SHADES OF BLACK: ASTERIAE, OPPRESSION, WORM

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Nov 232025
 

(written by Islander)

Greetings again on another Sunday, or whatever day it might be when you find your way here. Today’s collection is shorter than I would like it to be, because I have plans for the morning with my spouse that will take us out of the house, and I wasn’t able to spend much time pulling this together yesterday.

I’m beginning with an album released one month ago that I’ve been meaning to say something about for at least that long, and then following it with singles from two forthcoming albums that sound pretty exciting. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THE STONE, ENTHRONED, BURIAL GIFT, WIJRA, MORBONOCT, REMAINING WARMTH

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 162025
 

(written by Islander)

If you missed yesterday’s roundup of new music you missed some very good and very diverse tunes. You also missed my alert about a request for help I’ll be making to our readers tomorrow. Catch up on all of that if you can.

For today’s assembly of black and blackish metal I picked four songs from albums that will be released later this month or in December, plus two EPs that I caught up with in the last couple of days. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: PSICOSFERA, VARMIA, KREYLL, FLOWERS OF RUST, VACUA, HAKLA

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Nov 092025
 

(written by Islander)

Like yesterday, I got a late start on today’s column, due to festivities with spouse and some new friends last night. Like yesterday’s column, this one includes more full-length releases than normal (alternating with some single songs), and I only have time enough to offer some impressionistic thoughts about them rather than carefully thought-out reviews.

My overarching impression is that most of what you’re about to hear sounds… possessed. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: 夢遊病者 (SLEEPWALKER), MISOTHEIST, DARVAZA, MARTRÖÐ, JZOVCE, ARCANE MARROW, SEDNA

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Nov 022025
 

(written by Islander)

Like yesterday, today I had enough time to include a lot of new music and to spill a great volume of words about almost all of it.

For reasons I’ll explain, I’m beginning with a new album that’s well outside the usual parameters of this column, but then launching straight into a sequence of black metal songs (in varying shades of course) that are fantastically thrilling, and sometimes unexpectedly sublime. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BLUT AUS NORD, KRALLICE, THOKKIAN VORTEX, ETĚR, TEUFELNACHT, NATTRADIO

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Oct 262025
 

(written by Islander)

This has been one of those rare weekends when, due to some other plans falling through, I had a ton of time to immerse myself in new metal and spew out a bunch of thoughts in print. Yesterday I compiled music from 8 bands, and today I’ve got 6 (I did have 8 but ran out of writing time). These bands, of course, exhibit their creativity through varying shades and phases of black metal — except the last one, a final curveball for you.

This collection includes three complete EPs as well as enticing excerpts from records not yet out. I hope you’ll give them all a chance. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THE STONE, NIMBIFER, SYLLOGOMANIA, RAAT, ANAGNEIA

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Oct 192025
 

(written by Islander)

Only five selections today, but there’s still a lot here — three EP-length records and a complete album, in addition to a lead-off song by a respected Balkan band from their next full-length. (Having more time to pursue my own perfidious activities is one silver lining to the personal cloud of enduring my wife’s absence while she’s off partying with one of her two sisters in Nevada this weekend.) Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DIMHOLT, POKUTA, EMBRACED BY DARKNESS, HAMMERFILOSOFI, HUBRIS, POGARDA

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Oct 122025
 


Dimholt

(written by Islander)

In compiling this Sunday’s column I can’t say that I intentionally searched for unsettling music, but that’s where the listening trail led me — in directions that were chilling, depressive, and enraged.

Time being limited (as always), I left a few discoveries behind that were especially raw and abusive, in addition to being unsettling. I hope to get back to them later. One thing that struck me about what I didn’t leave behind is that all the music that follows turned out to be more multi-faceted than first impressions might suggest. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: AMIENSUS, ELLENDE, HOLOGRAMAH, CAGED BASTARD

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Oct 052025
 

(written by Islander)

When I finished writing the SEEN AND HEARD column yesterday and scheduled it for automatic appearance this morning I really didn’t think I would be awake or clear-headed enough to prepare a SHADES OF BLACK thing for today, which is why I said there wouldn’t be one. But even though I didn’t get to sleep after my spouse’s Saturday night birthday party until 1:30 am, I woke up at 7 am — amazingly not hungover, only weary.

I still thought about not trying to do put this column together, but I really hate leaving holes in our regular schedule, so here we are. Fewer selections than usual, but (I hope you’ll agree) very good ones. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: AFSKY, DEADLAND, VEIL LIFTER, BAALBERITH

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Sep 282025
 

(written by Islander)

As was true with yesterday’s SEEN AND HEARD roundup, 21 days have passed since I was able to compile one of these SHADES OF BLACK collections. Unlike yesterday’s roundup, I’m not able to make up for the lapses with a mega-sized assembly today, due to… baseball. It’s the last game of the regular season for my hometown team, and I’m going.

I know that confession damages my kvlt credentials, yet I’ll try to repair the damage with the following five selections. Stylistically they’re not in the same vein, and yet I do think there are some connections, including a certain classical elegance and immensity among some of them, and a certain dark and even depressive cast common to some, which seemed fitting for the day — roughly one week into the Fall season, with The Big Dark looming here in the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VALLETTA, OFERMOD, KAECK, ILDARUNI, MULM, HYPNOSINOSIS

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Sep 072025
 

(written by Islander)

In this week’s edition of SHADES OF BLACK I’ve called attention to recent songs excerpted from forthcoming albums by four bands. After that I’ve highlighted two recently released albums that really made an impact on my addled head and heart. And “highlighted” is the right word, because I just haven’t had enough time to give either of them the more comprehensive review they deserve. But as I always tell myself on days like this, something is surely better than nothing.

I’m not sure I have a coherent way of trying to sketch out how the musical experiences change from one selected band to the next. They’re all diabolical in their own ways, but you might get a couple of instances of whiplash as musical shifts occur. Continue reading »

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