Recent Arrivals
Heiden - Obsidian2009, Naga Productions
Heiden’s newest album is a weird mix of black metal and soom doom and melancholic rock influences. It’s kind of like recent Shining mixed with some newer Katatonia-style riffs and harmonies. The music manages to retain a very dark atmosphere without sounding overly depressive like either of those bands. I’m not sure how Obsidian compares to their earlier work, but by itself the album makes for a pretty good listen.
Pocculus - Ragana2009, Inferna Profundus Records
Ragana is composed of five demo tracks and two live songs. As a result the production is not that great, which is unfortunate because Poccolus plays a very unique and disturbing form of black metal that I would definitely like to hear more of. The music is moody and haunting with some faster blasting parts mixed in, but the production gives it a singularly creepy feel.
Argharus - Pleistas2009, Inferna Profundus Records
The newest album from Lithuania’s Argharus sounds to me like your basic Mayhem-worship aggressive black metal, although with better production and vocals that resemble those of Shining’s Kvarforth. Musically it’s pretty standard and not overly complex, but the expressive, tortured vocals make it quite a bit more interesting.
Slagmaur - Domfeldt2007, Inferna Profundus Records
This is an early demo from Slagmaur, and the style of music they play is quite impressive and certainly unique. Basic drumbeats and intermingled guitar and keyboard sound combines to make a very industrial / dark ambient basis for each song, and the blackened vocals of The General completes the mix. It’s definitely dark, but in a different way than your standard black metal fare.
Evoken - Embrace The Emptiness1998, Solitude Productions
Evoken is one of those bands I’ve been lazy about checking out until recently. From the very first notes of “Intro” it’s obvious that this band knows how to make good funeral doom. Esoteric remains my favorite doom band of all time, but these guys are definitely up there.
Falkenbach - …Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri…1998, Napalm Records
I’ve been going through a viking metal phase lately, and Falkenbach is easily my favorite band of that genre based on their Heralding the Fireblade album. The sound on this album is along the same lines as Heralding the Fireblade although the production is worse and the songs are not quite as strong. Nevertheless, it’s still an excellent release.
