Steve Bruder Des Lichts

Ancient metallers Armagh premiere the new track “Rapid Stride” 

Today, ancient metallers Armagh premiere the new track “Rapid Str!de”. The track is the third to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated third album, Exclamation Po!nt, set for international release on March 15th via Dying Victims Productions. Hear Armagh‘s “Rapid Str!de” in its entirety here:

Formed in 2012, Armagh are a heavy metal force based in Satanic City Warsaw and Necropolis Navis. Mixing classic heavy metal from the ’70s and ’80s with proto-black metal, Armagh are the creators of First Wave Only movement, which unites several Polish bands delivering old-school metal – among them, labelmates Gallower and Sexmag but also Torpor, Wielki Mrok, and R.I.P. – with primal severity in their sound and message.

Truly, Armagh are a maniac maniac’s band, idiosyncratic mainlining such noble influences as Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, KISS, Manilla Road, early Slayer and Megadeth, W.A.S.P, Bathory, Dissection, Running Wild, KAT, and the NWOBHM in general into something authentically rustic and effortlessly unique. But it was their second album, Serpent Storm – originally self-released in 2022, but then released on vinyl the next year by Dying Victims – where they had their breakout moment. A true record collector’s record, Serpent Storm displayed its power and personality at every turn, coming from an alien place – one where Battle Cry, Another Perfect Day, Haunting the Chapel, Chinatown, Under the Sign of the Black Mark, and Born Again all simultaneously play in perfect, hellish harmony – but evincing a wild and weird but never belabored alchemy that was simply peerless.

Now, two years later, Armagh stir up their cauldron once again with their third album, Exclamation Po!nt. This record features a wholly reconstructed lineup, with founding frontman/guitarist Galin Soulreaper now joined by fellow guitarist Vikk Vandall, bassist Tom CultCommander, and drummer Al Atom Smasher. As such, it’s a far more collaborative effort than the largely Soulripper-written Serpent Storm, with each new member adding their own fiery flair to an altogether less-immediate but much-more-mysterious album: Tom CultCommander’s spacey & hypnotic bass work (a Hawkwind influence is detectable across the record, as is a faint whiff of Rush), Vandall’s impulsive & spring-loaded leads, and the jazzy, Bill Ward-esque drumming of Atom Smasher. Less is indeed MORE here!

Just as wild and weird as its mighty predecessor but perhaps eating subtler, sweeter fruits, the deliberately demonstrative Exclamation Po!nt dives deeply into moodier and mustier waters, sounding impossibly older than even Serpent Storm. It’s all unmistakably Armagh, but if LP#3 proves anything (and loudly), it’s that these Polish maniacs are operating at the height of their powers – and, again, as a full band this time. No dynamic is too severe, no construct too off-kilter, no speed shunned: with greater emphasis on harmony vocals and Soulreaper’s lonely-warlock tones guiding the listener into a misty, mystical wonder-world, Exclamation Po!nt weaves a plaintive-yet-powerful spell that traverses the whole spectrum of human experience. And perhaps it’s there that Armagh in general and Exclamation Po!nt in particular excels – that it’s undeniably human in construction and execution, but its journey (and destination) is otherworldly to the splendorous extreme. Or, cutting out the fancy words, what we have here is heartfelt, handmade heavy metal: no modern, no trends, no way!

No longer the “sleeper hit of the year,” Armagh are prepared to punctuate “best of 2024” conversations already with Exclamation Po!nt!

Also hear the previously revealed “The Portal” exclusively HERE, courtesy the NWOTHM YouTube channel, as well as the previously revealed “Masters of Time” exclusively HERE, courtesy of Deaf Forever magazine. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Armagh’s Exclamation Po!nt
1. Rough Edges
2. Masters of Time
3. Aftermath
4. Between the Sides
5. The Portal
6. Rapid Str!de
7. This !s New A
8. Enough for Now

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/armagh.band

www.dying-victims.de 
www.facebook.com/dyingvictimsproductions 

OSSILEGIUM set release date for PERSONAL RECORDS debut, reveal first track – features members of KOMMANDANT, WITHERING SOUL+++

On May 3rd internationally, Personal Records is proud to present Ossilegium‘s highly anticipated debut album, The Gods Below, on CD format.

Forever Lost to the Boundless Force of Death.
Crossing all Forbidden Realms.
Ride the Darkness to Reach the Eternal Ends.

In the days of antiquity, after the embers of a funeral pyre had died, the bones of the deceased would be gathered together in a funerary box and given a place of reverence to withstand the ravages of time. Ossilegium stand upon these burnt offerings of the past while forging onward into new realms of darkness, where even light fears the eventual entropy of universal death.

One of the best-kept secrets of the Chicago metal scene, Ossilegium is the creation of Exhul (Empyreus, Kommandant, Withering Soul) and Valr (Amongst the Fallen, Blackened Temple, Kommandant). Together, the duo build upon extensive influences from the worlds of heavy & extreme metal along with influences from literature, sci-fi, and fantasy gaming. 

Initially formed as Empyreus from 2009-2019, Ossilegium debuted in 2020 after extensive lineup changes. Largely inspired by the ’90s black metal scenes of Sweden and Norway, Ossilegium bring forth their own style of Blackened Metal of Death with their long-awaited debut album, The Gods Below. Indeed, the record is aptly titled, for the alternately ice-cold / burning-hot majesty the duo unleash here reinvigorates noble old tropes – namely, the days when melody was married to death metal crunch and when leathery black wings enclosed it, flying far and free across a landscape of blue-purple emotion. To say that The Gods Below could’ve been released on No Fashion, Black Sun, or Wrong Again Records back in the day is not to suggest there’s “retro” pastiche at play; rather, Ossilegium truly LIVE this style of metal and prove it with incredibly dynamic songwriting and impassioned performance. Hearing is believing, and buttressed by haunting acoustic passages, the duo’s debut album becomes an all-immersive experience no matter the decade.

On evidence of The Gods Below, Ossilegiumdeserve to be included in the conversation of classic works by Necrophobic, Sacramentum, Unanimated, Gates of Ishtar, and Sweden’s Dawn and Naglfar. The past is alive, and it’s only just begun!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Nightborn” here:

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

Tracklisting for Ossilegium’s The Gods Below

1. Nightborn
2. Serpentine Shadows
3. The Winds of Astaroth
4. Beyond the Clandestine
5. The Heart of Darkness
6. To Reach The Eternal Ends
7. Constellationrise
8. The Gods Below
9. Planar Nexus

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/ossilegium.666 

www.personal-records.com
personal-records.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/personalrecords666
Instagram.com/personalrecords666

France’s PROFANATION set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut EP, reveal first track – features members of DESTROYER 666, VENEFIXION, SEPULCRE+++

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces May 3rd as the international release date for the striking debut EP from France’s Profanation, Skull Crushing Violence, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

Hailing from France’s ever-thriving death metal scene, Profanation are a new band of old souls. Many will recognize lead guitarist Kev Desecrator from Deströyer 666, but he also maintains labelmates Venefixion – with whom vocalist Profane Alex has recently been added as a live member – as well as Sépulcre and Scumslaught, and fellow guitarist A.M. also plays in Regarde les Hommes Tomber. Along with drummer Sinistre, the quartet create vile, ultraviolent DEATH METAL in a most ancient manner.

Of course, their debut recording says it all on the tin: Skull Crushing Violence, which is exactly what you get for 20 terrorizing minutes. Like the unholy offspring of Hadez and Necrovore with more than a hint of the eldritch grind of Terrorizer and England’s Doom, Profanation whip forth a fury like few others. Everything here on Skull Crushing Violence goes into the red – as it SHOULD, to honor the promise of its title – and the intensity suitably takes on an otherworldly aspect as it flits between abyss-ward blast and grave-shoveling D-beat. Meanwhile, utterly OTT solos shoot across the record like missiles flying across a war-torn landscape. 

Want 666% ARRRGGGHHH?!? ​Profanation give it to you with Skull Crushing Violence!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Global Terror” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Profanation (France)’s Skull Crushing Violence
1. Profanation
2. Global Terror
3. Modern Sickness
4. Graveyard Stomp
5. No Surrender
6. Skull Crushing Violence

MORE INFO:
profanationband.bandcamp.com 

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

BRAKEL set release date for SIGNAL REX debut, reveal first track

Today, Signal Rex announces May 1st as the international release date for Brakel‘s highly anticipated debut album, Wranger Wanen, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

The first full-length recording of Belgium’s Brakel, Wranger Wanen comprises nine songs across a time-evaporating / stretching 27 minutes. Signposts among raw black metal’s elite exist here – be it Black Cilice, Candelabrum, Múspellzheimr, or those orbiting the Signal Rex-endorsed Clandestine Circle of Aldebaran – but beneath the alternately shocking / shimmering soundfield bubble torched debris of power electronics. Hateful and ghoulish in equal measure but utterly alien in effect, the ghostly surge of in-the-red decibels across Wranger Wanen get wrangled into obscene shapes; with all those indeterminate pulses underneath, sometimes Brakel‘s sound approaches the mechanistic…if the Industrial Revolution was visualized in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, such is the expressionist horror on display.

No identities, no fun, no past, no future: Brakel assault the unsuspecting with Wranger Wanen.

Get unsuspectingly assaulted by the brand-new track “Tegen Geweten” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Brakel’s Wranger Wanen
1. Overdal
2. Kwadeplas
3. Grauwkraal
4. Tegen Geweten
5. Dwaalrag
6. Oude Maart
7. Blâan
8. Zonderling En Drang
9. Nevel Neer

www.signalrex.com
www.facebook.com/signalrex

www.signalrex.bandcamp.com

DUINDWALER premiere new track – features HELLEVAERDER member


Today, Dutch black metallers Duindwaler premiere the new track “Alle rust verdwenen”. The track is the third to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, In het Heemskerks duin, set for international release on March 21st:  Void Wanderer Productions and War Productions will handle the digipack CD and digital versions while Zwaertgevegt will handle the cassette tape version. Hear Duindwaler‘s “Alle rust verdwenen”  in its entirety here:

Embark on a harrowing journey into the abyss with In het Heemskerks duin, the full-length debut offering from Dutch black metal entity Duindwaler. An enigmatic force in the realm of black metal, this album transcends the boundaries of sonic extremity, casting a shroud of darkness that engulfs the listener in an otherworldly experience. Draped in the haunting atmosphere characteristic of black metal, In het Heemskerks duin is a sonic tapestry that weaves together blistering tremolo-picked guitars, playful basslines, thunderous blastbeats, and anguished vocals. The relentless assault of sound is punctuated by its overall harshness and the lack of intros.

The album’s production is a sonic descent into the abyss, with a raw and unpolished sound that captures the primal energy of the music. The guitar tones cut through the mix like icy winds, while the drums reverberate like thunder, creating an immersive auditory experience that transports the listener to desolate, otherworldly landscapes.

In het Heemskerks duin stands as a testament to Duindwaler‘s unwavering commitment to the black metal aesthetic, pushing the boundaries of the genre while remaining true to its roots. With each track, the wanderer invites the audience to confront the shadows within and embrace the cathartic release that can only be found within the dark, tumultuous realms of black metal. Brace yourself for a journey into the heart of obscurity, where the dunes of Heemskerk awaits to envelop you in its chilling embrace.

Also hear the previously revealed “Vaderlands vuur” exclusively HERE, courtesy of the This Is Black Metal YouTube channel, as well as the previously revealed title track “In het Heemskerks duin” exclusively HERE, courtesy of ZwareMetalen.com. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover artwork, courtesy of A.A.W.R., and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Duindwaler’s In het Heemskerks duin
1. Vaderlands vuur [7:52]
2. Razende wind [4:37]
3. In het Heemskerks duin [6:45]
4. Het duister bestormd [5:18]
5. Alle rust verdwenen [5:31]
6. Schim in de duinen [6:06]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/duindwaler 
www.duindwaler.bandcamp.com 

www.voidwanderer.com
www.facebook.com/voidwandererprod 
www.voidwandererproductions.bandcamp.com 

ANTAGONYZE set release date for CHAOS RECORDS debut, reveal first track

Today, Chaos Records announces April 19th as the international release date for Antagonyze‘s highly anticipated debut album, Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness, on CD and cassette tape formats.

Formed in 2019 and hailing from the always-thriving Chilean underground, Antagonyze are a death metal band founded by guitarists Ignacio Riveros and Francisco Álvarez and bassist Mateo Gutiérrez. Soon enough, they began their first compositions and later recruited drummer Moisés Aguayo and the ex-vocalist to complete the formation. By the end of that first year, Antagonyze achieved some support in the local underground metal scene with some live shows. Not long after, the band recording their first work, Echoes From Soul, a demo cassette that was originally released in May 2020. This was an independent release and was thus limited to 33 copies. After that, the label Infernal South Productions offered to release the demo in a pro cassette version, which came July 2020, limited to 140 copies. 

Due to the pandemic, Antagonyze were forced to stop their activities, but during this period, the band continued working on new compositions from home. By late 2020, the ex-vocalist left the band, and in 2021, the drummer Moisés Aguayo had time-commitment troubles due to his job. In this moment, the band recruited Alvaro Mora as new vocalist and Nicolás Cavada as drummer, both from the city Los Ángeles, which is near to their home of Nacimiento. This lineup boost proved to be a boon, as Antagonyze began changing lyrics and adding new drum rhythms and nuances to preexisting songs. With this new formation, the band began to play more shows and gain more followers, sharing the stage with the likes of fellow Chilean bands Serpent Throne, Apostasy, Repugnatory, Soul Rot, Strigoi, Radamanthys, and Peru’s Morbo Satan among others.

By the end of 2022, Antagonyze decided to re-record the best songs of Echoes From Soul and add new songs to create a new full-length work titled Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness. Thick and throttling, Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness more than lives up to its title, unleashing a torrent of twisted & twisting death metal of a most ’90s vintage. Frequently dipping into doomier corridors, Antagonyze always whip forth forward momentum, varying their attack with violence and class, particularly in their lead work, which remains richly melodic in its bottomless darkness. The production, too – recorded by Felipe Cadenas at Estudio Chains, with mixing & mastering by Ignacio Riveros – makes these ten Interpretations hit that much harder and with devastating dynamics.

For those who wisely prize the ’90s works of Immolation, The Chasm, Shub Niggurath, and Mexico’s Cenotaph, go further south of Heaven with Antagonyze‘s Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Paradoxical Panic Essence” here:

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

Tracklisting for Antagonyze’s Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness

1. Forest Whisper
2. Interior Entity
3. Inside Journey
4. Deadly Sorrow
5. Unknown Wilderness
6. Paradoxical Panic Essence
7. Echoes From Soul
8. Hidden Wisdom
9. Shiny Dark Star
10. Segregado

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/antagonyzedeathmetal 

www.chaos-records.com
www.facebook.com/chaosrecords
www.chaos-records.bandcamp.com

DARKESTRAH reveal first track from new OSMOSE album

Today, mystic black metallers Darkestrah reveal the new track “Nomad.” The track is the first to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated seventh album, set for international release on March 29th via Osmose Productions. Hear Darkestrah‘s title track ” Nomad” in its entirety here:

On Nomad, their seventh full-length album, Darkestrah venture further on their chosen path of Epic Shamanic Black Metal. Sharp black metal riffing and traditional Central Asian melodies, verses from Kyrgyz epic poetry, and visions of spiritual quests are all woven into the fabric of this new opus.

With a new lineup consisting of long-term veterans and fresh blood, Darkestrah have never been in better shape.

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

Tracklisting for Darkestrah’s Nomad

1. Journey Through Blue Nothingness [2:12]
2. Kök-Oy [8:00]
3. Nomad [9:29]
4. Destroyer of Obstacles [9:28]
5. Quest for the Soul [9:43]
6. The Dream of Kojojash [4:51]
7. A Dream That Omens Death [1:45]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/darkestrahofficial

www.osmoseproductions.com
www.facebook.com/Osmose-Productions-192865300755575

CEMETERY MOON Releases Two Raw Black Metal Demos

Raw black metal fanatics have a new source to satisfy their endless lust for sonic blood! Connecticut’s own CEMETERY MOON has returned on the heels of a glorious 2023 to unleash Inside the Dark Kingdom in two volumes. Each serving contains five tracks recorded at rehearsals over the course of January and February 2024. When taken together, they contain three new songs — “Temporal Bloodletting,” “The Wretched City,” and “The Black Keep” — along with seven re-recordings from last year’s self-titled debut album.
 
Apparition, the band’s lead singer and one of its guitar practitioners, elaborates on why the band decided to put these releases together:
 
“After we released the album last year, we brought on Usurper as our drummer and thus the band was finally a fully-functioning entity. These two demos give the listener a chance to hear the album material with Usurper’s drumming, and provides a taste of what’s to come with the newest songs. It also allowed us to embrace our DIY instincts and put together some material in a spur-of-the-moment fashion.”

He goes on to describe the sound of each volume:
 
“As these are rehearsal demos, the sound is decidedly raw and stripped down. However, we still took care to make sure everything could be heard and that the spirit of the music would possess anyone who listened. Volume One contains our most brutal and uncompromising material, along with our most progressive and epic song, “Temporal Bloodletting.” Volume Two is the moodier release, one that shows our penchant for introspection and exploration, while still displaying our devotion to black metal art.”
 
Finally, he concludes:
 
“More than anything, it allows us to show the world our progression as musicians and performers. All four of us brought so much to the band when we came together, and we’ve already come so far since then. If “The Wretched City” and “The Black Keep” are any indication, we’re just getting started.”
 
Both volumes of Inside the Dark Kingdom are now available on Bandcamp and all streaming services.

About CEMETERY MOON:

CEMETERY MOON began in 2015, as Apparition set out as a one-man black metal project. Over the ensuing years of stylistic development, CEMETERY MOON would expand into a fully formed band with a self-titled debut album in 2023. The band’s first few live performances overwhelmed audiences with the sheer ferocity and musicianship on display — from Apparition’s scorching vocal delivery and his dual guitar riff barrage with Langeloth, to Astoroth and Usurper’s expert-level displays of rhythmic punishment. Now with two new demos out, a second full-length in the works, and a series of shows lined up, the band seeks to continue its conquests and expand the Dark Kingdom’s borders ever further.

CEMETERY MOON is:
Apparition: Lead vocals, guitars
Astoroth: Bass
Langeloth: Guitars, backing vocals
Usurper: Drums

Links:
LinkTree

Inside the Dark Kingdom: Volume One Track List:

  1. A Voice in the Woods
  2. Only Demons
  3. Army of Darkness
  4. Limitless Contempt
  5. Temporal Bloodletting

Inside the Dark Kingdom: Volume Two Track List:

  1. The Wretched City
  2. Eyes of the False God
  3. The Bleak Universal
  4. Life’s Enduring Lie
  5. The Black Keep

RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER sign with MEMENTO MORI, prepare fourth album

In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, Memento Mori are extremely thrilled to announce a new signing: Reckless Manslaughter, from Germany.

Summoned in North Rhine-Westphalia in November 2008, the walking corpse known as Reckless Manslaughter is living proof that death has many faces, covering all tempo variations and unaware of trends or conventions, all the while maintaining a core personality of their very own. To descend into the nether regions where these death metal acolytes dwell is to be left to fester in a desolate and fathomless realm whose landscape is filled to the brim with violent blasts, crushing mid-tempo sections, gloomy doom-ish parts, and atrocious growls, rounded off with a sprinkling of eerie Finnish melodies. Expect nothing but uncompromising Metal of Death, total-underground worshipping, and utter annihilation.

Reckless Manslaughter are recommended for fans of Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Demigod, Sinister, Immolation, Monstrosity, Benediction, Brutality, Asphyx, Cannibal Corpse, and Suffocation.

Reckless Manslaughter‘s fourth full-length is due out on October 21st. Memento Mori will release the CD version, and Fucking Kill Records will take care of the vinyl LP version. For more info, consult the links below.

MORE INFO:

www.recklessmanslaughter.com
www.facebook.com/RecklessManslaughter
recklessmanslaughter.bandcamp.com

www.memento-mori.es
www.facebook.com/memento.mori.label

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

Today, Purity Through Fire announces March 21st as the international release date for Order of Nosferat‘s highly anticipated fifth album, The Absence of Grace, on CD, A5 digipak, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

By now, those well versed in the crimes of Purity Through Fire should be aware of Order of Nosferat. Emerging from the shadows in early 2021, the duo of Count Revenant and Anzillu released TWO full-lengths that year: Necuratul and Arrival of the Plague Bearer. And while both underground veterans 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! Like (vampiric) clockwork, two more full-lengths followed the next year – Nachtmusik in March and Vampiric Wrath Unleashed – proving that their bloodthirst could not be sated. While 2023 was relatively quiet, Order of Nosferat “only” released a split album with Lunar Spells, showing a more nuanced and atmospheric side to their vampirism.

Now that nuanced / atmospheric shift fully blooms with The Absence of Grace, Order of Nosferat‘s fifth full-length. Utilizing a unique production style – crisp and cutting but somehow brittle, exceptionally ethereal in its effect – the duo here move a more measured pace, patiently doling out their emotive marches with both misery and mania, somehow sounding dead and incensed simultaneously. Whilst moving within the vampiric black metal idiom, it’s an unapologetically sorrowful canvas on which they paint – “bloody tears” staining everything, to invoke Castlevania – poignantly illustrating the titular The Absence of Grace. ​Order of Nosferat‘s characteristic moonlit synths brilliantly shine here, moving to the fore and melding ​seamlessly with their cresting & cathartic riffing. All the sadness and nostalgia that the duo have created so prolifically the past four years comes to a climax with The Absence of Grace! Where that cursed coffin ship sails next, only Order of Nosferat know…

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Devoured by Lurking Shadows” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Order of Nosferat’s The Absence of Grace
1. Behold the Rising Horrors
2. Floating with the Ravaged Ones
3. In This Solitude We Dwell
4. Devoured by Lurking Shadows
5. Scratch out my Face on Every Portrait
6. Under the Sinister Shroud of Isolation
7. The Absence of Grace
8. Blood Stains the Fallen Snow
9. Cruelty Bestowed Revelation
10. Remain in Everlasting Silence

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

www.purity-through-fire.com