I. On this seventy-five item list you will find the product of several tandem-pursued specializations honed in clusters over the years, all of them bearing their own uneven contributions to heavy rock music: Death metal, black metal, thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, traditional heavy metal, heavy psychedelic rock, progressive rock, noise rock, hardcore punk, metalpunk, etc. and their permutations, all intermingling within various states of downturn and revival. The pursuit of all of these things at once ad nauseam is an act of crazed passion on my part, not a typical reaction to the seeming impenetrable fringes outside of generalized populist music. These selections are tuned exclusively to rhythms and voices which speak to great unknowns with wonderment, the unanswerable nihil of existence taken in as morbid transcendental muse, and as such they are personal and entirely independent selections which do not represent any manner of zeitgeist, agenda, cronyism or trend.
II. Upon completing the sixth year of this website’s existence only seventy-five selections were warranted, whittled down from a several thousand options to roughly one hundred and forty above-average releases. Alas, I understand this number will already prove unreasonable or unwieldy for many readers. A process of reduction from countless viable items to less than one tenth of everything means the result is uneven in its potency, sometimes fixated, sometimes unfocused, and cannot be functionally all-inclusive. There are entire labels I wasn’t able to mention, niches I didn’t touch upon, at some point the line has to be drawn and monthly coverage is pretty thorough otherwise.
III. These items were first ordered by highest general ratings then entirely reconsidered one-by-one by way of my enduring metrics: Immersion (fixation, memorability, efficacy of songcraft.) Connection (personal investment, bias, and general enjoyment.) Theme/lyricism (profundity and cohesion.) Audio-visuals (design experience and appeal, cohesive presentation.) Lasting value (perceived over time, considered as a physical product.) I keep track of the number of listens via automatic data collection, allowing for an objective tiebreaker when needed. No additional metrics were needed/used this year. The final list took roughly one hour to compile and fifteen days to order.
IV. Each day I meditate with all-consuming gratitude aimed toward the bands, labels, distros, artists and PR firms who choose to work with me as well as the kind few readers who donate to the site intermittently. Thank you!
True bestial devastation with a mind for wrathful, classics inspired riffs. — “None call louder to the halls of the dead, with the fire of the morning-star scarifying the throat and melting the eyes, than Russian black metal trio Thanatomass as a rupture between consciousness and feral mayhemic urge — the unhinged throat-cutting release that the herd so desperately needs in commune with the masters of their impending doom. ‘Hades‘ is not a solemn ceremonial slash at the nape of the bull but a two-handed chop at the very spine of the beast meant to incite terror, rampaging bloody death upon the crowd as they blast unholy away at this evolved-yet-ancient form of spectacularly cacophonic black metal. With this debut full-length the trio stab beyond the grotesque good of their minor releases up ’til this point and strike upon a nerve with intent, achieving a point of highly entertaining greatness that lends some much-needed fire to the greying, oil-slick ocean of bestial extremism today.” FFO: Katharsis, Black Fucking Cancer, Khthoniik Cerviiks
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/05/08/thanatomass-hades-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdOLFFbB30
TOP 20 OF MAY: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/05/30/the-top-20-albums-of-may-2023/
Stoner doom-rock with a wolverine soul. — “Horse-kicked by the gatekeeper of hell with nowhere deeper to fall Avesta, Sweden-based stoner/doom metal trio Hästspark take their first serious steps beyond the cave and into distinction as this sophomore full-length constitutes a leap into professional render, performance and songcraft. The result of generally stepping it up beyond a modest, beginner level pandemic swaddled debut ‘Ostiarius Inferni‘ has more than the required pulse driving its wares but rather an incensed daimon-guided soul within its bluesy, roaring heavy rock swagger which showcases much more than the usual quick study of forms. These young folks bring some inspired feeling into the greater descent of this admirable second portal and do so with serious left-hand style in mind.” FFO: Late 90’s Entombed, Håndgemeng, Blackwülf
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/05/15/hastspark-ostiarius-inferni-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilTUoqFbG4c
Uncompromised elite black metal. — New York-based black metal duo Gauntlet Ring are an easy value to reduce to palatable terms: A bit of the ugly, crackling triumph of Judas Iscariot paired with fleeting graze upon the fields of BlazeBerth Hall stuff and similarly raw yet strident forms of proud black metal soldiery in other Slavic diaspora. For the passerby this is probably impenetrable in some respects, aiming for classicism with a specific dramatic voice while inserting a bit of antihuman prose and miserable vagaries which the sub-genre is rightfully known for. For those not out to “game” every artist down to categorical sluice ‘Beyond the Veil of Night‘ is a ghastly, nauseous plunge into warrior’s fantasy and one that gleefully drowns in the unambitious sway of its compositions. Their boots are full of blood, bootleg alcohol is dulling the sting of the arrow wound, and the lot of the protagonist vision swings between hallucinatory idealism and a callously mused death. An immersive record at the very least.
More Info:
SHORT REVIEW + VIDEO: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/27/the-top-20-albums-of-february-2023/
YOUTUBE STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0J8h5ffQp0
Overflowing sorrow and reverent wonderment, a funeral doom metal album which balances its melodic death/doom attributes in glorious excess on both sides. — Burgos, Spain-based melodic funeral doom metal act Ornamentos del Miedo holds the listener on the perilous edge of relief away from existential dread’s pooling in mind, the throes of anguished introspection draining in majestic downward flow. Feigning some connection with firmament to survive the moment ‘El Cosmos me Observa en Silencio‘ is both glowing blissful torpor and glowering abysmal distress, a font of glorious empyrean lament which appears to freeze or contain time for a full ~72 minutes of pleasurably sojourned agony. Fixation and obsession may very well define much of this projects touch but this fourth full-length album bakes-in much needed relief, eases the tension it creates at just the right ratio that its excess feels entirely necessary, rounding what might’ve been melodic doom metal tropes abounding into nuanced melodramatic brilliancies. FFO: early Katatonia, Majestic Downfall, Officium Triste
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/01/ornamentos-del-miedo-el-cosmos-me-observa-en-silencio-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXP8yINWAkg
OTHER LINKS: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/28/the-top-20-albums-of-july-2023/
De natura daemonium. — “This debut album from Chile-based solo droning death/doom metal act Miasma of Occvlt Limbs serves to summon three unnamable demons within its three incantations, conjuring a sound which is familiar in its cavernous stretches of slow-burning tremolo-picked riffs and bass driven outbursts. The entrancement available to this release reaches further out than most, not solely sticking to ‘old school’ sounds as their drone and blackened sludge edges are utilized as patiently introduce modifiers to keep the ominous dread of it all thundering in unpredictably hypnotic movements. If you’re interested in how far the atmospheric “sludge” side of late 90’s/early 2000’s Morbid Angel and Incantation might reach without losing its organic edge, I think this could be the fellowe to find out. MYI, has a handful of other projects likewise worth checking out ranging from goregrind and brutal death to atmospheric doom.”
More Info:
OTHER LINKS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjuqowIoh3PPeWInDl9VHjQ
This latest release finds the band escalating their traditional heavy/doom metal mind while still traveling down their own path. — “Leipzig, Germany-based quartet Goat Explosion return for a much anticipated second full-length, bringing a refined and ambitious version of their desert-stoked heavy/doom metal sound to freshly ‘epic’ highs-and-highers herein. ‘Threatening Skies‘ arrives as a proper storm should, with little warning and plenty of pressure applied to the greater atmosphere it scourges with an ante-up beyond their already mind melting beginnings. Without belaboring any intentional weather-related puns this record is well worth chasing down as the second point of reveal for this increasingly impressive high-point for the greater German doom metal sphere.” FFO: Magic Circle, Grand Magus, Solstice.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/14/goat-explosion-threatening-skies-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wts1dtGMZPs
OTHER LINKS: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/27/the-top-20-albums-of-march-2023/
Bringing the wild, psychotic energy of grindspeed metalpunk back to classic Swedeath. — “Scottish death metal quartet Coffin Mulch burn and barge through this impressive, somewhat unexpected debut full-length album. Tinged with the reek of easily identified classicist tastes and given spirited, blazing abandon per some supernatural insight ‘Spectral Intercession‘ serves shocking energy enough that it cannot help but inspire with its mortified and surrealistic grooves, impressive with charismatic insight rather than dry bluntness. The available density of sharp-cut action quickly realizes and fine-tunes a signature touch upon the ground covered thus far, tailoring their wares to the speed and detail demanded by the most serious and insatiable minds of (mostly Swedish style) death metal fandom.” FFO: Nihilist, Comecon, Nirvana 2002.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/06/20/coffin-mulch-spectral-intercession-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BzwyZ8O9Qw
OTHER LINKS: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/04/the-top-20-albums-of-june-2023/
Tomorrow is a brand new day… and we’re gonna make you pay. Simply a song oriented traditional doom metal record with a heavy rock edge. — “We get a bit of protest, leering psychedelia, and plenty of existential dread creeping up the clenched neck of humanity on the verge as West Yorkshire, England-based doom metal trio Iron Void wheel through this finest fourth full-length album. All matters on the vexed mind of modern man pour from ’em in the best tradition as they arrive upon ‘IV‘ having never sounded sharper, warmer and loosened from the burden of time as a point of peak reflection radiates in action. Though existing fandom and the already attuned will find the classic doom metal soul the band are yet known for intact throughout this record there’ll be no denying the sense of movement in their veins, an oeuvre expanded as the trio rides through these nine alternately swinging, crushing and surreal songs.” FFO: The Obsessed, Pentagram, Cathedral.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/01/22/iron-void-iv-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOABCmGF5v0
Chaos and classic death make for an approachable, riff-braced attack which escalates to maniac levels of bestial mayhem. — “Fueled by the unknown realm of cadaveric consciousness and the visceral inversion of the flesh post-mortem Fort Wayne, Indiana-based death metal duo Desekryptor present their debut full-length album as a the re-animated corpse ‘old school’ death metal with a very different function of atmospheric loft and intensely savaged actions in mind. The splattered dementia of a possessed corpse is just one way to describe ‘Vortex Oblivion‘, where their “fucked up” take on classicism acts in opposition to current mainstreamed appeal, clearly exists to catch the diehard ear, while risking supremely ugly and unexpected turns taken for the sake of death metal that is textural and ruthless enough to sate their own unnerving proclivities.” FFO: Portal, Phrenelith, Ascended Dead.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/09/desekryptor-vortex-oblivion-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Ykz34-oLA
Phil’s Death/thrash band: https://savageruins.bandcamp.com/album/world-in-wrath
Integrating the art and the artist, refusing the urge for preservation. — “The id of the absurdist amidst hallucinogenic eclipse drives an attempt to control chaos well beyond the point of unleashing it, an impossible ever-leaking internalization. We find the protagonist standing in a violent stream of their own creation and bottling it, sampling and stirring the purposefully reckless intangible, the alchemist’s own noumenon reduced to potency to suit the present directive. The hands are inevitably burnt, the mind wracked with horrified dreams, yet the frustration available to the crumbling worlds of Detroit, Michigan-based musician Theophonos‘ handicraft in the abstract black metal realm now at least limits its borders to the individual mind. ‘Nightmare Visions‘ is above all else an acknowledgement that it is all in the ambitious artist’s head and, more importantly, it needed to spill out in human form this time.” FFO: Kostnatění, Serpent Column, Ὁπλίτης
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/22/theophonos-nightmare-visions-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsOUorRl37k
A brilliant psychedelic thrash-maze for the blackened mind. — “It all comes bursting out, an unprocessed and raw-reeking expurse from the skulls feeding Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based black-thrashing metal trio Wild Beyond, who manifest as symptom of delirious perceptual re-learning and the freely sculpted nature of extremophilic heavy metal’s fringe potentiate. Nihilistic yet illustrated with great wonderment, cacophonic in its greater menace yet gallivanting in high fantasy spirits… every angle of approach one could take in view of their debut full-length, ‘Wild Beyond‘, will inevitably butt up against a sharp angled twist, turn and/or challenging retort wherein the experience is myriad in its blurred focus and oft imaginative non-linear strokes. The full effect is maddening but not entirely impossible to put a finger upon and parse in a simple enough way thought this weirding, traipse n’ stab-happy affectation will be a serious head-check before the major allure of this vexing debut reveals itself.” FFO: (later) Aura Noir, Daeva, Autonoesis
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/04/wild-beyond-wild-beyond-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSwN3xN-a4Y
Resignation and defiance. A soulful modern doom metal album with memorable songcraft. — “Despairing purpose, a fatalistic lament at the cusp of physical resignation, wriggles throughout the six part last-gasping dissent of Bradford, West Yorkshire-based doom metal quintet Wolves in Winter‘s debut full-length album, a sombre yet occasionally anthemic work sure to burst the ribcage of the unwitting populace as its earnest, emotionally charged weight quickly sinks in. ‘The Calling Quiet‘ communicates the burly existential response all generations of doom might recognize in its willing together of the dramatic, introspective lush-tones of modernity with the inspiring gait of traditional heavy/doom metal songcraft, landing an ‘epic’ yet earnest drift which demands it be remembered.” FFO: Solstice, (early) Spirit Adrift, Warning.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/19/wolves-in-winter-the-calling-quiet-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkCn-SgAMEY
A smoking return and a devolution back to the core of evil, killing-speed heavy metal. — “New logo, ancient echoing sounds, and with little more than metal mayhem and Hell’s bidding on their minds Mannheim, Germany-based speed/heavy metal quartet Cruel Force return over a decade beyond their split having perfected their own vision of the pre-extreme era of heavy metal’s rising above the tide as the legions of Satanic speed metal stormed the coast as high fantasy and evil misrule took hold. ‘Dawn of the Axe‘ is a throat-gripping swipe back to the circa 1983-1985 era of spiked and leathered v-slinging heavy metal where the roots of black and death metal first passed through gates of venomous slayers and turbo-charged executioners hands, a leap back to the roots of where this band’s initial swill-soaked spark began and away from the modern black/thrash zeitgeist they’d been a part of in the early 2010’s. Their return is swift and decisive, marked by memorable shout-along songcraft and brilliant throwback production values/aesthetics that’ll have most reasonable necks snapping forth to the beat within minutes.” FFO: (early) Hallow’s Eve, Kat, (early) Slayer.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/14/cruel-force-dawn-of-the-axe-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFnzEoLTPJg
A realm joyfully imagined and expertly illustrated. — “Built from years of jammed exploration in their youth and developed off the cuff into an imposing, wholly capable live act beyond 2015 Chicago, Illinois-based heavy psychedelic doom quartet Rezn transcend the usual stoner/psych derailments by way of their own lush and beaming thread, a steady-streaming subconscious voice which carries strong through each of their full-lengths to date. Their fourth, ‘Solace‘, attempts to do more with less seeking to displace the atmosphere they so deftly generate into a bigger and bolder step beyond the well-explored stoner doom trip and deeper into their own rift. For the riff motivated head it’ll be a sleepier, vexing trip through blurred visions and expansive landscapes which almost entirely escapes the heavier rhythmic rush of past releases. In this way the focus turns to the increasingly potent psychedelia wafting off of their craft, an ethereal jazz-tinged calm.” FFO: Windhand, Elephant Tree, Domkraft.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/05/rezn-solace-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsUdcXD8UFw
COLLAB ALBUM: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/08/05/rezn-vinnum-sabbathi-silent-future-2023-review/
Pouring themselves into the mass of the underworld this impressive funeral death/doom metal project continues to refine their melodic side and features brilliant production values. — “Bound by the wonderment, the flesh-wrenching bite which comes in realization that even in death no grief is forgotten, we audience of bloodless ghosts anxiously weeping in the dark are readied to explore this fourth full-length album from multi-national funeral death/doom metal quartet Mesmur. On the back of the colossus, our seated-yet-shaking glide through the dissonance of the netherworld becomes the phosphorescent radiance of ‘Chthonic‘, a cinematically lumbering feat of classic funeral doom influences and majestic death/doom metal aggression in captivating, utmost meld. Though their signature is upheld in these works they are yet inarguably venturing into a distinct realm, a setting which offers its own set of possibilities as the greater delve of this fine record perpetually reveals in descent.” FFO: Esoteric, (earlier) Ahab, Lycus.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/07/mesmur-chthonic-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ8Zq6zsu7U
Glitching-through sorcery, discovering new portals to Hell I wasn’t sure if Spirit Possession had a bigger, nastier record in their chamber but this was an absolute dragon of a record. — “What many spend years channeling, waking into as they slowly peel themselves away from normative mental adaptation a band like Spirit Possession duck into as if by instinct in creation of a horrified pseudo-arcane black metal pulse, a knack that is distinct in its referential girding but also by way of its performative panache. The finesse with which they attack the very atmosphere that surrounds them is terrifying within earshot as we find the second full-length album from this Portland, Oregon-based duo does just that, ringing loud in bloodiest accost yet as their own version of black/heavy metal reappears in galloping step. Driven by demons as much as it is knuckle-cracking left hand technique ‘Of the Sign…‘ is truly a second chapter and as such it uses some level of expectation built to impress with adept variation presented within the same general language. By some marvel or magick they’ve managed to successfully continue the still thrashing-mad conversation down a fresh corridor.” FFO: Funereal Presence, Mastery, Predatory Light.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/24/spirit-possession-of-the-sign-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmw5X6giBcY
Bucking the norm… as is tradition, this alien heavy metal duo manage one of the most memorable heavy/speed metal records of the year thanks to mind-bending songcraft and a unique sonic personae ‘ready equipped. — “An occult future-mystic arc traced from the Xe-filled orb in the right hand toward the staff in the left vexes the probe-holder, there he sits craned over his sandstone throne mulling the fate of precious blue ether for the (bio-)masses. Laser-cutting their gem of a hundred facets, each a votum to an unknown deity, two forces merge in transport across estranged networks and eerily sprawling highways as Snohomish, Washington-based heavy metal duo Vision Master will into ear an unconventional journey per this rousing debut full-length album. ‘Sceptre’ is a mutant palette of taste and tradition, a monstre for the sake of smartly utilizing all available tools in craft of a cohesive and richly stated storytelling device. A dark fantasy sci-fi scenario driven by an eclectic yet pure enough to know better approach to heavy metal tradition, this debut is not a sudden gust of wind but the product of self-driven, raw talent honed into substantive craft over the course of decades. Ingenious and wry at every turn, this’ll have to be one of the more thrillingly complete and inspired weirding heavy metal records in recent memory.” FFO: Slough Feg, (early) Voivod, Brocas Helm.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/08/23/vision-master-sceptre-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViLY1l4Rn0E
Relinquishing place and purpose within the self. — “Having approached the interconnectedness of all things in examination of place, identity and tradition before seeking the curative self in relation to the mundanity of circumstance and adversity… the journey which imbues Melbourne, Australia-based black metal duo Sylvan Awe‘s work with a thoughtfully applied edge better illustrates its global sourcing on this third full-length album. ‘Pilgrimage‘ defies boundaries less as a point of purpose and moreso per an inquisitive nature, feeling their way toward better realized stature on a not-at-all self conscious path forward. If their previous LP can be considered an inspired step back into the realm then this should be viewed as a leap forward into their own mastery per its strengthened ‘epic’ melodic values and nigh progressive wiles explored.” FFO: Der Weg einer Freiheit, Mgła, Càirdeas Fala.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/03/sylvan-awe-pilgrimage-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmBQf9sat6w
This doom-rock album could be higher on the list but you couldn’t be. — “Classic heavy rock aplomb, a pro-level stoner-sonic spread and a hit of modern heavy/doom metal’s revisionist anthemic focus all keep this band of falconers rolling forth ensuring the appeal of Evansville, Indiana-based quartet Faerie Ring is multifaceted yet honed to a point of seamless, soulful hi-fi heavy rock elegance. Cutting right to the quick of it these folks have what so many other stoney, heavy rocking and doomed sorta bands don’t: A good picker when it comes to the riffs that actually go to tape and nothing shitty/boring makes the cut here on their second album. ‘Weary Traveler‘ is freakin’ wall-to-wall memorable cuts that slosh n’ buzz as they flow together.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/08/faerie-ring-weary-traveler-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1UTjkdEfA
Score one for the villagers and their resistance efforts. — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based punk quartet Poison Ruïn make their full-length debut on a big label and their blend of theme, dungeon synth, morose early 80’s hardcore cum post-punk and melody make for a memorable but not quite as impactful proving ground for their ideas. Their first couple of demos and singles and that raw sound get muffled rather than cleaned up here but this didn’t hurt the album for my own taste. I think their gig will come into focus a bit better once we’ve seen what’s next. FFO: Home Front, The Wipers, Rudimentary Peni.
Dark metal eudaimonia. The most contemplative current from the revered group to date and one which regains some extremity beyond the masterful finesse of their previous LP. — This ninth full-length album from Bergen, Norway-based black/death metal legendry Aeternus celebrates thirty years spent developing a form of adventurous pagan-minded “dark metal” entirely their own. Per its insistent mid-paced swaggering pulse and verbose exposition ‘Philosopher‘ demands that its overflowing nuance count more than pomp and gesture, that the whole of its masterful ~40 minute conversation is considered, mulled in real-time as its diabolically swaying pieces engage the mind as additive strokes to the well-built signature available. Rather than bloat on about a considerable legacy upheld, all of which would be warranted, we can receive this album as the latest trip from these well-proven explorers.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/13/aeternus-philosopher-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ip6Zry9B0
Virtuosic technique and ancient philosophic outlier alike feel like a new high point for this impressive progressive death metal band. — “Rochester, New York-based progressive death metal quartet Contrarian have yet to be phased by frequent change in thier ranks, less an observation of adaptation than it is me championing the consistency of their admirable classic-yet-modern vision which continues to pull exceptional talent in for spellbinding prog-death feature on the regular. ‘Sage of Shekhinah‘ is cumulative yet not exaggerative of what they’ve learned over the course of nearly a decade, finding a strongest-yet point of finesse which still speaks to the heavy, very human element of otherwise unreal virtuosic feats. There is a purposing of turn-on-a-dime quick changes and infectious guitar progressions here which speaks in a very classic transcendental voice rarely available to the sub-genre today, making for a record which is not only steeped in fascinating meaning but delivered via an approachable yet well above-average medium.” FFO: (later) Death, Atheist, (early) Cynic.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/08/contrarian-sage-of-shekhinah-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tCn1gKaKVE
Another new directive willingly set in the desolate futurity of the mind. — “As we reach for contextual guidance beneath the pinging ~70 minute plethora that is ‘Black Medium Current‘ today we can cut to the chase in the sense that quality outmodes quantity, though quantity is nonetheless overflowing from the mouth of this latest feat. None of our exploration of Dødheimsgard past-and-present will suit a narrow-minded taster, especially as we approach in retrospect and attempt to waltz alongside this fresh gateway unto a near completed third decade of activity. Each release beyond their first represents some manner of drastic stylistic venture, plenty of notable line-up changes, and a need to express something bigger than the self yet only the final third of those observations should not become peripheral as we gather thoughts on what this entity is, what motivates their work, and where the journey takes us nearly ten years beyond their last escalation.” FFO: Ved Buens Ende, Code, Ulver.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/13/dodheimsgard-black-medium-current-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzqx4vftLww
An empty-seated funeral for the last of mankind. We find Convocation mastering their original goals and elevating them to empyrean highs and brutal low-carved bursts of death. — “A mythic level of torment brews at the moment of apocalyptic death which greets us and frames the state of morbid mindset sustained within this third and most surreal full-length from Helsinki, Finland-based funeral death/doom metal duo Convocation. For the sake of progression in vernacular which is their own, the study of morbidity found on ‘No Dawn For the Caliginous Night‘ likewise concerns itself with suffering, the slow process of enfeeblement and exclusion at the end of life. As such there is more than mourning to be felt within this tension-rich, staggering waltz of organ-fed and death/doom metal girded gloom. As the shapes refine and the maimed spiritus of the album reveals its condition we witness this toppling empyrean vision of extreme doom secure some additional depth and style of its own in the midst.” FFO: Tyranny, Disembowelment, Esoteric.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/16/convocation-no-dawn-for-the-caliginous-night-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZKw6108d3I
Plunging into mega-death level horrors, abstract black metal which completely rethinks their configuration and results in a very different sophomore LP. — “Here on Polish black metal trio Totenmesse‘s second full-length album we explore massive death on a scale which the human mind cannot perceive without compartmentalizing its horror, becoming callous to the numbers they cannot count, scrambling for the pleasure of fictive reasoning when faced with an abysmally faceless competitive existence. A violent and vitriolic tirade to start and a sprawling nuclear cloud to finish ‘Fiktionlust‘ blazes past the thoughtful ebb of their debut and slams forth the throttle upon impending extinction by compressing their statement into potent, ever-hammering wrath and the acrid atmosphere resultant.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/03/totenmesse-fiktionlust-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0D5SFyr7us
From the portal emerges an adept sorcerer long-thought dead… and of course Mortuary Drape still rule, if you liked their 2017 release this is just as good or better. A brilliant return. — “Channeling the reflections of past lives through thirty plus years of experience in morbid necromancy and the dark arts Alessandria, Italy-based black/heavy metal quartet Mortuary Drape accesses eerily familiar events, parallel happenstance alight in spine-chilling déjà vu on this admirably achieved sixth full-length album. Returning with an even more profound, and perhaps easiest read, sense of self in hand the cult behind the legend who’d generate their own obsidian pathway between the first and second waves flings burnt parchment and ghastly premonition to each side as their tunnel-envisioned sermon retains its familiar transformational sting on ‘Black Mirror‘. A thrilling, kicking speed arcane heavy metal record still obsessed with the old ways, there is some strong argument made herein for the timeless efficacy of auld evil heavy metal.”
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/02/mortuary-drape-black-mirror-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryI6P-YKNLA
Classicism in the midst of its transformation unto elite mutant forms, ripping and traditional but thinking far beyond cold norms. — “Cancerous skulls, limb-chopping maniacs, septic innards exploding into noxious gaseous heaps amidst the violence of the insane… all driven by the cruel hand of death as Puerto Montt, Chile-based ‘old school’ death metal quartet Sepulcrum sharpen their scythe upon this classics inspired debut full-length album. ‘Lamentation of Immolated Souls‘ isn’t a knot to untie, a taxing task to explore, or a mystery to solve so much as it presents an exemplar study of traditional death metal at its most ex-thrashing peak beyond advent. In this sense it’ll feel entirely natural to approach their craft and immediately recognize the brutal heat pissing off of their riff-obsessed kinetic death metal grooves and ragged, ghoulish attack. It’ll be a gem for those seeking exemplar records in the tradition of pure death metal and… isn’t meant for anyone else.” FFO: Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Infernal Conjuration.
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/13/sepulcrum-lamentation-of-immolated-souls-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXWdrGcRNjY
Triage beneath the ashen glow at the end of the world. A surprising new evolution of this impressive death/doom metal band as they show great skill incorporating melodicism and darker atmosphere. — “Envisioning mass death Portland, Oregon-based death/doom metal quartet Excarnated Entity come armed with a new logo and new life breathed into their war-ravaged realm of malevolent yet surreal post-apocalyptic muse on this debut full-length album. ‘Mass Grave Horizon‘ offers suffering and death in cyclic whorls, a path which stabs and fumes back upon the wheel but ultimately succumbs to subterranean rebirth and an eternal return to war. Girded by viscerally achieved dread and vivified guitar interest this first cycle feels sets into motion a damningly repeatable curse enacted within each listen as greater doom indents the mind in vengeful passage ’til eroded, cratered beyond recognition.” FFO: Ossuarium, Innumerable Forms, Mortiferum.
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/04/excarnated-entity-mass-grave-horizon-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPPLfZfWLVg
Black/death metal which celebrates the collapse and collision of forms while remaining riff-driven and surprisingly tuneful. — “Musing upon the decimation of a post-apocalyptic scene prone to aftershocks of the great collapse Athens, Greece-based blackened death metal quartet Burial Hordes return with album number five, their deepest trenches dug and most crippling brutality explored to date within the unique atmosphere they’ve been fostering and mutilating for over two decades now. ‘Ruins‘ is driven yet eccentric in its choices as it depicts fatal downturn, a thrilling coast-and-crashing down sensation which provides cumulative realization between classic muse and abstract modernity that speaks to the haze of death worship as much as it thrives within the caustic atmosphere of its own frequent eruption events. At the very least it’ll be a notable event for those invested in the limitless potential of black and death metal’s most complimentary traits of expression.” FFO: Heretic Cult Redeemer, Embrace of Thorns
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/06/05/burial-hordes-ruins-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKQ5Lf7V_Nc
Abstraction taken to the point of chaotic fusion ’til it has a profoundly haunting insectoid voice. — “As Minneapolis, Minnesota-based abstract black metal project Kostnatění completes their second cycle of exploratory energetic exchange the zoomed-out realist view of slowly scorched and scrambling humanity clashes with the needled-at minutiae of its convoluted, surrealistic compositional foray unto an appropriately disturbing yet richly detailed breakthrough. ‘Úpal‘ finds the artist scaling up the impact of their inherently borderless worldview, still creating erratic and nigh nonsensical levels of scrawling notation but now rooting this modus further outside of the mathematically exaggerated black metal paradigm. For some this will result in a work which is even more wretchedly vexing than prior but for most it will constitute a exponential gain in the curious, eclectic and erratic identity of their work.” FFO: Odz Manouk, Serpent Column, Rhinocervs.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/05/19/kostnateni-upal-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rwNqT7rIc
Nostalgia, sentimentality, and wonderment under the light of the moon. — “A glowing dream-like fantasy of hidden worlds stirs in the hands of Stockholm, Sweden-based black metal act Blodtår who’ve arrived upon the worthy milestone that is their debut full-length realizing a thrilling standard of beauteous yet destructive craft. More than anything else ‘Det förtegna förflutna‘ reveals an earliest era of folklore driven Scandinavian black metal sophistication, a sweetest spot wherein the claws were still sharp on the greater beast but the loft of the music reached poetic heights for the sake of deepening the individual’s connection with the land. Pensive yet stoically stated within rousing melodic pieces this record builds folken dramatism into countless peaks of inspiration throughout, making for a memorable and entirely consistent full listen which stuns with admirably direct efficacy.” FFO: Windir, Panphage, Angantyr
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/29/blodtar-det-fortegna-forflutna-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeVFgxUEB8I
High concept literary themes delivered with remarkable noir-moderne brevity. — “By way of eccentric religiosity per the insular-sighed rituals of a blissful commune we are granted a sugar-built psychedelic utopia butting up against the “purposeless” avengers of reality where it is then left up to the reader to decide which faction are the ideological dregs of a post-apocalyptic society in Richard Brautigan’s short novel In Watermelon Sugar. The obscure but influential book serves as major inspiration for surrealistic literature (or “magical realism”) themed Czechia-based post-black metal quintet Somniate‘s second full-length album wherein its already dark events are restructured, telling the story from a different perspective. Passion for the subject matter and its personally derived meaning can be felt per the authorship of ‘We Have Proved Death‘ as its interpretation serves a variety of modes and unexpected nods outside of the black metal realm for the sake of wilder coloration. The theme of the album is equally notable, intending to shake loose the blindness of those living in false realities, to exorcize those who are possessed by their cult by way of a brief yet engaging strike of poetic discourse and quick-witted modern black metal practicum.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/06/somniate-we-have-proved-death-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTv0Q9lbaLY
Not to be outdone, another triple-length opus from the maestro. Overwhelming. — “Having cast their spell inconsolably into the dark in order to draw the moon down to light the way Brisbane, Australia-based atmospheric black metal artist Midnight Odyssey complete their Biolume triptych by the shocking grace and gravitas of Luna-Selene per this longest, last and arguably most dramatic entry. At just over two hours and bulging within its triple LP status it’ll be difficult to not get bogged down in discussions of length, scope and substance as ‘Biolume Part 3: A Fullmoon Madness‘ lends us its path into a realm lit only by stars, yet the ‘epic’ nature of the whole considered only adds to the mystique of its contents since so very few folk today persist with fortitude and wonderment necessary to greet such an involved and ambitious feature. There is a lot to muse over here and without existing well-formed opinions on the previous two pieces, much less the greater body of work form the artist, this one may very well prove beyond the depth of many an addled mind.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/21/midnight-odyssey-biolume-part-3-a-fullmoon-madness-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBO1XMp2XcI
Sacrificed unto enduring nothingness. Thrash metal which bridges the arcane and the ancient. — “Clutching their throats, unable to stifle the screams which call from beyond this speeding raw madness from disturbed minds arrives by way of the adept hands of Santiago, Chile-based thrash metal quartet Trastorned, who scratch and strangle out their beast-like reaction to a world gone insane on this long-awaited debut full-length album. Through eight sermons, tales and hallucinations of anxietous death ‘Into the Void‘ curses all witness with calculated exaggerations of the traditional thrash metal form, bending its steel with molten claw and wraith like screams into their own vessel of maniac guile while still upholding the best of the late 80’s tradition in excessum. The result of all this mayhem is inarguably one of the best thrash metal albums you’ll come across this year, a personae rich and riffing-hot hammer upon unwitting mankind.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/01/21/trastorned-into-the-void-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfjk1sFYsFs
No more human dignity, only shite and the wheel that crushes its greying mass. — Leeds, England-based sextet The Shits fuse slow burning noise-punk and dark psychedelic grime on this miserable dirge of a record, managing a motorik but menacing spin (“Waiting”) that carries a huge groove as often as it strains the senses with its slo-mo hardcore punk and howling guitar feedback wrangled hooks (“You’re a Mess”). The sort of record that makes you stop and listen closer to its steady-going ruin in such a way that you see bulldozer coming, you just… don’t want to get out of its way. So, you let it make paste.
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SHORT REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/16/noise-rock-2023/
Personal spirituality developed through occult black-thrashing metal. A solo representation absolutely worthy of the revered artist. — “Though it might appear that the renowned artist at the helm of Ruïm is seeking to glom, or, pile additional spiritual perspective onto their own ‘ready rich syncretism the myriad self engages this point of guided entrancement (per their own left-hand modifications to an esoteric Afro-Brazilian spiritual pathway) as a necessary change of scenery and conversation. One could consider this first strike from the project a pandemic-era manifestation of necessity to some degree as its search speaks to a struggle away from confinement through intellectual-spiritual interest meant to feed the avant-garde urge, the vacuum of the ‘other’ within and the siphon of outer expectation aligned. The debut full-length from this Portugal and France-based black metal duo appears as a shard of the salvaged self manifesting equal parts freshened perspective, a fight against idle hands, and a deeply-set signature statement. ‘Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino da Igreja‘ does little to deny the muscle memory if its songwriter and in this sense has considerable face value though it is the nuanced mood of the experience and the patient immersion it demands that helps it ring of gleefully idiosyncratic magickry and willing possession rather than a short-expiry side project per circumstance.” FFO: Absu, Mayhem
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/05/29/ruim-black-royal-spiritism-i-o-sino-da-igreja-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2SoBo09rOU
Long held archives finally unleashed. Some of the strongest epic heavy/doom metal released this year. — “Suspended in time and ever dejected in their soulful yet wilting determination the wheels are a’grinding beneath Danish epic/doom metal quintet Altar of Oblivion‘s battalion in order to meet the accelerated pace of global apocalyptic ruin as the fiery peak of Death’s spell fumes destruction and paranoia around them. Stifled by change, spurned-on by change, and now taking stock of the glorious damage done beyond years of work and waiting ‘Burning Memories‘ is both a relic and a necessary point of passage as a nearly seven year-old recording that’d captured the former line-up of the band in the midst of their inspiring third full-length album. It is a final archival piece from their old font in crystalline capture of their peak within that configuration, a pillar in tribute and a pyre enduring.”
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/06/11/altar-of-oblivion-burning-memories-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZHuiwFvxCU
Drifting in a sullen, enthralling sea of thought. — “Embittered by fading idyll and the mocking distance of the inconceivable unlit chambers beyond Aarhus, Denmark-based esoteric occult death-metallic doomed atmospheric black metal trio Tongues speak to the disillusioned self, the draining sensation of willful spiritual fortitude in recede. Sovereignty found in the meditative loft of dreams and nightmarish scenarios alike, the outstretched hand of doom and psychedelia-imbued relief within marks ‘Formløse Stjerner‘ as a deeply enriched and lunging stride beyond past works. With every step the gloom of their muse grows deeper set in mind as the threat of detachment from purpose hums in ear, nearly as loudly as the lull unto the fish-eyed blur of infinite introspection.”
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/18/tongues-formlose-stjerner-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-X8x9F2Dv8
From fire within to bloody conflagration. — “Parsing anger and hopelessness into outward-shot outlet there is some sensation that a greater emotional beast has arisen this time around, a better-rounded and deeper wounding monstre event from London, England-based atmospheric/post-black metal trio Fen as they greet the greying skin of a sickly new world with their teeth bared on this remarkable, eclectic seventh full-length album. ‘Monuments to Absence‘ may very well appear as a welcome recension of their code, a regression back to darker ages and a hungered state of action but in fact they’ve never made known such elaborate corridors, copses and eye-gouging sights of darkness before. Heaviest, twisted into form acts help to belabor the elaborate point made that with complacency comes reversion, yet this experience nonetheless reads as a point of vitality for the longstanding British post-black metal adjacent crew, an even more inherently progressive black metal album which manages a gloriously expressive feat which threatens to tower over past works by sheer conviction and ingenuity alike.” FFO: Enslaved, Winterfylleth
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/07/02/fen-monuments-to-absence-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnT8kd7U8E
Smoke weed and hail Satan (through song.) — “Born with their heads full of ghosts as de facto scions to none but the black flame, wild and alive with the rational glare of wisdom in their red-shot eyes and the unearthly grace of Satan as their strength Warsaw, Poland-based stoner/doom metal quartet Dopelord aggress upon the unsuspecting public with five hymnals directly channeled to the followers of Satan. In solidarity with freakery, witchery and hopped-up skulls alike ‘Songs for Satan‘ surely contains the long-standing traditions of heaviest blues rock, bounding sludge-tones and the stoned-ass doom metal resultant through their own iterations yet their craft is now tuned exactingly to der perfekt traum of fuzz assaulted rhythmic groan and outcast-anthemic songcraft. Rousing and extreme in its collective earth-rending hi-fi boom this fifth and finest LP from the crew finds its lasting vibrancy in its cleverness for deceptively simple yet effective songwriting.”
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WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/10/01/dopelord-songs-for-satan-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chIUiGI-ll0
Wrathful blackened occult-thrashing death metal. — “Transmuting the blood-rush of thrashing violence into rituals of ecstatic empyrean death San José, Costa Rica-based death metal quartet Mortual achieve their fourth-stage monstrous form and idyllic sound on this second mLP. Coughed from the southern winds of Pazuzu and possessing all onlookers with its thunderous depiction ‘Evil Incarnation‘ is a strike of ball-lightning upon the populace in the ancient late 80’s/early 90’s death metal tradition, thrashed and storming in its embodiment of the beast. With a diabolic intensity meant to incite and possess, this bouldering and bashed-out death metal record manages a classic South American extreme metal edge at a brilliant level of authenticity.” FFO: Masacre, Sadistic Intent, Mortem.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/10/mortual-evil-incarnation-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: Coming Soon
Wizened by an arcane purpose and heightened in their efforts. If there is a “band to watch” and revere in this style of melodic black metal it is these folks. — “It’d be fair enough on your part if you saw a black metal band named Unhallowed and in your infinite wisdom for quick mental association figured they probably sounded a bit like Dissection and, yes, the broader strokes of this austere German black metal band are deeply melodic and extravagantly communicated in similar register. The downward shatter of the vocals, the whirling melodic ascension of their gloriously involved dual guitar rhythms and the punched at early 90’s approach to drumming are all spot on in terms of invoking an important milestone in the sophistication of chaotic-spiritual black metal. Though this won’t read as a deeply original thought for the long-standing melodic black metal obsessive there is some real energy radiating off this recording which is naturally appealing per its neatly writ but violently swung melodic arcs. I’d intended a longform review of this album but I believe the appeal of this record is simple enough and very directly communicated within any one of the six ~6 minute pieces herein.” FFO: Outlaw, Black Horizons, Abyssos.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/13/short-reviews-april-13th-2023/
Under the spell of the old gods… — “Riff after riff and in a classicist style Haugesund, Norway-based thrash metal trio Shakma unceremoniously rip and tear through this second full-length album. If their first LP appeared contemporary in its shrieking loud barrage then let ‘On Tenebrous Wings‘ be a step into a state of intense focus wherein their whipping storm of classic thrash metal influenced riffcraft stuns and mystifies with its entirely controlled blood-hot attack. Shouting in ranting sermon and slashing away at an undeniably possessed blur of wrist cracking riffs these fang gnashing accounts of monstrous horror-lore are the vehicle to elevate their efforts to the now rarified precision striking of the real thing, or, the not so common nowadays thrash metal record that keeps its head down and keeps the ideas ripping.” FFO: Inculter, Nekromantheon, Sodom.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/28/shakma-on-tenebrous-wings-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVAnytmPwIs
Lingering in the glow. — “Treviso, Italy-based black metal quartet Thysia are leagues ahead of most as scholars of the dark art of these singular constructs, strangely woven architecture built on upwards-resonant striking at meaning, which surely amounts to mayhem when staring downward. Their debut full-length album, ‘Islands in Cosmic Darkness‘, is exactingly invoked by its name as a record which strings together each piece with a satisfyingly ominous tension, paddling with great intensity in front of waves which connect each point of presentation with knotted and probing riffcraft. On each suggested island they meditate upon what took them there, a fresh dock constructed to commemorate their ongoing journey before they press on to the next, making sure not to forget where they’d been while keeping the one major current ever-alive in mind.” FFO: Negative Plane, Culte des Ghoules, auld Hellenic black metal.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/01/thysia-islands-in-cosmic-darkness-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpajDOmKp2w
The clever-snaking, ear shattering nox of primeval possession. — “Romancing the dark unknown, one brutal act at a time Concepción, Chile-based ‘old school’ progressive death/thrash metal quartet Blood Oath arrive tested and self-sustained on this impressive debut full-length. Those with a pre-existing thirst for the authentic, rugged underground sound of cruelest and earliest prog-death metal sophistication will find a golden-mined set of raw material on ‘Lost in an Eternal Silence‘ to appreciate, work which rings of bestial intelligence enough that it becomes an addictive and energizing substance in its own right spin after spin.” FFO: Sadus, Suppression, Miscreance.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/10/blood-oath-lost-in-an-eternal-silence-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3gg_K8OEAI
Thriving within the freedom afforded devotion. — “Anthems of disturbing finality flung at a recklessly paced abandon indicate a self-directed freeing as part of Brazilian-borne anticosmic black metal band Outlaw‘s rejection of all borders, repeatedly striking at the throat and the crown above it over the course of this impressive third full-length album. An indefatigably inspired font of fluidic transport for nearly a decade now, we find the artist ever embroiled in the process of improving their craft with each release as ‘Reaching Beyond Assiah‘ takes a well-established melodious voice to cinematic atmospheric heights on this loftily ambitious record. In fact they’ve applied so much bluster ad gloriam that it nearly begins to detract from the intimate, conversational nature of melodic black metal for the sake of outsizing all past heraldry from the troupe. Nonetheless the greater effect is richer for its inspired presentation and yet melodically charged and blister-paced anthemic values.” FFO: Dissection, Thron, Valkyrja.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/22/outlaw-reaching-beyond-assiah-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5yuwlD-o9s
Prodigious, organische, avant-garde psychedelic death metal. — “The fabric of the material universe and the forces which stretch far beyond human comprehension come to characterize the journey beyond the first strike of “the fear” and the jagged trip in descent on this debut full-length album from Oldenburg, Germany-based psychedelic death metal trio Hallucinate. Tapping into a familiar vein of worming rhythmic lushness with their own post-death warmth these fellowes perpetuate an atmosphere rich, heavy rock imbued form of abstraction on this ‘ready mature and blissful debut. ‘From the Bowels of the Earth‘ is singular in its morbid shade of psych’d stride yet relatable in its progressive rock pathos, a jaw-ripping stretch into the void which intoxicates and challenges the ear ’til its revelation is all but crystalline to the keen enough listener.” FFO: Morbus Chron, Cadaveric Fumes, Bedsore.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/08/02/hallucinate-from-the-bowels-of-the-earth-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4zOqVX0vAA
My favorite material from these guys to date. Easily some of the best riffs of 2023. — “Danish death metal quartet Hyperdontia must’ve been listening to a ton of death-thrash and ‘Human Waste‘-era Suffocation while putting this latest 12″ mLP together because ‘Deranged‘ manages to be some of their most charged, riff-choked chunks of wrathful ‘old school’ brutality to date. Though I wouldn’t say this level of brutality and menacing guitar progressions didn’t exist within their sound in the past this is an especially focused, aggressive and intense nod to the late 80’s/early 90’s rhythmic strike of death metal and how it’d spread beyond Florida. I absolutely need a full album in this style with these same production values.”
More Info:
SHORT REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/16/short-reviews-march-16th-2023/
A harder edged, well above average Bay Area thrash inspired album. — “Fusa, Norway-based thrash metal band Inculter return beyond their tenth year of activity a changed entity. Solemn yet plagued with frustration this third full-length album serves to clarify the thread which tugs at their ironclad souls most is yet classic thrash metal. While they’ve always operated well within the bounds of this headspace they only just now achieve a sense of self, an everlasting fortitude which states itself with great confidence and intrigue this third time around. A warning of the oncoming storm delivered with furor and contrition ‘Morbid Origin‘ does well to recall the spiritus of old bones while sidestepping some of the dementia which afflicts most umpteenth generational slime today, cracking through the greyness with a shining mutant league aggression” FFO: Nekromantheon, late 80’s Turbo (Pol), Critical Defiance.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/07/inculter-morbid-origin-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5cns656Q6M
Enlightenment, or captivity awaits as this sophomore full-length album reaches for far more than its death-addled and somewhat muddy predecessor, now embracing its black metallic side more heartily and finding a more readable render in the process. You’ll really have to sit through the whole record before having any say on it. — “What is perceived as perfection, exclusive and aloof, yields barren summit in a quest for knowledge beyond the limitations of the self as Lombardy, Italy-based avant-garde and atmospheric blackened death metal trio Vertebra Atlantis stretch into a new cloak of skin, a nigh cinematic experience available to its exploration. Their second full-length album, ‘A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime‘, already feels several leagues beyond its predecessor now illustrating in brash yet painterly ink of two distinct shades wherein the majesty available to black metal’s ambitious loft retains the grit-scrubbed warp and spasm of death metal’s more sophisticate musculature. A blend of well curated fineries, a trip to unexpected realms, and an ending which will surprise even the most jaded cultivator all make for a feature which is entertaining beyond its years.” FFO: Ad Nauseam, Defacement, Zhrine.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/10/19/vertebra-atlantis-a-dialogue-with-the-eeriest-sublime-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42jqHqF82VY
Pure riff-obsessed thrashing death metal. — “Since this debut full-length from Zarazoga, Spain-based death metal trio Apparition both released this year and is getting a broader release in 2024 (first Vinyl issue and a CD reissue per FDA Records) I wanted to make sure I included it here in the ranks even if I’ll be waiting until early February 2024 to dig into it. The band features members of Ataraxy and they stick to a brilliant high standard of early 90’s death metal for this LP, no bullshit just one great song after another.”
Caustic cell division! It seems like we got like three years worth of riffs between three releases from Lermo in 2023. The best not-a-double LP out this year. — “The foreboding curses of a thousand sightless, nameless creatures in congress churn in the din of the crooked abysm which United States avant-garde blackened kosmische death metal trio Ulthar conjures, willing I step down into this third impossible journey with eyes and heartbeat boggled near death. ‘Anthronomicon‘ is a fearsome, ever-beckoning portal, a gateway to repeatedly transgress into delirium, an ‘old school’ feeling technical death metal adventure with fluid strikes of black metallic envenomed voicing which wrestles loose from the fray with beauteous space ambiance whenever possible. ‘Helionomicon‘ portends to be the potent essence of the trio’s greater sojourn made liquid, two additive black/death metal rants approaching the twenty minute mark, with each half designed for the reveal of emergent vacuoles which burst into detailed lustre on their path forward, loosened of their horrors without dogging the intended course drastically. Approach without confidence, stalk the shadows if you will, and await the eager revelation of long-silhouetted horrors, the coming legion of riffs.” FFO: Blood Incantation, (earlier) Sulphur Aeon, Sepulchral Curse.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/11/ulthar-anthronomicon-2023-review/
WRITTEN REVIEW(2): https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/12/ulthar-helionomicon-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzu9tQedG4g
VIDEO REVIEW(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNxKRVkkkWc
A firestorm of black clouds and claws. — “Menace has arrived, darkness in descent as the cutting-deep thought patterns of Limache, Chile-based blackened/progressive thrash metal band Demoniac are weaponized against the populace for this, their third and most accomplished full-length album. ‘Nube Negra‘ may very well read as elegant in its shredding indulgences and standout use of non-traditional instrumentation to craft this truly memorable, blackened and big-brained thrash record but they’ve thankfully not given up on the riff and the rapid dissolution available to feral speed metallic extremes. Arrogance, destructive attitudes and righteous superiority course through the disdain-pumping veins of this work, a bleak-minded and oft intoxicating pressure upon the wheel to turn and roll over the backs of everything in its way.” FFO: Sadus, Hellish
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/08/31/demoniac-nube-negra-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSA6PsF0KfY
Death on their own terms. — “Asten, Netherlands-based atmospheric black/doom metal duo Urfaust begin their procession, sinking down slow into their null demesne in the afterlife. No less doomed but now dismantled of any thralldom per their woes, ‘Untergang‘ finds the band feeding back into the lurch where they’d begun, a cursed creature capable of entirely transfixing and unforgettable laments reeling out one last dirge. If nothing else they’ve gone out, given a final listless waltz, upon a decidedly signature plane which doesn’t stray too far aback of their ambitious development within the last decade yet feels like an intense exaggeration of their core Dionysian lawlessness.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/08/28/urfaust-untergang-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwVbYILE4i0
Deathgaze? Post-death metal? One of the most engrossing LPs of the year. — “Both sentiment and savage emotional rupture create unsettling radiance as San Diego, California-based shoegaze/death-doom metal quintet Tideless arrive with this second pass at their ambitious concoction of forms. Applying the hum-drum drift of maudlin rock guitar textures and groaning-loose movements to ultra-specific taste in extreme metal may not be brand-new in modus yet this sophomore full-length album growls and shimmers in creating its persona-yet-exaggerative brand of alien reverb as the longform stretches of ‘Eye of Water‘ move independently, grotesquely sweetened by transcendental muse and existential lurch alike. The excitement to be found here is in the testing of boundaries, the taxation upon either side of two extremes as they merge in seeming earnest taste for both realms.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/09/tideless-eye-of-water-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jTr6WcUycQ
A world-class thinking man’s thrash metal record in an era of regrettable devolution. — “Positing the normalization of a fundamentally failing system of survival as the only practical future reality worth considering, the fantastical sci-fi optimism of Danish-American thrash metal quartet Terminalist fades into scenes of terrifying cataclysm, brutal inequality and extinction on this harder and faster-thrashing second full-length album. ‘The Crisis As Condition‘ may very well shake an imposing fist at a world embroiled in its own self-defeating nature as a point of it’s purpose yet the listening experience it offers showcases a band deepest-yet in the wiles of their craft as they reach closer to the halls of mastery, beginning to take hold of their most tuneful strengths while remaining a dire force in the unforgiving realm of thrash metal.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/03/terminalist-the-crisis-as-condition-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUHMrgAj2LA
On their third and mind-meltingly original LP these brutal death ancients appear cutting edge in this new alien carapace. The result is incomparable in its fusion of both challenging and beauteous ideas. — “A familiar alien synod creating outlandish pastiche from bodies unwillingly brought to life by cock-eyed observation Long Island, New York-borne brutal progressive death metal quartet Afterbirth come well-represented by an eclectic collage of ripped, scribbled and biomechanical parts as an entity which exists entirely within its own afterlife. An early-term abortion revived through chance of kismet two decades after death now ten years revived, these folks are yet wandering between several realms of irreverent, avant-garde actions seeking more immediate and caught-in-a-moshable layers of abstraction. Album number three acts as a vore of possibilities, an eater of many worlds which is yet a tactful digestive tube… putting valuable nutrients to good use, coughing up unexpected reactivity for display, and ejecting that which has served its purpose through a colorful jet-stream in their wake. ‘In But Not Of‘ chooses carefully what passes through its tightly wound runtime yet doesn’t force the choice between realistic, shoulder-slung render and an indirect feed of alienation, crafting what is naturally surreal per its contributors within an increasingly organic space.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/10/16/afterbirth-in-but-not-of-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9I9EvZfkQ
The way late 90’s melodic (black) death metal ought to have been. — “Minneapolis, Minnesota-based trio Majesties have the quintessential spark of ancient Swedish melodic death metal on the tongue yet they offer more than the plaintive reprisal the surface-level types will insist upon. Though the experience might appear as a warmly hugged-out nostalgic trip on their debut full-length album in fact ‘Vast Reaches Unclaimed‘ is a proper evolutionary thought utilizing the still-charming lilt of an old language to forge new wares. Style points aren’t what makes this album essential, though, it is the emotionally connective register of their melodious craft that has helped it endure throughout this year.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/27/majesties-vast-reaches-unclaimed-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRWZpl_ntU
Plugging the amps back in, drawing the circle again. — “Tea-and-smoke sparked visions of past selves fold together like leaves, glued by the sap of a vagabond soul and root in said woods, a place to let the self flow unhindered into its surroundings as Finnish black metallic forest folk rock act Hexvessel recollects past-and-present compounds into personal alchemy on this brilliant sixth full-length album. Haunting in its presentation of one diorama after another ‘Polar Veil‘ puts to use decades of insight, a career-spanning call upon strengths as a sort of walk through the milling mind pondering both place and spiritual significance. The result is surreal in its atmospheric lustre as points of dramatic black metal and ritualistic folken ebb lend a dreamlike, doomed sort of magic to the endless stroll through the moonlit woods they’ve summoned within these eight pieces.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/18/hexvessel-polar-veil-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtwwQ_8_hI
Always one step ahead of the listener’s expectations, this is a meld of classicist tech-death and modern avant-garde barrage equipped with neuronal input reads. — “Capsized, drowned, and dragged into the bone-gnawing echo of their watery lair Berkeley, California-based technical death metal trio Fabricant are the poison-limbed otherworldly primal intelligence that’d consume the unwitting traveler unlucky enough to wash upon the siphoning marshes of their debut full-length album. ‘Drudge to the Thicket‘ spells out the cyclic ruin the listener will face in its throes in frightening detail, speaking in tongues they’d interpreted down from old decrepit masters cutting riff after riff in poetic mastery of wriggling tech-fingered voicing unheard of most anywhere else. Never weirding for the sake of it and unwilling to crack into the dryly-geared tropes of machine grooved tech-death this result is organically achieved, monstrous and adept beyond belief as these folks fashion a gnarled black mirror back upon human hubris.” FFO: Diskord, Mefitis, Anata.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/11/fabricant-drudge-to-the-thicket-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlAc0B16Zc
Through lava tubes and star-gates. — Jacksonville, Florida-based trio Haxprocess bring some brutality and long-winded, gnarled wonderment back to classics-minded progressive death/thrash metal on this stunning yet virtually unnoticed debut LP which does well to touch upon both aggressive and meandering tangents on these five longform pieces making for a substantial ride a la mid-2000’s The Chasm. That said there are a few surprising turns taken here, heavy rock riffs and prog-rock shred among them, but this should be most interesting to folks who love progressive thrash that finds its endless-rant pocket and leans into it. Since I’d discovered this later in the year there was never a great time to mention it ’til now but it absolutely deserves some touting. If they can replicate this quality and manage a more fittingly dark logo I think they’ve huge potential to catch on. Check out thier late-year demo, too.
More Info:
Late year Demo: https://haxprocess.bandcamp.com/track/sepulchral-void
We are officially in the realm of albums I absolutely loved, ‘Alternance’ is a rousing stroke of genius, a passionate and riling yet sophisticated whorl that’d left me luminant after every spin. As you should know about me at this point, “I bought the shirt” is the highest endorsement I can give… when I can afford it. — “A lost feeling, a trait of great poètes maudits of the past who lived terrible, passionately sparking lives and left behind little more than dust-addled culture and literary boon after death begins to bite and bleed at the ear as Nizhny Novgorod, Russia-based décadent melodic black metal trio Passéisme once again flap their triumphal zeal in generous erupting throngs of golden leaf’d and black-veined subversion here on their doubly inspired and matured second full-length album. What potency these fellowes revive here is nothing short of engrossing in its beauteous maze-like weave, no less rapturous in its eager striking upon the iron of austere and gloriously brutal melodicism yet they’ve curated plenty more depth beyond chansons de geste and wild arrogance herein, lending a biting purgatorial frustration to the persistently flooding exuberance of the experience otherwise.” FFO: Véhémence, Sühnopfer. Aorlhac
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/06/14/passeisme-alternance-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9I6IdAyjqY
Since it’d serve death metal fans best, we should consider this album in terms of the classics: What these folks have done on their third album is add to the sensorial highs of ‘Close to a World Below’ with the fluidity of ‘Stare Into Death and Be Still’ and given their own brilliant rhythmic and thematic gnarl to the point of their best album to date and a significant contribution to death metal’s scant remaining canonical evolution. — “At a state of highest awareness Montréal, Quebec-based death metal band Phobocosm set their third full-length album in the aftermath, beneath the crushing mulch of the wheel and chose to promote a life examined. ‘Foreordained‘ is a rapturous shove toward mortality, the inevitable end and they’ve pressed this issue all the way out to the end of all life as they complete their initial trilogy of LPs in this their fifteenth year extant. Displaying primacy in every detail and presenting their most cohesive, thunderous work to date these folks have deservedly achieved one of the best death metal releases of the year.” FFO: Immolation, Dead Congregation, Ulcerate.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/06/phobocosm-foreordained-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDS2ns-xywI
From the first snap of the fingers I knew that I was going to be on board for this surprisingly aggressive, whipping and dancing paced album from these impossible-to-know but easy to admire Polish fellowes. Black metal should rouse the body into convulsions if possible, very few heavy music acts are capable of this at all in general, and ‘Huta Luna’ twisted my mind and my body into knots with its inspiring, emergent and live-in-studio feeling attack. The layers only developed from there and there is still something to be said for the guitar work/interplay and the half hour ambient piece which follows the main ~36 minute lunge. — “The suffocating glow of the ironworks, a hammered-at strobe light generated in a place of darkness, steam and billowing smoke sets the scene from which Katowice, Poland-based black metal quartet Furia emerge, barking and rallying across this riveting sixth full-length album. Now achieving two decades of vibrancy as one of the most innovative acts within their realm today none would scoff if ‘Huta Luna‘ was a victory lap or a roots-gripping return for these Silesian folks, and in fact it will appear that way ’til closer inspection reveals a more complete transformation which takes a step beyond the promise of their earlier work and creates something familiar yet new within their sphere.” FFO: Mgła, Odraza, Non Opus Dei
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/10/08/furia-huta-luna-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y72g5nNMdQQ
The main reason Lord Mountain’s debut LP has held its spot high on my favorites throughout 2023 is simple enough: They’ve got songs. Each song finds its path toward a memorable chorus, a notable riff, and these amount to entirely consistent chapters in this tragic high fantasy book as it unfolds. The sound is somewhat raw for the sake of real character and the style is loose enough to fit somewhere in the periphery of epic heavy/doom metal without sounding directly in service to any one of the auld greats. Every piece on this album is not only worthwhile but the link together into a glorious, golden chain as the ambition of the narrative is realized. — “The throes of determinism felt within themes of duty, loyalty and sovereignty ensures the high fantasy setting of Santa Rosa, California-borne heavy/doom metal quartet Lord Mountain‘s debut full-length album strikes the keen ear for the bardic heavy rock tradition in profound statement. A serious and loftily considered feat which serves this crucial, pristine entrance from the band well, ‘The Oath‘ is an unexpectedly fine and complete transformation of a project that’d previously appeared as a long dormant, kinda stoney whim. Herein every moment is now entirely considered and countable as enhancement upon the whole enchanting oft memorably achieved feat, serving well the ‘epic’ story spun in succinct terms.” FFO: Magister Templi, Crypt Sermon, Funeral Circle.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/01/11/lord-mountain-the-oath-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gthgbuXGjUA
My favorite era of NWOBHM is kinda split between select ’79 singles and the speed metallic stuff post-’82 and while one could easily liken what ‘The Conquest of Time’ does to those tastes these folks have revised a lot of late 70’s rock cliche out of the equation, making for a record which is uncannily potent in terms of its songwriting and style. Otherwise it was just clearly the most memorable traditional heavy metal album I’d heard all year. — “Stockholm, Sweden-based heavy metal duo Century features key members of labyrinthine death metal act Temisto and brilliant metalpunk crew Tøronto yet their focus on this record is an ’83-’86 feeling of pure heavy metal that celebrates the cadence of NWOBHM groups Satan and Quartz (among others) and the heavy rocking charge of decidedly melodic groups like Gotham City. Their approach isn’t so resolute in revisionism, it doesn’t quite feel ready to be lumped in with any faux new wave nor does their songwriting feel like plain 80’s emulation beyond the strong characterization of the vocals. Just a brilliant heavy metal record, anyhow, and absolutely one for the ages per my own taste.” FFO: (early) Blitzkrieg, Satan, Heavy Load.
More Info:
SHORT REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/30/the-top-20-albums-of-april-2023/
We can feel their influence upon the death/doom sub-genre, we can liken them to a handful of other bands here and there but there is nothing like fully steeping into the unique rhythms of the real thing. This one feels like it takes a stab and some harder-edged ‘old school’ death metal rhythms while also stepping deeper into morbid doom and that’d been perfection for my own taste. — “Thirteen knocks upon the altar of the tomb and Swedish arcane death/doom metal quartet Runemagick awaken yet again as a thinking, feeling ghoul readied to spread the curse it’d conjured in five years of slumber. A wizened, adaptive organism built to thrive in its own obscure pools of primitive death for eons, the quartet return for a third three wave beyond their 2018 return from the grave with yet another refinement of their cryptic, surreal corridor. ‘Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind‘ serves as voice of an entirely unique beast, one which is equally heavy on engaging aggression and subtle sewn nuance but decidedly not pulling from any other source beyond its own decades of experience. In this thirteenth idiosyncratically seething curse they’d confirm what we all see, the slow death of humanity’s last generation as a complete loss of purpose follows the death of the pursuit of knowledge, here they describe our slow walk toward an unmarked grave.” FFO: Krypts, Solothus, Druid Lord
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/04/24/runemagick-beyond-the-cenotaph-of-mankind-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtmdetIplE
SEE ALSO (2023 EP): https://runemagick.bandcamp.com/album/last-skull-of-humanity
Their cult prevails! Now that everyone has released their sad and/or “bucket list” pandemic album we are starting to get albums with inspiration, vigor and energy once more and ‘The Crimson Temple’ is a brilliant example of black metal given heavy metal vibrancy, anthemic as it is idiosyncratic in this classic band’s own style. It was impossible to not get swept up in their grand return and no album single-handedly reinforced my fandom as much as this one in 2023. — “Let all shadows die here as the temple is relit, wherein the fires of an insidious cult come rushing back through an old wound, speared open for this seventh-gorged daimonian return. Ioannina, Greece-based abyssic black metal quintet Varathron produce an energetic, chest-pounding infusion back into the halls of demented and theatric black metal as this seventh full-length album vivifies their presence beyond a five year sojourn. ‘The Crimson Temple‘ is more than a curse upon the ruins but an enormous stage set, a ten-scene depiction of mayhemic wonders imagined in blood-painted and maw spewed arcane extremity. Theirs is yet a boldly personified spectacle, unstoppably melodious and mayhemic violent, doomed and blazoned in splattered sacrifice befitting these ancient gods of dark magick.” FFO: Rotting Christ, Katavasia, Thou Art Lord
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/12/03/varathron-the-crimson-temple-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY-kD0dVc5w
The coldest take I’d seen on ‘The Enduring Spirit’ this year was probably “Tomb Mold finally notices the numbers and tries a serious album”, if I can loosely paraphrase. I think the way I saw it was less in bad faith in the sense that a biggest-yet third album allowed these folks to be -themselves- a bit more per new capabilities, skills and evolving interests. They’ve not drawn such a deep line between classic ‘old school’ death metal mulch and classic progressive death metal here that anyone should’ve been so alienated, and to the point that both canonical and fresh personalized traits exist in beauteous harmony herein. If their personae can further bloom with such brilliant unity this may very well prove the seedling of something lasting. — “After a three year cycle of constant output, three immediate lifetimes and subsequent reincarnations at warp speed Ontario, Canada-based death metal trio Tomb Mold haven’t merely matured in terms of technique for this inarguably elevated fourth full-length album but now achieve sentience beyond assigned purpose. In positioning themselves behind a personalized style of still thrillingly executed, groove-thrust classicist yet modern progressive death metal intent ‘The Enduring Spirit‘ veers confidently into a next-level of being which towers above the past, having absorbed additional lifetimes of skill and insight in the years between. Inspired, affirming, texturally scintillating yet still affably violent in its death-bound notions of rhythm this’ll have to be one of the most essential death metal adjacent releases heard all year.” FFO: Cynic, Phobophilic, Horrendous.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/09/12/tomb-mold-the-enduring-spirit-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTkv0hb1_0
A great set of songs, full of character and compelling visual curation is rarely enough to inspire me to delve into a heavy metal record’s themes after years of disappointingly shallow results yet the dramatic characterization of ‘Vertumnus Caesar’ and its echoing ‘old school’ black metal approach was enough to enthrall me in its subject matter for months. By leaning into a heavy prog rock tainted twist upon the form it seems that Malokarpatan has much more to offer beyond what many see as Master’s Hammer redux. — “An unwilling, deeply inbred late-Renaissance emperor who’d concern himself with veiled secrets of the natural world and the talents of Europe’s finest artists alike, our protagonist the alchemist king sought transmutation above all else as the inane promise of the Philosopher’s stone, transformation of the lower element to the higher, increasingly became the loudest calling of an insane mind. Called to the telling of his tale, the curious lingering of sulphur and juniper once again hangs in air as Bratislava, Slovakia-borne dark folkloric black/heavy metal quartet Malokarpatan coax and conjure a fourth full-length album musing upon the tragedian life of Rudolph II van Habsburg. An equally idiosyncratic feat as the last, ‘Vertumnus Caesar‘ entrances the unwitting listener with poetic imagery illustrating the secreted unreal, an undying thirst for the unknown per an auld directorial eye-and-ear for the spaces where 70’s progressive rock theatre, 80’s black metal vulgarity, and the swooning corpse of heavy metal might best depict the madness of the emperor and his occult obsessions.” FFO: Master’s Hammer, Negative Plane, Mortuary Drape.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/10/21/malokarpatan-vertumnus-caesar-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ra6SyeImc
Though I might’ve emotionally connected with or found an affirming stylistic niche within many other albums in 2023 the return of Thantifaxath was so unreal, so unlike anything else (in a good way) that it’d gotten something like a hundred listens out of me in a matter of months and ultimately felt like an essential for the year in heavy music. Challenging but not painful, guided with an increasingly adept hand, and curated by simple means it’d felt like this was a work which’d taken time to find its limit before authoring its repeatable form of surrealism, a sound and approach which is virtually unlike anything done before. — “On their second full-length album Toronto, Ontario-based abstract black metal trio Thantifaxath bathe in the fumes of the sunbaked and forest fire lit human dementia of today, breathing deep of the reeking waves of burnt skin under Sol’s gaze as smoking landscapes lend their craft the horrors of cataclysm-in-scene as they illustrate our quickly accelerating downturn. As a ritual of ruthlessly intentional feats ‘Hive Mind Narcosis‘ is an unhealthy intoxication, the bacchantes embodied from more than two angles in many-sided analysis of collective madness and the terrifying yet inspiring possibilities that come with a thoughtlessly reactionary polis and too-late revolution. By stretching the possibilities of their avant yet connective craft through an even more deeply mathematical honing of expressive shapes these folks remain painfully human, organische in their characterization of the unreal fractal machinations of the species at seeming peak potential. It is sublimely coherent art-black metal music with impressive contempt for our current era of blandest categorical functionality.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/06/01/thantifaxath-hive-mind-narcosis-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjN0FirQdOQ
When I sat back to take in the numbers, the choices, and the hundreds of death metal records I’d spun through in 2023 and sought what I believed would truly last in my archives there was no question that this long-awaited LP from Cruciamentum met the highest standards and, more importantly, was a joy to return to every time I picked it up. There must be some level of pleasure to a death metal experience for it to last and in this sense ‘Obsidian Refractions’ is a luxurious font as much as it is an elite underground death metal record. — “England, Scotland and United States-based death metal quartet Cruciamentum return for a much anticipated sophomore full-length album well worthy of all patiently held high expectations. Crafted with impeccable taste and years-honed sound design, which is once again beyond world class in render, ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ cannot represent a mere follow-up so much as it serves to rebirth the entity, still bearing key traits of its core embodiment yet served well past the notion of plain iteration. Happily drinking from this newly burst arterial fountain of the old gods, splattered with the vein-ripping horror of ancient death metal pathos and diabolism, I’d witness this uncommonly refined example of classicist death metal taken to an extreme which’d only been possible in well-considered hindsight. Built from timeless threads yet only just possible here and now this champion of atmospheric death metal mutation now appears with fire in every available hand, blurring the road with its sinkhole and lava-strewn vision. Easily one of the best death metal records released this year.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/11/19/cruciamentum-obsidian-refractions-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYt63By-9Mk
Though there were other melodic black metal albums with a standout song or two this year it was ‘Totenpass’ that convinced and thrilled front to back with the greatest consistency, not only with riffs and the right style but within impassioned vocal performances and a brilliant drum session (per the fellow from Greve). Minimal keyboard accents and a focus on guitar-driven rhythms suited my taste and made doubly good on the potential of ‘Snare of All Salvation’. After listening to seeming thousands of black metal records in 2023 this one stands as one of the most repeatable and profound for my own taste. — “The animalistic darting of pure emotion, a charged energetic reactivity let loose into the wilderness of the netherworld leads the way as United States-based black metal duo Häxanu expand upon ideation with refinement and manage a near masterpiece in the process. ‘Totenpass‘ tasks the listener with staring into the porcelain face of Dionysian pessimism and finding purpose, accepting not only mortality but reveling in the dance beyond. In most practical terms it’ll serve as an emotional wellspring for those connected to rhythm guitar expressivity and indulgence, or, read as one of the finer modern interpretations of the spiritual prowess found within classic Scandinavian melodic black metal influenced guitar work.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/02/06/haxanu-totenpass-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PtvZeseeVw
Astriferous’ debut LP had everything I’d wanted from death metal in 2023 in terms of production values, thrashing riffs, fine bass guitar interest throughout, fine art curation, canonical interest, finesse, barbarism, varietal pacing/song types and above all else it was an addictive listen. ‘Pulsations Of the Black Orb’ was the rare record I was stoked about every time I picked it up no matter the mood or the season I was beyond ready to see it through. — “With all mammalian minds barren of any collective notions or sentience as death piled large so came the pinging of the dark molecule into visible space, the whorl of genetic material forced by eerie gravitational glom unto a grey slurry beasts in every combination. Without sensical witness to the deranged, world-eating hunger beyond this point we’ll have to rely upon ‘Pulsations of the Black Orb‘, a horrified account from Costa Rican ‘old school’ death metal quartet Astriferous who’d appear before us as possessed spectres of the old guard at its most ripened peak, a deep world-spanning connection with the ancient ones that’ll act as a pillar of insight for the purpose at hand. With great formative precedence set in the past we now find these folks adeptly forging their own voice within the form, blessed by the strictures of high-rate and high value riffcraft from end to end yet equally concerned with the listening experience itself as a tightly honed and all-killer event. This goes above and beyond all expectations for a debut from a nowadays classics obsessed band which not only bodes well for the future but, more importantly delivers a spectacle which devastates the sluggish thought-void abounding in today’s quasi-classicist death metal spheres.”
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/03/06/astriferous-pulsations-from-the-black-orb-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XymMXHHKJxM
The weight of time and circumstance defeat many in pursuit of a lasting, worthwhile personal spiritual standard much less art which communicates such gloria in black crystalline sigil. Not only has this artist embodied their craft but taken the extra time necessary for toil-and-collapse until a great work of the utter dark, acausal necrosophic black metal arrives. Since I’d heard this album prior to the start of 2023 it has been festering within my mind for over a year and in some sense this is both a great advantage and proof of its captivating and enduring qualities. There was a brief four or so hours where I’d placed #2 in front of it and that’d been all the doubt that I could stand. — “To not only desire but manifest the fatal shroud of darkness upon all knowable existence, the energetic death that’d free all flesh and bodily fires into extinction, is to embrace the current of the great adversary. In doing so Athens, Greece-borne black metal duo Thy Darkened Shade embody the wisdom of the dead as a consciousness enhanced rather than one that’d cultivate superstitious hope, freeing themselves from the strictures of timeliness as the continuum is breached. ‘Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya‘ is a second excerpt from the continuing education these enlightened folks would allow the general public to shine and suffer within per their own worthiness, a great work of black metal which soars in spiritual empowerment rather than scour the usual barrels of enduring psychopomp.” FFO: Abigor, Nightbringer, Gevurah.
More Info:
WRITTEN REVIEW: https://mystificationzine.com/2023/01/06/thy-darkened-shade-liber-lvcifer-ii-mahapralaya-2023-review/
VIDEO REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU3WqxvQlFc
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