Machines of Ceaseless Ruin
I really haven't paid much attention to the US black metal scene up until recently. Honestly, I was barely aware that one existed. Everyone knows that "real" black metal comes from scandinavia so why even bother looking anywhere else, right?.
San Francisco would probably be pretty close to the last place I'd look for decent black metal. And Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles would probably be one of the last labels I'd expect it to be on.
So it's a good thing Ludicra's album "Fex Urbis Lex Orbis" found it's way to me because I certainly wasn't actively looking for it. Yeah, they're from SF, signed on Jello's label and yet this is one of the most solidly awesome new black metal albums I've heard in a long time.
It's got everything a good black metal album needs: raw shrieking vocals, fast tremelo picked guitars that carry most of the melody, abundant double bass drums, and an overall foreboding, evil atmosphere. The production is good without sounding overly slick. The songs are complex and include some really nice melodic bits without ever quite vearing into the symphonic, bombastic sound that bands like Dimmu or Cradle of Filth pretty much own. There are keyboards here and there but they're used in a very different way than, say, Emperor uses them. I'm always impressed when a band can stradle that line and play within the confines of a genre as without sounding completely derivative. Maybe since they're from San Francisco they sort of know from the beginning that there's no chance they'll ever be "True Norwegian Kvlt Black Metal" and that's freed them to just kick ass in the manner they find most appropriate.
Obviously, this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. If it is though, grab it straight from the Alternative Tentacles online store or amazon.