Black Metal

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    Cold Cell – Lowlife (2015)

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    With a certain familiarity to old-school Bethlehem, today we have Swiss outfit Cold Cell and their powerful sophomore release “Lowlife”. Featuring a very dark and sinister sound that mixes Black Metal elements with more restrained melodic passages and some sprinkles of ambient elements, this release is quite obscure and enjoyable. Clocking in at 53 minutes, this is one release that breaks the mold and nicely sets itself apart from your cookie-cutter BM albums.

    Opening with a atmospheric intro, the band’s sinister sound first creeps on you with the Black’n’roll-ish opening of “Lifestyle Lunacy”. In this very moody track we get to hear the band’s full aural spectrum with a very rich and diverse piece. Other tracks feature brilliant melodic/atmospheric passages like “Scum Eradication” and “Dogma”. With the individual named S providing the vocals, we are reminded of the deranged style of Rainer Landfermann in Bethlehem’s “Dictius Te Necare”, but with enough restraint and focus to not draw all the attention to them.

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    Satyricon – Live At The Opera (2015)

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    As one of the most refined bands of the early wave of Norwegian Black Metal, Satyricon has kept pushing their sound over the years. In “Live at The Opera”, we get to hear some of their earlier works and their most recent pieces play seamlessly together in a 94 minute concert that incorporates a 55-person choral arrangements into their music. Allowing the band’s sound to be more sinister than ever, this is one hell of a live release…. And we have only heard the audio portion of it.

    Slowly starting with an extra creepy version of “Voice of Shadows”, the band sets the mood quite effectively with the second track “Now Diabolical”. With a very subtle usage of the choir arrangements to create very oppressive moods, the band greatly improves on songs like the previously mentioned one and other classics like “Repined Bastard Nation”. The band’s newest songs “Nocturnal Flare” and “Our World it Rumbles Tonight” feature very effective arrangements to make already catchy songs even more dynamic and engaging.

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    Ether – Hymns of Failure (2015)

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    Is Canada the new Black Metal cradle? Seems like it based on the fact that some of the best Black Metal releases of 2015 have all been from this country. Adding to the count of amazing BM albums, today we have one-man behemoth Ether and its sophomore release “Hymns of Failure”. Clocking in at 90 minutes, this double CD perfectly blends melancholy, depressiveness, and brutality in a crushing manner.

    Opening with the intense “Failure”, we had to instantly check if the drums are real… and oh yes they are. This 10-minute piece is piercing and brutal, feels like Mysticum on crack. Scythrawl masterfully manages tempo changes and mood swings in this release from insane blast beats to ambient passages as “Enmity” clearly shows. Slowly morphing into more melancholic blistering music, the album starts quite intense and it transforms brilliantly as time passes by, clearly showcased by our favorite “Coldness” and its eerie vocal arrangements.

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    Luciferian Rites – When the Light Dies (2015)

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    Just when you think that Horna and more specifically Shatraug, has the market corned for raw and demoralizing Black Metal, we get a band like Luciferian Rites and their soul crushing sophomore release “When the Light Dies”. Featuring total savagery from start to finish, this Mexican band deliver one of those raw and punishing Black Metal releases that instantly standout from the rest.

    The album opens with the fulminating violence of “Eternal Misanthropy of the Black Cosmos”, a crushing track that sets a very intense mood with pummeling riffs and eerie vocals. The music is by no means innovative, but it is so flawlessly executed that it sends chills through our skin. Ravaging through songs like “Incinerated Cross” and “Infernal Manifestation”, we are still blown away by the raw brutality behind the band’s sound and the crisp quality of the production behind this release.

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    Délétère - Les heures de la peste (2015)

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    Hailing from Canda, today we have the debut full-length of Délétère titled “Les heures de la peste”. Playing vicious Black Metal that is quite raw and punishing, this band delivers eight tracks and around 50 minutes of crushing music that has a certain 90’s European flair. Out on Sepulchral Productions, you know this band will be awesome due to their excellent skills in uncovering underground Black Metal acts.

    The band immediately explodes with raw songs like “Matines – Portepeste” and “Laudes – Credo II”, both tracks have a certain Low-fi rawness that makes them quite punishing. The use of odd vocal arrangements also makes them quite unique and unpredictable. We particularly enjoy tracks were the band changes up the tempo and delivers and slower aural assault such as “  Tierce - Aux thaumaturges égarés, une étoil...”, a more melodic and atmospheric piece that changes the mood of this release.

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    Dead Alone – Nemesis (2014)

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    With a great ear for interesting Melodic Metal bands, SCR records brings to us Dead Alone and their fourth full-length release “Nemesis”. In this album, the band has a very melodic retro sound that reminds us of the early days of Melodic Death/Black Metal as well as the beginnings of Crematory and similar bands. Featuring 11 tracks, this album will entertain you from beginning to end, due to the diversity of songs presented.

    Seemingly straightforward, “Nemesis” opens this release with a crunchy dose of Death Metal that suddenly turns melodic with some catchy guitar leads. This track reminded us of bands like Phlebotomized, and even more melodic outfits like The Gathering (when they played Death Doom Metal) as tracks like “Eclipse” and “ Great New World”. The formula of simple and catchy allows Dead Alone to produce tracks filled with crushing melodic passages like “Confession”, “Watch Me Fall”, and “Wreckage”, all filled with fine headbanging passages that will make your neck sore.

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    Wende - Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft (2015)

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    Hailing form the forests of Washington State, today we have USBM act Wende with “Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft”. As a one-man battalion, this outfit delivers six tracks of crushing Black Metal with heavy atmospheric elements and a very raw and decadent sound. The band can easily be compared to Burzum’s good old days, since after the first few minutes the sheer rawness will transport you to those times.

    With a crisp metallic sound to the guitars, “… of War or ‘der Ritter’”, the album makes an instant splash with a 10-minute piece that creates a very decadent atmosphere. Progressing with the trippy “…of Death or ‘Verklaung’”, we get chilling 80’s horror movie atmospheric ambiance. Fully warmed up, “…of Truth of ‘Nichts und Schonh’” really drives it home with gut-wrenching screams and a wall of distortion that only a few bands manage to achieve.

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    Predatory Light – MMXIV (2015)

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    Hailing from Santa Fe, New Mexico, today we have Predatory Light and the re-release of their 2014 demo in a 10” vinyl format through Pesanta Urfolk. Featuring members and ex-members of bands like Ash Borer, Anhedonist and Drought, the band crafts a very intense and thick Black/Death Metal wall of sound with some Doomy elements thrown into the mix. This two track release is just a little taste of the band’s destructive powers and will surely leave you wanting more.

    Opening with the oppressive “Changing Skins”, we have deep raspy vocals greatly complementing the demolishing riffs. The incorporation of Black Metal elements and blast beats into the music nicely provides solid tempo changes that keep the listener always engaged. The band provides a craftier and more elaborate piece with “Spiritual Flesh”, a 10-minute song that is mostly mid-tempo and very hypnotic with some well incorporated bursts of violence thrown into the mix. The riffing is at the center of this song, being quite creative and diverse.

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    Nyseius – De Divinatione Daemonum (2015)

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    Five years in the making, today we have “De Divinatione Daemonum” from French Black Metal battalion Nyseius. With a dominating sound and a knack for creating oppressive aural soundscapes, this release is one that you will not see coming with its vicious 66 minutes of dense Black Metal.  

    Slowing introducing the listener to their dissonant world, “De Casu Diaboli” perfectly unravels this release. Instantly going for the throat, “Black God Ascension” and “Exitinction of the Seven Divine Spirits”, the band’s relentless spirit is admirable as they deliver their ruthless music. As they blast through high-intensity pieces like “Finis Terra Sancta” and the demoralizing “Possessor of the Key to all Mysteries”, we also love the creepy interludes like the disturbing “Lamentation Prayers”.

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    Arvas – Black Satanic Mysticism (2015)

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    Filled with hate and a raw intensity that many bands would envy, today we have Arvas and their devastating third full-length release “Black Satanic Mysticism”. While many bands focus in making pretty music, Arvas delivers brutality in high doses in this very ‘in-your-face’ destructive release.

    Slowly blasting away with the real opener “Flames of Black”, the band’s sound is completely raw, but not always in a good way as it seems to be an artifact of the crude production. We appreciate the extra brutality that this conveys, but sometimes the sound is a bit too much and it gets to sound like a live recording without. Pummeling through tracks like “Beholder of Demons” and its funky keyboards at the end, “Redemption Black”, and “Faith of Negatron”, this album shapes up to be a mixture of Immortal with Impiety. The band starts going in more creative directions with the solid “Follow the Raven”, which sounds more like your average Pagan Metal track.

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