• MASSIVE REVIEWING CAPACITY • is our latest short review column focusing on stray quality releases a few times a month, or, roughly every two weeks depending on the current month’s release schedule. In an attempt to be more conversational these are easygoing and casual thoughts for the most part, so relax and think for yourself as I attempt to find something, anything to say about multitudes of new releases relevant to my interests. — If you find a record 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

---

Since I’d written about Stockholm, Sweden-based folken melodic black metal act BLODTÅR with some depth per their first two releases there wasn’t anything particularly new to say about their second full-length album, ‘Monark‘. They’ve done well to move slightly away from the Windir-esque stroll and shred of their sound toward increasingly dramatic and/or intimate movements here, emphasizing the paganblack edge of their sound without delivering the same piece ad nauseam. Vein-bursting vocals and thunderous sound design lend fresh intensity, almost a pained and furious temperament as the album begins ’til folken entanglements (re: “Paradis”) begin to weave the beauteous, epic edge of their ouevre out into the open. Though I’d loved the band’s previous record, and there are a few choices made here I don’t quite gel with such as the cover piece, this is undoubtedly a further stretch outside of their shell and a defining release for the band which should ring loudly in voice whether you’ve been following along or not.

---

Though I don’t fully understand the premise set forth by Essen, Germany-based black/death metal band CH’AHOM and their theming taken from the Mexica culture beyond summoning someone else’s underworld it fits well enough with the war metallic atmospheric gorge they’ve carved on this sophomore full-length album. ‘Anthropic Rites of Sublimation‘ reveals more of the band’s progressive death edge within its otherwise wrathful periphery, somewhat similar to the modus of labelmates Coscradh but cooked in a very different kitchen where Into Coffin and Grave Upheaval fans should thrive. While I’d found the band’s sound novel once again the effect is more a curio than a record I’ll wheel back to on the regular.

---

The totality of Ljungskile, Sweden-borne death/doom metal band RUNEMAGICK becomes impossible to sum in approach of this fifteenth full-length album, an enormous ~90 minute double LP in continuation of their previous album, as maestro Rudolfsson only becomes more ambitious with each undertaking. ‘After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil‘ essentially continues the thread/theme forged via last year’s ‘Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms)‘ in developing a psychedelic, abstracted vision of death/doom metal via their own unique rhythmic vernacular. Multiple narrative vocal layers, carefully set dissonance and a brutally trudging pace become key drivers for these lengthier, groove heavy pieces which emphasize slow-burning doom metal plodding overall. “Urðr’s Cosmic Weave” notably signals deeper exploration here as the extreme focus of the album’s first disc gives way to more experimental sounds. Otherwise I’d found myself drawn toward the second disc as its atmosphere evolves from piece to piece, shaking off the extreme focus of the first half of the experience. This one might not be the best place to start tackling their discography but it nonetheless continues the artist’s continual accumulation of ambitious idiosyncratic character.

---

Ukrainian black metal act WINDSWEPT is one of several vehicles upheld by the fellowe behind Drudkh, Hate Forest and several related acts and offers very little defining context up front. In this case their focus has been upon folken black metal and atmospheric post-black metal tinted vision in the past and more recently they’ve taken up a more straight forward semi-melodic sound exemplified by opener “Behind the Masks of Piety”. Taking thematic inspiration from Ukrainian demonology the earlier written works of Mykola Gogol this fourth LP, ‘A Sign of the Cloven Hoof‘, veers between raw classic black metal grooves and easier stepping atmospheric motioning often evolving a simple melodic conceit within the total shakedown of these elements. “Buried Face Down” is probably the easiest to parse collusion of these elements but each piece here finds its riff before delving into its more immersive tunneling movements. Since I’d missed the band’s 2025 release it was great to hear the ideas from the band’s 2024 EP expanded into a more personal level of alchemical command.

---

Helsinki, Finland-based black metal solo act HAIL CONJURER arrive just short of their tenth year with a tenth full-length album in the illustrious ‘Abyss & Ekstasis‘. Often improvised and/or quickly composed within contained sessions the ever singular work of H.K. (Hooded Menace, Ride For Revenge) could be described as experimental black metal in general. This time around their penchant for harsh noise experimentation takes a bit of a backseat (excepting closer “Staring at the Sun”) toward a form of primitive black metal imbued with dark romanticist melodicist trait. Featuring as one of the more composed records from the project, their work here reflects something like dark metal infused black/doom metal tangentially evocative of the early 90’s, particularly in the throes of “Ecstasy of Flesh” and “Golden Pages of Contempt”. The doom of it all should hit most readily within standout “Nocturnal Ardour” to start per its opening riff but the piece eventually takes on strident black metal jog and sort of Darkthrone-esque moldering grooves as it evolves. I’m not sure if the artist’s modus has changed but these pieces feel emergent, crafted on the spot as often as they appear seamless on their flow from idea to idea. I appreciate the greater collage summoned here as one of the more contiguous works from the artist to date.

---

It seems the fourth time is the charm for my own taste as Veneskoski, Finland-based melodic black/death metal trio AUTUMNFALL return with ‘The Archaic Sins‘ just a couple of years beyond their last record. The project comes from musician Jussi Hänninen who is best known as a founding member of Fall of the Leafe (and the somewhat underappreciated Unhola) alongside folks from related death/doom metal project The Bleak Picture. Here they’ve done ye olde Finnish melodeath style justice with a slate of intricate guitar driven pieces in the exacting tradition of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Though I am not as obsessed with the memory of ‘Evanescent, Everfading‘ as some are I do think Hänninen and crew have done well to approximate the spirit of that era sans the exploratory ‘edge’ of their earlier development, earlier releases slightly missed the mark by my observation. The obvious standouts here for my taste were the charging “Pulse” and rushed wail through “Lightless Depths”.

---