I’m in the fortunate position to have a few friends who know what my weirdly specific musical tastes are, so they send me albums from time to time. I usually dump them into my iTunes and then immediately forget about them because I’m an asshole, which is what happened with Venus Star’s 2013 album, Nigredo Expulsion. Came across it not long ago, hit play and went “…Oh, shit. This is good.” Plus, their logo is hysterical.

Metal Archives categorizes this one-man project as black metal, which isn’t quite right as it doesn’t fall neatly into the generic “frantic picking and high-pitched screams” pigeonhole. Nigredo Expulsion is doomier and more syrupy, with pummeling, rumbling riffs and gravelly vocals. The songs all have satisfying, repetitive bits for appropriate head-banging, but they also frequently change up the time signatures to keep the songs from getting stale.

Fans of their fellow Finns Hooded Menace and Ride for Revenge would do well to take note. Speaking of Finland, there must be something in the water because the landslide of tremendous music coming out of that country is absolutely bonkers. Anyway, for now, check out Nigredo Expulsion‘s third track, “Extrance.”

-Jaci