Vafurlogi: Gneisti af eldi Guðs
Out 26th June on NoEvDia/Oration
True to the spirit of Icelandic black metal, this is a rhythmically informal, cyclically structured set of layered guitar chords defined by loose dissonance and overlapping main themes that seem to emerge from the background before casually decaying away. But unlike Svartidauði or Carpe Noctem, Vargurlogi point the music toward the orchestral over the industrial, furnishing us with a surplus of material oriented around fatalism, a funereal sense of dread reminiscent of someone like Tchornobog. Although nothing remarkable by the standards of cavernous, dissonant modern extreme metal Vargurlogi at least take the time to flesh out these compositions at a structural level, giving listeners who tend to look past the aesthetic packaging at least some talking points. Loose, open refrains stick to a rigid form of repetitional development, allowing broader harmonic material to soar above this and give the tracks a sense of motion and evolution. More traditional, borderline accessible, melodic content serves as welcome contrast in this context, diluting the abrasive elements and thus bringing their emotive impact into sharper relief.
Kyrios: Blood Constellation
Out 7th August on Caligari records
Somewhere beneath the cacophony is a credible attempt to redraft dissonant-cum-industrial black metal going on here. But Kryios are too fixated on creating a random blur of ideas and moods to disorientate the listener, to the point that it’s not clear what they are trying to achieve across this EP beyond verbosity. They are hardly the worst offender in this regard. There is a clear aesthetic character being articulated, somewhere between jazzy avant-garde black metal and synth driven industrial linking into the cosmic themes. The latter of which is a forever failed project of black metal despite repeated attempts to make it work, regardless of how perfect the marriage may look on paper. EPs like this go some way to explaining why. Everything is bent toward technique, texture, and overall mien, to the extent that there is no coherence, no underlying motivation being communicated beyond this sonic assault of overcooked material.
Death. Void. Terror: To the Great Monolith
Out 14th August on Sentient Ruin
Essentially without substance, this is a piece of performance art, a suggestion or comment without elaboration. Taking the cathedral-esque statements of Urfaust and flooding them with dissonance and guitar noise, Death. Void. Terror hope to get by through overwhelming the listener with inertial noise and eccentric vocalisations, only for this to run out of road, forcing them to fall back on extended dark ambient passages. There is barely a riff to stretch across this half hour EP. But austerity is not the key detriment here. The problem is the lack of pomp and gravitas one can find in Urfaust, further, Death. Void. Terror add little to the already tepid conversation regarding dissonant metal, specifically metal that treats dissonance as a central crutch of composition as opposed to a tool of contrast and ornamentation. What it has in spades is obnoxiousness, thoroughly insisting on itself by ensuring that every moment seems ripe with possibility and import, only to resolve nothing, offer nothing, and take their music precisely nowhere having established an overcooked, histrionic delivery mechanism.
Thanatomass: The Rabid Dead
Out 20th August on Nomad Snakepit Productions
Russia’s Thanatomass made modest waves in 2023 in the realm of chaotic death/thrash wrapped together with a black metal bow with their debut ‘Hades’. Whilst this EP serves the basic function of just reminding us they exist, it’s good to see this brand of metalhead’s metal receive a much needed jump start in 2026. Here the thrash element is supressed to the role of background administrator of sorts, important insofar as pacing and structure goes, but subordinate to the frontloaded black metal character of this material. The interplay of riffs is somewhat lost beneath reverb, as a guitar tone perhaps a little too muscular to articulate the jagged exchanges taking place at the material level creates a sense of atmospheric inertia. An effect not helped by the echoey, guttural vocals despite their distinctive character. That being said, the power and vitriol is not lost, nor is the efficiency of songwriting, as proto death and black metal riffs are worked through a textural churn of dark, swelling atmospheres that modern audiences apparently find more appealing. Looser moments characterised by droning organ notes and mindless fretboard assaults add a welcome feeling of entropy atop the otherwise rigorously marshalled chaos.
Azatoth: Carnal Lust of Blasphemy
Out 21st August on Extremely Rotten Productions
Normalises elements of early Immolation by repackaging the more oddball, undulating riffs into a streamlined, fluid affair of hyperbolic death metal. Morbid Angel riffs provide the equivalent of a moral compass, or more specifically a tonal centre providing context to the atonal or dissonant riffs. This lends the music both an uncanny and an eerie feel. It toys with death metal’s ability to convey both the threat of the unfamiliar alongside an almost pre-conscious knowledge of just what constitutes a threat. Production and presentation wise this album seems to work against its own qualities, offering a mix straight off the shelf of the OSDM superstore. Equally the music is played with such relentless enthusiasm that one may miss the moments where Azatoth stop to take a breath and provide commentary on the more chaotic themes. But the substance is there beneath the frontloaded crowd pleasers. Special mention to the guitar leads that burst to the fore with pleasing frequency but never outstay their welcome. Refreshingly they provide both continuity and development with the preceding material, oscillating between blunt violence and fully articulated sentences with ease.
Ninth Realm: Damnation’s Veil
Out 28th August on Transcending Obscurity
Traditional crossover/thrash receives a new lick of paint via black metal affectations, death metal riffs, and a thematic character drawn from the fantasy remit of heavy metal. Despite the rather eclectic brew, Ninth Realm tie the loose ends together effectively, playing to the strengths of their chosen weaponry indicative of a solid grounding in what motivates these contrasting styles. The momentum of thrash dictates the pace whilst non-linear death metal chromaticism works to upset it, complicating an otherwise bluntly simple picture. Black metal in this context serves as a mediator, drawing primarily from the more riff oriented tradition, it provides a sense of purpose and direction over and above the intense physicality of the music. In one sense then, this is longform punk, a determined march of motion and intent. But one that finds itself elongated and elaborated upon as more ethereal metallic qualities accrue atop this ground level immediacy.
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