Black Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Wolves In The Throne Room – Black Cascade (2009)

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    After their great EP: “Malevolent Grain”, I was expecting this album to continue where the band left off in that release. And they sure did, and raise the bar to a different level. “Black Cascade” features some greatly emotional Black metal that plenty of bands wish they can achieve.

    This release takes you into a dark journey mixed with aggressiveness and emotions. The sound quality is not the best out there but it clearly adds to the music and it’s probably intended this way. The four songs clock around 50 minutes, and while some of them can get to be a bit repetitive at some parts, the band makes it up by constantly changing the pace. There are no female vocals or clean vocals in this release, only harsh black metal vocals that sound excellent with the songs.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Avsky – Malignant (2008)

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    Avsky hails from Sweden and they attack us with their latest album “Malignant”. This album is considerably better than their previous release “Mass Destruction”. This band plays some raw and brutal old school black metal that will have every fan of the genera banging their heads.

    This two man band makes a chilling impression since their first song and never let go. Each song is defined by raw sounding distorted guitars and some bone chilling vocals that would have every listener having nightmares for a few weeks.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Brown Jenkins – Angel Eyes (2008)

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    Brown Jenkins was a Texan one man band. I say was because it ‘split-up’ late 2008, probably because of creative differences with the voices in his head. I must say that I don’t get this type of bands that play the same (or very similar) guitar riffs for one full album. While I’m always open to hear different types/genres of music, there are some releases that I either don’t get or just plain suck.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Agathodaimon - Phoenix (2009)

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    It’s been five years since the last release from this Germany band and they are back with a vengeance. Since their last album “Serpent's Embrace” released in 2004, the band lost four members. “Phoenix” marks the return of Agathodaimon like a phoenix from the ashes indeed.

    This album in my opinion is Agathodaimon’s best release. The band returns to their more simple symphonic black metal roots. While they are not as ‘symphonic’ as the likes of Dimmu Borgir and other bands in the genre, they hold their own with a quality release like this.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Necronoclast – Haven (2008)

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    Necronoclast is a one man band from Scotland that mixes black metal with some doom influences. While I can see why people compare this band to Xasthur, and maybe older Katatonia, I don’t find any evident Opeth influences in their music. “Haven” features almost 50 minutes of slow and ‘different’ black metal. The problem is that this album gets dull after the first 10 minutes.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Bahimiron - Southern Nihilizm (2008)

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    Bahimiron is a black metal band from the USA, and let me tell you that if I wouldn’t read this on the promo sleeve I would have never imagined it. Their musical style is pretty much and old school black metal, and while this band is not going to win any originality awards, their music is pretty good.

    The band hails from Texas, and they have some southern influence in their song names: “Pillz and 90 proof”, “Southern Nihilizm” and the pretty weird “War, Whiskey, Sodomy” which I still need to figure out the relationship between War, Whiskey and Sodomy.

    Like I previously mentioned, this band is not original by any means and it sounds like Gorgoroth, Horna, etc. But they are good at sounding like these bands, and that’s what makes them stand out from a bunch of shitty black metal bands that try too hard to sound like the previously mentioned bands but they fail miserably at it.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Arckanum – Antikosmos (2008)

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    This Swedish band unleashes upon us their 4th full length under the name of “Antikosmos”. This release presents almost no change since their great debut album “Fran Marder”. And this is not good in my opinion.

    Antikosmos as all the other Arckanum’s releases, is mainly based on the atmosphere created by the band, and not the quality of the music. The album kicks off with a bang that is quickly dissipated by uninspired songs like: Røkulfargnýr. In this song the same simple guitar riff is played for over 4 minutes making it sound very dull.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    October Falls - The Womb Of Primordial Nature (2008)

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    This 3 man band from Finland too me by surprise with this release. Having heard Marras and Sarastus before, I was expecting some relaxing folk music. These 2 albums can be compared to Empyrium’s last albums, but The Womb Of Primordial Nature clearly takes a different path. It’s more of a folk / ambient black metal album, and it’s great.

    The album consists of 4 songs and they probably took a few weeks to come up with the title names (look it up and you’ll laugh about this).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nåstrond - Muspellz Synir (2008)

    Nåstrond gives us a pretty weird release in general. I have not heard this band before and after reading that their lyrics are Egyptian and Occultism related I was looking forward to listening to this release. But to my surprise it’s not up to par with other releases from Moribund records, while it’s ‘different’ it’s not the good type of different.

    The 2 man band plays a weird mixture of black metal, ambient and even some hints of doom metal. Don’t get me wrong I’m all about listening to new interesting mixtures of genres. But Nåstrond fails to deliver, since the album is not cohesive enough. All the tracks feel like they where put together in installments of 2-3 tracks intended for an EP.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Behexen - My Soul For His Glory (2008)

    I was waiting for a while since Behexen last’s release. And let me tell you my wait was in vain. While My Soul For His Glory is a pretty solid release for a band of the caliber of Behexen, it’s still missing one very important feature: the shiver inducing vocals of the previous 2 releases.

    The music sounds more mature than their previous 2 releases, marking a clear progression of the quality of musicianship that the members of Behexen have. After 13 years since the band’s conception, you can hear that each instrument complements each other in a perfect diabolical ‘harmony’.

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