Void Omnia – Dying Light
Dying Light is a rich, layered album full of black metal darkness.
Vrtra – My Bones Hold A Stillness
The rather vivid imagery in my head every time I listen to these roughly 30 minutes over three tracks is of being lost in sea. At night. In the eye of a brewing storm.
Minenwerfer/1914 – Ich hatt einen Kameraden
As a historical album, really as an album in general, Ich hatt einen Kameraden (I have a comrade) is a masterpiece.
Cara Neir/Wildspeaker – Guilt and His Reflection
The final track on the album, His Reflection, is not only the best track on the album and the best work by Wildspeaker, but stands up well to any other crust track you care to name.
Sea of Bones/Ramlord – Split
The band plays a nasty blend of crust, hardcore punk, and black metal, creating a hybrid all their own. The sound is filthy, rotten, and drags you bodily into the void, caring nothing for scrapes and bruises inflicted on the way down.
Surgeon – Beast of Light
Surgeon is a different animal entirely, a feral hunting creature of controlled savagery.
Myrkur – Mausoleum
Mausoleum carries you deep into your own emotions, raw though they may be, and asks your to face them unflinchingly, to see the beauty and the light as well as the darkness and deep, deep sadness.
Feral Light – A Sound of Moving Shields
Take past members of Wolvhammer, Empires, Manetheren, and Finger of Scorn. Stir until well blended. Mix in frosty Scandinavian black metal draughts of venom. Shake well. Sprinkle with British crusty gutter filth. Bake until bleak and urgent. Serve cold as death.
Oblivion Circle – Oblivion Circle
I was immediately struck by the music. While Oblivion Circle doesn’t play straight-up black metal, they do play black metal with plenty of death metal influences and a ton of atmosphere.
Sallow Moth – Moss Deceptiva
Moss Deceptiva is a brutally beautiful meditation on the destructiveness of modern society… It is with this weapon of musical destructiveness that we will be cleansed.