Greetings, Decibel readers!
It’s an exciting week for black metal fans. We’ve got a new Immortal album to show you, along with the latest from their fellow dark practitioners in Cloak and Nattverd. Plus, for those of you in the path of this year’s Decibel Magazine Tour, you have chance to see Dark Funeral! Having seen the NYC date a couple nights ago, I can say it’s worth every satanic penny to see them play. The band is tight beyond belief, and put on a rousing, no-nonsense show of songs like “Hail Murder” and “Secrets of the Black Arts.”
But for the rest of you, there’s new stuff from Vomitory and Speedwhore as well!
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Cloak – Back Flame Eternal
America’s answer to Tribulation‘s last few albums. Cloak summons the black flames and feeds the fire with hard rock riffs and emits plumes of gothic atmosphere. It’s a big, professional, almost cinematic sound that should carry them to bigger venues and opportunities soon. Here’s hoping.
Stream: Apple Music
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Immortal – War Against All
Armed with riffs, blastbeats, all the forces of Blashyrkh … and the trademark for the Immortal band name, Demonaz returns with the frozen follow-up to 2018’s Northern Chaos Gods. Immortal’s legacy as a top-tier black metal band (and metal band just in general) is untouchable at this point, and this album only serves to further that legacy. Sonically, it’s a good marriage between the first two albums and Sons of Northern Darkness. May the winds of destruction fill our hearts with joy for years and more albums to come.
Stream: Apple Music
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Nattverd – I Helvetes Forakt
Was totally unaware of these guys until recently. This is a very impressive serving of cold alchemy, each song swirling with entrancing riffs and all-around excellent songwriting. The second-wave sound will never die.
Stream: Apple Music
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Speedwhore – Visions of a Parallel World
Meanwhile, here’s the latest offering from Dying Victims Productions. You know what that means: mid-80s-style extreme speed metal. Rough, rude, rowdy and righteous as hell. If you’ve got a craving for unhinged screams, catchy guitar licks and TOM ROLLS … then prepare to overdose with this album.
Stream: Apple Music
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Vomitory – All Heads Are Gonna Roll
After more than 10 years, Vomitory is finally back with a new album. The band has been in the same gory groove since Revelation Nausea, and so if you’ve raged to anything since then, get ready for another round of slaughter with this one.
Stream: Apple Music