• N.B.B.M.N. • is Nothing But Black Metal November, an annual series of short review columns which I’ve been administering since 2015 in various venues. It was initially inspired by online acquaintances who’d often spend November “only listening to black metal” or at least generally catching up on the releases they’d missed throughout the year until the well ran dry. This year I’ll rip through some of the releases stuck in queue for October, November, December and then scour through a number of underrated items I’d held onto for this occasion. This year I am planning at least ~3-4 entries but I don’t have as much free time as I used to. 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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Meditating upon the contrast between commune with nature and community while parsing an antidote to the fading culture available to humanity this second full-length album from Brescia, Italy-based melodic black/doom metal band THE SCARS IN PNEUMA is relentlessly introspective, solemn in every step taken. Now a more resolute solo project lead by founder Lorenzo Marchello their efforts now excise some of the melodic death ebb of their 2019 debut LP and take on a largely mid-paced, atmospheric and ever-brooding temperament on ‘Cursed Songs from the Garden of Twilight‘. The dramatism available to this album is almost immediately palpable and at the same time samey in its expression, circling a few familiar melodic ideas throughout its duration while breaking things up with acoustic guitar respite (“Le Diable dans la Ville”, “Maudits Dèsirs!”). Lower growled vocals and a few faster paced pieces nearby the end of the album help to bring variety to their lurk but more rocking songs like “Secret Fire” entangle the mood of the whole deal a bit. A more matured, personal and focused effort from the band overall.

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The will, aspirations and resolve of Brussels, Belgium-based musician Asegir Amort all crystallize within ‘Mugwort‘, the second and final album from his black metal project HERZOG. The story of this album is beyond moving wherein a cancer diagnosis, paraplegia, and passage came in the space of less than one year and in the midst of realizing its songwriting/recordings. The artist’s survivors and friends helped to finish the album and the weight of these circumstances becomes impossible to escape as Amort‘s vocals are necessarily traded for his partner Isa Myling‘s (Rå) on Side B. The effect of this album is somewhat different from their 2023 debut ‘Furnace‘ where they’ve nixed the crumbly and distant rhythm guitar sound but retained its dramatically stated phrasing, reframing their voice with more immediate sound design. The guitar driven atmospheric wield available to this work is it’s best feature where broad taste in modern black metal feeds an album which is equal parts exuberantly slung and tragic in its realization. The surreal effect of the first three pieces is especially strong with some unique vocal expression highlighting “Dawn of the Prosper” and a sort of dark metal halo surrounds the peaking action of “Trauma” as the centerpiece of the full listen. Though the vocal range and expression changes drastically in the second half and the choice to make closer “Post-Truth” instrumental leaves the album hanging a bit the total effect reads as an accomplishment beyond their debut, and likewise serves as admirable realization of the ambitions of a fellowe who passed way too young.

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Swedish black metal trio GOATVÖID HOLOKÄUST reduce humanity to an inbred, self-destructive glom of whelp per their call back to the primal heavy metal inherent to the sub-genre here on album number two. ‘Iron Reign of Satan‘ builds dramatic, slaughterous muse within short ~2-3 minute black metal pieces which initially carry a liquid sense for melodic motioning up front but soon show their prowess via Quorthonian menace and an esoterically charged rhythm section. “Tithonian Thalassomancy” and “Saura, Eleutheria” stare in this direction with the most conviction on Side A but generally speaking the full listen flits between several points of focus, entertaining with either unexpected turns or righteously striding melodic ideas which’re fleshed to a peak and cut off quick in most cases. Side B strikes with slightly more cruelty, darker and speedier pieces which to me resemble ancient early-to-mid 90’s Swedish black tapes sans any death metal affect. Some of the noise/synth interludes are jarring and a couple of the later pieces seem to reach a peak in their ramping heraldry but this all lends to the underground spirit upheld within. I’d like to hear what they could do with slightly longer pieces, or, maybe just a shade more early Impaled Nazarene-like energy applied.

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INVULTATION is the bestial black/death metal project of Colombus, Ohio-based musician Andrew Lampe who is probably best known for his work in woefully underrated death metal fixture The Wakedead Gathering. For this fourth album in the space of ~six years his interest seems to shift from total chaotic barrage unto something more riff-built but still rooted in a wall of wrathful percussion a la Antichrist Siege Machine or Revenge. When the death metal hammer drops on “Frenzied Catechesis” and (later on) keys and doomed-out stall strike it becomes clear that ‘Inferno Descends‘ is more than just another buzzing war metal deal. This helps to justify its 40+ minute runtime and extend the album’s repeatable value beyond the norm though I don’t think the well-indoctrinated war metal/bestial death obsessive will find any new ground covered if they’re after it. Superior riffcraft either way.

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After nearly a decade spent in deep spiritual practice Dalarna, Sweden-spawned pagan black legend ARCKANUM return for a tenth full-length album in ‘Beswærilsin‘, a stirring of the auld cauldron back into brew. Throughout this hourlong experience Shamaatae appears to merge different eras of the project’s past, ensuring the polished advance of their late 2000’s/early 2010’s transformation is represented within this otherwise contiguously shot summoning and its trampling-forth pieces. This time around compositions feel less constrained, embracing the flow of ideas between ranting narrative, spiritual practice, and larger scaled paganblack movements and this makes for a more atmospheric and less riff-focused experience in general. It might be a long journey to take for the returning fan but there’re several summits which reward the patient listener along the way.

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Belgium/United States-based atmospheric black metal trio MISTS aligns the fellow behind Vox Clamantis with the prolific folks from Häxenzijrkell, Aerdryk and Silver Knife (among many others) in conjuring these two longform pieces. Echoed in obscured, far-distant trembling expanse ‘Summoning Eternity‘ initially reads as improvisation while opener/Side A “Through Eternal Graves” warms up but a shimmering guitar tone and blasts lend direction soon after. The total effect is immersive in its ominous hallway of dark-gazing gust but the actual performances are slow to evolve between movements, leaving my impatient mind eager for a change in stance. Side B‘s “Carved Miseries of Ancient Times” remedies this with sharper contrasting phases traded at a higher rate. Though the cacophony of it all is the major draw to start there are finer details buried within the experience which shine a bit more on repeated passes.

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Finnish quartet VULKAN GRIT slam a big set of balls on the table up front with this thrashing and blasting debut full-length album in ‘Godslaying Arcane Panoply‘, immediately striking into a level of aggression which resembles 90’s Immortal here and there per its slippery grooves and raucous battery. Vocalist Octus (Faustian Pact, Pöllömaagi) commands at an impressive level here, matching the murderous energy of the band without falling into an outright braying state. Their balance of bestial attack and mid-90’s stewed guitar techniques (re: “The Immaculate Shape of the Worm”) stuck in mind from the first pass but their grasp of Finno-standard melodic riffcraft offers key contrast within an album that covers many bases with high capability. Great album art, too.

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Appearing somewhat out of the blue via folks known for their work in Victimarium, Seidur and Nightside Turku, Finland-based trio STORMPYRE realize the broader dark fantasy vision of Vorgoth Stormwrought on this debut full-length album. ‘On The Throne of a Forgotten God‘ resembles something like the mid-to-late 90’s standard for symphonic black metal in terms of sound and authorship but without the absolute blasting melee old heads would expect, instead opting for a kicking pace. This allows plenty of room for their dungeon synth apropos use of keys/synths, a core melodic driver for most pieces, to carry the ear down their path. With most of the songs here lingering around the ~6-7 minute mark a few overstay their welcome but present a complete thought in each case. While the whole deal is somewhat “one note” in its modus that doesn’t stop it from entertaining and ultimately immersing via its many epic and power metallic moments on the plod through. Though I am not a fan of the cover art I’d found this one repeatable thanks to its loud ass keys and consistent stride.

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Los Angeles, California-based solo project THE MOSAIC WINDOW have been well-marketed from the start as something *like* melodic black metal but from a mainstream music fandom’s general rhythmic point of view. There was a sort of homebrewed prog-metallic feeling to that first album and as a result there was an underdog, weirdo bedroom metal station applied to Andrew Brown‘s work which surely didn’t translate to the modern metal sheen of ‘Hemasanctum‘ (2024), an album which’d escaped the black metal zeitgeist entirely from my perspective and cemented interest outside of “underground” idealism. For this third album they’ve offered a regression back to something more clearly inspired by atmospheric and melodic black metal and this translates via their rhythmic focus and overall sound design, closer to the AOP Records stable of interest. The only issue is that they’ve got the sound and a few good riff ideas but without the inventive hand of their debut nor any particularly ear-gripping songcraft it all hits like smoke and mirrors. By the time we get to pieces like “Blood and Chains” I’d begin to drop off for the sake of lacking vocal interest, any soul-wringing hooks, or righteously melodic lines in feature. There are echoes of greater acts supplanted here but not enough to pull me back for a fourth of fifth listen.

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Reassembled in slightly different configuration for a fourth full-length album Québec, Canada-based trio ACÉDIA impress once more per their knack for drearily expressive avant-garde/dissonant black metal. Sporting their headily atmospheric grasp of disso-black phrasing at a glowing mid-paced strangle ‘Égarement’ offers an ever-opening flower of dement and dispossession through its seven reeling pieces, swaying odes to withering psychic disturbance. These folks’ve always stood out for their measured use of dissonant guitar work, integrating it into their overall layering while trading off with semi-melodic movements, and in that sense there isn’t much new here beyond pulling back from said melodicism. The peak of this fluxion is arguably “Torpeur” where some of the album’s more inventive rhythmic mapping and faster pacing collide unto chaotically gushing effect. If you’d found the band’s previous album too polished and sweetened in tone this’ll prove more jagged, miserable by comparison.

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After taking a couple of detours into Uhritulet and Vaino records musician V.P. returns to for a fifth full-length album under the mark of ODIOUS DEVOTION, bringing a heightened sense of melodic voice under the veil of ‘Ylistysvirret‘. Though the record bears some of the raw-yet-melodic tics of earlier work the artist has gained some additional compositional skill in the interim, leaving behind the stark overextensions of prior works for a more traditionally paced and parsed longplayer. The effect is no less focused on stripped back traditioned black metal ideas, as always in a distinctly Finnish format, but here what stands out is better integration and performance of their lead guitar work, sharpened skill which helps the full listen read as consistent in quality and conviction as a result. Probably not the album for folks looking for the new next thing but a decent set of songs from this prolific but always thoughtful artist.

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