Atmospheric Black Metal

Summoning – With Doom We Come Review

By Eldritch Elitist on January 5, 2018 in 2018, Austrian Metal, Black Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 103 comments

“If I were tasked with appointing one artist as head of a guild of Tolkien-inspired musicians, Summoning would be my number one pick with a bullet. That’s not just because Protector and Silenius have been churning out reliably high quality material for over two decades. As an act that pays tribute to a man who created a fantasy realm so intricately as to craft entirely new languages for it, Summoning has always been similarly ambitious, spawning a musical language as beautiful as it is unique, as if it were forged from cultures that couldn’t possibly exist in our own realm.” Ring in the new year!

Battle Dagorath – II – Frozen Light of Eternal Darkness Review

By Eldritch Elitist on October 11, 2017 in 2017, Avantgarde Music, Black Metal, International Metal, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 27 comments

“Space is fucking big, and there’s an appropriately sizeable array of space-themed metal bands to match. Some artists approach the infinite blackness with a sense of child-like wonder, with bands like Star One and Keldian playing up sci-fi tropes in admiration of the majesty of the star ocean. Others, like Darkspace, channel the cosmos as an unparalleled force of nature; empty, suffocating, and impossibly cold. Battle Dagaroth, a band I had expected to be pure Summoning worship based on their name and ‘atmospheric black metal’ tag, is yet another act intent on aurally replicating the incomprehensible vastness of space.” In space no one can hear you frown.

Violet Cold – Anomie Review

By Treble Yell on July 24, 2017 in 2017, Azerbaijan Metal, Black Metal, Fólkvangr Records, Reviews, Tridroid Records, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 61 comments

“To say that 2016 was a tumultuous year would be an understatement akin to calling the thirty-year siege of Ceuta a “brief skirmish.” For all the trials and tribulations endured, last year did produce a heady number of quality metal albums that offered some comfort for the unfolding apocalypse. One of those albums was Magic Night by one-man black metal act Violet Cold, a bittersweet hour of instrumental blackgaze that earned a place on my year-end Top 10 list. Emin Guliyev, the sole puppeteer of Violet Cold, returns with a new album entitled Anomie, except this record re-inserts vocals for a release in line with traditional atmospheric black metal albums.” One man blizzard.

Sator Malus – Dark Matters Review

By Treble Yell on July 5, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Dutch Metal, Forever Plagued Records, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 18 comments

“What do you notice when you take in a Paul Gauguin? Do you admire the stark brush strokes and bold secondary colours? Maybe the uninhibited naturalism of the Tahitian subjects draws your eye? Or can you not get past the stunted proportions, flattened perspectives and homely faces? A similar divide exists in music. Some are pulled in by lyrical themes and instrument tone whereas others require a reproachless performance and complex song writing. Emotional stimulus versus technical ecstasy. Sator Malus, with their debut album, Dark Matters, are less concerned with peerless virtuosity than delivering a sombre mood suitable for an afternoon spent indoors carving runes.” Everything’s runed.

Eoront – Another Realm Review

By Grymm on June 19, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Code666 Records, Reviews, Siberian Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 14 comments

“Take a good hard look at your music collection. Go on, I’ll wait. Do you have a lot of black metal in your CD, vinyl, cassette, or MP3 collection? If not, ignore what I’m about to say, but if you do… how much of it is of the variety that Euronymous would shit his leather trousers for? There’s a good chance that there’s not much of it because, let’s face it, black metal has become such a gimongous umbrella that anything that may have hyper-blasts, tremolo riffing, and a production that cranks the high end up would fall into this category” Wield the black umbrella.

Anomalie – Visions Review

By Akerblogger on March 23, 2017 in 2017, Art of Propaganda, Austrian Metal, Black Metal, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 16 comments

‘Your daily dose of self-loathing, self-pity, and existential dread is brought to you by Austrian nihilists Anomalie. Visions, their third full-length, is 51-minutes of lead-heavy post-black depressiveness that’s intensified by stretches of sparse atmospherics and solemn neo-folk.” Ennui for you and me.

Concert Review: Ulcerate, Zhrine, Phobocosm, and Vukari at Reggie’s, Chicago, Illinois – November 27th, 2016

By Kronos on January 8, 2017 in American Metal, Bindrune Recordings, Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Icelandic Metal, Live Reviews, New Zealand Metal, Progressive Death, Relapse, Season of Mist, Technical Death Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 22 comments

“So it was with great portent that night fell upon Reginald’s Emporium of the Fine Arts, cloaking Chicago in a sickly sodium glow. Just on the edge of Chinatown, next to a bombed-out taco joint under the Green Line, brutality was brewing, summoned in darkness from the ragged edges of the Earth. And as the sun set, than the venue was assailed by… no one at all.” The abyss is a lonely place.

EP Edition [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

By El Cuervo on December 20, 2016 in 2016, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2016, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Neofolk, Progressive Rock, Thrash Metal, 57 comments

“Another year, another influx of new readers and writers at this mighty blog. Yet compared to those previously, this year has seen a significant growth in the consistency of our posts. A sad consequence of this is that EPs have increasingly fallen by the wayside as reviews of shitty full-length albums are summarily assigned to the probationary writers with reckless abandon.” We fixed the glitch.

Ash Borer – The Irrepassable Gate Review

By Dr. Wvrm on December 8, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Black Metal, Profound Lore Records, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 16 comments

“I will admit off the bat that I did not know what I was walking into with Ash Borer. They were a random pick, as our promo sheet is currently blacker than an Ad Reinhardt ten-part series on being born blind. I missed the boat on the so-called “Cascadian black metal” scene after several unsatisfying jaunts with Wolves in the Throne Room, but I’m down to see what all the hype is about.” Hype can truly be a bore.

Urfaust – Empty Space Meditation Review

By Roquentin on October 30, 2016 in 2016, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Drone, Dutch Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Drone, 14 comments

“‘…the universe is a flaw in the purity of non-being.’ It’s this thought by French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry that sprung into my mind while listening and re-listening to the latest record by Dutch ambient black metal duo Urfaust. Their style was always born out of a sense of desolation and isolation, a tribute to emptiness, owing equally to dark ambient and metal.” Of being and ambience.