Last time I chatted with Ryan Patterson, frontman of Seattle black metal outfit Addaura, was when we had just named the band Seattle’s Best Metal group. I remember Patterson explaining why he didn’t consider the group part of the “Cascadian” scene, despite the sonic similarities and the seemingly similar themes explored in Addaura. The photo of the treeline on the cover of the band’s excellent 2012 debut, Burning for the Ancient, was actually taken in the city, a clever in-joke.

“I walk every day to work at 6 a.m.” Patterson told me of his job working maintenance for Cornish College of the Arts. “The city is beautiful at that time, it’s glowing orange and purple. The sun is rising, but the lights are still on.”

That painterly appreciation for Seattle’s weird urban/forest landscape and its peculiar lighting still shines through on Addaura’s new EP, …and the lamps expire, the first new material the band has released in three years. The EP features some of Addaura’s strongest songwriting yet, introducing new keyboard and piano textures into the mix that ups the drama in Addaura’s already epic stylings. Standout track “The sun shines to-day also. (on the oaks of That Bird Hill)” breaks halfway through into a galloping, menacing neofolk rhythm that will get you bopping your head before you start banging it again. Check it out above. According to Twitter, it already seems like its a huge hit in Europe.