Photo by Esther Van Waalwijk

It’s always sad when something passes before its time truly comes. I’ve felt that way about The Devil’s Blood ever since their creator and guitarist Selim Lemouchi took his life in 2014. That put an end to the band, quite obviously, and it seemed they were just blossoming into something great that would create astonishing music well into the future.

But the Dutch occult spirits were not only catapulted by Selim. His sister Farida, known as the Mouth of Satan, was just as impactful to their music, as her compelling, almost operatic vocals sparked the message behind the mission. In fact, it was her voice that grabbed my attention on their debut EP “Come Reap,” and it is what led me to become devoted to their three full-length records (yeah, “III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars” is spotty, but there’s very good reason or that), and it was Farida’s performance that kept me entranced during the single time I got to see the band live. So, her disappearing into fog also felt devastating. Until recently. News broke that Farida would make her return at this year’s Roadburn to perform with a new band Molasses, and on Friday, their two-track EP “Mourning Haze/Drops of Sunlight” landed. Let’s get this out of the way: Don’t expect the Devil’s Blood. The music does not try to resurrect what was and instead goes down a different path, albeit in the same darkened woods. Farida is as powerful as ever, and she’s joined by former DB members Oeds Beydals (guitars), Job van de Zande (bass), and Ron van Herpen (guitars) along with new players Marcel van de Vondervoort, Bob Hogenelst, and Matthijs Stonks to round out this exciting new venture.

“Mourning Haze” trickles in and opens up some proggy psyche rock that feels like it was conjured decades ago and only showed its face now. Keys drizzle, while Farida’s singing swells and then pulls back to softer tones later. The track lets in some jazzy ghosts, and then a spirited vibe creates insane colors before the reins are held back, and the track melts in with the horizon. “Drops of Sunlight” is the longer cut of the two at 9:19, and it starts with quiet chimes before guitars bloom and the gallop is launched. “Loosen the veil and let the blood flow,” Farida commands, while the pace is calculated for a stretch as if it’s hunting. Mesmerizing melodies loop and soothe, while Farida wails, “Just when I thought there could be no more confusion, you wander back.” The track spirals and strengthens its connective tissue, while the song makes it final burst with elegant playing and a jolt that rumbles the ground.

It’s but two tracks, but the first strains of Molasses are promising and an absolute spirit lifter for all the dark energies in our hearts. It’s not the Devil’s Blood 2, nor should it be as those tales already have been told. This is a new start for Farida Lemouchi, her former cohorts, and the new members they picked up along the way who will cast an ominous shadow far different than the one you knew before.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Molassesofficial

To buy the album, go here: https://www.van-records.de/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=molasses&x=0&y=0

For more on the label, go here: http://www.van-records.de/

Photo by Kathleen Kennedy

We probably talk about end-of-world events just about as much as any other topic around here, which isn’t a big surprise. First, we’ve been in a horror the past couple years watching world events (especially here in Dumb America), so it always feels like the ax is about to drop. Second, we cover a lot of dark, shadowy music, so the subject comes up a lot, mainly because artists also are reading the tea leaves.

Dallas, Texas, apocalyptic metal band Dead to a Dying World hardly are new to the party when it comes to imagining and maybe predicting the horrors that are ahead. In 2011, they delivered their self-titled debut record that began a planned triptych of albums that would cover the sixth extinction of the Anthropocene, the one that would claim all of us. That continued to 2015’s “Litany” and now culminates on their expansive, breath-taking new record “Elegy” that is the perfect end-of-tale exclamation point on a tale that doesn’t end well for humankind. On this album, we see a post-human world and a story that revolves around loss and grief as a new ecological system takes form and life begins again. It’s another compelling chapter from this group—vocalists Mike Yeager and Heidi Moore, viola player Eva Vonne, guitarists Sean Mehl and James Magruder, bassist John Schiller, drummer Josh Dawkins—as they stretch out their atmospheric doom with strains of western American sounds, progressive rock, and metallic sludge that never sounded as good as it does here. In addition, there are key guest performances from Thor Harris (ex-Swans, Thor & Friends), Jarboe (ex-Swans), Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch), Emil Rapstine (The Angelus), Pablo C. Urusson (Sangre de Muerdago), and Tim Duffield (ex-Sans Soleil) to help flesh out these cinematic pieces.

“Syzygy” opens the record like a desert-dry tale, with guitars crawling along and Yeager’s deep crooning feeling dusty as well. “Let the cool, clear water cleanse my spirit,” he urges, as harmonies swirl behind him, bringing desolation to mind as he ends with, “To the firmament, return to dust.” “The Seer’s Embrace” then bursts out of that with growls and shrieks melding, strings scraping, and the tempo flowing across the land. The atmosphere is gazey, while clean singing emerges, elegant guitars glimmer, and then shrieks return for more. After some quick bursts, the tempo is pulled back while more vocal harmonizing floats overhead, savage wails strike, and the track surges into space. “Vernal Equinox” is quiet at first with a desert vibe as Jarboe’s powerful singing takes the lead, and then sludgier notes pound away. As the song goes, the drama kicks into higher gear, the intensity strikes, and the track melts into the night.

“Empty Hands, Hollow Hymns” starts with an intro by Urusson, as acoustics dance, crashing into echoes before the song fully opens up. Growls rain down as the band digs into a thrashy sequence, and from out of that comes a nasty progressive bend that should light up your heart. Growls and shrieks again team up while strings get roused before a dose of calm is delivered. The drums rumble while the song is torn apart, and the final strains burn out into dust. “Hewn From Falling Water” has freezing guitars that work alongside a wall of singing that feels ghostly, while strings slice, and the end gives you some rest to prepare you for 14:36-long closer “Of Moss and Stone” that simmers in quiet while chimes ring out, and gazey thunder strikes. Then, the storm begins to rage, vicious shrieks send jolts, and compelling melodies lie prone in the beating sun, letting their surface burn. Jarboe moves in and takes control of the plot, mesmerizing before the next eruption bursts, and the emotions smother. Growls punish, the band deals its final shots, and the song is devoured by a noise cloud that mars sanity as the track screeches away for good.

The events depicted on “Elegy,” as well as those on the other Dead to a Dying World albums, may seem a great distance in the future, but its seeds have long been planted, and potentially are coming to harvest as we take each breath. That adds even more power behind this amazing six-track, 49-minute album that never lacks for drama, heart, and wrenching emotion. It seems silly to call this band forward-thinking since they’ve been at it for nearly a decade, but considering hardly anyone has caught up to them, perhaps we really are all behind the frontline of this band’s enthralling vision.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.deadtoadyingworld.org/

To buy the album, go here: https://profoundlorerecords.merchtable.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://profoundlorerecords.com/

Life is beginning to burst again. It’s spring, leaves are budding on trees, and people seem to be in a better mood after pushing through what’s been a pretty weird winter. But that doesn’t mean pain and suffering just goes away. Often, it gets masked by the nice breezes and warmer temperatures, but nothing can really bury the blackness many of us feel inside at pretty much any interval.

That thought hit home when taking on “Lost Eternally,” the second record from doom maulers Chalice of Suffering, and you will feel like you’re taking deep drinks of sorrow during the entire run of this album. Over seven tracks and 62 minutes, we get a full serving of depressing, shadowy doom that displays shards of bone from groups such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Evoken, and Swallow the Sun, coming in with a big sound but also letting you wallow alongside of them in the sadness and hopelessness. On this, the follow-up to the debut Chalice record “For You I Die” in 2016, the band—vocalist John McGovern, guitarist/keyboard player Will Maravelas, guitarist/keyboard player/drummer Nikoley Velev, bassist Neal Pruett, drummer Aaron Lanik, and bagpipe player Kevin Murphy—are joined by guests from Woebegone Obscured, Demonic Resurrection, Somnent, and Wilvernguard to create a full-bodied, completely miserable experience that should darken your heart forever.

“In the Mist of Once Was” begins with guitars dripping in and causing an instant fog, as McGovern speaks, warbling, “I hear the echoes of the past,” before growls unload, and slow-driving tempos scar. Murphy’s bagpipes work their way in as the pace lurches and bruises before the track hits the atmosphere. “I am a prisoner, all alone in my head,” McGovern confesses soberingly as the music gushes toward its conclusion. “Emancipation of Pain” slowly unfurls as doom scrapes the ground, harsh growls punish, and choral sections add beauty to the darkness. The singing spreads, going slowly and drearily into the dark, as guitars are unleashed, ugly growls open wounds, and clean bellows push us into charred hell. Sadness and pain combine as the song reaches its final resting place. “Forever Winter” is eerie and spacey, as sounds echo, keys arrive in waves, and smudgy playing punishes. “The shadows will continue to haunt me, to torture me, until my last breath” McGovern levels, as drone rises and collects before the power bursts, a sinister riffs cuts bone, and the track comes to a devastating conclusion.

“Lost Eternally” has a morbid pace with leads dripping wax, harsh growls crunching, and keys plinking like a freezing rain. The music seems to drain into an abyss before the intensity begins to rise again while McGovern wails, “No more tears, no more pain,” before the song ends suddenly. “The Hurt” opens with cavernous growls and atmospheric synth as guitars begin to rain down, and the pace trudges through the mud. The growls are painful as synth tracks behind and the drama increases. The song is delivered in a torturous clip as the pain develops slowly, while the keys well up and the track slowly fades into time. “Miss Me, But Let Me Go” is solemn with the bass burning a trail and the music gushing elegance. Monstrous growls slip under a deathrock-style approach, while the guitars stoke the fires, noise sizzles, and the track bleeds into an abyss. Closer “Whispers of Madness” has dark guitars and creaky speaking while the synth creates an intoxicating mist. The slow-paced thrashing adds bruising, while McGovern admits, “The voices make me want to die,” before the track ends in a chasm of despair.

Chalice of Suffering are aptly named as if feels like you’re put through the emotional ringer on “Lost Eternally,” a record that tells you all you need to know from its title. Brighter days may be ahead for some, but with this band, it’s eternally winter as hearts freeze over forever, with no hope in sight. It might not be perfect spring fodder, but it’s a harsh callback when you need to remember that pain and misery always lurk beneath the surface.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ChaliceOfSuffering

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/

Or here (International): https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.de/shop-en

For more on the label, go here: https://tometal.com/

Heavy metal is fucking law, baby, and before it splintered off into a million different directions, it was a very defined thing that united the downtrodden and forgotten to a place of great power. I mean, it still can, at least when some dork edge lord isn’t wheezing opposition. Yet, magic can happen, and sometimes we get to bask in the glory of true heavy metal

So, here come Altar of Oblivion with their killer third record “The Seven Spirits” that, if you can’t have fun listening, you perhaps should trade in your heart for a working model. It’s been nearly 15 years since this band first assaulted us all the way from Denmark, and their style is just killer. It’s also been seven long years since we last heard from the band on 2012’s “Grand Gesture of Defiance,” so it’s been a long time coming that we got some new shit. That’s not to speak ill of the band. You can’t snap your fingers and demand what we get on this seven-track, 41-minute album, but it’s a glorious gift that we get to immerse ourselves in this music. If you live and die with Manilla Road, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden (I definitely do), then you’ll throw yourself head first into this record and this band—vocalist Mik Mentor, guitarists/keyboardists Martin Meyer Sparvath and Jeppe Campradtr, bassist Cristian Nørgaard, drummer Danny Woe.

“Created in the Fires of Holiness” rips open the record, with Mentor’s vocals bellowing as he howls about “building a nation of ignorance” that rumbles in your chest. The chorus is strong and easy to remember and call back, while the soloing erupts, blazing its path, before everything ends in calm. “No One Left” has a gothy feel, especially vocally, as Mentor calls, “No one left to see this doomsday prophecy.” The track has an epic feel, as the song laments the loss of loyalty toward others, as the track comes to a bursting end. “Solemn Messiah” has a cold opening before things light up, with a glorious chorus to boot that’ll shake your skeleton. “I am failing people in times of need,” Mentor laments, while synth rolls out, the guitars chew bones, and the track bleeds away. “Gathering at the Wake” starts with a gritty riff as Mentor calls, “All that is left is gone forever,” before the song kicks up and generates a storm. The chorus delivers a hearty power metal-style push, and it’s crunchy and catchy the whole way. Glorious leads melt rock, while Mentor commands, “Lead me to the altar of death, I’m dreaming of paradise,” before an epic eruption brings the song to its close.

The title track trickles in from oblivion (uh, no pun) before meaty singing kicks in, and we’re into a slower, more deliberate pace, sort of like a doom ballad. The track is wrenching and epic with a killer chorus and all the power they can muster in a pretty strong centerpiece cut. “Language of the Dead” starts with weird robotic voices before a killer Priest-style guitar riff launches as Mentor howls, “Tragedy and triumph walking side by side,” before the tempo hits overdrive. The vocals push hard as slicing soloing barrels in, making a deep cut before fading away. Closer “Grand Gesture of Defiance” slips in with a slower tempo before firing up with guitars chugging and Mentor calling, “Visions of hell, I feel the end is nigh.” Soloing brings the power and glory as Mentor howls, “Take me to my grave, I’m tired of being a slave to your sins,” before the song trickles in cold waters, and the synth pushes out.

Altar of Oblivion keep metal’s spirit alive, as they’ve always done, and they’ve never been more all in than they are on “The Seven Spirits.” This is a glorious, fun record that should reignite your metal spirit, and it’ll make you want to fight all the people who have been upsetting you art work. That’s OK, man. This should be fun, and holy shit, this is!

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/altarofoblivion/

To buy the album, go here: https://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-seven-spirits

For more on the label, go here:  https://www.shadowkingdomrecords.com/

Photo by Jorn Veberg

Black metal was supposed to be chaos, no rules, and utter destruction. A blight on the body of music that seeks to eat its way to the heart. That’s not actually true anymore as there are a ton of ways that bands get shit for going off script, but the ones that do tend to be the artists that keep things interesting and the listener guessing.

Nordic hell force 1349 are one of those bands. Despite creating some of the seminal black metals album of the past couple decades with “Beyond the Apocalypse” in 2004 and “Hellfire” in 2005, that never convinced them to stay the course and keep delivering versions of that record over and over again. “Revelations of the Black Flame” confused and pissed off some people in 2009 (it’s my favorite 1349 record, by the way) as it was a dense, mud-bleeding beast that didn’t sound like anything they’d done before. Things have continued to remain unpredictable for them, and that carries over onto their new two-track EP “Dødskamp.”  What’s even cooler than 1349 just having a new 7” release is how it came about: The song was commissioned by Visit Norway, Innovation Norway, and the Munch Museum to create a track based on an Edvard Munch piece, so they chose “Dødskamp.” The song itself is definitely a step in a different direction for the band—vocalist Ravn, guitarist Archanon, bassist Seidemann, drummer Frost—in that it’s a little more approachable than most of their material, but it’s still got an evil heart in the end.

The title track begins with a total rock-n-roll drive, which might turn off some folks. I was a little surprised and worried at first, but let the thing grow. Eventually it gets darker and even sludgy with harsh growls scarring and Frost’s drumming turning bones to ash. “Death! Breeding death!” Ravn howls as melodies snake underneath the din, turning everything an ashy sickness. The track keeps pounding heavily, sending splinters flying before the song disappears into sounds similar to what brought the monster into existence. The B side is a live version of “Atomic Chapel” from their “Demonoir” album that sounds … fine. Maybe the digital promo doesn’t do it justice (wouldn’t be the first time that happened with a song), but it feels like the vocals are way up front and everything else is just sitting around in the background. It’s not bad, but I wasn’t blown away.

“Dødskamp” is a pretty unique release for 1349 and black metal in general, and it’s not a bad piece of work. This certainly isn’t prime 1349 material by any means, but it’s strong enough to tide over the hunger for a bit until a new full-length. And if anything, maybe it opens more eyes to Munch’s work, which is decidedly metal as hell.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/1349official

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/catalogsearch/result/?band_layer=46&q=D%C3%B8dskamp+

Or here (International): https://shop.season-of-mist.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.season-of-mist.com/

No matter how many records get written about on this site, and no matter how many I hear, there remain times when trying to accurately describe something is a frustrating challenging. That’s not a negative at all, because this means the music is inventive and compelling enough that trying to explain becomes almost pointless. Those records, by the way, tend to stick with me.

Portland, Ore., black metal band L’Acéphale fall into that category and have ever since the project got under way 17 years ago. There had been a long period of dormancy since their 2009 album “Stalhartes Gehause,” their second, but they’re back with a self-titled affair that is utterly astonishing and, as kind of noted in the intro, is extremely hard to put into words. Over seven tracks and nearly 74 minutes, the band—vocalist/keyboard player/mastermind Set Sothis Nox La, vocalist/guitarist Jared Huston, moog synthesizer player/vocalist Markus Wolff, bassist Danny Costa, drummer Charlie Mumma—lay out a dramatic, heavy, mesmerizing journey that demands a lot of the listener. But each ounce you give is paid back double as the chaos unfurls before you, with each chapter feeling like something from beyond this realm. Yet it all fits together shockingly well, with each new twist and turn either making your brain panic in its skull or your body feel like it’s been through unholy destruction.

“Sovereignty” is the 12:13 opener that has voices floating over before the track blows open with strong, imaginative playing. The spacious hell eventually is countered by folkish melodies and acoustics, sending serenity until the next burst of shrapnel and destructive growls. Total savagery is afoot as the rhythm section clobbers, the guitars soar like a Maiden twin attack, and the track comes to a decimating finish. “In Gloria In Excelsis Mihi” is an early curveball, and trance-inducing track that features Geneviève Beaulieu of Menace Ruine on vocals, and her singing absolutely hypnotizes. It sounds like she is reaching out to a long-lost ghost, as the lines swirl and take off from each other. The first time I heard this, I was en route from NYC and had to turn off the song because I was so soothed, I feared falling into a daydream. It’s an amazing piece, something you wouldn’t hear on most metal records. “Runenburg” has an odd start before it lands punches with glorious riffs riding and the vocals drawing blood. The band manages to take their intensity to a new level, quaking your body and mind as riffs speed and threaten, and the growls are crazed. The tempo gets chunky and mean, with sludge being dumped in your path and the guitars spiraling off from there. Furious cosmic waves bounce off walls before the leads pierce skin and bleed out.

“Hark! The Battle Cry Is Ringing” begins with acoustics ringing out and bellowed singing, demanding, “Death to tyrants,” as darkness wells up behind. The track feels a bit like a Dark Ages dirge, with guitars buzzing and the melodies raining ash. Wordless calls send minds racing, while the guitars keep churning and giving off smoke, letting everything burn away. “Last Will” is utterly destructive from the start, making it feel like castle walls are coming down. Vile growls and a ferocious pace induce madness, while the skull duggery takes a brief respite to allow you to breathe before pained moans drag you by the arms, and the track ends in the clutches of a heavy dream state. “Sleep” has piano dripping, drum sticks smacking together, and a slowly hammering assault starting as everything devolves into morbid chaos. The playing is dark and menacing as feedback hangs in the air before everything is torn the fuck apart. War explodes from every corner as things melt into calculating trudging, paving the way for 19:15-long closer “Winternacht.” Eerie synth sets the scary tone as sinister growls are unleashed and guitars explore, while raw crunchiness turns into thrashy goodness. Melodies well up as clean singing slides in, and birds chirp as if the earth’s atmosphere is alive with color. Out of a folk-friendly section comes a bloodthirsty outburst that tears right at the guts. The violence is as hypnotic as it is merciless, and a long section with dialog on top heads into psyche wonder before the assault breaks out again, smearing blood and flesh into a sound void in which it disappears.

Understanding and absorbing a band such as L’Acéphale is not something done easily. This isn’t a push-play-and-get-destroyed kind of band. There are so many peaks and valleys and sounds and bursts and pullbacks that it takes some visits before the terrain doesn’t feel totally alien. But this self-titled work is one of the most indescribable records I can remember hearing the past few years, and its music is going to stick with me for a long time as I try to fully absorb its magic. This isn’t music for a quick pump up; this is an album for long periods of contemplation that will last far after the music has ended.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LAcephale/148314758542381

To buy the album, go here: https://store.eisenton.de/en/

Foer more on the label, go here: https://www.eisenton.de/

Photo by Joey Wharton

It’s safe to argue that death metal really doesn’t have set boundaries anymore. It’s like a gelatinous blob that’s constantly stretching and forming into new shapes, always canvassing more land than the last time you checked. That infuriates some who would rather see the style stay in the guttural swamps, but there are too many possibilities to satiate those people.

Richmond, Va., death unit Inter Arma are one of the bands that have taken a torch to the castle walls and expanded the kingdom far beyond the eye can see. Over the course of four full-length records, the band has added sludge, psychedelic smear, and even strains of Americana (for lack of a better term) into their music, making them an animal not very easy to predict. That carries over to their fourth record “Sulphur English” that delivers much of what you expect from an Inter Arma record—incredible sprawl, death metal that fucks with your mind, colors you haven’t seen before—but also amplifies the psyche elements and plasters you with a relentless nine tracks in nearly 67 minutes that no other band on earth could duplicate. Like their other records, it takes some time to fully get into what the band—vocalist Mike Paparo, guitarists Steven Russell and Trey Dalton, bassist Andrew Lacour, drummer TJ Childers—delivers on this shifting, shaping beast. You need to spend time before the music transforms from a punishing array of sounds to something that takes full form and pushes your imagination. That time spent will be worthwhile.

“Bumgardner” starts the album first as an eerie, horror-film style opener before unloading the bricks in the second half and plowing into “A Waxen Sea” that starts mauling and chewing. Growls carve through muddy death, always keeping you off balance as they do so well with weird playing and wrenching shrieks. The track gets trippy even while pummeling as the main section returns, crushing souls and punching out in a fiery burst. “Citadel” also spins its wheels in the thickened earth as growls gorge and souls are crushed. Paparo wails about “a stone in the eye of mankind” as his shrieks echo against cave walls before a slow menace crawls through. Guitars go off and create color bursts, and the track seemingly pulls shut before leaking back under the door and ending in a grisly sprawl. “Howling Lands” starts with drums rumbling and a goddamn gong before shrieks are drenched in psychedelics, and your brain is clubbed. Strange sounds well up before an airy ambiance arrives, with melody looping under the building fire, tribal rhythms enrapturing, and the track ending in a bed of acoustics. “Stillness” chills the vibe at the halfway point, as the band turns into western-style noir, Paparo’s singing is hearty, and slide guitars cement the sunburnt vibe. The track burns and quivers before bursting about 6 minutes in, with the drums pacing, the leads going off and soaring, and the chaos is swept up into serenity.

“Observances of the Path” is a quick instrumental piece with guitars howling, pianos dripping, and a post-Apocalyptic feel lurching, meeting up with “The Atavist’s Meridian” that burns up in a pit of bashing drums and unhinged vocals. The track punishes and keeps unleashing strange visions, slipping into calm, mesmerizing playing that melts your mind. Guitars echo while the sounds warble, feeling like a dream state before you’re shaken awake and the ground quakes with fury. Guitars launch and race toward the cosmos, opening space for “Blood on the Lupines” that has synth glimmer and warped singing. Floydian psyche-scapes are built around you, bursting through the sky before the heaviness captures and delivers torture. That lets up to allow singing to re-emerge as the band pounds slowly but steadily, lulling you back into a coma. The title track finishes this monster, opening in strange waters before growls bring things to a boil, and a dizzying assault is unleashed. The tempo crawls monstrously, sometimes going at warped speeds when you least expect it, at others making your head spin with confusion. The bizarre atmosphere brings with it dark growls, blazes raging then subsiding, and everything being swallowed into a black hole.

Inter Arma definitely have a sound to which they adhere, but every time out, they add stranger elements and deface what you know about them so that they’re just oddly recognizable. “Sulphur English” is another monster helping of mind-bending death metal that sounds like nothing else out there and cannot even be challenged. This band has taken death past where anyone ever thought it could go, and the journey is nowhere near being over.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/INTERARMA

To buy the album, go here: https://store.relapse.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Winter is breathing its last here in the eastern part of the United States. As I write this, we are anticipating temperatures near 70 degrees, and people are getting all hot and bothered about the upcoming warmer months to give solace from a winter that was bizarre and unpredictable. That said, we’re heading right back into the storm, letting the blizzard bruise our faces.

The reason for that is German atmospheric black metal force Waldgeflüster have returned with “Mondscheinsonaten” (in English it translates to “moonlight sonata), an eight-track, 56-minute record that re-opens the majesty of winter and fills your lungs with excruciatingly cold air. On this, the band’s fifth record and first since 2016’s “Ruinen,” rustic folk and molten black metal merge that, sound wise, makes them the European brethren for Panopticon (the bands will tour together, and they have done a split together and contributed to each other’s projects). The songs are sung in the group’s native German, so there will be a language barrier for anyone who doesn’t speak the language. But there’s no way the music itself and the expression won’t set your heart ablaze, as their art is an international language that will fill you up inside. The band—vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Winterherz, guitarists Markus Frey and Dominik Frank, bassist Arvagr, drummer Thomas Birkmaier—sound like they’re rushing the German forest, pulling sounds and inspirations from their hearts and love of homeland to bring an experience that isn’t just a metal record but a portrait of a place in time.

“Einleitung” starts the record with acoustics, the winds whipping, and clean calls, giving off a woodsy folk vibe before meeting up with “Der Steppenwolf” that kicks off with lush melodies and glorious power, amplified with harsh growls. The vocals continue to crash while clean lines wrap around them, with a gazey atmosphere lowering the cloud coverage, bringing a brief calm dotted by guitar lines trickling. When the track opens anew, the playing rushes back and infuses the world with colors, the vocals peels back your flesh, and the fires keep raging until the song slowly fades. “Gipfelstürme” has a folkish open before shit is torn apart, growls surge, and the guitars make the melodies crash through the gates. Things utterly soar, as clean calls add majesty, and even some serene sounds bleed in to add more texture. The growls continue to mangle, with speaking adding to the eeriness, and a rousing return of the chorus splits back in to end the song on a high.

“Rotgoldene Novemberwälder” begins spaciously as guitars erupt, and the emotion is rushed forward. Harsh cries, deep bellowing, and some speaking all take turns over the madness beneath, as the barnstormer ends on a freezing pathway. “Und der Wind…” has dreamy synth to start before the track crackles open with folkish singing and melodies that make your blood surge. The pace storms and gets gnarly, which gets an assist from the vocals, but then things turn unexpectedly breezy, with hearty singing to boot. That doesn’t last long as the growls crush all over, tremendous spirit is injected into the playing, and the spirit digs into your heart before finally giving mercy. “Von Winterwäldern und Mondscheinsonaten” starts with a folk/country feel, a bit of a hint of something that lies ahead, before the heaviness trikes with start-stop playing that leaves bruising. The track trudges for stretches, allows air into the room at other times, while tumult rages later on as hearts and souls explode, and a return of the chorus ends the track with optimal energy. “Staub in der Lunge” is what was foreshadowed a song earlier, as the band enters full country mode here. The singing is soulful and emotionally rich, while the track floods with heart, getting gritter as it goes before finally soaring off into the horizon. If you have the vinyl version, you get an acoustic take of “Der Steppenwolf” as your closer, a reworked stab at the metallic shot you took earlier, giving the song a totally different atmosphere and character.

Seasonally, this record isn’t dropping at an ideal time in this part of the world, but we can still immerse ourselves in wintry majesty whenever we want to by visiting Waldgeflüster’s massive “Mondscheinsonaten.” This music is rich and devastating, an album that never relents in fire and emotion. This is a band we’ve long unabashedly loved, and it’s great to hear this group continuing to expand our minds when it comes to black metal and the drama it can pack when done really well.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMetalWaldgefluester/

To buy the album, go here: https://nordvis.com/en/waldgefluster-a-19

For more on the label, go here: https://www.nordvis.com/en/

We’ve mentioned before the glut of new records that ram my inbox every day that it’s so hard to keep up with every vital thing going on with metal. Again, a super good problem to have on our end, so I’m definitely not complaining. But I imagine how hard it must be for the waves of really good bands to find the audience that will embrace them.

While trying to wade through all that shit, it’s probably a good idea to have your act together and playing really strong stuff while you’re etching your path. That’s likely what led Hath to come to the attention of Willowtip Records, the label releasing their insanely good debut LP “Of Rot and Ruin.” With only a 2015 EP “Hive” to their credit to this point, the band rips out nine tracks in about 55 minutes, all of which they spend building their case and destroying the senses. The band—guitarist/vocalist Frank Albanese, bassist/vocalist Greg Nottis, guitarist Peter Brown, drummer AJ Viana—blister with death metal fire that’s not quite as technically noodly as a lot of other Willowtip releases (I mean that with all due respect) and instead just goes for the throat with blackened aggression. The music also is compelling and splattering, which means it’s not just here to shed blood but also to twist up your brains.

“Usurpation” kicks off the record with bells chiming and grimy death emerging before the tempo starts bashing away. The leads simmer and send off heat, with the soloing leaning into prog waters. A cleansing burst clears the space, with anthemic blasts closing the track. “Currents” begins with acoustics and hand drums before the band goes on an adventure complete with vicious growls and a monstrous assault drawing blood. Clean wails push in behind the shrieks, while the band unleashes sludgy horror that fades into black. “Rituals” begins clean before a proggy burst opens wounds, and the guitars shred minds. Whispers bring an uneasy calm, and then the drums clobber, clean singing works alongside the growls, and the track manages to be both sinister and catchy before being consumed by a chunky ending. “To Atone” mashes right away, with grisly vocals, muddy playing making your wheels spin, and growls and shrieks teaming up to bring abject terror, with howls of, “I see the truth!”

“Withered” is chilling as it starts, as it trickles slowly before being consumed by a slow-driving hell that makes your muscles ache. Abrasive growls and bubbling guitars work together to deliver total devastation. “Worlds Within” has acoustics and warm guitars out front before it’s ripped apart, and monstrous growls devour things whole. Keys arrive, as prog waters again rush, and classic guitars give the hell a feel of vintage charge. The song then speeds up and enraptures, bringing things back to death that continues to twist the knife in your ribs before trudging away. “Kindling” is an instrumental cut that delivers rustic acoustics, lush picking, and a mellower vibe, which is utterly destroyed by “Accursed” when it launches with devastating punches before pulling back a bit on the relentlessness. The verses then toughen up a bit, with cries of, “I let you fall into the abyss!” swimming amidst the muddy melodies. The track gets meaner as it reaches its final minutes, as weird guitars swoop, the flow gets tricky, and everything comes to a fiery end. “Progeny” caps off the album with bludgeoning heaviness and the howl of, “Here I lie hidden from the sun, ready to be devoured by the slime of the gods.” The pace keeps up its intensity and panic, eventually giving way in a hell storm that ends in doom bells, which acts as a bookend to the record.

Hath’s debut “Of Rot and Ruin” is an impressive display of bone-crushing death metal that’s exceptionally well played and also bloody as hell. This is a band that, while treading water in a sea of other death metal groups, should be able to hold their own with their razor-sharp proficiency and thirst to mangle digits. The best Hath can do to ensure more people are aware of their metallic violence is keep beating the same path they’re on until they’re followed by devoted legions.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/HathNJ/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.willowtip.com/store/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.willowtip.com/home.aspx

Torture and pain might help make for devastating music that can help soundtrack our lives or push us through struggle, but what sometimes gets forgotten is the artist behind that music who has interpreted bruising sorrow in such a tumultuous way. Anything that revels in misery and torture has to be born from something emotionally damaging, which makes the music heavy and affecting.

Over the course of who-knows-how-many releases, Crowhurst, the project long helmed by sole creator Jay Gambit, has been one that’s bled with prolific force. As much music as Gambit releases, many of which are mini efforts and singles, he finds a way to not repeat himself and always dig into something extra. That’s never been truer than of “III,” the final part of a three-album cycle and some of the darkest music of the artist’s entire run. The music here barely resembles what was presented on the other two records—2015’s “I” and 2016’s “II—tied to “III,” much less what else he’s put into the world since the project’s inception not even a decade ago. On this record, you’re met with noise, black metal corrosion, and doom, but also rustic folk, dark singing that’ll carve a hold in your heart, and a vulnerability that puts Gambit on the line over and over, with him bleeding for his audience willingly. He’s joined here by musicians from the gloriously resuscitated Caina (Andy Curtis-Brignell), Primitive Man (Ethan Lee McCarthy), Sol Invictus (Tony Wakeford), and Lycia (Tara Vanflower), adding more grit to this already grimy picture.

“I Will Carry You to Hell” starts the record with noise simmering, choral sounds emerging, and then things are torn apart, with an angelic backing adding chills. Organs spill while Gambit howls, “Into the earth with us,” as the track comes to a grim conclusion. “Self Portrait With Halo and Snake” gives the first glimpse of the brand of morbidity woven into this record as guitars bustle and a western noir feel spreads over, as Gambit notes, “You are the mirror I stare into.” A violent outburst arrives, with Gambit howling, “I’ll be waiting for you,” as shrieks rain down, melody mixes colors, and everything melds into the orange and purple horizon. “The Drift” has noises floating as Gambit pokes at “our anger and our nothingness” while guitars wash over. Shrieks rip into the picture while a spacey guitar haze hangs overhead, a lush shadow gives the song an uneasy vibe, and the sound washes away into a nightmare.

“La Faim” gets started with guitars pushing in as doomy, burly riffs being to reign. Gambit’s singing reminds of Glenn Danzig’s bluesy howl, as the verses slowly punish, building to utter, complete hell. The music melts and crushes, thrashing away, leaving devastation behind. “Ghost Tropic” starts calmly, with Gambit deeply singing about “crawling, bone fragments hanging.” The track picks up and twists screws into the senses, as Gambit cries, “There is no light here, there is no fight here,” as the wiry fury goes out into a buzzing cloud. Closer “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” is named after an old episode of the “Twilight Zone,” and things get started off very heavily and monstrously. The track feels like it’s here to crush your chest as a destructive assault is mounted, and cosmic zapping blasts into the atmosphere. Weird beats scrape away as the blasting feels non-stop, as Gambit screams, “There is no end in sight!” while everything is consumed by a relentless industrial blaze.

Gambit has channeled murky chaos and emotional turmoil over the course of this three-album cycle, and “III” is the darkest, most foreboding of the trio. These songs will crawl into your mind and test your psyche, a battle that you won’t realize how dangerous it is until it’s upon you. Crowhurst albums never can be predicted as far as how they’ll play out and, even with that in mind, “III” will rattle your cages like no other release in the project’s massive catalog.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/crowhurstnoise

To buy the album, go here: https://prophecy.lnk.to/crowhurst-III

For more on the label, go here: https://en.prophecy.de/