Emerging from the shadows in early 2021, the duo of Count Revenant and Anzillu released TWO full-lengths that year: Necuratul and Arrival of the Plague Bearer. And while both underground veterans are no strangers to black metal, the variety they unleashed with ORDER OF NOSFERAT was most definitely OLD, in every sense of the word: undead vampiric black metal had truly arisen! Like (vampiric) clockwork, two more full-lengths followed the next year - Nachtmusik in March and Vampiric Wrath Unleashed - proving that their bloodthirst could not be sated. While 2023 was relatively quiet, ORDER OF NOSFERAT "only" released a split album with Lunar Spells, showing a more nuanced and atmospheric side to their vampirism.
Now that nuanced / atmospheric shift fully blooms with The Absence of Grace, ORDER OF NOSFERAT's fifth full-length. Utilizing a unique production style - crisp and cutting but somehow brittle, exceptionally ethereal in its effect - the duo here move a more measured pace, patiently doling out their emotive marches with both misery and mania, somehow sounding dead and incensed simultaneously. Whilst moving within the vampiric black metal idiom, it's an unapologetically sorrowful canvas on which they paint - "bloody tears" staining everything, to invoke Castlevania - poignantly illustrating the titular The Absence of Grace. ORDER OF NOSFERAT's characteristic moonlit synths brilliantly shine here, moving to the fore and melding seamlessly with their cresting & cathartic riffing. All the sadness and nostalgia that the duo have created so prolifically the past four years comes to a climax with The Absence of Grace! Where that cursed coffin ship sails next, only ORDER OF NOSFERAT know...
ORDER OF NOSFERAT lineup Revenant - guitars, bass, synth, songwriting Anzillu - drums
The nineties black metal classic finally officially re-issued with original Norwegian titles and lyrics. Includes 1991 Porta studio recordings and "Samlerens Kammer" demo as bonus tracks!
Das Black-Metal-Urgestein DARKMOON WARRIOR entfesselt abermals das Chaos! Die Band aus Brandenburg gehört zu den dienstältesten im deutschen Underground und zu jenen, die authentisch die Flamme des Schwarzmetalls am Lodern halten – wie auch ihr neues Werk »Graveyard Planet« aufs Eindrucksvollste beweist.
FALKENBACH waren ursprünglich ein von Vratyas Vakyas konzipiertes Soloprojekt und wurden offiziell erstmals im Jahr 1995 mit dem Demo "Læknishendr" aktiv
Mit "Spiritual Black Dimensions" zeigt Dimmu Borgir eine bemerkenswerte Entwicklung ihres Sounds und vereint symphonische Elemente mit ihrer charakteristischen Black Metal-Intensität. Das Album taucht tief in komplexe Arrangements ein und demonstriert die Meisterschaft der Band im Verschmelzen orchestraler Schichten mit aggressiven Riffs und eindringlichem Gesang. Titel wie "The Insight and the Catharsis" bieten eine Meisterklasse im dynamischen Songwriting, wo ruhige Zwischenspiele mit rasender Geschwindigkeit und unnachgiebiger Intensität kontrastieren.
Thematisch erforscht das Album esoterisches Wissen und spirituelle Transzendenz. Der geschickte Einsatz von Chören und Synthesizer-Orchestrierungen verleiht Stücken wie "Architecture of a Genocidal Nature" eine kraftvolle Dimension und schafft ein immersives Hörerlebnis. Für Fans und Neulinge gleichermaßen steht dieses Album als Zeugnis für Dimmu Borgirs innovative Stärke im Black Metal-Genre.
ΝΕΚΥΙΑ - The Necromantic Patterns markiert einen Abstieg in die chthonischen Gefilde der Transzendenz, wo die Schleier der Sterblichkeit zerrissen werden und die verborgenen Ströme offenbaren, die die Existenz weben. Dieses Werk ist eine zeremonielle Odyssee durch die labyrinthischen Korridore von Tod und Wiedergeburt und verkörpert die heiligen Riten der Auflösung und des Aufstiegs, indem es die Weisheit der Alten und die spektralen Echos vergessener Äonen anruft.
Profanatica's brand of blasphemous filth remains as unwavering as ever, and their 2019 album Rotting Incarnation of God is another testament to their unholy devotion. With this full-length, Paul Ledney and company unleash a sonic assault that is both punishing and ritualistic, dragging the listener through murky depths of blackened death metal depravity.
Offensive, blood- chilling, straightforward black metal. The third and final chapter of trilogy including "Sowing with Salt" & "Justice". The first HATE FOREST album with live drums.
ASENHEIM was founded in 2004 under the original name Sins of Desire. The founding members at the time included Tiwaz on rhythm guitar and vocals and Verdensanskuels on lead guitar and keyboard.
Originally released in 2015 on CD format only, Witches Deny Holy Trinity followed swiftly - and smoothly, if such can enter into AZAZEL's world of chaos and ruin - from the band's long-awaited debut album, Jesus Perversions, just two years prior.