Hailing from France, this month we get a taste of great Black Metal in the shape of “Nyseius” from the one-man band Militiae. This release features a perfect combination of traditional Scandinavian Black Metal with more symphonic Avant-garde elements that give this release the edge needed to be noticed in the super crowded BM scene.

If you are looking for ‘cult’ Black Metal, you might check this release out since it features the traditional blastbeats and tremolo picking sections that we all love. The release also has a very grim and raw feeling to it at (the beginning of Les Symboles de la Catharsis song), but it never lacks production values.

When I first started listening to this album and the intro song “Red Sun Sets” was over, I thought I had the wrong promo on my playlist since the band’s music sounded like a demo tape for a Coldplay/U2 song. The guitars were rough and the percussions were too calm from what I expected from a BM band, then minute 1:50 hits and there are some weird Bono style vocals that made me double check that I was listening to Svarti Loghin and not some shitty U2 album that somebody sneaked into my computer.

After the initial shock, I went to the band’s myspace and found out that in fact that is how the album starts. If I would have waited 30 seconds more I would have heard the shrieks and all I would know I had the right album. As you can expect, Svarti Loghin plays a very interesting sounding Black Metal that will surely shock a bunch of people if you are expecting furious blastbeats and incontrollable shrieks for desperation.

With an extremely interesting (and messed up) name, I was very intrigued by this band. After reading the release’s press information I got even more excited, since they claimed that the band mixes Atmospheric Doom Metal with Black Metal and Post-Rock, a combination that on paper sounds heavenly but in practice can be a total failure.

So being both excited and skeptical about An Autumn For Crippled Children (AAFCC for short), I decided to dive in and take a swing at this release. Let me tell you, this album is all that it was hyped to be and even more, the music is both dense and haunting creating a tick atmosphere that will immerse you into AAFCC’s demented world since the first minute of “Lost”.

To complete the Viking Metal trifecta released by Napalm Records this March/April we have “The End” by Ereb Altor. This band plays Epic Viking Doom Metal….. we have heard Epic Nautical Doom Metal and now Viking EDM, looking into the band’s founders we find that both of them are part of Isole, and that is exactly how this band sounds too much alike.

Ereb Altor has crafted a very unique sounding Epic Doom Metal that most fans of the genre will find intoxicating, having heavy influences from Candlemass, Isole, Ahab, and old Bathory. And while this is not 100% or cup of tea, we find this release very enjoyable. Being huge Doom Metal fans, it took us quite a while to really get into Epic Doom and Funeral Doom bands, and it can’t get any better than Ereb Altor (and Ahab).

Coming from Denmark, we get Napalm Records second Folk/Viking Metal offering of the month. “Mulmets Viser” is Svartsot’s second full-length album and their best to date. Having recorded two brilliant demos and one full-length album (“Ravnenes Saga”) the band shows no signs of losing their edge in every release.

After 90% of the band quit in 2008, Cris J.S. Frederiksen wasted no time in putting together a group of musicians that wanted to continue with Svartsot. This bold move paid off since there is nothing lost in the quality of this band, and we would even dare to say that they sound better than ever.

Hailing from France we have Les Discrets, a very unique band that makes it nearly impossible for us to define their musical style. Featuring a rich palette of influences ranging from Progressive Rock to Post-Rock to Shoegaze to Alternative Metal with a splash of Folk, we have one of the most unique sounds to ever be signed by Prophecy Productions (and if you know your music, you know this label is responsible for acts such as Empyrium, Autumblaze, The Vision Bleak, etc).

Featuring songs the band wrote in a span of six years, you can see how this band started with a very solid musical foundation and only refined it to near perfection. “Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées” is one of the best albums we have reviewed in 2010. The band has done a great job in polishing their own sound and laying down some amazing tracks over the year.

After the band’s amazing first full-length release “Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde” many of us had been left wanting for more. And while there are many other bands that play similar music like Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Fen, etc. Alcest has it’s own extremely melancholic sound that is unique of them.

“Écailles De Lune” follows the band’s first release perfectly; there are plenty of instrumental passages that build expectation and melancholy. The clean vocals are heavenly and brilliantly set the mood for the furious sporadic Black Metal attacks. All the buildups leading to the band’s Black Metal elements are perfectly crafted creating a very melancholic feeling that bursts with shrieks of desperation.

If you usually judge a book by its cover, you will image that Stigma plays Punk or something in that vicinity. But once you start listening to this album you will be blown away with a Melodic Death Metal sound that will hook you since the first riff. The band does a great job at mixing Melodic DM with harsher elements, making their sound very dynamic and fresh.

“Concerto For The Undead” features great artwork that reminded us of the Tales From The Crypt comic books, and as you can see in the band’s promo pictures, it’s one of their clear influences. We love when bands use horror movies as an influence since it’s one of our passions, and they could make for very interesting lyrics.