Henere delivers something remarkable in this niche territory of bands exploring the power and terror of nature’s forces. The Chosen Path is an odyssey that acts as a testament to what U.S. black metal can achieve when it embraces melody without sacrificing ferocity.

Burning Embers, Forgotten Wolves is quite literally a work of mystical art. This is music that resonates with the heart and soul in a mysterious way, evoking calm and serenity. In the chaos of extreme metal, Autrest brings a reprieve in the forest of our imaginations.

In a metal scene where Christian bands often play it safe with polished deathcore or melodic approaches, Cataclysmic Warfare takes a different path. This American blackened death metal artist dives headfirst into war metal with their debut, Blood Presidium.

Eternal Winds of Ash & Ice by Hellige stands as a beacon in the dungeon synth scene. This seven-track album, mixed and mastered by another dungeon synth master, DIM, at Lowly Dying Steward, delivers a genuinely uplifting spiritual journey wrapped in medieval grandeur.

Mythráen's Wings Beneath Krynn's Moonlight offers an impressive eight-track dungeon synth odyssey through the Dragonlance universe. The album stands as a testament to the genre's capacity for heroic grandeur and spiritual uplift. 

Within the broader dungeon synth scene, Atlantean Sword continues to create a more heroic dungeon synth. The music that acknowledges life's darkness while insisting on the possibility of transcendence through noble action. Ironmaster represents a spiritual maturation for the artist.

Tolkien black metal nerds rejoice! Heralder, the mastermind behind the medieval black metal project Theoden's Reign, returns with Citadel of the Stars, an album that cements Theoden's Reign as one of the most promising voices in the fantasy and atmospheric black metal scene.

In a scene often characterized by nihilistic despair, Mörkdöd is a beacon of hope wrapped in the darkness of the sounds of depressive black metal. The Russian delivers something profoundly redemptive while rejecting the toxic and unconstructive elements of the subgenre.

TopfHelm's Sir Godric is a plunge into medieval madness that perfectly captures what makes dungeon folk so intriguing. Hailing from Belarus, this 55-minute journey delivers 15 tracks of immersive storytelling that feel like a lost soundtrack to some medieval legend.

It's been a while since the Eastern Orthodox Christian black metal group Hesychast last blessed the landscape with their atmospheric, Georgian, and orchestral soundscapes. The wait has been rewarded with For Whom We Sing New Troparia.

Gelure’s most recent album, Inner Sanctum, leans into the more contemplative and meditative aspects of dungeon synth. It captures the sensation of studying difficult books of wisdom while experiencing embarrassing solitude to clear one's mind in prayer and contemplation.

Catharsis is often central to black metal, and atmospheric black metal artist Unreqvited is perhaps one of the best artists to gaze into nature, the stars, and the world around us to reflect and feel a larger connection to those around us and beyond.

Despite being as ripe for black metal and dungeon synth, the Elder Scrolls franchise is a notable gap in the scene when compared to the works of Tolkien and Nordic sagas. Daedric Chamber (a solo project by Snitz) has been on a quest to change that.

Symphony of Heaven has been on a journey to craft an album to follow up The Season Of Death, capturing the band’s mission of crafting what their Bandcamp page calls “Crushing, epic, torturous, and extreme.” 2024’s Ordo Aurum Archeia’does just that.

Behold a rare sight and sound! Great Helm is a blackened power, yes POWER, metal artist. Even beyond that, we have an excellent one! Power metal and black metal aren’t necessarily known to go together, despite enjoying similar aesthetics and subject matter at times.

The Warhammer 40K universe and dungeon synth mix every now and again, so it’s a welcomed surprise when I come across an artist trying to capture the strangeness of the franchise. Psychic Hood embodies the 40K universe on their latest release, ‘Warp Ritual.’ 

Winterfylleth has established itself as one of the premiere atmospheric black metal artists, featuring an expansive discography of now eight full-length albums. The band’s latest release, ‘The Imperious Horizon’, continues to tap into Winterfylleth’s devotion.

Not only is Stoneflower’s ‘Invasion of the Thunderbirds’ focused on using the specific TB-303 bassline synthesizer from the 1980s. It also featured a complex revenge narrative centered on clans in a dangerous, unforgiving mountainous landscape.

Based out of Athens, Georgia, Rowland crafts an ongoing narrative for the Hobbit Jamwine, who decided to leave his home in Frogmorton with only a walking stick and a long pipe. 2024’s ‘Flies the Coop III’ continues Jamwine’s sonic story, although in a new manner. 

‘The Blossoming’ by Ætheria Conscientia is an impressive album that mixes a multitude of progressive elements. Black metal acts as the foundation for progressive psychedelic arena prog rock influences and even borderline techno and EDM breakdowns at times.