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This Wretched Earth: A Global Black Metal Compilation

SNOW WOLF

Snow Wolf records, an indie label makes for an early statement of intent – one of two Egyptian representations alongside the buzzsaw blasphemy of . The sonic and cultural diversity across the album is impressive. Hailing from Iran, ’s genuinely haunting atmospheres complement the secondwave striation of Malaysia’s . Chile’s sound like weaponised hornets, the opposite of Colombians ’s symphonic melodrama. Greece’s reach for the stars with their dungeon synth, and India’s provide repose with minimalist funereal synth before Ukraine’s deliver a muscular final blow. unifies the human diaspora with the one thing we all have in common: suffering. A far cry from polished modern black metal, this is a bold and ambitious testament to the fertility of the underground in 2021.