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Despite only forming in 2023, Norway's UNHOLY CRAFT have already released two full-lengths as well as a split with VORGFANG - all in their first year. Such feverish activity, however, is not all that surprising when it comes to Peregrinus, who also numbers such concurrent cults (and labelmates) SOLUS GRIEF, KVAD, HJEMSØKT, and most recently HERALDIC BLAZE among his many endeavors. As always with UNHOLY CRAFT, the intention is to play super-traditional Scandinavian black metal as it was performed ("exclusively") during the glorious 1990s.
And so, unsurprisingly (thankfully!), that is what one gets with UNHOLY CULT's third full-length, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig...or is it? A relatively unique entry in UNHOLY CULT's canon, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig features more fleshed-out songwriting transposed onto the band's rawest soundfield to date. Indeed, where their previous records featured that cold & clipped style of production endemic to Norway in the mid '90s, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig maintains a muffled, daresay warmer style of recording which helps elevate these more anguished & yearning compositions far beyond those treading the "raw black metal" Bandcamp boards. Deft shifts in tempo further help these eight new tracks hit harder, and when a simultaneously ascending / descending riff yawns forth from that void, the sum effect is stultifying. Thus, all told, while UNHOLY CRAFT continue to add to the hallowed tradition of Darkthrone's Peaceville trilogy, Hat-fronted Gorgoroth, and the first Ancient album - or, going deeper, the very cult likes of Kvist, Sorhin, and Fimbulwinter - Peregrinus and company are taking subtly bolder strides into their own mythical snow with Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig.
"So cold and full of splendor retracing steps to that which once was. Across frozen ground. Towards That which beckons and pulses in darkness. Swayed by that which befell all. Those that dwell beyond the reach of light. Night skies conquering, looming, over bleeding daylight."
Despite only forming in 2023, Norway's UNHOLY CRAFT have already released two full-lengths as well as a split with VORGFANG - all in their first year. Such feverish activity, however, is not all that surprising when it comes to Peregrinus, who also numbers such concurrent cults (and labelmates) SOLUS GRIEF, KVAD, HJEMSØKT, and most recently HERALDIC BLAZE among his many endeavors. As always with UNHOLY CRAFT, the intention is to play super-traditional Scandinavian black metal as it was performed ("exclusively") during the glorious 1990s.
And so, unsurprisingly (thankfully!), that is what one gets with UNHOLY CULT's third full-length, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig...or is it? A relatively unique entry in UNHOLY CULT's canon, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig features more fleshed-out songwriting transposed onto the band's rawest soundfield to date. Indeed, where their previous records featured that cold & clipped style of production endemic to Norway in the mid '90s, Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig maintains a muffled, daresay warmer style of recording which helps elevate these more anguished & yearning compositions far beyond those treading the "raw black metal" Bandcamp boards. Deft shifts in tempo further help these eight new tracks hit harder, and when a simultaneously ascending / descending riff yawns forth from that void, the sum effect is stultifying. Thus, all told, while UNHOLY CRAFT continue to add to the hallowed tradition of Darkthrone's Peaceville trilogy, Hat-fronted Gorgoroth, and the first Ancient album - or, going deeper, the very cult likes of Kvist, Sorhin, and Fimbulwinter - Peregrinus and company are taking subtly bolder strides into their own mythical snow with Saa Mørkt, Saa Mektig.
"So cold and full of splendor retracing steps to that which once was. Across frozen ground. Towards That which beckons and pulses in darkness. Swayed by that which befell all. Those that dwell beyond the reach of light. Night skies conquering, looming, over bleeding daylight."
Black Vinyl
It was but March 2021 when Austria's AUSSICHTSLOS burst from the void, fully formed, with their Völlig Aussichtslos debut album. Remarkably assured, classically inclined, the power-trio presented grim, harsh, but oft-hard-rocking black metal that favorably recalled the post-Strength & Honour landscape of Finland as well as ancient-days Germania ala Luror, Wolfsmond, and Hellfucked. Six months later, AUSSICHTSLOS amazingly released another full-length, Einsicht. While it was chronologically their second album, Einsicht was actually recorded in 2020, before the release of Völlig Aussichtslos took place. Either way, between the two records did AUSSICHTSLOS show themselves as new contenders in austere black metal classicism, capable of tradition but also thought-provoking lyrics reflecting upon inner struggles so universal to the human experience.
And so it goes with Schicksalstotschlag, arguably AUSSICHTSLOS' most desperate record yet. While it may've been quiet on the Austrian front the past few years, that does nothing to dim the fire of their third full-length: Schicksalstotschlag is at once urgent and reserved, violently passionate but poised and stoic - and of course, as anthemic as ever. Not for nothing is PURITY THROUGH FIRE known as the stronghold of Teutonic steel, its sword-wielders capable of a catchiness as wild and windswept as any biergarten, and AUSSICHTSLOS keep apace on Schicksalstotschlag, keeping the riffs rocking as ever and the heart enflamed with emotion. Their production, as always, is on the palatable side of "polished," crisp and clean and gleaming with steely-eyed pride, making these nine songs the penultimate in battle-charging bombast and ballast. Credit new drummer Kartharziss (who also provides tasteful synths) with that proud pulse, although vocalist / lyricist Norsk (unchain his heart!) and fellow six-stringer Garst hold their own and help make the closing nine-minute epic "Hochverrat" the band's best track to date. Black metalsmiths of destiny, unite again for Schicksalstotschlag!
It was but March 2021 when Austria's AUSSICHTSLOS burst from the void, fully formed, with their Völlig Aussichtslos debut album. Remarkably assured, classically inclined, the power-trio presented grim, harsh, but oft-hard-rocking black metal that favorably recalled the post-Strength & Honour landscape of Finland as well as ancient-days Germania ala Luror, Wolfsmond, and Hellfucked. Six months later, AUSSICHTSLOS amazingly released another full-length, Einsicht. While it was chronologically their second album, Einsicht was actually recorded in 2020, before the release of Völlig Aussichtslos took place. Either way, between the two records did AUSSICHTSLOS show themselves as new contenders in austere black metal classicism, capable of tradition but also thought-provoking lyrics reflecting upon inner struggles so universal to the human experience.
And so it goes with Schicksalstotschlag, arguably AUSSICHTSLOS' most desperate record yet. While it may've been quiet on the Austrian front the past few years, that does nothing to dim the fire of their third full-length: Schicksalstotschlag is at once urgent and reserved, violently passionate but poised and stoic - and of course, as anthemic as ever. Not for nothing is PURITY THROUGH FIRE known as the stronghold of Teutonic steel, its sword-wielders capable of a catchiness as wild and windswept as any biergarten, and AUSSICHTSLOS keep apace on Schicksalstotschlag, keeping the riffs rocking as ever and the heart enflamed with emotion. Their production, as always, is on the palatable side of "polished," crisp and clean and gleaming with steely-eyed pride, making these nine songs the penultimate in battle-charging bombast and ballast. Credit new drummer Kartharziss (who also provides tasteful synths) with that proud pulse, although vocalist / lyricist Norsk (unchain his heart!) and fellow six-stringer Garst hold their own and help make the closing nine-minute epic "Hochverrat" the band's best track to date. Black metalsmiths of destiny, unite again for Schicksalstotschlag!
New highlight from Norway...for fans of Kaevum/Nordvrede
ringing together two of Finnish black metal hottest / coldest newcomers, Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle is pure nastiness distilled into 20 tundra-deep minutes; with two songs a piece here, both AESTHUS and SIELUHAASKA delivered debut albums under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2022 and 2023, respectively. AESTHUS are up first, and whip forth the freezing filth which made their Hänen temppelinsä varjoissa so celebrated in the underground. No more but definitely no less, the quintet stick to classic Finnish black metal in the turn-of-the-millennium tradition, here arguably sounding both more melodic and frantic than said debut album. SIELUHAASKA, for their part, put a more measured twist on Finnish black metal - pensive, anguished, and strangely anthemic - with their Kun aurinkoni kuoli debut, and here continue their hypnotic ways with even more anguish and arguably more mesmerizing gait. Almost honorarily Teutonic by design, their folkish fire might remind of Finnish dark horses like Noenum or Mortualia. Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle proves, once again, it's always darkest up north...
Much as its title forecasts, I Skyggen mellom liv og død
brings together two Norwegian black metal entities: SOLUS GRIEF, with whom PURITY THROUGH FIRE followers should know from their two albums in as many years, and ALTERTUM; both bands' respective mainmen shared a split album, Ulf's Keptr, shared a split year with their other respective bands UNHOLY CRAFT and VORGFANG. Here, SOLUS GRIEF continue their ascent / descent with two 10-minute tracks (and joining instrumental) that see mainman Peregrinus returning to a more anguished, almost-DSBM sound that nevertheless evinces unique traits - among them, a guitar tone alternately rippling / clanging, an attention to ever-so-tense dynamics, and a superbly "live" feel for an otherwise-one-man band. It's unsurprising, then, that these three throwback-to-1995 tracks were written & recorded during this past winter. For his part, ALTERTUM mainman Lord G also wrote & recorded his four tracks here during that same winter, and it shows: a cryogenic blast of ancient northern darkness, violent and spectral in equal measure. It's not so much that these four ALTERTUM songs evoke deja vu - one can hear symphonic shades of very earliest Limbonic Art, Obtained Enslavement, and Norway's Troll as well as the rawest pulse of Hat-era Gorgoroth, the cult Kvist, and even Ulver's Nattens Madrigal - but these blizzard-blown coordinates are rearranged in such a manner that they become a new destination in itself, nostalgic and without time simultaneously. I Skyggen mellom liv og død is against the modern world!
An aptly titled record no matter the language, Naturmystik brings together two modern stalwarts of mystical black metal. HÄXANU - whose acclaimed second album, Totenpass, was released last year by AMOR FATI - is the duo of multi-instrumentalist Alex Poole (Chaos Moon, Krieg, Skáphe, Ringarė, etc) and vocalist/lyricist L.C. of Lichmagick. Much as that album had equal footing in Nordic snow and Hellenic melody, so, too, do their four exclusive songs here. Stargazing as ever but perhaps bringing back some of the violent hysteria of their early work, HÄXANU hammer their point home with a triumphant fury. Sweden's GREVE, of course, is yet another work of ever-restless Ancient Records linchpin Swartadauþuz (BEKËTH NEXËHMÜ, GNIPAHÅLAN. Trolldom, Musmahhu, Azelisassath, Digerdöden, Mystik, Summum, Daudadagr, Daudadagr). To date, GREVE have released two equally massive full-lengths through PURITY THROUGH FIRE, 2019's Nordarikets Strid and 2022's Föllo af Svavel, Lifvets Dimridå. Naturmystik features the first music from the trio since, and their four songs here carry that same torch: shimmering 1996-vintage obsidian, emitting that racing-yet-floating sensation which made GREVE's two albums such modern classics. Together on Naturmystik, both HÄXANU and GREVE once again prove that black metal classicism can be a boundless wellspring of brilliance.
ringing together two of Finnish black metal hottest / coldest newcomers, Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle is pure nastiness distilled into 20 tundra-deep minutes; with two songs a piece here, both AESTHUS and SIELUHAASKA delivered debut albums under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2022 and 2023, respectively. AESTHUS are up first, and whip forth the freezing filth which made their Hänen temppelinsä varjoissa so celebrated in the underground. No more but definitely no less, the quintet stick to classic Finnish black metal in the turn-of-the-millennium tradition, here arguably sounding both more melodic and frantic than said debut album. SIELUHAASKA, for their part, put a more measured twist on Finnish black metal - pensive, anguished, and strangely anthemic - with their Kun aurinkoni kuoli debut, and here continue their hypnotic ways with even more anguish and arguably more mesmerizing gait. Almost honorarily Teutonic by design, their folkish fire might remind of Finnish dark horses like Noenum or Mortualia. Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle proves, once again, it's always darkest up north...
Emerging in 2021 with their self-titled debut mini-album for PURITY THROUGH FIRE, MEISTER LEONHARDT were a new entity thriving on the old bones, dust, and hoarfrost. Still mysterious, we know that they hailed from Moscow, Russia, and consisted of members of such well-established underground outfits as Thy Grave, Goatpsalm, and Frozen Ocean among others. Named after one of Gustav Meyrink’s most inspiring short novels, Meister Leonhardt presented its opinion of what nowadays black metal should sound like in a throttling 'n' thrilling 27 minutes.
With deep respect to black metal traditions, from deepest desolation to barely restrained violence, MEISTER LEONHARDT return again to skillfully span true black metal's extremes with the full-length Thanatopoeia. As a debut album, it establishes itself in both presenting where the band is coming from and more so where they are going. MEISTER LEONHARDT's sound is still raw - unadorned, confrontational, and undeniably physical - but there's a skillful execution at play that sharpens their already-adept songwriting to a superlative degree. That songwriting swarms the listener with a shapeshifting number of shapes, whipping forth a fury when needed but surprising the listener with utterly incensed mid-tempo thrust. Thankfully, the quintet expound upon that anthemic element, twisting forth melancholic-yet-malevolent melodies that make their ever-escalating nastiness slice through to the bone. Fans of classic Craft and Carpathian Forest will surely have their fires stoked by Thanatopoeia.
From moniker to visual aesthetic and especially to the sonics themselves, HERALDIC BLAZE are encapsulating the oft-nebulous "medieval black metal" idiom with startling aplomb. While it's often difficult to discern exactly what medieval BM is other than a pithy "I know it when I hear it," HERALDIC BLAZE leave no doubt as to their intentions.
Witness their debut demo, Blazoned Heraldry. The duo of American multi-instrumentalist Argent Pale (vocals, bass, flute) and Norwegian guitarist Peregrinus (HJEMSØKT, SOLUS GRIEF, KVAD, UNHOLY CRAFT) create a spellbinding tapestry of rustic tones and textures. In fact, on texture alone - kinda clean and clanging, yet with more than a hint of ghostly grit and almost surfy reverb - HERALDIC BLAZE stand out, but it's how they utilize those textures in the service of songwriting: winding and wild, frothing up to an almost-dangerous delirium, but more often than not leaving wide-open spaces to let their medieval melodicism bend and sway with bravado and bittersweetness. And as actual flute flutters in from time to time, the sum effect, more often than not, is ALIEN - unsettling and alluring in equal measure.
While "merely" a demo recording, HERALDIC BLAZE's first work already trounces most modern works of "black metal." Unorthodox and unbound, Blazoned Heraldry is mandatory listening for fans of Sühnopfer, Ungfell, Grylle, Heltekvad, and particularly mid-2000s Peste Noire.
From moniker to visual aesthetic and especially to the sonics themselves, HERALDIC BLAZE are encapsulating the oft-nebulous "medieval black metal" idiom with startling aplomb. While it's often difficult to discern exactly what medieval BM is other than a pithy "I know it when I hear it," HERALDIC BLAZE leave no doubt as to their intentions.
Witness their debut demo, Blazoned Heraldry. The duo of American multi-instrumentalist Argent Pale (vocals, bass, flute) and Norwegian guitarist Peregrinus (HJEMSØKT, SOLUS GRIEF, KVAD, UNHOLY CRAFT) create a spellbinding tapestry of rustic tones and textures. In fact, on texture alone - kinda clean and clanging, yet with more than a hint of ghostly grit and almost surfy reverb - HERALDIC BLAZE stand out, but it's how they utilize those textures in the service of songwriting: winding and wild, frothing up to an almost-dangerous delirium, but more often than not leaving wide-open spaces to let their medieval melodicism bend and sway with bravado and bittersweetness. And as actual flute flutters in from time to time, the sum effect, more often than not, is ALIEN - unsettling and alluring in equal measure.
While "merely" a demo recording, HERALDIC BLAZE's first work already trounces most modern works of "black metal." Unorthodox and unbound, Blazoned Heraldry is mandatory listening for fans of Sühnopfer, Ungfell, Grylle, Heltekvad, and particularly mid-2000s Peste Noire.
One of the most fully formed black metal entities of recent times, GRANITADER burst into brilliance with their debut full-length, Der Wald zwischen den Welten. After but an EP last year, the German quintet's first full-length displays a masterful grasp of songwriting and dynamics as well as confidence and charisma to spare. GRANITADER are old souls who exude the effervescence of the new; their continually cresting surge recalls pagan touchstones like Windir, Falkenbach, or Germany's Horn closer to home, as well as Drudkh's more cinematic moments. However, the wind beneath the wings of Der Wald zwischen den Welten is the album's overarching theme: a homage to their - as well as PURITY THROUGH FIRE's - home area of Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains that are an UNESCO world heritage site, as well as older German history. Truly, it all comes together as one breathtaking blast of classically austere German black metal, but poignantly brimming with a heroic, almost-positive aspect that's simply impossible to deny. The spiraling lead-work is categorically sublime, and helps elevate GRANITADER to the top of today's pagan black metal pack. Completing this complete package is the professional & powerful production, encasing their bravado in a sheen wholly befitting of its majesty. Let GRANITADER guide you through Der Wald zwischen den Welten!
Since 2011, ÚLFARR have stood for uncompromising, antisocial UK black metal - or, under their own banner of Cumbrian Black Metal. Helmed by Dominus, AKA Hrafn - who counts the equally prolific THY DYING LIGHT amongst his activities, as well as fellow labelmates NEFARIOUS DUSK and MORTE LUNE - ÚLFARR released a handful of demos, a couple splits, and most uniquely, a couple live albums before their debut mini-album, Hate & Terror - The Rise of Pure Evil, in 2019 and then another mini-album, The Ruins of Human Failure, two years later. Most recently, they released a split album with fellow UK horde MALFEITOR. Across these caustic recordings, ÚLFARR stoked the fires of old - namely, classic Craft, Darkthrone, Mayhem, One Head One Tail, and Death Cult.
Now ÚLFARR return with a revamped lineup and a revamped sound on their long-awaited debut album, Orlegsceaft. Joining Dominus here are erstwhile Exvoidxist / Forvitnast vocalist Játvarðr, HELVELLYN's Burns on bass, and MALFEITOR maiman Nosdrahcir on drums. As no doubt forecasted by its title, Orlegsceaft is written almost entirely in Old English, and most suitably do ÚLFARR shift gears toward a grim & ancient style of black metal. Whereas their sound of yore spit forth a hateful primitivism both punkish and headbanging, this older & bolder ÚLFARR take that hate toward more desolate and hypnotic ends; atmosphere is heightened, ghoulish and GRIM in aspect. In effect, Orlegsceaft undeniably sounds OLD(e), like a long-lost recording from 1995 given undead life through ghostly means. It's still recognizably ÚLFARR, but their attack cruises more cooly here and the vocals of Játvarðr raise the hackles with full-throated terror. And fucking RIFFS forever!
Against the modern world, more than ever, ÚLFARR take UKBM back to the dark ages with Orlegsceaft.
In December 2021, AVSKRÄDE emerged from storms of old with their debut full-length for PURITY THROUGH FIRE, Det stora tunga sjuka. Hailing from Sweden, the duo dutifully reinvigorated ancient Scandinavian black metal, both from Norway as well as their native land. No more but definitely no less, Det stora tunga sjuka was traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively: pure freezing fire, nasty and rustic and primitive but not without nuance.
And so it goes, a full two years later, with AVSKRÄDE's Undergång. Whereas the duo's debut reminded of Darkthrone's "Peaceville trilogy" and Malicious-era Gorgoroth, here on their second album do they kick up the nastiness and let the (freezing) filth flow freely, nodding to such underrated Darkthrone tomes as Total Death or even Ravishing Grimness. Indeed is AVSKRÄDE's grimness ravishing across Undergång, but compared to successive disciples as early Craft and Armagedda, the duo incorporate a slight bit more melody into proceedings - at times haunting, others anxious, but always hammered with cruel efficiency. And if there's one phrase to characterize AVSKRÄDE at this point, it's "cruelly efficient"; their songwriting is stripped to the fucking bone, but every note and hit is fucking RIGHT, and their live-in-the-rehearsal-room execution is blanching in its tightness. And once again, the album maintains a richly Grieghallen-esque production for maximum authenticity. Winter is looming, so hasten its arrival with Undergång!
In December 2021, AVSKRÄDE emerged from storms of old with their debut full-length for PURITY THROUGH FIRE, Det stora tunga sjuka. Hailing from Sweden, the duo dutifully reinvigorated ancient Scandinavian black metal, both from Norway as well as their native land. No more but definitely no less, Det stora tunga sjuka was traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively: pure freezing fire, nasty and rustic and primitive but not without nuance.
And so it goes, a full two years later, with AVSKRÄDE's Undergång. Whereas the duo's debut reminded of Darkthrone's "Peaceville trilogy" and Malicious-era Gorgoroth, here on their second album do they kick up the nastiness and let the (freezing) filth flow freely, nodding to such underrated Darkthrone tomes as Total Death or even Ravishing Grimness. Indeed is AVSKRÄDE's grimness ravishing across Undergång, but compared to successive disciples as early Craft and Armagedda, the duo incorporate a slight bit more melody into proceedings - at times haunting, others anxious, but always hammered with cruel efficiency. And if there's one phrase to characterize AVSKRÄDE at this point, it's "cruelly efficient"; their songwriting is stripped to the fucking bone, but every note and hit is fucking RIGHT, and their live-in-the-rehearsal-room execution is blanching in its tightness. And once again, the album maintains a richly Grieghallen-esque production for maximum authenticity. Winter is looming, so hasten its arrival with Undergång!
Clear vinyl in single jacket including insert with lyrics.
Limited to 98 copies.
Since 2005, Greece's SAD have been a madly prolific bastion of pure 'n' cold black metal. Their canon is vast and varied - VERY relatively so, given that this is all-caps BLACK METAL after all - with the longstanding duo of instrumentalist Ungod and vocalist Nadir exploring the darkest corridors of their souls every step of the way. They've did so across a half-dozen albums for such esteemed labels as Drakkar, Obscure Abhorrence, and Old Temple among others as well as a dozen splits, but then joined forces with PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2020 for the release of their seventh album, Misty Breath of Ancient Forests.
Indeed, that album was aptly titled, for it saw SAD delivering their most ancient work in many moons. But the Greek duo are ever surprising, and nearly four years later do they emerge from the shadows with the fully-fuck-off Black Metal Craft. It's no accident that the album is titled such, as it reasserts the purity at the very heart of the SAD aesthetic and strips it to the fucking bone with ghoulish violence. Raw and rippling, here SAD somehow inject the melancholic melodicism of its Misty predecessor and then stir the maelstrom to a swirling boil, remaining hypnotic and locked-in whilst managing to gallop forth from time to time in a manner most regal. Put another way, Black Metal Craft could serve as a love letter to the late '90s heyday of Sombre Records or the aforementioned Drakkar, so old & cold its aesthetic (and, again, unapologetic its title). PURITY THROUGH FIRE is thus the most fitting stronghold for SAD's eternal black metal craft!
