Black Metal

Just as timeless as Netherstorm, if not more so, VARGRAV once again evokes the visionary works of old Obtained Enslavement, Dimmu Borgir, Abigor, Limbonic Art, and especially early Emperor. And once again, another classic of symphonic black metal graces the purple-velvet landscape of our imagination, and it bears the justifiably arrogant title of Reign in Supreme Darkness.

Black Metal

From the dawn of the classic debut album, Netherstorm, in 2018, Finland’s VARGRAV have almost single-handedly reinvigorated the oft-maligned symphonic black metal subgenre. Forged in fires from the ancients – founder V-Khaoz’s credentials are vast and stretch back decades – and stoking the embers last left by Obtained Enslavement and Norway’s Covenant and Odium, VARGRAV’s two albums to date stand as proud pillars of shimmering, classics-based obsidian.

As momentous as those two full-lengths have been, VARGRAV arguably eclipse both with their third album, The Nighthold. With a lineup that now includes the notorious Graf Werwolf von Armageddon on vocals and Moonsorrow members Trollhorn of the Black Harvest on guitars/bass and Baron M. Tarwonen on drums, VARGRAV’s swirling, cosmic surge has never been more potent; their attack is both sharper and dreamier, crystal-clear and opaque simultaneously. That added clarity creates more immediacy as The Nighthold kicks in, for the aggression of old is kicked into overdrive here and the synths take on a truly orchestral aspect. It’s not for nothing that the album is a full hour in length: everything here sounds (and feels) HUGE, one massive velvety purple landscape of stained-glass visions as far as the third eye can see. And all 12 tracks are threaded together in a plausibly cinematic manner; while each is mighty in its own respective right, VARGRAV sequence every song with artistic flair and high drama, concluding the immersive experience with a daresay-soulful guitar solo during the coda of “Creator of the True Realm” that then segues into the nearly-10-minute big-screen instrumental “Ghostlands.” What film or filmic realm one enters into (or leaves) is entirely up to the listener…The Nighthold is boundless!

Black Metal

Satanic Metal Temple 2018-2020 Anno Satanas.

All music by Werwolf. Lyrics by Vritrahn and Werwolf, except “Crucifucked (S.S.)” by Shyaithan (Impiety).

Black Metal

WARMOON LORD is arguably the best-kept secret of the ever-fertile Finnish black metal underground. The band is the sole work of one Lord Vrajitor, a prolific figure in the wider Finnish music underground, but also concurrently the mainman of OLD SORCERY. But whereas that band largely/mostly works within the dungeon synth genre, WARMOON LORD is pure & proud black metal of a most fantastical nature – equally medieval, maybe even more so, but burning with icy-hot passion that so fired the second wave during the mythical 1990s.

Black Metal

For a decade now, Finland’s WHITE DEATH have built a small-yet-formidable canon of work that’s come to define modern underground black metal in their nation. It’s no secret that Finland has possessed one of the most potent black metal scenes from the early ’90s onward, and with each new generation that picks up the torch, some are contenders and others are just content to uphold “the Finnish sound.” WHITE DEATH took their time with deploying demos and then their debut album, simply self-titled, but they occupied a unique position between those poles: steeped in noble tradition, but exuding a confidence and charisma that rendered White Death an exceptionally nasty work even with its considerably cleaner production. Three years of silence followed between the release of that debut album and the three-song Promo 2020, which included an Enochian Crescent cover – an inspired choice from an oft-unsung legend, and a portent of grandeur to come.

Black Metal

Comprising young fanatics of the fertile Finnish underground, WHITE DEATH are black metal classicism incarnate. Bursting into the milky cosmos, White Death exudes a majesty and mysticism that are incredibly rare to find in nowadays “black metal,” so pure and true is the young band’s ancient flame. Howling to the fullmoon, WHITE DEATH speed forth across seven songs of nightside diabolism and medieval witchcraft, each one evoking a separate splendor, all offering myriad corridors into one’s innermost soul. It is a sound that strongly resonates with a mid ’90s atmosphere, but so authentic and ingrained is the quintet’s fire ‘n’ fervor that the word “traditionalism” no longer becomes shackling, but rather liberating. Indeed, it is a liberating force that guides White Death, bridging the past and the present with acidic aplomb. WHITE DEATH have begun a glorious new epoch: march or die.