In 2023, Texas metal quartet Krigsgrav released an album that resonated with me more than any that year, clinching the top spot on my AOTY list. A beautifully sinister cacophony of melodic black and doom metal, something was alluring in the way it was structured.
Fires in the Fall: I still marvel at it.
So when I saw the band announce their new record Stormcaller — their first since making the move from Indianapolis’ Wise Blood Records to Pennsylvania’s Willowtip — it immediately piqued my interest. But they were faced with the challenge of the follow-up to their most substantial effort. Not to mention, Fires in the Fall was 20 years in the making. And then, I saw this quote:
“When we started writing the songs that would make up Stormcaller, our intention was to create the most complete Krigsgrav album that took something from every era of the band, while still pushing our sound forward. A culmination of the blackest hues, doomiest of dirges, and most soaring of lead guitars. We think we achieved that, but we also wrote the best album of our career thus far. We trust that when you hear it, you’ll agree.”
Perhaps one of my greatest flaws as a music fan is my unrealistic expectations. I wrote about that in my Darkthrone Diamonds & Rust feature. Unfairly, I compare bands to their past and best albums. Darkthrone, obviously. Metallica. The list goes on. But I hold those records so closely. In many ways, without sounding too dramatic, it’s like clinching to the air I breathe. I’ve tried to refrain from doing that over the last few years, though.
And I kept that in mind going into Stormcaller.
But “Huntress of the Fire Moon” sounds like it picks up right where Fires in the Fall left off. The production — yet again so strong — allows David Sikora’s drumming to shine. The snare claps like iron fists slamming a frozen table. The bass drum hits like a sledgehammer to the chest. Justin Coleman’s necro vocals cut through the mix like death wrapped in razor wire. Cody Daniels’ leads are simply grandiose. Wes Radvansky’s bass rounds out the low-end to bring it all together. Throughout its duration, you’ll notice nods to The Somberlain in its melody. And oddly, I can hear some Carpathian Forest influence in its intensity. While “Huntress of the Fire Moon” is probably the most uptempo track on the record, the title track isn’t far behind. Daniels knocks out some of his most triumphant sections on the album, specifically at the two-minute mark, and the back half of the song allows Coleman to bestow impassioned yelps for the “stormcaller” before breaking down into one of the record’s first doom passages.
For longtime Krigsgrav followers, the atmospheric black metal vibes are at an all-time high on “Twilight Fell,” hitting like Wolves in the Throne Room’s Primordial Arcana or something of the like. Then, “None Shall Remember Your Name” drops into the fold with The Mantle era Agalloch necromancy, particularly noted by Sikora’s clean vocals and the acoustic guitar layers. While it doesn’t stick out too much, bits and pieces of “The Tonic of Wilderness” remind me of a more upbeat Dance of December Souls or Gothic. But the band saved their most melodic doom-ridden track for the finale. Everything from My Dying Bride to Paradise Lost to Katatonia are found within the DNA of “Womb:Death:Dawn.” While a tough outing to match the grandeur of Fires in the Fall’s “Alone with the Setting Sun,” this one puts up quite the fight.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked myself countless times if Stormcaller eclipses the sheer colossal nature of Fires in the Fall. At this point, I’m unsure if it even matters, because at the very least, it’s just as impressive. I do know that with four months left in 2025, it’ll take a murder’s row of releases to knock this one out of my top five.
Photo Credit: Gabe Alvarez
