Blackbraid - Blackbraid III: Blood Rituals and Stadium Riffs in the Forest of Eternal Dusk

There’s a storm gathered somewhere over the forests of the Catskills, and Blackbraid have captured its soul. With Blackbraid III, the one-man force of Sgah’gahsowáh has delivered an album that doesn’t merely follow the tremolo-scorched footprints of its predecessors—it carves a new path through obsidian dusk and thundercloud echoes This is not a mere continuation of the Blackbraid sound; it is a transmutation. A blade honed on ancient stone, swung with a wider arc.

From the outset, III defies pigeonholing. Opener, “Dusk (Eulogy),” is a sombre acoustic piece—a eulogy offered not at the end of a ritual but at the beginning—signalling that this album is a death rite in reverse, an odyssey into fire rather than out of it. As the album unfolds, it becomes clear that Blackbraid III is not bound by the trappings of orthodoxy. It embraces the gnarled fury of black metal but weaves into it threads of thrash, classic metal, and even echoes of grandiose stadium rock. There are no gimmicks here. No fusion for the sake of novelty. What emerges instead is a seamless extension of voice and vision, pulling from a broader sonic palette without sacrificing an ounce of ferocity.

Listen to “Wardrums at Dawn on the Day of My Death” and feel the hammerfall. The track detonates with black metal’s signature chaos—blastbeats, icepick shrieks, and enough tremolo picking to sand your bones raw. But layered within the fury is melody: fretwork that soars skyward, inviting rather than alienating. This is where Blackbraid excel. The spirit of classic metal doesn’t dilute the violence; it illuminates it. These aren’t diversions from black metal but enhancements of it—new tools in the ritual arsenal.

What we see across the album is a deliberate widening of the sonic scope. Tracks like “The Dying Breath of a Sacred Stag” and “God of Black Blood” showcase an ear for grandiosity that recalls Metallica’s mid-'80s theatricality as much as it does the frostbitten minimalism of Norway’s second wave. But this isn’t pastiche. It’s synthesis. There’s a swagger to the riffing, a trippy undercurrent to the arrangements, and a sense of scale that aims not for the cavern but for the cathedral. And yet, it never loses the dirt under its nails.

There are moments of meditative breath as well—acoustic pieces like “The Earth is Weeping” and “Like Wind Through the Reeds Making Waves Like Water” don’t merely serve as interludes; they are the marrow of this album’s soul. The use of traditional flutes and ambient textures in “Traversing the Forest of Eternal Dusk” brings an aching beauty, a sense of ancestral memory that deepens the album’s emotional terrain.

Then there’s “Tears of the Dawn” and “And He Became the Burning Stars…”—nine-minute odysseys of blistering black metal that collapse into regal, tragic climaxes. These are not just compositions; they’re epics. The sense of scale is enormous, but never indulgent. They rise and fall with the weight of myth.

This is a high-risk album. Where Blackbraid I and II were leaner, meaner affairs rooted firmly in genre tradition, III opens the circle. It invokes new spirits. It lets other ghosts speak. In a genre that often punishes deviation, this is not just bold—it’s vital. And yet, despite its expanded horizon, the album never feels directionless. There is a spine of intent running through every track, a continuity of theme and tone that binds the chaos.

Last year’s single “Warriors” served as an augury for this transformation—a first glimpse of a sound that refused to be fenced in. That promise is realised here in full. Blackbraid are no longer simply an avatar of Indigenous pride through black metal. They are torchbearers for the American black metal scene at large, standing shoulder to shoulder with Uada, Stormruler, Abigail Williams and Cloak, all of whom are pulling the genre into newer, more resonant territory.

Blackbraid III is not perfect—some transitions could be tighter, and a few ambient sections linger a beat too long. But its ambition is undeniable, its power is immense and its vision is uncompromising.

🔥 RATING: 8/10
💀 KEY TRACKS: "Wardrums at Dawn on the Day of My Death," "God of Black Blood," "Tears of the Dawn," "And He Became the Burning Stars…"
📻 FILE UNDER: Blood-drenched American black metal, Classic metal grandeur, Psychedelic brutality, Indigenous myth-making, Forest-born warfare