Month: February 2022

ABBATH announce European tour with WATAIN

Norwegian metal titans ABBATH are now announcing a brand new co-headlining tour with Swedish black metal outfit WATAIN! The ‘Chariots of Fire’ tour will kick off at the Elysee Montmartre in Paris (FR) and will wreak havoc in 13 more countries before a final curtain at the Vanha venue in Helsinki (FI). A full list of confirmed shows can be found below.

Special guests will be TRIBULATION and BÖLZER during all shows. Tickets will be on sale starting Wednesday February 16th @ 10:00 CET!

ABBATH/WATAIN co-headline
+TRIBULATION +BÖLZER
15.09.2022 – FR – Paris – Elysee Montmartre 
16.09.2022 – DE – Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle 
17.09.2022 – DE – Munich – Backstage  
18.09.2022 – IT – Milan – Live Club 
20.09.2022 – FR – Toulouse – Le Bikini  
22.09.2022 – PT – Lisbon – Lisboa Ao Vivo 
23.09.2022 – ES – Madrid – La Riviera 
24.09.2022 – ES – Barcelona – Apolo  
25.09.2022 – FR – Lyon – Transbordeur  
27.09.2022 – CH – Zurich – Komplex 457 
28.09.2022 – DE – Filderstadt – Filharmonie 
29.09.2022 – NL – Tilburg – 013  
30.09.2022 – UK – London – Earth 
02.10.2022 – BE – Antwerp – Trix 
04.10.2022 – DE – Hamburg – Markthalle  
05.10.2022 – DK – Copenhagen – Amager Bio 
06.10.2022 – NO – Oslo – Rockefeller 
07.10.2022 – SE – Stockholm – Fallan 
09.10.2022 – FI – Helsinki – Vanha

ABBATH recently released the title track of their upcoming album ‘Dread Reaver‘, which can be viewed via the the official Season of Mist YouTube Channel HERE. 

Pre-orders for ‘Dread Reaver’ are available in the Season of Mist shop HERE. Pre-save the album HERE.

ABBATH will be playing in support of their upcoming album ‘Dread Reaver’, which will be released on March 25, 2022. The cover artwork, which was created by Bjørn Stian Bjoarvik and Francisco Munoz, and further album details can be found below.

Tracklist: 
1. Acid Haze (04:51)
2. Scarred Core (03:29)
3. Dream Cull (04:15) WATCH HERE
4. Myrmidon (04:33)
5. The Deep Unbound (04:05)
6. Septentrion (04:30)
7. Trapped Under Ice (03:59)
8. The Book of Breath (04:35)
9. Dread Reaver (04:43) WATCH HERE
10. Make my day (04:16) 

The ravens gaze ominously from above. The seas roar in anticipation. The mountains creak yet again. ABBATH’s remarkable new album, Dread Reaver, is upon us all. Two years in the making, ABBATH’s third full-length is the culmination of everything before it. A fusion of debut Abbath (2016) and follow-up Outstrider (2019), the aptly titled Dread Reaver extends its fantastical fangs outward and drives its cloven hooves onward. Indeed, there’s nothing like an ABBATH record. This is the darkest metal for epic journeys and ancient battles. Comprised of eight riveting tracks and a red-hot cover of METALLICA’s “Trapped Under Ice,” Dread Reaver shows ABBATH triumphing over all trials and tribulations, riding hard into merciless glory as the one and only “Lemmy of black metal.”

ABBATH was formed by Olve Eikemo (aka Abbath) in Bergen, Norway, in 2015. After splitting with vaunted extreme metallers IMMORTAL, the beguiling frontman and storied songwriter only had one path: ABBATH. Years before, he had proven that venturing out of the IMMORTAL constellation was not only plausible but doable with the I project, a short-lived, one-album (Between Two Worlds) band featuring notable musicians from IMMORTAL, ENSLAVED, and GORGOROTH. Indeed, once Eikemo was free of IMMORTAL’s ’s shackles, he was able to assemble a cadre of like-minded conspirators for his solo debut album, Abbath. So crucial was Abbath that the Norwegian Embassy in the UK ran a music/culture piece, while in Norway, the album was nominated for a Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy). Metal Hammer Germany even gonged Abbath with its Best Debut award. Follow-up album, Outstrider, was equally lauded. Billboard’s coverage sent shockwaves through the rock/metal scenes, while Kerrang! labelled it “dominating and creative,” awarding it 4Ks. Decibel also heaped praise on Outstrider, giving it the Best New Noise trophy. The new album Dread Reaver will yet again lionize ABBATH as leader of the frost-bitten pack.

Powered by Abbath’s creative musical imagination, Dread Reaver runs riotously out of the gate. The album’s edifice affords tracks like “Acid Haze,” “Scarred Core,” “The Deep Unbound,” and the album’s closing title track ample room to champion the extremes of black metal, heavy metal, and hard rock. While there are nods to NWOBHM greats, thrash metal’s luminaries, and black metal icons, Dread Reaver is unmistakably ABBATH. There is no other fingerprint. Paired with thought-provoking lyrics based on the historical figure of Othryades, ABBATH’s third album not only shouts exultant but reads like an ancient pyrrhic tale steeped in violence, sorrow, and grit. The idea of a Dread Reaver—a fearless duelist—can also be read as a metaphor for life’s actions and subsequent struggles. Be warned: Dread Reaver is ABBATH at his most menacing and accomplished.

Dread Reaver was produced by Endre Kirkesola, ABBATH, and Dag Erik Nygaard at Dub Studio in Kristiansand and Bergen Lydstudio, respectively. Kirkesola and Nygaard also engineered. Mixing was performed by ABBATH and Kirkesola, while the mastering was done by maestro Maor Appelbaum (FAITH NO MORE, ROB HALFORD) at Maor Appelbaum Mastering in Los Angeles. The goal was to field a storming production that sat firmly at the crossroads of Abbath’s heroes KISS, MOTÖRHEAD, MANOWAR and BATHORY. From the anthemic thrust of opener “Acid Haze” and the epic pound of “Dream Cull” to the rampaging “The Book of Breath” and the wicked cover of METALLICA’s “Trapped Under Ice,” Dread Reaver sounds as massive as Norwegian mountain and as fiery as the depths of Hell. Truly, the recording line-up of Abbath (guitar, bass, vocals), Ukri Suvilehto (drums), Ole André Farstad (guitars), and Mia Wallace (bass) found their sonic muse.

If “Ace of Spades” catapulted MOTÖRHEAD to fame and notoriety, then Dread Reaver will find ABBATH atop the metal’s gigantic heap, the spoils of icy blood, scorching sweat, and steely tears at his feet. As “Myrmidon” states, “Die with a smile, stare glassy-eyed up / At boiling skies! / Valkyries descend to gore-caked fen / Fallen warriors arise!” Lightning strikes thrice with ABBATH’s incredible Dread Reaver!

Recording line-up: 
Abbath – Guitar, bass & vocals
Ukri Suvilehto – Drums
Ole André Farstad – Lead & acoustic guitars
Mia Wallace – Bass on Acid Haze, Scarred Core, The Deep Unbound & Dread Reaver

Recording studio: Recorded in Dub Studio / Additional recordings: Bergen Lydstudio

Links:
www.facebook.com/abbathband
www.abbath.net
www.instagram.com/abbath_official

ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ – the rebirth of Acherontas – premieres new track

Today, ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ – the rebirth of Acherontas – premiere the new track “Belial – The Enn of Beliya’al. The track is the second to be revealed from The Seven Tongues of ΔΑΗΜΩΝ, the band’s first album under the banner of ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ, set for international release on March 14th via Zazen Sounds. Hear ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ‘s “Belial – The Enn of Beliya’al” in its entirety here:

Mysticism, magic, occult arts and rituals, all of which are driving factors behind ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ, are also the most adequate words that can be used to describe the band’s image, sound, and lyrics. The band is considered as one of the leading representatives of the second wave of Greek black metal, heavily influenced by the original Hellenic metal scene, retro rock (especially ’70s rock), and occult/spiritual philosophy & activism.
 
ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ was brought to life in 1996 by V.P.Sorcerer and was ever since true to its internal tenets and traditions, which deemed the band as a “Magickal Coven, dedicated to the Ancient Sumerian Mysteries of Drakonian Blood.” According to the band, “Many traditions embrace these ancient sources as footprints and take form in our Void as Astral Vampirism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Dream Workings, and Luciferian Magic.” V. P.Sorcerer continues: “True sorcery is not an art, it’s science… in order to dare, we must know; in order to will, we must dare. We must will to possess empire, and to reign, we must be silent. We are real to those with eyes to see…”

Their Magickal Coven commences the Third and ultimate cycle of its manifestations, embodying its final reincarnation in the novel external form of ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ. After a 15-year-long second period of esoteric culmination, the Coven of ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ now enters the next alchemical stage of its existence. Transforming and shapeshifting into a yet-unexplored aspect of the same Entity, a new Seal is unveiled, channeling the hidden forces into the future of our Great Work: ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ is revealed.

A compass of feverish devotion unto the omnipotent and everlasting, the Gateway to the Sinister Arts that glorify the Other. Seven rays conjoined within a seal of apparition, whereupon all weak aspects of the Self fall into disarray, surfacing the Iron facet of spiritual survival across the planes of the uncharted Netherworlds. A map, a weapon, and ceremonial ornament of the Seven Archons, molded and reforged to signify the Eternal Hunt of blood-ridden Aeons.
 
ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ commented on the new album: “The new Opus, bearing the fiery symbolic crown of The Seven Tongues of ΔΑΗΜΩΝ, unto the realms of matter. The sands of creation shall shift once again, as the new album of the Coven signifies the sail towards new horizons, fertilizing the grounds with blessed sonic resources to bear fruits on spiritual levels. Seven pacts with powers unknown to mortal men, yet to be known to the elevated individual that chooses to follow the thread beyond mortality. Seven pathways to the Inner Sanctum, grasping a harsh lesson, a taunt of spirit and soul, benign and glorifying.

“The Coven places this newborn Opus upon the altars of the Seven Gods, paying tribute to the forces of the Other that have inspired its course over the decades. The listener is set to be reached by this reverence, since this reverence is set to extend within the listener and let him become one with the multidimensional becoming that is assigned, this Mission of Seven Hells and Seven Destinations. This is a new era of continuity, forging all the bestial aspects of the Past to a shining athame that shapes the Future.”

Also hear the previously revealed “Hecate – Queen of the Crossroads” HERE at Zazen Sounds‘official YouTube channel. Cover artwork, by Maximilian Pirner (1854-1929), and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ’s The Seven Tongues of ΔΑΗΜΩΝ
I. Lucifer – Breath of Fire
II. Leviathan – The Fervent Scales In Reverence
III. Belial – The Enn of Beliya’al
IV. Satan – Exaltation of Unbeing
V. Choronzon – Webs of Alienation
VI. Hecate – Queen of the Crossroads
VII. ΔΡΑΚΩΝ – ΑPOTHEOSIS

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/breathoffire61
wwww.aheroncoven.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/ZazenSounds

MISTCAVERN set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces April 15th as the international release date for Mistcavern‘s highly anticipated debut mini-album, Into Twilight, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

Mistcavern are a quartet hailing from Hungary, formed in 2019. Not long after forming, the band recorded their debut demo, Winds of Misery, which was initially self-released in super-limited quantities but then made widely available by Iron Bonehead at the dawn of 2020. Now, two years later, Mistcavern strike with their most assured work yet, making good on the plentiful promise displayed on Winds of Misery.

As it was in the beginning and as it is now, Mistcavern unabashedly pick up the torch left behind by the second-wave Nordic acts with their works of pure and otherworldly atmospheres in the first half of the 1990s. In many ways, the resultant Into Twilight is 26 minutes of veritable time-warp: one can verily be transported to dark medieval times, at the dawn of a dying sun, feeling an ærie descent. And for those still dealing with the loss & curse of reverence, whether there at the start of those long-flickering fires or later generations who hear the call down time immemorial, Mistcavern will surely satisfy all dark desires. But taken another way, Into Twilight reveals its own ancient imagination. Far from mere “retro” replication or insincere genre exercise before jettisoning for some other fickle fancy, this four-piece deeply understand the richly mystical vibrations beneath those hallowed tomes of yore, building on the duality of both concealed and boundless imagery, showcasing scenes buried in thick fog, far from the ordure of man and deep in nature’s embrace while also glorifying of the infinite emptiness and the longing for the End of All.

And paradoxically, with Into Twilight will one find a new beginning. Roam the new hinterlands of old with Mistcavern, and raise the torches high!

Begin roaming with the brand-new track “Dissolving in Infinite Despair” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Mistcavern’s Into Twilight
1. Towards the Eclipse [6:54]
2. The Shielding Twilight [5:50]
3. To the Starless Domain [6:13]
4. Dissolving in Infinite Despair [6:44]

MORE INFO:
www.mistcavern.bandcamp.com

HELL MILITIA release new song “Genesis Undone”

French underground black metal band HELL MILITIA are now unleashing the second new song from their upcoming record ‘Hollow Void’. The track “Genesis Undone” is now streaming here:

HELL MILITIA comment: “The song is very much inspired by the world crumbling right below our feet. While the topic is nothing new, the results have never been so close. All that matters right now is to accelerate the end and welcome a lifeless symbol among the ruins.”

The band’s new full-length will be released via Season of Mist Underground Activists on March 18. Pre-orders are available HERE. Pre-save the album HERE.

The cover artwork was created by Manuel Tinnemans // Comaworx and can be found below, together with the tracklist.

Tracklist:
1. Lifeless Light (04:21)
2. Genesis Undone (04:22)
3. Dust of Time (05:47)
4. Within the Maze (04:09)
5. Hollow Void (04:57)
6. The Highest Fall (05:18)
7. Kingdoms Scorched (04:54)
8. Veneration (04:39)
9. Corruption Rejoice (05:50)
Total: 0:44:17

Ten years have eclipsed since ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, HELL MILITIA’s last studio album. Black metal has wandered into unforeseen territory and simultaneously drifted back to its roots in that span, remaining entrenched as a polarizing but no less interesting force. Its increased visibility has become the carrot dangled in front of many bands seeking wider acceptance within the underground. But has also made it easier to identify the bands who, fundamentally, will forever uphold black metal’s venerable tenets of darkness and Satanism. Therefore, it is with little surprise that HELL MILITIA have risen to the occasion with their fourth long-player, ‘Hollow Void’. 

HELL MILITIA’s absence can be explained through a mix of personal and intra-band turmoil. Line-up changes included members literally disappearing to the other side of the world. Vocalist RSDX went missing in action after his life took a dark turn. Side musical projects and new life endeavours eventually put the band on hold. But when HELL MILITIA (who are completed by guitarists Arkdaemon and Saroth, bassist S. and drummer Dave Terror) regrouped in 2018 for a few selected live shows, it helped lay the foundation for what would become ‘Hollow Void’.

As is now customary, the pandemic delayed the album’s recording. The band was rehearsing in Paris when global lockdowns began. And since some members of HELL MILITIA reside outside of France in Sweden and the Netherlands, it meant they had to wait out the first wave of the pandemic to start tracking later in 2020. HELL MILITIA eventually entered Studio Saint-Loup outside of Paris in the fall of 2020 to lay down drums. Additional instruments, vocals, and mix and mastering were conducted with producer/engineer BST at BST Studios through the summer and fall of 2021. According to RSDX, the tumult of recent years, the pandemic and real life’s comings-and-goings were perfect ammunition for ‘Hollow Void’’s creation.

“The whole recording process took longer than expected, but as life took its turn straight up until the vocal recordings, the timing was exactly what it needed to be,” he says “A lot of these experiences were included in the lyrics, giving an honest reflection of what was going on. Bitter days, unshakable religious faith, death, contempt for life, urban filth and an even more bitter aftertaste turned into the toxic cocktail we called ‘Hollow Void’. Still, the pent-up energy increased to a point it just had to explode. We put all that energy back into the album. Now that everything is recorded, we await the date we can unleash this on this world. We will keep the energy at this level until it’s time we can perform it.”

The resultant effort is perhaps HELL MILITIA’s most strident effort to date. The band’s orthodox, unrelenting approach is a broadside to the black metal scene at large. Dense chord swaths, a whirling barrage of blast-beats and RSDX’s nihilistic, scathing vocals coalesce into an album that exploits the true nature of black metal: Savage, unforgiving and grim.

“We wanted to make a much more aggressive approach this time,” confirms the vocalist. “A true-to-form, punch-in-the-face comeback album. We wanted to combine the dissonant riffs of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ with the raw and filthy sound of our first album, ‘Canonisation of the Foul Spirit’ and include some new elements. I think we succeeded in this, as it is much more raw, aggressive, yet catchy and 100 percent recognizable as HELL MILITIA.”

The events of the last few years provided no shortage of lyrical topics for RSDX. The nihilistic, unforgiving concepts heard on the band’s previous full-lengths remain very much intact, albeit coming across far more prescient in a world on a fast-track toward its own demise. However, RSDX notes that his lyrics on ‘Hollow Void’ are a combination of him looking inward as well as outward toward a world that fills him with disgust. 

“The lyrics are the universe of HELL MILITIA, and at times, also a diary of all events of the last couple of years,” he says. “It is a summary of bitter days, fanatic unshakable religious faith, urban filth, decay, death worship and an extremely bitter aftertaste. It has traditional Satanism and a contempt for life at its very core.”

Indeed contempt, Satanism and a total disregard for human life have been the primary thread of HELL MILITIA’s musical output since they emerged on the scene in 2001 via the ‘SPK Kommando – We Hope You DIE’ split alongside fellow French black metal holdovers Antaeus, Eternal Majesty and Deviant. The band’s lauded and influential ‘Canonisation of the Foul Spirit’ would follow four years later, establishing HELL MILITIA as one of the leading purveyors of the 2000s French black metal wave. 2010’s ‘Last Station on the Road to Death’ and 2012’s ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ followed, bringing them even closer to black metal’s true, raw spirit. As evidenced by ‘Hollow Void’, the last ten years have done little to HELL MILITIA’s approach.

“We are still the old, bitter radical individuals whose masks are off,” closes RSDX. “What the scene does is of no concern or interest to us. We are in contact with bands and individuals we respect. The rest of the world can keep their watered down, non-ideological form of black metal. Black metal to us means the same as it did when the band was founded: A vessel of strong expression in music and ideology with unshakable faith at its very core. If a band doesn’t have that, it’s not black metal. I may approach life differently now that I’m in my 40s than when I was in my 20s, but the attitude and radical stand on what black metal should be has not changed.”

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/hellmilitiaofficial
https://www.instagram.com/hellmilitiaofficial

Gaahls Wyrd Announce European tour with Gaerea and Saor

Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen)-winning metal outfit GAAHLS WYRD return to the road in the autumn of 2022 for their first fully fledged European tour since 2019 with special guests and label mates SAOR and GAEREA. The tour will kick off at the Patronaat in Haarlem (NL) on September 30 and sees the band playing throughout 13 more countries before a final curtain at the Slaktkyrkan venue in Stockholm (SE).

A full list of confirmed shows can be found below. Tickets are on sale this Friday, February 11 @11:00 CET.

GAAHLS WYRD 
+Gaerea +Saor
30.09.2022 – Haarlem (NL) – Patronaat
01.10.2022 – Arlon (BE) – Léntrepot
02.10.2022 – Cologne – DE – Club Volta
03.10.2022 – Berlin (DE) – Holle 44
05.10.2022 – Poznań (PL) – U Bazyla
06.10.2022 – Krakow (PL) – Hol
07.10.2022 – Prague (CZ) – Futurum
08.10.2022 – Vienna (AT) – Vienna Metal Meeting
09.10.2022 – Budapest (HU) – Instant
11.10.2022 – Milan (IT) – Slaughter Club
12.10.2022 – Martigny (CH) – Les Caves Du Manoir
13.10.2022 – Lyon (FR) – CCO Villeurbanne
14.10.2022 – Barcelona (ES) – Boveda
15.10.2022 – Madrid (ES) – Caracol
16.10.2022 – Toulouse (FR) – Le Rex
17.10.2022 – Paris (FR) – Petit Bain
19.10.2022 – London (UK) – The Garage
20.10.2022 – Antwerp (BE) – Zappa
22.10.2022 – Essen (DE) – Turock
24.10.2022 – Munich (DE) – Backstage Halle
25.10.2022 – Frankfurt (DE) – Das Bett

26.10.2022 – Leipzig (DE) – Hellraiser
27.10.2022 – Hamburg (DE) – Logo
28.10.2022 – Copenhagen (DK) – Vega
29.10.2022 – Gothenburg (SE) – Pustervik
30.10.2022 – Stockholm (SE) – Slaktkyrkan

GAAHLS WYRD are playing in support of their latest mini album “The Humming Mountain” which was released on November 05, 2021. The cover and further details can be found below. The cover photo was made by Kristian “Gaahl” Espedal. 

Tracklist:
1. The Seed (09:12)
2. The Humming Mountain (04:46)
3. The Dwell (05:01)
4. Awakening Remains – Before Leaving (07:18)
5. The Sleep (03:00)
Total: 0:29:17

Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen)-winning metal outfit Gaahls WYRD return with new mini-album The Humming Mountain. Spanning five thought-provoking songs over 30-plus minutes, the mini-album continues from but challenges the tenets of the group’s lauded debut full-length, GastiR – Ghosts Invited. Conceptually, The Humming Mountain  intrinsically ties into the pre-history of its forebear, where heady, fastidious topics of origin, creation, and consciousness are pondered, explored, and conveyed to a riveting score of reflective, if sometimes vicious metal. The Humming Mountain resides between spaces but is wholly its own artistic entity.

“I like the concept of a mini-album instead of an EP,” says Gaahl (aka Kristian Espedal). “I like the format of a mini-album. Back in the day, bands like Hellhammer and Celtic Frost used this format. The audience gets more from this format. To me, it’s more serious than if it’s just a few tracks. Plus, the concept of The Humming Mountain isn’t big enough for a full-length album. The concept was something I had to get out of my head.”

Three of The Humming Mountain’s tracks were originally slated to appear on GastiR – Ghosts Invited but were eventually shelved when Gaahl determined that they weren’t a conceptual fit with the rest of the album’s tracks. Indeed, not one to let good ideas die on the proverbial vine, Gaahl worked with guitarist Lust Kilman (Ole Walaunet) and producer Iver Sandøy to refashion them. Through creative process and artful invention, “Awakening Remains – Before Leaving,” “The Dwell,” and the title track were born again for The Humming Mountain. The mini-album’s introspective bookends—opening epic “The Seed” and filmic closer “The Sleep”—came during and after, one song to remind listeners that patience is a virtue and the other to send them off into dream-like cogitation.

“The title track ‘The Humming Mountain’ dictated how the mini-album would go forward,” Gaahl says. “‘The Humming Mountain,’ however, has connections to GastiR – Ghosts Invited recording-wise, but it’s been reshaped. ‘The Dwell’ and ‘Awakening Remains – Before Leaving’ are more from the same foundation. We did change how we approached these songs by adding keyboards and removing bass grooves, especially on ‘Awakening Remains – Before Leaving.’ We got a different flow and pace to the final versions of the songs.”

While The Humming Mountain is a real place called Gnolloden near the Svalbard archipelago, it has no relation to the mini-album’s title or contents. Lyrically, The Humming Mountain is about patience. Not in the human sense of the word—though that certainly can be applied to nine-minute opener “The Seed”—but in the universal sense. The vibrations (hums) of creation ebb and flow sub-glacially. The intent of creation spans eons. Even the mini-album’s artwork—captured and designed by Gaahl—is part of the overall theme. The closer to The Humming Mountain, the farther away it appears.

“I’m always searching,” says Gaahl. “I’m trying to find the core of self, the core of everything. GastiR – Ghosts Invited dealt with being conscious about the subconscious. The Humming Mountain is more direct in dealing with that topic. Creation is something that happens very slowly, I believe. I connected it to ice, in a way. It’s a Norse concept, where a witch ‘hummer’ is feeding on salty ice. Out of this comes the first conscious. In Norse creationism, creation originates with sound. Of course, fire and ice are the two opponents, but every being, which are manifestations of something, are connected to humming or noise, the vibrations created by it. That’s how I arrived at The Humming Mountain, a slow vibration from the mountain and the slow movement of ice.”

Gaahls WYRD revisited Sandøy’s Solslottet Studio (Wardruna, Crippled Black Phoenix) periodically from August 2020 through May 2021 to track and complete The Humming Mountain. The sessions were set apart for various reasons (schedules mostly), but the team first focused the groundwork on sound design. Gaahl, Lust Kilman, and Sandøy then pivoted to Spektre’s (aka Kevin Kvåle) drums. From there, vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, and piano were laid down. Sandøy also helmed the mix and master

“The first thing we did was to work through the songs,” Gaahl says. “This was to find the foundation of the sound and how we could reshape the sound. We focused on the sound (or voice) of the drums. We didn’t want them to be too close to the drum sound on GastiR – Ghosts Invited. I’ve worked on three albums with Iver this year. It’s very easy to work with him. He’s good at bringing himself into my philosophical mindset. He’s tuned into why I choose to do this or that. Usually, before we start, I explain my direction so that he can understand it, and together we can expand upon that direction. On this EP, he’s done a lot of the keys and piano parts. He’s contributed quite a lot.”

Though The Humming Mountain reveals a more contemplative side to Gaahls WYRD, fans of stunners “Ek Erilar,” Carving the Voices,” and “Through and Past and Past” will find new tracks “The Dwell,” “Awakening Remains – Before Leaving,” and the title track equally engaging, while “The Seed” and “The Sleep” are destined to open new doors with their mercurial angst and picturesque, if involuted themes. Indeed, The Humming Mountain sets the stage for Gaahls WYRD’s next chapter.

“We’ll release the mini-album next,” says Gaahl. “After that, it all depends on how things open up for us to tour. There will be shows in Europe for sure, though. In a way, I hope the pandemic situation may continue for a bit longer. It’s a good time for studio work. So, I hope not to be too disturbed by touring to continue to do more studio work. We’re about to enter the studio for the next full-length.”

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/gaahlswyrd
http://www.gaahlswyrd.com
https://gaahlswyrd.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gaahlswyrd/

Line-up
Gaahl (Kristian Espedal)  – vocals
Lust Kilman (Ole Walaunet) – guitars
Eld (Frode Kilvik) – Bass
Spektre (Kevin Kvåle) – Drums

Denmark’s HERSKER set release date for CALIGARI debut EP, reveal first track

Today, Caligari Records announces March 7th as the international release date for Herkser‘s striking debut EP, Befængt, on cassette tape format.

Herkser is a Danish blackened punk outfit that began as a one-man project in 2015. The project gained new momentum in 2020 when a drummer was added to the lineup. The two-piece recorded their debut album during the fall of 2020, and it is slated for release in 2022 by Strange Aeons Records.

More recently, Herkser recorded an EP titled Befængt, which is seeing release on cassette via Caligari. Befængt means “infested” in English, and suitably do the songs on the EP traverse a world of contagious anxiety. A pulsing sense of dread permeates the songs, intensified by the strange-yet-cool recording, which sounds remarkably distant and upfront simultaneously. Through it all, a steady D-beat pushes that pulsing sense of dread ever forward, only to be occasionally interrupted by blastbeats that tear at the edge of the compositions. Each song bears witness to human incompetency; entropy is the only truth.

Alive and dead…Herkser will infest your soul with Befængt!

Begin the infestation with the brand-new track “Dødtøje” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Hersker (Denmark)’s Befængt
1. Betændt
2. Stilstand
3. Dødtøje
4. Tilfrosset

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/hersker666

www.caligarirecords.com
www.facebook.com/caligarirecords

AETHYRICK set release date for new THE SINISTER FLAME album, reveal first track

On March 31st internationally, The Sinister Flame is proud to present Aethyrick‘s brand-new fourth album, Pilgrimage, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

By now, Aethyrick should require little introduction. Since their formation in 2016, the duo of Gall and Exile have begun a meteoric ascent in the black metal underground that’s culminated in three increasingly celebrated full-lengths for The Sinister Flame: 2018’s Praxis, 2020’s Gnosis, and last year’s Apotheosis. While such a feverish release schedule would otherwise suggest a mindset of quantity over quality, nothing could be further from the truth for these Finns: Aethyrick have boldly and confidently etched a unique headspace all their own, bountifully brimming with magick and mysticism simultaneously aeons-old and strikingly modern. That they’ve been able to be comfortable enough in that skin to summon creations seemingly so effortlessly is perhaps more amazing than their already-sturdy aesthetic.

And much as “feverish” aptly described the aforementioned Apotheosis, like clockwork does another engrossing full-length grace our ears: Pilgrimage. Everything is in the title: here on Pilgrimage, Aethyrick journey to a sacred place – one deep in their hearts, its secrets known only to them – that could verily evoke nostalgia or a simpler time or foundational feelings or any combination thereof. But, that’s merely in the music itself, which takes on a more ponderous gait, mystical synth swirling around a steady mid-tempo thrust of bittersweet darkness; even the well-timed bouts of speed maintain a nobler yet more-resigned aspect. It immediately sounds like Aethyrick‘s black metal – that is, traditional all-caps BLACK METAL spoken in their own enrapturing dialect – and one that suggests new journeys to embark upon, new stones to uncover.

And yet, that’s only half the story of Pilgrimage. As Aethyrick explain, “The red thread running from the first track to the last is threefold. The outer layer tells a story of an individual who cuts himself loose from the mundane world of his fellow men through the act of murder most foul and goes into the wilderness to live as a hermit – a king of his own realm, as it were – never to return. Under this narrative, one can find a poetic description of a gradual shift in perception – the rather inherent illusion of man as the very crown of creation is replaced by the realization of his absolute oneness with all nature. And yet, at the heart of it all, there are the eight steps of a foundation rite rooted in the tradition that gave birth to Aethyrick in the first place.”

Stargazing grandeur giving way to austere transformation, boundless as ever…here marks Aethryick‘s Pilgrimage. Black metal as an artform is still in good, capable hands.

Begin the Pilgrimage with the brand-new track “Hallowed Bloodline”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Aethyrick’s Pilgrimage
1. The Turning Away
2. In the Chapel of One Spirit
3. Threefold Resurrection
4. Winds of the Wanderer
5. A Brother to the Stars
6. Hallowed Bloodline
7. The Moon and Her Consort
8. Kingdom

MORE INFO:
www.aethyrick.com

www.thesinisterflame.com
www.facebook.com/thesinisterflame

ORDER OF NOSFERAT set release date for new PURITY THROUGH FIRE album, reveal first track

Purity Through Fire is proud to present Order of Nosferat‘s highly anticipated third album, Nachtmusik, on CD, vinyl LP, A5 digipack, and cassette tape formats. The CD and tape versions shall be released on March 21st while the vinyl version will follow later in the year.

Just last year, Order of Nosferat emerged from the shadows with TWO full-lengths, Necuratul and Arrival of the Plague Bearer, both through Purity Through Fire. Although just four months apart, both albums were the work of two prolific underground veterans: Count Revenant on strings, voice, and keys and drummer Anzillu. And while both are no strangers to black metal, the variety they unleashed with Order of Nosferat was most definitely OLD, in every sense of the word. Undead vampiric black metal had truly arisen!

Wasting no time spreading their infection further, Order of Nosferat return with another new album, Nachtmusik. Aptly titled, Nachtmusik is dedicated to lone night-wanderers and those who dwell in sleepless despair. At times more beautifully sad and more rabid than its two not-inconsiderable predecessors, Nachtmusik walks the fine line between fever dream and sublime paralysis; the black metal is filthier and more flaying while the oft-isolated segments of synth and/or piano impart a wounded darkness to the album’s overall aspect. Of course, Order of Nosferat remain ever true to their vampiric vision, and Nachtmusik bears favorable comparison to vampiric pioneers like America’s Black Funeral as well as France’s Vlad Tepes, Mütiilation, Funeral, Blessed in Sin, or any number of bands orbiting the Black Legions or Concilium collectives. But, with the welcome integration of somber interludes and even-defter layering of keys, the duo continue to expand their own, plausibly idiosyncratic version of VAMPIRIC BLACK METAL. And just like those two preceding LPs, Order of Nosferat continue to feel familiar and nostalgic, and indeed is that the point; black metal doesn’t “need” to be anything else but what it already is…or already was, more accurately. And the same can be said for the “vampiric” appellation, before it was ruined by circus clowns and freaks on a leash as the once-glorious ’90s came to a close. Lights out with Nachtmusik!

Turn out the lights with the brand-new track “My Final Breath here:

Cover artwork, courtesy of Vhan Artworks, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Order of Nosferat’s Nachtmusik
1. Tunes of Nocturnal Tragedies 
2. Strains for the Restless Nights
3. Bloodlust Nightmares Raging Wild
4. For Those who Dwell in Sleepless Despair 
5. As the eternal Night fell upon us
6. Floating on the Sea of Drowned Desires
7. My Final Breath
8. A Song for Lilien 
9. The Cruel Awakening
10. …of Mourning and Wintry Melancholy

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Order-of-Nosferat-101630385169968

SACRILEGA set release date for BLOOD HARVEST debut album, reveal first track – features members of RITES OF THY DEGRINGOLADE, IMPURE CONSECRATION+++

Blood Harvest Records is proud to present Sacrilega‘s highly anticipated debut album, The Arcana Spear, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. The CD and tape versions will be released on April 29th, while the vinyl version will follow on July 29th.

During the summer of 2020, Sacrilega burst from the void with their debut EP, Rites of Macabre. Although a brand-new entity, the Californian power-trio features members currently aligned with Rites of Thy Degringolade, Impure Consecration, and Invocation War among others. As such, it was not surprising that that their Impious Death Metal worship was so powerful and punishing this early on.

However, Sacrilega are set to eclipse those not-inconsiderable expectations with their full-length debut, The Arcana Spear. Recorded at Ramona Studio with Charlie Koryn, Sacrilega‘s debut album is a veritable firestorm of finessed fury – malice, malevolence, and mesmerizing visions writ large across throttling death metal songwriting both classic and contemporary. Driving that propulsion is underground drum-god Paulus Kressman, whose veritable eight octopus arms create a dizzying, dread-inducing landscape for his bandmates to slay with their razor-wire strings. Their songwriting always pushes forward with a near-bestial pulse that cannot be denied; still, attention is duly paid to detail within riffing and atmosphere alike, elevating The Arcana Spear beyond a mere exercise in ultraviolence. Sacrilega thus locate that elusive balance between the cunningly precise and rabidly maximal, placing due emphasis on the songwriting itself and allowing the execution to tell the grandiose-yet-doomed tales it so requires.

Featuring suitably stark-yet-grandiose artwork courtesy of Artem Grigoryev, Sacrilega deliver one of death metal’s most stunning debuts with The Arcana Spear. Embrace the grand tyranny! 

Begin embracing that grand tyranny with the brand-new title track “The Arcana Spear here:

Preorder info can be found HERE. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Sacrilega’s The Arcana Spear
1. The Arcana Spear
2. Tower Of Suppression
3. Rites Of Macabre
4. Sacrament Of The Void
5. Entre Sangre & Veneno
6. Ode To The Sepulcher Dream
7. A Vision Glorified In Fire
8. Embrace The Grand Tyranny

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/SacrilegaDeathMetal

www.bloodharvest.se
www.bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com
www.twitter.com/BloodHarvestRec

ABBATH premieres title track of new album “Dread Reaver”

Norwegian metal titans ABBATH are now premiering the title track of their upcoming album ‘Dread Reaver‘. The song is streaming here:

The new record will be out on March 25 worldwide.

Pre-orders for ‘Dread Reaver’ are available in the Season of Mist shop HERE. Pre-save the album HERE.

ABBATH have also unveiled the album cover for ‘Dread Reaver’ which can be found below, together with the tracklist. The cover artwork was created by Bjørn Stian Bjoarvik and the photos were made by Francisco Munoz.

Tracklist: 
1. Acid Haze (04:51)
2. Scarred Core (03:29)
3. Dream Cull (04:15) WATCH HERE
4. Myrmidon (04:33)
5. The Deep Unbound (04:05)
6. Septentrion (04:30)
7. Trapped Under Ice (03:59)
8. The Book of Breath (04:35)
9. Dread Reaver (04:43) WATCH HERE
10. Make my day (04:16) 

The ravens gaze ominously from above. The seas roar in anticipation. The mountains creak yet again. ABBATH’s remarkable new album, Dread Reaver, is upon us all. Two years in the making, ABBATH’s third full-length is the culmination of everything before it. A fusion of debut Abbath (2016) and follow-up Outstrider (2019), the aptly titled Dread Reaver extends its fantastical fangs outward and drives its cloven hooves onward. Indeed, there’s nothing like an ABBATH record. This is the darkest metal for epic journeys and ancient battles. Comprised of eight riveting tracks and a red-hot cover of METALLICA’s “Trapped Under Ice,” Dread Reaver shows ABBATH triumphing over all trials and tribulations, riding hard into merciless glory as the one and only “Lemmy of black metal.”

ABBATH was formed by Olve Eikemo (aka Abbath) in Bergen, Norway, in 2015. After splitting with vaunted extreme metallers IMMORTAL, the beguiling frontman and storied songwriter only had one path: ABBATH. Years before, he had proven that venturing out of the IMMORTAL constellation was not only plausible but doable with the I project, a short-lived, one-album (Between Two Worlds) band featuring notable musicians from IMMORTAL, ENSLAVED, and GORGOROTH. Indeed, once Eikemo was free of IMMORTAL’s ’s shackles, he was able to assemble a cadre of like-minded conspirators for his solo debut album, Abbath. So crucial was Abbath that the Norwegian Embassy in the UK ran a music/culture piece, while in Norway, the album was nominated for a Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy). Metal Hammer Germany even gonged Abbath with its Best Debut award. Follow-up album, Outstrider, was equally lauded. Billboard’s coverage sent shockwaves through the rock/metal scenes, while Kerrang! labelled it “dominating and creative,” awarding it 4Ks. Decibel also heaped praise on Outstrider, giving it the Best New Noise trophy. The new album Dread Reaver will yet again lionize ABBATH as leader of the frost-bitten pack.

Powered by Abbath’s creative musical imagination, Dread Reaver runs riotously out of the gate. The album’s edifice affords tracks like “Acid Haze,” “Scarred Core,” “The Deep Unbound,” and the album’s closing title track ample room to champion the extremes of black metal, heavy metal, and hard rock. While there are nods to NWOBHM greats, thrash metal’s luminaries, and black metal icons, Dread Reaver is unmistakably ABBATH. There is no other fingerprint. Paired with thought-provoking lyrics based on the historical figure of Othryades, ABBATH’s third album not only shouts exultant but reads like an ancient pyrrhic tale steeped in violence, sorrow, and grit. The idea of a Dread Reaver—a fearless duelist—can also be read as a metaphor for life’s actions and subsequent struggles. Be warned: Dread Reaver is ABBATH at his most menacing and accomplished.

Dread Reaver was produced by Endre Kirkesola, ABBATH, and Dag Erik Nygaard at Dub Studio in Kristiansand and Bergen Lydstudio, respectively. Kirkesola and Nygaard also engineered. Mixing was performed by ABBATH and Kirkesola, while the mastering was done by maestro Maor Appelbaum (FAITH NO MORE, ROB HALFORD) at Maor Appelbaum Mastering in Los Angeles. The goal was to field a storming production that sat firmly at the crossroads of Abbath’s heroes KISS, MOTÖRHEAD, MANOWAR and BATHORY. From the anthemic thrust of opener “Acid Haze” and the epic pound of “Dream Cull” to the rampaging “The Book of Breath” and the wicked cover of METALLICA’s “Trapped Under Ice,” Dread Reaver sounds as massive as Norwegian mountain and as fiery as the depths of Hell. Truly, the recording line-up of Abbath (guitar, bass, vocals), Ukri Suvilehto (drums), Ole André Farstad (guitars), and Mia Wallace (bass) found their sonic muse

If “Ace of Spades” catapulted MOTÖRHEAD to fame and notoriety, then Dread Reaver will find ABBATH atop the metal’s gigantic heap, the spoils of icy blood, scorching sweat, and steely tears at his feet. As “Myrmidon” states, “Die with a smile, stare glassy-eyed up / At boiling skies! / Valkyries descend to gore-caked fen / Fallen warriors arise!” Lightning strikes thrice with ABBATH’s incredible Dread Reaver!

Recording line-up: 
Abbath – Guitar, bass & vocals
Ukri Suvilehto – Drums
Ole André Farstad – Lead & acoustic guitars
Mia Wallace – Bass on Acid Haze, Scarred Core, The Deep Unbound & Dread Reaver

Links:
www.facebook.com/abbathband
www.abbath.net
www.instagram.com/abbath_official