Month: December 2022

TERRESTRIAL HOSPICE set release date for new ANCIENT DEAD album, reveal first track – features members of BEHEMOTH, AZARATH, WITCHMASTER+++

On February 10th, 2023 internationally, Ancient Dead Productions is proud to present Terrestrial Hospice‘s highly anticipated second album, Caviary to the General, on CD and cassette tape formats.

Forming in 2018, Terrestrial Hospice quickly set to work on their first EP, Universal Hate Speech, released later than year by the esteemed Shadow Records. It’s not surprising that the feverish winds of creativity blew across the duo, as Terrestrial Hospice is the work of two veteran members of the black metal scene, most prominently drummer and driving force Inferno, who’s the erstwhile drummer for Behemoth and Azarath as well as lately playing guitar in Witchmaster. In any case, Universal Hate Speech was a terrorizing tease at a mere 20 minutes, and the duo followed it with the deathblow of their debut full-length, Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds, during that cursed year of 2020. The album was truly titled, and then some: there was no submitting to it, only the act of being flayed alive.

Now, Terrestrial Hospice return with an album arguably even more extreme: Caviary to the General. Compared to its quick ‘n’ concise predecessor, Caviary to the General is undeniably a more expansive spin at 46 minutes; with nine songs instead of the seven on Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds, Terrestrial Hospice are more able to display the full fathom of their flaying strength. Indeed, Caviary to the General caustically keeps the duo’s sound unyielding – a dark, dirty, devastating blast of classic Nordic-style hate steeped in the ancients – but somehow intensifies that berserker flourish so endemic to their native Poland, even with a wider variety of tempos employed. The recording, in kind, is confrontational but never faked: there’s no punching in of parts or copy/paste “production” techniques; the ultraviolence here is very real, and very overwhelming. Despite that unapologetically OTT approach, Terrestrial Hospice never forget actual songwriting – they shift speeds with deftness and dynamics, utilizing their full arsenal – nor the power of RIFFS, which flow and explode in equal measure across Caviary to the General. And perhaps the most surprising aspect of the album is the occasional and ever-so-subtle incorporation of eerie synths into their barbed-wire attack: at once remarkably vintage 1996 and palatably modern.

As savage and acidic as ever but proving they’re not a one-trick pony, Terrestrial Hospice obliterate past and present with Caviary to the General.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “In the Streams of Phlegethon”

Cover artwork, courtesy of Mentalporn, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Terrestrial Hospice’s Caviary to the General

1. Rat In A Burning Cage [3:21]
2. In The Streams Of Phlegethon [5:11]
3. December Night [4:11]
4. Extinction Delight [6:05]
5. Vermin [4:09]
6. The Last Dance [6:40]
7. Memoir [5:10]
8. Path To Mahasamadhi [5:47]
9. Ars Moriendi [4:58]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/terrestrialhospiceofficial

www.ancientdead.com

RITUAL DEATH stream SHADOW debut – features members of BEHEXEN, MARE, DARVAZA, FIDES INVERSA, BEYOND MAN, CELESTIAL BLOODSHED

Today, Nidrosian black metallers Ritual Death stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Ritual Death. Set for international release on December 5th via Shadow Records (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) on CD and cassette tape formats – the vinyl LP version is expected for release on December 24th – hear Ritual Death‘s Ritual Death in its entirety here:

This is the darkness of Death…

Born from self-devouring fires and frustration, Ritual Death has its roots in an insatiable and untameable flame as old as the World itself. An offering to the Daimon in us, a celebration of our Shadow-self, a call from the wild, a sacrifice to the only God that humanity cannot kill. The Lord of the Graves, the God that always saves.

Formed in 2016, with a 7’’, a 10’’ and a fistful of splits, Ritual Death is finally ready to unleash their first full-length album through a label wrapped in the same obscure cloak as the band itself, the genre-defining Shadow Records.

This is Black Metal from the Graveyard, music made from obscurities and horrors seen and unseen, terror, blasphemy, heresy, dread and ancient worship, forged in the very depths of the catacombs of Nidrosia.

We unchain the night… The pale king is here…. 

Preorder info can be found HERE at Regain‘s Bandcamp. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ritual Death’s Ritual Death
1. Ancient Devil Worship
2. Vermin
3. Lunae
4. Black Metal Terror
5. Morbid Veils of Kharon
6. Salome’s Dance
7. Darkness of Death
8. The Pale King
9. Nothingness Without Emptiness Within


MORE INFO:
www.ritualdeath.bandcamp.com 

www.shadowrecords.se
www.regainrecords.se
www.facebook.com/shadowrecords.se

ABYSMAL LORD set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS album, reveal new track

Today, Hells Headbangers announces December 30th as the international release date for Abysmal Lord‘s highly anticipated third album, Bestiary of Immortal Hunger, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl version will follow next year. In lieu of this announcement, the new track “Ultra Expulser” has been revealed. Hear Abysmal Lord‘s “Ultra Expulser” in its entirety here:

Since their grand emergence in 2014 with the Storms of Unholy Black Mass debut EP, New Orleans’ Abysmal Lord have vaulted to the forefront of the modern bestial metal scene. Red-eyed and rabid, their primeval surge swallows listeners whole with preternatural ease – or simply (black)grinds them down to dust. Under the auspices of Hells Headbangers, the band has gone from strength to strength with each new recording, each one a swift ‘n’ tactical strike on all that is holy and pure. Both 2015’s Disciples of the Inferno and 2019’s Exaltation of the Infernal Cabal have established Abysmal Lord as a none-more-formidable name in the metal underground, with their shock ‘n’ awe live prowess proving that such sonic bestiality is best witnessed in the flesh.

Since the release of 2020’s Cathedral EP, much has transpired in Abysmal Lord camp. A tumultuous period, drummer Barbaric Slayer exited the band to further pursue a spiritual journey deeper inward. Meanwhile, vocalist/guitarist Nocturnal Damnation and bassist/guitarist Guillotine committed themselves to continuing the path of no return. With no reasonable alternative, Abysmal Lord decided that, for their next full-length, Nocturnal Damnation will handle drumming duties (as was done on the aforementioned Storms of Unholy Black Mass). Maximum effort was expended to ensure that the brutality and chaos of Barbaric Slayer’s tradition was honored and continued.

And indeed it has, and then some, with the arrival of Bestiary of Immortal Hunger. On first glance, Abysmal Lord‘s third album retains all the red-eyed and rabid elements of yore – OTT explosion and forward propulsion in the grand tradition of Blasphemy, Black Witchery, and Proclamation and then malforming it into morbid, miasmic shapes – but peer deeper into this gurgling pit of despair & darkness and one will find surprising twists to their core sound. Foremost, perhaps, is the unhinged drumming of Nocturnal Damnation; foregoing sustained blasting, instead he draws influence from the fucked-up ‘n’ feral drumming of DD Crazy (during his early Sarcofago days as well as Sextrash) and Hadez’ Tonyn Destructor, especially on that band’s Guerroros de la Muerte demo. Unorthodox but undeniably effective, these more angular and askew rhythms form a (feral/fucked-up) foundation for Abysmal Lord‘s most CRAZED and chaotic songwriting to date. 

As such, while retaining their foundational elements, Abysmal Lord’s newest offering bears semblance to South America’s most infernal names: the aforementioned early days of Hadez, Sarcofago, and especially Sextrash but also Holocausto, Parabellum, and Reencarnacion. With an even more unsettling style of evil and total darkness, not to mention a plethora of mind-melted solos, Bestiary of Immortal Hunger also slots itself well alongside Mystifier’s pivotal first couple albums and early Beherit. Naturally, naysayers will still contend that this unholy racket is still “just” bestial metal or war metal or whatever – and for Abysmal Lord, that’s fine, as hailing and giving honor to a certain tradition in metal is part of the essence of this wider subculture. Those who know, know, and they will understand deeper, darker truths with this Bestiary of Immortal Hunger.

Hear the previously revealed track “Antisemen of Ceremonial Pseudochrist” HERE, also at Hells Headbangers‘ official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Abysmal Lord’s Bestiary of Immortal Hunger
1. Starvation Mass (ortni)
2. Satanic Return
3. Glowing Baphomet
4. Medo da Morte (yrasor)
5. Bestiary of Immortal Hunger
6. Obscure Grottos of Hell
7. Carcass of the Living God
8. Ultra Expulser
9. Antisemen of Ceremonial Pseudochrist
10. Towering Leviathan
11. Deny the Paradise

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Abysmal-Lord-2274024519585588

www.hellsheadbangers.com

RIGOR SARDONICOUS set release date for long-awaited MEMENTO MORI comeback, reveal first track

In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that deliver the goods unaware of trends and hypes, on January 23rd, 2023, Memento Mori is proud to present Rigor Sardonicous‘ long-awaited seventh album, Praeparet Bellum.

True purveyors of aural torment, Rigor Sardonicous are one of the cultest bands of the American death metal underground. Formed in 1988, the long-standing duo of bassist Glenn Hampton and vocalist/guitarist Joseph Fogarazzo remain one of the darkest and creepiest bands calling “death metal” home. Aided by their ever-trustworthy drum-machine, Rigor Sardonicous are utterly lifeless and excruciatingly slow, almost daring the listener to find any “fun” in their all-devouring void of inertia. You could almost qualify their music(k) as doom-death, but not in the traditional sense; existing for as long as (and even longer) than aesthetic forebears like Unholy and Evoken, Rigor Sardonicous‘ slo-mo sizzle equally bears a future-primitive texture not unlike earliest Godflesh or especially the cult Skin Chamber.

And so it goes with Praeparet Bellum, the band’s first full-length recording in over a decade. Immediately and ruinously recognizable as Rigor Sardonicous, Praeparet Bellum thankfully features all the duo’s signature elements – crushing heaviness, beyond-guttural vocals, and the very slowest of songwriting movement – but devolves them to a frightening degree. Perhaps because of their eerie absence since 2012’s Memento Mori-released Ego Diligio Vos, Rigor Sardonicous sound more unique than ever on Praeparet Bellum: the subgenres of doom-death and funeral doom are definitely in full swing, but there’s little to nothing around as unremittingly EMPTY and HOPELESS as this. You don’t “listen” to this album, and you most definitely don’t “endure” it; its ominous corpulence is only experienced. Bleak? That’s simply too fun.

Here stands the End of all Ends. Be warned: you will NOT return from Rigor Sardonicous‘ Praeparet Bellum!

Begin not-returning with the brand-new track “Voluntatem Dei” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Rigor Sardonicous’ Praeparet Bellum

1. Caelum Ardere Vidistis
2. Sanguinem Floralibus Luna
3. Terra Mota Est
4. Vita Cantus
5. Ex Finitim
6. Voluntatem Dei
7. Unholy Sonnet 10
8. Praeparet Bellum

 

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/RigorSardonicous.Official
www.rigorsardonicous1.bandcamp.com 

www.memento-mori.es