Formed in that cursed year of 2020, SCHREIGARM are a unique entry into the oft-overlooked but always-vital Teutonic black metal scene: though based in Germany, both members are actually Ukrainian. Such a mixture surely results in a sound that mixes both the austere melodicism of the nowadays Teutonic school and the stargazing mysticism endemic of the Ukrainian form throughout the years. And if 2023's The Mysteries of Fate debut was unjustly underappreciated, then SCHREIGARM's subsequent Mara Comes and Darkness Shall Reign should doubtlessly right this injustice.
REVENGE continue to forge a solitary path. The Canadian chaos veterans once again defy what is considered modern black metal. J. Read and his long-standing partner Vermin build an impenetrable wall of frenzied guitars and scum decapitating bass on their seventh album. ‘Violation.Strife.Abominate’ is a 12-song crown of elitism atop the band’s 25-year history of dominating the outer fringes of the black metal sphere.