black metal

M
One Last Bitter Retreat
dB Rating: 8/10

Gabriele Gramaglia incorporates a love of Converge-heightened, spastic hardcore heaviness into his anguished odes to the great outdoors.  The percussion and vocal rhythms here really set Gramaglia’s solo project apart from the pack.  The music retains black metal’s otherworldly quality without losing the attention of mere mortals like us.

In life, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Back in 2013, Blaze of Perdition were traveling through Austria and were involved in a major car accident that left members severely injured and bassist Wojciech “Ikaroz” Janus dead. Uncertain whether to carry on, Blaze of Perdition invoked the power of the Elder Gods—both benign and malign—and asked them one question: should Blaze of Perdition continue to sing the praises of “Luciferian Illumination”? The weak-minded would’ve come away from the confrontation confused and bereft. Not Blaze of Perdition. They respectfully mourned the loss of Janus and vowed, with ensorcelled swords and overflowing blood chalices held high, to return to the lands of the blackest metal, spiritually and physically rejuvenated.

Italy’s Forgotten Tomb may’ve helped spearhead depressive black metal, but they’ve moved on from the group’s early monochromatic, manic styling to emerge as a mature, self-aware black metal act with influences ranging from Burzum to Pitch Shifter to Eyehategod. Forgotten Tomb’s new album, Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love, is massively heavy, penetratingly introspective, and, yes, pitch black dark. From its lyrics (read Ferdinando ‘Herr Morbid’ Marchisio’s response below), its stark cover, to its cross-over black, Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love is Forgotten Tomb’s best work yet.

Untitled
Coming Correct
dB Rating: 9/10

On April 21, 2015, the Bay Area metal scene—and the underground metal scene as a whole—lost a prolific and talented artist named Drew Cook, guitarist for Oakland-based bands Dimesland and Wild Hunt.

Omniscient
Omnifying the Obscure
dB Rating: 8/10

A Umbra Omega
Space øddity
dB Rating: 8/10

All Fours
Screamo’s not a dirty word
dB Rating: 8/10

Crowhurst
Noise’s loss, metal’s gain
dB Rating: 8/10

Abyssal Gods
Colin Marston mixed and mastered the fucker, too
dB Rating: 8/10

Poland’s one-man, one-woman (and thus, probably Church approved) blackened frost-treaders Mornië Utúlië offer one of those perfect blends of intent, image and music.  Calling a black metal record Sny (Polish for “dreams” and, coincidentally – thanks Google Translate – Afrikaans for “cuts”) and draping the cover in a field of stars certainly sets up expectations that this might be a toothless, undistorted bliss-out, but Mornië Utúlië’s adventures into the void turn out to be way more Darkspace roar than Alcest sigh.  Like the subtle merging of Nosferatu and nebula on the cover, Mornië Utúlië throttle up the terror in in their yawning darkness and never settle for mere atmospheric meandering.

We asked Bartosz Brożek, the man behind the music, about his journey and his newest creation, so you can read all about it after the jump while you stab through the cosmos with Sny and a video for the late-album cut “W Nocy Płynie Chłodny Wiatr” featuring gal-vocalist Ewa Kleszcz.  If you dig, be sure to head over to the Mornië Utúlië’s Facebook site or Bandcamp page, where the album lives.

Live long, prosper, eat the weak and fear your dreams! 

David ‘Ravengarde’ Sylvester and Nordavind Records have teamed up to release a fresh approach to epic heavy music with a new Beautality album entitled Einfallen: A Tale ov Torment & Triumph.  The UK-based band thrusts all manner of screeching, fist-pounding, air-drumming metal styles into their propulsive, cinematically broad storytelling.  The album boasts six mighty tracks,…

Here’s one to send you off into the TGIF abyss… We’ve got an exclusive stream of “Black But Shining,” one of seven gorgeously remastered tracks on the re-release of Sic Lvceat Lvx, the debut album from forward-thinking black metallers Schammasch. Here’s the lowdown from vocalist C.S.R. Six years have passed since me and B.A. (drums)…

If you like your metal weird, ugly and awesome, please give it up for Odota, an Estonian one-man project that takes black metal and infests it with all sorts of uncomfortable sounds that will make the purists cry, “False!”  The new album Fever Marshal props up raw, blasting riffage against industrial and electronic detritus, offering a bracing…

In the new edition of Decibel with our tour headliners on the cover J. Bennett gets into a fascinating conversation with Liturgy frontman Hunter Hunt Hendrix (aka Triple H) about just what constitutes “black metal,” among other topics. There’s no need for any investigation or atom splitting when it comes to this band. Hacavitz is…

A year ago, metal enthusiast and writer Dayal Patterson presented the world with his authoritative document Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult, claiming the dark hearts of literate misanthropes everywhere.  To anyone who read the book and thought it could have been more developed… well, the author thought so, too.  This year, we will have…

The East Coast is about to get hit with a snowstorm of apocalyptic proportions in the next 24 hours or so. Could there be better timing to debut “Dead Heaven,” the first track off Abyssal Gods, the second album from the urban black metal band Imperial Triumphant? Here’s what we’re hearing: “Abyssal Gods focuses on…

I consider Botanist to be one of modern black metal’s great “projects.” Germinated by a solitary San Franciscan named Otrebor, it’s a band whose music is both utterly bizarre (floraphilic paeans from a misanthropic hermit, rendered only in drums, voice and hammered dulcimer) and emotionally devastating. This is all to say that when Otrebor tells…

I would give all the skin from my left armpit to hear a DJ at the local 80s/90s soft rock station –which right now is exactly one week deep in their Christmas All The Time holiday barfaganza – say, “Weather and traffic coming up, but first, here’s new music you’ll love from Bhleg!”  I don’t…

The buzz, my friends, is justified. Metalhead, the “dark, intense drama of loss, faith, redemption, and heavy metal” from acclaimed Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason, is a gorgeous, harrowing, touching, and, despite its black metal grim moments, ultimately, uplifting piece of tour de force filmmaking with a soundtrack that previously only existed in the dreams of…

New Jersey-based brazen black metallers Abazagorath have sprinkled the last six or seven years with splits and an EP, but October 7th of this year will see the release of their first album in ten years.  What does the band have in store for you on their nearly-dawned The Satanic Verses?  How do you feel about…

Anaal Nathrakh doesn’t — or at least shouldn’t — require much of an introduction — the ridiculously consistent Birmingham black metallers are simply one of the most utterly fearsome and inventive outfits currently operating in the modern extreme metal scene. Elite level mind-fuckers. Aural devastators. Masters of what the band’s new Metal Blade bio calls…

Last week Philadelphia black metal stalwarts Krieg unleashed a disquieting beast of an album christened Transient. Now comes appropriately dark visual accompaniment in the form of the video for “Ruin Our Lives,” streaming below. Get into it.

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…

Long before he took up residence in a pair of New Jersey record stores Krieg frontman Neill Jameson (aka Imperial) was a kid looking to make a buck during the long, hot East Coast summers. He found a job as a professional ghoul at a boardwalk haunted house in Wildwood, New Jersey. The Deciblog convinced…

Cleveland’s finest hooded hellions Midnight get lead review honors in September’s Decibel for their ripping sophomore full-length No Mercy for Mayhem. But that’s not the only honor the issue bestows upon Athenar and crew conjuring the earliest days of black metal majesty. Midnight make their Flexi Series debut with a full-throttle take on longtime influence Venom’s…

The superb Boston/Norway black metal outfit Hekseri will be conjuring its unique brand of “witching metal” opening for Behexen at Martyrdoom this Sunday and to get you ready we’ve got an exclusive stream of “Der Hexenhammer,” a searing, turbulent track off the band’s new CD single Soul’s Prison is Flesh. “‘Der Hexenhammer’ is about the…

No matter how many people think black metal has gone mainstream or become hip because a few dozen bands from Brooklyn have small label deals the reality is that the vast majority of the population doesn’t know a thing about it. They’re listening to .38 Special or Lana Del Rey. If there is a black…

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…