Recluse - Stillbirth in Bethlehem
It's comparable to a demon summoning ritual or some other fucked up shit, at least that's how I felt when I first listened to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUWVY4Uhmw4

So, I was scouring YouTube for some new music to buy. I wanted some intense and raw black metal - I don't care where it comes from or what they talk about. Some keys are ok, but nothing that sounds like a music box party or belongs in an "atmospheric" sub-genre. (don't get me wrong, I like symphonic stuff, but sometimes, I need something straight forward and guitar driven)

Its been a while since I've looked for new music and I figured I'd look and see what 2017 and the last half of 2016 had to offer.

Is it me, or does every intense black metal release sound like it came from a stagnant pond?

Previewing 2016-2017 album after album, it seems like everything I listened to was one of the following:
- Had amazing drums, but the guitarwork was one dimensional and boring. (like old repetitive death metal played higher on the fretboard)
- Had amazing guitars, but the drummer sounded like they struggled or the drum machine was goofy.
- Claimed to be black metal, but had bouts of weird folk/gothic/operatic bellowing
- Sloppy. What the heck? And you're signed? Come on fellas. The instruments need to play together.
- Sloppy mix. I'm all for a dirty sound, but when that goofy guitar lead drops everything else out, nope.
- The first 50% to 75% of every song makes me think the CD belongs more in the New Age section than the Metal section
- One song is blistering black metal, exactly what I'm looking for and the next track is... rock?
- Black and roll. Black and doom. Black and something else slow.
- Black and thrash which really just sounds like thrash with black vocals.
- Poor song structure. ie: awesome riff the first 8 times I hear it, but the next 8, nope.

I found one ALBUM that fit what I was looking for, and its available for preorder. Not only is the rest of their discography some of the junk I mentioned above, but its on a major record label. Since when is awesome underground black metal not on an awesome underground black metal label?

I want intense drums, filled to the brim with blasts. Wall of sound guitars that play dark melodies. CONSISTENT tracks without lots of gawd awful filler. The band you recommend should sound like they love Dark Funeral.

It shouldn't be that hard to ask for - tons of bands from the late 90's did it. It just really seems to me that this new music is like getting handed a glass of water that a room full of people have already drank out of.

Anyone know of anything that's been released in the last year that I would like?
I know I'm being picky here. HAHA!! Any and all feedback is appreciated.

It's just you, but only because you seem to have missed Death Fortress's new album.



Also, go to fucking Quebec.

@Hguols

Some of my favorite stuff from the last year, and 2017 that I think you might like are:

Author - Lopun alku (first album just came out)
Murg - Gudatall (and their album from 2015 is amazing)
Eternal Alchemist - Demon Summoning (sounds like a rawer version of Sargeist)
Antaeus - Condemnation (You've maybe heard this one, chaotic, raw and brutal)
Sekhmet - Spiritual Eclipse (Very overlooked, very aggressive)
Draugsol - Volaða land (More of a mixture than straight black metal, but really good)
Convulsing - Errata (Black/Death fairly technical, evil and riffy)
Forgjord - Uhripuu (not released yet, but should be raw and ugly)

Oh hell yeah. Death Fortress is EXACTLY what I was looking for.

I'd heard some of that new Author. Its good, but it didn't quite blow me away.
I'll have to check out the rest.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Forgot about the new Djevel album too, if you haven't heard it. I need to listen to Death Fortress apparently.

Here is another new one for you to enjoy Sick6Six, more Swedish goodness

https://daphelium.bandcamp.com/releases

@ Hgouls

Try the new Arkona album (not that one, the TRUE Arkona from Poland ). I found it a pretty killer album personally. In places it reminds me of Mayhem 'De Mysteriis...' mixed with Dissection. I hope it is to your liking.

https://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/lunaris

seriously: why listen to lunaris if you have imperium, zeta reticuli and the demos to listen to? just because it's recent? sounds cliché, but old arkona > new arkona by miles.

A simple answer if you read his post, the OP is looking albums released in the past year...

I did read it, and I wasn't addressing you at all. OP seemed like a weird request to me personally.

actually, the longer I've been delving deeply into black metal, the less I keep up to date with new releases. the only recent release I can wholeheartedly recommend is the new warloghe EP (not really what OP was looking for though, I guess)

No worries at all mate. Funnily enough the last few years I have been listening to less of the older albums , forever searching for those new future classics! I must admit the last year or so personally for me has been awesome!

This last year I've really discovering alot of "new" black metal bands. Or at least new to me.

I'm looking for some more black metal on the thrash-y, melodic, or old-school end. Any recommendations? Here's a list of my favorites:

Absu
Melechesh
Satyricon (Volcano especially)
Dissection
Immortal
Samael
Astarte (Demonized especially)
Oblomov

You might like Noctes' Pandemonic Requiem.

^Thanks, I'll check it out.

I repeat my request for bands similar to Graveland (Fire Chariot of Destruction-era onwards.)

No one?[/quote]
Recluse - Stillbirth in Bethlehem
It's comparable to a demon summoning ritual or some other fucked up shit, at least that's how I felt when I first listened to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUWVY4Uhmw4[/quote]

Hated it, sorry. Also, any black metal band that uses immature lyrics using words like "faggot", puts me off. So childish.

The most recent Nokturnal Mortum is similar to this. You may also consider checking out a recent Countess album if you are interested in something more stripped down and trad metal influenced.

There's the first Holocausto for something primitive and thrashy, the first Infernum for something more melodic and old school, the first Therion for something more painful, and the first Aura Noir for something more fun.

I hope you like laughing:

Jewicide fits the bill: https://youtu.be/8wkdakUo97Y?t=1m16s
Xenophobia too: https://youtu.be/Zrqp1RyePqE?t=15m10s

That was fun.

For actually good recommendations, Ithdabquth Qliphoth's "Fyre Walk with Me" and Nastrond's "Muspellz Synir" are full of hypnotic riffs while also being very dynamic and original (IQ has solos, Nastrond is "bouncy", and etc). For aggressively simple ritualistic metal, you can always try the "sounds like ildjarn" tag on last.fm.

For ritualistic, hypnotizing stuff... do you know Njiqahdda?



p.s. Much of their stuff is very hard to come by and I'm selling a bunch of their CDs so if you're interested... send me a PM.

Hello there. I definitely recommend you check out Necromantic Worship, from the Netherlands. Both demos are great!

If you are fan of 90s style melodic black metal you might find this interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bWLQKl47_c

Yes, I'm sure your band ranks right up there with Samael and Immortal.

Zemial's Nykta leans very heavily on the thrash metal end. Very out there, could be seen as a more mellow version of Absu, but way more atmospheric.

^Thanks for the links, I really loved those songs. I'm going to have to listen to the whole thing, is the rest of Zemial's stuff similar?

While you're at it, you should check out Ravencult.

Morbid Blood

Snakes Crawl

It's a real shame the good-sounding guitar tone is buried under horrible production, idiotic riffs, and "don't wanna wake up my mom" vocals.

This is kind of a broad request, but I've been digging Behexen's By the Blessing of Satan lately, and love that the prominence of the bass in the mix adds a lot to the nastiness of the sound of the album. So can anyone recommend some aggressive black metal with upfront bass? I'm looking for loudness more than anything. I'm not concerned with flashy playing or anything.

I can't think of anything that explodes out of the speakers like the album you just mentioned, but as far as prominence goes there's Marduk's Opus Nocturne, Dodheimsgard's Kronet til konge, and Carpathian Forest's Black Shining Leather. Anything buy Countess will work to. None of these match the intensity of that Behexen album though.

^^ I appreciate the recommendations. While it ticks all the boxes, the Marduk album just doesn't hit the spot somehow. Maybe I'm looking for something more distorted? (I don't play an instrument or know anything about music, so it's tough to describe what I want.) The Dodheimsgard and Carpathian Forest albums are spectacular though. I feel like what I'm looking for is the intensity of the former mixed with the sound of the latter, but each album is excellent anyway. I haven't given Countess a go yet.

You're right, though, nothing really throws it down your throat like that Behexen album. By the way, if there are other Behexen albums with a similar sound, let me know. I only have the one I mentioned and the split with Horna.

Impious Havoc's Infidels has a loud, warm bass sound. However, compared to Behexen's blistering intensity, it trudges at a crawling pace.

Impaled Nazarene's Latex Cult had a loud and very raw bass tone, and it's incredibly intense and aggressive.. you may like that!

Check out Barathrum, especially "Saatana". They have three basses.

This is one of my favorite albums lately, it's fairly raw and ugly like earlier Behexen without the "overbearing" treble, has crushing headbanging riffs and I think the bass is quite prominent. Everyone should check these guys out.
https://urzeit.bandcamp.com/

Motherfuck this is some gnarly shit right here.

Thank you for the recommendations, everyone! I'm a bit busy the next few days, but I hope I can get to listening to those albums by the weekend.

My thoughts exactly! I'm trying to listen to a lot of new stuff lately, but I just end up playing this album instead. It's seriously fucking perfect

Yeah, this is awesome! I actually never even gave this a shot before out of pure prejudice - I thought that Mizmor album was pretty dull/not really my thing, and for some reason I just assumed a collab between Mizmor guy and Ash Borer dudes would be super bland. Glad to find out I'm wrong!