These epitomes of traditional Norwegian second wave black metal, to a great extent, defined the genre as it is today. They are classics and that for a superb reason. The Gorgoroth masterpieces, now available on limited edition clear vinyls…
Tag: black metal
New LP by Misotheist in January!
The Norwegian black metal powerhouse Misotheist return with their second album titled “For The Glory of Your Redeemer”, released on famous label Terratur Possessions. It is available for preorder at special sale price NOW!
“Kicking off the album with the 16 minute “Acts Of The Flesh” is a bit of a ballsy move. But it pays off in a dramatic way. It sees Misotheist executing at their most impressive level to date. Unlocking some truly exciting sounds and driving towards devilish new futures. Dark soundscapes along with a very powerful sounding bass guitar a few seconds later before going into a very fast and raw musical direction which also uses a great amount of tremolo picking and blast beats while dissonant structures can also be heard in some of the riffing. It’s a masterpiece of composition and a testament to how far the band has come. Vocals are done in a very deep yet grim black metal style while all three of the tracks are also very long and epic in length. All of the musical instruments on the recording also have a very powerful sound to them along with the songs also adding in a decent mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts. Dark sounding melodies are also added into some of the guitar riffing along with the guitar leads also bringing in more of a more modern style as well as a brief use of clean playing on the closing track and the music sounds nothing like their Norwegian counterparts which also makes the recording stand out in their home country. The production sounds very dark and raw while the lyrics cover dark themes.
Misotheist have managed to routinely impress over the course of their career, and this new album just sees them building on the screaming madness that made them such a compelling band in the first place. One will eagerly get lost in the twisted layers of this three song offering. It’s an absolute scorcher of a record that will leave you in awe.
Meanwhile, the other two tracks build on the foundation of black metal mystery that made the band so great in the first place. In particular the dissonant guitars and off kilter melodies of “Rope And Hammer” are particularly enticing.
“For The Glory Of Your Redeemer” is an absolute monster of an album that eagerly goes above and beyond with searing guitars, exciting drumming and some truly devilish songs. It’s a delight to get lost in the blasphemies within and unlock twisted layers of sound.”
– mixed quotes from Two Guys Metal Reviews, Occult Black Metal Zine
“For The Glory of Your Redeemer” tracklisting
- Acts of The Flesh
- Benefactor of Wounds
- Rope and Hammer
Album taster: “Benefactor of Wounds”
Please have a listen to the new really great track “Benefactor of Wounds”.
French black metal act Hyrgal return with killer album “Fin De Règne”
Faidra – immensely great Swedish atmospheric black metal
In april 2020, a new mysterious atmospheric black metal band from Sweden, namely Faidra, came to the light with the release of their debut album “Six Voices Inside”. The album has received praise and warm welcome within the scene, hence our curious excitement that lead to this interview with the anonymous person behind this one man act…
1. The background
Hello, please begin by telling us a about Faidra and your secret self.
Faidra is a Swedish Atmospheric Black Metal solo project that formed during late summer of 2019. Mostly just a project to entertain myself. There never were any intentions of letting anybody else listen to the music. After sending a rough mix of a couple of songs to friends for feedback and ideas, I later figured I would try to put a few songs on Spotify, since they really liked the result. An easy way to put stuff on Spotify is through a record label, so i sent some tracks to 3-4 labels and got interest from two of them, Northern Silence being one.
Sounds like a surprisingly low ambition approach, especially considering the end result. Is there anything more you can tell us about yourself? I guess you have a background in the music scene?
Yes, I have played in metal bands earlier, but these never really got anywhere. I actually had much more success playing folk music – I was in a band for ten years playing Irish/Celtic folk and we did that for a living for a couple of years…
Ok, cool. So, what first got you into this genre, and what motivates and inspires you to create the music you do?
Depending on what you mean there are a couple of things. Just listening to the genre and appreciating it, I have done for years. I occasionally listened to a few black metal bands during the 90’s but around the 2000’s Cradle of Filth released an album called “Midian” which still remains a favourite of mine. No matter what one might think of Cradle of Filth, i know they are pariah, but they really are unmatched when it comes to their lyrical abilities. Their early work at least, is largely pretty good and that album led me to dive deeper into the atmospheric part of the genre. Eventually this would lead me to another favourite band of mine, though not atmospheric, namely Marduk. So i guess ”Midian” is pretty much responsible for getting me to explore extreme music much more than i had done earlier.
What got me into the genre in regards to writing i guess i got inspiration from several other acts. Mgla, Burzum and Drudkh to name a few. But mainly i listened a lot to an album called ”Forest Sky” by Hermóðr and that album got me the idea and the inspiration to try to record my own black metal.
2. The present
You mention some excellent sources of inspiration there, what do you think about black metal anno 2020 – anything worth praising?
I tend to listen to the old and ”regular” stuff, but also other genres a lot. As for newer acts i have to mention Batushka (the real one) and Mgla for doing something very good and interesting. Also, Curse Upon A Prayer’s latest release is something i enjoy.
Some solid 2020 highlights there, although the last band Curse Upon A Prayer is something I need to listen in to…
Your debut album, “Six Voices Inside”, is really getting status in the underground I believe. Please tell us about it.
The album was not intended at all as stated earlier. The idea was to just make a few tracks to entertain myself. I was mostly doing folk music and Northern/Viking tunes with lots of ambience and atmosphere at the time. I figured i would see how a distorted guitar would sound in the midst of horns, bones, lyres and ancient string instruments. It sounded really good. With some inspiration from Hermodr’s Forest Sky album in the back of my mind, this turned into dropping the viking-stuff and going for atmospheric black metal instead.
Alright, so how has the reception for the album been so far?
The reception has been amazing. I am not aware of any negative reviews what so ever, and i have recieved nothing but praise from fans and the sales have impressed my label too.
3. The future
I perfectly understand, so what will be next for you, any new material being written?
I’m recording ideas mostly, that hopefully will turn into songs later on. Once I have a couple of riffs and ideas, putting it together usually goes pretty fast. The plan is to get enough material for the second album as well as a couple of songs to release online only as i did with ”Ixion”.
Interesting, can we assume there is a good chance for a new Faidra release during 2021?
I really hope so, it all depends on how much free time i’ll have to work on it. I have a full time job and recently got an addition to the family aswell. So free time is pretty rare nowadays.
Sounds great, both with family life and new material. Thanks a lot for the interview, good luck with the new material and future endeavours… /J.
