Black Metal

AVRÆ LVNÆ are a power-trio hailing from the still-rising Ecuadorian black metal scene. Fronted by Wampyric Strigoi – mainman of WAMPYRIC RITES, who’ve had a huge hand in shaping that scene, as well as GRYMMSTALT, WINTERSTORM, and DUNGEON STEEL among many others – AVRÆ LVNÆ also feature erstwhile WAMPYRIC RITES / DUNGEON STEEL drummer Eblis Destructor and one Geist der Natur on guitar and bass. Uniquely, the band brand their black metal “neon metal,” which isn’t as garish as it sounds; rather, they draw to the fore the shimmering, stained-glass textures of mystical black metal, making for a mesmerizing (and MELODIC) display of psychedelic obsidian.

Black Metal

Once thought long dead, existing as they did during the ancient days of the early ’90s, Baxaxaxa publicly arose from the dead in 2018 with an exclusive performance at the esteemed Destroying Texas Fest and then a gig in their native Germany. Feeling scorn for nowadays black metal and wishing to stir the cauldron of yore, the then-quintet quickly recorded The Old Evil EP and released it on cassette tape in October 2019. Buoyed by that burning-black momentum, Baxaxaxa released another EP, Devoted to HIM, little more than a year later. Both recordings’ respective titles should surely bespeak the black metal to which the band is beholden: rotten, primitive, and ancient, out of touch and most definitely out of time.