So Drudensang (loosely meaning ‘witch wail’ or ‘witch chant’), and Geysterzvvang (‘dark compulsion’) is a 6-song EP, following up the bands 2022 debut album, Tuiflsrijtt, which I probably need to go and check out based on how much I like this EP as this is top fucking notch stuff.

Mystical, symphonic black metal with a heavy 90s sheen is the order of the day. Not the theatrical pomp and grandeur of Dimmu Borgir or country mates, Mystic Circle, but a more raw, brittle, leaner and nastier, but still melodic take on the classic 90s sound, with maybe early Emperor, Obtained Enslavement as additional comparisons.

And I know I’m going to dig this right away, as the all-too-short opening title track delivers about 3-5 killer riffs that harken back to a more ancient, mystical time and era. The keys are subtle, not overbearing, and the riffs drip with a classical 90s second-wave majestic malevolence.

Second track “VVydargaenger” couldn’t be more classical, 90s sounding if it tried, with shrill, icy tremolo picked melodies, harsh rasps, and subtle synths. The synths are a little more upfront and majestic for the more somber but still icy “Hoellenkunst im brennend Aether”.

The EP’s longest track (the whole thing is 30 minutes, so good value for money for an EP), “Offenbarung der Lvzier” is eight minutes, and hits all the moods from sweeping, blistering majesty to somber acoustics.

Standout “Blutkreys Teufeley” ends ( “Miasma” is a three-minute instrumental/atmospheric close out) the EP with howling, classic keyboards, and pacing that puts these guys instantly in the ‘one of the best bands doing classical 90s symphonic black metal’ category.

There has been and will be some killer 90s styled symphonic black metal out (and coming out) in 2025, including the likes of Warmoon Lord, Ninkharsag, Darkenhold, Belnejoum, Beleth’s Trumpet,  Khora, Nyktmyst, and a few more, and this is right there with them.

The eerie intro “Must Kill Them All” fittingly introduces what’s about to come because “Forest of the Impaled” is like Death ripping from your speakers, with so many great time changes that your neck is going to get a workout head banging to it. These four crazy fucking Finns (Varjo and Rujo form the core of the band, however according to metal-archives.com and the press release there are two other members, Hellpriest and TheEnd) have come together to unleash hell with this sophomore effort Ultra-Violence and thrown a spiked gauntlet into the ring of the Symphonic Black Metal scene.

“Death Machine” and “The Worst of Us” are my favorites here; they form the heart of the record. Razor sharp guitar tone and a warm, organic production make this an enjoyable record indeed. The last three songs are also beyond the scope of what melodic/Symphonic Black Metal can be, because holy shit! It’s like the way Sherlock fought in the movies, it would show the path of the blows to the body. The ending three tracks are those body blows that immobilize you “Rain of Blood and Ashes”, the haunting misery of “the Funeral Hymn” and the merciless closer “Tuomio”.

This is Finnish melodic/Symphonic Black Metal of the highest order. Fierce, untamed and full of rage. Timing and pacing are the watch words here as Ultra-Violence has brutality and beautiful destruction matched up in spades. With a  fantastic production that I can’t talk about enough, every instrument is brought to fore, to devastating effect.

Ultra-Violence is out now, so I highly recommend you pick it up. If you love the bubbly tunes of Marduk, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and even Impaled Nazarene… PLUS the aforementioned Istapp, you will devour this release again and again.

The distant muffle of aircraft.  Your entire body clenches in dread.  There’s no way to escape or place to run in time to even pretend you’re safe.  Where the bombs hit is entirely unpredictable. Then 3 distinct explosions.  Sheer confusion and local chaos.  Smoke and dust hang.  There’s a brief silence.  As you start to relax from the temporary crippled state of being sounds of your surroundings begin to fade in.  Murmuring of exclaiming voices.  Punctuations of painful wailing begin to cut through.  Unintelligible commands from some direction.   But you are still here, having completed a personal reality check.  There’s a sudden exhilaration that you aren’t dead.  Adrenaline is distributing.  Flowing from the back of your skull, down the neck, into your hands.  Shuddering, and clenching a fist you feel a triumph of survival while surrounded by the chaos of war.

Fin write that triumph-of-survival into the melodies and into their songs. One might describe the melodies as similar to what you hear coming from Folk/pagan black metal acts residing in Scandinavia or far Eastern Europe but it’s not quite on the button.   Environment and place is absolutely a factor that comes through in music.  Being from a fast pace American metropolis of Chicago,IL  has certainly shaped the two members of Fin and naturally how they write music.  The product is devoid of fat.  Hell it’s devoid of some of the meat even, leaving only the most protein condensed loin or flank.  Not unlike the speed and condensed experience of living in one of the country’s largest cities. Eleven songs scream by with nary an intro, build up, break down, and certainly no meandering folk-ish passages.  “Outlaws” is the exception with a short intro that could fit into a 60’s western film.  Otherwise, the most you get is a four beat drum roll or fill into a song and it’s off like a serenade of arrows (if there isn’t a term to describe a hell of a lot of arrows being shot simultaneously then I’ve created one.  If there is already then I advocate changing it to be “serenade of arrows”) whistling down into a valley of trapped, horse mounted enemies.

Before I continue on with the review of this latest album I’m compelled to also heap gratuitous praise on 2015’s The Furrows Of Tradition for I assume not as many heard it as should have. Good god dang that record shreds!  Songs like “Bliss Apparition Of Sunlight”, and “The Furrows Of Tradition” are teeth gritting explosive.  The riffs inject you with a level of energy beyond which the average human knows how to safely expel.  Essentially what I’m saying here about Furrows… applies just as well to the new album.  In comparison though I find the production on Arrows of a Dying Age to be a bit more tame and the mixing is more blended than on Furrows… where the drums and guitars had more separation.  A certain harsh clarity between the spartan drums, guitar, vocal.  Evaluated separately the guitar and drums have very much the same overall tone and aggressive attack as Furrows… .Considering that I believe it came down to the mix and the overall smoothing effect.  The guitar covers a wider audio field where on Furrows… it is a piercing bright bolt which I found to be a potent weapon that made the album so unique, but could understand that for others might simply come off as harsh.

Production aside, the songs on Arrows… gallop out of the glorious past with the same fervor.  Riffs like sunlight refracting off of crude helmets and fresh arrowheads before breaking through the center of your face.  The snare drum blasting like a steam driven press in the waste fog of a newly industrial Britain.  All of these settings are brought to mind as I listen through “Strings Of Discourse”, “With Spear, Arrow, and Oath”, and “With Hammering Glance”.  Having been following the band I’m pleased to see that with the release of Arrows… Fin are enjoying a level up in recognition that is mightily deserved both stateside, and likely more so in Europe, having recently played as part of an impressive line up at this years SteelFest Open Air in Finland.  In some ways I might call Fin an American answer to Immortal’s Pure Holocaust if you remove most of the mid-paced or slow parts and swap ice demons for Scythian horse warriors that never once lost in battle.  Listening to Fin you might just find in yourself a strength previously unknown, not a soundtrack to self destruction.

Backing things up just a bit, the mysterious collective known as The Committee employ  a mostly black metal aesthetic, but shades of doom-y death clearly resonate from this long-winded, but still somewhat impressive and eventually entertaining effort. When trying to describe the sounds of Memorandum Occultus to a friend, I likened the album to a black metal burrito, filled with heaping influential amounts of Naglfar, Mgla, And Oceans, Immortal, Emperor, and Satyricon mixed with an extremely conservative bit of Eyes of Fire and maybe even some Dark Tranquillity (The Gallery era) held securely in a tight wrap of Rotting Christ. ( yeah, I know, its a horrible analogy, but it conveyed the point) All in all, the tracks found on Memorandum Occultus are pretty good, with each one offering something somewhat unique and interesting to the individual songs themselves. Be it the brief acoustic beginnings of “Golden Chains – Weapons of Finance” giving way to Non Serviam/Triarchy of the Lost Lovers influenced melody and attack, or “Intelligent Insanity – Weapons of Methodology and Duality” with its doom-y black presentation of what a Naglfar, Rotting Christ, and Eyes of Fire collaboration might sound like; it’s cold and dark, slow and emotive, yet somehow vigorous all at the same time. The song, maintaining a slower pace throughout, even when the bass drums kick in constant Bill Andrews’ (Death) styled glory.

“Flexible Facts – Weapons of History and Chronology”features some straight up feisty black metal. Some nice dynamics achieved in the middle of the track take a strange turn around the 6:25 mark. An almost tribal drum fill takes over with some progressive guitar inklings, backed by spoken words of J.F.K., building to a blackened doom feeling, fading into synths and ultimately, silence. Though all of Memorandum Occultus‘ tracks share and achieve a similar feel, my personal favorite would have to be “Treacherous Teachings – Weapons of Religion”. The song’s slower build up opens into a more traditional style, mainly in the drum work, with tremolo picked riffs merging into a vibe of Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) drumming for Rotting Christ, while the 1:55 mark of double bass and tremolo picking summons feelings of despair and isolate dread. A true ominous doomed aura takes over around the 4:50 mark and through, with some great Gregorian and middle eastern voicings producing a total hard hitting moment, very much reminding me of Rotting Christ’s Sanctus Diavolos album. This moment is unlike any other on the album, before or afterwards in the track listing, flawlessly melding back into its original intent before closing out in slower fading fashion, with simple acoustic guitar having the final word. 

Definitely, some good stuff is to be found here on Memorandum Occultus, though like I stated at the beginning of this review, there are some shortfalls. The first and most trivial, would be the lack of any proper guitar leads. Now, I realize not all songs out there require a guitar solo, but what can I say, I love them and I love the way they can open up ideas within a song. Lucky for The Committee, none of the album’s tracks are hurt in any way by the lack of them. The most notable and damning shortfall is the length of the material. Memorandum Occutus‘ six tracks each average a nine minute length and unfortunately, there are just not enough ideas within each track to merit this much time and overall, often repeated measures throughout, can become boring and disengaging. Removing a few minutes of a few of these repeated measures from each track would greatly enhance the listening value of the album and would achieve a much more epic, yet direct aural attack to the songs.

The Committee really do have a pretty decent release in Memorandum Occultus. As it stands though, there is too much repetitive filler in the way requiring a bit of persistance to find the good that lies within. Ultimately, I like what The Committee does and where this album goes, it just takes too damn long to get there.

“Demise” opens Extinction out with some slow paced, heavy and dense, doom-y death tremolo riffing with a great little sinister melody flaring up. Vocalist, T.D., has a competent cavernous presence that is more death bellow than guttural roar. The man is clearly capable and adequate, if not a bit monotonous as well. Two minutes in and the song dives into speedier, blast filled territory that drives much of the track, while a sense of groove lurks beneath the surface at times. Fast riffing and blasts kick off “The World Ablaze” and its old-school death metal beatdown that honestly, tends to get a little tedious and boring until the 1:27 mark where things slow down into more effective doom tidings, achieving that awesome Incantation influence/feel into the mix. The track’s pacing quickly picks up again, eventually ending with a nice abrupt stop.

Extinction‘s second half is where things really start to shine. “Dawn of War” is a fast, blasting, balls out from the get go song that is easily more interesting than the EP’s previous two tracks. The Incantation/Dead Congregation influence is far less prevalent, with more engaging and twisting riffage and melody in its movements instead. Though drummer, F.V., blasts away much of the time, the track still manages to incorporate good pacing and solid change-ups within its  deathly black groove. EP closer “Hatred” begins with an epic feel in the slower riffing, giving an old Paradise Lost vibe before succumbing to blackened, blast driven fields, eventually melding into a mid-paced, slightly fat grooved  offering.

As I stated earlier, I was unsurprised by Burial Hordes‘ sound, but unsurprised does not mean it was  unwelcomed. The band has a really good and solid EP with Extinction. Though “Demise” and “The World Ablaze”have a few dull moments between them, “Dawn of War” and “Hatred” aptly make up for  it, and are ultimately more interesting and engaging, showcasing more than a love for Incantation and the likes. If nothing else, Extinction piques my interest enough to want to hear a proper full-length from Burial Hordes, being that more time and more material may just provide a bit “more” than Extinction, or at least half of Extinction, currently does.

From the obvious leaders Vader and Behemoth, the Land of the Fields has given the metal world such acts as Ass to Mouth, Decapitated, Morbid Execution, Squash Bowels, and Dead Infection to name just a few. Add to the list Northern Plague, a group of new dudes who have just released their debut full-length Manifesto.

Sporting a raucous blend of death and black metal, Northern Plague is here to rip the listener to shreds with their savage riffing and no-frills approach to a genre of metal that at times has been pushed to its limits. With Northern Plague, though, their assault never grows stale. While each of the eight tracks on Manifesto tends to follow the same blueprint of blast/roll/double bass behind scorching riffs and catchy hooks, they never fall into the pattern copy-paste-repeat.

Similar in approach to the likes of Aura Noir (though not as punk-infused), Unlight and at times Tsjuder, Northern Plague waste little time in getting down to business, which is sheer destruction. Whether it’s in the form of a slow, crippling, crusher of a song like the title track or a rampaging storm of brutality like “Reign Mother War”, Northern Plague pull no punches. Guitarist Janus never tries to get too fancy on any of the passages; his riffs are deliberate and powerful, most notably during the various ebbs and flows of “Divide Et Impera” and arguably the album’s highlight “Let the World Burn”.

Backing up Janus is the chaotic drumming of Damyen, a monster behind the kit who is all over the place, though he is always in total control of his madness. Though the overall sound of his drums are a tad thin at times for these ears, the mayhem is captured nicely in the final mix. Also, Damyen thankfully never relies solely on blasts or double bass; his battery of the skins is with a varied approach, which always keeps the music fresh and interesting.

Sporting a largely remarkable overall production, Manifesto explodes out of the speakers with sonic vitriol. Thankfully the team at Hertz Studio (Behemoth, Decapitated, Hate) didn’t strip down the nastiness too much at the control panel; Manifesto is a nasty little beast of ferocity. However, as gritty as the album is, it’s not an inaudible mess like the “trve” black metal albums are “supposed” to sound. No, Manifesto is clean and polished, but it’s not overdone to where it sounds like something that came with the Pro Tools startup kit.

Northern Plague is relatively new to the scene (they released an EP Blizzard of the North in 2011), but they already have a powerful sound in one corner and talent to create actual songs in the other. Combined, the blood red sky is the limit for these Poles. If Manifesto, their debut album, already sounds this good, there’s no reason these cats can’t eventually be tossed into the conversation with the most established acts – Vader and Behemoth – as the best band between the borders of Germany and Ukraine.

Dodengang is again written in English, except for the Dutch title, and the vocals are harsh black style, not the ultra high squeals of the debut, and the pace has slowed to mid-fast. High pitched clear leads ramble around in each song, oblivious to the workings of the rhythm section. Drums are loud in the mix, and they sound good so this is not a problem. The vocals easily penetrate the maelstrom. Melodic, dark, and German thrash infused, the band has found some more magic. Favorite tracks include “Dodengang”, “Stalingrad” and “Merciless.”

I would say this band deserves more exposure, but true fans have known about them for years, we all just need to tell a few friends what they have been missing. Maybe next time Jan will incorporate the Dimmu thing; if anyone could pull it off he is the one.