Time for some more Norwegian black metal to grace the pages of this zine. Iskald were formed in 2005 and this is their sixth full length opus. What do we have here? There are eight songs on this one being divided into four invocations, namely invocations I, II, III and Final invocation. The music is melodic black metal, but more technical and well played, almost kinda reminding me of later days Emperor. There are lots of atmospheric keyboard and some acoustic song parts, tempo changes and enough melody and aggression to remind us why we love black metal so much as an expression of emotions and aggression at the same time, channeling your inner darkness. Lyrics are in English and are of more personal nature, dealing with battling your inner and outer demons, hope, loss and depression, as far as I understood them like that. This is not your typical in your face raw black metal, although it has some blast beat parts, this is finer goods. Vocals are black metal screaming but not theatrical or bordering with parody, but serious business fitting perfectly to the song structures. My personal favorites: A Burden Of Hope, The Sacrifice. Go check this one if you are into smartly written and played black metal.
Old Ruins are hailing from Gelsenkirchen, Germany and they formed in 2019. This is their second full length opus. This one contains 8 songs. The music of Old Ruins can be describe as melodic black metal with some epic guitar melodies and hooks, tempo changes and I can also hear some post black metal parts and atmospheric parts in the song structures. In all, it is a beautiful opus for all of us who love their black metal melodic and aggressive at the same time. Vocals are varying from screaming black metal mainly, but also some clean vocals and spoken parts. The theme of the lyrics is Diablo video game haha. I never played that one, so I don’t know what is it about, but one thing is for certain is I love the music on this opus. I love blasting aggressiveness changing into melody of Gates Of Harrogath, almost mystical beauty of Once There Was Light and the title song which is my favorite on this opus. There are some slower doomy parts and atmospheric epic ones which fit perfectly into overall picture. If you like your black metal melodic, epic and with a dose of post black and doomy, you are the warrior for whom this opus was made. Check it out!
Profeci are hailing from Poland and were formed in 2018. This is their fourth full length opus. What to expect here? There are 8 songs on this album with all lyrics in Polish language. Although Croatian and Polish are very different I understand couple of things, and I can say that they sound to me personal, battling with your own demons, then some about misanthropy, nihilism and some nature. Music of Profeci is for me combination. Of what, you’ll wonder. A perfect combination of aggressive blast beats and fast parts topped with epic melodic riffing, also some atmospheric, almost post black metal calmer parts to lull you into daydreaming, then mercilessly returning you to mid tempo cruel cold black metal. I must also write something about vocals. They are awesome because they are combining almost death growling, beautiful clean melodic vocals, almost chanting and spoken word and whispering, they fit perfectly to the song structures. My personal favorites on this one are Niepokoje and Nie Wiem, but you listen and find yours.
