Season Of Mist

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    Carach Angren - The Cult of Kariba (2025)

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    Delivering a very cinematic and elegant Symphonic Black Metal release, today we have Dutch duo Carach Angren and their EP “The Cult of Kariba”. Keeping up with their very elaborate and lush style, for over 20 minutes and five tracks, the band fully immerses the listener in their own horror-themed world thanks to powerful arrangements and crafty progressions. It has been five years since “Franckensteina Strataemontanus”, and the band showcases they were just getting started with their intricate and highly elaborate music.

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    Green Carnation - A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia (2025)

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    Five years after their return with “Leaves of Yesteryear” Green Carnation unveils the first installment of a trilogy titled “A Dark Poem”. With “The Shores of Melancholia”, the band returns with their lush and intricate songwriting style, filled with awesome vocal melodies and crafty instrumentation. Just as with some of their older releases, this album takes more than a few spins to fully unravel and show its intricate details and secrets, so be ready to put in some work to be properly rewarded.

    Opening with the dreamy and moody “As Silence Took You”, it does not take long for Kjetil Nordhus vocals to shine, alongside Bjørn Harstad’s crafty guitar leads. The song sets a very melancholic and exciting vibe, featuring some interesting tempo changes and a wide variety of proggy elements. Exploiting their ability to craft catchy and yet intricate songs, “In Your Paradise” and “Me My Enemy”, fully explore the wide palette of sound and influences that the band has polished over the years.

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    Cryptopsy - An Insatiable Violence (2025)

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    Canadian legends Cryptosy are back with one of their most vicious releases with “An Insatiable Violence”. Showing that the ‘old guys’ can hang out with the younger Brutal/Technical Death Metal crowd, the band further elevates their sound to be more brutal and faster in this one. Featuring over 33 minutes of music in eight tracks, the band makes a pummeling statement with this release.

    Blasting away with “The Nimis Adoration”, one immediately notices that Matt McGachy vocals are more vicious and mean this time around,and so are the crafty guitar leads of Christian Donaldson. The band has managed to keep up with the times while still keeping their signature style, and unleashes bangers like “Until There's Nothing Left”, the blistering “Fools Last Aclaim”, and the more melodic onslaughts of “The Art of Emptiness” and its deep growls. All in-all, the band alongside Dying Fetus, are standing the test of time with their music.

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    Funeral - The Funereal (2025)

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    Dropping completely unexpectedly, today we have legendary Norwegian Doom Metal band Funeral with a four song EP titled “The Funereal”. Featuring a three movement song and an acoustic piece, this release continues the band’s voyage through Doom Metal territories with lush string instruments (violin) and crushingly heavy riffs. For fans of the genre, this is a nice entry in 2025, a year that has started slow with these types of releases.

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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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    Rotting Christ - 35 Years of Evil Existence - Live in Lycabettus (2025)

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    Celebrating their 35 years of existence, Rotting Christ is unleashing a 25-track live release of their show in Lycabettus. If you have never seen the band live, the Tolis duo (and live musicians) always deliver a raw and powerful hypnotic experience that is very hard to describe. Luckily for all, this release brilliantly captures that energy and showcases the band’s very diverse and constantly evolving musical style with most of their popular songs.

    Not banking on having an overproduced release, but rather a more organic and direct approach, this live release showcases the band’s crowd interaction and live antics that brings songs to life in slightly different versions (to the studio ones), as one can hear on “Sorrowful Farewell”, “Dies Irae”, and “Shadows Follow”, some of our personal favorite tracks. However, all those sick riffs and melodic passages are always there, and we can’t help ourselves from starting to headbang here and there.

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    Saor - Amidst the Ruins (2025)

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    Unleashing their best album to date, today we have Saor and their sixt full-length release “Amidst the Ruins”. Featuring nearly one hour of lush and high-octane Atmospheric Folk/Black Metal, this release delivers five majestic tracks filled with dynamic tempo changes and dreamy melodic arrangements. With each track over 8 minutes long, and most over 11 minutes in duration, this release shows a band perfectly growing into their element while incorporating more elegant elements into the mix.

    Opening with the lavish title track, Andy Marshall fiercely delivers blistering riffing and drumming that temporarily subsides for more folky and atmospheric passages. The track expertly grows into melancholic passages filled with dreamy traditional wind and string instruments. Real instruments give this release a very organic vibe as tracks like the opener and “Echos of the Ancient Land” incorporate dramatic string instruments into very harsh guitar driven melodies, and highly melancholic slower passages.

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    Thy Catafalque - XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek (2024)

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    Always pushing the envelope and creating some truly unique releases, Tamás Kátai’s Thy Catafalque returns with their latest opus “XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek”. Featuring eleven tracks and over 50 minutes of very diverse and dynamic music, this release is truly an Avant-garde music lover paradise. With each track, the album explores a wide palette of sounds ranging from crafty folky elements to traditional Death/Black Metal, to more atmospheric and explorative pieces.

    The release opens with the playful and dreamy “Piros kocsi, fekete éj”, which features live vocalist Martina Horváth alongside Attila Bakos, creating a dynamic and yet somewhat folky vibe. Shifting gears into heavier territories, “Mindenevö” delivers powerful guitars and harsh vocals, providing a nice contrast to the first track while keeping the band’s dynamic sound thanks to lush choir arrangements. This playfulness and exploratory nature continues as “Vasgyár” delivers more heaviness with some weirdness, “Világnak világa” keeps things atmospheric, and “Nyárfa, nyírfa” unravels that Folky catchiness that the band always exploits.

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    Gaerea - Coma (2024)

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    Unleashing the most cathartic and crushing release of 2024, today we have Gaerea and their latest opus “Coma”. Constantly rising through the ranks in the scene, over the last few years their sound has gotten sharper and yet has a visceral rawness that very few bands can achieve. With this release, the band sets an impossibly high standard through ten tracks and over 50 minutes of devastating music. If you thought their previous release was impressive, this one blows it out of the water.

    Opening with the fierce “The Poet’s Ballet”, we get a very moody piece that starts in a very fragile and dreamy state and it masterfully transitions to blasting drums, intricate guitar work and powerful vocals. The band’s ability to create piercing riffs and masterful tempo changes makes songs like “Hope Shatters”, “Suspended” and “World Ablaze” be cathartic experiences with just the right amount of melody and melancholy thrown into a very crushing package.

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    1394 - The Wolf and the King (2024)

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    Feeling like getting hit by a bag of bricks to the face? Well, that is exactly how “The Wolkf and the King” feels thanks to its incisive rawness and pummeling aggression. 1349 returns after five years with their best release to date. Featuring eight tracks and nearly 40 minutes of music, this release reminds the listener that Black Metal is powerful and visceral, as the band keeps their sound raw and crushing while still delivering tons of stylistic and technical nuances. If you like uncompromising and pummeling music, this is the release for you.

    Opening with the crushing “The God Devourer”, we get massive drums, courtesy of none other than Frost (Satyricon), and Ravn’s signature fierce snarl. The riffing immediately fills the air with piercing precision and the throbbing bass guitar line masterfully adds to the mix. The band’s sound is raw and piercing, with pieces like “Ash of Ages”, “Shadow Point”, and “Inferior Pathways” always focusing on brutality amongst crafty tempo changes and interesting rhythms that quickly make the band stand out.

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