Just like 2025 and 2024 before it, we are eschewing a "classic", big ol' list of albums we liked from 2026 so far. Lists are fun, but they make no sense ("this album is number 12 and this album is number 9" are words uttered by the insane). Instead, we will be using the next few weeks to highlight our favorite trends, releases, shows, cover art, experiences, and more from the first half of this (musically) excellent year.
My friend has often waxed poetic on the occult, ritualistic nature of black metal and particularly how that aspect applies to black metal shows. He frequently cites it as one of the primary reasons black metal has been his favorite musical genre for 20 years. Bleached-white animal skulls held above heads, goblets of fake blood guzzled, candles lit atop candelabras with pentagram designs, the black metal stage is often as shrouded in darkness as it is adorned with occult objects for the onstage ritual.
Finnish psychedelic black metal band Oranssi Pazuzu has gradually moved away from many black metal tropes while still maintaining enough ties to the genre to be considered part of it. Among those abandoned tropes is the use of those aforementioned occult objects and rituals during live performances. When I saw the band perform earlier this year, there were no skulls, fake blood, or candles — just your average light show adding some visual atmosphere. (Note to Oranssi Pazuzu: a video projector displaying video collages or abstract visuals would be perfect for your performance).
Despite that, there are few black metal performances I have witnessed that felt more ritualistic than seeing Oranssi Pazuzu. The band’s dark, psychedelic, and hypnotic sound, often aided by disorienting synthesizers, spacious arrangements, tension-and-release crescendos, and repetitive structures, was more than enough to put the audience into a collective trance. While observing those around me, I noticed that others were just as enraptured as I was. Even during the quiet moments of the band’s set, there was nary a sound to be heard except for what was coming through the speakers. There were no inebriated jackasses loudly talking over the band and no bored teenagers scrolling through TikTok—just sacred deference to the ritual taking place.
One of the underlying goals of many cultural and religious rituals around the world is to help bring people together in communion by inducing a state in which the ego is minimized. Interestingly, psychonauts such as Timothy Leary have often discussed a similar experience after ingesting psychedelics: the prominence of the individual’s ego abates as one’s connection to nature or the collective augments. Even while not being under the influence of psychedelics, I had a similar (albeit weaker) sensation while seeing Oranssi Pazuzu live. My earthly anxieties and preoccupations dissolved while I joined the rest of the audience, enraptured by the ritual.