Besna - Krásno (2025)

After three years since their debut, the Slovakian outfit Besna shows us their sophomore album called Krásno. The Black metal here is only marginally seasoned with the "post-" suffix and while usually it makes me throw a bit, in this case the band's music works really well. I think it's also darker than before, but maybe it's because the world grew darker as well.

The title of the album translates to "Beautiful", which is slightly surprising. There must a good deal of irony in that as the worldwide situation is far from being beautiful (the band supports the Ukrainian war effort for example, and this crisis is nowhere close to an end, but the point is that the artists are aware and focused on what's going on, politically speaking). The lyrics supports this thought as, among traditionally metal-kind of poetry, there's this sentence (taken from the title track): "Indifference feeds hopelessness, indifference only feeds hopelessness". Indeed.

Musically speaking, the message is conveyed in the blackest of the ways: angry screams, guitar noise and fast melodies. My favourite track is the most deceiving one as Oceán prachu sounds like a peaceful instrumental interludium for the most part, but suddenly develops into pure musical anger. Again, indeed.

Krásno costs 7 EUR.

Check: Oceán prachu

Country: Slovakia

Genre: (post-) black metal

Besna - Zverstvá (2022)

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Thy Pallor - Cafuné (2022)

I don't know much about offstream music in Turkey (or even mainstream with only the old pop star Tarkan coming to my mind) so it's always a pleasure to discover an exciting new band from the region. And so it is the case with Thy Pallor, Turkish band that attempts to mix the aggressive sound of black metal with synth-heavy blackgaze. They just debuted with an EP entitled Cafuné.

The band has a straightforward mission as "they are here to make you feel sentimental, yet heartwarming". And so they keep their music in the style of flow-rich synthgaze, a genre that is known for the fact that it's almost impossible to stop listening to its silk-smooth compositions that rely on guitar and synthesizer sound cooperation. This is spiced by very black metal-like vocals and this lo-fi atmosphere that always brings a lot of honesty and intimacy to the music. And although it is said to be focused on the melancholic atmosphere (which works especially where accompanied by lovely backing vocals in Ashen), there's a fair number of melodic riffs that make the whole EP a heavy and catchy thing.

Cafuné costs 3 USD.

Check: Ashen

Country: Turkey

Genre: synth black metal

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Gnolpths - Nodt Vemn Rogten (2022)

Gnolpths is a side project from the musicians of Noctriulm, Australia-based black metal outfit. While the names are completely new to me, the music included on the second EP of the former, one called Nodt Vemn Rogten, certainly caught my attention and can hardly release it.

Their "raw depressive black metal" shares a lot of features of post-metal music and I'm here for it. You can say that the artists have no issues with creating very loud and very energetic compositions dominated by noisy guitars and metal-like drums. The post-metal's vocals that haunt the backgrounds of this music are the cherry on top of this music that is both aggressive and melancholic at the same time. Long, drums-dominated parts (like in Nesil Dodt Ni) and the ghostly, Amenra-like vocals make the EP a unique experience. Rapid and spiritualized, especially in the really loud finish in Fikett Erog.

Nodt Vemn Rogten costs 2 EUR (3 AUD).

    

Check: Fikett Erog

Country: Australia

Genre: post-black metal

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Profond Barathre - Tinnitus (2021)

This is not news that the Swiss can make some quality hard music. The likes of Rorcal or E-L-R proved that in recent years. Profond Barathre is another pebble in this avalanche. And this year's comeback (it seems that they had some works in the past, I'm not very oriented in the metal scene), called Tinnitus, doesn't only make your ears buzz, it's also some Music with a capital M.

This is the kind of music that pretty much optimally balances the metal rabidness and post-genre's atmosphere, the raw and coarse guitars complement the wall of noise's ambiance characteristics. The compositions are not overly complicated but their straightforwardness build up the whole thing's mesmerizing quality. Especially that the tracks here are massive and very long, long enough for the audience to get lost and buried within them, under the massiveness of the sound. It's especially admirable when you realize that the whole album was recorded in a "couple of evening sessions during the winter 2017-2018" and without much post-production, I can hardly believe it, the quality of sound here is so good.

And yes, tinnitus after this album is a real thing.

Tinnitus costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Corpus

Country: Switzerland

Genre: post-black metal

Label: Hummus Records

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Gnot - Dead Birds (2020) EN

Dead Birds is a debut EP by the Petersburg-based band Gnot. The Russians show on it some loud guitars and impressive, throat-hurting post-metal.

Energy and anger are boiling from the very first notes of the album. Fast pace regulated by live drums and loud, although not overwhelming guitars plus the vocalist's furious screaming. Actually, is there a lot more to expect from a post-metal band? The artists emanate with all of this throughout the four tracks up to the guitar-saturated noisy finish in Poisoned Seed. This kind of music makes the spine thrill and one would rather stop everything they do to go and see the music live, the artists are surely able to transfer this dark energy to the audience. They should definitely be on your radars.

Dead Birds costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Poisoned Seed

Country: Russia

Genre: post-black metal

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Gnot - Dead Birds (2020) PL

Dead Birds to debiutancka EP-ka petersburskiego zespołu Gnot. Rosjanie pokazują na nim kawał głośnych gitar i efektownego, nie żałującego gardła post-metalu.

Energia i gniew aż kipią w pierwszych nutach tego krążka. Szybkie tempo regulowane żywą perkusją i głośne, chociaż nie zagłuszające całości gitary, a do tego wściekły wrzask wokalisty. W zasadzie czego więcej chcieć od post-metalowego kolektywu? Artyści nimi emanują przez wszystkie cztery utwory aż po zakończony melancholijnym gitarowym noisem finisz Poisoned Seed. Taka muzyka powoduje ciarki na grzbiecie i aż chciałoby się rzucić wszystko i zobaczyć zespół na żywo, z pewnością potrafią zarazić widownię tą mroczną energią. Należy mieć Rosjan na radarze.

Dead Birds kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

Sprawdź: Poisoned Seed

Kraj: Rosja

Szufladka: post-black metal

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