“Something in the warmth of Grecian waters has stirred a strange black metal beast. The devil writhes with a Dionysian disregard for evil and frost. In Greece, there’s a playfulness to the black metal of bands like Hail Spirit Noir, Aenaon and Varathron. Featuring members of the three bands, Katavasia is a blackened heavy metal monstrosity that channels Greek myth, Satan’s charms and Babylonian conspiracy.” Magnus opus.
“There is a vast root system that feeds the evergreen Swedish black metal tree. Svederna, releasing their third full-length, are nourished by the richness of blackened soil. Big daddy Bathory watches all, followed by a rabble of miscreant off-spring in the form of Marduk, Dissection, and Watain. These are just the tip of a massive iceberg; there are countless black metal bands (and death metal is a different story altogether) buried in gold beneath the surface. Svederna, then, are modern flag bearers adding to the lineage.” Branches of evil.
“Silver Knife’s sound is driven by an “aggressive melancholy.” The scathing edge to their knife is laced with poison, ready to slice through the next layer, ready to inflict greater pain. A reinvigorating dose of melancholic black metal has been missing from 2020. This year needs a realistic soundtrack. The depressive duo of Silver Knife met before the world collapsed in 2008. Dutch multi-instrumentalist N. (most known for being one of the three masterminds behind weird black trio Laster) and Belgian S. (most known for wielding the axe for Hypothermia, Trancelike Void and Monads) have painted a collaborative picture of melancholic dread with Unyielding/Unseeing, their first release.” Knife life.
“A Colin Marston produced release featuring Kenny Grohowski of Imperial Triumphant, and Matt Hollenberg of Cleric/John Zorn? What could go wrong? Well, a lot. But, also, there’s potential for some mind-bending magic to be cast through Cactides, the debut release by avant/instrumental trio Titan to Tachyons.” Spikey.
“Misery Signals have been signalling misery by hybridising their metalcore vehicle with flashy touches of thrash, post-rock and progressive metal. Although elements of these other genres make appearances, Misery Signal’s engine is pure metalcore. Since forming in Wisconsin in 2002, Misery Signals have released four full-lengths. Their last record – Absent Light – was released in 2013. Seven years is a long time. A lot has changed.” Time, tide, and trend.
“We all know a veteran metalhead who shows up to every gig – that older fella who has been going to shows since 1974, standing in the same spot, never going to the toilet, just nodding his head and occasionally, slowly, raising horns to the sky. He usually has wispy grey-white hair that flows, wizard like, to his ankles. He usually wears a faded Morbid Angel t-shirt purchased at a ’87 gig when they passed through the town. He has a battle jacket packed with patches of obscure speed-metal bands from 1985 and crust-punk bands from Wales. He was born on the sticky floor of the venue. He is God. The members of Shed the Skin are the same. They’re the grizzled veterans of the death metal scene.” Olde skin.
“The intense drama of a misanthropic black metal release arrives to a listener as both a serious work of art and an absurd, sometimes even comical, view of the way things are – a mirror. Spain’s Aversio Humanitatis seek to abandon humanity through their music. They’ve had enough. We’re too far down the rabbit hole.” Resisting life.
“With their cosmic, dense blackened doom, this two-piece seek to conjure a dark Swiss magic. In 2015 they released their debut record Ilmasaari, a psychedelically wrapped piece of doom. Five years later they’ve reemerged from the shadows with Kaikuja.” Swiss mist.
“The aftermath of a bloody battle. The buzz of blowflies and corpse-eating beetles: a lament. A ritual chanted amongst rotting corpses. Spirits rise, coil, uncoil. This is the beginning of Sinistral King’s Serpent Uncoiling, an esoteric, mystical approach to black metal.” Hail to the King.
“Alkymist are here to enhance their own maturation of the progressive metal medium, imbuing a curious genre-bending identity to the extreme metal pot. Dragur are the undead – icy, chaotic, magical creatures risen from the dead to live a second life. They are the malevolence of alchemy and at the heart of this record. Sanctuary – Alkymist’s second full-length – is the sound of humanity in refuge, fighting against the twisted world of alchemy’s waste.” Magic against mankind.
