According to the stats Triade III: Nyx was my most played album of 2023 which given how early in the year it came out isn’t a huge surprise but should show how much holding power this album has had on me this year. There are years when something unexpected comes out late in the year and steals the show however as of the time of writing this nothing has even come close. I have enjoyed all parts of their trilogy of Melmoth the Wanderer, but I think they really outdid themselves with the final chapter. The production is a bit warmer and clearer than on Hemera and has lost most of the rawness one could hear in part on on Eos I can only assume this was purposefully done, but it does mean the three albums don’t quite flow as a whole (or rather making each part distinct), again perhaps this is the point, this isn’t even a complaint less an observation. It will be interesting to see where Aara goes now that they’ve completed this project, given their history and how much I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve released I’m fairly certain I’ll be writing about them again.
Billed as Baroque blackmetal, I was wholly unfamiliar with Sühnopfer until this years release. However after giving it a single spin I immediately ordered it. It’s very much in the vein of many other medieval blackmetal like countrymen Véhémence, Aorlhac, or Ferriterium and not unlike Switzerland’s Ungfell. It’s aggressive, fast, and sickeningly sweet and melodic. Compared to 2019’s Hic regnant Borbonii manes the sound is cleaner and crisper but perhaps lacks some of the depth which it’s predecessor had. Would have been interesting to hear this with just a bit more dirt in the production, would probably have dulled some of those melodies but without necessarily diminishing their value. Regardless of those issues this is a great album which I find myself returning to over and over again. Do yourself a favour and pick this up immediately.
Therizo is Taubrą’s debut album and it’s been one of my most played albums since it came out in mid-October. While it should probably have been obvious, I hadn’t reflected over who was in the band until now when I looked over their metal-archives page, if I had, I would probably have been less surprised by how much I liked it given that it features two members of Aara and the drummer of Porta Nigra, who careful readers will know have been favourite bands in years past. Musically Taubrą isn’t breaking any new ground, as it’s squarely in second wave Scandinavian territory, but as so often is the case doing something ridiculously well is often good enough: the riffing is blistering and melodic, the drums furious and precise, the roars are cavernous. Everything one could hope for from this sort of album.
Anyone who’s purchased music online the past few years knows this inevitably leads to a constant bombardment from the record company touting the latest releases. Most of these I ignore but some labels I will skim the information. So when Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions sent out the announcement for Aset I got curious, and after hearing a few of the tracks decided this was interesting enough to warrant picking up. Since then it’s been in heavy rotation, it’s in interesting blend of eerie atmosphere and dissonant raw melodies, the vocals are at times reminiscent of latter day Mayhem, the riffing at times reminds me of early Nightbringer. It’s not necessarily an easy listen nor for most probably an album that will immediately click, but as with most difficult things sticking with it is rewarding.
There are few more apt names for a funeral doom band than Slow (non-withstanding that in this case it’s an acronym for Silence Lives Out/Over Whirlpool according to metal-archives). They certainly live up to their name, there is no false advertising here. Slow are a prolific band, this is their ninth album since their debut in 2009 (although IV - Mythologiæ has been released three times, so perhaps seven is more accurate). My first exposure to them was 2017’s V - Oceans, which was a great album, and 2019’s VI - Dantalion was if anything even more crushing. They now return with a new series of albums (dropping the roman numeral prefix instead opting for a suffix which probably means there are more albums named Abîmes coming). If you’re a fan of funeral doom you’ll do well to pick this up, it’s (again) slow, crushing, and suffocating, namely to say it’s pretty much everything you’d ever want from an album in the genre.