Hello friends!

I’m pleased to present you with the following — one album that came out a year ago, one that was just released a week ago. In my notes (where I keep track of everything I’ve listened to that I plan to keep, that I plan to write about here, that I expect to possibly be a contender for one of my year end lists, and basically I just jot down a few descriptive words or phrases to help me keep track of it all, since frankly none of us are getting any younger and it keeps getting harder with each passing year), I described one of them as “nasty, raw BM with some atmospheric stuff” and the other as “atmospheric, dusty-crusty Swedish BM.”

If either of those descriptions — or both! — seem like they may be up your alley, then read on, read on!

 

Fryktelig Støy – Incandescent (I, Voidhanger Records, 11 April 2025)

 

Fayenne – The Calling from the Depth (Void Wanderer Productions / Hamartia Records, 26 February 2026)

 

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Calling Incandescent — the second official release by Australia’s Fryktelig Støy — “raw black metal” or even “atmospheric black metal” is admittedly reductive and a bit of an oversimplification. After all, sole proprietor Em Støy says of the project (whose name is Norwegian for “horrible noise”) that it “refuses to be bound by the restrictions and conventions of genre.”

The vocalist/multi-instrumentalist also makes references to “a contemplation of upheaval, death and motherhood”; “the death of the self, while holding hope and adoration for one’s children”; her “vision of ignition in darkness, flight and witchcraft”; “magic, transmutation, Satanism and existentialism”; “betrayal, grief and rediscovery”; and “the Luciferian tradition … Becoming your own light-bringer, finding hope in decay and returning to the motif of the black wings of a fallen angel in different moments of destruction, bitterness and renewal.” So needless to say, there is a LOT to unpack here.

From the hellish growl that opens the first song “Black Swan” through the furious whirlwind of blackened energy that’s unleashed immediately afterwards, the listener will pretty much realize what they’re in for. But throughout the following three-quarters of an hour, that promise about eschewing “restrictions of genre” becomes quite apparent: practically every other track, it seems, present moments dirgey, droney, bleak and dark and depressing, doomy and gloomy. Plenty of frantic black metal with the tremolos and drumming and shrieked vocals, but — particularly in the slower and darker spots — those vocals often turn to creepy whispers or occasionally even deadpan almost-harmonic singing. And the hero (to this reviewer, anyway) tying it all together, between the frenzied riffs and the drones, is that growly-toned bassline underpinning everything else.

 

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Swedish trio Fayenne likewise produce chaotic black metal with a twist: creaky, shrieky vocals, thunderous blastbeats, blackened riffs, but often it’ll all devolve into more of a mid-tempo DM feel. The name of the album and title of the opening track “The Calling from the Depth” is rather appropriate for the overall sound, especially the cavernous reverb that drenches everything.

This band and this material also has a bit of an intellectual bent as well, though. Their press materials mention that the record “visually and lyrically alludes to the sea, chaos, alchemy and female world destruction”; and that one of the overarching themes here is “Leviathan as creator and destroyer of the world.” Interestingly, the Uppsala natives specifically referred to Leviathan, not the Norse counterpart sea monster Jörmungandr; although both mythical monsters have sometimes been represented as a serpent or an ouroboros, in my research I noted that Leviathan specifically has also been identified as one of the Princes of Hell in some Christian writing as well as in The Satanic Bible. For whatever it’s worth.

 

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Incandescent is out now in digital format (US), digital+CD (EU), or digital+CD (AUS).
 

 
Find The Calling from the Depth in digital format (US); digital/cassette/vinyl (SW); cassette/vinyl (EU)
 

 

Fryktelig Støy – website | Bandcamp
I, Voidhanger – merch store (EU) | merch store (US) | Bandcamp | YouTube
 
Fayenne – Bandcamp
Void Wanderer – website | Bandcamp