Horoma Exordium – “World’s Falling”

After an extended silence, Jagged Vibrations has once again returned, this time to bring you “World’s Falling”, a slice of vicious black metal from Scotland’s Horoma Exordium and the debut single released on up-and-coming Glaswegian label and music publishers Ordo Nocturnal.

Throane – Derrière​-​nous, la lumière

Derriere-nous, la lumiere album art by Dehn Sora

France is a country with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fresh ideas when it comes to extreme music.  Alongside Iceland and Poland, it has become one of my go-to geographic locations when I am searching out new metal to listen to, particularly in the realm of black metal.  My most recent discovery from this area is Throane, whose debut album Derrière-nous, la lumière has been constantly in my headphones since its late May release.

Voidnaga – Demo MMXVI

Demo MMXVI album art by Alex Morkh Shadrin

There are two trends that have been on the rise with respect to my listening taste in the last few years.  One is that I tend to gravitate more towards demos and EP’s than I do full length albums.  The second is that I have been wholly sucked into the cavernous/bestial/what-have-you blackened death metal phenomenon.  The good news is that with all the bands that are popping up latching on to this style of metal, there is a treasure trove of demo material out there.  One of the latest and greatest among these is the initial offering from Malaysia’s Voidnaga.

Zhrine- Unortheta

Unortheta album art by Zbigniew Bielak

If you’ve been paying any attention to extreme metal at all lately, it’s hard to not hear about all the amazing new bands coming out of Iceland these days, and for good reason.  When it comes to extreme metal, Iceland is producing some of this era’s most forward-thinking and exciting music.  Carrying on that tradition of excellence, 2016 gives us Unortheta, a full length album from Reykjavík’s own Zhrine.

In the Flesh Vol. 3 – Behemoth/Myrkur

In the second of two live show recaps from the past weekend, I will be detailing my time seeing Behemoth and Myrkur on the last night of the “Blasphemia Amerika” tour.  These are both acts that are dear to me, so being able to catch them on the same bill was an absolute treat.

In The Flesh Vol. 2 – Sunn O)))

Sunn O))) are a band that have become a fixture of modern heavy music for their unique and at times polarizing sound.  Love them or hate them (or maybe just don’t understand them), one has to admit that there is no band quite like them.  Nowhere is this more evident than in their live shows, which have become their own cult phenomenon in the metal scene.  Seeing Sunn O))) is more than just catching a band you like; it’s a religious experience with it’s own cult standing.  Every eccentricity in the band’s sound and presentation is dialed up to eleven, and those lucky enough to attend get to witness something truly singular.  Last week, I was one of those lucky people.

Label Spotlight – Sol Y Nieve Records

Sol Y Nieve crest

Welcome back to another Label Spotlight.  This time, I will be focusing on a label that showed up on my radar seemingly out of nowhere, yet has grown very quickly into one of my go-to sources for  the best the underground has to offer.

Ustalost – The Spoor of Vipers

The Spoor of Vipers album art

Ustalost, the new project by Brooklyn, New York’s Will Skarstad (of Yellow Eyes fame) has released its first album upon the world.  The Spoor of Vipers is an album that carries the signature songwriting skills that Skarstad is well loved for while bringing a fresh atmosphere to the table, and it comes as the next in a series of triumphs for one of the US black metal scene’s brightest stars.

Palace of Worms – The Ladder

The Ladder album art by Corviid Art

Many bands in the current era are melding genres and stretching the boundaries of what black metal means, with varying degrees of success.  Some manage to artfully incorporate seemingly disparate elements and breathe a new life into the once rigid formula of black metal, while others attempt to add too much to their sound and lose their essence along the way.  So when sub-sub-genres and experimentation seem to be the norm in songwriting, how does one create music that truly stands out?  Palace of Worms are here to show you exactly how it should be done.

Cantique Lepreaux – Cendres Celestes

Cendres Celestes album art

Black metal, like all art, is always changing and evolving.  Whether it’s Deathspell Omega influenced dissonance or the softer shoegazing sound, the current crop of black metal artists are doing more and more to push the boundaries of the genre and stray from the established framework of the 1992 Norway underground aesthetic.  Every now and then, however, an album comes straight from the old school and serves as a reminder of what a traditional black metal band with a focused approach can do. In this case, that album is the debut from Quebec’s Cantique Lepreaux, the icy and unrelenting Cendres Celestes.