Antrisch |Expedition III : Renitenzpfad |AOP Records

Release Date 27.03.2026
Format CD/LP/Digital
Genre Atmospheric Black Metal
Country Germany 

Antrisch emerged in 2020, crawling out of a year defined by isolation and the kind of mental rot that fuels the best underground art. They’ve spent their existence obsessed with the brutal intersection of nature’s extremes and human fragility. After freezing to death on their first two outings, they’ve traded the ice for the humid, suffocating madness of the Amazon, proving they have a serious obsession with historical disasters and the people who lose their minds in them.

Antrisch has officially ditched the frostbite for the jungle, and "Expedition III : Renitenzpfad" is a disgusting, beautiful descent into the heart of madness. Following the trail of Lope De Aguirre’s doomed 1560 trek, these guys have managed to bottle the feeling of hacking through vines while your sanity unravels. This isn't just a collection of riffs but a relentless atmospheric hammer that mixes that jagged, modern djent mechanical feel with a blackened doom weight that actually has some teeth.

The vocals on this album are absolutely possessed. Maurice Wilson sounds like he’s actually starving in the mud, spitting out his lines with a level of desperation that makes most modern black metal vocalists look like they’re reading a grocery list. Behind him, the guitars weave these massive, suffocating walls of sound that shift from high-speed aggression to those agonizingly slow, dark ambient moments. It’s a dense, heavy-handed experience that refuses to give you a moment of peace, reflecting a story where everyone ends up dead or insane.

What really sticks is how the production handles the chaos. It’s got enough punch to satisfy the gear-heads who want to hear every kick drum, but it stays filthy enough to keep the elitists happy. The transition from the more melodic black metal parts into the cold, narrative sections keeps the tension high. You can almost smell the rot and the fever dreams of the conquistadors as the album drags you deeper into the foliage. It’s a massive step forward for the band, proving they can handle complex storytelling without losing the raw aggression that makes this subgenre actually worth a damn.

If you want music that makes you feel like you’re losing a war against the environment and your own brain, "Expedition III : Renitenzpfad" is the answer. Antrisch have delivered a massive, sprawling nightmare that lives in the shadows of history. It’s aggressive, it’s emotional, and it’s arguably their best work to date. This is how you do atmospheric metal without sounding like a bunch of nerds in a basement.

Score: 8.5

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Ellende | Zerfall | AOP Records

Release Date: 2 January 2026

Format: CD/LP/Digital

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: Austria

Ellende began as the intensely private outlet of L.G. in Graz, a project shaped by isolation, bleak introspection and classical leaning black metal. Through the years it grew far beyond its solitary origins, evolving into a respected live act with albums that reached European charts and pulled in a wide international audience. The project has steadily expanded its emotional range, moving from raw misanthropy to heavier themes of human collapse, war, loss and the long road through despair. The new album, “Zerfall”, arrives during a difficult chapter in its creator’s life and channels that weight into a story of breaking apart and slowly assembling oneself again.

“Zerfall” continues Ellende’s tradition of atmospheric black metal that balances aggression with sorrow soaked melody. The album moves with an emotional gravity that feels personal, carrying the listener into Ellende’s familiar world of cold catharsis and wounded introspection. L.G. uses layered guitars, mournful harmonies and his anguished voice to build an immersive landscape. The classical touches, such as strings and piano, have been part of Ellende’s identity for years and they reappear here with careful use, adding a somber glow rather than overwhelming the metal core.

Where the album shines is in the way it drifts between rage and resignation, between eruption and calm. Nothing comes across as exaggerated or distant from Ellende’s established character. Even when the music turns more imposing or when it sinks into fragility, it retains the emotional thread that has defined the project for more than a decade. The two “Zeitenwende” songs, featuring members of Norikum and Firtan, blend naturally into Ellende’s sound, giving the record a wider palette without breaking its cohesion.

By the time the album reaches its closing moments, “Zerfall” has shaped its narrative clearly. It reflects collapse, grief, and reconstruction. It is a long work that moves with patience, offering the kind of emotional depth that Ellende has always aimed for, while keeping a steady hand on its atmosphere.

“Zerfall” stands comfortably among the strongest entries in Ellende’s catalogue, carrying forward the project’s trademark sorrow and melodic intensity. It will speak most to listeners who appreciate atmospheric black metal that leans heavily on emotional storytelling, and it reinforces Ellende as one of the genre’s most thoughtful voices. The album leaves room for the listener to wander within its sadness and its quiet resilience, which is where its power rests.

Score: 8.0

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Sun Of The Dying | A Throne Of Ashes | AOP Records

 

Release Date: November 21, 2025

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl

Genre: Doom/Death Metal

Country: Spain

Sun Of The Dying emerged from Madrid in 2013, the creation of guitarist Casuso and vocalist Lavín. Drawing from the grand tradition of doom-death metal inspired by My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and Swallow The Sun, they have built a sound both desolate and melodic, steeped in sorrow yet full of scale. After their debut “The Roar Of The Furious Sea” in 2017 and the haunting follow-up “The Earth Is Silent” in 2019, the band returns with their third full-length, “A Throne Of Ashes”, recorded at The Empty Hall Studio and refined by Javi Félez at Moontower Studios.

This new chapter shows the band at their most assured and expansive. “A Throne Of Ashes” unfolds with patience and purpose, combining weighty riffs, sorrowful harmonies, and a constant undercurrent of tragedy. Eduardo Guilló’s vocals sound like a sermon from a frozen cathedral, deep, aching, and human. The guitars, handled by Casuso and Roberto Rayo, create vast soundscapes that alternate between crushing despair and fragile melancholy. Each track moves with a solemn grandeur, where mournful melodies drift over a steady, deliberate rhythm section. The drumming by Diego Weser remains precise and unhurried, while the orchestration by David Muñoz widens the horizon of the album, giving it a cinematic depth.

The production is thick and immersive, letting the guitars breathe and the vocals echo across a massive sonic field. Songs such as “Martyrs” and “Of Absence” reach an emotional peak through their gradual layering of melody and atmosphere. The duet on “With Wings Aflame”, featuring guest singer Antinoë, adds a touch of elegance that enhances the album’s sorrowful core. The band’s sense of balance between heaviness and melody is natural, without excess or haste.

“A Throne Of Ashes” settles into its grief with determination. It’s an album built from depth and maturity, where every chord and every growl sound earned. The six songs form a single descent into ruin and reflection, and by the end, the listener is left in a quiet, reflective haze. Sun Of The Dying has created an album that stands firm within the world of doom-death metal; mournful, spacious, and deeply human.

Score: 7.8

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Waldgeflüster | Knochengesänge I & II | AOP Records

 

Release Date: November 7, 2025

Format: Digital/CD/Vinyl

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: Germany

Waldgeflüster began their journey in 2005 under the direction of Winterherz, who built the band from a solitary project into a full creative entity. Their sound emerged from the forests and mountains of Bavaria, melancholic, emotional, and deeply tied to nature. Over the years, they have shaped a distinctive identity in the European black metal scene, evolving through albums like “Herbstklagen,” “Ruinen,” and “Dahoam.” By the time of “Knochengesänge I” and “Knochengesänge II,” the band had grown into a unified group, with a clear artistic direction and a refined sense of atmosphere and expression.

This double-album marks their seventh full-length release, and it arrives as a culmination of nearly two decades of creative growth. Across its two halves, “Knochengesänge” explores the transience of life, the fading of memory, and the question of what remains after we are gone. The music and lyrics mirror this reflection with equal weight. Guitars rise and fall like the changing seasons, drums move from measured restraint to fierce intensity, and Winterherz’s vocals alternate between mournful cries and grounded narration.

“Knochengesänge I” opens with “Krähenpsalme,” featuring Austin Lunn of Panopticon, immediately setting the emotional foundation of the record with its sweeping guitars and organic pacing. The songs move with a natural rhythm, flowing through long passages where melody and aggression coexist. Tracks like “Bamberg, 20. Juni” and “Von Hypnos Und Thanatos” paint landscapes of introspection and loss, their melodies carrying the weight of memory without falling into sentimentality. “Lethe – Der Fluch Des Schaffenden,” featuring Alboin of Eïs, stands as a towering composition, filled with shifting harmonies and layers that expand and contract like breath under cold air.

“Knochengesänge II” mirrors its twin album, not as repetition but as reflection. Many of its tracks act as echoes or transformations of those on the first disc, translated through different perspectives and arrangements. “Das Klagelied Der Krähen” and “In Lethes Fluten” carry an almost ritualistic tone, giving the sense of revisiting old ground through new eyes. The reimagined “The Little King And His Architect” and “The Parting Glass” connect the two halves emotionally, closing the work in a loop that feels cyclical, as if the journey must begin again where it ends.

Production-wise, the sound is warm and grounded. The guitars have the signature Waldgeflüster tone, melodic, raw, full of emotion, while the rhythm section provides a sense of steady movement through the album’s stretch compositions. There’s a human quality to the performance that fits the album’s lyrical focus on mortality and legacy.

“Knochengesänge I & II” is an album to absorb slowly, like walking through a dense forest at dusk where every sound has meaning. Waldgeflüster manages to make black metal introspective without losing its intensity, and this release feels like a complete artistic statement, one that captures the passage of time through sound and silence. The double album stands as a mature and emotional work from a band that has learned to balance power and melancholy with remarkable natural flow. “Knochengesänge” is like a closing chapter and a new beginning, the kind of release that grows deeper the longer you live with it.

Score: 8.4

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Outlaw | Opus Mortis | AOP Records

 

Release date: 31.10.2025
Formats: CD / LP / Digital
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Brazil/Germany

Born in São Paulo in 2015, Outlaw began as an eruption of defiance, a reaction to the rot of conformity. The band’s early fire quickly grew beyond Brazil, finding a new home in Dresden, Germany, where it evolved into a sharpened entity of disciplined aggression. Across their previous works, Outlaw carved a reputation for channeling raw black metal through an unflinching vision, violent, transcendental, and spiritual. “Opus Mortis” continues this path, pushing further into their unique union of fury and devotion.

From the first seconds, “Opus Mortis” burns with deliberate direction. Outlaw’s sound here is mature, not in limitation, but in focus. The guitars blaze with that cold, northern bite, and there’s something definitely Brazilian beneath the wild pulse that refuses to be tamed. D.’s vocals remain the axis, rising venomous and falling like invocations. T.’s drumming is relentless, detailed, and thunderous, pushing the songs forward with violence and grace.

The guests add new colors to the inferno. Jelle Soolsma (Dödsrit) lends haunting tones to “The Crimson Rose”, while Lucas Veles’ solo on “A Million Midnights” burns with eerie beauty. Georgios Maxouris’ appearance on “Those Who Breathe Fire” deepens the album’s ritualistic energy, a true communion of kindred spirits across borders. Production-wise, “Opus Mortis” benefits from Daniel Souza’s ear for balance and Tore Stjerna’s mastering, which gives the chaos a tangible form. The sound remains feral but every instrument holds its space. It’s an album that knows its own strength,  just forged in black fire and shaped with determination.

Across its forty-two minutes, “Opus Mortis” unfolds like a storm with memorable melodies not softening the violence, and the atmosphere rises from true belief. Outlaw’s fusion of southern heat and European discipline results in something fierce and human, a work that channels death, faith, and transcendence through sound. “Opus Mortis” confirms Outlaw’s place among modern black metal’s most authentic voices. It’s the sound of a band that no longer needs to prove anything, only to burn brighter.

Score: 8.3

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Heretoir | Solastalgia | AOP Records

 

Heretoir is a German band formed in 2006, originally created as the musical vision of David Conrad. Over time, the project evolved from a solo endeavor into a full band, bringing together musicians who share the same outlook on expressing emotions through heavy, atmospheric, and deeply personal music. Known for their fusion of post-black metal, post-rock, and elements of modern metal, Heretoir have always focused on themes of loss, grief, and humanity’s relationship with the world. Their music stands as a mirror to modern existence, translating inner struggles and external chaos into powerful soundscapes.

“Solastalgia” continues this journey, offering an hour-long exploration of both environmental and personal themes. The title itself refers to the distress caused by environmental change, a concept that resonates strongly throughout the album. Heretoir transform this idea into music that is both heavy and fragile, destructive and uplifting at the same time.

Across the eleven tracks, the band weaves together trembling guitar lines, massive wall-of-sound riffs, and dynamic drumming with anguished screams and soft, sorrowful passages. Songs like “The Ashen Falls” and “You Are The Night” create an atmosphere where despair meets beauty, while tracks such as “Rain” and “Dreamgatherer” bring moments of fragile reflection. The inclusion of additional instruments like flute, piano, and chimes expands the emotional range of the album, giving it a broader texture without breaking its overall intensity.

The sound remains firmly rooted in post-black metal, yet Heretoir explore different directions, blending modern metal aggression with post-rock expansiveness and even elements that touch upon screamo intensity. It feels vast and intimate at the same time, allowing listeners to immerse themselves in shifting layers of melancholy and fleeting sparks of hope. The final inclusion of “Metaphor,” originally written by Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gelotte for In Flames, ties the album to a wider musical lineage while fitting naturally into the flow of Heretoir’s vision.

“Solastalgia” is an album that hurts, but in its pain, it creates a strange sense of comfort. It reflects grief, loss, and uncertainty, yet carries an undercurrent of resilience. With contributions from guest musicians and carefully crafted production, it becomes one of the most emotionally charged works in the band’s history.

Score: 8.3

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Karg | Marodeur | AOP Records

 

 Karg was founded in 2006 by Michael J.J. Kogler as a one-man project in Austria. What started as a solitary atmospheric black metal act evolved into a full live lineup between 2010 and 2014, with performances primarily in German-speaking countries. After reverting to a solo project for several years, Karg reemerged with a live band in support of 2018's "Dornenvögel" and continued the trajectory with 2020's "Traktat"—their first tour-centric release. Between pandemic restrictions and renewed collaboration, Karg released the EP "Resilienz" and two full-lengths: "Resignation" and "Marodeur," the latter being the band’s first fully written as a collective. The group blends atmospheric black metal with strong injections of post-rock, grunge, shoegaze, and post-punk, crafting music rooted in sorrow and personal trauma, with lyrics delivered in the dialect of the Austrian Tennen Mountains.

"Marodeur" is the sound of Karg not only as a band but as a living, breathing organism built on shared grief, introspection, and burning urgency. The transition from solitary to collective writing doesn’t soften the album’s emotional foundation but widens its dimensions. Across eight tracks and nearly an hour of runtime, there is no sense of excess—only immersion.

The sound is dense but not overbearing, constructed with layered guitars, often shimmering or reverberating, interwoven with raw black metal textures that feel intentionally jagged. Vocals are delivered in the anguished, spoken-scream dialect of Kogler, as haunted as ever, still deeply rooted in pain and memory.

Influences outside of the black metal surface frequently, but not as detours—rather, as natural terrain. There are moments where one hears the weight of grunge pressing in, the haze of shoegaze softening the blastbeats, or the restraint of post-rock building a long arc of tension without release. Yet the sound never drifts into meandering abstraction. There’s a sense of purpose in every shift, especially in how atmosphere is used not for decoration but to intensify discomfort or mourning.

Songs like "Findling" and "Annapurna" stretch the emotional fabric wide, but never melodramatically. Guitars shimmer, then collapse under distortion. Percussion ranges from subdued to frantic, rarely following a conventional structure. When Klara from Firtan joins in "Annapurna", the track doesn’t elevate into harmony but rather sinks deeper into melancholy—an intentional contrast to any expectation of resolution.

While there are no radical transformations here, Karg refuses stagnation. "Marodeur" sounds neither like a strict return nor an adventurous leap forward—it simply is what Karg now feels like: broken, solemn, relentless, and human. The lyrics continue to bear tremendous weight. Rather than theatrical narratives, Karg leans into real wounds—personal collapse, despair, and psychological deterioration. The dialect grounds these emotions in place, and the delivery ensures they remain raw, even abrasive at times.

This is an album not driven by structure but by sensation. There are no hooks, no climaxes tailored for effect—only a long procession through emotional debris. But the journey never feels directionless. There is clarity even in the murk.

Score: 8.5