“At any given time, it’s a safe bet that I’m craving new atmospheric black metal. Take your blackest metal impulses, turn down the fury and turn up the melodies, and I’m probably a happy fan! I enjoy black metal a lot, but tend to prefer less angry and more melody in the style. So seeing Marrasmieli and their debut album, Between Land and Sky labelled as “folk/black metal” in the Promo Pit was plenty good enough for me.” Black lite.
![Véhémence – Par le Sang Versé [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/véhémence-par-le-sang-versé-01-768x722.jpg)
“Medieval black metal. I barely know what the phrase means, but the concept is absolutely drenched in potential, and not the kind I can easily resist. For today’s thing you may (or may not) have missed, the conceptual and instrumental depth of Apocalypse Orchestra meets the sweeping, majestic anger wielded by Obsequiae, with bits of extra influence here and there from the French black metal scene. Joining said scene, Véhémence’s sophomore effort, Par le Sang Versé seeks to bring the past to vivid life in a powerful display of—what was it again?—Medieval. Black. Metal.” Ye olde blackness.
“I rarely write my introductions first. This paragraph, the one right here that you’re reading right now usually appears later on, as if by magic, after I already have an idea of where exactly the review is going. I tell you this so that you’ll understand when I say that I’ve already squandered most of my allotted word count gushing over Deus Sive Natura down there, so I don’t have much time to be all flowery and introductiony. So here’s what you need to know: Evohé hail from France, play pagan black metal, and Deus Sive Natura is their third full-length.” No introductions necessary.
Valkyrja is a Swedish black/death outfit intending to channel “violence, deprivation, and loathing through means of extraordinarily potent audio emissions.” There are a million different directions black/death can take, and fourth full-length Throne Ablaze revels in a groovy, thrashy style a la Vredehammer or Horizon Ablaze. While it is flawed, there’s a likable simplicity about these Swedes, as it feels that their music makes no pretense about being the most atmospheric, heavy, or “kvlt.” Shame of Thrones.
“Steel Druhm reviewing a one-man atmospheric black metal album? How can this be happening? Does Vardan have him by the short back hairs? Did he get triple ape dared by that trickster, Muppet? No siree, Bob. Steel is reviewing the new Eneferens album because of what it is and what it is not. It is the product of one man named Jori Apedaileman, and it is an absolutely beautiful work of art spanning black, death, folk, post-metal and doom as effortlessly as I skip over metalcore in the promo slump.” This is the Winter of our sadboy content.
“The first time I sat down with The Hallowing of Heirdom, I was in denial. With every song, I expected the sky to crack open and a dark sheet of black rain to pour from blood-red clouds. It never happened. And, as a result, I’m going to try to rate, compare, and measure The Hallowing of Heirdom against Winterfylleth’s decade of atmospheric black metal records. For how much I hate the phrase, this is like comparing apples to oranges.” Strum and drag.
“Having recently relocated from South Carolina (a.k.a. The Land of Eternal Swampass), the name Marsh Dweller immediately piqued my interest when I saw it on our promo list. I always seem to find myself applying band and album names in stupidly personal ways, and a moniker like that reminded me of the long nighttime walks I used to take through a nearby salt marsh while listening to Baroness and picking my underwear out of my asscrack.” This too, shall ass.
![Wildernessking – Mystical Future [Vinyl Review]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Wildernessking-Mystical-Future-768x768.jpg)
South Africa’s Wildernessking is an atmospheric black metal band that has undergone a maturation before our very eyes. Starting as Heathens the band played an immediate (and still excellent) form of black n’ roll. The early material was reminiscent of Enslaved, but lacked the Norwegians’ progressive punch. The writing was concise and to the point, and the word “atmospheric” would never have crossed my keyboard in those days—until the release of the track “Morning” in 2011. In 2012, under the new moniker Wildernessking, these South African ex-heathens released The Writing of Gods in the Sand, which unfurled their sound into expansive, atmospheric territory. The record had a production that helped the band’s music to balance between a raw, heavy black metal feel and their growing interest for more airy writing. Mystical Future progresses Wildernessking’s journey, taking steps further away from the intensity and riff-driven black metal, toward a more expansive, atmospheric sound.
“I’ll freely admit to having thrown up my hands and walked away from the majority of black metal over the past five years. Whatever drew me to the style in its infancy with Bathory and onward through Emperor and Darkthrone has all but died. I’ll still pay attention to releases by the big names, but for the most part I’ve given up the ghost. One of the rare bands that still holds a special place in my nonblack heart is West Virginia’s quirky and obscure Nechochwen.” It’s time to get your ass into the Spirit World!
“Not having heard anymore from the Graveworm camp after their 2011 release, you can hardly blame me for assuming the band had realized their obsolescence. Imagine my surprise at getting promo from AFM Records for Ascending Hate. I had to hear it, it was that simple.” Madam X needed to hear some blackened death? In other news: the sun is hot and dogs like steak.
