Month: February 2024

AD MORTEM set release date for PURITY THROUGH FIRE debut album, reveal first track

On March 21st internationally, Purity ThroughFire is proud to present Ad Mortem‘s highly anticipated debut album, In Honorem Mortis, on CD, A5 digipack, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

If there’s one certainty in these uncertain times, it’s that Purity ThroughFire will continue to raise the banner of nowadays German black metal: proud and pure in its expression, honoring the past whilst not being shackled to it, and evincing a professionalism that doesn’t sacrifice true underground spirit. Their latest executioners are Ad Mortem, who’ll be familiar to those who caught their Purity ThroughFire-released split with standard-bearers Mavorim in that very uncertain year of 2020. While their split-mates are true titans of today’s Teutonic black metal scene, Ad Mortem proved to be a poignant counterpart, evincing an undeniable physicality that remained hook-heavy and hummable.

Now they’ve returned to fulfill their still-substantial potential with the debut album In Honorem Mortis. Here, Ad Mortem dispense with any subtlety and go for the throat quickly and calculatingly. While the eight hymns comprising their debut album hover around the five-minute mark, everything on In Honorem Mortis sounds irrepressibly urgent. Mind you, the quartet’s songwriting isn’t categorically “all speed, all the time” – their shifting of gears, from strength & honor gallop to pistons-pumping blast, is as fluid as it comes – but their execution of such puts Ad Mortem in rarefied territory: seamlessly flowing, even swinging, making their martial thrust all the more mesmerizing. Of course, the German tongue makes their black metal bite harder, and wrapped in polished-yet-powerful production, the gleaming chrome one witnesses on In Honorem Mortis is but the blade of their sword about to deliver its fatal blow. Bow before Ad Mortem and feel their sweet release!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Von hohen Himmeln” here:

Cover artwork, courtesy of Northem Art, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ad Mortem’s In Honorem Mortis
1. Von hohen Himmeln
2. Größer als das Leben
3. Labyrith
4. Der letzte Feind
5. Urgewalt
6. Auf kalten Gräbern
7. Todesstreben
8. Death & Beyond

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/AdMortem666 

www.purity-through-fire.com

Seattle Melodic Death Metal Band VERITERAS to Release ‘The Dark Horizon’

Seattle (WA) – Melodic Death Metal quartet VERITERAS will release sophomore full-length album, The Dark Horizon, on April 11. A lyric video for the album’s first single, “Abyss,” will be released on March 14.

“The Dark Horizon really leans in on our old school melodic death metal roots, and as a result has a more blackened melodic death metal sound compared to our previous release, Shadow of Death. There’s more tremelo picking, more blast beats, but still holding on to a very melodic core. We’re very happy with how the album ended up, and we grew a ton through the process. The songwriting is more mature, the lyrics are stronger because Sean wrote most of them instead of me, the musicianship is better, and the mix is fantastic. We’re all super excited to be sharing this album with the world, and hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!”

– Santtu Winter (Veriteras)

In support of the album VERITERAS will be hitting the road with Finland’s Event Relentless for the nine-city PNW U.S. Tour!” Dates are as follows:

4/18 Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown

4/19 Bremerton, WA @ The Charleston

4/20 Spokane, WA @ Jackson Street Bar

4/21 Richland, WA @ Ray’s Golden Lion

4/23 Boise, ID @ The Shredder

4/24 Bend, OR @ Silver Moon Brewery

4/25 Portland, OR @ Mano Occulta

4/26 Olympia, WA @ The Crypt

4/27 Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse

Pre-order:

veriteras.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-horizon

Track Listing:

1 – Certainty

2 – Celestial Darkness

3 – Abyss

4 – Last Rites

5 – Sanctuary

6 – Manufactured Dreams

7 – Blinding

8 – Retrograde

9 – Light in the Darkness

Album Credits:

Music written and arranged by Santtu Winter and Veriteras. 

Songs “Retrograde” and “Blinding” written and arranged by Sean Osterberg and Santtu Winter.

 Lyrics by Sean Osterberg and Santtu Winter. Bass written and recorded by Matthew Kirkwold at Meow Sounds. 

Solos written and recorded by Major Bruno (first solo on “Sanctuary”), Eligio Tapia (second solo on “Sanctuary”), and Adonis Reed-Boulos (“Blinding”). 

Vocals on “Light in the Darkness” by Maria Mannisto. Tambourine performed by Jeff Smith (bassist emeritus and first-chair tambourinist).

Recorded by Don Gunn at The Office Studio in Seattle in July 2023.

Mixed and Mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound Studio in Germany between August and November 2023.

Album artwork by Sean Osterberg

Veriteras is an old-school melodic death metal band based in Seattle, Washington (U.S.). Formed in 2018, they are inspired by the Scandinavian melodic death scene (early-era In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Kalmah, etc.), and strive to write heavy songs with powerful and memorable melodies. After releasing two EPs in 2020 (Banished) and 2021 (Citadel), they debuted their first LP Shadow of Death in 2022, and toured Finland in support of the album. Now they are proud to present their follow-up LP, The Dark Horizon, in April 2024.

Line-up:

Santtu Winter: Guitar

Sean Osterberg: Guitar and Vocals

Jason Gooselaw: Drums

Major Bruno: Bass

facebook.com/VeriterasMetal

instagram.com/veriteras

Veriteras on Spotify

veriteras.bandcamp.com

THE ROTTENING set release date for PERSONAL RECORDS debut EP, reveal first track – features members of INTESTINAL, FORNHEM+++

On April 5th internationally, Personal Records is proud to present The Rottening‘s highly anticipated debut EP, Seeds of Death, on CD format.

The Rottening are a Swedish death metal band that started in 2021 when members from the band Intestinal wanted to shred with each other again. They were joined by the frontman of the black metal band Fornhem, and the band took shape. In fact, The Rottening are named after Intestinal’s second (and final) album! After the well-received Ode to Rot demo, the band got together to record their debut EP, Seeds of Death, and the result could not be more pummeling.

No more but definitely no less, the concept behind Seeds of Death is pure Swedish HM-2 death metal, and who better to do so than an actual group of Swedes! Taking primary influence from the almighty Dismember, The Rottening crush and gallop forth like an everflowing stream, wholly indecent and obscene in their massive killing capacity. You may’ve heard Seeds of Death before, but only in pieces. This DEATH METAL after all, and undeniably Swedish, but The Rottening make it re-reborn in blasphemy in a mere 21 minutes: an override of the overture worth overriding again, and again, and again!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Starless Void” here:

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

Tracklisting for The Rottening’s Seeds of Death

1. Ode to Rot

2. Starless Void

3. Silence of Your God

4. Maleficarum

5. Seeds of Death

MORE INFO:
therottening.bandcamp.com 

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

HERESIARCH set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces April 12th as the international release date for Heresiarch‘s highly anticipated second album, Edifice, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

For over 15 years now, New Zealand’s Heresiarch have patiently crafted a body of work that has come to transcend their early influences. Though lineups have shifted during that time, led by founding vocalist N.H. and enhanced by guitarist C.S. in 2013, Heresiarch have wisely taken their time with recordings and prized quality over quantity. The band’s debut album, Death Ordinance, arrived in 2017 after a trio of savage short-lengths. A new rhythm section took root following that album’s release, and a couple splits in the ensuing years honed their doomed ‘n’ barbaric sound into something more molten and ominous.

And now arrives that megaton payload of devastation, Heresiarch‘s second album, elegantly titled Edifice. If there were any doubts that the band were but yet another toneless ‘n’ tired “war metal” troupe, the New Zealanders trounce any and all trepidation with exceptionally seismic songwriting. Here on Edifice, the parameters of Heresiarch‘s sound – death metal muscle, black metal atmosphere, grindcore aggression – are all in devastating harmony, creating a hydra-headed beast that betrays a wealth of true-yet-twisted ideas. More than just safely evading easy categorization (which is often mere doublespeak for “pleasing all constituents”), the quartet lay bare a landscape of texture titanic in its heft and foreboding in its effect, seamlessly winding through minefields both sonic and psychic and eventually culminating in a grandiose two-part finale in the equally compellingly titled “Hubris and Decline” and “Militate Pyrric Collapse.” For sure, Heresiarch sound as martial as ever, but the lava now flows in palatably unique ways, all without compromising their core aesthetic. Indeed, one could say they’ve finally found order through chaos.

The possibilities of life’s destruction are endless for those who wander before Heresiarch‘s Edifice.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Gloryless Execution” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Heresiarch’s Edifice
1. Forged Doctrine
2. Manifest Odium
3. Noose Above the Abyss
4. Gloryless Execution
5. Tides of Regression
6. A World Lit Only By Fire
7. Swarming Blight
8. Mystic and Chaos
9. Hubris and Decline
10. Militate Pyrrhic Collapse

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/heresiarchband

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

LVME set release date for new NOEVDIA album

LVME join the NoEvDia ranks with their second album, Of Sinful Nature, to be released internationally on February 16th.

LVME steadfastly uphold the essence of traditional black metal while boldly broadening their musical scope. Of Sinful Nature presents five expertly crafted tracks that defy conventions. This album is an intense black metal sermon, marked by a fluid fusion of complex riffs and surprising twists – a powerful expression of raw, unbridled, and rebellious energy.

Of Sinful Nature stands out with its authentic production quality – a real treat for those familiar with the feral force of an analog drum kit. The album’s production harks back to the organic sound of earlier decades, enriched with the grit of all-analog mastering.

Once you immerse yourself in Of Sinful Nature, you’ll be swept away by its commanding presence for 45 minutes. This album is an experience to be embraced and surrendered to, a celebration of black metal and its conquering spirit.

Full stream to be revealed the day of release. Cover and tracklisting is as follows:

Tracklisting for LVME’s Of Sinful Nature
1. The Venomous Fire [9:36]
2. Strix Rêverie [5:45]
3. Without Light nor Guide [9:13]
4. Into Ashen Stone [10:43]
5. Obenaus und Nirgends an! [9:28]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/lvmebm 

www.noevdia.com

America’s CRUCIFIER set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces April 12th as the international release date for the highly anticipated third album of America’s Crucifier, Led Astray, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

One of the longest-running entities in the American underground, Crucifier was formed in 1990 by vocalist/drummer Cazz Grant. While myriad lineups would come and go – and the band’s eventual debut album, Stronger Than Passing Time, wouldn’t be released until 2003 – Crucifier have kept consistent to their blasphemous, blackened death metal style steeped in the truly ancient and most underground ways.

Now, two years after their weird & wild Say Your Prayers mini-album, Crucifier align with Iron Bonehead once again for the release of their third full-length, Led Astray. Taking the wandering yet fully locked-in songwriting of that mini to its ultimate conclusion, Led Astray is a masterclass in memorable, METAL riffing and twisted rhythmic thrust. As is their signature, Crucifier sound positively primal here but never primitive; while these nine screeds of blasphemy might confuse or insult normcore listeners, there’s an extremely considered & calculated delirium behind their blackened devilry. As such, the “tight looseness” that’s characterized Crucifier‘s work to date gets sharpened to an enviable degree as these nine labyrinths surge and storm with a paradoxical / perverse sense of class. Credit the latter largely to the jaw-dropping dual lead-work across Led Astray: an element that’s been bubbling in the Crucifier cauldron for years, but which really reaches a superlative level here. Of course, Grant’s vocals are as diabolic as ever, seemingly coming from every direction and hackle-raising in their articulation.

Crucifier hereby have delivered a modern classic of blackened death metal in Led Astray! 

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Smite…”

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Crucifier (USA)’s Led Astray
1. Smite…
2. Feed the Furnace
3. In Hircine Splendor
4. Biers of Catholic Bones
5. With Cornu and Peccant Breath
6. Trafficking with the Devil
7. Serenaded by the Angels’ Shrills
8. Harbingers of Apollyon
9. An Endeavour of Rats

MORE INFO:
www.thetruecrucifier.bandcamp.com 

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

ANCIIENTS Release New Version of “Built to Die”

ANCIIENTS are bound for a big comeback later this year with the release of their long-awaited third album.

Last month, the JUNO award winners released a re-recorded version of a fan favorite to flex the cosmic muscle of their new lineup. Today, these hard-rocking Canucks are releasing another re-recording. Only this time, they’re tuning up an old bonus track that’s turned into a set list staple.

Anciients first came into existence back in 2011, though Kenny Cook (vocals, guitar), Chris Dyck (guitar) and Aaron “Boon” Gustafson (bass) had already played in a band together. Their potent chemistry, joined with drummer Mike Hannay, spilled over into Heart of Oak, which landed the band an opening slot on tour with Lamb of God, as well as on the long list for a JUNO and the 2013 Polaris Music Prize.

After their second album, Voice of the Void, won a JUNO in 2018 for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year, Anciients underwent several line-up changes. They’re now joined by bassist Rory O’Brien and Brock MacInnes on rhythm guitar.

“Built to Die” tests the horsepower of Anciient’s new engine. A fuzz guitar revs right out of the gate, as if shot out of a cannon by the song’s gargantuan opening roar. What follows is a neck-and-neck drag race between that garage rock riff and double bass kicks that pump with the speed and precision of twin-cylinder pistons. “Goodbye friends / Hello death”, Cook sings with a throat full of melody before he’s swallowed by the low-end’s greasy chug.

“We’re excited to share a re-recorded version of ‘Built to Die'”, Cook says. “This was the first song written for Anciients, so it seemed like a fun idea to record it again with our current lineup. It was originally recorded by Shawn Penner for our Snakebeard EP way back in 2011. It was a great experience to bring it back to life, but this time with Jesse Gander producing it. Hope you all enjoy this new version!”

Anciients’ new album will come out later this year.

Praise for Anciients

“Heady stuff…arch-synthesists, cleverly appropriating a number of familiar, inter-related genres to fuse into a seamless ethos” – Metal Injection

“Proggy, sludgy and downright rocking” – Angry Metal Guy

“When the riffs rumble out of the speakers, you’re moving” – No Clean Singing

“Combining powerful drumming with Thin Lizzy inspired riffs, while sounding like the musical equivalent of Game of Thrones” – Echoes and Dust

“Big, melodic and fun” – New Noise

“It’s exciting stuff, really – often complicated without seeming excessive, skillful but soulful, approachable but not pedestrian” – Pitchfork.        

“Parts progressive finesse, classic rock grandstanding and grass-roots bludgeon” – PopMatters

Lineup
Kenny Cook – Vocals, Guitar
Mike Hannay – Drums
Brock MacInnes – Rhythm Guitar
Rory O’Brien – Bass

Production
Produced and mixed by Jesse Gander at RainCity Recorders in Vancouver, BC.
Mastered by Stu Mckillop at RainCity Mastering in Vancouver, BC.

Stream: https://linktr.ee/anciients
Order merch: https://shop.season-of-mist.com/band/anciients

Follow Anciients
https://www.facebook.com/ANCIIENTSRIFFS
https://www.instagram.com/anciients/
https://twitter.com/ANCIIENTS
https://www.youtube.com/user/ANCIIENTS
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/anciients/603538280
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3YQOcYukzO6U1MjFcavDUE?si=4QWahfZxQjOmAI7nYrav6g&nd=1&dlsi=0142e5e62ae54105

French epic metallers Ecclesia premiere the new video “Et Cum Spiritu Tuo” 

Today, French epic metallers Ecclesia premiere the new video “Et Cum Spiritu Tuo” . The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Ecclesia Militans, set for international release on March 8th via Aural Music. See & hear Ecclesia‘s “Et Cum Spiritu Tuo” video in its entirety here:

Ecclesia play dark & epic HEAVY METAL heavily influenced by traditional doom. Since their formation as a trio in 2016, this now-fully-formed army of French Inquisitors released the demo Witchfinding Metal of Doom in 2017 and the Aural Music-released debut album De Ecclesiæ Universalis in 2020 for all the sinners around the globe.

Armed with purifying fire, blessed swords, and Holy Rage, Ecclesia‘s lyrical themes deal with the 12th Century dark medieval age of Holy Inquisition. On Ecclesia Militans, one will find a perfect syncretism between traditional heavy metal and epic doom, recalling the likes of Candlemass, the UK’s Solstice, and especially Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath. Ecclesia‘s proselytism will convert fans of those as well as anyone who can feel the righteous fervor of medieval brimstone – now confess your sins!

Also hear the previously revealed “If She Floats” HERE at Ecclesia‘s Bandcamp, where the album can also be preordered. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ecclesia’s Ecclesia Militans
1. Vade Retro
2. If She Floats
3. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo
4. Antecclesia
5. Ecclesia Militans
6. The Exorcism
7. Ereptor Verae Fidei
8. Redden the Iron
9. Harvester of Sinful Souls
10. Quis ut Deus

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ecclesia.official 

www.auralmusic.com

Dutch black metallers Verwoed premiere new track 

Today, Dutch black metallers Verwoed premiere the new track “The Madman’s Dance”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, The Mother, set for international release on March 29th via Wolves of Hades and Argento Records. Hear Verwoed‘s “The Madman’s Dance” in its entirety here:

The journey of the Dutch enigmatic Verwoed has been one in continuous synergy with sonic exploration and innovation. This blazing entity returns with a much-anticipated fourth release and second full-length album, an awe-inspiring and utterly immersive experience in creative profundity by the title of The Mother. 

The past has already witnessed the virtuous way Verwoed contemplated and traveled through unfathomable aural stratospheres brimming with feeling, intensity, and a sense of visceral commitment. The Mother perceives the Utrecht project as taking a step further in the direction of the abyss, an epic of splendor and imposing nature, bursting with emotion in the form of striking riffs that offer an electrical pallet of eclectic, evocative, and utterly cathartic songwriting. 

Aided by a superbly captured production, the sonic quality of The Mother is drenched in dynamics with an organic power felt in the deepest depths of the dark night of the soul. Such character is overflown through a musical tapestry that is both complex and emotionally resonant, whether by the incredibly enticing and pulsing drumming performance, driven with and by a sense of variation and symbiosis, or the fervorous sensation purveyed by the electric traits aforementioned and the passionate and brutally ardent vocals, offering a visual representation of the poignant scope contained within each track.

To be released by Wolves of Hades and Argento Records on March 28th, The Mother invites the listener to a mesmerizing and innermost experience, a monument to introspective realms, a prayer of blood and fire conveyed with raw momentum.

Also hear the previously revealed “The Child” HERE at Wolves of Hades‘ Bandcamp. Cover artwork, courtesy of Joost Vervoort, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Verwoed’s The Mother

1. A Prayer of Blood and Fire [4:04]
2. The Mother [9:32]
3. Seven Trumpets [1:55]
4. The Child [6:55]
5. The Madman’s Dance [8:14]
6. A Choir of Null and Void [4:39]
7. Death in a Rosary [8:25]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/verwoed

www.wolvesofhades.myshopify.com

NOCTURNAL SORCERY stream new KVLT album

Today, Finnish black metallers Nocturnal Sorcery stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second album, Captive in the Breath of Life. Set for international release on February 9th via KVLT, hear Nocturnal Sorcery‘s Captive in the Breath of Life in its entirety here:

Despite forming in 2011, it wasn’t until August 2022 when Nocturnal Sorcery made their full-length debut. Fittingly titled The Holy Law in Total Ruin, Nocturnal Sorcery‘s debut album in no uncertain terms laid forth a fiery-yet-freezing path for these Finns: paradigmatic Finnish BLACK METAL, but harkening to the ancient fires of the ’90s rather than more millennial expressions of such. Granted, the band by then were hardly “new” – prior, they’d done two demos and a split – but The Holy Law in Total Ruin scorched Nocturnal Sorcery‘s name into the black metal underground.

Now, a year and a half later, Nocturnal Sorcery return to torch that path once again with Captive in the Breath of Life. As doubtlessly presaged by its throwback cover artwork, Captive in the Breath of Life is about as authentically mid ’90s black metal as you’ll currently find in that clogged underground. The rudiments are largely the same – because, after all, black metal doesn’t need to “be” anything other than what it already is – but here do Nocturnal Sorcery dial back the melodicism for a quicker-hitting blast of ice-cold, hateful hypnosis. As such, the song lengths aren’t as epic as its predecessor and the ripped-raw execution is even more palpitating, but the sum effect is utterly stultifying: arguably more so than The Holy Law in Total Ruin, Captive in the Breath of Life fully sounds like some unearthed gem from 1995, cryogenic and rotting but boundlessly potent.

Nostalgic ears will paradoxically be warmed by Captive in the Breath of Life, while all others will cower when faced with these filthier spells of Nocturnal Sorcery. The line in the snow has been drawn, deeper than ever! To celebrate this reckoning, the band will perform an album-release show on February 10th in Vantaa, Finland with Poland’s Arkona and fellow Finns Black Beast and White Death.

Aforementioned cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Nocturnal Sorcery’s Captive in the Breath of Life
1. The Dark Secret
2. Oath at Mt. Hermon
3. Cry of The Wounded Heaven
4. Captive In The Breath of Life
5. Spectral Force
6. Beyond Salvation
7. Joyless Dance in the Shadow
8. Redemption at Daybreak
9. Damned by The Law of The Stars
10. Lucifer’s Shade
11. Along the Path of Fire

WWW.KVLT.FI