The Screaming of the Valkyries is a well-executed blast of catchy, escapist bombast that stands up to multiple listens. In particular, Anti-Peat can’t help but think how after many reviews complaining about overambitious writing and poor structure, Cradle of Filth’s songwriting drags his attention back time after time. The thing is while he’s a sucker for catchy, escapist bombast. Have you figured out what escapist bombast means to you yet, dear reader? You might just need to to get down with the CoF.
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Délirant – Thoughteater Review
Enigmatic black metal entity D.B (Negativa, Hässlig) has returned with Thoughteater, his second album under the Délirant moniker. Mixing nightmare atmosphere with blackened dissonance, Délirant sounds like a fever-dream combination of Andavald and Deathspell Omega with a few dashes of unsettling ambience. Has Cosmo found yet another reason to sleep with his lights on?
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Ereb Altor – Hälsingemörker Review
One of the best trends in metal right now is the recent spate of black-trad hybrids. It’s a welcome revival of a combination with a long history that makes a ton of sense as their shared love of drama goes together like blood and ice. Ereb Altor know what I’m talking about — they take their sanguine cocktails on the rocks just like Anti-Peat.
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Tubal Cain – Slime Abyss Review
Black metal used to be about icy feelings — depression, hate , borderless self-expression. Scuttlegoat, for one, is quite glad that black metal musicians have discovered that having material that can actually be grabbed on to is beneficial. He wholly welcomes the rise of blackened traditional metal, which Tubal Cain and Slime Abyss fall into nicely. What once was kvvl is now kvlt again.
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Lord Agheros – Anhedonia Review
Anhedonia clearly stretches the black metal genre tag a very long way. Yes, you can hear practices inherited from black metal bands in Lord Agheros’ work, but they’re all quite divorced from the traditional framework. Yet without using that genre tag, without expressing a desire to belong to that movement, I’d have maybe missed this and that’d have been a shame.
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Sabhankra – Nocturnal Elegies Review
Album names shape expectations, and Nocturnal Elegies suggested something atmospheric. Sabhankra’s mix of melodic black metal, folk, and even thrash reinforced that idea — but they defied expectations.
Sometimes, it’s good to be wrong.
Urfeind – Dauþalaikaz Review
Today on the chopping block: Urfeind, with third album Dauþalaikaz. Urfeind are new to me, yet I try to approach any new thing with an open mind, and I can appreciate a good slab of pagan black metal, so long as it’s done correctly. Is this my new obsession, or is Dauþalaikaz yet another of the countless black metal albums not worthy of your time and attention?
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Häxkapell – Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp Review
Häxkapell leans into a sound that is unmistakably Scandinavian. But Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp is also a black metal album that pays attention to making most of the trek through this earthy forest path memorable. Can its sadboi chords cast a spell on you?
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Crypts of the Unknown: Khonsu – The Xun Protectorate
Join us as Metalligator reminisces on Khonsu’s 2016 release The Xun Protectorate. Oh, never heard of it? Well here in the Crypts we specialize in the unknown, the uncelebrated, and the uncovered, no matter how recent or distant. We can’t keep all our dirty little secrets… though we have to admit, it’s easy to keep secrets in the depths of space…
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Crypts of the Unknown: Khonsu – The Xun Protectorate
