Another year has passed and we are nearing the fifth anniversary of our amazing organisation. A lot has happened for Grimm and everyone that is a part of it, in Belgium as well as in other parts of Europe where we are getting more and more active. It also marks the fourth year as my role as the editor in chief for this site but I could have never done it without the help of our amazing team and especially Vaim who has put a lot of effort and work in the site as a whole. 2017 was in particular a very good year when it comes to releases, old and high valued bands have re-emerged, new ones have sprouted up and some have probably been lacking the attention they deserve because of the absolute abundance of albums, EP’s, splits and demo’s that have seen the light of day. Yet we can only try to give everyone as much attention as possible and try to give equal chances to every artist out there. My personal efforts in this matter resulted in the following top 10 of the past year.
| 10-6 | 5-2 | 1 | Honourable mentions |
5. Aosoth – V: The Inside Scriptures
After the release of IV: An Arrow Through the Heart and a following tour it remained considerable silent around the French black and death metal band Aosoth. Last year they were back in the picture with another full length of the finest Parisian underground sound. Lead by some of the most notorious and illustrious figures from this scene they delivered another hard smack in the fans of friend and foe. There are rumors going round that this is the final chapter in the career of this modern cult band but these have yet to be confirmed or denied. Let us hope that this is not the end and that there are more releases like this to come. You can redirect here for the full review.
4. Wolves in the Throne Room – Thrice Woven
After their ambient album Wolves in the Throne Room returned with renewed and revitalized energy and rawness that was so typical for their earlier black metal releases. Thrice Woven marked the return of their typical Cascadian black metal sound that made them famous and respected by old school fans as well as the more post-black metal fans. The deep devotion to nature is still very present in this release and shows that it is perfectly possible for a band to stick true to their origins and bring something fresh at the same time. It is no surprise that the album is in almost every major chart and top 10 on the internet and other magazines. Modern black metal would have never been what it is now without these guys and they are still the masters of their own craft. If you want to read the original review in full, you can find it right here.
3. Hetroertzen – Uprising of the Fallen
Since this was released almost a year ago I almost forgot that Uprising of the Fallen appeared in 2017 instead of 2016. Luckily I checked my inventory of recent releases so I didn’t have to make this mistake. After 20 years Hetroertzen still dedicates their musical composition to the occult left hand path. They play a modern yet very sophisticated variety of the typical Scandinavian black metal sound. The fact that they originated in Chile is of no importance here since they are among the leading party of bands in the occult European scene. Uprising of the Fallen follows the path that they have laid out for themselves all these years ago. This path involved developing their own sound and style that always sounds familiar and sets them apart from their fellow worshipers of the dark arts. Those who have forgotten what I had to say about them 11 months ago can retrieve it here.
2. Nightbringer – Terra Damnata
Nightbringer themselves call Terra Damnata a return to their personal highlights on Hierophant of the Open Grave from 2011. I could not agree more myself since the high pitched tremolo leads are back on the front of the whole album and the shrieking vocals have also made a comeback. This has caused some disagreement between the fans since one part agrees with the band while the other still prefer the more refined and slower Ego Dominuus Tuus. Although the latter party will still have to admit that is a very strong and overwhelming release and among the best black metal releases of last year. One of the positive sides of the contemporary Nightbringer is that it has a very international line-up, with Norgaath on bass duty Belgium is also represented in the band, this makes that a lot of different styles, characteristics and influences from around the globe all found their way to these compositions.
