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FEN are climbing to a new artistic height by coming down to earth with their eighth full-length "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth". The East Anglian trio has turned to their 'roots' in every sense, by distilling the true essence of what constitutes their sound through everything that they have learned and added in the last two decades. While the previous album, "Monuments to Absence" (2023), was deliberately arranged dense, fast and intense, FEN decided to leave breathing space on this album to allow more time for themes and ideas to exhale and unfurl. Of course, there is still much sonic aggression but channelled differently as large parts of "Mourning Earth" were recorded live to allow an organic nature to flow, and to permit the natural rhythms of the pieces to develop. Lyrically, FEN sum up their basic idea behind "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth" in their own poetic words: "The morning mists clearing over the boggy expanses of the fens to reveal another grey, gloom-laden day of sorrow and regret. And at twilight, the slow, sad realisation that tomorrow promises only more of the same – tormented by the half-heard whispers of the spirits bound to the soils, our pain continues. And we can only endure." With "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth", FEN have reached a new pinnacle in their exciting career and achieved a perfect balance between their black metal foundations and post-black metal innovations. FEN take their listener on a journey to grim bogs, languid waterways, and dismal fogs over bare rock – yet on the other side waits a sense of surcease to the endless existential ennui within.

The obscure entity known as Norsefire marks its second effort after the well received demo Magnificum Hoc Templum.

This time the sicilian trio focused on another aspect of the world of darkness. Since the introduction of this dark and ominous ep, you will feel your soul haunted by the spirits!

The only advise is to don't let them in, quoting the first track. In seventeen minutes Norsefire evokes all the best in old fashioned, rotten and merciless Black Metal in its meanest form.

Recommended for all the die hard maniacs devoted to obscurity and addicted to the most evil Metal around.

For more than fifteen years, Nachtzeit has explored the atmospheric fringes of black metal through his main project, Lustre. Emerging in 2008, the one-man project quickly carved out a distinctive sound: minimalistic, lo-fi compositions where layers of keyboards form the backbone. The result is music that often feels closer to ambient than traditional black metal – mesmerising, hypnotic, and built around melodies steeped in nostalgia, mysticism, and nature.

With Eitr, Nachtzeit takes this atmospheric sensibility one step further. Where Lustre still retains the distant pulse and distortion of black metal, Eitr strips away the remaining traces of the genre, focusing entirely on immersive ambience. The result feels like a more archaic, distinctly Nordic counterpart to Lustre’s dreamlike soundscapes.

The project’s second full-length, “Kvasis Dreyri”, draws its inspiration from Norse mythology and the legendary mead of poetry created from the blood of Kvasir. Across nine pieces named after the myth’s sacred vessels – Óðrærir, Són, and Boðn – the album comes to life through melancholic synthesiser melodies, subtle percussion, patient repetition, and vast ambient textures.

Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here to worship the gods at the altar of heavy metal. HIGH PRIEST have come forth from Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America to brighten your days with a message of hope and doom, one that is hammered into metal, stone and rock to assume the shape of their debut album "Invocation". HIGH PRIEST have taken the prophecies of the elders to their hearts. Their glorious harmonies and melodies bear the catchy mark of THIN LIZZY. There is dark heaviness foretold by BLACK SABBATH and renewed by ELECTRIC WIZARD, and even a touch of METALLICA’s more classic riffs. From the scriptures of grunge comes an emotional force that has been received through prayers directed at ALICE IN CHAINS. All of this is set forth in a new testament of blues-laden guitar-riffs and soulful vocals. With the friends playing together in various bands and line-ups since their youth, HIGH PRIEST came into being with a clear vision in mind. While watching an ELECTRIC WIZARD show in 2015, they spontaneously and simultaneously concluded that they wanted to play doom and old school metal from that day on (all while transfixed by the performance and having to shout their agreement over the din of the PA). Their first public declaration of the metal gospel was the 2016 EP "Consecration", which got HIGH PRIEST much attention throughout the doom and stoner metal scene as well as a record deal with Magnetic Eye, which led to the release of second EP "Sanctum" in 2019. And now the time has come to rejoice: HIGH PRIEST deliver their eagerly anticipated debut full-length, and "Invocation" doesn't just live up to what the two EPs promised, but will carry you straight to the heavens on a chariot of fiery riffs. Amen!

Saidan has been consistently dropping some of the most interesting takes on melodic black metal over the last year, and their second full-length album somehow manages to eclipse all of it with an almost effortlessly malevolent swagger. Mixing various strains of malicious raw black metal with d-beats and euphoric energy of hardcore and effervescent j-rock, cut up with some savage breakdowns and inspired segues, along with the lyrical themes of Japanese horror, folklore and the supernatural, this has the potential to give some people an out of body experience (and bring the BM purists out in hives).

Released in 1998, "Odin Owns Ye All" is the second full-length studio album by Einherjer. It’s a fascinating, if slightly polarizing, chapter in the history of Viking Metal because it marked a distinct departure from the cold, black-metal-influenced sound of their debut "Dragons of the North". While their earlier work was rooted in the atmospheric and aggressive Second Wave of Black Metal, "Odin Owns Ye All" leans heavily into Heavy Metal territory. The guitar work is much more rhythmic and "groove-oriented" than the tremolo-picking found in traditional Norwegian metal and the sound is cleaner and punchier, losing the raw, lo-fi aesthetic of the mid-90s in favor of a more polished, rock n' roll Viking vibe. One of the most notable changes is the vocal delivery of Ragnar Vikse: instead of the typical black metal shriek, Vikse utilizes a unique, raspy, and melodic approach. It feels more theatrical and storytelling-driven, which fits the epic themes of Norse mythology but was quite a surprise to fans at the time.

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