Black Metal

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    Rauhnåcht - Zwischenwelten (2025)

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    One-man show Stefan Traunmüller, brings us today a very piercing and engaging Pagan Black Metal release with his band Rauhnåcht and their fifth full-length release “Zwischenwelten”. Featuring a sound that combines bits and pieces of outfits like Summoning, Enid, and some Falkenbach/Vred sprinkles. With six tracks spanning over 40 minutes, this release creates very regal and engaging melodic soundscapes that are perfect for a frosty winter evening of mild headbanging.

    Quickly escalating things with the fierce “Der Spalt zwischen den Welten”, we get fast paced melodic riffing accompanied by tight drumming and an overall regal sense. The raw Black Metal undertones are very well crafted into the more melodic passages and perfectly contrast the dreamy clean vocals onslaughts. While the elements remain the same throughout this release, this outfit does a great job in re-arranging them to create entertaining tracks like “Letzter Pfad”, and the ritualistic “Das Mark des Lebens”.

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    Ba'al - The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here (2025)

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    Unleashing a highly melancholic and very cathartic release, today we have UK’s Ba’al with “The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here”. Featuring over 60 minutes of a brilliant amalgamation of Sludge/Post-Metal/Doom Metal, and some sprinkles of Black Metal, this release is fierce and punishing. Creating masterful emotionally charged soundscapes, this album will sneak up on you and you will find yourself playing it over and over again.

    Opening with the moody “Mother’s Concrete Womb”, the band sets a bleak and yet pummeling mood, thanks to crushing Sludgey riffs that blend into lush Post-Metal territories. There are plenty of tempo changes into fierce and brutal Black Metal-ish territories, perfectly adorned by the harsh,and familiar, screams of Joe Stamps, of current Hecate Enthroned fame. The band seamlessly transitions between dreamy atmospheric passages, like the opening of “Waxwork Gorgon” as it transitions into heavy walls of distortion and moody Sludgy/Post-Metal atmospherics.

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    Eskapism - Skresnava (2025)

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    Always uncovering unique talent, Naturmacht Productions is set to release Eskapism’s latest full-length release “Skresnava”. Featuring a very lively and engaging Atmospheric/Symphonic Black Metal sound, this release delivers four tracks and over 41 minutes of intense and very lush music. Recommended for fans of bands like Grima, Limbonic Art, Saor, and similar, this album is full of melody and magical soundscapes.

    Opening with the melancholic “The Forest of Silent Shadows”, the band slowly builds momentum with crafty atmospheric, weeping guitar melodies and a very hypnotic pace. The band’s ability to craft long, over 10 minutes, songs that are cohesive and very cinematic is one of their strengths as founders Dyvozor and Zymobor navigate very emotional and melodic territories. As “Orison” continues the onslaught, we get those nice emotive guitar tones masterfully surrounded by subtle and yet very powerful atmospherics.

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    Abigail Williams - A Void Within Existence (2025)

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    Marking their return after six years, “A Void Within Existence” showcases the ever morphing Abigail Williams with a more crushing and dissonant sound. Featuring seven tracks and nearly 50 minutes of music, this release has the band unleashing a mixture of crushing guitar-driven tracks with a hefty dose of atmospheric elements alongside their usual experimentation to create a powerful and devastating mixture.

    Opening with the heaviness of “Life Disconnected”, we get a barrage of raw and visceral riffs alongside technical craftiness with sick guitar leads. Moving into more melodic territories, “Void Within” unravels via the masterful drumming of Mike Heller, while “Nonexistence” delivers Post-Black Metal melancholics. Ken Sorceron’s vocals are vicious and perfectly align with the more violent onslaughts delivered on songs like “Still Nights” and the hypnotic “Talk to Your Sleep”, filled with crafty tempo changes and a vicious wall of distortion.

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    Sigh - I Saw the World's End - Hangman's Hymn MMXXV (2025)

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    As a re-recording and re-imagining of their 2007 masterpiece “Hangman's Hymn”, Sigh return with their usual madness, while giving this release a refresh with a (slightly) better production and infusion of their newer influences, elements, and band members. While we are great fans of the original version and its impact, at the given time, this refresh brings the album to a more modern context (in terms of the band) and will certainly appeal to any nostalgic fans.

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    Hexvessel - Nocturne (2025)

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    Keeping things weird and unique as always, Mat McNerney is back with the current era of Hexvessel that has them playing a very frosty and powerful blend of Atmospheric Black Metal with some of the band’s earlier Dark Folk elements. In “Nocturne” the band shapeshifts a bit more, taking the BM elements of “Polar Veil”, and blending some harrowing bleak soundscapes with chilling vocals and a few guest appearances to keep things dreamy and weird.

    With a mood setting opener and the chilling keyboards of “Sapphire Zephyrs”, the band sets a very desolate backdrop that masterfully is reinvigorated with piercing Black Metal-styled guitars and harsh screams. The transition to “Inward Landscapes” shifts the momentum to more atmospheric territories alongside Mat’s eerie clean vocals. One of our favorite tracks has to be the moody “A Dark Graceful Wilderness”, which gives us some “Dawnbearer” and “When We Are Death” vibes.

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    Sargeist - Flame Within Flame (2025)

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    Unleashing a clinical onslaught of uncompromising Finnish Black Metal, today we have Sargeist with “Flame Within Flame”. As the band’s first full-length release in nearly eight years, and featuring Shatraug back on vocals, this album is fierce and punishing, just what we all expect from this congregation of masterful Black Metal musicians, which also feature Spellgoth handling bass guitar and backing vocals, and new drummer Nur-i-siyah.

    Regardless of the line-up changes, Shatraug and VSJ keep the band’s style intact with their furious riffing onslaughts. Pummeling away with their signature style, “An Eternal Dream Beyond the Accursed Protent”, “Flame within Flame” and “The Chant of Rotting Tongues" perfectly transition between fast paced sections to more hypnotic and melodic passages that keep things eerie and highly atmospheric. With a timeless Black Metal style, this release masterfully mixes the gritty and raw with a polished production and crisp instrumentation.

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    Austere - The Stillness of Dissolution (2025)

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    This Aussie two-man band went away for over ten years and returned recently in 2021 and has dropped an album a year since 2023, making it one of the most productive in the scene. For the uninitiated, Austere was one of the originators of the Depressing Black Metal style back in the 2000’s and they continue to spew their bleakness with “The Stillness of Dissolution”. Evolving more into Atmospheric Black Metal territories, this release is engaging, catchy and yet very desolate in punishing, just what the doctor ordered for a cloudy and rainy day.

    Opening with “Dissolved Exile”, the band showcases their technical chops with a very melodic and crafty piece filled with engaging guitar leads, melodic passages, and crafty drumming alongside a good dose of harsh vocals. One of the signature styles from all of Tim Yatras’ bands is the dramatic clean vocals, that gracefully add that extra level of bleakness to the very well composed and expertly layered core music. Immediately inciting the listening to headbang alongside the catchiness of the guitar work, “Rusted Veins” is one of the album’s stand-out tracks, just completely intoxicating.

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    …And Oceans - The Regeneration Itinerary (2025)

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    As one of the main bands that got us into Symphonic Black Metal back in the late 90’s, …And Oceans has been around for a while, and even after their hiatus they continue to push the genre and deliver high-octane music. Featuring ten tracks and over 46 minutes of music, the band brings back some of their Industrial/Electronic elements into the fold, while keeping the intensity level at 11.

    Opening with “Inertiae”, here we get some of the Havoc Unit side of the band with some cybergoth passages, amongst the usual fare of dramatic symphonic elements and hefty harshness. Coming back down to relentless melody and engaging atmospherics, “Förnyelse i Tre Akter”, “Chromium Lungs, Bronze Optics”, and “The Form and the Formless”, showcase the band in its most polished and vicious way. It is quite impressive that while keeping their core sound from their old days intact, the band still sounds fresh and exciting.

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    Drouth - The Teeth of Time (2025)

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    Unleashing a cavernous and quite engaging Doomy Black Metal release, today we have Portland’s Drouth and their third full-length release “The Teeth of Time”. Featuring a fierce mixture of crafty melodic interludes and blistering aural onslaught, this album delivers five tracks and over 40 minutes of intense music. With a very piercing and yet balanced sound, the band’s songwriting is quite polished and intense.

    Opening with the piercing “Hurl Your Thunderbolt Even Unto Death”, we get a twin guitar onslaught that unleashes harsh screams and deep growls. The song is both crafty and heavy, setting a very hectic pace for the release. This sinister atmosphere continues in the commanding “False Grail” with Doom and Crust elements thrown into the mix as the song progresses. Far from linear, the band also oozes melancholy when needed with the album title track providing crafty duality, and sustained intensity through this piece.

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