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Bhleg - Fäghring (Folky BM, Sweden) New album coming from Bhleg. They put out a pretty good record last year, not sure how I feel about the new track though. Album releases April 1.

Judas Iscariot - To Embrace The Corpses Bleeding Sargeist - Satanic Black Devotion Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

Eldritch - I Shall Raise My Burning Sword (BM, UK) Hilning - Råtijinn (BM, Sweden) Both very cool albums. Definite purchases for me. Eldritch is NYP on bandcamp too.

Mütiilation - Vampires of Black Imperial Blood

I'm not super confident in this list as I threw it together in about 15 minutes and didn't think about it too much, but it's a reasonable representation of my favourite Black Metal albums. Abigor - Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom) Acathexis - S/T Aeternus - And So The Night Became Aeternus - Beyond The Wandering Moon Afsky - Ofte jeg drømmer mig død Afsky - sorg Akasha - Canticles Of The Sepulchral Deity Akhlys - The Dreaming I Ancient - Svartalvheim Antaeus - Condemnation Aosoth - An Arrow In Heart Arckanum - Kostogher Arckanum - Kampen Baptism - Grim Arts of Melancholy Bathory - The Return Bathory - Under The Sign of the Black Mark Behexen - Rituale Satanum Behexen - By The Blessing of Satan Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta, parts I, II and III Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss Cirith Gorgor - Onwards to the Spectral Defile Darkspace - III Darkthrone - Under A Funeral Moon Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger Darkthrone - Panzerfaust Darkthrone - Hate Them Dawn - Slaughtersun Death Fortress - Deathless March Of The Unyielding Death Fortress - Reign Of The Unending Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane Drautran - The Throne of Depths Drowning The Light - From The Abyss Drowning The Light - Oceans of Eternity Drudkh - Autumn Aurora Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk Enslaved - Below The Lights Ethereal Shroud - They Became The Falling Ash Forgjord - Ilmestykset Forteresse - Thèmes Pour La Rébellion Funereal Presence - Achatius Gevurah - Hallelujah Hades - Again Shall Be Hades - Dawn of The Dying Sun Havukruunu - Havulinnaan Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota Haxanu - Snare of All Salvation Horna - Sanojesi Äärelle Human Serpent - Inhumane Minimalism Human Serpent - For I, The Misanthropist Immortal - Pure Holocaust Immortal - Battles In The North Immortal - At The Heart of Winter Inquisition - Invoking The Majestic Throne of Satan Inquisition - Nefarious Dismal Orations Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines Judas Iscariot - To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding Kjeld - Skym Kriegsmaschine - Enemy of Man Macabre Omen - Gods of War, At War Marduk - Opus Nocturne Mgla - With Hearts Toward None Mgla - Exercises In Futility Misþyrming - Söngvar elds og óreiðu Misþyrming - Algleymi Monarque - Ad Nauseum Murg - Varg & Bjorn Murg - Stravan Myrkgrav - Trollskau, Skrømt og Kølabrenning Mystifier - Wicca Mystras - Castles Conquered and Reclaimed Nagelfar - Srontgorrth Nagelfar - Virus West Naglfar - Vittra Obsequiae - Aria of Vernal Tombs Panopticon - Autumn Eternal Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition, Parts I & II Paysage d'Hiver - S/T Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor Ravencult - Temples of Torment The Ruins of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun Sargeist - Let The Devil In Sargeist - Unbound Satyricon - Nemesis Divina Sinmara - Aphotic Womb Sorhin - I det Glimrande Mörkrets Djup Spectral Lore - III Spectral Wound - Infernal Decadence Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst Taake - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid Taake - Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik Tsjuder - Desert Northern Hell Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter Wode - Servants of the Countercosmos

Moar Darkthrone, because why not... - Under a Funeral Moon - Panzerfaust

Continuing my Darkthrone binge... Darkthrone - Total Death (An album I've often overlooked and not for good reason. It is actually quite good.) Darkthrone - Hate Them

Lol, yeah the "similar artists" tab on MA is hilariously inaccurate. That site also has very strange standards as to what constitutes as "metal". Like how they consider Rush to be a metal band but not Slipknot. I'll never understand the mental gymnastics behind that one...

Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath Darkthrone - The Cult Is Alive

Kreator - Extreme Aggression

Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter (2022 remaster, which you should totally get if you like this album) From The Vastland - The Haft Khan

No need for loaded questions my dude. Do you disagree that death metal is derivative and stagnant? Is your whole point that the only reason for one to feel that death metal is oversaturated is because they've heard too much of it? I think both things can be true at the same time.

Sure, I fully admit to being burnt out on death metal. But that doesn't mean the genre isn't stagnant, oversaturated and for the most part, derivative. No disagreements from me here.

"Bro". The word itself and the people who say it a lot, usually men around my age or younger. That shit drives me nuts.

I certainly have my gripes with contemporary death metal. Go back four years ago and I likely would've told you death metal was my favourite genre but I've had a slight falling out with it in recent years. And would certainly agree that most modern death metal, particularly modern "OSDM", doesn't have that same "it" factor. For me it mainly comes down to the fact the OSDM revival has gotten way too oversaturated and the genre as a whole seems to revel too much in celebrating it's past. It feels like roughly 8 out of every 10 DM albums that've been released in the last 4-5 years are some form of OSDM. Be it old-school but slower (very common these days), old-school with some prog mixed in (Blood Incantation and the like), Incantation worship, Swedeath worship, Autopsy worship, you-name-it worship. Sure, many bands will sprinkle in some different influences, tweak the formula somewhat, but the formula has largely remained the same and you can only re-write the same riff so many times so it's no surprise that most of these newer acts simply don't hit as hard as the OG late 80's/early 90's acts. Overfamiliarity is a bitch, ain't it? Another thing I can't help but notice is that Death Metal has gotten a lot slower over the years, especially the last decade or so. I mean, there were definitely bands in the early days mixing in some doomy riffs, but I don't feel it was anywhere near as common as today. Death/doom is has got to be more popular than it's ever been, which by it's very nature is a far less aggressive and abrasive take on the genre. That and there's a plethora of newer bands who seem to focus more on "filth" and "caveman riffs" than writing an engaging or memorable song. This thread actually reminds me of a post @Dead1 made back on Metal-fi about how he thought most modern death metal was way less extreme and abrasive than it once was. I'm pretty sure I disagreed with him at the time but if he still feels that way I would have to agree with him now (with some exceptions of course haha).

Bathory - Nordland I

Yeah and in Dagon's case, he grew up changed for the worse, and downloaded an exorbitant amount of child porn. That's not much of a redemption arc. Perhaps he's changed for the better since then, and If you and wanna give him the benefit of the doubt, that's fine I guess, but it's perfectly within reason for others to not do so.

Haven't checked the new Immo song yet. I kinda wanna wait until I can finally hear the full thing. I haven't been this excited for a new album in quite some time and the suspense is already bad enough haha. NP: Taake - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid

Yeah Dagon is a legit pedophile AND a freakin' Nazi. Like, basically about as unimpressive as a human being can get. I certainly don't demand that every artist I listen to must be an upstanding person and I own plenty of music made by unsavory people, but....... I do have some moral standards and there are lines I refuse to cross. Being both a perverted deviant and a Hitler simp puts them in the "fuck this trash" category for me.

Baptism - Grim Arts of Melancholy Drautran - Throne of The Depths Denial of God - The Horrors of Satan

Vile Ritual - Tongues of the Exanimate (blackened death, USA) Well, we have the first excellent black/death release that I've heard in 2022. Murky and cavernous filth from the ever trustworthy Sentient Ruin.

I too detest the notion of acquiring new music purely because it's a shiny new toy and all the other kids are talking about it. The rat race of keeping up with every new thing that comes out is tiresome and it's disappointing that many metal fans these days approach music the same way they do fast food. Empty calories that merely taste good and are immediately forgotten about. On to the next meal... 1) I definitely do still listen to stuff that I was listening to 2-5-10 even 20 years ago but I don't necessarily approach it in that way. Meaning I don't think to myself "what was I listening to in 2014?", but rather "what's a good album in my collection that I haven't spun in a while?". The year it came out is irrelevant. 2) I try to make a habit of revisiting stuff and not focusing on what's new. My listening habits are most often mood based, so it could be something from last year or 30 years ago, but as mentioned above I try to devout time to music in my collection that hasn't been played in a while. What's the point in acquiring a vast collection of music if you're not gonna actually listen to it all? 3) Yep, I own quite a few albums that I got bored of pretty fast and are now just sitting there collecting dust. I mentioned the "rat race" of checking out new music above, that greatly factors into this. On average though, most albums I've acquired that have been cast aside are usually ones I didn't listen to all the way through before purchasing. Just check out one or two songs and think "Yeah, this sounds siiiick!!!" and then after a full listen it doesn't blow me away as much. Or maybe something won't impress me upon first listen, but others are raving about it, so I'll pick it up thinking that It'll click with me at some point, which does happen from time to time. More than a few of my favourite bands and albums didn't resonate with me when I first heard them. It's a tricky thing to maneuver, that's for sure. 4) I'm not entirely sure what this one means. Do I lose track of what? Is what random?

To their credit, they actually are using authentic propaganda posters from the time, not "piss-takes". The cover of their last album was an actual Austro-Hungarian poster.

Why would you buy something on bandcamp and not download it? I always assumed downloading immediately after purchasing was standard operating procedure. I guess not lol. NP: Darkspace - III

Negativa - 04 (black metal, Spain) https://negativa0.bandcamp.com/album/04 Excellent oppressive and bleak black metal. An early-year standout for sure!