🎶 Aerdryk
🌎Wemmel, Belgium
📀 Onzuiver
® Amor Fati Productions
📅 21/03/2026

Belgium’s AERDRYK, the one-man project of C.V.B., returns with its second full-length album, “Onzuiver”, following 2022’s “Met de Drietand Op Mijn Huid”. While retaining the dark essence of its predecessor, the new album emerges as notably more aggressive, rough-edged, and deliberately unpolished in its aesthetic.

“Onzuiver” consists of eight tracks with a total running time of approximately 48 minutes, with most compositions exceeding the 5–6 minute mark. This is an album that thrives on duration and gradual development, allowing its ideas and atmosphere to unfold organically. The notable exception is the near post-black piece “Een Wereld Om Te Bederven,” whose monotonous and suffocating sound grips the listener from beginning to end.

The album opens with “Modder En Bloed,” where the drums set the pace before the track transitions into a more atmospheric closing section. Equally distinctive is the ending of “De Laatste Wens,” featuring almost haunting keyboards that deepen the overall sense of darkness. The title track “Onzuiver,” along with “Liever Levend Verbranden”, leans more toward traditional black metal structures, characterized by dense atmosphere and deliberately distorted, abyssal vocals. Among the standout moments is “Kruispunt,” where near-ethereal vocal elements introduce a sense of grandeur that contrasts with the album’s otherwise raw intensity.

The production strongly echoes a 1990s aesthetic, maintaining a deliberately raw and unrefined sound, while the overall atmosphere feels almost ritualistic in nature. AERDRYK remain firmly rooted in the underground ethos of black metal, addressing an audience that perceives the genre as an inner necessity rather than mere musical consumption.

Lyrically, “Onzuiver” explores themes such as inner conflict, the deconstruction of identity and resistance against all forms of dogma—whether social or religious. The content complements the music, reinforcing the album’s overarching sense of isolation and defiance.

Black metal has never been a genre for everyone—and it does not need to be. That very exclusivity is part of its enduring appeal and its loyal followers. With “Onzuiver”, AERDRYK offer further proof that the genre remains alive, restless and defiant, standing firmly outside convention and easy accessibility.

★ 7.5/10
✍🏻 Kostas Boudoukos