Black Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Azaghal – Teraphim (2009)

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    If I’m ever looking for a brutal and raw Black Metal album, I always turn back to my Azaghal and Horna albums, since they are the true embodiment of this genre. Azaghal returns after one year of releasing “Omega” and the still bring their A game to the table.

    The only change that Azaghal has suffered is the very light use of synth in their last two albums, and in “Teraphim” this element makes me like this album even better. This being said, do not expect Dimmu Borgir style synths or anything like that, just small hints to complement a song.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Marduk – Wormwood (2009)

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    “Wormwood” is probably one of the most expected Black Metal releases of 2009 and it fully delivers what is expected from Marduk. The album features Black Metal at its most refined state, blasting away since the first song and never letting go.

    Marduk’s status as BM legends has been earned by constantly releasing quality albums since their debut album “Dark Endless” back in 92, the band has constantly been evolving refining their style to its current state.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Merrimack – Grey Rigorism (2009)

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    Merrimack is a French Black Metal band that while not extremely ‘known in the scene’, they manage to create a good album with “Grey Rigorism”. After 3 years of releasing their best album to date “Of Entropy And Life Denial” the band is here trying to recapture their momentum, but they just achieve other album just like “Of Entropy And Life Denial” and nothing more.

    The quality of “Grey Rigorism” is unquestionable and the band is very good at writing songs and creating a very malevolent atmosphere. If this is the first album you have heard of the band it will surely blow you away. The band creates a very balanced mix of BM that includes fast tremolo picked parts and some less intense more rhythmic parts, like many BM bands are doing these days, particularly Marduk.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Canis Dirus – A Somber Wind From A Distant Shore (2009)

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    Ambient Raw Black Metal newcomers Canis Dirus hail from Minnesota, USA, yeah you read correctly from the USA. This two man band is probably one of the best new bands of the genre hailing from the USA besides Wolves Of The Throne Room.

    Invoking the old Burzum sound as well as the insane vocals of Bethlehem’s first albums “A Somber Wind From A Distant Shore” is a very solid release that features a very primitive and raw sound that will send shivers down to anybody’s spine after listening to it in the dark or better yet in the woods.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nazxul – Iconoclast (2009)

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    After going into a full-length album hibernation of 14 years, Australia’s cult legends Nazxul are back with a masterful Black Metal release that will set straight all the posers in the scene, and will show to all others how a Black Metal album should be done.

    While the band’s releases between full length albums where good, they could not compare to “Totem” until now. “Iconoclast” features 14 tracks (ambient passages included) of 90’s sounding Black Metal, something that is rare to find these days. While people might argue that the passages in-between tracks are just fillers, I have to say that they provide the perfect breathing time and the necessary pause in order to fully appreciate the next ‘real’ track.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hiems – Worship Or Die (2009)

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    Hiems (winter in Latin) hails from Italy and it’s a one man band side-project from Algol the bassist of Forgotten Tomb, one of the most boring Black Metal band’s that I’ve heard.

    “Worship Or Die” is an overall improvement of the music created by Forgotten Tomb, but is still pretty tame in comparison to other Black Metal releases. The whole album feels very slow except for the occasional  bursts of speed that are infused here and there, probably for the listener to not fall asleep.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Urfaust – Einsiedler (2009)

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    The Dutch duo of Urfaust comes back with their latest 2 song EP “Einsiedler” and after doing a bit of research about this band I figured I was into another pointless voyage from ‘just another’ crappy Ambient/Raw Black Metal band, and I was very wrong about this.

    “Einsiedler” features over 18 minutes of mesmerizing Ambient/Raw Black Metal that should be set as one of the standards for the genre. Their amazing ambiance created by the keyboards in the track “IX Einsiedler” is both eerie and enthralling I have not enjoyed a simple but well composed keyboard arrangement like this one in quite a while. While you still have the traditional shrieks on the song, they also added a very melodic clean vocal that complements the track to perfection. The overall down-tempo and doomy feeling of this song is amazing and it’s probably one of the reasons I enjoyed the full 11 minutes it lasts.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    A Forest Of Stars – The Corpse Of Rebirth (2008)

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    A Forest Of Stars is one of those bands that is trying to push the barriers of music, by creating a very interesting sounding mix of different elements with Black Metal.

    This British quartet features Katie Stone (ex My Dying Bride) as the ‘Queen Of Ghost’ and other equally interestingly named characters: Mr. Curse, The Gentleman and Mr T.S. Kettleburner.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Impiety – Terroreign: Apocalyptic Armageddon Command (2009)

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    The Trashy Death/Black Metal trio of Singapore is back with their sixth full length album that brings back their old school sound. Since the first track this album is very fast paced and intense, something that I was not expecting from this band.

    Impiety’s only founding member is their guitarist and vocalist: Shyaithan. He is the driving force behind the band’s almost 20 year trajectory and their old school sound that is desperately needed these days.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Malfeitor – Incubus (2009)

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    After their amazing debut album “Unio Mystica Maxima”, Malfeitor is back with their aggressive raw Black Metal. Featuring M. Fabban of Aborym on bass and vocals you can start to imagine what to expect from this band.

    This Italian five-piece have been around only since 2006, and since their first release they have been turning heads. The band has managed to create an astounding combination of old school Swedish and Norwegian Black Metal that is very grim and raw.

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