Black Metal

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    Fluisteraars - Bloem (2020)

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    Unleashing contrasting brutality with unfathomable melancholy, today we have Fluisteraars and their third full-length release “Bloem”. Delivering over 30 minutes of highly creative and unique music, this band explores a wide spectrum of sounds, instruments and elements, infusing them into a high-octane raw Black Metal core to create a brilliant release. If you like non-linear BM that explores the boundaries of the genre, do not miss out of this album.

    Starting with the (early) Ulver-esque rawness of “Tere Muur”, the band sets a furious BM pace that nicely continues into the first minute or so of “Nasleep”. This last track slowly turns more melodic with a lively bass guitar line and catchy passages. As the song descends into madness it suddenly leads into one of the bleakest and most disarming melodic passages ever written. The oozing melancholy of the second part of this song is brilliant as it creates a truly oppressive atmosphere.

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    Pure Wrath - The Forlorn Soldier (2020)

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    Hailing from Indonesia, today we have one-man battalion Pure Wrath with the very impressive “The Forlorn Soldier” EP release. Unleashing a masterful combination of dramatic atmospherics, blistering Black Metal onslaughts and a hearty sense of melody, this release delivers almost 30 minutes of flawless music. Highly recommended for fans of bands like Sad Legend, Saor and Vallendusk, be prepared for an aural assault with this one.

    The release opens with the blistering “When a Great Man Dies” and its waves of punishing riffs perfectly intertwined with catchy atmospheric elements and harsh vocals. This combination creates a very chaotic, yet refined and lush experience that will quickly grab the listener's attention and never let go. We particularly enjoy the solemn clean vocal arrangements in the superbly melodic closing stages of the song.

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    Blaze of Perdition - The Harrowing of Hearts (2020)

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    Unleashing an early front-runner for Black Metal album of the year, today we have Blaze of Perdition and their fifth full-length release. Featuring over 50 minutes of sinister music, this release delivers the perfect mixture of atmosphere, brutality and melody that few achieve. As their first release through Metal Blade Records, the band showcases a ravaging sound that is ready to be massively divulged.

    The opener “Suffering Made Bliss” delivers a devastating blow of layered guitars, hellish vocals and bestial drumming that slowly eases into crafty and more melodic passages with a throbbing bass guitar line. Using creepy samples and a very hypnotic atmosphere, “With Madman’s Faith”, builds up on the first onslaught and unleashes a more sinister and hellish side to the band, additional to their pummeling and ravaging onslaughts.

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    Karg - Traktat (2020)

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    Oozing melancholy, today we have Karg’s latest opus “Traktat”. As a one-man project from J.J of Harakiri for the Sky fame, this band focuses more on a more dreamy Post-Black Metal style, perfect for any fan of the genre. While this project has evolved from Atmospheric Black Metal territories to this more compact sound, this release shows the evolution of a musician refining his signature elements and further complimenting them with subtle improvements. Delivering the perfect mixture of bleak desolation and harsh aggressiveness, this release is certainly an intense ride.

    Opening with the dreamy layered guitars of “Irgendjemand wartet immer”, this release sets a very moody atmosphere that is quite traditional of Karg. With J.J handling all instruments, you can hear the very effective interplay of the drums and guitars. The vocals are the typical harsh screams that add anxiety inducing helplessness to the songs, perfect examples of this are “Jahr Ohne Sommer”, and the doomier “Stolperkenotaphe” and its excellent string arrangements.

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    God Dethroned - Illuminati (2020)

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    Delivering a firm and switch brutal onslaught of intense riffing, today we have God Dethroned and their latest opus “Illuminati”. Luckily for early fans, Henri Sattler decided to revive the band a few years back and now they unleash one hell of a release divided into nine ear-piercing tracks. While not long in duration, the 36 minutes of music presented are some of the finest this Dutch outfit has ever produced.

    The album title track opens the release with a vicious old-school Death Metal vibe, perfectly adorned with Blacked Harsh screams and lush atmospheric keyboards. With “Broken Halo” continuing in the same fashion, we are completely floored as “Book of Lies” unleashes hell with piercing riffs and brilliant melodic intensity. This last track is definitely one for brutal headbanging, and with some contrasting solemn guitar leads, it is just magical.

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    Greve - Nordarikets strid (2020)

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    As a highly mysterious duo from Sweden, Greve unleashes upon the masses their debut full-lenght release “Nordarikets strid”. Featuring an eerie retro Atmospheric/Symphonic Black Metal sound, this album transport the listeners across aural planes with its incisive furious onslaughts and dramatic atmospherics.

    Setting the mood with a dreamy intro, “Vid Dödens Tröskel” fully unleashes Greve’s fury with pummeling drums and piercing shrieks. The band’s Black Metal core is on point, delivering waves of crushing riffs and crafty tempo changes to keep things interesting as one can hear on the album title track and the Dissection-esque “I Svarta Solens Magi”.

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    Serpent Noir - Death Clan OD (2020)

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    Hailing from Greece, today we have yet another crushing Black Metal band to come out of World Terror Committee’s label roster. With a very visceral and incisive sound, Serpent Noir sounds like BM, but not like everybody else does. Mixing elements from genre greats with a crystal clear production and a vicious passion, “Death Clan OD” is one hell of a pummeling release.

    After the typical mood setting intro, the band wastes no time and delivers the cavernous “Cutting the Umbilical Cord of Hel”, a track filled with pummeling guitars and dramatic atmospherics. Taking a more melodic stance, “Hexcraft” delivers waves of hypnotic drum patterns, a throbbing bass guitar line and sinister vocals. The release turns into more mystical and ritualistic territories with the creepy “Asmodeus The Sword of Golachab”, one of the densest and most powerful tracks in this release.

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    Ihsahn - Telemark (2020)

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    With most bands happy to just crank out full-length after full-length releases, Black Metal pioneer Ihsahn decided to challenge himself and do the opposite: break up a full-length release and deliver it as two EP’s. In “Telemark” we can hear some of his most rawest and direct compositions in quite a while, showing that this experiment has allowed Ihsahn to focus on the duality of his sound in compartmentalized approaches.

    The incisive opener “Stridig” perfectly balances raw and punishing BM onslaughts with trippy Saxophone elements and a very dreamy and yet aggressive stance. With all the lyrics in Norwegian, this track has a brilliant pace and feels like yet another exploratory dimension to Ihsahn’s unique musical vision. With a bluesy aggression to it, “Nord” perfectly combines heavy riffs with crafty tempo changes and a sultry hypnotic pace thanks to a piercing bass guitar line and sinister drum patterns.

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    Mavorim - Axis Mundi (2020)

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    Starting 2020 on fire, German label Purity Through Fire unleashes yet another excellent Black Metal release with Mavorim’s sophomore full-length release “Axis Mundi”. Presenting a mixture of Ambient elements with Melodic Black Metal spurts, this release clock in at around 60 minutes of engaging and crafty music. As a one-man entity, this outfit’s sound is a bit retro, folk-like, heavy and powerful at the same time.

    After the mood setting into, we get the mystical “Aus Asche auferstanden” filled with subtle synths and a demolishing BM pace. The harsh screams perfectly blend in with the powerful riffs and the very well marked drums. This very martial musical structure is quite effective in creating well delineated songs that are enjoyable and yet predictable, as the dreamy “Wo kriegergleiche Kräfte walten” and its magical clean vocal arrangements.

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    Aethyrick - Gnosis (2020)

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    Unleashing one of the first 2020 contenders for Black Metal album of the year, today we have Finland’s mysterious duo with “Gnosis”. While most bands follow a marked path, Aethyrick brilliantly blends elements of traditional BM with more refined atmospheric/Post-BM influences with an overall punishing but melodic approach. Always keeping the listener engaged, this release features over 40 minutes of dramatic and high quality music.

    Opening with the moody “Will Embodied”, Gall and Exile set a furious tone with blistering riffs and hellish drums, however it is the melancholic guitar leads and the overall oppressive atmosphere that sets the band apart. With certain influences of outfits like Vanum, Ash Borer and Post-Black Metal elements, the band’s style is quite refined and cut-throat as we can her in crushingly melodic tracks like “Oneiric Portals” and the heavily atmospheric “Stellar Flesh”.

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