BLACK FUNERAL

BLACK FUNERAL stream new IRON BONEHEAD album

Today, legendary American black metal cult Black Funeral stream the entirety of their highly anticipated tenth album, Scourge of Lamashtu.
Set for international release on July 3rd via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Black Funeral‘s Scourge of Lamashtu in its entirety here:
By now, Black Funeral require no introduction. One of the very first American black metal bands, Black Funeral have been long led by the magickal hand of Michael Ford AKA Akhtya Nachttoter, who has concurrently garnered international respect as a leading author on Luciferianism and occultism. Although many lineups have come and gone since the band’s pioneering days of the mid ’90s, Black Funeral found its strongest formation yet with Ankou and the Death Fire – released in 2016 by longtime fans Iron Bonehead – which includes Drowning the Light mastermind Azgorh Drakenhof handling guitar, bass, and keyboards. Two years later followed the mini-album The Dust and the Darkness, also courtesy of Iron Bonehead, showing that this partnership truly brimmed with the fires of creation…and destruction.

Now arrives Scourge of Lamashtu, a Black Magickial sonic invocation of the Seven Udug-hul, Vampyric Deities and Lil-demons of ancient Babylonia. May our kišpe (witchcraft) call forth acasual and abyss-dreaming powers and the pandemonium of Lamashtu, Pazuzu, Nergal, lilû, lilitu, kiskilili and vampyric demonic dead, the emmu. Black Funeral aligns in a underworldly wave of cacophonic disharmony uniting cold black metal with dark ambient soundscapes composed from sounds of desert winds, sands, wilderness, mountains, storms, owls, wolves, and ravens to authentically represent the demons, deities, and ghostly dead within this album.

Black Funeral opens ancient, sand-worn tombs and reconstructs the rituals of kaššaputu (sorcery, black magic), demonology, and vampyrism of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and the Ur III (Sumerian) periods of Mesopotamia. The entirety of this recording is centered around malefic demons, rebel-deities, and the vampyric ghosts which still haunt this world. Incantations and spells translated from 8th Century B.C.E. Akkadian compose the core of lyrics. The Seven Udug-hul (utukku) Demons and rebel gods are structured in incantations of seven names, interconnected with Lamashtu, Lilith, and the malicious types of Udug-hul (translating “evil,” “hul” is also formerly spelled as “xul”) demons whose number is legion and drinks the blood (and souls) of human prey.

Boundless, eternal, defiant as ever: Black Funeral call forth the Scourge of Lamashtu!

Cover art, courtesy of Scourge Art, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Black Funeral’s Scourge of Lamashtu
1. Kassaptu Lemuttu
2. The Vampyric Rabisu at the Threshold
3. Nergal (Lord who Prowls by Night)
4. Seven Udug-Hul
5. Scourge of Lamashtu (She who Strangles the Lamb)
6. Gidim Hul (Bloodthirst of the Demonic Dead)
7. Pazuzu King of the Lilu-Demons
BLACK FUNERAL lineup 2020
Akhtya Nachttoter – Howling, Incantations, Black Ambient Soundscapes
Azgorh Drakenhof – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
An Unnamed Spirit – Drums

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/akhtya
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

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

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets July 3rd as the international release date for Black Funeral‘s highly anticipated tenth album, Scourge of Lamashtu, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

By now, Black Funeral require no introduction. One of the very first American black metal bands, Black Funeral have been long led by the magickal hand of Michael Ford AKA Akhtya Nachttoter, who has concurrently garnered international respect as a leading author on Luciferianism and occultism. Although many lineups have come and gone since the band’s pioneering days of the mid ’90s, Black Funeral found its strongest formation yet with Ankou and the Death Fire – released in 2016 by longtime fans Iron Bonehead – which includes Drowning the Light mastermind Azgorh Drakenhof handling guitar, bass, and keyboards. Two years later followed the mini-album The Dust and the Darkness, also courtesy of Iron Bonehead, showing that this partnership truly brimmed with the fires of creation…and destruction.

Now arrives Scourge of Lamashtu, a Black Magickial sonic invocation of the Seven Udug-hul, Vampyric Deities and Lil-demons of ancient Babylonia. May our kišpe (witchcraft) call forth acasual and abyss-dreaming powers and the pandemonium of Lamashtu, Pazuzu, Nergal, lilû, lilitu, kiskilili and vampyric demonic dead, the emmu. Black Funeral aligns in a underworldly wave of cacophonic disharmony uniting cold black metal with dark ambient soundscapes composed from sounds of desert winds, sands, wilderness, mountains, storms, owls, wolves, and ravens to authentically represent the demons, deities, and ghostly dead within this album.

Black Funeral opens ancient, sand-worn tombs and reconstructs the rituals of kaššaputu (sorcery, black magic), demonology, and vampyrism of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and the Ur III (Sumerian) periods of Mesopotamia. The entirety of this recording is centered around malefic demons, rebel-deities, and the vampyric ghosts which still haunt this world. Incantations and spells translated from 8th Century B.C.E. Akkadian compose the core of lyrics. The Seven Udug-hul (utukku) Demons and rebel gods are structured in incantations of seven names, interconnected with Lamashtu, Lilith, and the malicious types of Udug-hul (translating “evil,” “hul” is also formerly spelled as “xul”) demons whose number is legion and drinks the blood (and souls) of human prey.

Boundless, eternal, defiant as ever: Black Funeral call forth the Scourge of Lamashtu!

Hear the first summoning with the brand-new track “Kassaptu Lemuttu”
Cover art, courtesy of Scourge Art, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Black Funeral’s Scourge of Lamashtu
1. Kassaptu Lemuttu
2. The Vampyric Rabisu at the Threshold
3. Nergal (Lord who Prowls by Night)
4. Seven Udug-Hul
5. Scourge of Lamashtu (She who Strangles the Lamb)
6. Gidim Hul (Bloodthirst of the Demonic Dead)
7. Pazuzu King of the Lilu-Demons
BLACK FUNERAL lineup 2020
Akhtya Nachttoter – Howling, Incantations, Black Ambient Soundscapes
Azgorh Drakenhof – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
An Unnamed Spirit – Drums

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/akhtya
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

BLACK FUNERAL set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets September 28th as the international release date for a new mini-album from the legendary Black Funeral, The Dust and Darkness, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

Formed in 1993, Black Funeral are one of the founders of American black metal. The band’s first two albums, 1995’s Vampyr – Throne of the Beast and 1997’s Empire of Blood, are widely considered black metal classics, and are among the earliest releases on the cult Full Moon Productions label. Since the beginning, the band has been guided by the boundless vision of one Michael Ford (AKA Akhtya Nachttoter), who has concurrently garnered international respect as a leading author on Luciferianism and occultism. And although many lineups have come and gone since those pioneering first two lineups, Black Funeral found its strongest formation yet with 2016’s Ankou and the Death Fire. Released to widespread acclaim by Iron Bonehead, the album saw the inclusion of Drowning the Light mastermind Azgorh Drakenhof handling guitar, bass, and keyboards. As such, musically, Akkou and the Death Fire was a purely black metal record brimming with medieval majesty and malnourished misery, a blackflame both bright and bleary, all laced with Ford’s characteristically chilling ambient soundscapes. In many ways, it was a reinvigoration of the classic Black Funeral sound, and that forward momentum continues unabated with The Dust and Darkness.

Recorded 2017 in Australia and the United States, The Dust and Darkness is a recalling and vampyric sonic ritual of Hittite, Hurrian, Canaanite, and ancient Syrian Underworld offerings and necromancy. The title “Dankuis Daganzipas” is the Hittite Underworld, “The Dark Earth,” and is the dwelling place of spirits and chthonic deities who desired blood as their primary offering besides incense and libations. The Lady of the Underworld, Allani, is the ancient Hurrian goddess who is a type of psychopomp as a solar deity who guides the dead into the Underworld. Allani is identical to the Mesopotamian Ereskigal. The god “Chemosh of the Dust and Darkness” is an epithet for an Ugaritic deity of the Underworld who is similar to both Baal of Peor (Belphegor) and Nergal. His name was associated with elements of the underworld and “Bird of Prey.” As such, the four songs comprising The Dust and Darkness sonically surge with grim abandon and majestic melancholy, unflinching in their familiarity but only because this is the Black Funeral whose name is legendry within the darkest depths of the black metal underground. It is altogether 17 minutes of invocation and seduction, exacted by deft hands well versed in the blackest of magick. Here, there is only The Dust and Darkness…

Step forward into that dust & darkness with the new track “Dankuis Daganzipas (Dark Earth)” HERE

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Black Funeral’s The Dust and Darkness
1. Dankuis Daganzipas (Dark Earth)
2. Alanni Goddess of the Underworld
3. Chemosh of the Dust and Darkness
4. Mistress of the Pit

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/akhtya