Unsettling and pitch black, Absolutum are back and sound viler than before. An unforgiving black metal attack that remains atmospheric while draining your life force and still has that signature melancholy rift through which eerie echoes of a beyond trickle. Vocals remind me of newer Merrimack sometimes, contempt from deep within.

Teufelnacht can write songs about horror movie characters with simple, descriptive lyrics and still put all the tragic depth of the human condition into music and expressive vocals. Most picaresque band I know. Gritty and unique Teufelrock by punkish Black Metal rogues who, as always, dance like cheerful drunkards on the rope spanned above kvlt, irony, highbrow art and plain madness. Hard to find a more fun EP.

As pop as Black Metal gets, which means it's fucking catchy, both music- and lyric-wise. You won't get the hooks out of your ears, much less the rhymes. If you like your metal melodic and you can allow for evil to come around in Disney villain attire, check this out. Each song is tight and awaits with great lines ("the day you die is the day I smile") and grand, epic melodies you will still hum while you plot the extinction of humanity. "Cover model: Pariah Carey". 'nuff said. (Or "snuff said"?)

Thank you, Ulver, for opening the entrance to places beyond our dreams. A nightly sanctuary that is pervaded by the typical chill, mystery and melancholy, where strange threats lurk, unexplainable things happen, odd flowers bloom and deeply held emotions break loose.

It's Arioch, what else do you need to know? Although he has evolved greatly, his vocal style was impressive even back then. Vicious, ferocious black metal violence accompanies his vocal assault. A solid and convincing work, even if it's not my favourite in his œuvre. Still, it makes you want to hiss: Flesh be gone!

sanguine melancholy, fervent yearning, a celebration of demise.

One of her best. Magical, surreal, against the grain yet catchy. I get the strangest highs from Omewenne's music.

a revolution towards nothingness
tender horizons
paling

Holy child, stones come alive when Andi Sex Gang sings. His joyfully associative lyrics whose ideas are often lead by rhyme and language have a playful air about them, they're just fun to listen to and liberating, but also interesting and original. As is his voice, which is not to everybody's taste. The other Children accompany this performance with the typical SGC sound - experimental, folksy, circus-like and not at all what you would expect from goth or batcave. A class of its own.

Spectacularly conceptualized, this album tells a story with a strong arc of suspense. Mysterious, dream-like songs with vocals that play with Wolof rhymes and draw the listener deep into a twilit world. And I fell for it.