Do it.

Bog of the Infidel‘s Asleep in the Arms of Suicide is a traditional black metal album more on the melodic side of things and with a purposely raw production. It’s pretty good, even though it’s not personally my thing; I prefer when it comes to experimentation or unorthodox black metal.

The legendary prog rock act Frost* [fɹɑstæs·tərˌɪsk] will release their upcoming album, Falling Satellites on May 27th through InsideOut Music. Musically, it sounds like post-D’Virgilio Spock’s Beard, but they seem to like to go out a bit more with stylistic shifts. Jeff will write a full review of this album soon so I’ll leave it to him.

Yes, that’s a black square. Nyiþ‘s Visni þitt hold svo betur megi hæfa þeim hug sem það hýsir is a dark ambient/atmospheric drone-ish album. It’s tagged as “devotional”, and you can certainly imagine it being a sort of offering for the Icelandic Gods of Nature. It’s an excellent album of three rather long pieces, only one of them having lyrics. If you’re into ambient music made with acoustic instruments, you’ll dig this.

After the widely appreciated “Allir vegir til glötunar”, Naðra comes back with a two-song EP, Form. I feel it’s a bit more experimental in the black metal realm for its inclusion of what almost sounds like punkish power metal at the end of “Forn”. It’s probably my least favourite part of it because of my distaste for punk and power metal in general. Otherwise, it’s a pretty decent EP.

That’s three Icelandic bands in a row! Zhrine finally released their album, Unortheta, after teasing us with their single “Spewing Gloom” since last year. And we’re really glad it’s out! The album features some of the best black metal around: dissonant and unorthodox all the way.

Minarchist is an excellent progressive death metal project, and they’ll release their debut album, In Absence, on May 27th. I’ve had the chance of listening to it in advance, and I’ll be posting a review of it too, but I can tell you this: it’s very good!

Zhea Erose recently released Icosahedron, an electronic ambient album with hints of lounge and drum n bass music. It’s pretty good, diverse, and musically literate, but I still have a soft spot for her first album, “Dreamsura”. Nonetheless, it’s a valuable addition to my smoother music list!

Yodok III is an improvisational jazz atmospheric doom-ish trio. It’s somewhat hard to describe, but Legion of Radiance is basically an hour-long improvisation including madness on drums, reverb-laden guitars, and melodic brass instruments. It’s pretty good, and it must’ve been quite something being in the audience during the recording.