Winter is coming. The days are getting shorter, the nights and the darkness coming with, are getting longer.
So what can be better than listening to some new, very good, Black Metal albums?
Introducing So Hideous and Tenebral Rift.
| Band: So Hideous | |
| Album: None But a Pure Heart Can Sing | |
| Genre: Post-Black Metal | |
| Country: USA | |
| Release Date: 3rd of December, 2021 | |
| Released via: Silent Pendulum Records | |
| Cover Artwork: © Silent Pendulum Records |
None But a Pure Heart Can Sing is not your typical “three dudes in the Scandinavian woods” Black-Metal. Although having a lot of typical trademark of the genre (blast-beats, vocal delivery, guitar sounds), it spices up the formula with some unexpected breaks and escapes the genre completely.
In those break-outs we’ve got saxophones, pianos and violins. Those sections give the album an almost jazzy and orchestral feeling. A prime example for this is the track “Intermezzo“. An instrumental track in the middle of the album, which demonstrates the creativity that can be put into an „interlude“.
“Motorik Visage” is the centerpiece of this album. An 11 minute epic, starting wild and furious, evolving into a jazzy intersection just to explode at the end. The drumming really takes the cake here. Newly added drummer Michael Kadnar (also in The Number 12 looks like you and Downfall of Gaia) pushes those tracks to the brink and keeps the whole thing together at the same time.
None but a pure Heart can sing is an exceptional return of So hideous after 5 years of absence. So hideous deliver a twisting and turning Black-Metal album, that will surely keep you on your toes while listening to it.
| Band: Tenebral Rift | |
| Album: Umbra | |
| Genre: Post-Black Metal | |
| Country: Norway | |
| Release Date: 19th of November, 2021 | |
| Released via: Tenebral Rift | |
| Cover Artwork: © Tenebral Rift |
Dark, bleak and shadowy, these are the first words that come mind, when I see the Cover of Tebebral Rift‘s new album Umbra (which is Latin for “shadow” by the way). Consisting of 6 six songs, clocking in around 60 minutes, Umbra is a long, dark ride into the depths of consciousness.
Each song is a near 10 minute Maelstrom into the abyss. The song-titles speak for themselves: “Descent“, “Shrouded by the Mist” or “Enthralled nocturnal Prison. By adding samples to their already oppressing music, Tenebral Rift succeed in creating a thick atmosphere that engulfs and captivates the listener.
Umbra is a(n) (un-)pleasant surprise in this dark time of the year, recommended to be digested in whole. This album isn’t about beauty in darkness like some other Post-Black-Metal albums, this one is about blackness and it stays true to this motto through the whole album.
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