The most impressive thing about Shade Empire’s new album Sunholy (Candlelight Records) is the range of dynamics it incorporates. However, if you need this to be a Black Metal album you might need to go hunt down the new Taake album or wait for Mayhem’s album to drop, but if you are open to metal that is melodic and offers a great deal of sonic colors then hear me out…
Exiled Hope, the blackened power metal project of Sofia Frasz, has unveiled the haunting new single “The Summoning.” Opening with an ethereal piano-driven introduction, orchestral strings gently emerge along with Sofia’s ghostly vocals. Soon exploding into an onslaught of high-speed guitar riffs, gothic backing, and demonic harsh, “The Summoning” sees the light and the dark entwine and collide.