Whenever a band manages to rise through the underground at a staggering rate, it begs the question of how it could happen and why. In the case of Panzerfaust, no one should be asking such questions, for it should be painfully obvious by just looking at the band’s track record up to this point. Pick any album. They’re all fantastic in their own ways. Ferocious black metal in every degree, it enables Panzerfaust to have an identity that is undeniably theirs while still leaving room for future improvement, experimentation, and ever-darker territories to explore. As we find ourselves in the middle of the band’s “Suns of Perdition” tetralogy, many of us are chomping at the bit to truly know what the band will pull next. After the wondrous creation that was the second chapter, “Render unto Eden”, the unforgiving reality that is Chapter III feels all but supremely fitting.

The biggest question for me before going into this record was whether or not Panzerfaust was going to try something new for this third volume kind of like how they made their sound much more expansive and all-encompassing with chapter two compared to the first. If those first two chapters were Panzerfaust tip-toeing around an abyss that we’re all but destined to eventually succumb to, “Chapter III: The Astral Drain” sees the band whole-heartedly plummet into that unending darkness. There is not a single shred of hope or happiness within these nine tracks which absolutely include the four pieces of interlude that add some tremendous context, depth, and atmosphere to “The Astral Drain”, allowing the tracks to really flow into each other like a raging river as Panzerfaust conducts the flow down the most destructive path possibly. It all comes together with such magnitude that it truly resonates deep within the listener as the raw power of Panzerfaust’s unparalleled capability is on full display for the very whole of the performance to quickly make it one of the most striking and impactful efforts that I’ve heard in some time with it being all but inevitable that this effort will be hailed as one of the year’s very best. I see no other possible outcome for “The Astral Drain” with all that it manages to bring forth being the very definition of what it means to take black metal to an extreme that only a handful are still able to produce in any form.

Panzerfaust is at their top game for this continuation of this vastly acclaimed series, and it stands within reason to really consider all that is brought forth for this third chapter as to whether or not it stands as the best entry so far. No matter what this band will pull out of the chaotic ether for the remaining two chapters of “The Suns of Perdition”, it is the utter entirety of “The Astral Drain” that really shows us just how adept Panzerfaust is at their craft in every possible way with the only thing to be had in our midst after this record being utter annihilation.

“The Suns of Perdition – Chapter III: The Astral Drain” releases on July 22nd via Eisenwald!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “The Suns of Perdition – Chapter III: The Astral Drain” on Bandcamp here.

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