(written by Islander)

The black metal band Nigrum was born in 2015 in Cuernavaca, the lush capital of the Mexican state of Morelos, but eventually found its way to a new home in the south of Sweden. The years that followed ultimately culminated in Nigrum‘s 2022 debut album Elevenfold Tail, and now they’re following that with a second full-length, appropriately titled Blood Worship Extremism, which will be released next month by Iron Bonehead Productions.

Nigrum‘s music, as it now stands represented through the new album, is as viscerally electrifying as anything you’re likely to find this year. The songs often provide tremendous surging power, barbarically unhinged vocals, and fleet-fingered, fire-bright fretwork that’s devilishly elaborate and ecstatic. But they also spin listeners through changes that strengthen the music’s iron-clawed grip.

You’ll see what we’re trying to get at when you hear the relentlessly dazzling song we’re premiering today — “Ineffable Empire“. Continue reading »