Below is the debut full-length from one-person ambient black metal project Lhaäd. This description is likely to conjure up worrisome images of self-indulgent hours-long snoozefests that use tepid atmospheres to mask lazy writing. But Belgian multi-instrumentalist Lykormas, Lhaäd’s prolific mastermind, is not so easy to pigeonhole.” Pigeons without homes.
“Admission time: My timing, when it comes to our promo bin, quite frankly sucks. By the time it comes to reviewing a new album, either the week is spoken for due to my teammates devouring the contents of the bin in record time, or there’s some slim pickings in the bin. Case in point: Zarathustrian Impressions, the debut album from Pennsylvanian newcomers Polemicist, was one of a paltry few remaining albums left for me to scour.” Polemic pandemic.
“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.
