Historically, American black metal, or USBM, tends toward the spacious, atmospheric end of the larger genre’s spectrum: It derives more from Burzum than Darkthrone, if you trace it back to the root. What USBM tends to ignore entirely are the bands that actually made the best music in the wake of Burzum and Darkthrone, the bands who cleaned up the sound and tightened up the songs, consequently keeping the genre vital — and making it somewhat lucrative! — when it could have dissolved into murk: Immortal, Gaahl-era Gorgoroth, Dissection (and later, the Dissection-related Watain). Here, Richmond, VA’s Bastard Sapling are something of an exception: Their phenomenal new LP, Instinct Is Forever (which follows the also-excellent 2012 album Dragged From Our Restless Trance), feels indebted to those arena-sized acts, in both its huge, dynamic sound as well as its carefully structured songs. It’s not a throwback, though; it’s an alternate evolution. Bastard Sapling share members with the celebrated RVA sludge/doom band Inter Arma, and like that band, Bastard Sapling deal in big, high-impact hooks. Instinct Is Forever’s lead single, “Lantern At The End Of Time” (which we featured in June’s Black Market), features a guest spot from another prominent member of the Richmond scene, Windhand vocalist Dorthia Cottrell. That’s probably the album’s most expansive cut, and it’s great, but it’s not my favorite — I’m partial to the black ‘n’ roll banger “The Killer In Us All,” which rocks about as hard as anything I’ve heard this year. But there’s not a dud in the bunch. Instinct Is Forever is out next week, but we’ve got the album for you to stream in full today, and I urge you to do just that.

Bastard Sapling tour dates:

09/26 – Baltimore, MD @ Sidebar
09/27 – Philadelphia, PA @ Beaumont Warehouse
09/28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Acheron
09/29 – Boston, MA – TBA
09/30 – Quebec @ Salle Unisson
10/01 – Montreal @ Turbo Haus
10/02 – Ottawa @ Pressed
10/03 – Toronto @ Smiling Buddha
10/04 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project

Instinct Is Forever is out 8/26 via Gilead Media/Forcefield Records.