Saor – Origins (Review)

Saor - OriginsThis is the fifth album from UK one-man black metal band Saor.

Brought to us by the artist behind Fuath, (and also an ex-member of Falloch), Saor’s music is well-regarded, although this is my first encounter with it. My loss, it seems, as Origins offers up a very compelling 41 minutes of atmospheric black metal. Continue reading “Saor – Origins (Review)”

Lurid – Fire Spell (Review)

Lurid - Fire SpellThis is the debut EP from Lurid, a black metal band form the US.

This release clocks in at 33 minutes, although it’s actually a release of two parts. The first four songs are the brand new tracks for the EP, (21 minutes), while the last two are remastered versions of the songs from last year’s demo, (12 minutes). Continue reading “Lurid – Fire Spell (Review)”

Bekor Qilish – Throes of Death from the Dreamed Nihilism (Review)

Bekor Qilish - Throes of Death from the Dreamed NihilismThis is the debut album from Bekor Qilish, an extreme metal solo act from Italy.

Across 28 minutes the artist behind this band delivers his vision for extreme metal – a complex and layered avant-garde assault on the senses. Blending the technical and progressive strains of black and death metal into an experimental extreme metal framework, Throes of Death from the Dreamed Nihilism is a jarring and unfriendly piece of work, that nonetheless rewards connoisseurs of esoteric underground extremity. Continue reading “Bekor Qilish – Throes of Death from the Dreamed Nihilism (Review)”

Verberis – Adumbration of the Veiled Logos (Review)

Verberis - Adumbration of the Veiled LogosThis is the second album from Verberis, a black metal band from New Zealand.

Across five expansive songs, Adumbration of the Veiled Logos spends 58 minutes transporting the listener to vast blackened soundscapes and subjecting them to harrowing esoteric visions. Continue reading “Verberis – Adumbration of the Veiled Logos (Review)”

Esoctrilihum – Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh (Review)

Esoctrilihum - Consecration of the Spiritüs FleshThis is the seventh album from French solo black metal act Esoctrilihum.

I enjoyed 2018’s Pandaemorthium (Forbidden Formulas to Awaken the Blind Sovereigns of Nothingness), and then enjoyed even more 2021’s Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath. Has this upward trajectory of enjoyment continued with Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh? Continue reading “Esoctrilihum – Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh (Review)”

Merihem – Incendiary Darkness (Review)

Merihem - Incendiary DarknessThis is the debut album from international black metal band Merihem.

Featuring members of bands such as Frostmoon Eclipse, Israthoum, Manetheren, and Suffering Hour, Incendiary Darkness contains 39 minutes of occult black metal.

These songs weep nightmare Continue reading “Merihem – Incendiary Darkness (Review)”

Inexorum – Equinox Vigil (Review)

Inexorum - Equinox VigilThis is the third album from US melodic black metal band Inexorum.

Inexorum play fast-paced melodic black/death metal, combining both styles into a sharp blackened framework. Equinox Vigil contains 40 minutes of quite satisfying music. Continue reading “Inexorum – Equinox Vigil (Review)”

White Ward – False Light (Review)

White Ward - False LightThis is the third album from Ukrainian post-black metalers White Ward.

2016’s Futility Report was a fine album, but when 2019’s Love Exchange Failure came along it really made its mark on the extreme metal landscape. Last year’s Debemur Morti teased us some new material, but now here’s the main event. So what does False Light hold for us? Continue reading “White Ward – False Light (Review)”

Denouncement Pyre – Forever Burning (Review)

Denouncement Pyre - Forever BurningDenouncement Pyre are an Australian black metal band and this is their fourth album.

Forever Burning is a 42-minute collection of black metal songs that is fast, aggressive, and ripe with evil intent.

Upbeat and energetic, the band’s Continue reading “Denouncement Pyre – Forever Burning (Review)”

Ad Noctem Funeriis – Abyss, Fire, Brimstones (Review)

Ad Noctem Funeriis - Abyss, Fire, BrimstonesThis is the third album from Italian black metallers Ad Noctem Funeriis.

Abyss, Fire, Brimstones contains 44 minutes of pure blackened aggression. Ad Noctem Funeriis play a stripped-back, focused version of black metal that derives its core from the dark heart of the second wave. Continue reading “Ad Noctem Funeriis – Abyss, Fire, Brimstones (Review)”