Appearing like a bolt from the blue in 2016 via W.T.C., ADAESTUO’s debut EP, Tacent Semitae, was a startling and profound introduction to this otherwise-unknown band. ADAESTUO was formed as a covenant between three wandering souls at the unhallowed crossroads where the darkest elements of ambient, black metal, and spiritual praxis conjoin. Being a series of audial sigils cast by VJS and P.E.Packain and led in evocation by Hekte Zaren, with Tacent Semitae did ADAESTUO transcend the modern homogeny found among the lower caste of musical initiates. Amazingly, the pan-continental trio eclipsed that feat with a towering full-length monument titled Krew Za Krew. Released by W.T.C. in 2018, Krew Za Krew reaped widespread acclaim and positioned themselves as purveyors of a very special kind of black metal by going BLACKER.
In the cursed year of 2020 came another full-length monument from ADAESTUO bearing the title Manalan virrat, and now they return to the auspices of W.T.C. with a swift-yet-satisfying mini-album presciently titled Purge of the Night Cloak. Indeed, that title forms a sensational foundation for the seared sort of frequencies ADAESTUO are exploring here: a casting-off of the old, a revilement of the new, vulgar shapes made beautiful and vice versa. Woven together like one continuous fever dream, the four tracks comprising this 23-minute mini-album assault the listener with a near-overload of information, only to strip it bare, hauntingly and uncomfortably so, building it back up into a hydra-headed abomination from both above and below. Put into more concrete terms, here ADAESTUO fuse classics-minded mystical black metal with dark soundtrack scores, shimmering obsidian racing through the night sky before a (dark) meeting with literally-otherworldly walls of choral atmosphere. It’s something of a “blink and you’ll miss it” experience, or one too frightening(ly expansive) to open one’s eyes to…
More massive than most bands’ regular “albums,” ADAESTUO make most black metal look conservative and small with their Purge of the Night Cloak.
Tracklist 1.Act I 2.Act II 3.The Hydra 4.Act III ADAESTUO lineup Hekte Zaren + VJS + P.E.Packain
Notes Captured at Dirge Forge Between MMXVI-MMXX Merged and governed by VJS Music by Adaestuo Maledictions and script by Horidus Visuals by Packain, Hekte Zaren, and Amanita Noir
Today, Texas death metallers Fleshrot stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Unburied Corpse. Set for international release on August 1st – Me Saco Un Ojo Records will handle the album’s release in Europe while Desert Wastelands will handle the USA – hear Fleshrot‘s Unburied Corpse in its entirety
Since forming in 2019, Texas’ Fleshrot have accumulated a steady fanbase with their rancid blend of slowly chugging death metal. With a demo, split, and single under their belts, it is time for their debut album to finally crush the skulls of the collective underground. With an immediately gripping assault of hammering, chunky bass, putrescent guitars, and guttural vocals, the sludgy cacophony of rotten ichor is even more brutal than ever before on this record; it does not take much time to figure that out. From Neanderthaloid riffing and belching breaks, the lumbering juggernaut of heaviness has a groove that even the most primitive mind can bang their head to, scattering loose brain matter as the bludgeoning and lacerating sounds cut through living tissue effortlessly. With some bonus savagery borrowed from grindcore but played at hideously slow pace, this album cannot be accused of being anything other than some of the filthiest and heaviest death metal you will ever hear. Equally, there is nothing trendy or bandwagon-jumping in sight: Fleshrot have their own sound, and deliver it with a scathing performance that is convincing in its own right.
If progression and technical nuance is what you seek, steer clear, for this is a sub-30-minute slab of pure butchery that is not for the self-proclaimed audio genius (read: pretentious); this is violent, visceral, and somehow stinks of rotting meat. With a production that allows seeping guitar wounds in the thick, tarry bass lines while retaining the snappy drums and not allowing the bellowed vocals to overshadow anything, this is a dense and swampy cut of morbid death metal that will puke itself forth into your ears, defiling and degrading all it comes into contact with. If you can withstand the putrefied sonic fruits bared by Fleshrot, then commend your stomach and ears’ strength because most will falter before the mighty and malicious blows landed by Unburied Corpse in all of its lurking, squelching, and squalid splendor. (text by Jørgen Sven Kirby, Nattskog webzine)
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Fleshrot (Texas)’ Unburied Corpse 1. Wrapped In Entrails 2. Intricate Dissection 3. Draining The Liquified Remains 4. Unburied Corpse 5. Post Burial Extractions 6. In Filth and Pain 7. Haunted Visions of Sick Depravities
Today, AOP Records announces September 30th as the international release date for Firtan‘s highly anticipated third album, Marter, on CD and vinyl LP formats. To coincide with the announcement, a brand-new video for the first single “Amor Fati” is revealed here:
Since their fortuitous formation in 2010, Firtan have been dedicated to a unique strain of extreme metal and have steadily built an enraptured audience across countless shows in their native Germany and abroad. Granted, the band’s roots lay in black metal, particularly those pivotal days of the 1990s, but over the course of two acclaimed albums – 2014’s Niedergang and especially 2018’s Okeanos – Firtan have effortlessly integrated an eclecticism that has become more self-contained and increasingly kaleidoscopic. Now, they arguably deliver their masterwork: Marter.
Immediately, the trademark Firtan sound is felt – riffing that’s raging yet gorgeous, atmosphere that’s autumnal yet cliche-free, compositions that span epic lengths yet remain judiciously compact – and Marter stuns after first listen. However, delve deeper and you’ll find that Firtan have become more daring in their soundfield, incorporating more acoustics, synths, and strings to flesh out that always-poignant atmosphere. Amazingly, the band never busy up that soundfield; everything sounds rich and robust but in its proper place, every tone resounding endlessly through the soul. That Firtan take Marter in sometimes diametrically opposed directions – violent vs. restrained, explosive vs. placid, righteously black metal vs. something approaching neoclassical – often all during the course of a song, speaks to the band’s masterful approach to songwriting. Some might even liken Marter to “post-black metal,” which is okay with them: Firtan are simply performing their own interpretation of black metal.
Fittingly, the theme of Marter deals with the isolation of the modern individual who finds himself torn between spiritual hope and existential failure – and Firtan vividly paint this panorama in their most dazzling hues yet. And just like its massive predecessor, Marter was recorded at the esteemed studio Klangschmiede E with Markus Stock of The Vision Bleak/Empyrium. Completed by grandiose cover art courtesy of Władysław Podkowiński, Marter is a milestone of the dynamic German black metal scene – and Firtan have arrived as reigning kings.
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Firtan’s Marter 1. Faðir 2. Amor Fati 3. Labsal 4. Lethe 5. Parhelia 6. Odem 7. Menetekel 8. Peraht 9. Medomai (bonus track*) *available on vinyl and CD boxset
Today, Nuclear WinterRecords announces September 12th as the international release date for Sarcophagum‘s striking debut EP, Conduits to the Underworld, on CD and cassette tape formats.
Sarcophagum spawned to life in the early half of 2021, during the time of the plague, as a side-project of Golgothan Remains members past and present. Their purpose? To provide a channel to explore new ideas and sounds in a studio-only setting. The dark death metal realm remains their primary influence, and the forthcoming debut EP, Conduits to the Underworld, is just the first taste of further impending death to come.
And what a taste it is: malevolent, martial, mesmerizing. Truly, this is twisted ‘n’ terrorizing death metal seemingly sent from a sepulchral cosmos, both impossibly massive in suffocating scope whilst eerily atmospheric, almost airy in its serpentine swirl. As such, Sarcophagum sound familiar and foreign simultaneously; death metal is undoubtedly the template, but the pieces binding it together are of a strange (and scourging) material. Each of the record’s three tracks emit epic sensations and yet almost race by with a palpitating swiftness, creating an engaging headfuck – Conduits to the Underworld, indeed!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Pits of Hate” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Sarcophagum’s Conduits to the Underworld 1. Pits of Hate [5:04] 2. Netherengines [4:43] 3. Between Two Worlds [6:41]
Today, Hells Headbangers announces September 16th as the international release date for Medieval Demon‘s highly anticipated fourth album, Black Coven, on CD format. The vinyl LP version will follow later this year.
By now, Medieval Demon should require little introduction. Formed in that fateful year of 1993, Medieval Demon remained one of the cultest entities of the immortal Greek black metal scene, releasing a handful of demos during the mid ’90s and then their lost-classic debut album, Demonolatria, in 1998. Not long after, the band receded into the shadows, in vampiric slumber, until awakening from the crypt in 2018 with the majestic comeback album, Medieval Necromancy, through longtime fans Hells Headbangers, followed two years later by the equally acclaimed Arcadian Witchcraft.
Continuing that enviable momentum compared to most “old” bands who tiredly rehash long-faded glories, Medieval Demon light another new full-length torch with Black Coven. Just as its esteemed predecessors sounded like those glorious ’90s never ended, so, too, does Black Coven burn with an authentically eldritch fire by those who truly LIVED IT. Much as canonical Hellenic black metal always prized heavy metal classicism at the heart of black METAL, Medieval Demon once again synthesize such with equally-classic horror and high drama, making Black Coven arguably their most widescreen record yet. The production, in kind, gives robust crunch to that heavy metalized songwriting, along with highlighting the band’s always-captivating synth work. Indeed, the album sounds EXACTLY as it should for something titled Black Coven: the ancient spirits are legion, and unbound!
As founding drummer/keyboardist/composer Lord Apollyon explains, “For the composition of Black Coven, there were used methods and practices of the ancient Greek theory of music, which were also used to the Middle Ages – in the name of Satan. Composition in black metal presupposes to live in real time the process that includes all the elements involved in this kind of black art. We moved into an isolated village inside the forest, a place where ancient Greek sorcery and death magic was born. Ritualism and ancient black metal are parts of our eternally black souls.”
Specifically, opening track “Where Witches Dwell and Labyrinths Confuse” was written as tribute to the deceased Andrea Meyer of Norway’s cult Aghast. Likewise, the unabashed use of saxophone was in tribute to founding Greek forebears Necromantia, who entered the crypt of time eternal last year. And of course, the influence of Italian gods Goblin is never far away from Medieval Demon, even if that influence is more spiritual rather than literal. Any way you cut it (and try not getting mesmerized by the choirs here!), Black Coven is cinematic black art at its very finest. Last word, then, to Lord Apollyon: DEATH TO THOSE WHO BETRAY THE SECRET CULT!”
In the meantime, hear the previously revealed title track “Black Coven” here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Medieval Demon’s Black Coven 1. Where Witches Dwell and Labyrinths Confuse [5:48] 2. Black Coven [8:21] 3. Nocturnal Sacrilege [5:49] 4. Sylvestris Deus (Protector of the Forests) [4:01] 5. Baptismal Blood [5:27] 6. Katavythisis [5:00] 7. The Grave Dwellers [6:38]
Today, modern vampiric black metal kings Wampyric Rites premiere the new track “Captive in a Desolate Castle”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, The Wolves Howl to the Moon, set for international release on August 26th via Signal Rex on CD and cassette tape formats; the vinyl LP version will follow later this year. Hear Wampyric Rites‘ Captive in a Desolate Castle” in its entirety here:
Wampyric Rites hail from the ever-rising Ecuadorian black metal underground, and have had a major hand in shaping its prominence and notoriety across countless short-length releases since 2019. However, it was last year’s full-length The Eternal Melancholy of the Wampyre where Wampyric Rites displayed the full gait of their potential: classic (and unapologetic) vampiric black metal deeply rooted in the idiom’s earliest days whilst evincing a spectral aura all their own. The duo may belong to the Pure Raw Underground Black Metal Plague, which includes now-labelmates Winterstorm and Ründgard, but Wampyric Rites truly had found the cosmic keys to their creations and times.
Eclipsing that feat is their brand-new second album, The Wolves Howl to the Moon. Immediately, the record sounds like Wampyric Rites – shimmering surge, velvety synths, hysteric shrieks across a dungeon deep – but the attack soon takes on deft dynamics, skillfully balancing robust physicality (often, headbangingly straightforward) and stained-glass sensitivity. The latter element is perhaps the boldest move here, as a variety of synth sounds – medieval organ, stargazing swirl, or even just the faintest daubing upon ripped-raw guitar – often play a prominent role in each of the album’s five component songs. Yet, it’s never done in a gaudy or gimmicky manner; it’s but another layer to lose oneself in, as the songwriting itself allows the mind to wander and palpably experience the landscape as The Wolves Howl to the Moon. What’s more, Wampyric Rites incorporate shockingly beautiful acoustics, albeit sparingly, making their seemingly strictured canvas far vaster than otherwise suggested by vampiric BM standards.
All told, The Wolves Howl to the Moon sets new standards for (true) vampiric black metal. Wampyric Rites stoke the fires of the imagination, and seemingly are only getting started.
Begin getting started with the previously revealed “The Ancient Tyrant Returns from the Deep Forgotten Crypts” HERE at Signal Rex‘s official YouTube channel. Cover artwork, courtesy of Ainul Iblis, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Wampyric Rites’ The Wolves Howl to the Moon 1. The Ancient Tyrant Returns from the Deep Forgotten Crypts [8:10] 2. Rites Under the Fullmoon [6:06] 3. Amidst the Fog of Eternity [2:47] 4. The Wolves Howl to the Moon [9:58] 5. Captive in a Desolate Castle [8:25]
Today, Werewolf Records sets September 9th as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of Finland’s Blood Chalice, The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will follow later this year.
Formed in 2015, Blood Chalice feature among their ranks a number of Finnish metal veterans, spanning a slew of extreme styles. However, in Blood Chalice, the goal has always remained firm: uncompromising, closeminded BLACK/DEATH savagery. The first strike as such came in 2016 with a self-titled demo, followed the next year by the gutsfucking debut album Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction. Diehards hailed the album; the rest recoiled in horror. Typical “Finnish black metal” this was not…
And Blood Chalice further drive home that point, five years later, with their second full-length, The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism. Indeed, they honor ancient Finnish roots by (gutsfuckingly) leaning on the noble foundation laid forth by early Impaled Nazarene, Archgoat, Belial, and even Mythos, so muscular and still-death-metalled is Blood Chalice‘s thrust. And, just like those scene legends did so long ago, Blood Chalice keep memorability at a maximum – nearly as much as the savagery itself, which reaches critical mass on The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism – and evince a short/sharp/shocked style of songwriting gleaned from those pillars’ grounding in early grindcore. No more but certainly no less, this is trend-free OLD black metal brewed with disdain for the nowadays scene.
Take it or leave it, Blood Chalice don’t care. Drink deeply of The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism.
Begin drinking deeply of the brand-new track “From the Grave of Livyatan” here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Blood Chalice (Finland)’s The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism 1. The Black Mass 2. The Last Supper of Insects 3. Antichristian War Declaration 4. Matanbuchus 5. Burned Faith 6. Celestial Destroyer 7. The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism 8. Blood Worship 9. Hate Meditation 10. Temet Nosce 11. From the Grave of Livyatan 12. The Rise of Iconoclast
Blood Harvest Records is proud to present Gutvoid‘s highly anticipated debut album, Durance of Lightless Horizons, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette formats. The CD and tape versions will be released on September 23rd while the double-vinyl version should follow in November/December.
Formed in 2019, the ascent of Canada’s Gutvoid has been nothing if not meteoric. The Toronto natives digitally released their debut EP, Astral Bestiary, later that autumn and came to the attention of Blood Harvest, who then released it physically in 2020. And for good reason: ominously swarming, Gutvoid churned forth a world-eating Metal of Death that duly devoured the listener whole. More than being a three-song/24-minute soundworld unto itself, Astral Bestiary was a statement of intent from a bold-yet-pure DEATH METAL band.
Continuing that momentum was the even-bolder “Forbidden City Beneath the Crypt” digital single later in 2020, and the absolutely gelatinous Four Dimensions of Auditory Terror four-way split shared with Blood Spore, Coagulate, and Soul Devourment, underlining Gutvoid‘s slimy, mind-mangling roots. The stage was thus set for the inevitable full-length debut…
And now it arrives bearing the ominous title Durance of Lightless Horizons. Immediately, this titanic recording bears the hallmarks of the still-fresh Gutvoid sound: heaving, vertigo-inducing, spiraling like tar-thick smoke. And yet, the sterling sense of clarity the quartet only hinted at before takes full flight here; Durance of Lightless Horizons entices and then entrances the listener with a yearning, come-hither sort of melodicism underpinned by both melancholy and malice. That the execution has somehow tightened up even more – truly, Gutvoid‘s chops were exemplary before – allows these doom-drenched ruminations to cut sharper than ever, giving even the most stuck-in-quicksand passages to impart palpitating movement. But, rest assured that the songwriting across Durance of Lightless Horizons is an ever-so-patient one; linear to the very end, each passage conveys its sensation and then slithers into the next with a grace quite at odds with such a gutted sound.
It is not hyperbole to suggest that Durance of Lightless Horizons is one of the most fully-formed death metal debuts in recent memory. To celebrate its grand arrival, Blood Harvest will also be doing a limited run of Astral Bestiary on vinyl with the previously digital-only “Forbidden City Beneath the Crypt” included as bonus. This is indeed the year of Gutvoid.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “In Caverns It Lurks” here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Gutvoid’s Durance of Lightless Horizons 1. Coils Of Gas-Hewn Filament [9:18] 2. In Caverns It Lurks [7:12] 3. Delivered To The Altar Lich [6:40] 4. The One Who Dwells Beyond Time [8:44] 5. Skeletal Glyph [5:29] 6. Wandering Dungeon [14:54]
Today, Hells Headbangers announces September 9th as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of America’s Perversion, Dies Irae, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will follow later this year.
Perversion initiated rehearsal sessions in a basement of Detroit around the fall of 2008, originally formed by Fernando Conde (guitars), Alan Hoover (bass), Neil Spencer (vocals), and James Haley (drums). In February 2009, the Metal is Death demo was released and several shows were played locally (Detroit, Lansing, and Cleveland). In the summer of 2009, the original drummer left the band and Peter Gibbs was recruited. A split 7″ with Anguish was recorded and released by Black Shit Noise Productions from Texas. Neil stepped out of the band, and Fernando started doing vocals in addition to lead/rhythm guitars. A new demo was recorded, and several shows were played in the Midwest and Detroit.
In 2012, Perversion took part in the Filthiest of Apocalyptic Detroit four-way split. Shortly after, the first full-length, Storm of Evil, was recorded and released by Bitchy Witch Records. After several dates all over the U.S. and South America, Perversion started writing again and released several rehearsal tapes and a demo titled Archaic Death Metal, which is an advance of the upcoming album.
At long last, two years later, arrives that album: Dies Irae. If “archaic death metal” indeed aptly described Perversion previously, here they shatter that definition with an utterly ultraviolent assault on the senses. Swirling malevolently in a cauldron brewed from the darkest depths of old Brazilian proto-death, earliest German thrash, bestial detonations at the dawn of the ’90s, and even ’80s grindcore, Perversion proceed to lay waste across the album’s seven central tracks, plus ominous intro and an album-closing cover of Bathory’s “Possessed.” That the power-trio prize songwriting amidst their barbaric onslaught puts Perversion in a unique realm, and one truly within that of the archaic. With chaotic-yet-composed solos flying fast and free and rough-yet-robust production heightening that sense of the diabolical, Dies Irae is maniacal black/death for true black/death maniacs.
“Perversion have always had an orthodox and purist ideology in regards to how black and death metal are meant to sound,” the band state in conclusion. “Gathering inspiration from the degeneration of civilization, the decay in morality, and the Iron Age/Kali Yuga itself, we captured an archaic structure in our latest recordings. Our principles and convictions have remained unchanged through the years. We have forged an alliance with Hells Headbangers to release our second full-length, which is definitely not for people looking for refined, modern-sounding music, but for fanatics of barbaric and punishing cacophony.”
In the meantime, hear the previously revealed track “Axioms of Domination” here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Perversion (America)’s Dies Irae 1. Dies Irae (Intro) 2. Baghavad Genocide 3. Decapitator 4. Axioms of Domination 5. Fathomless Cruelty 6. Unveiling the Primordial Revelation 7. Barbaric Execution 8. Migration into Darkness 9. Possessed [Bathory cover]
Blackened Death Doom outfit STRIGOI are now proudly releasing their brand new single ‘Hollow’, which is taken from the band’s upcoming album “Viscera”. The track, which comes in the form of an official music video, can now be viewed here:
The album is set for worldwide release on September 30, 2022 via Season of Mist and can already be pre-saved HERE.
STRIGOI comment: We chose HOLLOW as the first video single as it lends itself perfectly to giving the listener a broad overview of VISCERA. It’s dark, brooding yet violent cinematic qualities allude to the delightful misery contained within the new album. A scathing commentary on human weakness, we feel HOLLOW typifies the evolution of STRIGOI, as a band and as a concept. It was also a perfect fit for the amazing videography work of Dehn Sora, who has presented a remarkable visual interpretation of the track.
The cover artwork for ‘Viscera’, which has been created by Brian Sheehan of Legerdemain Art, can be found below along with the track-list and further album details.
Track-list 1. United in Viscera (6:44) 2. King of All Terror (2:38) 3. An Ocean of Blood (4:13) 4. Napalm Frost (2:26) 5. Hollow (6:20) [WATCH] 6. A Begotten Son (3:51) 7. Bathed in a Black Sun (4:19) 8. Byzantine Tragedy (5:28) 9. Redeemer (2:38) 10. Iron Lung (7:55) Total: 46:32
Unsettling: it’s a word which can be used to describe a good swathe of the music which has come from the mind of Greg Mackintosh over the years, but in the context of Strigoi, it feels particularly apt.
Formed immediately after previous side project Vallenfyre had run its course, Strigoi found Greg and Vallenfyre bassist Chris Casket reconfiguring the aesthetics of that band. Their 2019 debut, Abandon All Faith, was a notable transition, taking the crust punk, death metal and grind influences which had defined Vallenfyre and deriving from those an extreme music amalgam which was altogether more…well, unsettling.
But if Abandon All Faith was a record where the memory of Vallenfyre exerted an inevitable, but important, influence, then second album Viscera is where Strigoi define and express themselves on their own terms.
“It’s the second album and we’re pushing those limits,” says Chris Casket. “The longer songs are longer; the shorter songs are shorter. It’s fully realising the concept. When we did the first album, there were certain expectations as we were coming from Vallenfyre. I felt that it was a really good transition from one to the other. But I feel that with this record, it’s more of a fully fleshed out concept. It’s pushing the light and shade further out.”
“The first album was us giving it its own identity separate from Vallenfyre, even though it’s kind of an obvious continuation, in a way,” adds Greg. “But with Viscera, it’s a combination of pushing the envelope a little bit, making it a bit less raw. Because, we had done that to the Nth degree with Vallenfyre. I’d also say there’s a bit of sound design in there, too, to make it very creepy and, yes, unsettling, sound wise.”
With Covid thwarting Strigoi’s plans to do shows to promote Abandon All Faith, Greg and Chris used the down-time to work on what would eventually become Viscera.
“We have a strange way of working,” says Chris. “I will send words, prose, whatever it may be to Greg. He likes that process, because he reads what I’ve written and it inspires the music he comes up with. I’ve never worked that way before. But that and the added time we had, the space away from things, is what I think has made Viscera what it is.”
Greg adds, “If it’s a song where Chris’ lyrics sound angry, I’ll do a song that’s more, I guess, grounded in the essence of early grindcore. Something that expresses that mood. But if it’s something more sombre or unnerving, then I’ll start with a bit of sound design and work towards riffs. I’ve always thought of music in terms of visuals, and that might come from the lyrics. The last song on the album, ‘Iron Lung’, for example: I actually said to Chris that I had an idea for a song where it feels that you can’t breathe, that it feels like you’ve got a weight on your chest. And the result is probably the toughest going song on the record to get through. But I think it does get that across.”
Viscera, then, clearly defines the Strigoi sound and vision – as Chris says, it’s a “mix tape of misery” and points at ways in which the band may develop in the years ahead.
“I get bored easily,” Greg laughs. “I’ve got a very short attention span. I love doom metal, I love funeral doom, crust punk, grindcore…all these things. But usually after two songs of each I’m thinking, ‘Right, what’s next?’ And that’s my problem, but it does determine what this band and this music is like.”
“There’s not much light on this record at all. If there’s any, it’s there just to emphasise how dark the shade is, really. And what I loved about early death metal, which is when I got into it, is that everything had its own feel back then. That was at the back of my mind the whole time when making Viscera – that I wanted to give it its own feel. But the listeners are going to have to decide whether that was successful or not.”
