Review: Mascharat's new album "Ars Aurea Mortis"

Black Metal band from Italy Mascharat released their new album Ars Aurea Mortis on the 31st of January, in a collaboration with Remparts Productions. I'm sad I only managed to listen to it today, because it is so good. Oh so good! 

Ars Aurea Mortis is one of the best albums I've heard so far. Not only in 2026 but overall. 

So, what to expect of Ars Aurea Mortis? 

This is a proper Black Metal album, there is ambience yes, there is atmosphere, but it is raw, heavy, without embellishments. Mascharat don't need those, their music is awesome and just as it is. Superb.

I got the goosebumps quite a few times, because the music is so obscure, inspiring, deep, it's marvellous. I'm very very pleased indeed.

Ars Aurea Mortis is a concept album, focused on traditions such as the Venetian carnival, but also exploring the subject of the transformation of matter, according to the principles of alchemy and Western esotericism. Which is a very interesting theme, and it should be brought up more often, so I'm glad they did it. It has 8 tracks, representing a dialogue with a Mask, and refering to the phases of the alchemical opus. It is the second album of the band.

The music has influences of Nordic Black Metal, also of late 90s Black Metal, but not as copy. It is more as a continuation of the legacy. I love it. It is more traditional than not, but with a high level of knowledge, experience, technicality and passion. In the end of each song there is a atmospheric sound, where you can almost listen to nature and the elements. It's just beautiful and very well thought and designed.

Speaking of design, can't leave the artwork out of this review. From the cover (which you can see below) to the inside art, presenting the Alchemy seals, plus information about each of the phases of the process, both in Italian and English. Very philosophical, but it works as a charm. It is very appealing to the eye, I must say. Especially if you are interested in Alchemy, but even if you're not.

I also would like to say I am very impressed with the production as well. Not only the music is intense, full, furious, glorious, as the production is beyond perfect. It is possible to listen and distinguish absolutely every instrument. The voice is something else, very raw, cavernous, no clichés. Just Black Metal.

I could stay here talking of Mascharat's Ars Aurea Mortis all night long, because it is a tremendous album. I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I do. I am planning on listening to it many more times in the future and to recommend it profusely. 

Review: Saille's new album "Forebode"

Dutch Black Metal band Saille released their new album Forebode on the 13th of February, via Non Serviam Records. 

After 5 years without a new album, it was certainly a pleasure to listen to Forebode.

Forebode brings me back the feeling I got the first time I heard Saille, which was when the album Ritu came out, back in 2013. The epic feeling, the feeling that these guys are unstoppable and so intense. Ritu even became one of the top ten albums of that year, for Lachryma Christi. 

Their music is just so powerful and rich, I'm as mesmerized today with Forebode as I got back then.

Forebode has nine tracks. Four of them are new, then there is a re-recorded version of Haunted of the Dark 2025 (live), and an extended classical version of Eater of Worlds, with additional instruments. 

After all this, there are three live tracks featuring a violinist, and those three tracks are bonus tracks, which are not included on the digital version. So make sure you pay attention to this before you chose which version you'd like to get.

Well, Saille are known for their epic music with symphonic instruments and elements and melodies and passages, which possibly make their music a lot more majestic than it would be without them. Their albums are just as heavy as any Black Metal album, but the atmosphere on them is always very epic and so fierce, it's huge. Forebode isn't different, on the opposite, it shows us how Saille are firm in their style without becoming boring or repetitive, ever. 

There is an icy feeling, a furious feeling, a contained anger, a mix and match of emotions on the songs of Forebode, it is really impressive. 

Track number 2 Echoes of Empathy is particularly frightening, I must say. But my favourite track might be number 1 Deception of Decadence. The music, the actual melodies are so sharp, so extraordinary, then the voices, including a clean singing, are so impassioned, that it is impossible to not feel the meaning of the title through the actual composition.

Forebode is profound, vigorous, potent, it's enormous, I listened to it three times on a row and I loved every single one of them. 

Their covers are always amazing pieces of art, and Forebode cover is not an exception. 

News: Hecate Enthroned release new video for song "A Gallery of Rotting Portraits"

Black Metal band Hecate Enthroned just released a video for the song A Gallery of Rotting Portraits. 

This song is part of their upcoming album The Corpse of a Titan, A Lament Long Buried, which is scheduled to be released this year.

You can listen to the song and watch the video here:

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 Abgott (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.

News: Morbonoct reveal lyrics for new single "Cold Wind"

Black Metal band Morbonoct from Ukraine/Poland, are releasing a new album called No One Knows We're Dying on the 12th of December, through Black Metal Promotion.

To give us all a taste of what's coming, they released on the 14th of November the single Cold Wind, which is now available on all streaming platforms.

Lachryma Christi is very honoured to share with you, first-hand, the lyrics for this amazing track.

You can listen to Cold Wind here:

Lyrics: 

"Dominant arrogance

Cult of the mighty ones

Sadness a weakness

Vanquished morality

Your dreams will perish

And turn into dust

Stay close, the path is thin

Revere the fleeting thread

For we shall end within

Pax aeterna animae

Again, I see

Her pale white face

Rage, disdain

She walks with deadly grace

The keeper of my fate

She walks me to

The gates of hell

Her velvet touch

My final bell

I'm drowning in my own self

The treasure i cannot find

I lost my will to live

I think i'm losing time

I think i'm losing time

Drowning in myself 

I'm bleeding

I'm dying inside

I think 

I think im losing time

Again

I don't know what to do

I stand alone

Among the last few

Sleepless nights

Were testament to my fate

I'm coexisting with pressure

And pain that was forced

Upon my name

Perpetrator not a victim

That's exactly who I am

Kept my love so tight

When she died inside

Her blood is on my hands

Still alive

Sleepless nights

I'll die tonight

Cold winds call, my time is near,

Lost in night, consumed by fear.

Shadows fall, I can't break free

Cold winds are calling my name

My time is soon to come

I can't break free

Cold winds call my name"

In case you don't know, Morbonoct play a symphonic, atmospheric, aggressive but also melodic Black Metal, with a touch of cosmic and space elements. Their music is very passionate, intense, deep.

I was very pleased with the previous album The Highest Purpose which came out last year (review here: https://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.com/2024/02/review-morbonocts-new-album-highest.html), and I'm very eager to listen to No One Knows We're Dying, because Cold Wind is so so good. Just beautiful!