I’ve been looking forward to this for a year, and it was worth it. Ustalost is the solo project of Will Skarstad, one of the main figures in one of the best active black metal bands around, Yellow Eyes. Ustalost is all him (with some help from his brother Sam in the lyric and production department), and it’s maybe emotionally the most emotionally powerful project he’s involved in. This is his second album and it’s a dream and an adventure. It’s not so much experimental or left field, it’s more that the songs feel otherwordly; even for the already pretty alien world of black metal. Where his (also excellent)
debut (I have the only signed copy!) was a stream on which I wanted to endlessly flow, this is a wild river that takes me to places I never knew existed, where new details emerge with every listen and depths are deeper than they appeared before. The rumbling bass, tingling guitars, dense synths, intense shrieks, the choirs… it just resonates with me on a different level. This would’ve looked very, very good on my Best of 2021 list, but I’ll take it on to next year.
There’s more: Funeral Mist (🌶️ black from Sweden)
Arkhtinn (🌶️ atmospheric black from who knows where),
Voidsphere (atmospheric black from the same hole in the sky as Arkhtinn, they’re both Prava Kollektiv),
Myrdød (black/death from the USA),
Wound (death from Germany), a split from
Celestial Sword & Trhä (raw black from the USA & atmoblack from Anonymous-Nerdistan), a split from
Night In Gales & Nyktophobia (🌶️ both melodeath from Germany),
Obscurial (death from Kuala Lumpur),
Charnel Altar (death/black/doom from Australia),
Ifernach (black from Canada),
Flatus (death from Australia),
Enevelde (black from Norway - dude from Misotheist),
Mega Colossus (heavy from the USA),
Iron Fate (power/thrash from Germany), a demo from
Petbrick (noise from the UK/Brazil - feat Iggor Cavalera) and a live(stream) album from
Behemoth (🌶️ black/death from Poland).
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