Ghost Horizon is a new, two-piece, atmospheric black metal band from Phoenix, AZ, consisting of former Severed Receptors members Dan Stollings (guitars, bass) and Thom Knudsen (drums, vocals, additional music). They are currently putting the finishing touches on their debut EP, Astral Possession, which will be released on February 26, 2016.

Today’s Black Metal Friday track is the advance single from Astral Possession. It’s called “Spectral Threnody” and it’s pretty killer. Crank it up and if you like what you’re hearing, be sure to pre-order the EP and give them a like on Facebook to help support great underground artists.

One would never guess by listening to them that black metal unit Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus hail from Philadelphia. The band’s mastermind Mika Mage draws a great deal of inspiration from the folklore of his Finnish heritage. In fact, the music and artwork of Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus’ excellent new album The Child Must Die are both based on the Finnish national epic The Kalevala, a poetic book with a collection of myths and legends that occupies a prominent place in the Finnish identity, with most songs adapted directly from passages from the text.

Our Black Metal Friday selection for this week is the title track of that very record. Here below, with the official video for “The Child Must Die,” is Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus. If you like what you hear, be sure to pick up a copy of the album and help support the burgeoning U.S. Black Metal scene.

North Dakota’s Ghost Bath is one of the most exciting bands to emerge from the New Wave of U.S. Black Metal (NWOUSBM). They are also one of the most mysterious; The band initially presented themselves as a Chinese band in advance of their awe-inspiring debut album Funeral. No one is quite sure why they did this, but everyone was talking about it so I guess there’s that. Anyway, publicity stunts aside, Ghost Bath is highly secretive and there are no photos of the members to be found anywhere. They are a band that chooses to let the music speak for itself and speak it does. In volumes.