SHADES OF BLACK: ENSLAVED, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, FIRTAN, URNA, SELENOPLEXIA, STOFLONG

Enslaved – photo by Chantik Photography

(written by Islander)

I’ve been knocked askew by a bout of forgetfulness. Yesterday I forgot that I’d committed to join my spouse at an event that lasted all afternoon and into the evening. I also forgot another commitment I’d made for later this morning; I don’t always check my calendar on Sundays, and it’s a good thing I did today.

Anyway, because of those two forgettings I was left with not enough time to get this Sunday’s column done. But it pains me to leave nothing here for people who make a habit of dropping by on Sundays, so I decided to do something I’m not sure I’ve ever done before; if I have, it’s a rare occurrence.

What I’m doing is just embedding streams of a handful of new songs (the first three accompanied by excellent videos) that I want to recommend, plus a recent EP, without any commentary of my own and only bare-bones info about the releases.

It bothers me to do this. It bothers me even though I have no idea how many listeners actually read what I write, versus just punching the Play buttons. But it would bother me more to do nothing at all. So, here you go (and please feel free to leave your own commentary in place of mine):

 

ENSLAVED (Norway)

Song: “Solar Will”
Album: Mið
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: October 30th

 

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM (U.S.)

Song: “Ghosts Among The Obelisks”
Album: Estuary
Label: Relapse & Century Media
Release date: October 23rd

 

FIRTAN (Germany)

Song: “Ascension”
Album: Helios
Label: AOP Records
Release date: October 2nd

 

URNA (Italy)

Song: “Second of Three”
Album: The Great Jihad
Label: ATMF
Release date: October 16th

 

SELENOPLEXIA (U.S.)

Song: “The Battle of Agretes (Glory of Holy Warfare)”
Album: Beneath the Lunar Tyrant
Label: Independent release
Release date: October 9th

 

STOFLONG (Netherlands)

EP: Zwarte Aarde
Label: Independent release; tape coming from Zwaertgevegt
Release date: July 24th