Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces April 12th as the international release date for Heresiarch‘s highly anticipated second album, Edifice, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
For over 15 years now, New Zealand’s Heresiarch have patiently crafted a body of work that has come to transcend their early influences. Though lineups have shifted during that time, led by founding vocalist N.H. and enhanced by guitarist C.S. in 2013, Heresiarch have wisely taken their time with recordings and prized quality over quantity. The band’s debut album, Death Ordinance, arrived in 2017 after a trio of savage short-lengths. A new rhythm section took root following that album’s release, and a couple splits in the ensuing years honed their doomed ‘n’ barbaric sound into something more molten and ominous.
And now arrives that megaton payload of devastation, Heresiarch‘s second album, elegantly titled Edifice. If there were any doubts that the band were but yet another toneless ‘n’ tired “war metal” troupe, the New Zealanders trounce any and all trepidation with exceptionally seismic songwriting. Here on Edifice, the parameters of Heresiarch‘s sound – death metal muscle, black metal atmosphere, grindcore aggression – are all in devastating harmony, creating a hydra-headed beast that betrays a wealth of true-yet-twisted ideas. More than just safely evading easy categorization (which is often mere doublespeak for “pleasing all constituents”), the quartet lay bare a landscape of texture titanic in its heft and foreboding in its effect, seamlessly winding through minefields both sonic and psychic and eventually culminating in a grandiose two-part finale in the equally compellingly titled “Hubris and Decline” and “Militate Pyrric Collapse.” For sure, Heresiarch sound as martial as ever, but the lava now flows in palatably unique ways, all without compromising their core aesthetic. Indeed, one could say they’ve finally found order through chaos.
The possibilities of life’s destruction are endless for those who wander before Heresiarch‘s Edifice.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Gloryless Execution” here:
Tracklisting for Heresiarch’s Edifice 1. Forged Doctrine 2. Manifest Odium 3. Noose Above the Abyss 4. Gloryless Execution 5. Tides of Regression 6. A World Lit Only By Fire 7. Swarming Blight 8. Mystic and Chaos 9. Hubris and Decline 10. Militate Pyrrhic Collapse
Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces April 12th as the international release date for the highly anticipated third album of America’s Crucifier, Led Astray, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
One of the longest-running entities in the American underground, Crucifier was formed in 1990 by vocalist/drummer Cazz Grant. While myriad lineups would come and go – and the band’s eventual debut album, Stronger Than Passing Time, wouldn’t be released until 2003 – Crucifier have kept consistent to their blasphemous, blackened death metal style steeped in the truly ancient and most underground ways.
Now, two years after their weird & wild Say Your Prayers mini-album, Crucifier align with Iron Bonehead once again for the release of their third full-length, Led Astray. Taking the wandering yet fully locked-in songwriting of that mini to its ultimate conclusion, Led Astray is a masterclass in memorable, METAL riffing and twisted rhythmic thrust. As is their signature, Crucifier sound positively primal here but never primitive; while these nine screeds of blasphemy might confuse or insult normcore listeners, there’s an extremely considered & calculated delirium behind their blackened devilry. As such, the “tight looseness” that’s characterized Crucifier‘s work to date gets sharpened to an enviable degree as these nine labyrinths surge and storm with a paradoxical / perverse sense of class. Credit the latter largely to the jaw-dropping dual lead-work across Led Astray: an element that’s been bubbling in the Crucifier cauldron for years, but which really reaches a superlative level here. Of course, Grant’s vocals are as diabolic as ever, seemingly coming from every direction and hackle-raising in their articulation.
Crucifier hereby have delivered a modern classic of blackened death metal in Led Astray!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Smite…”
Tracklisting for Crucifier (USA)’s Led Astray 1. Smite… 2. Feed the Furnace 3. In Hircine Splendor 4. Biers of Catholic Bones 5. With Cornu and Peccant Breath 6. Trafficking with the Devil 7. Serenaded by the Angels’ Shrills 8. Harbingers of Apollyon 9. An Endeavour of Rats
On February 2nd internationally, Iron Bonehead Productions will release a brand-new mini-album from House of Atreus, Orations, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats. And today, they stream the mini-album in its entirety. Hear House of Atreus‘ Orations in its entirety here:
Since their emergence in 2011, House of Atreus have become one of the most singular hordes to hail from North American soil during that time. Across a demo, an EP, and two successive full-lengths, the Minnesota natives have patiently and painstakingly crafted death metal of a most epic order. A veritable riff-machine, House of Atreus are powered by the Greek tragedies and have that very same tragedy (as well as triumph) coursing through their rough ‘n’ rugged veins. Theirs is a sound unapologetically influenced by the ancient Hellenic legends Varathron and Rotting Christ as well as other singular riff-machines like Grand Belial’s Key and Arghoslent, and the earliest and most blackened works of Running Wild. However, House of Atreus handily transcend these influences, as evidenced by their critically acclaimed second album, From the Madness of Ixion, released in 2018 by Iron Bonehead. Truly, the quartet managed to add to this glorious lineage rather than merely bottom-feed off it.
While the years since have been quiet for the band, metal art such as theirs does not come overnight, nor are they tethered to tired yearly record/tour/repeat hucksterism. Thus do House of Atreus finally emerge with a swift-yet-satisfying mini-album elegantly titled Orations. Something of a strategic detour, the 33-minute Orations comprises five brand-new tracks – each one as regally galloping as the last, concise and expansive in equal measure – and a closing cover of heroes Running Wild and their late ’80s gem “Riding the Storm.” The “detour” aspect of the record largely pertains to the further finessing of their trademark songcraft: ever more patient, riffs flowing like molten gold, but a slicker and more seamless aspect emerges that pays off a hundredfold. The latent grit ‘n’ grime still exists, but rather than being an exception to wider “death metal,” here do House of Atreus assert themselves simply as a masterful HEAVY METAL band – but one that just so happens to have more than a bit of death metalled muscle. Founding bassist Anxietous Nero’s remarkably articulated vocals are again at the fore, but possess more clarity and charisma than ever. Not surprisingly, in just over a half-hour, House of Atreus prove with Orations that they have more (worthy) ideas than most bands can muster across a couple albums or more.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for House of Atreus’ Orations 1. Orations / Reascension of Mastery 2. Thy Wounded Sovereignty 3. Under an Accursed Dynasty 4. Morphos of Degeneration 5. Cathedral of Ancestry 6. Riding the Storm [Running Wild cover]
VLTIMAS are legends of the underworld. Any good Satanist knows to bow down and worship at the horned feet of David Vincent (ex-Morbid Angel), Rune Eriksen (ex-Mayhem) and Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy). Their debut was greeted with a rapturous procession of devil horns. But with their new album, these gods of dark, extreme metal have ascended to truly epic heights.
Today, VLTIMAS are releasing the album’s hellacious second single, exclusively premiered by Metal Obs France.
You can watch the visualizer, made by Aimed & Framed right now:
Some metal songs prefer to slowly unfold before blowing out your ear drums. But rest assured, “Scorcher” is not a slow burn. Sure, the guitars lure you in with a smoky seance. Once Rune tightens those chords into icy black tremolo picking though, VLTIMAS take off like a bat out of hell. The amps crank up; Flo fires off blast beats that are hot enough to singe an angel’s wings, while David Vincent unleashes a miles-long battle cry.
“Satan laughs as worlds collide”.
His growl is so massive, so heartless, you’d better believe that he’s talking about himself.
“‘Scorcher’ brings to life a fantastic story of the great purge that’s coming our way”, says Vincent. “Humanity has been sleepwalking toward this reckoning for centuries. There will be no refuge, nor mercy granted”.
VLTIMAS have been making grand declarations of war for more than 30 years, but the lead single off EPIC isn’t just another offering at the altar of madness.
“I spread my misery, biblically evolved”, David Vincent sings on “Miserere” in a baritone that’s so monstrous it could summon an army of the dead.
The drums speed ahead mercilessly, mowing down all onlookers under a barrage of surgical blast beats, as riffs hail from all directions with enough firepower to shatter bulletproof glass.
Tracklist 1. Volens Discordant (1:02) 2. EPIC (4:35) 3. Miserere (3:51) [WATCH] 4. Exercitus Irae (4:01) 5. Mephisto Manifesto (05:05) 6. Scorcher (03:21) [WATCH] 7. Invictus (5:30) 8. Nature’s Fangs (3:52) 9. Spoils of War (5:54) Total runtime: 37:16
Extreme metal powerhouse VLTIMAS (pronounced ‘uhl-tuh-mas’) assault metaldom once more with their highly-anticipated sophomore album, EPIC, through Season of Mist. Featuring Norwegian guitarist Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen (ex-Mayhem, RUÏM), American vocalist David Vincent (ex-Morbid Angel), and Canadian drummer Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy), the multinational quintet, rounded out by Dutch bassist Ype TVS (ex-Dodecahedron) and Portuguese guitarist João Duarte (Corpus Christii), continue to venture down their path. Moored by strength and integrity, VLTIMAS fortified their signature with wicked invention, as applauded by Decibel Magazine, BangerTV, Louder, and many others, on their debut, Something Wicked Marches In (2019). Singles “Miserere,” “Scorcher,” and “Invictus” showcase a band of musicians at the top of their game, united in their pursuit of oneness.
“We wrote every bit of EPIC together at my ranch in Dime Box, Texas,” offers Vincent. “The writing sessions were as organic as they could be. There were times when, at the end of the night, Rune would take his guitar and play something ridiculous. Flo would play something even more ridiculous on top of it. I’d say to the guys, ‘I need to capture this.’ So, the magic [of VLTIMAS] is being in the same room together, discussing, playing, and recording music and everything else we’re doing together. We have unbelievable camaraderie.”
While the members of VLTIMAS are not atavists, their preferred creative methods are time-tested and battle-hardened. Technology has its place, but the group thrive when they’re together, not separated by the world. Eriksen, renowned as a riff innovator, is more effective when he’s got a highly capable sideman like Vincent or Mounier, whose drumming in Cryptopsy and his celebrated instructional Extreme Metal Drumming 101 DVD has proven to be a no-limits player, by his side. Whether it’s the moody, angular attack of “Miserere,” the wicked groove of “Mephisto Manifesto,” or the dark fury of “Nature’s Fangs,” the chemistry and enterprise of VLTIMAS is undeniable.
“The main goal [of VLTIMAS] is to be real,” Eriksen reveals. “To channel the very moment, to let true inspiration out. I don’t believe I ever set myself a goal on what an album should or needs to sound like before I or we write it because that means I have to compromise during the process. For EPIC, we focused on more direct songs, trimming the fat, as opposed to Something Wicked Marches In, which had a progressive and ‘playful’ flair.”
VLTIMAS was a profane concept—a constellation of riffs against a modest frame—when formed by Eriksen in 2015. After departing Mayhem in 2008 and putting his gothic doom outfit Ava Inferi to rest in 2013, the Norwegian’s fingers still itched with infernal fury. VLTIMAS was his vent, and when Mounier and Vincent joined, he finally had the cadre of professionals to make it a reality. Together, they devised complementary schemes and themes rooted in rightness. In a world gone mad, VLTIMAS had a vision. On Something Wicked Marches In, they commanded attention with metaphors about the apocalypse, the ancient goddess Lilith, and truth. Lyrically, EPIC spears into the very nucleus of strength through Vincent’s brio of double entendre and clever wordsmithing. The songs are designed to be heard, read, and interpreted—there are no shortcuts.
“Everything we’re doing and messaging is about strength and honor,” says Vincent. “These are the fundamentals that I incorporate into my life, which I believe in. I want to share with others, hoping they’ll incorporate strength and honor into their lives. I wouldn’t say I like spelling lyrics out. I use a lot of double meanings on purpose because I want to inspire the listener to think. I’m not a short attention span guy, and I don’t appreciate it. EPIC is holistic and meant to be experienced that way.”
EPIC was recorded by producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Grave Miasma) with engineer Jonathan Mazzeo (First Fragment, Sickening) at Arda Recorders in Porto, Portugal. VLTIMAS tracked the album throughout May 2023. Arellano also handled the mix and master. Like everything the band does, the main goal was to be honest. The maxim of no sample replacement or re-amping—EPIC was captured on outboard gear—was adhered to and enjoyed by the team. The result is a sonic expression that sounds like nothing else. From the crushing title track to the epic musicality of closer “Spoils of War,” EPIC is an absolute beast.
“Stress, long walks, too much alcohol, yet very focused once in the recording mode,” Eriksen says of the sessions. “We booked a month, but somehow, that flew by instantly. We worked up until the very end. I even added a few solos at my local Soundscape Studio in Almada, Portugal. Art unfolds, and once you think you are done, there’s always another idea popping up.”
VLTIMAS brought Italian artist Daniele Valeriani (Mayhem, Unanimated) to visualize EPIC. The aesthetic, as illuminated by music and message, was iconic boldness. The three-eagle head crest with three different crowns, accompanied by transfigured symbols of the Passion and the “impossible triangle,” projects effortlessly. In EPIC, the group will dominate. There’s no escape from “Miserere,” “Mephisto Manifesto,” “Scorcher,” and “Invictus.” Together, they thrust, by resolve and inventiveness, VLTIMAS into the uppermost echelons of extreme metal.
“[EPIC is] old meets contemporary, a symbiosis of all the great things we love about extreme metal,” offers Eriksen. “All combined into one album.”
“I want to be as emotional and honest [with VLTIMAS],” Vincent adds. “I want to tell stories; I want to have the themes that appeal to me; I want to have some messaging that someone can take away, in this case, strength. EPIC is strength.”
Lineup David Vincent – Vocals Rune Blasphemer Eriksen – Guitars Flo Mounier – Drums Ype TVS – Bass João Duarte – Guitars
Recording studio ARDA Recorders
Producer Jamie Gomez Arellano
Sound engineer Jonathan Mazzeo
Mixing and mastering engineer Jaime Gomez Arellano
Mixing and mastering studio Arda Recorders, Orgone Studio
Brodequin come with a long and sordid history. Jamie and Mike Bailey have been banging people’s heads together since 1998. Their first album catapulted the brothers far beyond their kingdom of Knoxville, Tennessee. But after seizing the throne as one of the most brutal rulers in all of metal, the band disappeared into the shadows.
Today, after 20 years, Brodequin are returning with Harbinger of Woe. The band’s fourth album lives up to their namesake. It’s dark and torturous, but also technically exquisite. Heck, some might even call it a work of art.
Watch the medieval video for “Of Pillars and Trees”, which was created by Matti Way of From the North Films here:
“Of Pillars and Trees” is classic Brodequin. Mike’s riffs churn like severed limbs through a meat grinder. New drummer Brennan Shackelford pings his cymbals with all the murderous intent of a spiked mace. Heck, the death growls are nasty enough to make you think that Jamie is sucking the blood of his enemies through a straw.
As with every Brodequin song, “Of Pillars and Trees” is rooted in real events. “This song finds its inspiration in the historical practices that involved the utilization of trees for the purpose of torture and execution”,” Jamie explains. “Among the myriad methods employed, a prominent example was the affixing of an individual to a pillar, or, more commonly, a tree trunk through the use of long iron nails”.
But “Of Pillars and Trees” also branches out into new territory for the band. “The creation process for ‘Pillars’ started out much like any other Brodequin track”, Mike says. “It wasn’t until the mid-section came together that it began to diverge. I wanted to slow things down a bit but add some depth with multiple guitar tracks instead of just droning a single riff. As the layers were being written, I kept hearing a synth pattern in my head. But instead of using an actual synth, I recreated what I was hearing on my guitar, using plenty of reverb and delay to get the tone as close to what I was imagining as possible”.
Tracklist 1. Diabolical Edict (3:29) 2. Fall Of The Leaf (2:33) 3. Theresiana (3:03) 4. Of Pillars and Trees (4:03) [WATCH] 5. Tenaillement (2:53) 6. Maleficium (3:09) 7. VII Nails (2:17) 8. Vredens Dag (3:20) 9. Suffocation in Ash (3:05) 10. Harbinger of Woe (4:04)
After signing with Season of Mist in 2022, Brodequin re-issued their entire discography on LP and CD.
“Relentless, barbaric intensity” – John Gallagher (Dying Fetus), who named Instruments of Torture one of the most brutal albums ever.
“Kicks in like a sledgehammer” – Metal Rage raved over Methods of Execution
“A merciless massacre” – Power Metal praised Festival of Death.
The Middle Ages might’ve brought the world out of The Dark Ages. But for every compass or printing press, those enlightened thinkers were also responsible for inventing the most torturous devices in human history. None were more brutal than the brodequin. Not only did the French use this instrument to cripple their victims, but to squeeze their legs to the point where bone marrow would spill out of their wounds.
You could say the same about Brodequin. The band come with their own long and sordid history. Brothers Jamie and Mike Bailey have been playing brutal death metal since 1998. Putting his history degree to good use, Jamie’s lyrics are inspired by real historical events, staying true to death metal’s core thematic pillars of dismemberment, torture, abuse and murder. But their artwork broke from genre’s generic splatter illustrations by digging into intricate period woodcuts and beautifully grotesque oil paintings.
“There simply was no point in history that was more brutal than the medieval period,” says Jamie. “At the same time that such barbarity was deployed, there was also an explosion in fine art, architecture and music. It all comes to feed our identity as a band”.
Brodequin’s first album catapulted them far beyond their kingdom of Knoxville. “This band has stuck out in the underground with relentless, barbaric intensity”, says Dying Fetus’ vocalist and guitarist John Gallagher, who named Instruments of Torture one of the most brutal death metal albums ever. Festival of Death put another flesh-tearing arrow in their quiver (“Some of the fastest, most brutalizing death metal ever recorded” – Sputnik Music). But after sieging festival stages across Europe with Methods of Execution, the band had to be put on ice.
“We had a series of deaths in our family”, Jamie explains. “Mike and I knew we had to step away until we had the time and were at a place mentally to give Brodequin the attention it deserved.”
Now, after 20 years of peaceful silence, Brodequin have returned with fresh instruments of torture. The Brothers Bailey are back with a new drummer, a new label and their long-awaited fourth album.
“Brodequin had been away for so long that I was stunned by the level of interest from fans and record labels”, Jamie says. “Before playing Hellfest, the band was approached backstage by a metalhead rocking a Brodequin t-shirt who happened to work for Season of Mist. Soon enough, they were hitting it off with Michael Berberian. The rest, as they say, is history.
“We all hung out for hours”, recalls Jamie. “The extraordinary level of enthusiasm shown toward our music made Season of Mist the obvious choice”.
As has been the case with this band for their entire career, Harbinger of Woe lives up to its name. Lead single “Of Pillars and Trees” is classic Brodequin. Mike’s distorted guitar chords churn like limbs through a meat grinder. The way Brennan Shackelford pings, blasts and flays his snare through “Suffocation in Ash” with the all encompassing speed of a sandstorm. Jamie’s growls are so phlegmy, so rotted, that to drag them out from whatever dark bowel movement spawned them would make an executioner sick to their stomach. And yet — somewhere deep inside all that carnage hides a terrifying beauty. The title track leaves you deaf, dumb and blind, begging on your knees in the face of a punishing, almighty riff.
“This album is a journey into this lost period of history where brutality and beauty coexist. Beauty, in the arts the were created, but also the beautiful brutality that was needed to engineer deadly devices like the brodequin”.
With Harbinger of Woe, Brodequin reclaim their throne as the most brutal band in all of death metal.
Line up: Jamie Bailey: Bass/Vocals Mike Bailey: Guitar Brennan Shackelford: Drums
Recording Drums recorded at Brennan’s Drum Room in Dallas, Texas.
Guitar, bass and vocals recorded at Navarre 24 in Harriman, Tennessee
Producer and sound engineer Mike Bailey
Mastering studio and engineer Brad Boatwright
Mixing studio and engineer Josh Welshman
Artwork Original artwork done by Jose de Brito. Additional elements by Jamie Bailey.
In April, underground legends Deceased will embark upon an eight-date tour supporting Vio-lence, who’ll be playing their classic Eternal Nightmare debut in its entirety. Says founding frontman King Fowley, “Looking forward to a week-long touring jaunt in April. Getting out for a handful of shows before we go in to record the new record Children of the Morgue, a one-hour journey into the world of the dying! These shows looking like our only ones till summer, so if you wanna come out and rock, by all means do so.” Full list of tour dates as well as poster art are as follows:
April 5 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East April 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Monarch April 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts April 8 – Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar April 10 – Cleveland, OH @ The Winchester April 11 – Cincinatti, OH @ Legends April 12 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary April 13 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies
During the tour, Deceased will have for sale the new Hells Headbangers CD editions of 2000’s Supernatural Addiction (yellow disc) and 2018’s Ghostly White (blue disc). Additionally, Hells Headbangers‘ vinyl reissue of 1995’s The Blueprints of Madness is slated for September.
Elaborating on their upcoming Children of the Morgue, which should see release sometime this summer through Hells Headbangers, King Fowley says that Deceased‘s eighth album will be “a continuous, no-break-between-songs, one-hour concept album on dying and all that it entails. The darkest record we’ve written to date – 100% Deceased, and proud as fuck of what we have come up with this time around!
Release date, cover art, and tracklisting for Children of the Morgue to be revealed shortly. For more info, consult the links below.
Track taken from Carrion’s album “Morbid Nailgun Necropsy”, out via Wormholedeath Records.
Carrion is a Death Metal band founded by Mathieu Vander Vennet, Sven Van Severen, and Jan Van den Berghe in Hansbeke (Belgium) in 2008. Carrion lineup: Sven Van Severen (vocals) Mathieu Vander Vennet (guitar) Jan Van den Berghe (bass) Nico Veroeven (drums) Frederic De Schepper (guitar)
Track taken from the band’s album Afterlife, out via WormholedeathStream “Afterlife”: orcd.co/afterlifealbum
The concept album Afterlife depicts an interdimensional being that stalks life in our universe because it represents a threat to existence itself. And the human species, or at least what it has become after the events described in the previous creations of Angel Rising, is now its target. The cover shows the hero, Asai, struggling with a horde of undead, and unaware of the even greater danger that awaits him. Angel Rising is a one-man Death Metal project started in Marseille in 2020. Its main influences come from the old-school thrash/death scene (Sepultura, Metallica, Death). Still, it also gives pride of place to modern and progressive elements combined with a very technical and virtuoso approach.
STRATUZ emerged onto the metal scene in 1984 and quickly solidified their position as Venezuela’s most revered metal band. Their debut album, “In Nomine…” released in 1995, catapulted them to recognition and acclaim. Following a triumphant European tour in 1999, they signed with LSP-Company and released “Spirit Seduction,” which marked a new chapter in their musical journey. After a hiatus, the band reunited in 2019, pouring their passion into the creation of “Osculum Pacis,” which was unleashed upon the world in 2022. The album garnered international praise, securing the top spot on the Jacquin Ravens Top 50 Metal chart and earning accolades as the best work of 2022 by esteemed journalist Roberto Palmitesta and Metal Pedia.
Italian Horror Death Metal band TENEBRO, have just released a free listening & download 2-song EP titled “La Bestia Dell’Isola Maledetta“, available here:
Track list for “La Bestia Dell’Isola Maledetta” is as follows:
01. Ingurgita le Vittime 02. Viscere
The 2nd album of TENEBRO “Ultime Grida Dalla Giungla” was released back in November 21st, 2023 through Xtreem Music on CD, 12″LP & Cassette formats and it’s still available here:
Today, Californian death metal Cro-Magnons Dipygus premiere the new track “The Dover Demon”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated third album, Dipygus, set for international release on January 22nd, 2024: Memento Mori will handle the CD version while Crypt of the Wizard will handle the vinyl version. Hear Dipygus‘ “The Dover Demon”in its entirety here:
Since the dawn of the Paleolithic age, mankind has recorded spectacular scenes of death, whether in scenes of cannibal feasts crudely etched on cave walls, massacres immortalized in glyphs adorning monuments of the ancient kingdoms, or in chance recordings of grisly accidents, compiled and sold on home video to those with a thirst for that which is denied to them by our “civilized” society. Spawned in the contaminated sewers of Santa Cruz, California in 2013, Dipygus began as a four-piece mutation performing rudimentary styles of death metal, a sonic evolution of the tradition continued from the time of Cro-Magnons. A 2015 demo recording, the earliest surviving documentation of the band, reveled in unexplained and bizarre events, including peculiar methods of whale carcass disposal and otherworldly monsters from on and off the silver-screen.
After a lineup change in 2016, Dipygus recorded the Long Pig Feast EP, which featured terrifying rites, ritual mutilations, and ominous sightings of a Mesozoic relic in the heart of the Congo. Their debut album, Deathooze, slowly de-composed in the murky shallows of powerplant runoff in the Monterey Bay, ultimately being recorded in 2018. Though quickly banned in over 16 countries, Dipygus‘ debut album attracted immediate attention among slime fetishists and similarly deviant circles. Placed appropriately alongside the Fiji mermaids and other grotesque artefacts found in curio cabinets of modern-day antiquarians, Deathooze continued the band’s exploration of inexplicable incidents, mysterious beasts, and shocking carnage, including genuine audio recovered from a fatal attack at the hands of an ape gone mad!
Following their debut album, Dipygus was conjoined with an additional member, and began a new exploration in search of secrets hidden in the jungles of lost continents, where life is cheap. After successful initiation into the shadowy world of black-market cuisine, an agreement was reached with Memento Mori for the release of Dipygus‘ second full-length, Bushmeat. Showcasing more exotic and repulsive themes of the supernatural and taboo, Bushmeat presented an uncensored and unrelenting spectacle, with each element of the previous work irresponsibly taken to a further extreme. A prime cut of raw and grueling terror, it was fit for consumption by headhunters, body-snatchers, toad-venom junkies, cargo cultists, aquatic ape theorists, disaster tourists, carriers of tropical disease, voodoo practitioners and orgone revivalists only.
All others having since been warned, Dipygus return to time primordial with an elegantly self-titled third album. Suitably graced with evocative cover art courtesy of Hayden Hall, Dipygus thrusts the helpless listener into a psychedelic jungle of grisly delights. At ten songs in 41 minutes, the quartet qualify their most lengthy recording yet with maximum delirium and characteristically crushing execution. Everything here feels MASSIVE – tone, feel, supernatural aura – yet somehow simultaneously exhibits a spacious quality that’s unsettling to the Nth degree. Perhaps that’s due to Dipygus‘ increasingly twisted songwriting, neither “tech” nor improvisatory, but a certain “elevated caveman” aspect that pushes primitivism toward mind-bending ends. Fleeting-yet-haunting leads also play a part in Dipygus‘ menagerie of malodorousness, exacerbating the psychotic reactions in their humid, hellish jungle, and even touches of way-back synths get mangled within, melting into the fuckton heaviness of Dipygus‘ riffing.
Ever wanna hear the most tripped-out moments of Autopsy, Impetigo, and especially Nuclear Death taken to their ILLogicial conclusion? Then enter Dipygus‘ self-titled album…if you dare!
Hear the previously revealed “Perverse Termination” HERE at Memento Mori‘s official YouTube channel. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Dipygus’ Dipygus 1. Perverse Termination (Bulb of Force) 2. AquaGenesis 3. Monrovia, LR 1990 4. Vipers at the Pony Keg 5. Огромный Кальмар (Ross Sea Trawler) 6. Bug Sounds II (Megascolides australis) 7. The Dover Demon 8. Rat Lung-Worm 9. Sacral Brain 10. The Ochopee Skunk Ape
Today, Romanian death metallers Necrotum premiere the new track “Shattered Flow of Time”. The track is the second to be revealed from their highly anticipated third album, Defleshed Exhumation, set for international release on January 22nd, 2024 via Memento Mori. Hear Necrotum‘s “Shattered Flow of Time” in its entirety :
Hailing from Romania, the rancid entity known as Necrotum was initiated by mainman Filip Garlonta (Putred, Demoted, Vorus) in Brasov, back in 2019. Despite the fact that the band has only been around for four years, Necrotum have already produced an impressive output, including two albums and a number of shorter releases, getting tighter, danker, heavier, and more macabre over time, drawing inspiration from the likes of early Cannibal Corpse, Incantation, Wombbath, Broken Hope, and Grave among others, with the sole intention of perpetuating ghastly, downtuned, no-frills DEATH fuckin’ METAL.
While it would be expected (and celebrated) if Necrotum stuck to those rancid guns, on their forthcoming third album, Defleshed Exhumation, do they become slicker and yet more twisted – tighter but also wilder, and perhaps more “evolved”….very relatively speaking! Because make no mistake, Necrotum are staunchly (and sickly!) death metal of a most ’90s vintage, but whereas their preceding full-lengths could be slotted within the pantheon of early ’90s death metal, Defleshed Exhumation takes a concerted path toward mid or even late ’90s death metal. Think the likes of Monstrosity, Broken Hope, Mortal Decay, and especially Deeds of Flesh and pre-breakup Suffocation: undeniably fierce and punishing, but technical in a creepy and oft-slimy way. Not for nothing is the cover art created by Slimeweaver! Of especial note is the production on Defleshed Exhumation: this is about as slick and clean as you can get whilst retaining the core darkness and horror of classic DEATH METAL; if anything, those superlatively sharp edges only make that darkness & horror hit harder. Stomp in the slime and twist down into its depths with Necrotum!
Also hear the previously revealed “Warped in Entrails” HERE at Memento Mori‘s official YouTube channel. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Necrotum’s Defleshed Exhumation 1. Warped in Entrails 2. Noxious Breeze 3. Incomprehensible Forms 4. Dissolved in the Flesh Pits 5. Mouldered Orb 6. Shattered Flow of Time 7. Psychotic Apparitions 8. Ghastly Metropolis 9. As I Behold I Despise [Demigod cover]
