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From their first two demos in 2018 and then their breakout self-titled debut album the following year, NACHTIG have stormed the gates of sadness with some of the most soul-penetrating black metal melancholy of recent times. Mainman V. V. is no stranger to the scene, of course, numbering as he does labelmates VALOSTA VARJOON and COSMIC BURIAL, but NACHTIG is arguably his most personal project, on myriad levels. The successive Der stille Wald full-length in 2021 proved this with a passion and poignancy that was spellbinding - and spellbindingly SAD - to behold.
That album maintained a monolithic aspect at a towering 55 minutes, and thus does NACHTIG return with a comparatively more compact record in Eisig' Romantik. It's still epic, to be sure - four songs in 45 minutes, each one hovering around the 11-minute mark - but it's the sensations within that truly render the album an EPIC of breathtaking, daresay-beautiful sadness. Its predecessor spiritually nodded to early '90s doom-death, with the Spartan piano of yore largely replaced by a haunting fog of synths; Eisig' Romantik maintains a purer black metal core, but the synths hover ever more dramatically here, often directing the crescendo of emotion to cathartic heights - or, rather, depths. But it's V. V.'s characteristically heartaching riffing that really pushes the record into the halls of greatness, as layers of majestically melancholic riff seamlessly twine into said synths and utterly damning catharsis continues as each minute builds and blends and builds some more, all without dipping down the tempo. There's actual energy to this sadness, and it MOVES.
From their first two demos in 2018 and then their breakout self-titled debut album the following year, NACHTIG have stormed the gates of sadness with some of the most soul-penetrating black metal melancholy of recent times. Mainman V. V. is no stranger to the scene, of course, numbering as he does labelmates VALOSTA VARJOON and COSMIC BURIAL, but NACHTIG is arguably his most personal project, on myriad levels. The successive Der stille Wald full-length in 2021 proved this with a passion and poignancy that was spellbinding - and spellbindingly SAD - to behold.
That album maintained a monolithic aspect at a towering 55 minutes, and thus does NACHTIG return with a comparatively more compact record in Eisig' Romantik. It's still epic, to be sure - four songs in 45 minutes, each one hovering around the 11-minute mark - but it's the sensations within that truly render the album an EPIC of breathtaking, daresay-beautiful sadness. Its predecessor spiritually nodded to early '90s doom-death, with the Spartan piano of yore largely replaced by a haunting fog of synths; Eisig' Romantik maintains a purer black metal core, but the synths hover ever more dramatically here, often directing the crescendo of emotion to cathartic heights - or, rather, depths. But it's V. V.'s characteristically heartaching riffing that really pushes the record into the halls of greatness, as layers of majestically melancholic riff seamlessly twine into said synths and utterly damning catharsis continues as each minute builds and blends and builds some more, all without dipping down the tempo. There's actual energy to this sadness, and it MOVES.
By now, the name MAVORIM should be more than familiar to those who follow the crimes of PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Since the band's formation in 2014, mainman Baptist has restlessly and relentlessly pursued his stark, austere style of black metal, resulting in three full-lengths and seven other shorter-length works. Collectively, MAVORIM have quickly come to define the new breed of German black metal that hearkens back to the old guard: Teutonic to the bone, harsh and harrowing yet heralding triumph.
And so the battle wages on with MAVORIM's fourth album, Ab Amitia Pulsae. Immediately and dramatically, this is classic MAVORIM - charging hard onto the battlefield, bloody swords raised, rough-yet-rousing melodicism to the fore, with Baptist's gruff, exhortative throat leading the charge - but as Ab Amitia Pulsae plays on, new vistas of their signature sound are revealed. While still qualitatively a black metal record, MAVORIM's fourth album displays deft layering of sounds, particularly Baptist's subtle-yet-concerted integration of keyboards and other synth sounds, altogether adding an exceptionally dynamic contour to otherwise-straightforward aggression. Further, his guitar leads display a much wider swath of feeling as well as texture, each song seemingly featuring something quite new in the greater MAVORIM dialect, while drumming co-conspirator Valfor occasionally add his choral voices to poignant effect. And it's gripping and urgent all the way through to the 53-minute album's end...again and again and again.
At times tragic, at times folkloric, melancholy giving way to bloodlust, Ab Amitia Pulsae proves once again that MAVORIM are uniquely adept at fully coloring within the lines of black metal with the boldest and bravest hues.
Black Vinyl
By now, the name MAVORIM should be more than familiar to those who follow the crimes of PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Since the band's formation in 2014, mainman Baptist has restlessly and relentlessly pursued his stark, austere style of black metal, resulting in three full-lengths and seven other shorter-length works. Collectively, MAVORIM have quickly come to define the new breed of German black metal that hearkens back to the old guard: Teutonic to the bone, harsh and harrowing yet heralding triumph.
And so the battle wages on with MAVORIM's fourth album, Ab Amitia Pulsae. Immediately and dramatically, this is classic MAVORIM - charging hard onto the battlefield, bloody swords raised, rough-yet-rousing melodicism to the fore, with Baptist's gruff, exhortative throat leading the charge - but as Ab Amitia Pulsae plays on, new vistas of their signature sound are revealed. While still qualitatively a black metal record, MAVORIM's fourth album displays deft layering of sounds, particularly Baptist's subtle-yet-concerted integration of keyboards and other synth sounds, altogether adding an exceptionally dynamic contour to otherwise-straightforward aggression. Further, his guitar leads display a much wider swath of feeling as well as texture, each song seemingly featuring something quite new in the greater MAVORIM dialect, while drumming co-conspirator Valfor occasionally add his choral voices to poignant effect. And it's gripping and urgent all the way through to the 53-minute album's end...again and again and again.
At times tragic, at times folkloric, melancholy giving way to bloodlust, Ab Amitia Pulsae proves once again that MAVORIM are uniquely adept at fully coloring within the lines of black metal with the boldest and bravest hues.
A newcomer hailing from Norway, SOLUS GRIEF is the work of one Peregrinus, who handles all instruments, vocals, and mixing & mastering. And where so many "one-man black metal bands" sound as much (or worse), SOLUS GRIEF buck that trend with a righteously robust sound and fully in-the-moment style of execution. In other words, Peregrinus sounds more like an actual band than many "bands" do.
With a Last Exhale is the evocatively titled debut of SOLUS GRIEF, self-released digitally late last year - and so entranced by its rigid-yet-unique style of black metal, PURITY THROUGH FIRE is now rightfully releasing the album on two physical formats. It would not be incorrect to assume a four-song/41-minute black metal record recorded by one man would be of the depressive/suicidal variety, and to some degree, both those appellations could be applied to SOLUS GRIEF. However, as Peregrinus soon displays, With a Last Exhale moves many, MANY places - and many of them quite surprising, despite remaining steadfastly within BLACK METAL - and with a jaw-dropping fluidity; this is NOT one-riff minimalism/"hypnosis" nor an expression living/dying on "atmosphere" alone. Indeed, with plenty of atmosphere to spare, Peregrinus' compositional skills astoundingly span the full reach of extreme metal, subtly (and tastefully) touching such boundaries as '90s melodic death metal, '80s epic doom, or even just proper heavy metal...but the expression is resolutely a black metal one, the emotions intense and inward, as befitting a title like With a Last Exhale. And the bass guitar here is something that must be experienced.
A newcomer hailing from Norway, SOLUS GRIEF is the work of one Peregrinus, who handles all instruments, vocals, and mixing & mastering. And where so many "one-man black metal bands" sound as much (or worse), SOLUS GRIEF buck that trend with a righteously robust sound and fully in-the-moment style of execution. In other words, Peregrinus sounds more like an actual band than many "bands" do.
With a Last Exhale is the evocatively titled debut of SOLUS GRIEF, self-released digitally late last year - and so entranced by its rigid-yet-unique style of black metal, PURITY THROUGH FIRE is now rightfully releasing the album on two physical formats. It would not be incorrect to assume a four-song/41-minute black metal record recorded by one man would be of the depressive/suicidal variety, and to some degree, both those appellations could be applied to SOLUS GRIEF. However, as Peregrinus soon displays, With a Last Exhale moves many, MANY places - and many of them quite surprising, despite remaining steadfastly within BLACK METAL - and with a jaw-dropping fluidity; this is NOT one-riff minimalism/"hypnosis" nor an expression living/dying on "atmosphere" alone. Indeed, with plenty of atmosphere to spare, Peregrinus' compositional skills astoundingly span the full reach of extreme metal, subtly (and tastefully) touching such boundaries as '90s melodic death metal, '80s epic doom, or even just proper heavy metal...but the expression is resolutely a black metal one, the emotions intense and inward, as befitting a title like With a Last Exhale. And the bass guitar here is something that must be experienced.
Hailing from the oft-overlooked UK black metal scene, WRITTEN IN TORMENT have been patiently perfecting their craft for nearly 20 years now. A demo and EP followed in quick succession in 2006, followed by a hiatus until 2013, when the debut album Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes was released. WRITTEN IN TORMENT, as ever, is helmed by mainman Leviathan, and he kept apace with a split in 2014, a demo in 2015, and then two full-lengths, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum and Maledictus Dies Illa, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
And now, at long last, WRITTEN IN TORMENT deliver their masterwork: Black Command. Presciently titled, Black Command finds Leviathan hitting a fever pitch of creativity, recasting old ghosts of '90s epic/melodic black metal - Throne of Ahaz, Abyssos, Midvinter, Prophanity, and Amsvartner among others - into dazzling new shapes. Rest assured, in word and deed is Black Command BLACK METAL to the hilt, but by no means does it strident traditionalism hinder it in the least. Ripping chops and deft textural layering take center stage across the album's six-song/41-minute runtime, creating a compact canvas that's somehow vast, which is to say nothing of the well-timed incorporation of acoustic guitars and cinematic synths. All this is filtered into a thematic framework focusing on the life and crimes of Jonathan Martin, the infamous arsonist of the Minster Cathedral in York. Joining Leviathan here - and no doubt adding further fuel to the fire - are Prometheus on lead guitars and keyboards and drummer Storm (Blasphemer, ex-Bal-Sagoth, ex-My Dying Bride).
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 couple demos its first few years and then a split album with comrades Hrafnblóð. Another demo followed in 2014, followed by, uniquely, two live albums. Then, in 2019 did the band's debut mini-album at last arrive, bearing the all-too-fitting title Hate & Terror - The Rise Of Pure Evil. Swift and scything, ÚLFARR stoked the flames of traditional black metal in the vein of classic Craft, Darkthrone, Mayhem, One Head One Tail, and Death Cult.
Now, after two more years of silence, ÚLFARR return to stoke those flames again with The Ruins of Human Failure. Another apt title, The Ruins of Human Failure encompasses a four-part title track that spits venom and vitriol for miles around, dumping further fuel on the bonfire of humanity. No more and no less, ÚLFARR hold tight to their sound and hone in one dark, dismal energies inspired by the desolate landscapes of their homeland, the unrelentingly bleak climate, and a shared disdain towards humanity in the overpopulated wastelands of modern Britain. At times more primitive than its predecessor and more headbanging at others, you don't so much as listen to The Ruins of Human Failure as FEEL it - and it still hates you, too.
FROSTEN is the most recent creation of prolific UK underground veteran Azrael, who also numbers such entities as Heathen Deity, Helvellyn, Torver, and now-labelmates THY DYING LIGHT among his many current endeavors. As FROSTEN, the duo of Azrael and session drummer Julian Foster play True English Black Metal. Their debut album, With Sigils and Infernal Signs, was originally released in 2020 on cassette only, and now PURITY THROUGH FIRE steps forward to unleash this blast of cryogenic fire on CD format. Almost effortlessly, FROSTEN skillfully exude a classic atmosphere of the late '90s, brimming with the stultifying violence and cold, hard gleam of early Enthroned, Setherial, and Thy Primordial but with a subtly British aspect, most especially in the oft-melodic (and tastefully so) riffing. Grim and bare it With Sigils and Infernal Signs!
Formed in 2020, VAMPYRIC TYRANT are a Teutonic black metal duo forged in the fires of old. The band is helmed by ex-Grabunhold member Graf Nekromant, joined by drummer Akatash. As foretold by their moniker, VAMPYRIC TYRANT indeed offer an iteration of vampiric black metal, but one locked in the dungeon of the '90s, as well as equally pursuing the epic ruminations of the legendary Moonblood.
Now joined under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE and with the addition of bassist König Grausamkeit, VAMPYRIC TYRANT enter their next epoch with a four-song/19-minute EP fittingly titled Zorn und Hass. Grim yet stately, raw yet refined, the ghoulishness they offer here is as ethereal as it is insistent. More than that, each of the four tracks offers its own labyrinth of nostalgia and despair, perhaps hitting its sorrowful peak with the crying-orc instrumental "Ein Traum." Then, Zorn und Hass concludes in mesmerizingly hooligan fashion with the six-minute, organ-led "Totschlag."
Formed in 2020, VAMPYRIC TYRANT are a Teutonic black metal duo forged in the fires of old. The band is helmed by ex-Grabunhold member Graf Nekromant, joined by drummer Akatash. As foretold by their moniker, VAMPYRIC TYRANT indeed offer an iteration of vampiric black metal, but one locked in the dungeon of the '90s, as well as equally pursuing the epic ruminations of the legendary Moonblood.
Now joined under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE and with the addition of bassist König Grausamkeit, VAMPYRIC TYRANT enter their next epoch with a four-song/19-minute EP fittingly titled Zorn und Hass. Grim yet stately, raw yet refined, the ghoulishness they offer here is as ethereal as it is insistent. More than that, each of the four tracks offers its own labyrinth of nostalgia and despair, perhaps hitting its sorrowful peak with the crying-orc instrumental "Ein Traum." Then, Zorn und Hass concludes in mesmerizingly hooligan fashion with the six-minute, organ-led "Totschlag."
The work of one Alexis Chiambretto, with drums provided by Nicolas Muller, UNHOLDUN's style of black metal is simple but sublime. Although the band hails from France, the sweepingly melodic surge which pushes this self-titled record forward favorably recalls the Québec scene that's made waves in the underground for the past decade-plus. Melancholic yet triumphant, faintly folky but never mawkish, its ever-insistent propulsion taking dynamic twists and turns, and even some commanding lead work cropping up, Unholdun retains a certain timelessness: looking to the past, UNHOLDUN nevertheless feel very NOW.
"I didn't try to revolutionize black metal with this EP," says Alexis. "It's more like 'a tribute' to the good, old black metal. So, I would like to feel a little bit the 90's vibe, even in the artwork." Expanding on that latter element, he says, "The devil on the front cover plays a 'carnyx,' a French trumpet used by Gauls before a war to frighten enemies." Sound that trumpet, then, for the arrival of UNHOLDUN!
The name VERMINEUX should not be unknown to those who follow the crimes of PURITY THROUGH FIRE, for the band's two demos to date have been reissued by the label. Likewise, VERMINEUX is the work of Spectre, erstwhile found of the esteemed Minenwerfer. However, whereas that band focuses on World War I, with VERMINEUX does Spectre focus on the 14th Century, particularly the plagues and warfare rampant during those times. Here, he delivers a surging seven-minute epic titled "Ashes" and then a reverential cover of Vlad Tepes' "In Holocaust to the Natural Darkness." But those expecting the Black Legions to loom large over split-mates PRIEURÉ, who indeed hail from France, will be in for a surprise with their primary track here. Following its brief but stage-setting "Intro" flowing into it, "Le Sang" is a wild 'n' wanderlusting epic, alternately invigorating and sorrowful. Mainman Sans-Visage (the English translation says everything) exhibits trademarks of much millennial French black metal - be it the undulating medievalism of the post-Sühnopfer school or the more recent wave of "elevated hooliganism" - but the ever-unfolding track is staggering in its stand-alone vision.
Matt Inside-Out Cover / 180g Vinyl
One sided
The varied song structures on their debut, coupled with instrumental dungeon synth passages, capture the magic of what was once the Black Metal art of the past, without sounding like a copy of those artists in any second. This independence runs like a thread through this record and proves that Vampyric Tyrant’s »Schwarze Schwingen« will definitely establish itself as a future classic in (German) Black Metal music.
One of the most imposing and revered bands in black metal's underground for the past decade, BEKËTH NEXËHMÜ have built a literally towering body of work. The band is yet another creative vehicle of Ancient Records linchpin Swartadauþuz (Azelisassath, Digerdöden, Gnipahålan, Musmahhu, Mystik, Summum, Trolldom, Daudadagr, as well as current labelmates GREVE and MUVITIUM), but it's largely BEKËTH NEXËHMÜ where the man has most built his legacy. To date, three official albums have been released - 2010's de dunkla herrarna, 2019's De fördolda klangorna, and last year's literally massive De Fornas Likgaldrar double-album, which featured over two hours of re-recorded material, recast as a whole new experience - and a literal bounty of demos, each one arguably greater and grander than most band's actual albums, that have equally put a frightening new(er) face on Swedish black metal, by turns becoming the nowadays face of the form.
Atmospheric Black Metal from Finland! New project of the October Falls mastermind.
silver wax lim. 250
