Black Metal News

Árstíðir reissue ‘Hvel’

ÁRSTÍÐIR will reissue their critically acclaimed third full-length, ‘Hvel’ (“Spheres”), which was originally released in 2015 on February 23rd, 2018.

The eclectic Icelandic independent rockers are offering their amazing track, “Himinhvel” as an introduction to the band via YouTube at the link below

The cover art of ‘Hvel’ and further information about he album can be found below.

Track-list
1. Himinhvel (3:39)
2. Things You Said (5:28)
3. Someone Who Cares (3:21)
4. Moonlight (3:51)
5. Vetur Að Vori (2:37)
6. Friðþægingin (3:04)
7. Ró (4:33)
8. Cannon (3:38)
9. Silfurskin (2:29)
10. Shine (4:15)
11. You Again (3:17)
12. Unfold (4:47)
Total playing time: 44:59

On rare occasions, an album appears that defies easy categorisation. ÁRSTÍÐIR have managed this feat throughout their career, but their third full-length, ‘Hvel’ (pronounced in modern Icelandic with an initial k-) has attracted a particular long list of attempts of musical definitions: indie rock, progressive rock, indie folk, chamber folk and pop, neo-classical, and minimalism have all be lobbed at the album. Yet on one description many critics seem to agree: beautiful.

Probably the easiest way to tag ÁRSTÍÐIR is to plead guilty to each of the above. ‘Hvel’ offers atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful songs that take elements of folk, rock, and classical music among other styles, which are arranged into new patterns that have invited comparison with RADIOHEAD, SIMON & GARFUNKEL, PENTANGLE, ÓLAFUR ARNALDS, and most of all SIGUR RÓS. The latter happens perhaps inevitably due to superficial similarities as ÁRSTÍÐIR often sing in their native Icelandic tongue and use acoustic instruments extensively.

ÁRSTÍÐIR emerged from the burgeoning Icelandic music scene in 2008, when the three founding members coming from different genres discovered their mutual love for vocal harmonies. Daniel, Gunnar and Ragnar quickly went from playing acoustic cover versions to their own sonic footprint amalgamating influences taken from different styles into something quite unique, which might tentatively be dubbed “Icelandic independent”.

With early lyrical references pointing towards the spectacular nature and scenery of this volcanic island and the strongly contrasting moods of its seasons, the band took the name ÁRSTÍÐIR, which means “seasons” in Icelandic.

At home, the band experienced a fast rise. Only four months after its inception, ÁRSTÍÐIR had risen from performing in a coffee shop in Reykjavik to scoring a number one hit on national radio with the track “Sunday Morning”.

The Icelanders published their self-titled debut, ‘Árstíðir’ in summer 2009, and while their home country was reeling from the market crash, the band’s stocks went up. During the air traffic disrupting eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. a first international tour started that led to ÁRSTÍÐIR continuing to tour relentlessly over the next years and gather a dedicated fan base in more than 30 countries.

Their second album, ‘Svefns Og Vöku Skil’ followed in 2011 and only a year later, the Icelanders won the prestigious Eiserner Eversteiner European Folk Music Award in Germany. While on the road in Germany in 2013, a friend of ÁRSTÍÐIR recorded an impromptu performance of the old Icelandic hymn, “Heyr Himna Smiður” in a train station, which went viral on YouTube and has attracted more than 6 million views to date.

Backed by global interest sparked by this viral hit, ÁRSTÍÐIR continued their head-lining tours and furthermore supported Swedish band PAIN OF SALVATION and Dutch vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen.

ÁRSTÍÐIR launched a highly successful crowdfunding campaign in 2014 to finance the recording of their third full-length ‘Hvel’, which translates as “spheres”. Following the release, the band embarked on a first US tour that reached from coast to coast.

A full collaboration with Anneke van Giersbergen followed in 2016. The ‘Verloren Verleden’ album contains a collection of re-imagined traditional and classical songs.

ÁRSTÍÐIR are currently working on their forthcoming fourth album, which will be released worldwide on Season of Mist in 2018.

Recording line-up
Daniel Auðunsson: guitar, vocals
Gunnar Már Jakobsson: baritone guitar, vocals
Ragnar Ólafsson: piano, vocals
Karl James Pestka: violin, electric violin, viola, programming, vocals

Guest musicians
Hallgrímur Jónas Jensson: cello
Viktor Orri Árnason: violin and viola
Andri Ólafsson_ bass guitar
Magnús Trygvason Eliassen: drums

Current line-up
Daniel Auðunsson: guitar, vocals
Gunnar Már Jakobsson: baritone guitar, vocals
Ragnar Ólafsson: piano, vocals

Recording and mix: Styrmir Hauksson, Toppstöðin and Orgelsmiðjan

Additional engineering: Þröstur Albertsson

Mastering: Glenn Schick

Additional editing: Andri Ólafsson

Artwork: Vladimír Půlpán

www.arstidir.com
www.facebook.com/arstidir

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

Iron Bonehead Productions sets March 9th, 2018 as the international release date for Byyrth’s highly anticipated second album, Echoes From the Seven Caves of Blood, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

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…

Receive the first bloody kiss with the aforementioned “Vampiric War Children” HERE

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

PRELUDIO ANCESTRAL sign with FIGHTER RECORDS – new album due in 2018

Argentinian symphonic power metal band Preludio Ancestral have signed a deal with Fighter Records for the worldwide (except Asia) release of their fourth album, to be entitled Oblivion, during the spring of 2018.

Formed back in 2005 by guitarist Leo Gatti, the band released a demo in that same year, but it wasn’t until 2012 when a first EP and their debut album, Hacia lo Inmortal (Towards the Immortal), was released, being followed by another EP a year later and their second and third albums – Kybalion in 2015 and El Misterio de la Pasión Divina (The Mystery of Divine Passion) in 2016, respectively. Preludio Ancestral have been gaining quite a recognition not only in their native country, where they even opened for acts like Rhapsody of Fire and Stratovarius, but also around the world.

Preludio Ancestral’s Oblivion will be a magnificent opus of an epic-painted power metal with symphonic arrangements and awesome guitar work, where various European vocalists and Argentinian musicians give form to an album that will be the delight of any lover of this genre.

Oblivion is still in the final production stages and will see the light during spring 2018 through Fighter Records. First single, full tracklist, exact release date, and cover art will be revealed shortly. In the meantime, consult the band’s official Facebook site below.

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/preludioancestral2018

Italian technical thrashers CENTRIPETAL FORCE stream XTREEM MUSIC debut

Italian technical thrashers Centripetal Force stream the entirety of their forthcoming debut EP, Eidetic. Set for international release on December 20th via Xtreem Music, hear Centripetal Force’s Eidetic HERE.

Formed back in 2010 by Stefano Saroglia (guitars) and Andrea Carratta (drums), Centripetal Force completed the lineup with John Knight, who is lead singer of UK progressive metal band Synaptik. The musical style of the band is twisted, technical, and progressive thrash metal in the vein of bands like Watchtower, old Cynic, Mekong Delta, Control Denied, Coroner, later Death, and Toxik.

In 2017, Centripetal Force recorded three songs destined to be their debut EP, entitled Eidetic, and with this, they got a deal with Xtreem Music for its release in December of the same year. The band is now working on more songs for a second EP to be released sometime in fall 2018, but that’s another story…

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Centripetal Force’s Eidetic
1. Centripetal Force
2. Eidetic Memory
3. Death of a Marionette

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/welcometotheforce

Hooded Menace announce special show at Roadburn Festival 2018

HOODED MENACE and Roadburn are now revealing that the Finnish doom raisers will perform their 2008 debut album, ‘Fulfill the Curse’ in its entirety at the 2018 edition of the festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands on the 19th of April.

HOODED MENACE have already announced that the release show for their forthcoming album, ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’ will be celebrated with special guests KRYPTS at Kuudes Linja in Finland’s capital Helsinki on the 9th of February.

See below for a list of all currently confirmed live-dates.

09 Feb 18 Helsinki (FI) Kuudes Linja (+Krypts)
19 Apr 18 Tilburg (NL) Roadburn Festival (‘Fulfill the Curse’ show)
28 Apr 18 Glasgow (UK) North of the Wall Festival (exact date tbc)

HOODED MENACE have previously premiered the second track taken from their new album, ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’, which is scheduled for release on January 26th, 2018.

The artwork of ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’, which has been created by Adam Burke (SÓLSTAFIR, PORTRAIT) and can be viewed below.

Track-list

1. Sempiternal Grotesqueries (10:38)
2. In Eerie Deliverance (7:05)
3. Cathedral of Labyrinthine Darkness (7:23)
4. Cascade of Ashes (6:43)
5. Charnel Reflections (7:48)
6. Black Moss (2:21)

Total playing time: 41:58

Doom has always been a style for a rather select but also very dedicated audience. Among the aficionados, HOODED MENACE have quickly become a household name for authenticity and excellence.

With their upcoming fifth album, ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’, the Finns continue to impress with immaculate songwriting skills and the perfect balance between harsh death metal fuelled outbursts and exquisite melodic melancholy.

HOODED MENACE were formed in Joensuu, Finland in 2007 by guitarist Lasse Pyykkö, who had also performed in the Finnish cult death metal band PHLEGETHON. The band has always avowed to the strong influence by early CANDLEMASS and CATHEDRAL as well as PARADISE LOST, AUTOPSY, ASPHYX, and WINTER. Their lyrics are often inspired by the classic 1970’s Spanish horror movie series ‘The Blind Dead’.

HOODED MENACE recorded a 2-track demo, ‘The Eyeless Horde’ in 2007, which was released on 7″ the following year. Their debut album ‘Fulfill the Curse’ was released in 2008 and the highly acclaimed sophomore full-length ‘Never Cross the Dead’ came out in 2010. HOODED MENACE remained in a highly creative mode and delivered ‘Effigies of Evil’ in 2012 and their latest milestone, ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ in 2015. With a penchant for classic vinyl, the Finns also released several split singles and EPs for example with ASPHYX and COFFINS.

HOODED MENACE toured in Europe and North America, and performed at many major metal festivals such as Hellfest, Roadburn, Maryland Deathfest, Tuska, and Party San Open Air among others.

Now the time has once again come, when HOODED MENACE unleash skeletal horror and sombre despair onto their craving audience. The dead shall ride on ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’ and the living shall rejoice!

www.facebook.com/HoodedMenace

CANDLE reveal first single, cover, tracklisting for new FIGHTER RECORDS album

Swedish epic heavy metal band Candle have launched the first single from their upcoming album, The Keeper’s Curse, as well as have revealed the cover artwork, made by Juanjo Castellano, and tracklist for it.

The Keeper’s Curse contains nine songs with a killer production, which shows a natural development from their recent debut demo EP. Candle plays a haunting and epic kind of heavy metal with healthy reminiscences to Mercyful Fate and some doses of US bands ala early Savatage, Fates Warning, and Cirith Ungol while never forgetting about godly NWOBHM in the vein of some early Judas Priest and Satan.

Candle’s The Keeper’s Curse will see the light on February 21st, 2018 on CD format through Fighter Records, while the vinyl version will come later on.

You can listen to “The Secret,” the aforementioned first single, HERE

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Candle’s The Keeper’s Curse
1. Intro
2. The Secret
3. Light at the En
4. Frozen With Fear
5. Betrayal
6. Dancing Lights
7. Embraced By Darkness
8. No Peace For My Soul
9. Vengeance

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/candlebandofficial

DEMONOMANCY set release date for new INVICTUS album, reveal first track

Today, Invictus Productions sets February 23rd, 2018 as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of Italy’s Demonomancy, Poisoned Atonement.

For a decade now, Demonomancy have been steadfast pillars of the bestial metal idiom, perfecting it over the course of two EPs and 2013’s definitive debut album, Throne of Demonic Proselytism. However, whilst working with the same strident fundaments – ancient South American black/death, the rigorous Blasphemy/Beherit axiom, early proponents of metal primitivism like Profanatica and VON – hereby with Poisoned Atonement do the power-trio leave behind all pretenders and stake out a new, defiant claim of sulfurous metal magick.

Portended by the ominous new track on the 2016 split with Finnish comrades Witchcraft, Poisoned Atonement portrays a Demonomancy no longer bounded by subgenre dictates. Here, they explore all the craggiest corners of their songwriting acumen, finessing forth an endlessly burly yet richly dynamic soundfield that verily approximates the most mysterious echoes of the grand abyss. Smothering, mind-melting violence collides head on with vortextural ritualism, wild-child heavy metal abandon with austere, locked-in grind: Demonomancy not so much leave no stone unturned as they do simply CRUSH it into feeble dust under their massive, ever-masterful boots. To begin understanding the multi-layered miasma of Poisoned Atonement is to gaze deeply into its cover art…

As such, Demonomancy is the sublimation of primitive human impulses morphed into aural spears that suffocate consciousness in a perennial leprous embrace. Corrosive verses burn superficial organic tissues, revealing the pulsating flesh exposed in its primordial obscenity. In this atoning pilgrimage, the unbearable guilt gives birth to inner demons that lacerate the mendacious drape covering our hidden and irrational world. “We praise the morbid and forbidden Bestiality to be rejoined with our primeval dimension,” state the band. “We praise the diseased and torbid Spirit bounded by the mortal coil’s festering chains. The body is merely a monumental epitaph. Metal of Death – Methodical Chaos.”

Bow in fealty and begin your Poisoned Atonement with Demonomancy… Obeisance begins with the new track “Fiery Herald Unbound (The Victorious Predator)” HERE.

That aforementioned cover as well as tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Demonomancy’s Poisoned Atonement
1. Intro – Revelation 21.8
2. Fiery Herald Unbound (The Victorious Predator)
3. Archaic Remnants of the Numinous
4. The Day of the Lord
5. Poisoned Atonement (Purged in Molten Gold)
6. The Last Hymn to Eschaton
7. Fathomless Region of Total Eclipse
8. Nefarious Spawn of Methodical Chaos

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/officialdemonomancy
www.demonomancy.bandcamp.com

GOATKRAFT set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut, reveal first track

Iron Bonehead Productions sets March 9th, 2018 as the international release date for Goatkraft’s shock & awe debut EP, Angel Slaughter, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

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.

Feel its first gust with the EP’s title track HERE.

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

IRON VOID sign with SHADOW KINGDOM, new album set for next year

Today, Shadow Kingdom Records announces the signing of Iron Void. The first fruit of this union shall be the band’s highly anticipated third album, Excalibur. A mainstay of the UK doom metal scene, Excalibur is the album by which Iron Void D will truly be launched onto the world stage. The album shall be released during the first quarter of 2018 via Shadow Kingdom.

Iron Void was originally formed by Jonathan “Sealey” Seale and Andy Whittaker (Solstice, The Lamp of Thoth) in 1998 in order to create an old-school doom metal band, worshiping at the altar of doom legends such as Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, etc. The band reformed in 2008, with the current lineup consisting of Jonathan “Sealey” Seale (bass & vocals), Steve Wilson (guitars & vocals), and Richard Maw (drums).

Iron Void’s debut EP, Spell of Ruin, was originally released on CD in 2010 and re-released in 2012 via Doomanoid Records. Their self-titled debut full-length album was released on CD in 2014 via Barbarian Wrath and released on limited-edition vinyl by Fear Me! Music in 2015. The critically acclaimed second album, Doomsday – recorded & produced at Skyhammer Studio by Chris Fielding (Conan, Winterfylleth, Electric Wizard) and mastered by James Plotkin – was released on CD via Doomanoid Records in 2015 and released on limited gatefold vinyl via Fear Me! Music in 2016.

With considerable live action in the past few years as well, and encouraged by the critical acclaim heaped upon Doomsday, Iron Void patiently set to work on Excalibur. Arguably the band’s magnum opus, Excalibur is an epic behemoth of Arthurian legend, emitting an atmosphere that’s truly medieval whilst sacrificing whilst sacrificing none of their trademark DOOMED-OUT heaviness. Here, across the album’s massive yet strangely concise 48 minutes, Iron Void weave old-as-time tales of myth and magic, all set to rumbling, dramatically dynamic doom metal. The album is sequenced together with a subtle sort of mastery, taking the listener on a journey into centuries past, all concluding with the stark ‘n’ stirring acoustic closer “Avalon.” As the final notes ring out, you’ll be reaching for the calendar to check what year it is!

Release date, cover, tracklisting, and preorder info shall be announced shortly, as well as the first track to be revealed from Excalibur. Consult the below links for more info.

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ironvoid
www.ironvoid.bandcamp.com

VARGRAV set release date for WEREWOLF debut, reveal first track

Werewolf Records, in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, sets January 26th, 2018 as the international release for Vargrav’s highly anticipated debut album, Netherstorm. The album shall be released on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Hailing from Finland, the band originated during starless nights in late 2015. As the vision calmly evolved and the cloak of obscurity relinquished, Vargrav was chosen to be illuminating sign for this act of black arts. During the formative years, the music also transmitted into a profound abyss, only to reincarnate as a sinister glow of the black flame. A demo version of the album was then unleashed during the summer of 2016, and after numerous contacts from different labels, Werewolf Records was immediately chosen to be the most suitable collaborator with which to work.

That album, now bearing the ominous and apt title of Netherstorm, is a blizzard-blown blast from the ancient past. “Symphonic black metal” may be a dirty word to some still, but back in simpler, more idealistic times, that appellation bore delicious fruit, and many long-cherished classics of the black metal canon have upheld that banner; more specifically, once upon a time, it was simply BLACK METAL. Vargrav bear witness to this fact, and create a swarming, densely layered maelstrom of medieval majesty and moonlit madness. Tangibly physical without sacrificing the finer nuances of synth layering, Netherstorm sweeps grandly across a cobwebbed landscape, distant ruins becoming the very listener’s landscape. It’s truly timeless magick, evoking the visionary works of old Obtained Enslavement, Dimmu Borgir, Abigor, Limbonic Art, and especially early Emperor, whose “Ancient Queen” is covered on the bonus 7″ which comes with the vinyl LP pressing of Netherstorm. The overture of a black-hearted storm has been sung and what has yet left uncovered shall be conquered…

Werewolf Records is a Luciferian metal temple founded in 1998. The wolfish cry from the Carelian battlegrounds, Werewolf Records releases black metal and other dark arts motivated exclusively by theistic Satanist views of the founder Werwolf. In this age when black metal’s worth is questionable, idealism and rigor are the exception when they should be the highest law. We uphold the law of the Wolf – the destruction of the weak and the false so that the original vitality of the dark magic art can continue to grow and create the foundations for an empire. Black metal is Will and Power. We deal with material that inspires us on our journey towards our own kingdom – a kingdom that is not yours, but bears a resemblance to the one there could be for you. Now in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, the temple of Werewolf Records shall wage its war farther and wider than ever, with no spiritual surrender.

In the meantime, hear the new track “Shadowed Secrets Unmasked”

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Vargrav (Finland)’s Netherstorm
1. Netherstorm
2. Shadowed Secrets Unmasked
3. Limbo of Abysmal Void
4. Ethereal Visions of a Monumental Cataclysm
5. Obidient Intolerant Ensnared
6. Outro
7. The Glory Of Eternal Night (bonus)
8. Ancient Queen (bonus – Emperor cover)

+ WEREWOLF RECORDS temple +
www.neuntoter.org
www.facebook.com/werewolf.rex