HENGET release guitar playthrough for ‘I Am Them’

Psychedelic/avant-garde black metal outfit HENGET are now releasing a guitar playthrough video for the single ‘I Am Them’. The track is taken from their debut album “Beyond North Star”, which will be unleashed on May 19, 2023 via Season of Mist. The playthrough is now streaming here:

Pre-orders are still available HERE. The album can be pre-saved on various digital platforms HERE.

HENGET guitarist Jesse comments: “Sauna, the holiest man-made temple. The place where Finns used to enter and exit life. Nowadays it can also mark a place where instructional videos, such as this, are made. Prepare your kantele, let the spirit of Löyly embrace you and be ready to shred like a 21st century Väinämöinen!

HENGET have previously released the cover artwork and further album details for “Beyond North Star”. 

Track-list: 
1. Dive (4:35)
2. I Am Them (4:01) [WATCH]
3. Henkivallat (4:31) [WATCH]
4. The Great Spiral (5:52)
5. Beyond North Star (5:19)
6. Lovi (5:09)
7. Nouse (3:52)
8. The Chalice of Life and Death(4:23)
Total: 37:42

The creation process has always been a very fascinating riddle isn’t it? After all, there’s no strict formula. Some spent weeks, months or even years meticulously working on every tiny detail over and over again until it feels perfect while others just have to let it all out, no matter how it all comes out, it just has to. And no, no matter how hard you try, you can’t force it. You just can’t. You need to have that vision, that unstoppable yearning to turn your dreams into reality. 

King Aleijster de Satan has long stopped asking himself all those questions. Although he’s only thirty-four years old, the Tampere based Finn is a bullet-proof veteran of the black metal scene: he used to run and sign bands for Saturnal Records. He also ran the Blackvox studio from 2013 to 2020 where he recorded multiple bands. Purely on the musical front, besides being the long-time standing frontman of Saturnian Mist he also because various experiences, in Arvet among others. But with the industrial rumblings of King Satan, he’s learnt to expand his mind and look over all those useless fences to see what lied beyond. In the end, it’s all about being free both as an individual and as an artist, to go where your instincts and muse take you, no matter what.   

And nothing encapsulates more this quest for freedom than HENGET. As a matter of fact, it lies at the very center of it as most of the music AND lyrics were on purpose improvised on the spot. Ever tried to capture lightning in a bottle? King Aleijster de Satan and his comrade Jesse Heikkinen just did with HENGET first album, Beyond North Star, Heikkinen having proved to be quite a versatile artist since dabbling with ‘progressive esoteric folk’ with Iterum Nata, the equally ‘out there’ Hexvessel or The Abbey.

“When I got in the studio to do the vocals, I only had various notes, sometimes hastily written on a small piece of paper and more or less some kind of loose structures to go with it. Most of them I gathered in between 2016 and 2019 after, let’s say experimenting quite a bit. I admit natural psychedelics and other shamanic methods influenced me a lot to reach another level of consciousness, besides my long interest towards the occult and mysticism. Those weren’t meant to get lost into but instead to be used as mere tools to help me opening new doors in my brain, a bit like a shaman would do when engaged in a ritual to reach a trance like of state. That’s also why I booked a two weeks session just for the vocals: I needed that amount of space to really dive in my subconscious. Overall, that was one of most intense recording experience I ever had but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone because the toll you have to pay once it’s done is pretty heavy.” 

Originally, the pair planned to unite in Saturnian Mist but then, Jesse “had to move to another city and it made things too complicated. But we still wanted to work together as he is probably the best songwriter I know. And since I had this idea for this other thing where I knew I wanted to push the limits and go over the edge in terms of songwriting, I needed somebody of his calibre.” “Indeed, Aleijster approached during summer 2021” confirms the multi-instrumentist. “He had a quite clear vision of what kind of concept he wanted to do lyrically speaking for a long time. It did coincide with my own desire to express something personal yet aggressively, an urge I hadn’t felt in a long time. Based on his background, we agreed this should happen within some kind of black metal frame but without still paying attention to much conventions or rules. I was given free rein to do whatever I felt like and I quickly realized I wanted it to be quite intuitive while making sure the music would be as crazy as possible, like some typhoon swallowing everything in its path… So using mostly vintage instrumentation, I recorded most of the music by myself in my own studio, pushing the button ‘rec’ and then totally letting myself go, following Aleijster ‘automatic writing’ method and ending up with some pretty interesting result.”

There’s something strangely seductive about the eight tracks included on Beyond North Star, as if the listeners were invited to enter some alternative and colourful place, dangerous and scary yet always otherworldly. Some may argue that all along you will most likely cross there the ghosts of Dødheimsgård, Arcturus or King Crimson. But Aleijster remains pretty reluctant to label it but “if we really need to, I guess it’s avant-garde black metal.” After hesitating with Henkivallat (‘spiritual realms’), which they ended up using as a songtitle instead, the name HENGET was chosen because of its double meaning as it can be translated both as ‘life’ but also ‘spirits’, “a perfect name for an occult band”. Beyond North Star is a “loose” concept album, like one long journey, even if the songs are not exactly tied up together. Something the 70’s prog rock loving Jesse is quite happy with while its title is a reference to that actual spiritual journey the listeners are about to undertake. One they will never forget.

Three ambitious music videos in total have been shot already to promote the album and HENGET has gathered a full line-up in order to start playing live. Saturnian Mist drummer Ville Rissanen was the first one to be asked, soon followed by Lasse Launimaa, a teenage years friend of Jesse who also plays in cult symphonic black metal band Thyrane on keyboards.

Line-up:
King Aleijster de Satan – Vocals
Jesse J. Heikkinen – Guitars, additional keys
Lasse J. Launimaa – Keyboards 
Ville J. Rissanen – Drums

Cover artwork: 
M.T. Salminen

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/hengetband
https://www.instagram.com/hengetband

Pre-sales:https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/Henget

Formats:
Digital
Digipak
Vinyl in various colours

ORDEM SATÂNICA set release date for new SIGNAL REX album, reveal first track

Today, Signal Rex announces May 5th as the international release date for Ordem Satânica‘s highly anticipated fourth album, Perpetuum Satanas, on vinyl LP format.

The name Ordem Satânica should be more than familiar to those who follow the crimes of Signal Rex, or indeed the Portuguese black metal underground, which has risen to international prominence in the past decade. In that time, the shadowy collective have released a flurry of recordings, first as demos and splits and then the monumental Monte de Lua debut album in 2017 – each one grimmer and more ghastly, more hypnotizing and harrowing, as the one that preceded it – firmly establishing Ordem Satânica as modern-day atavists and furthering the infamy of their Aldebaran Circle (Trono Além MorteOccelensbrigVoëmmr, and Degredo et. al.).

And while it had been four long years since an album arrived – and two years since their split with Adytum, all via Signal Rex – Ordem Satânica slipped by the full-length Perpetuum Satanas at the very end of 2022 on tape. Now that fourth full-length fittingly finds release on vinyl to carry forward its malignant march. Indeed, Ordem Satânica are locating an elusive magick here where the harsh & harrowing soundfield of olde sees something like refinement, rendering their bewitching black metal in its most penetrating form. Whereas “refinement” in many bands’ hands spells a death knell, in Ordem Satânica‘s, it’s ever so subtle and only intuitive – an effortless grasp at primordial energies that are then harnessed into spiraling screeds of hauntingly tuneful obsidian. Verily, the band’s always-understated melodicism takes on more prominence across Perpetuum Satanas, giving their no-less-demonic pulse an exceptionally ethereal quality: the gutters boil over, and the fumes rise like wraiths to torment the chaste and pure. It is with no hyperbole, then, to state this is arguably Ordem Satânica‘s finest work.

Hear for yourself with the brand-new track “O Sacrifício Final (para Satan)” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ordem Satânica’s Perpetuum Satanas
1. Trilho Ceremonial
2. Cidade dos Mortos
3. Templo de Merda Humana
4. Putas, Sémen e Sangue
5. Sob a Influência… de Satan
6. Vermelha Visão de Outrora
7. Moribundo Sicário de Satan
8. O Sacrifício Final (para Satan)

www.signalrex.com
www.facebook.com/signalrex

GAEREA announce European tour

Cathartic black metal outfit GAEREA have announced new European tour dates! The Vortex Society will not only bring darkness to various club shows during this run, also festivals will receive the mark of ‘Mirage’. A full list of confirmed dates, including festival appearances and ticket links, can be found below.

GAEREA comment trek: “The Undying Mirage shall march once again over Europe this Summer! In June, the Vortex Society will hunt several new Countries alongside a selection of massive Festivals. 15 Mind bending Nights of Cathartic Horror Soundscapes await. Join us!

GAEREA will be playing in support of their latest album ‘Mirage’, which was released on September 23, 2022 via Season of Mist. The album can still be found in various formats HERE and streamed on all digital platforms HERE

GAEREA 
08 Apr 23 Oslo (NO) Inferno Festival 2023 [TICKETS]
30 Apr 23 Hengelo (NL) Bloodshed Fest 2023 [TICKETS]
07 Jun 23 Budapest (HU) Durer Kert [TICKETS]
08 Jun 23 Belgrad (RS) Zappa
09 Jun 23 Zagreb (HR) Klub Mochrava
10 Jun 23 Vicenza (IT) Revolution Club [TICKETS]
11 Jun 23 Torino (IT) Ziggy Club
12 Jun 23 Zurich (CH) Dynamo, Werk 21 [TICKETS]
13 Jun 23 Pratteln (CH) Z7 [TICKETS]
14 Jun 23 Mainz (DE) Schon Schon [TICKETS]
15 Jun 23 Arnhem (NL) Willemeen [TICKETS]
17 Jun 23 Copenhagen (DK) Copenhell [TICKETS]
18 Jun 23 Gothenburg (SE) The Abyss [TICKETS]
21 Jun 23 Krakow (PL) Kamienna12
22 Jun 23 Warsaw (PL) Hydrozagadka
24 Jun 23 Spalene Porici (CZ) Basinfire Festival [TICKETS]
25 Jun 23 Ferropolis (DE) Full Force Festival [TICKETS]
07 Jul 23 Velké Mezirici (CZ) Fajtfest [TICKETS]

08 Jul 23 Jablunkov (CZ) Rock Café Southock
14 Jul 23 Anyksciai (LT) Devilstone Festival [TICKETS]
29 Jul 23 Freissenbuttel (DE) Burning Q Festival [TICKETS]
05 Aug 23 Brasov (RO) Rockstadt Festival [TICKETS]
11 Aug 23 Derbyshire (UK) Bloodstock Open Air [TICKETS]
12 Aug 23 Kortrijk (BE) Alcatraz Festival [TICKETS]
18 Aug 23 Dinkelsbuhl (DE) Summerbreeze Festival [TICKETS]
24 Aug 23 Eisfeld (DE) Wolfzeit Festival [TICKETS]
26 Aug 23 Walbrzych (PL) Metal Mine Festival [TICKETS]

The cover artwork for ‘Mirage’, which is created by the SAROS Collective, can be found below along with the track-list and further album details

Track-list
1. Memoir (8:17)
2. Salve (5:26) [WATCH]
3. Deluge (6:31)
4. Arson (8:54)
5. Ebb (5:32)
6. Mirage (6:38) [WATCH]
7. Mantle (5:17) [WATCH]
8. Laude (6:26) [WATCH]
9. Dormant (Bonus track) (7:46)
Total: 1:00:47

Behind black shrouds of obscurity and desolation, the men of GAEREA deliver their odes in cascading maelstroms of aggression and beauty. Emerging from the age of pandemic to whatever awaits humanity next, the Portuguese horde remains on the frontlines of the next generation of extreme metal. With an EP and two albums to their name, GAEREA has rapidly distinguished themselves from the thousands of bands toiling away in the underground. Brewing their cauldron of sound from a recipe of pounding black-metal blast mixed with a touch of harrowed, reflective longing, many devotees of the darkened arts have flocked to their banner. With the emergence of third full-length album Mirage, those numbers are sure to grow. 

Underground metal itself is a strange and cyclical beast. Trends come and trends go. But at no point in the genre’s history have we borne witness to what happened to the world in 2020. GAEREA met this challenge by releasing their second album, the aptly titled Limbo, to excellent world reception. In the meantime, they found the total suspension of interactive life as it was previously known to be the perfect breeding ground for further creation and making. As the troupe’s main songwriter elaborates, “I lost two precious years of my life, years that I would rather have spent touring and growing as an artist. But they were crucial for us, these years, because not too many bands stayed relevant and productive. The pandemic gave us the time to make the best release we could. All the promo-shoots, interviews, videos, we all had time to prepare for everything. Mirage was the product of a sudden inspiration. The basic parts were written over about two weeks.”

Such a stunning admission goes to show that art is fickle, and the artist is merely a vessel through which the sweet sorcery we call music may flow. It can mute itself to frustrating silence – or it can explode into being regardless of all consideration. For this band on the rise, it is most certainly the latter. Sizzling with ambition from day one, GAEREA may present one unique face to their audience, masked and enshrouded, but the truth is they have not remained changeless. “We are not the same band who recorded Limbo,” he insists. “We are more eager to take on the world. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that nothing is certain.”

This lack of certainty plays heavily into newest creation Mirage. As its name suggests, the inability to trust what our senses are telling us could be construed as one of the album’s central themes. Rather than constrict their art to mythological references or anti-religious tropes, GAEREA instead plumb the depths of the human experiences of isolation and suffering. “The concept, the subject, of each song is everyone, you, me . . . if people were alone together in Limbo, in Mirage they are truly alone. Nobody is truly real until they are alone.” 

If existential dread could be turned into sound, GAEREA have carved their own philosophical path through its stygian tunnels. It isn’t Satan, demons, death, or even suicide that is waiting for us there. “What if people finally reached their goal,” he posits, “to end their suffering, and instead of dying they find themselves in a new reality, lost in a big city they were once a part of – they don’t know if anyone else is still alive. They are alone inside their own world.” This theme of being alone in a world full of familiar scenes, unable to end things and unable to reach anyone else, might well terrify the listener more effectively than any glimpse into the imagined hellscapes of our nightmares. Being isolated in your own world is the real nightmare, and GAEREA strum the chords of this horror with nuance and a miserable grace. 

Boasting a superior production that threads the needle between clarity and causticness, GAEREA unwaveringly admit their loyalty to countryman and producer Miguel Tereso of Demigod Recordings. “Miguel is fantastic,” enthuses the band’s primary composer. “He comes from a brutal death metal background. I thought if this guy can pull off a punchy, modern, but still authentic production with a slam / death metal band, I wonder what he can do with a band like GAEREA. He has a vision for a sound, and that is what I really like. He is not a black metal fan, but it’s this very external set of ears and eyes from a guy who really knows his craft, and he brings all of that to our sound.” The fruits of this union are quite evident, as the turbulent moods of the title track are so wonderfully tossed between tension-building moments, and the explosive payoffs which set GAEREA apart from so many who try but come up short

Tormented leads and building riffs sit atop some seriously explosive drumming, waxing and waning, on “Arson,” a tempest of moods and one of the album’s centrepieces. Emotion, at times sounding triumphant in brilliantly wrought guitar leads, is skewered by vocals that bustle with shattering despair. The dichotomy is magnificent to behold. GAEREA’s composer makes no mistake. “I want to hear the throat on the album, and if we are a vocals-driven band, I don’t want to over-process them during the recording. Striking that balance is one of the beauties for me in this record.”

In a world that increasingly elevates the shallow and the narcissistic, GAEREA pursues an artistic struggle of inward isolation, honest self-examination, and a dogged refusal to bow to the void that awaits. Thus, the persistence of their shadowed visages, draped in the masks which codify their anonymity while also creating a reliable extreme metal brand that fans can appreciate, especially in the live setting. “GAEREA are truly ourselves when we put these masks on, and we transcend into something different, and primitive,” he asserts. “It still makes total sense, and this band would not be a band anymore if we ever dropped the masks.”

As GAEREA prepares the release of Mirage, the world has resumed functioning, and as it lurches onward into its bleak future, one could stipulate that the pressure may be on to continue its rise amid the clamor of this renewal of activity. Does this challenge intimidate GAEREA? “We want to do better, but I don’t feel any pressure because we are in very good hands with the people we work with. We are building a strong team that really cares for us, stage-wise, promotional-wise, website and sales-wise. We are building a very structured confident teams that aims for the same goals we do. What I truly care about is continuing our ever-growing concept of the band GAEREA, and not becoming sterile, and I would not want people to be unaffected by our music. In the end we’re trying to express something within ourselves, and I don’t want it to be too complicated.”

The beauty of GAEREA lies in the directness and simplicity found within their florid tapestry of extremity and aggression. Whether it is in the less-polished aural dynamite of their self-titled EP, or in the lustrous textures of Mirage, GAEREA is building a mighty edifice of underground metal. With talons dipped in the inky blood of black metal and scraped across the flesh of human suffering, GAEREA is leading a charge into the future of darkness, and all those who find beauty and power in the dark side of existence would do well to take heed. 

WE ARE GAEREA.

Recording Studio: Demigod Recordings
Producer/Sound engineer: Miguel Tereso
Mix/Master: Miguel Tereso (Demigod Recordings)

Cover artwork: Saros Collective

Socials: 
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Shop:https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/GaereaMirage
Download/stream: https://orcd.co/gaerea-mirage

Italian Death Metallers VALGRIND premiere new track

Today, Italian death metallers Valgrind premiere the new track “Millennium of Night Bliss” . The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Millennium of Night Bliss, set for international release on April 24th via Memento Mori. Hear Valgrind‘s title track “Millennium of Night Bliss” in its entirety here:

By now, those who follow the dark deeds of Memento Mori should be well familiar with Italy’s Valgrind. Despite forming all the way back in 1996 and releasing three demos and an EP before going on hiatus in 2002, it was the 2012 debut album Morning Will Come No More where Valgrind kicked off their activities – and there’s been no looking back. With steadfast dependability and ever-so-slight “progression” each time, these Italians have quietly become stalwarts of classics-minded death metal that isn’t completely blinkered by the past. Yes, their influences largely remain the same – foundational Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Death, Nocturnus, Possessed, Monstrosity, and Immolation – but Valgrind have increasingly sought their own muse, becoming more personal in lyrical approach whilst keeping their attack trend-free DEATH METAL. 

But if 2020’s Memento Mori-released Condemnation signaled a sea-change for Valgrind – an undeniably “something,” a never-belabored uniqueness, despite mostly still sounding like the same band – then they certainly continue this sterling development with Millennium of Night Bliss. Indeed, there’s a creepiness of aura and a more supernatural lyrical bent that fuel Valgrind‘s fifth album, and the power-trio duly whip forth a vortex of dark ‘n’ dazzling technicality and jaw-dropping chops. Everywhere you turn across the nine-song/38-minute work, there’s some slipstreaming portal opening up into another into another ad infinitum; one could say Millennium of Night Bliss isn’t so much a “complex” record (although it is) as it’s one of rippling darkness and dementia. Truly, Valgrind sound mental here, as the blazing angularity and “tunefully atonal” intensity hearken to such once-slept-on classics as Immolation’s Here In After and Morbid Angel’s Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. However, the Italians still continue to exert their own identity, adding just the right amount of melody (don’t worry: it’s VERY slight!) and making the remarkably crisp ‘n’ clean production work entirely for them. 

Could Millennium of Night Bliss be Valgrind‘s best record yet? Put in the work and lose thyself in its labyrinths, and surely will you see the night-blissful truth!

Also hear the previously revealed “Teshub” HERE at Memento Mori‘s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Valgrind (Italy)’s Millennium of Night Bliss
1. Teshub
2. Banished by Celestial Harmonies
3. Millennium of Night Bliss
4. Tenebra Corona Mundi
5. Dark Winds of Avalon
6. Lament of the Black Penitents (Glory Is the Sun of the Dead)
7. Oracle of Death
8. Fear from Beyond
9. The Path to the Temple of Black Ash

 MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/valgrind.deathmetalband.since1996

www.memento-mori.es
www.facebook.com/memento.mori.label

AARA release “Triade III: Nyx

Over the last three years Swiss Black Metal band AARA have crafted an epic tripartite interpretation of Charles Robert Maturin‘s 19th century Gothic novel, “Melmoth The Wanderer“. With concluding installment “Triade III: Nyx“, this trilogy comes to a mesmerizing and truly ominous end. The new album, which consists of six elegant and powerful melodic Black Metal hymns, is officially released via Debemur Morti Productions. Listen to it here:

Well known as vibrant and restless artists, composer Berg has already allowed us a glimpse into AARA‘s musical future:

The successor to “Triade III: Nyx” is already composed. There are no plans yet when the album will be ready, but I think it will come in 2024. Thematically, we break away from a literary concept and turn to more real events, but everything in due time…

Vocalist and lyricist Fluss adds:

It will not again be about a work of literature, but instead be a concept album inspired by a historical occurrence. We will probably try rather to create an atmosphere than to retell a story. Otherwise, we will certainly continue to adapt literary or historical themes for AARA. We do not know yet what it will concretely be. A spontaneous inspiration will probably decide that!

Triade III: Nyx” achieved second place in German print mag Legacy‘s soundcheck and was awarded the “dynamite” certificate by Rock Hard Italy. More words of praise can be found throughout the metal press:

AARA bring to a close this thunderous trilogy that began just two years ago and now concludes with “Triade III: Nyx,” the most immersive of the Melmoth trio. That they deliver this final chapter with fervor and Black Metal force that swallows you whole makes the impact undeniable and something to which you will have no choice but to submit.” (Meat Mead Metal)

If you like intensity and uncompromising aggression elegantly wrapped around melancholy, check out this release.” (Infernal Masquerade)

In conclusion, “Triade III: Nyx” is an excellent example of modern atmospheric black metal. […] A dark, powerful and diverse record with remarkable melodies and a captivating atmosphere.” (Metal Bite)

The album is officially released on CD, vinyl and digital. Band merchandising (t-shirt, zip hoodie, patches) accompanies the release. Orders are possible via the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp shops.

Please note: Due to a mistake at the pressing plant, all first press “Triade III: Nyx” LPs come with the slipcase included with the exclusive DMP version. The two editions differ solely through the colour of the vinyl.

Switzerland’s AARA was founded in 2018 by vocalist Fluss and multi-instrumentalist Berg to create art highly influenced by atmospheric Black Metal. Sporting an epic, classical feel, their sweeping compositions aim to take the listener through the darkest alleys of human existence.

Soon after releasing their debut record “So fallen alle Tempel” in early 2019, AARA joined forces with Debemur Morti Productions, releasing their mosaic EP “Anthropozän” that same year.

Barely a year after their debut, AARA unveiled a new full-length record in April of 2020. A conceptual look into Europe’s Age of Enlightenment, “En Ergô Einai” sees AARA take their accomplished sound to new heights of mature artistic expression. Opened with a haunting acoustic intro courtesy of Vindsval (BLUT AUS NORD), “En Ergô Einai” is a triumph of fluid melodic euphoria and classical elegance, setting an even higher watermark in a bright, young discography. The third album and beginning of a trilogy, namely “Triade I: Eos“, was released in March 2021. In this epic and dramatic new work of art, AARA are interpreting the Gothic novel “Melmoth The Wanderer” (1820) of Irish writer Charles Robert Maturin. Venturing forth into the next chapters of Maturin‘s work, AARA crafted the second part of their trilogy, “Triade II: Hemera“. The six tracks of brutally melodic, top-tier Black Metal was released in May 2022. The third and final album of the Melmoth trilogy sees the light of day on March 31st, 2023.

|| Debemur Morti Productions ||

Website | EU shop | US shopFacebook | Bandcamp | Youtube | Instagram

Sweden’s UNPURE stream long-awaited INVICTUS / AJNA comeback album – features members of WATAIN, DEGIAL++

Today, Swedish black/death legends Unpure stream the entirety of their LONG-awaited fifth album, Prophecies Ablaze. Set for international release on March 31st as a joint release between Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive, hear Unpure‘s Prophecies Ablaze in its entirety here:

Sweden’s Unpure are the very definition of a CULT band. Formed in that fateful year of 1991, the band spread their black-leather wings across three demos before the momentous release of their self-titled debut album in 1995. A quiet classic that built in stature over the years to come, Unpure followed up the elevated primitivism of Unpure with three more albums over the next decade – a patience pace, yes, and a further refinement of their jet-black metal into something thrashier or at least more speed metalled but something truly Unpure. No “party blackthrash” here: always, the iron fist of vocalist/bassist Kolgrim guided their muse into occult waters, tastefully and trend-free. However, those waters largely stayed dormant aside from infrequent gigs, following the release of 2004’s World Collapse, with only a couple new songs arriving on a retrospective compilation…but the legend of Unpure continue to grow with each successive generation.

Now, Unpure are prepared to scale the throne that’s rightfully theirs with their long-awaited comeback album, Prophecies Ablaze. Although both men have been in the lineup since 2011, Unpure‘s fifth album marks the recorded arrival of two new guitarists, Watain’s Pelle Forsberg and Degial’s Hampus Eriksson, as well as erstwhile Degial drummer Emil Svensson (who joined the band in 2019), and their fire is immediately felt: Prophecies Ablaze is indeed aptly titled, for the intensity is sharp and seething and very much burning. A black/death conflagration as it were, Unpure‘s attack is upratcheted to an enviable degree, very much sounding like the same band that stoked legions for the past three decades but one that more so sounds impossibly incensed and almost youthful. Credit that to a seamless melding of songwriting and execution, where the former races with both grandeur and grime while the latter exudes lawless abandon and stoic clarity alike, altogether displaying a muscular brand of black METAL that’s as timeless as ever. And mention must be made of the production across Prophecies Ablaze: “razor-sharp” might be a meaningless cliche by now, but this recording’s razors are deadly precise and absolutely bloody!

No other words needed: Unpure have returned, and Prophecies Ablaze is every inch the record they needed to return with. With eyes to the sky and hearts inflamed, prepare for the benediction of classic Swedish darkness!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Unpure (Sweden)’s Prophecies Ablaze
1. Megalithic Gateways
2. Northern Sea Madness
3. Small Crooked Bones
4. The Witch Of Upsala
5. Beyond the Nightmares
6. His Wrath and the Red Soil
7. Prophecies Ablaze
8. Endtime Dictator

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pages/Unpure/202895433058748

www.invictusproductions.net
www.facebook.com/invictusproductions

www.theajnaoffensive.com

TSJUDER are releasing first track of new album “Helvegr” and kick off sales start!

Norwegian black metal legend TSJUDER is now unveiling the album details of their god defying new creation “Helvegr”, which will be released via Season of Mist on June 23, 2023.

In celebration, TSJUDER is releasing the very first track ‘Gods of Black Blood’, which comes in the form of an ice cold black metal music video and is available here:

Pre-orders for “Helvegr” are now available HERE, while the album can be pre-saved HERE.

TSJUDER comments: “Today Gods of Black Blood from our forthcoming album Helvegr is unleashed. This is raw Norwegian Black Metal! Choke on it!

The album will be released on various physical formats, such as cd digipack and coloured vinyl, but also limited edition clamshell box (cd) and LTD vinyl box.
These limited edition come with a bonus album “Scandinavian Black Metal Attack” in which TSJUDER pays a special ode to Bathory.

The cover artwork for “Helvegr” can be viewed together with the track-list and further album details below.

Artwork: Jonas Svensson and Laura Nardelli
Track-list:
1. Iron Beast (3:37)
2. Prestehammeren (4:01)
3. Surtr (6:59)
4. Gamle-Erik (3:46)
5. Chaos Fiend (4:02)
6. Gods of Black Blood (5:19) [WATCH HERE]
7. Helvegr (7:36)
8. Faenskap og Død (3:08)
9. Hvit Død (2:52)

Since their inception in 1993, Oslo’s TSJUDER have been responsible for some of the most hate-filled ferocity perpetrated under the banner of TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL.
 
The band’s unholy fire was initially lit when founding members NAG (vocals/bass), BERSERK (guitar) and DRAUGLUIN (guitar) grew weary of playing death metal and sought out engorged levels of extremity to sate their increasingly profane ambitions. The time was ripe to inaugurate a ceaseless campaign committed to an uncompromising strain of brutally raw black metal, influenced by the primal thrash blasts of Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, Sarcófago and early Sepultura; black metal first wave trailblazers such as Bathory and Hellhammer; and, most vitally, Mayhem’s seminal Deathcrush, and Darkthrone’s game-changer, A Blaze in the Northern Sky.

Assuming the TSJUDER name, a moniker plundered from a mythical, murderous Northern tribe, various embryonic line-ups gathered around the all-conquering core of Nag and Draugluin, laying the fearsome foundations for what was to follow with two demos – Ved Ferdens Ende and Possessed – recorded between 1995-96. But it was with 1997’s EP, Throne of the Goat, that the black metal underground really began to sit up and take notice, the release establishing TSJUDER’s reputation as a blasphemous bulldozer hellbent on crushing the insipid and nostalgic in relentless blizzards of sub-zero riffage, punitive blast beats and blood-curdling screams.

Recordings for an inaugural full-length in 1999 were lost to a computer virus, but from the scavenged remnants of these sessions would emerge the Atum Nocturnem demo, an obnoxious foretaste of the group’s debut album, Kill For Satan, an international breakthrough slathered in slime-encrusted sacrilege. That damnable release saw the aptly-named ANTI-CHRISTIAN open his TSJUDER account, the drummer blasting a succession of gateways though the underworld, pulverising a punitive march to the band’s malevolent maelstroms.

Demonic Possession (2002) and Desert Northern Hell (2004) sustained the band’s focus on death, devils and destruction, while ratcheting up the production levels on a barbaric brace of flesh-strippers conjuring a landscape of frost-bitten wastes and foul abyssal realms. With the music press busy dishing out plaudits, the band’s burgeoning confederacy of fanatics were becoming desperate for some TSJUDER live action. Heeding the clarion, the band embarked on a full European tour with fellow countrymen Carpathian Forest. They also recorded a pair of gloriously powerful live performances in 2005, in Norway, which would subsequently be documented on the group’s Norwegian Apocalypse DVD.

TSJUDER would take a deserved hiatus in 2006, with members finding other musical outlets for their creativity; Nag launching heretical black metal outfit KRYPT; Draugluin and Anti-Christian doing time with the thrashier TYRANN.

But it wouldn’t be long before the irresistible call of TSJUDER would exert itself once more. The band reconvened, reenergised and eager to make up for lost time, returning to live performances in 2010 before finally unleashing the mighty Legion Helvete (2011), a typically uncompromising comeback interspersed with pronounced Motörhead influences on punkish hyper-blasters such as ‘Slakt’.
It would be another four years before TSJUDER issued the merciless Antiliv (2015), a snarling lycanthropic howl of a record, heavy-loaded with vindictive black’n’roll swagger and lashings of buzzsaw guitar.   
 
TSJUDER quickly set about creating the follow-up to Antiliv, but musical differences and protracted disputes led to a parting of the ways, with Anti-Christian bowing out after an impressive 20-year tenure with the group. Undaunted, Nag and Draughluin enlisted doyen tub-thumper JON RICE to provide the requisite drum artillery and continued to work on new recordings – fine-tuning guitar tones and sharpening mixes.

Then COVID-19 struck, the pandemic further stymieing the album’s release as the world tumbled from its fragile axis. But humanity is now benignly settling into its most chronic phase of perpetual abnormality and TSJUDER are steeled again to hoist their inverted cross above the barricades of conciliation. Their latest opus, Helvegr, is a devastatingly savage offering, one which fully adheres to the band’s eternal credo of “NO FUCKING COMPROMISE”.     


Recording Line-up:
Nag – Bass & Vocals
Draugluin – Guitars & Vocals
Jon Rice – Drums

Guest musicians:
Guitar solo on ‘Gamle Erik’ by Pål Emanuelsen
Guest vocals on ‘Gods of Black Blood’ by Seidemann (1349)

After the departure of Anti-Christian, Jon Rice and Eivin Brye has shared the drum duties on TSJUDER ‘s live performances.

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/tsjuderofficial
https://www.instagram.com/officialtsjuder

Shop:https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/Tsjuder-HEL
Pre-save: https://shop.season-of-mist.com/list/tsjuder-helvegr

CLOAK Premieres crushing new single ‘Seven Thunders’

Blackened heavy metal masters CLOAK is now unveiling the crushing new single ‘Seven Thunders’, which is taken from their upcoming third full-length “Black Flame Eternal”! The song can be found along with a lyric video, which was created by CLOAK frontman Scott Taysom here:

CLOAK comments:
“The Lord thundered from Heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals.”A song based more in religious mythology and tradition, ‘Seven Thunders’ is a tale of the end times.”

‘Black Flame Eternal’ is due on May 26, 2023 and can be pre-saved across all streaming services HERE and pre-ordered HERE.

The album artwork for “Black Flame Eternal” was created by Jordan Barlow and can be found below along with the track list.

Tracklist:
01: Ethereal Fire (05:37)
02: With Fury and Allegiance (04:46)
03: Shadowlands (05:58)
04: Invictus (06:36) [WATCH]
05: Seven Thunders (05:49) [LISTEN]
06: Eye of the Abyss (05:06)
07: The Holy Dark (06:03)
08: Heavenless (02:57)
09: Black Flame Eternal (06:43)
Total Running Time: 00:49:35

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Rudyard Kipling

In an era that is designed to beat down and weaken the individual, Black Flame Eternal is an album that represents strength, empowerment, and total opposition. With mounting pressure to engage in modern societal tribalism, Cloak invokes a spiritual rebellion that exists beyond good and evil with album number three. 

“All of our albums are created with a spiritual focus, dealing with how we see life, death, and everything in between. I think the earlier records dealt more with the mysteries that surrounded delving deeper into the world of dark spirituality, whereas the new material has taken what we’ve learned and used it to move forward with force,” says Cloak frontman Scott Taysom of the record’s underlying philosophy. “Black Flame Eternal is a statement of spiritual empowerment in every sense. For the first time we want people to grasp on to this sentiment, instead of keeping it completely personal within our world of Cloak. The themes and the sheer power can be felt much more within the songs that this album contains.”

“Our goal is complete spiritual liberation, which is where true power and freedom exists,” he adds. “We’ve reached a point in history where people are forced to pick a side or to join a team, so to speak. Cloak stands in complete opposition to this. We aim to be a giant middle finger in the face of the empty modern world.”

While Cloak might rage against societal conventions, the Atlanta quartet embraces the rebellious and time-tested traditions of heavy metal. Whether it be the conjuring the chaotic spirit of Swedish black metal purveyors Watain and Dissection, summoning the deep, dark and sensual groove of Danzig, or evoking the raw speed and raucous energy of Motörhead, the influence of metal’s founding fathers is deep within Cloak’s DNA. Cloak’s charm, however, does not merely lie within its romanticism of the past, but rather is the way each of these genres has shaped Cloak’s own personal identity. And with Black Flame Eternal, the record sees Cloak continue to strengthen its own unique established sound.

Cloak recognizes the importance of a band’s third record, with Taysom explaining, “These influences will always be important to us, as they are some of the best and most important bands of our time. On the other hand, what is so special about getting to the third record of our career is that inspiration starts to move inwards. We had enough experience and material at this point to really know what we do best and how we can utilize these skills in the best way possible. If you look at some of the most iconic bands, their third albums were massive steps towards greatness. So to us, we feel our third record will be a very important one in our time as a band.”

The Atlantan’s evolution is evident in the fury displayed on Black Flame Eternal, which flawlessly compliments the grandiose melodic atmosphere. “This was a conscious effort. Early on before the album even started, I knew it was going to be a much more aggressive and powerful album. I wanted to take a step away from certain sounds and add a bit of brutality back in. The overall vibe matches who we are much more, so it was only fitting to move towards this sound. It almost feels like we are going back to our roots as people in certain ways,” explains Taysom.

Black Flame Eternal follows up sophomore effort The Burning Dawn, which was released in November 2019, with hell unleashing its fury on the globe just a few short months later. As plans to tour the new album around the world came to a screeching halt, the band did not stagger or falter, and instead used this gift of time to write. When reflecting upon the lost years and its impact, Taysom seemingly embraces the situation with little regrets, “Considering Cloak is a sacred space for us, these exterior things did not have as much of an impact as one might think. But it was impossible to ignore some of what was going on throughout these tumultuous years. It’s bound to affect people’s personal lives and the way the mind works during these interesting times. One thing that it did greatly affect was the fact that we could not promote The Burning Dawn properly after the one U.S. tour we did with 1349. We feel this hurt the record, but there was nothing we could do. We were one of the earliest out of the gate after venues started to open back up, and we’ve been continuing to tour in promotion of that album all the way up until now.”

Cloak utilized every minute of this time to focus on fully realizing its vision for Black Flame Eternal. “The initial stage of the writing process started in January of 2020, and lasted all the way until May 2021. It was the longest spanning album process for us so far, with many long days, nights, and weeks trying to piece the songs together the best we could.” While the record did not come together swiftly or easily, the care and attention put into its creation is evident in its powerful composition.

Making up for lost time, these road warriors have already embarked on several high profile North American tours since the autumn of 2021, commanding audiences in every major city with their chaos magick. Each performance merges the spirit of black metal with the backbone of rock ‘n’ roll as the band consistently delivers a blistering set from start to finish. Taysom describes Cloak’s live approach as “a mixture of ethereal atmosphere and total abrasive chaos. The mixture of these two opposing energies is where Cloak lies; the meeting of high and low. To us, this is where the most interesting moments happen, both emotionally and physically.”

With no borders or boundaries, Cloak is ready to embark on this new chapter as the leader of its own pack. The band bows to no one, forging its own path as one of the governing metal forces of this decade as ‘Black Flame Eternal’ promises to scorch the earth and leave its hallowed mark.

Lineup:
Scott Taysom – vocals/guitar
Max Brigham – guitar
Billy C. Robinson – bass
Sean Bruneau – drums

Links:
http://www.facebook.com/cloakofficial
https://www.instagram.com/cloak_atlanta/
https://cloakatlanta.bandcamp.com/

Pre-save:https://orcd.co/cloakbfe
Pre-order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/CloakBFE

Finland’s NIGHTSIDE set release date for PURITY THROUGH FIRE comeback recording, reveal first track

Today, Purity Through Fire announces April 22nd as the international release date for the comeback recording of Finland’s NightsideLions (Demo 2023), on CD format.

Finland’s Nightside were originally founded in 1996, in Turku. A cult band by nearly every definition, they soon set about a stream of short-length releases over the next three years, finally culminating in their 2001 debut album, The End of Christianity. Their sound was strikingly of the times, just as their native country was beginning to assert its dominance in the underground. However, by 2003, Nightside effectively split up and all members continued on with other bands.

Then, in 2021, Nightside returned with a new lineup that still contained two original members, and they played a comeback gig in early 2022 at the Turku Saatanalle fest. Soon after that, some new songs were written. Of them, the three new songs presented here on Nightside‘s comeback recording, Lions (Demo 2023), were performed live for the first time in early December 2022 and, a week after that, recorded as a demo to showcase what the band’s all about nowadays. However, to just qualify this recording as a “demo” is a grave disservice to the superlative quality contained within, not to mention sharpened, era-authentic production courtesy of Kryptamok‘s Hex Inferi. Indeed, the fire of old burns brighter than ever here; Lions could be a veritable throwback to the late ’90s, if not for the absolutely invigorating passion presented across the 13-minute recording, thereby rendering it fresher than most nowadays “black metal.” 

Mystical and magisterial and with grim splendor to spare, Lions is as auspicious of a comeback recording as any, and favorably foreshadows Nightside‘s eventual second album.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Gates of Hell” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Nightside (Finland)’s Lions (Demo 2023)
1. There Won’t Be Another Dawn
2. Lions
3. Gates of Hell

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/nightsideblackmetal

LAMP OF MURMUUR stream new ARGENTO / NOT KVLT album

Today, American black metallers Lamp of Murmuur stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Saturnian Bloodstorm. Set for international release on March 26th via Argento Records and Not Kvlt Records, hear Lamp of Murmuur‘s Saturnian Bloodstorm in its entirety here:

Since 2019, a spectral entity earthly summoned as Lamp of Murmuur gradually ascended as one of the furthermost esteemed and sought-after luminaries within the rawest, crudest innards of black metal. Such following and public awareness do not stand as a certitude merely grounded on good music.

In a niche that presently perceives clear signs of overabundance and counterfeit expression, Lamp of Murmuur prospered, particularly owing its opulence to a vision that didn’t establish itself after an easy pathway – one of exploring a microclimate towards exhaustion – instead displaying there were no guidelines for the artistic manifestation behind the distressing specter behind it.

From the raw lo-fi approach of the band’s beginnings to the gothic and melodic overtones trailed on recent times, Lamp of Murmuur redefines itself yet again with a fervorous new declaration of strength and vigor, a ghastly beast under the title Saturnian Bloodstorm

From its very early storming chords, one faces a frantic swaying of rabid riffs and intricate rhythm segments, a visceral trail of electrical magnetism. An ardent, restless voice narrates this offering with poisonous might and nocturnal fever conjoined with the six-string sharpness, expanded through a razor-sharp sound production, blazing with a dynamic edge, organically mixing cleanness and aggression in a mantra of potency and (un)pure fanaticism.

Inspired by the core edge and raging solemnity of black metal’s history, Saturnian Bloodstorm is as varied as it is organic, offering tumultuous instrumental proficiency under fast, raging bursts of sonic aggression intertwined with brilliant mid-tempo sections, ever epic and ice-cold in its riffing extravaganza.

Set to be released through Argento (Europe) and Not Kvlt (USA), Saturnian Bloodstorm stands as an opus of black metal might, hailing The Seven Spears of Fever with raging chaos, an eternal spark of flaming delight. [text by Mário Souto]

Cover artwork, courtesy of Karmazid, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Lamp of Murmuur’s Saturnian Bloodstorm

1. Conqueror Beyond the Frenzied Fog [6:59]
2. Hymns of Death, Rays of Might [7:46]
3. Seal of the Dominator [6:46]
4. Descending From the Aurora [1:03]
5. In Communion With the Wintermoon [8:19]
6. Saturnian Bloodstorm [9:08]

MORE INFO:
www.lampofmurmuur.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/argentorecords
www.wolvesofhades.myshopify.com