Ydos is an ambitious album. From its bleak cover art to the orchestral intro, it is making a statement of intent, one that will deliver a journey through the valleys and peaks of Extreme Metal and breakout styles. On their third album, their first with Napalm Records, Lithuanians Black Spikes have taken the rule book and tossed it aside.
Black Spikes – Ydos
Release Date: 28 August 2026
Words: Daryl Soar
For those English listeners, you are going to need to put on your Rammstein listening hat because there is only one track with words you will understand.
Do not worry, Agni’s vocals are so emotive that their meaning feels like it is being transmitted directly into your frontal cortex. Extreme fry screams, Enya-like choral melodies, and multilayered vocals are all perfectly engineered to deliver on the technical accomplishment that is the music.
While breakout is the term used by the band’s publicist, I am more familiar with crossover to describe what Black Spikes have achieved. Ethereal keyboard pads, blast beats, prog, djent, math Metal rhythms, expanded chords, and variation in tempo and dynamics. Basically everything from the Extreme Metal musical palette expertly combined to create catchy, accessible (for the genre) songs.
Your musical appetite will be whet from the start, with each song tempting you to listen on and satisfy a hunger that refuses to diminish.
I often describe the musical production and authenticity of an album, but in the case of Ydos, the songs are so strong you are too caught up in the listening pleasure to be distracted by such trivialities.
The tones are modern, by the way. Everything is constrained to its place in the frequency spectrum and position in the mix. Given the depth of the orchestration, Ydos could not afford anything less than perfect production, and it deserves credit for what it achieves.
My only wish is that I could understand the lyrics and extract the full experience of the concept album. It is never a fun experience to have to go to AI to extract meaning, and other than the track ZELVAR, nothing is in English. For your benefit, here is what it said:
“The album focuses on the inherent flaws, vices, and dark aspects of human nature (the Lithuanian word ydos translates to vices or flaws). Each of the ten tracks explores and personifies a different human shortcoming—such as lies (MELAS), excessive curiosity (MARA), greed (ZELVAR), revenge (REVANA), apathy (APATIJA), and pride (AUREA)—framing them as internal demons or hellish entities to create a musical exploration of the human psyche.”
I mentioned earlier that the album is accessible, and it really is. The songs have a cinematic soundtrack feel that has you nodding along and moving, or lying back and soaking up the atmosphere as they progress.
Their M.A.M.A. Music Awards nominations are well and truly deserved.
So what are you waiting for? Go out and buy it. The standard of this album is up there with Opeth’s Watershed. It is something familiar yet new and unique, which is quite an achievement in the current age of generic, derivative acts.
Black Spikes release Ydos on 28 August 2026 via Napalm Records. Pre-orders are available from lnk.to/BlackSpikes-Ydos.
