DIMHOLT is a Black Metal band hailing from Burgas, Bulgaria. For whatever reason, the Bulgaria region is thick with metal bands and even the city of Burgas itself has an usually high quota. On more levels than one, Bulgaria seems like a burned over region for metal. DIMHOLT formed in 2007 as a duo and progressively built up their lineup to five members over the years. They have one demo, a live EP, and two full-length albums, the second of which, "Epistēmē," was released late October 2019. I can't say there is anything too distinctive about this album except its consistency.

The album is ten solid tracks of corrosive Black Metal spanning over an hour. With the exception of acoustic openings on "The Fall" and "Reliquae," the LP is free of flighty experimentation into Folk, Prog, or fill-in-the-blank subgenres. This is a good thing. DIMHOLT knows what they are good at, and that's what they stick with. This isn't an album clawing for legitimacy by pretending to be a ritual performance of ancient for pagan ceremony. It's just undiluted Black Metal.

Production wise the album is mid-fi - e.g. not so lo-fi that it sounds like it was recorded with one mike in a different room, but also not so hi-fi that you can hear the drummer sweat. The downside to this is the guitar work of Asen and Rumen seem to meld into one fluid assault. I do like the double-fisted riffs, but I also like to enjoy the nuances of style. Similarly, Stanimir's drumming is muted. On the positive side, with all the muffled grey, Yavor's bass work does stand apart, and he is a hell of a bass player. Woundheir's icy vocals also fit nicely with the overall barrage of dissonance. Also, the midrange gives the album a certain rawness that you come to expect in Black Metal. Thematically, I really can't tell you if there is an underlying current to the album - I mean apart from darkness, death, and general bleakness. I could speculate on the fact that a lot of the titles are archaic Greek or Latin words ("Epistēmē" - understanding; "Reliquae" - remains of the dead; "Aletheia" - unclosedness). I could also make stab at making some visual interpretation of the album cover which seems to suggest explosive fragmentation, but without lyric sheets I would only be guessing.

Best tracks are "The Martyr's Congregation," especially the final two minutes which deliver a crushing meltdown; "The Hollow Men," which essentially shifts to a totally different song at the mid-way mark; "The Fall" for gritty, bottom-heavy trenches; and "Scars of Seclusion" with its innovative but still heavy guitar work. I can't point to any bad tracks. All together, "Epistēmē" is a very consistent, even-keeled album. DIMHOLT is in competition, or solidarity, with a multitude of metal bands in their region of the world. It will either kill them outright or make them better. From all indications, it is having the latter effect.