Album

Diabolic Oath – MMXIX [US, Black] (2019)

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Sentient Ruin | 6-26-20

So the way I found this record was first finding the band’s 2019 demo and being upset that such a great sound went missed int he year it was released. I was then shown a dark light which led me to the band’s 2020 full length from Sentient Ruin which is now allowing me to drown in a sea of ghosts. Diabolic Oath is the extension of Shroud of the Heretic, an Oregon based death metal act that has their noses in grimoires. Diabolic Path continues that obsession with a sound that is both polished but ragged with rough edges. Black, death, and doom swirl around this release much like its cover in a declaration of spectral malice.

TOSS – Черный Поток Семени Ада [Russia, Black / Death] (2020)

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TEMPLE OF MORBID SOUND/ХРАМ БОЛЬНОГО ЗВУКА | 8-8-20

One of the reasons I am so hesitant about Russian based releases is there sometimes cryptic existence which is buried in their insular social media. Add to this the already cryptic nature of occult based black death and you have a hilarious investigation trying to figure out even the band name. I THINK the band’s name is Toss and this is the second 2020 from ХРАМ БОЛЬНОГО ЗВУКА (Temple of Morbid Sound) with the first being from НЕЖИВОЙ. Toss, as of this moment, isnt anywhere on social media I can find so the two songs are going to have to speak for the band. With that said and aside from all of this nonsense piecing information together, Toss’ debut(?) is a hellish ride through the gates of damnation with stopping points at torment and oblivion. Somewhere between obscurity and clarity rests this release and it gets more interesting by the moment.

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VERIKYYNELEET – Ilman Kuolemaa [Finland, Black] (2020)

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Self Released | 8-21-20

I would like to think of this site as a place that we all find new music that is scattered among Bandcamp. VERIKYYNELEET is not new and their debut on I, Voidhanger Records is not the typical self release on 10 cassettes that is normally seen on this site. It is okay since VERIKYYNELEET has spent a considerable amount of time in the shadows of the 00’s making raw depressive black metal demos. 2019 saw the first release in more than 10 years with Melacholic and Ilman Kuolemaa is the proper debut for the artist. For as long as this record took to be made, it feels like there is a lifetime’s work build into the very structure of the music. Harsh and abrasive, Ilman Kuolemaa breathes catharsis as a depressive black metal offering that feels like it needed to be made rather than wanted.

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Ataudes – Merecemos La Extincion [Death / Black] (2020)

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Desert Wasteland Productions | 6-22-20

I do not think i have reviewed a DWP release in a while. Fleshrot at the beginning of the year was an exciting way to begin the year but now looking at the catalog of material which has been released these past months, it seems like I have much more to digest. If you are familar with DWP material, this digestion is going to be like chewing concrete as this New Mexican label specializes in horrid radioactive death that has little rhyme or reason to exist other than pure destruction. Ataudes is an Argentina duo that brings the force of black/death powered by crude oil in what sounds like a machine of torment. Black smoke pours from this machine and it is all wonderful.

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Maim – From the Womb to the Tomb [Sweden, Death] (2020)

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Self Released | 2-20-20

Oh man. Here comes the ruckus. Maim is a Swedish band that perhaps goes straight for one of the most obivous worships and that is the deep history of nasty death metal From the Womb to the Tomb may lack points in album titles but makes up extra credit with a release full of ripping riffs. This is what death metal is all about just ominously posing on top of tombstones pointing menacingly at strangers. Also note this album technically came in 2009 but since I’m so hypnotized by the riffs, i sort of forget where I was.

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Clavus – Rebus Paranormalibus [Switzerland, Raw Black] (2020)

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Self Released | 6-2-20

I believe this is the the sound of vampires at least vampires who have been locked away in rotting mansion for the past century. Clavus is Swiss act who presents black metal akin to a box of bats that is wrapped in moldy linens. All of this sublimates in an experience which is hypnotic in its execution and absolutely devilish for people who enjoy this type of sound. This release also comes on limited CDR for anyone interested in fleshing out their underground CD collection. I sort of wish this was on tape but I can only expect so much from a lonely vampire.

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Dkharmakhaoz – Proclamation ov the Black Suns [Belarus, Black] (2020)

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Iron Bonehead | 7-21-20

At this moment of writing, Dkharmakhaoz does not have a Metal Archives page and there is only one track available for streaming. The full album is not suppose to release for another few months and already I can feel the wave of hype building. This certainly comes with the support of Iron Bonehead as the label as well as the mastering by V. Kusabs who has lent his talent to numerous bands of high caliber both as a front man and as technical support. I can also foresee a time when I will have to copy and post this band name since I will 100% never be able to remember it. Add to that some cryptically dark album art and a more out of the way country like Belarus and you have a recipe for a wave of excitement.

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LVA – ΑΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΕΙ Η ΤΕΛΕΤΗ [Italy, Black] (2020)

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Ascension Records | 6-5-20

This release comes to us from Ascension Records which is based in Mexico with an Italian black metal act who seems to have figured out their visual identity. The cover for ΑΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΕΙ Η ΤΕΛΕΤΗ is a grand departure from the bands 2017 debut. Instead of a large white logo, the cover for ΑΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΕΙ Η ΤΕΛΕΤΗ is adorned with subtle black and red occultic imagery. This coincides with the black/red album cover trend which quite frankly works to give the music an ominous quality. While we are not given the full release quite yet, the sheer ferocity of the preview track is enough to make me wait for a few weeks until I can hear the rest of it.

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Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død [Denmark, Black] (2020)

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Vendetta Records | 5-12-20

“Tags: black metal, depressive, black metal, depressive blackmetal.” The previous line is not something I initially seek out though I feel atmospheric black is getting back to normal in terms of its output. For a little bit there was a glut of wood themed black metal that was almost indistinguishable from the next. Depressive black can be the same way which is why Afsky is intriguing for its cover depicting the social realist artist H. A. Brendekilde and his most famous painting Udslidt or Worn Out or The Martyr(1889). The use of fine art on covers is nothing new but not only does this painting circumvent the typical artists pillaged for covers but it also transcends the thematic trappings of depressive black with not a noose or suicidal imagery in sight. This is all talking about the visual components to a record that is stunning in its approach and is something that has the potential to be a crossover success among black metal fans and people interested but turned off by its pageantry.

Profane Congregation – Apocalyptic Visions [Finland, Raw Black] (2020)

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Morbid Chapel Records | 5-11-20

Full disclosure: This 25 minute full length was released in 2016 on Astral Temple with a tape run of 100 copies. This current distribution is a CD run at 500 copies on Morbid Chapel records. I do not know where to put this as sometimes I bump up the years for releases that never saw the light of day until the next calendar year with a larger distribution. This is a 2016 record but I am sure everyone is hearing it in 2020. If this sort of thing does not bother you and you are just here for longform shredding raw black that swirls like specters around graven monuments, then Apocalyptic Visions is for you. I know it is for me but I just dont know when it is.

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