Category Archives: Black Metal
Prosanctus Inferi – Hypnotic Blood Art (2020)
The last Prosanctus Inferi album, Noctambulant Jaws Within Sempiternal Night, was a masterpiece of dark, blasphemous, and intricate black/death metal. But it’s been seven years since, and as was hinted by the Pulpit Sycophants demo from last year, the new … Continue reading →
Human Agony – Putrescence Of Calvary (2019)
Putrescence of Calvary is unabashed Blasphemy worship channeled through the likes of Pseudogod, but eclipses both by virtue of tighter songs than the first and less knuckle-dragging than the latter. As the video below of the band’s life performance illustrates, … Continue reading →
Sammath – Across The Rhine Is Only Death (2019)
I read somewhere that metal as opposed to rock n roll is thought over feeling, meaning that the metal musician feels first and then reasons upon that initial feeling to come up with an expression of his intellect. It is … Continue reading →
Death by melody: Denial of God – The Hallow Mass (2019) & The Spirit – Cosmic Terror (2020)
Depending on who you ask, The Hallow Mass can be considered a heavy metal album with black metal trimmings, or a black metal album in the original sense of the term, where extra-musical theme and imagery override actual musical technique. … Continue reading →
Teitanblood – Death (2014)
Teitanblood came to notoriety with Seven Chalices ten years ago, an album though harsh compared to its contemporaries still containing enough nods to conventional death metal tropes. All that went out of the window with 2014’s Death; on this album, … Continue reading →
Deathspell Omega – The Furnaces Of Palingenesia (2019)
Deathspell Omega‘s new album is an Orwellian critique of today’s ideological Left presented as an address from would-be demagogues to their cadres. Some may say that the band’s commentary can be applied to either side of the political spectrum, that … Continue reading →
Prosanctus Inferi – Pulpit Sycophants (Demo, 2019)
Prosanctus Inferi return after five years with a collection of demos in anticipation of a proper full length later in the year. No other contemporary band in death metal has quite managed to capture the idea of music as blasphemy … Continue reading →
Abigor – Höllenzwang: Chronicles of Perdition (2018)
On Höllenzwang, Abigor continue to dabble on the fringes of experimental dark metal while also making a conscious effort at including references to traditional black metal aesthetic. The result is an uneasy alliance and an exhausting listen, where mood and … Continue reading →
Mefitis – Widdrim Hymn (2018)
Mefitis – Widdrim Hymn This short EP from black-death band Mefitis reinjects the potency of narrative sorely gone missing from modern black metal, calling to mind the emotionally layered tapestries of such classics as Dissection and Dawn. Where your garden-variety “orthodox” … Continue reading →
Profanatica’s artful simplicity
All music ever aims to do is capture one aspect of psychology with sincerity and a degree of verisimilitude. Music doesn’t necessarily have to cover the entire breadth of human emotion; such a task is not only near-impossible, but also … Continue reading →