The first 30 seconds of "Revenge by Fire" convinced me to get the whole album! It is a face-melting blend of speed and black metal, reminiscent of Hellripper! KVAEN is a Swedish solo project much like Hellripper but many known guest musicians helped J. Björnfot in his endeavor. Altogether it is really a solid debut album, I loved the melodies and the pace changes in the second half too, ending with a "calm" instrumental one. Well-done!! sachavonkarl74
Gaerea's first release of "Unsettling Whispers" was in 2018, and since, they dared define a "black metal" niche of their own, they dared to walk a new path and stir shit up a bit in the realm of BM, this album is a masterpiece and a milestone proving that it can be done, provided the band can pull it off, and they did, oh they did! Gloomy, dark, post-BM sludgy whatever, it's Gaerea, and this one belongs in my BC collection, the end. sachavonkarl74
A Pagan black metal masterpiece.
Folk and black metal elements fuse into one extremely catchy and awe inspiring album. This band does not disappoint from all the high praise sent it's way. Abyssius Murkraken
Late 90's BM worship, but it's also a lil more than that. This album takes the best elements from the scene it's inspired by and mostly avoids the worst of it; the song-writing is well-written, it's performed with passion and fun, and the production is raw but isn't lo-fi. (i.e. it doesn't obfuscate and/or suckass).
Tl;dr It's safe but high quality BM. Recommended. Rabbit