I regret to say that I didn’t follow a lot of black metal releases throughout 2012. It wasn’t until these past few months that I really settled down and started peeping the atmospheric, blackened offerings that I had missed. Of course, the one I immediately went for was American black metal outfit Bastard Sapling‘s debut full-length Dragged From Our Restless Trance. Holy mother of fuck, this four-track album (which totals at damn-neat forty minutes) is extraordinary.

If you haven’t listened to Bastard Sapling before, you have seriously been missing out. This is one of the most hypnotizing black metal albums I’ve heard in quite a while. You can stream a new track called “Cold Winds Howled Across The Desolation” over on Decibel’s site along with a track-by-track breakdown by the band. Dragged From Our Restless Trance is available now. Stream another track below.