Velothian – Mythic Dawn Review By Mystikus Hugebeard

If, like me, you played a lot of the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), then you might agree that the game has a nigh unbeatable vibe. The densely forested hills rolling into the distance, the subtle call of a nearby Nirnroot, the grossly overconfident mudcrabs, the endearing jank of two townspeople conversing like they’ve only just discovered human language; it’s a distinctly cozy high fantasy setting that feels like home in a way few modern games could hope to replicate. Thus, I was excited to learn that Velothian, the epic post-black metal act that was previously featured on the 2024 EP Roundup for their Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind-themed EP Path of the Incarnate, now draws from Oblivion as inspiration for their debut full-length, Mythic Dawn. Path of the Incarnate enraptured me with its intimate riff-work and imaginative atmospheres, so with Mythic Dawn, has Velothian survived their first jump from EP to full-length?

Velothian play a folk-tinged, somber kind of epic/ethereal post-black metal that strikes a good balance between distant tranquility and gritty textures. While there’s a great deal of woodsy ambiance and dreamy chants, the metal enjoys a satisfying, weighty presence whether it’s airy, open-note chords à la Alcest (“The Great Forest,” “Forgotten Ruins,” “Mania”) or direct, blasting riffs (“The One From My Dreams,” “Dragonfires”). Mythic Dawn uses its inspiration tastefully to create something all its own, never feeling schlocky or gimmicky like “video-game metal” often does. Speaking of, I was elated to discover some references to the original Oblivion OST throughout Mythic Dawn. For example, the soft piano melody of Oblivion’s “Auriel’s Ascension” translates beautifully into acoustic guitars and serves as a jumping-off point for the sunlit harmonies of “Mania,” and the game’s main theme makes an understated appearance in “The One From My Dreams.”1 I appreciate that Mythic Dawn never feels like a direct 1:1 of Oblivion’s music or aesthetic, maintaining its own identity and imagery even as it incorporates melodies from the game’s OST such that those unfamiliar with Oblivion won’t feel like they’re missing something.

Mythic Dawn by Velothian

In Mythic Dawn, Velothian have preserved that expansive yet grounded quality I loved about Path of the Incarnate and even improved on it through tighter songwriting and a more verdant soundscape. One ought look to “The Great Forest” for how Velothian construct atmospheres with intelligence and restraint: softly striking guitars ring between rich arboreal sounds and sparse chanting, blooming into a simple but textured, evocative riff in the verse. “Mania” is another atmospherically decadent track, sustaining nearly every note played to create a dreamy haze above gorgeous chord progressions. Velothian understand the benefit of brevity, never bogging a song down with an excess of mindless riffing or languid ambiance, which keeps a slower song like “Forgotten Ruins” or a more varied track like “Night Mother” engaging throughout. Whereas the textures and melodies paint the vivid imagery, it’s largely the guitar’s mixing that gives the music its tactile, grounded feeling. It’s felt especially strongly in the galloping “The One From My Dreams” where the riffs have a gripping, full-bodied crunch to them that draws you in and directly places you into the world Velothian are evoking.

It’s clear that Velothian have grown a lot in the time leading up to this debut, but that does serve to highlight the few areas that stand to further improve. While the mix is overall an improvement over Path of the Incarnate’s, the cymbals can be a little distracting in the heavier tracks, namely “The One From My Dreams.” Though both “Mania” and “Dragonfires” are well-written, each song ends with non-sequiturs that don’t feel properly fleshed out. “Deadlands” is the only track that actually loses me; the riff-work is solid, and I enjoy how the drums resolve into the chorus, but it lacks the quiet, moving majesty of the other songs that keep me returning to them. But ultimately, these finer details of Mythic Dawn do little to diminish its charm or impact. When Mythic Dawn ends (after a tasteful 40-minute runtime, might I add), the good always shines much brighter than the not-as-good.

I’ve long been excited for what Velothian would do after Path of the Incarnate, and Mythic Dawn has rewarded my patience. This album is an improvement on their previous work in many ways: the songwriting is tighter, the sound is crisper, and the atmospheres more vivid. Velothian are still a little rough around the edges, but Mythic Dawn nevertheless well establishes Velothian’s unique voice and songcraft. This is maturely written, and imaginative ethereal post-black metal that has cemented Velothian as one of the better video-game-based metal bands out there, and I shall be enjoying Mythic Dawn for a long time yet.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Self-Release
Websites: facebook | bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: February 1st, 2026

#2026 #35 #Alcest #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #Feb26 #FolkMetal #MythicDawn #PathOfTheIncarnate #PostBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #Velothian

EP/Split/Single Roundup of 2024, Part 2

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Are you one of many who never listen to EPs? Or splits? Or any other kind of short-form release? It’s a tricky realm to enter, honestly. The EP, for many, represents a maligned category of pieces too short to be satisfying from bands we love. Or, in other cases, too crapshoot an endeavor for a band to step outside their bread ‘n’ butter to play with synths and non-metal and other things that don’t involve motorbikes, swords, or battle. Worse, in modern times, an ‘EP’ designation on streaming services could be a collection of singles from an upcoming work—a ploy to stay on new release radars and playlists.

Thankfully, we here at AMG have a knack for finding the things you should listen to. No, sorry Cassandra,1 that does not mean that I listened to AVOWD yet. And, no random commenter #457, we did not listen to that raw black demo or post-polkacore release with one supporter on Bandcamp or that split that your friend was on or any of the other things you will suggest in the comments section below. That is your home though, so suggest away! In fact, we have the word split in the title, but all of us were too busy building our top 10s or writing reviews2 to cover the tasty Atvm / Diskord jam or the slammin’ Matriphagy / Wretched Inferno morsel or the skramzy Massa Nera / Quiet Fear piece—we snagged a couple splits! Though no one covered Cypherium‘s jazzy and brooding monstrous single, either—what gives? Well, in any case, we did cover the below releases, so enjoy what we have to offer. In this world where shorter form releases can be more economically viable for these underground acts that we cherish, maybe we should pay more attention throughout the year—two pieces at the end just isn’t enough!

And big thanks to my buddy Mystikus Hugebeard for assisting in wrangling these blurbs and carrying the massive weight of the heavy metal underground on the shelf that is his amazingly chiseled and massive shoulders. Check part 1 if you missed it. – Dolph

Underneath // It Exists Between Us – Riding on the coattails of the ambitious and punishing From the Gut of Gaia earlier this year, Pittsburgh quintet Underneath trims the fat into a lean, mean, killing machine humming on gears of deathcore, beatdown, and grind. It Exists Between Us is a distinct release from its predecessor because it leans into grind while still maintaining the act’s signature dissonance and organicity. Ferocity is the name of the game, riffs pummeling with swagger and gusto (“Habsburg Jaw,” “It Exists Between Us”), deathcore chugs dragging listeners to the pits (“Finishing Reconstruction,” “It Dies Within Us”), unhinged attacks executed through obscene tempos (“Absurdist,” “A Gun the Size of a Building”), and ominous and blessedly short bursts of noise and ambiance and samples (“Democratic Peace Theory,” the conclusion of “Finishing Reconstruction”). Vocals bounce between hardcore fries and death growls with reckless abandon, while the drums’ organic and snappy tone commands the brig with ferocity. It’s not all mindless in its experimental elements, but they sure as hell will not give up kicking your teeth in. For those who did not like Knocked Loose this year, Underneath is a pretty suitable substitute. – Dear Hollow

Synestia & Disembodied Tyrant (Collaboration) // The Poetic Edda – Look, I get that everyone and their deathcore dog have wanted to be Lorna Shore since like 2021, and some have succeeded (A Wake in Providence) and many have failed (The Sign of the Swarm, Worm Shepherd). In essence, the deathcore collaboration between Minnesota/Finland duo Synestia and Missouri-based solo project Disembodied Tyrant is Will Ramos-core, but it succeeds in being so much more than that. Classical arrangements, orchestra, choirs, and organs belie the curb-stomping punishment underneath, with breakneck tempos, shifting rhythms, adding a sense of urgency atop the slight blackened frigidity. While “Death Empress” and “I, the Devourer” execute excellent symphonic deathcore in their own right, the title track rips the brutality into a whole ‘nother mythology, thanks to the crescendo that ends with the devastating guest appearance of Shadow of Intent’s Ben Duerr. This songwriting carries over into the punishing closer “Winter,” as startling heaviness and clever uses of tempos give it a likewise backbreaking blend of mammoth and breakneck. The Poetic Edda is deathcore that follows the trends, but it’s a better-than-usual breed indeed. – Dear Hollow

Olde Throne & Paisaunt (Split) // Cearwylm & Misneachd – This split sees New Zealand’s Olde Throne team up with their former bandmate, Zannibal (also ex-Marrasmieli), in his guise as Paisaunt, to deliver a tantalizing sliver of raw, medieval black metal, with heavy folk influences. Paisaunt occupies the first half of the split, majoring in stripped-back, very lo-fi battery. He shifts between something that could easily be an early demo for Spectral Lore-side project Mystras (“Cearwylm”), screaming, screeching, yet eerily melodic, black metal, like Ancient Mastery played through a 90s games console (“Killicrankie,” a cover from Olde Throne’s very good In the Land of Ghosts), and something completely different. The something completely different is the highlight of the whole split: “Bjørgvin” sees all percussion ditched, leaving only picked guitars, mountains of distortion and croaking vocals to create something truly haunting and curiously beautiful. On their half, Olde Throne carry on from where they left off on In the Land of Ghosts, delivering folk-infused, harsh fare, with Harrison McKenzie’s razor-wire shrieks leading the charge. Their frenzied cover of Paisaunt’s “Nigh is Time,” amps up the folk instruments to great effect, while percussion-free folk ditty “Causantín mac Áeda,” ditches all vocals save for sparse female cleans that add an ethereal note to it. – Carcharodon

Daxma // There Will Come Tomorrow – Daxma’s Ruins upon Ruins, which was my first ever TYMHM here,3 was a starkly beautiful slab of post-doom and, since discovering it, I’ve been a bit of a Daxma fanboi. There Will Come Tomorrow is probably closer in tone to Ruins, than their last LP, Unmarked Boxes. Almost entirely instrumental, there is so much space on There Will Come Tomorrow, that it feels like you’re wandering across a vast desert beneath the stars. It’s not empty though, Jessica T.’s violin laps around you like the wind, while Isaac R. and Forrest H.’s guitars rise and swell like towering dunes. The drumming (Thomas I.) fades in and out, only shifting out of first gear occasionally, like on “Wings to Andromeda,” the back end of which raises the tempo and intensity as if a sandstorm is blowing in. The only vocals are the harmonized cleans (Isaac and Jessica) in the background of “Tower of Silence,” which, with the keys, give the closer an air of resigned finality. This stands at odds with the rest of the EP, which gives off a faint sense of hope and light, set against brooding skies. – Carcharodon

New Money // Dinero Nuevo – Groove is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes, and New Money has arrested my booty-shakin gaze with their debut EP, Dinero Nuevo. But despite their moniker of inexperience, both Christian Bonnesen (LLNN) and Niclas Sauffaus (Elitest) have grown from their underground grindcore Piss Vortex roots to reunite again in New Money, an amalgamation of furious Danish hardcore colliding with Meshuggah-toned noise rock groove. The steady lockstep of syncopating kick and fuzzed-out bass stomps maintains a pace through these seventeen minutes as if all eight tracks were one long, twanged-out head-bobber. In its perpetual stew of slinky shuffles and amp-shaking breakdowns, New Money finds standout moments in extra bass-loaded pit-churners (“Nithing Pole (Olé Olé),” “Performancer”), Pronged assaults on sanity (“Perpetual Stew,” “Hamleb”), and a fitting Doug Moore (Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores) guest spot that waves heavy the modern KEN mode flag. I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’d venture to say New Money is on the verge of wrecking necks with a grand scheme on a horizon rapidly approaching. Listen thrice and then some. It pays. – Dolphin Whisperer

PISSSHITTER // Human Toilet Garbage Piss – Just about every day the crowded halls of Bandcamp new releases brings forth untold potential for nuggets of enjoyment. At the same time, the pipeline finds clog in the warped bolus of meme-addled, sub-demo quality bedroom trash. However, at this intersection of flowing sound and crumpled talent, certain expressions, particularly those of the lower-brow kind like goregrind and slam, can find a smooth enough contraction to pass to those who need it. And, last January when Human Toilet Garbage Piss emerged, I needed it. This January again, I need it. After the extended push of list season, every writer needs to decompress in some way. For me, the constant toilet-sloshing gurgle, the incessant chromatic chuggery, and the programmed peristaltic rhythms that adorn the fifteen-minute filth that PISSSHITTER has chewed and churned brings an untold level of thought-free joy. And particularly in a short release, that’s all anyone really needs. Sometimes you piss, sometimes you shit.4 – Dolphin Whisperer

Velothian // Path of the Incarnate – Epic black metal can be a difficult thing to pull off, but that hasn’t stopped Velothian from debuting with one of the coolest pieces of epic black metal I’ve heard in a long while, Path of the Incarnate. It’s mid-tempo, highly accessible black metal with big chords, big melodies, and a shockingly pleasant, clean mix that breathes life into the layers of Velothian’s atmosphere. Just shy of 30 minutes spread across five songs, the Morrowind-inspired Path of the Incarnate explores an impossibly wide array of moods and tones, from the solemn determination of “Outlander” to the lonesome riffs and mournful wails of the lead guitars of “The Mire.” The slower pace, solid riffs, and focus on atmosphere both highlights and strengthens the music’s moodiness, and the brief moments of blistering aggression land all the stronger for their infrequence. This is a genuine musical journey that envelops and becomes you; the atmospheric layers and expansive melodies may speak of far-off mountains and slumbering gods, but the intimacy within the riffs of songs like “Outlander,” “Eye of Night,” and “Nomadic” grounds the music in a very tactile way—an epic journey this may be, but one that respects the ground you must tread to arrive at journey’s end. Fine by me, but Dagoth-Ur better have some sick loot. – Mystikus Hugebeard

Sedimentum // Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante – With a third logo and sporting artwork looking like it was pulled from a forgotten ’90s Finnish death release, Sedimentum announce another subtle change in sound. Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante replaces the anvil-heaving crush of their debut with a much slimier, grease-coated presentation. Drenched in vintage-sounding synths, the mood of “Vilénie” channels a ghastly, creeping abomination crawling out of your speakers, leaving ectoplasm and filth wherever its tendrils touch. But fret not, Sedimentum still know how to bring the pain, with monstrous chugging sections in “Le labyrinthe sempiternel” and “Inhumation céleste (Au carillon mordoré)” invoking the Incantation and worshiping at the Malignant Altar without sacrificing an ounce of the sinister atmosphere. Some might miss the teeth-to-powder assault of previous releases, but if Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante is a signal for the future of Sedimentum, we might be in for a grotesque horror indeed. – Alekhines Gun

#2024 #BlackMetal #BlackenedFolkMetal #BlogPost #BrutalDeathMetal #CearwylmMisneachd #Daxma #DeathMetal #Deathcore #DerrièreLesPortesDUneArcaneTranscendante #DineroNuevo #DisembodiedTyrant #DoomMetal #epicBlackMetal #Goregrind #Hardcore #HumanToiletGarbagePiss #ItExistsBetweenUs #Mathcore #NewMoney #OldThrone #Paisaunt #PathOfTheIncarnate #PISSSHITTER #PostMetal #Sedimentum #Slam #SymphonicDeathcore #Synestia #ThePoeticEdda #ThereWillComeTomorrow #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #Underneath #Velothian