Black Metal News

ABYTHIC set release date for BLOOD HARVEST debut, reveal first track

Today, Blood Harvest Records sets May 11th as the international release date for Abythic’s highly anticipated debut album, Beneath Ancient Portals, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Hailing from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Abythic formed in 2015 and soon recorded & released their first demo, A Full Negation of Existence. Aptly titled, the demo portrayed four foul tracks of churning death metal of a most early ’90s mold. Alas, that was an all-too-brief teaser for Beneath Ancient Portals, the band’s full-length debut. Also aptly titled, Beneath Ancient Portals sees Abythic taking the demo’s same rudiments – patient and pulsing riffing, linear composition, an emphasis on doomy downtempo segments – and brings them to fuller fruition, diving deeper and deadlier into thundering, desolate DOOM. In many ways, Beneath Ancient Portals often recalls the proud ‘n’ powerful class of mid-period Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Grave, and Pentacle, so hypnotically heaving is their dreadnought weight here. But in other ways, Abythic put their own stamp on doomy death metal through a potently occult aura…or one that sounds like a crypt slowly opening, all before a rust- and blood-covered tank rolls forward out of it, crushing all in its path. It’s simply mesmerizing either way.

Completed by absolutely devastating production, Beneath Ancient Portals will surely be hailed as one of the year’s best and mightiest death metal debuts. Old school, new school, no school: nothing matters but sheer devastating weight, and Abythic possess a fuckton of it. Hear for yourself with the new track “Abandoned Tombs on Ungodly Grounds” HERE.

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

Tracklisting for Abythic’s Beneath Ancient Portals
1. Prelude To Obscurity
2. Purulent Phantasm
3. Abandoned Tombs On Ungodly Ground
4. Beneath Ancient Portals (The Gate of Ganzir)
5. Redemption Through Soul Transfusion
6. T.H.O.N.
7. Afterwards Behind Beyond
8. Depths Of Oblivion

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/abythic

Peruvian Doom-Death Cult ANTICHRIST stream IRON BONEHEAD debut

Today, Peruvian doom-death cult Antichrist stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Pax Moriendi, . Set for international release today via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Antichrist’s Pax Moriendi in its entirety HERE.

Formed in 2004 but not really kicking into recorded gear until a decade later, Antichrist soon released a steady stream of demos between 2014 and 2016. Through this requisite underground graft, the trio studiously perfected their craft, shaping its huge ‘n’ haunting foundation – the doom-death trinity of Thergothon, Unholy, and Winter – into something qualitatively their own. And indeed, across the five-song/45-minute Pax Moriendi, the listener is taken down into sewers a mile deep (or more), tweaking that immortal doom-death schematic into something righteously foul and filthy but still well within the range of melancholic human experience. Crushing-yet-ethereal chords reverberate through the forlorn night, and ever deeper into one’s worst corners of their subconscious; the attack is slow yet insistent early on, with the foulness and filth flung liberally, to either alienate part-timers or beckon the most intrepid of souls. Then, as the album plays on, Pax Moriendi reveals a wounded sort of slo-mo melody, a blanching vulnerability, shedding its layers of metaphysical/spiritual garbage for the laid-bare/laid-to-rest epiphany of climactic closer “You Will Never See Sun Light.”

No, indeed you won’t when faced with the enormity of Antichrist’s Pax Moriendi. Here is your funeral: welcome the end. Walk forth fully to the commencement of that funeral.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Antichrist (Peru)’s Pax Moriendi
1. Forgotten in Nameless Suffering
2. Obscurantism
3. In the Dark and Mournful Corner of Memory
4. Screams and Lamentations Drowned in the Empty of Silence
5. You Will Never See Sun Light

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pg/antichristperu

Drudkh premiere complete new album

Ukrainian black metal icons, DRUDKH are streaming their complete forthcoming new album, ‘Їм часто сниться капіж’ (They Often See Dreams About The Spring), which will hit the stores tomorrow on March 9th 2018.

Artwork and album details of ‘Їм часто сниться капіж’ (They Often See Dreams About The Spring) can be viewed above.

Track-list
1. Nakryta Neba Burym Dakhom… (9:53)
2. U Dakhiv Irzhavim Kolossyu… (8:43)
3. Vechirniy Smerk Okutuye Kimnaty… (9:29)
4. Za Zoreyu Scho Striloyu Syaye… (6:45)
5. Bilyavyi Den’ Vtomyvsya I prytykh… (8:40)
Total: 43:30

DRUDKH are a black metal legend. True to the values of this extreme genre, the enigmatic Ukrainians refuse to follow the rock ‘n’ roll rulebook and provide no answers, no statements, no shows – all that matters to them is their music.

The sound of DRUDKH is equally based on a solid foundation consisting of the by now traditional Nordic variant of this style as on the band’s highly distinct individual “Slavonic” interpretation of it.

Yet at the same time, DRUDKH have constantly evolved, shifted, and morphed their musical approach while holding true to the original course. It is therefore no surprise that their forthcoming eleventh full-length, ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ (which is a translation of the original Ukrainian title) brings another slight correction to the general direction. Where previous album ‘A Furrow Cut Short’ (2015) basically followed on the harsh and old school lead of its predecessor ‘Eternal Turn of the Wheel’ (2012), DRUDKH’s new masterpiece offers a more atmospheric and melodic feel that rather points towards the cinematic soundscapes of ‘Autumn Aurora’ (2004).

In their ongoing metamorphosis, DRUDKH seem to have abandoned the slightly progressive and lighter tone of ‘Handful of Stars’ (2010) for the time being. This does not mean it can never return… The Ukrainians have for example revisited their early legacy from the Nordic black metal inspired debut ‘Forgotten Legends’ (2003) several times, but also occasionally brought back the folklore influences that had characterised ‘The Swan Road’ (2005). On ‘Blood in Our Wells’ (2006) some progressive elements surfaced clearly for the first time, while the instrumental and partly acoustic ‘Songs of Grief and Solitude’ (2006) was followed by a sharp turn on the bleak and brutal album, ‘Estrangement’ (2007). DRUDKH’s celebrated highlight, ‘Microcosmos’ (2009) finally appeared to tie up the different strands of their previous works, before a new cycle started with the next albums.

DRUDKH’s latest albums and split-singles have drawn heavily from 20th century Ukrainian poetry for lyrical inspiration and ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ continues this trend. Poetic gems from Bohdan Ihor Antonych, Maik Yohansen, Vasyl’ Bobyns’kyi and Pavlo Fylypovych have been unearthed by the band and brought back to life on this album. ‘They Often See Dreams About the Spring’ delivers black metal poetry at its best. Let your ears hear and your mind wander…

Line-up
Roman Sayenko: guitars
Thurios: guitar, vocals
Krechet: bass
Vlad: drums, keyboards

www.facebook.com/Drudkh.Official

GOATKRAFT stream IRON BONEHEAD debut

Today, Norwegian war metallers Goatkraft stream the entirety of their shock & awe debut EP, Angel Slaughter. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Goatkraft’s Angel Slaughter in its entirety exclusively HERE.

A power trio hailing from Norway, Goatkraft released the truly titled War Metal – Promo 2017 tape via Iron Bonehead before promptly setting to work on their first longer-length strike. And at 19 razing minutes, Angel Slaughter is indeed a short, sharp shock to the system that’s nevertheless fully satisfying and self-contained. Crude and rude and completely stripped bare of any remotely excessive adornment, Goatkraft are a study in stark, stultifying minimalism. Their punishing, primitivist surge hearkens back to the almighty Blasphemy, but truly finds its voice within the seething spite of Black Witchery; not for nothing do they conclude Angel Slaughter with a cover of that band’s eternal “Unholy Vengeance of War.” Barbaric black metal is the order of the day, then, done with nuclear-powered panache, red-eyed and regimented, and a true devotee’s lust for pure form. Indeed, the purity of violence – rabid, roiling, righteous – doesn’t come more distilled and undiluted than Angel Slaughter. Here begins the whirlwind of Goatkraft.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Goatkraft’s Angel Slaughter
1. Intro
2. Angel Slaughter
3. Goatkraft
4. The Temple Of Infernal Fire
5. Holocaust Winds Of Blasphemy
6. Unholy Vengeance Of War (Black Witchery)

MORE INFO:
www.goatkraft.com

BYYRTH stream new IRON BONEHEAD album

Today, vampiric black metallers Byyrth stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second album, Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Byyrth’s Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood in its entirety HERE.

Following on from their cult debut album, Saviors of Armageddon – which Iron Bonehead released on vinyl during the summer of 2017 – here on Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood do Byyrth strike a new face for vampiric black metal. Eschewing the withering frivolity and frivolousness of most definitions of anything “vampiric” in regards to black metal, this Californian quartet kick in quickly with a ripped-raw and unrepentantly punkish attack. Blown-out and harshing everyone’s mellow, each iron-fisted anthem marches forward with absolute arrogance and an enviable swagger – not for nothing is the opening track titled “Blood Warfare.”

Indeed, Byyrth’s vampirism is an indomitable variety, the alpha to everyone else’s omega, and they accomplish their sanguinary goals with an almost militant efficiency: Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood storms the gates of Heaven in a compact 28 minutes. Suitably, the tracks “Vampiric War Children” and “Abhorrent Eons” feature guest vocals by the incomparable Meyhna’ch of France’s legendary Mütiilation, further underlining the validity to Byyrth’s vampiric black metal. Stand down now or receive the eternal kiss of death.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Byyrth’s Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood
1. Blood Warfare
2. Call of the New Legion
3. Vampyric War Children
4. Abhorrent Eons
5. Cry of the Wurdelak
6. Cry of the Wurdelak
7. I Dare Not Wake
8. Unhuman
9. Shattered Soul

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/byyrth

German pagan metallers Horn stream the entirety of their new mini-album, Retrograd

Today, German pagan metallers Horn stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new mini-album, Retrograd. Set for international release on March 9th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Horn’s Retrograd in its entirety exclusively HERE.

Riding high on the critical acclaim afforded its seventh album, Turm Am Hang – released in early 2017 on vinyl LP by Iron Bonehead – the one-man Horn returns with a six-song/27-minute strike of pure pagan epicness. Since 2002, mainman Nerrath has been steadily perfecting a classicist, almost-medieval style of black metal bound to pagan roots. Staunchly solitary to the present day, the initial drive behind Horn was to create nature-themed black metal, focusing on the relation of man and nature in a regional context. The band’s old material, being mainly concerned with detailed descriptions of nature and incorporating rather upbeat, folk-influenced riffing, has made way for more sinister themes and soundscapes over the years. What has remained throughout the course of seven studio albums is the distinct “Horn sound,” featuring siren-like lead guitars, classic black metal-styled vocals as well as clean chorals, and a serious folkloristic approach far from the jolly drunken Viking tunes celebrated these days.

But, with the momentous release of Turm Am Hang, Horn entered a new, intensely poignant period, where the Feldpost material was carried ever forward by with clean and harsh vocals taking turns in conveying largely mid-tempo songs that stirred both raging bloodlust solemn pride. In many ways, the brand-new Retrograd mini-album serves as an ancillary chapter to Turm Am Hang, stylistically set within the same, uniquely Horn landscape and expanding upon the thematics and textures of that towering album. Although comparatively shorter in length, Retrograd is no less vast and no less epic, emitting a widescreen, wanderlusting splendor that’s especially magical given its tight ‘n’ truncated runtime. It’s Horn through and through, mightier and more majestic than ever, and once again breathes fresh air into the ancient spirit of the ’90s, and likewise further cements Iron Bonehead’s grounding in (and continued support of) black metal’s distant past, whether it be Nocternity, Kawir, Front Beast, Disharmony, Blood Tyrant, Runespell, Ithaqua, Naudiz, or the almighty Moonblood. Taste the German steel of Horn’s Retrograd!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Horn (Germany)’s Retrograd
1. Retrograd – Einleitung
2. Retrograd
3. Bocksfuß – Einleitung
4. Bocksfuß
5. Garant
6. De Einder

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/HornOfficial

One-Man OSDM Band RIPPED TO SHREDS to Release Debut Album

San Jose (CA) – One-man OSDM band RIPPED TO SHREDS, featuring extreme mult-tasker Andrew Lee (ex-DISINCARNATION), will release debut album Mai-zang on Malaysia’s Necrolatry Records (cassette) and Mexico’s Craneo Negro Records (CD). Reamping/mixing/mastering was handled by Damian Herring (HORRENDOUS) at Subterranean Watchtower Studios. Album artwork was created by Skaðvaldur.

Album cut “Craven Blood” is now streaming below:

Mai-zang means ‘burial’ or ‘tomb’, is a reflection of the turmoil, strife, and chaos of late 19th to early 20th century China as she dealt with multiple internal uprisings and foreign invasions. From the religious purges of the Taiping Rebellion to the mass famine in the wake of the Yellow River flood, each track presents a harrowing vignette of death and horror.

The song “Jiangu,” which was performed in Mandarin, informs the themes in the cover art and tone of the album. Taiwanese people are traditionally buried sans embalming to let the flesh naturally rot away. They are exhumed years later to remove and clean the bones, which are placed in a funerary urn, and that urn then reinterred. This practice is called jiangu or “picking up bones.” Andrew’s great-grandparents were buried in this manner, but in the last 20 years population growth and space concerns prevent full coffin burial so people are cremated instead. Jiangu in the modern context refers to transferring the bone fragments left from cremation into the funerary urn. Worship of those remains is culturally important; what if during the cremation process a mistake was made and the family was handed the wrong person’s ashes and bones? “Bone Ritual” then depicts the deceased’s impotence in bringing good luck to his descendants as they pay false obeisances to the remains of a stranger.

The cover art shows a traditional grave; for Han Chinese, sweeping the grave is an important annual ritual, so leaving a grave to rot as drawn is an act of supreme disrespect to one’s forebears.”

Track List:

A1. Craven Blood
A2. Open Grave
A3. Talisman to Seal the Hopping Corpse Before I…
A4. Bone Ritual
B1. Yellow River Incident, 1938
B2. Red Annihilation
B3. God Worshipping Society
B4. Black Seeds

RIPPED TO SHREDS began as a collaboration between Andrew Lee on all instruments and BW of Draghkar on vocals in early 2016 to merge Bolt Thrower and Entombed in a crushing soundtrack to tales of China’s turbulent history. Early sketches of Yellow River were written in this period, but the project was put on hold with the formation of Disincarnation. After recording and releasing a demo with them, Andrew grew dissatisfied with the direction of the band and resolved to fulfill his vision of violence alone…

www.facebook.com/rippedtoshredsband/

twitter.com/rippedtoshreds4

Nightmarer premiere “Death/Swansong”

NIGHTMARER are now premiering the third sinister song taken from their forthcoming debut full-length, ‘Cacophony of Terror’, which is scheduled for release on March 23rd, 2018.

To be more precise, the stream actually includes two album tracks, “Death” and “Swansong”, which the band views as one inseparable unit. Both pieces are therefore exclusively presented here:

NIGHTMARER guitarist Simon Hawemann comments: “Our track ‘Death’ marks the inevitable end of ‘Cacophony of Terror’ – it is the final stage of a battle that was never meant to be won. My inspiration for this song was all too real: I had to witness a person close to me decease over the course of several days. The riffs and sounds in ‘Death’ reflect the heavy breathing, the tortured moans, and the spasms of a dying human being – sights and sounds that are burned into my memory forever. This experience served as a morbidly twisted foundation to give death itself an appropriate soundtrack. Once it’s all over, ‘Death’ seamlessly makes the transitions into ‘Swansong’, which offers nothing else than just the relief of not having to fight any longer. One could not exist without the other, so we’re premiering both tracks merged into one today. We are thrilled to have joined forces with Alan Dubin (KHANATE/GNAW), who lent his terrifying voice to ‘Death’. His piercing screams serve as the perfect personification of the demon that lurks in the plagued mind of the album’s protagonist. Without further ado, embrace death!”

NIGHTMARER have previously released the cover-art and album details of ‘Cacophony of Terror’, which can be viewed below.

Track-list
1. The Descent (1:36)
2. Stahlwald (3:31)
3. Skinner (4:38)
4. Bleach (3:59)
5. Cave Digger (3:25)
6. Fetisch (4:46)
7. Tidal Waves of Terror (3:23)
8. Ceremony of Control (4:48)
9. Death (4:52)
10. Swansong (1:27)
Total playing time: 35:23

Chaos comes crashing in waves. Patterns emerge out of swirling energy. Darkness coalesces out of fragments into bizarre forms and strange angled shapes. What reads like a list of entries into H.P. Lovecraft’s dictionary of horrors is the nightmarish musical vision offered by NIGHTMARER on their debut album, ‘Cacophony of Terror’.

Seemingly out of nowhere, NIGHTMARER hit the extreme metal underground with their first EP, ‘Chasm’ in early 2016. This furious whirlwind of low end dissonance, devastating heaviness and majestic walls of sound took the scene by storm and the first 10″ vinyl pressing almost sold out while still on pre-order.

Conceived in 2014 by former members of bands such as GIGAN, THE OCEAN and WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH, this international trio derives only the most extreme elements of their previous musical outlets and takes those into another hellish dimension.

Carving their distinctly personal and unique path into the dark matter that DEATHSPELL OMEGA, DODECAHEDRON, and ULSECT have ventured to explore, NIGHTMARER are now set to release one of the darkest and crushing albums of 2018. Enter this ‘Cacophony of Terror’ in search of extreme sonic pleasures at your own peril!

www.facebook.com/nightmarercult
www.instagram.com/nightmarercult
www.nightmarer.com

Current line-up
John Collett: vocals
Simon Hawemann: guitars
Paul Seidel: drums

VANHELGA sign with OSMOSE, prepare label debut

Today, Osmose Productions announces the singing of Vanhelga. The first fruit of this union shall be the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Fredagsmys, which is set for international release on June 29th on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Vanhelga are constantly expanding their creativity without losing the classic melancholic sound from Sweden that makes them unique. The last few years, they’ve written and recorded 11 tracks that fully live up to their artistic vision. Fredagsmys is the most elaborate album from Vanhelga so far.

True to their own words, their fifth full-length – and first for Osmose – is the continuing exploration of the darker sides of reality and another experiment in how to find its purest expression: using sarcasm combined with overall schizophrenic mood changes between pitch-black hopelessness and cheerful euphoria, but still keeping a level of seriousness Vanhelga has come to be a force to be reckoned with.

Vanhelga was formed in Linköping, Sweden, in 2001 by 145188, who got together with likeminded musicians in order to finally breathe life into his vision, something he had not been able to do with any previous bands and musicians he had worked with. Since then, they are known for their atmospheric and captivating live performances, sharing the stage with, Psychonaut 4, Forgotten Tomb, Harakiri for the Sky, and Kall, among others.

Through music and lyrics, Vanhelga – which, translated from Swedish, means “Profane” – explores the darker side of humanity: the one that few will admit exists, but which nevertheless is a huge part of every individual’s existence.

Vanhelga’s music can doubtlessly be classed as black metal, but that would be too restrictive a definition. Their music is cold and sinister, but with melodies and melancholic moments that can draw you in and lull you into a false sense of security before you realize, too late, that you have been caught in an ominous web of sound that sends shivers down your spine.

A statement from the band reads: “Working with an iconic label such as Osmose feels like a natural step in the right direction for Vanhelga. We are proud to release our fifth full-length Fredagsmys together with them.”

Cover and tracklisting for Vanhelga’s Fredagsmys to be revealed shortly. For more info, consult the links below.

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/officialvanhelga
www.vanhelga.bandcamp.com
www.youtube.com/channel/UCSK8dY_SxNOdiLbOHh9xMNg
www.soundcloud.com/vanhelga-official
www.instagram.com/officialvanhelga
www.osmoseproductions-label.com/bands

VANHELGA lineup 2018
145188 – vocals and guitars
J. Ejnarsson – lead guitars and backing vocals
R. Jönsson – bass
D. Franzén – drums

DISEMBOWEL stream IRON BONEHEAD debut

Set for international release on March 2nd via Iron Bonehead Productions for the vinyl LP format Chilean black/death cult Disembowel stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Plagues and Ancient Rites,here.

Hailing from the cult-metal hotbed of Chile, Disembowel are very much a summation of their homeland’s ancient death metal and black metal traditions. That much was violently portrayed across their Act of Invocation MCD released in early 2017 by Iron Bonehead – gnarly, ghastly, grinding, gross – but here on their full-length debut, the power-trio extend further all the extremes which made that EP such a sulfurous blast. Draped in an ominous cloud of utter doom, Plagues and Ancient Rites soon approximates its very title: scabrous and hysteric energy coursing the pitch-blackest of metals, foul and fetid textures from death metal’s deepest sewers, and a subtly ceremonial, spell-like seamlessness uniting the two. Its nine tracks compactly exude all the diabolism and devilishness for which Chilean black/death is known, and after 35 minutes, Disembowel emerge as the true Lovecraftian horrors that they are.

Disembowel have opened the portals, and their Plagues and Ancient Rites are about to commence…

Cover and tracklisting

Tracklisting for Disembowel (Peru)’s Plagues and Ancient Rites
1. Intro – Innsmouth Evocation
2. Lord Of Shadows
3. IA! IA! Nyarlathotep!
4. The Pact With The Sect Of The Sea
5. Los Antiguos Eran….Los Antiguos Son…Lost Antiguos Seran
6. Plagues Of The Ancient Rites
7. The Ancient Cult Of Cthulhu
8. En el Abismo
9. Antra Gnomorum

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions