Ravenspell--Obsidian King (CD/LP) {2026 Fighter Records}

Ravenspell from Canada play decent heavy metal that borders on speed metal quite a bit of the time on their first full length. This band is at its best when playing fast, and they're much more interesting when they do so. Blastbeats even make an appearance at the end of the very first song "God the Chosen," and in a couple more places as accents on the record. The vocalist keeps his voice lower in tone, but it capable of higher-pitched screams. He can carry a melody, although I do wish his singing had a little bit more grit to it like his screams do, but he does fine in the style he's chosen. His melodies tend to be a little sing-songy at times, but it's not intolerable. It's almost like he's a thrash singer forcing himself to be a heavy metal singer. We do get a few guitar solos on the record, and when they do appear they're good, like in the track "Warriors 9 to 5." The recording itself is impeccable and very natural sounding, not over-digitized. Overall, this isn't a bad effort, but it has some flaws, and it's going to come down to taste whether you like it or not.

www.fighter-records.com

Barbaric Oath--Sword,Sorcery,Vengengeance Mcd&CS{Caligari Rec.}

 

Barbaric Oath is a duo who comes out of Germany's black death war metal scene and this is a review of the debut Mcd.Sword,Sorcery,Vengengeance is five tracks of  bestial.brutal blackend death metal that is played with intensisity and violent musicial passages.Both the guitars and drums are performed with a brutal assault.The vocals are raw raspy growls with some screams entertwined within a few of the songs.If you are a fan of well executed vicious black death war metal then you need to add this to your collection once it is released.                                                                                                                        Barbaric Oath                                                                                                                                                https://www.instagram.com/barbaricoath.dm                                                                                              Caligari Rec.                                                                                                                                                  http://www.caligarirecords.com/                                                                                                                  https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/sword-sorcery-vengeance                                                    https://www.facebook.com/CaligariRecords                                                                                              https://www.instagram.com/caligarirecords/

Gladium Regis--Quest (CD) {2026 Dusktone Records}

I never get sick of epic black metal, and that's exactly what Gladium Regis give us on Quest, their second full length. They use clean vocals in addition to black metal vocals, and the singing is clean and melodic much like ICS Vortex from Borknagar. There's quite a bit of influence from medieval music and dungeon synth here, and the band does indeed rely on synths quite heavily in all their songs. This one isn't as epic as I would like it to be, but it's definitely not bad, and it's quite unique. I can't think of any black metal band that sounds like this at all. Often the synths overpower the guitar, which I am not a fan of, unfortunately, as I much prefer metal to be driven by guitar exclusively. This is a bit hit and miss for me. I enjoy the clean vocals and the epic riffs, but I have a hard time with the extent the keys are used here, even though I have no problem with keyboard use. I just think it may be too skewed toward it. But in the end, this is a record unlike any other black metal release in your collection, so challenge yourself, and make sure you hear it!

dusktone.bandcamp.com

Sinistrous Mist--A Voice Through Constellations (CD) {2026 Independent}

Sinistrous Mist hails from Greece, and this is their first and only release so far. It's exactly what I needed. After listening to a bunch of death metal bands to review that sounded exactly the same, a palate cleanser was needed, and Sinistrous Mist provided exactly that with their brand of epic black metal. This is truly epic, with big, soaring, melodically morose riffs and bombastic yet tasteful keys driving the music's atmosphere. I especially love when the keys sound like a horn section during some parts. It's like the devil's army is marching off to war! The songs tend to be lengthier, most of them coming in around give to seven minutes, but their compositions are such that they can weather these longer runtimes without becoming a chore to listen to. In fact, they seem much shorter when listening to them. Majestic is the best word I can think of to describe their sound, and I'll be revisiting this album quite often in the future. It's a massive record.

sinistrousmist.bandcamp.com