Month: November 2023

Italy’s INTO DARKNESS set release date for new INVICTUS EP – streaming in full

Today, Invictus Productions announces December 1st as the international release date for a brand-new EP from Italy’s Into Darkness, Cassini – Huygens, on 12″ vinyl format.

Formed in 2011, Italy’s Into Darkness have been a work in progress for the last decade-plus. Led by vocalist / guitarist Doomed Warrior from the very beginning, the band have a handful of demos, a couple splits, and now a couple EPs to their name; while all short-lengths, they’re certainly not lacking in quality. And while they’ve experienced a few hiatuses and just as many lineup shuffles, Into Darkness are now poised to make up for lost time Cassini – Huygens.

As suggested by its title, Cassini – Huygens is the latest cosmic tale from the increasingly space-obsessed Into Darkness. But lest one expect this EP to travel among tech-death starts, Doomed Warrior and her space-crew stick to staunchly old-school death metal in the vein of Asphyx, Pentacle, and early Soulburn, brimming with the thematic splendor of space rather than being entirely overrun by it. Totaling 27 minutes of music, the EP’s five tracks encompass a concept based on the Cassini-Huygens space mission to Saturn: an immersive journey in the most exciting interplanetary mission ever done. Blast off and lose thyself in the cosmic maelstrom of Into Darkness‘ Cassini – Huygens!

Stream the EP in its entirety here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Into Darkness (Italy)’s Cassini – Huygens
1. The Launch
2. Crossing the Asteroid Belt
3. Journey
4. Huygens Descent
5. Grand Finale

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/intodarkness

www.invictusproductions.net

Finland’s VARGRAV set release date for new WEREWOLF album – features MOONSORROW members

Today, Werewolf Records announces December 15th as the international release date for the highly anticipated third album of Finland’s Vargrav, The Nighthold, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will follow next year.

From the dawn of the classic debut album, Netherstorm, in 2018, Finland’s Vargrav have almost single-handedly reinvigorated the oft-maligned symphonic black metal subgenre. Forged in fires from the ancients – founder V-Khaoz’s credentials are vast and stretch back decades – and stoking the embers last left by Obtained Enslavement and Norway’s Covenant and Odium, Vargrav‘s two albums to date stand as proud pillars of shimmering, classics-based obsidian.

As momentous as those two full-lengths have been, Vargrav arguably eclipse both with their third album, The Nighthold. With a lineup that now includes the notorious Graf Werwolf von Armageddon on vocals and Moonsorrow members Trollhorn of the Black Harvest on guitars/bass and Baron M. Tarwonen on drums, Vargrav‘s swirling, cosmic surge has never been more potent; their attack is both sharper and dreamier, crystal-clear and opaque simultaneously. That added clarity creates more immediacy as The Nighthold kicks in, for the aggression of old is kicked into overdrive here and the synths take on a truly orchestral aspect. It’s not for nothing that the album is a full hour in length: everything here sounds (and feels) HUGE, one massive velvety purple landscape of stained-glass visions as far as the third eye can see. And all 12 tracks are threaded together in a plausibly cinematic manner; while each is mighty in its own respective right, Vargrav sequence every song with artistic flair and high drama, concluding the immersive experience with a daresay-soulful guitar solo during the coda of “Creator of the True Real” that then segues into the nearly-10-minute big-screen instrumental “Ghostlands.” What film or filmic realm one enters into (or leaves) is entirely up to the listener…The Nighthold is boundless!

It is thus not unjust to liken this achievement to Covenant’s classic Nexus Polaris. The second era of Vargrav has hereby begun with The Nighthold!

In the meantime, hear the recently revealed track “Chalice of Silver and Blood” here:

Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Vargrav (Finland)’s The Nighthold

1. Moonless Abyss of the Nighthold
2. Through the Woods of Breathing Shadows
3. Chalice of Silver and Blood
4. Thy Imperial Malice
5. Curse of the Plaguewood Lake
6. Encircle the Spectral Dimension
7. Triumph of the Nightbringer
8. Into the Shadow Crypts
9. The One Who Lurks Beyond the Starscape
10. A Dark Consecration
11. Creator of the True Real
12. Ghostlands


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/vargravofficial

www.werewolf.fi

DEMONCY set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS mini-album – features members of NIGHTBRINGER, SARGEIST, CEREBRAL ROT, ADAESTUO+++

Today, Hells Headbangers announces December 15th as the international release date for a brand-new mini-album from Demoncy, Diabolica Blasphemiae, on CD and cassette tape formats. The 12″ vinyl version will follow next year.

For those who truly know black metal, Demoncy require no introduction: ever restless and always surprising, their name is legendary for stirring an infinitely deep cauldron of black magick that’s completely their own. One of the earliest black metal bands on American soil, Demoncy have gone through myriad lineups over the past 30-plus years, but they’ve always been guided by the vision of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ixithra. In their wake, they’ve left landmark recordings like Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost and Joined in Darkness, which were both originally recorded in the mid ’90s despite their eventual release year of 1999. Even latter-day records like 2015’s Empire of the Fallen Angel (Eternal Black Dominion), which saw Ixithra entirely revamp the band’s 2003 album in a manner most miasmic, prove the potency of Demoncy no matter when or how recordings crop up.

And so it goes with Diabolica Blasphemiae, Demoncy‘s first new recording in nearly a decade. With Ixithra currently handling vocals and bass, joining him here are the incredibly prolific VJS (Nightbringer, Sargeist, Adaestuo) on guitar and Vorthrus (Cerebral Rot, Crurifragium) on drums. Serpentine in its flow and mesmerizing in its effect, Demoncy‘s latest mini-album is a vile, virile display of the band’s eternal aesthetic, sounding very much like it could’ve come out during the mid ’90s yet retaining a freshness of approach that defies deja vu. Gutted in its low-end throb whilst exhibiting an ethereal aspect, Diabolica Blasphemiae explores above as it is below, sending forth sine waves of obsidian energy both punishing and pleasurable: primeval black metal magick harnessed with a true auteur’s touch. Same as it ever was, then, but still so surprising after all these years – there is only one Demoncy.

In the meantime, hear the recently revealed title track “Diabolica Blasphemiae” here:

Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover artwork, courtesy of Nestor Avalos, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Demoncy’s Diabolica Blasphemiae
1. Satanas Vult  [2:23]
2. Diabolica Blasphemiae [5:58]
3. Sepulcrum Spectra [5:15]
4. Malum Incarnatus Est [6:58]
5. Consummatum Est [1:54]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pages/Demoncy/154576947948989

www.hellsheadbangers.com

SOMBRE HÉRITAGE set release date for new SEPULCHRAL album

On November 23rd internationally, Sepulchral Productions is proud to present Sombre Héritage‘s highly anticipated second album, Inter Duo Mundi.

Three years after a debut album that drew a lot of attention, Sombre Héritage strikes hard with its sophomore album, which sees its mastermind Exu propel his epic black metal towards new heights. Inter Duo Mundi offers a relentless barrage of incisive and melodic riffs, each one more memorable that the last, complemented by an ice-cold yet powerful production. A must for fans of melodic black metal!

First track premiere to be revealed shortly. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Sombre Héritage’s Inter Duo Mundi.
1. Inter Duo Mundi – Initium
2. Alces Alces
3. Chasse Éperdue
4. Délire Onirique
5. Enchevêtré
6. Tiraillé
7. Insolence
8. Inter Duo Mundi – Exitus


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/sombreheritagebm

www.sepulchralproductions.com

AVSKRÄDE set release date for new PURITY THROUGH FIRE album, reveal first track

Today, Purity Through Fire announces December 21st as the international release date for Avskräde‘s highly anticipated second album, Undergång, on CD, vinyl LP, and A5 digipack formats.
 
In December 2021, Avskräde emerged from storms of old with their debut full-length for Purity Through Fire, Det stora tunga sjuka. Hailing from Sweden, the duo dutifully reinvigorated ancient Scandinavian black metal, both from Norway as well as their native land. No more but definitely no less, Det stora tunga sjuka was traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively: pure freezing fire, nasty and rustic and primitive but not without nuance.

And so it goes, a full two years later, with Avskräde‘s Undergång. Whereas the duo’s debut reminded of Darkthrone’s “Peaceville trilogy” and Malicious-era Gorgoroth, here on their second album do they kick up the nastiness and let the (freezing) filth flow freely, nodding to such underrated Darkthrone tomes as Total Death or even Ravishing Grimness. Indeed is Avskräde‘s grimness ravishing across Undergang, but compared to successive disciples as early Craft and Armagedda, the duo incorporate a slight bit more melody into proceedings – at times haunting, others anxious, but always hammered with cruel efficiency. And if there’s one phrase to characterize Avskräde at this point, it’s “cruelly efficient”; their songwriting is stripped to the fucking bone, but every note and hit is fucking RIGHT, and their live-in-the-rehearsal-room execution is blanching in its tightness. And once again, the album maintains a richly Grieghallen-esque production for maximum authenticity. Winter is looming, so hasten its arrival with Undergång!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Må du brinna” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Avskräde’s Undergång
1. Må du brinna
2. När bönerna tystnat
3. Mänsklighetens avskräde
4. Av lågornas hunger förtäras
5. Natten nalkas
6. Naturens borg
7. Forskarlen
8. Ty du skall ner i jorden skrämmas
9. Mörker du majestätiska
10. Ångest
11. Fri

MORE INFO:
avskraede.bandcamp.com