A newcomer to the post-black scene, Budapest's Ygfan has released their first LP, Hamvakbol.... Getting picked up by Sun and Moon Records is usually an indicator of possible quality to me, so a listen was definitely in order. It checks all the boxes of that label's picks: Nuanced and introspective, it has a lonely, faraway quality evoking a nameless ritual in a Hungarian forest.

The smooth, ringing guitars and proggy drumming of the songs puts one in mind of post-black pioneers such as Alcest, but the atmosphere is darker and less uplifting -- the tunes, certainly, are nowhere near as pretty. But there's a mesmerism to them all the same, with the jangling riffing and droned clean vocals of Balint Zsolt (when he's not croaking out black metal rasps) combining with the thrumming bass to give each song a sense of motion. The layering of the instrument tracks gets in the way, occasionally, of seeing what the guitarists are capable of, as it slightly blurs the complex melodies they interplay; but there is plenty to hear nonetheless. Csendben is one of the best examples of technical ability on the album.

The atmosphere is where the band does the best, though, and it's where you can see why Hamvakbol... fits well in the S&M catalog of releases. The lonely visions conjured up by its songs have some similarities in atmosphere to past albums from Blaze of Sorrow and Lunacy: Emotional, almost spiritual music for fans of the darker stuff. It's not the most energetic, but still more so in my opinion than their last release.

Bandcamp: https://ygfan.bandcamp.com/releases.