Black Metal

Ascend to the Depths with Merrimack’s ‘Of Grace and Gravity’

In the vanguard of the black metal sphere, MERRIMACK returns with their most ambitious and riveting album to date, Of Grace and Gravity. This latest tome from the Parisian conjurors of darkness is a relentless dive into the esoteric, where the lines between sacrilege and sanctity blur in a maelstrom of fervent guitars, thunderous drums, and howling vitriol.

Of Grace and Gravity is a testament to MERRIMACK‘s quarter-century dedication to the black metal art form. With its foundation deeply rooted in the unyielding soil of black metal tradition, the album dares to gaze into the abyss, offering a gripping narrative spun from the threads of heresy and rebellion.

Of Grace and Gravity is out March 8 on Season of Mist.

Pre-order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/MerrimackGraceGravity

“Behold! Sulphurean Synods not merely plays; it enchants, drawling listeners into a realm where celestial despair and infernal defiance converge.” From the first piercing note, it’s apparent this is no ordinary song. The lyrics, a tapestry of desolation and defiance, echo the overarching theme of a cosmos teetering on the edge of oblivion and rebirth. Musically, the track stands out with its intricate guitar work and atmospheric elements, creating a hauntingly beautiful soundscape. It’s a song that evokes a profound sense of longing, a clarion call to those who find beauty in darkness, resonating deeply with listeners who traverse the shadows.

Track-list
1. Sulphurean Synods (6:42) [WATCH]
2. Sublunar Despondency (7:07)
3. Dead and Distant Clamors (5:35) [LISTEN]
4. Wounds that Heal (6:44)
5. Starving Crowns (8:05)
6. Under the Aimless Spheres (7:01) [LISTEN]
7. Embalmer’s Wine (6:59)
Total runtime: 48:13

MERRIMACK are back with their new album ‘Of Grace and Gravity’. Their third release for Season of Mist arrives after the re-print of their long sold-out debut ‘Ashes of Purification’, which followed the sizeable impact that their last album, ‘Omegaphilia’, had on the Black Metal Scene.

MERRIMACK can be categorised as extreme traditionalists that are driven by a burning desire to hone their skills and striving to bring their art to perfection. The band was founded by guitarist Perversifier a.k.a. Amfortas in 1994 with a clear vision to keep the black metal flame burning as an act of aesthetic terrorism – as adamantly based in the underground as opposed to any attempts to co-opt, commercialise or turn the style into a self-parody. Introduced by a number of demo recordings (‘Prologue’ – 1995, ‘Act 1’ – 1995, ‘Horns Defeat Thorns’ – 2001) and split releases (with Hirilorn in 1998 and Sargeist in 2002), the French gained respect in the scene by remaining true to their words.

Although MERRIMACK decided to reach out to a larger audience with the release of their first full-length ‘Ashes of Purification’, the Parisians did not sever their roots with the underground at any time. With the following albums, ‘Of Entropy and Life Denial’ (2006) and ‘Grey Rigorism’ (2009), MERRIMACK closed ranks with the most influential, active, and authentic acts of the French black metal scene. Their classic combination of harsh sound with epic structures appealed to critics and fans alike and put the band on their celebrated first US tour with MARDUK and NACHTMYSTIUM in 2009.

After recording ‘The Acausal Mass’ (2012) in the legendary Necromorbus Studio (WATAIN, DESTRÖYER 666) again, MERRIMACK embarked on a European tour with Norwegian icons MAYHEM and accepted invitations to prestigious festivals such as Hellfest in their native France, Germany’s Party-San Open Air and Summer Breeze as well as Montreal’s Messe des Morts in Canada. With their previous album, ‘Omegaphilia’, MERRIMACK were breathing fresh life into an exhausted genre. While ignoring epithets such as progressive, post-, and avant-garde, the French focused on razor-sharp songwriting, captivating melodies, and close to perfect arrangements.

The ensemble now presents their latest album ‘Of Grace and Gravity’, an aural journey where grotesque assemblies of roosters and goats languish at the foot of heavens. Wallowing guitars and hypnotized passages of blasting drums collide with gravity-bound atoms in oblivious occlusion. MERRIMACK, in their enigmatic mastery, expose the futility of belief in occult ministries and slashes at the mask of the sky. The listener, questioned in their faith of the shadows and occult idols. Dare believe in the sulfurous whispers echoing through this blackened masterpiece.

Line-up
Perversifier – Guitars
A.K. – Guitars
Blastum – Drums
Vestal – Vocals
Daethorn – Bass

Pre-order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/MerrimackGraceGravity

Links:
Bandcamp: https://merrimack.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merrimackofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merrimack666/
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/99176
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3XWKabUW6Y9pm9vyNGlrhV
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/3642745
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/merrimack/41660594
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/artists/B000QKG2N8

Available Formats:
Digital Download
CD Digipak
12″ Vinyl Gatefold – Black
12″ Coloured Vinyl Gatefold – Transparent Clear
12″ Coloured Vinyl Gatefold – White
12″ Coloured Vinyl Gatefold – Transparent w/ Black Splatters

MONS VENERIS set release date for new SIGNAL REX album, reveal first track

Today, Signal Rex announces May 1st as the international release date for Mons Veneris‘ highly anticipated sixth album, Ascent Into Draconian Abyss, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

For those who know and truly understand actual underground black metal, Mons Veneris require no introduction. For over 20 years now, this shadowy and insanely prolific Portuguese cabal have pursued a uniquely vile vision with an unquenchable thirst. From hammering primitivism to medieval melancholy, volcanic drone to chaotic oblivion, nods to the French Black Legions to frequencies far outside of metal, there’s never any guarantee of how Mons Veneris‘ vision will manifest itself – only that they’ll explore a darkness few have the constitution to tread.

Witness their Ascent Into Draconian Abyss, which was teasingly released in an extremely limited tape version for those who had the good fortune of attending the most recent Signal Rex-curated Invicta Requiem Mass festival and witnessing their crimes in the flesh. As the duo forecasted with the recent maxi-single Excesses of Perpetual Gloom, their muse only becomes thirstier and more miserable. Mons Veneris are always surprising, yet always uncompromising and always themselves, as testified by Ascent Into Draconian Abyss: the opening 20-minute title track is a harrowing descent into lunacy, and the ghoulishness only intensifies on the album’s successive three tracks. More monkish vokills come forth, haunting like nothing else as their buzzing belligerence winds through craggy corridors of mondo-primitivism, all before the hall-of-mirrors madness of closer “Chant to the Unknown.” Mons Veneris will fuck you on your Ascent Into Draconian Abyss!

Get fucked by the brand-new track “…of Perversion and Evil”

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Mons Veneris’ Ascent Into Draconian Abyss
1. Ascent into Draconian Abyss [21:50]
2. Whisperers of the Plague [7:23]
3. … of Perversion and Evil [9:05]
4. Chant to the Unknown [5:15]

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

www.signalrex.bandcamp.com

DAUÞUZ set release date for new AMOR FATI album, reveal first track

Today, Amor Fati Productions announces April 30th as the international release date for Dauþuz‘s highly anticipated fifth album, Uranium, on CD and vinyl LP formats. The band will be self-releasing the cassette tape version on the same date.

Since their bolt-from-the-blue debut In finstrer Teufe in 2016, Germany’s Dauþuz have created a rich and vibrant catalog. Their black metal is proud and purist but by no means blinkered; the ancient ways are revered, for sure, but new vistas of the imagination open up when Dauþuz commit their stories to tape. And those stories largely focus on mining, both across their native land and the whole of Europe, further enriching their olde-worlde appeal.

Now, two years after the special Vom schwarzen Schmied: Bergkgesænge – a clean-vocalled version of their widely celebrated fourth album, 2021’s Vom schwarzen Schmied – along comes new curses from the Dauþuz mine in Uranium. Tellingly titled, Uranium deals with a relatively young and destructive area of mining: the former uranium mining in East German areas. From the dangerous mining under the pressure of the Soviets to the radiant, deadly harvest of what was created, the titular Uranium spreads wide a dread landscape full of despair both sonic and spiritual. Despite the seeming “newness” of subject matter, Dauþuz sound as olde-worlde as ever with their characteristic Mining Black Metal, indeed mining amongst deeper and more ancient caverns of sound and texture; uncompromising and epic and especially melodic, here do the duo exude a desperation (or at least passion) that harkens back to their very earliest roots, with the oft-piercing vocals in particular raising the hackles and firmly driving the point home that Uranium is deadly, deadly business.

Rarely does an aesthetic stay so firmly etched yet yield consistently compelling sagas as it does with Dauþuz. Radiate to the eerie glow of Uranium!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Wüst die Heimat” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Dauþuz’ Uranium

1. Pechblende (Gedeih und Verderben) [9:54]
2. Radonquell 1666 [8:49]
3. Wüst die Heimat [5:41]
4. Ein Werkzeug des Todes [10:00]
5. Wismut »Justiz« [5:16]
6. Uranfeuer 55 [9:52]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/DauthuzBM

www.amor-fati-productions.de 
www.amorfatiproductions.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/amorfatiprod

Ancient metallers Armagh premiere the new track “Rapid Stride” 

Today, ancient metallers Armagh premiere the new track “Rapid Str!de”. The track is the third to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated third album, Exclamation Po!nt, set for international release on March 15th via Dying Victims Productions. Hear Armagh‘s “Rapid Str!de” in its entirety here:

Formed in 2012, Armagh are a heavy metal force based in Satanic City Warsaw and Necropolis Navis. Mixing classic heavy metal from the ’70s and ’80s with proto-black metal, Armagh are the creators of First Wave Only movement, which unites several Polish bands delivering old-school metal – among them, labelmates Gallower and Sexmag but also Torpor, Wielki Mrok, and R.I.P. – with primal severity in their sound and message.

Truly, Armagh are a maniac maniac’s band, idiosyncratic mainlining such noble influences as Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, KISS, Manilla Road, early Slayer and Megadeth, W.A.S.P, Bathory, Dissection, Running Wild, KAT, and the NWOBHM in general into something authentically rustic and effortlessly unique. But it was their second album, Serpent Storm – originally self-released in 2022, but then released on vinyl the next year by Dying Victims – where they had their breakout moment. A true record collector’s record, Serpent Storm displayed its power and personality at every turn, coming from an alien place – one where Battle Cry, Another Perfect Day, Haunting the Chapel, Chinatown, Under the Sign of the Black Mark, and Born Again all simultaneously play in perfect, hellish harmony – but evincing a wild and weird but never belabored alchemy that was simply peerless.

Now, two years later, Armagh stir up their cauldron once again with their third album, Exclamation Po!nt. This record features a wholly reconstructed lineup, with founding frontman/guitarist Galin Soulreaper now joined by fellow guitarist Vikk Vandall, bassist Tom CultCommander, and drummer Al Atom Smasher. As such, it’s a far more collaborative effort than the largely Soulripper-written Serpent Storm, with each new member adding their own fiery flair to an altogether less-immediate but much-more-mysterious album: Tom CultCommander’s spacey & hypnotic bass work (a Hawkwind influence is detectable across the record, as is a faint whiff of Rush), Vandall’s impulsive & spring-loaded leads, and the jazzy, Bill Ward-esque drumming of Atom Smasher. Less is indeed MORE here!

Just as wild and weird as its mighty predecessor but perhaps eating subtler, sweeter fruits, the deliberately demonstrative Exclamation Po!nt dives deeply into moodier and mustier waters, sounding impossibly older than even Serpent Storm. It’s all unmistakably Armagh, but if LP#3 proves anything (and loudly), it’s that these Polish maniacs are operating at the height of their powers – and, again, as a full band this time. No dynamic is too severe, no construct too off-kilter, no speed shunned: with greater emphasis on harmony vocals and Soulreaper’s lonely-warlock tones guiding the listener into a misty, mystical wonder-world, Exclamation Po!nt weaves a plaintive-yet-powerful spell that traverses the whole spectrum of human experience. And perhaps it’s there that Armagh in general and Exclamation Po!nt in particular excels – that it’s undeniably human in construction and execution, but its journey (and destination) is otherworldly to the splendorous extreme. Or, cutting out the fancy words, what we have here is heartfelt, handmade heavy metal: no modern, no trends, no way!

No longer the “sleeper hit of the year,” Armagh are prepared to punctuate “best of 2024” conversations already with Exclamation Po!nt!

Also hear the previously revealed “The Portal” exclusively HERE, courtesy the NWOTHM YouTube channel, as well as the previously revealed “Masters of Time” exclusively HERE, courtesy of Deaf Forever magazine. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Armagh’s Exclamation Po!nt
1. Rough Edges
2. Masters of Time
3. Aftermath
4. Between the Sides
5. The Portal
6. Rapid Str!de
7. This !s New A
8. Enough for Now

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/armagh.band

www.dying-victims.de 
www.facebook.com/dyingvictimsproductions 

OSSILEGIUM set release date for PERSONAL RECORDS debut, reveal first track – features members of KOMMANDANT, WITHERING SOUL+++

On May 3rd internationally, Personal Records is proud to present Ossilegium‘s highly anticipated debut album, The Gods Below, on CD format.

Forever Lost to the Boundless Force of Death.
Crossing all Forbidden Realms.
Ride the Darkness to Reach the Eternal Ends.

In the days of antiquity, after the embers of a funeral pyre had died, the bones of the deceased would be gathered together in a funerary box and given a place of reverence to withstand the ravages of time. Ossilegium stand upon these burnt offerings of the past while forging onward into new realms of darkness, where even light fears the eventual entropy of universal death.

One of the best-kept secrets of the Chicago metal scene, Ossilegium is the creation of Exhul (Empyreus, Kommandant, Withering Soul) and Valr (Amongst the Fallen, Blackened Temple, Kommandant). Together, the duo build upon extensive influences from the worlds of heavy & extreme metal along with influences from literature, sci-fi, and fantasy gaming. 

Initially formed as Empyreus from 2009-2019, Ossilegium debuted in 2020 after extensive lineup changes. Largely inspired by the ’90s black metal scenes of Sweden and Norway, Ossilegium bring forth their own style of Blackened Metal of Death with their long-awaited debut album, The Gods Below. Indeed, the record is aptly titled, for the alternately ice-cold / burning-hot majesty the duo unleash here reinvigorates noble old tropes – namely, the days when melody was married to death metal crunch and when leathery black wings enclosed it, flying far and free across a landscape of blue-purple emotion. To say that The Gods Below could’ve been released on No Fashion, Black Sun, or Wrong Again Records back in the day is not to suggest there’s “retro” pastiche at play; rather, Ossilegium truly LIVE this style of metal and prove it with incredibly dynamic songwriting and impassioned performance. Hearing is believing, and buttressed by haunting acoustic passages, the duo’s debut album becomes an all-immersive experience no matter the decade.

On evidence of The Gods Below, Ossilegiumdeserve to be included in the conversation of classic works by Necrophobic, Sacramentum, Unanimated, Gates of Ishtar, and Sweden’s Dawn and Naglfar. The past is alive, and it’s only just begun!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Nightborn” here:

Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ossilegium’s The Gods Below

1. Nightborn
2. Serpentine Shadows
3. The Winds of Astaroth
4. Beyond the Clandestine
5. The Heart of Darkness
6. To Reach The Eternal Ends
7. Constellationrise
8. The Gods Below
9. Planar Nexus

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ossilegium.666 

www.personal-records.com
personal-records.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/personalrecords666
Instagram.com/personalrecords666

BRAKEL set release date for SIGNAL REX debut, reveal first track

Today, Signal Rex announces May 1st as the international release date for Brakel‘s highly anticipated debut album, Wranger Wanen, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

The first full-length recording of Belgium’s Brakel, Wranger Wanen comprises nine songs across a time-evaporating / stretching 27 minutes. Signposts among raw black metal’s elite exist here – be it Black Cilice, Candelabrum, Múspellzheimr, or those orbiting the Signal Rex-endorsed Clandestine Circle of Aldebaran – but beneath the alternately shocking / shimmering soundfield bubble torched debris of power electronics. Hateful and ghoulish in equal measure but utterly alien in effect, the ghostly surge of in-the-red decibels across Wranger Wanen get wrangled into obscene shapes; with all those indeterminate pulses underneath, sometimes Brakel‘s sound approaches the mechanistic…if the Industrial Revolution was visualized in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, such is the expressionist horror on display.

No identities, no fun, no past, no future: Brakel assault the unsuspecting with Wranger Wanen.

Get unsuspectingly assaulted by the brand-new track “Tegen Geweten” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Brakel’s Wranger Wanen
1. Overdal
2. Kwadeplas
3. Grauwkraal
4. Tegen Geweten
5. Dwaalrag
6. Oude Maart
7. Blâan
8. Zonderling En Drang
9. Nevel Neer

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

www.signalrex.bandcamp.com

DUINDWALER premiere new track – features HELLEVAERDER member


Today, Dutch black metallers Duindwaler premiere the new track “Alle rust verdwenen”. The track is the third to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, In het Heemskerks duin, set for international release on March 21st:  Void Wanderer Productions and War Productions will handle the digipack CD and digital versions while Zwaertgevegt will handle the cassette tape version. Hear Duindwaler‘s “Alle rust verdwenen”  in its entirety here:

Embark on a harrowing journey into the abyss with In het Heemskerks duin, the full-length debut offering from Dutch black metal entity Duindwaler. An enigmatic force in the realm of black metal, this album transcends the boundaries of sonic extremity, casting a shroud of darkness that engulfs the listener in an otherworldly experience. Draped in the haunting atmosphere characteristic of black metal, In het Heemskerks duin is a sonic tapestry that weaves together blistering tremolo-picked guitars, playful basslines, thunderous blastbeats, and anguished vocals. The relentless assault of sound is punctuated by its overall harshness and the lack of intros.

The album’s production is a sonic descent into the abyss, with a raw and unpolished sound that captures the primal energy of the music. The guitar tones cut through the mix like icy winds, while the drums reverberate like thunder, creating an immersive auditory experience that transports the listener to desolate, otherworldly landscapes.

In het Heemskerks duin stands as a testament to Duindwaler‘s unwavering commitment to the black metal aesthetic, pushing the boundaries of the genre while remaining true to its roots. With each track, the wanderer invites the audience to confront the shadows within and embrace the cathartic release that can only be found within the dark, tumultuous realms of black metal. Brace yourself for a journey into the heart of obscurity, where the dunes of Heemskerk awaits to envelop you in its chilling embrace.

Also hear the previously revealed “Vaderlands vuur” exclusively HERE, courtesy of the This Is Black Metal YouTube channel, as well as the previously revealed title track “In het Heemskerks duin” exclusively HERE, courtesy of ZwareMetalen.com. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover artwork, courtesy of A.A.W.R., and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Duindwaler’s In het Heemskerks duin
1. Vaderlands vuur [7:52]
2. Razende wind [4:37]
3. In het Heemskerks duin [6:45]
4. Het duister bestormd [5:18]
5. Alle rust verdwenen [5:31]
6. Schim in de duinen [6:06]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/duindwaler 
www.duindwaler.bandcamp.com 

www.voidwanderer.com
www.facebook.com/voidwandererprod 
www.voidwandererproductions.bandcamp.com 

DARKESTRAH reveal first track from new OSMOSE album

Today, mystic black metallers Darkestrah reveal the new track “Nomad.” The track is the first to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated seventh album, set for international release on March 29th via Osmose Productions. Hear Darkestrah‘s title track ” Nomad” in its entirety here:

On Nomad, their seventh full-length album, Darkestrah venture further on their chosen path of Epic Shamanic Black Metal. Sharp black metal riffing and traditional Central Asian melodies, verses from Kyrgyz epic poetry, and visions of spiritual quests are all woven into the fabric of this new opus.

With a new lineup consisting of long-term veterans and fresh blood, Darkestrah have never been in better shape.

Preorder link can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Darkestrah’s Nomad

1. Journey Through Blue Nothingness [2:12]
2. Kök-Oy [8:00]
3. Nomad [9:29]
4. Destroyer of Obstacles [9:28]
5. Quest for the Soul [9:43]
6. The Dream of Kojojash [4:51]
7. A Dream That Omens Death [1:45]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/darkestrahofficial

www.osmoseproductions.com
www.facebook.com/Osmose-Productions-192865300755575

CEMETERY MOON Releases Two Raw Black Metal Demos

Raw black metal fanatics have a new source to satisfy their endless lust for sonic blood! Connecticut’s own CEMETERY MOON has returned on the heels of a glorious 2023 to unleash Inside the Dark Kingdom in two volumes. Each serving contains five tracks recorded at rehearsals over the course of January and February 2024. When taken together, they contain three new songs — “Temporal Bloodletting,” “The Wretched City,” and “The Black Keep” — along with seven re-recordings from last year’s self-titled debut album.
 
Apparition, the band’s lead singer and one of its guitar practitioners, elaborates on why the band decided to put these releases together:
 
“After we released the album last year, we brought on Usurper as our drummer and thus the band was finally a fully-functioning entity. These two demos give the listener a chance to hear the album material with Usurper’s drumming, and provides a taste of what’s to come with the newest songs. It also allowed us to embrace our DIY instincts and put together some material in a spur-of-the-moment fashion.”

He goes on to describe the sound of each volume:
 
“As these are rehearsal demos, the sound is decidedly raw and stripped down. However, we still took care to make sure everything could be heard and that the spirit of the music would possess anyone who listened. Volume One contains our most brutal and uncompromising material, along with our most progressive and epic song, “Temporal Bloodletting.” Volume Two is the moodier release, one that shows our penchant for introspection and exploration, while still displaying our devotion to black metal art.”
 
Finally, he concludes:
 
“More than anything, it allows us to show the world our progression as musicians and performers. All four of us brought so much to the band when we came together, and we’ve already come so far since then. If “The Wretched City” and “The Black Keep” are any indication, we’re just getting started.”
 
Both volumes of Inside the Dark Kingdom are now available on Bandcamp and all streaming services.

About CEMETERY MOON:

CEMETERY MOON began in 2015, as Apparition set out as a one-man black metal project. Over the ensuing years of stylistic development, CEMETERY MOON would expand into a fully formed band with a self-titled debut album in 2023. The band’s first few live performances overwhelmed audiences with the sheer ferocity and musicianship on display — from Apparition’s scorching vocal delivery and his dual guitar riff barrage with Langeloth, to Astoroth and Usurper’s expert-level displays of rhythmic punishment. Now with two new demos out, a second full-length in the works, and a series of shows lined up, the band seeks to continue its conquests and expand the Dark Kingdom’s borders ever further.

CEMETERY MOON is:
Apparition: Lead vocals, guitars
Astoroth: Bass
Langeloth: Guitars, backing vocals
Usurper: Drums

Links:
LinkTree

Inside the Dark Kingdom: Volume One Track List:

  1. A Voice in the Woods
  2. Only Demons
  3. Army of Darkness
  4. Limitless Contempt
  5. Temporal Bloodletting

Inside the Dark Kingdom: Volume Two Track List:

  1. The Wretched City
  2. Eyes of the False God
  3. The Bleak Universal
  4. Life’s Enduring Lie
  5. The Black Keep

ORDER OF NOSFERAT set release date for new PURITY THROUGH FIRE album, reveal first track

Today, Purity Through Fire announces March 21st as the international release date for Order of Nosferat‘s highly anticipated fifth album, The Absence of Grace, on CD, A5 digipak, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

By now, those well versed in the crimes of Purity Through Fire should be aware of Order of Nosferat. Emerging from the shadows in early 2021, the duo of Count Revenant and Anzillu released TWO full-lengths that year: Necuratul and Arrival of the Plague Bearer. And while both underground veterans are no strangers to black metal, the variety they unleashed with Order of Nosferat was most definitely OLD, in every sense of the word: undead vampiric black metal had truly arisen! Like (vampiric) clockwork, two more full-lengths followed the next year – Nachtmusik in March and Vampiric Wrath Unleashed – proving that their bloodthirst could not be sated. While 2023 was relatively quiet, Order of Nosferat “only” released a split album with Lunar Spells, showing a more nuanced and atmospheric side to their vampirism.

Now that nuanced / atmospheric shift fully blooms with The Absence of Grace, Order of Nosferat‘s fifth full-length. Utilizing a unique production style – crisp and cutting but somehow brittle, exceptionally ethereal in its effect – the duo here move a more measured pace, patiently doling out their emotive marches with both misery and mania, somehow sounding dead and incensed simultaneously. Whilst moving within the vampiric black metal idiom, it’s an unapologetically sorrowful canvas on which they paint – “bloody tears” staining everything, to invoke Castlevania – poignantly illustrating the titular The Absence of Grace. ​Order of Nosferat‘s characteristic moonlit synths brilliantly shine here, moving to the fore and melding ​seamlessly with their cresting & cathartic riffing. All the sadness and nostalgia that the duo have created so prolifically the past four years comes to a climax with The Absence of Grace! Where that cursed coffin ship sails next, only Order of Nosferat know…

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Devoured by Lurking Shadows” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Order of Nosferat’s The Absence of Grace
1. Behold the Rising Horrors
2. Floating with the Ravaged Ones
3. In This Solitude We Dwell
4. Devoured by Lurking Shadows
5. Scratch out my Face on Every Portrait
6. Under the Sinister Shroud of Isolation
7. The Absence of Grace
8. Blood Stains the Fallen Snow
9. Cruelty Bestowed Revelation
10. Remain in Everlasting Silence

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Order-of-Nosferat-101630385169968

www.purity-through-fire.com