There’s little better in life than a young band swinging for the fences on their debut record. Not content to play it safe just to get a foot in the door, they push themselves to their limit and make a statement right out the gate. Greece’s Riverflame aren’t exactly that—the band sports members of the established bands Hail Spirit Noir, Ponte del Diavolo and Owls—but there’s nonetheless a fire behind their newest project’s debut record Lunar Crusades. With guitars and synths by Haris, vocals by Romain Nobileau, bass by Abro and drumming from Hakon Freyr Gustaffson,1 Riverflame forged five tracks of second-wave-influenced atmospheric black metal with the aim of sounding “both visionary and nostalgic.” These are well-mapped depths to dredge up, so it’ll take some creative turns here to sound forward-thinking. Does Lunar Crusades make those turns and shoot Riverflame straight to the moon, or does it leave them drifting untethered out in space?
Let not Riverflame’s designation as atmoblack lead you to assume Lunar Crusades is bereft of riffs. To the contrary, Lunar Crusades seethes with ice-cold melodies in the vein of Dissection reaching for the grandeur of Summoning. Typical tremolos and blast beats are here in quantity, at their grandest on “Through Mistlands of Unearthly Worlds” and most electrifying on “Where Dragons Once Ruled,”2 but Riverflame also employ other sounds like twin leads (“Lunar Crusades”) and acoustic guitars (“Riverflame”) to keep their riffs fresh across their epic song structures. Haris’ riffs have beastly muscle behind them, giving Lunar Crusades that melodic-yet-bludgeoning quality that recalls Kvaen for me as well as the free-spirited fun of Stormkeep. Similarly, Nobileau’s vocals are deep, husky, and biting, keeping Riverflame a vicious force even at their most wistful (“Before the Eternal Night”). Abro’s bass is unfortunately understated throughout most of Lunar Crusades, but throw in Gustafsson’s pummeling tom fills (“Where Dragons Once Ruled”) and relentless kicking (“Riverflame”), and Riverflame become as ferocious as they are atmospheric.
But Riverflame are atmoblack, and they shaped Lunar Crusades primarily through sweeping, long-form epics. Evoking Summoning, Riverflame use miscellaneous synthetic instrumentation to bridge gaps between riffs, imbue the music with faux-medieval grandeur and add dynamics to their lengthy arrangements. Throughout Lunar Crusades, you’ll be treated to harp (“Lunar Crusades”), horn (“Riverflame”), atmospheric ooh’s (“Through Mistlands…”) and, among others, harpsichord (“Before the Eternal Night”). Riverflame’s atmospherics slather “Through Mistlands…” with an eerie mysteriousness that put me in mind of the Ico soundtrack and give even the comparatively truncated instrumental “Lunar Crusades” a fantastical opulence akin to Caladan Brood.34 Even the narration works! Read deep, low, and theatrically, Riverflame’s narrator elevates the dramatic undercurrent of Lunar Crusades and together with their synthetic orchestra does wonders in elevating the blistering black metal towards Riverflame’s cinematic ambitions.
While Riverflame aren’t short on ideas, Lunar Crusades nonetheless often feels like butter scraped over too much bread. Riverflame does a lot to mitigate over-repetition, such as switching up the drums beneath a riff whenever it loops (“Riverflame”) or introducing a riff on acoustic before the distorted guitars (“Where Dragons Once Ruled”), but in the end, there are only so many ways you can play a handful of chord progressions before things start feeling played out after a while. Every song except “Lunar Crusades” is 8-10 minutes and all but “Before the Eternal Night” feel ready to wrap with about two to go. To its credit, Lunar Crusades is surprisingly concise, sitting at thirty-nine minutes long and, though the DR is thoroughly average, the mixing isn’t overly compressed and makes for an easy listening experience despite the refusal of commercial song structures. But ultimately, it often feels like Riverflame taffy-pulled Dissection songs into Summoning proportions to fit their vision, making Lunar Crusades feel a bit thin by the end.
Lunar Crusades is a very fun album and hopefully a strong foundation for Riverflame’s future. It occupies that space of self-aware nerdy black metal like Stormkeep without falling into self-parody, and I was never truly bored with Lunar Crusades during my time with it. I hope Riverflame isn’t a one-off side project for these guys, because there’s real potential here for a great record. If Riverflame can finish songs as strongly as they start them on the next album, it’ll kill. Lunar Crusades is an easy recommendation for fans of melodically inclined atmospheric black metal, even if not every track is all gas the whole way through. Now, go light your nearest river on fire and ride!
Rating: Good!
DR: 75 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Code666 Records
Websites: riverflame.bandcamp.com | instagram.com/riverflame
Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026
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