Panopticon/Wheels Within Wheels - It's Later Than You Think (2009)

 Panopticon seems to really like releasing splits with more unknown black metal artists, and this 2009 split with Wheels Within Wheels is one of the best of them all (miles beyond that godawful WBSS split). This is due more to the fact that the supporting band is actually good and less to varying quality in Panopticon's material, which tends to be consistently great no matter how abysmal the other artist on the split is. But unlike others, Wheels Within Wheels actually manage to make some pretty interesting and unique music.

Panopticon
1. ...Speaking... (Collapsed Version) - 10:40
2. The Ghosts of Haymarket Square - 7:28

Wheels Within Wheels
3. Beginning - 4:44
4. White Light Rains Down On... - 13:48

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P.S. - According to Panopticon's and Wheels Within Wheels' websites there is a "sequel" of sorts to this split in the works for release later this year, along with a re-release of this one.

Jesu - Ascension (2011)

Ok, so this is not related in the slightest to any existing form of black metal, but it's fucking Jesu, man. How could I resist the opportunity to share this nugget of doom/drone excellence with the world?

Tracklisting
1. Fools - 8:12
2. Birthday - 5:09
3. Sedatives - 5:11
4. Broken Home - 8:52
5. Brave New World - 4:13
6. Black Lies - 5:27
7. Small Wonder - 7:31
8. December - 7:51
9. King of Kings - 6:24
10. Ascension - 2:46

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Fauna - Rain (2009)

This is the sort of stereotypically pretentious, nature-obsessed Cascadian black metal that makes it such a polarizing scene. Seriously, it's a 63-minute one-track album called "rain" by a band called "Fauna," and it features heavy use of acoustic passages and rain samples. If you can't stand that sort of thing, walk away now, but trust me when I say that if you're already into this style then you will be right at home with this very well-done song.

Tracklisting
1. Rain - 63:19

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Rorcal - Heliogabalus (2010)

What we have here is a 71-minute blackened post-metal/sludge track by an obscure German band. It is one of the most utterly terrifying albums ever made. Get it now.

I'm serious.

Track Listing
1. Heliogabalus - 70:33

Download (the band themselves put this up)

Altar of Plagues - Mammal (2011)

1. Neptune Is Dead - 18:44
2. Feather and Bone - 11:42
3. When the Sun Drowns In the Ocean - 8:18
4. All Life Converges to Some Center - 13:15

Having already garnered substantial critical praise for 2009's White Tomb, Irish atmospheric bm act Altar of Plagues are back with their second full-length. It slays.

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Primordial - Redemption At the Puritan's Hand (2011)

Yeah, motherfuckers. This finally leaked and it is just as awesome as you expected it would be.

1. No Grave Deep Enough - 7:10
2. Lain With The Wolf - 8:25
3. Bloodied Yet Unbowed - 8:47
4. God's Old Snake - 6:25
5. The Mouth Of Judas - 8:54
6. The Black Hundred - 6:20
7. The Puritan's Hand - 8:36
8. Death Of The Gods - 9:21

PRIMORDIAL 

Sleeping Peonies - Ghosts, and Other Things (2011)

1. Anomie - 2:42
2. Pashmina Veils - 2:53
3. Lisps, and Candyfloss Wisps - 5:25
4. Wicklewood Haze - 3:45
5. Ebbs and Floes - 2:27
6. Autumnbloom and Lavender - 4:39
7. Black Lanterns - 4:55
8. In Rain We Disappear - 1:10

A really interesting and pretty blend of black metal, post-rock, indie, and copious amounts of shoegaze.

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