***"With just two concept albums, 2015’s Pain Cleanses Every Doubt and its 2016 follow-up Converging Sins, and some splits and EPs, Cologne-based black metal outfit ULTHA have managed to conquer the scene by storm. With the will to differ and the vision to create, the four-piece band has achieved a goal that hardly any band from the at times stubborn (black) metal scene will ever achieve: Conceiving unique, fresh, and at the same time harsh but beautiful sweeping black metal art. Now ULTHA has delivered their third concept album, the aptly named The Inextricable Wandering, perfecting their mix of black metal fury, doom heaviness, and darkwave gloom. This third album is yet another big step up the ladder to contemporary extreme metal's pantheon and at the same time an unstoppable maelstrom into the darkness of the human mind: A haunting ride into a void conceived through omnipresent fear, ongoing disappointment, and overwhelming melancholia. With six tracks and a total playing time of over 66 minutes, The Inextricable Wandering is the perfect soundtrack for dark days and lost souls."—Mondo Negro
2XLP $23.95
11/24/2023
***"BACK IN STOCK!!! Following on from 2018’s Sorg, 2020’s Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død, and 2022’s I Stilhed, Om Hundrede År contains 43 minutes of new material and is eagerly anticipated by many fans of atmospheric black metal. Tastefully mixing together elements of the folk, depressive, second wave, and atmospheric black metal styles into an emotive whole, Om Hundrede År is an engaging and affecting work. Blending its various influences into a slice of evocative black metal that somehow doesn’t feel restricted to its parent styles, despite obviously being of the genre, this is an album that is really something quite special. Om Hundrede År is a textured release, frequently crafting immersive atmosphere through melancholic acoustic elements, moody blackened worldbuilding, and rich melodic presence. It’s an affecting journey into light and dark, effortlessly treating its black metal as if it was more than just a vessel for negative energies. The artist behind Afsky paints with a full palette and is adept and creating music with potent impact, both initially and over time as the music seeps into your heart. The songs have strong compositional structure and form. Blackened dynamics and atmospheric depth are understood at a masterful level, and their goals – always emotion-led – are achieved at the highest level. Afsky’s third album is a roaring success. Om Hundrede År contains a world of blackened soundscapes to explore, all in such a concise and efficient running time. Don’t miss out on this if you’re at all partial to the...
CD $10.50
10/13/2023
LP $19.35
10/13/2023
***The second album by BIALYWILK from the US, Bialywilk is the solo project of VUKARI's songwriter MAREK CIMICHOWICZ. The sophomore outing from Białywilk confirms what the debut showed us: this is not some side project that should sit in the shadow of its mastermind’s older outfit. Zmora encapsulates the strength of Cimochowicz’s more personal approach to black metal.
CD $10.50
10/13/2023
LP $19.35
10/13/2023
***"Inarguably the band’s most diverse work to date, Deformity Adrift ventures far beyond the conventions of the already unconventional genre of dissonant death metal, without surrendering an ounce of viciousness. A thirty-two-minute sonic behemoth, the record is at once confounding and ravaging. Strong nuances of industrial and doom metal can be heard throughout, the record’s nine tracks concluding fittingly with a suffocating wall of sound that leaves its listeners bruised, battered, and shaken."
CD $10.50
10/13/2023
LP $19.35
10/13/2023
***The eternal return—we are doomed to repeat our own history; the horrors of humankind resurface time and time again. This is our legacy, one of destruction, callousness, and self-aggrandizement in the face of our species' worst accomplishments. At the precipice of chaos, destruction, and hopelessness is New York-based black metal band WOE, whose new album—the band's first proper album since 2017's Hope Attrition—shows multi-instrumentalist CHRIS GRIGG at his most rejuvenated and feral. Legacies of Frailty is the result of a few choice things. Helming the project by himself in near-isolation, Grigg methodically and near-completely took over the recording, his first solo album since 2007's A Spell for the Death of Man. Though this seems like a brash move, having had a full band since 2010, Grigg's control of the songwriting process has been a consistent element in Woe's existence. Taking a darker, faster, and even more aggressive approach this time around, Legacies of Frailty's concept mirrors Grigg's performance and songwriting. Co-produced by Grigg and longtime collaborator GRZEISEK CZAPLA, this album's immensity is augmented by a fitting, just-clear-enough mix and master to give Woe a sharp sonic edge.
CD $10.50
10/13/2023
LP $19.35
10/13/2023
***"...The band deal in raw atmospheric presence and frosted melodic strength. The deep monstrous growls and some of the harsher riffs lend a brutal edge to the music in places, while the addition of serrated screams deliver sharper highlights. Lurid demonstrate an effective mix of crushing blackened heaviness and emotive melodic atmosphere. It’s a combination that suits them well and has helped the band to establish their own character early on in their existence. While the melodies are rich in feeling and very capably delivered, I’ll mention the riffs again, as Lurid apparently have an entire arsenal of them hidden away somewhere, deploying them with lethal tactical skill across the tracks. The songs are well-written and easy to enjoy. Each song is a winner, but I especially enjoy Burned at the Stake with its ferocious melodic attack."—Wonderbox Metal
LP $18.50
09/02/2022
***"Back in 2020, around the time Wayfarer were turning heads with their black metal of the Old West on A Romance With Violence, I discovered an EP seemingly out of nowhere by a Canadian two piece who, in my humble opinion, one-upped that admittedly good album. From the Navajo sand painting cover art to the Ennio Morricone spaghetti western passages to the lyrical focus on pre-colonial Americas, Vital Spirit threw their hat into that incredibly small ring with their Coloradan brethren with In The Faith That Looks Through Death. Consisting of Kyle Tavares and Israel Langlais, both of crusty meloblack band and AMG darlings Wormwitch, Vital Spirit continue their self described “saccharine black metal of the West” on their debut full-length Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind. Pulling inspiration from the desert landscapes of the American Southwest, brutal chapters of the American Indian Wars and musical touchstones as diverse as Morricone, classic country and Dissection, these Canucks couldn’t have crafted a more perfect Cherd trap if they tried."—AngryMetalGuy
LP $19.35
09/02/2022
***"Rare is the occurrence around Hated One’s home fires that an EP earns a standalone review, but when twenty-five minutes of music is this spectacular, this entrancing, and this ferocious, then there is no other option than to shine a blazing spotlight upon it, no? Grimmer, darker, and heavier than anything Vukari has released before, Omnes Nihil contains four unrelenting tracks that seem to have fully shed any pretense of atmospherics or post-metal… and the result? Only one of the most killer melodic USBM releases that Hated One has heard in a long, long time. From stem to stern, nose to tail, Omnes Nihil is sheer perfection. Perfectly written, conceived, and (self-)produced (by bassist Spenser Morris), there really isn’t one thing that Hated One can find to fault with this astounding EP. Each composition has its own unique feel and mood, and yet all four mesh perfectly together to form a cohesive whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. From the addictively riff-driven—and perfectly titled—opening track 'Despondent' to the cumbrous title-track 'Omnes Nihil,' and from the brusque offering 'The Weight of Dejection' to the epic closer 'Saturn in the Eighth House,' Vukari’s Omnes Nihil is a release that no metalhead should miss hearing, EP or not."—Hated One
LP $18.50
04/15/2022
***"The emotional power of the melodic riffing is the heart of the album, which will come as no surprise to those of you who’ve heard the two previous full-lengths, but the emotions evoked by the music are again unmistakably dark—ranging from frenzied torment to utter despair and inconsolable surrender to the torments of life. The music intertwines the crushing wretchedness and heartbreak of doom, which come to the fore in the songs’ more stately and sodden passages, with the harsh, roiling turbulence of black metal and feverish tremolo’d chords that radiate madness and terrible misery."—No Clean Singing "Across the entire album, the instrumentals shine — the vocals, when they are present, mesh into the mix like an echo from another dimension. The music feels resolute, which only makes the weight of the sonic despair even more crushing. 5/5 Stars"—Captured Howls
LP $18.50
01/14/2022
***REISSUED WITH ADDED 7-INCH!!! Formed in the winter of 2012, FORN draws inspiration from its predecessors; Grief, Burning Witch and Asunder, while remaining true to natural progression. Blown low end, and gritty leads make Fórn one of the leading sludge bands currently in Boston. deep, suffocating doom. That seductive melody becomes a crushingly heavy dirge, though no less seductive—this misery is mesmerizing. And the vocals, they sound like sulphuric acid eating through steel, or like some shrieking poltergeist that has become your companion for this slow fall into the void. Includes a bonus 7-inch featuring the band's demo recordings.
LP $16.35
08/26/2014
LP+7" $19.25
01/31/2020
***ULTHA's ninth release in five years and features two extended tracks—"No Fire, Only Smoke" (17:04) and "Constructs of Separation" (21:07). “Ultha have done it again, somehow. Converging Sins is the sort of album that any band would be lucky to release once in their career, but with Belong, Ultha proves that they are among black metal’s most inspired forces. This is atmospheric black metal, with strong elements of doom intertwined now and again, that you do not simply listen to—no; you feel it. Ultha are communing with some unseen force, and through their dense sonic tapestries, they afford us the same opportunity. Recommended!”—Ippocalyptica
LP $16.35
12/06/2019
CD $10.50
TBD
***These Berlin locals are a unique band. They don’t really care about any sort of black metal ‘scene’ or rules, they say their music is more “influenced by” black metal as opposed to actually being it, they have absolutely zero pretensions and totally just do their thing based on a genuine love of the roots of the genre filtered through their own idiosyncratic and definitely modernised lens. Their compositions are subversively extraordinary, muscular yet refined; trancelike, with relentless undulating riffs and blistering percussive force. They don’t claim to be original, but their work is most definitely recognizable as their own. Last album Pale Dawn was (much like its predecessor Elder Giants) a near flawless display of energy and class. Emanations… traverses similar paths with the same skill, but where that energy took on a celestial feel at times on Pale Dawn, Emanations… resonates from a more earthy plane."—Black Metal Daily
CD $10.50
12/06/2019
2XLP $24.50
12/06/2019
***German Black Metal outfit VERHEERER return with an anticipated second album featuring eight tracks of desolate, furious black metal. "Monolith is savage and fierce in its expression. Songs like ‘The Fatalist’ are brutal Black Metal anthems and the fact that songs are rather long shows that Verheerer has enough creativity and savvy to not fall back to ‘off the shelf’ Metal."—Markus' Heavy Music Blog
LP $16.35
11/08/2019
CD $10.50
11/08/2019
***"Black metal is already a saturated genre, especially the super-atmospheric corner that VUKARI occupies, but the band steps out of that (and their own) mold with Aevum. The riffs are tighter, the blasts are more concrete, and the songwriting has become extremely emotive—any 'flatness' predicated by Vukari’s postmodern tilt gets destroyed just by just the sheer weight of the thing. Aevum is emotionally heavy, the most important kind of heavy, and that ethos has been woven throughout all eight of these medium-format tracks”—Invisible Oranges
LP $16.35
11/08/2019
CD $10.50
11/08/2019
***US cosmic black metal (Void Omnia) meets raging Cascadian black metal inspired by black metal from Greece (Insanity Cult).
LP $16.35
08/23/2019
***Raw but atmospheric black metal from the Netherlands, featuring members of LASTER and GNAW THEIR TONGUES.
LP $16.35
08/23/2019
CD $10.50
08/23/2019
***IL'ITHIL, a manifestation of cold, clandestine black metal of the highest order. These tracks masterfully bind etheric black metal and and empyrean dark ambiance to form a looming auditory landscape. With an atmosphere equally as potent as closely-linked projects Wolvserpent and Aelter, the sole architect of IL'ITHIL has summoned the harshest storms of winter and meditated upon them in aural form to create his fiercest and most harrowing work to date.
LP $16.35
03/08/2019
***HERETICAL SECT is a reclusive collective fixated on the physical and spiritual genocides of the Southwest. The Southwest; represented through a nostalgic lens of cowboy culture, rarely exposes the most brutal atrocities of American history. Churches chained shut and lit on fire with the congregation inside, severed limbs piled in the streets, and disease and slavery are burned into the memory of the landscape. These horrors are sonically juxtaposed against the natural beauty of the high desert. Expansive skies, deep canyons, painted red rocks, all witnesses to untold butchery and grief. Features members of other prominent Santa Fe (NM) bands, such as PREDATORY LIGHT and SUPERSTITION. May all life learn to die.
LP $16.35
03/01/2019
***For those who may be new to AFSKY, it is the solo project of OLE LUK, who is also a member of the Danish black metal band SOLBRUD. Fittingly, the name he chose for this project means “disgust” or “detest” in Danish, though as you’ll discover, the emotional resonance of the music embraces other powerful feelings as well.
LP $16.60
11/02/2018
***"SVARTMALM's self-titled album is not just the best Black Metal Album of 2018 so far, but will likely become one of my all-time favorites. Its atmosphere is... beyond anything I've heard before. Until now, I felt that Earth 2 was the soundtrack of the end, but this... this is what the apocalypse sounds like folks... "—5/5 Pentagrams!
CD $10.50
08/24/2018
***"The music is the audio equivalent of a dark and ancient tapestry, one hanging from the vast wall of a cold and crumbling edifice, lit only by candlelight. Woven with indigo strands of lugubrious melody over stately rhythms, and more vibrant bursts of fiery color on a field of blasting percussion, and embroidered with vocals that range from tortured growls to livid shrieks, the music draws organically from the schools of doom and black metal. The corrosive distortion of the stringed tones gives the music a pervasively unsettling effect, but the evocative power of the melodies is even more unsettling and oppressive. Even the brief, classically inclined acoustic-guitar accents have a doleful resonance. The acoustic melodies also contribute to the feeling I’ve had before in listening to YITH, that medieval music has been an influence. I should warn you that the immersive power of the album is considerable… and that what it draws you into (or rather, submerges you beneath) is a particularly devastating and haunting gloom."—nocleansinging
LP $16.35
08/24/2018
CD $10.50
08/24/2018
***REISSUED!!! The band name comes from caves found in Sicily that were formed by the sea ages ago. Inspired by the ancient art found in this geographical anomaly comes the next brilliant piece of music in the New Wave of Cascadian Black Metal. ADDAURA is a four piece black metal band from Seattle, Washington that plays hauntingly beautiful and intense black metal. Originally formed in 2008, the band spent time writing and playing shows whilst developing what would become their current direction; an atmospheric sound influenced by early European black metal but more akin to American acts like Ludicra, Weakling, and Wolves in the Throne Room. The themes presented in Addaura's music are based from their existence and intends to elicit honest and thoughtful responses. Addaura will continue writing and performing music that allows for interpretation and remains grounded in the human experience.
LP $14.75
07/20/2018
***This is an album that isn't just stunningly bleak, it's got the sort of incredible balls and skull melting torment that makes for endless listening. There are few black metal albums that so perfectly sum up the inherent horror of black metal as a genre, this one goes beyond the pale, serving to rip us limb from limb and remind us why we got here in the first place. The ominous trudge of Cinereous Incarnate is the result of years of honed efforts. This is the bands third full length and perhaps the most fully and elegantly conceived to date. Abstracter's ability to conjure up incredible and death defying atmospheres is impressive to say the least. Not only that though but there is something with the guitar tone that almost suffocates the listener. You find yourself drowning under a sea of volume and loving every oppressive minute of it. Yet despite how abstract this record can be and the familiarity with the scene needed to 'get it' there are some undeniable grooves that make it easy to sink in to what's been painted here. Abstracter crawl forward, covered in their own filth and loving every minute of it. The magical devastation of a song like Wings Of Annihilation is not to be underestimated and is a clear indicator of the bands songwriting talent. Cinereous Incarnate is not just a masterful release - it's symbolic of all that black metal can be. It is mesmerizing and cruel,...
LP $14.75
07/06/2018
***Entropy Mantra delivers seven new songs, all highlighting and pushing each member to showcase their musical mastery. Soaring, dark and anthemic riffs, intertwining bass and guitars, aggressively tight drums, and thoughtfully complex melodies, ANICON have executed their most commanding music to date. Featuring stunning new artwork by vocalist/guitarist OWEN RUNDQUIST. Members of KRALLICE, YELLOW EYES and WOE.
CD $10.50
06/22/2018
***For those who may be new to AFSKY, it is the solo project of OLE LUK, who is also a member of the Danish black metal band SOLBRUD. Fittingly, the name he chose for this project means “disgust” or “detest” in Danish, though as you’ll discover, the emotional resonance of the music embraces other powerful feelings as well. CD housed in digipack with 20 pages booklet.
CD $10.50
04/27/2018
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! California post-black metal quartet WILD HUNT have landed a big sound on "Afterdream of the Reveller," the title track to their just-announced second album. All of this began when Wild Hunt's guitar player DREW COOK unexpectedly passed away in April 2015, on the morning that the band was about to embark on a two-week tour with Cormorant. The remaining members dropped the tour and instead released Scroll and Urn, an EP they had recently completed and were originally planning on selling on the road. Because of what had happened, Scroll and Urn was released as a tribute to Drew in the days following his passing. It remains Cook's last recorded work. In June 2015, as a way of coping and moving forward in the wake of Cook's death, Wild Hunt began work on their next record. "Nest of Flames," "Palingenesia" and "Choir of a Greater Sea" were originally written and performed with Cook and were now properly recorded for the first time, and one of Cook's remaining riffs made up the final section of "Odious Gamble."
CD $10.50
04/27/2018
2XLP $22.75
11/02/2018
***"For a scene which was once so reviled, the US black metal movement is a treasure trove of creativity. From sea to boiling sea, there are countless bands who either add a tremendous weight to black metal or whet its ever-dulling blade. Two younger bands, HAUNTER and SOVREIGN, represent this pummeling power and sharp ferocity, respectively. Together on this split, they write a greater truth concerning the creative spirit of American Black Metal in the new century."—Invisible Oranges
LP $14.75
02/09/2018
***REISSUED ON VINYL!!! VOID OMNIA's debut album originally released digital only in 2014. Void Omnia is a five-member black metal outfit from Oakland, USA, created in 2013 and bringing together former members of APOCRYPHON, MUTILATION RITES and TOMBS among others.
LP $14.75
02/09/2018
***German Black Metal outfit VERHEERER unleashes the ties of their highly acclaimed debut EP and release a full album with six diversified black metal chants from desolate fall to furious blaze—off the beaten track but still in a '90s-Black Metal-worshipping way.
LP $14.75
02/09/2018
CD $10.50
02/09/2018
***"This is a split between two black metal bands that I hold in very high esteem; PARAMNESIA from France, and ULTHA from Germany.Paramnesia are the first band, offering up a 20-minute track named 'VI.' Like their previous work, such as their split with Unru, the band deliver epic black metal, forged around a core of frozen might, and expanded with progressive, atmospheric, and melodic components. Paramnesia’s blistering delivery is ramped up in intensity by the needle-thin screams of their singer. Around these slices of venom, entire architectures of emotive blackness spring up and die down at the whim of their creators... Ultha’s debut album Converging Sins was so hideously impressive that it rather quickly achieved a prominent position in my end of year best of 2016 list. Now that I have had the time to process it even more, it would have placed even higher. The band’s contribution to this split—'The Seventh Sorrow,' 18 minutes in length—shows Ultha have lost none of their talent for highly-engaging music. 'The Seventh Sorrow' is atmospheric and fiery, with gripping melodies and dark mood both present in abundance. With equally abundant bleak melancholy and in-depth emotive content, as well as crazily infectious guitar parts, this song demonstrates firmly that the quality of the material on Converging Sins wasn’t a one off..." (wonderboxmetal)
LP $14.75
12/22/2017
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! "Barrowlands are the heir apparents in a loosely defined scene of American black-metal bands erasing the stylistic boundaries put in place by the genre's Scandinavian forebears. But what truly differentiates Barrowlands from the black-metal pack are the lyrics. Where a lot of bands in the genre steer clear of political statements—or worse, dabble in nationalism and xenophobia—Hollingsworth addresses issues of social justice head-on, often drawing from his experiences as an educator… Musically, the band is unique as well. The first thing you'll notice about the Portland five-piece is their cello player, Ray Lorenz. He and Hollingsworth have been finding ways to incorporate the bowed instrument into black metal since their days in the group Mary Shelley. In Barrowlands, Lorenz saws ferociously amid the rest of the band's assault of blast beats and tremolo picking, then mournfully heaves back and forth during downtempo interludes."—Willamette Week
LP $14.75
12/22/2017
CD $10.50
10/27/2017
***ULTHA returns with two extended tracks. "The EP features two songs: 1). 'And They Will Carry Death In Their Eyes' is a song we started writing around the time we recorded Pain Cleanses Every Doubt. It marks the end of phase one of this band, as songwriting changed quite a bit after this song (You will hear that on the new record). 2). The second song is a cover of 'Ghost Walking' by US Deathrock/Gothic band MIGHTY SPHINCTER. We tried to captivate the eerie atmosphere of the original and decided to head for a rather gothic / doom metal approach.
LP $14.75
10/27/2017
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! “The Brooklyn trio's Vendetta Records debut is gnarled and complex, spanning various extreme genres but hewing most closely to a malevolent black metal core. BELUS started out as a more down-tempo, blackened doom project, but over the years, has morphed into a much more aggressive prospect (albeit one that has retained a finely-wrought appreciation for atmosphere and dynamism). The overall vibe is as tense and ugly as a 5AM walk home in New York City. Apophenia cultivates a real feeling of immediacy—'Avarice' blasts and howls with palpable urgency, careening by so fast you can almost hear drummer JACQUES JOHNSON's bones rattling—but hasn't fully abandoned its morose doom impulses, or a newfound penchant for smatterings of black 'n' roll grooves. 'Illusions' and 'Omens' offer excellent examples of the band's control over tempo and mood, and lengthy album closer, 'Equilibrium,' makes a solid argument for saving the best for last.”—Noisey
LP $14.75
12/22/2017
CD $10.50
10/27/2017
