When it comes to Black Metal, like any other genre of Metal, these days you have so many different subgenres and versions. What is your favorite, dear reader? Is it the raw, grim, Kvlt shit that splits your gizzard? Or the Symphonic stuff? How about NSBM, DSBM? Well let's not forget the ambient melodic side of Black Metal, which is where HADES ALMIGHTY's newest album "Pyre Era, Black!" fits in.

It took a couple listens for me to really form an opinion. When I first hit play, the little guitar riff at the beginning had me thinking, "oh no, another one of these slow, over-ambient blotches of tripe calling themselves Black Metal", but I was quite wrong. Although the first track, which is the self-titled track, does include the slower more melodic riff, the rest of the band definitely blends in a Black Metal sensation. It is very dark, very grim, very melodic, and very fucking awesome. The vocals are a bit intriguing as well. While they do have that traditional Black Metal growling scream, the majority of the lead vocals, are a perfect mix of clean and harsh vocals. They are certainly harsh enough to be in your face, and clean enough to add a real sense of depth to the music.

Track two; "Funeral Storm" definitely picks up the heaviness. It is not so much as to take away the melody and ambience of the overall sound. Everything about it screams fiendish, which tickles my black heart to the fullest. The final track; "Bound" is a wonderful song reigning in at 8 minutes and 53 seconds. This song is surely a versatile mix of the heavy grim Black Metal, and serious melody and ambience. After a few times listening through the album I came to the conclusion that really enjoy it.

Now I can understand some people saying that they don't enjoy the vocals. That's really something that I must leave up to you. Honestly, I couldn't care less about anyone else's opinion, but I can say that it was a good listen. It's certainly that super-fast, blast beat driven type of Black Metal that has you bashing your head off of a fucking wall. I can say that I find there to be real artistry in the music. HADES ALMIGHTY is certainly a name that I was already familiar with, and this latest album by the Finnish fiends, albeit a bit on the short side with only 3 tracks, was a far cry from a disappointment.