Review by SzejkElRopa on January 13, 2026.

Angrrsth is another relatively new Polish black metal band that recently caught my eye. Hailing from Toruń, these artists, in their latest album, "Złudnia", explore the theme of spiritual transformation through harsh and violent black metal.

As mentioned, the album is very vocal-oriented. Hermann operates with growls, harsh screams, and seldom clean singing. This type of black metal is not necessarily my cup of tea, because I prefer more instrument-oriented albums to rasping for 40 minutes. However, this harshness seems to mirror the lyrical topic. With heavy tremolo passages, such as in 'Mane, Tekel, Fares', incredibly brutal drums, and the aforementioned vocals, this album can wreak havoc inside one's head. The band doesn't try to be aggressive at all costs, and there are some mid-tempo fragments, such as in the middle section of the opening track, 'Kolejna Pętla'. Keyboards can be heard there as well. When it comes to my personal experience with this album, I couldn't get the idea of it for a long time. Although it didn’t "stick" to me like the last Imperium Dekadenz album, the balance between more brutal parts and mid-tempo fragments is enjoyable. Unlike many albums I have reviewed, this one is very intense, especially thanks to the vocals. Also, the atmosphere is more rebellious and full of fury, rather than melancholic or nihilistic. Once again, this is thanks to the vocals combined with heavy riffs. This happens, for example, in 'Próg', when the words "Koniec, po prostu koniec" can be heard — the album evokes a feeling of resignation. On the other hand, in 'Amor Fati', the lyrical subject declares rebellion against everything. To sum up, "Złudnia" conjures up many feelings that aren’t typical for black metal I usually hear.

The riffs are heavy, albeit not heavy enough to be considered death metal-esque, and don’t take a dominant role in this album. For the vast majority of the time, they create a wall of sound with tremolo picking, with some exceptions, such as the melodic riff in 'Solve Et Coagula'. As mentioned, Hermann has a great variety of vocals that make the album more interesting. The most striking moment for me was when he screamed the elements of alchemic transformation in 'Solve Et Coagula'. The drums are as heavy as the guitars and navigate the album well, although without any extraordinary moves.

When it comes to the lyrics, these are the most interesting part of the album. As said in the introduction, Angrrsth took on the topic of spiritual transformation. There are biblical motifs in 'Mane, Tekel, Fares' and in the title track (Lucifer and Uriel mentioned), as well as alchemic terminology in 'Solve Et Coagula', with many Latin phrases sneaked in. The lyrics seem to create some kind of story, where the lyrical subject starts from being at rock bottom and slowly decides to take matters into their own hands and start the transformation. Throughout his journey, he rebels, returns from dusk, and gets spiritually cleansed; however, in the last track, he eventually ends up in a place unknown to him. The last line of the album can be translated as "Where am I? I don't know." I'm not a whizz at analyzing poems, nor am I a poet myself, but I believe this is a story to be continued. It is art (though not for everyone), so it is open to interpretation, isn’t it?

While this album is not my type of black metal, I enjoyed most of it. These 40 minutes were certainly an interesting experience, and I cannot say that I won’t check out other releases by this quartet from Toruń. 8.6, simply because of personal taste.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Review by Tara on November 29, 2016.

Forteresse, the leaders of "Métal Noir Québécois" have returned to the forefront of ambient black metal with their latest release, Thèmes Pour La Rébellion. It is the Canadian quartets fifth full length release in their ten year life span and their strongest material to date. It follows in the footsteps of previous albums: a masterful and powerful black metal masterpiece engulfed in a swirling wall of biting tremolo, epic atmosphere and ambiance. It has an overall larger sound over past works perhaps due to the production quality and addition of two new band members.

The theme to this album is boldly depicted in its cover art, which features an illustration of Quebec City set ablaze. I'm not that much of a history buff but those of you who are into that sort of thing might find the theme of Quebec's history and present day political structure an added bonus. A fun side fact (but then again, if you know history, this is something you're aware of): Thèmes Pour La Rébellion was released on the date of Quebec's national holiday, Saint Jean Baptiste Day.

Overall, Thèmes Pour La Rébellion is an album that will appeal to a broad range of metal fans and please those who've followed Forteresse over the years. It is powerful and heavy on the atmosphere and melody without sounding cheesy or over-saturated. I've listened to this one over a dozen times at this point and during each listening session have found it to be more enjoyable than previous. A strong contender for Album of the Year.

Rating: 10 out of 10