Review by Jeger on March 23, 2025.

A little black metal minus the swords and war paint? Sure, I like Wormwitch… The pan-European black metal collective, Silver Knife, are injecting contemporary creative juice into the genre. Real artful stuff that soaks into the very core of self. It doesn't matter if you don't even know what the album's concept is, because the music speaks to the spirit. The language of the soul conveyed from artist to taker in; resulting in a goosebumps-inducing experience. Silver Knife has been at it since 2019, which makes them newcomers on the scene, but the impact they've made in such a short time has been significant, and that's due to the mystique surrounding the band. No one knows who these guys are! When black metal is created anonymously, it strips away the ego and prioritizes recording equity on a collective front. The square root of it all tying together in the form of Silver Knife's forthcoming self-titled LP.

Crank up the suffering any more and we'll be venturing into Mgła or Advent Sorrow territory… Everything at crescendo level: urgent, unnerving and yet beautiful in its own right. Agonized vocal incursions rise like muffled murder cries from behind a blanket of wet distortion that suffocates any kind of atmosphere this record could've had. Parts that are meant to soar freely are weighed down like a plane with ice-covered wings attempting to take off in a winter storm. Just plummeting into a river of questionably engineered black metal… It's like everything I've chosen to listen to today has tried to give me a panic attack. The energy is the same throughout the first three tracks until we get to "Transfiguration". A welcomed change of pace during the midway point of this cut provides a little relief from this album's taxing energy. Like the soundtrack to one's life as it unravels chaotically into a fucking dumpster fire state. Or like that sliver of panic that lines your grief - no control - scrambling to make sense of it all.

A mysterious bunch who create mysterious black metal that will leave you in frenzied condition. Or perhaps what we have here isn't so depressive after all. This could be an homage to Phoenix's rise! To triumph in tragedy it seems is the sentiment here during the recordings final handful of minutes. Ah, another interlude from the chaos: tranquil and soulful, smart and modern guitar work driven by concrete cadences and then it's right back into the current. Only a lot more meaningful now as what's been a depressive affair turns into one of those hands in the air right upon rising to the top of some mountainous peak that you endured much hardship in order to reach moments.

You'll be glad when this one is over and that's not necessarily a bad thing. What a cathartic experience. The music is like when Magneto used his magnetic powers to literally rip Wolverine's adamantium out of his body, except you replace Wolverine with your morose ass and instead of adamantium it's your emotions that are being extracted without permission. Not sad or melancholy, but instead rooted in anxiety is this experience. Glaringly nerve-wracking at the surface and enchantingly melodic underneath all that sound pollution.

Whew! That was a doozy… What a remarkable album this could've been had it only been for some, I mean any kind of tact in the engineering department. Some sharper tones and some actual mixing never hurt anyone. But overall, I respect what these guys are doing. This is 100% true black metal that's been created with artistic integrity at the fore. You don't get this kind of authenticity within the scope of any other genre other than black metal. Time to have a complete nervous breakdown and then triumph over it, but barely, because even the most uplifting parts of this thing feel like tragedy.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10