Tag Archives: progressive black metal

Weserbergland, Yawn, Vetvi, and Izthmi

by Dæv Tremblay

Weserbergland – Sacrae symphōniae, numerō 1


Sacrae symphōniae, numerō 1 is a one-track, forty-minute, progressive, atmospheric, psychedelic, , symphonic krautrock piece. Yeah, I bet I tickled your curiosity right there eh! This is the third album from Norwegian band Weserbergland, and it’s just as advertised. When you click play, you’re submerged in an aura that’ll only end two-thirds of an hour later. During that time, you’ll come across the mesmerizing repeated riffs of krautrock, only spiced up with a lot of keyboard ambiance, woodwinds, and piano. The whole thing sounds uncanny, like it shouldn’t exist, yet it does. And it’s… Read more

Best of Avant-Garde Black Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay

Avant-garde black metal is when expectations are defied, challenged. The listener is a gladiator fighting an arena full of wolves, bears, and lions. So, let’s see which albums managed to kill me this year.

Number Five: Issolei – Devouring Current



Devouring Current was released in two parts, but I’ll take it whole. The album is filled with intricate, banger riffs that are only at home on the fringes. While the album is more in line with the norms of the genre than the others on this list, it does such a good job of it that I could not let … Read more

Best of Atmospheric Black Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay

Then comes “atmospheric black metal”. This tag alone bears a lot of weight, and I’ve decided to include all of the post-black and blackgaze releases under that umbrella term. There might also hide a few “avant-garde” or more experimental entities in there, but at the end of the day it was an arbitrary call to include them or not. When I first started this blog, I wasn’t much into black metal, but it’s one of the first new genres to which I warmed, thanks to the amazingly diverse and creative minds sowing their seeds on the fertile soil of black … Read more

Entropia – शूत्य स्थान / Vacuum

by Matt Matheson

The Music

The Words

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar. The priest is actually a huge Oranssi Pazuzu fan. The rabbi is wearing a Thy Catafalque shirt. The minister was blasting Neurosis in his car when he pulled up. The bar is actually a jazz club. There’s a swing band playing.

That’s as far as I feel like pushing the ridiculous setup, but here’s the punchline: Entropia‘s शूत्य स्थान (Shoony sthaan) / Vacuum is psychedelic blackened sludge metal with a twist—not a gimmick, mind you, but a … Read more

Organ: – Everything Is Pared Down. Minimal Expectations

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Everything Is Pared Down. Minimal Expectations is the Norwegian-Italian trio Organ:‘s third release, nine years after their 2009 self-titled EP. This album has taunted me for so long, sitting there as a pre-order on Duplicate Records’ Bandcamp page without any official release date… And then, without warning, it came out! Well, to be exact, the album became streamable in full, while the official release date was set to October 30. Let’s see what this beast is made of.

Save for the blast beats and clashing notes, everything reeks of retro prog: the guitar and bass’ … Read more