![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGlorification of the Master of Light<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe some of you who used to listen to the black metal giants from Norway remember a little release called Wrath of the Tyrant<\/em> from Emperor. For those who do, remember how raw that compilation was? Well, it\u2019s pristine-sounding in terms of production compared to this one. Even Pantokrator\u2019s earliest demos don\u2019t quite hit the demo quality levels that this one does. Crimson Moonlight\u2019s first foray into the world of black metal bears little resemblance to anything that came after – it\u2019s raw to the point of ludicrous like Emperador or early Duister Maanlicht, and the sound keeps shifting from murky and quiet to tinny and abrasive. It\u2019s simply an unpolished, very early attempt that sounds like a jam session in a basement and little else. There\u2019s promise, but this is for completionists or the curious only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Divine Darkness<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n From this point on, let me be clear – there are no bad releases, just ones that are better than others. That said, the latest full-length Divine Darkness<\/em> is one that I\u2019ve found difficult to get into. It\u2019s not that it\u2019s not well-played – I think by this point, the band\u2019s talent is obvious on every level – it\u2019s just that it doesn\u2019t really grab me in terms of its riffing. The echoes of Mayhem\u2019s \u201cFreezing Moon\u201d on \u201cDusk\u201d and the grim tones on closer \u201cIn Silence, In Chains\u201d are solid, but opener \u201cThe Dogma of Chalcedon\u201d sounds almost too clean cut and by the numbers. Much of the album following the opening track simply fails to grab me, and sounds simply like brutal Swedish black metal by the numbers. Perhaps it\u2019s the production here too, as it feels like it lacks the coldness of earlier material. I\u2019m not sure – but like many things with black metal, it\u2019s a \u201cfeeling\u201d and I\u2019m simply not feeling it. Good enough, but the band have much better and more inspired material in their catalogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Abaddon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n While we, the metal faithful, desperately await the return of the anonymous Swedish black metal horde known as Skald in Veum (please come back!!!!), Crimson Moonlight (I have a sneaking suspicion they share band members with the aforementioned, but who knows) have unleashed this ridiculously aggressive EP. Unlike Divine Darkness<\/em>, the production is given a new muscular, icy quality and though the style being played here is nothing new, it\u2019s absolutely savage in the same way that Skald in Veum\u2019s Stridslysten<\/em> was. As impenetrable as a blizzard, and hopefully a promise of ferocious things to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Depths of Dreams Unconscious<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a real soft spot for this EP, simply due to the perfection that is the opening title track. Used in the trailer for the unblack metal documentary Nemesis Divina<\/em>, it\u2019s simply an epic black metal intro piece done right. What follows is decidedly dialled back from the tightly-controlled chaos of Veil of Remembrance <\/em>but more driving and heavy. We\u2019re even treated to a revamped version of one of their earliest songs, \u201cAlone in Silence.\u201d Sadly, it would be their last release before going on an extended hiatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veil of Remembrance<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In some ways, Veil of Remembrance <\/em>remains the most unique album in the band\u2019s discography. It is a transitional one, to be sure. Though The Covenant Progress<\/em> saw the band amp up the aggression and blastbeats far beyond anything they\u2019d done before, Veil of Remembrance<\/em> took it to the furthest extremes of speed the band would reach. It\u2019s like a Marduk record if they lost the muscular tone and opted for a skeletal, cold and thin one. And let\u2019s just talk about the drum work for a second here – Gustav Elowson is absolutely insane, hitting levels of almost inhuman speed and precision. The riffs walk a fine line between death and black metal, and so do Pilgrim\u2019s vocals, with him switching on occasion to a deep death metal roar. Fans of 1349\u2019s Liberation<\/em> album will find a ton in common here, and that\u2019s a good thing. One of the band\u2019s strongest efforts, and possibly their most nasty, though you\u2019ve got to be in the mood for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eternal Emperor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before I really got into the band, I was under the impression that Crimson Moonlight were the Christian metal scene\u2019s answer to Dimmu Borgir. Little did I know the ferocious heights to which they would later climb! But on this, their first EP, they definitely bear the hallmark of Norway\u2019s most popular black metal export. Imagine a more raw version of Dimmu Borgir\u2019s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant<\/em>album and you\u2019ll get a general idea of what\u2019s up on this one. Though they essentially ditched the restrained and more stately approach heard on this one, I\u2019ve always loved it, and to a certain degree, wish they had of stuck with this style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Covenant Progress<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the similarities to early Dimmu Borgir are readily apparent on Eternal Emperor<\/em>, they are much less so on Crimson Moonlight\u2019s debut album, The Covenant Progress<\/em>. As their albums go, it somewhat stands alone – it is neither brittle and caustic like Veil of Remembrance<\/em>, nor is it taking a cue from latter-era Marduk like Divine Darkness<\/em>. Instead, Crimson Moonlight\u2019s debut deftly walks a tightrope between the symphonic styles of Dimmu Borgir and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk<\/em>-era Emperor and the more furious Swedish stylings of Dark Funeral (post-The Secrets of the Black Arts<\/em>). Dark Funeral, at least to my mind, always possessed a certain sense of melody to their aggressive style that fellow Swedish black metal giants Marduk (probably deliberately) lacked, yet still managed to maintain a hyper sense of speed and brutality. Crimson Moonlight follow suit with this, matching the flowing riffing and steady blastbeats with a sense of orchestral majesty, along with some folkier elements thrown in for good measure. It is, to my mind, the most balanced and classically black metal of all the band\u2019s recordings, blending their older symphonic leanings with their newfound sense of lightning-fast sonic assaults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Black metal overlords Crimson Moonlight occupy a similar spot in the Swedish scene as Antestor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1021,1022],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-15433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features-d97","category-news-d70","tag-crimson-moonlight"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/hmcm7.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n