Second Circle: Bloody Valkyria and Eldamar ..read more

Second Circle: Forgotten Winter and Sepulchre by the Sea ..read more

For this week’s edition of Receiving the Evcharist, I’m presenting something unique for this column — a concert review! Last weekend I had the utmost pleasure and privilege of traveling to Grand Rapids, Minnesota to see the only North American performance of Panopticon‘s landmark album Roads to the North, in celebration of its 10th anniversary this year. To make the night even more memorable, a collaboration beer between Austin Lunn’s own Hammerheart Brewing Company and show venue Klockow Brewing Company materialized in Chase the Grain. A tremendous night was had by all, so let’s drink from ..read more

It already feels like spring has come and gone in my part of the US, with the sweltering dry heat of summer already rearing its horrible head. Today we drink from the cup of heresy with a pairing that serves as an epitaph for spring and a toast to the memory of summers past (more on that later) with Boleskine House‘s Miserabilist Blues and Knee Deep Brewing Co.‘s Tahoe Deep. — The Tunes: Boleskine House — Miserabilist Blues Black and doom metal are two genres that I always thought would go great together in theory, but never really found anything that particularly suited my tastes; notabl ..read more

“Epic black metal” — created by Summoning in the mid-90s and perfected by Caladan Brood in 2013 with Echoes of Battle, this merging of dungeon synth and the more atmospheric side of black metal is a subgenre that has spawned a lot of imitators but few that reach the heights of the aforementioned acts. Enter Belore, a French duo bringing this style into the modern age with more polished and grandiose production. Eastern Tales doesn’t quite follow in the same footsteps of the pioneers, but those interested in a more symphonic and folk-inspired take on the genre will find this an enjoyable list ..read more

You can’t deny the Netherlands has a thriving black metal scene, giving us gems such as Terzij de Horde, Fluisteraars, and Laster. One of the more recent bands to catch my attention in the past few years is Verwoed, whose previous album, De Val, held me in a grip in mid-2020. It took me a while to fully understand De Val musically, but once it clicked I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When a new album was announced, I knew I had to listen to it. And it seems The Mother is everything De Val was and more. De Val was a psychedelic affair, in that the music felt difficult to categorize and even ..read more

[BEGIN TRANSMISSION] What’s colder and bleaker than the darkest winter night in a snow-clad Scandinavian forest? The endless vacuum of space, of course. For 25 years no band has better exemplified this notion than Darkspace, and the titans of cosmic black metal have finally sent us their first signal in nearly 10 years — a single 47-minute track that is an exercise in atmosphere, ambience, and patience, yet proves that these masters of the void haven’t lost their signature touch. Venture into the deep unknown with Dark Space -II. Since their first demo Dark Space -I dropped in 2002 (and on t ..read more

2023 was pretty massive and the end of the year season got me a little burned out (can anyone else relate?), so I’ve decided to slowly ease myself back into digesting new music for 2024. I’m starting my contributions for this year’s Evcharist in just the right way with two very solid offerings: Obsidian Tongue’s The Stone Heart and Smog City Brewing’s Amarilla Gorilla. — The Tunes: Obsidian Tongue — The Stone Heart I try to keep on top of Bindrune releases, but regrettably this is my first exposure to Obsidian Tongue. Once I discovered that one half of the band is none other than Brendan ..read more

Some albums are never late, nor are they early, but arrive precisely when they are meant to. Norway’s Vemod are kicking off 2024 in ethereal style with their first album in 12 years, The Deepening — a beautiful, genre-transcending exercise in atmosphere that sees the band continuing to weave threads first sewn on their debut in ways both familiar and unexpected, with a grander sound and beefed-up songwriting chops to match. The wait may have been long, but the result is oh so worth it. I was relatively late to the party, but Vemod’s 2012 debut Venter på stormene is an album that’s provided m ..read more

Often the beauty and power of extreme metal comes from its dichotomies. The contrast between radiant melodies and crushing riffs, clean and harsh vocals, synths and blast beats — in essence, the light and the dark. Demonstrating all of this — and driven itself by the disparity between immense atmosphere and one of the most intense drum performances I’ve ever heard on a black metal album — Swedish/American act Ringarë are ending 2023 on a very high note with Of Momentous Endless Night. Don’t finalize your album of the year list just yet. Ringarë is one of the many projects of Alex “Esoterica ..read more