Hello, everyone! Welcome back!

So, I haven’t been posting as many reviews recently as I was before—I’m now in college, which has taken up a lot of my time—but I have been working on reviews, including this mini review post.

And this post is going to be a bit different than usual. As I’ve mentioned before, one of my biggest inspirations for doing these mini review posts is Spectrum Pulse’s series On The Pulse, and he has sometimes done episodes where all the albums are a similar genre. And I decided, why not try doing something like that myself?

I did something kind of similar about a month ago where I reviewed only instrumental albums in the same post, and today I’m reviewing only black metal albums … now, how do I determine what is or isn’t black metal? Well, I’m not sure, but these albums are all at least something similar to black metal.

All that being said, I don’t plan on making these themed mini review posts a regular thing … I’ll probably do something like this again but probably not any time soon.

As always, this is all just how I personally feel about these albums. Even when I have something negative to say, it’s not meant to be mean or anything. I’m just sharing my own personal feelings on these albums, and music is subjective.

And now, time for the reviews!

Silhouettes of Disgust by Downfall Of Gaia:

This album came out all the way back in March of this year, but I saw it had been getting quite a bit of critical acclaim, so I decided to check it out.

And I’m pretty impressed! This is some really solid black metal with hard-hitting snares that sound really good when paired with the guitar, and there are some really interesting compositions!

This is another album which I couldn’t find many of the lyrics to when I looked them up, and even the lyrics I could find are in German, meaning I had to translate them online, and I’m not sure how accurate the translation was. So, my feelings on this album are pretty much entirely based on how it sounds.

But it does sound very good! I wouldn’t quite say I love this album, and as a full forty-five minute listen I do wish a bit more of it stood out to me—in other words, I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this much—but this is still a very good album that I highly recommend if you’re a fan of black metal. I’ll give this a 7.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Existence of Awe”, “Eyes to Burning Skies”, “Unredeemable” 
Least Favourite Tracks: “While Bloodsprings Become Rivers”

Saturnian Bloodstorm by Lamp of Murmuur:

Albums like this one are a great example of why I make mini review posts and not just full-length reviews. I mean, there are quite a few reasons I do that, but here’s an album that just doesn’t give me a lot to say, even though I mostly enjoyed it.

This album has been getting quite a bit of critical acclaim, and I get why, as I think this is some pretty solid black metal with hard-hitting distorted guitar and punchy snares … but while the compositions fit well with these songs, there’s just not much here that really makes me feel like going back to this, as it just kind of blends in with a lot of other black metal for me. And that’s very much a me thing, especially considering that analyzing lyrics is not one of my strong suits as a reviewer, and therefore the lyrics just feel to me like a bunch of imagery and not much more, even though there’s probably way more going on lyrically that I’m just unaware of.

And also, the bass usually feeling underpowered in the mix is another reason why this just didn’t fully click for me.

There are some pretty strong guitar melodies, and the vocals sound good even though I don’t usually like the way the vocals are often buried in the mix … so, overall, I like this enough to give it a 7/10, and considering it’s only forty minutes it definitely doesn’t feel too long. But I just personally don’t find it super interesting or memorable if I’m being honest … again, I’m pretty sure that’s a me thing, but while I recommend giving this album a chance if you’re a fan of metal, I wouldn’t recommend going into it with the highest of expectations.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Seal of the Dominator”, “In Communion with the Wintermoon”, “Saturnian Bloodstorm”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Descending from the Aurora”

Lëyl Efën by Sëht:

I was originally planning to review Dlahdlhë by Trhä (whose album I’m reviewing later in this post) and Sëht, but then I found out it’s an EP, which according to my own rules isn’t eligible for these mini album review posts (even though there’s a good chance I’ve accidentally broken that rule before), so instead I decided to review this Sëht album, which might not even officially be an album (it’s only one track, although it is nearly half an hour), but a) I’m pretty sure it is, and b) I don’t want to get too worried about whether or not it’s ‘officially’ an album—it feels like an album, and I’m pretty sure it is, so I’ll review it here.

And while I couldn’t find the lyrics to this album and I can’t really hear what the lyrics are, the album does sound pretty good. It’s a pretty interesting listen with lots of experimentation and variety throughout, including some synths that add a lot if you ask me.

I’m not always a huge fan of the production, as at points the vocals feel buried in the mix, and the snare can feel a bit clunky sometimes, but I still recommend giving this a chance, and I do still like it!

It’s not among my absolute favourite black metal albums of the year, and I wouldn’t say I love it, but it’s still a very interesting listen, and I recommend giving it a chance if you haven’t heard it yet. It’s a 6.5/10 for me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: N/A
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A

Malivore by HASARD:

I was looking for critically acclaimed black metal albums from 2023 and I came across this album which has been getting a lot of acclaim.

I couldn’t find lyrics for the album, and I can’t hear what the lyrics are, so my feelings on this album are just based on the way it sounds … and, well, I certainly get why it’s getting so much acclaim. The production is pretty hard-hitting at points, with the basslines sounding really good in the mix, and the snares add a lot of punch.

Overall, I really like the mixing here … it’s just unfortunate that the compositions themselves don’t really grab my attention all that much. I’m not saying it’s bad, it just sounds like a really well-mixed, mostly well-produced black metal album—and not much more than that.

So, again, I get why it’s getting a lot of acclaim—I feel like one of the most subjective parts of music is compositions/melodies, so if the compositions/melodies click for you here, you’ll probably really like it, but it just didn’t do a whole lot for me personally. So, I’ll give it a light 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Choral Inane”, “Interespace”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Vicivers”

Devil Music by Portrayal of Guilt:

So, this isn’t really what I was expecting … because this feels more like a deluxe edition EP than an album. Because this album is pretty much in two parts.

There’s the first five songs, and then there’s the last five songs which are all just different versions of the first five songs.

And while I think I prefer the first half over the second half, neither really does all that much for me. There are some hard-hitting moments in the first half with some really good production, but there’s just not much about this that really makes me want to go back to it … and then it gets to the second half which feels like a combination of classical music and black metal, and while I think that could be done in a way I really like, I personally just find it awkward on this album, and I’m not entirely sure why.

So, overall, while I found it to be a kind of interesting listen, it’s not one I think I’m going back to any time soon, if ever. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t really like it, either, so for me it’s a 5/10. The opening track is pretty strong, but after that it just loses my interest.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “One Last Taste of Heaven”, “Untitled”, “Devil Music”, “I (One Last Taste of Heaven)”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Where Angels Come to Die”

enΩëcunna edëno£sa qud’lhëlh by Trhä:

So, first of all, I found the lyrics to this album but I tried translating them online and I couldn’t find anything, so I’m not sure what language this is in, so even though I usually say to take my lyrical analyzations with a grain of salt anyway, in this case I can’t comment on the lyrics at all.

Overall, this is an album that grew on me the more I listened to it, but it still feels like it’s far from being an album that really clicks for me all that much. First of all, I’m not a huge fan of the foggy sound of this album’s production—when I first listened to this, one of my ears was quite plugged, and at first I thought that was why it sounded so foggy, and then I realized that’s just the sound of the album.

While there are moments that I really like, especially in the first of the two tracks here, it just doesn’t feel very consistent to me, and at points it can get boring.

The basslines are pretty strong, though, and I really like the synths at points, but overall it’s just not an album I’m wowed by. Don’t get me wrong, I do like it, but it’s just not fully clicking for me.

If you’re a fan of black metal you might really love it … but even as a fan of black metal myself, it’s just not for me. But at least I get the appeal, and I enjoyed it enough to give it a 6/10. If the production felt more hard-hitting it probably would have clicked for me more … but even aside from that, there’s not really enough in the compositions to bring this all that close to being an album that I really love.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “mi zu◊á£sdëg oΩa d’la gone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “enΩëΩanêr”