After a bit of a festival-induced hiatus in these Sunday columns, I’ve returned, and have had time to pull together a pretty good-sized selection of new blackened sounds today.

I’m leading off with three veteran bands who have managed to withstand the ravaging gales of time, and then I’ll move into newer collectives. I’m not sure there’s any organizing principle in what I chose, other than my own strong positive reactions to each choice. They include advance tracks from five forthcoming albums, some of them accompanied by videos, and one recently released full-length.

HORNED ALMIGHTY (Denmark)

The mighty Horned Almighty are returning to strike fear into the hearts of men, women, beasts, and probably plant life. Their new album, the seventh in a 20+ year career, is Contagion Zero. The first frights from it come in the form of a daunting and extremely dire song named “Ascension of Fever and Plague“. Continue reading »