“One man atmospheric black metal projects. You know ’em. You love ’em (or you love to hate ’em). They’re everywhere. Precious few manage to make it into the annals of great acts, but there are notable ones such as Mare Cognitum and Aquilus whose output have made diehard fans out of me. Newcomers have it pretty rough now that those two, among several others, have set the bar as high as they have. Russian multi-instrumentalist George “Foltath” Gabrielyan stands bravely in front of that bar with his atmoblack project Gloosh (a transliteration of the Russian word for “wilderness,” “Ãëóøü”), determined to bring the genre to the next level with debut album Timewheel.” Put on yer Glooshes.
"mare cognitum"
Hexer – Cosmic Doom Ritual Review
“The titillating album title Cosmic Doom Ritual jumped out at me for being both a bluntly simple title and one that I expected would lead me into the atmospheric realm of my dreams. Each word stood out and beckoned me. Cosmic: I love all things space — Darkspace, Mare Cognitum, and Midnight Odyssey; Doom: I love all things, well, doom; Ritual: I love anything reminiscent of the primal sound of early Neurosis and Isis. These three things combined made me froth at the mouth like a dog with rabies.” Into the void with rabid dogs.
Vorga – Beyond the Palest Star Review
“Ah, space. How little we know of thee. How awestruck we are by thine crushing beauty. It’s no surprise, as I noted in my review for Vorga’s debut record, Striving Toward Oblivion, that artists across various fields and mediums draw inspiration from the immense, unknowable thing that is space. With such a deep well to draw from—as much in terms of raw data and information as in fiction and imagination—I doubt even the relative microcosm of black metal could ever exhaust this rich and ever-expanding resource. Picking up right where they left off in 2022, German melodic black metal quartet Vorga blast off into the deepest reaches of inky blackness.” MOARGA Vorga.
Volcandra – The Way of Ancients Review
“My roommate and good friend once got to meet Kentucky melodic black metal troupe Volcandra at work while I was stuck doing something infinitely less fun, I’m sure. I know this because she, familiar with how deeply entrenched I am in the metal scene, messaged me to ask, ‘Hey, do you know this band called Volcandra?’ I, of course, responded, ‘Yeah, they’re pretty good! Why?’ She replied, to paraphrase, ‘Yeah, I just got to meet them, and they seem really cool and nice.’ Imagine my thinly veiled jealousy as I came back with, ‘Oh that’s super cool!'” Womp womp.
Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light Volume 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]
“Crow Black Sky’s second album, Sidereal Light Volume 1, caught my eye in 2018 for several reasons. Firstly, it received a well-deserved 4.0 on this here blog. Secondly, it came from a band located in my home (and favorite city in the whole world), Cape Town, South Africa. For those unaware, extreme metal is a tough sell in Africa. No established scene, no radio support, few venues, and conservative crowds. Any metal band from Africa faces an uphill battle from the get-go, which makes it all the more astonishing how many cool bands South Africa produces. Crow Black Sky are no exception” Early birds arrive late.
Wyrgher – Panspermic Warlords Review
“Panspermia refers to the hypothesis that life exists all throughout the universe, distributed by comets, space dust, or, most controversially, spacecraft. It is this final idea that grounds the concept for Wyrgher’s sophomore album, Panspermic Warlords. An intentional, maliciously-motivated seeding of life by the titular rulers. In weaving their drama, Wyrgher’s brand of cosmic black metal harbors a marked disso-death streak and an uneasy warped atmosphere that wraps everything with an unsettling otherness.” Sowing the seeds of weird.
Ofnus – Time Held Me Grey and Dying Review
“Hailing from Wales and established in 2021, atmospheric black metal quintet Ofnus don’t even have a page on Metallum, yet are already signed to the well-established Naturmacht Productions. Primed to release their debut record, Time Held Me Grey and Dying, Ofnus aim to tug at the heartstrings and ensconce the listener in vast swaths of despair and grief. Atmospheric black metal is well known as a vehicle for such depressive moods, but we’ve also seen countless albums pass through these halls only to be forgotten entirely, the memory of our experience with them lost to a bottomless void from whence none return.” Get Ofnus my lawn!
Mental Cruelty – Zwielicht Review
“A Hill to Die Upon represents the steepest improvement between two albums that I encountered during my overextended employment at AMG Torture Racks and Surgical Paraphernalia. After the disappointing sophomore slump that was Inferis, I assumed the German troupe responsible for the mighty Purgatorium, a veritable clinic on killer slam riffs and technical prowess, burned too brightly too soon. But A Hill to Die Upon gained a well-deserved rating upgrade and remains one of my most revisited albums in the entire deathcore pantheon.” Hill kills.
Omega Infinity – The Anticurrent Review
“The infinite expanse. Oceans above. Stars whose light is a glimpse into the ancient past. Physics. Astrophysics. Space: the Final Frontier. Space odysseys are great unless you’re beaten to death with a bone by your ape bud or gaslit by your own computer – super awkward. Plenty of black metal has ventured beyond the firmament for some ethereal goodness, but do any of them chronicle creation?” Omega men.
Inherits the Void – The Impending Fall of the Stars Review
“The middle of the Venn diagram of melodic and atmospheric is where I find my favorite kind of black metal. Sizzling with the energy and catchiness of epic tremolo refrains and blastbeating tempos, and shimmering with veils of synth. If it’s a good example at least. Hence, I rushed to pick up Inherits the Void’s sophomore record The Impending Fall of the Stars as soon as I saw the magic adjectives melodic and atmospheric applied to their black metal style.” Void estate planning.