Downfall of Nur - And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth (2026)

There's been some meaningful comebacks recently and so it happens that all of them came back after a decade of hiatus. And Antonio Sanna's project is no different here. It'd been already 10 years since the last album signed by Downfall of Nur, EP with Selvans was released. The Italian artist currently living in Argentina brought back his music that is located somewhere between instrumental ambient and black metal and made it worth waiting for.

If you take the notion of atmospheric (black) metal and concentrate it over and over again, you'll get Downfall of Nur's soundscapes. Because this is music that may have came from the realm of angry guitars and powerful screams but there's little that reminds us of the genre's origins at the moment. It's a soundscape. Almost ambient music in a way. The album is long which makes the tracks long, almost all of them being their own wholes, their own albums. Slowly developing, reaching unbelievable places, coming back and again, like a nice evening stroll. It happens that the stroll brings you around hell that our world is turning into, but nevertheless, it's a stroll.

The atmosphere on thsi album is phenomenal. No wonder, as this album treats about the way the suffering and the grief of women shaped the history of humankind. This and the undoubted ties to the Mediterranean culture must bring the recent cinematic mega-production to one's mind, especially that the album "is not a linear or conclusive narrative, but a fragmented ritual space that opens the way to multiple layers of interpretation, where history, mythology, and human mourning converge". Non-linear, huh? Just like a certain American director likes doing stuff. I'm happy to say that And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth is my favourite piece of non-linear storytelling set in the Mediterranean world this summer.

And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth costs 7 EUR.

Check: Underground Halls of the Oldest Goddess’s Stronghold

Country: Italy/Argentina

Genre: black metal soundscape

Label: Avantgarde Music

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Void of Hope - Proof of Existence (2025)

The best post-metal album with blackgaze inclinations released in the first quarter of 2025? I'll take the Finnish debutants (under this moniker, not in general)'s Proof of Existance over Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power every time. Not only because I think the American powerhouse's one is mid at best, Void of Hope genuinely created something breathtakingly beautiful.

Released by the Italian label Avantgarde Music, the album was created from scratch in five days "in the studio with -30°, -35° outside and in complete darkness for most of the day". Can you imagine something more Finnish? But the most important thing is that the music that came out of this session is extremely hot. Energetic. Euphoric. The best words to describe a good blackgaze album although I'm not 100% sure the band aimed for this (the genre tags on Bandcamp don't enourage this opinion). Nevertheless, for a blackgaze fanboy like myself, a great blackgaze release, even an accidental one is nothing to sniff at.

Just listen to Gift of Life or the monumental The Hollow Hymn. The atmosphere here is so dense, I could swear I felt like in a sauna when listening to it. This is the way the artists talk about "a journey through mental health and depression" that are a common thing for anyone who experienced existing. I feel better already after listening to Proof of Existence.

Proof of Existence costs 6 EUR.

Check: Gift of Life

Country: Finland

Genre: blackgazey post-metal

Label: Avantgarde Music

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