OFERMOD

Today, Shadow Records (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) announces November 25th as the international release date for a brand-new mini-album from Ofermod, Ofermodian Litanies, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version is expected for release on January 20th, 2023.

By now, Ofermod should require no introduction. Formed back in the dark days of 1996, the band released their debut EP, Mystérion Tés Anomias, in 1998. Although a mere two songs, Ofermod’s opening salvo sowed the seeds for the orthodox black metal movement that would begin to blossom in the new millennium, alongside fellow Shadow Records alumni Funeral Mist and Malign. Crime and chaos followed mainman Belfagor everywhere he went, and the band’s momentum remained halted. However, Ofermod eventually became a working entity again, starting with 2008’s Tiamtü full-length, and through magick and will did more recordings follow: Thaumiel (2012), the two-song Serpents’ Dance EP (2014), Sol Nox (2017), and the posthumous Pentagrammaton, originally intended to be the band’s debut album. And just last year, a renewed and reinvigorated Ofermod released the acclaimed full-length Mysterium Iniquitatus.


Each Ofermod recording always put forth a pivotal piece of their ever-evolving puzzle – ever the same, yet always different – and so it goes with the forthcoming mini-album Ofermodian Litanies. Something of a “double EP,” Ofermodian Litanies features two brand-new songs recorded with the lineup of Belfagor on vocals, guitar, and bass and Marduk’s Simon “Bloodhammer” Schilling on drums; two tracks from the aforementioned Serpents’ Dance EP, long out of print; and an unreleased version of the title track to Tiamtü. The two new tracks with Schilling on drums impart a stately mania that moves from grim strut to ghoulish fury, with Belfagor’s vocals always a hackle-raising centerpiece. Although many years removed and with a lineup that would carry forward to Sol Nox, the two Serpents’ Dance tracks hold up exceptionally well, finding Ofermod at their ugliest and arguably most rabble-rousing – the hooligan to the ritualist, if you will. Recorded during those same sessions, the unreleased version of “Tiamtü” holds the same slow-burn intensity of the original, with the ritualist here perhaps replacing the hooligan. All material here was recorded, produced, and mastered by Magnus “Devo” Andersson at Endarker Studios, keeping the totality intact.

Compact yet somehow still expansive, Ofermodian Litanies is aptly titled. Ofermod illuminate both the past and present!

Find illumination with the brand-new track “Mundus Imaginalis” and the unreleased version of “Tiamtü” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ofermod’s Ofermodian Litanies
1. Mundus Imaginalis    
2. Litany of the Lascivious Lucifuga    
3. A Million Serpents Dance    
4. Chaos Reverberation    
5. Tiamtü


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/OfermodOfficial

www.shadowrecords.se
www.regainrecords.se
www.facebook.com/shadowrecords.se

Today, Shadow Records (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) announces December 3rd as the international release date for Ofermod’s highly anticipated fifth album, Mysterium Iniquitatis, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will be released on March 29th, 2022.

By now, Ofermod should require no introduction. Formed back in the dark days of 1996, the band released their debut EP, Mystérion Tés Anomias, in 1998. Although a mere two songs, Ofermod’s opening salvo sowed the seeds for the orthodox black metal movement that would begin to blossom in the new millennium, alongside fellow Shadow Records alumni Funeral Mist and Malign. Crime and chaos followed mainman Belfagor everywhere he went, and the band’s momentum remained halted. However, Ofermod eventually became a working entity again, starting with 2008’s Tiamtü full-length, and through magick and will did more recordings follow: Thaumiel (2012), the two-song Serpents’ Dance EP (2014), Sol Nox (2017), and the posthumous Pentagrammaton, originally intended to be the band’s debut album. Each one put forth a pivotal piece of the ever-evolving puzzle of Ofermod – ever the same, yet always different.

And the puzzle continues to be eternal, no matter when or how an Ofermod recording arises. Such can be said for Mysterium Iniquitatis, which sees the original lineup joined together once again – Belfagor on guitar and vocalist Nebiros (Malign, Mephorash) – with session bass by Magnus “Devo” Andersson (ex-Marduk) and session drums by Calle Larsson. Indeed, Mysterium Iniquitatis immediately reminds of that infinitely influential Mystérion Tés Anomias EP, but tempered by age, experience, and poise. At once martial and mesmerizing, fiery and furious, but executed with a crispness and finesse that’s the penultimate in professionalism, Mysterium Iniquitatis presents Ofermod at their tightest and tautest, their characteristically malefic melodicism taking on new contours when put through such a startlingly accomplished soundfield. Likewise, Nebiros’ vocals bring back the grimness of yore, straddling past, present, and future with equal aplomb; his clear enunciation truly raises the hackles. The production – courtesy of Andersson at Endarker Studios – cuts like a gleaming knife and rusty axe simultaneously, the perfect iron-fisted complement to the band’s ever-surging and ceaselessly unfolding songwriting here. Special mention must be made of the male choirs on the opening title track – courtesy of Thomas Ericksson (Year of the Goat) and Lars Broddesson (ex-Marduk) – conveying a grandiosity beyond compare.

With suitably grandiose cover artwork courtesy of John Albin Hampus Ekström, Mysterium Iniquitatis is the vital & virile entrance into Ofermod’s fourth decade of existence.

Herald that entrance with the brand-new title track “Myterium Iniquitatis” here:

Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ofermod’s Mysterium Iniquitatis
1. Mysterium Iniquitatis
2. Inax Ya Lil
3. When the Blacksmith Killed the Shepherd
4. Sacrosanctus
5. Poraios de Rejectis
6. Consecration
7. Loyal to Belial
8. Arteria Urterina


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/OfermodOfficial

www.shadowrecords.se
www.regainrecords.se
www.facebook.com/shadowrecords.se