RECITATIONS - The Firsts of the Listeners

Recitations - The Firsts of the Listeners (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Norway and Black Metal, Black Metal and Norway, you get it? Right? Okay so we can pass to something else. This band, which there is no information about anywhere has just released through Avantgarde Music a piece of four tracks of Contemporary Black Metal.

MESARTHIM - .- -... ... . -. -.-. .

Mesarthim - .- -... ... . -. -.-. . (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Australia and Black Metal have a weird connection and many bands as Midnight Odyssey and Mesarthim have embraced the Darkspace bandwagon of Atmospheric Black Metal with a penchant for the cosmos themes. Many bands have done the same deal with more or less success. In the case of Mesarthim, a recent one man band, formed in 2015, the melodies and common grounds of the Atmospheric Black Metal was learnt very well. Does it translate in the album weirdly titled .- -... ... . -. -.-. .?

ASHBRINGER - Yûgen

Ashbringer - Yûgen (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Minnesota wunderkind Nick Stanger made some kind of an impact with the release of his first LP Vacant a year ago. Ashbringer was another Northern American one man band that could go under the radar like many others. Young Stanger was eighteen at the time he recorded Vacant  and his interpretation of the genre surprised with his compositions and deep understanding of Black Metal.

NÉVOA - Re Un

Névoa - Re Un (2016, Avantgarde Music)

For anyone who has ever gone fishing, one knows that to grab a fish once it is hooked you must be wearing a glove or taking it on board with a net. The music of Névoa from Portugal, a young duo of multi-instrumentalists, might be like the fishing metaphor. Meaning they get from Black Metal to Doom with Sludge passages in the four songs of their new record titled Re Un.

DROUGHT - Rudra Bhakti [EP]

Drought - Rudra Bhakti (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Another mysterious Black Metal act that doesn’t even inform of its provenance. Revolving around themes of the Übermensch and the purification with fire and the metaphor of the warrior, Drought are playing a kind of Black Metal that comes close to its purity. Read here : something like DarkThrone’s Soulside Journey or Immortal’s Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism. A Black Metal that is very close to Death Metal.

ASTRAL PATH - An Oath To The Void

Astral Path – An Oath To The Void (2016, Avantgarde Music)

The Canadian duo of Justin Bourdeau (vocals, guitar, drums) and Ana Dujakovic (bass, synth) of Astral Path recently released their debut album titled An Oath To The Void. Sometimes when a new band is formed and they release a new album we critics tend to say made up sentences like this is a promising first album and other banalities of the genre. 

THE HOWLING VOID - The Triumph of Ruin

The Howling Void – The Triumph of Ruin (2016, Avantgarde Music)

The highly prolific American one man band The Howling Void is back at releasing another funereal doom metal in full seriousness and epic ambition with The Triumph of Ruin.

THE CLEARING PATH – Abyss Constellation [EP] [2015 Blindspot]

The Clearing Path – Abyss Constellation EP (2015, Avantgarde Music)

A two songs EP of Italian progressive black metal gets us to think that black metal isn’t limited to the primitive boundaries of its second wave even with all the malignant sides it implies.

KRALLICE – Hyperion [EP]

Krallice – Hyperion (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Still hot from releasing Ygg Huur in 2015, Krallice strikes again with a powerful three songs EP of over 23 minutes of pure joy, in the metal fashion.

HORNWOOD FELL – Yheri [2015 Blindspot]

Hornwood Fell – Yheri (2015, Avantgarde Music)

Coming out of Italy, the Basili brothers of Hornwood Fell are exploring the boundaries of contemporary Black metal with a penchant for a Ved Buens Endesque sonority.

SOL – The Storm Bells Chime

SOL – The Storm Bells Chime (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Sometimes the promo material that I receive for my reviews has descriptions that isn’t really giving away the nature of the work that it is sent. For example, the latest release of SOL, a Danish band from Emil Brahe that  explored many genres since its inception in 2000, was described as Experimental / Martial Ambiant Doml. It couldn’t be more unspecific than that.

FIFTH TO INFINITY – Omnipotent Transdimensional Soulfire

Fifth to Infinity – Omnipotent Transdimensional Soulfire (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Coming out of Sweden, drummer Martin Lopez’s (ex-Opeth, ex-Amon Amarth, ex-Eternal, ex-Vinterkrig) new band is a melodic black metal band that might connect with the recent success of Tribulation’s The Children of the Night in its blend of extreme music and rock grooves. With Fifth tho Infinity we have a Death metal edge and breakdown riffs that could help but makes us headbang to the music.

VIRVEL AV MORKERHATET – Metamorphosia

Virvel Av Morkerhatet – Metamorphosia (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Virvel Av Morkerhatet was formed from the ruins of the band Den Of Winter in 2008 and in 2010 released the debut album Forsaken Hate Sickness, mainly including material accumulated over the years of the Den of Winter existence. In 2013 the band changed their course and started to work on the second full-length album, which was going to mark a new era of Virvel Av Morkerhatet.

OLD FOREST – Dagian

Old Forest – Dagian (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Named after the Old Forest of the œuvre of J.R.R. Tolkien, just as many other Black metal projets, British cult band Old Forest is making melodic metal with the Black metal spirit while keeping the atmospheric element as the central aspect of their new release Dagian.

COSTIN CHIOREANU – The Quest For A Morning Star

Music Review : Costin Chioreanu – The Quest For A Morning Star (2015, Avantgarde Music)

Written and recorded to raise funds for the victims of the Bucharest fire that happened on October 30 2015 at the Collective nightclub that killed 60 people and injured 151. The profits of this release will be donated to pay medical bills and funeral expenses of those who have been affected by the fire.

SIVYJ YAR – Burial Shrouds

Music Review : Sivyj Yar – Burial Shrouds (2015, Avantgarde Music)

Highly prolific band or one man band, Sivyj Yar (an ancient deity of Slavs) and its sole member Vladimir from Russia, has released five albums since 2009. With lyrics recalling the early times of Varg Vikernes in the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, Sivyj Yar is navigating between thrash metal, black metal, avant-garde, and even post-rock. There’s also a huge sensibility of progressive rock of the 1970’s and a bit of distant shoegazing that the music evokes.