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SMOHALLA's avant-garde black metal is overwhelming, rich in nuances, tempo shifts, and atmospherics. The arrangements are extremely layered; the structures, complex yet consistently coherent, serve a songwriting that masterfully interweaves epic dark melodies, nocturnal ambient/electronic interludes, and unstoppable explosions of metal violence, while Slo's vocal performance alternates between beastly screams and dreamy vocalizations.

The cosmic and hypnotic grandeur of "Ruina Draconis" is a religious experience that revives the great avant-black tradition of masters ARCTURUS and VED BUENS ENDE

Thirteen years later TEMPESTUOUS FALL are back to life with "The Descent of Mortals Past," which is not only the follow-up to "The Stars Would Not Awake You" but, more importantly, a reworking of the '90s death/doom style in light of the maturity and experience gained with MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY.

Today, as then, the music is grandiose and romantic, built on breathtaking melodies, shining like white cathedrals rising in the darkness of the night. Dis Pater alternates deep growls and his unmistakable, emotionally impactful clean vocals, intertwined with simple yet powerful doom riffs enhanced by the orchestral grandeur of the arrangements.

 Throughout the four lengthy tracks of "Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded," FLESHVESSEL seem possessed. A kaleidoscope of colors pours forth from the rich instrumentation employed, which includes, among others, acoustic and electric guitars, flute, clarinet, piano, synthesizer, viola, and a multitude of exotic instruments. The vocals are also impressive and over the top, alternating deep growls and heavy metal falsettos, tying together bone-crushing death metal grooves and airy melodic landscapes into complex prog-style harmonic structures.

Burrowing into swirling, surreal and nightmarish scenarios, STRIGIFORM is a new entity from the void, exhibiting members of VERTEBRA ATLANTIS, AFRAID OF DESTINY and THIRST PRAYER, among the others. The Italian band's debut album, Aconite focuses on an intricate and incisive approach to songwriting, characterized by unorthodox riffs and a particular attention to the internal dynamics of the tracks, in order to maximize their impact.

Born between the UK and Morocco from the mysterious singer/multi-instrumentalist known as The Orator, TZEVAOT is a vehicle through which the occult - not just theatrics, but actual hidden mechanisms of reality - are unveiled. Merging the ever-malleable black metal sound with death, thrash and heavy metal elements, and with progressive, classical and jazz compositional influences, TZEVAOT’s first offering - appropriately named "The Hermetic Way" - is a dive into the ancient school of mystical understanding which ultimately gave rise to the modern scientific disciplines, bridged the gaps between pagan and Abrahamic theology, and bestowed the world with the greatest practical synthesis of Graeco-Egyptian wisdom.

Wrapped in a stunning painting by Luciana Nedelea, TZEVAOT’s “The Hermetic Way” is an album of magnetic charm, made even more intriguing on one track by the narration of Lon Milo DuQuette, the world’s most cited living occult author and a high-ranking figure in the Astrum Argenteum and the Ordo Templi Orientis, both institutions founded and shaped by Aleister Crowley during his lifetime. TZEVAOT complements the esoteric depth of their themes with incredibly creative music that, thanks to a mercurial songwriting, moves coherently and masterfully through every facet of black metal, tempering its raw, cutting sounds with compelling prog orchestrations.

Having released their self-titled debut album of progressive noise rock in 2022, French power trio CRATOPHANE returns to the scene with their brilliant blend of post-metal, heavy psych, noise rock and progressive, a sound that has previously earned them comparisons to the likes of SHELLAC, PELICAN, MAGMA, and CARBONIZED.

Their new album, "Exode" is once again an entirely instrumental work. Thanks to a multifaceted yet consistent style and a songwriting skill that has further refined in recent years, CRATOPHANE's music is a sonic journey full of surprises. "These are compositions that fall into the realm of a kind of instrumental, psychedelic, and cosmic prog metal," the band says, "in a spirit somewhere between BLIND IDIOT GOD and PELICAN, but played by fans of VOIVOD and ALUK TODOLO, with a mix of zeuhl-style melodies and many very dissonant, even noisy passages. In other words, a sort of RUSSIAN CIRCLES on LSD, trapped in an inhospitable parallel dimension."

Divided into two parts that can be considered as just one long song, VOID PARADIGM's new album delves further into sonic experimentation, questioning the boundaries between musical styles and making it difficult to pin it down to one category.
"Tout Ira Mieux Sans Nous" blends elements from black metal, doom metal, jazz, progressive, and dodecatonic writing techniques, in a perfect balance made possible by the great compositional skills of Julien Payan (ATARAXIE, SORDIDE), honed over years of studying classical guitar and chamber music. Alongside him, the extraordinary jazz metal drummer Alexis Damien (NO TERROR IN THE BANG) and the excellent singer Jo Théry (ATARAXIE, FUNERALIUM), both also involved in the musical arrangements. Last but not least, special guest Mütterlein contributes to the album's identity with her intense vocal performance.

After the dissolution of FERAL LIGHT, frontman and songwriter A.S. wasted no time in channeling his artistic flair into a new project, UNSOULING. Their 2024 debut, "Vampiric Spiritual Drain," laid the foundation for a new stylistic approach that is now fully realized on "Outward Streams of Devotional Woe," the band's sophomore release, once again graced with a stunning cover art by Luciana Nedelea.

"Closer To The Sky" explores the more classically symphonic black metal side of MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY, made up of sumptuous nocturnal melodies that elevate the spirit, majestic orchestral scores rich in nuances in which Dis Pater embeds wonderful cosmic choirs, telling once again the mystery of existence and otherworldly dimensions in which life and death are inextricably intertwined forever.

Reissue 2026 on Back on Black

Double LP, red vinyl

• Back on Black is proud to announce the comprehensive reissue of Hospodi (Church Slavonic for "Lord"), the second full-length album from the Polish black metal phenomenon, Batushka.
• Initially released in 2019, Hospodi represents a more polished, melodic, and theatrical evolution of the band's signature, ritualistic sound.
• Based on the Eastern Orthodox "Liturgy of Death" and traditional funeral rites, the album is a thematic journey through death and judgment.
• This reissue brings back the ten-track masterpiece, which blends traditional black metal (tremolo riffs, ferocious blast beats) with haunting choirs, atmospheric ambient interludes, and profound Slavic chants.

Following the reissue of the 2021 EP “I Fall With The Saints” and after their appreciated latest album “Fanciulli D’Occidente” (released in 2024 by our friends at Dusktone), the italian Avantgarde Black Metal outfit LAETITIA IN HOLOCAUST comes back with a new short but yet ambitous work, titled “I Rise With The Dead”.

Although featuring only two tracks, LAETITIA IN HOLOCAUST felt the need to tackle the composition of a 12-minutes long, atmospheric and wide-ranging piece – “Gioia e Pianto alle Teste dei Leoni” – trying to maintain the same intensity and ferocity of the latest album, although broaden its spectrum by creating more persistent and less rapidly changing musical scenarios.

After the first album “Corona De Frastimus” (2009), Sardinian Native Black Metal veterans VULTUR came back with after six years with “Ogu Liau” (2014) with a completely different line-up. Once again, the record was released by a south american label, this time from Chile.

VULTUR style has always been aggressive, unmerciful and fast-paced, showcasing intriguing riffs and a certain degree of dark violence. Fans of old Satyricon, Marduk, Mayhem and Immortal will find themselves pleased, as well as for the lovers of Dissection’s melodic bridges, old Rotting Christ’s evocativeness and Mortuary Drape’s rhythmic dynamism and heaviness.