Watain

Necrofier – Transcend into Oblivion Review

By Creeping Ivy on February 23, 2026 in Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 30 comments

“Houston’s Necrofier first came on my radar when they played the 2024 Decibel Magazine Tour with Hulder, Devil Master, and Worm. Sadly, I missed their opening set, but gladly, I caught a recording of it on YouTube. Their raucous, crowd-pleasing performance compelled me to check out their recordings. At 36 minutes, debut Prophecies of Eternal Darkness (2021) is a lean, mean barrage of melodic black metal, while Burning Shadows in the Southern Night (2023) ups the ante with 47 minutes of stronger, more polished material. Necrofier’s (lone?) star seems to be on the rise since Decibel 2024, as their third album arrives on the mighty Metal Blade Records.” Necro is the new 6-7.

Plague Curse – Verminous Contempt Review

By Spicie Forrest on October 8, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Death Metal, 52 comments

“We’ve all been told, once or thrice, not to judge a book by its cover. As a species, we’re pretty good at doing it anyway. In metal circles, band logos and album art often follow certain tropes that let us quickly identify what we’re about to hear and set expectations accordingly. Except when they don’t. When I first saw the cover art for Verminous Contempt, I thought I had it pegged. I mean, rats? Green mystery fluid? Skulls? This was sewage-drenched death metal for sure. I was, of course, wrong. For their debut, Plague Curse instead offers a highly polished platter of blackened death metal.” Cess is MOAR.

Ofermod – Drakosophia Review

By Angry Metal Guy on September 29, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, 46 comments

“The occupational hazard of reviewing music is a love of novelty. At a certain point, you have heard the same riffs so many times that you can fall asleep to even the most unhinged blast attack. This bias should raise problems for a band like Ofermod, known for playing black metal of the most orthodox variety.” Drakosophistry from The Big Man Himself.

Behemoth – The Shit ov God Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on May 6, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 120 comments

“In their heyday, we were blessed with remarkable albums like Evangelion and The Satanist. The latter is one of the best black/death albums of all time. Yup, I said it. Since then, the band hasn’t quite lived up to the mastery of The Satanist. But, I would argue that it’s impossible. Now they’re back with a toned new album that, per usual, celebrates our Heavenly Lord much like Pontius Pilate did in ancient times. But, who’s really The Shit ov God? Spoiler alert: it’s you.” Biblical pile.

Kryptan – Violence, Our Power Review

By Tyme on February 21, 2025 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 50 comments

“Atmospheric black metal band Kryptan is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and thirty-plus-year Swedish metal scene veteran Mattias Norrman. Having spent a decade (1999-2009) as the bassist for Katatonia, Norrman is now most known for his guitar work in October Tide and Moondark. Long influenced and fascinated by black metal, however, especially the Norwegian and Swedish scenes of the nineties, Kryptan represents a passion project, providing Norrman an outlet for yet another avenue of extreme exhibition.” Black tides.

Dolphin Whisperer’s and Ferox’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Dolphin Whisperer on December 27, 2024 in Blog Posts, Lists, 165 comments

It’s high time for Dolphin Whisperer and Ferox to dish on what ruled the roost in 2024 with their ginormous Top Ten(ish) lists. It’s a dish best served with hot takes!

Blasphemous – To Lay Siege and Conquer Review

By Alekhines Gun on November 9, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Death Metal, 34 comments

“Have you ever looked back on the grander, moister bands of yore and thought ‘Man, I sure do wish Immortal and Angelcorpse did an album together’? That’s okay, neither have I—apparently we have no imagination. Luckily, New Jersey blackened death outfit Blasphemous are prepared to uncork their fourth album, To Lay Siege and Conquer to show us all what we’ve been missing.” Once again, New Jersey innovates. I’m fairly certain that’s the first time such a sentence has been composed in the English language.

Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire Review

By Carcharodon on August 20, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 73 comments

“2021 seems a long time ago. So long, in fact, that I had utterly forgotten half of my year-end List. Imagine my surprise then, to discover, while checking for previous references on our auguste site, that I had listed Spectral Wound’s last outing, A Diabolic Thirst. That was as nothing, however, compared to my shock when I discovered that, not only had Deafheaven-groupie Doom_et_Al awarded it a list spot, so had avowed BM skeptic Ferrous Beuller. Perhaps this spread says something about what Spectral Wound achieved with its third record.” Common wounds and cross-genre sympathies.

Valdrin – Throne of the Lunar Soul Review

By Holdeneye on December 2, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Symphonic Metal, 50 comments

“Back in 2020, I heaped an enormous amount of praise upon Effigy of Nightmares, the third full-length album from Ohio’s Valdrin, and while that record constitutes the exceedingly rare occurrence where time tempers my initial enthusiasm (I’d probably bring it down to a 4.0 at this point), I still hold it in high regard. I was caught up not only by Valdrin’s melodic black metal songwriting ability but also by the band’s incredible brand of storytelling.” Lords of stories.

Salacious Gods – Oalevluuk Review

By Iceberg on October 15, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 6 comments

“Second-wave black metal worship is like that regular at your local dive: omnipresent, predictable with their order, and armed with the same old stories for whoever happens to be within earshot. They’re not bad for business per se, but familiarity has been known to breed contempt. And few styles are as familiar as Norwegian black metal of the early ’90s, inspiring generations to revere and—occasionally—innovate upon that trademark of “trve evil.” Enter mercurial Dutch black metallers Salacious Gods, rising from the ashes of self-imposed exile to bring us their first record in 18(!) years.” Salacious layoffs.