nuclear war now

Sweden’s VASSAGO set release date for long-awaited new NUCLEAR WAR NOW! album, reveal first track – features members of LORD BELIAL, KING DIAMOND+++

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions announces August 1st as the international release date for the long-awaited second album of Sweden’s Vassago, Storm of Satan, on vinyl LP and cassette tape formats.

Sweden’s reputation in the world of underground black and death metal is a well-earned one. Known for stellar musicianship, consistent quality, and distinct production, it should be no surprise that many ancient Swedish hordes are still as potent today as ever.

With that in mind, Nuclear War Now! is proud to release Storm of Satan, the second full-length from Vassago. Formed in the late 1980s, Vassago released two demos in the mid-’90s before recording their blasphemous 1999 ful- length Knights From Hell (reissued by NWN! in 2019). The group established an identity with revered fellow countrymen Lord Belial, sharing several members.

While Lord Belial has earned a stellar reputation for their sweeping, melancholic grandiosity, Vassago approaches black and death metal from a maleficent angle. With biting, vicious intensity that calls to mind fellow northern gods Impaled Nazarene or Nifelheim, Vassago offers a full-scale attack of warlike staccato and a penchant for the disgusting and evil.

Storm of Satan is thematically dominated by a pure worship of Satan: a true devotional homage to the literal essence of black metal art. Musicianship and execution are at their peak here, with the additional presence of the legend Andy Laroque (of King Diamond) producing the record as well as providing lead guitar.

Storm of Satan offers its listeners no recourse; this is worship of evil for the evil among us.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Grind of Satan” here:

cover and tracklisting

Tracklisting for Vassago (Sweden)’s Storm of Satan

1. Darkness of Satan
2. Elite of Satan
3. Evil of Satan
4. Fire of Satan
5. Grind of Satan
6. Mayhem of Satan
7. Metal of Satan
8. Sign of Satan
9. Storm of Satan
10. War of Satan

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Florida’s GNOSIS set release date for NUCLEAR WAR NOW! album – streaming in full now

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions announces August 1st as the international release date for the highly anticipated third album from Florida’s Gnosis, Omens From the Dead Realm, on vinyl LP and cassette tape formats.

From the Greek word for “knowledge,” Gnosis is adept at translating Greek sonic arcana into their own distinct language. Straddling the line between black and death metal, Gnosis treads this bottomless sea with an aplomb matched by few others. Blunt brutality is complemented by breathtaking melancholia with tasteful nods to archetypes found throughout the history of heavy metal music. Album highlights such as “Apzu, Sea of Death” can confidently stand in conversation with elder Greek progenitors Varathron and Rotting Christ while still maintaining their own distinct thesis.

This is the sound of aquatic Babylonian chaos, albeit through the lens of the ancient depth-dwelling elders of Lovecraft’s abyss. Omens From the Dead Realm is the second Gnosis release in partnership with NWN! Productions.

In the meantime, stream Omens From the Dead Realm in its entirety here:

Cover artwork, courtesy of Vika // Imago Mortis, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Gnosis (Florida)’s Omens From the Dead Realm

1. Conjuration of the Nemesis
2. Typhlotic Visions
3. Excite the Tempest
4. Apzu, Sea of Death
5. Transcendence Pt. II
6. The Eleventh Step, The Gate Unknown
7. Omens from the Dead Realm
8. Awakening the Third Eye
9. Watcher of a Faceless Abyss

MORE INFO:
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APOCHRYPHAL REVELATION set release date for new NUCLEAR WAR NOW! album, reveal first tracks

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets November 1st as the international release date for Apochryphal Revelation‘s highly anticipated second album, Primeval Devilish Wisdom, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Hailing from the improbable location of Lexington, Kentucky, Apochryphal Revelation conspires with Nuclear War Now! to release Primeval Devilish Wisdom, the band’s second album and its first recording since 2017’s Reverence for the Kings of Hell.

Although the band’s previous output has to a certain extent languished in obscurity, Primeval Devilish Wisdom succeeds in fully establishing Apochryphal Revelation’s manifestation of black metal as one that is sure to draw comparisons to both that which was propagated by the old Unisound Records label roster and that of the Brazilian legends Mystifier. These 15 tracks, among which are interspersed several shorter instrumental hymns to darkness, achieve a potent, atmosphere-rich sound, which owes itself in equal parts to convincing songwriting, prodigious riffs, skillful leads, judicious use of keyboards, harrowing vocals, and cavernous production. The grand sum of these contributions results in a recording that is worthy of its mention with reverence towards the aforementioned greats that undoubtedly inspired it.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new tracks “Primeval Devilish Worship,” “Wickedness,” and “Profane” here:

Cover and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Apochryphal Revelation’s Primeval Devilish Wisdom 1. Primeval Devilish Worship
2. Wickedness
3. Profane
4. Death of the Savior
5. Poisoned Blood of the Redeemer
6. Constantine
7. Entering the Realm
8. Obscure
9. Mother Hecate
10. Burning
11. Dismal Depths
12. Blasphemous
13. Invocation
14. Graveyard
15. Dreams of Beyond

 MORE INFO:
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Pre-IMMORTAL band AMPUTATION to have demos reissued by NUCLEAR WAR NOW! – streaming now

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets August 31st as the international release date for an official collection of demos from Norway’s Amputation, Slaughtered in the Arms of God, on vinyl LP format.

By the early 1990s, a fairly distinct line in the snow had been drawn between the Scandinavian lands of Norway and Sweden with respect to the direction that each would take during the ensuing decade in cementing each country’s eventual extreme metal patrimony. To the east, Sweden would come to be regarded as the European home of death metal, while its neighbor to the west would go on to largely define the sound of modern black metal. A few notable Norwegian bands, such as Darkthrone, successfully navigated the transition from death to black metal during those years.

Another of the infamous Norwegian black metal bands, Immortal, arose from the ashes of its lesser-known death metal incarnation, Amputation, to achieve a much-deserved level of respect. Although Immortal achieved greater renown than its predecessor, Amputation deserves its own place in death metal history, rather than just a footnote. To this end, Nuclear War Now! is proud to present the first widely-available version of Amputation’s two demos, plus an additional 1989 rehearsal, on one compilation.  

Entitled Slaughtered in the Arms of God, this collection includes the demo of the same title from 1990 and the preceding Achieve the Mutilation demo from 1989. Amputation’s original recording lineup consisted of Harald Nævdal (aka Demonaz) on guitars and vocals, Truls Kvernhusvik (guitars), Padden (bass), and Jørn Inge Tunsberg (drums). Kvernhusvik exited the band prior to the recording of the second demo, leaving the remaining trio as Amputation’s final lineup.  

Confirming its place in Scandivanian metal history, the Slaughtered in the Arms of God demo was recorded at Grieghallen Studios, where many of the Norwegian legends – like Mayhem, Emperor, Enslaved, and Immortal – recorded their early albums. May this collection now serve to immortalize Amputation’s recordings both in the eyes of those already versed in the band’s dark brand of death metal, as well as those previously uninitiated.
  In the meantime, stream the collection in its entirety here:

Cover art and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Amputated (Norway)’s Slaughtered in the Arms of God 1. Heavenly Grace
2. Slaughtered in the Arms of God
3. Plague of Death
4. Death Is Not the End
5. Merciless Slaughter
6. Intense Torture
7. Amputation
8. Death Is Not the End
9. Merciless Slaughter
10. Hunger of Blood
11. Intense Torture
12. Plague of Death


Tracks 1-2: Slaughtered in the Arms of God demo 1990
Tracks 3-6: Achieve the Mutilation demo 1989
Tracks 7-12: Rehearsal 1989
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THE FUNERAL ORCHESTRA set release date for long-awaited second album for NUCLEAR WAR NOW!, reveal first track

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets July 15th as the international release date for The Funeral Orchestra‘s long-awaited second album, Negative Evocation Rites, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Considering its emergence approximately 18 years ago, The Funeral Orchestra’s body of recorded work is relatively sparse. However, rather than surrender to the temptation to equate quantity with quality, this enigmatic entity has instead opted to publish only the work that it deems fully deserving of its creative endeavor.  

Cloaked in black robes and golden masks since 2002, The Funeral Orchestra released three demos prior to its 2003 debut album, Feeding the Abyss, which introduced its apocalyptic minimalist doom to a wider audience. That same year, the band made its first live performance in its native Gothenburg, Sweden, but not many in the local scene at the time understood its music or obscure doom atmosphere.

Since that time, it has released only a handful of splits, singles, and an EP, the latter of which contained two songs from a recording session that was intended to result in its second full-length. This album never came to be, however, due to a general dissatisfaction with the songs and sound captured at the time. Other attempts were subsequently made to meet or surpass the quality of Feeding the Abyss, but that goal was never met…until now.  

In 2019, the Orchestra felt the correct timing and inspiration had coincided to reemerge for the purpose of producing a worthy successor to the original full-length and initiating a series of live performances. This new album, Negative Evocation Rites, was recorded in early 2020 in Studio Trauma and Abysmal Noise Studio in Sweden, with additional recording at an undisclosed location in Colorado, and it is slated for release on Nuclear War Now! Productions this July.  

Those already acquainted with Feeding the Abyss will be certain to find that the band’s approach has not varied significantly from its original formula. That said, Negative Evocation Rites has somehow managed to present an even darker atmosphere than its predecessor, and one that appropriately reflects the bleak outlook for humanity in these uncertain times. Indeed, the band’s name is quite telling in this regard, as each of the four solemn hymns within serves as the perfect accompaniment to the funerary procession that one can easily envision chaperoning our species to its impending mass extinction.  

In January 2020, the band returned to the stage for the first time in 17 years at the Orgivm Satanicvm festival in Oslo, Norway, and additional performances were booked during the year for Never Surrender III (Germany), In Flammen (Germany), and UK Deathfest, with more to be announced. Thus, like the virulent disease that it emulates, The Funeral Orchestra has arisen from its dormancy to portend the end times as it spreads its contagion worldwide.
  In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Negative Evocations”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for The Funeral Orchestra’s Negative Evocation Rites 1. Negative Evocations [12:42] 2. Flesh Infiltrations [7:49]
3. Negations I [8:36]
4. Negations II [12:31]

 MORE INFO:
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NECROGOSTO set release date for new NUCLEAR WAR NOW! mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets March 15th, 2020 as the international release date for Necrogosto‘s highly anticipated new mini-album, Ancestral Bestiality, on 12″ vinyl format.

With its initial self-titled demo from 2017, Necrogosto introduced itself as a cult worthy of the rich Brazilian metal underground that its forefathers had pioneered decades earlier. Recalling the savagery invoked by its fellow countrymen in such fabled bands as Sarcofago, Sextrash, Necrobutcher, and Expulser, Necrogosto proved that it is indeed possible to recapture the sound and spirit of one of the most historically significant scenes to have ever impacted extreme metal.  

Now, two years later and approximately one year since Nuclear War Now! reissued the demo, the same label and band conspire to bring us Necrogosto’s next atrocity, Ancestral Bestiality, an eight-track MLP that confirms the authenticity in style and sound first displayed on the demo. Like the preceding demo, these new tracks harken back to a particular time and place where the boundaries between the existing subgenres of metal were blurred, making clear distinctions between black and death metal difficult and somewhat futile to discern. Ancestral Bestiality succeeds in resurrecting this blend of styles that came to be known uniquely as Brazilian “deathcore,” which is not to be confused with the abomination to which the term is commonly applied today.  

Like its inspirations from over 30 years ago, this recording is steeped in both the barbarity of primitive death metal and the evil of first-wave black metal, which in itself shared more characteristics of thrash than its more contemporary offshoot. This amalgam of influences, in combination with Necrogosto’s mutated interpretation of them, is what leads to the band’s unique variety of “satanic black noise.” Perhaps most emblematic of this concoction is “Intoxication and Ecstasy,” a track with clear parallels in composition and execution to Sarcofago’s infamous I.N.R.I. album.  

However, where Necrogosto at times revisits the themes of chaos, demons, blasphemies and profanity, as done so masterfully by its forbearers, it also breaks this mold by including motifs like pre-Columbian evilness, mysticism, and historical anticolonial resistance. The result is one that both pays reverence to its ancestors and also drives the previously-established sound into new arenas, transforming Ancestral Bestiality from a reflection of a bygone era into a document of a new form of evil incarnated.

In the meantime, hear the new track “Serpent of 1000 Eyes” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Necrogosto’s Ancestral Bestiality 1. Ancient Demoniacal Proclamation (Intro) 2. Serpent of 1000 Eyes
3. Baphometic Noisy Cult
4. Perversions at Necrotemple
5. Ceremonial Rites for Missionary Desecration (Interlude)
6. Intoxication and Ecstasy
7. Marching to Oblivion
8. Transcending to Uku Pacha (Outro)
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LURKER OF CHALICE to release demos collection through NUCLEAR WAR NOW!, reveals first track

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets March 1st, 2020 as the international release date for a special demos collection/reimagining from the enigmatic Lurker of Chalice. Titled Tellurian Slaked Furnace, it shall be released on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Active from 2001-2005, the highly revered side-project of Leviathan’s Jef Whitehead, Lurker of Chalice, is mostly known for the 2005 self-titled full-length. Prior to that album, however, Wrest recorded two CD-R demos under the Lurker of Chalice name, each of which was limited to approximately 50 copies or less and sold at a single record store in San Francisco, near where he was living at the time. Like the full-length, both demos were eponymous, though the first demo was identified only by the initials “L.O.C.” written in runes. While a few of the songs from the demo era bear indicia of black metal, the material from that period is generally far more experimental, defying any effort to be neatly categorized.

For Tellurian Slaked Furnace, Wrest has distilled the best material from the early period of the project and edited, collaged, and compiled it, weaving together something more coherent and album-like. In this way, there seems to be something of his current artistic sensibility projected onto these recordings from nearly two decades earlier.

In keeping with the confusing taxonomy of the project, the tracks on this LP are unnamed. The album opens with a song previously called “Lurker of Chalice” on the 2002 demo but is untitled on this release. The song showcases the haunting minimalism of Lurker of Chalice as slow acoustic guitars revolve around one another, arpeggiated chords ringing out above percussive accents. With the second track, a more sinister energy emerges, advanced by the first and only appearance of Wrest’s seething vocals.

Over the full, 70-minute duration of this album, the music, almost completely instrumental, expands and contracts, evolves and disintegrates. Delicate ambient passages and labyrinthine excursions give way to electronic dirges of lumbering percussion with guitar shimmering transcendent above a melancholic lake of atmospheric sound and cascading sheets of electronics dissolving into lush acoustic melodies. Only very rarely do heavy riffs emerge; compared with Wrest’s work in Leviathan, or even the Lurker of Chalice album, the metal elements are far less direct and overt. Instead, this album conjures a bleak, unsettling mood without resorting to the compositional trappings of black metal. The music, which strangely seems both intensely personal, yet also detached and cinematic, evokes a palpable sense of solitude—the disconsolate reckoning of the self in the absence of others.

The release of Tellurian Slaked Furnace marks the first time any of the Lurker of Chalice demo recordings have been reissued and also offers a substantial amount of previously unheard material.

Hear “IV,” one of those previously unheard tracks, here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Lurker of Chalice’s Tellurian Slaked Furnace
1. I
2. II
3. III
4. IV
5. V
6. VI
7. VII
8. VIII
9. IX
10. X
11. XI
12. XII
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Final order for IRON BONEHEAD / NUCLEAR WAR NOW!-curated NEVER SURRENDER fest announced – tickets on sale

NEVER SURRENDER FEST VOL. II
October 19-20, 2019
Oakland Metro Operahouse
Oakland CA, USA
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In 2009, Iron Bonehead  and Nuclear War Now! worked together to present the first NWN! Fest. The collaboration proved fruitful and the event was a success, so we continued the partnership, presenting four additional installments over the years. As Iron Bonehead ascended to become one of the preeminent underground labels, it began to make more sense to present bands from both Nuclear War Now! and Iron Bonehead, resulting in the Never Surrender Fest, the first edition of which took place this past November. We held all of the previous fests in Berlin because it was a centralized location, allowing us to bring more bands from Australia and Asia, while also presenting many North and South American bands to a European audience for the first time. Ten years later, it seems like the right moment to put together a fest in the United States, particularly, Oakland, California—the home of NWN! To that end, Iron Bonehead and NWN! are presenting the first-ever U.S. edition of the Never Surrender Fest, scheduled to take place on October 19th and 20th, 2019, in Oakland, CA, with a pre-show scheduled for October 18th, 2019. There will be 16 bands performing, with 8 bands chosen from each label. Full fest order follows, as well as poster art.
***SATURDAY OCT 19TH***
Doors: 3:00 PM

EOSPHOROS (USA): 04:00 PM – 04:40 PM
BYYRTH (USA): 05:10 PM – 05:50 PM
MORBOSIDAD (USA): 06:20 PM – 07:00 PM
BLUE HUMMINGBIRD ON THE LEFT (USA): 07:30 PM – 08:15 PM
BONE AWL (USA): 08:45 PM – 09:30 PM
TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE (AUSTRALIA): 10:00 PM – 10:45 PM
UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN (CHILE): 11:15 PM – 12:00 AM
BLACK WITCHERY (USA): 12:30 AM – 01:30 AM

***SUNDAY OCT 20TH***
Doors: 3:00 PM

ORDER OF THE NAMELESS ONES (USA): 04:00 PM – 04:40 PM
CEMETERY LIGHTS (USA): 05:10 PM – 05:50 PM
HOUSE OF ATREUS (USA): 06:20 PM – 07:00 PM
SIEGE COLUMN (USA): 07:30 PM – 08:15 PM
VOLAHN (USA): 08:45 PM – 09:30 PM
GRAVE UPHEAVAL (AUSTRALIA): 10:00 PM – 10-45 PM
ANTEDILUVIAN (CANADA): 11:15 PM – 12:00 AM
BLACK CILICE (PORTUGAL): 12:30 AM – 01:30 AM
Never Surrender Pre-Fest Gig
Engendro Malévolo (CA) 8:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Zulxaxeku (CA) 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Ptahil (IN) 9:45 PM – 10:30 PM
Cemetery Lights (RI) 10:45 PM – 11:30 PM
Eggs of Gomorrh (Swiss) 11:45 PM – 12:30 AM

Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 8:00 PM

Elbo Room Jack London
311 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94607

$15 adv $20 door / 21+

Pre-Fest Tickets

NUPTA CADAVERA set release date for NUCLEAR WAR NOW! EP – includes members of Denmark’s Korpsånd Circle

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets September 15th as the international release date for Nupta Cadavera‘s striking debut EP, Nupta Cadavera, on 7″ vinyl format.

With this debut EP, Nupta Cadavera make a defiant proclamation of purpose. The membership of the band is largely unknown, except that it is comprised of an international group of musicians, including members of the Korpsånd Circle in Denmark. Gaining wider recognition in the last few years, the many bands affiliated with Korpsånd and their Mayhem venue/rehearsal space have collectively broadened the spectrum of the Danish black metal scene. 

The two songs on this self-titled EP possess a distinctive approach, one that reflects a self-annihilating synthesis of sounds commingled. The band’s name draws upon this trait. “Nupta Cadavera,” Latin for “marriage with a corpse,” signifies the union of the living with the dead, the twin pillars of existence, entangled, symmetrically braided. The two tracks feature the gilded glint of guitars, metallic and bold, crashing together and coiled around the melodic thrust of the keyboards, the two elements at times clashing in a brassy display of internecine discordance. Nested within the compositional armature of the songs, the vocals, desperate and grim, break the tension. The dissonance is then sculpted in the service of songs that are punchy, succinct, and imminently listenable, immediately commanding repeat plays. 

It is difficult to reconcile the quality of these songs with the fact that this is the band’s debut recording, and one hopes more will soon follow. 

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nupta Cadavera’s Nupta Cadavera EP
1. Metaphysical Cruelty
2. Instant Mortification of the Soul
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DEATH WORSHIP set release date for new NUCLEAR WAR NOW! EP, reveal first track – features CONQUEROR and BLASPHEMY members

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets February 15th as the international release date for Death Worship‘s highly anticipated second EP, End Times, on 12″ vinyl format.

With its highly anticipated debut recording, Extermination Mass, Death Worship emerged in 2016 to write the next chapter in the storied legacy of the Ross Bay Cult. Whereas many bands over the years have striven to claim a position atop the mantle of bestial black metal, the incomparable lineage of Death Worship’s members and the pitiless assault on the feebleness of human existence as evidenced in this first recording confirmed it as one truly worthy of such a distinction.  

Now, approximately two years later, Death Worship returns with its second siege, End Times, which ominously portends the finality to which all mankind will succumb. The perpetrators of this attack are the same as on Extermination Mass. Specifically, ‘Deathlord of Abomination and War Apocalypse’ (aka R. Förster) has once again enlisted the services of J. Read on session percussion, and ‘Nocturnal Grave Desecrater and Black Winds’ eagerly offered his own legendary war commands to back those of Förster and his bludgeoning guitar and bass offenses.  

Although these supporting members have been directly involved in Förster’s lifelong trajectory in black metal through their joint collaborations in Conqueror and Blasphemy, Death Worship is the creative progeny of Förster himself. As he stated in an interview following the initial release of Extermination Mass, this entity is best interpreted as his own brainchild moving forward in the aftermath of Conqueror’s split, at which time Read similarly forged his own unique path with Revenge.  

While it is clear that Förster’s involvement in Conqueror and Blasphemy contributed greatly in shaping this vision, this latter project represents a sound that Förster envisaged and a creation that he has incrementally cultivated since he first picked up a guitar decades ago. In Conqueror, the Superion was seen as a potential to rise above the weaknesses and scourge of humanity at large. In Death Worship, that glimmer of optimism is no longer present, which brings us to End Times. The tangible product itself is one that reflects no superfluous experimentation with sound or alien influences from other genres. Instead, it is simply the manifestation of the most purely extreme black metal, inspired by I.N.R.I.-era Sarcófago, Blasphemy, early Beherit (and The Lord Diabolus), early Slayer, Hellhammer, and early Bathory. In order to properly achieve this goal, and in keeping with the traditions of the Ross Bay Cult, Fiasco Brothers Studio in Vancouver, Canada was chosen as the site for its audial incarnation.

Given the increasingly nihilistic state of affairs into which humankind has descended, so it is written that End Times shall serve as the appropriate soundtrack to its demise.

In the meantime, hear the new track “The Poisoned Chalice”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Death Worship’s End Times
1. Stand Witness to Atrocity
2. The Poisoned Chalice
3. Slaughtersiege
4. Masters and Monolith

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