One-man, black metal band: a phrase that can strike pre-emptive disappointment into the heart of even the most stalwart extreme music aficionado. It can frequently be the case that these projects lack any kind of individuality or panache, aspects which are thankfully becoming more mandatory in the genre. UKEM’s recent signing, Angmaer, is luckily not guilty of this particular sin.

As the bio states, this is very true to the 1990s’ golden age of BM. The character must be incredibly hard for one person to capture this successfully on their own, and in that Towards Darkness’ Paradise is most assuredly a great success. Although it embraces a touch of the clarity brought to later BM releases, it retains an undeniably classic quality. Continue reading →