Month: February 2020

FUNERALOPOLIS set release date for MEMENTO MORI debut, reveal first track

In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, on April 27th, Memento Mori is proud to present Funeralopolis‘ striking debut album, …of Deceit and Utter Madness.

Hailing from Switzerland, Funeralopolis was awoken under the name Human Waste in 2006. With vocalist Void joining the band in 2009, they changed the name to Funeralopolis. Void left the band shortly after, but the name stayed. They started recording the first demo, titled …of Death, with a slightly different lineup (guitar-desecrator Thuri also took on vocals) under horrible circumstances in only 48 hours, including mixing and mastering. The tape was released as a co-release between Dark Descent Records and Skeleton Plague. Several years and beers later, the recording of the …of Prevailing Chaos EP took place at Hidden Stash Studios, with a slightly different lineup. It was summoned in 2013.

Funeralopolis didn’t have any lineup changes since 2011, and have been around since a decade now. Over the years, they’ve shared the stage with bands like Mystifier, Dead Congregation, Excruciation, Diocletian, Bölzer, Sadistic Intent, and many more. That stage experience certainly plays into the band’s long-awaited debut album, …of Deceit and Utter Madness. With a gutsfucking guitar tone at the fore and utterly vile bass beneath, Funeralopolis crush chest cavities (and dreams) with a crusty sort of death metal that violently vacillates between lumbering, world-eating doom and ragged, almost-punkish gallops. Indeed, the spectre of domestic legends Hellhammer looms large here, but the band are undoubtedly most influenced by death metal from the late ’80s and early ’90s; such names invoked include Autopsy, Darkthrone (EARLY era), Asphyx, Sadistic Intent, Nihilist, Necrovore, Obituary, Incantation, and Blasphemy. However, other bands like Sodom, Cianide, Sarcofago, Winter, Candlemass, Doom, Carnivore, and many, many more also had a big impact on Funeralopolis. In fact, one could say that the bubbling mass of …of Deceit and Utter Madness is a veritable love letter to all these noble influences.

Fittingly, …of Deceit and Utter Madness is graced with alluring cover art courtesy of Mark Cooper, and maximum heaviness is ensured by Ted Tringo’s mastering job. Funeralopolis open up the earth and present your mass grave!

Take the first step into that grave with the brand-new track “House of West”
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Funeralopolis’ …of Deceit and Utter Madness 1. Intro
2. Crawling Caskets
3. House of West
4. Witchcraft Horror
5. Devouring Crypts of Darkness
6. Downfall
7. …of Deceit and Utter Madness
8. The Envenomed King
9. Into Unknown Kadath
10. Endzeit Burial
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Funeralopolisofdeath
www.funeralopolis.bandcamp.com
www.memento-mori.es
www.facebook.com/memento.mori.label

Brazilian thrash militia Thrashera premiere new track

Today, Brazilian thrash militia Thrashera premiere the new track “Sangue ao Metal” .The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated third album, NÃO GOSTO!, set for international release on March 31st via Helldprod Records.

Hear Thrashera‘s “Sangue ao Metal” in its entirety here:
With nearly 20 releases under their bulletbelts, Thrashera are a veritable institution in the Brazilian underground. The band formed in June 2010 by three maniacs deeply into the ’80s wave of Satanic metal and primitive rock ‘n’ roll. As strongly suggested by the title of their 2010 demo Speed Sex’n’Roll as well as For All Drunks ‘n’ Bitches debut album in 2014, Thrashera‘s lyrics unabashedly encompass such themes as devious behavior, sex, alcohol and drug abuse, horror films, war, massacres, nuclear disasters, violence, underground counterculture, punk issues, and the headbanging way of life. It’s that lattermost element which has endeared the band to so many across the international underground, and their forthcoming NÃO GOSTO! is gonna launch Thrashera onto an ever wider stage – which the band will promptly destroy!

But, lest anyone think that Thrashera are “only” about partying, their explanation of the title NÃO GOSTO! – in English, “DON’T LIKE!” – should provide some more depth about these serious thinkers/drinkers: “The name of the album stands as a denial manifest towards the present political and religious ideologies in Brazil responsible for ‘killing’ – oppressing – all artistic forms of expression. It’s a reinforcement of our lyric approach in the last decade as a band, in a era where the individual liberty for the underground movement and its followers is in serious danger. Expressing NÃO GOSTO! as a mantra, it’s probably the only reasonable path! NÃO GOSTO! synthesizes all the refusal towards the hypocrisy that commands the world, guiding our masses into the abyss with a unconscious grin. This is also a shout-out and a wakeup call to all the underground forces to organize, react, and unite themselves in order to avoid the extinction of the most marginalized culture in the planet. Metal always said NO! And always will!”

Indeed, no right ‘n’ proper metalhead will EVER say “no” to the hard-thrashing onslaught Thrashera offer here on NÃO GOSTO! Right after the ominous, brewing-storm intro, the album kicks in and into high gear, pounding metal into an irresistible surge like no other. Neither retro nor modern, but rather simply timeless, Thrashera effortlessly unload one anthem after another, keeping their high-speed metal highly infectious and very highly headbanging. Compared to so much other thrash-oriented metal, the band bring out the original rock ‘n’ roll edge so crucial to early heavy metal – and then make it evil! Evil invaders singing an executioner’s song, Thrashera‘s razor-sharp attack just keeps going and going and going…until you’re all gone! Raw and dirty, the way it should be: posers leave the hall!

To mark this momentous achievement, Thrashera have such distinguished guests as Vulcano’s Luiz Carlos Louzada and Flageladör’s Armando Exekutor on NÃO GOSTO! As the band continues booking live shows, writing new songs, and negotiating new releases with worldwide underground labels, it’s time to stand with Thrashera in their mission to keep heavy metal not as just entertainment, but as pure art forged in the anti-commercial counterculture underground – just say NÃO GOSTO! 

Begin denying the false with the previously revealed title track “NÃO GOSTO!” HERE at Hellprod‘s Soundcloud as well as HERE at the label’s Bandcamp.
Ordering info can be found HERE.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
1. Intro víbora resistente
2. Não Gosto!
3. Maré 669
4. Rei dos Excessos
5. Sangue ao Metal
6. Trapped in the 80’s (Hard version)
7. Metal!
8. Correntes não prendem serpentes
9. Igreja (Tributo ao Cabeça Dinossauro)
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/thrashera666
www.helldprod.com
www.facebook.com/helldprod
www.helldprod.bandcamp.com

BLASPHAMAGAGOATACHRIST set release date for NUCLEAR WAR NOW! debut album, reveal first track: features members of BLASPHEMY, GOATPENIS, and ANTICHRIST

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets April 27th as the international release date for Blasphamagoatachrist‘s highly anticipated debut album, Bastardizing the Purity, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

In 2018, Blasphamagoatachrist was first summoned by the gods of war to continue the siege that its members had separately waged previously in such notorious hordes as Blasphemy, Goatpenis, and Antichrist (Canada). With its debut demo, Black Metal Warfare, the band laid to rest any skepticism that may have arisen prematurely in response to the thought of another black metal “supergroup” managing to bear the flame that its members’ main projects had first lit decades earlier.  

Blasphamagoatachrist now triumphantly returns with its debut full-length, Bastardizing the Purity, which further solidifies this cult as an entity of its own and one worthy of its members’ collective pedigree. As the demo did two years earlier, Bastardizing the Purity serves as a present-day example of the ferocity with which early-to-mid 1990s bestial black metal emasculated the more impotent varieties of output demonstrated by most contemporaries. Each irreverent hymn is propelled by the combined tactical strikes of Sabbaoth (bass) and Tyrant Virrugus (guitars), while Incinerator of Lacerated Angels and Coffin Destruction (drums) carpet bombs the battlefield, and Nocturnal Grave Desecrator and Black Winds (vocals) commands the relentless annihilation from above. The final outcome of this 11-track onslaught is one that establishes Blasphamagoatachrist independently above and beyond the list of pretenders to the throne of today’s bestial black metal scene.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Death Alchemy” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Blasphamagoatachrist’s Bastardizing the Purity 1. Intro (50 Cal. Demonic Chant) 2. Bastardizing the Purity
3. Black Nuclear Shadows
4. Abysmal Commands
5. Intro (Weapons of Fire and Steel)
6. The Final Blood Orgy
7. Death Alchemy
8. Genocide Evocation
9. Intro (Apocalyptic Battlefields)
10. Fire Demons of Blokula
11. Evil Revelation
www.nwnprod.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Nuclear-War-Now-Productions/114864651994141

HEXENBRETT premiere new track

On May 22nd internationally, Dying Victims Productions will release Hexenbrett’s highly anticipated debut album, Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
Hear Hexenbrett‘s “Lass Schlafende Leichen Ruhen” in its entirety here:
It was at the dawn of 2019 when a strange little demo inconspicuously announced itself from the other side and introduced the sound of the bloody iris. Titled Erste Beschwörung, it was the first public recording of one Hexenbrett, the work of a mysterious duo revealing themselves as Josto Feratu and Scarlettina Bolétte. This was a literal bolt from the blue, sounds that were as refreshingly new as they were authentically old. “Cemetery sounds” is what the band called them, but that only told half the story. Wild and wily, Hexenbrett unloaded a dizzying payload of sounds both traditional and unorthodox, dumping into its hot-rockin’ cauldron spices from first-wave black metal, Iron Curtain-era speed metal, outsider doom, and even old-school deathrock. It was a kaleidoscopic spin, and caught the attention of Caligari Records (who did a wider cassette release) and then Dying Victims with their 12” vinyl version toward the end of the year. Lots of other, strange-starved ears picked up on it, too.

The stage thus set, Hexenbrett proceeds to defy expectations and obliterate the slate with its debut album, Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten. A record of stark contrasts, Zweite Beschwörung immediately sounds definitively like Hexenbrett: roaming ancient cemeteries with a torch in hand, conjuring the madness and mysticism of early black metal, when unorthodoxy was celebrated and no blueprints yet existed – only paths to be blazed! But, that latter element is precisely where Zweite Beschwörung takes a different turn, delving into waters both more refined and more rarefied, more straightforward and more obtuse – more METAL, epic and outlandish and “true,” but decidedly in an un-metal manner – beguiling the senses either way, and addictively so. It’s a turn that’s directly inspired by such sources as varied as Varathron, Jean Rollin, Danzig, Goblin, and Van Halen, and yet emerging completely unique and unlike little else around. A diverse journey through moldy crypts and deranged minds, Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten features eight original tracks and an astonishing cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “The Spider Song.”

Quite commandingly, Hexenbrett reveal an uncanny knack for songcraft, building defined and endearing hooks that unfold unexpectedly yet thrillingly, the intensity constantly rising and falling with preternatural ease but always in service of the song. Elsewhere, the band coats its creations with subtle layers of synth, further fanning that otherworldly atmosphere that laid in wait across the demo while ragged aggression usually took over. Which is all to say nothing of the absolutely spellbinding chimes often employed, evoking a banquet of horror with an almost-filmic quality in line with the band’s love for European cult cinema. And, fittingly, the production across Zweite Beschwörung is richly analog, scrappy but shimmering, evincing a totality of design and just-professional-enough presentation without sacrificing the entity’s original ethics. Like most first albums should be, the tale of Hexenbrett truly begins here.

If there was ever any question about Hexenbrett’s singular nature, just beginning to bloom, simply gaze upon the cover art to Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten. All other paths blazed, this is the only one left, and it’s Hexenbrett’s alone… The dead will dance – expect the unexpected!

Aforementioned cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Hexenbrett’s Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten
1. Ein Kind Zu Töten (I)
2. Lass Schlafende Leichen Ruhen
3. Spalovac Mrtvol
4. La Tumba De Los Muertos Viviente
5. The Spider Song
6. Ein Kind Zu Töten (II)
7. Attraverso Sette Porte All’Inferno
8. Blutige Seide
9. Les Reqiuem Des Vampires
MORE INFO:
www.hexenbrett.bandcamp.com
www.dying-victims.de 
www.facebook.com/dyingvictimsproductions 

Pete Helmkamp’s ABHOMINE stream new OSMOSE / HELLS HEADBANGERS album

Today, Pete Helmkamp’s Abhomine stream the entirety of its highly anticipated second album, Proselyte Parasite Plague. Set for international release on February 28th as a joint release between Osmose Productions and Hells Headbangers, hear Abhomine‘s Proselyte Parasite Plague in its entirety here:
In 2016, Pete Helmkamp released his debut solo project, Abhomine’s Larvae Offal Swine. Philosophically, Larvae Offal Swine is a composition of social, artistic, and existential modes which reflect our reality. Musically, Abhomine creates a heaving, grinding mass (hypnosis) of gnarliness and abject sonic cruelty: the intrepid and enlightened listener plunges willfully into its mental wreckage and violence. Helmkamp is known as an underground legend for his bands Order From Chaos, Angelcorpse, Revenge, Kerasphorus, Terror Organ, and Feldgrau.

In 2020, Pete Helmkamp will release his second Abhomine album, titled Proselyte Parasite Plague, in affiliation with Cazz Grant, known for his bands Crucifier and Grand Belial’s Key. Together, they conjure a scathing, frightening oracle that transcends today’s musical standards. At the forefront is Helmkamp’s unmistakable iron/fire throat, furious hypnagogic guitar, and brute bass attack. Grant delivers a shrieking black murk on vocals and indomitable drums. Abhomine’s Proselyte Parasite Plague is a rearrangement of the paradox which grips the subconscious. Helmkamp’s second creation unshackles the traditional norms of black and death metal with shapeshifting riffs ushered in by ruthless drumming.

For the last three decades, Helmkamp and Grant have been pioneers in the black/death underground genre. They have remained firm in their convictions and declarations. With Abhomine’s Proselyte Parasite Plague, listeners will bear witness to Helmkamp’s ominous prophetic foreshadowing while rejoicing in the trenches as the shells fall.

Preorder info can be found HERE as well as HERE.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Abhomine’s Proselyte Parasite Plague
1. Heresy Pulpit
2. Infidel and Unclean
3. Gogamgoz
4. Blacklist
5. Saracen
6. Progeny Devoid
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Abhomine-487162971453007
www.osmoseproductions.com
www.facebook.com/Osmose-Productions-192865300755575
www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers 

Norwegian black metallers Enepsigos premiere new track

Today, Norwegian black metallers Enepsigos premiere the new track “Confess” . The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Wrath of Wraths, set for international release on March 27th via Osmose Productions.
Hear Enepsigos‘ “Confess” in its entirety here:
Despite Enepsigos‘ 2017 debut album, Plague of Plagues, having been enthusiastically welcomed by fans of traditional black metal, the band itself always felt that the album did not really go far enough in establishing what Enepsigos, and its music, was all about. But now, with Osmose Productions set to release Enepsigos‘ sophomore album, Wrath of Wraths, on March 27th inernationally, all that is about to change. Because, according to the band, Wrath of Wraths is “a manifestation of what Enepsigos really is, and will be. Dark, disgusting, twisted, ritualistic, and violent.”

. The first taste can be found with the previously revealed “Cups Of Anger,” which can be heard HERE as well as HERE.

With intro and interludes by Alexander Wolf and V.I.T.H.R, vocals, guitars, and bass for Wrath of Wraths were recorded at the Bergegarda Studios in Norway, while drums were recorded at the Beastcave Studios in Italy. Mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna at the Necromorbus Studios in Sweden, and with artwork by Benjamin Vierling and additional inlay artwork by Nestor Avalos, tracklisting for Wrath of Wraths is as follows:
Tracklisting for Enepsigos’ Wrath of Wraths
1. Shields Of Faith
2. Confess
3. Seventh Seal
4. The Whore Is The Temple
5. Cups Of Anger
6 Water And Flesh

Wrath of Wraths will be available on CD, digipack, black and limited-edition white vinyl, and digital formats, and is now available to pre-order from the following:
all CD, LP and merch: http://bit.ly/enepsigos-shop

BANDCAMP: http://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/wrath-of-wraths

release page: http://osmoseproductions-label.com/enepsigos-wrath-of-wraths

band page: http://osmoseproductions-label.com/bands/enepsigos

PRESAVE on platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Itunes): http://backl.ink/117810532
Formed in 2016 by V.I.T.H.R – otherwise known as Doedsadmiral, founder and frontman of bands such as Nordjevel, Svartfelder, and Doedsvangr – and drummer Thorns – known for his work with Blut Aus Nord, Deathrow, Fides Inversa, Frostmoon Eclipse, and Darvaza – the band parted company with bassist Straff upon completion of the debut album and were consequently joined by Rituul on bass and guitars, and it is with this lineup that Wrath of Wraths was recorded.

  Originally conceived as a studio project, and demonstrating a brutality and darkness imbued with ritualistic undertones, Enepsigos recently inked a deal with the Flaming Arts Agency to bring the band’s sound, which is unashamedly rooted in early (and some would say “true”) black metal traditions, to live audiences.

For more info, consult the links below.
www.osmoseproductions.com
www.facebook.com/Osmose-Productions-192865300755575

Interview with Spanish Doom / Death Band Evadne

This week we spoke with Spanish Doom/ Death veterans Evadne – read on

  • First of congrats on the new album – anyone who has been in a band knows how hard it is to keep it going you guys have been going for nearly 20 years now – what is your secret?

PASSION, I THINK THERE IS NO MORE SECRETS IN THIS WORLD.

  • I love the artwork for Dethroned Of Our Souls who came up with that? What’s the story behind the art?

WE WANTED TO MIX THE ART COVER OF OUR FIRST DEMO WITH ART COVER OF THE E.P “DETHRONED OF LIGHT”, THE ARTISTIC RESULT WAS FROM THE COVER DESIGNER (VLADIMIR PROKOFIEV). IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL RESULT

  • Lyrically what inspires your guys?

EVERY THING. NOT JUST ANY KIND OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION. ALSO FEELINGS, LANDSCAPES, PERSONAL SITUATIONS. IN ART EVERYTHING IS VALID

  • How did you guys get into heavy music were you death metal fans before becoming doom metal fans? What were the bands that lead you on this journey?

OF COURSE, WHEN WE START LISTENING METAL MUSIC THE DOOM METAL STYLE DIDN’T HAVE THE SOUND THAT HAS INFLUENCED US. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 90’S SOME BANDS START TO DO A NEW MUSIC THAT REALLY HYPNOTIZES US. BANDS LIKE ANATHEMA, PARADISE LOST, MY DYING BRIDE, KATATONIA, THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE AND A GREAT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR US.

  • I imagine the Spanish scene as being more death and black metal bands than doom – how are you guys received in Spain?

HERE THE THINGS ARE COMPLICATED, ALTHOUGT FOR THE BLACK AND DEATH METAL BANDS. HERE THE PEOPLE PREFER TO LISTEN HEAVY, ROCK FOLK METAL AND OTHER TYPES OF METAL

  • Is Spain your best place to play or are you better received in other European territories? If so which ones?

IN THE CENTER –WEST EUROPE THERE ARE MORE CULTURE OF EXTREME MUSIC, WE PREFER TO PLAY THERE. IN THIS PLACES THE PEOPLE GO TO CONCERTS OF DOOM METAL, IT’S A FACT.

  • I know you guys have done a decent amount of touring over the years – what’s been your best and worst gig so far and why?

THE BEST IS COMPLICATED TO DECIDE, WE HAVE PLAYED IN GREAT FESTIVALS LIKE:

FROM DUSK TILL DOOM IN BELGIUM, MADRID IS THE DARK (SPAIN), DUTCH DOOM DAYS (HOLLAND), MALTA DOOM FESTIVAL, HARD ROCK LAAGER (ESTONIA), AUTUMN SOULS OF SOFIA (BULGARIA), DARK SESSIONS IN ROMANIA, DOOM HEART FEST (ITALY), AND MANY MORE. WE CAN’T CHOOSE CAUSE THERE ARE ALWAYS FUNNY AND FUN EXPERIENCES. SOME DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE BUT NOTHING TOO BAD…SOMETIMES WE HAVE LOST FLIGHTS, THE LONG HOURS OF TRAVELING ON THE ROAD ARE THE WORST PART BUT WE ARE FUN PEOPLE AND WE HAD A GOOD TIME.

  • Have you played any American concerts to date? If not any plans to tour the USA?

NOT FOR THE MOMENT, WE WERE CLOSE TO GO BUT AT THE END WAS NOT POSSIBLE, HOPE WE CAN GO SOON AND MEET ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS.

  • Has any of the band members ever visited the USA if so what did you think of it?

NOT FOR THE MOMENT. WE HOPE TO DO IT.

  • What can we expect from the band in 2020?

WE ARE IMMERSED IN THE CREATION OF NEW SONGS FOR THE NEXT ALBUM AND WE HAVE SOME GIGS FOR THE SECOND PART OF OUR IBERIAN TOUR (SPAIN)

  • Any final words?

THANK YOU FOR THE INTERVIEW AND THANK YOU TO THE READERS WHO TAKE THEIR TIME TO READ IT. STAY DOOM!

More info here:

bandcamp

facebook

Sólstafir enter studio for 7th full length!

SÓLSTAFIR have now entered the studio for the recording of their seventh full length, which will be released later this year via Season of Mist. The recordings take place at the mighty Sundlaugin Studio (Iceland), where ‘Svartir Sandar’, ‘Ótta’ and ‘Berdreyminn’ were also recorded by producer Birgir Jón Birgisson (Sigur Rós, Alcest, Damien Rice). 

For updates on the recordings, follow SÓLSTAFIR‘s Facebook page or Instagram!

Vocalist Aðalbjörn Tryggvason comments on the recording: “This time around we wrote most of the songs on guitars instead of pianos and organs as we have done a lot in the past. Therefore some songs are pretty heavy, even some are fast, faster than we have been for years”

SÓLSTAFIR have recently released a stunning new video for the track “Bláfjall”, taken from their latest released full-length ‘Berdreyminn’. Watch the emotionally charged video here:
SÓLSTAFIR‘s previous album ‘Berdreyminn’ was released in 2017. The cover artwork and track-list can be found below, together with the album info. 
Track-list 1. Silfur-Refur (6:54)
2. Ísafold (4:59)
3. Hula (7:07)
4. Nárós (7:23)
5. Hvít Sæng (7:22)
6. Dýrafjörður (7:32)
7. Ambátt (8:08)
8. Bláfjall (8:00)
Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original and fiercely individual bands such as SIGUR RÓS, BJÖRK, and SÓLSTAFIR.
 
SÓLSTAFIR embody the ever-turning wheel of seasons with their shifting light, darkness, and colours, extreme Northern climate, the stark contrasts, the closeness of beauty and deadly forces of nature, the impressive sceneries that have the bones of ancient gods enshrined in them like hardly any other band in every aspect of their existence.
 
SÓLSTAFIR are not like any other band. Their latest album, ‘Berdreyminn’ underscores this statement. As its title “a dreamer of forthcoming events” aptly describes, the four Icelanders have taken their already impressive evolution one step further. The band has continued to amalgamate haunting melodies, psychedelic phases, as well as strong undercurrents of classic rock and hard rock with echoes of their metal past. Yet SÓLSTAFIR‘s focus is not on style but pure emotion. ‘Berdreyminn’ is eclectic by a conscious choice to make feelings audible and transform taste as well as texture to sound. Genre borders are not broken but simply ignored. Musical influences are gathered from a wide range of sources, re-arranged, and woven into new patterns.  Melancholy, longing, anger, joy, pleasure, pain, and other emotions are fulling this album. 
 
Despite leaning clearly towards an expression that can be described as rock today, SÓLSTAFIR have their roots in metal as their debut full-length ‘Í Blóði og Anda’ (2002), which translates as “In Blood and Spirit” still witnesses. Instead of today’s Icelandic gravel throated siren chants, frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason spat forth vitriolic crusty vocals and all strings were forged with black metal. Already their next albums ‘Masterpiece of Bitterness’ (2005) and ‘Köld’ (2009) marked stations of a continuous evolution. SÓLSTAFIR went further along their solitary path and obviously left any categorising box with the ground-breaking follow-ups ‘Svartir Sandar’ (2011) and ‘Ótta’ (2014), which received high critical acclaim and attracted new fans in equal measure, while managing the difficult feat of keeping most of their earlier following too.
 
SÓLSTAFIR have set sails to new horizons with ‘Berdreyminn’. Yet the Icelanders brought their home with them and the silhouette of their vessels remains easily recognisable. Welcome aboard on a new adventurous musical journey into uncharted territories. 

Line-up
Aðalbjörn Tryggvason: guitar, vocals
Svavar Austmann: bass
Sæþór Maríus Sæþórsson: guitar
Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson: drums, backing vocals
 
Guest musicians
Brass, strings, and piano across the tracks
 
Recording: Sundlaugin Studio (IS), Birgir Jón Birgisson & Jaime Gomez Arellano
 
Mixing: Orgone Studio (UK), Jaime Gomez Arellano
 
Mastering: Sterling Mastering (US), Ted Jensen
 
Cover art: Adam Burke
 
www.solstafir.net
www.facebook.com/solstafirice

BLAZE OF SORROW set release date for new EISENWALD album, reveal first track

Today, Eisenwald sets April 24th as the North American release date for Blaze of Sorrow‘s highly anticipated sixth album, Absentia, on digipack CD format.

Since 2007, Blaze of Sorrow have been a veritable institution of Italian black metal, a scene and style too long overlooked. Blaze of Sorrow both embody and defy the Italian idiom: medieval in its melancholy, nearly “romantic” in the literary sense of the word, but always revealing (and expanding upon) new shapes that keep their aesthetic surprising and ever singular. And that canon keeps growing through the years, with each new release a poignant piece in Blaze of Sorrow‘s breathtaking mosaic.

Although initially begun as a solo endeavor of multi-instrumentalist Peter, with a number of drummers coming and going over the years, it could be argued that Blaze of Sorrow hit their first peak of creativity with 2012’s Echi. This third album revealed a more autumnal sound – the sonic approximation of flickering fires and the wind wisping through fallen leaves, the chill that creeps into the air prior to wintertime hibernation – harkening to overseas progenitors Agalloch, but adding to that hallowed headspace rather than merely aping it. With that album, drummer N. became a constant and the Blaze of Sorrow lineup was mostly solid for the next number of years, culminating in 2017’s masterful Astri for Eisenwald.

Now, with new guitarist A.S. and bassist V. joining the fold, Blaze of Sorrow are set to release their most fully realized work to date: Absentia. Comprising seven songs in a taut ‘n’ tight 44 minutes, Absentia bursts into being with a brilliance that’s blanching to behold. Undeniably emotional as ever, it’s immediately apparent, however, that Blaze of Sorrow are operating on a different wavelength on Absentia. Their windswept, cascading black metal is undoubtedly melancholic at heart – their moniker was well chosen, after all – but the range of textures and sensations across this sixth album encompass a far broader spectrum than most usually associated with “black metal.” Laced within the deepest heart of Absentia is an aching nostalgia, a bittersweet wistfulness, and even rays of hope: doomed they may be, but delivered with an indeed-blazing passion that puts Blaze of Sorrow into a rarefied field. Which is to say nothing of the utterly cathartic lead work here, buttressed by frequent detours into plaintive acoustic territory; shredded and shredding, these leads are immediately memorable and long-lasting, well after the final notes of Absentia have rung out across the soul…

Put more directly, Blaze of Sorrow aptly describe their inspirations as thus: “Day, Night, Darkness, Light. With music, we try to reach the highest peak of our feelings playing what we we’re supposed to play. Our notes are captured from sadness, nature’s beauty, water, fire, earth and wind. Let the shades embrace you thoughts, let the abyss caress your soul. We’re what we are: a fire’s breath in the infinity of the Sun.” Behold the full glory of Blaze of Sorrow and submerge thyself into total Absentia!

Begin submerging thyself with the brand-new track “Notturna” here:
Ordering info can be found at Eisenwald‘s North American webstore HERE.
Cover artwork, courtesy of Erbograph, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Blaze of Sorrow’s Absentia
1. Settimo requiem
2. Furia
3. Sonno d’eterno
4. Notturna
5. Hybris
6. Cupio dissolvi
7. Morte di un immortale
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/blazeofsorrow
www.eisenton.de
www.facebook.com/eisenwaldofficial www.youtube.com/eisenwaldofficial www.twitter.com/EisenwaldHammer www.soundcloud.com/eisenwald
www.instagram.com/eisenwald.official
www.open.spotify.com/user/eisenwald_official

MEMBARIS set release date for long-awaited new W.T.C. album, reveal first track

Today, W.T.C. Productions sets March 24th as the international release date for Membaris‘ long-awaited fifth album, Misanthrosophie.

Forming in the dark, fateful days of 1999, Membaris have long been a lingering force within Germany’s oft-overlooked black metal underground. From the band’s very first demo in 2002 onward, Membaris have kept their feet firmly rooted in black metal’s foundational second wave, but always with an eye to expand upon that noble firmament. Reverence is key, as is passion, and the seamless, unselfconscious combination of both has become a hallmark of Membaris.

Alas, it’s been eight long years since the band’s last album, 2012’s Entartet, but Membaris arrive refreshed and with their strongest full-length to date in Misanthrosophie. With founding members Obscurus and Kraal still at the helm, the duo here unleash a torrent of Technicolor black metal majesty with Misanthrosophie. Each of these nine tracks wends and winds through a dazzling display of contours and constructs, encompassing blistering intensity and majestic melody alike, and often detouring into plaintive (and ever-poignant) acoustic territory with alarming ease, including some literally stunning solos courtesy of Stefan Hofmann. Across its vast 54 minutes do Membaris take the listener on a breathtaking journey into the soul’s darkest recesses – as well as, it must be said, surprisingly grand heights – folding perceptions, origami-like, of what pure ‘n’ proud BLACK METAL can be. And that journey becomes an especially emotional one, as the duo’s songwriting simply bleeds blood both black and red, human and inhuman(e), their spectrum of experience transcending the usually strictured norms of the artform. But, veterans that they are, Membaris equally understand black metal’s original unorthodoxy, and hereby abide by that just as fully; the listener is thus richer for the duo’s daring ways.

Completing the totality, Misanthrosophie was engineered by Abigor’s TT and is graced with stark ‘n’ austere cover art courtesy of Karmazid. The past is alive, and it bleeds into the future with Membaris‘ Misanthrosophie.

Begin bleeding with the brand-new track “Architektur fern Struktur” here:
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Membaris’ Misanthrosophie
1. Architektur fern Struktur
2. Nebel Haras
3. My Path Of Stars
4. Constant Companion
5. The only reason to stay
6. Imaginations through the horn-crowned skull
7. Pulsar
8. Misanthrosophie
9. Aus Tiefen empor…
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/membarisofficial
www.w-t-c.org
www.facebook.com/W.T.C.Productions