It wasn’t even ten days ago that I heard the promising EP from Nebula Orionis that was released just earlier this year, and with a new album on the very near horizon, I was very hopeful as to what this act would whip up for their third effort to be released early in the new year. It came at me so much quicker than I expected, but as though I was starving, I immediately sunk my teeth into this record only to find that this time the material was an even greater step up in quality and a beautiful follow-up to “Soulshard”.

If we were to look at a list of words that aren’t often used to describe black metal of most varieties, we would eventually stumble upon the word “cinematic”. Black metal, especially the atmospheric variants a lot of times, isn’t often seen as cinematic but rather explosive, emotional, or even transcendent at times, but it’s with “Starthrone” that there isn’t a more apt word to describe these five tracks in a single word. Where it was with “Soulshard” that the black metal was more front and center, it’s with this effort that we get material of another caliber as Nebula Orionis channeled their most ethereal side to create a record that’s so immersive and bottomless that it’s hard not to lose yourself in. It’s the morphing of cosmic dust and the formation of great stellar clouds in the night sky that’s captured beautifully as we get some of the most gorgeous atmospheric black metal that really does tread the line of itself being called metal, but that edge comes in every now and then to remind us of the power that’s behind Nebula Orionis. It all comes together so immaculately to make “Starthrone” such a wonder as it’s takes the most awe-inspiring elements of the style and becomes one of the most atmospheric records of the genre that we’ve ever seen in such quality, and Nebula Orionis executed it with master levels of quality from top to bottom.

Every time I’ve had the pleasure of hearing a record that’s to release in 2019, so far, there hasn’t been anything short of fucking top and this is easily one of them as Nebula Orionis has done yet another stroke of brilliance not a year after “Soulshard”. It’s with “Starthrone” that this band should be immensely proud of, and it’s something that many people will lose themselves in just as I did for hours.

“Starthrone” releases on January 22nd via Casus Belli Musica and Beverina!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Starthrone” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Nebula Orionis on Facebook here.