Sitting here in 2016, it’s remarkable to think that black metal bands hailing from the United States were considered a bit novel just a decade ago. Though the style took root here decades ago, it’s become the clear dominant paradigm in American underground metal in recent years, attracting newfound crossover interest and producing new bands by the score. As with any niche genre explosion, this BM bloom has engendered lots of redundant music, but it’s also given us too many exciting young voices to easily track.

Among these high-powered newcomers are West Virginia’s Torrid Husk. Like many newer American black metal bands, they bedeck their music with naturalist imagery – “Carminite” is a type of mineral, and the split it appears on also features a tune called “Rhododendron” – and heighten its drama with swelling, anthemic chord progressions. But Torrid Husk’s approach also draws on nastier, more urban influences. Their songs swoop and twist with an iterative complexity that recalls Krallice; they balance this progressive bent with a near-death-metal rhythmic severity. Drummer Tony Cordone is a serious blaster, and the way he lays into his kit at the beginning of “Carminite” lends it an urgency that few black metal acts possess. This is Torrid Husk’s fourth release since they dropped their debut LP in 2013, and they’re improving at a frightening pace. Listen.

Swallow Matewan by Torrid Husk / End

“Carminite” will be released as part of Swallow Matewan, a split with fellow BM-ers End, on 9/23 via Grimoire Records. Preorder it here.