Of the Wand and the Moon - The Lone Descent

Of the Wand and the Moon is a neofolk project from Denmark that rose from the ashes of Saturnus. For those of you who don't know what neofolk is, imagine folk, but with darker overtones and usually deeper singing. They've been playing since around 1999 and continue to produce more material. The album is mostly acoustic, with some synth parts and some really sick orchestral parts as well. The singing is eerie and lower in pitch, and the lyrics are about love, darkness, and paganism. The best songs are "Pyre of Black Sunflowers" and "Immer Vorwärts". "Pyre" in particular has an amazing orchestral part at the end. It was really difficult for me to pick out two tracks, because the entire album is absolutely beautiful. Definitely give it a listen.

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Alement - Alestorm

Shameless self promotion time. This is my band's first demo. Give it a listen.

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Windhand - S/T

Windhand is a relatively new doom metal band from Richmond, Virginia. I've only just recently discovered them, but they have immediately caught my attention. This self-title is their first official release, and it is truly something to behold. The general pace is slow and it grinds and chunks along with a beautiful liquid motion. Guitars are heavy and distorted, the bass is fuzzy and grindy, and the vocals smoothly and eerily flow over top of it all. There is some really cool experimental effects and aspects thrown in on top of it too. Windhand creates a feel like very few albums can, and it's real easy to lose yourself while listening to it. Standout songs are "Libusen" and "Summon the Moon". I'm really looking forward to seeing how this band evolves.

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Whirl - Distressor

This is one I've been meaning to do for a while. Whirl is a shoegaze band from San Francisco that started up around 2010. This album is their first full release and is amazing. Whirl has a wall of sound approach by using heavily distorted guitars and lots of echo and reverb. The female lead singing is eerie and flowing, acting more as an instrument than a medium for lyrics. As much as I hate to use the word, the album is very spacey, and I tended to lose myself in it quite often. The album is a beautiful piece of work and everyone should check these guys out. All the songs are awesome in their own ways, but the standout ones to me are "Leave" and the slower paced "Ghost" and "Sandy". On a side note, "Whirl" has changed their name to "Whirr" do to copyright issues.

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Burzum - Filosofem

Burzum is a Norwegian black metal project by Varg Virkernes that started in 1991. Burzum, along with Darkthrone, are perhaps some of the most influential bands in the Norwegian black metal scene. There is a lot of controversy with Varg Virkernes, which you can read about here, because it's a very long ordeal. Filosofem was Burzum's last album before he made before he went to jail in 1993, however, the album was released in1996. The album is black metal with a lot of experimentation with minimalism, repetition and ambiance. It was intentionally recorded as poorly as possible, with the guitars being played out of a stereo instead of an amp and the vocals being recorded through headphones. The guitars are fuzzy and distorted and the growling vocals are raw and noisy. Everything about this album is near perfection. The shortest song on the album is around seven minutes long, but I didn't once catch myself wanting to skip to the next song. Best songs are "Dunkelheit" and "Jesus' Tod", but every song on the album is great. If you've never heard of Burzum, you need to give this a listen. Plus "Burzum" means "Darkness" in the black language of Sauron, and that's fucking awesome. As a note, this is the German version of the album, there is no difference except the song names.

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Death Evocation - S/T

Death Evocation is a relatively new thrash band from the U.K., and they are a kick to the fucking teeth. It feels like Sacrilege gone to the next level, if that was even possible. Speedy female vocals rip over searing guitar riffs, with some destructive solos. While it is a shorter 7" at only three songs, they manage to impress the hell out of me. To my knowledge, this is Death Evocation's first release and they are definitely on my watch list for this year, and I eagerly await whatever demons they can raise on their next release. Hopefully they don't go the way of Sacrilege (looking at you "Turn Back the Trilobite"). Each song is awesome, but "Relentless" sets their whole feel for me. All I can say is listen to this, you won't be disappointed.

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Fall of Efrafa - Elil

Fall of Efrafa is a post hardcore band from the UK. They started out in 2005 and ended in 2009. This particular album is the second album in a trilogy entitled "Warren of Snares" which is based upon Richard Adams’ Watership Down. The whole idea of having the trilogy works out pretty fucking awesome, because every album continues along a story where the last album left off, and this isn't just splitting one album to make money, each segment of the trilogy can easily be it's own album. The album, Elil, is the best of the three. It's a slower paced beast, but is by no means tame. It starts you out on a slow intro and the suspense is absolutely ridiculous, and it builds up into brutal d beat sections. There manages to be so many awesome aspects to this album and having an entire LP that consists of three twenty minute songs is an impressive feat on it's own. Vocals are chanted and bellowed, and the rhythms of guitars and bass change so much, it's hard to describe in one word. This is an album you should listen to all the way through if you can manage, because just listening to a few minutes of it really isn't doing it justice considering it was made to be one full experience. Definitely worth a listen, I know you have time. This album is simply breathtaking.

Entire "Warren of Snares"

Owsla: Download

Elil: Download

Inlé: Download