Five weeks before the release of DØDSENGEL‘s fifth album, “Bab Al On“, the Norwegian Black Metal duo presents a second sinister invocation. In collaboration with Decibel, Debemur Morti Productions proudly premiere ‘In the Heart of the World‘, an over nine-minute-
After an eerie Ambient introduction, ‘In the Heart of the World‘ displays mesmeric mid-tempo passages, completed by obscure chants and Black Metal screams. DØDSENGEL vividly add layer after layer to the song, slowly building a thick as well as arcane atmosphere.Kark comments on the compositional process:
“This song started out being based on more or less a single melody I had written quite some time ago as a somewhat abstract idea, but still with a graspable direction and feel to it. The structural skeleton of the track gradually got clad in flesh with time, where bits and pieces fell into place with swanlike elegance. The song’s climax is one of our heaviest ever, in every aspect.“
M.A. narrates about the lyrical dimension:
“In my tradition, we have an idea of the Angel or Daimon, a representative of your True Will and inmost being. I felt like I had lost myself in life, and endured months and months of dry spells and tedious gray dull despair. Then, absurdly, I had a moment where I relived an experience of unity with that luminous being. Seemingly for no reason at all, everything was right, and I was bursting with energy, creativity, and presence. I tried to express this feeling of experiencing the true will, then getting lost in your own life and gradually losing more and more of that connection, and then, suddenly and absurdly, being there again. I am not sure I succeeded, but I have grown to truly love this song and the dance between Lover and Beloved that it tries to express.“
“Bab Al On” will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally including merchandising via Debemur Morti Productions on December 16th. Pre-orders for all items via the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp shops are possible. The exclusive DMP edition is solely available via the label’s EU and Bandcamp stores.
Translating to “angel of death,” Norway’s DØDSENGEL has possessed a style of their own since day one. Refusing to conform to genre trends or conventions, they follow their own path. Dissonant, atonal chords and churning black metal riffs craft an undercurrent to a one of a kind vocal performance. Ghastly shrieks, bestial growls, desperate wails, and majestic opera chants sing the song of a devilish carnival, twisting and turning beyond definition. What cannot be defined cannot be contained, and the pairing of DØDSENGEL and Debemur Morti Productions assures nothing but a future of even further demented opuses to be brought to bear.
Five years after the first collaborative fruit, “Interequinox” (2017), was given birth, DØDSENGEL channel their energies into eleven Thelemic hymns. “Bab Al On” will be released on December 16th, 2022.
On December 16th internationally, Into Endless Chaos Records is proud to present Nigrum‘s highly anticipated debut album, Elevenfold Tail.
In 2015, Nigrum was born from fire, from snake-infested tunnels and ravenous worship of death – there, where ancient stones are inspirited by bone-breaking and incessant ecstatic dances. From the mists of the central Mexican highlands and the pyramid temples of Quetzalcoatl that lie there came a turbid and sinuous path that took shape in the form of black metal.
After the first years of this journey, marked by hard strife and constant changes, the cutting obsidian breeze of the Serpent brought Nigrum to Scandinavian shores. After laying the past to rest, a new gathering of members was established in the south of Sweden. It was consecrated by the recording of a three-track demo named Cremer Igne, translated from Latin to “The Undying Fires.” It was recorded by the band in early 2020 and released later that same year by Tour de Garde. As that year was turning to an end, the band had its first live appearances in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany in its shifted shape after years of silence.
The spiritual and creative processes that guided Nigrum culminated in, and were crowned by, the recording of their debut album. Titled Elevenfold Tail, Nigrum‘s first full-length strike is a serpentine one: clear and cutting in its cunning, but given to hideous energies that always threaten to bubble over into hysteria. Nigrum‘s black metal here simultaneously sounds vintage and modern, with foundation stones faint – both North and South reside on their compass – and no trendiness pursued for cheap absorption. Rather, Elevenfold Tail unlocks its secrets slowly, subtly, almost sensually…although, again, that elemental fire is always burning and always threatening to consume the listener. As such, Nigrum‘s songwriting and execution both put a premium on delayed-gratification dynamics; aura and atmosphere likewise exist in (dis)harmony with that songwriting and execution, coalescing into a cob-webbed, bug-eyed album-length experience. The ritual dagger flashes, and seals your fate…
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Per Sepulchra Regionum” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nigrum’s Elevenfold Tail 1. Prologue 2. Haunting Fields 3. Ea Quae Sanguinem Bibit 4. Per Sepulchra Regionum 5. Murderer, Dweller 6. In Nocte Consilium 7. Reaching Arms Beyond 8. Eleven Feathered Tempest 9. Serpent’s Tribe 10. Epilogue 11. Apparition
“Distant Kingdoms” is the opening track taken from Depressive Witches’upcoming album “Distant Kingdoms”, due for release on November 25th, 2022 via Wormholedeath worldwide.
The band speaking of the album, stated:“We are excited to reveal this new album, which is the perfect mix of our main influences: black’n’roll, heavy metal, and classic rock. Music is perfectly serving the album theme, which is focused on epicness, battles, and exploration of new worlds, as we did for songwriting. “Distant Kingdoms” is a black metal album with so many influences, really rare in this genre. We kept our punky sound and mixed it with folk melodies, always with this “in your face” style, this is why fans loved the first album. We see being a duo band as an intense and intimate way to play music, and not a reduction of sound diversity, so we’re not afraid to mix every sound we love.” Even just being two musicians on stage, they leave nothing behind and can fill out the space with their massive sound and dynamic energy.
Black Metal band Depressive Witches was formed in 2018 in Picardy, France by brothers Sick Bab (Baptiste Robert) on vocals and guitar, and Torvuus (Paul Robert) on guitars and drums. Linked by both blood and a passion for black and extreme metal, creating music together was only natural. In 2021, they released their debut album “Bad Flask”, which leaned heavily into the traditional black metal influences of the duo and contained lyrical themes revolving around witchcraft, curses, and epic fights. The release was recorded by Jonas Sanders & Ivan Houben, and mixed/mastered by Jonas Sanders at Blackout Studio, in Brussels. 2022 witnesses a new album from the band “Distant Kingdoms” again recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jonas Sänders. In contrast to the first album, it pays homage to its rock influences and contains more solos and clean vocals. An anomaly in the black metal scene, it is a mix of black metal, punk, heavy metal, joyful & darkened riffs, like black’n’roll but more festive and epic. Lyrically it looks into adventures, magic battles/war, and high fantasy which take inspiration from RPG video games with medieval themes, nature, and black magic.
Line up : Sick Bab – vocals, guitars Torvuus – drums, guitars, vocals
Ukrainian black metal stalwart DRUDKH is now streaming the album ‘All Belong To The Night’ in advance of the release date. Their new full-length can be listened to here:
The album is set for worldwide release on 11th of November 2022 via Season of Mist and can be pre-saved HERE. Pre-orders for “All Belong to the Night” are live HERE.
Please note: DRUDKH do not play live, do not give any interviews and do not provide band pictures.
DRUDKH have furthermore revealed the cover artwork and album info which can be found below.
Tracklisting: 1. The Nocturnal One/ Нічний (10.23) (WATCH) 2. Windmills/ Нічний (11.30) 3. November/ Листопад (8.25) (WATCH) 4. Till We Become the Haze/ Поки Зникнем у Млі (15.32)
The year is 2022. Pop culture has decayed to the point where social media platforms set the narrative and by the sheer force of ubiquity, rule the day. On a recent popular television show, heavy metal devotees were portrayed and once again, nothing has changed. Despite all of its nuance, ‘metalheads’ are still the quaint, anachronistic, congenial oafs they were thought to be in the 1980’s. Social media then faithfully broadcasts the fad of the moment to everyone. And while all of that may be harmless, one would have to search long and hard for a genre of music that more seriously reckons the larger questions of the human condition than metal and all that falls beneath its banner. Sometimes these themes are encountered in broad strokes, the threads of stories teased and tugged from the weave of history as a whole. A bit rarer, but no less engaging, come glimpses through the lenses of nations, into the cultural realities of struggles far beyond what memes or profile filters can evince.
Enter the work of Roman Saenko, the man behind the universe that is the band DRUDKH. As productive as they are secretive, this entity emerged from Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2002, coalescing from earlier forms such as Blood of Kingu, Hate Forest, and Astrofaes to blend the trappings of black metal into a Slavonic tapestry of sound unique to them. Twenty years hence, already with a library of acclaimed work to their name, DRUDKH is releasing their eleventh studio album entitled All Belong To The Night. They are doing this from a homeland flush with uncertainty, embroiled in a political tug-of-war with which it’s people are all too familiar.
For DRUDKH, immersion into regional struggle is nothing new. Saenko’s grasp on it forms the underpinnings of much of his work. And what’s more, he lives within its very crucible. There is no comfortable distance from which he can compose, and we can only guess what it is like to work from the inside of such a sphere of potential violence. The music of DRUDKH has always done the talking, so much so that Saenko’s established boundaries around his art have never been breached. Like Darkthrone and Falkenbach, there are no live shows. Unlike Mgla, Gaerea, and Uada, there are not even figures behind masks for our imaginations to hinge upon.
But there is a soul in the music of DRUDKH. A longing spirit, akin to the original blueprint of black metal to whom anonymity was so fundamental. Corpse-painted people shrouded in gloom, bearing mythic monikers instead of their given names, helped to establish that otherness that made black metal so appealing to the few who were willing to follow it. DRUDKH takes this several steps further, and the history from which they draw inspiration is far closer to our now than the medieval darkness of old.
Of course, simple enjoyment of DRUDKH’s music for its own sake is both permissible and possible, as a band who provides little insight beyond recorded output leaves non-Ukrainian fans little choice. Lyrics that are rarely printed or translated, song titles expressed in native tongue; beyond exceptions such as “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (from 2005’s Blood In Our Wells) leave much to be guessed at for those who wish to go deeper. And unlike the aforementioned 80’s metal fan trope, those who seek this music will at the very least wonder about what is going on beneath the surface. Many more will delve these depths.
Inevitably, many will cast judgment upon Saenko’s vision. Many have, and from the cushy viewpoint of fans in the West, it is amusing to watch the keyboard class pivot from casting aspersions on Saenko’s Ukrainian nationalism to celebrating it, especially when the latter impulse appears to have been beckoned by their big-tech overlords. This is not to say that there isn’t a ton of genuine sympathy for the plight of Ukrainians. There is, but the journey undertaken with this album is not married to ‘the current thing.’ As on past works, what Saenko appears to be saying on All Belong To The Night eclipses the flimsiness of trends
For those willing to go deeper, Saenko once more brings to life the voices of Ukrainian past on “The Nocturnal One,” the new album’s opening epic and statement-maker. Based at least in part upon the work of Yakiv Savchenko, and his poem “The Victims Of The Nocturnal One,” this tempered piece hones in on feelings of despair and the encroaching darkness which beset Ukraine during his lifetime. Executed by the regime of Joseph Stalin in 1937, Savchenko’s poetry cannot help but resonate once again, coaxed into consciousness by the empire camped today upon Ukrainian soil. The names change, but the feeling of being beset does not. Featuring sedate midsections with proggy bass guitar, the listener is offered respite from the tortured screams and passion of ever-present vocalist Thurios. The song takes its time, unfurling in cold grandeur with plenty of sonic surprises layered into its breadth.
The pursuit of understanding through myth is called into being on fifteen-minute endcap “Till We Become The Haze.” This is also based upon the work of Savchenko. Rolling along at midtempo, it too offers contemplative oases of inspirational tension-building. As most of the people who will consume this music do not sit poised at the edge of a war, it offers of course the cinematic atmosphere DRUDKH is so good at evoking. Fans of competing disciplines of extreme music will find much that is appealing here, as the melding of black metal, prog, and traditional heavy metal offers the connoisseur a little bit of everything
In the meat of the album, “Windmills” departs with the conventional. It begins with a melancholic chant, painting monochrome hellscapes of displaced village folk, wandering from danger into danger. But is there not perseverance layered into these notes and phrases? Can we not detect a throb of defiance in the lush guitar tones and Thurios’ caustic growls? The pounding drums, courtesy of Vlad, remind us that DRUDKH is at its heart from the realm of black metal, and this crescendo of pulse-raising speed comes laden with a melodic lead section that communicates beyond the limit of language something Saenko is offering to the world and his people – hope.
“November” is the third movement in the album, and DRUDKH marries their raging heart with sections of a doomy, yet whimsical nature, vaguely reminiscent of something My Dying Bride might do. As with the rest of the album, DRUDKH is melding a plethora of moods and textures into their sound. As is their nature, they defy categorization, making art that is as timeless as the strife and romanticism of the Ukrainian people. All Belong To The Night belongs to everyone who fights invading forces, be they tangible or otherwise, because somewhere in all of our histories our ancestors had to unite before struggle and woe, and it is this which shapes us as people. DRUDKH will therefore always resonate, long after the algorithms direct our collective attention elsewhere.
Atmospheric black metal project WOODS OF DESOLATION is now sharing the third new single from the offering, “Illumination,”. The track is taken from its new full-length, ‘The Falling Tide,’ which is due for worldwide release on December 9 via Season of Mist, making its debut to the label!
“Illumination” can be heard here:
WOODS OF DESOLATION comments, “‘Illumination’ is a song with layered meaning. As this was the first song written for the new album, the lyrics may also simultaneously offer some ‘illumination’ to the concept behind the preceding Woods of Desolation album, ‘As The Stars.'”
‘The Falling Tide’ is available for pre-order HERE. Pre-save on your favorite streaming service HERE.
The cover artwork was created by Lucas Ruggieri and can be found below along with the tracklist!
Tracklisting: 01. Far From Here (07:02) [WATCH] 02. Beneath a Sea of Stars (07:23) 03. Illumination (05:01) [LISTEN] 04. The Falling Tide (06:32) [LISTEN] 05. The Passing… (03:45) 06. Anew (06:39) Total Duration (36:22)
Australian visionary Woods of Desolation returns with The Falling Tide, a bewitching crescendo of atmospheric black metal and post metal elements. Unlike the act’s Australian contemporaries who are known for their raw, unrefined grit, Woods of Desolation takes a different approach, showcasing the genre’s beauty and elegance with their grand melodic passages and radiant aura.
Formed by multi-instrumentalist D. in 2005, the project started as a means for personal expression through music. Firmly built upon this ethos, a series of demo recordings garnered attention and a solid following within underground black metal circles worldwide. Continually evolving and working with different guest musicians in pursuit of new artistic territory, D. began to showcase his talent for crafting melancholic, yet at times uplifting, melodies on the debut album Toward the Depths (2008), further refining it on the Sorh EP (2009) and the influential sophomore full-length Torn Beyond Reason (2011).
In 2014, Woods of Desolation released the critically acclaimed third full-length As the Stars, receiving strong placements on Decibel’s “Top 40 Albums of 2014” and Stereogum’s “50 Best Albums of 2014” list. This album saw D. further introduce a wider array of musical influences, such as post rock and shoegaze, into his unique take on black metal, becoming one of the main protagonists in what would become the burgeoning genre of post black metal. Additionally, lyrical themes were expanded beyond what had come before – nature, life, sorrow – now personally exploring the metaphysical aspects of spirituality and the afterlife.
In the intervening years that followed, D. created and worked on two new black metal projects Remete & Unfelled, simultaneously writing and developing material for the next Woods of Desolation full-length. In 2021, finally ready, D. teamed up with Vlad (Drudkh, Windswept) on drums & keys to record The Falling Tide, the long-awaited follow-up to As the Stars.
This forthcoming album sees the musical palette of D. and WOODS OF DESOLATION continue to grow, exploring higher peaks, deeper depths, all the while maintaining honest artistic expression, unfettered and free – remaining ever faithful to those principles that lead the way all those years ago.
Lineup: D. – Guitars, Bass, Vocals Vlad – Drums, Keyboards
Today, Signal Rex announces December 21st as the international release date for Absolute Key‘s highly anticipated fifth album, The Third Level of Decay, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Absolute Key is another, magickal work of Antti Klemi, vocalist/lyricist for the ever-singular Circle of Ouroborus and editor of the esteemed Kaleidoscope zine. While one could make faint comparisons here to Circle of Ouroborus, Absolute Key is very much its own entity, and has proven as much over their feverish discography the last three years.
As Klemi explains, “The name of the album refers to a vision I had in a dream. There were three levels of death – the physical one, the spiritual one, and then the final death where even death is dissolved. No memories, no grieving, no other sides. Just nothing.”
Continuing about the lyrics, he says, “The themes of death and decay are strong on this album in general, too. It’s observing for example how death is present in our everyday life – it’s oozing from the dark corners, from hidden angles and behind cellar doors. There is a poem by Finnish poet Eino Leino, where the main character is seeing death and demons everywhere and he wants to die, but even his dead ancestors are rejecting him. In the end, he gets his peace just by accepting these horrors around him. Some days are better and some worse, but he relies on those better ones. This is maybe the main message of The Third Level of Decay.”
Absolute Key are just as challenging musically as they are lyrically. “Musically, this album sprung from an idea of totally bleak and monotonous industrial/black metal hybrid, driven by simple, repetitive drumbeats and cold synth/guitar riffs,” Klemi explains. “With time, these songs took many twists and turns, layers were laden one after another, and the labyrinth grew more complex and serpentine. So, The Third Level of Decay is play between two elements – blunt, primitive, and ‘physical’ core and spectral, unconscious, and ‘spiritual’ details. And that third level, death of deaths, humming over this all.”
To celebrate the release of The Third Level of Decay, Absolute Key will be making its live debut at this year’s Invicta Requiem Mass festival, curated as always by Signal Rex. Drown in layers of sonic defiance!
Begin drowning with the brand-new track “A Hidden Angle” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Absolute Key’s The Third Level of Decay 1. A Hidden Angle 2. A Wrecked Spine 3. Closer, Further 4. Flakes of Ash 5. The Cellar Door 6. The Third Level of Decay
Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces January 13th, 2023 as the international release date for Cursed Excruciation‘s striking debut album, Arcane Diabolism, on vinyl LP format.
Hailing from Brazil and forming in 2020, Cursed Excruciation is the sole work of one Trance of the Undead, who antagonized trendies last year with his selfsame Trance of the Undead project’s Chalice of Disease debut album via Iron Bonehead. Whereas that band hails the banner of malodorous black/death, Cursed Excruciation is an expurse of sonic sodomy from southern climes circa 1993 – specifically, landmark records like Necromantia’s Crossing the Fiery Path and Mystifier’s Göetia. And yet, whereas black metal as an artform and culture owes so much to those two albums, time has proven that they’re incredibly difficult to replicate, be it songwriting, production, or especially aura.
Enter Cursed Excruciation‘s debut full-length, Arcane Diabolism. Making good on the promise of two demos last year, Trance of the Undead somehow manages to channel the aura of both aforementioned landmarks simultaneously – and, in the process, reveal an identity all his own. Hulking and lurking, surging sulphurously with a primal power that’s exceptionally nuanced, Arcane Diabolism is truly titled: literally Olde Worlde is this black metal, entrancing as it is engaging. Cursed Excruciation cast spells at once ugly and ceremonial, seemingly crude in their dungeonic plunge but transcendental in final effect; physicality is real and wielded freely, just as it was in those fiery days of the early ’90s. Unshackled from orthodoxy but bound by the Devil’s power, all the witches will dance when Cursed Excruciation speak their Arcane Diabolism.
Begin speaking with the brand-new track “The Sorcerer of Antioch” here:
Tracklisting for Cursed Excruciation’s Arcane Diabolism 1. The Call… (Intro) 2. Initiation (The Oath of Darkness) 3. Goetic Glorification 4. The Sorcerer of Antioch 5. Daughters of Nyx 6. Beast of Fire 7. Black Altar Sacrifice 8. The Rapture (Outro)
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX are proud to unveil their brand new music video for ‘Bonefire’, which is taken from the band’s freshly released album ‘Banefyre’. The new offering can now be viewed here:
The band comment on the video: “We gift to you a musical curse on the miserable ruling class politicians! Again, working with Guilherme was a total pleasure and a complete win. He got the vibe and the intensity spot on. Plus, he raised the bar a whole lot with production value, so what we have is basically a little cult horror film, telling the story of Bonefire. The ruling class getting some just karma in the flames.“ The album can still be ordered from the Season of Mist shop HERE. The album can be streamed on your favourite platform HERE.
The cover artwork of ‘Banefyre’ and further album details can be viewed below!
Track-list 1. Intro/Incantation For The Different (2:49) 2. Wyches And Basterdz (4:57) 3. Ghostland (5:43) 4. The Reckoning (6:49) 5. Bonefire (4:36) [WATCH] 6. Rose Of Jericho (13:47) 7. Blackout77 (7:37) [WATCH] 8. Down The Rabbit Hole (10:32) 9. Everything Is Beautiful But Us (4:36) [WATCH] 10. The Pilgrim (6:19) 11. I’m OK, Just Not Alright (10:05) 12. The Scene Is A False Prophet (15:13) 13. No Regrets (4:30)
The thread that binds CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX’s bold and towering discography — a dozen studio albums, a half-dozen mini-albums, a handful of compilations and swaths of bootlegs — could not be more apropos circa 2022. Since its 2004 creation by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Justin Greaves, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX has served as the voice for the voiceless, whether it be animals, the unequal and the different. Greaves and longstanding vocalist and lyricist Belinda Kordic have often proffered that these beings cannot fend for themselves. Henceforth, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX’s mission has been to shed light on the human condition and the inequalities that befall humankind and its creatures. Their battle marches on with their latest studio album, Banefyre.
Banefyre follows 2020’s Ellengæst — an effort that found CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX employ a series of notable guest vocalists alongside Kordic, prompting Metal Hammer to describe it as their “most cohesive and emotionally devastating record.” Kordic is now paired with Swedish vocalist Joel Segerstedt, who made his CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX debut last year via the “Painful Reminder/Dead is Dead” single. Piano, synth and trumpet player Helen Stanley and additional guitarist Andy Taylor complete the lineup. Greaves says Stanley and Taylor “fit so well creatively,” which has made CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX feel like a band when making plans and decisions.
Also central to this is Segerstedt. According to Kordic, the vocalist and lyricist lives a mere five minutes from her in Sweden and has quickly integrated himself into the band. “What I like about Joel is that he’s a good person,” she says. “There’s no fakeness with him; he has cajones. He’s not a bitch-talker, either. I can’t handle people who don’t have a backbone, but Joel is real and can speak his mind.”
“I like how Joel has come in and spoke for himself,” adds Greaves. “He’s in the band for the right reasons. I see him the same way as Belinda — she took an interest in the whole artistic thing behind CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, like the vocals, lyrics, artwork and aesthetic. It’s the same with Joel. He has taken an interest in all of those things. In the past, we had people who didn’t contribute artistically and only cared about what they got out of the band. But Joel is really proactive and takes the initiative.”
Greaves assembled 13 songs (including “No Regrets,” a bonus track for his new project with Kordic, Johnny the Boy) imbued with the depth and introspection that will reinforce CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX’s standing as a band that defies genre. The album was tracked at Chapel Studios in South Thoresby, Lincolnshire, with vocals cut at Monolith Studio and Kapsylen Studio in Stockholm, Sweden. Kurt Ballou handled mixing in GodCity Studios in Salem, Massachusetts — a pivotal move in determining the album’s overall sound.
“I love the album so much because it was a different approach with the production,” says Greaves. “For my part, it was a little bit of a reaction. I didn’t want to do the same warm, safe CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX album. I’m aware that when we did [2012’s] I, Vigilante, everyone wanted I, Vigilante again. As it so often happens with this band, people complain about the next one, then grow into it. Ellengæst is like I, Vigilante. It’s a shorter album. It hit the mark and was done really well, but everyone will expect another Ellengæst. I feared that, but I care enough not to make another Ellengæst. It’s the right thing to do. That’s why we got Kurt to mix it — we wanted that analog, raw power. Even though the album has mellow moments, those are edgy as well. We just didn’t want to do the same album twice. We’re never going to be a band that people can rely on.”
Greaves’ summation of his band notwithstanding, his distinctive guitar playing and enduring knack for immersive songwriting is the propellent behind the haunting, chant-laden “Ghostland,” pensive “The Reckoning” and forlorn “Everything is Beautiful but Us,” the band’s spot-on analysis of the retreat of humankind indoors during the pandemic that revealed nature’s priceless beauty. The album is also stocked with no less than four ten-minute-plus cuts (“Rose of Jericho,” “Down the Rabbit Hole,” “I’m Okay, Just Not Alright” and “The Scene is a False Prophet”) that are intermixed with drama and melancholy.
It all ties into Banefyre’s central theme of the persecution of people who are deemed “different” by society. The album title is a play on the song “Bonefire” that Kordic named and wrote lyrics for. In classic CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX fashion, Greaves turned it into the Olde English translation to represent the bonfires that engulfed witches and politicians through the 15th and 18th centuries, hence, the name Banefyre.
The album begins with “Incantation for the Different,” which was written and orated by Chicago-based witch, artist, author and occultist Shane Bugbee, who, according to Greaves, “brought us some positive, dark energy.” Banefyre then delves into the Salem Witch Trials (“Wyches and Basterdz”), fox hunting in Great Britain (“The Reckoning”), politicians of an unscrupulous and dishonest kind (“Bonefire”) and the New York City Blackout of 1977 (“Blackout77”).
Greaves says Banefyre’s topics may have a decidedly negative and pessimistic tone, but a glimmer of hope and joy remains. “There’s always the random bits, but overall, Banefyre is about the people who have suffered because they are different. The album covers inequality and oppression, like ‘Incantation for the Different,’ which is about overcoming when you’re put down because you’re not like everyone else.”
In true CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX fashion, the Lucy Marshall-created Banefyre cover leaves plenty to the imagination, depicting four animals seated at a table — interacting and dressed like human beings. “It’s sort of like Planet of the Apes showing what animals could do to humans,” says Greaves. “The cover was specially commissioned and is unique to the album. It’s incorporating all the classic CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX elements with the love for animals and twisting the narrative around.”
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX’s reputation was built on the back of their studio albums and live shows. The pandemic prevented the band from supporting Ellengæst, but it did provide them additional time to bring in new members to their live configuration.
“We’ve done one show since 2019,” says Greaves. “We are going to do something in Europe this year. Hopefully, we can get back on track. We’re also going to do something in the States — that’s not just talk, we’re actually going to do it. It’s well overdue. The live band is fucking amazing. We have the five of us and now we have Jordi [Farré] on drums, Paco [Fleischfresser] on synth and a really good friend of mine, Matt Crawford on bass.
“We did the Leipzig show and even though the rehearsals were better than the show itself, that lineup, our live band, is so good. Because we haven’t been under pressure to put a live band together since 2019 and spent so long talking to people, we’ve got a better band from those results. Out of disaster, we’ve got quite a good, positive thing.”
Line-up Justin Greaves : Guitars, Drums, Bass, Samples, Saw Belinda Kordic : Vocals, Percussions Helen Stanley : Grand Piano, Synthesisers, Monochord, Trumpet Andy Taylor : Guitar, Baritone Guitar, 12 String Guitar Joel Segerstedt: Vocals, Guitar
In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, Memento Mori are extremely thrilled to announce a new signing: Formless Oedon, from the Philippines.
Formless Oedon came into being in late 2019 when founder/songwriter Rozel decided to re-ignite an old project that he had envisioned way back in 2014, which he later put on hiatus after facing difficulties in finding dedicated bandmates with the same passion for death metal. The band was originally started as a three-piece act comprised of fellow bandmates Jonathan and Andrei from local thrash metal group Desolator. The band owes much of their style and sound to old Finnish bands such as Demigod, Purtenance, Rippikoulu, and Convulse and other legendary bands including (but not limited to) Incantation, Dead Congregation, and Immolation. An EP titled Deathless Luminosity was recorded in December 2019 and released in March 2020, during the peak of the pandemic in their country. The EP garnered the attention of the underground scene in their home country as well as overseas. With nationwide borders finally relaxing restrictions and live shows slowly returning to life, the band now aims to finally carve their piece of sonic history into the scene by releasing their debut album, actively playing live shows, and taking the underground by storm.
Memento Mori will unleash the CD version of their debut full-length on April 24th, 2023. Further details to follow in the coming months. For more info, consult the links below.
Today, horror metal occultists Vaultwraith reveal the new track “Of Skeletons and Metal.” The track is the first to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated third album, Decomposing Spells, which should see release by year’s end via Hells Headbangers. Hear Vaultwraith‘s “Of Skeletons and Metal” in its entirety here:
After being locked away and condemned from humanity for what seemed like an eternity, the vile and mad apparition-musician, The Vaultwraith, returns yet again with nothing but the ultimate revenge and vengeance on his foul and diseased mind!
His skeletal hands clawed through an ancient compendium of dark horror stories culled from the most frighteningly EVIL depths that included the diabolically devilish “Mabille de Lancre,” a femme-FATAL death-queen of the highest order, as well as a carnivorous coven of wicked perversions and pure Satanic slavery! A hell on mortal Earth comes to life in the tale of a family destroyed by a self-righteous lunatic who kills in the name of her “Lord,” while a deceptively beautiful but ultra-violent seductress strikes down her weak prey with a mighty stroke of a blood-drenched scythe to satiate her midnight lusts!
The terror-tales continue when a ghastly spirit from beyond traps the soul of pure innocence in one of the darkest ghost stories ever told, all before a possessed hearse hauntress, a necro-obsessed Succubus, and the Vaultwraith‘s rising of an undead army of skeleton warriors determined to annihilate existence brings everything to a final conflagration of flames…
With a true European-horror atmosphere and metallic-laced riffs conjuring BLACKENED HEAVY METAL, complete with Exorcist-vomiting and shrieking vocals from HELL, Vaultwraith’s third album, Decomposing Spells, is a 10-track album filled with nothing but the most catchy, memorable, and melodic guitar-solo-drenched songs of pure SKELETONIZED HORROR METAL that you can possibly imagine! From the infamous Hells Headbangers…the record label that IS proof of the Devil’s power!
Release date, cover, and tracklisting for Decomposing Spells to be revealed shortly. For more info, consult the links below.
