Beats and yelling shorts, 23rd February 25

Aedes: Odius Imprecation
Out 31^st January on Blood Harvest (originally released in 2023)

Essentially a modern love letter to early Morbid Angel via the more chromatic tangents of the mid-90s exercised by Trey and the gang alongside Immolation. Whether intentional or not, there is a rawness to the delivery, a sense in which the music is rising above its means in terms of vision and technicality, in spite of the sloppy production and uneven performances. Imaginative and clearly defined themes bind these pieces together, utilising rhythmic idiosyncrasies as a means of dramatizing the riff contours to greater effect, as this angular, undulating material unfurls, punctuated by choppy staccato licks. Gruff, barked vocals retain enough solidity to articulate busy percussive refrains, grounding monstrosity with a sense of intent. It’s these subtle but important finishing touches that give Aedes their identity despite the briefness of this EP.  

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Dysangelium: Exxekratus
Out 12^th February on W.T.C. Productions

Typical of post Gorgoroth black metal and the pivots made by Cirith Gorgor in the latter half of their career in that it mistakes theatrical excess for substance. The riffs are present in numbers sufficient enough to just about carry this EP. Ranging from intense yet aggressive melodicism alongside references to older atonalities such as on the track ‘Trachea’, which echoes ‘Possessed by Satan’ for its driving rhythm and violent undercurrents. But the soil is saturated by post hardcore drones, a lack of focus, and frankly irritating vocals in their histrionic contrivance, made all the more insufferable for their choice to never allow the music much in the way of breathing space. One way of reading this EP is therefore a product of its time, musicians enthralled by the riff based intensity of black metal at the tale end of the second wave, but unable to escape the dilution of this form with the sparse post hardcore deviations that ultimately trivialised the genre by the mid-2000s. Another possible interpretation is a band forced to compromise with itself, with competing voices attempting to insert their identity alongside contradictory elements suggested by other members, with no voice able to dominate. We can only speculate. The result is an EP with many serviceable moments, but ultimately failing to compensate for its lack of vision and abrasive emotional excesses.

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Izrod: Ulica, trnje I kamenje
Out 14^th February on Signal Rex

This Bosnian black metal oddity continue to make inroads into a niche defined by its vulgar monstrosity, idiosyncratically haunting atmosphere, and subtly humorous quirks that, in context, appear uncanny and haunting. Simple, linear runs of blasting basic but aggressive black metal defined by rudimentary melodic chunks make up the backbone of each piece. These are seasoned by vocals veering from guttural menace to more unrestrained theatrical bursts. Developmental material is simple but effective in heightening the dramatic tension, taking the listener on the journey with only the simplest of advances in thematic intent. Meditative, aggressive, minimal black metal. This framework is punctuated by frequent breaks into dissonance, or cloying clean guitar breakdowns pivoting on the juxtaposition of major and minor, oddly unsettling ornaments of atmospheric and tonal incongruity, contrasting nicely with the rather direct bombast of blasting black metal which at times looks like little more than war metal with sharper melodic contours. An eccentric EP made more so by the fact that the content is deliberately minimal, understated, relying on subtle shifts in timbre, key, and the intentionality of the performances themselves to create dramatic shifts in energy across these pieces. 

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Délirant: Thoughteater
Out 15^th February on Sentient Ruin

Essentially meaningless dissonant industrial black metal. Each track oscillates between two impotent ideas, with linear flows of rhythm deployed as a framing device. Attempts are made to create the veneer of progression and intent, but with each new development – a simple switch up to a blast-beast, a shift in pitch whilst maintaining the same chord topography, sustained single notes as a way to contrive tension – the music falls back on the same basic framework of two interchanging chords, riddled with dissonance as a means of fast tracking the music into looking interesting. Looking past the harsh but frankly industry standard production choices and the overreliance on dissonance as an end in itself reveals a lack of substance remarkable even within the crop of contemporary industrial black metal this music is influenced by. There is no purpose or goal conveyed across this music beyond the need to impose abrasion on the listener, an affectation promoted to the very raison d’etre of artistic intent.

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Cross Bringer: Healismus Aeternus
Out 21^st February on Silent Pendulum Records

Essentially a screamo band looking to undergird their extremist credentials with some black metal ephemera. Although this statement is intended to be disparaging, it should be noted that Cross Bringer are competent in the arena spanning mathcore and related post hardcore territories. Flows of energy, transference of power between one passage and the next, identifiable if unremarkable melodic threads decorate certain moments whilst sacrificing none of the tension. But the overall Geist of the album is closer to DSBM despite the energy of the music. A self-indulgent, individualistic therapy session limited in the scope of what it can express outside of bratcore tantrums. I remain, as ever, deeply embarrassed for real adults that talk with a straight face about music like this as if it has value.

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Arkaist: Aube Noire
Out 24^th February on Antiq

So this is what Judas Iscariot would sound like if Akhenaten could play instruments. Although strikingly typical of post Darkthrone black metal, there is a sense in which Arkaist “get” how to express themselves in this form. There is identity and imagination at work beneath the layers of familiarity that mark it out from the usual box ticking exercises that make up the majority of releases in this field. The production is lo-fi but clear enough to immerse the listener in waves of atmosphere, the riffs are basic, but provide a solid foundation for novel melodic concepts that draw together the various themes of each piece. There is a rhythmic energy that elevates the bog standard tremolo runs, a modest but noteworthy impulse toward rhythmic disruption that goes some way to adding tension and contouring to these pieces over and above simply aping Darkthrone. But Arkaist do not lose sight of the virtue of repetition as a narrative device, colliding against elongated transition passages and brief link phrases, in turn binding the pieces together with conceptual and emotive unity. It’s rare in 2025 to be greeted by an artist with enough confidence in their own identity to express it in an otherwise highly traditional form. The gamble pays off, with the resulting work elevating bargain basement black metal back into an expressive and viable organism once again.