Black Metal

FUNEREAL PRESENCE announce new album, titled “Achatius”

Nearly five years after the release of the successful The Archer Takes Aim debut, the new FUNEREAL PRESENCE album, Achatius, finally will be unleashed on February 15th via THE AJNA OFFENSIVE for North America (Sepulchral Voice will handling European territories).

A grand intonation of a grotesque vision of faith and fey exhales the spirit and the feeling of a long-forgotten era. Inspired by the harsh and cold sound of the early black metal movement, mixed with wild with violent riffing, Achatius consists of four long songs that are able to turn back time and to spread magick again. Perfectly written, skillfully performed, intentionally rough & unpolished recording/production, Achatius again fits into the concept of unconventionality and somehow reawakens an undeniable FUCK OFF attitude. Call it a blessing or call it a curse, Achatius sounds 30 years old. It’s like an old forgotten jewel from the late ’80s / early ’90s.

The past is alive without an intentional reanimation of that sound and style. Not by using dull stereotypes, blatant copied riffs, and beat-up arrangements, nor by a categorical intention and exaggerated forcing – it’s not just a short-term effect of old-style performance. It’s damn living proof of the fact that if you intentionally lock yourself away from all fashion and trends, having a burning artistic vision and the talent to let notes speak, you can create something timeless. FUNEREAL PRESENCE inhaled so much of that aura that their interpretation of a feeling and atmosphere reawakes the old ingenuity: an elder vision of sound, performance, thematics, and presentation the titan bands once had before the “market” started to explode and the ingenuity, idiosyncrasy, and danger in the movement started to implode. FUNEREAL PRESENCE is synonymous for pure fucking obsession for the core of black metal and beyond, the result of setting a determined/indetractable focus on translating the pulsating darkness into tones and rhythm.

As mainman Bestial Devotion once said, “I do the music that no one does for me anymore.” No further questions.

MORE INFO:
www.funerealpresence.bandcamp.com
www.theajnaoffensive.com
www.facebook.com/theajnaoffensive 

Listen to the previous album “The Archer Takes Aim” here

TRIUMVIR FOUL set release date for new INVICTUS/VRASUBATLAT EP, reveal first track

PISS ON THE GODHEAD // WATCH HIM CHOKE IN DESPAIR
Decimating the godhead to its insipid form, on March 29th, Triumvir Foul returns with its third legion of the triumvirate under the Vrasubatlat banner – the Urine of Abomination. This EP is being released in conspiracy with Invictus Productions on CD, 12″ vinyl, and cassette tape formats, with 20 Buck Spin handling manufacturing & distribution in North America.

Triumvir Foul returns after their short lull from Spiritual Bloodshed with a four-song exhibition showcasing their more caustic elements to date. Again slightly departing in theme, the Urine of Abomination takes a direct approach in discussing the obliteration of the godhead and humiliating him in piss. Sonically, Urine of Abomnination carries on the sound of Triumvir Foul‘s more traditional death metal tendencies found on their demo An Oath of Blood and Fire and fuses it with more bestial black/death destruction. Urine of Abomination is the amalgamation of aural hell and fetishistic indignation – admonish the godhead and drown it in piss.
THE URINE OF ABOMINATION
TEARING THE CERVIX OF CREATION
WITH RAPE OF VISCERAL TOMENT

PISS ON THE FACE OF GOD
WATCH ITS LAST BREATH DECAY
AND SUCCUMB TO THE URINE OF ABOMINATION
In the meantime, hear the new track “Urine of Abomination I” here:
The CD version of Urine of Abomination will include An Oath of Blood and Fire as bonus tracks. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Triumvir Foul’s Urine of Abomination
1. Urine of Abomination I
2. Urine of Abomination II
3. Urine of Abomination III
4. Urine of Abomination IV
MORE INFO:
www.vrasubatlat.com
www.vrasubatlat.bandcamp.com

Deströyer 666 announce European dates with Nocturnal Graves

DESTRÖYER 666 have announced new European tour dates together with label mates NOCTURNAL GRAVES in the fall of 2019. The metal wolf-pack will embark on the ‘Sons of Rebellion’ tour on October 24 at the Viper Room in Vienna (AT), and travel trough out 8 more countries before a final curtain the the Proxima venue in Wasaw (PL). A full list of confirmed shows can be found below. 
DESTRÖYER 666
+NOCTURNAL GRAVES +DEAD CONGREGATION +INCONCESSUS LUX LUCIS
24 Oct 19 Vienna (AT) Viper Room
25 Oct 19 Ljubljana (SI) Orto Bar
26 Oct 19 Arci Mu Parma (IT) Circolo
27 Oct 19 Villeurbanne (FR) CCO
28 Oct 19 Paris (FR) Petit Bain
29 Oct 19 London (UK) The Underworld
30 Oct 19 Leiden (NL) Gebr de Nobel
01 Nov 19 Mannheim (DE) MS Connexion Complex
02 Nov 19 Zwickau (DE) Club Seilerstraße
03 Nov 19 Krakow (PL) Kwadrat
04 Nov 19 Prague (CZ) Futurum
05 Nov 19 Munich (DE) Backstage
06 Nov 19 Oberhausen (DE) Helvete
08 Nov 19 Rostock (DE) Zwischenbau
09 Nov 19 Poznan (PL) U Bazyla
10 Nov 19 Warsaw (PL)

DESTRÖYER 666 Russia
25 Jan 19 Moscow (RU) Aglomerat
26 Jan 19 St. Petersburg (RU) MOD

DESTRÖYER 666 will be touring in support of their latest EP ‘Call of the Wild’ which can be heard in full here. The Artwork and details can be found below.

Track-list
1. Violence Is Golden (4:30)
2. Stone by Stone (3:37)
3. Call of the Wild (4:46)
4. Trialed by Fire (7:02)
Total: 19:55
DESTRÖYER 666 continue to do what they are best at: kicking ass and hammering out heavy metal that is slamming straight into the face. No compromise, no sell out, no bullshit!

The Australians fill the gap between albums with the hard-hitting EP, ‘Call of the Wild’ that comes with a distinct taste of an unrepentantly classic flavour.

DESTRÖYER 666 don’t do whiny nostalgia but simply stick to their old school roots, which are reaching straight down into the golden age of metal while allowing themselves to sound fresh and remain relevant.

The band originally started out as a solo project of BESTIAL WARLUST guitarist KK in Australia in 1994. As early as with debut album ‘Unchain the Wolves’ (1997),  fast-tracked towards international acclaim. The even stronger second full-length, ‘Phoenix Rising’ (2000) had the Australians relocating to Europe to be able to satisfy the soaring demand for touring and festival shows. After a round of line-up changes, third full length ‘Cold Steel… For an Iron Age’ (2002) cemented the band’s excellent reputation. After a hiatus caused among other issues by disenchantment with the business, DESTRÖYER 666 returned with ‘Defiance’ in 2009 and followed up on this success with the rough and gritty ‘Wildfire’ seven years later that saw them touring and performing at all the relevant metal festivals worldwide on a regular basis again.

‘Call of the Wild’ comes with three fresh tracks and the revisited classic, “Trialed by Fire”, which was first published on ‘Terror Abraxas’ (2003). Now come and get yours!

Line-up
KK: guitars, vocals
Ro: guitars, vocals
Felipe: bass
Perra: drums

www.facebook.com/destroyer666page
www.destroyer666.uk

SADOKIST sign with HELLS HEADBANGERS, prepare label debut

Today, Hells Headbangers announces the signing of Finnish blackthrash cult Sadokist. The first fruit of this union shall be the band’s highly anticipated second album, Necrodual Dimension Funeral Storms, which will see release through the label later this year on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Sadokist formed in 2007 and have lurked deep in the fertile Finnish underground since 2007, brewing up demos that pronounced its foremost aims: the telltale Evil Sado Fuckin’ Metal in 2008 and 2010’s Horrors From Hell, with a split tape in between with comrades Black Angel fittingly titled Sadomatik Angel Attack. A couple more demos followed in 2012, and all this hard graft eventually culminated in the opus of obscurity now known as Thy Saviour’s Halo, Held by Horns, the band’scult-classic debt album from 2014. Deeply and reverently committed to their classic forebears – from the early Big Three of Teutonic thrash to the first explosions of filth from the ’80s South American underground, not to mention the almighty Bathory and Necrovore – Sadokist nevertheless exude an effervescent elan and caustic, careening charm that immediately put them well beyond mere “retro” retread. In fact, their youthful vibrancy put Thy Saviour’s Halo, Held by Horns over the hump of over-familiarity and into a realm populated by the likes of Nifelheim, Desaster, and Aura Noir, such is the strength of Sadokist‘s songwriting.

Now allied with longtime fans Hells Headbangers, Sadokist are prepared to unleash their second full-length nuclear detonation: Necrodual Dimension Funeral Storms. The album was recorded at the band’s rehearsal space and then finished at Megahammer’s home studio during 2017-2018. Mandatory headbanging shall spill over into total and utter possession; the effect shall be instantaneous as well as long-lasting.

A statement from the band reads: “After our latest album, Thy Saviour’s Halo, Held by Horns, Sadist Stalker got reinforced by seventh new drummer, Sagittariuz Perverzor

and Vorrtexx Armageddon has stayed on his duty as solo guitarist. Werwolf Records got interested in our first album and suggested us to Hells Headbangers, which we are very pleased with. We’ll see how our alliance goes in the future, but until then, unjoy Necrodual Dimension Funeral Storms….”

Release date, cover art, and preorder info to be announced shortly. For more info, consult the links below.


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/sadokistband

NORDJEVEL set release date for new OSMOSE album, reveal new video

Norwegian black metallers Nordjevel, whose self-titled debut album was released on Osmose Productions to great critical acclaim three years ago, are back with a vengeance with Necrogenesis, an album which sees the band’s core of founder and vocalist Doedsadmiral (Svartelder, Doedsvangr, Enepsigos) and bassist DzeptiCunt (ex-Ragnarok), being joined by Destruchtor (Myrkskog, ex-Morbid Angel) on guitars and backing vocals and Dominator (ex-Dark Funeral) on drums. 
 
The new arrivals have enabled Nordjevel to expand its musical horizons and produce an album that promises to be more ferocious than its predecessor, as Doedsadmiral explains: “With the addition of Destruchtor and Dominator to the band’s lineup, Nordjevel has never been so strong. Necrogenesis is a much darker and violent album. It is also more varied and mature, both musically and lyrically. We definitely did not want to get stuck in a rut and churn out an identikit version of our debut, and fortunately, we all felt that we wanted to go in the same direction, so we were all able to work together extremely well on the new songs. Having said that, Necrogenesis was a hard bastard of an album to complete, and at times, we felt that the universe was conspiring against us, so it became a very personal album for all of us.”
 
To give fans a taste of what they can expect from Necrogenesis, Nordjevel have released a video for the opening track “Sunset Glow.” The video, by Necrolust Productions, which was filmed during the band’s 2018 appearance at the December Darkness Festival in Sweden, can be seen here:
“Sunset Glow” has also been released as a single, and can be streamed or downloaded HERE at Osmose‘s Bandcamp.

Necrogenesis is set to hit the streets on Osmose Productions on March 29th in CD Jewel Case, Limited Edition CD Digipack (with bonus track), Limited Edition Double Gatefold Vinyl in Blood Red (with bonus track), Limited Edition Double Gatefold Vinyl in Black (with bonus track), Digital, and Limited Edition Audio Tape formats. 

Preorder info can be found HERE.

Recorded at Velvet Recording in Spydeberg, Norway, Necrogenesis was engineered by Nordjevel and Christer Krogh, and mixed and mastered by Patric Darkhyrys at his WSL Studios in France. With artwork and layout by Vincent Fouquet of Above Chaos, cover and tracklisting for Necrogenesis are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nordjevel’s Necrogenesis
1. Sunset Glow
2. Devilry
3. The Idea Of One-Ness
4. Black Lights From The Void
5. Amen Whores
6. The Fevered Lands
7. Nazarene Necrophilia
8. Apokalupsis Eschation
9. Panzerengel
10. Venom Of Serpents (Bonus Track Vinyl, Digipack)
 
MORE INFO:
www.nordjevel.no
www.facebook.com/nordjevelofficial

1349 release new single “Dødskamp”, inspired by an artpiece of Edvard Munch

Norwegian black metal masters 1349 have released a new single, titled ‘Dødskamp’. The song has been commissioned by Innovation Norway, Visit Norway and the Munch Museum, who asked four Norwegian artists within four different genres of music to interpret their angle on a freely selected work by the famous painter Edvard Munch. Naturally, 1349 approached the art of Munch from their black metal perspective.

Regarding the single, 1349 guitarist Archaon comments: “Munch is arguably the biggest Norwegian artist throughout history, together with Edvard Grieg, I suppose. His works are tremendously dark and eerie, reflecting a lot of anxiety, pain and loneliness, in the way I perceive them. So, it suited us perfectly. I chose the work “Dødskamp” which directly translates “Death Struggle” and speaks volumes for itself. It was an emotionally Heavy task, and also a completely new way to compose. As well as some  very long nights, bereaved of sleep. In the end though, it was worth it. This is the soundtrack to the dilemmas of mortality.”
The artwork of ‘Dødskamp’ can be viewed here, together with the track-list.
Tracklist:
1. Dødskamp (05:05)
2. Atomic Chapel (live) (06:54) – only available on EP
When 1349 rose from the ashes of ALVHEIM in 1997, the band was driven by a deep desire to keep the black metal flame burning in all its rebellious glory. The Norwegians set out with the declared aim to remain true to the original spirit of their scene, which they saw heading into all the wrong directions. Conceived around the founding members, which consisted of vocalist and first drummer Ravn, guitarist Tjalve, and Seidemann on bass, 1349 completed their line-up with the addition of guitarist Archaon in 1999 and SATYRICON drum-legend Frost, after the latter recorded a demo and the debut album with the band in 2001. When their debut ‘Liberation’ was finally unleashed in 2003, 1349 took the world by storm with their intense blend of old school black metal soundscapes and ultra-fast aggression. Further assaults followed in rapid succession. ‘Beyond the Apocalypse’ (2004) and ‘Hellfire’ (2005) cemented the Norwegians’ reputation as one of the strongest acts in the already peaked scene, where they managed to carve out a claim for their own. Founding member Tjalve decided to focus on his band PANTHEON I and 1349 have since continued as a four-piece – occasionally adding renowned guest guitarists. Extensive touring aided the growth of a massive following, which started to seriously reach across the Atlantic, when 1349 opened for reunited metal legends Celtic Frost in North America in 2006. In an impressive demonstration that dedication to the origins and early principles of black metal does not have to mean nostalgia and stagnation, 1349 considerably widened their sonic palette with the next full-length ‘Revelations of the Black Flame’ (2009), which was co-mixed by iconic CELTIC FROST mastermind Tom Gabriel “Warrior” Fischer. Their newly found darker and more ambient side, was further explored and interwoven with the earlier sonic approach, which 1349 dub “aural hellfire” on the following ‘Demonoir’ (2010). Extensive touring and performances at prestigious festivals around the globe filled the period from 2010 to 2012. ‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos’ (2013) was the next milestone in the Norwegian’s merciless advance, scoring excellent reviews and sparking more festival shows as well as extended touring, which also brought 1349 for the first time to Australia and New Zealand. Now the band is preparing to unleash more “aural hellfire” onto the expecting world via Season of Mist.
www.facebook.com/1349official

Line-up
Seidemann: bass
Ravn: vocals
Archaon: guitars
Frost: drums

Pre-orders: http://smarturl.it/1349Dodskamp

UK post-black veterans FEN are proud to present their tenth release Stone and Sea

Taken from three tracks included in the band’s 2016 split with international post-black contemporaries Sleepwalker, Stone & Sea is a tribute to the crumbling coastlines of Eastern England and the spirits that lie restless beneath the waters. Recorded, produced and re-mastered specifically for vinyl by Greg Chandler (Esoteric, Lychgate, Grave Miasma, Fluisteraars), these tracks take the best aspects of post-rock and black metal and intertwine key elements of traditional folk to create a masterpiece laced with a definite touch of the “epic.”

For over a decade, FEN have steadily developed into one of the most intriguing bands within the UK black metal scene. Often bracketed within the post-black and “shoegaze” movements, the London trio’s sound is actually more unique to themselves – a startling paradox of searing and aggressive paradox within a progressively daring and ambient beauty.

Starting out with a pastoral form of atmospheric black metal on 2009’s acclaimed debut The Malediction Fields, the trio’s sound has expanded and diversified considerably across five full-length albums to embrace a number of different elements all honed and synthesized into a distinctive, yet captivating, soundscape.

In late 2015, the band recorded a three-track EP, entitled Stone and Sea, a deliberate hearken back to their older, more explosive, sound whilst retaining the maturity the English trio had developed across the years. The intention was to record something ‘for themselves,’ to escape from the album cycle for a time and work on a self-contained piece.

Eisenwald now proudly presents this unique recording as a limited-edition 180-gram vinyl MLP, which includes new album art illustrated by Alasdair Dunn of Immortalpict Illustration. Fans of the band’s earlier works, such as Ancient Sorrow, will find much to appreciate here while those who admire the trio’s more recent releases will enjoy a more immediate interpretation of the FEN sound.

FEN at the time of recording:

The Watcher – guitars, vocals
Grungyn – bass, bodhran, vocals
Derwydd – drums, frame drum, shaker

FEN currently is:

The Watcher – guitars, vocals
Grungyn – bass, vocals
Havenless – drums, percussion

https://www.facebook.com/fenofficial/
https://fenuk.bandcamp.com
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Fen/92603
https://store.eisenton.de/fen-a-720

BLACK/TECH/DEATH GROUP HISS FROM THE MOAT UNVEILS VIDEO FOR NEW SONG “GOD NEPHASTO”

January 11, 2019 – Los Angeles, CA – As anticipation builds toward the Feb. 22 release of “The Harrier,” the sophomore album by HISS FROM THE MOAT (the transcontinental black/death metal band founded by former Vital Remains and Hour of Penance drummer James Payne), the group has unveiled a play-through video of a new song, “God Nephasto.”

Website Gear Gods described the blistering song as “blackened tech-death,” writing that “the precise technical execution and raw blackened aesthetic, two seemingly opposing approaches, are combining in a marvelous way.” The site went on to praise Payne’s performance, calling him “one of the only drummers with the god-like capability of playing with extreme technical precision while endowing deliberate feel.” Says Payne, “The song is one of the most intense of the album as far as rhythm and atmosphere. It has several parts of blast beats and breakdowns that, combined with the dark atmosphere of the notes, keep the song pretty nervous. This is to support the lyrics that have been taken from parts of the Enuma Elish and the Old Testament that talk about when the gods mentioned in these scripts ordered sacrifices in their honor.” “God Nephasto” is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and other digital platforms. It is also being offered along with the title track – the music video for which can be seen at this location – as an “instant grat” download in conjunction with all digital pre-orders. “The Harrier” will be released on Feb. 22 on CD, digital and limited-edition moat-black vinyl.

Pre-orders are available now via Bandcamp (https://hissfromthemoat.bandcamp.com) and the M-Theory Audio webshop (www.m-theoryaudio.com/store). The album – which features cover artwork by Stefano Bonora – was recorded, mixed and mastered at Milan’s SPVN Studio with Stefano Orkid Santi, who produced the latest Cripple Bastards album and previously worked as live engineer for bands such as Origin, Suffocation and Cattle Decapitation. 

The U.S.-based Payne formed HISS FROM THE MOAT with two Italian friends – bassist/vocalist Carlo Cremascoli and guitarist Giacomo Poli – when he was just 18 years old. In 2009, the group self-released their debut EP, “The Carved Flesh Message,” which they supported by performing alongside the likes of Psycroptic, Skeletonwitch and The Black Dahlia Murder. Four years later, HISS FROM THE MOAT released their debut full-length, “Misanthropy,” via Lacerated Enemy/Nuclear Blast. The band’s intense use of both extremes of death and black metal produced an album that stood alongside those of acts such as Behemoth, Belphegor and Rotting Christ. Following the release of “Misanthropy,” HISS FROM THE MOAT embarked on an extensive tour across Russia, Europe and Asia, delivering aggressive and visually engaging performances backed by the blackened intensity of the band’s new material. During this period, Payne left the legendary death metal act Vital Remains – a group he joined following a two-year stint with Italian death metal powerhouse Hour of Penance – to focus full-time on HISS FROM THE MOAT, and the band extended from a three-piece to a quartet with the addition of Max Cirelli (guitar/vocals). Over the past two years, the band has toured extensively worldwide while working between the U.S. and Italy to write “The Harrier.”

Now, HISS FROM THE MOAT aim to unleash another sonic onslaught that captures the band’s range of death and black metal inspiration while creating a unique and intense presence in the world of extreme music. 

HISS FROM THE MOAT are:

Max Cirelli – Guitar/Vocals

James Payne – Drums

Carlo Cremascoli – Bass/Vocals

Jack Poli – Guitar

 www.facebook.com/hissfromthemoat

www.twitter.com/hissfromthemoat

www.instagram.com/hissfromthemoat

www.m-theoryaudio.com

VALKYRJA to tour with Marduk again in April for “Viktoria Europa Part 3”

Riding high on the critical acclaim afforded their highly anticipated fourth album, Throne Ablaze – released on November 26th, 2018 via W.T.C. Productions – today, Swedish black metal elite Valkyrja announce that they’ll be touring as direct support to the legendary Marduk as part of the “Viktoria Europa Part 3” tour. Following the release of Throne Ablaze last year, Valkyrja took to the road with Marduk across Europe as part of the “Viktoria Europa Part 2” tour along with the equally legendary Archgoat. A rousing success overall, these new tour dates will continue both bands’ dominance of the nowadays black metal scene, and further the spell that Swedish black metal has had over the underground. Full list of dates as well as poster are as follows:
  April 13 POL Zabrze @ Wiatrak
April 14 CZE Ostrava @ Barrack
April 16 CZE Brno @ Melodka
April 17 AUT Wien @ Viper Room
April 18 SVK Bratislava @ Randal
April 19 ROU Cluj Napoca @ /Form Space
April 20 ROU Bucarest @ Quantic
April 21 BUL Sofia @ Mixtape 5
April 23 MKD Skopje @ MKC
April 24 SRB Beograd @ Dom Omladine
April 25 CRO Zagreb @ Vintage Industrial Bar
April 26 ITA Milan @ Legend
April 27 SUI Luzern @ Konzerthaus Schuur
April 28 FRA Lyon @ CCO Villeurbanne
April 30 FRA Toulouse @ Metronum
May 01 ESP Barcelona @ Boveda
May 02 ESP Madrid @ Caracol
May 03 POR Lisbon @ RCA Club
May 04 POR Porto @ Hard Club
May 05 ESP Pamplona @ Totem
May 07 FRA Colmar @ Le Grillen
May 08 NED Helmond @ Cacao Fabriek
May 09 GER Munster @ Sputnikhalle
May 10 FRA Nilvange @ Le Gueulard Plus
May 11 NED Hoogeven @ Graveland Festival
Valkyrja was founded in 2004 with the earnest intention of channeling violence, deprivation, and loathing through means of extraordinarily potent audio emissions. Their ideals were permeated by passionate and boundless perversion – a sickly urge festering ever so vibrantly in the essence of its members, a will to cast off the manacles of societal enslavement and leave a dying world behind. While the brotherhood took shape, opposition and defiance surfaced from the deepest recesses of the mind: a fierce hostility towards the laws and morals of their surroundings, notions which felt entirely alien to the band’s core.
 
As part of Valkyrja‘s philosophy of ridding themselves from limitations, no specific genre was ever chosen since it would only serve to establish a framework of useless expectation. The artistic output created under the flag of Valkyrja defies all earthly shackles, including those of commercial categorization. With ideology as lodestar, venturing into darkness without a backwards glance, they took their first fledgling steps on a road staked out by the night itself.
 
Valkyrja‘s debut album, The Invocation of Demise, was recorded in Necromorbus Studio during March 2007 and then released in physical form by Northern Silence Productions six months later. Valkyrja quickly gained their reputation as a ferocious live act: a display of carnal lust leaving each stage with the foul scent of death. Drawn to the stench of putrid bereavement, Metal Blade Records contracted the band in 2009. The Invocation of Demise was treated to a re-release by their new ally, thus spreading the curse even further. The same year also saw a return to Necromorbus Studio for the recording of their second album, the most aptly named Contamination. The new tracks would prove to be a crucial part of the band’s live setlist as they, the following autumn, embarked on their first European campaign.
 
Forged and conceived to reflect blood and fire,  the third Valkyrja album, The Antagonist’s Fire, set the world aflame on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 2013. The opus also marked the beginning of Valkyrja‘s long-running collaboration with elite underground label World Terror Committee. During the past decade, facilitated by Massive Music and accompanied by titans of extreme metal, over 100 different European cities has been forced to swallow the bitter wine of sonic violence. Furthermore, 2016 and 2017 saw two extensive North American tours with Valkyrja as co-headliner, during which 22 different states were soaked in rotten blood.
 
Five years removed from the third opus, Valkyrja return under a new guise. The past few years have seen the band subjected to several crucial lineup changes, igniting a period of utter despair that would sow the seeds for what has now come to pass: Throne Ablaze was unleashed upon the world on November 26th, 2018. The album reflects the passion and dedication of everyone involved, those who face every storm – past and future – with weapon in hand. It will forever stand as a monument of continuous struggles – so right there, in the core of this strife to conquer every obstacle, kneel and obey the fires of the blazing throne! Cover art, courtesy of Nestor Avalos, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Valkyrja’s Throne Ablaze
1. In Ruins I Set My Throne
2. Crowned Serpent
3. Opposer of Light
4. Tombs Into Flesh
5. Halo of Lies
6. Transcendental Death
7. Paradise Lost
8. Throne Ablaze
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/valkyrjaswe

France’s Cénotaphe stream new track

Over the last several years, France’s Cénotaphe have unassumingly become one of the most promising new voices in black metal. Operating as a duo—each member with a long and distinguished résumé trailing behind him—multi-instrumentalist Fog performs all of the music, while Khaosgott handles the vocals. The band’s auspicious prior releases (a demo from 2015 and the 2018 Horizons MLP, both on the Finnish label Kuunpalvelus) established a foundation for the band to build upon, and the result is the magnificent Empyrée MLP. In both content and spirit, Cénotaphe draws inspiration from a constellation of 19th century French literary and artistic figures, such as Aloysius Bertrand, Théophile Gautier, Charles Beaudelaire, and the painter Odilon Redon. It is, however, the poet Stéphane Mallarmé who casts the longest shadow over the band. Mallarmé’s work is dense with inscrutable and tangled syntax, every poem an arcane cipher; however, despite his modern and unconventional style, Mallarmé tended to rely on stalwart and traditional poetic forms, like the sonnet. Within the framework of these rigid poetic structures, Mallarmé’s language was itself unconstrained, abstract, exquisitely lawless, but also excruciatingly methodical and intentional. 

There is a similar sensibility to Cénotaphe’s work. Regarded from a distance, one might not notice the idiosyncratic details that permeate it because the band remains so true to the form and spirit of black metal. But ensconced within the traditional structure of Cénotaphe’s songs are fractured melodies, disharmonies, sowing atonal discord under the surface of the song, like a violent undertow beneath a seemingly serene sea. The songs on this MLP all have an epic quality to them, and yet, none clocks in at more than seven minutes. The grandiosity of the tracks derives from their strength of composition, not overindulgence. The riffs are expansive, stretching out across the roiling pulse of the drums. The vocals, delivered entirely in French, hang in suspended animation, puncturing the surface of the song at precise points. Occasionally, the band modifies its approach, fleshing out the sound with keyboard flourishes or other instrumentation, but noticeably eschewing the use of guitar solos, despite being clearly in possession of the necessary skill. 

Nothing feels unintentional about Empyrée; it is a highly sculpted aesthetic creation. The album closes with a curious climax, a track that perhaps offers additional clues about the band’s musical interests: a near-instrumental cover of “End of the World” by the 1960s Greek prog pioneers Aphrodite’s Child, known for being Vangelis’ first band. Beginning slow, much the same as the original, the song evolves and accelerates, deftly bringing the album to a frantic crescendo, punctuated with piano notes and wordless vocals. Tying the album together is the cover art, a piece from 1893 entitled “In the Dust Cloud” by the Polish symbolist painter Jacek Malczewski.
MORE INFO:
www.nwnprod.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Nuclear-War-Now-Productions/114864651994141