Black Metal

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    Rotting Christ - Pro Xristou (2024)

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    Hailing from Greece, Rotting Christ is finally back with another sinister exercise of aggression and melody with “Pro Xristou”. Featuring ten tracks and over 45 minutes of highly engaging music, the band shows no signs of slowing down and delivers another high quality release. Slowly refining their melodic Black Metal over the years, the band has it down to a science and unleashing ten of their most catchy and enjoyable tracks.

    Setting the stage with a dramatic atmospheric intro, “The Apostate” nicely takes on from where the band left off with their previous release “The Heretics”, and continues unleashing unholy atmospheric brilliance, paired with eerie vocal arrangements and the band’s signature riffing. Sakis Tolis has the band’s sound perfected to deliver crafty guitar melodies alongside his signature snarls, as songs like “Like Father, Like Son”, “The Sixth Day”, and the blistering “La Lettera Del Diavolo” demonstrate.

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    Deathcult - Seven Are They (2024)

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    Spewing some blasphemous old-school Norwegian Black Metal, today we have Deathcult and their latest 7” release “Seven Are They”. Featuring Hoest from Taake (and others) and the brothers Thurzur and Skagg, which also play or have played with many other Black Metal bands, this release gives the listener a little taste of the band’s commanding sound and blistering energy.

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    Heimland - Tronearvingens doed (2024)

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    Hailing from Norway, today we have Heimland and their 7” release “Tronearvingens doed”. As a teaser after their 2023 release “Forfedrenes taarer”, this 2 song release continues to show the bands fierce Norwegian Black Metal style. With a very uncompromising and raw sound, this outfit demonstrates they are the real deal and should be kept on any BM connoisseur radar.

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    Vástígr - The Path of Perdition (2024)

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    Hailing from Austria, today we have mysterious one-man band Vástígr with a very tense and crushing brand of Atmospheric Black Metal. While most bands in the genre sound alike these days, “The Path of Perdition” has a certain unsettling uniqueness thanks to its darker and more sinister take. Featuring four tracks and nearly 45 minutes of crushing music, this release is definitely worth the attention of any fan of the genre, and Black Metal in general.

    Opening with the ravaging “Plunge”, Thomas Anzinger quickly creates a very thick and punishing atmosphere with intricate guitar work and deep growls. Far from linear, the track suddenly changes tempo to more melodic and equally sinister passages. Continuing the onslaught “Chasm” starts off showcasing crafty tempo changes ranging from Doom-ish interludes to more straight up Black Metal power. The band’s unique ideas nicely create a very demoralizing and yet highly effective style of its own.

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    Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All (2024)

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    Returning with another masterclass in crafting sinister and crafty Metal music, today we have the legendary Darkthrone and their latest sickening opus “It Beckons Us All”. Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have made pushing the boundaries of Metal a regular exercise and with this release they unleash seven tracks and nearly 44 minutes of piercing and challenging music. If you've been a fan of the band’s last few releases, this one will come as a natural progression of their sound.

    Opening with “Howling Primitive Colonies”, we get an instant taste of the band’s sinister riffs and unsettling atmospherics. The music is raw and direct, but it still delivers those spooky vibes the band is known for. It is quite impressive that the band can still pull new rabbits out of their hat and make the Black Metal roots present on tracks like “Eon 3”, “Black Dawn Affiliation”, and “And in That Moment I Knew the Answer”, bringing back some of those Isengard days thanks to the eerie vocals and riffs.

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    Amiensus - Reclamation: Part 1 (2024)

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    Unleashing a very interesting and crafty Progressive Black Metal release, today we have Amiensus and their moody “Reclamation: Part 1” release. Featuring eight tracks and nearly 55 minutes of highly intricate music, this album has vibes from bands like Enslaved, Agalloch, all the way to Cynic. With each track introducing an interesting mix of ideas, this release is definitely one of the most unique and enjoyable albums of 2024.

    Opening with the moody atmospherics of “Blink of the Moment'', the band sets a very Agalloch-esque vibe thanks to its engaging guitar-driven core and excellent vocal (clean and harsh) onslaughts. This dreamy atmosphere bleeds into the catchiness of “Reverie”, a more dynamic piece that features an interesting mix of Progressive elements and engaging melodic passages. The band’s ideas nicely blend different genres and elements together as the mellow “Senses Amplified” showcases.

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    Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will (2024)

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    Creating something new and different sounding in Metal these days is quite a hard task, however, Sweden’s Dödsrit has managed to do that and pushes it to the limit with “Nocturnal Will”. Over the years the band has been refining their mixture of Melodic Black Metal, Punk, Crust, and even some traditional Heavy Metal. In this release, the six tracks and nearly 45 minutes of music showcase a high-octane sound that is quite epic, melodic, and yet heavy and powerful.

    Opening with the ravaging “Irjala”, the band starts off with some very Heavy Metal sounding riffs that made us think we had put on an old Dio/Iron Maiden release. The track quickly picks up with intense drumming and a hearty sense of melody, thanks to some excellent melodic passages and exciting guitar leads. The band’s sound is nicely layered to incorporate elements that need more than a few listens to discover, as “Nocturnal Fire” and “Utmed Gyllbergens Stig” demonstrate.

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    Dødsferd - Wrath (2024)

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    Hailing from Greece, today we have the sinister Dødsferd and their latest opus “Wrath”. Featuring ten tracks and nearly one hour of crushing Black Metal, this band shows the listener no mercy with their high-octane tracks and fierce sound. Highly recommended for purists of the genre, this album packs a lot of punch and shows that the band means business.

    Waiting no time to establish a pummeling atmosphere, “Restoration of Justice” opens the release with incisive guitar work and hellish vocals, courtesy of Wrath, one of the most consistent and fierce vocalists in the scene. The band pummels through pieces like “Decay of Sanity”, “Raging Lust of Creation”, and “Spiritual Lethargy”, unleashing long tracks (up to 10 minutes long) of sheer brutality.

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    Blaze of Perdition - Upharsin (2024)

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    There must be something in the water in Poland that produces excellent Black Metal bands like Mgła, Kriegsmaschine, Behemoth, and Blaze of Perdition to name a few. On the subject of the latter, today we have their latest opus with “Upharsin”, a 41-minute beast filled with five tracks of punishing and hateful music. If you like intensity and nerve wrecking atmospherics, this release will satisfy your cravings.

    Opening with the monster “W kwiecie rozłamu”, the band unleashes eight minutes of uncompromising brutality and harshness. While not as clinical as outfits like Mgła, Blaze of Perdition compensates with sheer intensity and crafty sinister melodies, as the powerful “Przez rany” slowly builds its momentum and creates dissonant soundscapes. The band’s execution is immersive, as tracks like “Niezmywalne” perfectly deliver blistering drumming, alongside incisive guitars and engaging tempo changes.

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    Satanic North - Satanic North (2024)

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    Unleashing a fierce Black Metal debut, Satanic North comes out of Finland and is ready to rival any of the genre’s best bands with their raw and punishing style. In this self-titled full-length release, the band cranks out ten tracks and nearly 40 minutes of all-out war with their incisive style. Did we mention that this outfit also features Petri Lindroos and Janne Parviainen of Ensiferum fame? With this line-up we get a killer debut filled with old-school vibes.

    Opening with “War”, we get some foul opening riffs that show the band means business. Having that old-school 90’s BM vibe, the track quickly escalates to all-out rage with blast beats and strong shrieks. One of the band’s strengths is the raw power of their sound, with tracks like “Arise”, “Village”, and “Hatred and Blasphemy” being quite punishing, in part thanks to its double vocal onslaught, and yet featuring some clean and modern production.

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