“Immersing myself in the twisted, feral cauldron of Dark Evils Desecrate and its relentless assault, Tanin’iver appear hellbent on writing the most ugly, evil, and uncompromising anthems as possible to soundtrack a fiery apocalypse. Bells, whistles, and gimmicks are jettisoned for an old school underground sound converging in the dankest underground corners where raw black metal brawls with death and thrash influences.” Dark for darkness sake.
Listurnalia is almost over. But we can’t conclude it without a list from your favorite AMG writer, can we?
![Sworn – A Journey Told Through Fire [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Sworn-A-Journey-Told-Through-Fire-01.jpg.webp)
“Hailing from Bergen, Norway,Sworn have been toiling away in relative anonymity since 2005. Two early, and frankly unremarkable, records were followed by a nine-year gap before the release of 2018’s very good, Dark Stars and Eternity. Melodic black metal with a ton of atmosphere, and sounding more Finnish than Norwegian for much of its run, the album was only really hampered by a slightly questionable mix. There is no question, however, that it represented a real step up in quality for the quartet when compared to their first two outings. Scroll forward to July this year and, still unsigned, Sworn dropped their fourth LP, A Journey Told through Fire.” The fire still burns.
“Well, well, well. How time flies. On 7 November 2018, my first ever review, under the unassuming alias of Nameless_N00b_17, was posted for The Grand Manifestation by Sweden’s Third Storm. Almost five years on, despite various spates of chronic overrating and hopefully showing some improvement in my writing, I am still here to see Third Storm return with their sophomore album, The Locust Mantra.” Bugnado.
“The Great Demise combined Dissection black, Hypocrisy death, and Amon Amarth melodeath to deliver a rollercoaster of intricacies, riff changes, builds, and atmospheres. At times, it worked. At times, it didn’t. As a whole, The Great Demise was missing the fluidity to pull everything together. Now they’re back with a Covid-inspired follow-up whose theme concerns mental health. This concept alone instills high-charged emotion into the album. But how Sodomisery delivers it completely floored me.” Sodom misers!
“After almost a decade of utter fear that Onheil was no longer with us, ‘black metal’s Iron Maiden’ are back with In Black Ashes. When Dok Grier was a mere infant in the AMG ranks (and not yet a household name that all praise), he stumbled upon Storm Is Coming and has been erect ever since.” Onheil, on high.
“I love albums that make me feel cold. Hamferð’s Tamsins likam has that effect; regardless of environment or actual temperature, listening makes me feel as though I’m wrapped in darkness, walking through the dead of winter. October Falls’s The Plague of a Coming Age has a similar effect. These albums are prized in my library. In a non-menacing way, they conjure darkness in the most comforting way possible. Always I’m on the lookout for more, and today, I have found some. Hailing from Denmark, Sunken release their second album, Livslede, which roughly translates into “a profound and lasting discomfort with existence.” To summarize: it is dark, it is emotional, and it is fantastic.” Sunken woe-nuts.
“I was going to take this week off. Contrary to what you might expect, being unable to go to a physical office (as I am) actually lowers the amount of music I consume on a regular basis. I’ve scarcely listened to anything that I’m not writing a review for in weeks, and it’s been starting to get to me. So I decided to take a break. No review-writing, just for a little bit. I came really close to pulling it off too, but a late addition to the promo pit piqued my interest, and all was lost. Theosophy had come, and the next thing I knew I was sampling the Russian quartet’s take on thunderous black metal via their fifth full-length, Towers of Dark Pantheon.” Time heist.
“At any given time, it’s a safe bet that I’m craving new atmospheric black metal. Take your blackest metal impulses, turn down the fury and turn up the melodies, and I’m probably a happy fan! I enjoy black metal a lot, but tend to prefer less angry and more melody in the style. So seeing Marrasmieli and their debut album, Between Land and Sky labelled as “folk/black metal” in the Promo Pit was plenty good enough for me.” Black lite.
“I normally dislike interludes intensely – the recent, very good Tool album, for example, I recreated as a playlist minus the four interludes because they annoyed the crap out of me. So an album called Interlude, with three tracks actually titled “Interlude,” plus an “Introduction” and final track “The End,” put me somewhat on edge. Despite having really liked the advance tracks for Maeskyyrn’s Interlude, I was expecting to have to report that here is yet another really promising album ruined by bloat and plinky … well, interludes.” Interludes, man.
