I was listening to a Symphonic Metal album. Just your typical Symph album with clean female soprano vocals, melodic riffs, lots of synths. When that album ended, my player just moved into the next album in the queue. I thought it was the final song on the album, instead it was the first song on a totally different album. One second there were soothing strains of angelic vocals backed by a faux orchestra; the next second some possessed old woman is ranting spewing in a language I'm guessing is Infernal or Ancient Sumerian or R'lyehian. I thought, "Wow, that was a twist ending!" In actuality it was "Dämonenblut" (trans: demon blood), the first track of HÄXÄR's latest album, Teufelskult.

For the uninitiated, HÄXÄR is the Black Metal hell spawn of Swiss multi-instrumentalist V Noir. He is also a member of the Black Metal outfit ERNTE. Teufelskult (trans: devil cult) is the third full-length album from HÄXÄR. It's due for release on October 31, 2025 via Purity Through Fire. If you are Black Metal fan of any wave, you should check it out.

Promo info says "HÄXÄR is inspired by old spirits, cold and barren landscapes, as well as stories of the forefathers and gods and mix these inspirations with the sounds of Nordic melodies." Good tagline stuff for any Black Metal band really, though I wouldn't take the 'Nordic melodies' phrase to mean soft, dulcet tones of the forest. Rather they're more like cultish invocations of the damned. Which is a good thing for a Black Metal album. Teufelskult is some savage, evil shit.

There're several things going on with Teufelskult that make it more sophisticated than your average BM assault. First, there are Atmospheric elements built throughout. I'm not talking about acoustic interludes with flutes and harpsichords (although "Götterdämmerung" is pretty much dungeon synth), but more of the ambient hellscape stuff. The track "Ein Schatten so kalt" (trans: a shadow so cold) is a good example of this with its extended mid-track break into dark Ambiance.

Second, there are at times a heavy shroud of doom-like downtuning as with "Askahex" (trans: ash hex). I mean you can actually hear the bass on this track, which is always a treat in Black Metal. And finally, there are threads of epic themes woven throughout as in "Prozession der Wölfe." This closing track begins with a clip from some old timey ballad before shifting into proper Black Metal. There's also a choral element that lifts the track into the triumphant zone. For all I know the lyrics could be about being dragged to the abyss by a procession of hellhounds, but it sounds totally inspirational.

All in all, Teufelskult is an impressive third offering from V Noir and his HÄXÄR project. V Noir manages to add levels of complexity and innovation into a genre that can often become one dimensional. Teufelskult is a testimony to the depth of BM.