Black Metal

  • Austere - Beneath the Threshold (2024)

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    After a long hiatus, the masters of melancholy and one of the initiators of the Depressive Black Metal sound, Austere finally returned last year with a killer release. Not even one year has passed and they are now back with another demoralizing album with “Beneath the Threshold”. Featuring six tracks and around 40 minutes of music, this Aussie duo unleash more depressive vibes filled with melancholy and some crafty musicianship.

    Opening with “Thrall”, we get a slow burning piece that nicely unleashes dissonant guitars in a very mellow tempo alongside harsh and mournful vocals. The duality of the clean and harsh vocals alongside the subtle keyboard atmospherics creates a thick and soul crushing atmosphere, the thing we most enjoy from this band. Both “The Sunset of Life” and “Faded Ghost” masterfully induce more misery thanks to their crafty tempo changes and very solemn atmospheres.

  • Funeral Oration - Antropomorte (2024)

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    Capturing a very unique style of old-school Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal, today we have Italy’s Funeral Oration and their latest effort “Antropomorte”. Inducing a feeling of going back in time a couple of decades, the band unleashes seven tracks and around 40 minutes of highly theatrical and very engaging music. If you were ever a fan of Limbonic Art, Tartaros, and Charmand Girmloch, then this is the release for you.

    Opening with “PLenus Larvarum”, we are immediately treated to old-school BM riffs and to some extent a slight Punk-ish vibe, this all quickly changes as the playful keyboards come around and the whole vibe changes to a more theatrical style. Perfectly blending incisive riffs with superbly catchy interludes and solid harsh vocals, “Amor Obsessio”, “Cloaca cattolica”, and “Il Serpente della Genesi”, keep things intense and yet full of lush and elegant atmospheric arrangements.

  • They Came From Visions - The Twilight Robes (2024)

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    Creating a very captivating blend of Black Metal with Post-Metal/Rock elements, today we have Ukraine’s They Came From Visions and their sophomore release “The Twilight Robes”. Featuring seven tracks and nearly 45 minutes of elaborate music, this release perfectly delivers waves of fury alongside moody melodic passages, creating uniquely haunting and desolate atmospheres.

    Opening with the folky mood setting “Lughnasadh”, the album kicks into gear with the blistering riffing of “Equinox Ablaze”, a very crafty track that while having some of that 90’s Black Metal luster, it also features lush clean interludes filled with dreamy vocals and guitars. Our personal favorite track has to be the furious “Burning Eyes Blackened Claws” and its intense opening, and then perfectly transitioning into more melodic territories alongside pummeling drums.

  • Merrimack - Of Grace and Gravity (2024)

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    Unleashing one of the finest Black Metal releases of the last few years, today we have Parisian outfit Merrimack and their crushing return “Of Grace and Gravity”. As their first album in seven years, the band returns with thirst for vengeance and delivers over 40 minutes of excruciatingly brutal music that any fan of the genre will go nuts for. If you like incisive and punishing music with a perfect balance of atmosphere and swift brutality, this is the release for you.

    The release kicks off with a bang with the demolishing “Sulphurean Synods”, a track that blasts off with ravaging guitars, pummeling drums, and hellish vocals. There is certain rawness to the band’s approach that is quite savage and direct. With the intensity of “Sublunar Despondency”, the band has that viciousness of 90’s Norwegian Black Metal, giving a certain Satyricon edge that works wonderfully within the band’s aggressive style.

  • Isenordal - Requiem for Eirênê (2024)

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    Unleashing one of the most powerful and disarming releases of 2024, today we have Isenordal and their latest opus “Requiem for Eirênê”. Filled with melancholy, this release features five tracks and over 50 minutes of majestically crafted music that transports the listener with mysterious and bleak soundscapes. Filled with lush instrumentation and perfect execution, this is one of our early candidates for best release of the year.

    Opening with the 15-minute behemoth “A Moment Approaches Eternity”, we get a slow atmospheric progression adorned by solemn viola accents, just until the moment when crushing Doom riffs lead way to harsh screams. The level of bleakness induced by the weeping guitars and the masterful tempo is unparalleled, and it only gets better as the track progresses with even more dramatic instrumentation and some hellish aggressive passages.

  • Besotten/Funerelic - Abyssal Synodality (2024)

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    There are some days that you just want to play the foulest and most ravaging thing you can find to get through the day. For those days, “Abyssal Synodality”, a split release between Besotten and Funerelic, is just what the doctor ordered. Featuring four tracks, two a piece and nearly 20 minutes of music, this release is quite engaging and punishing.

  • Ponte Del Diavolo - Fire Blades From the Tomb (2024)

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    Just when you think you have heard it all, there comes a band like Ponte Del Diavolo with a very unique and intoxicating sound. Mixing elements of Black Metal with Doom, Psychedelic/Dark rock, “Fire Blades From the Tomb” delivers nearly 45 minutes of enigmatic music that quickly sets a very sultry and devilish mood from start to end.

    Opening with “Demone”, one would easily think, great, another typical (but intense) Black Metal release, however, as Erba del Diavolo vocals come to play, the mood shifts into sinister and yet playful territories. Weaving back and forth between BM onslaughts and Doomy riffs, the band creates a very unique and engaging sound that is not quite conventional as songs like “Covenant” and “Red as the sex of She who lives in death” keep exploring new dark corners.

  • Farsot - Life Promised Death (2024)

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    Always delivering some of the most unique and intricately crafted releases, Lupus Lounge presents Farsot’s latest offering “Life Promised Death”. Seven years have passed since the band’s last release and it seems like no time has passed as this album has nearly 50 minutes of expertly crafted music that reminds us of bands like Fen, Eïs, and Todtgelichter.

    The release opens with the fierce “Nausea”, a piece that slowly builds momentum and delivers crafty layered guitars alongside moody tempo changes. The piercing “Buoyant Flames” and “Into Vertigo” are some of those greatly moody tracks that perfectly blends aggression with more introspective and slower passages that create beauty and contrast.

  • Necrowretch - Swords of Dajjal (2024)

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    Unleashing over 37 minutes of pure hell, today we have France’s Necrowretch and their latest release “Swords of Dajjal”. Spread over eight tracks, the band delivers swift and well crafted onslaughts of Black/Death Metal brilliance, with a style similar to outfits like Necrophobic and Destroyer 666. However, these guys are far from a carbon copy of the previously mentioned bands as they add their own sinister twists to their music.

  • Ihsahn - Ihsahn (2024)

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    Delivering his most ambitious album to date, today we have Ihsahn and his eponymous release, the eight full-length album of his solo career. After a couple of EP’s in between releases, Ihsahn blends cinematic orchestrations with his already quite refined and yet constantly evolving Proggy Black Metal. Featuring both a ‘Metal’ version, and a purely orchestral version, this release is quite the musical journey and a stop above the excellent quality we always expect from Ihsahn.

    After the mood setting orchestral opening, “The Promethean Spark” brings us back to more familiar territories with crafty tempo changes and Ihsahn’s signature mixture of clean and harsh vocals alongside playful riffs. While the ‘Metal’ side of things is familiar, the interplay with the classical instrument arrangements is quite engaging and intoxicating. Tracks like “Pilgrimage to Oblivion” and the lush “Twice Born”, showcase a very unique blend of heaviness with fragility and a splash of vibrancy that is rare to find in Metal.

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