Ars Magna Umbrae - Apotheosis (2020)

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It's a bit early on this one, as its set for release in late August and as of now there's only one song up on the bandcamp page, but Ars Magna Umbrae released an uncompromising slab of slavic sounding black metal back in 2018 called Lunar Ascension and it was mostly overshadowed and or overlooked. Polish black metal that's built up on layered dissonant riffs that wade through an icy terrain of ambient passages and a crude and cosmic atmosphere, very little to not like here. I, Voidhanger Records continues to be reliable!

Apotheosis (bandcamp)

God's Bastard - Last Standing Village (2020)

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I try to keep my ears planted to the ground when it comes to anything released by I, Voidhanger Records if not for how consistent they are with really good releases for the consistency in pushing the barriers of metal and chewing up new soils in sound and forward-thinking song structure. God's Bastard is such a release. Comprised of two members, one of which is prolific in the sonic arena, being a member of Krallice, Coral Cross (very good), Woe, Anicon and a handful of other bands whose sound have never entered it into my atmosphere.

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Say what you will about anyone who tinkers with puritan black metal, when experimentation falls into the right hands it can be a breath of fresh air in a stale environment of a genre that sometimes takes itself too seriously… and let's call a spade a spade here, sometimes purist black metal is also bad. ThisGod's Bastard is charged and found guilty of tinkering, but at least there are a lot of good things happening here on Last Village Standing and I"m going to keep listening to it on the merits that Coral Cross is really good and Krallice and Woe have done a lot of good things as well.

Last Village Standing (bandcamp)

Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine (2020) [split]

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This split is blowing so many releases out of the water – It's less of a split and more of a joined-collaborative of full-lengths between two gladiators in the arena of discordant black metal with a penchant for the esoteric and cosmic – Between the two of them, Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum are punching way over their weight on Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine with a total running time just shy of 2 hours. It's colossal in full sway of the word and It's a lot to digest in one sitting and though it might even be guilty of being lofty at times you should pay attention. If not, you're getting it all wrong.

Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine (bandcamp)