Teufelsberg
“Cienie” (Under the Sign of Garazel Productions, 2023)

I was introduced to Teufelsberg in 2021, via the split with Minnesjord, through Signal Rex. Polish Black Metal has an aura that very few can replicate. At the same time, it is a very controversial scene, but let us put that aside for now, and just for now. Focusing on the music, this would be a very short review if the boss allowed me to write “this is superb, exquisite, world class Black Metal”, but it would also be a very poor, and simplified review of a high class EP. “Ordre du Diable”, the band’s first full-length, provided the band with a larger platform, if I may, to showcase their music. Throughout those 34 minutes and 5 seconds the band distills a furious Black Metal attack that would make their Polish forefathers extremely proud. The melody, the melancholy embedded in those moments of violence and anger, that is the Polish sound, and I love it… shame on me LOL “Procession of the Dying Cherubs” is a massive Black Metal track, with a very clear production. Showing, attesting that Black Metal does not need, all the time, a “french-fry production” to be evil.

Fast forward to 2023, to the band’s EP - “Cienie” - and to a distinct sound. “Cienie” is composed of 3 tracks at around 28 minutes, so almost as long as the full-length. But fear not, as these 3 tracks are massively soothing and almost hypnotic. A much slower pace has taken over the Poles’ music, and their Art came out winning. I was expecting something in line with was presented in the split and the full-length, but they tricked us all and reinvented their sound, in a way. Lengthy tracks that sound short given their intensity and depth. Not one clearly aggressive moment in this work, but rather dark atmospheres. Well, “cienie” is Polish for “shadows”, so it makes some sense. Look at it from this perspective: band has slowed down their sound, took it to distinct areas of the human mental and sensorial geography, and came out with dark and dense melodies; melodies that remind me of 90ies Black Metal, where the usage of keys and synthesizers would give the music its depth and intensity. The word is “intensity”, and when the band opts for a less “violent” sound, it has to ponder which direction to take, and their choice was a complete win.

“Cienie” was, and still is, a beautiful surprise. When we least expect, Artists gift you with such treasures, and all we must do is cherish them the best way possible. Black Metal is still a growing organism, and I deeply believe in that, and albums like the one we have in front us prove that music has no boundaries, and although the band did not reinvent the wheel, it crafted a beautiful piece of shadowy Black Metal…

Wulfgraf
“Forest Mysticism” (Tempel Fan Wolven, 2023)

I have stated, many times, that the current Black Metal scene, the part of the scene that lives within the fringes of raw production and a more visceral and simplified approach to the genre, is starting to repeat itself to exhaustion. Every now and then I get a glimpse of what this scene could be, if all musicians had the same connection with the genre, the same commitment, and if we really started filtering the music we listen to. I, like everyone else, have a personal taste, a taste that may not be aligned with yours, which will lead to me reviewing A in a way, and you review A in a different way, and I am fine with that. Unfortunately, it seems everyone has jumped into the Raw Black Metal wagon, and we are being thrown with everything musicians believe to be good music. Yeah, not even a journalist, let alone a musician, and I am judging people’s work this way…

I came across an unknow name to me: Wulfgraf, from Arena, Wisconsin. The USBM scene is a very interesting one. Mentioning the obvious, its enormous geography, explains why the genre is so distinct from one coast to the other, from North to South. It is a fascinating game to analyze a band’s sound and check its precedence. Well… maybe not an activity one would partake on a Sunday afternoon, but you get it. Wulfgraf is one-man-band (same bloke from Cyhiraeth, for example), and his Black Metal is aligned with what I look for in the genre, today. It touches the Pagan/Folk atmospheres, as well as a Punkish attitude, and back to a sound that could easily depict the views of the mountains in Wisconsin. Black Wulf adopted delicate atmospheres and Folk melodies in an almost perfect symbiosis, the perfect pace for each moment in each song. “Cursed to Haunt These Woods Forever” is a melancholic, bucolic, nature like, track. It transports you to rainy days. This thing, where you associate music with physical places is a nice exercise on emotions, I guess. “Northern Temple” closes the EP and does it with an amazing mastery. We went from a forlorn state of mind to this ravishing punkish attitude. What a closer.

Kasturn
“Rehearsal Promo 2023” (Death Hymns, 2023)

British Islands have always carried something special in their music, and independently of the genre, the Brits have always known how to create superb music. Kasturn is the perfect example, for me, of how Raw Black Metal should sound. Not many bands fit my aesthetic of how the genre should sound, but the trio, along with the likes of Forbidden Temple, Moenen of Xezbeth, and Perverted Ceremony, just to name a few recent acts, comprehend the genre like no other, and that sense of honesty can he easily heard in the bands’ Art. It is not about the sound or the production, it is about the content. One must understand Art in order to perfectly replicate it…

Kasturn has released new music in the form of “Rehearsal Promo 2023”, a 3-song manifesto of Abhorrence, Ferociousness, Obscurity, Death, and Occult. Just like their 2 previous releases, March was the chosen month, and I found it particularly interesting. Is this something more than just a date? Musically speaking they do not diverge from they did before, which is extremely positive, given that both releases were spot-on. Just like the names mentioned above, Kasturn has the capacity to write music that echoes, that emanates feelings and “paints” images of Oblivion. In the span of 3 years the band has released 9 songs, and all have come out brilliantly. Kasturn has not fallen into a monotonous cycle of re-doing themselves and although the road leads to the same place, the chosen paths are diverse. Their music has a rural scent, but it also has a punkish side, a more rebellious facet. Whichever road they choose, it will always lead to greatness. Have I said that simplicity is, most of the time, a winning choice? Kasturn is not a band of complex riffing, for example, but rather straight to business and that is it.