The second full-length album by recluse industrial black metal/harsh noise abusers american (which the band stylizes lowercase). american were one of the earliest ever bands Sentient Ruin records ever worked with back in 2014 (their fourth ever “signing” to be exact), and their debut album Coping With Loss – was a cornerstone point of no return for the label, and probably the first release to make the SR name surface out of complete obscurity, and which first realistically circulated the label’s vision among total strangers for the first time ever.
Hailing from Richmond, Virgina, and with influences ranging from The Body, Leviathan, Ministry, and Skinny Puppy, to Craft, Godlflesh, and Blut Aus Nord, american play a disembodied, torturous and completely fucking annihilated blend of sludge, black metal, industrial, and harsh noise – creating a wall of face-tearing noise that oozes of almost implausible negativity. In recent years the likes of Noisey/Vice have claimed that american’s noisy industrial black metal “takes you into a world of pain”, and makes you “beg to whoever you believe in to kill you”, with CVLT Nation explaining that their music “advocates suicide”, and Invisible Oranges further elaborating that their music “is blessed with a haunting aura thick with loathing”.
Now the band present us with ten new wretched tracks of astonishing sonic abuse that knows no end. A work of absolutely magnificent sonic abhorrence that coerces together the abyssal darkness of black metal bands like Leviathan and Ash Borer, the earth-shaking noise abuse of Bastard Noise and The Body, and the glacial magnificence of blackened noise sound sculptors like Sutekh Hexen, Locrian, and Wold.
DUNKELHEIT PRODUKTIONEN is proud to present HORRID’s highly anticipated fifth album, Beyond the Dark Border. Italy’s longest-running death metal band, HORRID have built an enviously dependable, unyielding body of work since 1989. Taking initial inspiration from the dual gods of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, the band spent the 1990s solidifying their sound over a clutch of demos and EPs. Eventually, come 2002, their debut album manifested itself as Reborn in Sin. From there, the name HORRID has continued to stand for the timeless upholding of classic death metal values.
But now, with the imminent release of Beyond the Dark Border, HORRID are set to stake their claim for death metal supremacy. Truly a summation of everything that makes the Metal of Death so enduring and engrossing, Beyond the Dark Border possesses pretty much every element one would want in a pure ‘n’ authentic death metal record: immediately memorable songwriting, crushing-yet-clear songwriting, breathless execution, interesting twists of texture, and just enough melody to remain rooted in foundational heavy metal. More than that, HORRID render the album a rollercoaster of dynamic darkness, leading the listener down nine separate-yet-linked corridors of nameless horror and eldritch dread. And, at a stout 50 minutes, Beyond the Dark Border remains compact and concise and yet fully satisfying – whoever said meat & potatoes death metal wasn’t the best meal? Go Beyond the Dark Border with Italy’s HORRID!
HORRID lineup 2017
Davide “Dagon” Ariostini – vocals/bass
Mario “Belfagor” Plumari – guitars
Simone “Eligor” Della Chiesa – drums
RIVER BLACK are revealing the second heavy track taken from their self-titled debut album. ‘River Black’ has been scheduled for release on July 7th.
The American modern metal pioneers in the wake of BURNED BY THE SUN are now premering the song “#Victim”
Drummer Dave Witte comments on behalf of RIVER BLACK: “This one came together very quickly at the end of the writing sessions for our debut album. Actually, the whole beginning has been sitting around since 2008. We never had anything that made sense to go along with it and it just happened this time. Lyrically, it’s a kick in the pants to the unmotivated and a rallying cry for the malcontent.”
Vocalist Mike Olender adds: “This song was inspired by some individuals, who latch on to the misfortune of others and try to claim it as their own; vicarious victims, who are so addicted to drama and self-loathing that they gravitate towards any tragedy and make it a part of their identity, hence the hashtag. This first-world problem is the height of privilege and it speaks to a larger problem of intentional victimhood in American society, where too often we pre-empt problems that are not ours with solutions we don’t need; solutions which are rooted in a corrupt health care system more committed to profitable treatments than good health or personal growth.”
RIVER BLACK have previously revealed artwork and track-list of their debut full-length, which can both be viewed below.
1. Jaws
2. Honor
3. Low
4. Shipwreck
5. River Black
6. South by South
7. Boat
8. Move
9. #Victim
10. Haunt
11. Sink
12. Everywhere
RIVER BLACK deliver the musical equivalent to a diamond-tipped drill to bore breathing-holes into the crusty rusted armour-plating of the metal-genre in order to let some fresh air into the all too often stale scene.
Their powerful self-titled debut album impresses with undiluted aggression, precisely executed and dead on target. Based on an intimate knowledge of thrash metal history, the Americans have found a modern answer to this classic style, incorporating suitable elements of death, hardcore, and other influences. This is boosted by a massive sound that drops the bomb in your face.
The expertise that RIVER BLACK demonstrate in craft and talent does not come out of the blue. Guitarist John Adubato and drummer David Witte (MUNICIPAL WASTE) formed their new creative outlet after the dissolution of BURNT BY THE SUN. The veteran duo felt the need to keep the spirit and energy behind that former collective going, while pushing it a darker and heavier direction. To complete their dream team, Witte and Adubato recruited fellow REVOCATION bassist Brett Bamberger and former BURNT BY THE SUN collaborator Mike Olender for vocal duties.
On completion of their line-up, RIVER BLACK recorded their first album at New Jersey’s Trax East studio (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, HATEBREED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) with producer Eric Rachel (SKID ROW, MUNICIPAL WASTE, GOD FORBID).
RIVER BLACK are now ready to drive a vicious spike into the bubble of metallic complacency. Crank up the volume and let ‘River Black’ hit home hard. Impact is imminent…
Line-up
Mike Olender: vocals
John Adubato: guitar
Brett Bamberger: bass
Dave Witte: drums
Today, reinvigorated black metal infamists Nargaroth stream the entirety of their highly anticipated seventh album, Era of Threnody. Set for international release on May 16th via Inter Arma Productions, hear Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody in its entirety exclusively HERE.
Nargaroth needs no introduction. German black metal’s longest-running and most prolific band, Nargaroth has built a canon of work that’s as infamous as it is legendary in the underground. Led as always by the peerless vision of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ash, the Nargaroth aesthetic has spanned the many extremes of black metal as an artform, but always done with bravado and self-belief, purity of intent and purity of purpose. Now, with the band’s first full-length in a long eight years, Era of Threnody has arrived to mark a glorious new epoch for Nargaroth.
Ever aptly titled, Era of Threnody burns with rage and repose – a war cry from a battlefield long forgotten, a remembrance of sorrows past, present, and future. Across its 65-minute landscape, the 10 songs which comprise Era of Threnody paint a portrait of Nargaroth at its most dynamic: nearly every unique era of the band is represented, but executed with a startling sense of professionalism. But let it be known that “professionalism” in no way should be conflated with mainstream ambitions, for this is still pure ‘n’ pristine BLACK METAL in all its monochromatic grandeur. More accurately, perhaps, Era of Threnody is the sound of Nargaroth at the height of its powers, well rested from the studio hiatus and eager ‘n’ emboldened by an upcoming European tour with Absu and Hate (dates after the jump). The time of reckoning is at hand, and it is indeed the Era of Threnody!
Stream Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody at Inter Arma Productions’ Bandcamp HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody
1. Dawn of Epiphany
2. Whither Goest Thou?
3. Conjunction Underneath The Alpha Weel
4. …As Orphans Drifting In A Desert Night
5. The Agony Of A Dying Phoenix
6. Epicedium To A Broken Dream
7. Love Is A Dog From Hell
8. Era Of Threnody
9. TXFO
10. My Eternal Grief, Anguish Neverending
Full “Crusade of Threnody” tour dates with ABSU and HATE, as well as poster art for the tour, are as follows:
“Those who flee the hammer, shall abide the forge”
Death Ordinance is set in a future ravaged by 30 years of war, global societies have collapsed into anarchic warfare between tribal bands. Following nuclear warfare and EMP’s, remnants of technology are repurposed solely for conflict. Regression becomes progress as oppression and power struggle with natural law and imminent extinction.
What remains of humanity struggles in the vestiges, the final lineage impotent and malformed, for the scraps of a dying world. The album documents the twilight of existence through three movements the onset as “Consecrating Fire” and concluding with “Desert of Ash”.
Each song is deliberate with serving a purpose compositionally as well as with the lyrical narrative.
“Senses heightened, survival preceeds morality…”
Track list:
Consecrating Fire
Storming Upon Knaves
Harbinger
Ruination
The Yoke
Iron Harvest
Lupine Epoch
Righteous Upsurgence
Desert of Ash
Death Ordinance was recorded by V.V. in early 2017 and mixed and mastered by C. Sinclair in the Temple of Sol. Artwork for the album was done by Mistanthropic-Art.
ORDOXE make their Horror Pain Gore Death Productions debut with new album Towards Eternity. Formed in 1989, ORDOXE hail from Quebec (Canada) and perform melodic Black Metal with elements of Thrash, Death and Doom Metal. Towards Eternity is the fourth album in the ORDOXE catalog and delivers a fierce, judicious mix of dark arts, bliss, grim moods and evil ambiences.
For fans of BEHEMOTH, CRADLE OF FILTH, DARK FUNERAL, DESTROYER 666, DISSECTION, ENTHRONED, GOD DETHRONED, NAGLFAR, ROTTING CHRIST, and SATYRICON.
Track List:
1. We Are Eternal
2. The Auspicious One
3. Trépas I
4. Your Sorrow, My Sorrow
5. Sword Of Damocles
6. Soyez Illuminés
7. A Passage In Time
8. Trépas II
9. The Essence Of Life
10. Trépas III
The brand new Neige et Noirceur ALBUM “Verglapolis” will take you into the coldest and most desolate part of your essence.
Every track is a continuous flow between the most oppressive and cold black metal and melodies that seem to come from unknown and repetitive realities.
Slow-motion rhythms and haunting vocal melodies seemed to be emanated from some bleak cavernous subterranean chambers and create unique hypnotic atmospheres. Waves of disorienting sampling come and go, dotted with dragging beats and the harrowing integration of a choir’s howl.
This is pure despair just like the winter that cyclically holds us in.
1. Le monde est une foret noire
2. L’hiver de force
3. Nordet – Les premieres neiges
4. Pluie verglacante et brouillard de glace
5. Energie noire
6. Ruines electriques
New North Carolina/New Jersey Black Metal studio project, DECREPIT THRONE has released debut album Traitor’s Grave. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and North Carolinian Gregory Maupin joins New Jersey vocalist Ron Kaiser (BLASPHEMOUS) in offering seven iniquitous tracks of blackened fury wth influences inclusive of DISSECTION, DRUDKH, EMPEROR, DEATH, CELTIC FROST, and many others.
Maupin started DECREPIT THRONE after his last band mysteriously and abruptly came to an end. The focus is making dark music, rather than the drama in which so many local musicians drown themselves. Vocalist Ron Kaiser was kind enough to perform and write lyrics for DECREPIT THRONE.
The CD version of Traitor’s Grave will be available on April 10.
Hot on the heels of this week’s previous announcement of four special package shows featuring GORGUTS alongside FALLUJAH, HAVOK, REVOCATION and opener VENOM PRISON, the acclaimed Canadian death metal pioneers are revealing more European dates in summer. The band will perform at Brutal Assault (CZ), Ieper Festival (BE), Vagos Metal Fest (PT), and Summer Breeze (DE) as well as tour in support of CONVERGE with HAVOC and REVOCATION in August.
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
+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).
Line-up
Luc Lemay: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Kevin Hufnagel: Rhythm & Lead Guitar
Colin Marston: Bass
Patrice Hamelin: Drums
BEYOND CREATION are announcing a string of European dates for this summer. The Canadian masters of progressive technical death metal will be supported by Swiss brothers in spirit, VIRVUM. The tour kicks off with a show at the prestigious Hellfest in Clisson France on June 18th and continues through 11 countries on the continent before its grand finale at the UK Tech Fest at the Newark Showground in Winthorpe on the 9th of July.
Please see below for a list of all confirmed dates.
BEYOND CREATION
18 Jun 17 Clisson (FR) Hellfest
BEYOND CREATION
+Virvum
20 Jun 17 Aarau (CH) Kiff
21 Jun 17 Bologna (IT) Alchemica Music Club
22 Jun 17 Ljubljana (SI) Orto Bar
24 Jun 17 Tuzla (BA) Club Palma
25 Jun 17 Sofia (BG) Live & Loud
26 Jun 17 Cluj (RO) Napoca The Shelter
27 Jun 17 Kosice (SK) Colloseum
28 Jun 17 Budapest (HU) Dürer Kert
29 Jun 17 Wien (AT) Viper Room
30 Jun 17 München (DE) Feierwerk
02 Jul 17 Utrecht (NL) dB’s
Feel the onrush of sweeping arpeggios, crushing waves of fretless bass, complex rhythmical patterns and erupting scales peppered with jazzy feeling and masterful execution under the mark of ‘Earthborn Evolution’, which names the sophomore full-length of BEYOND CREATION. The French part of Canada is home to a vibrant culture of technical Death Metal fostered by outstanding acts such as GORGUTS, CRYPTOPSY, MARTYR, and NEURAXIS. This illustrious family tree has produced many sprouts in the past, yet none of them are as brilliant as Quebec’s new amazing scion: BEYOND CREATION! Founded in the Olympic city of Montreal in the year 2005, the band worked hard to gain technical expertise before putting out their only demo in 2010. The immediate buzz resonated within and beyond technical Death Metal circles and was followed up by a self-release of “The Aura” (2011), which was re-issued by Season of Mist in 2013. With their debut album, BEYOND CREATION delivered a ferocious blend of technicality, melody, and brutality aided by fang-filled growls, which was interwoven with beautiful progressive interludes. Yet this was just the beginning as ‘Earthborn Evolution’ proves beyond doubt. Their next step now catapults the Canadians into the top league of their genre, right among such giants as ATHEIST, DEATH or early CYNIC. Prepare for the lightning evolution of the progressive technical death metal revolution!
Line-up
Simon Girard: vocals, 8-string guitars
Kevin Chartré: 8-string guitars
Dominic ‘Forest’ Lapointe: 6-string fretless bass
Philippe Boucher: drums
