Artist: Ebony Pendant
Country: USA
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital
Year: 2025
One of the American Black Metal bands that has caused the most stir in recent years is undoubtedly the one-man project Ebony Pendant. If we disregard the minor controversy surrounding his involvement with Degraved and the resulting cancellation of the split 7″ EP with Cystic by the outspoken anti-fascist Iron Lung Records, Ebony Pendant is primarily a band with an excellent output.
The fact that Simon Coseboom does not shy away from controversy and has his music published not only by labels such as Forbidden Sonority, Goatowarex and His Wounds but also with the disputed ASRAR undoubtedly helped to promote his main project worldwide. However, whereas in situations like this it often seems like a distraction from a lack of talent and musical insight, that is absolutely not the case with Ebony Pendant. I am convinced that even without all this, Ebony Pendant would have claimed a place among the current top American Black Metal bands.
This third album is yet another grand display of Black Metal elitism, where exciting melodies and tempo changes, a colourful range of riffs and folky passages collide. The music is brimming with exciting and suspenseful riffs that do seem to harken back to the tremolo-driven of what we know commonly refer to as Finnish Black Metal, even Ebony Pendant’s tendency to lean a bit towards the folky kind of melodies bears that same resemblance. Melody and atmosphere not dictated by excessive use of keyboards and synthesizers, but by strong riffs that repeat and swirl around like a cold winter breeze. This ties in with the beautiful oil painting artwork of this latest piece, which is not only a real eye-catcher but also perfectly matches what Ebony Pendant is expressing here.
Although the black and white winter landscape artwork may imply that ‘Threnodies From The Coldlands’ is primarily a traditional piece of Black Metal, this is only partly true. The semi-acoustic and somewhat folky ambient sections, and especially the impressive guitar leads and solos, ensure that this latest album is a pre-eminently wider-ranging type of Black Metal. And, not least, in terms of composition, it is undoubtedly the strongest Ebony Pendant album to date.
