• …YOU MISSED • As part of our yearly recap the …You Missed series attempts to collect interesting releases I’d otherwise missed, didn’t cover, or didn’t appreciate until later. This is -NOT- a best of, but a collection of interesting curios worth mentioning as we reflect upon the year. // In an attempt to be more conversational these are more easygoing and casual than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself. — If you find something you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase! If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Multi-national black metal project PARFAXITAS gathers the talents of folks from well-known groups (Whoredom Rife, Suffering Hour, Sinmara) and a couple who’d collaborated on Merihem‘s album a couple of years ago. ‘Weaver of the Black Moon‘ is not the kind of album you should just slap on and scrub through quickly and I’d begin to argue this might be one of Terratur Possession‘s best releases of the year and that is high praise considering ‘Den Vrede Makt‘ and ‘Chthonic Gates Unveiled‘ will be on my best of for 2024. Associations with ‘elite’ tastemaker labels and various well-respected bands aren’t the major appeal here but rather how these strong personalities work together to create points of pastiche and locked-in brilliance, wildly intricate black metal pieces which find their rooting in the avant sector of Abigor‘s greater brain trust with some cold Norwegian spiritus providing the pulse behind their at times dissonant and lead-whipping guitar work. Setting aside the hype one might experience on the walk-up and appreciating the high level of creative inspiration put into this record is advised as the sum of those parts has its own madness, a crazed energy which has few peers in 2024. At this point everyone is hoping they’ll iterate upon this collaboration.

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Norwegian-Italian duo HAMMERFILOSOFI return to follow up their debut LP with fairly similar material on this short but not insignificant EP. Though the band’s name might suggest some manner of Bathory worship their sound is layered, features death-metallic affronts and strains within its chaotic bursts of energy and grandeur depending on the song. interestingly enough ‘SOLUS (Igne Natura Renovator Integra)‘ features lyrics written by Rune Vedaa from Forgotten Woods though the band’s sound sometimes has hints of Godflesh, doom, and clattering black/death throttled drums for an unusual yet satisfyingly atmospheric experience. I’d found this release too chaotic, prone to filler (“Holy Fire”) and quick to insert somewhat cliche samples or just screams from beyond that generate little more than an air of suffering and uncertainty. The main reason to show up for this one is the first two songs (especially “Alpha Ego”) and the rest merely wanders around, bleeding out in circles. I would recommend judging this band by their debut album and taking this EP as an extension rather than an usurpation.

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Lexington, Kentucky based artist Anton E. is best known as the vocalist for death metal bands Rotting Kingdom and Tombstalker (among several other groups) and ARCANE BAYONET is his own solo black metal project with ‘Bellicose Fields‘ being its first public recording. Atmosphere is integral to the design of this music, emerging not far from where Judas Iscariot and Amebix might meet in conveying moods with simple guitar techniques and ulterior sonic thrum. Of course beneath that general layer of hum-and-howl there are keys and melodious riffs girding the direction of the blustering atop (see: “Bellicose Fields”) and to me this is an ancient currency which early forms of atmospheric black metal carried in earnest before archaic folk ideas took ahold. That is to say that there is something primal beneath the churning mind of this experience but we’re not far from the heavy rock song structures, acoustic guitars, and swinging grooves (“Vengeance”) of classic black metal mentality. I’d appreciated the full range expressed here song-by-song and the general ride that these ideas present one after another even if at times it felt like the threading of ideas together felt anticipatory or quickly parsed into action.

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Almada, Portugal-based solo project CAIXÃO draws upon knowledge of ancient civilization, heroic mythos and the earliest peoples of his region in creating ancient black metal sounds of a characteristically Mediterranean persuasion. All of these elements converge for ‘Herakles / Melqart‘ the second LP from the artist under this name and another display of what I’d consider raw, idiosyncratic and primal early second wave black metal with some love for early Hellenic black rhythmus (see: “Erymanthian Boar”.) Yes, up front the whispered ASMR vocals are naturally not for everyone but much like Cemetery Lights and Moenen of Xezbeth there is enough of a unique character built within these songs that the esoteric nature of this music retains its mysterious appeal, and the riffs are clever enough to carry through ~35 minutes of music. If you aren’t an illiterate, irritable child I believe there should be plenty of depth to pull from this strange record, not only is it less than demanding in terms of time but the lyrics/themes are actually brilliantly writ and thoughtful in the larger craft of the album experience. For me this type of project is a good sign of deep underground black metal health and celebrates the virtues of unbothered outliers… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to this much whispering in a single sitting.

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Themed by agony and resounding with challenging post-black metal channels this second full-length album from Stockholm, Sweden-based FÖRFALLET is self-indulgent to the point of obsession, ranting yet only serving a light strike upon their pathos which finds no real resolve within its ~40 minute descent. ‘Ve‘ avoids the performative cliches most often associated with post-black metal and simple drones on, narrating its misery at varying levels of tension and resignation. The best of these swells arrive around the middle of “Passiv”, are reinforced on “Ruinerna” and the band leans into post-metal dramatism/DSBM just enough to make their exit notable on “Farsot”. I would say this might be more on the spectrum of black metal that is digestible amongst post-metal fandom but there is a depressive, blurriness to these typically somewhat long pieces that should appeal to the more atmospheric leaning black metal fandom as well.

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Espoo, Finland-based black metal trio KRATTI introduce themselves with a brittle, distant guitar tone fitting enough for the introverted and imaginative trip they drift through via punkish, boxed-in drum performances and dramatically struck movements. Narrating their own wandering path through surreal scenery and gilding their raw, flat-set sound with ethereal/cosmic keys the vision these folks have put behind ‘Matka Kohti Kosmista‘ is cold but still soldiered out, delivered with a vibrant weapon-wielding advance despite the distance kept. The bopping stride of nowadays elite Finnblack standards is inherently there but I’d appreciated the coldly placed bones of the band being struck without hifalutin or overly performative strokes beyond the tunefully built guitar lines. The melodic black metal obsessed part of my brain is the key activation here (see: “Matka Kohti Kosmista”) in direct observation of the rhythm guitar work though I don’t think a fan of Keres or whatever would be any less interested than a Sargeist fan (or, Horna if we look to the stamping of “Sota Viimeinen”) would be, the stream of thought presented here within each song is easy to approach and complete in each of its statements. For my own taste this was enough of a mind palace entrant and personal enough to stand out and call for several listens beyond the first.

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Santiago, Chile-based black/death metal duo ASPHALT GRIEVING released two EPs in 2024 and this particular one, ‘Transgression of the quantum self: Tertiary magnitude‘, stood out to me for a couple of reasons. To start session drums from Krzysztof Klingbein are always worth showing up for and of course the album art was immediately striking on both EPs. This one certainly benefits from the drummer’s precision style as their brand of dissonant and melancholic chaos challenges for these three songs and ~24 minutes and lending their efforts a technical edge helps to ground it in a severe, cold point of pivot. Longform pieces suit the band much better as they are able to infuse more black metal guitar techniques which are threaded more deeply into the dramatism of their work which bursts between more harried fluidity and despairing crescendo, holding fast to a restless and ugly soul throughout. If you are a fan of the post-black metal out of Portugal and Germany of late but also appreciate heavier, more atmospheric death metal muse there is a wild balance struck here between old and new sensations which I’d found compelling and unlike anything else from their area at the moment. The only big downside here is the boring ass 9 minute noise track that ends the EP, completely pointless and obnoxious to me but I’m sure some folks will dig it.

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Veszprém, Hungary-based quintet LIDÉRC is comprised of folks who’ve been active in their nearby black metal underground since the early 2000’s though this particular formation aligned circa MMXX. Their style is occult romanticist, driven by poetic visions and an ancient European muse per the age of natural philosophy and alchemy as they press quick and layered, often urgently melodious black metal through the skull of the listener. Consider these songs compressed epics, driven by blazing tempos despite their easy-shouldered grasp of the song and… to the point that I kinda get the comparisons to certain Ungfell releases though thier work isn’t as patient or “heavy metal” as say, Malokarpatan. The first three out of six songs here appear to pull together a linear narrative in the sense that their tone and melodic driver all pull from the same basal vernacular and pace, the second half of the album explores how these elements work at slower tempos and touch upon some classic second wave black metal guitar fission. I would be pining for a bit more variety if the album was any longer than ~33 minutes but as is the case with groups like Passeisme extreme focus can make for an exciting listening experience given the right mood or task at hand. Either way a real wind tunnel of action and tightly wound melodic ideas I am happy to recommend.

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I don’t fully recall how I came across a copy of Netherlands-based duo MAGISTRAAL‘s debut EP, which is also packaged as a split with Zieldoder, but at least one of these three songs left a lasting impression. ‘Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht‘ is aesthetically plain, dryly rendered and atmospheric to the point of modest personae yet the sum of these folks’ efforts has an interesting enough quality to it, particularly the guitar work and how its arrangement for two guitars allows plenty of room for swerving and slow-bent riffs that trade hands over time. “Mijn brandend licht” is the big deal song here as the longest and most atmospheric venture with a bit more variety to the shrieks and rasps of the vocalist but my interest was more geared to the guitar work and the subtle echoic wane of the keyboards used. Though they’ve done well to compose some interesting enough atmospherically charged, somewhat venomous black metal here I’d say their sound is probably far too plainly stated to carry a full album for my own taste. If their work remains in the epic, longform headspace I’m interested to see what they manage over time.

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Hanover, Germany-based raw/melodic black metal duo NIMBIFER now achieve debut full-length status with ‘Der b​ö​se Geist‘ and it is a nice surprise to see them manage such a stunning but still appreciably underground release after about five years. I’d written about the band’s first demos early on, suggesting they’d taken their modus per fandom via Finnish and French Canadian scenes and the general structure of their craft still generally resembles this in an exaggerated and melancholic state where fans of Sargeist and Cénotaphe should appreciate the dramatic turns of these songs as well as the flowingly crafted melodicism. These pieces are often slower and prone to take longer stalled mid-paced breaks (re: “Schlangenmaul”) and this is where I start to lose some interest. The raw and hazy production values don’t always accentuate the music here, “Auf endlosen Pfaden und haltlosen Strömen” is buried enough to dull what could otherwise be more of a rush with less distanced voicing but it is all relative when black metal is given a personal enough touch.

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