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A crucial name in Norwegian black metal’s early journey from pagan savagery into progressive textures, after three LPs In The Woods… fizzled out, leaving a legacy of challenging growth and musical free-thought percolating in the underground.

Always intriguing and inventive, their early records could seem held back by the disconnectedness and emotional inexperience of youth.

Since 2016 comeback Pure, only drummer Anders Kobro has been retained from the 90s line-up, alongside UKBM scene stalwart Mr Fog, and while Cease The Day has a greater sense of warmth, immediacy and humanity, it follows Mr Fog’s last Ewigkeit LP in seeming a safe, nostalgic sort of record: a tasteful, easy listen, but few jagged edges or radical impulses.

For Fans Of: Enslaved, Opeth, Ulver

Chris has been writing about heavy metal since 2000, specialising in true/cult/epic/power/trad/NWOBHM and doom metal at now-defunct extreme music magazine Terrorizer. Since joining the Metal Hammer famileh in 2010 he developed a parallel career in kids' TV, winning a Writer's Guild of Great Britain Award for BBC1 series Little Howard's Big Question as well as writing episodes of Danger Mouse, Horrible Histories, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed and The Furchester Hotel. His hobbies include drumming (slowly), exploring ancient woodland and watching ancient sitcoms.