Summary

The website content provides a review of 15 atmospheric black metal (ABM) albums from various artists and countries, emphasizing the author's personal connection to the genre.

Abstract

The article is the fourth installment in a series where the author discusses their favorite atmospheric black metal albums, bringing the total to 60 albums reviewed. It highlights a diverse range of ABM albums, noting the unique contributions of each artist to the sub-genre. The author emphasizes the difficulty in distinguishing ABM from related genres due to the blending of styles and influences. Albums from countries such as Norway, Russia, Belgium, the USA, Italy, Hungary, and Belarus are featured, showcasing the global appeal of ABM. The reviews are not ranked and reflect the author's subjective taste, with a focus on the albums' ambient, folk, and post-rock elements, as well as their ability to evoke nature and emotion. The author also touches on the controversial aspects of some artists, such as Burzum's Varg Vikernes, and the unique background of others, like Myrkur's transition from pop to black metal.

Opinions

The author has a deep appreciation for atmospheric black metal, considering it their favorite sub-sub-genre of music.
Burzum's "Filosofem" is regarded as a crowning achievement and a classic in the metal collection, despite the controversial nature of Varg Vikernes.
Elderwind's "Волшебство живой природы" (The Magic of Nature) is praised for its epic and uplifting style, intertwined with ambient influences and a connection to nature.
Eldamar's "The Force of the Ancient Land" is noted for its grandiose and progressive sound, with a significant role given to keyboards and female vocals.
Soul Dissolution's "空" (Sora) is described as delightfully melodic with a grand and epic quality, and the author expresses eagerness to explore more of their discography.
Myrkur's "M" is defended against criticism from the metal community, with the author appreciating its unique blend of black metal with folk influences and pop background.
Falaise's "My Endless Immensity" is recognized for its blend of ABM with blackgaze elements, drawing comparisons to Lantlôs and Alcest.
Old Graves' "Long Shadows" is lamented as a short-lived project with a noteworthy organic and folky sound.
Crown Of Asteria's "Sol" is highlighted for its enigmatic and raw quality, with a prolific discography that explores various movements within the black metal spectrum.
Wayfarer's "A Romance with Violence" is celebrated for its redefinition of "atmospheric" by evoking the American western frontier, combining heavy folk influences with a raw and organic feel.
Auðn's self-titled album is acknowledged as a solid debut with an aggressive edge, representing the growing Icelandic metal scene.
Vale's "Our Denouement" is noted for its generous post-rock influences, creating a balanced mix of post-rock and black metal.
Arkheron Thodol's "Rituals of The Sovereign Heart" is recommended for fans of the genre, with the author admitting to not having listened to it as much as deserved.
Realm Of Wolves' "Oblivion" is presented as a heavier offering from Ferenc Kapiller, with a post-black metal/post-rock flavor.
Chiral's "Gazing Light Eternity" is described as a strong album that started as raw black metal and evolved to include atmospheric and folk elements.
Raven Throne's "I miortvym snicca zołak…" is mentioned for its addictive nature, balancing heaviness with acoustic melodies and clean passages.

My Favorite Atmospheric Black Metal Albums — Part 4

It’s My Favorite Sub-sub-genre of Music

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

I’m continuing my series on 15 more atmospheric black metal albums, for a total of 60. It is, after all, my favorite sub-sub-genre of music, so I should have no problem coming up with even more albums to check out. See Parts 1, 2, and 3 here.

I’m continuing my rule of not repeating any artists for now, even though many artists would technically have several albums at the top of the list.

It can be hard to separate this genre from parallel ones such as post-black metal, ambient metal, blackgaze, folk metal, etc. The lines between genres get very fuzzy here, and I’m sorry if we disagree. By the way, these are in no particular order.

Burzum — Filosofem (Norway, 1996)

Burzum (Varg Vikernes) is a well-known figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He started experimenting with ambient (or “dungeon synth”) pieces in his early albums, often alongside the relentless and crude black metal tracks.

On his road to producing pure synthesizer-based albums (from prison), Filosofem emerged. It’s arguably his crowning achievement and the perfect union between the two contrasting styles. The pure, bone-chilling rawness of early Norwegian-style black metal is exemplified here, with Varg’s distinct spin on it. Falling in line with the early Burzum style, it features a 25-minute pure dungeon synth track entitled “Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität.” The album is an absolute classic and belongs in any worthwhile metal collection.

Elderwind- Волшебство живой природы (The Magic of Nature) (Russia, 2012)

Elderwind forge an epic and uplifting style of ABM, intertwined with ambient influences. They aren’t shy about embracing both the beauty of nature and the brutal grasp of winter, lyrically and visually. Keyboards play a significant role here but blend in well and aren’t too overpowering. I was quite addicted to this for a while after getting it.

Eldamar — The Force of the Ancient Land (Norway, 2016)

Not to be confused with Elderwind, Eldamar also create a grandiose, progressive, and ambient-influenced version of ABM. Keyboards are prominent and essential to painting their fantasy-inspired world around the listener. Female vocals are abundant as well, mostly of the chanting variety. This album still contains a decent amount of heaviness and harsh vocals, but it’s certainly far from the heaviest thing out there. Some may find this album somewhat cheesy, but those willing to immerse themselves and keep an open mind may be greatly rewarded.

Soul Dissolution — 空 (Sora) (Belgium, 2022)

Soul Dissolution is a fairly new artist in my collection, but Sora has blown me away so far. It’s delightfully melodic and has a grand and epic quality to it without sounding too artificial. I still have some of their past discography to explore as I eagerly await their future endeavors.

Myrkur — M (New York, USA, 2015)

Myrkur is an almost unheard-of example of a pop artist later going on to experiment with black metal. She gets a lot of criticism for this from the metal community, but I quite like her work so far.

M holds its own as a great atmospheric black metal record. Myrkur’s pleasant vocals paired with folk influences, make for a very well-rounded album. Various instruments such as fiddles, violins, brass instruments, and piano also add color and variety. You can hear her pop background in some ways, as this isn’t a particularly heavy album. Harsh vocals are very sporadic and mostly overshadowed by her gentle, ethereal clean vocals. If anything, this makes for a quite unique album.

Falaise — My Endless Immensity (Italy, 2017)

On the border between ABM and blackgaze, one could hear the Lantlôs and Alcest similarities here. They adopt a unique style, though, with post-rock and even depressive black metal influences. This album has great textures, layers, and emotions, and I’ve really enjoyed it over the past several years.

Old Graves — Long Shadows (Canada, 2016)

It’s a shame that this relatively short-lived project released only one full-length album. It harbors a very organic, nature-like, folky sound, and the heavy parts also pack a punch.

Crown Of Asteria — Sol (Michigan, USA, 2014)

This enthralling, enigmatic one-woman band has quite a prolific discography. I’ve collected a few of her albums now, but nothing is quite as captivating as Sol. It has a heavy nature theme, with influences ranging from black, doom, atmospheric, folk, ambient, and experimental. This album is quite raw and organic, and slowly wanders between different movements, dwelling on a certain idea for a long time before moving on. It’s very diffuse and not in a rush to get anywhere — as evidenced by its 83-minute length.

Wayfarer — A Romance with Violence (Denver, USA, 2020)

This band, and this album in particular, redefine what “atmospheric” means in the genre. Instead of snowy mountains or forests, it is reminiscent of the American western frontier. Steam trains, dusty plains, gunslingers, stallions, and the thrill of the gold rush dominate this album both sonically and lyrically. That may sound gimmicky, but the band pulls it off extremely well. It’s quite heavy, keyboards are subtle, if noticeable at all, and there’s a heavy folk influence.

Sometimes I get caught up in so many albums, I forget how good some of them are. I think this falls into that category. I don’t think I’ve listened to it enough to truly appreciate it. The band also has three other full-lengths, only one of which I have, and I will certainly be checking the rest out soon.

Auðn — Auðn (Iceland, 2014)

This hauntingly crisp ABM album from the growing Icelandic metal scene is on the aggressive side of the genre. It may not be super groundbreaking, but it’s a very solid debut, and the band has since released two more full-lengths, one of which I’m in the infancy stages of exploring.

Vale — Our Denouement (Pittsburgh, USA, 2020)

This fairly obscure band incorporates generous post-rock influences on this album. In fact, it could almost be considered half post-rock and half black metal. Some metal fans would hate that, but I greatly enjoy it.

Arkheron Thodol — Rituals of The Sovereign Heart (Montana, USA, 2020)

This relatively short-lived act only produced two full-length albums, and this is the only one I have now. It’s fairly aggressive, has a somewhat raw and organic feel, and has some moments of color and melodic breakdowns. It’s certainly worth checking out for any fan of the genre, and admittedly, I haven’t listened to it enough for how good it is.

Realm Of Wolves — Oblivion (Hungary, 2018)

Ferenc Kapiller, known for his solo projects Vvilderness and Release the Long Ships, also contributed to this album. This is a bit heavier than those side projects, although it still offers a similar post-black metal/post-rock flavor splash. This isn’t the most original album out there, but depending on how deep one dives into this genre, it may be worth checking out.

Chiral — Gazing Light Eternity (Italy, 2016)

This Italian one-man band started as more of a raw black metal project, gradually adding atmospheric, folk, and post-rock influences. This album is still on the raw side, and some parts sound somewhat amateur, but it’s still a very strong album.

Raven Throne — I miortvym snicca zołak… (Belarus, 2018)

This nature-inspired, somewhat gloomy, depressing release delivers a constant, fulfilling heaviness. It balances this with acoustic melodies and clean passages, providing a great flow and a tranquil experience. I found this album particularly addictive when I got it, and they have many more albums I still need to check out.