Nattehimmel are an international, (Norway/UK), black metal band and this is their debut album.
Featuring current and ex-members of Emancer, Ewigkeit, Green Carnation, In the Woods…, Old Forest, and The Meads of Asphodel, Mourningstar is a 45-minute journey into 90s black metal that’s nostalgic, yet still relevant, and has a few detours too. Continue reading “Nattehimmel – Mourningstar (Review)”
This is the fifth album from one-woman experimental black metal band Cicada the Burrower.
The follow up to 2021’s very enjoyable Corpseflower, Blight Witch Regalia brings us 31 minutes of new material from this talented artist. Although tagged as black metal, this record has moved on from that description really. Fans of the classic blackened sound are Continue reading “Cicada the Burrower – Blight Witch Regalia (Review)”
In the Woods… are a Norwegian progressive metal band and this is their sixth album.
Diversum contains 50 minutes of avant-garde metal that takes elements of the progressive, pagan, doom, and post-black metal styles into its sound to produce a compelling collection of tracks. Continue reading “In the Woods… – Diversum (Review)”
Eye of Solitude are from the UK and Marche Funèbre are from Belgium. They have teamed up to offer this doom-filled split release.
I’m a big fan of Eye of Solitude’s work, although it seems that somehow I seem to have missed out on the band’s last album. Regardless, Continue reading “Eye of Solitude/Marche Funèbre – Split (Review)”
Manes are from Norway and this is their fourth album.
Following on from their last release Teeth, Toes and Other Trinkets, which was an anthology, this is the first new Manes album in seven years.
Manes play a beguiling blend of artistic Rock, Darkwave Trip Hop, Avant Garde and 80’s-style Pop. It’s subtle, charming, disarming and insidious.
These songs have a laid back quality to them that’s almost detached from the actual music; as if something has been created by the music that hovers just out of view yet its effects can be felt by a lasting aura of deceptive comfort and false familiarity. This lends the songs a certain flavour of the otherworldly and the different.
There is a low-key catchiness to the tracks as well. Again, it’s a subtle affair, as even though the songs obviously contain hooks the first time you listen to them, it takes multiple listens for them to fully work their magic. Such is the nature of all great albums that have true longevity and depth.
There is so much to experience here. Manes create across a vast canvas using a rich palette of colours. There’s a lot that’s easily missed on first glance and only after taking it in for a good amount of time can you really appreciate what they have done here.
The singer’s captivating vocals are on strong form and the bleak-yet-uplifting-yet-not melodies that he uses complement the instruments perfectly adding layers of emotion to already emotive and layered songs.
This is music for dark nights and even darker activities. This is music that drips with soul and is ethereal in nature.
Fans of bands such as Arcturus, Ulver, Lethe, Dødheimsgard, Green Carnation, In The Woods…, etc. will lap this up, and with good reason.
It’s time to enter the world of Manes.
This is the second album from Finland’s Fractured Spine.
Fractured Spine play Blackened Gothic Doom/Death Metal. Which is to say that they take the Doom/Style, add Gothic touches to the music and then layer a Black Metal fuzziness, melody and feel over everything. Early 90’s Gothic Black Metal mixed with Doom/Death.
They are also a bit more experimental than a lot of bands who play the Doom/Death style, which again gives them more of a Black Metal theme to my eyes.
Vocally the band eschew the normal purely Doom/Death deep vocals for a more varied approach involving a mix of deep growls, high screams and Gothic cleans.
Some songs have more of a Black Metal feel, others more of a Gothic Doom feel and occasionally even an early Lacuna Coil or …In The Woods style makes an appearance.
The keyboards and Gothic effects are prevalent throughout the album and it’s a refreshingly different take on the Doom/Death sub-genre.
A surprisingly varied album that experiments with its sound to create a mixture of related styles under one album.
Check them out and see what you think.
Wonderbox Metal 