Midoran

Holdlajtorja is a Hungarian project from Zalaegerszeg formed in 2018 by figures from the country's black metal underground - guitarist/songwriter Inmar (also of Vorkuta), vocalist Kryptagonist (also of Leiru and SIR), and Vorgrov (also of Marblebog and Asattarn). Named for a Lovecraftian vision from At the Mountains of Madness and sung in Hungarian, the band trades blast-beat orthodoxy for slow-unfurling, dark-ambient soundscapes laced with unusual string instruments and 'oriental' melodic passages. Their 2024 debut full-length Arcana et Tenebrae (Sun & Moon Records) was described by reviewers as 'Dark Ambient Avant Garde Music with Black Metal's constant intervention.'

Eidosplay in the dock

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Midnight Odyssey is the one-man cosmic/atmospheric black metal outlet of Brisbane's Dis Pater, running concept albums soaked in mythology since 2007. Its sprawling Biolume trilogy (2019-2023) folds synth-driven ambient drone, neoclassical arrangement, and doom-metal pacing around a core of raw, lo-fi black metal. The project regularly spins off pure ambient/ kosmische material and symphonic re-recordings alongside the metal proper, making atmosphere as central to its identity as riffs.

Dornenreich is an Austrian melodic black metal band formed in 1996 by Jochen 'Eviga' Stock, distinguished by its 'neofolk influenced' sound built around acoustic guitar, percussion, and Thomas 'Inve' Riesner's violin. Across nine studio albums on Prophecy Productions (1997-2021), German-language lyrics and an increasingly ambient, acoustic-leaning palette have accompanied a reputation for theatrical, tightly staged live shows, including a multi-camera concert film shot at Summer Breeze 2007.

Tief im Landplay in the dock

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KZOHH is a Ukrainian 'pestilent black metal ritual' project from Kharkiv, active since 2014, drawing members from Khors, Ygg, Reusmarkt, Ulvegr and Elderblood. Known for atmospheric, drone-like passages punctuated by blasting tremolo sections, and for ceremonial live shows featuring black masks, hooded robes and incense smoke.

Massebegravelserplay in the dock

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Titaan is the one-man occult black metal project of Italian musician Lalartu, based in Trieste, built around a conceptual exploration of ancient Mesopotamian mythology across Kadingir (2016) and ITIMA (2020). The project fuses aggressive second-wave black metal with dark ambient textures and ritualistic vocal chanting, aiming for a 'cinematic' rather than song-based listening experience. Releases are issued via the Italian label ATMF.

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Osculum Serpentis ('Kiss of the Serpent') is a French one-man raw/vampiric black metal project from Paris, formed in 2022 by Maxime Taccardi under the alias Vipera, who handles all guitars, bass, synth, drums, and vocals. In roughly two years the project released a striking run of material — Maleficia (2023), The Curse of the Vampyre (2023), Miseria (2024), Satanā (2024, Giin Productions), Vampyre Lord (2024), and The Streams of Sorrow (2025) — steeped in the primitivist Légions Noires lineage but pushed toward theatrical excess: Vipera deploys 'a multitude of demonic voices' compared to Attila Csihar's ceremonial delivery, layered over dark-ambient, cinematic textures amid the raw riffing. Reviewers have called it 'sheer diabolic Black Metal extravaganza,' an 'epic, even flamboyant' take on vampiric/occult raw black metal.

The Return of the Vampyre Lordplay in the dock

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Dead Raven Choir is the long-running solo/rotating-cast vehicle of Polish musician Smolken (also of Wolfmangler), begun in 1996 in Kraków as a black-metal project setting A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh poems to "virulent" riffing before evolving into a sprawling, deliberately lo-fi hybrid of raw black metal, acoustic folk metal, dark ambient and neofolk. Its extensive, ramshackle discography (15+ studio albums, numerous CD-Rs) trades polish for degraded, intentionally harsh production, closer to outsider/neofolk territory than conventional metal, which the project itself has framed as its point.

Post-black metal duo from Saint Petersburg, Russia, active as Swampborn since 2011. Guitarist Pathrone and vocalist Sur released their debut full-length Beyond Ratio via Hypnotic Dirge Records in 2022, weaving brass, violin, cello and accordion into a black-metal core across a concept narrative about existential horror and urban decay.

Grave Gnosis is a ritualistic occult black metal band from St. Petersburg, Florida, formed in 2015, rooted in Theistic Satanism, framing its recording sessions as literal ritual and trance work.

Gelassenheit is the solo avant-garde/atmospheric black metal project of Uncumber (Mave/Abe Goren), based in Brooklyn/New York and active since 2020. The self-titled album blends symphonic black metal, avant-garde metal, dungeon synth, depressive black metal, and coldwave into a synth-heavy sound built around explicitly Christian-anarchist ('Red and Anarchist Black Metal') themes of communal living, care for the poor, and anti-fascism, framed by the artist as 'using Christianity as a tool for advocacy and unique aesthetic cultivation' rather than evangelism. Uncumber is a trans woman and has described the project in interviews as unblack, RABM-aligned black metal.