Daily Jam - Thuja Magus Imperium

Although i am a fan of their vast catalog, i think Wolves in the Throne Room's magnum opus is probably 2011's "Celestial Lineage."  Here's the album opener, "Thuja Magus Imperium," for consideration.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Barren Canyon

Now it's time for some dramatic and atmospheric new black metal from Canadian duo Barren Canyon.  The band's "A Virulent Stream" is out in May on Avantgarde Music.  Pre-order it here and listen to the cosmic and abyssal "Effluvial Pools" below.

Olhava

This February brings us epic and icy new atmospheric black metal from Russian band Olhava.  Listen to the sprawling and gorgeous "When the Ashes Grow Cold" below, a track that somehow sounds like the universe coming to an end and being reborn at the same time.  Totally earth moving stuff.  And pre-order the "Memorial" LP here from Avantgarde Music.

Sadness

Ever the prolific artist, here's some astonishing new music from the one-man black metal/shogaze/post-rock/ambient/experimental project Sadness.  Download the artist's new 2-song album "Shimmer" here (pay what you want) and listen to the gorgeous, transcendent title track below.

Soaring

There is just something about the sound of mixing shoegaze, black metal, and post rock that is absolute heaven to my ears.  And French band Soaring have me covered on all bases with their upcoming new self-titled album.  Pre-order it here from Stellar Frequencies and enjoy the cacophonous bliss of "Sun" below.

Trophy Grief

I've decided that in the next few days, i'm going to close and delete my Twitter account.  It's been a long time coming, and it really has gone to shit over there.  I've been on Bluesky now for a little while, and the engagement there has been much better.  And recently, i've been getting followed by a bunch of different music artists and bands of all genre.  One of those is Philly artist Trophy Grief.  And man do i dig their latest release "Everything Ends."  Coming in at over 21 minutes, the track fuses elements of post rock, shoegaze, black metal, and even a little bit of slowcore alt-rock.  It rules.  Check it out below and get it (along with some stickers) here from the artist.

Mesarthim

Earlier this year, Australian atmospheric black metal band Mesarthim released the epic new song "Departure," and now the good folks over at Avantgarde Music are releasing it, along with last year's equally epic "Anthropic Bias," on vinyl in December.  Listen to the grand, soaring, and bombastic "Departure" below and pre-order the LP here.

Olhava

Russian black metal band Olhava released their latest album "Sacrifice" last month, and it's an atmospheric and pulverizing cacophony of guitars, blast beats, primal screams, and sonic effects.  And it kicks ass too.  Check out the epic and majestic "Eternal Fire" below and get the record here from Avantgarde Music.

Sadness

The ever prolific Sadness keeps churning out the shoegaze, dreampop, and black metal hits, with three releases so far this month.  It's all worth checking out, but for the meantime, listen to "Elisa in Summer Night," taken from the split album "Summerset Streetlights" with Kenopsia, below, and download the whole thing here for a dollar.

Mesarthim

Australia's Mesarthim are back next month with a new album of atmospheric black metal splashed with dark ambient and electronic textures, icy dungeon synth notes, and anguished, defiant cries into the deep, never ending voids of the cosmos.  Check out "Type IV" below and pre-order the "Arrival" LP here from Avantgarde Music.

Sadness

The one-man shoegaze and atmospheric black metal act known as Sadness has quite the prolific output.  The artist has a multitude of albums, singles, and splits to sift through full of sprawling and epic bursts of lo-fi noise, ambience, discordance, and bliss.  "2010 Flowers" from the artist's latest split release with A Rose Dying in The Rain, is something else.  Starting as a quiet and melancholy lament, acoustic guitar and vocals in an endless tunnel, the track eventually segues into a kind of emotional post rock anthem, a last will and testament.  I love it.  Check the track out below and get the "Daydream Flowers" split here for a dollar.

Mesarthim

Here's an epic new single from Australian band Mesarthim who have perfected the sounds of black metal...in spaaaaacccccceeeee.  Check out "Anthropic Bias" below and download it here.

Krallice

The ever-prolific, boundary pushing New York metal band Krallice just dropped new album "Psychagogue" on Friday.  Black metal crust and atmospheric synths abound.  Check out the title track below and get the album here.

Lustre

May brings us new music from Swedish atmospheric black metal artist Lustre.  Things feel dark and icy as per usual, the one-man-band really crafting the kind of music to watch snow fall to.  You can practically hear the wind like it's just outside your window.  Check out "Phantom Part 1" below and pre-order the "Phantom" album here from Nordvis.

An Old Sad Ghost

I continue to be fascinated by the dungeon synth genre.  Dark, bleak, atmospheric music often made by mysterious and unidentified artists with an intense and devoted fanbase.  The parallels to black metal are abundant, with the difference being dungeon synth sounds like the score to "Myst" or something.  One of the latest releases is the instantly sold out new cassette from An Old Sad Ghost.  "Fullmoon Over Videna" actually pushes the dungeon synth/black metal comparisons further by adding in some screaming, undecipherable vocals buried deep in the mix.  Well played An Old Sad Ghost.  Well played.  Check out "Obscurity of Forgotten NecRomantic" below and download the album here from Gondolin Records.

Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion

The boundary pushing, New York black metal band Krallice seem to love dropping albums on us at a moment's notice, so in true fashion they just announced a new release heading our way at the end of the month.  "Crystalline Exhaustion" is out digitally on 1/28 and will see a vinyl release (god willing) in March.  Check out the title track below, which moves from celestial synths to something proggier to atmospheric black metal and then back to those synths again, and keep an eye on P2 Records and Gilead Media for the release.

Trna

Here's some atmospheric and very dramatic post rock/black metal from Russian band Trna to wake us all up after what was hopefully a long and relaxing weekend.  Check out the epic bombast of "Istok" below, snag the album of same name here, and let's all kick this week's ass.

Sadness

Black metal artist Sadness just released a track on new split album "Agnosia," along with his likeminded peers in Voragine, An Ocean of Light, Last Man's Breath, The Depressick, and Urantia.  Yeah, that's right.  Six different artists made a split album together (don't you dare call it a compilation!)  Anyway, it's all really good.  Check out the Sadness track, "In a Memory," below and download the whole album here.

Mahr

I don't know why i find it so funny when searching for info on a black metal band turns up fruitless.  Like in the case of Mahr who have a new record out.  My search results were: country of origin - unknown, location - n/a, current lineup - none, and so on.  Fantastic.  Anyway, the band's new album "Maelstrom" is the kind of atmospheric cacophony you might expect from a mysterious black metal project that sounds like the world ending and the dead rising.  Check out "Furor Internus" below and order the LP here via Prava Kollektiv.

DDENT

I was just thinking i needed a mix of shoegaze, industrial, and atmospheric black metal to listen to this morning, and here it is.  Thanks French artist DDENT!  Listen to "Volemie" below and pre-order the upcoming "Couvre-sang" album here from Chien Noir.