Album Reviews

One of the things that I love about music is that no matter how much time I spend listening to (and obsessing over) it, I likely won’t ever do more than just scratch the surface of what’s out there. The happy result of this is that pretty much every year there’s at least one band that isn’t even remotely on my radar that releases an album that completely knocks me on my ass. This year, that band is Portland-based psychedelic drone/doomsters Megaton Leviathan, whose recently released Past 21 Beyond the Arctic Shell has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year.

Thus far, 2014 has been an outstanding year for fans of black metal. Starting back in January with Murmur’s stellar self-titled record, this year has seen excellent releases from both more established bands (Cormorant, Agalloch, Lantlos, Woods of Desolation, Krieg) and relative newcomers (Bastard Sapling, Barghest, Mutilation Rites, Barbeleth, Myopic, Torrid Husk, The Great Old Ones, Emptiness, Thantifaxath). Add to that list a pair of releases from September: Panopticon’s Roads to the North and the self-titled debut EP from Myrkur.

Upstart Baltimore-based Grimoire Records first came to my attention a few months ago when Highpriest’s excellent Shift EP landed in my inbox (which I reviewed here). Now they’re on my radar again with Crawling Mountain Apogee, the forthcoming split from Myopic and Torrid Husk, which I’ve been listening to almost non-stop for the last week. If you’ve slept on Grimoire Records thus far, it’s time to for that to change, because they are quickly becoming a label worth paying very close attention to.