Ach Germany! Bringing so much great bands and projects every day and week and month to our black hearts. Leipa is a one man band/project from Bavaria active since 2021 and this is the second full length opus. This one contains 7 songs with lyrics in German. Music of Leipa is melodic black metal, with lots of emotion and atmosphere reminding me why I love this music so much. Guitar melodies are melancholic, sad, even when aggressive blast beats prevail in song parts of almost every song on this opus. Vocals are screamed but not too extreme so you can understand if you happen to speak German as I do. Now, some would call this depressive black metal. Maybe it is, but only in lyrics which deal with personal thoughts, demons and really, why try different roads when all roads lead to nothing in the end. Besides aggression there are also some calmer more atmospheric parts with some spoken word and listening to this record I can not really help myself but if I must compare Leipa to some band that reminds me of it would be Nocte Obducta. This is melodic atmospheric black metal par excellence, so check this one out.
Vampyric Winter are hailing from Spain, formed in 2021 and being relatively new band in the scene, but members played and are playing in many other bands and projects. This is their second full length. What to expect here? There are seven songs on this opus and the music is mainly raw black metal played with lots of blast beats but also some atmospheric mid tempo parts reminding me a lot of nineties black metal being my favorite bm period. The guitar deliver melancholic melodies and aggression at the same time and vocals are not typical bm screaming, rather growling and if you are into this music you will understand a lot what is being sung about. Lyrics are in English and deal with vampirism, darkness and death. My personal favorites are A Gift Of True Suffering(The Death Is Complete) and also Thy Unholy Presence. This record makes you feel like you stand at the ruins of the castle on the hill on windy night with some presence watching you. Melancholy plus aggression equals great black metal.
Not much is known about entity called Leanan Sidhe except that it is from North East, Pennsylvania and it is fascinating how USBM takes more and more quality in the scene with great releases and superb bands/projects. This seems to be debut opus with five songs just under 50 minutes meaning they are longer but in no way boring. The cover easily describes the music, it is desolate, melodic and atmospheric black metal with lots of dark ambient influences in some song parts. This music is meant for walking along lonely road through the desolate woods cleaning your black heart from all that need not be. There is a vibe of melancholy and sadness, especially in awesome instrumental The Black Crow of Morrigan, being almost gentle night song. But, there is also black metal aggression on this album with screaming vocals, whose anguish shows all bleakness and pain. Guitar work is absolutely stunning, melodies are something that stays in your heart for a long time. Also synth and ambient parts are cleverly incorporated into the album as a whole. Great album, provides great feelings. Try the title song if you don’t believe me, you will be in awe.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 