Steve Bruder Des Lichts

MIDNIGHT reveal cover, tracklisting for new HELLS HEADBANGERS album

Today, Hells Headbangers reveals the cover art and tracklisting for Midnight’s highly anticipated third album, Sweet Death and Ecstasy. The album will be released later this year on 2CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

By now, Midnight need no introduction. Guided by the twisted muse of mainman Athenar since 2003, this Cleveland cult have been slaying the metal/punk underground with their own, highly addictive brand of lust, filth, and sleaze, subsequently building up a sizable catalog and garnering a rabid fanbase. While there’s certainly fanatics for the band’s early EP work, it was Midnight’s debut album, Satanic Royalty – released to international fanfare in 2011 by Hells Headbangers – that entered the band’s name into the annals of “classic.” Never one to rush things (nor drop an EP along the way), Midnight continued their underground dominance with No Mercy for Mayhem in 2014, further perfecting their signature sound. Now, with their massively anticipated third album, Sweet Death and Ecstasy, Athenar and co. return with their darkest and most daring effort yet.

Granted, upon the first detonating chords of opener “Crushed by Demons,” it would be fair to assume that Sweet Death and Ecstasy is simply classic Midnight…until the tracktime nearly doubles what a characteristic track of theirs would be. This is no mere bloat, though: bookended by two of the band’s longest songs to date, Sweet Death and Ecstasy lays bare a more anguished ‘n’ aggravated Midnight, forever in thrall to the usual subjects (LUST, FILTH, SLEAZE) but speaking a slightly different, altogether-more-poisonous tongue. It both charges harder than ever – even harder than the band’s early EP work, arguably – and also puts on the brakes to bang ‘n’ clang in a manner most foul. Indeed, Midnight truly deliver Sweet Death and Ecstasy in a swift 32 minutes, and it’s absolutely addicting. What’s more, the CD version will feature a bonus disc that’s a 12-song live rehearsal recorded in 2015 by Commandor Vanik. There’s no dawn for Midnight…ever!

Release date, preorder info, and first track to be revealed shortly. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Midnight’s Sweet Death and Ecstasy
1. Crushed by Demons
2. Penetratal Ecstasy
3. Here Comes Sweet Death
4. Melting Brain
5. Rabid!
6. Bitch Mongrel
7. Poison Trash
8. Before My Time in Hell

GORGUTS kick off their European summer dates

GORGUTS will kick off their European summer dates at Brutal Assault Festival in Jaromer, Czech Republic tomorrow, August 9th. Right after, the Canadian death metal pioneers will perform at Belgiums Ieper Festival, Vagos Metal Fest in Portugal, and Germany’s Summerbreeze before embarking on four special package shows, which are featuring GORGUTS alongside FALLUJAH, HAVOK, REVOCATION, and opener VENOM PRISON. After these special dates, the rampage continues with a regular tour in support of CONVERGE together with HAVOC and REVOCATION.

A full list of currently confirmed tour dates can be viewed below

GORGUTS
Festivals
09 Aug 17 Jaromer (CZ) Brutal Assault
11 Aug 17 Ieper (BE) Ieper Festival
13 Aug 17 Vagos (PT) Vagos Metal Fest
18 Aug 17 Dinkelsbühl (DE) Summer Breeze

GORGUTS
+Fallujah +Revocation +Havok +Venom Prison
14 Aug 17 Wiesbaden (DE) Schlachthof
15 Aug 17 Leipzig (DE) Naumanns (Fallujah, Revocation, Havok, Venom Prison)
16 Aug 17 Rotterdam (NL) Baroeg (Fallujah, Revocation, Havok, Venom Prison)
17 Aug 17 Oberhausen (DE) Kulttempel (Fallujah, Revocation, Havok, Venom Prison)

GORGUTS
+Converge +Havok +Revocation
20 Aug 17 Wrocław (PL) Zaklęte Rewiry
21 Aug 17 Bratislava (SK) Majestic Music Club
22 Aug 17 Wien (AT) Arena
23 Aug 17 München (DE) Backstage Halle
24 Aug 17 Aarau (CH) Kiff
25 Aug 17 Paris (FR) Trabendo

GORGUTS will be performing in support of their previous albums as well as their critically highly acclaimed latest EP ‘Pleiades’ Dust’

The artwork of the EP that contains only its epic title track was created by renowned Polish artist Zbigniew M. Bielak and can be viewed below.

Canada’s long-running and much loved craftsmen of technical death metal are returning with a 33-minute song. Entitled ‘Pleiades’ Dust’ this complex, image evoking, and masterly arranged eponymous track fills an entire EP. Expect the unexpected, when it comes to GORGUTS.

In an age of a postulated clash of cultures, mastermind Luc Lemay delivers a piece of music that is conceptually and lyrically based on the “House of Wisdom”, a medieval library based in Baghdad and at the heart of the Golden Age of Islam with its many scientific breakthroughs in various fields of learning. As Luc comments: “It is a story about curiosity, beautiful minds and sadly, about how man destroys great discoveries and achievements.” Musically there is more narrative feeling as each section is introduced in such a way that every riff has the space to evolve like a character in a story.

The stunning cover art created to reflect this concept has been specially created by renowned Polish artist Zbigniew M. Bielak (MAYHEM, GHOST, ZHRINE et. al.).

Few extreme bands can boast the pedigree of GORGUTS. During their early days as part of death metal’s first wave, they created a legacy of legendary releases including their debut album ‘Considered Dead’ (1991) and its more experimental and technical follow-up ‘Erosion of Sanity’ (1993). After a hiatus of five years, Luc Lemay returned with a new line-up, which released the highly acclaimed and seminal third full-length ‘Obscura’ (1998). By then GORGUTS had been busy at expanding and redefining the language of death metal. With a new line-up that left Lemay as the sole original member, the next milestone album was released under the title ‘From Wisdom to Hate’ (2001).

Yet again the band went into hibernation, while their musical legacy continued to inspire and thrive as their native Quebec became a focus for technical death metal with acts such as CRYPTOPSY, NEURAXIS, and BEYOND CREATION to name but a few following in their footsteps. After more than a decade of silence, mastermind Luc Lemay unleashed ‘Colored Sands’ (2013) with an all-star line-up including Colin Marston (BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS), Kevin Hufnagel (DYSRHYTHMIA), and John Longstreath (ORIGIN, SKINLESS), who has in the meantime been replaced by Patrice Hamelin (QUO VADIS, BENEATH THE MASSACRE).

Now GORGUTS return with their most experimental song so far that combines all their virtues into one massive masterpiece. Lean back and listen carefully!

www.facebook.com/GorgutsOfficial
www.gorguts.com
http://gorguts.bandcamp.com/
www.reverbnation.com/gorguts

MEGALITH GRAVE set release date for new SIGNAL REX compilation, reveal first track

Signal Rex sets October 13th as the international release date for is proud to present Megalith Grave’s From Effigies Past, a compilation of the band’s super-rare demo tapes. Playing “Raw Putrid Black Metal” exclusively, this one-man band has built up a sizable discography devoted to the darkest past of the ancient black metal underground. Strictly limited to 200 copies, the From Effigies Past CD compiles the demos Insidious Dark (2011), Through Clandestine Thickets (2012), and Embittered Isolation (2013). Totaling 14 tracks in an hour, here Megalith Grave unleashes a torrent of utterly dead, impossibly grim BLACK METAL done the way in the days before social media and “diehard” vinyl, before the veil of mysticism was pulled back to reveal normal human beings. This is not entertainment; this is pure disgust. “This filth came from the deprivation of this human cesspool which we live in. Solitude and hate feed me the desires to create this abomination,” says mainman Gamol. Hearing is believing, so enter From Effigies Past at your own peril…

The first step can be taken with the track “The Retribution of Life and Death”

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Megalith Grave’s From Effigies Past
1. Intro
2. The Retribution of Life and Death
3. As a Forlorn Shade Drifts
4. In a Time of Darkness and War
5. Decomposing in Memories
6. The Divide Between Unknown Dimensions
7. Coronation In Decay
8. Epoch of Obscurity
9. Decrepit and Forgotten
10. Foreboding Passage to Infinite Truths
11. Embittered Isolation
12. As the Cold Winds Whisper
13. Relentless Animosity Against Human Life
14. Fading Desolate Entity

Tracks from 1 – 5 taken from Insidious Dark demo 2011
Tracks from 6 – 10 taken from Through Clandestine Thickets demo 2012
Tracks from 11 – 14 taken from Embittered Isolation demo 2014

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/megalithgrave

SUTEKH HEXEN / BLSPHM – Split 7″ Announcement

Sentient Ruin Labortories is happy to present you with the final and ultimate form of Sutekh Hexen and BLSPHM’s 2014 infamous tape split – now finally available in vinyl format as a dual-colored 7″ enhanced by staggering DIY/hand made packaging.

Originally released by Dead Accents in 2014 as 50 hand-numbered cassettes, to coincide with Debacle Fest 2014, this release sees the two entities tread shadow and reap flesh at the peak of their game and in their period of maximum splendor. With each band spewing forth one spasm each of nerve-shattering audial terror, both movements can be seen as opposite sides of a dark prism which reflect light in different ways, but which both work in harmony to summon a darkened and wretched chasm of aural blight that envelops the listener like a ghostly deluge, wrecking unholy havoc upon their senses.

While this split saw Sutekh Hexen’s infamous abyss of raw black metal, harsh noise, and drone combust with unseen vigor, and BLPHM’s blackened industrial terror ascend to unthinkable qualitative heights, the original extremely limited tape vanished quickly from the market rendering the release both unfindable and somewhat forgotten – a fate much too unfair for such an iconic and masterful accomplishment in recent extreme underground music history.

As such we could not be happier to bring you the second and ultimate incarnation of this gloriously wretched split as a dual color vinyl 7″, elegantly enhanced by a die-hard hand made packaging consisting of a black heavy cardstock flap, each copy letterpressed one by one by hand with silver inks by Demian Johnston of BLSPHM himself. The standard and more widely available edition will be available as purple vinyl, while a limited edition black vinyl will also be available in extremely small quantities and with a slightly more elaborate look given by a letterpressed OBI strip. The staggering layout was designed by Sutekh Hexen founding member Kevin Gan Yuen using source imagery hand-drawn by surreal horror art luminary Stephen Wilson, while the original songs were remastered for vinyl by none other than James Plotkin himself.

ROPE SECT set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD 7″, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets October 20th as the international release date for Rope Sect’s highly anticipated second EP, Proselytes, on 7″ vinyl format.

Following hot on the heels of the dark-horse triumph that is Personae Ingratae – released this August on 12″ vinyl by Iron Bonehead – here, the German trio go from strength to strength, solidifying their idiosyncratic sound whilst offering daring new twists on it. Still a desolate fog of deathrock, dirty and lonerist, and uncaring for musical “progression” or conventional definitions of “excitement,” Rope Sect somehow make Proselytes sound perversely joyous (daresay danceable?) despite the supremely negative vibes being emitted. And, in fact, there is a positivism in such recalcitrance: Proselytes is thematically about enmeshing and lecturing proselytes. In the band’s words, “Old lives are fading, a new one is dawning. A second skin. The beginning of the end.” March forward, Proselytes, with Rope Sect.

“Quietus,” the A-side to the 7″, is currently streaming at Iron Bonehead’s Soundcloud

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Rope Sect’s Proselytes
1. Side A – Quietus
2. Side B – Proselytes

ROPE SECT is about seclusion.
Renunciation of society.
A dance on ruins.
A doomsday revel.
Naked spite.
Eleutheromania.
Obedience.
———
Venerate the rope!
Fear the rope!

Satanize Stream Death Mass Execution EP

Portuguese war-horde Satanize stream the entirety of their forthcoming Death Mass Execution EP set for international release on August 7th via Larval Productions on 7″ vinyl format, stream Satanize’s Death Mass Execution in its entirety here.

A special EP comprising three exclusive tracks, Death Mass Execution is a quick ‘n’ concise attack capping more than a decade of Satanize terrorizing the underground. Hailing from the fertile Portuguese black metal scene, Satanize forego their scene’s usual withering rawness for a righteously barbaric assault on the senses. Pounding and pulsing, overwhelming its gibbering intensity, Death Mass Execution ably approximates its title: sonic slaughter abounds at every chaotic, careening turn. And yet, for however jagged their bestial blackgrind may be, Satanize wield their physicality with an almost martial strictness – and escape is never an option, only submission. Completed by a noise intro by Erratix (Rick Smith of Caveman Cult/Torche and David Smith of Shitstorm/Mehkago NT) and cover artwork by Sickness666, Death Mass Execution is sure to satisfy maniacs of Black Witchery, Conqueror, Morbosidad, and especially old Spear of Longinus and Impiety.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows

Tracklisting for Satanize’s Death Mass Execution
1. Purge Sacred Blood
2. Doom Conjuration
3. Death Mass Execution

BARBARIC HORDE stream new WAR ARTS tape

Today, barbaric horde Barbaric Horde stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second strike, Tainted Impurity. Set for international release on August 4th via War Art Productions on cassette tape, hear Barbaric Horde’s Tainted Impurity in its entirety here.

Early last year, this Portuguese duo assaulted the underground with its debut demo, Gasmask Perpetrators. Released by War Arts and aptly fucking titled, Gasmask Perpetrators incited rapturous obeisance among diehards who worship at the altar of Black Witchery, Profanatica, and Archgoat. And now, yet another aptly-fucking-titled tape arrives in the form of Tainted Impurity. Taking the warring bestiality of its predecessor one step further, here Barbaric Horde are both more unhinged and more martial, unleashing wave upon wave of unfettered filth with total arrogance, exercising mastery over their maelstrom whilst clawing deep within the caverns of chaos. It’s the sound of bestial and (yes) barbaric black metal torn asunder and rebuilt upon a throne of purity – or indeed, Tainted Impurity. Submit to Barbaric Horde’s war-mongering violence or forever cower in fear…

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Barbaric Horde’s Tainted Impurity
1. Bestial Offensor
2. Death the First Option
3. Impulse to Attack
4. SDD (Sulfuric Death Demons)
5. Morbid Rape

BLOOD HARVEST to release new tapes from COSMIC VOID RITUAL, DRAGHKAR, and ENSEPULCHER

On October 6th, Blood Harvest Records will release three brand-new cassette tapes: Cosmic Void Ritual’s The Excreted Remains of the Sabatier System, Draghkar’s World Unraveled, and Ensepulcher’s No Sanctity in Death. More info follows below.

***

The work of one Unknown Entity, Cosmic Void Ritual is pure ’90s death metal insanity, seeking the outer reaches of the genre by combining labyrinthine songwriting with levitational atmosphere; imagine Demlich crossed with Timeghoul, if you will. So far, Cosmic Void Ritual has recorded two two-track demos – one which was an extremely limited cassette, the other exclusively on Bandcamp – and now Blood Harvest combines them onto one tape entitled The Excreted Remains of the Sabatier System. If the title alone didn’t say enough, then surely titles like “Entrail Star Formation (Planetary Extinction Phase III)” and “Mists of Intoxicating Conquest (The Demise of Entire Universes – Moon IV)” should!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Cosmic Void Ritual’s The Excreted Remains of the Sabatier System
1. Leaking Alien Sacrelige (Surgical Entropy Pt I)
2. The Fall…Relic Death Spells (Lifeless Post-Surgical Being Pt II)
3. Entrail Star Formation (Planetary Extinction Phase III)
4. Mists of Intoxicating Conquest (The Demise of Entire Universes – Moon IV)

Draghkar’s debut recording, World Unraveled, was originally released earlier this year, but only digitally. Murky and miasmic, this California duo expertly craft death metal with a most doomed-out splendor. The way each of the three songs comprising World Unraveled surge and slither, wend and wind, is warped and always unsettling – and always surprising; literally, this sounds like its title. Completed by a grungy ‘n’ gangrenous recording, Draghkar make quite an opening statement!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Draghkar’s World Unraveled
1. Wings Over Malkier
2. Cowering In The Town Of Blinded Eyes
3. World Unraveled

Ensepulcher’s debut recording, No Sanctity in Death, was originally released earlier this year on cassette, but in an extremely limited edition. Ensepulcher may be a relatively new entity, but this California duo collectively have deep roots in their state’s death metal scene, with both members concurrently doing time in Fiend. With such a grounding, it’s no surprise that No Sanctity in Death does exactly what it says: filthy and galloping DEATH METAL done the ancient Swedish way, and with ghastly ‘n’ guttural vocals to boot.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ensepulcher’s No Sanctity in Death
1. Intro/No Sanctity in Death
2. Perishing in Morbidity
3. Death and Decay
4. Funeral Cessation

SACROSCUM set release date for their debut album, reveal first track

Unholy Prophecies sets October 28th as the international release date for Sacroscum’s highly anticipated debut album, Drugs & Death. Ever aptly titled, Drugs & Death is a scourge upon one’s sanity and sanctity, a black-hole blight that swallows you whole. Sacroscum aren’t fucking around.

Sacroscum was formed in 2015 by J. and SS. After playing music together for a long time and trying to create something unique, the duo mixed influences of Darkthrone, early Celtic Frost, Discharge, Skitsystem, Inquisition, and everything they thought would be fitting. Combined with utterly hateful lyrics and a healthy disdain for most of you, Sacroscum was born.

Thus armed, Sacroscum soon transcended musical means and become a philosophy for the two, which can be broken down thusly:

SACROSCUM can be music.
SACROSCUM can be a mirror.
SACROSCUM can be a judge.
SACROSCUM can be a knife.
SACROSCUM can be whatever you want.

But, ultimately, SACROSCUM is whatever the fuck we want it to be.

After some recording sessions in their rehearsal room, they created eight pieces of musick which were then released under the title of Stillbirth, courtesy of Unholy Prophecies in 2016, on cassette tape. Everything “do it yourself” from beginning to end, Stillbirth came from raw, primal aggression, setting down Sacroscum’s foundation for death, dedication, disgust, and what lies beyond all these. But now, with the imminent release of their debut album, Drugs & Death, Sacroscum are primed for their most bountiful ejaculation of filth and hatred – the fullness of their cumming, as it were. Recorded at the band’s rehearsal studio and mixed and mastered by Fabi Krapp at Ruins Rust Studios in southern Germany, Drugs & Death is yet another staunchly DIY affair, but this time, the band have dialed in their most destructive material to date, simply taking what once was, adding some unexpected elements and making it what once will always be: truly, DRUGS & DEATH.

Nine anti-anthems, 41 minutes of foulness, Sacroscum never stop the madness, and heartily encourage you to finally drink yourself to death but with a smile on your face. “Do it…”

Check out “Waste, Horror & Degradation,” the first dosage of Drugs & Death

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Sacroscum’s Drugs & Death
1. Initium
2. Drugs & Death
3. Autoerotic Thanatophilia
4. Gutter.Moloch.God
5. Vermin
6. Waste, Horror & Degradation
7. Skin Canvas
8. Downwards Spiral
9. DCLXVI
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/sacroscum666

ANTIVERSUM set release date for their debut album, reveal first track

Invictus Productions sets September 29th as the international release date for Antiversum’s highly anticipated debut album, Cosmos Comendti. Formed in 2010 by dedicated and experienced musicians in the Swiss metal scene, Antiversum is a nihilistic entity which creates a disturbing and storming amalgamation of black, doom, and death metal, manifesting the end of the universe and the dawn of nothingness in audial waves. They began that journey into the void in the spring of 2015, when Invictus released the band’s debut demo, Total Vacuum, to international acclaim. As a title, Total Vacuum indeed served as the foundation on which Antiversum would create their idiosyncratic vortex of violence.

However, as mighty as Total Vacuum was (and still is), now arrives Cosmos Comendti to give a more vast ‘n’ virulent vision of that vortex. While the four tracks comprising Total Vacuum were towering in their own right, they are dwarfed by the four tracks that comprise the 38-minute Cosmos Comendti. Here, Antiversum stretch the spaces in between the void further, lurking within with a menace that’s truly unsettling. As such, compositions seemingly surge and then disintegrate at will – and yet, the quintet wield an iron will toward every nuance, every texture, every single detail. It’s a swarming swell of sound, one that could be deemed “cavernous” or “sepulchral” and other buzzwords in popular underground parlance, but the differentiating factor to Antiversum in general and Cosmos Comendti in particular is that there’s a clearly articulated, deathly focused finesse to everything that happens; nothing is left to chance nor masked in absurd levels of reverb. Further, this swell cannot be conveniently slotted as strictly “death metal” or “black metal” or “doom”: it simply IS.

Hark! For the cosmos-devouring debut album of Antiversum is at hand, and this anti-world is hereby titled Cosmos Comendti! Hear its first emanation from the void

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Antiversum’s Cosmos Comedenti
1. Antinova
2. Creatio e Chao orta est
3. Cosmos Comedenti
4. Nihil ad Probandum

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/antiversum