Review by Jeger on April 6, 2026.

To die without regrets is the goal; one seldom met and oft relinquished unto a life of transgression, but alas! In those final ponderous moments, as the shadows begin to thicken and as the comfort of eternal slumber slowly takes you shall you begin to understand what it all means, or perhaps, for you, it boils down to nothing more than perdition's fate to seal the deal. Leaving you to your guilt-ridden thoughts. Mind racing through all of the times you wish you had back. Or perhaps the time for warring has come to a close for you… Battle-hardened, deathly wounded and all alone - left to your final minutes. And so another Black Metal album has been written…

Finland's Bloody Valkyria have returned! Exactly one year following the release of their sophomore effort, 2025's "In Our Home, Across The Fog", Bloody Valkyria are set to unveil their third offering, "Requiem: Reveries Of The Dying", by way of true BM Artisans, Northern Silence Productions. Epic is the way and elegance is the accent to this grande composition of Black Metal. To follow up their previous record will be no minuscule task, but from what I'm hearing here during the intro to the opening track, "Symphony Of Silence", Bloody Valkyria are more than up for it. And once the riffs and rhythms begin to shape the track, then it all starts to come together: a dying warrior's final moments or even hours spent in reflection, Sun setting o'er the land and over his heart with the utmost somber. And the atmosphere is radiant of triumph; flutes and the like give way to a more sinister ambiance during the following track, "Life's Worth", as the atmosphere is stripped away; exposing the malignant body of the song: penetrating riffs and godlike rhythms. Synth like crystalline sound and eerie chorales create an experience bordering on the divine. The high fantasy plots of the previous album turned inward both musically and thematically. What a nice transition from one album to the next.

In our final moments, we discover who we truly are, we begin to understand what's important right in time for the casket. A waste if you ask me, a cruel joke! Such is our existence but with albums like "Requiem: Reveries Of The Dying", we can see it cast in a different, more eloquent tone. There's beauty in the end and there is most certainly beauty here. Bloody Valkyria - the most important band on the Atmospheric scene and "Requiem" - an album of world-beating music, but it's all simply par for the course apparently, because BV just make it sound easy. So austere is the sound, so epic and imposing that it will imprint itself onto your psyche for years to come.

An album for a Phoenix-like rising! Even though death is the main concept, there's just this air of victory to it during some parts, while others evoke feelings of longing, yearning for the time lost, only to be reminded of the final outcome that awaits just around the corner. And then we have "When Everything Feels Like Nothing" - a melancholy intro bleeds into gentle synth-accented, mammoth cadences. An alternation between epic and sorrowful transpires and this delicate balance is bonded surely by haunting melodic sequences that stir the spirit in ways that only BM can.

We'll get there someday - that place of reflection on our bed of death and it's coming faster than you think. The wise man is always prepared for the end and we can only hope for an honorable death like the one experienced by our desolate Knight here on the cusp of a Valley that feels as if it's all his own as the light fades. I don't know how they accomplished it, but Bloody Valkyria has created two perfect, back-to-back LPs. Observe as they tighten their grip upon the ABM Movement. If it were a competition, there would be only Grima to compete with here on the highest echelon of Black Metal. BM for revelation, for contemplation and for passing on. Pure poetry.

Rating: 10 out of 10