The Beast of the Apocalypse - Henosis

Genre: Black Metal
Year: 2o11

As the stars line up and the world draws to a close, the human race seeks refuge and sanctuary in prayer. Not all prayer, however, goes to the looked up to beings of positive faith. There are also those who have awaited this time of impending doom. The choir of the damned, the priests of darkness and death. They gather to insure the coming of the end. They summon the Beast of the Apocalypse. Its mighty wrath scours the land of all hope and pulls the blanket of darkness over our eyes.

Transcendental Creations

Mescalin Massacre - Liquid, Soma, Death

Genre: Industrial/Psychedelic Black Metal
Year: 2011

The moment Timothy Leary's stern, guiding voice emanates from your speakers speaking of mental torment and disfigurement, you know you're in for a trip. "Don't even breath" will be the last words you hear before falling into a twisted realm of swirling black visions and melting faces. Prepare yourself for the deep psychological assault and bleak hallucinations. This one German man has captured an odd and terrifying insight into the deranged mind through means of industrialized and psychedelic tinged black metal.

Astrum Tempestas

WRNLRD - In From the Night Herd

Genre: Ambient/Black/Noise
Year: 2007

The bizarre individual that masks himself under the moniker WRNLRD is no stranger to sound experimentation. He began recording and releasing albums himself and was later [and rightfully so] picked up by a label. While this release still falls under the self-produced category do not let that fool you. Easily his most ambient release, the music and production here is quite thick and laden with atmosphere. Eerie noises creep and swirl around you, voices jut out of the darkness and beckon you into it's murky darkness.

Murmuüre - Murmuüre

Genre: Ambient/Black Metal
Year: 2010

Re-release of the bizarre work of this French one-piece. Upon my first listen I knew there was something special about this and when I explored the band further and learned of their past and the composition of the album I was just that much more intrigued. Here we have a very special blend of folk music, dreamy ambiance, improvised guitar patterns and ritualistic howls that leaves you wanting more as soon as it’s all over.

Paradigm Recordings

Dictator - Dysangelist

Genre: Ambient/Blackened Funeral Doom
Year: 2008

Mind warping black ambient/funeral doom from one of the most obscure places on earth. Dark hymns for a midnight mass. Deeply prophetic and spiritually crushing.

Tentacles for Teeth

Genre: Black/Noise
Year: 2009

Obscure experiment black metal/noise outfit from USA. Channeling aural intensity along the lines of Aluk Todolo and T.O.M.B. Noisy, feedback-laden walls emerge with a ritualistic rhythm.

Nox Inferi - Adverse Spheres

Genre: Black/Doom Metal
Year: 2008

Atmospheric Black/Doom with a dark ambient vibe.

Smorzando - Smrad

Genre: Ambient/Black Metal
Year: 2008

Wonderful ambient soundscapes over-laced with melancholic black metal.

Pensées Nocturnes - Vacuum

Year: 2009
Genre: Ambient/Depressive Black Metal

Classically tinged depressive black metal. Beautifully orchestrated.

Nivathe - Enveloped in a Diseased Abyss

Genre: Black/Doom Metal
Year: 2008

Slow and torturous black/doom from the sick mind of Senthil.

This is Past - Alice in Uglyland

Year: 2008
Genre: Psychedelic Black Metal

Unusual psychedelic black metal.

Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve

Year: 2004
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

Haunting, drug induced introspective journeys with a large ambient/drone overtone weaved within noisy, washing black metal. Perfect for late nights looking out over a snow covered landscape.

Underjordiska - Landscapes of Depression

Year: 2004

Genre: Ambient/Black/Noise

Darkspace

Year: 2002
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

This really is a remarkable feat for a first demo, creating an ambiance and atmosphere that is all its own. It seems to serve as a promo, or taster, for the first full-length, but this easily stands alone, and is a fantastic effort in its own right. It is very much black metal, but there are ambient sections added in, passages of distorted, rumbling noise, haunting keyboard work and all manner of techniques interspersed to create a deep and captivating atmosphere. The black metal elements are also remarkably well done. Unusual and unpredictable tremolo-picked chord progressions soar above unrelenting programmed drum beats, accompanied by inhuman screams drenched in reverb and effects that give the illusion of immense distance. The second track has a far more industrial feel, with distorted, whispered vocals over deep, almost choral keyboards, pounding beats and jarring metallic clangs and scraping sounds. It is very repetitive, but in a captivating, hypnotic manner rather than a boring one.

Year: 2003
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

Dark Space I is first a mystery to the auditor. An indefinable mix of different styles, samples and ambient sounds combined to a terrifying musical abyss. But after several wanderings through Darkspace’s dimension, you’ll notice the fine differences in each song which make every track to a stand alone masterpiece that fascinates you for hours.

Year: 2005
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

Dark Space II exists as an organic entity where melody is made by thick bass notes – sanguine spasms that pulsate under a thin, gossamer web of guitar, reminiscent to the tone of horror flicks ambient. The music represents an amorphous mass, hard to break down in pieces due to the compact style with which the instruments are played. The composition brings to mind the sobriety and icy tension of doom metal, tension that discharges into the listener through vast detonations of static that don’t disturb the flow of already overburdened sound.

Year: 2008
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

The music of Darkspace here is a blend of the first two albums. The heavy rhythmic palm muting riffs of the first album that almost gave a death metal touch are back after being put aside for "II". The huge airy and open keyboard sounds of two are also back, and III almost feels as if it is the best of the first two albums blended together. The songs are all very long, but this time the music is as varied as ever for Darkspace standards. One of the key things that Darkspace do are create a wall of sound rather than distinct riffs and melodies. This is effective because you don't notice repeats or reoccurring structures which makes the music flow very organically. The mix is also very organic, including a good amount of distortion on the guitars bass and vocals. The drumming is still being handled by a computer and I think the synth is also programmed as it is rarely actually playing anything melodic. The synth creates moods and bursts of sound which work extremely effectively.

Vhernen - Vhernen

Year: 2007
Genre: Black/Funeral Doom Metal

Following the roots of the previous work but improving the style and the sound towards something more personal and intimate, more atmospheric with a mature songwriting that in this opus has put in prominence a massive use of his classic electric cello and orchestral harp, to create austere and mystic ambiances. A noble and eclectic piece of extreme art, a concept album based upon the deadly passage from Autumn to Winter. No need to say that one more time Vhernen will enchant who is looking for a personal concept of black metal and for a music that live in a proper dimension.

The Ruins of Beverast - Unlock the Shrine

Year: 2004
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

Imagine a black operetta staged upon barren shores, or an island; the set is either an old, crumbling castle or a dungeon where they lock up the criminally insane. Hooks and metal chains dangle off the ceiling, and the stench of lunacy (that's even worst than the stench of death) hangs in the air. The insane, wretched, cloaked figures locked in this dreaded place pass their time in philosophizing, mad as they are, debating over the morbid philosophy of non-existence and the ancient methods of producing nocturnal, perpetual anti-light. The soundtrack, you ask? How about long passages of distorted speech that drag the listener towards the edge of a cliff, where a free fall awaits him followed by the gaping abyss of blacker-than-black insane and fast industrialized monotonic guitar riffing, razor-sharp and menacing, slowing down, picking up speed again, feeding the flames of psychosis with incessant, distorted sampling loops from hell, torturous and sinister vocals, tolling bells, whispers and martial, fascist-like spoken verses? At times the music is extremely emotional, at times cold (but at all times bleak), some of the time is it minimal and simplistic to the bone, and at other times, well, it is confusion and chaos made flesh. If music has got still a meaning, if individuality and evolution and experimentation are all still valuable terms in the realms of the art of making sounds, then anybody who still holds dear these values should embrace this gem of psychological darkness, of many illusions and nerve wrecking mysteries…

Darkest Grove - Pain and Suffering Shall Be Known

Year: 2006
Genre: Philosophical Black Metal

Deriving its name from the darkness of nature and from the sanctuary of a grove. A name that may as well mean to dwell alone in darkness and in contemplation of existence. Darkest Grove concepts are that of philosophy, psychology, astrology, science, etc. As well as an everlasting connection with the solitude of darkness. Pessimism is a very strong force within the Darkest Grove's lyrics, simply because of the lack of spiritual acknowledgment in mankind. The imbalance of life is the chaotic falsehood that persuades this entity into the dark forces of nature and with its skepticism towards normality. Individuality is also another very strong ideology of Darkest Grove as it represents the empowerment of the self [Spirit], these all are a very prominent force in the concept of the Darkest Grove.

Farsot - IIII

Year: 2007
Genre: Avant-Garde Black Metal

With IIII, this young German band proudly present their debut release on Lupus Lounge, which is the first of a five album deal inked with this label. On their 2004 demo titled 042103Freitod, Farsot had a rather raw and cold version of the black metal art. On this brand new work, their black metal roots are very present, but they have taken an appropriately refined sound production to deliver their darkened message. Their lyrics and song titles are all in their native tongue, conveyed by efficient and expressive rasps, perfectly suiting their musical direction. Of the first six tracks, the pair numbers are all short musical bridges. "Hass: Angst" and "Angst: Tod" are more of the industrial/noise/electronics style while "Tod: Trauer" has a more melodic/ambient approach with choirs, dark keyboards and samplings. The three Thematik ("Haas", "Angst" and "Tod") are all high quality black metal with classical and modern elements: varied paces, strong bass, punchy drums, distorted vs. clean arpeggios, tremolo pickings and of course, great raspy vocals with a certain sickness involved once and a while. Not too many blast beats as such but more of the mid-fast to fast furious paces meeting calmer and melodic passages, much to my liking. Then, the closing song "Thematik: Trauer" is a long lasting pleasure clocking in at 20:40! It doesn't feel that long since it is varied in tempo and intensity; including great clean arpeggios, a nice piano solo, excellent crushing riffs, fast/furious black metal parts with some sort of cool psychedelic lead near the end. IIII is a very good introduction into the underground from a promising young German black metal act.

Beatrìk - Requiem of December

Year: 2005
Genre: Black/Doom Metal

Hypnotic chiming and discordant guitar work is woven over the most basic drum lines, and topped with grimy jarring Varg-like barks. The songs are mainly mid-paced, and on average are roughly eight minutes long, although they do have the occasional blast-ridden section when the bile is fully raised, and the vocal department begins to sound as if desolation and despondency have been captured in corporeal form, transferred to aural format and been laid alongside a musical accompaniment. Let this not fool you into thinking that "Requiem of December" is not without its hugely placid moments too, as it has some really doom-laden passages with church bells tolling as an accompaniment, intertwined with melancholic acoustic guitar and church organ styled keyboards exuding the overall dark vibe of morbid sorrow. Just listen to track four 'Eternal Rest', with its imaginatively radiant use of trickling stream and birdsong samples alongside sad, downcast guitar – striking in its magnificence.

Wold - Screech Owl

Year: 2007
Genre: Ambient/Black/Noise

Man has long since lost the connection to the primeval world. Ephemeral desires replace the hunt, the ritual. Wold erect a Winter Lodge out of this behavior, banished by convenience, left like tusk-less boar to bleed out in the field. From pounding, overdriven guitar to vocals as hot-wired power tools, these songs work to betray their source material, ultimately serving as manipulated field recordings. When device fails to shake its mask, there’s only imagination. The mind turns percussive strings into evergreen branches torn from their trunks, others hum and buzz and throb like waning insects, their wings and antennae slowed by sap. Keys bleat and thump, a buck’s heart cut from his chest and bright with deep red gore. The title track opens with yawning guitar, cold breath in tight clouds that melt away. Fortress Crookedjaw’s voice is the river and the sky; below and above, in motion and static by nature, it creeps free of river rock, rushes over tonal stones, breaks over banks and falls into great white din. As much indebted to early Sightings as it is Cree Indian Conservationist proverb, Wold distorts the Black Metal paradigm into a perversely plastic idiom. Their disregard for fundamentals has empowered their sound, and like the seasons that conditioned its release, this is a work in flux. The unfinished quality that pervades the sound, the music, is not for lack of polish or resource. Intentionally left undone, the listener’s only recourse is to configure the loose matter into something figurative.