Finally, a full-length from this talented band. The album Fragments of Despair will be released in May 2 2025. Black Anthem hails from Austria, and my first contact with this band was back in 2021 in the track "Awakening" on Austrian Metal News - Vol. 1 (Running Wild Productions, CD/digital, Dec 2021). Their music is black metal, in a way, in a way? Yes, because I hear both thrash, groove, death and doom metal. I admit I have nothing to compare to. There are no other bands that do what they do; you can come close to Satyricon, Sepultura, early Novembers Doom and the French band Mourning Dawn - the album Dead End Euphoria, but, you can't really compare to; just hear reflections of all those bands. And I like that.

Fragments of Despair opens up with the track "The Deep Longing for Sorrow" a heavy track. Many of the tracks on this album are based upon Johannes Maier's voice, so the first track is more death/black metal, and that feeling of doom is there, great track. The second track, "Awakening," was released on the EP :Black Anthem (2021). What can I say? For me, it's already a cult track, so raw and brutal in a way, but at the same time, has a melody. Black Anthem has their own style; they are a heavy band. Even when they go faster, like in parts of "Hellfire," the third track on the album, it's still heavy and has a groove. And it works perfectly. Sabrina's style of drumming is simply heavy, right on. That kind of drumming gives me a Black Sabbath feeling.

I will not go track by track, because it's very hard to describe this kind of music, and its genre. I would say that they have their own thing going on here, and you need to hear it, because words are not enough. I highlight the tracks that stand out. And "SILVA" is one of those. Johannes and Sabrina really add something extra with all the rhythm changes that this track has, and it shows what they can do; it's an odder track. And Black Anthem will reach the bigger arenas. It's just a matter of time. You can be a hardcore black metal, trash, doom or death metal fan, and it will work. This band has something extra; they are young, but it sounds like they have been doing this for the last 20 years. And speaking about Black Sabbath, the track "Doomed for Eternity" is very close, but, of course, way more brutal... and it's a really wild track and can be one of the best tracks on this album.

"The Last Autumn" is an instrumental, atmospheric piece of art, and the whispering female voice (Sabrina?) does add a lot of extra. The track "Nemesis" makes your brain think thrash metal until Johannes comes in with the voice and delivers blackened death, and this is a faster track. "Downfall" is the last track on the album, and I love it. The track is up there and competes with "Doomed for Eternity" as the best track on the album. For me, it's a thrash metal track, a heavy one and angry. There are a lot of layers in the whole album, and common for this album is that Black Anthem doesn't stand still in one track; they add something extra to each one of them, and, once again, Black Anthem has a style that can be placed in one genre, and a band that plays this kind of music should have very easy to get new fans from many genres. They have something for everyone. And doing a debut album that is on such a high level tells you a lot.