Black Metal, Doom Metal, Pagan Metal, DSBM and More
Satanic Warmaster is one of the most successful black metal names from Finland. In this interview done at Turku Saatanalle VI event we interview Werwolf of Satanic Warmaster about topics deep and light.
Satanic Warmaster:
https://www.facebook.com/satanic.war.terror
https://satanicwarmaster.bandcamp.com/
Today, elite Teutonic black metallers Ascension stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Under Ether. Set for international release on March 30th via W.T.C. Productions, hear Ascension’s Under Ether in its entirety HERE.
Beginning life in 2007, this German black metal cult have been a patient study in fire and faith, to paraphrase their 2010 EP. Every step of the way, Ascension’s move has been deliberate and decisive, with nothing left to chance; truly, their canon has developed organically, but with a steadfast trajectory in mind. The first full fruition of their fire and faith came with their debut album, Consolamentum. Released in 2010 under the auspices of W.T.C., Consolamentum quickly became a modern classic of orthodox black metal. They once again precluded an album with EP, as Deathless Light followed in 2014 before the successive second full-length, The Dead of the World. Here, Ascension took their already iron-willed orthodoxy to greater heights/depths with an ambition that betrayed their young years as a band. And once again, they rightfully reaped critical acclaim for it. There was no turning back…
Indeed, Ascension have crossed their own Rubicon on Under Ether. Still staunchly BLACK METAL to the bitter end, here, the band’s unbridled ambition takes them on a journey to the most haunting hinterlands of their pitch-black sound. Like gleaming obsidian, Under Ether reflects (and refracts) a kaleidoscopic array of hues, each darker than the next. It all coalesces into a hideous swarm – or, to reference an ever-apt song title, “Pulsating Nought” – that, despite its usually teeth-gnashing intensity, displays a cool/calm/collected knack for dynamics: space and shade are laid bare across this treacherous landscape.
After the suitably stage-setting intro, each of these seven sins rushes onward with an almost-disarming ease, Ascension within the churning maelstrom directing its every malevolent move and sulfurous shudder. Further, they’ve expanded their melodic arsenal here, with evocative leads often taking center stage; other times, riffs are colored by cleaner tones that nothing less than soul-searing. Completing the totality of Under Ether is stalwart production, courtesy of Michael Zech and V. Santura: warm and feverish and totally analog, but possessing a palatable clarity that allows every detail to ring true. Gleaming obsidian, indeed…
With a full decade under their belts now, Ascension are no longer plucky newcomers; with Under Ether, they’ve truly become masters. Prepare to go under, deeper than ever…
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Ascension’s Under Ether
1. Garmonbozia
2. Ever Staring Eyes
3. Dreaming In Death
4. Ecclesia
5. Pulsating Nought
6. Thalassophobia
7. Stars To Dust
8. Vela Dare
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Ascension.Germany
Today, Osmose Productions reveals the cover and tracklisting for Vanhelga’s highly anticipated fifth album, Fredagsmys, which is set for international release on June 29th on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Vanhelga’s Fredagsmys
1. Sömnparalys
2. Psykotisk självinsikt
3. Varde mörker
4. Ensam mot alla
5. Förpassad till misär
6. Två blir ett
7. Keep the window closed
8. RIP (Relationship in pieces)
9. Feels like breathing in sulfur
10. You are temporary
11. Fredagsmys
Vanhelga are constantly expanding their creativity without losing the classic melancholic sound from Sweden that makes them unique. The last few years, they’ve written and recorded 11 tracks that fully live up to their artistic vision. Fredagsmys is the most elaborate album from Vanhelga so far.
True to their own words, their fifth full-length – and first for Osmose – is the continuing exploration of the darker sides of reality and another experiment in how to find its purest expression: using sarcasm combined with overall schizophrenic mood changes between pitch-black hopelessness and cheerful euphoria, but still keeping a level of seriousness Vanhelga has come to be a force to be reckoned with.
Vanhelga was formed in Linköping, Sweden, in 2001 by 145188, who got together with likeminded musicians in order to finally breathe life into his vision, something he had not been able to do with any previous bands and musicians he had worked with. Since then, they are known for their atmospheric and captivating live performances, sharing the stage with, Psychonaut 4, Forgotten Tomb, Harakiri for the Sky, and Kall, among others.
Through music and lyrics, Vanhelga – which, translated from Swedish, means “Profane” – explores the darker side of humanity: the one that few will admit exists, but which nevertheless is a huge part of every individual’s existence.
Vanhelga’s music can doubtlessly be classed as black metal, but that would be too restrictive a definition. Their music is cold and sinister, but with melodies and melancholic moments that can draw you in and lull you into a false sense of security before you realize, too late, that you have been caught in an ominous web of sound that sends shivers down your spine.
First track sample to be revealed shortly.
For more info, consult the links below.
VANHELGA lineup 2018
145188 – vocals and guitars
J. Ejnarsson – lead guitars and backing vocals
R. Jönsson – bass
D. Franzén – drums
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/officialvanhelga
www.vanhelga.bandcamp.com
www.youtube.com/channel/UCSK8dY_SxNOdiLbOHh9xMNg
www.soundcloud.com/vanhelga-official
www.instagram.com/officialvanhelga
www.osmoseproductions-label.com/bands/vanhelga
Today, Blood Harvest Records and Helter Skelter Productions set June 15th as the international release date for Goat Disciple’s striking debut EP, Wolfcult Domination, on CD, 12″ vinyl, and cassette tape formats. The CD and cassette versions shall be released on June 15th while the vinyl version will follow later on July 14th.
Hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah, Goat Disciple are a quintet who unapologetically craft WAR METAL. In the strictest sense, their particular style of spurn ‘n’ churn melds the most barbaric recesses of black metal to the molten muscle of death metal. As such, their four-song Wolfcult Domination is both meatgrinder and rusty tank, surging ever forward with buzzsaw riffing – with the emphasis truly on RIFFS, unlike so much so-called “war metal” – and often dipping into downtempo vortexes that are nothing short of world-eating. Throughout the EP’s 24-minute entirety, Goat Disciple remain locked in, deadly and deliriously, playing with a passion like their lives truly depended on it, imparting an all-too-rare sense of physicality amongst a morass of usually lifeless “aggression” pedaled so much and so callously by the underground. References to be made include godfathers Diocletian but also Angelcorpse at their berserker best and classic Katharsis; nevertheless, on the strength of this opening salvo, Goat Disciple are surely on their way to marking the battlefield in their own manner. Prepare for Wolfcult Domination!
First preparations can be made HERE with the new tracks “Oreb Zaraq” and “Mammon.”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Goat Disciple’s Wolfcult Domination
1. Oreb Zaraq
2. Black Skull Hypnogogue
3. Torture Siddhi
4. Mammon
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/goatdisciple
Today, Finnish black metal mavericks Totalselfhatred premiere the new track “Cold Numbness” . The track hails from the band’s long-awaited third album, Solitude, set for international release on April 27th via Osmose Productions. Hear Totalselfhatred’s “Cold Numbness” in its entirety HERE.
Perseverance through adversity, creation through destruction, strength through pain. After years of waiting, skulking, and lying near-dormant, Totalselfhatred has returned to the fray. They are here to present you five songs of our their particular brand of melancholic desolation in an audial form. Turn off the lights, wallow in the sweetness of reclusive negativity, and let yourself float freely in the soothing stream of emotion that their epitome of Solitude will provide.
Totalselfhatred was founded to create truly melancholic and desperate soundscapes and to unravel the blackened thoughts, the blessing and the curse of the inability to think either black or white nor in between. To narrate about the ability to find clarity in madness, positivity in the negativity, shelter in the dark…
To point it out clearly: Totalselfhatred is dedicated to the searching, not to the self-pity. Totalselfhatred is a symbol for resurrection through pain. A pool for the frustrated, for the desperate in life, for those living and bleeding towards a higher truth, to crush the circles of self-inflicted suffering! For I am my worst enemy…
The first cold taste can be found HERE with the previously revealed track “Solitude MMXIII.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Totalselfhatred’s Solitude
1. Solitude MMXIII
2. Cold Numbness
3. Hallow
4. Black Infinity
5. Nyktophilia
MORE INFO:
www.totalselfhatred.net
www.facebook.com/totalselfhatredofficial
Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets May 13th as the international release date for Oksennus’ highly anticipated third album, Kolme Toista, on vinyl LP format. The CD version shall be released earlier on April 15th.
Active since 2010, Finland’s Oksennus have already produced a staggering body of work. Through a series of demos and full-length cassette releases, the band painstakingly carved out a place in the underground landscape that has been largely untouched and uncorrupted. Stylistically eccentric, Oksennus’ music is a controlled departure from the constraints of genre, and, yet, the band nevertheless remains properly steeped in tradition.
With this new album, Oksennus’ ambitious tendencies are on prominent display. Kolme Toista is as bold an artistic proclamation as one could expect in metal without stretching the fabric of the genre so thin as to leave it threadbare. With nearly a decade of work behind them, the members of Oksennus are proficient and meticulous about the presentation of their ideas, and this album showcases the merit in their approach.
As with all of Oksennus’ work, the album cover features the austere and abstract style of illustration that is an aesthetic hallmark of the band’s vision. The album’s title means “Three Others,” but, in Finnish, it is also a play on words, simultaneously evoking the number “thirteen” (“kolmetoista”). Intentionality and purpose characterize every aspect of this release, and the wordplay of the title is no exception. The album consists of a single 39-minute composition, broken into three 13-minute movements, seamlessly woven together, guiding the listener through a sprawling array of mercurial states of consciousness, calling to mind the complex compositions by fellow NWN! act Chaos Echoes.
The album begins joltingly—a frenzy of ecstatic guitars, cycling and clashing, order and chaos held in restrained and tenuous equipoise. The drums and bass, active and aggressive, accentuate the commotion while providing musculature for the composition, as the vocals call out above the fray, invocations of of dark intent. It is disorienting—a warped, whirling, death dervish hymn. As the first movement ends, the compositional filaments become increasingly unraveled, the elements broken down, splayed, ripe for examination. The second movement is more unified; almost hypnotic, but melodically complex. Notes contrast and collide, and although the passage is rhythmically consistent, the sequences of melody never quite repeat. The track slows to near stasis, like atoms as liquid freezes to solid. At the 26-minute mark, the track erupts into unbounded territory. Vocals spill over the mix, summoning and directing the music, which is increasingly freeform as the final movement gets under way. The vocals die out, and the drums dominate the track, with the guitars receding, forming a roiling undercurrent of distortion. Extraneous sounds produced by an array of sources, including a number of unusual instruments (piano, trumpet, accordion, harmonica, kantele) emerge to fill the space and lull the listener into a nearly transcendental state as the third movement winds down. Before the album ends, however, the blissful cacophony of the third movement is interrupted by the same frenetic force with which the album began. Indeed, the same drum pattern that opens Kolme Toista recurs to provide the foundation for the confounding mania of the final minute of the track before suddenly disintegrating into the welcome serenity of silence.
In the meantime, hear the first glimpse of Oksennus’ intentionality with the opening 13-minute track “Toinen” HERE
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Okennus’ Kolme Toista
1. Toinen
2. Toinen
3. Toinen
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/oksennus
Belarusian atmospheric black metal unit RAVEN THRONE is returning with their sixth album “I Miortvym Snicca Zolak” on May 02, 2018 via Dutch Label Non Serviam Records.
Check the premiere of the second track “Pole cicha šaptała kałossiem…” from the upcoming album, which is based on poems from the beginning of the 20th century. Listen to it RIGHT HERE.
The Band informs: “The song “Pole cicha šaptała kałossiem” is taken from the poem (having the same title) of Michas Charot — the Belarusian poet, playwright and writer who was shot in the framework of the repression, committed by the Soviet leaders in October, 1937. Michas dedicated this to Tishke Gartnoy (real name Dmitry Fyodorovich Zhilunovich), another prominent poet from Belarus. The poem fits perfectly into the music of Raven Throne, thus forming one of the most powerful and piercing tracks from this album.”
Emerged from the ancient city Polotsk in 2004, Belarusian band RAVEN THRONE is having a couple of LPs and an EP in its amassment. The short lived first line-up collapsed after a few shows, the guitarist Chernotur (aka Dzianis Lukianovich, Thy Wings) kept the flame alive with War Head, who joined the band as a bass player in 2005. Encountering several lineup changes, the main core of the band had been formed in the person of Chernotur and War Head since then. During 2005 and 2006 RAVEN THRONE was a studio project, until Ingwar Winterheart (aka Galdor) joined the band. The first records were made at that time.
RAVEN THRONE had no drummer until 2011 and played under drum machine, but they released 03 magnificent albums till then. The band has become more active since 2014, started playing small and big festivals/gigs on regular basis. The current drummer Green Skin joined the band in 2015. The band shared stages with some prestigious local and international bands, including legendary Polish death metal troop VADER.
05th album «By the Path of the Forgotten» was released in 2016 via Possession Productions. The record was made by Chernotur and War Head as usual. In April 2016, the new line-up was renewed. Zergved Hellersatan (ex-KAIRA) became new vocalist. RAVEN THRONE supported ROTTING CHRIST on their Minsk gig during the world tour in December 2017.
Upcoming album “I Miortvym Snicca Zolak” will be out May 02nd via Non Serviam Records on digipak. RAVEN THRONE invites you to an odyssey in the splendor of the Slavic nature, which is based on poems from the beginning of the 20th century. The bands from the east Slavic countries can invent the supreme atmosphere that darkens the music with deep melancholy and Raven Throne is the perfect example to illustrate this tendency. The 06 splendid tracks of the album are occupied with deep melodies, but powerful rhythms, exploring the darkest side of human emotions. Without sacrificing melodic and dynamic proficiency, their musical technicality comes out on top through the composition.
Magnificent visual artistry in the form of cover art was executed by the band’s vocalist War Head. RAVEN THRONE will be embarking on an European tour this year to promote this album.
PRE-ORDER:
Webshop: https://bit.ly/2ua9dyf
Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/2uh8T0E
TRACK-LIST:
1. Vietru
2. Pole cicha šaptała kałossiem…
3. Imža, i sklizota, i prykraja zol
4. Vosień
5. Žyvym vas nie daklikacca…
6. Žyvoj kryvi žyvyja cielcy
RAVEN THRONE
https://www.facebook.com/raventhrone.by
https://www.instagram.com/raventhroneofficial
https://vk.com/club3888769
https://raventhrone.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpabt0vE-QUPp_7E96UWTMA
https://open.spotify.com/artist/32AFlw0NdsRq8VWWvrsUlU
Today, Dunkelheit Produktionen sets May 1st for Subduer’s striking debut EP, Death Monolith. Much like they did with Kapala’s debut EP last year, Dunkelheit unleashes pure sonic cruelty with Death Monolith: simply put, Subduer are against everything and all, and suitably detonate lo-fi terrorist death-noise.
Subduer’s origins and membership are a mystery, but we do know they hail from Germany and comprise a duo of Shemhamforash on drums and Az-Zabaniyya on guitars and bass. Do both handle vocals? Possibly, but even one cursory listen to their Death Monolith debut EP and it becomes clear that they’re coming at you from every angle. Nothing but total audial decimation is on their minds; their tools are crude composites of “instruments,” and they wrangle forth every last, licentious noise they can from them. “Riffs,” then, are not so much written as doled out like artillery and duly mangled from there. Howling ‘n’ haunting noise blankets nearly every decibel spewed forth like festering radioactive disease: Death Monolith is thus more like nuclear fallout than proper “music.”
Define them how you want (or not), Subduer could care less; only absolute blackout-unto-whiteout matters. Crush, kill, destroy…and then scatter the ashes to the wind. There lies the Death Monolith. Diehards of Nyogthaeblisz and Tetragrammacide, prepare to meet your new gods!
Hear for yourself with the opening title track HERE
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Subduer’s Death Monolith
1. Death Monolith
2. Zulifiqar
3. Execution Ritual
4. Domination Transmission
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/illesinedeum
Today, Portuguese death metal cult Summon premiere the new track “Cvlt of Abomination”. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Parazv Il Zilittv, set for international release on April 20th via Iron Bonehead Productions. Hear Summon’s “Cvlt of Abomination” in its entirety HERE.
Summon emerged in late 2016 as a gathering between N. and R. in which they decided to follow a sonority that transcends their soul and where they could give it a more cavernous feel, with an intensity of deep agony. Shortly thereafter, N. decides to move forward with composite themes, and then they decide to call J. to seal the covenant of a deadly entity. The lyrics are handled by N. in which he invokes all the blackness and splendor of death, the burden of enduring and wandering in a world of human flesh, and the infinite thirst for mass slaughter converting mankind into a cloak of bones.
What thusly emerged was Summon’s debut EP, Aesthetics of Demise, which was released by Iron Bonehead during the summer of 2017 to widespread critical acclaim. A swirling, sulfurous mass of molten death-doom, Aesthetics of Demise was aptly titled, but on the fuller and more fleshed-out Parazv Il Zilittv, the trio both dive deeper into the murk and emerge into clearer dimensions. By no means do Summon here abandon their expertly crafted monolith of death-doom, but they largely (and wisely) leave behind the obfuscating murk which has become so de rigueur (read: TRENDY) in the millennial metal underground. Instead, each passage patiently unfolds and establishes its intended texture, terrorizing the mind and body with oppressive physical/spiritual weight – even (and especially) when stripped back to foggy, tension-inducing mist. The consequently linear songwriting soon works its sepulchral magick, as lurching ‘n’ lumbering riffs are stretched into hammering trances, sending undulating waves of absolute ritualism deep into the listener’s core. Which is all to say nothing of the production on Parazv Il Zilittv, which somehow manages to make Summon sound creepier despite the clearer and more cutting recording style.
With Aesthetics of Demise, Summon proved that their smashed-psyche sorcery transcended the usual “sepulchral death metal” tropes. Now, with Parazv Il Zilittv, they prove that that sorcery is potent enough to simultaneously open and close the crypt of time eternal. How far will you step in/out?
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Summon (Portugal)’s Parazv Il Zilittv
1. Whisper of the Black Moon
2. Howling Graves
3. Cvlt of Abomination
4. Shapes of Darkness Transcending
5. Below Death Splenddovr
6. Parazv Il Zilittv
7. Impetvovs Sacrifice of thy Womb
8. In Odorem Mortis
9. …from Beyond
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Summonband
Today, Italian black/death cult Demonomancy premiere the new video “The Day of the Lord”. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Poisoned Atonement, recently released to international acclaim via via Invictus Productions. In lieu of a full-scale European tour beginning next week (dates below), see & hear Demonomancy’s “The Day of the Lord” below
For a decade now, Demonomancy have been steadfast pillars of the bestial metal idiom, perfecting it over the course of two EPs and 2013’s definitive debut album, Throne of Demonic Proselytism. However, whilst working with the same strident fundaments – ancient South American black/death, the rigorous Blasphemy/Beherit axiom, early proponents of metal primitivism like Profanatica and VON – hereby with Poisoned Atonement do the power-trio leave behind all pretenders and stake out a new, defiant claim of sulfurous metal magick.
Portended by the ominous new track on the 2016 split with Finnish comrades Witchcraft, Poisoned Atonement portrays a Demonomancy no longer bounded by subgenre dictates. Here, they explore all the craggiest corners of their songwriting acumen, finessing forth an endlessly burly yet richly dynamic soundfield that verily approximates the most mysterious echoes of the grand abyss. Smothering, mind-melting violence collides head on with vortextural ritualism, wild-child heavy metal abandon with austere, locked-in grind: Demonomancy not so much leave no stone unturned as they do simply CRUSH it into feeble dust under their massive, ever-masterful boots. To begin understanding the multi-layered miasma of Poisoned Atonement is to gaze deeply into its cover art…
As such, Demonomancy is the sublimation of primitive human impulses morphed into aural spears that suffocate consciousness in a perennial leprous embrace. Corrosive verses burn superficial organic tissues, revealing the pulsating flesh exposed in its primordial obscenity. In this atoning pilgrimage, the unbearable guilt gives birth to inner demons that lacerate the mendacious drape covering our hidden and irrational world. “We praise the morbid and forbidden Bestiality to be rejoined with our primeval dimension,” state the band. “We praise the diseased and torbid Spirit bounded by the mortal coil’s festering chains. The body is merely a monumental epitaph. Metal of Death – Methodical Chaos.”
Bow in fealty and begin your Poisoned Atonement with Demonomancy… Visual atonement can be found HERE,
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Demonomancy’s Poisoned Atonement
1. Intro – Revelation 21.8
2. Fiery Herald Unbound (The Victorious Predator)
3. Archaic Remnants of the Numinous
4. The Day of the Lord
5. Poisoned Atonement (Purged in Molten Gold)
6. The Last Hymn to Eschaton
7. Fathomless Region of Total Eclipse
8. Nefarious Spawn of Methodical Chaos
DEMONOMANCY European tour dates
22.03 – NANTES, FR – Ferrailleur
23.03 – PARIS, FR – Backstage
24.03 – LONDON, UK – Boston Arms
25.03 – AMSTERDAM, NL – P60
26.03 – GENT, BE – Asgaard
27.03 – COPENHAGUE, DK – KB18
29.03 – POZNAN, POL – U Bazyla
30.03 – LODZ, POL – Magnetofon
31.03 – KRAKOW, POL – Ze Pe Te
01.04 – VIENNA, AU – Viper Room
02.04 – SALZBURG, AU – Rockhouse
03.04 – FIRENZE, IT – Circus
04.04 – PESCARA, IT – Tikitaka Village
05.04 – MILANO, IT – Circolo Svolta
06.04 – BAAL, CH – Sommer Casino