Battle Dagorath - Cursed Storm of Ages (2013)

Black metal during the summertime doesn't work. Seriously, I barely listen to the genre during the summertime because there's just something about heat, sunshine and longer days that doesn't go so well with the genre. So, reviewing the new Battle Dagorath album, 'Cursed Storm Of Ages' has been something of a challenge for me, especially since the band has flawlessly been creating very, very cold and dark sounding black metal since their debut, 'Eternal Throne' in '08. Fortunately, Battle Dagorath do their brand of black metal better than most and I'm happy to report that this latest recording is yet another triumphant in their discography... even on hot summer days.

Opening with a lengthy ambient piece titled, 'The Tomb Lies Deep Beyond At The End Of Time,' the album segues into 'Cloud, Shadow, Earth & Flesh,' a thunderously raging black metal composition that stretches nearly thirteen minutes in length that's unrelenting and massive the whole way through. 'Processional Across Dreamed Landscapes' is no less ferocious in its delivery, but even more expansive, while 'Macrocosmic Haunting Vision' is quite simply marvelous, and the ambient and acoustic bit in the middle with a sample makes the song all the more ominous. Moving down the song list we come to 'Awakened by the Spell of the Wind,' which opens with a gorgeous ambiance and howling wind, gaining in momentum it eventually erupts into one of the albums mightiest songs, yet one of the slower ones too. 'Interdimensional Passageway Between Worlds' is one of my other favs, almost sounding like they channeled their own tunes through an Immortal filter to come up with something enormously epic.

Musically Battle Dagorath probably hasn't changed that much on these songs or the recording as a whole, its very much the same brand of blizzardy fast ambiental black metal that's often augmented with ambient breaks and occasional samples, yet these songs seem far more mature. Did I mention that the album is nearly two hours in length and spread across two discs? Well, it most certainly is. Initially this might seem like too much of the same thing to take in at one time, but all nine of these long tracks set an immense atmosphere that can only be compared to the most violent outbursts of wintry darkness. Needless to say I really look forward to driving around with this one in my car stereo on gloomy wintry nights.

Three albums in now and Battle Dagorath is definitely not showing any signs of decline, but just getting better at what they do. I'd hope that the next recording introduces something new to their music as they've clearly established a sound and presence now. They just need to make the next logical evolution and to hopefully rise to the very top of the USBM scene someday.