Not with a whimper, but with a fucking BANG – okay fine, a dull thud at this point, we’re already at least one knuckle deep into 2022 – our long drawn out 2021 LISTCRUSH series finally comes to an end.
Pretty sure I’m the last person anywhere on the planet to publish their albums list each year, but anyway – there were over ten thousand black metal releases vomited forth into the void of rampant consumerism and discogs flipping (or unnoticed and abandoned Bandcamp limbo) throughout 2021. Here I present my 40 favourite full length albums of the thousand-plus I listened to and the couple hundred I shortlisted, a final curation that’s a damn sight slimmer than last year’s overblown top 100 but hey, I’m trying to reign myself in and practice a little restraint. New year, new me and all that (again). Also included are a handful of near misses that I really wanted to make the cut but couldn’t cram in – be sure to hunt them down as well, all of them deserved a spot on the final list.
If you somehow need even more from my curation of superb stygian artistry, seek help, but also feel free to check out my already published TOP 30 DEMOS/EPs and TOP 25 SPLITS lists as well (and scope Tom and Gos‘s lists while you’re at it, they both have impeccable taste). As always, eternal thanks and respect to all artists, labels, reviewers and promoters for keeping the black flame alive. You are all excellent. Support the artists, buy physical copies… aside from that, onwards, ever onwards, forging into the sunset.
Hails.
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NEAR MISSES
- Black Kruud – Delusions Of Gangrene
- Weathered Crest – Blossoming Of The Paths
- Labyrinthine Haze – Descending Into The Deep
- Archgoat – Worship The Eternal Darkness
- Concilium – Desecration
- Ofermod – Mysterium Iniquitatis
- Burden Of Ymir – From Élivágar
- Solipsism – Cruelty & Necrospection
- Nächtlich – Satanas Solum Initium
- Starer – 18° Below The Horizon
- Henbane Chariot – Allpine Séance
- Arazubak – The Haunted Spawn Of Torment
- DSKNT – Vacuum γ-Noise Transition
- Ungfell – Es Grauet
- Yoth Iria – As The Flame Withers
- Ifernach – Capitulation Of All Life
- Norse – Ascetic
- Korpituli – The Ancient Spells Of The Past
- Inferno – Paradeigma
- Lamp Of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery
- Abstracter – Abominium
- Miasmata – Unlight: Songs of Earth and Atrophy
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TOP 40 ALBUMS OF 2021
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40. Bræ – A Thousand Ways To End It All (Amor Fati)
Sounds like: a completely anonymous album released with no fanfare at all that zero people paid attention to. Seriously, I saw nobody talking about it, perhaps because at first glance/listen it’s quite nondescript. However, settle in and let this noisy, hypnotic and abrasive monolith of longform depression obliterate your soul and I’m sure you’ll agree: more people should have paid attention to this shit.
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39. Pan-Amerikan Native Front – Little Turtle’s War (Les Fleurs Du Mal / Stygian Black Hand / Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Sounds like: triumph, tragedy and pure grit, passed down through tales and shamanic rituals for eternity. Kurator of War‘s second full-length was the perfect prelude to his astonishing split with Kommodus; this man is never short of a riff.
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38. Firienholt – By The Waters Of Awakening (Fólkvangr Records / Naturmacht Productions)
Sounds like: Caladan Brood, but somehow even more enjoyable. This mysterious horde of UK Tolkien fanatics knocked it out of the park on their first full-length effort. More please.
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37. Nansarunai – Ultimul Rege (Banner Of Blood / Ancient Horror Records / Black Gangrene)
Sounds like: that moment when you’re deep in a tomb filled with the corpses of ancient warriors and kings… and they all suddenly come to life and want to kill you, so you’re torn apart by undead royalty from a bygone era. Something like that. Cold, vicious and powerful raw black metal filled with yearning, this is about to cop an LP release via Black Gangrene. Grab it if you’ve missed every other version, you chump.
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36. Lionoka – Tides Of Triumph (Old Mill Productions)
Sounds like: stunning traditional acoustic instrumentation woven around furious black metal. The naturalistic sound alone of this US First Nations black folk solo project is incredible and will hit you deeper than you could ever have expected.
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35. Nazxul – Irkalla (Seance Records)
Sounds like: vibes. No, seriously – the third album of an almost thirty year expression of darkness from these legendary Australians is less of a “pay attention to the intricacies” type of deal (not that those intricate details aren’t fucking fantastic) and more a just let it wash over you and sear your soul kind of record. Irkalla is an album you FEEL, and it grew on me every time I heard it. The perfect album to have playing in the background as you go about your day – it’ll infect everything you do.
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34. Blurr Thrower – Les Voutes (Les Acteurs de l’ombre)
Sounds like: being lifted out of your corporeal form and dragging your spirit downward; sinking below in a burst of pale light like some kind of transcendent reversed rapture. As I said in my REVIEW, anyway. The kind of album that makes you enjoy it – the choice is not up to you.
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33. Burier – Cremation Of Lingering Hope (GoatowaRex)
Sounds like: MAGGOTS UNDER YOUR SKIN CONSUMING YOUR FLESH but you’re still conscious and can feel every tiny bite but it feels soothing and right and you realise you are one with the earth and this is forever now. This Australian project loves death, dying and being dead, and I love this Australian project.
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32. Lunar Spells – Where Silence Whispers (Northern Silence Productions)
Sounds like new Greek black metal that sounds like old Finnish black metal. Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of albums that make me feel like the last twenty years never happened (shut up, I have a great life) – Where Silence Whispers falls firmly into that category.
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31. Fosso – Solo Amargo (Galafoice / Death Manifestations)
Solo Amargo sounds like witnessing some strange, strange magic at work in the dizzying heat of the deepest, most clandestine forests of Brazil. The synth? Spot on. Bass? Perfection. A remarkable debut that deserves both more attention and a follow up. Stat.
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30. Gorgon – Traditio Satanae (Osmose Productions)
Sounds like: the French pioneers once again showing everyone how it’s done. I rated this 4/5 in my REVIEW and I’d rate it even higher now. If you don’t like this you’re a coward, I don’t make the rules.
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29. Crucifixion Bell – Eternal Grip Of The Nocturnal Empire (Crown & Throne / Dybbuk Productions / Inferna Profundis Records / Black Gangrene Productions / Banner Of Blood)
Sounds like: staring into a mirror as you slice your face open, peeling and tearing back the skin until you’re standing there screaming at yourself with your own bare skull. I said in my Splits Listcrush that Crucifixion Bell is one of the premier raw black projects around today – if you’ve heard his other works and STILL need more proof than this album, there’s no hope for you.
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28. Dødsferd – Suicide And The Rest Of Your Kind Will Follow Part II (Fucking Your Creation Records)
Sounds like PURE FUCKING HATRED OF ALL HUMAN LIFE from the Greek underground legends. The title alone of this album will get you banned on social media, which ironically is just another example of how shit things are and how much we all suck. This record doesn’t suck, though. Read my REVIEW of it if you don’t believe me.
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27. Morte Incandescente – Vala Comum (Signal Rex)
Sounds like: black metal that absolutely does not give a single fuck about you, any current genre trends, or anything else at all. Portuguese legends Vulturius and Nocturnus Horrendus have been in the game since before you stopped shitting in diapers, and it shows. Killer. Bang your fucking head.
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26. Funeral Winds – Gruzelementen (New Era Productions)
This tasty slab of demoncy goes HARD. The word Gruzelementen translates to “smithereens”, and that’s exactly what will be left of your head after it’s been shattered by the sheer orthodox fury of this record – the way it maintains its horrifying hunger throughout is beyond impressive. Whilst other bands try to sound “Satanic”, Funeral Winds, the product of one Dutchman Hellchrist Xul, honour the ancients and achieve it effortlessly. Sounds like: being swallowed by the gaping maw of the dark lord.
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25. Stygian Ruin – The Blackened Temple (Independent)
I discovered this one thanks to Aesop of Agalloch, to whom I owe my gratitude – this Norwegian blend of dungeon synth and black metal surpasses all the usual results of that all-too-common marriage and becomes almost cinematic in scope and execution. Sounds like the soundtrack to the coolest movie you’ve never seen.
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24. Nigrum Pluviam – Eternal Fall Into The Abyss (Signal Rex / Asylum Tenebris)
Sounds like: the abyss staring back into YOU, as I wrote in our PREMIERE of this raw French insanity. This is probably the kind of thing that many of you would skip over in a second, but it’s exactly the type of thing that many of you SHOULD be listening to in order to plumb the wretched depths of the darkness within. You’ll feel better for it, trust me. An all-consuming vortex of primitive negative energy, older than time itself.
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23. Tyrannic – Mortuus Decadence (Seance Records / Iron Bonehead Productions)
This Australian oddity sounds like throwing your head back, howling in rabid, slavering fervour at the moon and diving headfirst in to a reeking open grave. I returned to this far more often than I originally thought I would. A criminally underappreciated band – Tyrannic operates in a space far and away from others of their ilk.
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22. Vahrzaw – The Trembling Voices Of Conquered Men (Transcending Obscurity Records)
Sounds like: me putting this in here because George said he’d break my legs if I didn’t. I kid – album kills. This is the best record these surly Australian black-death bastards have done since the last best record they did, so you should probably buy it. Word is their next one will be a complete change of direction as well… get keen for that.
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21. Крюкокрест – Домовина (Cold Sword Productions)
Sounds like: withering Ildjarn-esque black punk with enough wrath and spite to fuck anyone up. The debut album of these Russian Pleskau Brethren members annihilates their already great first demo and split with Леший from 2020. Here’s hoping they bring the ruckus again in 2022.
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20. Ahulabrum – Daimonic Reality (Atrocity Altar)
Most people will probably hate this, but it sounds like if cryptids made tape montages of themselves terrorizing people and the resulting recorded testimonies of the victims, mashed up like audio scrapbooks. Returning (with old unreleased material, the project is laid to rest) extraterrestrial US raw black/noise/ambient project Ahulabrum quietly released one of the most fascinating and weird tapes of the year. The truth is out there.
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19. Baxaxaxa – Catacomb Cult (The Sinister Flame)
Sounds like: the continuation of a MIGHTY return. The legendary Baxaxaxa keep the flame burning strong with an album of old school purity that does everything right; I hope we get many, many more records from them now that they’re rolling again.
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18. Mork – Katedralen (Peaceville Records)
Sounds like… TRVE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL. I said it best in the introduction to my INTERVIEW with Thomas: “Katedralen represents a more confident and honed collection of songs than Mork has ever had, at once immediately recognizable as Mork and becoming the natural evolution of the sound Thomas has been building since the inception of the project. These tracks marry a chilling aura of rising nocturnal demoncy with the storming caliginous fire of quintessential TNBM, rocking like a bastard whilst soaring with unmistakeable grandeur and grimness – the perfectly executed juxtaposition of epic, longing elements against primal neck-wrecking riffage ensure tracks ‘Arv’ or my personal favourite ‘Det Siste Gode I Meg’ (and any others really, they’re all fucking fantastic) will remain seared in your memory for an age.”
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17. Sarkrista – Sworn To Profound Heresy (Purity Through Fire / Worship Tapes)
Sounds like even more Finnish black metal perfected (by German transplants). Can you tell I’m partial to classic Finnish melody? Sarkrista are one of my favourites, and for very good reason – their third full-length uses those melodies to immediately plunge into a feeling that does not waver or fail for the entire record. A marvellous achievement from a band that hasn’t fucked up yet, and seemingly never will.
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16. Black Spirit – El Sueño de la Razón Produce Monstruos (His Wounds / Infinite Night Records)
Spanish raw black solo entity Black Spirit has been a regular showing on my Listcrushes of late, but this evocative full-length based on an aquatint by the late Spanish artist Francisco Goya is the sound of main man Javi hitting next level. Just released on vinyl via His Wounds a few days ago, too – order it or hate yourself. The sleep of reason produces monsters indeed.
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15. Misotheist – For The Glory Of Your Redeemer (Terratur Possessions)
Speaking of hitting next level, these Norwegians jumped up another three or four levels with For The Glory Of Your Redeemer. Immense, sprawling, intricate, multi-latered and multi-textured – no matter how many descriptors I spew out, the fact remains that this is purely and simply one of the finest examples of mystically and spiritually resonant black metal to emanate from Scandinavian shores in some time. Oh, and the LP packaging is probably the most luscious I received all year as well. Impressive all around.
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14. Kæck – Het Zwaarte Dictat (Folter Records / Hessian Firm)
Sounds like: a fucking tank (or something equally as heavy) crushing every bone in your body to dust. I REVIEWED this beast from the Dutch destroyers and gave it 4.5/5; in hindsight it probably should have broken the rating system and stood on its own because nothing else released this year was as infused with such ULTIMATE NEGATIVITY. So overwhelmingly bleak and brutal it becomes almost beautiful to witness.
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13. Los Males Del Mundo – Descent Towards Death (Northern Silence Productions)
I first heard this album when I was in intense physical agony whilst walking at night in the rain, and it hit me in such a way that it left an indelible mark on my soul. In fact, I think it ruined every other album of similar style that was released last year – nothing else matched up and all just sounded rather boring. Ergo, I have returned to this many times since and will likely continue to for many years to come. Sounds like: the very essence of trial and tribulation.
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12. Aquilus – Bellum I (Blood Music)
Sounds like: listening to someone far too talented to be creating music within the sphere of extreme metal. Speaking in a compositional sense Australian Horace Rosenqvist is streets ahead of everyone else on this list and Bellum I, unveiled ten years after his last release, is spellbinding as he trips the light fandango through a maze of gorgeous neoclassical or progressive soundscapes and technical blackened brutality with startling ease. I even get more out of tracks like the purely piano ‘Moon Isabelline’ than anything, which is saying a lot.
“What did the music mean to you?”
“I don’t know. It is full of emotion… but it’s not happy.”
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11. Pestilential Shadows – Revenant (Seance Records)
Australian black metal project Pestilential Shadows has been around for quite some time now. The masterful Balam created the project in 2003, and I can say with hand on heart – out of five previous full-length albums and a handful of splits and demos, 2021’s Revenant is, in my humblest opinion, his finest hour with this project. The type of record that needs to be sat and listened to in order to appreciate the depth and spiritual resonance within, this took me completely by surprise – and I already expected it to be good. Just sit and listen. You’ll see.
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10. Koldovstvo – Ni Tsarya, Ni Boga (Fólkvangr Records / Babylon Doom Cult Records / Extraconscious Records)
If you want to understand the magic of this mysterious (possibly Russian?) entity, listen to the second track ‘II’ from their quietly affecting debut album Ni Tsarya, Ni Boga – if the combination of catchy eastern European melodies emanating from ancient aeons past, haunting clean vocals (that somehow remind me of Garm‘s opening cleans on ‘Wintry Grey’ every time I hear them even though they sound absolutely nothing alike) and harrowing shrieks all wrapped up in a delicately crumbling production doesn’t leave your jaw on the floor, you’re either one cold motherfucker or probably dead. The rest of the album is also neat. Will we see more from this enigmatic entity? Here’s hoping.
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9. Reverorum ib Malacht – Not Here (Rubeus Obex)
Sounds like: a biblical depiction of total and complete destruction, obliterating all, from the very mouth and voice of God Himself. I’m going to take a bit of liberty here and say you NEED to also listen to the pseudo-companion piece Svag I döden that was released alongside this record as well, because in my opinion, they are best consumed as a complementary pair. Both albums are impossible to fully explain or quantify in this short paragraph… just read my REVIEW to get an idea, then listen and be blown away.
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8. MOON – Pandimensional Gnosis (Moribund Records)
Sounds like: early Xasthur being sucked into a black hole. Or a k-hole. Or both at the same time. Australian wretch Miasmyr‘s first full-length album in over five years did not disappoint in the slightest and only becomes more and more dysphoric and dissonant the deeper you fall in; I dare you to listen to this and not completely detach from reality. Supreme atmosphere.
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7. Grey Aura – Zwart Vierkant (Onism Productions / Kunstlicht)
Sounds like: ART. Six and a half years in the making, Zwart Vierkant not only is a work of art but deals with it in its subject matter as well. It’s based upon a novel written by founding member Ruben Wijlacker which “tells the story of an early 20th century painter who becomes obsessed with the Russian art movement, Suprematism, which idealises the abstract and rejects traditional artistic concepts” and this synergistic approach seems to inspire great creativity – which includes the disregarding of any elitist-imposed boundaries to carefully construct a dazzling stream of post-modern, almost surreal wonders and ruinous black metal to tell that tale. They take that black metal and wind it around their fingers like a cat’s cradle game, seamlessly incorporating different colored threads from any genre they see fit to create startling patterns; truly genre-bending and unique in the best spirit of the form and proving once again that the Dutch scene is one of the most forward-thinking in the world. An astonishing album that I had the pleasure of PREMIERING and speaking about with its creators, this is a modern classic that made an impact.
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6. Warloghe – Three Angled Void (Northern Heritage)
Sounds like: an album recorded in the ’90s, buried in a box under six feet of soil and only unearthed last year. No matter how eclectic my tastes can be these days as an old fuck, I’ll always remain that teenage elitist deep in my heart – you know, the guy saying black metal should be disgusting. It should be dark as pitch. It should attempt to summon forces beyond our reckoning. It should be the rotting, cancerous tumour destroying the world via sheer force of hatred… it should sound something like Warloghe‘s Three Angled Void.
I didn’t know this legendary Finnish project was busting out another album, but it certainly hit an unexpected and very welcome sweet spot for me. Building on their 2017 comeback EP Lucifer Ascends whilst ironically descending to more horrifying depths than they ever have previously, it might be nothing that people who’ve been around since before the Y2K bug fizzled out haven’t heard before – but it’s probably exactly what those people wanted to hear in 2021 without even realizing it. If Kæck up above was pure negativity, then Three Angled Void is the audio manifestation of loathing personified. Magnificent, and absolutely vile.
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5. Negură Bunget – Zău (Lupus Lounge)
Stright up – I did NOT expect Zău, the final swansong of Negură Bunget and tribute to Negru, to be this damn good. The previous few Negură Bunget records didn’t particularly land with me as they should have, but as soon as I pushed play on Zău I was breathlessly captivated from beginning to end and lost within the realm created by it. I’m listening to it again right now as I type, and still cannot believe how incredible it is. Sounds like: wandering the magical caves, mountaintops and glades of an icy world so pure, crystalline and beautiful you’ll feel your very spirit reinvigorate just by breathing the air of an album so immersive you can almost feel it in your lungs. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect parting note.
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4. Antichrist Siege Machine – Purifying Blade (Profound Lore Records / Stygian Black Hand)
“But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” – Jude 1:10
You checked out the latest offering from blasphemic US annihilators Antichrist Siege Machine yet? If not, you’re fucking up in a big way because whilst 2019’s debut full-length ‘Schism Perpetration’ was an insane achievement, they’ve outdone themselves here – against massive odds, ‘Purifying Blade’ is a step forward in every aspect. A more razor sharp production means these riffs utterly lacerate your flesh as your bones are pummeled to dust, whilst their relentless savagery is given more dynamism (meaning they can now kill you in 36 different ways before your body hits the floor). Not one track is a dud, the interludes of bible verses are spot on – is it the best war metal release of the year? Yes. Have the piss beaten out of you and witness heaven being torn asunder by the entire thing below, if you don’t believe me. Vicious shit that sounds like… a knife in the very heart of God.
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3. CODE – Flyblown Prince (Karisma Records / Dark Essence Records)
And thus, the mighty and malignant < c o d e > did return. The UK progressive/avant-garde black metallers finally unleashed their wonderfully wretched and weird fifth full-length Flyblown Prince last year, and all I can say is… FUCKING HELL. Coming home to the experimental black venom of their early days yet also utilising some of the same softer-textured approach of their later work when necessary, the record is quite literally astonishing from the very first listen. This dark and dissonant nightmare fantasy was a hair’s breadth from taking out my album of the year slot, and is probably on equal footing with Resplendent Grotesque as my favourite of their works. Stunning.
“We hope you enjoy the album, and that the pain and toil was worth it. You eternally indebted wayside pastors…”
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2. Plebeian Grandstand – Rien Ne Suffit (Debemur Morti Productions)
If Flyblown Prince was a “FUCKING HELL”, Rien Ne Suffit by eschatonic French maniacs Plebeian Grandstand is a “HOLY FUUUUCK”. Idiosyncratic, intense, insane, barely music at times – Rien Ne Suffit cruelly smashes avant-garde black metal, jazz, hardcore, abrasive noise and mangled electronics together into something that sounds like total, ravaging mental torture. This record alternately makes you what to tear your hair out and smash through a fucking wall. You want the most messed up album of the year? This may just be it. And after two of the most mental albums you’ll hear in your life taking up the number three and two positions, we come to…
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1. Djevel – Tanker som rir natten (Aftermath Music / Tour De Garde / Mindscrape Music / Impure Wedding Productions)
…my album of the year. I fell in love with the seventh album from these Norwegian legends from the very first notes; by the time I’d finished my first spin I knew it would be an album that would become part of my musical DNA from that moment forwards. Why? Because this is absolutely quintessential, classic TNBM executed to perfection. The type you can feel. Moonlit magic whirls from these songs and embraces your soul with yearning, the riffs are incredible, hell even the acoustic break of the title track is mesmerizing – I’m not sure if it was the addition of Kvitrim of Mare on vocals/bass that’s made a difference (I certainly enjoy his vocals more, for what it’s worth) but whilst every Djevel album to this point has been great, Tanker som rir natten sounds like a band hitting upon their ultimate, true form. I never reviewed this, but I’d be hard pressed to not give it 5 / 5 and have almost worn the tape out already… if you haven’t listened yet, or you did and it didn’t click at the time, my sincerest advice to you is to give it another try. Majestic in every possible way, and I very, very rarely say this with any degree of seriousness… a modern masterpiece. Hail Djevel.
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