[Cover photo credit to Joe Ritson]

Australian Black Metal band Black Lava are releasing their second album, The Savage Winds to Wisdom, this Friday, June 12th, 2024, via Season of Mist, and the entire album is now free to stream on Season of Mist’s Youtube channel. Blending Black Metal, old school Death Metal, and medieval themes, the new album brings together the band members’ many years of experience in various bands.

Among the bandmates, when he’s not touring with Ne Obliviscaris, Dan Presland also drums alongside Hadal Maw guitarist Ben Boyle in the labyrinthine all-instrumental band Vipassi. Those two have crossed paths with vocalist Rob Watkins around Melbourne’s metal underground for the past decade. On this new album, they took their time creating its atmosphere and ideas.

Boyle says:

There was greater care taken with the compositions. There’s more layering to the riffs and melodies. We called on a more broad list of inspirations and tones to give the album a greater sense of balance while keeping the same attention to detail. The Savage Winds to Wisdom is the kind of album that lends itself to repeat listens.

The Savage Winds to Wisdom swirls with a deeper and darker sense of atmosphere.

Boyle adds:

There’s more depth to this album, but it still stays true to what we set out to do with Black Lava: create heavy, energetic and catchy tunes that make our listeners feel powerful.

The band concludes:

We sharpened our tools with this album. The Savage Winds to Wisdom is a step up in all aspects. We went a little more dark and brutal and that’s exactly where we want to take our music.