Faidra – Militant : Penitent : Triumphant

Artist: FaidraCountry: SwedenLabel: Northern Silence ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 It seems that in the past year the number of new Atmospheric Black Metal bands has been through the roof. Or rather, it feels that the term…

Viharukous – Viimeisiä Houreita [EP]

Artist: Viharukous Country: Finland Label: Rat Covenant Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 After four demos, recorded in the timeframe between 2018 and 2021, this Finnish duo finally breaks a rather long silence with this latest offering, a 4-track EP (including…

Bergsvriden – Uråldrad [EP]

Artist: BergsvridenCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormat: Digital EPYear: 2023 When Trollmania formed Bergsvriden in 2013, he was soon joined by fellow Midvintersblot members Trollpung and Öltomten. Not entirely abandoning the Folk Metal sound of their other band, with Bergsvriden they aimed for…

Nuclearhammer – Xaos Tenawas – Demo MMXXIII [Demo]

Artist: Nuclearhammer Country: Canada Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: 12″ EP Year: 2023 Not counting the 90-minute compilation that was released in 2018 (and reissued in 2021 and 2022 on a double cassette release and double CD respectively), ‘Xaos…

Mortem Agmen – The Path To The Abyss Of Evil

Artist: Mortem Agmen Country: Germany Label: Nachzehrer Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 In Spring last year I was surprised by the great demo of a new German Black Metal band called Mortem Agmen, the haunting and sinister…

White Death – Iconoclasm

Artist: White DeathCountry: Finland / UruguayLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2023 When White Death released their eponymous debut album in 2017, the collective consisting of renowned musicians from the Finnish Black Metal scene had already shown to take their time to…

Vincent Crowley – Anthology Of Horror

Artist: Vincent Crowley Country: USA Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 It feels rather pointless to write an introduction on the works of Vincent Crowley. Not only has the man a much discussed and rather notorious history…

Pyra – Those Who Dwell In The Fire

Artist: Pyra Country: Italy Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 In autumn 2022 the Italian Black Metal band Pyra introduced itself with their self-titled 5-track EP, which positioned the band in that smothering twilight zone between…

Ûngrûn – Itjinge Tonei Barre Scil

Artist: ÛngrûnCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: New Era ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 Friesland may be a province situated in the north of the Netherlands, but in a lot of ways it can be seen as a country within…

Witchcraft – Bestial Vociferation [Compilation]

Artist: Witchcraft Country: Finland Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP Year: 2023 In the wake of bands like Blasphemy, Beherit, early Impaled Nazarene, Archgoat, Profanatica and the likes came a quite a loyal following of both fans and bands…

Necrowretch – Swords Of Dajjal

Artist: Necrowretch Country: France Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Necrowretch has been amongst my favourite bands from the Old School Death Metal resurgence from around 2010. Yet, being completely different…

Departure Chandelier – Satan Soldier Of Fortune

Artist: Departure Chandelier Country: Canada Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Although the band already released a demo and a split 7” EP (with the underrated Dutch Black Metal act Blood Tyrant), Departure Chandelier came…

Ignis Mortis – Hæresis Maleficarum [EP]

Artist: Ignis MortisCountry: FinlandLabel: Hammer of Hate RecordsFormats: MCDYear: 2024 The origins of Ignis Mortis lie in Evil Might, a Helsinki based band formed in 2019. While it is unclear what the current status of the band is, the departure…

Warorath – Verikirous

Artist: Warorath Country: Finland Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 After having been formed in 2019, it took this Finnish Black Metal band a few years to come up with their first recordings. Yet, in 2023 the band came out…

Burning Winds – Return To Hell [Compilation]

Artist: Burning Winds Country: USA Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Unpure Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 Originally this compilation LP was released by the Polish label Unpure Records in Spring of 2021, specialised in…

Hulder – Verses In Oath

Artist: Hulder Country: USA Label: 20 Buck Spin Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 One of Black Metal’s brightest rising stars is without a doubt Hulder. Already with the band’s earliest output Hulder, the only sole behind…

Atomic Goatcrime – Atomic Goat Exterminium! [EP]

Artist: Atomic Goatcrime Country: Ecuador Label: Anti-Human Productions Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Atomic Goatcrime is a new one-man band from Ecuador, it presents its first effort, ‘Atomic Goat Exterminium!’ through Canadian label of all things perverted, Anti-Human Productions. Four…

Tírad Dûr – Skeletal Sun [Demo]

Artist: Tírad Dûr Country: USA Label: Sekf-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 As a follow-up to 2022’s ‘Fell Light In Windy Cloud’ arrived to us by the end of 2023, it marks the second release of Kūwāha’ilo’s second offering with…

Infernal Angels – Shrine Of Black Fire

Artist: Infernal Angels Country: Italy Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Infernal Angels is such a band that I have heard of before, but only by name. Despite the fact that the band is presenting their…

Taranis – Postmortem Spheres

Artist: Taranis Country: Belgium Label: Iron Pegasus Records Formats: CD Year: 2023 Admittedly, I didn’t foresee this second coming of Belgium’s Taranis. Over a decade after having put the band to rest, Taranis-main man Björn Desmet apparently revived the band…

Velvet Sorrow – Demo I

Artist: Velvet Sorrow Country: USA Label: Luciferous Cruor Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 In recent years the little niche of raw yet atmospheric Black Metal has spawned a lot of bands, but amongst them are a lot bands that using…

Bergrizen – Die Falle

Artist: Bergrizen Country: Ukraine Label: Purity Through Fire Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Ukrainian Bergrizen has released no less than two albums in 2023. ‘Orathania’ from September last year almost entirely comprised of Ambient/Dark Folk-music with which it is…

Orgy Of Carrion – Rusted Gateways [EP]

Artist: Orgy Of Carrion Country: USA Label: Perverse Homage Formats: Digital EP Year: 2024 Commonly regarded as being one of the flag bearers of the resurgence of the Raw Black Metal scene from the second half of the 10’s, Orgy…

Kasturn – The Torchbearer Fades

Artist: Kasturn Country: United Kingdom Label: Unmatched Dominance Formats: Digital Year: 2024 Early last year, spring 2023, Kasturn’s ‘Rehearsal Promo 23’ popped up at my radars and knew to impress me, even with only 15 minutes of rawly recorded music.…

Diabolic Night – Beneath the Crimson Prophecy

Artist: Diabolic NightCountry: GermanyLabel: High Roller Records / Mortal Rite RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 The impact of the wave of Teutonic Metal bands from the 80’s can still vividly be felt in today’s metal scene. Not…

Lore – Altars Of The Precipice Possession [EP]

Artist: Lore Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released / Inferna Profundus Records Formats: Cassette Tape / 12″ EP Year: 2023 Of course, a cover with a winter scene of trees on a mountain is not very unique; ever since Ulver’s debut…

Reflet Crépusculaire – Vanished Scripts

Artist: Reflet Crépusculaire Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 Out of the deepest and darkest corners of the French underground Black Metal scene comes Reflet Crépusculaire, one of the acts that has been intriguing me ever since I first…

Funeral Winds – 333

Artist: Funeral Winds Country: The Netherlands Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Although Funeral Winds never officially stopped it went on some sort of hibernation after the ‘Nexion Xul – The Cursed Bloodline’-album from 2007. Hellchrist Xul…

Nocturnal Terror – Blasphemous Crushing Of Angels [EP]

Artist: Nocturnal Terror Country: Brazil Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2024 After a couple demos Brazilian Black Metal band Nocturnal Terror self-released their debut album in October of 2023 and for those who heard these first recordings know that…

Sanctum Sathanas – Into The Eternal Satanic Damnation

Artist: Sanctum Sathanas Country: Chile Label: Inferna Profundus Records Formats: LP Year: 2023 In recent years, an increasing proportion of today’s Black Metal scene has come from South American countries, with Chile being the main purveyor. From that country comes…

Genocidal Rites – Eternal Samhain [EP]

Artist: Genocidal Rites Country: USA Label: 18 Is 9 Records And Tapes Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Last year I reviewed ‘Exsanguination Of The Gods’, a tape-only release by Genocidal Rites. It was a short but sweet EP, presented by…

Kirous – VII [Demo]

Artist: Kirous Country: Finland Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2023 Literally on the very edge of 2023, on December 30th, hard working Finnish one-man force Kirous releases yet another short but sweet digital demo. Like the title already suggests,…

Wolftower – Throne Of Nightfall’s Wrath

Artist: Wolftower Country: Finland Label: Inferna Profundus Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2023 In the very waning weeks of 2023 Finland’s Wolftower treats us with yet another new release, the twelfth in total but after a lot of…

Moonlight Sword – Imperial Dragoon Kommando [Demo]

Artist: Moonlight Sword Country: USA Label: Oakheart Production Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 In 2022 the one-woman band Moonlight Sword released two fine digital demos, that both also appeared on cassette tape by the Belgian Rabauw label. Carmilla II Dracul,…

Arzhaabat – In Veligrad Shadows

Artist: Arzhaabat Country: Czechia Label: Cosmic Cause Productions Formats: Cassette tape Year: 2023 After a demo and a single, both released on cassette tape in early 2023, the prolific MBN (or Vaérmiyr), who is also known for Blau Blut, Svor, CEP and the…

Hail Conjurer – Satanic Phenomenology

Artist: Hail Conjurer Country: Finland Label: Bestial Burst Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 One of the most intriguing Finnish Black Metal bands definitely is Hail Conjurer, the band’s otherworldly take on Black Metal has already resulted in a…

Wolftower – The Unholy Embrace Of Vampire [EP]

Artist: Wolftower Country: Finland Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Ever since the early 20’s Finnish one-man band Wolftower have been firing away one release after the other, yet none of them ever featured on these pages. Strange…

Haan Valar – Devotion To Xemzara [Demo]

Artist: Haan Valar Country: USA Label: Mamzer Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Apart from the big commercial success of Rotting Christ, that mythical sound of Greek Black Metal has always been loved, it was mostly appreciated by a small…

Nekromanteion – The Sinister Flame [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Nekromanteion Country: Bolivia Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2024 Nekromanteion from Bolivia came to my path with their split 7” EP with Nebiros (2014) and the following ‘Cosmic Horrors’ 7” EP from 2015, both released by…

Funeral Vomit – Monumental Putrescence

Artist: Funeral Vomit Country: Colombia Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 Founded not too long ago, in 2020, this Colombian Death Metal band unleashed some first recordings in the form of two split EP’s,…