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I’m not really what you’d call a connoisseur of Black Metal, nor am I an expert on it in any form. Hell, I sold most of my Black Metal years ago (I just felt my credibility drop with that sentence), so I guess that means I’m not even a big fan of the style, but I’m always willing to give a band a chance to challenge my biases and impress me. It doesn’t pan out most of the time, but every now and then it pays off and I find a great band. As it turns out, with their debut, grandly titled Monumental – The Temple of Twilight, The Mist from the Mountains prove to be exactly that kind of band.

As you’d expect from their name, The Mist from the Mountains works in epic Black Metal with tons of atmosphere and highly addictive melodies, all with a slightly folkish touch and the occasional female vocals. Boasting members from storied acts like Alghazanth, Diablerie, and ...and Oceans, it’s no surprise that this is a very professional and adventurous release, which takes the melodic sensibilities of '90s Swedish Black Metal and mixes them with the epic stylings of Moonsorrow and Viking-era Bathory, and even a bit of later Sentenced with the instrumental sections of "With the Sun and the Skies and Birds Above." This leaves us with a grand album that takes you away to windswept plains and ancient mountaintops blanketed by falling snow, and it’s that transformative quality that separates the good bands in this style from the great ones.

It’s not often you get an album that’s a contender for the year’s best near the very beginning, but with its massive scale and breathtaking songwriting, Monumental – The Temple of Twilight has come and shown itself to be worthy of that title, and I’d almost be surprised if any other album puts up a fight this year. A superb release.