Month: March 2018

IRON BONEHEAD to release split album between ANCIENT MOON and PROSTERNATUR

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets June 22nd as the international release date for Secretum Secretorum, a split album between Ancient Moon and Prosternatur, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Two pan-international entities, both Ancient Moon and Prosternatur have but one recording each to their respective names – an album, with the former’s arriving in 2015 and the latter’s in 2016 – but Secretum Secretorum should prove to shine more blacklight on two infinitely promising, shadowy entities.

Prosternatur

For their half, Ancient Moon deliver an 18-minute epic that builds slowly and ominously before exploding into a tensely buzzing hive of nightmarish black metal. Hypnotic yet free-flowing, somehow making time stand still and move in reverse, “Hekas Hekas Este Bebeloi!” imparts an absolutely spellbinding mysticism that could be a whole record unto itself, its movements and fluctuations subtle yet profound; this track simply demands repeat spins, and eternal thralldom. For their half, Prosternatur render three tracks that are impossibly vast for their six-minute average length. And indeed, Prosternatur are a complementary fit for Ancient Moon, in that this shadow-cloaked trio conjures their own brand of black metal mysticism. Viscously thick yet somehow emitting a near-cosmic sense of space, Prosternatur burl forth with a constantly churning density that’s expertly laced with all manner of beneath-the-surface color and shade. Their attack is doubtlessly muscular, yet similarly evokes a bewitching sensation on the right side of medieval.

Together, both Ancient Moon and Prosternatur beckon the listener to let loose the bounds of reality and step into their Secretum Secretorum…

In the meantime, an audio teaser for Ancient Moon’s half can be heard HERE

while an audio teaser for Prosternatur’s half can be heard HERE,

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ancient Moon & Prosternatur’s Secretum Secretorum
1. Ancient Moon – Hekas Hekas Este Bebeloi!
2. Prosternatur – Ana Harrani Sa Alaktasa La Tarat
3. Prosternatur – Zi Dingir Isatum Kanpa!
4. Prosternatur – Usella Mituti

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ancientmoon666
www.facebook.com/Prosternatur

BLOOD HARVEST to release OSSUARIUM’s debut demo on digipack

Today, Blood Harvest Records sets April 20th as the international release date for Ossuarium’s Calcified Trophies of Violence on digipack CD format. Originally reissued in February on cassette tape format by Blood Harvest but then quickly selling out, Calcified Trophies of Violence is Ossuarium’s debut demo.

Ossuarium seep out of the depths of Portland, Oregon’s underground. Originally created as an outlet for Ryan Koger (drums) and Daniel Kelley (guitar/vocals) to express their mutual interest in late ’80s and early ’90s American death metal, Ossuarium fiendishly manifested into its current form with the addition of Nate McCleary (lead guitar) and Jeff Roman (bass) to their lineup in early 2017, after which they began writing the songs that would eventually become Calcified Trophies of Violence. Indeed, their opening salvo seethes with the same eldritch darkness of their aesthetic forebears, pulsing with a similarly linear heft that marked so much classic death metal during the turn of the ’90s. Even the production itself on the tape is era-accurate, so authentic is the band’s understanding of the form: Ossuarium have arrived with Calcified Trophies of Violence.

Currently, the entirety of Calcified Trophies of Violence is streaming HERE

Preorder info for the digipack CD version can be found HERE.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ossuarium’s Calcified Trophies of Violence
1. Chapel Of Bone
2. Deleterious Mutation
3. Abhorrent Travesty Of The Human Shape

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ossuariumdeath

FUNERAL STORM sign with HELLS HEADBANGERS, prepare debut album

Today, Hells Headbangers announces the signing of Greek black metallers Funeral Storm. The first fruit of this union shall be the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Arcane Mysteries, which will see release through the label later this year. Now featuring members from Hellenic scene legends Necromantia and Varathron, Funeral Storm deliver truly ancient – and truly authentic – Greek black metal in the most classic early ’90s style, full of mysticism and might.

Funeral Storm was formed in 2001 by Wampyrion Markhor Necrowolf under the name Raven Throne as a one-man-project. The name was later changed for legal reasons, and after several changes, the moniker Funeral Storm was chosen. Lyrical themes were set early on, and are heavily inspired by occultism, legends, myths, evil, mysteries, horror, and the Cthulhu mythos.

After several lineup changes and one live show, Wampyrion decided to stop any activities concerning the band until 2012, where he released a digital split with Mortuus Sum and a six-way split on tape format with Human Serpent, Thaer Os Valael, Opus Magorum, Silent Dominion, and Varg Order a year later under his label Abyssic Black Cult Records.

Funeral Storm were active again with the addition of members of Serpent Path. In 2016, Mercyful Hell Productions released a compilation with songs that cover most of the years of Funeral Storm that were never actually released. In the meantime, Wampyrion decided to change the sound of the band, now fully inspired by ’90s Greek black metal.

Nick Christogiannis of Deviser and Necroabyssious of Varathron/Katavasia/Zaratus then joined as fulltime members. With this lineup, Funeral Storm released a split in early 2017 with Celestial Rite entitled Funeral Rite with Eskarth of Agatus performing acoustic guitars and a solo on the song “Martyr Of The Lake.” Reaping international acclaim, Funeral Rite was released on 12″ vinyl and CD formats by Iron Bonehead, while Mercyful Hell released the tape format.

Funeral Storm now join Hells Headbangers with the addition of Arcania (Aherusia) on guitars to deliver their first full-length album, Arcane Mysteries. An album of approximately 40 minutes of atmospheric tartaric black metal in the vein of old Hellenic black metal inspired by sorcery, magic, and myths, Arcane Mysteries will also feature two special guests: Eskarth of fellow Hells Headbangers labelmates Agatus and M.W Daoloth of Necromantia/Prinicipality Of Hell. The music is being recorded at Raven Studios, while the vocals were recorded at Crown Audio Conspiracies, with mixing & mastering to be done at Studio 222. The front cover design, titled “King Necromancer,” has been created by Markus Vesper (Denial Of God, Manilla Road, Attic).

More info to be revealed shortly. In the meantime, check out the links below.

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/funeralstorm666

www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers

Doom-death upstarts Shrine of the Serpent premiere new track

Today, doom-death upstarts Shrine of the Serpent premiere the new track “Hailing the Enshrined” . The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Entropic Disillusion, set for international release on April 23rd via Memento Mori. Hear Shrine of the Serpent’s “Hailing the Enshrined” in its entirety exclusively HERE.

Formed back in 2008 as Tenspeed Warlock, Shrine of the Serpent have going under their current moniker since 2014. Comprised of past and current members of Aldebaran, Graves At Sea, Sod Hauler, and Roanoke among others, this three-headed leviathan from Portland, Oregon conjure up visions of utmost ominousness and malodorous dreariness as a celebration of the inevitable, when life ceases to be and there’s nothing but a palpable somberness shrouding your passing to the other, unfathomable side. The chosen guide for such a cryptic journey is über-heavy, gloomy, and miserable doom-death metal. When faced with such a fate, one can only help to prepare to be crushed under the weight of utterly monolithic riffs enhanced by tortured growls, ritualistically pounding drumming, and eerie-as-fuck harmonies. Ultimately, this is but the sound of Entropic Disillusion.

Although more fertile now than any time in the past, true DOOM-DEATH is still a field that’s tricky to plow: lumber too long and you arrive at boredom; spice up the formula and lose the necessary desolation. Shrine of the Serpent exhibit mastery of the form on Entropic Disillusion. Truly and unapologetically doom-death metal to the bitter end, their slowly swirling sound patiently takes its time to entrance and then suffocate the listener, but it sure is fatal – not to mention absurdly HEAVY, in the most smothering way possible. Dismiss any hope for sentimental melodies, gothic overtones or operatic female voices, for the sole endeavor here is to oppress the listener. Fans of the bleakest approach to the subgenre who hail such bands as early Paradise Lost, Winter, Dusk, Hooded Menace, diSEMBOWELMENT, Loss Druid Lord, and early Cathedral will definitely find plenty of morbid joy from experiencing this concoction of impending death and doom.

Completed by Mariusz Lewandowski’s ethereal cover art and a crushing mastering job courtesy of Dan Randall at Mammoth Sound Mastering, Entropic Disillusion announces the arrival of doom-death’s newest titans: Shrine of the Serpent!

The previously revealed “Hope’s Aspersion” can be heard HERE at Memento Mori’s official YouTube channel.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Shrine of the Serpent’s Entropic Disillusion
1. Descend into Dusk
2. Hailing the Enshrined
3. Hope’s Aspersion
4. Desecrated Tomb
5. Returning
6. Epoch of Annihilation
7. Rending the Psychic Void

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ShrineoftheSerpent
www.shrineoftheserpent.bandcamp.com

ABYTHIC set release date for BLOOD HARVEST debut, reveal first track

Today, Blood Harvest Records sets May 11th as the international release date for Abythic’s highly anticipated debut album, Beneath Ancient Portals, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Hailing from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Abythic formed in 2015 and soon recorded & released their first demo, A Full Negation of Existence. Aptly titled, the demo portrayed four foul tracks of churning death metal of a most early ’90s mold. Alas, that was an all-too-brief teaser for Beneath Ancient Portals, the band’s full-length debut. Also aptly titled, Beneath Ancient Portals sees Abythic taking the demo’s same rudiments – patient and pulsing riffing, linear composition, an emphasis on doomy downtempo segments – and brings them to fuller fruition, diving deeper and deadlier into thundering, desolate DOOM. In many ways, Beneath Ancient Portals often recalls the proud ‘n’ powerful class of mid-period Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Grave, and Pentacle, so hypnotically heaving is their dreadnought weight here. But in other ways, Abythic put their own stamp on doomy death metal through a potently occult aura…or one that sounds like a crypt slowly opening, all before a rust- and blood-covered tank rolls forward out of it, crushing all in its path. It’s simply mesmerizing either way.

Completed by absolutely devastating production, Beneath Ancient Portals will surely be hailed as one of the year’s best and mightiest death metal debuts. Old school, new school, no school: nothing matters but sheer devastating weight, and Abythic possess a fuckton of it. Hear for yourself with the new track “Abandoned Tombs on Ungodly Grounds” HERE.

Preorder info can be found HERE.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Abythic’s Beneath Ancient Portals
1. Prelude To Obscurity
2. Purulent Phantasm
3. Abandoned Tombs On Ungodly Ground
4. Beneath Ancient Portals (The Gate of Ganzir)
5. Redemption Through Soul Transfusion
6. T.H.O.N.
7. Afterwards Behind Beyond
8. Depths Of Oblivion

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/abythic

Peruvian Doom-Death Cult ANTICHRIST stream IRON BONEHEAD debut

Today, Peruvian doom-death cult Antichrist stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Pax Moriendi, . Set for international release today via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Antichrist’s Pax Moriendi in its entirety HERE.

Formed in 2004 but not really kicking into recorded gear until a decade later, Antichrist soon released a steady stream of demos between 2014 and 2016. Through this requisite underground graft, the trio studiously perfected their craft, shaping its huge ‘n’ haunting foundation – the doom-death trinity of Thergothon, Unholy, and Winter – into something qualitatively their own. And indeed, across the five-song/45-minute Pax Moriendi, the listener is taken down into sewers a mile deep (or more), tweaking that immortal doom-death schematic into something righteously foul and filthy but still well within the range of melancholic human experience. Crushing-yet-ethereal chords reverberate through the forlorn night, and ever deeper into one’s worst corners of their subconscious; the attack is slow yet insistent early on, with the foulness and filth flung liberally, to either alienate part-timers or beckon the most intrepid of souls. Then, as the album plays on, Pax Moriendi reveals a wounded sort of slo-mo melody, a blanching vulnerability, shedding its layers of metaphysical/spiritual garbage for the laid-bare/laid-to-rest epiphany of climactic closer “You Will Never See Sun Light.”

No, indeed you won’t when faced with the enormity of Antichrist’s Pax Moriendi. Here is your funeral: welcome the end. Walk forth fully to the commencement of that funeral.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Antichrist (Peru)’s Pax Moriendi
1. Forgotten in Nameless Suffering
2. Obscurantism
3. In the Dark and Mournful Corner of Memory
4. Screams and Lamentations Drowned in the Empty of Silence
5. You Will Never See Sun Light

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pg/antichristperu

Drudkh premiere complete new album

Ukrainian black metal icons, DRUDKH are streaming their complete forthcoming new album, ‘Їм часто сниться капіж’ (They Often See Dreams About The Spring), which will hit the stores tomorrow on March 9th 2018.

Artwork and album details of ‘Їм часто сниться капіж’ (They Often See Dreams About The Spring) can be viewed above.

Track-list
1. Nakryta Neba Burym Dakhom… (9:53)
2. U Dakhiv Irzhavim Kolossyu… (8:43)
3. Vechirniy Smerk Okutuye Kimnaty… (9:29)
4. Za Zoreyu Scho Striloyu Syaye… (6:45)
5. Bilyavyi Den’ Vtomyvsya I prytykh… (8:40)
Total: 43:30

DRUDKH are a black metal legend. True to the values of this extreme genre, the enigmatic Ukrainians refuse to follow the rock ‘n’ roll rulebook and provide no answers, no statements, no shows – all that matters to them is their music.

The sound of DRUDKH is equally based on a solid foundation consisting of the by now traditional Nordic variant of this style as on the band’s highly distinct individual “Slavonic” interpretation of it.

Yet at the same time, DRUDKH have constantly evolved, shifted, and morphed their musical approach while holding true to the original course. It is therefore no surprise that their forthcoming eleventh full-length, ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ (which is a translation of the original Ukrainian title) brings another slight correction to the general direction. Where previous album ‘A Furrow Cut Short’ (2015) basically followed on the harsh and old school lead of its predecessor ‘Eternal Turn of the Wheel’ (2012), DRUDKH’s new masterpiece offers a more atmospheric and melodic feel that rather points towards the cinematic soundscapes of ‘Autumn Aurora’ (2004).

In their ongoing metamorphosis, DRUDKH seem to have abandoned the slightly progressive and lighter tone of ‘Handful of Stars’ (2010) for the time being. This does not mean it can never return… The Ukrainians have for example revisited their early legacy from the Nordic black metal inspired debut ‘Forgotten Legends’ (2003) several times, but also occasionally brought back the folklore influences that had characterised ‘The Swan Road’ (2005). On ‘Blood in Our Wells’ (2006) some progressive elements surfaced clearly for the first time, while the instrumental and partly acoustic ‘Songs of Grief and Solitude’ (2006) was followed by a sharp turn on the bleak and brutal album, ‘Estrangement’ (2007). DRUDKH’s celebrated highlight, ‘Microcosmos’ (2009) finally appeared to tie up the different strands of their previous works, before a new cycle started with the next albums.

DRUDKH’s latest albums and split-singles have drawn heavily from 20th century Ukrainian poetry for lyrical inspiration and ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ continues this trend. Poetic gems from Bohdan Ihor Antonych, Maik Yohansen, Vasyl’ Bobyns’kyi and Pavlo Fylypovych have been unearthed by the band and brought back to life on this album. ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ delivers black metal poetry at its best. Let your ears hear and your mind wander…

Line-up
Roman Sayenko: guitars
Thurios: guitar, vocals
Krechet: bass
Vlad: drums, keyboards

www.facebook.com/Drudkh.Official

GOATKRAFT stream IRON BONEHEAD debut

Today, Norwegian war metallers Goatkraft stream the entirety of their shock & awe debut EP, Angel Slaughter. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Goatkraft’s Angel Slaughter in its entirety exclusively HERE.

A power trio hailing from Norway, Goatkraft released the truly titled War Metal – Promo 2017 tape via Iron Bonehead before promptly setting to work on their first longer-length strike. And at 19 razing minutes, Angel Slaughter is indeed a short, sharp shock to the system that’s nevertheless fully satisfying and self-contained. Crude and rude and completely stripped bare of any remotely excessive adornment, Goatkraft are a study in stark, stultifying minimalism. Their punishing, primitivist surge hearkens back to the almighty Blasphemy, but truly finds its voice within the seething spite of Black Witchery; not for nothing do they conclude Angel Slaughter with a cover of that band’s eternal “Unholy Vengeance of War.” Barbaric black metal is the order of the day, then, done with nuclear-powered panache, red-eyed and regimented, and a true devotee’s lust for pure form. Indeed, the purity of violence – rabid, roiling, righteous – doesn’t come more distilled and undiluted than Angel Slaughter. Here begins the whirlwind of Goatkraft.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Goatkraft’s Angel Slaughter
1. Intro
2. Angel Slaughter
3. Goatkraft
4. The Temple Of Infernal Fire
5. Holocaust Winds Of Blasphemy
6. Unholy Vengeance Of War (Black Witchery)

MORE INFO:
www.goatkraft.com

BYYRTH stream new IRON BONEHEAD album

Today, vampiric black metallers Byyrth stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second album, Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Byyrth’s Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood in its entirety HERE.

Following on from their cult debut album, Saviors of Armageddon – which Iron Bonehead released on vinyl during the summer of 2017 – here on Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood do Byyrth strike a new face for vampiric black metal. Eschewing the withering frivolity and frivolousness of most definitions of anything “vampiric” in regards to black metal, this Californian quartet kick in quickly with a ripped-raw and unrepentantly punkish attack. Blown-out and harshing everyone’s mellow, each iron-fisted anthem marches forward with absolute arrogance and an enviable swagger – not for nothing is the opening track titled “Blood Warfare.”

Indeed, Byyrth’s vampirism is an indomitable variety, the alpha to everyone else’s omega, and they accomplish their sanguinary goals with an almost militant efficiency: Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood storms the gates of Heaven in a compact 28 minutes. Suitably, the tracks “Vampiric War Children” and “Abhorrent Eons” feature guest vocals by the incomparable Meyhna’ch of France’s legendary Mütiilation, further underlining the validity to Byyrth’s vampiric black metal. Stand down now or receive the eternal kiss of death.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Byyrth’s Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood
1. Blood Warfare
2. Call of the New Legion
3. Vampyric War Children
4. Abhorrent Eons
5. Cry of the Wurdelak
6. Cry of the Wurdelak
7. I Dare Not Wake
8. Unhuman
9. Shattered Soul

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/byyrth

German pagan metallers Horn stream the entirety of their new mini-album, Retrograd

Today, German pagan metallers Horn stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new mini-album, Retrograd. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Horn’s Retrograd in its entirety exclusively HERE.

Riding high on the critical acclaim afforded its seventh album, Turm Am Hang – released in early 2017 on vinyl LP by Iron Bonehead – the one-man Horn returns with a six-song/27-minute strike of pure pagan epicness. Since 2002, mainman Nerrath has been steadily perfecting a classicist, almost-medieval style of black metal bound to pagan roots. Staunchly solitary to the present day, the initial drive behind Horn was to create nature-themed black metal, focusing on the relation of man and nature in a regional context. The band’s old material, being mainly concerned with detailed descriptions of nature and incorporating rather upbeat, folk-influenced riffing, has made way for more sinister themes and soundscapes over the years. What has remained throughout the course of seven studio albums is the distinct “Horn sound,” featuring siren-like lead guitars, classic black metal-styled vocals as well as clean chorals, and a serious folkloristic approach far from the jolly drunken Viking tunes celebrated these days.

But, with the momentous release of Turm Am Hang, Horn entered a new, intensely poignant period, where the Feldpost material was carried ever forward by with clean and harsh vocals taking turns in conveying largely mid-tempo songs that stirred both raging bloodlust solemn pride. In many ways, the brand-new Retrograd mini-album serves as an ancillary chapter to Turm Am Hang, stylistically set within the same, uniquely Horn landscape and expanding upon the thematics and textures of that towering album. Although comparatively shorter in length, Retrograd is no less vast and no less epic, emitting a widescreen, wanderlusting splendor that’s especially magical given its tight ‘n’ truncated runtime. It’s Horn through and through, mightier and more majestic than ever, and once again breathes fresh air into the ancient spirit of the ’90s, and likewise further cements Iron Bonehead’s grounding in (and continued support of) black metal’s distant past, whether it be Nocternity, Kawir, Front Beast, Disharmony, Blood Tyrant, Runespell, Ithaqua, Naudiz, or the almighty Moonblood. Taste the German steel of Horn’s Retrograd!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Horn (Germany)’s Retrograd
1. Retrograd – Einleitung
2. Retrograd
3. Bocksfuß – Einleitung
4. Bocksfuß
5. Garant
6. De Einder

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/HornOfficial