Month: May 2020

Chile’s SOULROT set release date for new MEMENTO MORI album, reveal first track

In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, on July 27th, Memento Mori is proud to present the highly anticipated second album of Chile’s Soulrot, Victims of Spiritual Warfare.

Hailing from the city of Valparaíso, Chile’s Soulrot was formed by guitar player JL Olmos (Betrayed, ex-Micosis, ex-Gangrenous) circa 1993-1994 but was put to rest due to JL being involved in several other projects at the time. It wasn’t until 2013 that JL joined bass player/vocalist JH Wilschrey (Sadistic Murder, Acero Letal) and they both resuscitated Soulrot, manifesting their unquestionable inclination towards the death metal of yore.

This glorious, gangrenous resurrection resulted in the Horrors from Beyond demo in 2014 and the Revelations EP two years later. However, come 2017 did Soulrot finally released their first full-length, Nameless Hideous Manifestations, through death-metal-of-yore stronghold Memento Mori. Bolstered by the addition of Daniel Fredes (Sadistic Murder) on drums, Soulrot stuck to their guns – a lyrical inclination toward H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmogony and the preternatural, and musically inspired by old acts such as Nihilist/Entombed, Carnage, Autopsy, Grave, Necrony, Demigod, Traumatic, Carcass, Nirvana 2002 and Asphyx among others – but here exhibited a bulldozing sense of purpose, a crush-at-all-costs momentum teleported from 1992.

And that bulldozer continues its crush unabated with Soulrot‘s second album, Victims of Spiritual Warfare. Utterly gutsfucked as the previous album was, Victims of Spiritual Warfare sees Soulrot upping the urgency and delivering a tone literally worth dying for – if the teleportation stopped at ’92 for Nameless Hideous Manifestations, then this one’s going no further than 1991! Soulrot somehow pull off the trick of being both rawer and more refined here, their songcraft broadening its scope – more patience, more doom, more CRUSH – whilst tastefully unloading quick-hitting bursts of blistering grindcore, altogether still sounding like the same band. But let it be known that this is still classic DEATH FUCKING METAL, same as it ever was, and always will be with Soulrot. Unbelievers will continue to roll their eyes at the familiarity, but just like they did on their debut album, with Victims of Spiritual Warfare do Soulrot utterly convince with their authenticity and passion. If you don’t “get it,” then you don’t know death metal!

Graced with stark cover artwork by Cesar Valladares and another molten mastering job by the esteemed Javier Felez at Moontower Studios, Soulrot‘s Victims of Spiritual Warfare could very well be their Indecent and Obscene, You’ll Never See…, or especially Harmony Corruption!

Fall victim of their spiritual warfare with the brand-new track “God Forsaken” here:
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Soulrot (Chile)’s Victims of Spiritual Warfare
1. La Doctrina de los Malnacidos
2. Nihilistic Automata
3. Buried Alive
4. I, Master
5. Perpetual Warfare
6. God Forsaken
7. Deceiving Tyranny Manifesto
8. Chainsaw Worship Hymn
9. Protect the Coven
10. Evolutive Slaves
11. All That Remains
12. Nameless Ritual
13. Hideous Manifestation
14. What Destroys You, Makes Us Stronger
15. Aquelarre
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/soulrotchile
www.soulrot.bandcamp.com
www.memento-mori.es
www.facebook.com/memento.mori.label

Québécois black metallers Serment premiere new track

Today, brand-new Québécois black metallers Serment premiere the new track “Ouverture / Sonne, le Glas Funèbre”. The track is the first to be revealed from the band’s striking debut album, Chante, Ô Flamme de la Liberté, set for international release on June 24th via Sepulchral Productions.
Hear Serment‘s “Ouverture / Sonne, le Glas Funèbre” in its entirety here:
Chante, Ô Flamme de la Liberté is the first album from Serment, the new solo project of Moribond (Forteresse, Ephemer). The opus is a concept album telling the legend of a pact with the Devil and the quest for a lost heritage, a dark and epic journey at the heart of Québec’s snowy forests, buried beyond the snows of ages. Musically, while Moribond’s flair for all things epic and grandiose is as present as ever, Serment explores rawer and more symphonic territories than Forteresse. An awesome new entry in the pantheon of Métal Noir Québécois!

Preorder for the album can be found HERE. 
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Serment’s Chante, Ô Flamme de la Liberté
1. Ouverture
2. Sonne, le Glas Funèbre
3. Par-Delà Collines et Rivières
4. Flamme Hivernale
5. Avant que ne Meure la Gloire
6. Hymne à la Patrie
www.sepulchralproductions.com
www.facebook.com/sepulchral.prods

Poland’s CLAIRVOYANCE to release debut demo through CALIGARI – streaming now

Today, Caligari Records sets June 26th as the international release date for the debut demo of Poland’s Clairvoyance on cassette tape format.

Hailing from Warsaw City, Clairvoyance was formed in late 2019 by guitarist Denis Didenko and vocalist Maciej Cesarczyk. Soon after that, bassist Jasiek Kraciuk and drummer Adrian Szczepanski had joined the band. Members of the band have had a bit of experience in other genres in several bands in Poland and Ukraine, but nothing related to death metal.

That said, the main idea behind Clairvoyance was to embody their passion for ’90s extreme metal – predominantly death metal, as one might guess – and maybe spark some interest in OSDM in the local underground scene. As far as influences go, it’s for them to name specific bands. For some, it’s mostly Finnish death metal from the ’90s; for others, it’s 80s thrash metal, punk rock, death/doom, or even Type O Negative. Needless to say, all these influences are loved deeply by the quartet.

Lyric-wise, Clairvoyance prefer to leave an air of mystery and won’t be publishing anything online anytime soon. Like the best death metal over its many decades as a genre, they treat vocals as a separate instrument to complement Clairvoyance‘s overall sound, which is dark and disgusting but very lucidly played; as such, there’s an element of freshness due to the demo’s not-easily-pigeonholed style. But ultimately, they’re not trying to say anything through their lyrics, as their main purpose is to allow Cesarczyk to reflect some dark corners of his soul, which is not always possible in day-to-day life.

In a mere 11 minutes, Clairvoyance‘s three-song debut demo gets in, gets out, and grinds the listener into the dirt. An auspicious start, to say the very least!

Hear all of it for yourself by streaming it in full here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Clairvoyance (Poland)’s Demo
1. Pointless Rebirth
2. Broken Shackles
3. Abyss


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/clairvoyancedeathmetal
www.caligarirecords.com
www.facebook.com/caligarirecords
www.caligarirecords.bandcamp.com 

RITUAL MASS to release debut EP through CALIGARI – streaming now

Today, Caligari Records sets June 19th as the international release date for Ritual Mass‘ striking debut EP, Abhorred in the Eyes of God, on cassette tape format.

Originally self-released digitally in July 2019 and then pressed on 12″ vinyl by Steel & Bone Productions, Ritual Mass‘ Abhorred in the Eyes of God is a gutsfucking slab of primal, pustulent DEATH FUCKING METAL. No tech, no progression, no normal blastbeats, no real “solos,” no progression, no goofy merch – just utter devastation, tonal rape, crushing filth, ignorant stomp, and overwhelming intensity. It’s caveman death metal for death metal cavemen, but done with a dangerous zeal that’s blanching to behold. Likewise, no particular scene or substyle or “microgenre” is fetishized like so many record-collector-nerd bands; one can detect old Chicago death metal here as easily as equally old UK crust, ’90s Finnish gore as 2000s Japanese doom-death. In other words, this Pittsburgh power-trio locate the reptilian part of their brains and unselfconsciously create the kind of death metal they want to hear, and the grand afterbirth vomited forth is this 13-minute EP appropriately titled Abhorred in the Eyes of God. Caligari couldn’t be more pleased to unleash this foulness on tape for the first time.

In the meantime, access the reptilian part of your brain by streaming Abhorred in the Eyes of God in full here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Ritual Mass’ Abhorred in the Eyes of God
1. Grievous Sin
2. Seated at the Right Hand of the Lord
3. Servant
4. Devoured


MORE INFO:
www.ritualmass.bandcamp.com
www.caligarirecords.com
www.facebook.com/caligarirecords
www.caligarirecords.bandcamp.com 

OCTOBER FALLS reveal new track from upcoming PURITY THROUGH FIRE album

OCTOBER FALLS reveal new track from upcoming PURITY THROUGH FIRE album

Today, Finnish folk/black metal titans  October Falls reveal the new track “The Ruins of What Once Was.” The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, A Fall of an Epoch, set for international release on May 30th via Purity Through Fire. Hear October Falls‘ “The Ruins of What Once Was” in its entirety here:
By now, October Falls should require little introduction. Formed in 2001 by Mikko Lehto and expanding to a full band lineup later on, October Falls have built up a considerable canon of unparalleled power and passion, their epic, folk-inflected black metal both reverential of tradition whilst blazing new trails into the beyond. Amidst their all-enveloping album works, the trio have also concurrently released somber fully-folk releases, displaying the depth of their character and the boundlessness of their vision. In short, October Falls have come to represent the enduring face of Finnish nature-oriented black metal.
 
It has now been an interminable seven years since their last full-length, The Plague of a Coming Age, and now October Falls dive back into the underground which birthed them by aligning with Purity Through Fire for the release of their long-awaited A Fall of an Epoch. Thus, the album’s title takes on even greater significance, but linger under no assumption that “underground” means “underproduced” or similar. Far from it, of course, when dealing with October Falls: nothing but the most strident, splendorous reaches of the spirit, painted with poignancy and vibrancy, racing across myriad shades and sensations, evoking an engrossing narrative which spans windswept speed and achingly beautiful acoustics, all done with the fire & fury for which the trio have made their name so canonical. If anything, A Fall of an Epoch is a tri-dimensional experience that distills past, present, and future into one breathtaking whole, the album’s five-song/48-minute runtime the perfect configuration for their magick to take deepest hold – and never let go.
 
Time moves forward, every second committed to the past, memories fading into irrelevancy. Through these ever-shifting mists stands the firmament of October Falls, ageless and eternal, heralding A Fall of an Epoch!

Begin heralding that return with the previously revealed “Hammering the Tide” HERE, at Purity Through Fire‘s YouTube channel.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for October Falls’ A Fall of an Epoch 1. A Fall of an Epoch [11:02]2. The Endtimes Rising [10:06]
3. The Ruins of What Once Was [8:09]
4. Hammering the Tide [9:32]
5. The Flood of Drought [8:29]


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/octoberfalls
www.purity-through-fire.com

FLAGG set release date for PURITY THROUGH FIRE debut, reveal first track

Today, Purity Through Fire sets June 8th as the international release date for Flagg‘s striking debut album, Nothing But Death, on jewelcase CD, limited A5 digipack, and vinyl LP formats.

A brand-new entity hailing from parts unknown, Flagg exhibit a style of black metal both ancient and ageless, old yet new. Their attack is immediately intense, exhibiting a restlessness that’s roiling and raging, always moving but always with a target in sight; in fact, one could easily be overwhelmed by the ultraviolence across Nothing But Death, in effect being aptly titled. But within and without, above and beyond and ever below, Flagg understand archaic expressions, the Old Language of Black Metal, where medieval atmosphere and ghostly portent informed even the most straightforward forms, rendering an air of aristocracy to that of belligerent bravado. All are in full force across Flagg‘s bolt-from-the-blue debut, holding nothing back and spitting disgust and disease at every turn while turning surprising corners, often in the same song.

Thus, Nothing But Death is a eight-song/36-minute plunge into madness and mysticism, and a fortuitous first strike from Flagg!

Begin plunging into that madness and mysticism with the brand-new title track “Nothing But Death”

Cover and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Flagg’s Nothing But Death
1. Destroy, Desecrate
2. Nothing But Death
3. Dark Clouds Gathering
4. Burning Sky
5. Abomination
6. Apex Predator
7. Sixth Sun Salvation
8. Last Breath Drawn
www.purity-through-fire.com

BENIGHTED announce ‘Obscene Repressed’ European tour

Extreme French band BENIGHTED are now announcing the new and updated ‘Obscene Repressed’tour dates which will kick off this in October 2020. The band were, like many others, forced to cancel their previously announced tourdates, including athe Hellfest Warm-up tour which would take place this month. A full list of updated and confirmed shows can be found below!

Vocalist Julien Truchan comments: “After the huge frustration about ccancelation of our “Hellfest Warm Up Tour” and all these great summer festivals being cancelled, we are now happy to announce the new “Obscene Repressed Tour”. If this fucking Covid allows it, we will soon have the occasion to party together twice as hard and show you how the tracks of our new album sounds live. We are so impatient to spill our guts on stage and see you all. France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Norway… Stay fucking sick with brutal live music!”
BENIGHTED 2020
03 Oct 20 Vallet (FR) Le Champilambart (Muscadeath Fest)
04 Oct 20 Toulouse (FR) Connecion Live
06 Oct 20 Orléans (FR) Dropkick Bar
07 Oct 20 Leusden (NL) Fort 33
08 Oct 20 Fontaine-L’évêque BE (FR) MCP Apache
09 Oct 20 Mannheim (DE) MS Connexicon Complex
10 Oct 20 Vienna (AT) Escape Metalcorner
11 Oct 20 Salzburg (AT) Rockhouse Bar
13 Oct 20 Martigny (CH) Sunset Bar
14 Oct 20 Lyon (FR) Ninkasi Café
15 Oct 20 Colmar (FR) Le Grillen
16 Oct 20 Paris (FR) Le Petit Bain
17 Oct 20 Genève (CH) PTR
24 Oct 20 Montpellier (FR) Rockstore
06 Nov 20 Epinal (FR) La Souris Verte
07 Nov 20 Murs Erigné (FR) Omega Festival
05 Dec 20 Niort (FR) Le Camji (Rise & Fall Fest)
12 Dec 20 Nantes (FR) Warehouse (Warm Up Hellfest)

BENIGHTED 2021
23 Jan 21 Lisbon (PT) XXXAPADA na Tromba Festival
02 Apr 21 Oslo (NO) Inferno Festival
31 Jul 21 Steenwijk (NL) Stonehenge Festival
Drummer Kévin Paradis recently released a brand new play-through video for the track ‘Muzzle’, taken from the new full length “Obscene Repressed”.
Kevin Paradis comments on the video: “On Benighted’s new album “Obscene Repressed”, I’ve done my best to mix all my influences together to create the best drum beats and fills possible for the guitar riffing. ‘Muzzle’ is an example of what I’ve tried to do, from the jazzy “chabada” to blast beats, you’ll find many different drumming in just one song. Hope you’ll enjoy”

The album can still be ordered HERE.
Line-up:
Julien Truchan: Vocals
Emmanuel Dalle: Guitars
Fabien Desgardins: Guitars
Pierre Arnoux: Bass
Kévin Paradis: Drums

Recording studio: Kohlekeller Studio (Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany)
Producer/Mixing: Kristian Bonifer
Mastering: Tom Porcell

Guest musicians:
Sebastian Grihm (CYTOTOXIN) on ‘The Starving Beast’
Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) on ‘Implore The Negative’
Karsten Jäger (DISBELIEF) on ‘Mom, I Love You The Wrong Way’

Finnish metal/grind/crust cult Violent Hammer premiere new track

Today, Finnish metal/grind/crust cult Violent Hammer premiere the new track “Riders of the Wasteland” . The track hails from the band’s long-awaited debut album, Riders of the Wasteland, set for international release on May 29th via Hells Headbangers. Hear Violent Hammer‘s “Riders of the Wasteland” in its entirety here:
Hailing from the ever-fertile Finnish black/death underground, Violent Hammer formed in 2006. Two demos followed in short succession, in 2006 and 2007, before the band would go on hiatus. Violent Hammer would at last return in early 2014 with a new lineup and a new demo, More Victims – Demo 2014, which Shadow Kingdom would release on cassette later that year. Then, another hiatus…

However rough ‘n’ rowdy those earlier demos may have been, the reinvigorated Violent Hammer return with a full-length that handily trounces those not-inconsiderable predecessors. Aptly titled Riders of the Wasteland, Violent Hammer‘s debut album encompasses their simple yet scintillating aesthetic – the full span of death metal and black metal from the ’80s through early ’90s, early thrash, and most significantly early grindcore and UK/Swedish hardcore and crust from the ’80s – and blasts it into oblivion with the aplomb of a nuclear fallout. Unremittingly hammering and remorselessly primitive, each of the nine barbaric slabs of song across the album’s satisfyingly swift 26 minutes gets in, gets out, and fucking DESTROYS. As such, Riders of the Wasteland is deceptively catchy, much like so much ’80s grindcore was, and retains a twisted sense of fun within its gnarled ‘n’ gnarling sonics. And although Violent Hammer here invoke many names – from early Blood, Profanatica, Bestial Summoning, and Naked Whipper to likewise early Doom (UK), Extreme Noise Terror, Mob 47, and even earliest/crustiest Bolt Thrower and Napalm Death – the manner in which they slice and dice all these influences bespeaks an identity wholly unique in today’s underground landscape.

Strap in with Violent Hammer‘s Riders of the Wasteland or get smashed in the fucking face!

Also get smashed with the previously revealed track “(Trapped) in Depths” HERE at Hells Headbangers‘ Bandcamp, where the album can also be preordered.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Violent Hammer’s Riders of the Wasteland 1. Death Squad
2. Annihilation (Victims of Bomb Raid)
3. Wasted Through Life
4. Screams of Agony
5. Riders of the Wasteland
6. (Trapped) in Depths
8. House of Beria
9. Bratva
10. Prophet of Darkness
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/violenthammer
www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers 

DKHARMAKHAOZ set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets July 31st as the international release date for Dkharmakhaoz‘s striking debut album, Proclamation ov the Black Suns, on CD and vinyl LP format.

Dkharmakhaoz is a mysterious, two-person entity hailing from Belarus. Despite their otherwise-new standing, the black metal these Belarusians create is firmly rooted in classic second-wave black metal from the ’90s but just as equally working with palatably modern iterations of obsidian. The soundfield across Proclamation ov the Black Suns, the band’s first public recording, is robust and muscular yet subtly strange; although by no means aiming for anything qualitatively “industrial,” there’s nevertheless a certain post-apocalyptic vibe to its clanging ‘n’ crunchy surge. Riffs are gutted above and below, guitar and bass both working together to weave dense expressions of dread and darkness, but there’s simultaneously a levitational aspect which makes Dkharmakhaoz astute practitioners of atmosphere as they are of black METAL. No doubt, that metal element is surely emphasized across the album’s seven-song/36-minute runtime, as well as a nightsky melodicism that favorably puts the record in paradigmatic No Fashion territory.

A timeless creation paradoxically breathing modernism, Dkharmakhaoz‘s Proclamation ov the Black Suns is an eclipse worth witnessing. Refresh, regenerate, reignite!

Begin refreshing/regenerating/reigniting with the brand-new track “The Way With the Serpent Entwined” here:

Album art and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Dkharmakhaoz’s Proclamation ov the Black Suns 1. The Cycle ov Omega
2. The Way with the Serpent Entwined
3. Beyond the Transcendental Luminescence
4. Proclamation ov the Black Suns
5. Chthonic Rites ov Fertility
6. Ascension
7. Reu Nu Pert Em Hru
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

VASSAFOR set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets August 7th as the international release date for Vassafor‘s highly anticipated third album, To the Death, on CD, double-LP vinyl, and cassette tape formats.

Vassafor should need no introduction. For the past decade and a half, since the band’s reactivation with their Demo II in 2005, this New Zealand cult have patiently plied their idiosyncratic craft, pushing the boundaries of black and death metal ever further whilst driving deep into each’s collective core. Although some will argue that they reached their apotheosis with 2012’s debut album, Obsidian Complex – a true, two-disc double album – Vassafor played their most daring hand with respective split LPs with comrades Sinistrous Diabolus and Temple Nightside (both released by Iron Bonehead in 2014 and 2015, respectively). In miniature, these works amplified the simultaneously world-eating/ethereal textures that lay at the heart of the Vassafor aesthetic. After an intense two years in the shadows, their grandest work so far was revealed: Malediction, released in October 2017 on vinyl and cassette via Iron Bonehead. Vassafor continued to cement their legend…

Vassafor are not ones for half-measures. For them, their spirituality is Satanic and absolute: no compromise, no quarter. Thus, with the aptly titled To the Death do Vassafor render their most direct statement yet, yet one also imbued with a lurking strangeness that’s entirely their own. At once submerging into the murkiest depths of the underground from whence they sprang, in other senses smothering those senses with a serpentine flow that’s stultifying to behold, the seven sonic incantations comprising the 66-minute To the Death prove that the duo indeed are ever able to conjure horrifying new shapes stitched from the fabric of the ancients. Not for nothing is this third full-length titled as such: To the Death bespeaks Vassafor‘s own path – theirs, and theirs literally ALONE – that is verily “Archaic Black Metal that exists outside time.” Any band would kill to write songs as mesmerizing ‘n’ monolithic as the opening 12-minute title track, or the ten-minute self-explanatory “Eyrie,” or especially the 17-minute, likewise self-explanatory closer “Singularity”…and that’s barely half the album.

Vassafor exist on their own terms, and we can only help but bear witness to their black magick. To the Death is a statement of intent, a world unto itself, and so much more: bow, enter, die.

Begin bowing/entering/dying with the aforementioned brand-new track “Eyrie” here:

Cover and Tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Vassafor’s To the Death 1. To the Death [12:03]
2. Egregore Rising [7:36]
3. Eyrie [10:35]
4. Black Talon [2:13]
5. The Burning íthyr [9:17]
6. Emanations from the Abyss [6:13]
7. Singularity [17:56]
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/vassafor
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions