Bleak Art Records

Dark Forest: Land of the Evening Star

“Sometimes album art can be misleading, but visual imagery is to some extent genre specific, so there’s usually a pretty good chance I can judge by an album cover if a band’s style is likely to be my kind of thing. Such was the case with Dark Forest’s Land of the Evening Star. What I can’t always predict is how good the music is going to be, but with Dark Forest’s third “Vinlandic pagan black metal” release, the tracks inside are not just well represented by the gloomy mountain and forest scene on the cover. They’re also very good. As impressed as I was with the recording I wanted to learn more about the band, so I went straight to the source.”

Interview by Laura Wiebe

Artep – Thy Will Be Done On Earth As Is Done In Hell

Artep has chosen to focus on a primitive form of symphonic black metal comparable to the first two Dimmu Borgir albums, which it blends with Dark Funeral-styled blasting. The band’s music is every bit as derivative and dull as such a combination might indicate. The only thing that separates Artep from many of its peers is that it commits more than its fair share of missteps as it travels this well-trodden path.

Aenaon – Phenomenon

Phenomenon is bound to please fans of all things Emperor, including Ihsahn and Zyklon, a very well-executed blackened death metal hybrid that’s in and out in less than half an hour.