Kommandant - "Stormlegion" CD

Chicago black metal reissue

Kommandant's 2008 debut album is here reissued, and it's a 13-song set of blurry black metal created by a group from Chicago that consists of "anonymous" members of other bands, including Nachtmystium and Sarcophagus. It's really pretty solid work, with precise drumming and guitars, and the usual distorted witchy vocals.

My only issue here is the production, in which the drums sound a wee tinny and dry. Otherwise, as a debut offering, "Stormlegion" is a solid work of fearsome, if unremarkable, black metal madness.

Higher Power/MVD Audio

Kommandant site

Blaze Of Perdition - "Towards The Blaze Of Perdition" CD

Strong Polish occult black metal

This is a reissue/remastering of the Polish black metal act's first full-length album from 2010, and it's a solid offering of evil, mid-tempo metal in the vein of Watain. 

"Misterium Kliffoth" is solid but pretty typical black metal -- highly aggressive and intense, yet with an underlying air of sorrow. The guitar leads and rhythms are strong, to say the least, and the vocals, though they don't deviate much, are raw and effective in the context of the music. "The Scarlet Woman" is a thunderous assault, and includes some Aleister Crowley recordings as part of it's intro, so score a few points there.The rest of the album is just as good, though.

Production is superb, leaving plenty of room for all instruments, with deep lows and crisp highs. "Towards The Blaze Of Perdition" is a well-done album (especially for a debut), and if occult black metal ignites your fires, this is easily recommended.

Redstream Org

Blazebook

Fen - "Dustwalker" CD

Progressive black metal with psychedelic and post-rock touches

I'm sure that "tried & true" traditional black metal still has it's audience, but increasingly, bands are looking to move beyond this now-stereotyped, even over-done style. British act Fen are one of those groups who transcend the genre, while remaining rooted in it.

"Dustwalker" begins with the darkly atmospheric black metal of "Consequence". The second track, however, "Hands Of Dust", enters an entirely different arena, with moody, droning guitars alongside the feral black metal vocals. It seems Fen are straddling and blurring the lines dividing traditional black metal and what's been termed "post-rock". "Spectre" is even more tuneful, sounding like an old English folk song ala Syd Barrett. The track branches out into a spacious, post-Pink Floyd cosmic trip, even. "Wolf Sun" brings it back into a more heavy rock-based realm, returning with the blackened vocals and a straightforward guitar-and-drums orientation. The 13-minute closer, "Walking The Crowpath", meanders from Nephilim-style darkness to progressive melodic rock, and tends to get bogged down in it's own miasma. 

Nonetheless,"Dustwalker" is a strong album and definitely a fresh direction. 

Code666

Fenbook

Nachtvorst - "Silence" CD

Forward-thinking post-doom-black metal with swirl and drone...

Nachtvorst are a Rotterdam, Holland-based duo, and their second album, "Silence", shows a remarkable ear for texture and mood, especially for a black doom metal-oriented act. Opening with the epic 11-minute "The Serpent's Tongue", Nachtvorst combine the bewitching ferocity of black metal with classical, drone, post-rock, and electronic textures. "After..." is a lovely piano and string-laden instrumental interlude that shows these guys have skills and interests well beyond the usual, and the album opens up deeper from there.

"Nightwinds" is a moody, atmospheric 9-minute drone/post-metal that strikes hard, while the depressive "Gentle Notice Of A Final Breath" could be a distant cousin of Mono, building to a crushing crescendo before....the track simply cuts off. Not cool. A terrible shame, especially considering this may have been the album's high point. "A Way Of Silence" closes it out with 14 minutes of mid-tempo atmospheres, from speedy thrash to mopey, melodic darkwave. It's a strong track, to be sure, taking us on a journey across a landscape of sorrow and loss. A brilliant ending to a strong, but flawed album.

Code666 / Aural Music

Nachtvorst site

Nachtvorstspace

Hordes Of Nebulah - "...And Blasphemous Night Shall Fall" CD

This album collects several demotape releases from an unlikely Crawfordsville, Indiana band who take their name from a Darkthrone song. Originally recorded from 2003 to 2005, these 15 tracks are a little muddy, showcasing the band's intense but ultimately rather generic black metal sound.

The cuts on "...And Blasphemous Night" are pretty well interchangeable, with the trademark black metal blurry guitars, breakneck blastbeat rhythms, and hissed vocals. "A Dark Malediction" stands out a bit, with a clangy, trebly noise throughout the song that, either unwitting or intentional, somehow works. Otherwise, there's not much to say here. It's black metal like the hundreds of others out there. 

(Abyss Records)

Hordespace

Sincera - "Cursed And Proud" CD

A sort of "supergroup", with members of several Norwegian black metal bands collaborating, Sincera's sole release combines 3 studio tracks with 5 live cuts, and this is all of pretty forgettable quality. The raw-sounding "studio" set is fairy typical black metal, with blurry guitars and monotone screeched vocals.  

"Cursed" even goes for an operatic, dramatic direction with a mid-song melodic breakdown, which to these ears is simply silly. The live tracks are of dubious "bootleg" quality and, unfortunately, pretty forgettable. The closing cut, an entrance song for Norwegian wrestler Byron Lawless, titled "Byron Lawless", is another laughable transgression from a band that doesn't really make the cut among their peers.

(Abyss Records)

Sinceraspace

Bane - "Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness" CD

Bane was a black/death metal band from Serbia, and this 2010 debut album showed great promise. A principal member moved overseas to Canada after a followup 2012 album, and although he hopes to reform the band, it's still dicey whether Bane will continue. Which is a shame, as this is certainly a strong offering.

Separated into three distinct "movements" (Chaos, Darkness, and Emptiness), the Chaos part of the album opens with a symphonic intro before diving headfirst into a strong black/death metal assault ("The True Insomnia"), using alternately screeching/grumbled vocals and a thick, heavy, and propulsive rhythm section. "Pandemonium" is much more technically precise and well-produced than most black metal, though still most certainly referencing it.

Going from the frenzied black & death precision of Chaos, to the introspective, almost prog/doomy Darkness stage, Bane seem to lose a bit of steam on "Lost Shadows" and "Plague Upon Yourself", both of which include melodic acoustic interludes that seem quite out of place. They do provide a fair respite from the typical assault, though.

Emptiness includes the clean and structured "Inherited Infection" (which ends with an almost medieval melodic guitar), and the slower, doomier "The Haunting Presence". "Dysthymia" is another mellow, orchestral piece to (almost) close it out, before the "bonus track", a cover of Dark Funeral's "The Dawn No More Rises" rears it's head in a killer fashion.

The production works well for bane, providing enough crunchy highs and lows and clean mid-range. And the wide array of sounds and styles here are a nice change-up, proving Bane to be a diverse and mature black/death act capable of much more. Superb!

(Abyss Records)

Banespace

Christ Beheaded - "Open The Gates Of Hell" CDEP

The debut 5-song EP from an Indianapolis, Indiana black metal act, "Purgatory" begins things with in a blur of antagonism and an almost Napalm Death grindcore tempo and vibe. The title track is more typical tortured black metal with an old-school feel (dig the solo in the middle). "Decomposed" has elements of death metal within the confines of black metal. Production is solid, and this 5-song, 22-minute set more than satisfies the need for more metal.

But who's really counting? "Open The Gates Of Hell" is a strong showing from some skilled metallic warriors who take no prisoners. This EP (newly reissued) was recorded back in 2008, so it seems the band is on hiatus or split. Here's to a follow-up album. 

(Abyss Records)

Christ Beheadedspace

"Black Metal - Voices From Hell" DVD

Not a documentary (as you'd rightfully and logically expect from the packaging), but  a (likely bootleg) combination of scattershot VHS clips, with only tenuous connections to one another. 

This shady set begins with three low-quality VHS transfers of live songs by Mayhem, Venom, and Celtic Frost (some with digital noise/tape glitches intact). Then we get a brief clip called "Consejo Black Metal", which amounts to a Spanish or Mexican guy in corpse paint ranting. There are some priceless (and hopefully tongue-in-cheek) shots of him reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula" in an outhouse. I couldn't figure this out. Finally there are two "photo galleries", one called "Black Metal Girls", and a "Norwegian Black Metal Photo Documentary", both of which contain some curious still images, but they are all unlabeled and unorganized, so who knows what bands are here? No documentation, just raw materials easily accessed online, I'm sure. 

If that weren't enough, the whole deal runs in 20 minutes!  Very, very shameful. This is a simple case of a company preying upon a faithful fan base, and releasing shoddy product. If that's not pure evil, I don't know what is. 

(XXL Releasing)

Maax - "Six Pack Witchcraft" CDEP

5 songs and 14 minutes of rolling black thrash metal thunder from an Indiana group. This EP was originally released in 2010, and the band have since realized a full-length LP, which I've not heard. Regardless, this is a solid piece of evil metal madness.

The opening cut, "Die By The Ax" is a beast of unbridled mayhem, with witchy vocals and a tough thrash exterior. Imagine if Motorhead careened headfirst into Darkthrone, and you'd be close to Maax's ferocious sound. The other cuts, including the blurry and subtle "Go Fuck Yourself", echo this sentiment. The title track is a pure drunken punk/black metal crossover that is as dirty and smelly as can be, which is a good thing. The only thing holding up this brief EP is the muddied mix, in which the lower end seems bottomed out. Nonetheless, these guys bring it in an authentic way.

(Abyss Records)

Maaxspace

"Extreme Metal Retardation" DVD (director: Bill Zebub)

Zebub is a metal journalist and prolific indie filmmaker who keeps his ties to the music world close. I've not been much a fan of his ultra-trashy Z-grade horror films (though some are fun in a silly high school stoner style), but this one held my interest pretty well.

The premise? Zebub, while doing serious interviews with internationally-recognized extreme metal acts, asks them, point blank, stupid questions, and films their responses. So we get a feature film of metal bands responding to Zebub and company's oftentimes offensive questions. Contents include interviews with members of Enslaved, Dimmu Borgir, King Diamond (also featured with a 30-minute serious interview as a bonus feature), Enthroned, Arch Enemy, Voivod, Kreator, and many more. Interspersed with the interview bits are music videos, mostly of the female-fronted gothic metal variety. Merely an afterthought, though, as the interviews are the meat and potatoes here.

Another added bonus here is Zebub's feature film, "Metalheads", which is a re-edit of the 2008 film. It's a pretty well go-nowhere tale of some metalhead stoners who don't have jobs or money, and their relationships with their girlfriends and assorted sketchy characters. Some boobage here, and plenty of obscure metal sounds on the soundtrack, but overall "Metalheads" is fairly unremarkable.

So, final opinion? A fun oddity for serious metal fans. But you won't watch the "Metalheads" feature more than once, so beware. (Bill Zebub Productions)

Bill Zebub site

Negura Bunget - "Poarta De Dincolo" CDEP

With their last blast of visionary black metal excellence, veteran Romanian group Negura Bunget proved they were a force to be reckoned with on the international level. Now, with this new 4-song EP, they've further gravitated away from their roots.

Embracing classical, soundtrack, and symphonic inspirations, the band retains some ties to their old styles, but now these are gene-spliced into grandiose and epic movements, still bleak and depressive, but with an added air of refinement among the doom. Ambient passages, dulcimers, panpipes, and xylophone accent the often oppressive atmospheres and the periodic onslaughts of guitar/drum aggression. Impressive! (Code666)

Abigail Williams - "Becoming" album

With their third album, veteran American metal act Abigail Williams bring symphonic elements to their otherwise primal black metal attack. "Ascension Sickness" is a masterful work of transcendent darkness. These guys deserve some credit, as their sometimes mournful, often scathing metallic lashings are tempered by some well-developed melodies and strings amongst the blastbeats and demonic howls. The epic 17-minute "Beyond The Veil" closes it all up with swells of lovely strings and an almost post-rock sense of space and dynamism. World class. (Candlelight Records)

Abigailspace

Craft - "Void" CD

Vicious and fiery black metal from Sweden that transcends the usual black metal sound by going even more brutal. For their 4th album, Craft dredge the depths of despair and fan the flames of hate with a powerful and crusty attack of simplistic but bowel-churning riffs and rhythms. Solid, solid work here. (Southern Lord)

Craftspace

Wolves In The Throne Room - "Celestial Lineage" CD

Opening with the ethereal ambiance of the 12-minute "Thuja Magus Imperium", complete with female vocals, it's evident that this isn't your typical black metal album. If anything, "Celestial Lineage" is a post-black metal album, delivering much more than just blasting beats and demonic vocal stylings.

Underneath it all, these eco-warriors eschew the genre's trappings, and create majestic songs that herald a new age of back-to-nature idealism. In fact, both members (and their families) even live (and work) a natural lifestyle and grow their own food. But that's beside the point. The music here blends black metal with ambient, psychedelia, post-rock, and drone in an unusually cohesive fashion.

"Subterranean Initiation" is a bruising and fiery tempest of rolling metal that opens up to a low-and-slow psychedelic/krautrock thud, like a mix between Neurosis and Can, before refueling back to a torrent of cascading black metal stylings. "Woodland Cathedral" is a beautifully evocative stab at medieval Popol Vuh-style ambiance that conjures just what the title implies. "Astral Blood" is another dynamic and masterful 10-minute journey that blasts, lulls, and blasts again. The closing piece, "Prayer Of Transformation", is an epic swell of symphonic post-metal rich with bombast and beauty. A tremendous work, "Celestial Lineage" is Wolves' sonic tour-de-force. (Southern Lord)

Wolves website

Abigail Williams - "In The Absence Of Light" album

"In The Absence Of Light" is Abigail Williams' second album, and though members continue to come and go, the band's well-crafted symphonic black metal brings elements of classic metal to the (sacrificial) table. "Final Destiny Of The Gods" is a barn (or is it church?)-burner, and an amped-up standout, with a blurred attack of blast-beats and almost prog-rock melodics. "In Death Comes The Great Silence" is a doomy but melodic blur of black metal sorrow, as well. Solid album. (Candlelight Records)

Abigail Williamspace

Seidr - "For Winter Fire" album

Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, this is the full-length debut from the duo of Austin Lunn (of extreme metal act Panopticon) and Wesley Crow. Equally befitting for fans of Mayhem or Mogwai,"For Winter Fire" contains 7 extended-length tracks of forward-thinking post-metal. Mixing sinister, distorted black/doom with more expansive textural instrumentation, "For Winter Fire" is a brilliant and far-reaching collection of sounds, simultaneously haunting and gentle in spots before unleashing a maelstrom of scalding grind. For example, the spacious and beautiful "A Vision From Hllidskjalf", reminds me of Ennio Morricone meets Explosions In The Sky at first, before exploding into a triumphant doom metal beast.

"On The Shoulders Of Gods" invokes Skin Chamber almost, with its aura of impenetrable lurch-and-grind. "Sweltering" brings in the sounds of a casual thunderstorm amidst Mono-style guitar swirl. "In The Ashes" is a solemn hymn, evoking images of a religious ceremony, while "A Gaze At The Stars" is a slow, churning Swans/Neurosis attack. The final cut, "Stream Keeper" begins akin to Icelandic atmospheric band Stafraenn Hakon (a good thing), before erupting into another slow-burn char-broiled doom metal monsterpiece. Seidr have created a rock-solid piece of work that transcends genre. Bravo. Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to see these lads live? (The Flenser)

Seidrspace

Cruachan - "Blood On The Black Robe" album

Straight outta Dublin. Yes, this veteran Irish pagan metal act takes cues from their native country's folk music alongside more modern metal sounds. "I Am Warrior" sounds like Carcass' Jeff Walker fronting a Celtic folk act, but "The Column" is a superb and intense Irish-infused slice of near-black metal. "Thy Kingdom Gone" further shows that these guys have the chops -- a feverish assault of thrashy speed metal that easily holds its own. "The Voyage Of Bran" is a true example of Celtic metal, forging medieval melodies with driving guitars and drums. But, I'm not convinced on every track, though. When they're "on", Cruachan destroy. But some of the ornate medieval melodies sound downright silly when juxtaposed with the band's often-crushing riffs. Can't commit here, sorry. (Candlelight Records)

Cruachanspace

"Black Metal - The Music Of Satan" DVD (director: Bill Zebub)

Having seen some of Zebub's past "works", this one wasn't exactly a shoe-in for greatness. However, "Black Metal - The Music Of Satan" takes a different tact from the many other black metal documentaries that focus on the same tired motifs and myths (Varg Vikernes, the church burnings, and murders). Zebub interviews a mass of early and present-day black metal (and related) artists, and presents an alternate personality, where the guys (and girls) aren't so serious. Beyond the poses and "evil" headlines are some rather regular people, with (gasp) senses of humor.
Basically, this is a jumbled (and formless) but fun collection of brief interviews where the artists are allowed to smile, make jokes, and have a beer (why do they all drink Heineken?).
Zebub's film dispels the notion that black metal is a humorless, dour, and po-faced assemblage of suicidal, homocidal, misanthropic misfits. Well, mostly. Included are chats with Attila Csihar of Mayhem & Sunn O))), Venom, Gorgoroth, Celtic Frost, King Diamond, Rotting Christ, Voivod, Ulver, and tons more. Good fun! (MVD Visual)

Necrite - "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" album

I like these Bay Area guys in that they take the typical black metal template and fuck with it, showing a musical depth beyond their years. "Sic Transit" is their debut, following years of demos and shows alongside such heavyweights as Watain and Enthroned. It's an unusual mix of stylings, from dark ambient to slow-burn to all-out black metal ferocity. "A Mass For The Harvest Of Death", for example, is a 16-minute doom ride, with crawling early SWANS-style tempos and gurgled vocals. It's a churning cauldron of pain and torture that eventually erupts into a blur of speed and fury. "Bereft Of Hope" also follows this template. The 27-minute title track is an epic of minimalist doombient madness, taking turns crossing between funereal textures and raving lunacy. The final track, "Worship The Sunn O))), does just that. It's a downtuned clot of bass rumble-drone straight out of the Sunn playbook. Perhaps not original, but at least they acknowledge the influence plainly. Necrite's debut is a strong and visionary showing, and I look forward to hearing where they go next. (The Flenser Records)

Necritespace