Oct 302016
 

antaeus-condemnation

 

As usual, I had trouble picking which songs to include in this Sunday’s edition of Shades of Black — just too damned much new music in a blackened vein that I wanted to recommend. But in the end, this collection felt right to me. It includes considerable variety as well as a mix of well-known names and obscure unknowns (who will perhaps become somewhat better known after today).

I’ve presented the music in alphabetical order by band name, except I bumped Antaeus up by one place to begin this playlist, because… duh… it’s fucking Antaeus.

ANTAEUS

Ten years after their last studio album Blood Libels, the French black metal band Antaeus have a new album set for release on November 18. Entitled Condemnation, it was recorded by guitarist Set and vocalist MkM as the two sole members of the band, with session drums by Menthor (Enthroned, Lucifyre, Nightbringer), who coincidentally was the drummer on the excellent debut album of the Dutch band Soulemission that we premiered just a few days ago. Continue reading »

Oct 092016
 

kyy-beyond-flesh-beyond-matter-beyond-death

 

This is the second installment in a big collection of mostly new black metal that I listened to yesterday, making my way through a list of music I had compiled during the last week as I saw things in our e-mail and my Facebook feed. The following collection includes further tracks from some releases I’ve written about before in this column, plus two new discoveries — one for a forthcoming release and one that appeared earlier this year. To listen to the music collected in Part I of this post, click this link.

KYY

Two Sundays ago I wrote about a 2015 EP named Travesty of Light by the Finnish band Kyy, plus excerpts from a couple of tracks that will appear on their forthcoming debut album Beyond Flesh – Beyond Matter – Beyond Death, which is due for release on November 4 through Saturnal Records. Now we’ve finally got a full track stream to share with you from the album. Continue reading »

Oct 022016
 

eastern-front-band

 

We didn’t have an actual music post yesterday, so I’ve doubled up on this Sunday’s Shades of Black installment. In Part 1 I’ve selected three new songs, the first of which comes with a video, plus a full stream of a new demo. I’ll post Part 2 later today after I’ve finished writing it, barring a meteor strike on my house or an armed insurrection in the loris compound.

EASTERN FRONT

The British black metal band Eastern Front released their third album Empire (via Cacophonous Records) two days ago. Since their last album, 2014’s Descent Into Genocide, they’ve had a change of vocalists, with frontwoman Marder replacing frontman Nagant. On the official release date, the band also debuted a video for the third track on Empire, “The Fire Consumes“. Continue reading »