Today, bestial barbarians Crucifixion Ritual stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut demo, Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity. Set for international release on May 16th via Invictus Productions, hear Crucifixion Ritual‘s Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity in its entirety here:
Yet another war metal supremacy horde Invictus finds and unleashes upon the unsuspecting public, Crucifixion Ritual are a barbaric duo whose sound is far more massive than their lineup would suggest. No trendiness, no “feels,” no nowadays garbage: their sound is as old-school, close-minded, and ignorant as it comes, a bestial onslaught of savagery ala Sadomator and Proclamation at their ugliest best. Thus, Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity is aptly titled, but those requiring further descriptors of Crucifixion Ritual‘s righteously raw & fathomlessly foul sound need only look at this first demo’s component tracks: “Sacrament of Defilement,” “Ritual Bludgeoning,” and of course the title track itself.
Black, white, and red all over, Crucifixion Ritual‘s Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity is an auspicious first assault, and finds the band in good company with Crurifragium, Human Agony, and Ululatum Tollunt. If you are a false, DO NOT ENTRY!
cover and tracklisting follows:
Tracklisting for Crucifixion Ritual’s Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity 1. Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity 2. Sacrament of Defilement 3. Ritual Bludgeoning
Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions announces August 1st as the international release date for the long-awaited second album of Sweden’s Vassago, Storm of Satan, on vinyl LP and cassette tape formats.
Sweden’s reputation in the world of underground black and death metal is a well-earned one. Known for stellar musicianship, consistent quality, and distinct production, it should be no surprise that many ancient Swedish hordes are still as potent today as ever.
With that in mind, Nuclear War Now! is proud to release Storm of Satan, the second full-length from Vassago. Formed in the late 1980s, Vassago released two demos in the mid-’90s before recording their blasphemous 1999 ful- length Knights From Hell (reissued by NWN! in 2019). The group established an identity with revered fellow countrymen Lord Belial, sharing several members.
While Lord Belial has earned a stellar reputation for their sweeping, melancholic grandiosity, Vassago approaches black and death metal from a maleficent angle. With biting, vicious intensity that calls to mind fellow northern gods Impaled Nazarene or Nifelheim, Vassago offers a full-scale attack of warlike staccato and a penchant for the disgusting and evil.
Storm of Satan is thematically dominated by a pure worship of Satan: a true devotional homage to the literal essence of black metal art. Musicianship and execution are at their peak here, with the additional presence of the legend Andy Laroque (of King Diamond) producing the record as well as providing lead guitar.
Storm of Satan offers its listeners no recourse; this is worship of evil for the evil among us.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Grind of Satan” here:
cover and tracklisting
Tracklisting for Vassago (Sweden)’s Storm of Satan
1. Darkness of Satan 2. Elite of Satan 3. Evil of Satan 4. Fire of Satan 5. Grind of Satan 6. Mayhem of Satan 7. Metal of Satan 8. Sign of Satan 9. Storm of Satan 10. War of Satan
Today, Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) announces July 24th as the international release date for Necromantical Invocation’s striking debut mini-album, Dogme el Rituel de la Haute Magie, on CD and 12” vinyl formats.
Necromantical Invocation is long-brewing project of the ever-prolific Echetleos, who numbers Caedes Cruenta, Kawir, Ithaqua, and Walpurgia among his many endeavors. As Necromantical Invocation, however, Echetleos indulges his darkest and most avant-garde side, still firmly within the Hellenic black metal pantheon which he has helped shape in the past decade but also exploring its outer fringes of mystery and mysticism.
Necromantical Invocation originally began in 2014. Echetleos felt the vision in a profound slumber, dreaming and wandering in the shadows of the graves, travelling to the beyond and making contact with creatures from boundless space, for the great moment to rise again. And indeed they did in 2020, as the project re-emerged in early 2020 to cast the first spell. Titled Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Necromantical Invocation’s first recorded work spans four epic, catacomb-wandering tracks in a supremely sulfurous 32 minutes. While the primary influences are Necromantia, Mortuary Drape, Mayhem, and King Diamond, Echetleos’ sonic sorcery here exceeds the limits without commitment and meets Zero Kama, Current 93, Jacula, and even Diamanda Galas. A truly otherworldly (and oft-bewildering) experience, Dogme el Rituel de la Haute Magie has the ritualistic energy of Samael’s first (and superior) period with a dose of Sigh added into the mix while also including some indirect references of constructed soundscapes from Dead Can Dance’s style as well as influences of various musical genres with theatrical feeling. Put another way, one could place Necromantical Invocation along a spectrum of black metal and avant-garde music in combination with dark ambient elements, dungeon synth sounds, classical , and romanticism, altogether creating an atmosphere of pure darkness, mystery, and magick utterly unique and poignantly personal.
Naturally, Necromantical Invocation invokes a studied lyricism, entirely dedicated to necromantic mysteries, witchcraft, ceremonial magick, and divination – a fact already indicated by the chosen moniker. The main concept of Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie is death and necromancy, as long as a magical invocation which the well-known occultist Eliphas Levi had committed, calling the spirit of the Divine Apollonius of Tyana. This incident is mentioned in a chapter in his book also titled Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie.
Originally released on limited-edition cassette, now does Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie rise from the shadows to herald the arrival of Necromantical Invocation!
Hear all of it for yourself here:
Cover art and tracklisting:
Tracklisting for Necromantical Invocation’s Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie
1. Nυχτερινή επίκληση [2:42] 2. Necromantical Ritual [10:47] 3. Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie [15:41] 4. Αι Σκιαί του Άδου [3:35]
Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions announces August 1st as the international release date for the highly anticipated third album from Florida’s Gnosis, Omens From the Dead Realm, on vinyl LP and cassette tape formats.
From the Greek word for “knowledge,” Gnosis is adept at translating Greek sonic arcana into their own distinct language. Straddling the line between black and death metal, Gnosis treads this bottomless sea with an aplomb matched by few others. Blunt brutality is complemented by breathtaking melancholia with tasteful nods to archetypes found throughout the history of heavy metal music. Album highlights such as “Apzu, Sea of Death” can confidently stand in conversation with elder Greek progenitors Varathron and Rotting Christ while still maintaining their own distinct thesis.
This is the sound of aquatic Babylonian chaos, albeit through the lens of the ancient depth-dwelling elders of Lovecraft’s abyss. Omens From the Dead Realm is the second Gnosis release in partnership with NWN! Productions.
In the meantime, stream Omens From the Dead Realm in its entirety here:
Cover artwork, courtesy of Vika // Imago Mortis, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Gnosis (Florida)’s Omens From the Dead Realm
1. Conjuration of the Nemesis 2. Typhlotic Visions 3. Excite the Tempest 4. Apzu, Sea of Death 5. Transcendence Pt. II 6. The Eleventh Step, The Gate Unknown 7. Omens from the Dead Realm 8. Awakening the Third Eye 9. Watcher of a Faceless Abyss
Blackened death metal outfit WITHERED are now releasing the second brand-new track of their upcoming album ‘Verloren‘, which is set for worldwide release on June 25, 2021, via Season of Mist Underground Activists! The single ‘Casting In Wait‘ can now be viewed along with a music video here:
The band comments: “Humanity’s obsession with glorifying the ego beyond death through legacy is one of the biggest exercises in futility. It’s perhaps the most elegant & noble way to waste one’s existence here. No matter the effort put forth, the earth will rise in tide, open up in darkness, and puke ash into the atmosphere erasing all traces. There is nothing immortal except what we all become. Worm shit that fuels earth’s inevitable return to harmony & humility.”
‘Verloren’ can be pre-ordered in various formats HERE.
WITHERED vocalist/guitarist Mike Thompson and artist Paul Romano recently gave a behind-the-scenes look and in-depth interview on the creation of the unique album artwork. The detailed article, which is accompanied by an exclusive video clip and photos, can be viewed HERE. Further details for ‘Verloren’ can be found below.
Tracklist 1. By Tooth In Tongue (8:22) 2. The Predation (6:55) 3. Dissolve (4:33) 4. Casting In Wait (5:29) 5. Passing Through… (2:37) 6. …The Long Hurt (3:55) 7. Verloren (4:29) 8. From Ashen Shores (8:21) Total: 44:41
From its inception, WITHERED has been an outlier, a perplexing charge of extremity which the metal scene has never been able to put its finger on.
“We want to compound new elements into every album,” posits guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson, “and we’re definitely a band for metal nerds. Our audience seems to be the old-schoolers who are absorbed by this stuff every day and jaded folks of a certain age. Industry types and peers tend to get it, but that’s about it.”
Thompson’s self deprecating assessment of his creative output might be part gentlemanly humility talking or a harshly realistic take on WITHERED’s cult status, or somewhere in between, but with an impressive body of work fanned out over the course of 18 years and five albums which have weathered as many trends, the Atlanta quartet continues to confound and refuses to compromise. New album, Verloren is the band’s most daring and iconoclastic work yet, one that spits in the eye of complacency and exists as a contrarian masterstroke.
Originally formed by Thompson and ex-guitarist/vocalist Chris Freeman in 2003 following a spell in local grind institution Social Infestation (alongside Mastodon’s Troy Sanders), WITHERED’s initial goal was to re-write black, doom and death metal modes and mores. To that end, the band has achieved that goal as their sound and aesthetic refuses to clearly state which subgenre they call home. Over the course of its history, WITHERED has generated more questions than answers about who they are and what they do. They’ve toured with the varied likes of Mastodon, High on Fire, Dismember, Grave, Vital Remains, Possessed, Watain, Mayhem, 1349, Krallice, Skeletonwitch and Danzig. Their live show provides an air of never-know-what-you’re-gonna-get mystery. See them on one occasion and it’s a DIY kick in the gut with stripped down, rehearsal room bareness appropriately complementing the lunacy. The next time they get in the van they’ll do so accompanied by rigged up columns of light cloaking the stage in bloody reds and searing whites. And with Verloren, the band’s forthcoming fifth album, Thompson and his band mates – drummer Beau Brandon, bassist Rafay Nabeel and fellow guitarist/vocalist Dan Caycedo – continue to nudge both thematic and sonic goalposts by providing relatable food for thought while retaining the adversarial fire that has powered the engine since the start
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There’s a philosophical introspective approach to the subject matter that informs our writing style. We’re trying to create an atmosphere that complements the themes and that’s something we’re trying to circle back around to on Verloren.”
WITHERED’s first album, 2005’s Memento Mori, generally speaking, tackled the subject of mortality and the grieving process that follows significant loss, trauma and tragedy. Album number two, 2008’s Folie Circulaire was, as Thompson describes, “more existentialist, nihilistic and Nietzsche-ian” while 2010’s Dualities was an exploration of Jungian psychology and the shadow self. As alluded to in the title, 2016’s Grief Relic started into the U-turn back towards the exploration of the role and impact of grief as the men of WITHERED themselves entered that stage of life in which older family members, friends and childhood heroes were passing away, expectedly and otherwise. Five years on, Verloren rounds out the turn with a sinister sound and an area of study more akin to a deep therapy/counseling session instead of the usual gore and lore that often emboldens extreme music.
“Rafay wanted to use the theme of ‘missing’,” explains Thompson, “which was broad and abstract, so I dialed it down to be more about this outlook I’ve developed over the years about how each of us have a ‘Love Well.’ Every bit of love you get from your parents, your upbringing and your learning how to receive and experience love in relationships and through experiences contributes to the well. Your traumas counterbalance that and take away from it, especially when foundational core elements take a hit, like the untimely loss of a parent. That’s one of life’s unique puzzle pieces and when that piece is removed it’s never going to be replaced.
“We’re equipped with a certain capacity – our wells are filled to a certain level – and when you start getting smacked with traumas, whatever you have in that well – your defense mechanisms – can get worn down pretty quickly, especially for someone who has never really known love because of a broken home, difficult relationships or whatever. Each one of us in WITHERED carry unique traumas that we’ve focused this new record on. For me, most of my significant losses are from older wounds that I’ve dealt with through WITHERED from the very beginning, but with this being the first album with Dan and Rafay, it’s like a new exercise for them to really focus on the things they’ve been carrying around.”
Verloren translates to “missing” from German and relates not just to the friends, family and pieces of the member’s lives and hearts that have, and will go, missing as the time ticks on unfettered, but also, in the face of the global pandemic, just how much the activity of being in a band has been missed by everyone who took the write/record/tour cycle for granted. Verloren demonstrates a topical uniqueness; one that discusses the stuff everyone from the steeliest of black metal cape wearers to the gore-obsessed death metal crushers and everyone playing in a band or not has had to – or will have to – confront at some point. By leveling the elitist playing field so often found in extreme metal underground attitudes, Verloren offers a more holistic experience, elevating WITHERED by being unafraid to discuss topics that fly in the face of what most would connect to the sounds they make.
“About two years before I started WITHERED,” Thompson recalls, “I went through a series of traumas where I was forced to take stock of and define my foundational ‘puzzle pieces’ that could be taken away and what the trauma and grief is going to look like when I lose close family and/or friends I truly care about. Ironically, one I didn’t face until recently was WITHERED. No one ever thought that not being able to play shows or tour because of a pandemic was even feasible. I processed the idea of losing WITHERED and playing music and touring and everything else around the time of Grief Relic when two guys quit the band and I lost a lot of steam and inspiration. Luckily, Beau was there to kick my ass and shake me out of it. When it comes to this album, there was an initial suffering of anxiety because of the uncertainty in the world and the fear of losing this album because we put a lot into it, are super proud of it and it is the best WITHERED album yet. It’s important for my inspiration and motivation to go forward. It takes so much effort for us to create a record, the thought of it for it to all be for naught or potentially be wasted just destroys me.
“Surprisingly, we haven’t had a lot of push back on these themes, though I would love to take on that conflict!” he laughs. “For most people, metal is purely aesthetic, a grandstanding ‘f-you!’ to society and an adolescent rebellion kind of thing. But at the same time, we do get positive feedback from the people who have looked a bit deeper and done some research. We just want to be honest. We used to make the joke when we go out on tour, especially in the early days when deathcore was all the rage and we’d be on these weird package bills, that ‘Hey, we’re WITHERED and we’re here to bum you out.’ We’re not a party band or a shock band so you don’t get the fun aspect from us when going to a show. I’ve always been frustrated that we’ve never been able to communicate our super-realism and the different perspectives of life. If I want to sing about how much gratitude I have for my mother in a roundabout way, then whatever, we’ll do it!”
As WITHERED enters its third decade, they’ve drawn a more insular and conclusive line in the sand. The band has forged further forward with the process of eschewing typicality, including not utilizing any of the usual producer suspects to help sculpt Verloren. Instead, they flew the flag of independence by again going down the route of self-production with Thompson himself taking the bull by its horns.
“We get a little bit more deliberate every time around and starting with Grief Relic we decided not to hire anyone to help produce and filter it through a particular lens. We started self-producing and I kind of took the reins on that last time and more so this time and also when it came to selecting who was going to engineer [Raheen Amlani at Orange Peel Recordings], then mix [Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios] and master it [Jarrett Pritchard]. The trick is to find someone who loves Times of Grace as much as they love Clandestine and His Hero is Gone, Napalm Death and all the way out to later Enslaved and can balance all those things. If it’s truly honest and truly communicating the intention of a song, then it’ll be powerful, heavy and generate emotion.”
Verloren also revisits WITHERED’s traditional methodological step of sitting down and looking at the present state of metal before consciously lashing out against what’s taking up most of the broader public’s attention.
“We’re constantly looking for something new to do. We love genre bending and putting D-beats next to funereal riffs next to black metal blasts and heavy doom riffs and figuring out how to make it all work and make sense with whatever vibe we’re trying to nail down. For this one, I wanted to lean back into the funereal doom world. I got burnt out when doom – especially southern doom, being a southern band – was the word of the day around the time of our first two records. We basically ran in the other direction and got away from doing any full-on doom parts for a while. I wanted to come back around to that, so we went back to bigger stuff like My Dying Bride for the couple of eight minute epics on the album [album opener “By Tooth in Tongue” and closer “From Ashen Shores”]. Also, for the first time in my life and against my better judgment, I decided to write clean vocals and I’m singing on two songs. They’re kind of buried in the mix a little bit because I’m still self-conscious about them, but they were the only things that made sense for the parts we wrote. I tried to fight it, but nothing extreme was accomplishing the goal. On top of that, we go the other way where three of the songs have some super crusty and grind elements. Part of why I asked Dan to join the band was because I knew he would get the sludgy, crusty side of things and help me cultivate that better in WITHERED. On the album, ‘The Predation,’ ‘Dissolve’ and ‘Casting in Wait’ are his. Those would be the twists on this album because we’re always trying to write what we think is missing and what we want to hear in heavy music after sitting down and looking at the landscape of what’s out there.”
And despite being deliberate oppositional in the subject matter they choose to explore and express, how much of their hearts and souls they choose to strip bare for fickle crowds and grind against whatever current musical grain the rest are cruising along, the determination, seriousness and importance of WITHERED in each member’s lives hasn’t ebbed. In fact, it’s only been magnified with time and circumstance. Having been forced into a year off from normal band life has made it clear how vital WITHERED is for everything from creative expression, social networking, wanderlust, overall personal sanity and moving forward.
“Personally, I’m very, very fortunate with regards to my family and others being supportive and taking what I do seriously. Looking back, I could be really selfish and headstrong about music. My family got so used to it that they would volunteer to schedule dinners and family events around rehearsals and practice because they were able to glean how important this was to me and how seriously I took it. Even moving out into the real world with the professional realm of things and the jobs that we have had in order to keep this going, I’d say it’s taken more seriously now than ever. We’re constantly challenging ourselves to progress and carve our own path. WITHERED is a permanent part of my life, it’s what I expect to be there. I’ve built so much on it and I’ve somehow been able to weave it into my life to where it’s a defining part of me as well. This isn’t rock star fantasy camp, although the other weekend I was bored, missing travelling and sitting around so I took the band van out and just drove out for three hours, turned around and came home!”
Guest Musicians: Ethan McCarthy (Primitive Man) on “Passing through…” which is a noise track done under his “Many Blessings” nomenclature using field recordings Mike Thompson made at a family funeral.
On June 14th internationally, Nuclear War Now! Productions will reissue the collected works of Norway’s Phobia, Slaughterhouse Tapes, on CD format. The band was a young precursor to Norway’s legendary Enslaved, and also included a future founder of Theatre of Tragedy.
The emergence of the Norwegian black metal movement is often regarded as a sudden paradigmatic shift in sound and aesthetics. But it didn’t take place in a vacuum; many of the key players in the scene were already involved in underground metal.
So it was for the founding members of Enslaved (Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson) and Theatre of Tragedy (Hein Frode Hansen), all of whom initially played in a short-lived but impressive death metal band called Phobia. The “Slaughterhouse” to which the title of this collection refers is Gamle Slaktehuset, or “old slaughterhouse,” a community youth center in the small town of Haugesund that served as an incubation center for numerous adolescent bands in the region. Equipped with multiple rehearsal rooms, a studio, a café, and a performance space, Slaktehuset offered everything a fledgling band needed.
Ranging in ages from 12-18, the members of Phobia coalesced around Slaktehuset, where they wrote and rehearsed original material and eventually recorded their demos, The Last Settlement of Ragnarok and Feverish Convulsions, both of which were released in 1991. (The first Enslaved and Immortal demos were also recorded at Slaktehuset later that same year.) Owing to the band members’ drive and dedication, the material on these demos is far more sophisticated than one might expect. Musically, Phobia calls to mind Autopsy, with a morose, doom-laden edge reminiscent of early Paradise Lost. The songwriting, however, is unique and the production strikes a balance between capturing the band’s raw, youthful energy while preserving the clarity of the instrumentation.
By the end of 1991, Grutle and Ivar, inspired by a conversation with Immortal’s Demonaz, stripped the band down to a three-piece and adopted the name Enslaved, after the song “Enslaved in Rot” from the first Immortal demo. Hein departed for the United States to work, and upon returning to Norway, he founded the long-running gothic death/doom band Theatre of Tragedy.
With the rapid rise of black metal, Phobia was unfortunately relegated to the increasingly distant past. This compilation collects—for the first time—Phobia’s two demos, along with three previously unreleased tracks.
In the meantime, hear the brand-old track “Fog of Uncertainty” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Phobia (Norway)’s Slaughterhouse Tapes
1. Intro 2. Fog of Uncertainty 3. The Last Settlement of Ragnarok 4. Feverish Convulsions 5. Frame of Mind (studio) 6. Thy Rottening Flesh (rehearsal) 7. The Last Settlement of Ragnarok (rehearsal) 8. When the Jews Return to Zion (rehearsal) 9. Frame of Mind (rehearsal) 10. Feverish Convulsions (rehearsal)
THY DARKENED SHADE • AMESTIGON • INCONCESSUS LUX LUCIS • SHAARIMOTH A four-way collaborative album comprised of 15 songs of stygian devotion, spanning over 90 minutes of music. Executed by four of the most uncompromising and zealous bands.
“We are The Murderer’s black seed, eternally. A conjoined working to receive further blessing of the Sinister Gods.”
After years of blood, sweat, and sacrifice, W.T.C. Productions is proud to announce the release of SamaeLilith: A Conjunction of The Fireborn, set for international release on June 30th on double-CD and double-LP vinyl formats. This is a conceptual split release, with each band focused on venerating a different aspect of The Bloodline of Fire, culminating in a recording that works as a cohesive whole, even greater than the sum of its individual parts.
These are four sonically very different bands, each pushing the limits of what is known and expected of their art, whilst still honoring tradition. However, there is a common thread that ties this seamlessly together. This is particularly apparent when reading the lyrics – since despite being written independently, the language used throughout is cohesive in the strange and unusual choice of vernacular. It is almost as if the words were penned by a single unseen hand.
SamaeLilith is the outcome of an unyielding and timeless fervor that dwells deep within the hearts of all artists involved. Indeed, it is this very same shared formless essence from where this work derives, manifesting itself as a veritable and blessed poison – A Conjunction of The Fireborn.
To complete this work, Vamperess Imperium has created a magnificent piece of art to adorn the cover of the album, a striking piece of artwork to give visual representation for each of the four sides of music and their respective holy currents, as well as a lavish layout design to unite the words and music contained within.
SamaeLilith: A Conjunction of The Fireborn was recorded between 2007 and 2020, but even though the split has been in the works for quite some time and the obstacles along the way have been numerous, this release has been definitely worth the wait.
In the meantime, hear a sample track from each band here:
Aforementioned cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for SamaeLilith: A Conjunction of the Fireborn 1. Thy Darkened Shade – Murderer’s Black Seed 2. Thy Darkened Shade – Undead Lineage 3. Thy Darkened Shade – Daathian Reveries and Gamaliel Revelations 4. Thy Darkened Shade – Return of the Ancient Ones 5. Amestigon – The Slant Serpent 6. Amestigon – Maelstrom Into The Lower Octave 7. Amestigon – The Tortuous Serpent 8. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – Phantoms from the Land of Nod 9. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – The Osseous Gulf 10. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – Sabbatical Thaumaturgy 11. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – Liminal Terror (The Witch’s Curse) 12. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – Into Feral Fumes of Sanctification 13. Shaarimoth – From The Gates Of Death 14. Shaarimoth – Flows The Blood Of Retribution 15. Shaarimoth – And Salvation Everlasting
