On July 28th, Countess Erzsebet will self-release her self-titled mini-album on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Countess Erzsebet is the work of Rachel Bloodspell Moongoddess, who’s previously played bass for a number of bands but more recently Xasthur, where she did three tours playing acoustic bass and was on the Aestas Pretium MMXVIII EP. A guitar/bass-maker learning the luthier trade, Rachel plays in Countess Erzsebet her own electric bass and guitar she both built. All instrumentation in the band – guitar, bass, organ, vocals, and programming – is handled by Rachel, with four of the upcoming mini-album’s songs featuring drums by Steve Peacock of Spirit Possession and Pandiscordian Necrogenesis. Trained in classical piano and jazz bass and guitar as a child, Rachel’s unique upbringing is subtly interwoven into Countess Erzsebet.
Previously monikered Erzsebet and having digitally released the nearly-album-length Black Spell in 2017, Rachel’s rebirth as Countess Erzsebet marks a clear, new epoch for the one-woman band. Whereas that previous recording was more than half acoustic and largely instrumental, Countess Erzsebet builds a grimier and ghastlier soundworld where the likes of Goblin, Ved Buens End, Mercyful Fate, Coven, Leviathan, and Bathory all bubble in a murky, mysterious cauldron – and what emerges sounds entirely unique, and entirely Countess Erzsebet. Olde-worlde and unorthodox, Rachel here harkens to lonelier, more vanguard days for black metal, brimming with a bounty of ideas that seem strange on the surface, but all eventually are threaded together with bedeviling witchcraft. With Hammer-horror organ and her whisper-to-a-scream vocals at the forefront, Countess Erzsebet here creates a remarkably varied canvas where each track holds its own identity – be it primitive gutter pulse or wandering-in-the-woods ethereality, ultra-minimalist doom or occultic torch song – and they’re then sequenced in a manner that creates an all-consuming experience. And one, above all, that is HAUNTING beyond belief: Rachel’s own music videos and plans for using the mini-album as the soundtrack to an independent short film no doubt render Countess Erzsebet a cinematic work.
Out of the dungeons and into the woods, spells cast and the Self recast, Countess Erzsebet displays a bold & brazen landscape on which to roam with Countess Erzsebet.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Glorification of the Profane” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Countess Erzsebet’s Countess Erzsebet
1. In the Blood of Virgins
2. Glorification of the Profane
3. 666
4. Pray to the Devil
5. Obliteration of Thine Enemy
6. Exile Into Depravity
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Erzsebet.us