What a perfect album name and title for the current global isolation: Exulansis;  The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it. Sequestered: To keep a person or a group of people away from other people. Sympathy ; feelings of pity and sorrow for someone […]

I consider Kostas Vaxevanos, owner of Repulsive Echo Records, out of Greece, a friend.  He has been supportive of me and I of him.  I love his label and we’ve had a many discussions over the years.  When he makes music recommendations I listen.  He recently informed me about a band he was planning on […]

I’m not overly familiar with Dutch black metal duo Fluisteraars, (“dreamers”)  as Bloem is my first real exposure to the band, even though it’s their 3rd album. Their 2014 debut, Dromers was reviewed in these pages, and that’s where I started my research and decided to give album number three a go. I’ve since promptly […]

From the label that brought you last year’s excellent Dauþuz album, Monvmentvm, comes the debut of Finnish trio Marrasmieli (‘death of the mind’) and you can go ahead and block a spot for your 2020 year end list, because this is going to be on it. This isn’t just a good album, or a great […]

Shortly after its inception in 1995, France’s Blut Aus Nord started traveling two separate, but parallel paths. The first two albums Ultima Thulee and Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Ages fell right in with the other second wave black metal of the time: lo-fi, buzzy, fast, and melodic. Then the band split off […]

In my review of Falls of Rauros‘ last record, Vigilance Perennial, I stated: 1) I was listening to something special, and 2) how can that top that album (which was my number 3 album of 2017)?. Well, despite switching from perfectly suited label in Bindrune to lesser known but also solid Gilead Media, they have […]

Back in 2015 I discovered this Indonesian atmospheric black metal act and their second album, Homeward Path was my favorite album of that year….by a long shot. So I’ve been eagerly awaiting the follow up since they announced it last year, and like Homeward Path, the sound has developed just a tad since the Black […]

Vvilderness is the brain child of one Hungarian man, Vvildr, and Devour the Sun is his Vvilderness debut (he has some other purely instrumental bandcamp releases under  the moniker ‘Release the Longships’). Originally independently released on bandcamp last year, Russia’s Casus Belli and Australia’s Beverina Records has picked up the rights and is releasing a […]

Though only a 5 year wait, down from the 7 year wait for Old Morning’ s Dawn, Summoning are back with another effort of their now predictable, but effective Tolkien inspired, dungeon synth based black metal and there is very little deviation from the last few efforts. And to many, the minimalist, tinny guitars and […]

Atmospheric black metal is perfectly fine as a descriptor, but what it should really be called is headphones black metal. Strap on a pair of your best reality-blockers, close your eyes, and get lost in a blizzard of sound and fury. Mare Cognitum released a perfect experience with Phobos Monolith, my #1 pick for 2014. […]

The term ‘cinematic’ gets thrown around a lot these days, as many black, death, and progressive metal acts have become more comfortable with orchestration as a way to add color, texture, or simply grandeur to their sound. It’s not as simple as that, though – you simply can’t layer some heavy Gothic chords atop and […]

Black metal has become a gigantic and multi-faceted genre in the past 30 (!) years, and each sub-style offers its own emotional and aesthetic experiences. Raw, orthodox, war, symphonic, folk, progressive, depressive, Cascadian, shoegaze, post, industrial, ambient, death/black, black n’ roll – the list goes on. Despite the differences in style, what I look for, […]

In last year’s review of 777: The Desantification, I noted the evolution of transcendental melody and ethereal majesty from the uglier, first part of the trilogy to the second chapter, and wondered if that arc would continue into 777: Cosmosophy. Over the past year, Blut Aus Nord (just Vindsval now) has continued to develop and […]