Ulthar - Providence

 

To my ears this album sounds a lot as if an alternate reality Immortal were a death metal band.  It incorporates classic death & black metal elements with a crisp and clear production while retaining an old school feel.  It's technical in places, chaotic in others, often melodic melodic, and creepily atmospheric throughout.  There's lots to like about this record.

Listen/buy here

Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion

A truly progressive mix of drum & bass, baroque, extreme metal, and by the sounds of it whatever else was lying around the studio.  Igorrr has been chipping away at this unique sound for a few albums now and somehow keeps finding ways to make it more interesting.

Some tracks sound like Squarepusher playing death metal, others like Diamanda Galás has gotten into a fight with a Nintendo Entertainment System, and all of it sounds absolutely immense.

Listen/buy here

Underdark - Mourning Cloak

I'd heard the name Underdark but had never paid them attention, what a fool I was.  This is an EP of driving, muscular, black metal.  No fluff, great dynamics, a thunderous production and epic material, I'm completely in love.

Fingers crossed for a full LP from this band in the hopefully not too distant future.

Listen/buy here

Tombs - Monarchy of Shadows

I love Tombs, a mix of black metal, hardcore, and a bit of doom.  Their material always has a lot of energy, very little flab, and varied, quality songwriting.  I think record will be getting a lot of play from me.

Buy/listen here

Wounds of Recollection - You Were a Garden of Empyrean Light

I've been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton recently, and while this record might not sound much like Dolly (unless I missed her black metal period) it is drawing from the same Appalachian region and has a nostaglic, wistful quality that much of Dolly's early work also did.

Aside from that this a solid one-man black metal album.  Varied and intense with enough space in in the compositions to let the music breath, it feels spacious but still knuckles down when it needs to.

Buy/listen here

Wishfield - Wishfield

Wishfield do that post-black metal, shoegaze thing that is all the rage but with remarkably little straight up black metal.  The record brought to mind the washed out punk of early Kyuss or the racket of The Jesus Lizard with the lo-fi black metal rumblings coming as much more of a texture than a driving force of the album.

Melodic, chaotic, uplifting, and at 32 minutes does not outstay it's welcome.  Highly recommended.

Buy/listen here

Caїna - Gentle Illness

Caїna have been a firm favourite of mine for a few albums and this latest didn't disappoint. Ostensibly a black metal act but mostly not, the key BM atmosphere is there but it's not a destination arrived at by a well trodden path as there are all manner of jazzy, noisy, confusing, exciting, diversions to take along the way and it's all the better a journey for it.

Frankly harrowing in places but always fascinating, I'd hugely recommend this album as well as a dive into the large and varied Caїna back catalogue.

Listen/buy here

Other Caїna stuff to listen to here, here, or here.