Today, Saturnal Records announces December 17th as the international release date for Diablery‘s highly anticipated second album, Candles, on CD format.
We are heralds of the Luciferian Aeon. Searching Within and Without, into the bottomless, boundless Darkness, to gaze upon the Inner Flame. The Flame ‘carried’ by Phosphorus and the Light-Bearing Archetypes. We sculpt Sound into a Sword, to rip the fabric of reality, to reveal the Pillars of Wisdom & Knowledge, to break the shackles and ultimately to manifest the Current.”
Hailing from Athens, Greece, Diablery was formed in 2008, with guitarist Nimerius and vocalist/guitarist Setesh being the core members of the band. After almost a decade of restlessness and member changes, the lineup was solidified with the additions of bassist XII and drummer Merenhor.
Two years after their birth, Diablery recorded the demo/EP The Catharsis, which was later re-recorded in 2011 as The Eye EP. In 2014, DIABLERY released their debut album, Architect, which was mixed & mastered by Borge Finstad at Toproom Studio (Norway). In 2017, they honored their alliance with fellow Greeks Shadowcraft with the release of the split EP Entropy, which was mixed & mastered by Setesh at Void of Cosmos studio.
Now, Diablery return with their grandest statement yet: Candles. Simply and elegantly titled, Candles marks both a refinement and rebirth of the Diablery sound. Here, the band eschew some of the more familiar sympho-BM tropes that marked their earlier work for something that, while being still distinctly (and proudly) black metal, aims for a parallel cosmos that’s just as awe-inspiring…if not more so! Their physicality bleeds through everything here, sounding very much like a real BAND, performing together as one entity – “Live performances embody the raw power of black metal, as long as they further darkness and spiritual light,” says the band, which has seen Diablery tour across Greece, Germany, Norway, Bulgaria and the Netherlands – and emboldening the skyscraping songwriting they so effortlessly unfurl here. It’s an epic album, to be sure, clocking in at 66 minutes, but its forever-surging/winding corridors of nightsky sound and literally breathtaking melody ensure that listening is swift and satisfying. More simply, Candles is a great black metal record that aims for the essence – BLACK METAL, above all – and betrays a wealth of imagination within.
Profound truths await those who light the Candles of Diablery!
Light the first candle with the brand-new track “The Star-Veiled Face” here:
See & hear an album trailer HERE, also at Saturnal‘s official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Diablery’s Candles 1. Three Torches Lit [7:09] 2. Sanguine Emissions of Aeonic Ecstasy [6:56] 3. Spiral Ascension of Becoming [7:34] 4. The Star-Veiled Face [7:39] 5. The Coming Fog [6:01] 6. The Piercing Ice [8:45] 7. Moonlit Dome Revealed [8:59] 8. The Earth Covered My Face [9:50] 9. The Core that Burns Forever [2:17]
The veil is thin and Halloween is upon us. New York/New Jersey metal collective TOMBS is now sharing a cover of SAMHAIN’s song “The Shift” to welcome in the holiday! Their version of the song can be heard here:
“The Shift” can be streamed or downloaded from your favorite streaming service HERE.
For a double dose of Halloween spirit, check out TOMBS’ previously released music video for “The Hunger,” which pays homage to cinema’s most infamous vampires! The song and video can be found HERE.
TOMBS‘ latest record ‘Under Sullen Skies, was released in November 2020. Listen to the album at the official Season of Mist Youtube ChannelHERE or order a copy in the shop HERE.
The cover artwork for ‘Under Sullen Skies’ was created by Valnoir and can be found below, together with the tracklist.
Tracklist: 1. Bone Furnace (04:49) 2. Void Constellation (04:55) 3. Barren (05:31) 4. The Hunger (04:30) 5. Secrets Of The Black Sun (07:08) 6. Descensum (04:32) 7. We Move Like Phantoms (01:45) 8. Mordum (04:21) 9. Lex Talionis (04:29) 10. Angel Of Darkness (06:53) 11. Sombre Ruin (04:13) 12. Plague Years (06:59) Total: 1:00:05
There’s a line from Mike Hill’s audiobook/tour diary of ANODYNE’s 2004 European tour in which the gravel-throated frontman affirms, “I will always outwork you.” In that case, Hill was referring to an incident in Germany early on during a six-week long overseas jaunt with his previous band. In actuality, however, he could have been talking about any instance between when he first picked up a guitar as a teen and the present. Whether it’s his history dating back to previous bands OTIS, ANODYNE, KING GENERATOR or VERSOMA, his ongoing solo work in VASILEK, the more recent SCORPION THRONE project or his thirteen year reign as the driving force and nerve center of post-black metal institution TOMBS, hard work is second nature and nothing will keep the guitarist/vocalist from creative endeavor and expression. And it’s not just music in which his propulsive work ethic has gleaned results: Hill also is the CEO and roast master at Savage Gold Coffee (a labelling nod to TOMBS’ 2014 album of the same name), the host/producer/creator of the Everything Went Black podcast, host and producer of Gimme Radio’s Metal Matters flagship podcast, the creator and co-host of horror podcast Necromaniacs as well as a stalwart in the print and online journalism world covering music and MMA fighting. His is, has been and always will be a life steeped in dedication and with unassailable drive in the cross hairs. And despite the world being put on pause, Hill refuses to curtail his innate determination and ongoing tenacity with the result being TOMBS emerging with the next chapter in its impressive catalog and growing legacy: the band’s fifth full-length, ‘Under Sullen Skies’.
“The week VERSOMA broke up in 2007, I started TOMBS,” he says, recalling how, characteristically, the band started before any dust was permitted to settle. “The initial rehearsals ended up being the bulk of material that showed up on the first [self-titled] EP. The intent from the beginning was to get back to playing music I wanted to hear and to not be so concerned with genre or satisfying anyone else’s desires. It was to do music on a personal level and be a reflection of the darkness I’ve felt throughout my life.”
Formed in the gritty corners of pre-gentrified Brooklyn, NY, TOMBS’ early mandate was steeped in the harshness and atonality of black metal but dosed with trace amounts of the varied influences and inspirations ingrained in Hill’s musical muscle memory by previous bands. “The canon of music TOMBS has created has spanned several different genres, but I’ve always had it my intent for there to always be a certain amount of violence and hardness lurking the background.”
Those early years delivered splits and singles, the highly revered ‘Winter Hours’ debut in 2009 and Decibel’s 2011 Album of the Year, ‘Path of Totality’. Never one to sit still, ‘Path of Totality’ was followed by appreciable and impressive amounts of touring in accordance with the lauding afforded by critics and fans and the braying of foes, which only served as fuel for Hill’s perseverance. Savage Gold came three years later after which a restless Hill began nudging TOMBS’ black metal base into territories populated by gothic and death rock artists like FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM and SISTERS OF MERCY as well as avant-garde purveyors Caspar Brotzmann and Live Skull while never forgetting – or being able to – scrape the grime of NYC from under his fingernails. The addition of a second guitar and live keyboards/samples brought a fuller sound and allowed noise sequences and soundscapes to be brought to the live show. It was around the time of 2016 ‘All Empires Fall’ EP that TOMBS punctuated its iconoclastic spirit and thought process. Despite then-being part of the Relapse Records family, the band struck out with the intent of self-releasing the EP in order to retain as much independence as contractual obligations would allow – retaining the digital and publishing rights while eventually licensing the record back to Relapse. A one album stint in 2017 under the Metal Blade banner birthed ‘The Grand Annihilation’ into the world where TOMBS took broader and more daring steps into buffering black metal with morose melody, sullen death rock and classic METALLICA chugging. Following a parting from Metal Blade, the band – now completed by drummer Justin Spaeth, guitarist Matt Medeiros and bassist Drew Murphy, who are also 3/4ths of New Jersey death metal crew KALOPSIA – quickly found a home on Season of Mist and issued the ‘Monarchy of Shadows’ EP literally a week before the world went into Coronavirus lockdown
“The original strategy assumed we would be on the road for most of 2020,” says Hill with a lamenting laugh. “We had a sick tour with Napalm Death planned right after the EP’s release. We were going to record the new full-length before the tour and have it come out in the fall. There was all kinds of tour talk and plans and 2020 would have been a tour-de-force of TOMBS activity in the United States and Europe. Obviously, none of that is happening, but we’re still going ahead with the record.”
Of course they are. Throw a hurdle in front of Mike Hill and he’ll never shy at rolling up his sleeves and taking on the challenge. Even with the world in shutdown mode, Hill is still brimming with enthusiasm about the input and work ethic of the current TOMBS lineup and how Spaeth, Mederios and Murphy stepped up to the plate in the creation of ‘Under Sullen Skies’.
“Everyone contributes on this record and the door has always been open for others to do so. There has always been this misconception that I’m some sort of tyrant always telling people what to do and play. The fact of the matter is that most of the time I outwork people; that’s just the way I am. No one is ever going to outwork me on any level in any area of my life and I was always coming up with material. Now, I have these maniacs in the band who are equally motivated and there’s a whole new life injected into TOMBS. That’s awesome and I love it. These days we’ll try anything and we actually write stuff and throw it out because it’s not perfect. It’s more like a writing committee, which I really appreciate. It’s not just me writing everything. It’s a big difference from ‘The Grand Annihilation’ which was basically a solo record.”
‘Under Sullen Skies’ is this lineup’s second kick at twisting black metal’s DNA around dank emotional corners, psychological turmoil and the urban underbelly all of which is unavoidably coloured and touched by the present-day status of life on this here Earth.
“The album’s title came during all this and the sort of post-apocalyptic world we’re living in,” Hill explains. “It encapsulates an overall feeling of gloom and depression which is pretty much how we’ve been living for most of this year. The title was the last piece to fall into place. I remember standing on the roof of the building I was living in at the time on a grey day and it was raining – actually, it wasn’t even raining; it was a half-assed attempt at rain! – and depressing and I just thought, ‘What a sullen sky’ and it just stuck with me.”
The album starts with “Bone Collector,” a furious blast of melodic black metal that shifts gears towards an anthemic fist-pumping slog through the goth rock-thrash metal VENN DIAGRAM. “Void Constellation” takes as many cues from Peaceville Three gloom and doom as it does the death metal stomp of OBITUARY and INCANTATION. “Descensum” mines the various well-worn parts of Ride the Lightning for influence before blasting the doors open with some startlingly spacious chromatic single-note atonality. As the album progresses, further textures and moods are employed via acoustic instrumentation and keyboards as well as sampled soundscapes all butting heads with furious second wave black metal and sly to nods to death rock heroes SISTERS OF MERCY and FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, all of the band’s motivations and interests being dropped into the chameleonic pair of tracks closing the album, “Sombre Ruin” and the appropriately titled “Plague Years.”
“‘Barren’ stands out as the song that’s most collaborative,” notes Hill. “Justin wrote the bulk of the riffs on that one, that sort of NWOBHM/SCORPIONS ending part is something I came up with, Matt added a bunch of guitar harmonies over it and Drew’s bass is laid thick underneath. That one is one of the biggest group efforts and one of the strongest songs on the record.
“I explore a lot of the archetypes that are used in folklore on this record, like werewolves and vampires which I’ve always been interested in, and on a song like ‘Secrets of the Black Sun’ I talk about the finite nature of our time on this planet, that nothing is really permanent and being aware of that whether as an individual or as a civilization, which I guess fits in with the pandemic and the changes that are going on. There are all kinds of other people, civilizations and creatures that have come and gone long before us and if you think about it over a long enough time span, everyone’s life expectancy goes down to zero.”
The new album not only sees Hill expanding his creative and collaborative comfort zone by wholly embracing the offerings of his band mates, but he’s also let down the drawbridge to allow folks from beyond the immediate TOMBS family to include what he describes as “mad guest spots.”
“There’s Cat Cabral, who does the spoken word piece on ‘Angel of Darkness.’ She’s not a musician per se; she’s more from the occult and witchcraft world. I’ve been friends with her for a really long time and she’s a great resource for esoteric knowledge. She’s also an actress who has done plays and commercials and been in films, so I figured she’d be the perfect person to deliver dialogue in an emotionally deep way, and be good at taking direction. Ray Suhy from SIX FEET UNDER rips the guitar solo in ‘Barren’ and that solo is its own masterpiece, in my opinion. BLACK CROWN INITIATE and former TOMBS live guitarist Andy Thomas contributed a guitar solo in ‘Void Constellation.’ Todd Stern from PSYCROPTIC plays the solo in ‘Mortem.’ Sera Timms from IDES OF GEMINI and BLACK MATH HORSEMAN does guest vocals on ‘Secrets of the Black Sun.’ We’ve got INTEGRITY’s Dwid Hellion singing the chorus on ‘The Hunger’ and BLACK ANVIL’s Paul Delaney also doing a couple of verses on ‘Angel of Darkness.’ So, yeah, there are a bunch of people on there and it’s like a community effort which I enjoy. I like involving people I respect and having them be a part of the whole thing.”
After spending his entire adult life navigating the pitfalls and pratfalls of the industry for expressive and creative opportunity, Hill has amassed an impressive legacy, one that ‘Under Sullen Skies’ contributes to admirably and irreverently. Like most, the extreme music underground lifer and veteran is probably justified in approaching the future with very muted optimism, but while the world works at screwing its head back on straight, Hill is going to do what he wants to do as well as he possibly can. Uncertainty may reign at the moment, but Hill and TOMBS are still going to do their thing and will be content to please themselves in the process. If anyone else happens to be along for the ride, then welcome aboard.
“’Under Sullen Skies’ is a dark and introspective album,” he asserts. “It’s not a happy record that anyone is going to use to get pumped up on a Friday night. We wanted to pull out the stops, go full-on and make a nice body of work. I could care less if anyone likes the band or not because I’ve been through so many ups and downs with this thing that I don’t give a fuck if people enjoy the music. I know I like it, I know the guys in the band like it and we’re just rocking and rolling. This record and the EP came out about as close as I could imagine to what I have in my brain about how this band should sound. The whole trajectory of the band has had each record never quite hitting, but ‘Monarchy of Shadows’ and ‘Under Sullen Skies’ have both really come out how I envisioned the songs to be.”
Line-up: Mike Hill – guitars, vocals, electronics, synth Matt Medeiros – guitars Drew Murphy – bass, vocals Justin Spaeth – drums, guitars, electronics, synth
Guest Musicians: Cat Cabral – Spoken Word Dialog on “Angel of Darkness” Paul Delaney (BLACK ANVIL) – additional vocals on “Angel of Darkness” Dwid Hellion (INTEGRITY) – additional vocals on “The Hunger” Todd Stern (PSYCROPTIC) – guitar solo on “Mordum” Ray Suhy (SIX FEET UNDER) – guitar solo on “Barren” Andy Thomas (BLACK CROWN INITIATE) – guitar solo on “Void Constellation” Sera Timms (IDES OF GEMINI, BLACK MATH HORSEMAN) – additional vocals on “Secrets of the Black Sun”
Recording and Mixing: Fright Box Studios, Clifton, NJ, USA
Today, Purity ThroughFire announces December 12th as the international release date for Kriegzeit‘s striking debut album, Hateworship, on digipack CD format.
A brand-new entity from Finland’s ever-fertile black metal underground, Kriegzeit are as nasty and twisted as the warfare from which they derive their themes. At once embodying and defying their domestic black metal idiom, across the rabid ‘n’ ramshackle Hateworship, the power-trio pulse and throb with an almost punkish intensity, but then upend familiarity with an alternately agonizing / sublime angularity that somehow retains the latent catchiness of classic headbanging black metal. However, do not linger under the assumption that Hateworship is some type of “party” black metal record; no, Kriegzeit are deadly serious in their devotion to darkness and the taboo, but likewise do they retain a devilish sense of mischief. All that’s writ large – and FILTHILY – across the wild & wasted Hateworship. Put another way, take one look at the psychedelic-nightmare cover art and you should know what Kriegzeit sound like.
Horns have sounded, and war has come: Kriegzeit deliver a unique attack from the desolate north upon those who desire to rule. Heed their Hateworship, or perish!
Heed or perish with the brand-new track “For You the Son” here:
Aforementioned cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Kriegzeit’s Hateworship 1. Intro 2. The Cult of Black Stone 3. For You the Son 4. Hymn for Hermit 5. Journey to the Next World 6. Souls for the Land 7. Hateworship 8. Bestial Oath 9. Union of Decay
Purity ThroughFire is proud to present Caestus‘ highly anticipated debut album, The Undoer’s Key, on CD, A5 digipack, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. The CD and tape versions shall be released on December 12th while the vinyl will follow in summer 2022.
At the dawn of 2021, Caestus burst from the void, fully formed, with the first demo Nordic Luciferian Discipline. Aptly titled, Caestus indeed branched both the old and new, the traditional and the unconventional, with their black metal. That this new horde was born so auspiciously should not be a surprise given that members currently do time in the esteemed likes of Blood Red Fog, Odiosior, and labelmates To Conceal the Horns.
Unshackling themselves further from the usual classic Finnish black metal sound, Caestus now make their full-length debut before the year’s end: The Undoer’s Key. Another apt title, The Undoer’s Key continues Caestus‘ strive toward their own black metal sound where the old mood meets more “modern” twists. And twist it does, spanning nine songs of pure wrath where not a single note of keyboards was played this time and tremolo leads were kept to a minimum – and even then, only to serve a purpose. Thus, here you will find no artificial “atmosphere” but, rather, strong ‘n’ stout riffs with layered guitar patterns, prominent(ly filthy) bass, similarly storming drums, and their most violent vocals yet. Suitably, form matches content, as the album’s lyrical themes cover classic anti-Christian declarations accompanied by a misanthropic warrior mentality and spitting on modern-day plagues.
Finland continues to be fertile ground for the most elite black metal around, even when some deviate from the (left-handed) path. Here do Caestus march, cursing and crushing their enemies on the way to The Undoer’s Key!
Begin marching with the brand-new title track “The Undoer’s Key” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Caestus’ The Undoer’s Key 1. Reclamation 2. Ultimate Weapon 3. The Undoer’s Key 4. Burning Hope 5. Pariah’s Crown 6. Condescenders 7. Muinaisen Kunnian Taika 8. Dawn of Reckoning 9. Omnipotent Defect
Purity ThroughFire is proud to present Avskräde‘s striking debut album, Det stora tunga sjuka, on CD, A5 digipack, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. The CD and tape versions shall be released on December 12th while the vinyl will follow in summer 2022.
A brand-new entity that sounds positively/negatively OLD, Avskräde hearken to the most ancient days of Scandinavian black metal, both in Norway and their native Sweden. The duo delivered a demo earlier in 2021, but now arrive from the coldest, purest past with a 36-minute full-length titled Det stora tunga sjuka. Right from the album’s opening seconds, there’s no mistaking that Avskräde play nothing but traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively. From the classic “Peaceville trilogy” of Darkthrone to Malicious-era Gorgoroth on to the early works of Sweden’s Craft and Armagedda, Det stora tunga sjuka invokes a nostalgia for grim, glorious times. Indeed, to arrive at its rustic sound, the band recorded the album during primitive conditions in the very north of Sweden, where it is cold and dark most of the time – something they endeavored to transfer to the music itself. And accomplish that they did, as Det stora tunga sjuka is authentically vintage black metal, even down to the Grieghallen-esque guitar tone. HAIL DEATH!!!
Begin hailing with the brand-new track Åh, du ljuva svarta natt” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Avskräde’s Det stora tunga sjuka 1. Av Jord Är Du Kommen 2. Undergång 3. Du ljuva svarta natt 4. När stillheten stundar 5. Aldrig mer skall solen bränna 6. Med blodiga vingar 7. Gravens tomma skönhet 8. Nattfärd 9. Begäret 10. I den eviga månens sken 11. Jag är slute
Five weeks before the release of “Worship The Eternal Darkness“, the Finnish Black Metal band unveils a second track ‘Black Womb Gnosis‘. Fast drums, subtle keyboard layers, deep grunts, and sharp riffs form the cornerstones of ARCHGOAT‘s new composition. However, fluid changes in tempo as well as aptly exercised lead guitar passages demonstrate the band’s ability to continuously refine their wall of sound. Thus, ‘Black Womb Gnosis‘ is Black Metal to the bone while flawlessly combining dynamic songwriting with brutal lawlessness.
Listen to the song below:
“Worship The Eternal Darkness” will be released on CD, tape, vinyl, and digitally on November 26th. High quality merchandise (t-shirt, long sleeves shirt, and hooded/zip sweatshirt) will accompany the album. Pre-Orders are possible via the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp shops.
Coinciding with the album release, ARCHGOAT will embark on a headliner tour through Europe together with Norwegian act WHOREDOM RIFE and Austrian Black Metal band THEOTOXIN. The tour is organized by District 19 and will start on November 25th in Prague. All dates may be found here.
ARCHGOAT crawled from the deepest pits of hell to form in 1989, a demonic trio consisting of the brothers Ritual Butcherer and Lord Angelslayer on guitars and vocals/bass respectively, as well as Blood Desecrator on drums. After a pair of demo tapes, ARCHGOAT shook the Black Metal world in 1993 with the release of their debut EP “Angelcunt (Tales of Desecration)“, showcasing a relentless and bestial blend of Black and Death Metal. With a growing dissolution with the Black Metal scene at large, and a disagreement with their then record label Necropolis Records over the terms of their debut record, ARCHGOAT vanished from scene in late 1993.
In 2004 the gates reopened anew. ARCHGOAT returned to finally release their long-lost material the following year, and then their first official full-length, “Whore of Bethlehem“, in 2006. Since then they have released two more albums, “The Light-Devouring Darkness” in 2009 and “The Apocalyptic Triumphator” in 2015 under Debemur Morti Productions, as well as a series of splits, EPs, and compilations. Between releases they have carved out a reputation for their malevolent live rituals, storming the shores of Europe, the United States, and Mexico alongside bands such as BEHEXEN, BLACK WITCHERY, and HELL MILITIA.
2018 saw ARCHGOAT unleash their satanic opus “The Luciferian Crown“, their second full length under Debemur Morti. An ungodly black sacrament of a kind that only ARCHGOAT can craft, “The Luciferian Crown” is a testament to what Black Metal should be, bestial, unrelenting, and unholy. Black Metal changed, ARCHGOAT did not, and it is their capable hands that shall carry the black flame forward for years to come.
In 2020, the live album “Black Mass XXX” adequately captured the angelslaying chaos present during their gig in Paris in September 2019. The recorded concert was part of ARCHGOAT‘s 30-year anniversary gig series and a worthy addition to their discography. With “Worship The Eternal Darkness” (out November 2021), the Finnish Black Metal band will cement their well-earned reputation for being one of the most consistent bands the scene has ever seen. ARCHGOAT‘s fifth album is, once again, a unique synthesis of occult Finnish Black/Death Metal, harsh Punk, primal Thrash and Grindcore.
Today, Swedish metal legends Eucharist reveal the new track “Mistress of Nightmares.” The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s LONG-awaited third album, I am the Void, set for international release on March 25th, 2022 via Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records). Hear Eucharist‘s “Mistress of Nightmares” in its entirety here:
The history of Eucharist is long and tangled, but what the band managed to do during the ‘90s has remained justifiably legendary. Originally forming in 1989 and then undergoing various stops and starts during the next decade before their amicable dissolution in 1998, the Swedish Eucharist first made their name in the underground in 1992 with their self-titled demo before the pivotal Greeting Immortality EP on the cult Obscure Plasma label, which would become the influential Avantgarde Music. However, even that enviable accomplishment was handily eclipsed by the band’s debut album, A Velvet Creation, in 1993. A stone-cold classic, A Velvet Creation largely helped usher in the melodic death metal era; while by no means the first “melodic” death metal record, it was arguably the best for that era, maintain a heart-on-sleeve sincerity and melancholy fully befitting its title. With those stops & starts playing havoc within the band, Eucharist would emerge four long years later with an equally monolithic album and yet one decidedly different than the first: Mirrorworlds. As suggested by its title as well as cover art, Mirrorworlds was a mesmerizing experience, taking the band into more modern territory (which they helped pioneer in the first place) and evincing a dizzying & dazzling prog-death approach thankfully still ripe with their characteristic melancholy.
In the years following their original dissolution, the cult of Eucharist continued to grow more feverish with each ensuing generation of metallers, with Regain Records’ reissues of both in the early 2000s helping that cause. Still, the name was effectively dead…until 2016, and the roots for their reunion album, I am the Void, were planted. Founding vocalist/guitarist Markus Johnsson picks up the story: “A reunion gig in Varberg, Sweden led to me and Daniel [Erlandsson, original drummer] deciding to do another album. We wanted to change the style to a darker atmosphere, both lyric-wise and music-wise – something that I always wanted. Daniel eventually found out that his interest lied elsewhere and wanted to get out of the project, and by that time, the album was more or less recorded. I had written all the lyrics this time and also made all the music except for a couple of riffs that were Daniels’, but Daniel had helped out with the some of the song structures.”
Truly spoken, I am the Void is a decidedly darker version of Eucharist – and one blackened to a crisp. While the death metal muscle of yore remains, the leather-winged specter of black metal looms large across I am the Void, giving a familiar-yet-foreign aspect to Eucharist’s characteristic sound. Taken a different way, this literally-massive new record (12 songs in 77 minutes!) is nearly a complete makeover of Eucharist, but one just as engrossing and dynamic as their beloved ‘90s works. And one not without further strife, as Markus continues: “The album was buried under dust and anxiety for a few years – from the beginning of 2016 until December 2020. But I pulled myself together and sent the entire album to Per Gyllenbäck of Regain Records at the end of 2019. A year of silence passed, and in December 2020, Per contacted me and said ‘Let’s do this album!’ We were both ready, and that day, I decided that I wanted to run this race on my own from now on. I figured that I had always been the main creative force in Eucharist along with Daniel, so I couldn’t see any problems with continuing the race alone. Daniel also said that if I wanted, I could always use the band name and release the album myself. So, I went on with it.” Johnsson is joined on the new album by Marduk drummer Simon “Bloodhammer” Schilling, hereby considered an official member of Eucharist. “I will do it all on my own from now on and in my own style. I want to make music and record albums, and that I will do as long as someone will release the stuff because I am on a creative streak now.”
Again, truly spoken, and the next (hopefully epic) chapter of Eucharist is about to be revealed. The abyss can take many forms, and so it does for I am the Void.
Hear the previously revealed “Shadows” HERE, also at Regain Records‘ official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Eucharist (Sweden)’s I am the Void
1. Shadows 2. A Vast Land of Eternal Night 3. Goddess of Filth (Tlazolteotl) 4. In the Blaze of the Blood Red Moon 5. Mistress of Nightmares 6. Queen of Hades 7. Nexion 8. Where the Sinister Dwell 9. In the Heart of Infinity 10. Lilith 11. Darkness Divine 12. I am the Void
Today, Swedish black metal legends Ofermod reveal the new track “When the Blacksmith Killed the Shepherd.“ The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Mysterium Iniquitatis, set for international release on December 3rd via Shadow Records (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) on CD and cassette tape formats; the vinyl LP version will be released on March 29th, 2022. Hear Ofermod’s “When the Blacksmith Killed the Shepherd” in its entirety here:
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.
Also hear the previously revealed title track “Myterium Iniquitatis” HERE, also at Regain‘s Bandcamp, . 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
Today, Chaos Records announces December 10th as the international release date for the striking debut album of America’s Rökkr, self-titled Rökkr, on CD format.
Rökkr was conceived and executed in 2011 by Kyle House, who currently maintains Decrepisy and Serpents of Dawn and previously was a member of Acephalix, Vastum, and Necrot among others. Heavily influenced by Nordland-era Bathory, Tolkien, and Thin Lizzy with death-grunts to tell the tale, House here is joined by Adam Perry of Vastum on drums, and together they recorded Rökkr‘s self-tilted first album with Jeff Davis before his tragic and untimely death. Mixing and mastering was handled by Greg Wilkinson of Earhammer fame.
Massive and majestic in its sound and scope, Rökkr is a concept album and a soundtrack to a journey deep within the mountain’s eye. Rökkr explore the darkest parts of the psyche and what lives in the shadows in the deep, all through symbolism and mythology that connects to roots beyond this lifetime and gives a sense of meaning to the chaos of the endless wheel of birth and death. Beyond thought, beyond form, endless nothing within: this is Rökkr‘s titanic debut album, and vastly more…
Into the winter of the soul. Into the ice. Foreverblack meadow, embrace new dawn, on raven’s wing, Hear winter’s song.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Oath of Blood” here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Rökkr’s Rökkr 1. Ravens Wing [3:12] 2. Oath of Blood [6:45] 3. Blackest Dawn [7:10] 4. Into the Ice [7:02] 5. Winter [10:22]
Four years after their first album “Satan Ov Suns“, DOEDSVANGR release their second offering “Serpents Ov Old” on October 29th. Containing nine crushing, yet melodic compositions, the four musicians fuse the most sinister aspects of the Finnish, the Norwegian, and the French Black Metal tradition. Today, Debemur Morti Productions are teaming up with Black Metal Promotion to disclose the full album stream. Listen to the vicious tracks below:
“Serpents Ov Old” captivates the listener with Shatraug‘s (SARGEIST) and BST‘s (THE ORDER OF APOLLYON) unrelenting riffs and epic lead guitars, while AntiChristian‘s (ex-TSJUDER) furious as well as grooving drum lines constitute the perfect foundation for the thick wall of sound. Furthermore, Doedsadmiral‘s (NORDJEVEL) coarse and epic vocals effectively underline both the aggressive and fast paced compositions as well as the more gloomy and ritualistic tracks.
Doedsadmiral himself comments on DOEDSVANGR‘s latest works of Art:
“On the album “Serpents Ov Old“, we have found our inner core, our own darkness. We will continue to build the band on this fundament from now on. We have become more varied, darker, heavier, and more extreme in all areas. The inclusion of BST and his collaboration with Shatraug’s vision as well as AntiChristian’s thundering drums definitely constitute DOEDSVANGR as the most fearful beast.“
“Serpents Ov Old” will be released on CD, vinyl, and digitally on October 29th. Pre-orders are now possible via the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp shops.
DOEDSVANGR was founded in 2014 by Doedsadmiral with the specific intention of expressing raw brutality through music. He set the bar high when it came to his wish-list of people to work with, and in no time TSJUDER’sAntiChristian joined on drums, later to be joined by the infamous Shatraug (SARGEIST), thereby fulfilling Doedsadimral’s vision. The name DOEDSVANGR itself has two different meanings, and can mean both “fields of death” and “dead womb”.
In 2015 DOEDSVANGR signed a contract with Immortal Frost Productions and the band’s 2017 debut album, “Satan Ov Suns”, proved to be the perfect blend of Black Metal from Finland and Norway.
In 2019, BST (THE ORDER OF APOLLYON, ex-AOSOTH) joined DOEDSVANGR on guitar, and work commenced on the follow up album. Having inked a deal with Debemur Morti Productions, the new album, titled “Serpents Ov Old”, is set for release in late 2021.
DOEDSVANGR also signed with the booking agency Flaming Arts so that the band could progress to becoming a live entity.
