Gjallarhorn’s Wrath is a Barcelona-based symphonic black metal act with members also residing in Poland and Canada, and was formed from the ashes of Oblivion, a short-lived Spanish black metal band from the early 00s.
But the new project has a very clear, very obvious new influence and fan base they are going after, and it’s immediately apparent from the opening strains of “Wiccan Wyrd”: SepticFlesh and Rotting Christ.
I mean, there are, of course, some other influences at play, such as modern Dimmu Borgir, but the big bombastic, cinematic/dramatic style of symphonic black metal here is beefier, burlier, and has a little more death metal in it. And the deeper vocals, grandious orchestration, and general pacing just scream SepticChrist‘s bigger, brasher take on the genre.
And a good take as well, as The Silver Key is a pretty damn solid debut. The 9 songs (and 1 intro) have a pretty good sense of dynamics, orchestration, and choirs coming together for a very listenable album with some notable highlights.
Tracks like “The Abysswalker”, “Mistletoe’s Secret”, personal favorite, the more vicious “Fangs of Fate”, really do hit the spot as far as that sound goes. Throw in some confident songwriting that is catchy and epic, and occasionally pretty furious (“Through the Gates of the Silver Key”).
“The Falcon of Darkness” breaks the album up a bit with a somber 3-minute instrumental before “With Souls Reborn” brings some massive choral bridges to one of the album’s more stirring tracks, and “Pain Remains the Core of This World” brings a more controlled, big, militant march.
“Silent Scream” ends the album with a more traditional, purely 90s styled symphonic black metal track, and cements the album as one of my favorite symphonic black metal albums of 2025.
