Avantgarde Music

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    Nel Buio - Nel Buio (2024)

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    Unleashing a pretty nifty and weird Black Metal adjacent release, today we have Nel Buio and their eponymous EP. Led by Claudio De Rosa with members of Blasphemer and Electrocution, this outfit pushes the boundaries of the genre with their futuristic five tracks and 22-minutes long release. If you like electronic/darkwave elements in your music, you are in luck as this release perfectly blends them with a very aggressive BM core.

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    Vástígr - The Path of Perdition (2024)

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    Hailing from Austria, today we have mysterious one-man band Vástígr with a very tense and crushing brand of Atmospheric Black Metal. While most bands in the genre sound alike these days, “The Path of Perdition” has a certain unsettling uniqueness thanks to its darker and more sinister take. Featuring four tracks and nearly 45 minutes of crushing music, this release is definitely worth the attention of any fan of the genre, and Black Metal in general.

    Opening with the ravaging “Plunge”, Thomas Anzinger quickly creates a very thick and punishing atmosphere with intricate guitar work and deep growls. Far from linear, the track suddenly changes tempo to more melodic and equally sinister passages. Continuing the onslaught “Chasm” starts off showcasing crafty tempo changes ranging from Doom-ish interludes to more straight up Black Metal power. The band’s unique ideas nicely create a very demoralizing and yet highly effective style of its own.

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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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    Olhava - Sacrifice (2024)

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    Perfectly balancing fragility and raw aggression, today we have Olhava and their latest opus “Sacrifice”. Featuring members of Trna, this duo unleashes eight tracks clocking in at nearly 87 minutes of music. Filled with magical soundscapes and crafty songwriting ideas, this album is highly intoxicating. Recommended for fans of bands like An Autumn for Crippled Children, Heretoir, Show Me a Dinosaur, etc. this release is quite dreamy and hypnotic.

    Opening with the sixteen minute “Forever With You”, the band sets a very atmospheric and immersive mood with lush keyboards alongside a wall of distortion. Setting the mood between the album’s longer tracks, we have a number of enigmatic atmospheric instrumentals called “Ageless River VI-IX”. These tracks provide a nice and varied transition between the more cathartic and crushing pieces.

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    Dismal Aura - Imperium Mortalia (2023)

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    Seemingly a straightforward Black Metal outfit, Dismal Aura is a lot more than that as “Imperium Mortalia” showcases. Released via Avantgarde Music, this release delivers around 30 minutes of atmospheric and well crafted Black Metal with subtle influences from the Post-Black Metal scene. With similarities to bands like Saor, Winterfylleth, and Advent Sorrow, this release is quite melancholic and aggressive at the same time.

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    Bolt Gun - The Tower (2023)

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    Continuing the tradition of uncovering and promoting some truly unique artists around the world, Avantgarde Music is set to unleash Bolt Gun and their latest release “The Tower”. With five tracks and over 50-minutes of music, this release is quite intoxicating and mysterious, brilliantly covering everything from Doom Metal to Post-Rock to Ambient. Recommended for fans of bands like The Ocean, Cult of Luna, and Neurosis.

    Slowly setting a very unnerving mood with “The Tower”, the band patiently unravels their layers as they transition from Ambient territories into heavier Sludgy/Doomy land alongside jazzy Saxophones and harsh vocals. The band excels at creating magical tempo changes that could go into dark territories or just all-out aggression, perfectly weaving together long masterfully crafted tracks with many angles and dynamic shifts like the brilliant “The Vulture”.

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    ISON - Stars & Embers (2023)

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    Just when you think a band and their music can’t get any better, ISON comes at us with the majestic “Stars & Embers”. Daniel Änghede brings back Lisa Cuthbert to achieve total dreaminess in the eight tracks presented in this release. Perfectly blending Ambient with Darkwave and some additional ‘Doomgaze’ elements, this release is both haunting and captivating. While it might require a specific mood for full enjoyment, this release has been a great backdrop to some long days at work.

    The release opens with the lush and sidereal “Luminescent Reverie”, a piece that instantly transports the listener to have an astral projection experience as the music blends with the hypnotic vocals and masterful pacing. ISON always has this experience on us, as their music is quite lush in the atmosphere and vocals department. Lisa’s range is amazing, allowing her voice to shift across songs this release progresses, additionally, Mikael Stanne lends his signature clean vocals in a duet on the shoegazey “Peregrination”.

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    Høstsol - L​ä​nge leve dö​den (2023)

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    Unleashing nearly 45 minutes of hellish Black Metal, today we have international supergroup Høstsol and their debut full-length “L​ä​nge leve dö​den”. Featuring Niklas Kvarforth on vocals, Cernunnus (Manes) on guitars, Rainer Tuomikanto (Ajattara) on drums, and Vesa Wahlroos (Ajattara) on bass guitar, this stacked lineup delivers five tracks of intense music that is both moody and demoralizing.

    After an atmospheric mood setting opening, “As seen through the eyes of the prophet” nicely warms up to melodic riffs and Niklas Kvarforth’s signature snarls. While the opener does not show all the cards the band has, “Det som en gång var (det kommer aldrig igen)” quickly escalates into crushing heaviness with intense drumming and blistering guitar-work alongside a throbbing bass guitar line. This track is as sinister as they get, perfectly shifting the release to higher gears.

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    Inherits the Void - The Impending Fall of the Stars (2023)

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    Unleashing waves of old-school Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal, today we have one-man battalion Inherits the Void and and ‘their’ sophomore full-length release “The Impending Fall of the Stars”. Mixing elements from the early days of bands like Old Man’s Child and Dimmu Borgir, with the raw melody of Immortal, this release delivers 43 minutes of intense music.

    Opening with the album title track, we instantly get waves of crushing riffs, a la Galder style, perfectly adorned with subtle but lush keyboards and hellish screams. The immediate vibe is quite retro, but with crisp production values. As “Palingenesis”, “Where the Oceans Lost their Might” and “Sullen Laments of the Wanderers” roll by, the listener will find itself headbanging to the expertly crafted melodic core of the band’s sound.

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    Moonlight Sorcery - Nightwind: The Conqueror From the Stars (2023)

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    Some releases are just too awesome to have a digital only release, and thanks to Avantgarde Music, today we have Moonlight Sorcery’s latest EP “Nightwind: The Conqueror From the Stars” available in different physical formats. Featuring a very interesting mix of old-school Black Metal with a heavy Melodic edge, this band perfectly captures that 2000’s vibe when the genre was pumping out excellent releases.

    Hailing from Finland, this outfit quickly sets a hectic tempo with the magical “Ancient Sword Of Hate” and its uncompromising melodic riffing. Filled with furious lead guitars and blistering drumming, this track is quite punishing and yet highly engaging. With a thrashier edge, “Yötuulten Kutsu” has a certain early Children of Bodom-meets-Alghazanth vibe and we totally love it. Definitely one of the best tracks in this release.

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