31. Spectral Haze - I.E.V.: Transmutated Nebula Remains

| LABEL |

Soulseller Records

| AVDIO |

iTunes

| Psychedelic Doom Metal | Transport your mind far beyond the galaxies known to humans, through cosmic voids and the chaos that is the universe with the latest release from the maniacs of Spectral Haze.

You are in for a grand psychedelic ride that bends reality with its mindboggling riffs, its bombastic astral atmosphere and pure madness. The whole album has a strong seventies vibe to it, and all that it implies (weed?!?). The guitars has that cozy retro distortion (shitloads of it) with fuzzy riffs that flies wild like an comet tail. The bass are rumbles pleasant in the background and contributes a lot to the spacey atmosphere. And the we have the drums that beats down like heavy asteroids as they countdown the days of our existence.  The band also uses a theremin to enhance the feeling of space yet another notch.

The album rides on its occult astral atmosphere. It is both enthralling and a trip for the unconscious part of your mind.  I see a spectrum of colors, endless darkness and bight shining lights when I close my eyes and listen to the album.  It is an opus that must be experienced!!!

| EXECVTION	| 90	| COMPOSITION	| 86 |
| INNOVATION	| 92	| PRODVCTION	| 84 |

| GRADE | 88 |

30. Sivyj Yar - From the Dead Villages Darkness

LABEL
Avantgarde Music
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
90%

Pagan Black Metal. Do you want an album with a thick authentic atmosphere that you almost can smell and inhale? Then Sivyj Yars latest album is definitely something for you. The album has beautiful melodies from the olden days Russia that mediates both struggle and hope.

It has an extremely dark undertone to it that brings my mind to weathered old cabins, dilapidated and rotten from the inside. Pestilence and victory in the same opus. The album is all about the guitars building up this great atmosphere with simple means and still keeping it down to earth without making it pompous in any way. Together with an perfect agonizing voice from a far distance and quite clean production that lets every excellent element shine on this dirty masterpiece. 

29. Temple Of Void, The Furor, Black Autumn, The Howling Void

Temple Of Void  - Of Terror and the Supernatural	The Furor - Impending Revelation
Black Autumn - Losing the Sun	The Howling Void - Runa

Temple Of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural Death/Doom Metal. An album that feels like an old abandon clock tower, watching you, counting the time you have left on this earth. Dark, heavy and mysterious with interesting guitar passages and a atmospheric voice. (Rain Without End Records) 82%

The Furor - Impending Revelation Black/Death Metal. The first comparison that comes to mind is maybe Emperor in a light format. It has a lot of good riffs, technicality and ideas, and is most highly enjoyable to listen to but something is missing. A lack of substance? 70%

Black Autumn - Losing the Sun Ambient Black/Doom Metal. Here we have some weird piece of art. It takes some unexpected twist and turns and delivers an journey of a lost madman, for good and bad. It is an interesting journey however to take through its strange ambient soundscapes to the harsh deafening riffs. (Rain Without End Records) 75%

The Howling Void - Runa Symphonic Funeral Doom. A record to listen to when till full moon is rising. It has a dark moody atmosphere, haunting doomy riffs that pierce through you ears, and makes the hair on you back stand in pleasure, or maybe in pain? It is for you to decide. An album filled with great atmosphere. (Avantgarde Music) 74%

(Click on the album covers to hear samples of the music)

28. Sedna - Sedna

LABEL
Drown Within Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
91%

Black/Sludge Metal. The band plays an excellent mix of BM and sludge that is mind-blowing. They create divine acoustic passages that slowly builds up to an impressive scene filled with chaos and suggestive narrative melodic undertones. The album has darkness with its granite heavy riffs. And light with the burning melodies that lights up the way throuh the album like torches. And in this beautiful weird void we find the immersive chantings from another plane, that together brings it all to another dimension. 

Sedna will transport you to another world, far beyond the stars and this reality. To a terrible, but yet so beautiful place, where chaos roams free and wild. Follow Sedna on their mysterious journey through dark passages, epic ancient wonders and barren wastelands. 

27. Pyre - Human Hecatomb

LABEL
Chaos Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
89%

Death Metal. Do you want something so rotten and vile that it will make your ears drip out puss and maggots? Than you should listen to Pyres first full-length release. It is gritty as a old cemetery gravel and heavy as  a fucking walrus corpse rotting away on an abandon oil platform, yeah you probably get the picture.

It is old school death metal right to the fucking bone marrow. Guitars that twist and turns like an dull knife against rancid flesh. Drums that smashes on like the meat hammer of an psychopathic maniac. Bass that rumbles like a boiling pot of intestines on an open flame. All that together with an massively meaty guitar distortion and a production from the depths of the of an unmarked grave. On of the best DM records I have heard in years. Strongly fucking recommend it!!!

26. Lebensnacht - Uudelleensyntynyt ikuiseen pimeyteen

LABEL
Naturmacht Productions
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
70%

Black Metal. Today we are offering the third album from the German one man band Lebensnacht, and with quite mixed emotions. He (Robert Brockmann) plays a kind of primitive BM with some ambient elements. It has an rough distortion and a minimalistic production to it. The album are played in classic mid-tempo with grinding guitars and some small simple keyboard arrangements to enhance the atmosphere.

The album starts of with the extremely Burzum odorous track Blutmeer that gets the highest point in my book, and my hope is set real high. But they don't deliver any more songs on the album that even get close to the feeling of that particular track, it is almost down hill with some highlights here and there. But just for that bloody song is this record wort a listening or two. Maybe you will appreciate the album more than me. 

25. Dying Out Flame, Northern Oak, Singularity, Toxoid

Dying Out Flame - Shiva Rudrastakam	Northern Oak - Of Roots and Flesh
Singularity - Singularity	Toxoid - Aurora Satanae

Dying Out Flame - Shiva Rudrastakam Hindu Death Metal. Technical DM from Nepal with loads of hindu influences in both the music and lyrics. Which results in an album that is both interesting melodies and has an occult atmosphere around it. (Xtreem Music) 78%

Northern Oak - Of Roots and Flesh Medieval Folk Metal. We rarely write about folk metal albums, but here we have one that is an great example how great a album in the genre can be. The album uses a lot of medieval instruments (made artificially), like flute for example to bring forth the feeling of the dark ages in i great way, without letting it turn to any jolly arm-dancing bullshit.   82%

Singularity - Singularity Technical Black Metal. Melodic BM done the right way without making it too big or bombastic. It is an cozy album with its nightfall melodies together with an quite desolate mood through out the whole album.  75%

Toxoid - Aurora Satanae Black Metal. Gritty pure fucking BM with a distortion that will make your ears bleed. Awesome sinister riffs combined with an production that screams simplicity and old school. Too bad the vocals are so shitty, but the rest is solid silver.  (Transcending Obscurity) 72%

(Click on the album covers to hear samples of the music)

24. Atrum Tempestas - Néant

LABEL
Nordavind Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
74%

Atmospheric Black Metal. Imagine your self a cold winters day, when you feel that all hope is lost. Every road is covered with snow and you feel more lost than ever. This record is all about that. It is slow, depressing and melancholic. It grinds slowly on as you travel along unclimbed paths of your inner-self as it slowly builds up an  fog-like atmosphere that surrounds every instrument. It has some great melodic guitar riffs that sets the tone, and drums that are perfect for wandering through the snow. To bad the album don't really hold up til the last track however, and the best track is still the first one.

23. Horncrowned - Defanatus (Diabolus Adventus)

LABEL
Ketzer Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
72%

Black Metal. Here we have a record that is fast, malicious and rabid like a possessed whore. Its like an tank driven by an rabies infected terrorist with spine fluid running down his back. Yeah you get the picture, you are going to get run over real fast and brutally. The riffs are fast, but not so innovative and mood setting. Fast blastbeating drums that just mangles on like a bomb factory in the second world war. The production is kind of clean with some gritty elements. So take the record for what it is, its something that is easy to putt on and listen to, even if there isn't much else after that. 

22. Arcana Coelestia - Nomas

LABEL
Avantgarde Music
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
84%

Funeral Doom Metal. Majestic, dark and sombre are a couple of words that comes to mind when I'm listening to this record. The album contains five lengthy songs that is full of an dismal atmosphere that is both epic in seize and performance. They use a lot of keyboards in the background to enhance the mood, to bring forth the abyssial feel, with some griming light on top of this otherwise pitch black release. It has an 10 000 miles beneath the earth sound to it, like echos in a great old chamber of magick and rituals. It is an record that needs to be explored more than one time to really find every little detail, sound and message. 

21. Obsessör - Assassins of the Pentagram

LABEL
Evil Spell Records
AVDIO
Soundcloud
GRADE
89%

Black/Thrash Metal. Are you ready for some real old school thrash metal, from the times when thrash metal were thrash metal and not just some bleak melodic death metal shit that they call thrash today. This album is down to the roots with influences from the early German scene. It is fast, mean and don't take any compromises. It is war, Satan and blasphemy just as it should be. They deliver an intense and genuine experience with fast solos, high pitched screams and energetic drums that makes my whole body go spastic. All this together with hints of early BM and you have an album that is simple, raw and evil. 

20. Ignis Haereticum, Majestic Downfall / The Slow Death, Morbidity

Morbidity - Revealed from Ashes Death Metal. Old school death metal from Bangladesh with awesome corpsegrinding riffs and rotten production. 78%

Ignis Haereticum - Luciferian Gnosis Black Metal. Luciferian BM from South America that delivers a great occult and ritualistic abomination. 80%

Majestic Downfall / The Slow Death - S/T Death/Doom Metal. A somber split that will drag you down a dark void with its beautiful melancholy. 75%

19. Misericordia - Throne of Existence

LABEL
Deepsend Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
76%

Black Metal. I get this late nineties melodic black metal, when the scene were overflowed with these bands from this record. It has good musicianship and awesome riffs and ideas, its just the atmosphere that is absent. Or it has an kind of atmosphere, but it doesn't feel that genuine, more like a product of the time. Don't get me wrong, it is absolutely not a bad record, it has some great songs that are both interesting and shows of some great skills, wonderful guitar riffs hear and there, blast beats and a voice that reminds me of Emperor Magus Caligula. So if you want a trip down memory lane, but new produced, than you can't go wrong hear. 

18. Lurking Evil - The Almighty Hordes of the Undead

LABEL
Razorback Recordings
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
92%

Black/Thrash Metal. Are you a hellish rock'n'roll freak, with a fixation for death? Then your in for a proper kick in your nuts with this vile release. I get shivers down my spine when I'm listening to this bloody awesome record. Its near fucking perfect with the sharp grinding thrash metal riffs, the darkness and obscurity from BM, together with a fuck you up the rotten ass punk attitude. The result is a solid record with a grim old school feeling that goes on repeat on my stereo. It will appeal to both fans of old school stuff like Hellhammer and Venom, as well fan of newer stuff in the genre like Die Hard and Midnight. A must for those that enjoy their metal true old school and don't like any frills and other unnecessary shit, and just want something that speaks to the primal brain, something instinctively.

17. Laster - De verste verte is hier

LABEL
Dunkelheit Produktionen
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
72%

Atmospheric Black Metal. Ever wondered how it feels to ascend through a void of loneliness and despair? Were you are constantly reminded of the meaninglessness of life at every turn? And just want to vanish into oblivion? Then here you have your album!!! It is a very minimalistic album that utilize a lot of ambiance to set the mood.  Everything is used spares and lets your own imagination run wild. Its a dreamy album, with an hopelessness to it. 

16. Infestum - Monuments of Exalted

LABEL
Lacerated Enemy records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
70%

Black Metal. This album contains: fast furious riffs that tears like sharp knife through your eardrum. Blasting hellish drums that will pulverize your brain into dust. Experimental digital synthesizers that ads an extra dimension to the opus. A crystal clear production that sometime tends to a being a bit plastic. If you want something that is easy to just pick up and listen to, then this is your album. All in all, its a good record, even if it lakes some substance. 

15. Kafirun - Death Worship

LABEL
-
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
94%

Black Metal. Ohh were do I begin with this masterful demo from Canada. I'll start with howling everything this release contains. An dark mystical atmosphere that lays on everything like a thick alter cloth. Haunting chantings that creeps beneath your skin. Morbid twisted screams that would freeze any angels heart in fear. Guitars that cut through bone and marrow. Ritualistic drums that raises the hellfires to the heavens. The Demo has every essential component, and its all done in such a dreadfully pleasant way. I Get the same feeling as when I heard De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas for the first time. It is absolutely something special. I'm strongly looking forward what the future hold for this band. 

14. Darkspace - Dark Space III I

LABEL
Avantgarde Music
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
81%

Atmospheric Black Metal. Today's review is about the fourth album from the Swiss trio Darkspace. It continues of course the journey into dark mystical space that began on the first release. It is an pitch black vogue through time and space, with dark matter devouring every glimpse of light that this album continue with. It has an very thick horrendous atmosphere around itself that conveys the feeling of loneliness and despair that only a passage through a black hole cane bring forth.

13. Coffinborn - Beneath the Cemetery

LABEL
Xtreem Music
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
72%

Death Metal. When I'm listening to this record I can really hear and feel the graveworms eating way my aging flesh. I can smell confined death and liquid decay. Hear the moldy graveyard mud penetrating my ears as I slowly becomes nothing more then a bone-dry cadaver for the vultures to feast on. Yeah, today we serve up another great old school DM record, that is doing everything right. They have the blistering ungodly distortion that will make your bones turn to dust and solid classic death metal soil to stand on. You can't go wrong with this stinking disc!!!

12. Carnation - Cemetery of the Insane

LABEL
Final Gate Records
AVDIO
Youtube
GRADE
74%

Death Metal. One thing I can't get enough of is really fucking great old school death metal, and the Belgian band Carnation delivers just that in massive loads. Its dirty as leprous street prostitute licking the scrotum of a burn victim. Sinister as a braineating fungus with an dictators mind. And crushing as a meatgrinder on bath salt. Thus, has the record an perfect filthy production and distortion on the guitars, together with an awesome rhythm and morbid brutality.

11. The Hexagram, Polyptych, Pestilential Shadows

Polyptych - Illusorium Technical Death Metal. An album with an possessed playing technique and an outer worldly creativity that comes together in an extremely interesting album for a twisted brain.

Pestilential Shadows - Ephemeral Black Metal. Atmospheric BM at its best that still mange to keep the grimness and coldness without getting lost in the keyboard jungle.

The Hexagram - Other Kingdom Black Metal/Hardcore. Hardcore/Crust combined with BM are perfect fit, and out comes this lawless, grainy, primitive beast.

10. Sxuperion - Through Cosmic Corridors

LABEL
Bloody Mountain Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
89%

Death/Black Metal. They say no one can hear you scream in space, but what you could hear in your mind is a other thing. This record is probably the closest you could get to the sounds and atmosphere in your mind as you pass through cosmic voids, wormholes and interstellar travels until your inevitable doom and enlighten. The album is filled with gloomy space effects and ambiance, all covered in a doom metal veil. It succeeds well to bring forth the feeling of the pitch black emptiness of space.

9. Zaklon - Nikoli...

LABEL
Possession Productions
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
83%

Black Metal. If you you just scrape the surface could Nikoli appear to be just another of thousands of mediocre BM albums that have been released since the mid nighties. But so is not the case, it holds so much more in its dead nest. It has something unspeakable, I can't exactly point to what it is, in simple terms its just doing what millions of bands have done before, but this album speaks to me in a different kind of way. It goes straight in to my subconscious makes my whole body shiver in dark delight and transports me far away into the Belarus forests, where nature prevails. 

8. Azooma - A Hymn of the Vicious Monster

LABEL
Xtreem Music
AVDIO
MySpace
GRADE
80%

Death Metal. Today we present something as unusual as a death metal record from the old Aryan land Iran. The album in itself is an unusual creation be course its seldom you see this kind of technical quality and creativity on an album. It takes in loads of influences from middle eastern music in their technical mind thrilling death metal, which is a perfect fit if you ask me. A perfect album for those how are tiered of all that fucking-a-dead-corpse-in-the-intestines-death-metal and want something different (but brutal) with some eastern spices. 

7. Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem

LABEL
Hells Headbangers Records
AVDIO
MySpace
GRADE
91%

Black/Speed Metal. If you haven't heard this evil motherfucker from last year, you have probably lain in a coma beneath the bottom of the sea, course you can't miss this twisted fucker!!! Its fast, old school, catchy black n roll at its best. It takes a lot from old Venom with its catchy old school heavy metal riffs and attitude. Its an album that don't take any compromises, and don't give a fuck what have happened in the scene for at least 30 years something. It will run you over and rape you like a possessed bulldozer.

6. Cruor Cultum - Crown of Beasts

LABEL
Pazuzu Records
AVDIO
MySpace
GRADE
87%

Black Metal. Crown of Beasts is an massive release from the Brazilian duo Cruor Cultum with its thicker than oat porridge soundscape. It takes a lot from old Emperor with the razorsharp riffs, smattering drums and heavy use of keyboards, all together in a beautiful symbiosis that enhances the enchanted nailbiting atmosphere that this dark gleaming gem delivers. Its an grand bombastic opus that takes you through great old chambers to narrow spruce forests and beyond.

5. Deus Ignotus - Procession of an Old Religion

LABEL
Forever Plagued Records
AVDIO
MySpace
GRADE
82%

Black Metal. From the depths of the most inner darkness comes this awful beast from the Greek band Deus Ignotus. Its an EP that makes its way though your mind deep into your soul with its mesmerizing dark riffs and its haunting vocals. All melted together in a other dimensional production that feels alive and pulsating. An opus that grows on you.  

4. Septuagint - Negative Void Trinity

LABEL
Forever Plagued Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
81%

Black Metal. With an sound that echos from an unholy crypt deep beneath the earths surface comes the sinister EP Negative Void Trinity from Septuagint. It is an release that relays heavy in the atmosphere and makes every hair on my body stand in a grand mass. It slowly builds up an temple that you travels through and discover more things the deeper you get inside. Its an EP that takes you away from this life unto another place, darker and filled with chaos. 

3. Funereus - ......Return of the Old Goat

LABEL
Forever Plagued Records
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
82%

Raw Black Metal. The hellish black n roll orchestra of the occult are here again with a new rawer than a newborns blood cells. Its raw (yeah, I repeat myself) and have a I do what the fuck I want attitude to it. It is an intensive journey that will leave you bruised and fucked up right to the bones marrow after the first listening, with a strong feeling of wanting to hear it again, again and again!!!

2. Earth Rot - Follow the Black Smoke

LABEL
-
AVDIO
Bandcamp
GRADE
88%

Death/Black Metal. Have you ever dreamed about having lead poisoning your ears? Then this album can fill all your desires with its out of this world heaviness to it and its abyssal dark atmosphere.  Thicker than the blackest oil and more inhospitable than a radioactive wasteland stinking of rotten flesh and fear. An massively poisonous release that will make your brain boil.

1. Abusiveness - Bramy Nawii

LABEL
Arachnophobia Records
AVDIO
Arachnophobia Records
GRADE
90%

Black Metal. Behold the latest uncontrollable beast from the polish mythic army Abusiveness!!! It is an forceful album with an imaginative creativity that always keeps you on the edge. Its like wandering through and mythical old landscape with unmentionable horrid creatures slithering inside your feeble brain. It almost has this lovecraftian feeling to it, an otherworldly creepiness to it. Its an album that is best enjoyed as a whole experience for the dark wintry nights.

Twothousendfifteen - it all starts again!!!

Hear ye hear ye fiends, ghouls and nonbelievers the temple of knowledge and insanity are back yet again, bringing you more reviews of underground metal bands in the genre of black metal and genres alike. This time the return is for real, and are her to stay as long as our pity little life circle allow us to exist. So from this day forward expect reviews almost every day of the week on-words to our inevitable end, and beginning.

We will begin with all the albums that have been sent to us through out the last half year, that are worthy your mortal ears.