Utopia Platafórmica

  Kvaen “The Formless Fires” (Metal Blade Records, 2024) I became acquainted in 2022, with the release of “The Great Below”, on Black Lion Records, and immediately was blown away by the melodies. It is a Swedish project, which means that melody is a very important element of their overall structure; but at times you can feel it overly technical and this, I believe, probably comes from Jacob Björnfot’s association with Progressive Metal project Ghost Ship Octavius, and Melodic Death Metal project The Duskfall. Nonetheless, this is a very cool sounding Black Metal project. This is their 3 rd release, and it was released by Metal Blade Records. A cool upgrade, right? I believe their previous one, “The Great Below”, was – and still is – a very good Melodic Black Metal album, and this one goes along the same lines, which is great! The Swedish have a special touch for melody and Extreme Metal, and their ability to create the darkest release with the best melody, the greatest solos, ...

  Nidernes “Beyond the Gleam of Nightsky” (Black Gangrene Productions, 2022) Well… is there a real need to describe the Portuguese Black Metal, today? I dare say this is one of the hotbeds for Black Metal in the 21 st century. No, it is in fact one of the hotbeds for Black Metal in the 21 st century, and it embraces me with that overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. We are not just European Football champions; we are also one of the go-to countries in contemporary Black Metal (and I am not even a big fan of Football). This just to show how far we, a small country with an amazing History, great beaches, and superb food, have reached the top of “Mountain Black Metal”. How did we do it? Well, Nidernes will be on that lot in a few years, I reckon. How? By producing devastating Black Metal like the one we got in their – or his – new release: “Beyond the Gleam of Nightsky”. “Darkness Cenotaph”, from 2020, set the bar high, but the collaboration with Obskuritatem just struck me fe...