SEPULCHRE BY THE SEA – Seven Chambers

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://sepulchrebythesea.bandcamp.com Sepulchre by the Sea is an atmospheric black metal band inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Springing from United Kingdom the multi-instrumentalist Ash has been working on this project since 2019. In November Sepulchre by the Sea released their first album Conqueror Worm, followed by the EP Ratiocinations.…

HARROWED – Entropic

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://harrowed.bandcamp.com/album/entropic I rarely bother reviewing singles but this 2-track jewel by the fierce UK act known as Harrowed blew me the fuck away, and I may in fact have become addicted to it. Intensely heavy and punishing yet surprisingly groovy in places also, these gentlemen have spawned a muscular-sounding mixture of…

DYSTOPIA – De Verboden Diepte I: Veldslag op de Rand van de Wereld

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://lnk.to/deverbodendiepte1 Dystopia’s take on ferocious and earth-shattering black metal is quite unlike anything else that I have come across. In fact, lumping the band and album into the black metal category is doing them a disservice as they clearly exist beyond the confines of said genre and have more in common…

ABSQUE COR – Na Zawsze Cieniem​.​.​.

RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/na-zawsze-cieniem What a terrifically brooding and majestic opus this is! The Polish ensemble known as Absque Cor offers atmospheric black metal with variety and plenty of interesting shifts and moods to it, and there is a bleak, windswept beauty to its six lengthy compositions that immediately stands out and grabs the…

PICTURE ANN RELEASES “INDICATION”

The latest full-length offering by the demented peddlers of haunting dark ambient drones and lo-fi post-rock soundscapes is out now and contains three tracks with a rather loose concept and theme to them. From the industrial revolution in Britain to the strangely unsettling works of painter Walter Sickert and further on to the cinematic quality…

DEADSPACE – Unveiling the Palest Truth

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: https://lnk.to/unveilingthepalesttruth Infinitely bleak and outright oppressive soundscapes envelop the mind when digesting the ominous content that makes up the latest offering by the Australian black metal duo known as Deadspace, and we might as well establish the fact that this is one of the year’s most captivating releases. Now that we…

MAGNA CORPOREA – Bliss of Non-Temporal Condition

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: https://magnacorporea.bandcamp.com/album/bliss-of-non-temporal-condition This debut album by the mysterious Argentinian entity known as Magna Corporea is a most impressive and well-composed piece of underground darkness that is borderline spellbinding at times due to its strong riffs and excellent vocals, and I must say that I find it all rather alluring. Hypnotic is definitely…

FROSTMOON ECLIPSE – Rustworn

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://smarturl.it/rustworn This sparkling new EP by the Italian black metallers Frostmoon Eclipse is a deeply atmospheric gem, and it is fabulous to see that their uniquely evocative brand of contemplative, pitch-black melancholy remains intact. I was thoroughly impressed with “Worse Weather to Come” (2019) and “Rustworn”, which contains two new songs…

LICHTBLICK – Abkehr

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: LICHTBLICK – ABKEHR (smarturl.it) I have never previously encountered this Austrian quartet but what I can tell you is that their brand of bleak and melancholic black metal with an emphasis on trance-inducing riffs and tortured vocals that reek of despair and existential angst is a noteworthy one.  There is a subtle sense of beauty…