020). With a decade of releases under their belts, Ufomammut’s fifth album sounds like a band really hitting their stride. There is not one hint of hesitation in any of what gets performed here. Likewise, for a record that opens with a fourteen-minute track, Eve manages to hold the attention for the whole experience. Playing as on track split over five different headings that are named simply by numerical, chronological title, this forty-four-minute plus opus showcases the Italian’s brand of spacey, psychedelic rock combined with crushing and sludgy doom.

Driven by heavy bass presence and a mixture of haunting and grinding synths, Eve is an all-encompassing experience. Again, it takes me back to my days of listening to Hawkwind (almost inevitably) but there are plenty of more modern references to the metal in their sound with the likes of Sleep and Yob immediately springing to mind. I would usually find the more instrumental approach over such a decent run time an issue, but if I am honest, more vocals just would not work all that well if the band had decided to take a more lyrically expressive approach. This is music that speaks to me without the need for a lot of words and that my fellow Metal Academy students is a sign of a great record.

Despite a seemingly bottomless pit of a discography, I haven’t listened to all that many Thou releases in my time.  It is possibly the case that Summit is my first listen through a full length release from them in fact.  Subconsciously at least, I do tend to be wary of bands who constantly release material, acknowledging that whilst the tipping point may vary from band to band, eventually quality eventually is lost at the expense of quantity.  I would not say there is any issue with the quality of the material on Summit however, despite it taking me a few listens to grasp some of what is going on within the five tracks on offer.

I find that this is a release that has successful moments or key elements for me that I enjoy more than others.  For example, the fuzzy droning guitar on ‘By Endurance We Conquer’ is a real treat.  There are also instruments on Summit that I was not expecting the inclusion of.  ‘Grissecon’ starts of like a KEN Mode track with a slow picked intro, but there’s definitely a piano introduced once the track starts proper (which if my memory serves me correctly, was a feature on the last KEN Mode album I heard).  Credit is due to Thou for being able to combine the harsher elements of sludge with a keen ear for melody.  Whilst comparisons can be made to some of my sludge metal favourites such as Primitive Man or Coffinworm, these droning elements, the off-kilter instrument choices and the melodic plod that sits behind the music sets Thou apart from the crowd.

Considering the shortest track is over eight minutes long, disregarding the instrumental that closes the album, there is no sense of Thou kicking their heels during these lengthy offerings.  The band show a high level of patience in their builds to tracks and are unafraid to stick with a level once they find the ceiling of where they want a track to operate from in the main.  The enduring misery of ‘Prometheus’ needs no pace beyond a lurching stagger to make its point for the most part (again, there’s a violin or cello somewhere in the background here too).  A special mention goes to the drummer on this track for making interesting patterns, runs and fills without becoming a distraction from the crushing nature of the song.  The depths of despair that are explored on this track are underlined by tortured guitar melodies that drone across the track brilliantly.

It will no doubt take further listens before I can say that I connect totally with Summit.  There are lingering doubts in my mind that the mixed instrumentation adds a little too much of an “artsy” element to the sound that is necessary for the messaging but at the same time a little off-putting to a sludge fan like myself.  As a starter for ten though, Summit has been a good introduction to Thou and marks a good foundational point for me to explore the discography further in the coming months.  Notwithstanding that I will be selective in my future choices with such a vast quantity of releases to choose from.  The guard it still up in that sense, protecting the chin.

I have a real soft spot for the often-ridiculous fantasy artwork of heavy metal albums from the eighties. Asgard’s one and only album release from 1986 has enough levels of grandiosity on its artwork to make up for a whole career of albums that never where made. A muscular warrior, barely clothed in a loin cloth stands, bow drawn back ready to take down another mountain crocodile that is somehow completely out of its natural habitat and is attacking him and his cleavage proud princess fawns at his feet. Yeah, the eighties weren’t the best for gender equality, were they? That is not to knock the quality of the artwork by any means. Personally, I think it looks fantastic, and I was sad to read of the passing of the artist responsible for this amazing piece, Ken Kelly in 2022. He is of course better known for his excellent work on Manowar covers as well as The Gates of Slumber and even Satanic Warmaster. If this was a review of the album artwork, then it would be a solid four out of five-star rating.

Sadly, despite their best efforts, Asgard’s musical prowess doesn’t quite match the exploits of the cover artist. In short, In the Ancient Days is all over the place. As with most speed metal albums, there is a fine line being walked between traditional heavy metal and speed metal. In the Ancient Days tends to follow this same pattern accordingly. A mixture of Venom sneer creeps into the vocals of Rene Tholen, teetering on the brink of the over-theatrical on tracks such as ‘Witches Brew’ and ‘Hounds of Hell’ (the version on YouTube has either a skip from a vinyl rip or there’s a terrible edit job on the actual record just before the twenty-minute mark). Yet at the same time, the riffs on this record are superb examples of the heyday of thrash/speed metal. Remembering that this record is now forty-years old, there is a heavy element of nostalgia in my feature selection this month in The Pit.

Being more at the extreme end of metal in terms of my listening habits, the more thrashy/speed metal elements are where I find highlights on In the Ancient Days. The drama could easily be left at the door for me, along with the acoustic (flamenco?) guitar of the interlude ‘Granadinas’ which is crudely placed as the penultimate track on the record. Whether this should be considered as some intro to the anthemic sounding album closer ‘Metal Tonight’ I am unsure but the combination of these two tracks at the end of the album does leave a sour taste in my mouth to finish the album on. I am unaware as to why Asgard lasted for only one album. The ability was there on the debut, albeit not terribly well showcased overall and I sense if the talent could have been grown over subsequent albums then we might have heard the name Asgard more over the years.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I came into this record with only a very vague outline knowledge of Astarte having rated their Demonized album from 2007. As far as I am aware, tragedy struck the band when founding member Tristessa passed away in 2014 following complications from leukaemia. The band changed their name because of this back to Lloth which was their original name back in 1995. This once all-female band is now all male but dedicated to the memory of Tristessa. A decidedly much colder of black metal awaited me here than I was perhaps expecting from a Greek black metal band. Devoid of the Hellenic ‘warmth’ normally associated with that country, I soon found myself in the colder climes of Scandinavia instead.

Herein lies one of the problems with Rise from Within, it does very little to stand out from the crowd in its sound. It is all well played, if not that well-arranged at times, perfectly listenable black metal with a symphonic edge. However, it does lack memorability because of its chosen niche being already well-populated with other bands doing very similar things. My second issue is opening the album with an instrumental track that is so damn long! Those four-and-a-half-minutes need some vocals to keep me interested. The random switch to synth driven passages just adds to my confusion really.

The rest of the album has a couple of instrumentals littered throughout the track listing, but they are much shorter in duration and much more strategically placed in the middle and end of the record. What occurs in between shines much brighter, albeit in that coldest of lights, by way of comparison. It is almost as if there was a different band altogether recording tracks two through nine. Limited though the scope of the music may be, it is still well enough performed to give the rating a respectable mark overall. Kinthia’s vocals are suitably deranged for the style of music and the riffs and synths work well together, only the programmed drums get lost a bit in the mix but oddly I don’t notice this as much as I feared. I should probably go back to Demonized given I cannot believe they became so bad over seven years that they ended up at 2.5 rating after five albums.

Having established a more pagan and then viking metal sound since their 1997 album, Following the Voice of Blood, Graveland had fully established this style as their signature sound by the turn of the century and their fifth full length album, Creed of Iron. With Capricornus no longer on drums, Rob Darken truly was the sole creator of this record. Originally a five-track album, there exists a remastered version from 2009 that added two tracks to the end of the album making it over an hour long and it is this version that seems to be widely available on streaming services. Whichever version you find in front of yourself, it is not just the length of the record that makes it an epic experience. The tracks themselves are grandiose testimonies to the toils of war and the legendary battles of old, expansive and aggressive in equal parts.

The balance of the instrumentation is well maintained over the course of the album. It feels like each instrument gets a fair crack at the limelight with none being allowed to steal the show outright. As such there is a real sense of depth to Creed of Iron. It is not just about medieval sounding keys and the flourishes they are allowed to make; the riffs get just as much presence against the swell of these Middle Age atmospheres. Care sounds like it has been given in mixing these elements together to create an experience never feels artificial, simply put it is a very complementary record in terms of its composition.

Now, the artwork leaves a lot to be desired I will grant you. It certainly fits the battlefield billing of the record, but I would encourage anyone to not be too put off by the artwork in thinking that this represents a primitive album as this is clearly not the case within a few minutes of clicking/pressing play. Having listened to the extended version of the album also now, I do not think that the two additional tracks add anything remarkable to the album. In its original format, Creed of Iron is a perfectly solid viking/pagan bm record.

Like its predecessor, Lead and Aether has proven a great accompaniment on winter walks this weekend as the northwest of England sees its first snow of the season. That is not to say that this is a cold sounding record by any means, in fact I find the exact opposite experience to the record. To me this is the sickening warmth of a hug from the arms of death itself. It is comforting to witness, how I imagine the release of all worry, stress and adversity of life would feel at the very moment of conscious expiry of one’s existence. Far from finding the funereal keys and monolithic melodies oppressive, I take a great solace from this album, therefore.

This record plays as an instrumental in my head, the vocals are so low in the mix, consciously so I would guess, that I am almost ignorant them for much of the album. Normally I would find this as a negative point, a key missing feature almost, but here I think it works perfectly. Good funeral doom to me is about letting the music build the aesthetic and atmospheres, the vocals are just a complementary element in comparison. Equally, I think Skepticism got the placement of the drums correct here. Whilst not as absent from my mind as the vocals are, the drums provide the very definition of a subtle supporting role here. How many bands can say that they have successfully used drums o create space and atmosphere on a record?

There is always a danger that with such a minimalist approach to music, particularly extreme genres like this, that the recording can end up sounding amateur. I would argue that the opposite is in fact true here. This sounds like a thoroughly professional album, composed with care and thought for overall arrangement. Maintaining that gloomy warmth for me over the entire album duration is a real win here, but there are a couple of moments where tracks seem to end up a little disjointed (album closer, ‘Aether’ stands out for this) which just takes the perfect score aware from an otherwise brilliant release.

Andrew Jay Harris cuts a lonely figure in the already isolative world of black metal. In 2002 when he confirmed that Judas Iscariot was no more, he had already given the band’s albums back to the labels who released them and took no money in return, asking that any money be put back into the underground. When he played his last show with the band in 2000, he dedicated "The Black Clouds Roll Under the Parapet of the Sky" (from the “Distant in Solitary Night” album from 1999) to "the destruction of the capitalist scum who tried to destroy black metal." This EP from the same year as that final performance (released just 3 months later) is once again largely performed by Akhenaten himself, except for the drums that Cryptic Winter (Duane Timlin) is credited with delivering.

Anyone familiar with Judas Iscariot will find similar fare over these five tracks when compared with the rest of the discography. Judas Iscariot’s sound is cold, ice cold, with cymbals that sound like discs of frozen water being shattered each time they are struck. The drums on their own are a vicious assault to contend with, even before we get to the scathing attack of the guitar and harsh, abrasive and gloriously grim vocals. However, take time dear listener to marvel at the slowly decaying pace of the instrumental track, ‘March Upon a Mighty Throne’ that revels in drab and dank majesty before the chaos of a “Special Blitzkrieg” version of ‘Spill the Blood of the Lamb’ from the “Heaven in Flames” album (1999) rounds off what feels like a really short twenty-one-minutes.

Legendary death doom outfit, Cianide are one of my criminally underrated bands with them rarely getting anywhere near as much spin time as they deserve. This EP coming up in the feature release section this month has been a timely kick up the arse to remedy that for a few hours at least. Unhumanized is only a shade under twenty-six-minutes long and perhaps is not the Chicago trio at their absolute best, yet it is still a bruising and entertaining affair to listen to.

Coming out thirty-one-years after the band first got together, Unhumanized has the hallmarks of an established and mature band. The riffing sounds perfectly crafted and richly performed to accentuate the crunch and groove of the guitar of Scott Carroll. For a band with only one guitarist, he is clearly more than enough, and the mix lets him sit front and centre in proceedings alongside the barking of vocalist Mike Perun. The percussion is less prominent than the guitar and vocals but still does a fantastic job in the background. Check out the punky vibes on the title track for an example of how this is not just a standard death metal release.

Offering some of the best in extreme metal that the underground has to offer, Cianide give a decent enough acquittal of themselves on this release to pique the interest of any fan wanting to go and look at their earlier work. With a discography going all the way back to 1992 when their debut record dropped, this taster of the modern Cianide has enough of their familiar sound to tie it back to their earlier releases. Love me a short EP every now and again to whet the appetite for some further death metal listening afterwards.

Italian speed metallers Bulldozer have never featured very highly in my listening within the realms of The Pit clan. Whilst I would not put their limited airplay down to any problem they present to me, at the same time, I cannot pretend to have ever been overwhelmingly entertained by any of the stuff I have listened to from them. The Final Separation doesn’t put a foot wrong as such, yet nor does it tread anywhere particularly new or even influential either. At times reminiscent of Venom (‘The Cave’) whilst on other occasion being just as close to Motörhead, the album lacks any of the rhythmic riffs that would steer it in the direction of thrash metal and as a result I would suggest the thrash metal tag is irrelevant for this album.

If you a connoisseur of eighties speed metal, then The Final Separation probably holds more sway for you than it does with me after over three decades of listening to metal; I left this sound behind a long while ago I feel. Whilst I am not alien to humour in my metal music, tracks like ‘Don Andras’ are just juvenile to my ears these days. Serving only to break up the otherwise very similar tempos of tracks to this point, this song has little value and stinks of filler.

With, ‘Never Relax’ at least offering some hope of variety for the second half of the album, I could have been forgiven for thinking I was being a little too harsh on the first few tracks. It is cumbersome though and feels pieced together as opposed to a free-flowing track. ‘Don’t Trust the Saint’ is the nearest to thrash metal we get to on the album, but it bounces more than it chops and my interest soon wanes. Final track ‘The Death of Gods’ grumbles some promise of an epic closure to the album, however this is soon lost in an overly grandiose soundscape that pushes my interest onto other things in the room.

Thundering out of Berkshire, England to truly throw a spanner in my ‘EoY Fallen Album List’ come atmo-sludge quintet, Dimscûa. I would say that 2025 has been the year that I started to explore atmospheric-sludge metal for the first time, its calmer post-metal tendencies offset nicely by the harsher vocal attacks and smothering heaviness of the riffs that are my usual (and still preferred) listening fodder. Listening to Dust Eater sort of feels like I am in familiar territory nowadays which has most certainly helped me warm to it quickly. Hidden behind the straight delivery and more subtle sections, there is a sense of the epic going on also though which adds extra interest into proceedings.

This may just be clever use of guitar tone in all honesty, with some well-placed chiming effect adding some positive volume to the already doughty performance. Dust Eater is delivered with an attack that brings to my mind that each of the band members are grinning with each blow they make in their flannel shirts and jeans – another image I have in my head for some reason. Whilst I cannot describe the EP as uplifting, it does possess a pragmatic approach that gives the music a sense of being constructive without being restrictive. There’s no question that the band have gears they can get through, but they are always in full control, not just when ticking over in first or second gear.

The poignancy in the strings that open the final track, ‘On Being and Nothingness’, set against that haunting ambience that drifts through the background of the track, shows a band who can play with real emotion in their performances. Whilst the subject matter may explore darker tropes, the five-piece are unafraid to display the inherent beauty that can still be found in the themes of grief or loss. Of the content of this sub-genre that I have heard this year, Dimscûa chart pretty highly to my ears.

This ‘atmospheric sludge’ tag that has grown legs in recent years is one that adorns the chests of Chicago’s The Atlas Moth from as far back as their 2007 inception. Granted, I can hear sludge in their sound as well as also being able to hear atmospheric textures, but at the same time there is the intimation of so much more over the course of An Ache for the Distance. Pure doom and stoner metal make an appearance alongside an obvious 70’s rock influence making the album something of a devious demon to contend with. It renders the genre tagging somewhat irrelevant, not that I am even sure how seriously the band themselves pay much attention to whether their sound is ‘atmospheric sludge’ or not.

What is clear on this record is that the performance is unforced, cohesive and very relaxed. It is an album that sounds like a band working free of any boundaries in all honesty which leads to this sense of flow as elements manage to compliment each other nicely. Even with three guitars in play, there is a constant coherence to proceedings. This trio of axes is thoughtfully layered, proving many moving parts can work. Whether it is the post-metal pickings alongside psychedelic loops that ooze through, or the elements of the harsher riffs, there is order to them.

I do struggle with this album though. For as much as I can recognise the quality on display, it does move styles a little too often for me, killing a lot of memorability in the process and leaving sections of the album feeling like they are wandering as opposed to progressing. After a few listens to the album, I could not fight the feeling of it getting stuck in a no-man’s land; unable to shape the obvious promise into a consistent theme. Take the brilliant final third of ‘Your Calm Waters’, a section that shows clear direction but the effort of listening to get there is taxing for me.

It is only the final track, ‘Horse Thieves’ that resonates in its Yob-like glory to the point of finally giving the album some real grounding. That big, slow and doomy riff, alongside the melancholic melody sees both elements played to a tortuously drawn-out pace. The trumpet here, although unexpected, fits well. It gives a soothing drone during the growing chaos of the track. It is a positive note to end on at least, and whilst I cannot reach for my higher scores on this one, The Atlas Moth do enough in terms of their clear quality of playing to manage to also keep the album well away from the lower end of my scores also.

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.

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.

Hot on the heels of my time with the atmospheric intensity of Amenra with Mass V, I found myself embroiled in the more obtuse variant of sludge metal that is Celeste’s 2010 album, Morte(s) Née(s). Well, I say sludge metal, but there is much more on offer here with the ferocious elements of black metal and hardcore present also. Coupled with the unrelenting delivery that the band deploys, Celeste manages to cook up a real treat here. I noted from various sources that the band have a remixed version of the record due out soon that boasts a “heavier, better, darker” version “than the last time”. I have no idea what drove the need for a remix as I find the 2010 version works as it is.

That is not to say that the listening experience has not been without challenges, but some of that is more to do with how I listen to music as opposed to anything Celeste does wrong. I am a pest lately for listening to albums in piecemeal. Whether that is due to a short car journey or a lot of work meetings filling my day, there is a regular risk of me missing out on whole album experiences of late. This “attention creep” affected my enjoyment of Morte(s) Née(s) initially, leading my to falsely believe that the album lacked variety. With such a direct and aggressive approach to their art, failure to pay full attention to Celeste can easily lead to a “sameness” factor creeping into the listening experience if you are just zoning in an out. I will accept that the album is not dripping with variety, but I cannot deny that there is mastery in the control of pacing and tempo that you only pick up on with some critical listening.

Whilst it can be viewed as a very jarring experience, the album never falls into all out-chaos territory. At all times there is a solid percussion section and those buzzsaw guitars possess restraint that is not instantly obvious on the first couple of listens. I think the drums do suffer a little in the mix and that the production job itself does have this wavering edge to the instruments which sounds like the speakers might be going on the blink at times. Yet the impressive building horror of tracks such as ‘(s)’ is so well put together, combining tremolos, big bold riffs and samples plucked out of Hammer Horror that you cannot fail to be impressed.

I would like more of a connection with the album if I were honest. With so many elements that I can lap up gleefully, I do still sense some distance between me and the album to be able to say it is likely to be revisited on a regular basis. I cannot go as far as to say it is alien to me in places, and it could be that some of that “attention creep” that I spoke about earlier is the fault of the album after all. It is hard to put my finger on a bad element though and so the misdirection is possibly due to the combination of parts not hitting my buttons in quite the correct order.

For an album that is forty-minutes long, Mass V sub-consciously plays as an EP in my head as the run time appears to go much quicker than that over the four songs on the album. I am not entirely sure if this is because I lose presence with it on too frequent a basis, but even under a few critical listens the effect is the same. My overarching impression from my first few listens has been that the balance of styles is well executed. Amenra drop pure doom riffs seemingly from out of nowhere, whilst constructing with studious detail post-metal passages that ease between more sludge-driven moments, still retaining the overall sense of unease in the process of the ebb and flow.

Tracks such ‘Dearborn and Buried’ are real tense experiences, the atmospherics doing little to ease the sensory overload that comes from the consistent sense of threat in the sound. With desperation a key impression that comes out of the listening experience, especially in the vocal department, I feel that I get to this understanding by way of the sense of conflict between the instrumentation and the vocals. If I use a Stoic philosophical comparison to demonstrate. If we consider life as a crashing and bashing tide that batters against the rock (us) and that we must try to remain steadfast in the face of such hardship, then it is easy to bill the deranged nature of the vocals as being the tide on the instrumentation. Given the obvious talent on show in Amenra though, they cleverly switch this to have the vocals remaining strong against the assault of the instruments.

Yet at the same time, if you take the ending of ‘Boden’ as an example, then it is also clear that both elements can be wielded with great effect, creating the tumult of the storm onto the listener who is now being used as the rock in our example. This “good cop/bad cop” routine works well because it avoids being a disruptive force in the musc. With the epic length of ‘A Mon Áme’ deploying an agonising build-up of over ten minutes, I do sense a weakness in the Amenra line. Whilst it is exhilarating when the riffs and percussion do finally ignite, the length of time to get there feels unnecessary in the end given you can easily predict it is coming.

Thankfully, the balance is restored on final track, ‘Nowena | 9.10’ with what is the most Neurosis-influenced track on the record. Clear in its emotional depth, the riff and percussion structures are quite simple in comparison, and this juxta positioning works well. For me, this is the standout track on the album and is a perfect closer to proceedings. So, having come into Mass V in a dismissive mindset following my experience of the two Eps that the band released this year, this record has restored my interest in them. The album possesses an unusual level of accessibility given its chaotic approach at times. The succinct track listing helps this accessibility as well as belying the level of intelligent songwriting that is on display.

Having completely missed his debut solo outing from five years ago, I can thank the algorithm gods for placing Kirk Windstein’s sophomore effort into my feed suggestions. With 2025 being the year that I finally got to grips with doom as a sub-genre, and with Crowbar being something of an unsung sludge favourite of mine, I soon found myself approaching Ethereal Waves with a heightened sense of excitement. Whilst I cannot profess to being massively in love with Kirk’s vocal style, his riff mentality more than floats my boat.

As expected therefore, Ethereal Waves is stocked full of riffs. Soon enough I was nodding along respectfully, appreciating the Iommi-inspired chugs as they landed consistently in front of me. Not that this is solely what the record I about by any means. Windstein has some straight up heavy metal on display here also which makes for a positive slant on the aesthetic of the album overall. For all the misery that exudes from tracks such as ‘Eulogy’ there is enough mid-paced activity, including an unexpectedly upbeat cover of The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’, to keep things interesting. Whilst the doom credentials are hard to ignore on the album, it does contain some depth for the bullet belt and denim cut trad metallers out there.

Having former Exhorder guitarist, Vinnie LaBella provide leads, as well as producing the record, certainly adds character to proceedings along the way. Whilst not exceptional, the solos are able to paint some further emotion into songs, that makes up for the singular style approach that Kirk has around his vocals. Lyrically, the album isn’t all that strong and they do come across as half-baked, if not borderline amateur on a couple of occasions. However, I am not here for the lyrics, more the huge riffs and those enriching leads. During the past few days of listening through this album, I have at the same time been visiting Dream in Motion and I have concluded that Ethereal Waves is a step up from the debut.

Possessing more memorability than its predecessor, Ethereal Waves avoids the need for catchiness still, coming off as a more succinct listening experience as a result. The instrumentation is well balanced across guitars, percussion and keys. The Hammond Organ sound on ‘Rise from the Wreckage’ is an absolute joy to my ears. For all the positives, I still only like the album, I am not madly in love with it. Whilst it most certainly is accessible enough without being mainstream, it lacks any true bite to make it outstanding at any point. We still have a perfectly respectable album from one of sludge metals legends, albeit him showing a softer side than usual in some places.

“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.

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.

Primitive Man vocalist and guitarist, Ethan Lee McCarthy recently described the figure in the artwork for the bands fourth full length album as being indicative of him holding onto a snake that represents his struggle with depression and how for some days, he must hold onto that snake to stop it from getting out of control. If you needed any introduction to OBSERVANCE, then that’s about the best summary for what awaits us all on the seven tracks the Denver trio have committed to tape. Anyone who has caught sight of the disturbing video to lead track ‘Social Contract’ will have had a sneak peek into the truly horrendous view of the world that Primitive Man have. Their latest album does nothing to enlighten that outlook, despite it being billed in some quarters as their most positive album to date. Make no mistake folks, artistic flourishes aside, this is ugly music for equally ugly times.

The seemingly unfathomable depths of the cavernous vocals of ELM echo around the empty abyss of ignorance, division and hatred present in many of our societies today. Once again deploying noise alongside the sludge and doom elements, OBSERVANCE sounds like a modern record. It emits a sense of being written against a backdrop of real-world problems, and of that real world being oppressive and lacking any visible semblance of goodwill. The jangling guitar for the first three-and-a-half-minutes of ‘Devotion’ sounds like an extended noise rock intro that runs for a torturous period. For some listeners this might go on for too long, but it’s almost inescapable presence is representative perhaps of the things may of us cannot hide from. Broken relationships in broken neighbourhoods in a broken society.

Embracing OBSERVANCE is perhaps the only way to truly be able to pass any judgement on it. It is genuinely like the snake that ELM describes, except for the listener this is not something for us to hold any sense of control over. I can connect with the imagery, just as I can the music and as such, OBSERVANCE is already on a solid footing within a matter of just a couple of tracks. Like the Mares of Thrace album, LOSS from earlier this year, even though I cannot in all honesty allude to experiencing on a personal level much of what makes up the content of these tracks, despite these cultural, social, political and emotional differences, I attain the human sense of their importance to Primitive Man and their wider audience.

Credit must go to the performance of drummer Joseph D. Linden. His patterns follow their own free will for most of the record. If anything, it is the riffing consistency that provides traceable rhythm on the album. Often when listening to the album, I have found myself playing some kind of cat and mouse game with the drums. Expectant of a hit, only to be caught out by another less than predictable expanse of percussion. For a band who base a lot of their impact on repetition, this is truly an unexpected twist. I cannot neglect to pass comment on the importance of bassist Jonathan P. Campos either. His rumbling and brooding bass is the real underlay to the hellish textures on which OBSERVANCE treads. The “new” elements of melody and lighter tones are not as obvious to me, having never listened to a full-length from PM before this. I would be lying if I said that they standout for me, even after multiple listens, as being noteworthy. That is not levelled as a criticism either, more as a reflection of how well everything does fit together on the album.

A lengthy album justifies a lengthy review it seems. There is a sense that OBSERVANCE has lots more to it that I could describe but, in the end, there is no getting away from how gloriously bleak it is. Although I would hazard a guess that for some this barrage of hopelessness would be too much, I doubt anyone familiar with PM is coming to this record expecting spade after spade of positivity.

From ‘Natural Law’:

With the holiest gasoline in the sea

I will burn their ships down

A prayer of hatred, a spell of revenge

Japanese doom death merchants, Heteropsy (interestingly meaning relying on the observations of others who have previously examined something) have only released EPs to date. Embalming is their first full length after five years of existence. Based on the four listens I have now completed with the record, those five years have been well spent, honing and developing a potent sounding death metal sound that embraces a multitude of influences. Often, they will switch up styles mid-track, exhibiting a degree of skill in doing so very cleanly. They aren’t many modern death metal bands kicking about that can deliver what Heteropsy do, let me tell you.

Upon first listen, I was unsure of there being much in the way of doom death credentials. I located very quickly the Swedish death metal crunch in the riffs, obviously. What I did find myself wondering was if they were cloning fellow countrymen, Coffins. If I am honest, I have very little experience of Coffins and so I am spinning a few of their tracks whilst I write up this review. Similarities exist, yes. However, there is no cloning happening here to my ears at least. I am impressed by the variation on show during Embalming more than anything. It is much more than just a doom death record with some nods to Swedish death metal. There is a distinct heavy metal vibe to some of the leads (as early on as the intro track in fact) and the quartet’s palette stretches to incorporate frantic death metal on the likes of ‘The Sodomizer’, a true doom death trudge on ‘Asphyxia’ before sharing some exquisite Autopsy squall on the same track also.

The band describe their sound as “mourning death metal”, a mix of their favourite death metal sounds. Whatever the moniker is that is being adopted to describe their sound, Heteropsy know how to blend their influences superbly. Whilst overall I sense their pacing is less laboured than Coffins, they can still conjure up transcendental guitars on my album highlight, ‘Memento Mori’ as well as creating a superb atmosphere during the build-up on ‘Methadone’, combining slow picked strings and white noise to great effect. The album artwork is the only real area of concern of me but that shaves nothing of the rating here. The scores are kept away from perfection by a couple of tracks that seem to meander a bit. ‘Seventh Damnation’ takes its sweet time to get going and even when in full flow, still seems to flounder somewhat. Album closer, ‘Old Friends’ heralds equal, unrealised promise too unfortunately. Still, for a debut record, there is plenty to marvel at.

If I were to give anyone an album that personified the very definition of funeral doom in my opinion, I would point them to this record. Quite unexpectedly it has become one of my favourite funeral doom albums that I have heard during my still relatively short tenure in The Fallen clan. What Tides of Awakening captures superbly is atmosphere. When I play the opening track, ‘Coalescent of the Inhumane Awareness’ it creates pictures of a dense fog or mist, seeping into all the parts of my life I am uncomfortable or unhappy with, shrouding them in a dense shroud of calming, almost sensual melancholy that acknowledges their prowess but refuses to let them have prominence at this time. That haunting guitar melody seeps through in the background, adding threat and menace to proceedings.

This therapeutic effect was entirely unexpected going into the album and I do not doubt that this is probably an experience that is isolated to myself only. It is great though when an album connects with you, especially when you least expect it to and it causes you to reflect on your wider existence as well as being able to enjoy the quality of the performance as well. Now, it matters not to me that the drums have only a minor presence on the album. I would go as far as to say the album would not work anywhere near as well if they were more prominent in the mix. They act somehow as an additional atmospheric effect, which is not something that I thought I would ever say to describe the sound of drums. It is the vocals that have the largest impact for me though. They are well balanced in the mix, retaining presence without spilling over into dominating proceedings. Whilst they may be the focus of my attention, they are still very much a component part of a much bigger machine.

Whilst it would normally be a problem for me, the fact that I cannot distinguish between tracks works for me here as I am utterly enthralled from the off. It plays best, in my head at least as a singular track experience with only the final track having that more ambient style that separates it from the pack. You can all just leave me here having my own private therapy session with this month’s The Fallen feature release.

See you all in December.

Maybe.

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.

I think it was possibly Knife’s debut album from 2021 which would mark the last time a speed/thrash metal record showed enough vigour and intensity to make me stop and take notice. For all the talk of regurgitation of old ideas, themes, styles and genres in modern metal, it is the likes of Vulture who give me the assurance that, if done well enough, the old-school can be worshipped and not come off as simple plagiarism. Whereas their fellow countrymen in Knife deploy a blackened edge to proceedings, Vulture are all about the shrieking, banshee wailing style of speed metal that you would associate with the likes of Razor or Exciter. Perhaps bordering on the power metal elements of Agent Steel also along the way, these Dortmund residents certainly know how to wear their influences on their sleeves.

Above all else, Sentinels is fun. It’s 80’s horror flick style album cover perhaps denotes a band with serious intent and I am not intimating for one minute that Vulture are a goofy band, more that they approach their art with a genuine enthusiasm, a passion that bleeds into their music. Leads soar over galloping riffs, vocals pierce the ears of anyone within a mile radius, yelled from lungs that swell with pride as they sing each lyric, and all the while the drums “thunk” along in the background. Never coming across as having much in the way of venom or bite, the drums are the most understated instrument on the record, to my ears at least. However, this is not necessarily a criticism as I think the production job does the sound real justice overall. Clean without being overproduced, the album has an atmosphere of a band playing live almost.

This is not my first venture into Vulture. I gave their 2019 album, Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves a four-star rating back in August of that same year, and I find Sentinels to be in the same ballpark of the ratings, albeit that I sense a step up in quality of musicianship, certainly in the leads department at least. I am not a massive fan of the hi-pitched vocals that are used here, although my tolerance of them during my listen through of this record was surprisingly good. It is the fiery riffs and blinding leads that reign supreme over the record for me though. The inclusion of an instrumental at track seven seems a bit of an odd choice if I am honest, and I struggle to fight the feeling that it is little more than filler, despite its best efforts.

Leave me with tracks such as the rampant ‘Death Row’ and I am much happier though. In fact, the section of the album that follows ‘Der Tod trägt schwarzes Leder’ is probably the stronger part for me. There certainly feels like an uptick in the quality for me over this backend of the record at least. Keep flying the flag for the old school fellas, it is appreciated.

New Gods, New Masters is one of only a handful of death metal albums that I have entertained over the course of 2025. In a year that has only seen me focus on death doom as part of my discovery of new music in The Fallen clan, conventional, technical and progressive death metal has not been on high rotation over the past twelve months. If I am honest, Revocation hadn’t piqued my interest with any of the previous releases I had heard, although I cannot say with hand on heart that I recall listening to a full length of theirs in recent history. It was upon hearing the chug fest that is ‘Confines of Infinity’ on an interview with Dave Davidson that my ears pricked up to the promise of some hard-hitting death metal. Seeing that one of my death metal heroes, Luc Lemay was making an appearance only enhanced my urge to give New Gods, New Masters a listen.

Now, I cannot pretend to be a massive fan of technical death metal. Despite owning all Death albums on physical format, I do have to be in a particular mood to put on Individual Thought Patterns, for example. Whilst my guard was up going into this Revocation record, having heard many times how proficient a player DD is and fully expecting an expansive wank fest as a result, I was surprised at how riffy New Gods, New Masters is. Even the technical and progressive mastery is difficult to not be impressed with, to the point where my admiration even extends to acknowledging who well controlled those potentially alien elements are throughout the album. I will not pretend some of those dashing and clipped riffs that kick off ‘Sarcophagi of the Soul’ do not irritate me though, and I much prefer it when the track settles into more rhythmic territory.

Guests appear to have been queuing up to perform on the album with the likes of Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Jonny Davy (Job for a Cowboy), Luc Lemay (Gorguts) and even jazz guitarist, Gilad Hekselman making contributions to the proceedings. Surprisingly for me, it is Travis’ track that I find the most appealing of all. ‘Confines of Infinity’ has an infectious, hacking riff to it that contrasts with the more chaotic main parts to the track which also makes good use of some groovy riffs to temper the song back to that main riff. Leads/solos all have a crispness to them, and they benefit from the production job of DD, as you would perhaps expect. I am not as enamoured with the drum sound though, that instrument sounds a bit lost in the mix. The presence of Ash Pearson is still, somehow, unquestionable despite this injustice, and he gives a good acquittal of himself regardless.

I am pleased I found so much to enjoy from this record. It proves that there is still some interest in death metal for me beyond the confines of the more gloomy and funeral doom styles that I have focused on more this year. Retaining some of their death thrash elements of old most certainly has helped me with being able to connect so easily with this record also. The longevity factor remains in question for me, but for now I will just enjoy it whilst it lasts.

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 alternative metal goes, Confessions of the Fallen has been a neat find over the past week for me. Triggered by some algorithm somewhere, the 2024 deluxe edition fell into my recommendations and here I am, five days on, writing a review. As I read back my review of 2001’s Break the Cycle it is interesting that my thoughts are largely still the same when it comes to a record that has come out circa twenty-two years after that album. Clearly a trademark of the band, that depressive, self-loathing, over-thinking, underachieving and sullen take on life is once again at the forefront of the twelve tracks that make up the record. Such an expression of feelings is not wrong by any means. Indeed, when they hone it appropriately, it works well to produce memorable, catchy and emotionally taut songs. However, just like it was in 2001, here in 2025 (accepting the album came out in 2023) it becomes a bit of a slog after four or five tracks.

Thankfully, the better tracks are interspersed amongst the filler well enough in terms of arrangement to make the album more than palatable. After a strong opening three tracks, the power ballad ‘Here and Now’ presents the first of the infectious, written for the big screen moment. Sarcasm aside, it is a great track, and I can’t stop playing it, so fair play Aaron and co. Similarly, ‘Better Days’ follows a simple format with a memorable dictation of the chorus line to ensure hooks are firmly embedded in the brain. Confessions of the Fallen is not just about bleating ballads and overly expressive vocals though, when Staind riff on this thing they truly drop the weight on the listener, and for me it has more impact than any of the lyrics or arrangements. The album opens with ‘Lowest in Me’ which shows the teeth of the band early on deploying some core mentality towards the final third of the track. The title track is probably the heaviest of these moments, it’s implied darkness from the lyrics borne out in the crushing riffs that are present on the track also.

The filler does bring the score down, however. ‘Cycle of Hurting’ with its electro pulses and more nu-metal ethos just stands out as an obvious dud to me. Likewise, ‘Full of Emptiness’ has an almost laughable level of clunkiness to it and should have been left for a B-side compilation at some point in the future. Ending on a positive note though, there is a grit to Aaron’s vocals nowadays that does provide some mature edge to proceedings (much needed at times) and for all my gripes, the album has grown on me since I first picked it up. This is rare for this sub-genre as it represents one of the smaller percentages of my collection overall, so fair play once again guys.

Sometimes albums just slip by you, don’t they? Whilst I would not class myself as an avid fan of Testament exactly, I do have a few of their albums and made a purchase of Formation of Damnation on vinyl in the last twelve months. Yet somehow Titans of Creation slipped by me unnoticed. I could say “more or less” unnoticed because now I have gone back to my catalogue Excel spreadsheet I can see that I rated this record at three out of five, which could suggest an average album, or (given that I never transferred that rating onto Metal Academy) more likely that it was a holding score until I could find time to give the record a critical listen. News today that a new album is in the offing, in a year that has little in the way of quality releases stacking up in The Pit clan, brought this album from five years ago back onto my radar.

The fact is, Titans of Creation is a great thrash metal record. I would go as far as to say Testament’s best since 2008’s Formation… album that I enjoyed so much I made a physical purchase of it. Following the mediocre Dark Roots of Earth and the flat sounding Brotherhood of the Snake, Titans… is a much more dynamic sounding record. Opening strongly with the racing ‘Children of the Next Level’ I immediately sensed that the band indeed had upped their game to the next level in a literal sense. The guitars and vocals especially sound like they have a burning hunger to them, the lead work is nothing short of exceptional at times which is something that has been missing for too long on Testament records. ‘Dreamer Deceiver’ is brilliant in this regard and it is a toss up between this track and ‘False Prophet’ for which is my standout moment on the record.

Inevitably almost, with twelve tracks in play, there are some blunted moments where the razor-sharp nature of what we have heard overall gets the edge taken off it. After a solid first half of the record, things do get a little patchy thereafter, but they never go into full on filler mode thankfully. Whilst it may not always translate into fluid thrashing music, the energy levels behind it rarely abate and that is so refreshing to hear from a band at this stage of their career. The outro to the record seems particularly pointless in the grand scheme of things but I still find it forgivable if a few less-than-ideal moments slip through due to clear overexuberance on the bands part. If they can carry this enthusiasm through into Para Bellum later this week then I personally be a very happy chappy.

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.