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

One of England’s far superior Black Metal bands, Inconcessus Lux Lucis, blew me away live a few years back. I grabbed their second LP which hits the turntable pretty often and now we finally get a new one! Out via I, Voidhanger Records on June 7th. Stunning guitar passages and rich bass lines complemented by subtle percussion introduce this album in a classy and melodic manner. Epic leads and groove soon soar into life with that rhythmically charged, fist-pounding sense of triumph that I adored from the bands prior works. Instantly they are likenable just as much to Bathory as to Manowar, Veno ..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

Slovakian Blackened Heavy Metal cult MALOKARPATAN return to bestow their fourth album of unique sonic spectres upon us. This folklore-steeped record shall be unveiled by Invictus Productions on October 27th. Mystical strings and percussion kick in with an ethereal ambience, setting a sombre and yet fantastical tone for the quest ahead. These archaic instrumentations work gloriously with the metallic furore that Malokarpatan are more known for, though have never been shy about their folkier influences. Melodic leads and galloping riffs atop monstrous drumming bring the real aggression, permeati ..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

Having enjoyed their debut album a lot, it is with pleasure I see BLACK BEAST from Finland return with a new opus of frosty Black Metal. Out now via Primitive Reaction. Mournful guitars begin with icy atmospherics before a blizzard of blast beats, shrill vocals and menacing riffs fire into life. The harsh assaults from the entire band have that classic Finnish Black Metal feeling which is a bit raw but still holding good production values while a blend of more primitive core elements and bestial aggression see some occasional melodic progressions to give a more emotive side too. It is undeniab ..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

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

Swedish Black Metal entity FUNERAL MIST have a new album to be unleashed without much warning, on December 17th via Norma Evangelium Diaboli. Feedback and stormy samples alongside chants open the album with a haunting atmosphere that naturally suits Funeral Mist perfectly. Pounding drums and richly textured guitars come into life while still the trailing spectres of the chants emanate more ritualistic sounds upon the blackened instruments. The beating rhythm is certainly intense with the grimy guitars are used in a more doomy fashion that suits the fierce vocals and their zealous and spiteful ..read more