SWANS - The Glowing Man

Swans - The Glowing Man (2016, Young God Records)

Another behemoth piece of music from Swans has been released in June this year and I could not pass the fact that despite my pure enjoyment of this release and catching The Glowing Man tour in July, I deliberately procrastinated to write this review for a good six months. Frontman and band leader, Michael Gira is a generous artist that offers another double LP and lots of liner notes to his songs. As he states on his Bandcamp page, Gira will continue to make music under the Swans moniker but with different collaborators and will pull the plug to the incarnation of the band that he restarted in 2009. The conclusion of this chapter of Swans is just a way to continue into a new direction.

ETERITUS - Following The Ancient Path

Eteritus - Following The Ancient Path (2016, Godz Ov War Productions)

After a more than ten years I didn’t listened to a lot of Death Metal except for the bands I was really into. It is since last year that I discovered that I am such a sucker for the genre especially for Old School Death Metal. Beginning with the underrated and underappreciated Echelon release of last year, it went on with Live Burial this year and on and on. Released in June, Polish based Eteritus and their nine songs full lenght Following The Ancient Path is not bringing much new to the genre but plays it like 25 years veterans of the scene with killing riffs, thunderous breakdowns, and a really enjoyable production.

SORCIER DES GLACES - North

Sorcier Des Glaces - North (2016, Obscure Abhorrence Productions)

Back in the early 2000s, I was still discovering Black Metal and its most obscure bands of the second wave especially out of Norway. There was a website called American Nihilistic Underground Society whose’s musical reviews were highly influential on me and helped me to discover lesser known bands like SDG. Back then, I ordered directly from ‘’Roby’’ Sébastien Robitaille his first CD that he burned himself and printed the jacket from his computer. It was Snowland that he recorded by himself and sold almost as in the vein of tape trading back in the days. Shortly, we met at the record store he used to work for and I was a regular customer for many years after and he began to make me discover many of his favorite albums and talked a lot about his SDG project, that was on a hiatus back then, and his current project Moonlyght as well as Passages, Doom metal entry. It’s been many years since I’ve talked to Roby but I kept following his musical path because I always felt that he was carrying the essence of Black Metal.

ACHERONTE - Ancient Furies

Acheronte - Ancient Furies (2016, Satanath Records)

The number 7 is the key element of this new album by the Italians of Acheronte and their Black Metal that reminds of Bathory and their Under the Sign of the Black Mark era and Marduk’s Heaven Shall Burn When We Are Gathered. Ancient Furies is composed of seven songs, about seven monarchs for seven furies. In the vein of the second wave of Black Metal and the spirit of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem, Acheronte are giving many glimpses of well executed Black Metal.

HELLEBORUS - The Carnal Sabbath

Helleborus - The Carnal Sabbath (2016, Black Plague Records & Satanath Records)

Since its inception, the subgenre that is Black Metal has been reduced to many stereotypes and more often than not the creators behind the music were sole members or a few musicians. The brothers Houseman, Jerred and Wyatt have founded Helleborus in a goal to achieve something different with a masculine and romantic approach to the whole thing. I already see your eyebrows forming a strange W shape. Before you pass a judgement let’s see what it sounds like.

KOMMANDO - Distroyer / Iron Goat Triumph

Kommando – Distroyer / Iron Goat Triumph (2016, self-released)

Black Metal meets crust punk from Germany is the anthem of Kommando, a side-project of Dysangelium and Endstille members. And just as Crust goes they mock up with song titles with many puns like replacing the ‘’u’’ for ‘’v’’ and with titles like ‘’Old and In The Way’’ and ‘’Bitching Hour’’ someone with a little knowing of Metal in general will get it.

NEIGE ET NOIRCEUR - Les Ténèbres Modernes

Neige et Noirceur - Les Ténèbres Modernes (2016, Sepulchral Productions)

This one man band from Québec with its sole member Zifond and in this release the vocals of Schimaera offers another Ambiant Black Metal record that is based on the Great War or for the non-Historians the First World War of 1914-18.

FORTERESSE - Thèmes pour la Rébellion

Forteresse - Thèmes pour la Rébellion (2016, Sepulchral Productions)

The legendary band of Québécois Black Metal, or as they described it in their mother tongue Métal Noir québécois, Forteresse has already a wide fanbase and is probably one of the most well known Black Metal acts from Québec. As a side note, it is also my home and place of birth but I must add that I am not in touch in any way with the band and I got this promo by the usual daily promo emails. Nonetheless, it was one of the releases I was most excited to receive since there was a long wait and high expectations for Thèmes pour la Rébellion.

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.