Eminem isn’t the only person to come out with a new surprise record out today. Back in 2018, the Arizona band Holy Fawn came out with Death Spells, a crushing, black metal-influenced shoegaze album that impressed the absolute hell out of us. Today, the quartet have followed that album up with a new EP called The Black Moon. As far as I can tell, there was no prior forewarning. This thing just showed up.

Title aside, The Black Moon has nothing to do with mid-’90s New York rap. (That’s probably a good thing, though I would at least be curious to hear a blackgaze take on “I Got Cha Opin.”) Instead, The Black Moon represents a hell of a statement for Holy Fawn. It only has three songs, but those three songs contain multitudes.

There’s not much black metal influence on The Black Moon. Instead, all three tracks take different turns. “Candy” is heavy, bruising, gorgeous riff-music. “Tethered” is an ambient mood-piece. And the seven-minute “Blood Pact” is a searching internal journey that has moments of near-mystical beauty and stretches of windswept bleakness. On first listen, this EP is a hell of an achievement. Listen below.

The Black Moon is out now on Triple Crown.