Review by Jeger on June 16, 2024.

There are so many cult bands within the sphere of black metal that they’re not even cult anymore, but if there was ever a band that qualified as cult, it would certainly be Finland’s True Black Dawn. Haunting the Suomi underground and signed to the ever-scrutinizing WTC Productions, TBD are not only an illustrious collective, but also one true to the cause, which for this band is and always has been Satanism. It’s not easy to be relevant in such a fertile black metal hot zone as the Finnish underground, so for some bands, obscurity is the way; obscure even to the underground . But I can assure you there is nothing thematically or sonically obscure about True Black Dawn’s music as of late. Black metal done the arduous way with a full lineup, albums that span 10-11 tracks and with painstaking detail. On July 30, True Black Dawn will release their third LP, Thick-Circling Shadows, via the aforementioned World Terror Committee. 

Thick-Circling Shadows is not your typical straight-for-the-jugular Satanic black metal album. With track titles like 'The Depths Of The Looking Glass' and 'The Wind From the Red Cloud', this record boasts more of a metaphorical vibe as opposed to the unfiltered Satanic energy of albums like True Black Dawn’s debut, Blood For Satan. Each cut an unbridled delving into the pits of true Finnish black metal. Albums like Sargeist’s “Feeding The Crawling Shadows” and Behexen’s “The Poisonous Path” drawn to the fore of thought here as the abominable 'Body-Without-Soul' strikes brutality’s match; sparking a blaze of dreadful vocalizations, ploughing riffs and nasty rhythms. The following track, 'Worlds In The Mirror', provides a welcomed change in both rhythm and tempo as classic double-bass currents give way to martial cadences following a windswept intro; driving through the heft of your cortex beat after pounding beat. Where the fuck have these guys been and why no just kudos? This is respectable black metal on the Suomi front - a proud testament to the dominance of the scene - a silent weapon of an album. Closing out with 'The End Of Our Age' and into the chasmic shadows of apocalypse we venture now with all looming passages fraught with suspenseful tremolo riffs and more of those intrepid rhythms to back a most grotesque vocals contribution. Melancholy to the core, somber and epic, melodic and moving. What a way to close out what’s been a fine record. 

A little bit of everything like the Golden Corral buffet. A feast for the loosening of your bullet belt as you gorge yourself on five course meal of a black metal album. So much accomplished musically without a bunch of filler and well within the boundaries of what constitutes true black metal: pitch black, frigid and wicked. With Thick-Circling Shadows, True Black Dawn re-establish themselves as a respectable cult presence and lay down some tasty BM chops for the packing of your ravenous gullet. Doesn’t get much more true and it doesn’t get much more Suomi. 

Rating: 8 out of 10