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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.

Post-black metal duo Olhava is back with Sacrifice, a new studio record, almost two years after the release of their acclaimed album Reborn.

Clocking in at the megalithic length of eighty-six minutes, Sacrifice is a collection of long, mesmerizing and melancholic anthems for longing souls which will carve deep into the feelings of any blackgaze fan.

As Olhava themselves describe it, “Sacrifice is the necessary step for one to be Reborn. It’s the ultimate point of no return. Everything one used to value will turn to ash and be forgotten. For only by stripping ourselves of everything we know and have can we truly separate our Self from our Ego. Only by burning ourselves can we enjoy peace among stars. But the end is also the beginning. Beginning of new values, a new self built from dust”.

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 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, and again in 2023 for Black Metal Craft.

Proudly remaining in the PURITY THROUGH FIRE stronghold, SAD return with their ninth(!) album, Fullmoon's Bestial Awakening. While its title might be something of an aesthetic misnomer - this is NOT bestial metal, thankfully - Fullmoon's Bestial Awakening does keep intact the nastiness of Black Metal Craft, making for a complementary record to its cantankerous predecessor. SAD here are characteristically unconcerned with anything in "black metal" during this millennium, still harkening to the glorious late '90s heyday of Sombre Records or the aforementioned Drakkar and yet tempered with the wisdom & resolve surely established by a band who've been around 25 years now. No more but definitely no less, Fullmoon's Bestial Awakening is raw & ripping orkishness shot through with a touch of the melancholic but all stirred malevolently, where hypnotic speed - cruise, gallop, headbang, or any combination thereof - often rights itself into something somewhat regal or at least triumphant. And just like that not-inconsiderable predecessor, SAD's ninth full-length similarly stretches toward the epic, encompassing eight songs in 55 minutes of righteous obsidian splendor. Cold, old, and still no surrender!

Ferum is a death doom metal band originated in Italy, but now scattered
over two countries. Asunder / Erode, the band’s debut album, is an
obsessive and monolithic record. Slow, funereal riffs are tied to faster,
sharper parts, while harmonized melodies and solos paint a cavernous
atmosphere. The drums wisely marches, moving from the background into
the spotlight, always followed by the bass guitar.
Asunder / Erode was recorded and mixed at Walter Productions in Tallinn,
Estonia by producer and sound engineer Are Kangus. The studio is located
inside the historic Tallinna Linnahall, a behemoth built during the Soviet
occupation. Today it is an urban wreck kept alive by few commercial
activities which are based on the inside: it is in fact closed to the public,
with the exception of some parts. Its interior is a maze of stillbirth potential,
and inspired one of the album's pieces.
The record was mixed completely in analogue to give the songs a deeper,
more archaic, real thickness. The master by Dan Swanö added the final
touches, making the album consistent, organic and even heavier.
Conceptually, Asunder / Erode is a journey that explores the idea of
separation and its dichotomy, up to erosion and collapse. This is
represented in a morbid and extreme way by the cover by Maestro Paolo
Girardi. The choice of oil on canvas follows the same logic of the analogue
mix: to make the whole as natural, as real as possible, and to pay homage
to the influences that inspired Ferum, by reinterpreting them

With a seemingly endless dungeon full of heavy metal influences channelled through Darkthrone’s dynamic riff-machine, plus increasing inspirations taken from their own back catalogue, Darkthrone has become very much its own beast within the metal world. Though sprinkled with atmospheric touches, such as synthesisers and mellotron, the Darkthrone sound remains stripped to the core, primitive and organic.

Astral Fortress was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, the same location used for the Eternal Hails album, with Ole Øvstedal and Silje Høgevold.

From their formation back in 1986, to becoming one of Norways’s finest musical exports (with a number of highly revered black metal masterpieces released in the early 1990s helping to solidify their legacy), Darkthrone has continued to evolve and challenge in equal measure, throughout their illustrious recording career spanning over three decades. And now, the ever-productive duo of Nocturno and Fenriz continue their own metallic saga with a new selection of fine, vintage sounding headbanging classics in the making. 

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