Artist: Kerkerengel
Country: Finland
Label: Wizard’s Hat Publications
Formats: Cassette tape
Year: 2026
It’s been a year since the latest Warmoon Lord record surfaced, but main man Lord Vrăjitor did not waste time since to revisit one of his more fascinating projects. In 2024 he unleashed his solo project Kerkerengel, an altogether much more vile Black Metal entity that impressed with their debut ‘…From a Dishonoured Grave’. And the Raw Black Metal crusade continues with ‘Raadon Unia’, released on tape through Wizard’s Hat Publications.
While there’s certainly a restless energy in the latest Warmoon Lord album, this sense of unease is fully amplified in Kerkerengel. This is not so much by using the same musical components but rather by different influences and a much more suffocating sound. For one the undertone of the music is far more disturbing, and can be roughly described as a mixture of Warloghe, early Satanic Warmaster and Clandestine Blaze with a strong nod to the French Black Metal scene of the 90’s. But also in terms of production Kerkerengel is much rawer than Warmoon Lord. Compared to the first album, the sound on ‘Raadon Unia’ is even more raw and creeps further towards Lo-Fi territories, with drums pushed far into the back while adding further distortion to the guitars and vocals. Musically things have remained fairly the same however. The tempo is still almost uniformly pummeling, with snarling vocals and eerie keyboards that at times get properly otherwordly and downright freaky. Compared to ‘…From a Dishonoured Grave’ these keyboards appear a little bit more integral to the sound, but other than that the album feels like a logical continuation of the debut.
Those adept with these raw mixes will find that buried under the unpolished sonic wall there is certainly some musicality in the riffs. And the more woven through addition of the keyboards elevate the discomfort in the sound and atmosphere. But make no mistake about it, if you appreciate the work of Warmoon Lord then by no means is Kerkerengel an instant click. This is gnarly and raw Black Metal through and through and takes a trained ear to fully appreciate.
While Warmoon Lord continuous to push towards more substantial and complex Black Metal, shifting towards the likes of Emperor and Obtained Enslavement, Kerkerengel feels like the exact opposite. With ‘Raadon Unia’ Lord Vrăjitor pushes the band further into the Lo-Fi direction, channeling all his rage in another noisy, violent and unsettling record. Very different from his other work, but certainly no less intriguing!
