Black metal sure does have its moments quite a lot, and some of those moments are more hardcore than others like Znafelriff here. Their newest EP “Ruin” which debuts on January 1st definitely crosses that line of well done black metal brutality in glorious amounts. This EP is 5 minutes but Znafelriff has managed to make these 3-5 minute songs seem much longer and I believe it’s that purely raw sound that just tears at the ears relentlessly for the entire album. The only exception to this rawness is the middle (third) track “Abgrund” (which means abyss in German) is completely instrumental and is totally different from the rest of “Ruin” because it’s a little bit slower, calmer, and just shows that Znafelriff can do more than just one style of metal however good that one style is. And I just love intermissions between the hardcore fast metal simply because of the change in pace and it sort of prepares you mentally for the remainder of the album like what “Abgrund” did for me for “Ruin”. I also feel like a lot of you black metal fans out there will enjoy this underground band if you like other underground bands like Hate Division or Soulskinner. Like I said “Ruin” comes out on the first of January and you can download the album through the link below. There are vinyls planned to be made according to the guitarist who emailed me, and no CDs available as of yet.

LISTEN to “Ruin” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Znafelriff on Facebook here.