Month: January 2021

Portuguese black metallers Satanize stream new HELTER SKELTER album

Today, militant Portuguese black metallers Satanize stream the entirety of their highly anticipated sixth album, Baphomet Altar Worship. Set for international release on January 20th via Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records), hear Satanize‘s Baphomet Altar Worship here:

Since 2001, Portugal’s Satanize have been prolifically pursuing their own vision of all-caps BLACK METAL. Of that prolific canon, they’ve released five full-lengths and more than twice as many EPs and splits. During that time, the longstanding duo of Reverend of Diabolical Services and Sinister Sorcery (barbaric skullhammers & poisonous hate commands) and Reverend of the Hell Legions and Macabre Tyranny (bestial strings of holocaust & low pulse desecration) have not so much “evolved” as literally devolved, locating and then desecrating the most primal expression of blackest metal they can.

To that, whereas so many of their Portuguese contemporaries live or die on withering rawness, the contemporary Satanize terrorize the underground with a righteously barbaric assault on the senses. Witness their latest Baphomet Altar Worship. Truly titled, Baphomet Altar Worship is an iron-fisted, close-minded, and unapologetically ignorant display of feral ‘n’ fiery bestiality.  Pounding and pulsing, overwhelming in their gibbering intensity, Satanize utterly PUNISH the listener with one mesmerizing-yet-malicious hymn after another; sonic slaughter abounds at every seemingly chaotic, careening turn. And yet, note the word “seemingly,” for however jagged and jarring their bestial blackgrind may be, Satanize wield their physicality with an almost martial strictness – one could even liken it “Zen” – and a strangely tuneful “catchiness” arises. But, escape never an option: only submission. And, before you know it, the 29 minutes of Baphomet Altar Worship are over and you’re begging the duo for more, more, MORE. Truly, Satanize are the ultimate in paradigmatic bestial black metal.

Fittingly completed by cover artwork courtesy of longtime comrade Sickness666, Satanize herald the impending Apocalypse with Baphomet Altar Worship!

Preorder info can be found HERE at Regain‘s Bandcamp. Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Satanize’s Baphomet Altar Worship
1. Baphomet Altar Worship
2. Council of Nuclear Holocaust
3. Conjuration of Southern Elitism
4. Chariots of Nocturnal Wrath
5. Shrine of Antichrist
6. Merciless Profanation
7. Barbarity Enthroned
8. Luciferian Thrones of Devastation
9. Cavernous Onslaught

www.helterskelterproductions.se
www.facebook.com/helterskelterproductions

Belgium’s GATEWAY sign with CHAOS RECORDS, to release new EP – reveal first track, cover, tracklisting

Today, Chaos Records is proud to announce the signing of Belgium’s Gateway. The first fruit of this union shall be a brand-new EP titled Flesh Reborn, to be released later this year.

Based in Bruges and widely praised by the underground since 2014, Gateway embarks on a reanimating return with Flesh Reborn. The new EP from one-man army R features four devastating tracks of lingering death-doom. Flesh Reborn is Gateway‘s most ambitious effort, with a more focused sound and deadly dramatic guest leads by M, a first in this project. Oozing atmospheric death-doom riff-worship for fans of Disembowelment, Coffins, Winter, Thorr’s Hammer, and Rippikoulu.

Release date for Flesh Reborn to be revealed shortly. In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Slumbering Crevasses” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Gateway (Belgium)’s Flesh Reborn

1. Hel
2. Slumbering Crevasses
3. Rack Crawler
4. Flesh Reborn

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/gatewaydeathdoom

www.chaos-records.com
www.facebook.com/chaosrecords

AETHYRICK stream new THE SINISTER FLAME album

Today, Finnish black metal vanguard Aethyrick stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Apotheosis. Set for international release on January 22nd via The Sinister Flame, hear Aethyrick‘s Apotheosis in its entirety here:

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.

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]

MORE INFO:
www.aethyrick.com

MORE INFO:
www.thesinisterflame.com
www.facebook.com/thesinisterflame

Polish black metal cult Szary Wilk premiere new track

Today, Polish black metal cult Szary Wilk premiere the new track “Wilczy Taniec”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Wrath, set for international release on February 19th via Putrid Cult. Hear Szary Wilk‘s “Wilczy Taniec” in its entirety here:

A mysterious quartet hailing from Poland, Szary Wilk released their first demo, Wrota chaosu, in 2018 via Putrid Cult. Despite being a brand-new entity and their first recording arriving in 2018, more accurately could Szary Wilk have come from mid-’90s Poland, so authentic is their ancient pagan black metal.

But now, they trump that accomplishment with their debut full-length, Wrath. Aptly titled, Wrath is literally a timewarp to colder/grimmer/truer days of all-caps BLACK METAL. No “post,” no “friends,” no contact, no LIFE: simply, Szary Wilk solely focus on the majestic, mystical essence of ancient-days/ways songwriting and conjure a cruel-yet-comforting atmosphere for those following the voice of blood. And at five songs in a compact 33 minutes, the trio waste no time on pleasantries or flights of fancy – and yet, the all-engrossing experience of Wrath feels far vaster than that runtime suggests. Szary Wilk are straight from the source, and it shows ad infinitum.

For those whose hearts beat true for early Behemoth, Graveland, Veles, Infernum, and Sacrilegium, return to the pagan vastlands with Szary Wilk‘s Wrath!

Begin returning with the previously revealed “Mortuos Voco” HERE at Putrid Cult‘s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Szary Wilk’s Wrath
1. Mortal
2. Behind the Curtain of Death
3. Mortuos Voco
4. Wilczy Taniec
5. Wrath

www.putridcult.pl 
www.facebook.com/putridcult 

ORDO CULTUM SERPENTIS set release date for SIGNAL REX debut EP, reveal first track

Today, Signal Rex announces February 12th as the international release date for Ordo Cultum Serpentis‘ striking debut EP, Derej Najash, on cassette tape format.

Ordo Cultum Serpentis are a new cross-continental entity comprising V (South Korea) and Fr. Der Cadaver (México). Together, the duo create an ambient sort of blackened death-doom – or perhaps deathened black-doom? Or doomed black-death? Either way, such words as BLACK and DEATH and most especially DOOM apply to the band’s first public recording, Derej Najash.

Ritualistic from the opening notes to the bitter end, Derej Najash is composed of two epic-length tracks across 27 total minutes. Moments of tense quietude linger, but then are jarringly ripped asunder by expulsions of grinding bestiality, all before dragging the tempo down into the abyss. The doom is thus megaton-sized, and crushes the listener’s spirit and very being with its all-encompassing density. Haunting moans and ritual bells also drift across the soundfield, putting Derej Najash further beyond the realms of normalcy or complacent listening. The sum effect is that Ordo Cultum Serpentis are sonic titans just beginning their inexorable march to the end…

Begin that march to the end with the brand-new 13-minute track “Chapter 1”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ordo Cultum Serpentis’ Derej Najash
1. Chapter 1 [13:17]
2. Chapter 2 [13:20]

www.signalrex.com
www.facebook.com/signalrex

AKEFAL set release date for SHADOW debut EP – streaming in full now

Today, Shadow Records (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) announces March 30th as the international release date for Akefal’s striking debut EP, Opus Darkness, on CD and 12” vinyl formats.

Akefal are a new entity hailing from Denmark/Sweden`s ever-thriving black/death metal scene, and include among their ranks members from such esteemed cults as Ultra Silvam and Taphos. However, on evidence of their debut EP, Opus Darkness – not to mention the preceding demo, The Repository of Stolen Fire – Akefal are their own band entirely, and one utterly DANGEROUS to behold!

At once deeply classic and shockingly modern, Akefal’s attack on Opus Darkness is unrelentingly wild and unremittingly weird, but all done in service of chaos eternal. In just four songs across a shock ‘n’ awe explosion of 11 minutes, Akefal evoke the lawless surge of Angelcorpse, Katharsis, and Morbid Angel but flay the senses with an OTT overload of feral frequencies ala The Third Eye Rapists or Necrovore. Which is all to say that Opus Darkness mangles the mind and body in equal measure, with clanging chords bending backwards at obscene angles and detonations of solo squall adding tension and terror, all fuzzed out in a manner that recalls the antagonistic glory of G.I.S.M. If all this sounds like “too much” of TOO MUCH, then it probably is, and Akefal are thus not for you: If you are a false, do not entry! 

Appended to this edition of Opus Darkness is the aforementioned three-song The Repository of Stolen Fire, delivering the ultimate first strike of Akefal in a mere 20 minutes. Shadow Records is devilishly pleased to be working with this horde for future assaults on humanity and good taste.

In the meantime, stream the entirety of Opus Darkness here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Akefal’s Opus Darkness
Side “Opus Darkness”
1. The First Whore
2. Apotheosis of the Flesh
3. Ravenous Spawn
4. Opus Darkness

Side “Repository of Stolen Fire”
5. Towards Nigredo
6. First Ritual of Abomination
7. Definite Savagery


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Akefal-100871245308769
www.akefal.bandcamp.com

www.shadowrecords.se
www.regainrecords.se
www.facebook.com/shadowrecords.se

BARATHRUM to release demos boxset thru SATURNAL

Today, Saturnal Records announces March 5th as the international release date for a special demos boxset from Finland’s legendary Barathrum, titled DEMO(NO)S.

Spread across three vinyl albums, DEMO(NO)S is a compendium of all the studio material Barathrum recorded before their classic debut album, Hailstorm, plus the legendary From Black Flames to Witchcraft rehearsal all in one set for the first time on vinyl format! Total skullcrushing jetblack warmetal! 

Barathrum‘s DEMO(NO)S will be available in two editions: regular edition in black, bone, or witchflame-colored 3 x 12″ heavy vinyl in trifold sleeve, including a woven patch and a 12-page booklet with old interviews and info; and the die hard version in black, bone, or witchflame-colored 3 x 12″ heavy vinyl in trifold sleeve, including a woven patch and a 12-page booklet with old interviews and info, plus a bronze pendant and A1-size flag – strictly limited edition! 

Mastered by Aleister Kainulainen. Bone sigil by Kirill Svart. Layout by S.P. (Behest). Pendant design by Leopold & Sandström. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Barathrum’s DEMO(NO)S

LP I: From Black Flames To Witchcraft (1991)
1. Winter Of The Black Snow
2. Black Flames And Blood
3. Deep From The Depths
4. Witchmaster
(ONE SIDED)


LP II: Witchmaster (1991)
Side A
1. Demon Est Deus Inversus
2. Deep From The Depths
3. Into The Maze Of Nightmares
4. Gate To Jetblack Desires

Side B
1. Witchmaster
2. Black Flames And Blood
3. Winter of the Black Snow


LPIII
Side A: Battlecry (1992)
1. Intro (Epilogue) / Sacrilegium
2. Nocturnal Dance
3. Justice of the Shining Steel
4. Battlecry / Outro

Side B: Sanctus Satanas (1993)
1. Wolf Age Thunder / Death Is Saviour
2. SaLuBeLe
3. Land Of Tears
4. The Force Of Evil
5. Black Goat
6. Devilish Sign

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/BarathrumOfficial

www.saturnalrecords.com

Australian black metal cult Pestis Cultus premiere new track

Today, Australian black metal cult Pestis Cultus premiere the new track “Black Tongue Hymn”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, fittingly self-titled, set for international release on February 12th via Signal Rex. Hear Pestis Cultus‘ “Black Tongue Hymn” in its entirety here:

Formerly known as Snorri – who delivered a demo and EP through Signal Rex as well as a split through brother label Harvest of Death, all during the years 2016 and 2017 – Pestis Cultus is the renewed audial manifestation brought forth by three lifetime friends and musicians from Perth, Australia, whose works have already been deeply carved in the worldwide underground black metal scene across various other projects. However, now officially as Pestis Cultus, the trio hold firm to the hideousness which marked Snorri‘s sadly short-lengthed recordings but ripen that rottenness to an exquisitely foul degree.

Indeed, the sound of Pestis Cultus is like that of  a moss-covered gravestone exploding – in violent fast-forward and tortured slow-motion simultaneously. Proudly raw in their exploits but by no means unrehearsed – quite the opposite, in fact – Pestis Cultus exhume ancient expressions of black metal and proceed to profane them in their own style and with their own voice. That voice & style could blithely be summarized as “putrid-satanic-necro-terrorizing-black (death) metal,” proudly from Australia and in its purest form, but lurk within the 31 minutes comprising their first full-length and one will find catacombs and corridors bursting with rancid, rebel spirit: the past only exists not to be tethered to, but to defile and exploit at will. In short, Pestis Cultus is paradoxically uncompromising and open-minded, fuck-off traditional and FUCK-YOU unorthodox.

Rounded out by a booming ‘n’ ghostly recording sharpened by Henri (Moonsorrow) Sorvali’s mastering, layout by Heresie Graphic Design Studio, and intro & outro featuring the one and only Mortiis, Pestis Cultus‘ self-titled debut album is a stunner highly recommended for old souls and restless ones alike.

And then head “To the Old Ruins” HERE at Signal Rex‘s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Pestis Cultus’ Pestis Cultus
1. Lazarus
2. Into the Endless Darkness
3. Black Mass
4. Cursed
5. Black Tongue Hymn
6. H.H.L
7. Abel de la Rue
8. To the Old Ruins
9. Apocrypha

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pestiscultus

www.signalrex.com
www.facebook.com/signalrex

SLOUGH OF DESPAIR to release debut album through CHAOS RECORDS and PERSONAL RECORDS

On February 26th, Chaos Records in conspiracy with Personal Records are proud to present Slough of Despair‘s striking debut album, Catacombs of Terror, on CD format.

Hailing from Athens, Greece, Slough of Despair formed in 2018 after guitarist Panos L. split from Ordeal and began to write the first demo with vocalist Babis G. and drummer Dimitris S. Later, Kostas V. took over on vocals, and the band was fleshed out with second guitarist Giannis T. and bassist Nick C.

With their lineup thus complete, Slough of Despair recorded their debut album in January 2020. Aptly titled Catacombs of Terror, this seven-song/42-minute monolith is suffocating to behold. Devastatingly crushing whilst eerily atmospheric, Slough of Despair uphold their moniker through an ominously lumbering, oft-ritualistic strain of doom-death. Its pound-and-plod is rendered in richly analog tones, robust in their clarity yet never losing any inherent rawness; more to the point, you FEEL this dark density deep within your soul. Then, ripping that soul asunder, Slough of Despair mesmerize with malevolently melodic twists that take their time to develop, but deliver a bountiful payoff. Patience thus rewards those willing to step fully into these Catacombs of Terror.

Originally released digitally in April 2020 and then on limited-edition cassette a few months after, Catacombs of Terror will at last see a CD release through a joint collaboration between Mexico’s long-running Chaos Records and Personal Records, the new label imprint of Majestic Downfall mainman Jacobo Córdova. This is literally titanic doom-death highly recommended for maniacs of Asphyx, Necros Christos, Winter, Cianide, and Evoken.

In the meantime, hear Catacombs of Terror in its entirety here:

. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Slough of Despair’s Catacombs of Terror 1. Burial of Sanity
2. Disease of Human Minds
3. Humanity’s Crucifixion
4. Shattered Reality
5. Cursed Fate
6. Catacombs of Terror
7. Outro

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/SLOUGHOFDESPAIR
www.sloughofdespair.bandcamp.com

www.chaos-records.com
www.facebook.com/chaosrecords

www.personal-records.com
personal-records.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/personalrecords666

MAJESTIC MASS set release date for new HELTER SKELTER maxi-single, reveal trailer

Today, Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) announces March 16th as the international release date for a brand-new maxi-single from Majestic Mass, Onwards, on CD and 12” vinyl formats.

One of the underground’s best-kept secrets, Majestic Mass made their public debut with the full-length Savage Empire of Death in 2018. Utterly obsessed with the rockin’ ‘n’ raucous noise these Danes so effortlessly created, Helter Skelter picked up the album for vinyl and cassette editions, and has now forged a blood pact with the band for an onslaught of upcoming releases.

Of them, the Onwards maxi-single consolidates Majestic Mass’ undeniable charm into a taut, two-song fury of fun and filth. Like the bastard son of Barathrum and Death SS, Majestic Mass wring forth a gooey crunge of pounding metalROCK lysergically laced with haunted-house organ and no small amount of bravado, all of it pushed well into the black – in all senses of the word. Put another way, these two songs are equally suited for Monsters of Rock-sized stadiums and cavernous, literally-underground clubs alike! If you can’t get down with Onwards, then it’s quite possible you’re already DEAD.

Begin choosing life or death with a special trailer for Onwards here:

Preorder info can be found HERE at Regain‘s Bandcamp. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Majestic Mass’ Onwards
1. Thy Ravenous Storm [4:10]
2. Reaping Fires [4:30]

MORE INFO:
www.majesticmass.bandcamp.com

www.helterskelterproductions.se
www.facebook.com/helterskelterproductions