Much like that weird week between Christmas and New Year’s where time doesn’t exist, there’s a similar fugue in the new year when it comes to reviewing albums at the end of the year/start of the year.

We have plenty of 2026 releases to cover, but the tail end of 2025 still saw plenty of quality music that needs covering, or that got covered but wasn’t published in 2025.

Such is the case with the second album from Sweden’s symphonic/black/death act Avdagata. I covered their debut, The Faceless One, in 2023, and the recipe remains the same: top-notch Swedish melodic black, death-tinged metal that recalls bands like Naglfar, Mork Gryning, and Grief of Emerald (the heaviest influence I hear in my tracks), among others.

With a lineup that features former and current folks from the likes of Nightrage, Night Crowned, Avsmak, Dark Funeral, and Torchbearer, it’s no surprise that this is high-quality stuff, and these guys can shit this type of music out in their sleep. The nine songs all deliver razor-sharp, tightly wound, fierce, yet melodic black/death metal, featuring some keyboards, gruffer vocals, and a crystal-clear production.

From opener “As Humanity Falls” to closer “Luciferian”, there isn’t a weak song on the album, in particular “Regnum in Tenebris” and “Människan till kol”. And like its predecessor, some female vocals pop up here and there to make tracks like “All Shall Become None” and  “Ascend into Ruin” even better.

A fine follow-up to the debut and a veteran act that should truly take off when they release album number 3.

[Visit the band's website]

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