Any promising releases yet?

Fanisk's Insularum has a lot of praise going on for it right now. I haven't heard it, but I want to.

Hell yeah there are!

Cultes Des Ghoules- Henbane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lM7_y9QHuQ
IMO, Album of the Year so far.

Wormlust- The Feral Wisdom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLQigEijit0
Second best album of the year so far.

Horna- Askel Lähempänä Saatanaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y0rcLxKZzQ
Not an AOTY contender, but a killer fucking album. Just some raw, nasty BM.

And some stuff coming up:

Impious Baptism- Wrath of the Apex Predator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_aKt83vVI
Generic Bestial Black/Thrash that eats your fucking soul.

Aosoth- IV:Arrow in the Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFTvx9ZPpJc
Another sure-fire AOTY contender.

Thrawsunblat just released their debut. Excellent melodic black metal with folky touches. They also remind me of the cascadian black metal scene, which is not suprising seeing they are from Canada. http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Thr ... ab_members

The latest Rotting Christ is great. If you consider them black metal. Just like the latest Darkthrone.

New Arckanum 'Fenris Kindir' is coming up.
And I recently discovered this band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0D2V7EiSo4 sounds promising to me.

Seconding Thrawsunblat. They just released an excellent melodic black/folk metal band album.

Svn Okklt comp is dopeness

http://www.svn-okklt.com/2013/01/svn-ok ... ation.html

New Ash Borer and Fell Voices is out this year. Ash Borer has a track out already. Great stuff

The new Denouncement Pyre album, Almighty Arcanum, is worth a look. It reminds me a lot of Watain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFgkHkLA7LU

Also, the new Death Tyrant album, featuring members of Lord Belial, just dropped two days ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpbesfGWXHg

band's been on a downhill slide. cold of ages was boring and bloodlands is even more boring. I'm very hopeful for that fell voices LP. the drummer of fell voices is in a great black/death metal band Ruin Lust who is also working on a full length. a lot to look forward to

Imperium Dekadenz has been mentioned a few times in the "worthwhile albums" thread, but not here. My favorite album so far this year.

Thirding Thrawsunblat, excellent maritime themed black metal. Also seconding the new Imperium Dekadenz. Agrypnie's Aetas is another very solid German black metal album in that same vein that you should check out. The new Skagos is phenomenal. If you're a fan of post-rock BM, then I definitely suggest giving it a listen. Although Side B offers up something a bit more unorthodox, not sure how exactly I'd describe it. The 16 Horsepower-esque vocals are both very haunting and majestic.



It's decent enough, but I don't think it even holds a candle to Noontide. Too synthy and it does meander at certain points. Certainly not a bad album, but I thought it was a bit of a disappointment after it sunk in.

EDIT: Also, a new Panopticon has been announced for this year, definitely keep watch for that. Kentucky was gold. In the meantime, check out Vit's new EP, The Dry Season.

"Das Tor" should be on your radar. A stellar release. Possibly Winthrrr's best. Maybe not. PdH at their most modern yet most classic. Most exciting and dynamic yet most tragic and harrowing.

Phlegein's debut full-length Silver Veins. Sadly it's not quite as good as the EPs, but decent enough.