One-man black metal acts are, generally speaking, not the most outgoing folks, and as such, covering (or even discovering) those projects can be unusually difficult. Take, for example, Fyrnask: the musical identity of a German guy named Fyrnd — just Fyrnd, which Google-translates (from Icelandic) to “statute barred” or “archaic quality.” In September, Fyrnd released his second album as Fyrnask, Eldir Nótt, which followed a 2011 LP, Bluostar. Forget anything like touring; he’ll probably never even show his face in photographs (this is as much as you’ll get). Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the mystery — especially considering the degree to which social networks have eliminated any wall between artist and audience — but with almost no earthly or virtual presence to speak of, it can become awfully easy to lose a band like Fyrnask in a consonant-heavy swirl of other one-man black metal bands: Fyrdsman, Frykt, and so forth (fyrth?) ad infinitum. And that would be a fucking sin because Eldir Nótt is an absolute revelation. Like Wolves In The Throne Room or Altar Of Plagues circa Mammal, the album feels like a thing of nature itself: like Big Sky country in pre-dawn hours, like a flash flood in the desert, like walking headlong into a blizzard. It is, at points, quiet and placid, but even in its fury it feels like a spectacle to behold rather than a flurry of blows by which to be beaten down or charged up. It’s got a rich, full, powerful sound, similar to other obsessive one-man auteurs such as Blut Aus Nord or later Leviathan. It’s just one of the year’s best pure black metal releases, period, and irrespective of its author’s intentions, it demands to be noticed. –Michael [LISTEN]