Artist: Countess
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Self-Released
Formats: CD
Year: 2026
For fans of straightforward Black Metal with a nod to the past and a thick, heavy Pagan vibe, Countess is a solid fixture in their lives. For years now, this stubborn band has been releasing albums that win the approval of equally die-hard Black Metal fans, but which have never reached the general public. And to put it bluntly, this is something the band doesn’t give a flying fuck about. Although the pace of new releases has slowed considerably—the last two albums were released in 2016 (‘Fires Of Destiny’) and 2021 (‘Banners Of Blood’), the quality remains consistently high, leaving many fans eager to hear new Countess material.
Countess traces its origins to the very early 1990s, and since then the band has undergone a significant stylistic shift, which has crept into their musical formula gradually, as you’ll notice if you listen to all their albums in sequence. Their current style, however, has remained unchanged for many years now and has become so inextricably linked to the name Countess that it has effectively become a musical synonym. ‘The End Of Time’, Countess’s seventeenth full-length album, delivers exactly what we want to hear…
No one would expect Countess to suddenly sound polished, but the heathen melodies have come to play an increasingly larger and more prominent role, and that is certainly the case on ‘The End Of Time’. Still, the crackling vocals of veteran Orlok ensure that this won’t be the album that gets them their big break. These are what you might call classic “love-it-or-hate-it” vocals. But it also makes this a thoroughly recognizable Countess album. Add to that the atmospheric and prominent keyboards and a few well-placed guitar leads, and you have an album that certainly holds its own against the previous two albums, which largely follow in each other’s footsteps.
Including the two previous albums mentioned above, this is the third Countess album the band has released independently. Although I don’t know the full story behind this, as far as I’m concerned, it adds an extra dimension to the band’s perseverance and overall “fuck-off” mentality; no label? Then we’ll just do it ourselves. For that alone, this unique Dutch band deserves all the praise, appreciation, and support it can get.
