Artist: Azelsglare
Country: Spain
Label: Diabolical Vitriol
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2025
‘When The Purity Of Winter Falls’, ironically released in the middle of the Spanish summer of 2024, may well go down in the books as one of the most interesting demos of that year. Although the band began as an international trio (with an American and Colombian in addition to a Spaniard), only Ephel is still with the band, but it was no problem for him to take matters into his own hands and come up with a fresh EP at the beginning of this new year.
And frankly, ‘Autumn Passes As The Winds Starts Their Chant’, now released in the heart of winter, is a glorious step up from the band’s first demo recording. This EP’s dense and rather oppressive sound offers a great contrast against the majestic Pagan riffs. In the booklet Ephel sends his “Eternal Hails” to Diabolical Fullmoon, Gontyna Kry, Fullmoon, Elitism, Carpathia and Nazgul. And, well, I couldn’t come up with a more accurate description of what ‘Autumn Passes As The Winds Starts Their Chant’ sounds like.
That ‘When The Purity Of Winter Falls’ caused a modest stir among followers of the small niche that is Raw/Pagan Black Metal was entirely justifiable. Those same people can have even more fun with this new EP, as these five new songs (including a short acoustic intro and outro) can already safely be counted among the highlights of this still so young year.
The dark sound and epic melodies gently swirl around each other like a true autumn breeze (also applicable in other seasons) in a nocturnal ritual. The magic that characterizes many of the genre’s classics can also be found on this EP, add to that the vertiginous dynamics primarily defined by the ferocious fast bursts and you have the matrix for a very promising band. People enamoured of the bands mentioned above and in the Russian/Ukrainian grandeur of bands from the Blazebirth Hall, Walknut or Drudkh and Ygg should pay attention.
