Nuclear Girl Tremendously unique music from a startlingly consistent artist. There are so many elements of what makes black metal great in here, but all processed through a peerless personality's own vision. Another project like Portent, WIST, A Forest of Stars, and Ashenspire, which shows the UK has plenty of imaginative metalheads if you know where to look. Favorite track: Imbres Effugio.

Bummer I love Notturno the way I love swimming in cold water. Surprise, a sharp breath, I'm COLD. I stay, and then I AM THE COLD.

Imbres Effugio does a perfect job of filling 25 minutes with atmosphere, eyebrow-raising weirdness, and absolute bangers. It takes so much to make these long tracks work and they've done it.
Favorite track: Imbres Effugio.

FuegoMyEggo This is so good.

They continue to hone their craft, expanding the sound, the space, the idea.

Aoty list Favorite track: Imbres Effugio.

technically_damaged "Necropalace" takes a new direction toward Symphonic Black Doom, a cosmic, ethereal, and nocturnal result that invites us to immerse ourselves in new forms. Fans of Limbonic Art, Diabolical Masquerade, and Necromantia will worship Necropalace and become one with the call... Favorite track: Dragon Dreams.

trenxch epic songs and mystical ballads. Favorite track: Blackheart.

JulieFern Fantastic album, one of the best metal albums of the year so far, the guitarwork is insane, the atmosphere is beautifully gothic and so so melodic, a solid 9.5/10 Favorite track: The Night Has Fangs.

Urso X Thirty seconds in, and you just know this is gonna be something special. The drums! The drama! The growth from their s/t!

Also available on Vendetta (good guys, vinyl lovers take note), but here it's nyp :) Favorite track: Teufelsfaust.

bmurator German Black Metal. Powerful & sick vocals throughout & as MJ put it, 30 seconds is all it took for me to hit buy... :) Thanks for taking me here MJ! Much appreciated! Love the melodies & the drums! Oooh those drums! If this is their first full length, these guys are gonna kill it! Looking forward to what comes next! Highly recommended!!! Favorite track: Teufelsfaust.

SaS the album title and all song titles are the ultimate truth of this miserable existence - I will finish this simulation one day.

CavernousCarnage213 This shit fucking rules. Crushing sonic malevolence. Submit to the suffering. Favorite track: I Have No End.

bakum4tsu Put on your dive suit and get ready to dive deep into the black deep waters where the unknown lives! Get ready to be crushed! Favorite track: Beyond I.

kowaikage2 I can't recommend this album enough! Vocals, guitars, drums, pacing, keyboards, production, songwriting, dark ambiance and sinister atmosphere add up to a masterpiece that is definitely in my AOTY running. Favorite track: Beyond II.

Dave Aftandilian Lhaäd continues to make some of the most furious, iciest, and shattering oceanic black metal I’ve ever heard. Great mix of tight musical control with raging emotions. Wish I knew what he was singing about, but the feeling I get is of a harrowing journey to the bottom of the sea, feeling the crushing pressure of the deep ocean, the loneliness and fear—only to discover a portal to another realm entirely, and then stepping through….