Symphonic Black Metal

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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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    Pestilent Hex - Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow (2024)

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    With great flair and a gusto for the melodic, today we have Finland's Pestilent Hex and their sophomore release “Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow”. With a sound evoking comparisons to outfits like Limbonic Art, Tartaros, and 90’s Emperor, this outfit delivers seven tracks and over 45 minutes of very crafty and engaging Symphonic Black Metal. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, this release is certainly one of the most bombastic, and yet harsh, of 2024, so don’t sleep on it.

    Opening with the cinematic “Nocturne”, the band really shifts into high gear with the pummeling “Sciomancy and Sortilege”, thanks to its crafty atmospherics and fierce vocals. Perfectly leveraging both the symphonic and the Black Metal side of the equation, “Through Mirrors Beyond”, “Of Hexcraft and Lawas Three-fold” set a furious pace filled with incisive guitar work, blistering drumming, and very engaging tempo changes, keeping things fresh and dynamic.

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    Torn from Existence - Hearken the Darkened Skies (2024)

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    Perfectly capturing that old-school magic of late 90’s Symphonic Black/Death Metal bands, Colorado’s Torn from Existence drop their high-octane debut full-length release “Hearken the Darkened Skies”. Featuring seven tracks and over 32 minutes of highly engaging and dynamic music, this release is highly recommended for fans of early Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Vesperian Sorrow, and Tartaros, just to name a few.

    Opening with the pummeling “Crawl From The Crypt”, we immediately hear the band’s DNA with lavish keyboards, hellish screams, and a wide assortment of engaging guitar riffs and even some shredding thrown into the mix. This wide palette of influences is very well mixed together, crafting a very dynamic and engaging sound that also features some theatrical influences as “Of Curse, And Covenant” and “Sorcery Against Mankind” deliver playful tempo changes and lush atmospheric arrangements.

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    Seth - La France des maudits (2024)

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    Unleashing an early candidate for Black Metal album of the year, today we have Seth and their engaging Symphonic/Melodic BM style delivering eight tracks and over 46 minutes of highly immersive crushing music. Riding the momentum of the brilliant “La morsure du Christ”, the band wasted almost no time in unraveling their latest opus, filled with extreme craftiness and a swift dose of brutality alongside lush atmospherics.

    Setting a very hectic and riveting tone with the opener “Paris des Maléfices”, the band quickly unleashes their fury with pummeling drumming, incisive riffing and the hellish vocals of Saint Vincent. The band’s current line-up is probably the best they ever had, as tracks like “Et que vive le diable !”, “La destruction des reliques”, and “Dans le cœur un poignard” perfectly blend melody with aggression and crafty atmospherics creating a fine aural assault.

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    Mythraeum - Oblivion Aeternam (2024)

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    Proposing a very lively and engaging Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal, today we have North American outfit Mythraeum and their sophomore release “Oblivion Aeternam”. With a sound similar to Vesperian Sorrow, Limbonic Art, and to a point mid-career Dimmu Borgir, this release unleashes nearly one hour of superbly crafted high-octane music that any fan of the genre will certainly love.

    Opening strong with “Crown of Sepsis” after a flashy intro, the band quickly delivers waves of powerful guitar driven melodies perfectly accompanied by hearty snarls and a good dose of atmospherics. The band’s sound is very well crafted and polished, allowing tracks like “Harbinger’s Chant” and “Halls of Forgotten Will” to focus on mixing melodic passages with more faster-paced headbanging moments. Masterful tracks like “Terrestrial Despair”, showcase the band’s core influences, while still crafting their own style with tons of tempo changes and dramatic arrangements.

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    Vesperian Sorrow - Awaken the Greylight (2024)

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    Our favorite North American Symphonic Black Metal band, Vesperian Sorrow, is finally back with the excellent “Awaken the Greylight”. Being the band’s six full-length, and after shedding/gaining a few new members since their last one, we were afraid this one would suck. However, we are glad to be completely wrong as this release delivers 54 minutes of some of their finest music to date.

    The release quickly explodes with “As The Pillars Were Raised”, a very typical track for the band thanks to its intense drumming and dramatic keyboards, something not surprising as Christopher Nunez still handles those duties in this release. The interesting part comes with the soaring clean vocals that alternate between the harsh one, giving the band a certain Mercenary-esque edge, thanks to new vocalist, Orlando Logan Olivero, tracks like “Antediluvian - Proceeding the Unshaping”, “An Epistle to the Prime, Vivified”, and “Traverse The Vorthonian Passage” have an even more epic vibe to them.

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    Funeral Oration - Antropomorte (2024)

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    Capturing a very unique style of old-school Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal, today we have Italy’s Funeral Oration and their latest effort “Antropomorte”. Inducing a feeling of going back in time a couple of decades, the band unleashes seven tracks and around 40 minutes of highly theatrical and very engaging music. If you were ever a fan of Limbonic Art, Tartaros, and Charmand Girmloch, then this is the release for you.

    Opening with “PLenus Larvarum”, we are immediately treated to old-school BM riffs and to some extent a slight Punk-ish vibe, this all quickly changes as the playful keyboards come around and the whole vibe changes to a more theatrical style. Perfectly blending incisive riffs with superbly catchy interludes and solid harsh vocals, “Amor Obsessio”, “Cloaca cattolica”, and “Il Serpente della Genesi”, keep things intense and yet full of lush and elegant atmospheric arrangements.

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    Ihsahn - Ihsahn (2024)

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    Delivering his most ambitious album to date, today we have Ihsahn and his eponymous release, the eight full-length album of his solo career. After a couple of EP’s in between releases, Ihsahn blends cinematic orchestrations with his already quite refined and yet constantly evolving Proggy Black Metal. Featuring both a ‘Metal’ version, and a purely orchestral version, this release is quite the musical journey and a stop above the excellent quality we always expect from Ihsahn.

    After the mood setting orchestral opening, “The Promethean Spark” brings us back to more familiar territories with crafty tempo changes and Ihsahn’s signature mixture of clean and harsh vocals alongside playful riffs. While the ‘Metal’ side of things is familiar, the interplay with the classical instrument arrangements is quite engaging and intoxicating. Tracks like “Pilgrimage to Oblivion” and the lush “Twice Born”, showcase a very unique blend of heaviness with fragility and a splash of vibrancy that is rare to find in Metal.

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    Vargrav - The Nighthold (2023)

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    Capitalizing on the success of Vargrav’s first two releases, “Reign in Supreme Darkness” and “Netherstorm”, mastermind V-KhaoZ moves this outfit from a solo project to a band. In “The Nighthold”, we get a more evolved version of this Finish outfit with a gnarly old-school BM vibe to come along. While still delivering for the people waiting for 90’s Symphonic BM, the band goes the extra mile in crafting a release that is engaging and diverse and not just a rehash of their earlier epic releases and yet has that signature Vargrav sound to it.

    Opening with “Moonless Abyss of the Nighthold” and “Through the Woods of Breathing Shadows” we get that dreamy Symphonic BM fix that we were looking for, but also find a harsher and frostier edge to the band’s sound. The addition of Graf Werwolf von Armageddon (Satanic Warmaster fame) on vocals, and members of Finntroll and Moonsorrow on bass and drums, gives this release a more polished and well crafted instrumental edge.

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    Urbain - A Soul Purged (2023)

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    We sometimes wonder how the guys over at Hypnotic Dirge Records have such a similar music taste to us. From highly melancholic, to extremely experimental releases, this label has landed another winner with Urbain’s release “A Soul Purged”. Hailing from Texas, this band feels like a mixture of Vesperian Sorrow, Limbonic Art, with some splashes of Dimmu Borgir. With nine brilliant and high-octane tracks, this release is one of our early candidates for album of the year for 2023.

    Opening with the release with the dramatic atmospherics of “Perception”, the mood is set very efficiently as the ravaging intensity of the guitar riffs is introduced alongside piercing shrieks and lush melodic passages. With an atmospheric transitioning track between each song, the band nicely changes the tempo and mood while preparing themselves to unleash aggressive onslaughts with a hearty balance of melody as we can hear in excellent songs like “Without Conscience” and “A Soul Purged”.

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