gaiusfolk
i swear it took me multiple listens to realize there's a whole ass man standing there with a guitar in the cave of ordeals.
Favorite track: Moldé Volhal.
Mostly Metal
Don't let the cover fool you. This is one of the best black metal albums released in a long time.
Hard to pick a favorite here. Every song is top-notch black metal the way it's always been intended to be played; fast, catchy, and brutal!!!
Favorite track: Beyond The Red Horizons of a Thousand Battles.
victor_p
Black metal with an epic feel, with soaring, majestic guitar melodies and nice composition skills. There’s also an only-synth interlude (track 4) with the usual northern and wintry vibes. Very cool.
Favorite track: Through Everlasting Halls (Triumphant Return to The Keep of Moldé Volhal).
This black metal band from L.A. returns to the genre’s roots, delivering icy, forbidding songs with knife-sharp riffing. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 12, 2021
Shrines power through melancholia with aggressive, well-produced post punk, with some death metal and post-rock textures for good measure. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 7, 2021
supported by 129 fans who also own “Into the Cave of Ordeals...”
Can you have your black metal with no moronic samples, with guitars downtuned to drill holes in your very self, hypnotizing bass lines, drums that are something more than blast beats and vocals that don't need to be soaked in reverb, and on top of it fast, melodic, headbanging and catchy?
Yes.
p.s. my grandma used to say: never judge a metal album by its intro. YomaBarr