���� MMXV's creepy Ligottian album art is what first caught my eye, depicting a figure in vaguely Victorian-era attire who has something quite horrible happening with (or to) its head. It's unusual and suggestive, like something that would accompany a piece of weird fiction. While the music on Aetherius Obscuritas's comes from a more traditionalist black metal background, it does live up to that cover with a regal, ragingly fast sonic assault that's tinged in technically intricate songwriting, moments of quirky oddness, and some really tasteful use of synthesizer that doesn't detract from the overall ugliness and power of the band's music.

���� This is the latest album from the Hungarian duo, delivering more of the powerful, speed-fueled black metal that main member Arkhorrl has been producing for over a decade now. It also sees the band moving further from the unmistakably Burzumic fuzz-drenched sound of their earlier drum-machine driven albums into a more skillful, complex and melodic sound that recalls the black grandeur of Dissection, while employing some interesting textural qualities of their own. That earlier stuff had somewhat of a similar feel to some other Hungarian black metal bands I'm a fan of, like Marblebog and Vorkuta, but on MMXV, Arkhorrl and drummer Zson bring more complex arrangements and vaguely progressive touches to that sound, with some unsettling discordant riffing entering the fray alongside the sweeping, majestic melodic blackened riffs, and a couple of songs like "M�reg" getting particularly jagged and dissonant. The drumming is also noteworthy, with occasional weird rhythmic fills that come out of nowhere, lending a frenzied air to certain moments on the album. Most of the songs fly at blasting, super-fast tempos, but there are some powerful tempo shifts into dreamy, synth-flecked waltz, or passages of mid-tempo folk-tinged atmospherics that bring added depth to their sound. And as with the other Hungarian black metal bands I dig, the glottal sound of Arkhorrl's lyrics meshes nicely with the menacing tone, sometimes slipping into a repulsive gurgle that sounds particularly demonic. Well-written, compositionally complex black metal does a pretty great job of merging sweeping nocturnal, folk-flecked atmosphere with technical musicianship and brutal aggression.