Those who have indulged in this list before will be aware of my fascination with and fondness for Blackgaze. This is the apocryphal marriage of black metal and late 80s oddity shoegaze. It was always meant to be a short-lived collision of opposing styles and most of the main protagonists (Deafheaven etc) have wandered off to try other things. Imagine my surprise then when I came across this, an absolutely stunning and distinctly modern take on Blackgaze.

It is an ambient expansive epic of an album that manages to do new things with a subgenre that most had written off as being overexploited and unredeemable. “Sacrifice” is exquisite in its majestic magic. Sumptuously cinematic, it simmers in its atmospheric wonder. Whilst the sound is dense, there is a euphoric lightness of touch that stops it from becoming bogged down its own introverted nature. Instead, it is an album that soars in its melancholy ambience. Yes it’s  long (86 minutes) but it never drags. Instead, it feels indulgent and luxurious in the way that the songs are allowed to glacially unfurl. An astonishing and unexpected pleasure that breathes life into a genre that many felt had run its path.

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