Leviathan: Formorkelse (2020) Black metal’s a funny thing at times. Like...it’s literally a funny thing. It makes people laugh. But if you take the humorous theatrics seriously, they can work in your favour. If you take humour with a sense of humour on the other hand, you may end up with farse. If you ignore... Continue Reading →

It’s an oft made distinction, but that doesn’t make it any clearer. The difference between underground metal, and extreme metal. I’m forever using the tag ‘extreme metal’ for the sake of convenience. But the term is open to abuse. From Sam Dunn documentaries and flashy marketing videos for latest Enslaved album at one end, to... Continue Reading →

Nubivagant: Roaring Eye (2020) From the polymath known as Omega (Acherontas, Blut Aus Nord…every other band in Europe) comes a new project by the name of Nubivagant. Apparently not one to stand on ceremony, debut LP ‘Roaring Eye’ has dropped suddenly into out lives and demands we have a butchers. Musically, we’re on very familiar... Continue Reading →

Given how much time we spend agonizing over the recorded output of metal artists, it might be worth asking: what exactly is an album? Cards on the table, this essay won’t answer that question. This chestnut dredges up some pretty weighty philosophical concepts around the ontology of music, as distinct from paintings, sculpture, film, theatre, and... Continue Reading →

The USA is a big place when you think about it. There's a lot of people there, a not insignificant chunk of which are making metal music. So it’s almost trivial to point out that some of the best and worst in 21st century black metal has travelled to us from across the pond. It’s certainly true... Continue Reading →

Conjureth: The Levitation Manifest (2020) San Diego’s Conjureth return with their second demo of 2020: ‘The Levitation Manifest’. As things stand these guys are two for two in terms of compact, crisp death metal, stylistically sitting pretty much bang in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It operates somewhere between the chromatic chaos of Deicide’s... Continue Reading →

Take a mainstream summary of black metal, one attempting to introduce unaccustomed ears to the genre. Chances are it will focus on the obvious, namely its extremity (sonically, aesthetically, philosophically etc.). They might then look at some tokenistic contemporary spokespeople; usually artists that haven't had anything to do with black metal in decades, Enslaved, Ihsahn, and the pop band Ulver. This... Continue Reading →

Emyn Muil: Afar Angathfark (2020) Arch Summoning impersonators Emyn Muil return with their third full length ‘Afar Angathfark’. Unlike other projects that borrow liberally from the Austrian masters of Tolkien metal, Emyn Muil seem intent on making music completely indistinguishable from them. It raises many interesting questions about the nature of imitation; namely how a near... Continue Reading →

Bovary: Mes Racines dans le Désert (out 16th October 2020, on Sanit Mils Records) The debut EP from the obscure French outfit known as Bovary, entitled ‘Mes Racines dans le Désert’, was originally released back in 2018. Now it is seeing a vinyl release on Sanit Mils Records, the good people responsible for unleashing HOR... Continue Reading →

At this point it wouldn’t be inappropriate to offer a personal reckoning of the early to mid-2000s. It’s not an era best known for a quality crop of black metal. The artists responsible for its initial explosion had largely dried up or given in by this point. The new generation of extreme metal were yet... Continue Reading →