Today, German thrash institution Rezet reveal the new video “Populate. Delete. Repeat.” The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Truth in Between, set for international release on January 29th, 2021 via Metalville Records. See & hear Rezet‘s “Populate. Delete. Repeat.” video in its entirety here:
With their 2019 album Deal With It! through Metalville, Rezet‘s multi-faceted sound has been recognized on an international level. With Truth In Between, Rezet are now taking the next big step.
In order to emphasize their message, Rezet have written their most song-oriented album to date. The result is a joint work of four very different characters with their respective influences.
The 13 new pieces underline the compositional skills and sheer musicality of the four. While the lyrics paint a gloomy picture throughout, Rezet deliver one first-class song after the other, thus proving the band’s exceptional status.
Eike Freese once again took over the production in the Chameleon Studios in Hamburg, whereby the group decided to record all rhythm tracks live.
. Also see & hear the video for the first single “Back For No Good” HERE, also at the band’s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Rezet’s Truth in Between 1. Back For No Good 2. Deceived By Paradise 3. Populate. Delete. Repeat. 4. Renegade 5. Half A Century 6. Infinite End 7. Truth In Between 8. Jailpit 9. I’m Not Gonna Stop 10. The Plague 11. (Un)certain Crimes 12. Never Satisfied 13. The Last Suffer
Today, Purity ThroughFire sets January 31st, 2021 as the international release date for Vermineux‘s second demo, 1337, on CD and cassette tape formats.
Vermineux is the sole work of one Spectre, who has a deep history in the metal underground across several bands, but most notably as half of now-labelmates Minenwerfer. However, whereas Minenwerfer focuses solely on World War I, Vermineux casts its lyrical gaze back to the 14 Century, particularly the plagues and warfare rampant during those times. And while Minenwerfer weaves epic tales with flowing screeds of black metal might, Vermineux bursts ‘n’ bristles with a glorious-yet-sad sound that’s utterly blanching in its passion and poignancy.
Vermineux‘s debut demo, 2018’s 1315, was no doubt auspicious, but their latest 1337 truly trumps all; in fact; the literally electric power flowing through this record puts most regular albums to shame. Bearing favorable aesthetic comparisons to Australia’s sorely missed Eternum, Vermineux here similarly pour forth a rawness shot through with cresting-and-cascading melodicism that’s heart-wrenching in its soul-laid-bare bravado. Each of these eight mini-epics (including a stirring Sol Invictus cover) seems to hit catharsis after catharsis after catharsis, so emotionally inflamed is the playing – all handled by Spectre, of course – particularly the lead-guitar work, which brings tasteful flash to otherwise-classicist black metal. And the layers of ghostly acoustic guitar likewise lend a unique air to 1337, earthy and OLD.
As with many releases under the Purity ThroughFire, the past is alive with Vermineux – and the year of reckoning is 1337!
Begin the reckoning with the brand-new track “Oriflamme” here:
Greek metal masters NIGHTFALL are now unleashing the first track of their brand new opus ‘At Night We Prey’. The new offering is set for release on March 05, 2021. ‘Darkness Forever’ can now be viewed here:
The new album is now available for pre-orders HERE.
Vocalist Efthimis comments on the track: “This song was originally inspired by Isaac Asimov’s nouvelle Nightfall. It is called ‘Darkness Forever’ because of its analogy to what one experiences when in deep depression. Hope seems to be nowhere near and help from others is never enough to bridge the gap between shattered psyche and real world. Incapacity to communicate this harsh condition, to explain what all is about, is suffocating. And as all beings struggling to breathe, reactions are neurotic and violent.”
NIGHTFALL have previously announced new European tour dates together with Draconian in March 2021! A full list of confirmed shows can be found below.
NIGHTFALL +Draconian 11 Mar 21 Warsaw (PL) Hydrozagadka 12 Mar 21 Gdansk (PL) Drizzly Grizzly 13 Mar 21 Berlin (DE) Nuke 14 Mar 21 Leipzig (DE) Hellraiser 15 Mar 21 Prague (CZ) Black Pes 16 Mar 21 Regensburg (DE) Eventhall Airport 17 Mar 21 Mannheim (DE) MS Connexion Complex 18 Mar 21 Dortmund (DE) Junkyard 19 Mar 21 Hamburg (DE) Kronensaal 20 Mar 21 Enschede (NL) Metropool 21 Mar 21 Rotterdam (NL) Baroeg 22 Mar 21 Antwerpen (BE) Zappa 23 Mar 21 Rennes (FR) Ubu 24 Mar 21 Paris (FR) Petit Bain 25 Mar 21 Wetzikon (CH) Hall of Fame 26 Mar 21 Paderno (IT) Slaughter Club 27 Mar 21 San Donà di Piave (IT) Revolver 28 Mar 21 Vienna (AT) Viper Room NIGHTFALL have furthermore revealed the cover artwork and album details of ‘At Night We Prey’.
Track-list 1. She Loved the Twilight 2. Killing Moon 3. Darkness Forever 4. Witches 5. Giants of Anger 6. Temenos 7. Meteor Gods 8. Martyrs of the Cult of the Dead (Agita) 9. At Night We Prey 10. Wolves in Thy Head Total: 46:10
It has been seven long years since the world was last blessed with new music from the melodic blackened death metal stalwarts of NIGHTFALL. While the band has been absent from the scene since the release of 2013’s Cassiopeia, their legacy has not been forgotten. Comprising the holy trinity of Greek metal – along with ROTTING CHRIST and SEPTICFLESH – NIGHTFALL was the first extreme act in the country to sign an international deal, introducing the world to the burgeoning Mediterranean scene in the early 90s. Now, the band is plotting a triumphant return with At Night We Prey, the darkest and latest chapter of NIGHTFALL’s already storied career.
During the first decade of NIGHTFALL’s lifespan, the band headlined stages across Europe. Thereafter, went on to dominate international festivals such as Brutal Assault, Sonisphere, and Wacken, the latter of which the band solidified their legacy as the first ever Greek band to earn an envied spot at the renowned festival. The band eventually made the decision to switch to a studio act before they went completely silent. When reflecting upon the sudden disappearance after a steady rise from the underground, vocalist and founding member Efthimis Karadimas explained that it was due to an all too familiar beast – depression. “It’s because of depression that kicked in as early as mid-00s. I can write for hours and get into details about stuff gone wrong or mistreated situations, but the basis of all discouragement to move on has been depression and the effort required to get over it.” Despite the dark days, Karadimas did not abandon music entirely, moving on to form THE SLAYERKING, a gothic doom metal band that has released two agonizing full-length records between 2016-2019.
Alas, the abrupt departure of the band was not the final “goodbye” as NIGHTFALL has been reinvigorated with a new lineup and coveted deal with Season of Mist. Karadimas has reunited with original NIGHTFALL guitarist Mike Galiatsos, who helped define the band’s sound during the early years. With the addition of drummer and producer Fotis Benardo (ex-SEPTICFLESH) as well as guitarist Kostas Kyriakopoulos (THE SLAYERKING), the band is finally ready to release the tenth studio album At Night We Prey. In addition to the long-awaited new music, Season of Mist will also be re-issuing the band’s original albums that were produced by Holy Records back in the 90s. This is not the only news the band has to share as NIGHTFALL has also vowed to finally perform again. “We are gonna play these live, including stuff never played live before,” says Karadimas.
‘At Night We Pre’y is a very dark and personal effort, tackling the topic of Karadimas’s battle with depression. “A beast I have experienced its teeth deep into my soul, I decided to come out and share that experience with metalheads,” Karadimas laments. “This is the least I can offer now to the big fight against depression. If we do not stop this, it will eat us all alive. Share your pain, speak openly about it. This is the only way to kill the demons in your mind.”
“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” (Rev. 8:10, 11).
Today, Saturnal Records announces January 15th, 2021 as the international release date of a special live album from Embrace of Thorns, Revelation of All Sins, on CD+DVD format.
Emerging in the late ‘90s from western Athens as Requiem, only to be soon renamed to the more apt Embrace of Thorns, the Greek Temple of Black Death has been championing death for more than 20 years.
Having released five albums on labels such as Nuclear War Now! and Iron Bonehead plus an arsenal of demo tapes and split releases, Embrace of Thorns has been acknowledged as a force to be reckoned with. Their poison, a highly atmospheric and dense amalgam of death and black metal, has been gaining momentum since the release of their acclaimed sophomore album, Atonement Ritual, in 2009. Their third full-length, 2011’s Praying for Absolution, considered by many as their magnum opus, saw them fully embracing their potential and pontificating knowledge through strife. Their latest offering, 2018’s Scorn Aesthetics, was unanimously hailed and celebrated as arguably their ripest album, an idiosyncratic mix of somber, melodious, yet punishing Black Metal of Death that relies heavily on the organic mood of the performances and production.
On the live front, Embrace of Thorns has likewise been a force to be reckoned with since 2009, having performed at various festivals around Europe and the United States. On that live front, the dense, suffocating, and oppressive trappings of their sound seem more pronounced. With relentless drumming, crushingly heavy guitar tones, and abominable vocals, their material gets re-interpreted and is transformed to a vile celebration of all things morbid.
Revelation of All Sins combines audio and video performances from two professionally captured shows. The audio CD, titled The Fall of Athens, was recorded live in Athens at Kyttaro club in 2015, from Embrace of Thorns’ historical show with Dead Congregation and Nigredo, while the DVD was professionally recorded and filmed by Necrokatarsis, when the band visited Vilnius, Lithuania for Armageddon Descends festival.
Both shows were mixed and mastered by Herald of Demonic Pestilence, and while the performances are left untouched, the final product is the best representation one could have from the band as a live act. Embrace of Thorns’ modus operandi doesn’t rely on gimmickry, but they fully embrace the spirit of old, when black metal was about embracing one’s own demons and spewing them forth, unharnessed and ferocious, while onstage.
Holiness has indeed expired… Experience the expiration of holiness with the live track “Atonement Ritual
Cover artwork, courtesy of Gilbert Miranda, and full tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Embrace of Thorns’ Revelation of All Sins LIVE CD: THE FALL OF ATHENS 27-12-2015 1. Intro / Praying For Absolution 2. Sons Of Fire And Brimstone Levitate! 3. My Hermetic Quest For Thy Blackest Temple 4. Darkness Impenetrable 5. Atonement Ritual 6. Tombs Of The Desecrated Zealots 7. Debris Crowns His Earthly Wombs 8. Perished In Mortal Agony / Second Death 9. Sempiternally Cursing The Weak 10. Aiwaz Arisen/ Outro
LIVE DVD: LIVE AT ARMAGEDDON DESCENDS V 22-4-2017 Vilnius, Lithuania 1. Erect Bloodstained Totems 2. Praying For Absolution 3. Sons Of Fire And Brimstone Levitate! 4. Venom In Veins 5. Passionate Destroyer 6. Debris Crowns His Earthly Worms 7. Atonement Ritual 8. Tombs Of The Desecrated Zealots 9. Sempiternally Cursing The Weak 10. Perished In Mortal Agony / Second Death
PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS are now announcing new European tour dates, together with BAEST. The run includes performances at the mighty Metal Days Festival, Rockstad Extreme Fest, Brutal Assault and more. Find the full list of tour dates below.
PHILIP H. ANSELMO AND THE ILLEGALS + Baest 24 Jul 21 St. Petersburg (RU) A2 Green concert 25 Jul 21 Moscow (RU) Adrenaline Stadium 29 Jul 21 Tolmin (SL) Metal days 30 Jul 21 Saint maurice de gourdans (FR) Sylak Festival 31 Jul 21 Utrecht (NL) Tivoli 01 Aug 21 Oberhausen (DE) Turbinehalle 04 Aug 21 Budapest (HU) Barba Negra 05 Aug 21 Belgrado (RS) Beogradski Sajam 06 Aug 21 Sofia (BG) Yunak 07 Aug 21 Brasov (RO) Rockstad Extreme Fest 09 Aug 21 Vienna (AT) Simm City 10 Aug 21 Krakau (PL) Studio 11 Aug 21 Jaromer (CZ) Brutal Assault Festival 13 Aug 21 Derbyshire (UK) Bloodstock Festival (no Baest) 14 Aug 21 Kortrijk (BE) Alcatraz Festival
PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS latest release ‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ can be streamed in full below.
Artwork and album details of ‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ can be found here.
Track-list 1. Little Fucking Heroes 2. Utopian 3. Choosing Mental Illness 4. The Ignorant Point 5. Individual 6. Delinquent 7. Photographic Taunts 8. Finger Me 9. Invalid Colubrine Frauds 10. Mixed Lunatic Results
PHILIP H. ANSELMO is an iconic artist – maybe a little bruised, scarred, singed, and somewhat battered by time, himself, and others. But the Texan remains proudly standing, unbent, and still angry. Loved and hated, attacked and praised, Phil is not ready to go down into the archives of musical history without a fight.
His new cooperation with the band that Phil himself created, THE ILLEGALS, is as brutal, kicking, lashing, and fury-filled as one could expect from this artist and PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS‘ debut ‘Walk Through Exits Only’ (2013). Their sophomore album, ‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ is a much the metaphorical fist in the face and display of force as his adherents could wish for.
‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ is not a simple repeat of the past – as tempting as that might sound, considering that no other artist left a deeper mark on metal in the 90’s than PANTERA. Raging, roaring, and bulldozing their way through the metal scene, the Texans have left a lasting legacy. At their front stood anger and hostility personified, PHILIP H. ANSELMO. What followed for example with DOWN and SUPERJOINT RITUAL has further cemented the singer’s reputation as a living legend. As an artist in his own right, Phil finally emancipated onto a solo-path with ‘Walk Through Exits Only’, which enabled him to do exactly as he pleased – with no need to compromise on anything.
Now, ‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ follows along the path that PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS‘ debut has carved, but takes the mega-heavy, angry monster born out of mating the visceral aggression and power of PANTERA with the devastating thrash and Southern sludge that Phil and the New Orleans scene pioneered.
PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS are back and about to mercilessly install ‘Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue’ as a new benchmark for extreme heaviness.
Today, Finnish death metal cult Cynabare Urne reveal the new video “Hidden in the Higher Light.” The track hails from the band’s critically acclaimed debut album, Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls, released on October 30th via Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records). See & hear Cynabare Urne’s “Hidden in the Higher Light” video in its entirety here:
Formed in 2014, Cynabare Urne are a power-trio hailing from Finland. Despite being a new formation, the members of Cynabare Urne possess a wealth of experience in the metal underground, across a wide variety of extreme styles, and with that experience dating back to even the mid ‘90s. The band made their recorded debut in the summer of 2016 with the two-song Fire the Torches EP, which Helter Skelter released on 10” vinyl and cassette tape formats later that year. A short but no-less-auspicious debut, the EP was aptly titled, displaying a sulfurous sort of death metal that was indeed fiery in intent and execution. In early 2018, Cynabare Urne kept that momentum going with a four-song EP, In the Cremation Ground, which Helter Skelter released across a variety of formats over that year. Darker and deadlier, In the Cremation Ground put the band’s name on the international metal map, heightening anticipation for the inevitable full-length.
At last, it is here, bearing the ominous title Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls. Much like debut albums should, Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls encapsulates Cynabare Urne’s past whilst pointing the way for their future, displaying the band’s best qualities and, in turn, revealing new (and darker, deadlier) truths. Right from the opening notes, the album exudes that miles-wide sense of space the band created early on…and then they proceed to CRUSH the listener with malevolent Metal of Death steeped in the ancients and with a miasmic sense of melody. Moving at many speeds, mesmerizing at every one, always flowing and always filthily, Cynabare Urne’s attack is neither strictly old-school nor new-school; stylistic nods span Sadistic Intent to Necros Christos, classic Grave to recent Dead Congregation, early Vader to later Repugnant, and plenty of other points in between. In a word: timeless. Thusly armed, the trio exhibit a masterful grasp of songcraft, imbuing their ever-twisting creations with dynamics and nuance as bountifully as they do genuine evil and menace. Likewise, the ever-pervasive sense of ritualism elevates these 10 tracks to more than just “death metal songs,” like shadowy transmissions from the beyond made flesh and then harnessed with no small amount of magick. Even the production itself, both palpably physical and eerily atmospheric, becomes a ghastly, gestating-ichorously thing, wrapping its Lovecraftian tendrils around the listener and never letting go… Darkness. Doom. DEATH.
Graced with suitably horrific cover artwork courtesy of Ville Salonen, Cynabare Urne’s Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls is bound to be THE death metal debut album of the year!
Full-album stream and order info can be found HERE at Regain Records‘ Bandcamp. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Cynabare Urne’s Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls 1. Erida Evoken 2. Prometheus Bound 3. Hidden in the Higher Light 4. Baal-Berit 5. Escaping Xibalba 6. Dauntless They Are 7. Besmirch Curse 8. De Inferi Chaos 9. Last of the Icons Alive 10. Misotheist
Today, Blood Harvest Records sets February 26th, 2021 as the international release date for Sadistic Drive‘s striking debut album, Anthropophagy, on vinyl LP format.
Hailing from the eternal fount of death metal filth that is Finland, Sadistic Drive formed in 2018 and soon released their debut demo, Street Cannibal Gluttony. The title alone spelled out the quartet’s aims in no uncertain terms: total death metal depravity, sick and gory and slimy and sleazy! A rough ‘n’ rowdy rehearsal recording followed the next year, capped by a cover of Discharge’s “Maimed and Slaughtered,” but the best – and WORST – was yet to come…
At last, it arrived in the summer of 2020, in the form of Sadistic Drive‘s debut album: Anthropophagy. Released on cassette by Headsplit Records and then CD by La Caverna Records, this geyser of grossness is finally getting the treatment is so deserves – VINYL! Indeed, Anthropophagy is one gross slab of depraved DEATH, grinding and D-beating and dizzying and dark, but surprisingly, it’s also well-recorded and exceptionally tight. Where so much gore-drenched death metal goes the sloppy route, Sadistic Drive drive deep into death metal classicism and place a premium on actual songwriting: neither “old school” nor new, but rather timeless in its tried & true tropes…and above all, gross! One can sense a (sadistic) smirk on the band’s faces as they dole out their crushing jams, each one as fun as the last, but it’s DEATH METAL after all and bound to pound you into a pulp.
Appropriately, this vinyl version of Sadistic Drive‘s Anthropophagy will be presented on black vinyl (300 copies) and gross green (100 copies). Get down with their sickness!
In the meantime, stream Anthropophagy in its entirety here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Sadistic Drive’s Anthropophagy
1. Serial Cleaner 2. Internal Putrefaction 3. Acid Vomit 4. Neurosyphilitic Lunacy 5. Run Over and Left to Die 6. Worm-Eaten Abomination 7. Disease-Ridden Pervert 8. Ferox (Victim of Anthropophagous Tribe) 9. Lust For Scum 10. Body Part Puzzle
On January 22nd, 2021, The Sinister Flame is proud to present Aethyrick‘s highly anticipated third album, Apotheosis, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
By now, astute practitioners of the black arts should be well aware of the existence of Aethyrick. Formed by Gall and Exile on the winter solstice 2016, Aethyrick‘s medium is black metal and their locale Finland, but over the course of two visionary albums for The Sinister Flame, 2018’s Praxis and 2020’s Gnosis, the duo have defiantly etched a unique headspace all their own. Bountifully brimming with magick and mysticism simultaneously aeons-old and strikingly modern, the band’s first two albums served as cornerstones for how to honorably uphold tradtional all-caps BLACK METAL and feed it with a feverish creativity. Put another way, Aethyrick didn’t abandon language altogether; rather, they spoke their own enrapturing dialect.
And “feverish” is an apt description of Aethyrick‘s ways and means, for soon arrives their third full-length spell, again through the auspices of The Sinister Flame: Apotheosis. As perfectly titled at this point in their majestic chronology as any, Apotheosis culminates Aethyrick‘s glorious march into the beyond – both punctuation, final and austere, and also as the opening of a new chapter. It sees the duo going from strength to strength, making no great changes to their enviously developed aesthetic, but suffusing it with ever-subtle expansions of atmosphere and songwriting nuance. Indeed, where the preceding Gnosis was a subtle refinement, Apotheosis makes that subtlety even more miniscule…and yet the sum effect feels grander, vaster, even liberating.
For here on Apotheosis do Aethyrick hold nothing back with their heartsrings-pulling melodicism. Never soft but neither categorically negative, their riffing and leads burst and sparkle with a passion and power that’s truly blanching, and the ever-so-tasteful layer of synths gilding it give the record an especially ethereal aspect: open thy heart and one will feel the gust of ALL, the spirit-unshackling majesty of boundless illumination. Indeed, Apotheosis fully brims with the band’s occult character, now many decades walking the Left-Hand Path, and immersion on the listener’s part is all but assured. And bringing it full circle (or Ouroboros, if you will) is the absolutely gorgeous cover art courtesy of the masterful Timo Ketola, one of the final pieces he completed a week before his untimely death.
To call each of Aethyrick‘s albums a “classic” would not be an understatement. Black metal as an artform is enriched by their existence, and Apotheosis completes this trinity with no small amount of stargazing grandeur.
First track premiere to be revealed shortly. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Aethyrick’s Apotheosis 1. The Starlit Altar [8:14] 2. Rosary of Midnights [5:49] 3. Flesh Once Divided [6:15] 4. In Blood Wisdom [8:04] 5. With Determined Steps [6:17] 6. Path of Ordeal [7:01]
Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets February 15th, 2021 as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of Japan’s Evil, Possessed by Evil, on vinyl LP format. The CD and cassette tape versions will be released earlier, on December 25th.
As previously demonstrated on Evil‘s celebrated 2017 debut album, Rites of Evil, as well as the demo, two live recordings, and split with Siege Column that have since emerged, these 12 tracks of black/thrash metal once again capture the darkness of first-wave black metal and unite it with the aggressive precision of early Teutonic thrash. Previous points of comparison between Evil and early Sodom continue to hold true, as do those that recognize similarities with the most notorious of Japanese hardcore outfits, especially insofar as the unhinged vocal delivery is concerned. Evil is anything but apologetic in its reverence to its metal heritage, which is what lends its recordings such a high degree of authenticity.
Possessed by Evil is an unabashed conglomerate of riffs, accentuated by incisive leads and rabidly barked vocals. If there is one notable contrast with the debut album, it would be an increased cohesiveness among the instruments. Whereas Rites of Evil at times felt a bit loose, the performances on this album are characterized by noticeably tighter synchronicity, which one could logically assume to be the result of the band’s greater longevity. In any case, the outcome is one that represents a step forward from an already impressive debut and one that confirms Evil among the best of its black/thrash metal contemporaries.
In the meantime, hear Possessed by Evil in its entirety here:
Cover art and tracklisting as follows:
Tracklisting for Evil (Japan)’s Possessed by Evil 1. 六道輪廻 The Cycle of Pain 2. 夜叉 Yaksa 3. 怨殺 Revenge 4. 雷神 Raizin 5. 般若波羅蜜多 Paramount Evil 6. 首斬り Reaper 7. 地獄の門 The Gate of Hell 8. 歪な梵鐘 Hell’s Evil Bells 9. 奈落の底 Bottom of Hell 10. 閻魔天 Enmaten 11. 凶惡 Possessed by Evil 12. 惡鼻達磨 Evil Way of Live
Today, Heidens Hart Records announces January 15th, 2021 as the international release date for Sagenland‘s long-awaited debut album, Oale groond, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Sagenland is a black metal project from Twente, Netherlands, founded at the turn of the millennium. Driving forces behind the project are A. (Cultus, Heimdalls Wacht, Uuntar) and F. (Asgrauw, Meslamtaea), who share an obsession for traditional Scandinavian black metal such as the legendary Ulver trilogy, old Dodheimsgard, and Arckanum. Sagenland plays folk-injected black metal with a leading role for melodic bass parts, epic choirs, and acoustic guitars.
In 2005, the band released the three-track EP Bladval on a split LP. The label ceased activity shortly after, so only a handful of copies were distributed, making this a real collectors item. Fifteen years later, Sagenland awakened from dormancy and finally deliver their debut album, Oale groond. The album follows the tradition of riff-based, well-written, actual songs, while capturing nostalgia, romanticism, and aggression in a way that is rare nowadays. This is sincere and honest traditional and folkish-themed grim black metal. Lyrics are mostly in the local dialect and describe sagas and local poetry from the countryside between Regge and Dinkel, where Sagenland is rooted.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “‘t Leste gedicht (Twentse earde)” here:
cover and tracklisting as follows
Tracklisting for Sagenland’s Oale groond 1. Weer thuus 2. De jammerklachten van Singraven – eerste deel 3. De jammerklachten van Singraven – tweede deel 4. Veur de leu van vrogger 5. Bladval 6. In ‘t bos 7. Van eigen land 8. Botte bijlen 9. ‘t Leste gedicht (Twentse earde) 10. Terug noar et laand van aleer
