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Greetings, black metal maniacs! This will be the first of two lists I will contribute for the writer’s year-end LISTCRUSH picks, as I was kicking around an idea recently, and I felt this just needed to be its own thing.
In years past, when putting together my year end lists, I typically reach for the albums that I actually have physical copies of. That means I have neglected TONS of great releases, absolutely list-worthy releases at that. What does this mean? Well, I have decided to also compile a list of really great releases that fall into one of two categories:
1) Digital exclusive. These will be the releases that you see on Bandcamp, or maybe only streaming on YouTube. The latter usually results from being a band, or a band representing a label, that doesn’t believe in services like Bandcamp. Old school, true underground types. Also, those are the bands that will lend to the next category:
2) Extremely limited physical releases. These will be the bands that will be on some boutique label that does limited runs of 50 to 100 cassettes, or vinyl, or even CDs (one of these picks released all of 25 demo CDs…). The type of labels that have active interest, and if you’re not on the ball on release day (if you even get a notification), you miss the boat.
The following releases will not be in any kind of particular order – just really great finds as I surf the web for my constant black metal fix. Without further ado, let’s get this started!
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PYRGOSIA – Times Forgotten
This New Hampshire project just got started this year, but already have established themselves as one of the more exciting projects popping up from the fertile grounds that is the current USBM scene. While this duo seems to concentrate on Hellenic themes of Paganism for their subject matter, musically speaking this is VERY inspired (as it seems to me) by both the French and Quebec scenes. Fast-paced tracks featuring absolutely infectious guitar melodies of the wrist and finger wrecking variety, immediately reminding one equally of most anything from Sühnopfer, Aldaaron and the like, as well as Thèmes pour la rébellion by Forteresse. You know, *THAT* kind of riff work. They’re also not afraid to drop a little bit of heavy metal and thrash influences in the mix as well. The drums are quite competent (though sometimes a bit low in the mix), the vocals are extremely nasty, and the production by one Sanguine of the long running US horde Averse Sefira is equally as raw as it is punchy and powerful… ‘though the drums do tend to get buried at times. It’s a debut, so it’s fine.
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Уводь (Uvod) – Self Titled & Пламенем прошлого (Flame of the Past)
This new, anonymous Russian entity came out of nowhere in February with a self titled debut EP of nature inspired and atmospheric black metal that only bands from that general part of the world can create; crystal clear riffs that still give off the feeling of being stuck in an icy mist and blasted by glacial winds at the same time. Mid-range vocals that are absolutely another instrument, that don’t overpower the surrounding music. Drums that are perfectly placed, giving off the impression of being programmed at times… but knowing that most drummers from that region like playing along to a metronome for fun and practice every single day, this is highly likely real drums. But as an anonymous entity, its truly hard to say. They sound great regardless. And just when it seems this would go down as a truly great release on its own, Uvod drops a second EP back in November. Flames of the Past picks right up where the first EP left off, the only real difference is a bit more polish in the production. You could absolutely play these EPs back to back to get a full, almost hour long, album experience.
Upon writing this article, I found out that the self-titled EP did in fact get a proper CD release through Russia’s long running More Hate Productions. However, it does not seem all that easy to just simply order a CD, as it appears there’s an email chain that needs to be established first… so I feel it still qualifies for this list.
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HORN OF TETRARCH – Marshalling Imperial Terror
Thanks to a notification from the Metal Vault YouTube channel, myself and other subscribers got treated to this two song debut demo of an anonymous force from somewhere in the US. Musically speaking this could be of the slower Hate Forest variety, or perhaps closer to the first couple Aeternus releases. Fierce black metal played at a more moderate pace with bellowing and guttural death metal vocal fury. Triumphant and layered riffs sprawl out like a vast mountain valley. Definitely one to keep an eye on. It appears the Bandcamp page has already been taken down, but given just how recently this dropped (a couple weeks ago as of writing), I think it was a move by the band itself.
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WIERDE – Thiusa Heim
This one has had some staying power this year. If you missed the glory days of Windir, Storm, Vinterskugge-era Isengard and the like, then this Dutch one man project has the solution for what ails you. I mean, what else is there really to say about this? The melodies are absolutely spot on, the folk elements are spot on, the clean vocals are spot on, the decidedly raw production is spot on, this truly is an album that captures that particular era of Norwegian black(end) metal.
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IERFEWEARDIAN OÞFEALLAN SNYTRUCRÆFT -:ᚠᚩᚱᛖᛋᛖᚳᚷᚪᚾ ᚠᚩᚱᛋᚹᚩᚱᚳᛖᚾᚾᛖᛋ ᛖᚳᛖ: (Foresecgan Forsworcennes Ece)
From the always mysterious, always rather intimidating Inverse Solar Reqvriem label, comes yet another slab of Anglo-Saxon Heathen inspired blackness. While previous efforts, including 2021’s Deáþscúum was vastly heavy on the ambient/dungeon synth/power electronics side of things, this 2023 demo EP has two extremely solid, borderline avantgarde black metal tracks that are sandwiched between very short synth tracks (the title of the album is comprised of the names of those three specific tracks). Elements of the more experimental side of Mayhem (and other bands I can’t immediately bring to mind) in both riffs and atmosphere. Maybe some Portal in the riffs? I really don’t know. The production gives off a feeling of hearing black metal being played at extreme volumes while you’re underwater. It’s rather disorienting, to be quite honest. Typically this kind of style doesn’t really speak to me, but this particular release certainly did. Apparently this is a sampler for what is to be coming in 2024. One can only hope! (Edit: Coincidentally, the new album just dropped TODAY!)
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МРАКОБЕС (Obscurantist)- Заклинания Против Расколдованного Мира (Spells Against The Disenchanted World)
This one really surprised me. Looking at the kvlt af cover art, looking like a wood block print featuring a hooded robed figure and a wolf, I was expecting some exceedingly raw and noisy, reverb-drenched black metal… but to my shock I found this to be a rather mid-tempo, well produced affair. Far from pristine, mind you, but certainly much more polished than the art would initially lead one to believe. Musically speaking, I hear a fair bit of Darkthrone, but in their more punk or maybe black ‘n roll guise, and just 1990’s second wave in general. The atmosphere is dense, grim and dark. I liked this well enough to drop some serious cash on a long sleeve shirt featuring the sweet cover art. And considering this came out in late January of this year, it’s very highly likely this will have been buried in most people’s Bandcamp libraries and will be forgotten by the end of December. I’m just glad I was turned onto this one rather recently!
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STRATORUS – Prometheus Rising
Another US entry, this time hailing from Colorado, Statorus is one of a couple projects by the highly talented Bifrost (aka JPS); this one focusing on Pagan and Fantasy themes backed by an epic Viking-era Bathory inspired form of metal, mixed with Slavic black metal tendencies and given a healthy dash of good, old-fashioned heavy metal complexity. Lyrically, this is a singular story that had started with the previous full length, about an epic journey The Stratorus embarks on to retrieve the Sun-wheel from the underworld and to bring it back to the surface. There’s even lore of this fantasy world featured on a few of these tracks. The guitars are the star of the show here, with Bifrost showing great riff and songwriting sensibility and some dextrous fretboard action in the solos that hints at some repressed shred capabilities. The vocals go from a great snarl to clean vocal harmonies, all handled extremely well. This project, along with Void Alchemy are ones that fully deserve everyone’s attention and support.
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MORT FROIDE – Decieved By The Gods
This is one of two December releases on this list, this one having been released December 9th. That said, it had made QUITE the impression in rather short order. This is a Russian band, with a French name, but musically are closer to the late ’90s/early 2000’s Swedish death metal tinged black metal gold. Granted, that style is not fully realized until track two, ‘Price of Desire’ gets cooking. The guitars rip, shred and chug their way through rather condensed song times. The bass is fully audible, adding a nice CHUG to the low end. The vocals are what you’d expect of a Russian band, staying in that more mid-level gruff snarl. And there’s more than a healthy portion of Slavic atmosphere for good measure. The production is absolutely spot on for the style, sounding like a modern day No Fashion Records release. When I first heard this, I remember thinking to myself “man, I’d love to hear more from this project!”, and then imagine my surprise to find that this was full length album number FOUR, to go along with a couple singles, a couple splits, a demo compilation, and an EP. All of which has been released since the band’s inception in 2020, which makes sense. A literal ton of great projects emerged from those lockdown days, as the absolute onslaught of quality releases from the last couple years can attest to. Anyways, this is some seriously high quality stuff, especially if you’re a fan of those Swedish glory days.
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LUX LUNA – Sempervirens
This is the newest piece of Atmospheric Black Metal Art from the man behind other one-man projects such as Kaltesblut, Lycanthropic Deathlust, among others. Despite being nature themed and being located in California, don’t confuse R‘s “Sierran Black Metal ” to be like the Cascadian scene further north up the coast. If you needed to make comparisons to any kind of particular project, a good starting place would be Wędrujący Wiatr. Like Wędrujący Wiatr, Lux Luna prefers to give a feeling of being lost in a Redwood forest, the music coming off as murky and mist laden as the cover art would suggest, though far less complex than the Polish greats. But, complexity is not the name of the game here. Repetitive riffs help lull your ears into a hypnotic state, allowing subtle leads and melodic bridges to burrow their way into your psyche and offer some sunny breaks from the fog and misty atmosphere. R is not afraid to ramp up the tempo and intensity, as he does with gusto on the title piece. Simply put, if you’re a fan of the murky, mysterious sounds of bands like the aforementioned Wędrujący Wiatr, or perhaps a far less symphonic Hellveto, among others, then do not pass this one up.
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ALDHEORTE – Upon Dying Fields
And finally, to close this out, we have the second of the noteworthy December releases (this one dropped on the 2nd), and another entry from California, as it turns out. Aldheorte gets their name from the ‘Memory Sorrow and Thorn’ series of Fantasy novels, and I suspect that perhaps the lyrical content may be inspired by that as well? Regardless, Aldheorte presents a rather classic and extremely well executed take on melodic black metal, pulling inspiration from the Norse, Swedish and dare say French black metal scenes. It has the melodies of the Swedes, the atmosphere of the Norse, and the more frantic string work of the French. It’s a rather volatile combination of pure riff GLORY. The bass keeps pace, offering a nice base to the proceedings, and the programmed drums really have a nice human element to them, even in tones picked for the individual pieces. Vocally, Udun sounds like a mix of Henke Forss and whomever the lead screamer was on those classic Mithotyn albums (I forget, since they essentially had three vocalists…). Sounds familiar, but distinct at the same time. Production wise, this probably has the most sheen among the list participants, everything coming through crystal clear. Thanks to that, the overall atmosphere comes off rather uplifting, inspiring even. I want to go run in a forest and just get lost in these tracks. Part of me is rather shocked that this is a debut EP, and that the two members involved seemingly have not been in any other project… but the level of professionalism and ability on display leads me to believe they have to be seasoned musicians, or at the very least seasoned studio guys. If not, then holy crap, these folks have done their homework. Another band to keep an eye on, as they have the sound and style to do some big things in the future…
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Hopefully you all found this list useful, and hopefully you all discover something new that you’ll enjoy. At the very least, I hope this reminds you all to go back to your Bandcamp libraries, Wishlists, or saved YouTube videos and re-discover some gems that otherwise are lost in the deluge of releases.
I’ll be back at some point soon with what will be a rather large proper year end LISTCRUSH, naming my picks for best of 2023!
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