Review: Obscura Domini's debut album "Sepulchral Echoes Beneath the Withered Sky"

Italian Symphonic Black Metal band Obscura Domini released recently their debut album, Sepulchral Echoes Beneath the Withered Sky.

For those who don't know, although the band was formed recently, in 2024, the members of Obscura Domini come from bands like Tenebra Arcana and Abbott (amongst others). So they have a vast experience in the field of the Symphonic Black Metal, and it shows. They are very experienced musicians, and the album is very impressive. It's marvellous. 

So, Sepulchral Echoes Beneath the Withered Sky has 7 tracks, all of them very melodic, very rich, very full. If you are into the more symphonic side of the music, and if you get your thrills from the keyboards, pianos, and the atmospheric sounds (such as the caw of crows and ravens), plus choirs, you'll love this album. It is very full of atmospheric sounds and melodies and passages. Of course the symphonic isn't the only bit that stands out, but it is certainly what the whole compositions move around. Either way, there is also a good dose of fastness, and heaviness.

The voice is the more traditional Black Metal voice, although there is also clean singing and declamations, which add a bit more of feel to all of it.
The whole release is very sentimental, intense, ardent, passionate, and so full of catchy melodies, which you'll find yourself humming for hours after you hear them. 

My only regret is that only now I managed to listen to it. But hey, better late than never, and this is an album I absolutely recommend to everyone who likes melodic and symphonic Black Metal.

The first and the last songs are instrumental, bringing the perfect opening and closing to the album.

My favourite song is track number 6, Tomb of Ashes.

Not only the compositions are splendid, as the production is also amazing.

I don't like to compare bands and this time I won't, because there are so many influences in there, but at the same time so much uniqueness, that you really have to listen to Sepulchral Echoes Beneath the Withered Sky.

Review: Sickle of Dust's new album "Across the Vultures Trail"

Russian Epic Symphonic Black Metal band Sickle of Dust just released their 5th album called Across the Vultures Trail. 

On the email I received, it said it is appropriate for fans of Summoning (amongst other bands). I have to say yes, it reminds me a lot of Summoning. But it's so much heavier! I like it. I like the fact that it is actually similar but at the same time different.

I don't get a lot of this Epic Black Metal for reviews, but sometimes I do, and this time it really really impressed me.

So what can you expect? Long songs, yes, of course, wouldn't make sense otherwise, because these compositions are so full, so rich, that they must be properly contemplated and appreciated. So basically, it's around 40 minutes of beautiful music.

Across the Vultures Trail has 5 tracks. All of them very atmospheric, very epic, and very heavy as well. Track number 3 which has the same title as the album, surprised me very much in a very positive way. It might actually be my favourite song of the whole album. Why is that? Because it starts with very atmospheric strings on keyboards, sad melody actually, and when you're getting into it, and being completely taken to elsewhere and feeling dreamy and nostalgic, comes an explosion of beauty, the powerful drums and incisive melody, all the instruments combined, and then the voice which is just so fitting, so perfect in there. 

The whole album is so well put together, the balance between the melody and the heaviness and the more raw bits is so good. The voice is a more traditional Black Metal style, but neither too raw or too sanded down, it's just the ideal for the music. There is actually a clean singing in the last track The Black Stones Inn. Which brings the atmospheric side of the music to a different unexpected level. Good stuff. Different.

What else? The rhythmic bits and the atmospheric bits are very well distributed. The medieval kind of instruments on keyboards and synthesiser are exceptionally well composed and performed. Everything in the right place.

I'm sure Across the Vultures Trail will be on the top 10 releases of 2026 for Lachryma Christi. 

It is all so good, I love this album, I'm overwhelmed. It's beautiful. Majestic, magnificent, huge, enormous in fact, powerful, epic, strong, potent, sublime. Difficult to put it all into words, but here we are!

Review: Noctivagum's first EP "De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris"

Greetings, and Happy New Year!

Today, Lachryma Christi brings you a review of the debut EP of the Black Metal band Noctivagum.

Noctivagum are a two men project, based in Germany. D. does the drums, writes the lyrics and is responsible for the whole concept. While Lightning plays the guitars and the bass.

The band is pretty recently formed, Noctivagum exist since last year. And they are releasing their EP De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris digitally in middle January, followed by 100 physical copies in February. 

The voices were recorded by Wolf, from Italy. 

De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris has 7 tracks, being the first and last both instrumental songs.

This release is very atmospheric, very wintry. 

It balances perfectly the soft and the aggressive parts. It is very melodic, very profound, very intense, and also very powerful with it's blast beasts incisions, which are pretty frequent, and with perfect timing. I find that this release has huge influences of the Black Metal music that was being made in the 90s, but they also have their own style. They have their own signature. In the compositions, in the melodies, in the whole feeling. With that being said, the songs are consistent, strong, energetic, and although they're part of a whole work and are better understood if you listen to them all in order, they're not repetitive, nor unoriginal. On the opposite. Each song adds a necessary bit to the whole release.

The voices aren't always growling. There's a good dose of declamation, which only adds more feeling to it all. I'd risk saying there is a romantic influence and feeling to it. 

I'd like to see them live. This is the kind of energy and musicality I imagine it would go really well live.

The lyrics are mostly in English, but there are elements in Latin which also adds a special touch. You can tell the whole work was well thought, the whole writing was made with care, before being recorded.

My favourite song is Carpe Noctem. I loved it as soon as it started, and still plays in my head every now and then. It's one of the most atmospheric songs in the EP. Also catchy but deep.

I listened to the EP 4 times, two without headphones, and two with headphones, to get the full feeing of it, and for the technical part of the thing. It makes a difference. I always prefer to listen to anything with headphones. But in this case specifically, I wanted to listen to it both ways, to confirm something: I'm going to say that I'd like the whole album to have the same level of production, as the instrumental songs seem to be on a higher level. I'm not criticising, I'm only stating a fact. But I'm very pleased with the end result either way. 

I hope when the time comes, everyone has the opportunity to listen to De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris, because I'm sure it will make a difference in your day, but also in your Black Metal journey.