Black Metal

Originally released in 1996 on the short-lived Hypervorea label – who also released pivotal debut LPs by the likes of Legion of Doom, Order of the Ebon Hand, and Zemial, which likewise included both brothers of AGATUS – Dawn of Martyrdom brimmed with fantastical heavy metal magick. Granted, its canvas was large the black metal of the times, particularly the Greek variant – hypnotic palm-muted riffing, distinctly hummable linear progressions, tasteful (and well-timed) integration of synths, a mystical atmosphere coating it all – but AGATUS’ flair for drama exploded with a sense of purpose and power across all 50 minutes of this engrossing experience. And while their two albums thereafter – 2002’s The Weaving Fates and 2016’s The Eternalist, the latter released by HELLS HEADBANGERS – saw the duo moving closer into pure heavy metal and even prog territories, Dawn of Matyrdom offers an effervescent snapshot of simpler days, of glorious times and mystery & mysticism.

Black Metal

Formed in that fateful, fiery year of 1993, Poland’s ARKONA heard the call from the North and took up torches of their own. While an often-overlooked name, alongside Graveland and very early Behemoth, ARKONA helped shaped the Polish black metal sound during the ’90s, and continue to this day honoring their ancient vision.

Black Metal

CANDELABRUM hail from Portugal, renown in the past decade for its polarizing raw black metal scene. The nameless mainman behind the band has been involved within that scene for many years, and even before his native scene found worldwide recognition. And even within that scene/idiom, CANDELABRUM stands alone, enigmatic and electric: his works are slavishly reverential of ancient black metal whilst simultaneously unorthodox. The band’s two albums to date, 2016’s Necrotelepathy and 2018’s Portals, are equally astounding modern classics which emit a strangely shimmering quality amongst an explosion of emotive rawness. Both albums are immersive and mesmerizing experiences unto themselves.

Wisely prizing quality over quantity, CANDELABRUM only emerge from the shadows when a new experience is fully formed and ready to curse/haunt/liberate the listener: at long last, Nocturnal Trance. Truly titled, this third album is a strident synthesis of its monolithic predecessors as well as form meeting content. Conceptually, Nocturnal Trance deals with the same theme of Necrotelepathy and Portals: death and the passage to a different plane, beyond. On those previous CANDELABRUM records, the figure on the front cover is always “moving” – crossing the passage, as it were – but this time, the mainman chose to clearly portray the passage from absolute darkness to an ominous monochromaticism: both a blinding light and a complete lack of it, going beyond darkness and back around to an absence of literally everything.

Black Metal

No one could expect CULTES DES GHOULES to create another Coven, which clocked in at nearly 100 minutes across two CDs or three 12″ vinyl records; they would never want to do that anyway. Instead, the coven dives headlong into the spacier crevasses of their inscrutable, always idiosyncratic sound. Like the blackest of magick, willed into being through both inmutable will and unselfconscious abandon, “Sinister” opens up – WIDELY – and again stretches sulfur and brimstone to their breaking point, with four of the five tracks topping ten minutes (or more) in length. Within, largely tribal/ritualistic drumming guides this “Sinister” spelunk into supernatural horrors yet witnessed; loose and lawless but always with torch in hand, the collective canvass teeth-gnashing gnarliness and haunting, stripped-back tension alike. It’s not “weird” black metal because it tries to be – it just IS, like always.

Black Metal

There has never been another artist quite like HAVOHEJ. Perhaps Beherit, but whereas that band’s Holocausto Vengeance reveled in primitivism and eventually flipped the script with little to no warning, sole HAVOHEJ visionary Paul Ledney has studiously pursued the outer limits of BEYOND-black metal, patiently utilizing primitivism as a foundation to explore esoteric vibrations ‘n’ undercurrents only the most tweaked of ears are in tune to. Of course, the name Paul Ledney should be well known in the underground from his preceding Profanatica, but HAVOHEJ is the man’s vision alone, and it is a vision that’s massive and miasmic to behold.

Black Metal

MEDIEVAL DEMON’s third album is a wellspring of noble ’90s spirits, not just in their native Hellenic scene but further afield: from old Samael to equally old Master’s Hammer, from Necromantia’s pioneering early work to the cult Italian prog band Jacula from the early ’70s, most especially with their haunting church organ. Upon its first dramatic notes, Arcadian Witchcraft is immediately, excitingly MEDIEVAL DEMON and pulses further into the velvety abyss with each of these seven spells. The poise, nuance, and sheer craft of their songwriting here reaches a masterful level, and one that’s authentically ancient in its splendor – which is perhaps not surprising given that their lineup now includes one Mutilator, original bassist of ROTTING CHRIST. Here, he brings along a number of ideas he hadn’t used during the ’90s, and likewise does Lord Apollyon unearth a number of old unreleased songs from those days. Which brings everything full circle, as Mutilator helped record MEDIEVAL DEMON’s first demo at Storm Studio…