Artist: Faerie Magic
Country: USA/Australia
Label: Black Omen
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
What we have here is a new band making its debut with ‘Upon The Black Soil’. But while Faerie Magic is a new band, the three musicians involved are by no means newcomers. This is the result of bringing together the talents of Angeldestruction (of Bereft Raven, Noctis Bellum, Traum, and Onyxblade, among others), Eldrinacht (Ancient Necromancy, Black Funeral, Gharmelicht, and Cult Of Thaumiel), and The Seer (Lament in Winter’s Night, Midnight Betrothed, and Pissmoon). These are certainly not the least notable names in today’s underground Black Metal scene, and the result certainly lives up to that reputation…
In fact, ‘Upon The Black Soil’ is not so different from what you would expect from these three musicians. If you would blend up all of the other and previous bands they were involved in, it might just sound like Faerie Magic. It is not quite a piece of easy-listening Black Metal, not because it is extremely harsh, noisy or lo-fi, but because it is quite unorthodox in the way it is all put together.
‘Upon The Black Soil’ has a strong pagan character and draws heavily on folk-inspired elements, which is particularly evident in the closing track ‘Crepuscular Harvest,’ which revolves largely around some “clean” humming. But also throughout the full demo there’s more than one folky melody woven into the music, which offers a stunning contrast with the piercing guitar sound that is as bare boned as the majority of the today’s strongest contenders of the Black/Punk movement like Kūka’ilimoku or Chevallier Skrog. Yet, the riffing itself is rather traditional and reminds of the late 90s work of Darkthrone.
Together this makes for a quite an interesting listen. It clearly has bits and pieces from almost everything that Raw Black Metal has had to offer since the mid-90s. The punkish vibe of Akitsa and Bone Awl, the quirky and stripped-down kind of folkishness of Ildjarn and pure Black Metal tradionalism: it’s all there and it is kept together with some clever song writing. If this checks all your boxes, it might be good to give ‘Upon The Black Soil’ a shot.
