Review: Volcandra – Beyond the Will of Mortals

Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 24th April 2026 After 2024’s ‘The Way of Ancients’ made a surprising dash to our top 30 in the Album of the Year poll, I was looking forward to the next instalment from Kentuckian melodic black/death metallers Volcandra, and luckily for us they’ve hopped right back in two years later to bring us ‘Beyond the Will of Mortals’. They were a completely new band to me when I heard them on their previous record, but it only grew on me over time, so I’ve got some high hopes for this one, which is out now through Prosthetic Records. The band have still clearly got a lot of Wintersun DNA in them, given the gloriously atmospheric blackened melodeath of the opening title track and the almost power metal gallop of ‘Mage of Fabled Sorcery’, but Volcandra have also worked on each part of their game to enhance those contributions. There are moments that feel almost tech death influenced, like the brutal ‘Venom Marsh Enchantress’ being maybe their heaviest track…