What’s making our holiday playlist?
At the very first of our yearly get-together on our discord channel, we asked all our staff members to bring forth their two favorite BMP YouTube premieres of the year, be it full albums or EP’s. What caught us by surprise and made its way into our regular rotation?
To lead our charge into battle is our boss and mentor, Kermit:
Kermits picks:
Blood Countess – Occulta Tenebris
The screams, the atmosphere and the excellent album art. I just love it!
Nahtrunar – Wolfsstunde
The atmosphere of this album and the stunning artwork make this one of the best albums of 2022 for me.
Stinger’s picks:
Condra – Aeonic Tempest from the Abyss (Album)
Lyrical Theme: Chaos Magick, Left-Hand path and the occult inspire the lyrical theme of this album.
Review: Condra is an anti-cosmic Melodic Black band from Chile. This album has channelled that classic Swedish Melodic Black/Death tone.
The start of the album sets you in an icy-cold place with a beautiful acoustic prelude, which appears a few times throughout the album.
As the album progresses, it keeps getting cold and heavier as it sways you into the darker realms. The vocals are energetic; screams are full of rage and hate, accompanied by magnificent guitar solos and melodic riffs.
The haunting melodies make this epic soundscape such a pleasant listen.
Recommended tracks: “Spectres of a dying Soul”, “Icy Horizon”, and “The Omen”
Who’s gonna dig it? : People who enjoy bands like Dissection, Naglfar, Istapp, Lord Belial, Ishtar Tryglav, Ninkharsag and Sacramentum.
Xavarthan – Night of the Nocturnal Rites (EP)
Lyrical Theme: Middle ages, Nature, Darkness, and Death.
Review: Xavarthan is a one-man Raw Black Metal from Finland. The EP encapsulates atmospheric black metal with raw vocals in such a beautiful way.
There is something mesmerising about each track on this EP, and it makes you feel like you are close to nature. The acoustics and the sound of wilderness effortlessly evoke a sense of despair while sounding so comforting at the same time.
The experience of listening to it is very enjoyable and memorable.
Recommended tracks: “Revontulien valaisemana yönä” and “…And so the river has flown and the times passed”
Who’s gonna dig it? : People who enjoy bands like Warmoon Lord, Grima, Ellende, Nordicwinter, and Sarastus.
Syffs picks:
Nordjevel – Gnavhól
Take some of the most aggressive and prolific musicians in the Norwegian scene and back them up with a swede that can easily be hailed as the most dominant (pun intended) extreme metal drummer of all time. What you get is more than 50 minutes of extreme melodic precission in the form of this years album Gnavhól.
ACOD – Fourth Reign over Opacities and Beyond
Atmospheric or melodic, black or death, whatever labels you choose to stick on this, you’re in for one hell of a ride.
Boennas picks:
Aurae Lunae – Demo I
This demo caught me by surprise, as I’m not really listening to much vampyric black metal or dungeon synth this was not supposed to show up on my radar. Luckily it did and these four tracks, which two of them being full songs and two synth based interludes, was played several times a day for weeks and still gets heavy rotation now.
Vital Spirit – Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind
These canadians do it right, a great blend of atmospheric black metal with lyrics and themes inspired by the indigenous mythology and history of the North American West.
So, do you agree with our picks, what did we miss? Do you live in a place that is drowned in snow and looks like an Immortal cover or do you dress like a 90’s Floridian death metal band all year around? Let us know in the comments below!
That’s some really good picks. Thank you for doing this bønna! 😸🤘