Black Metal

  • Arvas – Black Satanic Mysticism (2015)

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    Filled with hate and a raw intensity that many bands would envy, today we have Arvas and their devastating third full-length release “Black Satanic Mysticism”. While many bands focus in making pretty music, Arvas delivers brutality in high doses in this very ‘in-your-face’ destructive release.

    Slowly blasting away with the real opener “Flames of Black”, the band’s sound is completely raw, but not always in a good way as it seems to be an artifact of the crude production. We appreciate the extra brutality that this conveys, but sometimes the sound is a bit too much and it gets to sound like a live recording without. Pummeling through tracks like “Beholder of Demons” and its funky keyboards at the end, “Redemption Black”, and “Faith of Negatron”, this album shapes up to be a mixture of Immortal with Impiety. The band starts going in more creative directions with the solid “Follow the Raven”, which sounds more like your average Pagan Metal track.

  • Thurisaz – The Pulse of Mourning (2015)

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    When the core of a band stays together since the beginning, the quality and structure of their music stays greatly unchanged and constantly improves, this is the case for Belgium’s premier Atmospheric Death/Black/Doom outfit Thurisaz. Having caught our attention since their magnificent debut “Scent of a Dream” back in 2004, the band has been taking their time to release albums, but every time the wait is completely worth it. With “The Pulse of Mourning” the band further refines their signature sound and delivers nine brilliantly melancholic songs.

    After the instrumental opener, the band burst into action with the pummeling first few minutes of “…For A Change”. Thurisaz has always combined Death/Black Metal style onslaughts with lush atmospheric elements, and this song (and release) keeps the tradition. As the previous track winds down, the band continues with the more rhythmical and perfect for headbanging “Patterns of Life”. In this track we are treated to band’s signature melodic passages that are greatly enhanced by some moody clean male vocals. The band’s constant influx of creativity into the tempo changes of their songs is unique, and greatly exemplified in this song.

  • Dynfari - Vegferð tímans (2015)

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    Hailing from Iceland, today we have yet another outstanding Atmospheric Black Metal band named Dynfari. In the band’s third full-length release we get eight melancholic tracks of mournful music with just the right amount of brutality and external influences to make them quite unique and enjoyable.

    Leading the album we have the Post-Metal /The Ocean-esque intro “Ljósið”. “Óreiða” paves the way for more melodic and depressive territories with the weeping guitars in this track. The vocals are your very traditional screams that don’t sound too aggressive to be typical BM or to mellow for the hyper fast drumming. The band is not afraid of experimenting enriching their sound with some hypnotic melodic passages and droning headbanging moments.

  • A Forest of Stars – Beware the Sword You Cannot See (2015)

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    Delivering their most impressive offering to date, today we have A Forest of Stars (AFOS) and their fourth full-length release “Beware the Sword You Cannot See”. Further expanding their already very theatrical and unique sound, AFOS has crafted a very complex masterpiece filled with string instruments, solid percussions, and a very hearty foundation of Metal to pull everything together.

    Opening with the chaotic “Drawing Down the Rain”, has a very schizophrenic feeling that it only gets more bizarre as the release goes by… and we love it. The bands heavy riffing and pummeling drums lay the perfect foundation for the plethora of extra instruments and multiple vocal styles that this seven person outfit delivers. With a distinct feeling of getting lost in somebody’s dark mind, tracks like “Hive Mindless” and “Blaze of Hammers” continue punishing the listener with abstract sounds and very cinematic atmospheric elements.

  • Helrunar – Niederkunfft (2015)

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    Germany’s Helrunar is by far the least imaginative and most straightforward band in the Lopus Lounge stable of great musical acts. However, there are some decent moments and redeeming qualities that make this band good enough for us to review them over countless others we receive every day. Featuring eight track and around 56 minutes of music, this album marks the band’s first full-length release in nearly four year.

    The album’s opener, “Niederkunfft” nicely provides a window to the band’s musical approach and unluckily everything else will sound quite familiar. There are some nice chilling elements here and there like the creepy atmosphere and the closing of “Totentanz”, but the vanilla tracks like “Der Endkrist” leave a lot to be desired based on Prophecy productions/Lopus Lounge standards. Other pieces like the doomy “Devils, Devils Everywhere!” have nice riffs but some very silly passages that quickly reduce the listener’s desire to stay engaged in the music.

  • Crest of Darkness – Evil Messiah (2015)

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    Hailing from Norway, Crest of Darkness delivers us with their latest offering: “Evil Messiah” a 20-minute EP filled with the band’s signature old-school(ish) Black/Death Metal. Featuring 3 normal songs and a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Sick Things”, this release is quite entertaining and a good follow up to their 2013 release “In the Presence of Death”.

    Opening with the super catchy “Evil Messiah”, the band grabs your attention with a certain retro sound that is not very common these days. The main driver of this track is the crunchy guitar riffs that make it well suited for headbanging to it. Things get Thrashier with the intense “Armageddon”, a song that reminds us to old-school Thrash from the Bay area but with harsher vocals.

  • Uhriristi – Haudankylmä (2015)

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    Arriving from Finland via France’s Mortis Humanae label, today we have Uhriristi and their punishing anti-religion Black Metal. Delivering great quality Black Metal with light use of atmospheric elements, this band perfectly fits in the intersection of bands like Dimmu Borgir/Alghazanth and Horna/Satanic Warmaster. The perfect balance of keyboards/synths and blistering riffs/drums is what makes this band be more than your average BM outfit.

    Misleading the listener with the soft intro, “Kaivo” quickly explodes into a pummeling riffing onslaught that has a certain Horna-esque vibe to it. The band’s vocalist Rutto has some well suited pipes for this type of music. The band instantly reminded us of the older days of Dimmu Borgir/Old Man’s Child as “Routahauta” and “Haudankylmä” made their appearance. The band’s sound is quite compact and they have a certain old-school vibe that keeps their music fresh in terms of the current trends in Atmospheric/Melodic Black Metal.

  • Old Witch – Come Mourning Come (2014)

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    Finally reaching a wider audience, today we have Old Witch and their chilling debut full-length “Come Mourning Come”, re-released on Sun & Moon Records. With 36 minutes of aural savagery, this American band manages to release a highly dissonant and punishing release that will appeal to all fans of the intersection between Black/ Doom Metal / Noise / Drone.

    The album opens with the throbbing “Funeral Rain” and its thick droning sounds and hellish atmospheric keyboards. Like something straight out of the movie “Event Horizon”, this song sets a very sinister mood for the rest of the album. The band spares no expense and creates a truly bizarre and sickening atmosphere with “This Land Has Been Cursed” and “God ov Wolves”, expertly continuing their decadent musical spew through nearly the first half of this release.

  • Blaze of Sorrow – Fulgida Reminiscenza (2014)

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    Limited to 500 copies world-wide “Fulgida Reminiscenza” is a very emotional EP from one of the best bands of Sun & Moon Records: Blaze of Sorrow. In this five-track EP the band delivers more of a Neo-Folk/Neo-Classical release, but equally depressive and engaging as their 2012 breakout release “Echi”.

    Opening with the sound of waves as a backdrop in “Fulgida Reminiscenza”, the mood is set quite hypnotically with a very slow tempo and intoxicating acoustic guitars. Keeping up the Empyrium-esque vibe, “Transcendenza” slowly progresses from lush piano sections into some BM riffs that create a very unique wall of sound. The band’s ability to craft songs that slowly transform and keep the mellow tempo even when the heavy riffing is being used is Blaze of Sorrow’s best asset.

  • An Autumn for Crippled Children – The Long Goodbye (2015)

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    Greatly anticipated for 2015, An Autumn for Crippled Children’s fifth full-length release delivers in all possible levels and takes the band’s sound even further into the depths of depressive Post-Black Metal / Blackgaze. In “The Long Goodbye” the band hones in their skills to produce nine of the bleakest tracks they have ever written clocking in at 41 minutes of pure emotional rawness.

    The opening track, “The Long Goodbye” starts off with a hectic level of intensity with Shoegazy dreamy guitars and brilliant harsh vocals. The overall tone is quite melancholic, making this track a perfect mood setting piece for what is to come. On “Converging towards the Light” we jump into a bigger atmospheric vibe with very dramatic ambiance perfectly capped by the punishing vocals of Mchl. As “A New Form of Stillness” rolls by, we get a certain Synth-pop vibe going with a very interesting melodic passage.

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