BLACK METAL DAILY’S LISTCRUSH 2023: The GOS Edition

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By GOS (Order ov the Black Arts / ViaOmega Magazine)

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All my kin at Order ov the Black Arts and Black Metal Daily… It is time. Time for those of us so inclined to agonize in the depths of our own minds and memory, feebly declare war against the inner demons of self doubt and existential futility, and  toil on the very brink of madness in the ever-anticipated and thoroughly Sisyphean of labors: Black Metal albums-of-the-year list and review. The placement of albums here isn’t particularly solid but more generalized with position shifting relative to mood and context.

It is also that time of year when I celebrate the mark of another orbit of Helios, embarking on my 5th decade towards the unknown beyond. Accordingly, it would be my honor to present, as a gift of myself, to you if you will indulge me, 50 albums from 2023 which I felt compelled to address, if briefly. Though the ultimately favored tend to appear towards the end, the specific placement is of only marginal importance, and their positions never stagnant, but ever shifting and relative to mood, activity, and the Hericlitean spirit of fire and eternal flux.  

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TETRAGRAMMACIDE – Typho-Tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur’an [Iron Bonehead Productions]

Orientation: Radical and militant inverters of all that is sacred from India move away from noise and towards death with sophomore full length album. First on the list because it is death metal and not black metal, not because it isn’t badass.

Sounds like: Nostalgic brutal death metal of old, and what I cut my teeth on, such as HATE ETERNAL’s King Of All Kings or NILE’s Black Seeds of Vengeance, but benefiting from some modernization in the mix; needless to say, the fucking drumming is full-onslaught, batshit crazy, and one of the main listening points.

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THE ARCANE ORDER – Distortions from Cosmogogy [Black Lion Records]

Orientation: Death metal adepts from Denmark relinquish their 4th album since 2006 and make the list at the beginning because they are death and not black metal… don’t let that fool you, probably in my top 10 for this year overall.

Sounds like: Self-described as death/thrash but I’m not really hearing that; sounds to me like excellent melodic / progressive DM similar to something like SLUGDGE or HATH or early BLACK CROWN INITIATE with some sparing but fucking great synth and some semiclean vox.

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SULPHUR AEON – Seven Crowns and Seven Seals [VÁN Records]

Orientation: Renowned Lovecraftean blackened (kinda, barely) death metal band  from Germany release much-anticipated 4th album, and it is pretty damn good (but not as good as their last one… or two?).

Sounds like: Patented, fairly unique combination of brooding yet monstrous yet cosmic progressive death metal with a fair amount of lofty echoed cleans; the last track is particularly great.

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TORTURE CHAIN – The Reign of Deimos [Hosptital Productions]

Orientation: Surprisingly developed-yet-unknown project from New York, born in roughly 2008, and composed by one man (Torturer aka Brendan Radigan, who is also in a bunch of other bands which I have never heard of but feel like I should) drops 4th album… and my jaw just a bit, squeaking in on the list in the final hours.

Sounds like: ABIGOR. A LOT; also somewhat less so like FANISK or ELDRIG with the synth at times, but this is more guitar-driven (like ABIGOR); note that this album is huge, clocking in at around 70 minutes. 

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THE COLOR OF RAIN – Oceans Above [Void Wanderer Productions]

Orientation: Progressive black metal trio from the Netherlands pumps out a few singles then promptly delivers a neat debut album, which is colorful in more ways than one; probably belongs somewhere ‘higher’ on my list but I’m not sure where, so here it is.

Sounds like: A combination of postblack like AGRYPNIE, ANOMALIE, or HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, with acoustic bits not unlike AGALLOCH, and some sort of progressive metal like RIVERS OF NIHIL or FALLUJAH… with a measure of A FOREST OF STARS and even a sprinkle of DSOish dissonance thrown in there, just in case things weren’t eclectic enough. 

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RORCAL – Silence [Hummus Records]

Orientation: Abstruse, wholly pessimistic, and incredibly heavy blackened something-or-other band from Switzerland descends further with sixth album, and I wonder if it should even be included on a black metal AOTY list, it is somewhat irresistible.

Sounds like: blackened post-hardcore/doom/sludge/noise (yeah yeah, I know); heaviness to the point of obliteration, asphyxiating density, with a compressed-yet-crystalline sound which has always been hard to describe; CELESTE (Fra), ANAAL NATHRAKH if they had headed towards noise instead of groove… or … something like that.

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AVDAGATA – The Faceless One [At Dawn Records]

Orientation: Relatively new symphonic/melodic blackdeath trio from Sweden, with members from DARK FUNERAL, NIGHT CROWNED, and REVERORUM IB MALACHT (among others) lays down a good debut full length after buttering us up with a GREAT debut EP in 2021 (Damnatio Cursus, on Black Lion Records).

Sounds like: Well… they USED to sound a lot like little known (but excellent) symphonic blackdeath commanders GLORIA MORTI, but now they have softened slightly to somewhere between that and later OLD MAN’s CHILD; good, with earworm guitar hooks and good blasting.

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BLACK VOID CULT – …Even The Stars Have To Die [self-released]

Orientation: Relatively new black metal trio from Mexico offers up a diverse and solid second album with some interesting musical additions.

Sounds like: Mostly guitar-driven with tight drumming and dual vocals, tends to muscle it’s way in with straightforward blasting, then show off with some damn sweet synth and / or guitar work before jumping back into the pit; kind of a combination of cosmic black metal and blackthrash, while incorporating some elements of symphony and Mexican flavor.

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NORDIC FROST – To Make The Acquaintance Ov Death [Rebel Pyro Musick]

Orientation: Symphonic black metal duo from California delivers 4th album; isn’t blazing any new trails, but targets a specific era of SBM for which I have a particular soft spot.

Sounds like: Contemporary symphonic black metal acts like CRADLE OF FILTH, OLD MAN’S CHILD, and DIMMU BORGIR (moreso), but importantly harnessing the tenuous magic which occurred after the said bands had modernized but before they really took a full nosedive (ie circa 1999-2003); clean, straightforward, well-but-not-overly-produced melodic black metal with piano and synth.

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MØRKT TRE: Зазирни за Обрій [Darker Than Black Records]

Orientation: Avant-garde blackfolk from Ukraine creates an eclectic but confidently cohesive third album incorporating various labyrinthine elements too numerous to mention.

Sounds like: Similar to the likes of ENSLAVED, NEGURĂ BUNGET, DORDEDUH, but inevitably with its own take due to the unpredictable, unique and progressive nature implied with those comparisons; the old world, expanded and extended into the synthy astral future. 

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SORATHIAN DAWN – Radiant Terror [self-released]

Orientation: Australian melodic blackdeath band is unnaturally excellent after waiting 11 years for a second album… and desperately needs to be signed to a solid label, or at least make some damn physicals (take my money!).

Sounds like: Riff-rich with flowing percussion and overall triumphant melody, highlighted by fantastic soaring lead and solos, nuanced synth,  and harsh screamed vocals, toneless and whispery… the one-dimensionality of which are my only real complaint; guitar work is fucking gorgeous. 

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URBAIN – A Soul Purged [Hypnotic Dirge Records]

Orientation: Progressive black metal supergroup from Texas, composed of members of WILLS DISSOLVE, OVNEV, FATHER RUST and GOLGOTHAN, composes a specifically urban-dystopic debut.

Sounds like: A conglomerate of various emotive and conceptual energies such as entropy, sorrow, rage, beauty, pride, power, grandiosity, hubris, suffering, and hopelessness; a surprisingly cohesive mix of very different purveyors of urban destitute: ULVER, VOICES, WHITE WARD, MOURNING BY MORNING, and WORM SHEPHERD. 

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ÚKRYT – 1897 [Starved Light / self-released]

Orientation: Australian partners S (of DÉPARTE) and M (of VERËVKINA) produce an instrumental  full-length opus (after an initial EP, 2019) featuring two 16+ minute tracks. 

Sounds like: An expansive, sprawling, and beautiful odyssey towards the edges of every unknown, both internally and externally, tugging on the spirit with a soft yet deadly undertow, and pulling the listener out to sea upon waves of epic atmosphere which is surprisingly crushing at times.

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FALAISE – After All This Time [Flowing Downward]

Orientation: Italian post-black/gaze project manages to make itself my guilty pleasure with a fourth album full of meandering guitar and piano hooks.

Sounds like: Equal interplay between wonderment, melancholy, and rage; blackened out with periodic volleys of steady double kick and black metal vocals; atmospheric, but distinctly urban; lots of feels; DRAWN INTO DESCENT, AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN, ALCEST

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SÓL ÁN VARMA – Sól án varma [VÁN Records]

Orienation: Authoritative supergroup of Iceland, this is a project originally commissioned back in 2018 and was founded by D.G. and T.I., but also features five (yes fucking FIVE) additional prominant Icelandic artists to produce a near 70-minute triumph.

Sounds like: … fucking ICELAND, it sounds like black metal from Iceland – alas – how could it sound otherwise? MISÞYRMING, CARPE NOCTEM, ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS, NAÐRA, SVARTIDAUÐI, ANDAVALD, ALMYRKVI.

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FATAL EMBRACE – Manifestum Invernalis [Black Lion Records]

Orientation: Swedish meloblackdeath veterans who have been around since ‘92 and released their debut in 1997 take their time creating a sophomore release… and it was time well spent.

Sounds like: Powerful, modern symphonic black combined with melodic death; aggressive, heavy, polished, similar to …AND OCEANS, but more terrestrial and grants the listener more breathing room, although it is also more brooding and dark.  

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ASAGRAUM – Veil of Death, Ruptured [Edged Circle Productions]

Orientation: Pre-eminent all-female orthodox melodic black metal from the Netherlands fires off with 3rd album and stays relevant as fvck.

Sounds like: Not far off from fairly standard melodic, satanic, mostly Swedish black metal fare (WATAIN, DARK FUNERAL, NECROPHOBIC, NAZGHOR, VALKYRJA, THULCANDRA, KVAEN, FÄUST, etc.) but more dynamic, more interesting, more authentic, or more consistent than the more well-known names. This album utilizes limited dissonance which I have not noticed before.

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ASTWIHAD – Gatha 1: Asto-Vidatu [Ardawahisht Kollective]

Orientation: One of a cluster of fucking fantastic and varied bands from Iran (including Ardwisur, Broken Pillars, Désespéré, Enscelados, Erancnoir, Forelunar [my favorite], and Menakere, among others) which make up Ardawahisht, ASTWIHAD emerges with a debut mini album, possessing an immensity that has nothing to do with its play time.

Sounds like: Incredibly oppressive yet cosmic black metal with some brief Middle Eastern percussive elements; a more savage and overtly demonic (ok to read *better than*) DARKSPACE, and closer to old BORGNE, but even still more monstrous and devastating… yet with a breathtaking synthy beauty.

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ALDAARON – Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths [Paragon Records]

Orientation: Atmospheric pagan black metal band, founded in 2007, crystalizes a fourth aptly-titled album; from France, but I keep thinking they are from Russia, if that means anything *shrug*.

Sounds like: Gripping, blazing fast, wintery atmospheric black metal with robust production, driven by pretty obvious programmed drums (which add their own endearing aspect), and intermixed with various tidbits of dark ambient, lightly distorted guitar soloing, and martial atmospheric interludes.

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FAUSTIAN – We Come As Angels [self-released]

Orientation: Silly bois from death metal band WEREWOLVES (and a veritable shitload of other bands including THE BERZERKER, THE ANTICRHRIST IMPERIUM, PSYCROPTIC, THE AMENTA, ABREMALIN, and ex-AKERCOCKE) decide to make a black metal album, and it’s pretty damn good!

Sounds like: Competent and suspiciously catchy and quite blasty modern black metal; basically what the new PANZERCHRIST album *should* have sounded like (god dammit), although FAUSTIAN could have mixed in more death metal vocals to get it even closer.

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IRITYLL – Schlafes Bruder [Rebel Pyro Musick]

Orientation: Debut full length duo out of Austria is like a black metal meal with a fuckload of death metal seasoning. Pretty tasty if you don’t mind your food mixing. 

Sounds like: They are using a Boss HM2; deathened the fuck out blackdeath with heavy yet glassy almost deathcoreish mix or production… but still black metal; thicc but sharp and acerbic, almost wintery at times; something like new …AND OCEANS but with less synth, and LOUDER; HORDA, HORRENDA.

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GRAVE GNOSIS – Pestilence Crowned [self-released]

Orientation: Dead-serious occult black metal entity from Florida releases a stone-cold insane third album, so wild that it brushes up against my eccentricity tolerance threshold yet leaves me in awe.

Sounds like: Somebody spiked the blood chalice for the zealous satanic ceremony with a fuckload of LSD; blackened psychedelic fever ritual.

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PANOPTICON – The Rime of Memory [Bindrune Recordings]

Orientation: Still-standing-strong pillar of American black folk, like MEPHORASH (see below), seems to have journeyed away from black metal proper with a massive tenth album focusing on the balance and struggle between life and death. 

Sounds like: Should probably be considered more blackened doom folk than black folk; even when the drums are flying, the entire sensibility of the album, repetition, and pacing is much more aligned with doom characteristics, and the folk elements with extended instrumental sections are more prominent than ever; fantastic when the mood strikes.

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MINENWERFER – Feuerwalze [Osmose Productions]

Orientation: Translation: “Firestorm”; formerly “atmospheric” war-themed black metal duo from California decide to firebomb the atmosphere and focus on obliteration via shrapnel with 4th album.

Sounds like: An aweing level of hysterical black violence that borders on war metal; relentless martial battery delivering pure overt aggression and cutthroat, rabid guitar lead in equal measure; ENDSTILLE, 2000’s ENTHRONED, AD HOMINEM, PRECAMBRIAN

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RINGARË – Of Momentous Endless Night [Avantgarde Music]

Orientation: Two incredibly prolific US BM musicians Alex Poole and Jake Blackburn (both of many bands, including CHAOS MOON, ENTHEOGEN, GARDSGHASTER, SKÁPHE, KRIEG, NATTFÄRD, and more) get with Swedish vocalist Likpredikaren (NATTFÄRD, ARS HMU, MUSMAHHU) to do some great things; Swartadauþuz is surprisingly absent.

Sounds like: Atmospheric symphonic black metal with a distinct emphasis on the drums, almost as if the percussion acts as the lead instrument instead of the guitar, which I can dig because the drums are mind-blowing; vox could be dialed back a bit.

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VVILDERNESS – Path [Beverina]

Orientation: One-man Hungarian post-black / black folk project, releases a 4th album since the debut in 2017… every one of which has had placement on my end-of-year lists, although the first is still the best.

Sounds like: A unique and unmistakable hybrid of black metal, Hungarian folk, progressive metal, and post-rock, with a distinct naturalistic flavor due to use of acoustic guitars, folk influences (read: hurdy-gurdy, talharpa, nyckelharpa), breezy melodies, and a forested aura. 

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OUTLAW – Reaching Beyond Assiah [AOP Records]

Orientation: Brazilian band, notably featuring Tommi “Tomahawk” Tuhkala on drums (MOONLIGHT SORCERY, ONDFØDT, KVAEN, SPELL OF TORMENT) radiates third album of anti-cosmic Luciferian black metal. 

Sounds Like: Taking what WATAIN achieved with apex album Lawless Darkness, and springboarding off of it to create orthodox melodic black metal infused with some subtle post-black tendencies; progressive, more consistently harmonic, and fucking epic. 

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PASSÉISME – Alternance [Antiq Records]

Orientation: Relatively new (founded in 2019) three-piece from Fran – wait… Russia? Russia. Not France? Are we sure?  Ok, from Russia – get my attention with an incredibly talented if quirky sophomore album.

Sounds like: Sounds like it is from fucking France. Like SÜHNOPFER, or AORLHAC, or (to a lesser degree) VÉHÉMENCE or NÉCROPOLE, wherein guitar is just constantly leading in a way that sounds like a non-stop solo. In PASSÉISME’s case it has a wild, mischievous, woodsy, and impromptu character, with the Greek god Pan appropriately adorning the cover art; the straining shouted vox might throw some listeners.

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THE KRYPTIK – A Journey to the Darkest Kingdom [Purity Through Fire]

Orientation: Significantly overlooked black metal duo from Brazil unfurl an ambitious third album, with 7 long tracks clocking in at almost 70 minutes, the shortest one almost 8.

Sounds like: Symphonic black metal that sounds like it should have epic blue cover art… and it does; tends towards more “atmospheric” grandiosity rather than in-your-face orchestration, and strikes a balance between the two, sort of a midline between AEON WINDS (see below) and EVILFEAST.   

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… AND OCEANS – As in Gardens, So in Tombs [Season of Mist]

Orientation: Veteran Finnish dark industrial act releases second album after significant, and much -needed auditory overhaul.

Sounds Like: High-octane, impeccably mixed, full, powerful, and modern symphonic black metal; DIMMU BORGIR-level orchestration with LIMBONIC ART-like cosmic elements, but with aggression more akin to Diabolus/Attera-era DARK FUNERAL or even BELPHEGOR’s blacker edges.

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BLOEDMAAN – Castle Inside the Eclipse [Immortal Frost Productions]

Orientation: One-man upstart from Belgium grabs some deserved attention with a short-but-sweet EP-sized album with undeniable appeal.

Sounds like: Crazy melodic “French” riffs similar to FORTRESSE or FERRITERIUM but a bit more light-hearted and fantasy-oriented like MOONGLIGHT SORCERY or ALDAARON; fucking epic and awesome. 

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ARGENTHORNS – The Ravening [Avantgarde Music]

Orientation: Third solo project from Finnish virtuoso Lord Vechi Vrăjitor, best known for being the sole creator behind both WARMOON LORD and OLD SORCERY adds to the emerging 90’s SBM throwback motif of 2023.

Sounds like: An excellent ode to a fucking army of classic symphonic black metal pillars (in all cases, specifically their early output): EMPEROR, DIMMU BORGIR, LIMBONIC ART, CRADLE OF FILTH, ANOREXIA NERVOSA, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, as well as more oddball flourishes like FINNTROLL, VESANIA, and even OPETH.

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ALBIONIC HERMETICISM – Nova Nativitas Mundi [The Hermetic Order of Ytene]

Orientation: Prolific riff-god O.W.G.A, of Great Britain, sole creator behind this and additional currents (most notably AULD RIDGE, see below), casually drops 8th and 9th full length in the last 3 years (across all projects) and continues to emerge as one of the best contemporary authentic black metal artists in the world.

Sounds like: O.W.G.A.’s unpolished, spontaneous, and wholly authentic foundation, here conceptually focused on occult fantasy and satanic science fiction, with the music appropriately and spectacularly leaning into more avant-garde, cosmic, psychedelic, and progressive rock territory while still being unmistakably black metal. 

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ONDFØDT – Det Österbottniska Mörkret [Black Lion Records]

Orientation: Finnish occult black metal traditionalists offer a savage fourth album, rack another great release up for Black Lion, and spurn, for me, one of those deep and oft expensive dives into the entire historical repertoire. 

Sounds like: Solidly in the camp of King / Ghaal era GORGOROTH, albeit perhaps with slightly more traditional melodic hints like VALKYRJA or SEHTERIAL. Makes me want to mentally add them to what I think of as the subgenre of modern hyperblasting authentic black metal ala NORDJEVEL, AVSLUT, WHORDOM RIFE, DJEVELKULT, etc.

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STARER – Wind, Breeze, or Breath [Snow Wolf Records / Fiadh Productions / Fólkvangr Records]

Orientation: Completely ass-kicking one-man black metal project from Kentucky (with a penchant for covering rock and alternative) and owner of Snow Wolf Records sinks a third full length in as many years. I’m really hoping for a vinyl press at some point.

Sounds like: Surprisingly-hard-to-describe-other-than-”American” symphonic black metal which aggresses up to TSJUDER (etc.) levels, but also leaves space for orchestration, expanse, atmosphere, doomy parts, tasteful clean vocals, groove, and more. Something about it (the mix maybe? the percussive flow?) reminds me of mid-era PANOPTICON (except symphonic instead of folk), but I can’t figure out if that is a legit association or just because *Kentucky*.

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TAUBRĄ – Therizo [Debemur Morti Productions]

Orientation: Swiss offshoot of AARA unleashes debut album of satanic orthodoxy, featuring two AARA members on guitars and drums, and support from T of MALPHAS and R of ILHALUNG on bass and vox, respectively. 

Sounds like: Darker and more violent than AARA. Relatively straightforward blasting modern black metal, with riffwriting reminiscent of the last two MISÞYRMING albums… except, considering mixing/mastering by S.D. (AVERSIO HUMANITATIS) at Empty Hall Studios, predictably cleaner and thicker and less unhinged or feral in production. 

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WAYFARER – American Gothic [Century Media]

Orientation: Black “folk” pioneers from Colorado, after peaking in 2016 or 2018 (in my opinion), recover significantly with 5th album American Gothic, a release notably stronger than 2020’s A Romance With Violence. Noticing while writing this that they jumped labels from Profound Lore to Century Media.

Sounds like: Progressive black metal with the quintessential, distinctive Western-Americana flavor which is their schtick; with every album they seem to stray further from black metal proper and towards a more generalized still-marginally-blackened “progressive extreme Western-metal” sound , which, luckily, they seem to be getting better and better at (although the earlier albums Old Souls and World’s Blood are still my favorites).  

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ERSHETU – Xibalba [Debemur Morti Productions]

Orientation: Two unknown badassess from France and Norway get together to do themed albums which each revolve around death in specific culture. They recruit more renowned badassess (Vindsval aka BLUT AUS NORD, and Lars Nedland of BORKNAGAR) to help out. Debut album Xibalba tackles Mayan lore.

Sounds like: Ritualistic black metal mixed with native South American wood and wind instruments; WARDUNA meets MAQUAHUITL (but the black metal aspect is often more ceremonial, epic, and measured, and less riffy and chaotic); band describes music as cinematic and taking inspiration from film scores.  

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CELESTIAL ANNIHILATOR – Annihilation for Esoteric Nascency [self-released]

Orientation: From South Korea. One-man cosmic black metal project, creator of which is also sole soul behind AMBRIXIAK (also excellent), and guitarist for DARK MIRROR OV TRAGEDY and METAMORPHOSIS. Seems to get better and better with each thing he has his hand in. 

Sounds like: Guitar and percussion-driven cosmic black metal, which sounds exactly like it should. The fact that synth isn’t the main thrust gives it a more aggressive or visceral feel, although still distinctly cosmic. FFO MARE COGNITUM, BEZMIR, NUMEN NOCTIS, INHERITS THE VOID.

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AEON WINDS – Night Sky Illuminations [Avantgarde Music]

Orientation: Established but underrecognized symphonic black metal from Slovakia – with numerous singles, splits, EP’s, etc. filling the space between albums – gusts in with a third full length. 

Sounds like: Synthladen contemporary symphonic black metal with some slight deathy heaviness and groove making it a bit more melancholy than similar ARGENTHORNS and any of the other SBM listed above; forceful and darkly triumphant, often with an almost marching / martial quality and 50-caliber double kick; grandiose yet deliberate.

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ASET – Astral Rape [Les Acteurs de l’Ombre]

Orientation: Occult supergroup of an unknown number of reportedly fluctuating international artists, *some* of which are from ORANSII PAZUZU and SETH, focusing on Egyptian necromantic themes, descends with a debut out of fucking nowhere and turns a bunch of heads for good reason.

Sounds like: A “plunge into the mystical astral” (band’s words); a shockingly masterful apotheosis of aggressive fringe orthodox black metal which is equally immense, ritualistic, and dissonant; imagine a near perfect combination of AKHLYS / AORATOS / NIGHTBRINGER and MEPHORASH and DEATHSPELL OMEGA, also might be compared to FYRNASK and DODECAHEDRON.

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MOONLIGHT SORCERY – Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle [Avantgarde Music]

Orientation: After getting everyone’s attention with two incredible EPs in 2022 and buttering up the hype with a couple of singles, Finnish trio (plus Tommi “Tomahawk” Tuhkala on drums [OUTLAW, ONDFØDT, KVAEN, SPELL OF TORMENT]) flower their debut full length, and it was exactly what we were hoping for.

Sounds like: Fantastical and incredibly addicting black metal mixed with the best parts of power metal, to put it succinctly, overtly and beautifully reveling in the adventure which these two genres have to offer, whilst avoiding the pitfalls (ie no power metal vocals… thank fucking god). STORMKEEP, STORMLORD, blackened CHILDREN OF BODOM.

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MYSTICAL FULLMOON – Hermits Amidst the Marvels of Darkness [Zazen Sounds]

Orientation: Relatively unknown but longstanding (originated 1994) band from Italy verify that they are veterans with an excellent 3rd album of mixed extreme metal.

Sounds like: A mix of symphonic black metal and melodic death metal with classical elements; orchestration so robust that it is cinematic, yet not overbearing in the overall sound, with a somewhat homogenous production; having a hard time figuring out what other SBM band they REALLY sound like, even though it shouldn’t be difficult… perhaps that is some of the appeal; maybe a blacker and MUCH better SEPTICFLESH.

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ΣARΚ – Inumbris [self-released]

Orientation: Mysterious and almost completely unknown one-man project from Greece demonstrates rapid development by unfolding an immense fourth album after three prior since 2021. There is very little information available. Support this person.

Sounds like: Multilayered, massive, crushing black metal with shades of cataclysmic industrial, cavernous atmosphere, hypnotic doom, and eerie dissonance; INCREDIBLY good for how underground it is; *sort of*: ALMYRKVI, RUINS OF BEVERAST, BLUT AUS NORD, but also DEATHSPELL OMEGA and new GRAVENCHALICE (but better).

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HELLERUIN – Devils, Death, and Dark Arts [New Era Productions]

Orientation: One-man black metal riff machine from the Netherlands ignites a second album in jet-black fashion, garners legitimacy points by almost immediately having his Bandcamp profile deleted for no apparent reason.

Sounds like: Ferocious, full melodic black metal with copious tasteful blasting, entirely adequate vocals, and riffs that Just. Don’t. Fucking. Quit. MGŁA, SARGEIST, and TAAKE comparisons seem like low hanging fruit and less on-target than SPECTRAL WOUND, GRAFVITNIR, and DÉLÉTÈRE.

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HASARD – Malivore [I, Voidhanger Records]

Orientation: Debut black metal manifestation of French composer Hazard, best known for grandiose dark experimental neoclassical / extreme avant-garde opera project LES CHANTS DU HASARD; an immediate top contender for AOTY.

Sounds like: The march of an immense doomsday engine combined with the terror of a celestial air raid siren; increasingly orchestrated and industrialized advance dissipating into horror-drenched, brooding, malevolent atmosphere; impossible symmetry of chaos and momentum like the holographic scaffolding of some horrific sonic fractal; pure apocalyptic rapture; AKHLYS / NIGHTBRINGER, DECOHERENCE, early AXIS OF PERDITION, a more violent BLUT AUS NORD, ALMYRKVI, REVERORUM IB MALACHT.

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VAHRZAW – In the Shallows of a Starlit Lake [Bitter Loss (RID), self-released]

Orientation: Death / slightly blackened death metal band from Australia tries their hand at classic 90’s-style symphonic black metal…  and fucking kills it.

Sounds like: Unclean melodicism, slightly muffled blasting, malevolent vocals, flows of synth; an authentic, unvarnished and unequivocal homage to the time-honored sound of Norwegian and Swedish spirits of old; EMPEROR, CRADLE OF FILTH, DARK FUNERAL, SATYRICON, 1349, and GORGOROTH.

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AULD RIDGE – Folklore From Further Out [The Hermetic Order of Ytene]

Orientation: Prolific riff-god O.W.G.A, of Great Britain, sole creator behind these and additional currents, casually drops 8th and 9th full length in the last 3 years (across all projects) and continues to emerge as one of the best contemporary authentic black metal artists in the world. Note: We at Black Metal Daily were honored to get an exclusive interview regarding all of his projects after first completing conversational reviews for 2023 AULD RIDGE and ALBIONIC HERMETICISM albums.

Sounds like: Organic, brilliant, and audacious black metal perfection; heroic folktales provide the album concept and free-flowing, instinctive, metalized folk melodies provide the musical underpinning, particularly in the stone-cold insane improvised guitar lead (think of a more feral WINDIR, sort of), viola, and Irish bouzouki; acoustic folk interludes between each black metal track.

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IMPERIAL DEMONIC – Beneath The Crimson Eclipse [Black Lion Records]

Orientation: Unnaturally engaging and endearing debut EP from Northern Ireland manages to take my AOTY when I am in a certain nostalgic mood… but is excellent enough to induce that nostalgic mood, and marks another (major) win for Black Lion for 2023 in the process. 

Sounds like: Absolutely classic-to-the-core, straight to the point in the vein of early 2000’s Dark Funeral and Naglfar, with some Old Man’s Child and Cruelty era CoF thrown in. Nostalgic as all fuck, bringing me back like 20+ years, when I was first getting into the genre, and I love it; kicks so much ass that it is almost cheesy. 

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MEHPORASH – Krystl-Ah [Shadow Records / Regain Records]

Orientation: Supreme ritualistic occult blackened phenomenon from Sweden continues its trajectory astray from black metal proper with a metaphysicedelic fifth album, and takes AOTY in the process.

Sounds like: While still blackened, MEPHORASH has capitalized on a foundation of traditional Swedish black metal and has steadily transcended the genre with crowning sonic occultism (1557 – Rites Of Nullification, 2015), then prominent doses of ecclesiastical ritualism (Shem Ha Mephorash, 2019),  and now dark ascendant psychedelia; ecstatic elevation, rapturous layers, resonance beyond the auditory; a vast cathedral of consciousness, a battery of kaleidoscopic windows, fractals rotating, effortlessly melts and crumbles, builds, rises, melts and crumbles, over and over and over; material form, mental structure, rational thought caught in the ineffable tide of entropic cosmic connection.

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LISTCRUSH WILL RETURN… MAYBE.

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BLACK METAL DAILY’S LISTCRUSH 2020: THE GOS EDITION

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For four years in a row now I have developed a list of my favorite albums of the year. One would think that I would have developed some sort of solid format at this point, but strangely, this is not the case. For reasons not entirely clear to me, the way I organize and categories the list changes from year to year. What worked perfectly for 2019 (a tiered selection) did not work at all for me for 2020. I simply could not make sense of it, could not organize releases in a way that seemed coherent using that method. So, I reverted (it almost seemed that I was forced to revert) back to something I did all the way back in 2017, which was to break up selections into some broad and subgenres and categories, which should be fairly self-explanatory, although of course open to interpretation. I also borrowed from what I did in 2018, which was to forgo a solid ranking and to instead place releases according to “quantum” principles, wherein each release (save the AOTY) does not have a solid location, but shifts around in the general vicinity of its placement depending on my mood etc. So, while I have chosen an AOTY, the top few picks in each category might very well be my favorite thing of the year at the moment of any particular time or mood. Am I being wishy-washy? Perhaps a bit. Am I overthinking it? Almost certainly, but I suppose that if this conceptual apparatus is what it takes for me to be satisfied with a summation my assessment of black metal in 2020, then so be it. Of note: the United States KILLED IT this year for me, and that is a first. Thanks for checking this out, and may thy will be done.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

AKHLYS [United States] – Melinoë

Anyone familiar with Naas Alcameth’s monumental output of immense, perseverant, and absolutely malevolent black metal in the forms of NIGHTBRINGER, BESTIA ARCANA, and AORATOS will immediately recognize the signature auditory maelstrom of perhaps his most notorious project, AKHLYS. A journey inward, a manifestation born of terrifying psychic nightmares, and the dread spirits which inhabit them, the dense murk of harrowing antipathy ascending from the depths with only a futile glimmer of warning before we are consumed in torrents of synth, writhing layers of pitchshifted guitars, measured percussive severity, and the hellish, maniacally spectral voice of Alcameth. The rhythm guitar and bass help to keep everything from tearing itself asunder, and periodically they pull the other instruments into their less frenetic trajectory for powerfully bombastic, cadenced movements across the whole instrumental continuum. Menacing builds towards abrupt eruption in absolute fury and malice. Lavish, orchestrated melody, tragic, compelling, terrible, and beautiful… imposing and utterly demonic black metal terror that is sustained, pensive, ominous, oppressive. {full review and interview}

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HYPERAURAL

(11 selections)

PANZERFAUST [Canada] – Suns of Perdition Pt. 2: Render Unto Eden

Centering on religious and spiritual motifs: humanity’s sin and virtue, suffering and denial, fall from redemption, descent into ruin, and impending judgement, PANZERFAUST continues to dish out monstrous, crushing, black/death with overpowering, uniquely roaring vocals (a standout feature among a litany of compelling characteristics), and an overall sense of progressive, desolating inevitability. The shift in focus from the first Suns of Perdition installment is not only represented with the album title and lyrical themes, but also with the sound itself, which seems overall to be a bit more ritualized and contemplative, borrowing more from progressive blackened doom sensibilities than its predecessor did, and perfected in terms of execution, production, and mix. Render Unto Eden is, overall, a more than adequate follow up to War, Horrid War, a powerful yet reflective specimen of God-tier blackened art, and to no surprise, PANZERFAUST have produced truly one of the best albums that I have heard this year. {full review}

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ANAAL NATHRAKH [United States / England] – Endarkenment

Endarkenment is really damn good, and better than I thought it would be. I’m particularly appreciating the lack of forays into djenty or metalcore territory and it seems like there’s several angles from which NATHRAKH has dialed up the ferocity factor. I’m surprised at the increased transparency that the band is providing, as well as the number of songs that decline to swing into that pattern of melodic chorus with clean vocals. While I frequently like those parts in other albums, I’m finding myself particularly drawn to tracks that don’t do that as much here. Even so, a few of those clean melodic choruses have undeniable hooks which don’t easily leave my head. After A New Kind of Horror (2018) I was pretty concerned that NATHRAKH was going to stray afar from black metal altogether, but I think those concerns have been laid to rest. {collaborative review}

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DECOHERENCE [United Kingdom] – Unitarity

With virtually no introduction, the listener is confronted with a celestial wall of overwhelming cosmic black metal. Where the previous album Ekpyrosis (2019) had room to breathe around a more staggering pace, here much of that space filled with blasting maelstromic percussion, a molten dense core of bass, searing trajectories of guitar dissonance, more sustained cataclysmic ambience and well-embedded vocals that roar through the tracks like some sort of abrasive solar turbulence. While initially more saturated and massive, the journey through Unitarity proves it to be also more epic and nuanced. As the final orbit is traveled it is clear that DECOHERENCE have created an elite, immense constellation of black epic industrial atmospheric insanity, decimating in execution and universally apocalyptic in scope. {full review}

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ABIGOR [Austria] – Totschläger (A Saintslayer’s Songbook)

Well, I guess this one is really a surprise to nobody, except maybe me. Never been into ABIGOR before this for whatever reason. I just found it too… technical? Thin sounding? Just too fucking weird? Yeah, this is different. Came out of nowhere in the final moments of the year but already I have listened to this compulsively more times than many other entries on my lists. Grandiose, varied, aggressive, complex, dynamic… I just don’t have time to do this album justice with words this late in the year. This thing is just a gaddamn masterpiece and we all know it. 

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…AND OCEANS [Finland] – Cosmic World Mother

Well-produced, aggressive, mature, mainstream symphonic/industrial black/death and it is phenomenal. This album has a particular sharpness, crystalline, and pristine quality to the overall production that I think perfectly expresses what the band was trying to achieve. This album got a lot of playtime from me, particularly early in the year. FFO mid-era DIMMU BORGIR, BELPHEGOR, GLORIA MORTI, SHADE EMPIRE, EMPYREAN THRONE, DAWN OF ASHES, ID:VISION

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BORGNE [Switzerland] – Y

Expansive, cosmic, electronic, epic, black madness. Sustained atmospheres and beautiful keys float over a blistering percussive attack and razor-sharp riffing, which in turn radiate from a dense core of bass and ebbing industrial noise effects, all accentuated by mostly frigid vocals with some haunting cleans. This is a perfect follow up to 2017’s [∞], and utilizes much of the same postapocalyptic impressions and melancholic vastness. Herein we may witness the cold, detached power of an ever-expanding universe. 

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MAZIKEEN [Australia] – The Solace of Death

By the time the modest intro of the first song breaks into a well-timed barrage of double kick, cascading piano, shredding riffs, and triumphant roaring, it is readily apparent that every element of Solace of Death is orchestrated with immense, grandiose, overwhelming intensity. Vacillating between charging power and insistent groove, unhinged frenetic pacing, downright assaultive synth progressions, incinerating guitars and almost constant minigun battery on the drums… just as the listener starts to adapt to this exquisite barrage, we are treated to a fucking beautiful acoustic interludes, melody with a tempered intro of acoustic guitar and fantastic piano, grandiose and almost majestic sections. This is nothing short of a symphonic black/death metal masterwork, with complexity, precision, and fire. {full review}

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BELTEZ [Germany] – A Grey Chill And A Whisper

Conceptually, the black spires of a colossal, horrendous evil preside over a helpless, abject populous as a lone individual struggles in desperation against incomprehensible malice and inevitable doom. The sonic representation is an opus of contemporary black metal: persistently massive, forcefully heavy with elements of doom, and almost grandiose in its complex, blackened melancholy. Misery, desperation, hopelessness, and despair find auditory expression through layers of elaborate and epic guitars, a veritable onslaught of vicious percussion, immeasurably dense bass progressions, haunting and mesmeric synth, and varied ferocious vocal manifestations. Yet, amidst this impenetrable darkness, we can find a faintly glimmering ore of heroism, strength, loyalty, hope, love, sacrifice, and tragic beauty. {full review and interview}

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OBSCURAE [United States] – To Walk The Path Of Sorrows

Sort of similar to BORGNE in its expansive, nocturnal cosmic aesthetics, except the atmospheric onslaught is ratcheted up to the highest possible degree. Whereas BORGNE’s cosmicism leaves plenty of room to breathe, OBSCURAE’s layers upon layers of texture and nuance greatest a density which is just absolutely crushing yet profoundly beautiful. It was love at first listen for me, and To Walk The Path Of Sorrows was a late but instant addition to both my end of year list and my vinyl collection. 

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WAKE [Canada] – Devouring Ruin

Pensive yet savage, technical but with no small expression of agony, forceful yet nuanced, Devouring Ruin is a near-perfect example of black/death/grind hybridization, which has been at the forefront of my attention for the majority of the year. FFO (pre SIDABS) ULCERATE, ULSECT, EMBRA, NOCTAMBULIST

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SKÁPHE [United States] – Skáphe³

Skáphe³ manages to ride just on the right side of the very limits of what I’m able to tolerate in terms of unpredictability and erraticism in black metal. And it does so beautifully, each element really standing out as exceptional, and the combination of them is a beautifully psychotic journey to the heart of spiritual abyss.

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ORTHODOX

(11 selections)

KVAEN [Sweden] – The Funeral Pyre

One would be hard-pressed to deny that the modern black metal scene is becoming ever more saturated with an array of musical variations which increasingly depart from the traditional foundations of the orthodox cannon. Thus, for me there is a distinct sense of appreciation when an album comes along that manages to, for a time, sweep all of the frills off the table and demand full attention with pure, austere, straightforward hyperscandinavian fucking excellence. While The Funeral Pyre isn’t breaking new ground, this debut album establishes KVAEN firmly alongside an extremely impressive plethora of god-tier Swedish peers. Every damn song is born a classic, every note is pure gold. {full review}

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GRAVENCHALICE [United States]  – Apparition

Apparition is currently top of my list for most under-recognized masterpiece of the year. They got a bit of recognition in the Order but no label? Someone needs to sign these dudes stat! I mean, give the first track just a few minutes and focus on those layers of guitars. How many do they have simultaneously? Two? Three? That shit is artful as fuck and damn near orgasmic. This reminds me of why I enjoy Si Monvmentvm from DSO, but sort of fell off afterwards. Some amount of atonality with the riffing but the progressions themselves are classically coherent and awesome. And the vocals are awesome. And the cover art is awesome. IT’S ALL AWESOME.

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HORDE OF HEL [Sweden] – Döden Nalkas

Döden Nalkas is not only one of the most unabashedly savage and vehemently apocalyptic albums to be unfurled this year, it is in fact one of the most puritanically decimating traditional black metal offerings of recent memory. The auditory foundation for this maelstrom is an absolutely devastating assault of blistering black metal aggression and aural hatred of the most authentic and blatant variety, reminiscent of pillars of Swedish aggression like 90’s classic DARK FUNERAL and MARDUK, combined with the unbridled, unflinching darkness of FUNERAL MIST. The riffs? Incinerating, burning through the tracks and embedding in the flesh of the psyche like the razor-edged spearhead of death itself. The vocals? unhinged, ragged, varied, powerful, and ruthless. The torrential, relentless ballistic percussion is provided by none other than the ineffable king of artillery Nils ‘Dominator’ Fjellström. But what really pushes HORDE OF HEL to its darkest capacity and solidifies it as unique among a host of impressive peers is the massively effective incorporation of an evil, catastrophic, and inexorable industrial edge to the blasting turmoil. {full review}

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ONDSKAPT [Sweden] – Grimoire Ordo Devus

Not much I can really say about this which hasn’t been said by people who are more familiar and more versed on the history of ONDSKAPT’s discography. Bottom line: its just fucking great. To my ears it basically sounds like top-notch Swedish orthodoxy with furious guitar lead, mixed with that heavier/deathier aspect that Poland often brings to the table. Creative combination and a terrific album. 

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DEVENEROR [United States] – Malleus Philosophorum

Malleus Philosophorum retains many fantastic elements of DEVENEROR’s first album Kenoma (2019): blasting percussion, savage and layered vocals, incinerating guitars, and imperious, fully audible bass, carefully crafted together with just the right amount of dissonance (an element which I have seen highlighted in various descriptions of the album, but which, to me, really shows itself to be only one aspect of a full spectrum of awesomeness) and an impeccable mix. What it does shed is some of the sporadicism and in its place, develops a lot more of everything I really like in black metal. It is more melodic, more structured, more cohesive, more coherent. Less infernal and chaotic perhaps, but certainly more thoughtful and engaging. {full review and interview}

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YMIR [Finand] – Ymir

Punchy, upbeat, aggressive, snowbound fire with plenty of blasting and continuous riffing. That and a combination of really epic elements, overt melodicism, and lots vocal variety which doesn’t overpower the music (as is the case with much Finnish BM) elevates this one above other similar offerings this year for me. This one’s doing for Finland what KVAEN is doing for Sweden in 2020. Perfected classic traditionalism which hits all the right targets.

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NEXION [Iceland] – Seven Oracles

Like ritual artifacts placed purposefully around the perimeter of a prophetic shrine, every title, word, image, note, sound and utterance from Icelandic black metal entity NEXION has been crafted together with a full intention to create a coherent meditation on pursuit of decimating esoteric wisdom. Forgoing the overtly claustrophobic and oppressive signature Icelandic black metal style for one that is more dynamic, aggressive, catchy, melodic and with hints of death metal brutality, while The lyrics articulate the dissolution of human construction and belief from seven perspectives, and tend to revolve around messages of ontological violence, cataclysmic revelation, corrupted sanctity, existential death, cosmic darkness, abyssal wisdom, pestilential chaos and the prophecy of some sort of oblivion messiah. {full review}

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DUMAL [United States] – The Confessor

The much-anticipated follow-up to The Lesser God album (2017). Straight up melodic USBM, which (like a shitload of other similar bands i.e., WORSEN, DEVENEROR, GRAVENCHALICE, VOID OMNIA, INEXORUM) doesn’t get nearly the hype that it deserves and is much better than *other* US bands that get a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons. Uncomplicated, catchy, groovy, accessible… it’s so simple, and so awesome in its simplicity. No synth, basic melody, no massive sound, no ambient textures, vox is nothing radical… no aspect of it is really overbearing, yet when it all comes together it’s just incredibly solid! KVAEN is to Sweden what YMIR is to Finland is what DUMAL is to the US this year.

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THE COMMITTEE [Germany] – Utopian Deception

Proclaiming that “they do not tell the story of the victorious powers, but the story of the forgotten”, Utopian Deception paradoxically takes on the role of the social dystopian Orwellian engineer and propagandist in the lyrics as a criticism in this album. So far, so good. Musically, it seems to be fairly straightforward but well-executed melodic black metal, maybe with a touch of ‘progressive’ thrown in. Nothing particularly mind-blowing but uncannily addictive, and I have come back to it over and over since it dropped.

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KRYPTAMOK [Finland] – Verisaarna

With KRYPTAMOK, speed metal aggression yields to healthy doses of orthodox Finnish melodicism, which in turn pushes the envelope even further towards downright epic horizons. Pace fluctuates between what seems to be a baseline frenetic, driving bloodlust and a more measured predatorial malevolence all driven forward by blistering percussion while spearheaded by riffs to freeze your heart and a poisonous vocal delivery. Verisaarna also throws us an array of fantastic elements to an already accomplished timbre: war-horn brass, vaguely symphonic elements, choirs, bells or chimes, electric organ, etc. It’s not often that a progression can go from stripped-down, galloping, no-shits-given d-beat belligerence to classic Finnish snow-swept frigidity and then to the far battle sagas of Middle-Earth, but KRYPTAMOK pulls it off seamlessly and naturally.

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DOMMEDAG [Sweden / Norway] – Marburg

Man, this is just a hard-hitting, in-your-face, fast, violent, thrashy, riff-centered example of Scandinavian black metal orthodoxy, most comparable I think to the legendary TSJUDER. A clear example of when one should not judge a book by its cover, because I really think that the album suffers quite a lot from the gothic/darkmetal style choice of cover art. Marburg looks like NIGHTWISH, but it does NOT sound like it. At all. Give it a listen if you want a good pummeling for your false assumption. That’s what I did, and I’m happy I did so.

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UNORTHODOX

(11 selections)

INEXORUM [United States] – Moonlit Navigation

Out of all the albums on my list this year, this is the one that probably suffers from the biggest divergence between how much I love it, and how much I have “given” to it in terms of posts, shares, etc. It’s one that I should have done a full review for, but by the time I realized it, I was busy with other reviews, and that ship had sailed. Outstanding USBM which boasts the unorthodox quality of actually being somewhat… well… fun. Borrowing from rock and punk, the upbeat, wind-in-your-hair cadence of the tracks, fueled primarily by persistent and artful percussion,  are augmented by phenomenally enjoyable, often harmonized guitar arrangements. The vocals, with lyrics which focus on struggle and perseverance, are probably the darkest element of the album, and are consistently growly, which is good because the aesthetic overall is so lite that softer vocals might have pushed it too far in that direction. Each track is well-crafted with memorable hooks and fantastic moments. Ha! To be completely honest, relistening to Moonlit Navigation again now at the end of the year, it occurs to me that one could label it as melodic death metal just as easily as unorthodox melodic black metal! Whatever though, this one makes the top of this list either way.

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WAYFARER [United States] – A Romance With Violence

The Colorado black metal cowboys return for a much-anticipated 4th full length! Borrowing heavily from American West folk and country not only in terms of timbre, but also lyrical themes and visual stylization, WAYFARER have practically created a subgenre of their own. A Romance With Violence is noticeably and purposefully more theatrical than World’s Blood (2018) was and some of the latter’s grittiness of the production was dusted off for an album that is overall more elaborate, refined, and epic, much like the excellent earlier album Old Souls (2016). With everything from the saloon waltz of the intro to the melodic black metal riffs of ‘The Iron Horse’ to the doomier psychedelia of the epic closer ‘Vaudeville’, A Romance With Violence has a LOT to offer. {full collaborative review}

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JORDABLOD [Sweden] – The Cabinet of Numinous Song

Joining the growing number of bands who are tapping into what American western and rock can offer to black metal, with this release JORDABLOD is even more upfront about it, and so much the better. The Cabinet of Numinous Song takes these influences and crosses it with somewhat of a semi-claustrophobic and more psychedelically unrestrained of the Icelandic (sounding) sound to fantastic effect. There’s even a track on there (‘The Beauty of Every Wound’) that features almost a dead-on black metal replication of the central riff from STEPPENWOLF’s ‘Born To Be Wild’. Sounds fucking awesome? You bet your ass it does. This was an early 2020 pick for me and hands down my favorite release in January.

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DZÖ-NGA [United States] – Thunder In The Mountains

This is a beautiful, expansive, epic, and accomplished atmospheric post/pseudo black metal opus with a focus on Native American folklore and auditory aesthetics. It features huge number of great highlights: pristine and sorrowful melodies, lots of clean female vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, violin, and amazing solos, while still maintaining more mainline BM elements like harsh vocals, driving percussion, thrashy moments, and hints of folk. FFO SAOR, SOJOURNER, SKYFOREST.

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OVNEV [United States] – Transpiration

While lyrics focus on the synergistic elements of oxygen, water, wind, and mountains, gorgeous acoustic progressions and soaring lead guitar balance out with blustering riffs, scathing vocals, and a stripped-down, tumbling and charging percussive battery. The end result is a beautiful album which intentionally reflects the coherence of nature itself. FFO PANOPTICON, more aggressive AGALLOCH (ie Marrow of the Spirit, Faustian Echoes), ALDA, and NECHOWEN. [interview]

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AMIENSUS [United States] – Abreaction

From nature-based, blackened melodic pseudo-folk aspects of first album Restoration (2012), to the more progressive, epic sound of Ascension (2015), to more traditional synthphonic black metal aggression of All Paths Lead to Death (2017) AMIENSUS have consistently refined their sound. Abreaction takes all of these styles and combines them into a cohesive unity, pulling the listener through an elaborate, seamless gambit of sonic and affective approaches, from the full-on post-rock/alternative intro to the epic, roaring and heavy black/death/doom closing track. Here we find layered harmonizing electric and acoustic guitars, an array of vocal approaches including plenty of cleans, a variety of keyboard additions from orchestra to organ to piano to brass, and soaring cello mixed perfectly into what was already an eclectic musical template. FFO IHSAHN, XANTHOCHROID, WILDERUN {full review and interview}

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DISMALIMERENCE [United States] – Tome:1

This debut album is a beautiful and haunting account of memory and dysphoria, frequently rooting sorrow and reminiscence in natural metaphors such as the moon, lakes, rivers, gardens and wind, and while it generally has black metal as its foundation, it sits on the fringes and defies many expectations of the genre. Musically DISMALIMERENCE proves to be a harmonious mix between the naturalist tendencies of Cascadian black metal, the warmly radiating melodicism of atmospheric post-black, and the raw emotional content and impact of DSBM. Clean production finds soaring guitar lead and rasping vocals taking center stage over full bass and driving percussion, accentuated by synth; a near perfect balance of musical aggression and tenderness as meandering, pensive, sometimes apprehensive sensitivity repeatedly succumbs to distorted anguish and/or rage and vice versa. {full review}

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UNREQVITED [Canada] – Empathica

UNREQVITED consistently pushes the boundaries of what can be considered black metal proper, and typical descriptors such as “melodic” do not even begin to describe the immaculate, celestial magnificence of the project’s God-tier blackened cinematic atmosphere. Melancholic acoustic guitar, lofty choruses, and easy percussion repeatedly building skyward towards precipices and then cascade over into characteristically massive, widescreen waves of brilliantly layered synth, soaring guitar lead and distinctive, dejected screams, often with perfectly utilized double kick. The harsh vocals are characteristically removed from the forefront of the mix, distant, as if echoing from aloof vistas. Empathica is an exercise in radiant winter surrealism, a display of shimmering, brilliant soundscapes both pristine and vast, harnessing the particular elevating, epiphanic sorrow that only UNREQVITED can materialize. {full review}

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OSSAERT [Netherlands] – Bedehuis

Bedehuis starts off with some straightforward melodic riffs which begin to lift, careen and sway before the powerful, shouting vocals begin to push the listener under. Soon the beauty of the depths become evident as the vocals explore a variety of different modes, and aggressive punk-laced beats sustain even as the song evolves back to blacker melodic riffing. Bass is audible throughout, which provides a nice strong undertow to the swirling, churning currents which plunge into post-black melodic progressions, intoxicating vocals soaring above the surges. The closing track hits like a flood, a veritable torrent of massive, ambitious, beautiful waves of sublime, epic black metal reckoning. Bedehuis is a rich, fluid, roiling offering with a myriad of complimenting, varied features that are just as apt to overwhelm you under the crushing tide as they are to hold you buoyant above the eddies. {full review}

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CORPS FLEUR [United Kingdom] – Corps Fleur

Corps Fleur is a combination of traditional melodic black metal and more atmospheric post-black, but it would be more accurate to describe the album as starting out in the sunnier realm of the latter and moving towards the darker, more assertive edge of the former. The aggression is definitely kicked up with “Solace” and “Lament” (my two favorite tracks), and although it is perhaps most readily noticeable in the percussion, it’s really due to the overall songwriting. It is worth noting that it is not just the amalgamation of DSBM, post-black, and more classic BM rancor which makes the album stand out… equally important is the tight musicianship, skilled and effective technique exhibited by all involved, and also an incredible production and mix. {full review}

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MINI ALBUMS / EPs / SPLITS

(11 selections)

STORMKEEP [United States] – Galdrum

Galdrum is a blatant, unashamed ode to the 90’s era of symphonic black metal both visually and musically. The cover art is fucking stunning, but also have you seen the band’s promo photo and art? Candles, swords, dragons, spikes, axes… it’s just perfectly quintessential. Would almost be cringy if it didn’t seem so fucking authentic, and now that I can really comprehend the music, they hold their own in that department too. STORMKEEP taps into that Scandinavian nostalgia while still maintaining an identity of its own and stands well above most relevant contemporary acts, and alongside THE KRYPTIK and VARGRAV. Everything is top-notch, every element crafted together in such a way that I think Galdrum achieves exactly what it is trying to achieve: classic symphonic black metal euphoria. {full collaborative review}

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ALMYRKVI [Iceland] / THE RUINS OF BEVERAST [Germany] – (split)

ALMYRKVI marches forward like the steady, otherworldly stride of some planetary giant, footfalls heavy enough to shake the earth but with a crown amongst the stars. There is a measured and incredibly effective industrial aspect threaded throughout, giving the Icelandic contribution a sense of posthuman aloofness. Layers of dense melodies, grandiose to the point of celestial, creates a sense of being helplessly witness to something that is both cosmically transcendent and vaguely technological, with the gravitational inexorability of blackened monolithic power, a God of such prowess that humanity cannot help but plunge into the hypnotic depths of reverence and worship. Enter THE RUINS OF BEVERAST. The increasingly ecstatic chanting and steady pseudotribal cadence fantastically captures a tranced veneration encircling the deific monument which ALMYRKVI introduced. The impenetrable, crepitus bass seems to crackle like the black energy of a central locum of power while the rest of the elements meditatively, intoxicatingly, ritualistically cavort ‘round in a possessed doom orbit. The devotion to dark idols develops towards an increased tempo, enthusiastic groove, and soaring two-minute guitar lead, impressing concluding notions of a more elated yet violent elevation… rapture. {full review}

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MAQUAHUITL [United States] – Con Su Pistola en La Mano

Hard-hitting, galloping, cutthroat southwestern bandido black metal. It’s practically impossible to not mention WAYFARER (since they too put out a release this year), but best as a contrast: Con Su Pistola en La Mano is faster, harder, more focused, more aggressive, and more *black metal*, and would be better compared to something more orthodox like SKAN or GLORIOR BELLI, yet allowing an even more cross-cultural elements to permeate the music, with Latin guitars, wind instrumentation, and cumbia percussion!  The burn through three tracks on this EP with reckless abandon, leaving me wanting mucho, mucho mas. 

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SOUL DISSOLUTION [Belgium] – Winter Contemplations

Eschewing the pitch black, frigid, subzero atmospherics harnessed by a plethora of typically Scandinavian acts, Winter Contemplations adopts a more overtly post-black sunniness while still projecting distinct wintertide. The album eases in with the whistling wind before settling into an easy pace of plodding percussion, thick melodic strings, and somewhat monotonic yelling vocals. Soon we see where SOUL DISSOLUTION shines: when those elements are combined with warm, almost bluesy guitar lead which twirls and plays amongst the other instruments, mid-paced cadence, and lovely acoustic guitar progressions. Majestic synth puts on a pristine display as electric lead guitar foretells the heaviness of the nevertheless casual percussion. We catch the full cascade towards the end, all musical grandeur ecstatically conjoining atop torrents of rapid double kick before the album concludes in epic fashion. {full review}

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ANCIENT HOSTILITY [Ukraine/United States] – Anthropophagy

Comprised of efforts from the hyper prolific SadVoice (INNER SUFFERING) on music and the vocals of Imber (ALUDRA, ex-SYNODIC, PALUS SOMNI [tba]), ANCIENT HOSTILITY specializes in mid-paced, ruminating, slow-churning black metal. The music has a slight industrial edge, as well as an element of unnerving, almost haunting dissonance, while the scathing vocals convey unbridled, red-hot hatred. Anthropophagy succeeds in transmitting a sense of dread with tracks of haunting, anxiety provoking, smoldering malice. 

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THE KRYPTIK [Brazil] – Behold Fortress Inferno

Surprisingly good old-school symphonic black metal! The simplicity and earnestness of the 2nd wave, with sustained orchestral synth atmospheres, scathing vocals, sufficient drumming, and some solid guitar solos. This sounds perfect alongside early EMPEROR, EVILFEAST, VARGRAV, KATAXU, and perhaps this year’s ELFFOR.

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TENEBRAE AETERNUM [Switzerland] – Embraced By The Damned One

Heavy, thickened, black, almost meditative ritualism with hints of death metal, done extremely well and fully developed in every respect. I have been following this project for a while and every release just gets better and better. Blazing and monstrous, even for an EP. FFO (and I’m just gonna go a little crazy with the comparisons here because I love this particular sound so much): SCHAMMASCH, MEPHORASH, ORDER OF APPOLYON, GLORIA MORTI, THEURGIA, MESZAROTH, ANIMUS MORTIS, AVERSIO HUMANITATIS, TEMPLE OF BAAL, the newest PANZERFAUST, TEMPLE OF PERDITION.

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VITAL SPIRIT [Canada] – In The Face That Looks Through Death

A very cool combination of melodic black / post-black metal and, like several other releases this year (WAYFARER, MAQUAHUITL) Western/American folk aspects. VITAL SPIRIT centers their theme around Native American motifs, and although the cross-cultural aspect is a bit more subdued than those mentioned above, there are distinct moments where it really shines through.

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TÓMARÚM [United States] – Wounds Ever Expanding

There’s not much which I think can be legitimately called “technical black metal” but I think that TÓMARÚM fit the bill perfectly. Complex, melodic, and without the techdeath tropes that many bands try to pass off as “blackened”, Wounds Ever Expanding also includes some interesting things like clean vocals and keys. But, most importantly are the FUCKING AMAZING guitar leads. I’m extremely interested to see where TÓMARÚM goes from here and hopefully we will find out in 2021!

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ENTROPY CREATED CONSCIOUSNESS [unknown] – Innocence and Experience

Ok ok, I know this was technically a 2019 release – but because it dropped on December 31, there’s no way that it could have made it onto my list in 2019, and it really deserves it. Also, I checked my posts, and I first listened to it on January 1, 2020, so it is certainly the very first list-worthy thing I heard in 2020! This is an addendum EP to the Impressions of the Morning Star (2018) album and has a similar timbre: an avant garde, blistering, murky, almost droning onslaught broken up by epic splendor… inhumanly aggressive and impossibly beautiful at the same time. ECC also came out with the Antica Memoria di Dis double EP this year, and that’s growing on me (Lethe particularly) but the sound changed somewhat, and although Innocence and Experience is somewhat of a bridge between Morning Star and Memoria, I just like the earlier style better.

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ORCHESTRA OF THE DROWNED [Russia] – Northern Aurora

Alright, so the little-known one-man act ORCHESTRA OF THE DROWNED put out an album in 2018 called Revealing the Arcane, which I immediately associated as somewhat of a lighter, more psychedelic variant of BLUT AUS NORD… essentially, it sounds more like BAN’s Hallucinogen than anything else I can find, except it came out *before* Hallucinogen did. Northern Aurora, on the other hand, steps a bit away from the more programmed/industrial aspect and moves more towards melody and folky epic composition, with the vocals reminding me a bit of Dani Filth. Its pretty damn good and great wintertime music!

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HONORABLE MENTION

ULCERATE [New Zealand] – Stare Into Death And Be Still

I won’t dwell too much on this because although it has some blackish elements, it’s really atmospheric death metal… buuuut although I didn’t really rank my list this year, but this would be somewhere in the top 5. Maybe top 3. Also, it’s sort of a situation wherein if you know, you know. Superior and absolutely compelling musicianship creates an impossibly complex, crushing hypnotism which does it’s best to achieve complete spiritual annihilation, both ruinous and transcendent. I can usually only handle one or two songs at a time but each time it is more and more devastatingly euphoric.  

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