Black Metal

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    Trident - North (2020)

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    Hailing from Sweden, today we have Trident’s sophomore release “North”, featuring nearly one hour of crushing Black/Death Metal. With a firm and pummeling style, the band’s ability to Blacken their Death Metal roots oozes both melody and brutality sprinkled with over the top atmospherics and lush arrangements creating a very elegant and devastating release. If you are a fan from bands like Dissection to Necrophobic to Dimmu Borgir, you will greatly enjoy this release.

    Making a grandiose entrance, the lush intro track perfectly sets the stage for the Thulcandra/Dissection-esque antics of “Death”. The band quickly showcases their full power with incisive guitar riffs, a thundering bass guitar line, and hellish screams. The band’s ravaging pace continues through intense tracks like “Imperium Romanum” and its sharp guitars leads, and the sinister melodies of “Summoning”.

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    Eskapism - Reminiscence (2020)

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    Unleashing frosty waves of intense atmospheric Black Metal, today we have Ukraine’s Eskapism and their latest EP titled “Reminiscence”. Delivering a brilliant balance of melody, rawness, and old-school atmospherics, this trio creates very dynamic and engaging songs that are both uncompromising and expertly crafted. Recommended for fans of early Dimmu Borgir, Old Man’s Child, Kampfar.

    The release leads with the mystical “A Cry into Oblivion”, a song that slowly builds up into a superb headbanging session thanks to its melodic nature alongside lush and dramatic atmospheric keyboards. The blistering album title track captures that timeless mystical sound of late 90’s Black Metal, similar to Tartaros, Limbonic Art, and Emperor, with its dramatic synths and crafty tempo changes. The mood suddenly shifts with the ambient instrumental “Whisper of Ancient Times”, a very nice piece to come full circle in this release.

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    Blood Red Fog - Fields of Sorrow (2020)

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    Creating a very punishing and miserable aural experience, today we have Finland’s Blood Red Fog and their very aptly titled “Fields of Sorrow” release. With a vibe similar to bands like Mortualia, this release unleashes over 50 minutes of exciting Black Metal with tons of experimental atmospheric elements and a very demoralizing mood. Only for masochists, this release will turn any day into a bleak ordeal.

    The hypnotic “Before The Cold Light” sets a very trippy metaphysical mood that is instantly ravaged by the blistering BM onslaughts of “Gallows Poles and Shallow Graves”. With such a fierce tempo change, the band delivers a punishing blow with brutal guitars and hyper fast drumming, we love these types of contrasts. The depressive mode of “Abode of Shadows” gives you that certain Doomy vibe that perfectly blends with BM harshness, creating an immersive wallowing experience, this brilliant misery bleeds into the eerie “Ever-Returning Genocide”.

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    Theotoxin - Fragment: Erhabenheit (2020)

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    Hailing from Austria, today we have the pummeling Theotoxin and their latest hellish offering “Fragment: Erhabenheit”. Delivering a dynamic mixture of Black/Death Metal, the band unravels nearly 45 minutes of ravaging songs filled with brutality and dissonance. For fans of bands like Behemoth, Belphegor and Old Man’s Child, this release balances a brilliant production and waves of brutal onslaughts.

    The ritual begins with the blistering opener “Golden Tomb”, a very punishing track filled with demonic vocals, waves of ravaging guitars and bestial drumming. Combining shrieks with deeper snarls, allows the band to create a very effective vehicle to deliver their lyrics while the world seems to crumble with the relentless intensity of the band’s music, as we can hear both in “Obscure Divinations” and the commanding “Prayer”, which give that Behemoth vibe but with a different twist.

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    Ordinance - In Purge There Is No Remission (2020)

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    Unleashing a wave of ritualistic Black Metal, today we have Finland’s Ordinance and their sophomore release “In Purge There is No Remission”. With nearly 50 minutes of music, this release covers a wide gamut of BM styles with some tracks being more traditional, others being quite old-school, but an overall sense of brutality and destruction is nicely conveyed by the band. If you like fast, raw, and punishing music, this release is certainly for you.

    Opening with the blistering “Obstructed Paths”, we get a hefty dose of buzzsaw like guitars, blistering drumming and slower incisive passages with a certain ritualistic vibe. And that was just in the first five minutes. As the band pummels through pieces like the eerie “Diabolopathia” and its hypnotic riffs, the more traditional “Gathering Wraiths” with its savage intensity, and the pummeling “Credo Sceleratum” with its Philippines-style Thrash/Black Metal guitars and heavy metal screams, there is a clear indicator that this band is full of creativity and a knack for brutality.

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    Uada - Djinn (2020)

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    Unleashing what is most likely the most explosive and melodic Black Metal release of 2020, today we have Uada and their third full-length release “Djinn”. Slowly refining their craft over time and gathering wide acclaim over the last few years, this North American outfit delivers almost 60 minutes of non-stop high-octane music that will have people headbanging from start to finish. If you like bands like Mgła, Pilorian, Inquisition, etc. you will love this exciting release.

    Opening the release with the album title track, the band sets a relentless pace with superbly catchy riffs and a very engaging and energetic vibe. The dual guitar attack of James Sloan and Jake Superchi, works magically as their intensity and craftiness is quickly evident, creating a very powerful mood and the perfect environment for furious headbanging, as shown in the opener and the blistering “The Great Mirage”. Other tracks like “No Place Here”, show a mellower and yet still incisive side to the band’s superbly melodic musical approach.

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    God’s Bastard - Last Standing Village (2020)

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    Unleashing a short but sweet barrage of hateful and raw Black Metal, today we have God’s Bastard and their debut EP “Last Standing Village”. Originally self-released last year, on I, Voidhanger Records gives this EP a limited digipak release to introduce the band to a wider audience. Featuring a very raw and direct sound with some Punk/Hardcore elements, similar to bands like Bosse-de-Nage, 20 minutes will pass by in seconds in this very promising release.

    Opening with the ravaging “Chaos Apologist”, the listener is quickly immersed with a very chaotic and punishing sound. The band’s brutal onslaughts change from almost Nordic BM riffs at first, to a more diverse and crafty and all-out chaotic mode. Building on their dissonance, “God Raise The Sea” delivers a more carefully constructed onslaught of punishing riffs and some more experimental and jazzy melancholic passages, adding to the band’s unique musical approach, similar to what early Epel Duath used to do.

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    Suicide Circle - Demo MMXX (2020)

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    Hailing from France, today we have a very disturbing duo playing Depressive Black Metal under the name Suicide Circle. Delivering around 26 minutes of music, this demo release is split in four punishing songs that draw more on the raw and dissonant side of the genre. If you are looking for oppressive atmospheres to drown your sorrows, this release certainly will help you.

    Opening with “From the Void of their Mind”, the band sets a very raw and stripped down atmosphere with their riffs and harsh screams. There is absolutely no flair or gimmicks in the band’s sound, as the tracks in this release are quite direct, basic, and to the point. We appreciate how the band’s sound needs very minimal external elements aside from the furious guitars and hellish drumming, as “Prophet of Doomsday” lays waste to the listeners.

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    Tsatthoggua - Hallelujah Messiah (2020)

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    Unleashing the most depraved release of 2020, today we have the return of Germany’s Tsatthoggua with their compilation mCD “Hallelujah Messiah”. As one of those bands that marked your youth thanks to their album covers and bizarre lyrics, we never would have expected the band to come back after more than 20 years of silence. If you are ready for a nostalgic dose of old-school Black/Thrash Metal with a knack for BDSM, check out this release.

    Starting with material from the band’s 1995 demo “Siegeswille”, the remastered versions presented in this release capture the band’s raw and punishing style while allowing the songs to sound updated and crystal clear. The gaudy keyboards of “The Belief - The Lie” (and the rest of the first 5 songs) is one of the elements that shows the band’s uniqueness as not just an appearance gimmick, but rather an experimental outfit. Tracks like “Heirs of Fire” capture that old-school timeless Immortal-style of BM which is furious and yet melodic enough for some headbanging sessions.

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    Ages - Uncrown (2020)

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    Featuring a truly captivating and engaging Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal sound, today we have Sweden’s Ages and their sophomore release “Uncrown”. In the intense 42 minutes of music of this release, the band gives us a bit of a nod to the past of the genre, while crafting nine extremely catchy and effective songs. If you like bands of the caliber of Dissection, Naglfar, Keep of Kalessin, etc., you will love this band.

    Opening with the hectic “Burn Them”, the band instantly creates a very high-paced tempo that gives us a bit of a certain Vreid/Windir vibe as the crafty guitars and harsh vocals are introduced. The band continues their high-octane approach with the devilish “Illicit State” and its dramatic atmospherics. We are particularly loving the head banging fest incited by the superbly melodic passages of “Herolds of Enslavement”.

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