Release Date: 20 February 2026
Song Count: 4
Duration: 41 minutes, 5 seconds
Rating: 7.8/10
Description:
Here is another recent release of a black metal album, after two and a half weeks since the last one we saw: from Trondheim, Norway rises the newly emerged, innovating band Misotheist, with their fourth album De Pinte. What is especially notable about the way this rather mysterious group releases records is that they usually consist of only 3 tracks each, yet comfortably reach the duration length of an average album through including long and extensive songs - and this release, in fact, is an exception to the rule by including a fourth track in for the first time. The band, usually centering their music around the concepts of wickedness, torture, unholiness and darkness, are slowly gathering an audience of curious and impressed listeners willing to observe their particular approach to black metal music, which seems to have been deemed as being on a winning streak so far.
De Pinte is a highly dark and emotive album that immerses one into the displayed melancholy, despair and fury through its clever instrument use to lead into these sensations. The dissonant guitar riffs blaze in aggression and the drums suffocate in their speed and precision as the tracks cycle between introducing layered melodies on a constant basis and looping around in classic black metal fashion, before gliding smoothly into what succeeds it. The delicate balance between dread & tension and small glimpses of light throughout is upheld spectacularly across the experience, really capturing one in and letting the dark mood set without dragging on for too long, even when the closing, titular and by far longest song of Misotheist's entire discography at over 21 minutes kicks in and begins playing. For a track of monstrous length by many standards, "De Piste" is quite effective at pacing itself with consistency and intrigue upheld across the board, as although it takes its time traveling from one sonical point to the next, it never gives the sense of wasting one's time by its overt length.
Black metal has been a subgenre yours truly has had difficulty clicking with in the past due to its frequent lack of melodicism that I look for in music as well as its "wall of noise" effect of purposefully overwhelming or tiring the listener out - however, in spite of being fully faithful to the particular style with no need felt to blend anything else in, De Pinte manages to shatter this mold through its subtly noticeable yet impactful variety of musical threads and harmony as well as clever pacing that manages to retain interest the entire way through. With how expertly crafted this album shows itself to be, it would quite frankly be a shame for it to not gain its deserved amount of recognition and praise, and I sincerely hope that this work, alongside Misotheist's other works, finds a suitable, sizeable audience in metal scenes in the future. A solid record all around.