The best contemporary black metal albums you’ve never heard of

Oh no, a cheap clickbait listacle! Fear not, however, I come with good intentions. Staying abreast of new material in 2026 feels like navigating a tiny dinghy through a great storm of biblical scale. All you can do is cling on and stay the course through the sensory overload. The annual AOTY roundup functioning more like a fond farewell to releases we mildly enjoyed before they are consigned to the dustbin of history more than an actual review of the year. Since starting this blog in 2017, I’ve spent a lot of time scraping through the rough to find the diamonds. With that in mind, and to remind myself it was…definitely worth it, I thought I might scour once again through my end of year roundups and pick out some choice cuts from the black metal camp. Firstly though, I’ll justify the title. These are the best releases I have come across that did not get anywhere near the attention they deserved. A criterion I’ve measured by a lack of coverage, or coverage falling far short of where it…