As it stands, black metal is a creation that is almost always something to behold with all that it’s capable of and able to bring to the table with its wide scope, but it’s when we witness an act mutate the sound into something both excitingly different yet undeniably familiar that we get some of the most interesting and organic works that the style can offer. When we see the sound taken to unfamiliar territories that are fleshed out through competency, passion, and a clear understanding of the vision at hand, a band can really come around and impress. For their first full-length album, Boarhammer has achieved that and more.

An alchemical journey through the woods and enchanted by the witches’ spells, Boarhammer capitalizes on everything that made their initial demo renowned in the first place and cranked everything up to a thousand in order to ensure that “II: Chemognosis – A Shortcut to Mushrooms” isn’t just an improvement from all angles, but a black metal experience that demands your very all in order to absorb every possible morsel. Effortlessly combining elements of doom, epic heavy metal, and more than a lot of psychedelia to transmogrify their special brand of first wave black metal into something that can’t easily be likened to anyone else, Boarhammer consistently delivers where many others would flounder or only put forth half-measures whereas it is in the whole of these nine tracks across a 45-minute runtime that we see naught but total domination. There isn’t a single minute in this whole record that isn’t immensely hypnotic and tantalizing for what “Chemognosis” dares to be whether it take you down long-forbidden trails in the ancient woods or through a completely different plane of existence via the help of some funky mushrooms with Boarhammer always the perfect guide to show you what both realms and beyond have to offer through rituals and off-putting splendor that only pulls you deeper into the creation.

Black metal such as this is few and far between for many different reasons, yet it is at every turn here that Boarhammer shows us how it’s done time and time again to stupendous effect. This is a vein of the style that has always been sparsely populated, but it is with the arrival of “Chemognosis” that Boarhammer proves to be one of the most promising acts in such an exclusive vein where the potential is always overflowing and the possibilities endless.

“II: Chemognosis – A Shortcut to Mushrooms” releases on January 26th via Naturmacht Productions!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “II: Chemognosis – A Shortcut to Mushrooms” on Bandcamp here.

FOLLOW Boarhammer on Instagram here.