Are you feeling angry and sad? Same here. Do you ever wonder if you could feel, well… MORE angry and sad? If so, never fear. Kvlt Kolvmn is here.
The past month delivered some absolute bangers in the black metal sphere, one in particular which will almost guaranteed make my end of year list. It’s been a sneaky good last few months for the frostiest of genres, and we’re all the way here for it.
So sink your fangs into some frostbitten goodness. We know you want to.
-Jonathan Adams
Winter’s Crown
Miserere Luminis - Sidera
For a genre that gained its notoriety through church burnings, murder, musical ugliness, blatant toxicity, and generalized hatred for pretty much anything attached to popular culture (except when it came to, you know, advertisement har har looking at you Mayhem), it’s somewhat surprising that one of its most impactful modern iterations is so beautiful. Atmoblack could arguably be considered not only the most aesthetically pleasing and powerful strains of black metal, but perhaps the most of those attributes within extreme music at large. Wolves in the Throne Room, Alcest, Ultha, Der Weg einer Freiheit, and Blut Aus Nord are consistently releasing some of the most intricate and gorgeous music (however dark that beauty may be) in the game, and with their third record Sidera we can safely add Miserere Luminis to that list of greats. This record is a gorgeous revelation, and the best collection of compositions the band has released to date.
For the uninitiated, Miserere Luminis hail from Montreal and have been making a name for themselves in the atmoblack scene since the release of their self-titled debut back in 2009. It took 14 years to get to the release of their second full-length Ordalie in 2023, which was a truly mesmerizing affair and a step up from their previous offering in almost every measurable metric. A few short years later, a fully realized and revitalized atmoblack engine, Sidera builds upon the foundation laid by those two records and delivers on the band’s promise through one of the most darkly sumptuous musical feasts I’ve heard in a good while. If you’ve liked anything the band has released up to this point, prepare to be delighted.
From frame one, Sidera presents their most expansive musical portrait yet, replete with dramatic reds, deep purples, consuming black and occasional flashes of pure white. “Le fleurs de l’exil” kicks things off with a bang, but it’s not until “De cris & de cendres” unfurls its illustrious musical wings that the true nature of what Miserere Luminis are attempting to accomplish in Sidera becomes clear. Lush strings, stratospherically epic guitars, merciless percussion, soaring and melancholic melodies, and a sense of impending dread permeate every possible space in the recording, eliciting feelings of transcendence and suffocation simultaneously. It’s a truly masterful blend of the oppressive and the opulent that to my ears heralds the ascendancy of a band no longer toiling to reach the unusually popular highs of perception of the subgenre’s biggest names, but an equal in talent and scope. It’s beautiful to see.
Sidera is worth the investment you give it. At 51 minutes and five tracks, it’s most certainly a journey. But if you give the record the time it requires to sink its vampiric fangs into your emotional jugular, I am supremely confident that you won’t be disappointed. Sidera is the fullest representation of the capabilities of Miserere Luminis to date, and will be showing up again when list season rolls around. Superb.
-JA
Best of the Rest
Hellripper - Coronach
Adorned with horns, fur and malappropriated diacritics. Drunk, irreverent and clad in spiky, studdy leather.
It can of course be none other than the infamous personification of blackened speed metal.
As one of the rising five-pointed stars of the genre, Scottish one man machine James McBain aka Hellripper has been steadily gaining well-deserved recognition with his infectious blend of goat-worshipping songcraft. Mine own ears were first perked up by 2023s Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags, and with his latest cloven-hooved collection he has upped the ante considerably and is one the road to becoming a sub-genre GOAT.
Offering mainly propulsive bangers like "Hunderprest" and the excellently named "Blakk Satanik Fvkkstorm", Hellripper exhibits a tightness rarely matched in a subgenre that can err on the sloppy side of speed, and shows truly impressive instrumental chops.
Not content to stomp familiar grounds only, moments like the intro of "The Art of Resurrection" and unfvkkwitchable album highlight and SOTY contender "Coronach" show he knows what to do in more melodic, atmospheric or doomy sections. Seriously, that title track closer is going places and the horned lord demands you give it your undivided attention.
Might as well listen to the whole album while you're at it, at an ideal 44 minutes it flies by in a whirlwind of fretboard wizardry and gang-shout glee.
-BK
Night Vigil - The Hamlet
I will only tell you who the artist behind this project is at the end of this entry. What I want you to focus on first is on the quality of the music. So much of atmospheric black metal sounds very tired to me today because, at some point, we all decided there were only two or three ways it might sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of those styles very much but I have to admit, I am pretty much done with them. Instead, Night Vigil creates a murkier, busier version of black metal while still conjuring forth the dark and majestic themes at the core of atmospheric black metal. In a way, I guess this sound makes the project “experimental” but not especially because of any technical complexity or breakneck sound changes.
Instead, it’s “merely” the case that The Hamlet sounds like its own release. It has so much that’s happening on it, from the drums, to the vocals and the guitar. Tune in to the three minute mark on the titular track to hear what I mean. Listen as that guitar solo (which will also probably reveal to you the musician in question if you’re familiar with his sound) erupts over the maelstrom of the other, noisy instruments. All of the elements are familiar but their configuration this way, and the somewhat lo-fi, hazy production, make it all sound so much more engaging and immediate than a lot of the rest of the music in this space.
Maybe that’s because it balances flamboyant, expressive emotion with a more “earthy” and smothering feel or maybe just the way all of these elements are assembled but The Hamlet is a very gripping and demanding work of art. That might be the best sense in which it is “experimental”, because it demands your attention to foster understanding. With its impenetrable, semi-revealed lore, its previous ambient and intricate releases from the same project, and just the sheer uniqueness of its assemblage, The Hamlet is an album which demands attention and a sharp ear. This is something I think that more atmospheric black metal should do instead of relying on the same (admittedly beautiful) tropes we’ve grown to know and love.
And it’s also made by Ayloss.
-Eden Kupermintz