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)”
Vahrzaw are an Australian black metal band and this is their fifth album.
Having enjoyed 2014’s Twin Suns & Wolves’ Tongues, 2018’s Husk, and 2021’s The Trembling Voices of Conquered Men, I was always going to have to check out the new Vahrzaw album. Continue reading “Vahrzaw – In the Shallows of a Starlit Lake (Review)”
This is the second album from Swedish black metallers Jordfäst.
Av Stoft contains just two tracks, the first of which lasts 16 minutes, and the next 17 minutes. During these two lengthy songs we are taken on an epic, windswept journey into Jordfäst’s world.
If you think of bands such as Skagos, Ulver, Primordial, Wolves in the Throne Room, Bathory, and Skogen, (the singer of which guests here), you’ll have a rough idea of what Av Stoft contains. Continue reading “Jordfäst – Av Stoft (Review)”
Teitan is a one-man black metal band from the Netherlands and this is his latest EP.
Vákuum contains 22 minutes of avant-garde black metal that’s played with skill and charisma.
This is atypical black metal that reminds me of the more experimental edges of the late 90s and early 00s black metal scenes. When bands like Dødheimsgard, Continue reading “Teitan – Vákuum (Review)”
This is the third album from French industrial band Crown.
I’m unfamiliar with Crown’s past work, but apparently The End of All Things is a complete departure from their older sound. Fair enough. If you’re new to the band like me, (or even if you’re not), Crown’s new album contains 46 Continue reading “Crown – The End of All Things (Review)”
LÜÜP is a, (deep breath), Greek one man experimental avant-garde blackened classical band, (phew), and this is his third album.
Canticles of the Holy Scythe features 37 minutes of music that consists of a black metal undercoat, which has then been fully fleshed out and painted with colours from folk, progressive, avant-garde, ambient, and classical music. Continue reading “LÜÜP – Canticles of the Holy Scythe (Review)”
This is the debut album from White Ward, a Ukrainian post-black metal band.
This is post-black metal with avant-garde tendencies. However, this is a very simplistic description of what you’ll find on Futility Report; the music is anything but simple.
Mix Ihsahn, Ulver, Ephel Duath, Blut Aus Nord, Deafheaven, and Wolves in the Throne Room together, and you’ll still only have the barest glimpse of what White Ward play. Continue reading “White Ward – Futility Report (Review)”
This is the third album from Australia’s Mekigah. They play Industrial/Classical Doom.
This is a tortuous combination of Doom, Noise, Industrial, Ambient and Classical that somehow ends up pulling you into its embrace before you even really know what’s going on. I’m not a huge fan of Noise and a lot of Ambient leaves me cold, usually because there’s nothing to draw you in. Litost is different.
Here we have elements of Noise and Ambient but they’re joined by the usually far more spirited Classical style. Orchestral sounds and emotive synths provide these minimalistic elements with a vibrancy, albeit a dark, malevolent one.
On top of this we have the Industrial aspect to their sound, and, of course, the Doom. This is not a guitar-oriented project though. It’s there, but used just as one instrument of many. Guest musicians aplenty feature on this release, providing everything from vocals, to mellotron, to taishgoto.
Vocals are few and far between. When they appear they’re quite varied and performed by multiple singers across the album. They’re usually quite low-key and are frequently employed as just another method of delivery; another instrument in this disturbing symphony.
This album is surprisingly emotive and engaging. The layers of synths and orchestral sounds work perfectly with the harsher Industrial base to fashion songs that work their way into your subconscious like hooks into flesh.
There’s a Gothic element to this music, but it’s one that has been killed and buried so that its influence is felt through the remainder of the thing that’s growing in its place. Almost as if the remains of a Gothic ancestry were feeding the music we hear here, so that the influence seeps into the cellos and Industrial sounds almost without anyone noticing at first.
If you’re into music that fuses the Industrial and the emotive with a dark atmosphere then this is definitely one to track down. Whether you’re a fan of Ævangelist, Axis of Perdition, Cloak of Altering, Ulver or Indian, Litost has something to offer you.
A very impressive release; I wasn’t expecting something to merge darkness and light so completely. Litost is a thing of grim beauty.
Corpo-Mente are from France and this is their début album.
Now this is something a bit different, a bit special.
This is exotic, sensual music that combines Dark Rock, Trip-Hop and Electro Avant-Garde.
This is powerful stuff that grips from the start with its highly individualistic sound.
The songs seem to slip and slide through the musical landscape and they seem to pulse with a deeply vibrant internal heat. The way the album moves through the running time is almost carnal in nature.
The vocals are operatic in nature and yet somehow still manage to remain intimate and personal. The singer has a strong voice and is extremely talented at what she does. She injects personality and charismatic inflection into the singing which results in the music avoiding the trap of rather faceless, impersonal operatic vocals that some bands who employ them can sometimes fall into.
The music is multi-textural and richly evocative of sumptuous soundscapes. It’s also filled with haunting melodies and quite beautiful compositions. There is a definite darkness here, sometimes quite menacing in tone.
With enough “hair-standing-on-end” moments to stop anyone in their tracks, this is a must. What a highly accomplished collection of songs!
If you like bands like Ulver, Lethe, Manes, etc. then this is a definite highlight to be seized.
A surprise and a pleasure; Corpo-Mente have made a firm fan here.
Wonderbox Metal 