For those who've lurked within the black metal underground for the past two decades (or even longer), the name MORRIGAN should be more than familiar. As Mayhemic Truth from 1992-2000, the band released a steady stream of demos that bowed before the ancient altar of the almighty Bathory. The shimmering darkness that Mayhemic Truth created back then was an untrendy counterpoint to black metal's increasingly mainstream aspirations during that period, and also served as an oft-overlooked pillar of Germany's black metal underground. However, when the band changed their moniker to MORRIGAN at the dawn of the new millennium and released their debut album, Plague, Waste and Death, in 2001, changes were afoot - and they were grand. For the rest of the ensuing decade, MORRIGAN moved on from Bathory's more hard-charging style into the glorious "Viking era" marked most poignantly by the dual classics of Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods. MORRIGAN camp has been quiet since the release of 2013's Diananns Whisper; only a far-too-short split with fellow Germans Blizzard came the following year. At last, they emerge from darkness and doubt with the surprise full-length Anwynn. The years have been kind to MORRIGAN: not only do they sound utterly invigorated with their solemn, hymnic pagan metal, but the rest of the wider underground has perhaps caught up with how far ahead they were in looking back, now able to appreciate the immensity and poignancy of MORRIGAN in their prime. Indeed, Annwyn is arguably the band at their peak of their powers; from beginning to end, the album magickally reminds of Bathory's Viking era AND immeasurably adds to it, whisking the listener far away to forgotten realms and high adventure.