Nightmarish Black Metallers AKHLYS return with their fourth album of abyssal soundscapes. Set for release via Debemur Morti Productions on July 5th. Dark ambience begins by setting a sense of dread, a feeling the band are extremely familiar with. Massive walls of riffing and percussion hit like a tidal wave of dense smog, filling the air with a potent sense of oppression. The intricate drumming and coarse guitars have a formidable power with those flares of dissonance that add to the unhinged, disquieting feeling that Akhlys have always portrayed. Convulsing with darkness as we await whatever ..read more

Napoleonic Black Metal project DEPARTURE CHANDELIER returns with a second album of exquisite evil. Out via Nuclear War Now Productions on February 23rd. Enchanting synths begin this album with that bewitching feeling that has enshrouded this projects entire journey. In equally bombastic fashion the glaring riffs cut into the air with an intense sharpness alongside furious percussion, still soaked in the reverberate ambience of the synths. The equally frantic vocal delivery scornfully penetrates the vicious instrumental attack with all forming something both gorgeous and abrasive. Alongside the ..read more

Back in October two very unique Extreme Metal entities released a split album via 20 Buck Spin. On one side we have Dream Unending, whose otherworldly and ethereal gothic Death/Doom takes us through ponderous portals while the flip-side contains atmospherically charged Black Metal sepulchre and mystical wisdom from Worm. Let us embark on this adventure together. Dream Unending Dreary guitars and vocals come in with a mountainous heaviness coupled with the body of acoustic guitar and slow drum work. The sleepy nature and stunning production of the music blend the more ambient end of Extreme Met ..read more

Canadian Black Metal ritualist NOCTURNAL PRAYER returns with their debut album, out now via Inferna Profundus Records. Storming into life with rocking drum beats and dissonant riffs, the expansive and inhuman echoes of Nocturnal Prayer instantly feel like a lost gem of 90s Black Metal that’s worth rediscovering with their convincingly cold, abrasive soundscapes tinged by melancholy but ultimately very aggressive in delivery. The malicious vocals and bitter instruments act in a united and forceful manner to convey emotive and taunting atmospherics with a huge emphasis on discomfort, anguish and ..read more

Sweden’s legendary Black Metal ghouls MEPHORASH return with their 5th album on November 10th via Shadow Records. Ominous chanting and percussion begins our descent, with a majestic aura enshrouding these opening soundscapes. Powerful vocals soak the reverberate guitars in a sinister sense of furore while the entire cascading soundscapes retains its ethereal and yet malicious quality. These opening moments secure the vibrant and impassioned spectacle that one could expect from Mephorash is indeed as expected. Melodies in the lead guitars and cymbal work add a glistening quality to the music tha ..read more

MISÞYRMING return with their 3rd album of glacial Icelandic Black Metal. Out via Norma Evangelium Diaboli on December 16th. Powerful riffs drive in a thrashing fury with crazed cymbal and tom attacks blending through the mix with a potent sharpness. The discordant cascades of ferocious metallic barbarity are met with D.G.’s recognisable signature howls which permeate the air with even more darkness. From the previous records to this, based on the opening moments, speed has been ramped up with an old school dose of classic Heavy Metal thunder coming into their mysterious Black Metal soundscapes ..read more

Spanish ancient Black Metal cult CALYX are back with a new full length album, out now. Instantly the archaic darkness enshrouding the record is abundantly obvious. Rumbling bass lines and mystical guitars twist around primal drumming and vocal incantations to give a genuinely evil sound with its necrotic production value assisting this. The previous album had a much cleaner sound with more melodic use, whereas we can instantly hear a more demo-esque quality to the recording, though the music is still perfectly audible. This may put some off, but underground lurkers and crypt dwellers will soon ..read more

American Black Metal necromancer CEMETERY LIGHTS is back with a second full length album, out now via Nuclear War Now Productions! Eerie riffs open the record with a raw and dreary atmosphere while the bass is noisy enough to give that horrifically cool 90s demo style to the mix. The vocals are more raspy incantations that fit between the avalanche of morbid strings and scathing drums to give a formidably dark atmosphere. Taking their inspiration from the likes of Necromantia, Mortuary Drape and Mystifier, there is certainly a mystique to this music that renders the evil soundscapes rather chi ..read more

Portugal’s legendary raw Black Metal cult BLACK CILICE return with their 6th album, due for unveiling on July 1st by Iron Bonehead Productions. Did Black Cilice get rawer? That is the first question that comes to my mind as the despairing, malicious assault of blasting drums and unhallowed guitar riffs contort into spectral movements alongside vocal chord tearing howls. Hideous and yet beautiful, the churning low-end is minimal but gives a backbone to the trebly wails of the band. Slower moments pack a bit more of a punch into terms of rhythm while the eerie coldness of the music is absolute ..read more

French psychedelic Black Metal experimentalists BLUT AUS NORD are back with their new Lovecraftian opus. Out via Debemur Morti Productions on May 20th. Only a short moment of ambience warns us before Blut Aus Nord drop us into the unique and profoundly disturbing guitars, warping and bending around metallic cymbals, a sound that crawls beneath the skin. Though malicious and volatile, there is a beauty in these opening moments of dissonant spasming that cocoons the mind with a warm bass timbre before hauling away and senses of security or predictability. An estranged meeting between the meditat ..read more