Ignominious - Death Walks Amongst Mortals (2011)

   After the main direction that black metal took from the late '90s, that made the style the most popular extreme genre, even it's underground status could be highly questioned. However the path that was taken by the classic Northern black metal bands in the early '90 led straight to the current situation, and to doubting it is a fact or trying to prove about a style that it's still underground, is not really convincing. Since than probably the most effective thing a band could to denounce the late tendencies is to return to the very roots of the genre like how Ignominious did.
  In the time period of the late '00s and early '10s when their debut came out, it counted as a rare event if a band tried to recall the most ancient sound of black metal, and on the side of the that time successful sympohonic, melodic and pagan directions it sounded quite refreshing. "Death Walks Amongst Mortals" unified the early '90s sound of the genre in a quite intense way with the assistance of catchy leading themes, and in total it reminds to old Darkthrone. On the side of the intense devastation, middle speed switches are common to let the great leading melodies to prevail. Even though the sound is definitely nostalgic, it's clear enoungh - compared to the most blackguardly oldies- to make the instruments distinguishable and that increased the album's enjoyability. The main impression is quite obscure and unfriendly, balancing between aggressive, outrageous approach and the down-pulling intention of melancholic gloomy, dark atmosphere. "Death Walks Amongst Mortals" could be a potential favorite for the fans of the old school sound of black metal.