Stereogum's 10 Best Metal Albums of 2020

Veterans from countless successful releases including a seminal split album (“Sol”, 2013) that cemented their friendship and earned them unconditioned esteem and love from the atmospheric black metal aficionados, SPECTRAL LORE's sole member Ayloss and Jacob Buczarski from MARE COGNITUM join forces once again for another mystical trip through the stars. Monumental and daring in its length and scope, "Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine" is a thematic journey through our solar system, illustrating and anthropomorphizing it into mythology which parallels our own humanity with the science of these mysterious formations. “Inspired by Gustav Holst's Planets suite, we continue the exploration we began many years ago with 'Sol',” explain the artists; “we traverse outwards from the sun to each planet, weaving fables through a synthesis of their distinct physical features and a mythical personhood representing these features.” Graced with a wondrous cover painting by the inimitable Elijah Tamu, “Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine” is nothing but a never ending quest for mankind's cosmic origins, a celestial and philosophical observation on the notes of MARE COGNITUM and SPECTRAL LORE's music, perfectly in the balance between progressive yet furious black metal, and moments of ecstatic, melodic beauty. “While we wish to capture the awe of the raw, natural beauty of our cosmic surroundings, we have also created our own cosmically inspired lore with each planet as our muse,” say Ayloss and Buczarski; ”therefore, each track is a narrative which represents our admiration for each cosmic entity: the psychic manifestations that were conjured through our own wonder of the majestic planetary system we call home.” --- Love Metal // Hate Fascism

Order CD,LP & Tape avaulable from our online stores: Haeresis Noviomagi (NL/Belenux/World) >> bit.ly/2Ux13LL Eisenwald (EU/World) >> bit.ly/2S5drRq Eisenwald (North America) >> bit.ly/2UxvpOk Degen van Licht was recorded in Wageningen in the summer of MMXIX. Engineered by O and M. Koops. Produced and mixed by Turia. Mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios. www.prioryrecordingstudios.co.uk Artwork and design by Turia.

The Sanguinary Impetus is perhaps the ultimate expression of DEFEATED SANITY's signature blend of the brutal with the technical, performed in a manner largely unparalleled in the world of extreme metal. At once comfortably recognizable and awe-inspiring, the forthcoming album is sure to be a lock for many year-end lists. Sickening riff crunch, hammering beats, and technical wizardry combine to create a level of sonic violence that won't soon be forgotten.

The unmistakeable sound of ULCERATE finds its emotional apex on 6th album “Stare Into Death and Be Still”, as the band emerge from the claustrophobia and dissonance of their recent past to present a next-level exploration of melody, harmony and power. The band’s signature ultra-atmospheric blend of highest order unorthodox Death Metal with the texture of futurist Black Metal is here pared-down with the consummate hand of experience, giving stunning credence to the riff, the song and the meaning. Embracing production clarity, ULCERATE use these songs to fully showcase their otherworldly musicianship: a vocal performance from Paul Kelland of unadulterated authority, Michael Hoggard’s guitar and Jamie Saint Merat’s percussion working in tandem with startling skill and originality, simultaneously skewed and heart-rending, often addictively succinct and revelling in strident motifs that hook, haunt and transform the listener with their expressive honesty. Thematically the album explores the concept of “death reverence” – drawing on recent personal experience to confront the truism that death and tragedy aren't always sudden or violent, that people are often passive observers trapped “in the silent horror of observing death calmly and cleanly”. “Stare Into Death and Be Still” is the deepest, purest and most meticulous form of ULCERATE: a soul-searching conflagration of atypical melodicism, immaculate virtuosic dexterity and sublimated psychological upheaval. A breathtaking new beginning for one of the most uniquely talented bands in extreme music.

One year after the release of “The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods”, France's ESOCTRILIHUM return with a new and majestic work, “Eternity Of Shaog”, where the band's unique black/death metal style reaches new peaks of dark visionariness and overwhelming intensity. Sole member Asthâghul has injected new lifeblood in his creature by emphasizing the symphonic and mystical aura of the compositions, once again dense, complex and meticulously crafted. Infectious violins, piano and synths are skilfully blended with scorching guitars and mesmerizing melodies of cosmic proportions, often overflowing into raging melancholy or a delirium of omnipotence. The concept behind “Eternity Of Shaog” is one of psychic transmutation and demonic possession, and further explores the ill worlds of the immemorial gods to form a diptych with the previous album. Through a series of songs/gateways, the listeners are conducted in front of Shaog Og Magthoth, the most unfathomable among the Sovereigns of Nothingness, introduced by ESOCTRILIHUM on the "Pandemorthium" album and reminiscent of Lovecraft's Ancient Ones. In the context of this fantastic, elusive lore imagined by Asthâghul, Shaog is an omnipotent god living an endless and solitary existence outside of time and space; a hungry wild beast from a nightmarish dimension watching us with gnashing teeth, like the space vampire on Alan Brown's mind-blowing cover painting. Shaog resides at the centre of an empty, dead universe, imprisoned in a cage of monotonous desperation from which he tries to escape by possessing the unsuspecting voyager who ventures into his world of ruins through dreams... On closer inspection, Shaog is nothing but our evil self from the other side of the mirror, a metaphor for both the insanity hiding in man and the solitude of the artist. And of Asthâghul in particular: like an involuntary medium, he “receives” the blackened death metal music of ESOCTRILIHUM from unspeakable forces lurking in the dark corners of his mind, negative energies that leak out from its cracks and drip onto our reality.