Melodic Black Metal

Horrified – Allure of the Fallen Review

By Dr. Wvrm on September 28, 2017 in 2017, British Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Shadow Kingdom Records, Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 55 comments

“Horrified is in a bit of an odd place. Parallels to Philadelphia death outfit Horrendous are apt, with Horrified’s first two albums delivering exactly the slabs of modernized Swedeath you might expect. Though 2016’s magnificent Of Despair put the band on the map, Horrified mastermind Dan Alderson himself immediately touted their next album as ‘something with an even larger and dynamic range of influences… more original and diverse than the material presented on Of Despair.'” Big words. Big album.

Crafteon – Cosmic Reawakening Review

By Eldritch Elitist on August 23, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Melodic Black Metal, 54 comments

“Cthulhu rises from the depths. Seawater cascades in waterfalls down its body; its colossal form dwarfs a nearby castle, a monument to mankind’s delusions of superiority as if it were some child’s plaything. The logo in the top left reads “Crafteon,” a nod to Lovecraftian[1. Get it? Huh? Do ya?] fiction, complete with dangling tentacles. Sure, this album’s exterior presentation pretty much screams “Eldritch bait,” but you know what? This is my 50th review for AMG, and I feel like indulging my base impulses in celebration.” Celebrate with Cthulhu!

Xanthochroid – Of Erthe and Axen: Act I Review

By Saunders on August 22, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Symphonic Metal, Folk, Melodic Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 49 comments

“Finally, Xanthochroid return with a detailed prequel narrative to the storytelling events of the debut, split into two albums to be released in 2017, beginning with Of Erthe and Axen: Act I. Do they have what it takes to craft a prequel story with the musical output to match their ambition? Or is Act I destined to become the metal equivalent of The Phantom Menace?” Jar Jar-core?

Vintersorg – Till Fjälls del II Review

By El Cuervo on June 27, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 35 comments

Till Fjälls (“To the Mountains”) marked the début of Sweden’s Vintersorg and thus began one of the better melodic black and folk metal bands around. Though their music phased out the folk influences and replaced them with even more melody, Till Fjälls del II is a definitive statement that they still care about folksy stimuli. Cast your eyes over the rather excellent artwork. Do you see the mountains, the trees, the snow, the Northern fucking Lights? I think you’ll agree that they definitely still care about nature and shit.” Just call him “the Natural.”

Ardent Spirits – Mountain Howl Review

By GardensTale on May 17, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 27 comments

“Music is a lot like food. Both are nourishing: food for the body and music for the spirit. There’re no accounting for taste, but there’s semi-predictable consensuses (consensi?), such as nu-metal and tofurkey are both hellspawn that should be scorched from the face of the Earth. Sometimes you feel in the mood for a big, luxury five-course meal, so you load up Ayreon, sometimes you crave the greasy slop of Vader, and sometimes you prefer a salad so you throw yourself out the sixth-floor window. With all this said, who’s ready for a medium-sized bag of popcorn?” Kernels of truth.

Wormwood – Ghostlands: Wounds from a Bleeding Earth Review

By Akerblogger on March 13, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Non Serviam Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 50 comments

“Sometimes an album comes along that progressively gets better listen after listen. With their debut full-length Ghostlands: Wounds from a Bleeding Earth, Swedish melodic black metallers Wormwood have constructed such an album.” Worms, wood, ghosts, what else could you need?

Antropomorphia – Sermon ov Wrath Review

By Ferrous Beuller on February 19, 2017 in 2017, Death Metal, Dutch Metal, Metal Blade, Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 48 comments

“There is no shame in having loved and lost – it’s a natural part of life and, as sure as the world turns and the seasons pass, as inevitable as our own eventual end. Love and death are two themes that are routinely romanticized, despite their irrefutably painful reality. By extension, The Netherlands’ Antropomorphia are also romantics… although not in the Byronic sense you might be expecting.” Strange, illegal love indeed.

Infernal Angels – Ars Goetia Review

By GardensTale on January 17, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Death Metal, Italian Metal, My Kingdom Music, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 11 comments

“Expectations can be an odd thing when dealing with hybrid genres. The more genres descriptors added to the band’s tag, the harder it gets to form a view of what you’re going to listen to, and it doesn’t just apply to blackened melodic industrigothic deathfolk. Take Infernal Angels, now releasing their 4th album in 15 years. Various sources I checked listed the band as melodic black metal, melodic black/death metal, or plain black/death metal.” Get in your pigeonhole!

Far Beyond – A Frozen Flame of Ice [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

By Diabolus in Muzaka on December 21, 2016 in 2016, German Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Things You Might Have Missed 2016, Melodic Black Metal, 38 comments

“Many have complained about 2016’s selection of great music, and not without reason; it can seem a bit lacking. Germany’s Far Beyond, the one-man project of Eugen Dodenhoeft, decided to roll with the simplest solution of all to 2016’s musical woes: stop releasing music that isn’t great. With this, A Frozen Flame of Ice was born. That was simple enough to fix.

Bornholm – Primaeval Pantheons Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on December 9, 2016 in 2016, Black Metal, Hungarian Metal, Massacre Records, Melodic Black Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 9 comments

“Metalheads saying “I’m a pagan” is, generally speaking, our chosen genre’s equivalent of wine-guzzling middle-aged single women who say they’re “not religious, but spiritual” during those book clubs where Eat, Pray, Love is read in perpetuity. It’s empty posturing made to make someone sound more profound and “enlightened” than they actually are. So-called pagan metal is generally melodic stuff with a lyrical eye to old folklore but, other than that, the definition doesn’t give us a whole lot to go on.” Only join Book of the Dead clubs.