Album Reviews

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    Anomalie - Riverchild (2024)

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    Delivering waves of crafty Post-Black Metal, today we have Austria’s Anomalie and their latest effort “Riverchild”. Keeping things simple, catchy, and polished, this release unleashes nine tracks and over 50 minutes of intense music filled with melody. Far from your traditional Post-Black/Progressive Black Metal outfit, this one-man band is hard to describe as it explores different aural palettes with a hefty foundation of Black Metal elements.

    Opening with “Mothers of Stars”, an hypnotic offering filled with crafty vocal arrangements and incisive guitars, there are certain familiar elements from the band’s previous offerings with additional polish and refinements. Slowly building up in pace, “An Unforgiving Tale”, “Perpetual Twilight”, and the funky “Heart to Beat” give a more progressive feeling, similar to Enslaved’s current period, where clean vocals deliver engaging atmospheres while the harsh ones provide contrast as the music sets different moods and tempos.

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    Nachtmystium - Blight Privilege (2024)

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    One thing not on our bing card for 2024 was Nachtmystium and talented fraudster Blake Judd making a comeback with a new full length release. “Blight Privilege” is the band’s first release since the 2018 EP “Resilient”, and marks an interesting return to the scene with seven crafty tracks that are both catchy and powerful, making them quite engaging. With a certain Uada flair to itself, this release is a good addition to the USBM ever evolving movement.

    The release kicks off with the crafty atmospherics of “Survivor’s Remorse”, perfectly paired with engaging riffs and a very melodic vibe. This masterfully continues on “Predator Phoenix”, a very catchy and fun track that gives us serious Uada vibes, and on the more melancholic and twangy “A Slow Decay”, a more experimental piece with very sultry atmospherics. Nachtmystium has always been an interesting band with a solid take on the genre and not afraid to experiment, it is refreshing to hear that is still the case.

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    Einst - Einst (2024)

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    Oozing waves of melancholy and misery, this self-titled debut release from Austria’s Einst is definitely one of the best Atmospheric Black Metal/Post-Black Metal releases of 2024. Featuring six tracks and over 42 minutes of music, the band delivers very well crafted and masterful music that has vibes of outfits like Heretoir, Harakiri For the Sky, NONE, and yet has its own DNA to keep them apart. With tons of releases in these genres, it is hard to find a good one that is not just a copy of others, luckily, Naturmacht Productions has unearthed a diamond in the rough.

    Opening with the bleakness of “Mere Reflections of Your Former Self” gets the listener warmed up as this track slowly progresses from atmospheric to raw savagery thanks to a crafty build-up and hellish screams. The band mastermind is Patrick Stoiber, who handles everything but the drums, and he is masterful in creating lush progression filled with darkness alongside some more crushing cathartic moments. Perfect examples of this have to be “Zu Oft Verlebt, Zu Wenig Wirklich Gelebt” and the disarming “Couldn't You Have Done Better” and its depressing piano opening.

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    Behemoth - XXX Years ov Blasphemy (2024)

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    If there is something that Nergal and company know how to do is to put out an intense live show. Now preserved for eternity, the band unleashes “XXX Years ov Blasphemy” an audio/video release capturing their 30th anniversary celebratory livestream. Covering all of the band’s large and illustrious career is tricky, but the band managed to capture most of their iconic tracks in this devastating package. This is definitely the best live release of 2024, so do not miss out.

    Split into three different acts, the band nicely sets up a nearly chronological approach to playing songs from their back catalog. Opening with “The Scorched Forest” act, the band delivers more refined and updated renditions of tracks like “Chant of the Eastern Lands”, which was on their debut release “Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic)”. It is quite interesting to hear songs like “Pure Evil and Hate”, which have a more old-school Punk-infused Black Metal sound, showing how far the band has come over the years.

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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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    Champions of Sorrow - The Night Makes Us (2024)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have a very interesting duo, Champions of Sorrow, with a crafty take on Symphonic Death Metal/Deathcore. On their debut EP, “The Night Makes Us”, this outfit delivers a Fleshgod Apocalypse-meets-Lorna Shore onslaught of 16 minutes of well crafted music filled with epic arrangements, crushing drumming, and hearty growls to keep things heavy.

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    Ensiferum - Winter Storm (2024)

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    Reigning kings of Epic Folk Metal, Ensiferum, mark their return with “Winter Storm”, a ten track release filled with the band’s signature high-octane music perfectly blanched with folk elements and soaring vocal melodies. As anybody could expect, this release delivers 45 minutes of some of the finest music the band has ever produced. The band has been improving their style over nearly three decades and they are getting darn near perfection.

    After setting the mood with an instrumental opener, “Winter Storm Vigilantes” quickly jumps at the listener with the band’s signature catchiness, and Petri’s harsh vocals. This track is quite lively, immediately shifting the mood into all-out-battle mode. The band’s use of multiple vocalists, both on cleans and harsh vocals, allows the tracks to be more dynamic and have some extra depth, keeping things fresh and exciting, like on the magical “Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife”, and the playful “Fatherland” and its folky passages.

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    Swallow the Sun - Shining (2024)

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    Always consistently good over the years, Swallow the Sun has constantly strived to deliver some of the most melancholic and depressing Death/Doom Metal music. With “Shining”, the band shakes things up and infuses more Gothic Metal elements to their original sound, creating a very interesting and different aural experience. With a ‘livelier’ sound, this release unravels ten tracks and around 49 minutes of crafty music that will certainly turn some heads. When something is labeled as the “Black Album” of Death Doom, you know there will be some controversy around it.

    Opening with “Innocence Was Long Forgotten”, we instantly get a very distinctive difference in the band’s traditional style. While you still have the bleakness of Swallow the Sun, you also get some softer touches, making the song sound like Lacrimas Profundere, Beseech, To/Die/For, etc. There are definitely some vintage STS elements on songs like “What I Have Become”, at least in some parts, perfectly blending new elements with the old. Mikko Kotamäki does a great job mixing up his traditional snarls and growls with more emotive clean vocal sections.

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    Immortal Bird - Sin Querencia (2024)

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    Creating a very unique style of aural abuse, today we have Sludge/Post Metal and Crust outfit Immortal Bird and their third full-length release “Sin Querencia”. Featuring eight tracks and nearly 36 minutes of musical madness, this release is heavy, contrived, chaotic, and downright insanely good. There is some brilliance to creating such dissonance and yet feeling cohesive and devastating enough to captivate the listener, and this release delivers that in heaps.

    Opening with “Bioluminescent Toxins” we get a fairly straightforward piece with piercing riffs, crafty drums and a slow progression that feels very traditional for Sludge. However, Rae Amitay’s vocals quickly shift the mood, ranging from hellish harsh screams to sultry cleans, creating very interesting and contrasting sections. Blistering brutality follows with the piercing “Plastered Sainthood”, the trippy “Consanguinity”, and the Djenty “Propagandized”, with the band showcasing raw brutality and tons of weird and crafty ideas.

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    Iotunn - Kinship (2024)

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    If you thought that Iotunn’s debut release was impressive, wait until you hear how epic “Kinship” is. Taking their lively Progressive Melodic Metal sound to new heights, this release delivers eight highly emotional tracks that clock in at nearly 70 minutes of music. Perfectly surrounding Jón Aldará with excellent musicians and song-writers, this release is a testament on how retooling of traditional/progressive Metal elements and styles can work wonders with the right talent behind the vocals.

    Opening with the dreamy and emotive “Kingship Elegiac”, the band rapidly sets a very melancholic vibe that brilliantly fits the emotion of Jón Aldará vocals. As the distorted guitars and weeping leads come into play, this track has hooked anybody that likes melodic/melancholic music, and it is just the beginning of this 13-minute piece. The proggy nature of the band’s music keeps things dynamic and very different from your run-of-the-mill Melodic Death Metal band, focusing more on creating epic moody melodies than on headbanging passages, as “Mistalnd” powerfully delivers.

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