Today, bestial black metal hordes Goatkraft premiere the new track “Bestial Black Metal Hordes”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Prophet of Eternal Damnation, set for international release on November 3rd via Iron Bonehead Productions. Hear Goatkraft‘s “Bestial Black Metal Hordes” in its entirety here:
It’s been four years since Goatkraft‘s celebrated debut album for Iron Bonehead, Sulphurous Northern Bestiality, and nothing has changed for the Norwegian power-trio: their monochromatic muse is as locked-in and lascivious as ever. Just one look at the cover of their second album, Prophet of Eternal Damnation, and you should know EXACTLY what you’re getting into. If you are a false, do not entry.
Still, Goatkraft are superlative for the bestial metal style, and prove it across the 30 thundering minutes of Prophet of Eternal Damnation. While the Ross Bay Cult doubtlessly provided the foundation for the bestial arts, it was the likes of progeny Black Witchery and Proclamation who made those arts more murderous and uncompromising. Likewise uncompromising, Goatkraft carry that sulfurous torch with their second full-length, delivering detonating screeds of grinding, expulsive black filth. If anything, their attack is even more unhinged than ever – bringing out the grindcore roots of the form, as it were – and solos and FX explode from nearly every direction, whipping forth a fury both punishing and possessing. The full-figure production only makes the experience that much more overwhelming.
No progression, no compromise, no hope: Goatkraft herald the Prophet of Eternal Damnation.
Also hear the previously revealed “Herald of Death” HERE at Iron Bonehead‘s Soundcloud. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Goatkraft’s Prophet of Eternal Damnation 1. Portal To Annihilation 2. Herald of Death 3. Bestial Black Metal Hordes 4. Filth Eradication 6. Prophet of Eternal Damnation 7. Death Psalm 8. Barbaric Hatred And Doom 9. Primal Instincts 10. Thermonuclear Genocide
Today, Swedish black/death metallers Third Storm stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second album, The Locust Mantra. Set for international release on October 6th via Chaos Records, hear Third Storm‘s The Locust Mantra in its entirety here:
Third Storm was formed in 1986 in Uppsala, Sweden by four people who shared the same passion for the underground extreme music and at that time was very much influenced by acts like Bathory, Venom, Hellhammer etc. The music scene in Sweden back then was very glam oriented – more so than most European countries – and extreme metal bands were seen as talentless bums. The band didn’t care and tried their best to be the most extreme; the members were just kids in the 14-16 age range when they started, and how well you played didn’t matter as long you could make noise with your instrument.
Third Storm performed about a dozen shows at that time. The overall crazy performance and the Satanic image were very over the top and therefore not taken seriously, so the band was laughed at for two years until they finally split up in 1988. But the past decade or so, people have seriously taken interest in the past and found about this obscure, strange band who is more known for their name than their music.
The stuff Third Storm recorded in the ’80s is rare as hell: a couple of recordings were made just for the band themselves, and very few copies were spread back in the old days of tape-trading. The music back then was very primitive and raw, like other black metal bands at that time; the music was also thrash-influenced, but with a very noisy touch. The band used blastbeats in ’86, and not many could grasp that kind of noise back then. The vocals were insane screams, and lyrics were written in a way the South American bands did back in the ’80s. They didn’t even take any band photos and didn’t think or care in the terms of promotion, photos, flyers, studios, etc – they just wanted to bang their heads and make noise. In 2015, Dark Descent Records released Third Storm‘s “comeback” record, the two-song Tarîtîya Me EP.
The spirit of Third Storm today is the same as in 1986, but the musical direction is breaking new ground and new sinister elements are added. The band released their first full-length, The Grand Manifestation, in 2018. That album is also their first of a trilogy the band is working on.
In 2022, Third Storm finally entered the studio to record their second full-length, The Locust Mantra, now aligned with Chaos Records. Continuing the momentum set forth on The Grand Manifestation, Third Storm‘s second album is a tour de force of quintessentially Swedish blackened death metal: classic yet current, “retro” 1990s but plausibly modern. Totaling 41 minutes, the nine songs comprising The Locust Mantra are more dynamic and epic than before, but there’s still an intensity and heaviness that harkens to those primordial days of ’80s proto-black, particularly from South America. Slashing and searing but gleaming with a classiness and clarity, the production across the album highlights the outstanding technical skills of Third Storm‘s bolstered new lineup. The new rhythm section of bassist Daniel Håkansson and drummer Jesper Ojala make their presence felt with power and passion, while the core members of vocalist Heval Bozarslan and guitarists Hasse Hansson and David Eriksson sound fired up and feed off that new black blood in the band.
Timeless and untrendy, Third Storm prove with The Locust Mantra that Swedish blackened death metal is far from fading away.
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover artwork, courtesy of Raul Gonzales, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Third Storm’s The Locust Mantra 1. The Clandestine Gospel 2. Mater Pest 3. Demigod Doctrine 4. World Infernal 5. When Noble Hearts Failed 6. Inescapable Echoes of War 7. Alter Omega 8. In the Garden of Crystallized Souls 9. Dawn of the Fearmongers
Today, Indian death metal tyrants Tetragrammacide premiere the new track “Spectral Hyenas of Amenta Howl, the Vulture of Ma’at Descends, and Tahuti Watches Without his Ape”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an, set for international release on November 3rd via Iron Bonehead Productions. Hear Tetragrammacide‘s “Spectral Hyenas of Amenta Howl, the Vulture of Ma’at Descends, and Tahuti Watches Without his Ape” in its entirety here:
Hailing from the ever-thriving and always-interesting Indian metal underground, Tetragrammacide have proven to transcend even such already-superlative boundaries. For over a decade now, the hydra-headed entity has created one of the most genuinely threatening and overwhelmingly violent sounds of modern times, and then they flip the script by becoming clearer and more focused and somehow even more feral. Allied with Iron Bonehead since 2015, Tetragrammacide‘s Typhonian Wormholes: Indecipherable Anti-Structural Formulæ mini-album was a modern classic of blown-out barbarism and in-the-red frequencies, betraying the fact that an accomplished black/death band were simply waiting for an opportune time to reveal a clearer portrait of their sonic holocaust. That then arrived with 2017’s Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix debut album: an impossibly accomplished display of black/death intensity and density, sharpened to a such a degree that their sensory overload became all the more expansive.
Back to a power-duo – or “cosmic power-zones,” in the band’s own words, “entwined discreetly by unregistered topographical phenomena and invisible distortion of the subtle ontological matrices by a warping of occult space-time!” – Tetragrammacide unveil their sophomore revelation, inarguably their most devastating work from top to bottom: Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an. Here, the Indian sonic temple expand the extremes latent to their aesthetic, and draw them closer and most distant simultaneously, playing into the head-spinning and ouroboros-eating vortex of the album’s themes itself. While the preceding full-length had its heart fixated on “Srishti Drishti Vada” – doctrine of perception through the creation – this new opus has sprouted itself under the Upanishadic tenets of “Drishti Srishti Vada”: doctrine of the creation through perception and “Ajata Vada” – the radical doctrine of non-creation. State the band, “This way, the phenomena is completely negated, eliminated and rightfully renunciated under all possible situations of any given philosophical, esoteric and religious narratives!”
Between sacred and profane! Between words and silence! Between purna and shunya! Between life and death! Beyond real and illusory! Beyond the being and the non-being!
Totaling 11 songs across 45 minutes and containing perhaps the longest (or at least densest) song titles in metal history, Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an reaps a whirlwind of pistons-pumping martial death metal made flesh through geysers of kaleidoscopic blood. Riffs bend, bruise, and batter, but not necessarily in that order; they’re always moving, however, and that movement is mesmerizing in its linear-yet-divergent flow. Vocals storm from above and below, world-eating to the extreme. Drums are literally insane, playing with psychotic precision and also fuck-everything barbarity. The production is as powerful and “pro” as any big-league death metal record past or present, hereby underling the fact that Tetragrammacide could challenge (and summarily decimate) any throne-holder or -pretender. This is not strictly an “underground” band nor record, although the roots and authenticity are no doubt there. Casting a wider, more-accurate net, Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an should be viewed alongside such cyclonic classics as Krisiun’s Conquerors of Armageddon, Angelcorpse’s Exterminate, and Centvrian’s Liber ZarZax. “War metal” ghettoization simply does not apply to Tetragrammacide, and hasn’t for years now.
These transmissions are true. These transmissions are false. These transmissions are both true and false. These transmissions are both not true and not false.
The Kalikshetra-Kairo Consciousness Revival is at hand with Tetragrammacide‘s Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an!
Also hear the previously revealed “Nuit Arches Over The Neither-Neither City Of Cubes; Hadit Meditates While Hanging Upside Down Inside A Tesseract-Ka’aba” HERE at Iron Bonehead‘s official YouTube channel. Cover artwork, courtesy of Orryelle Defenestrate, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Tetragrammacide’s Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an 1. Trans-linguistic Utterance Of A Sacred Orgasmal Cry Fills The Lemurian Sky (By The Same Mouth, One True God Crieth Hriliu) 2. Spectral Hyaenas Of Amenta Howl, The Vulture Of Ma’at Descends, And Tahuti Watches Without His Ape 3. Mandelbrot Scarab Of Fractal Manifestation Trapped In The Arachnid Webs, Spun Above The Hidden Pathways Into Non-Euclidean Interbetweenness 4. Fundamental Reconciliation Between Maya And Yama Through Perpetual Okbish-Ouroboric Cunnilingus 5. Nuit Arches Over The Neither-Neither City Of Cubes; Hadit Meditates While Hanging Upside Down Inside A Tesseract-Ka’aba 6. Kalikshetra-Kairo Consciousness Revival (Alogical Exegesis Of The Sandhipada-Sarisreepa Continuum Vigyaan) 7. Thanatos And Eros Wrestle Forever, Folding And Unfolding From The Substratum Of Supreme Voidness Of S’lba 8. Intoxicated Bees Of Sekhet-Aarhu Circumambulate The Abode Of Self Beheaded One Who Forever Danceth In Her Shaktisexual Ecstasy 9. One Who Weaves The Chthonic Garland Of 52 Skullphabets Severed By The Sword Of Neti-Neti 10. Golden Ontological Embroideries Of Pythagorean Meta-Geometries Sewn On The Blue Veil Surface Of Nought 11. Fifteen Streams of Lunar Kalas Secrete From The Quaking Yoni Of The Goddess Sixteen (Tantric Alchemy Of The Cascading Nectars Of Sodashi)
Today, Polish black metallers Teufelsberg premiere the new track “Gospel of Diabolical Freedom”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Pakt mit dem Teufel, set for international release on October 31st via Signal Rex. Hear Teufelsberg‘s “Gospel of Diabolical Freedom” in its entirety here:
Since their ascent from time’s abyss in with the public debut with the 2020 demo Ancient Darkness Triumphant, Poland’s Teufelsberg have stood against the modern world – and namely, the modern “black metal underground.” Using their noble Polish roots as an unshakable aesthetic foundation, the horde lit fires for the olden days with each successive recording, culminating in both a covenant with Signal Rex and their debut album, Ordre du Diable, during the early half of 2022.
Keeping those fires blazing brightly and blacker than ever, Teufelsberg return their second full-length strike, Pakt mit dem Teufel. As cold and grim as ever, the band here spelunk among corridors rich in the treasures of pre-internet black metal, integrating not only their ancient Polish idiom but also contemporaneous Nordic and Hellenic ones. In a sense, there’s a sense of deja vu…initially, as the deeper one dives among Teufelsberg‘s treasures, the more those jewels shimmer in a manner uniquely the band’s own. As ever, the horde’s raw-yet-clear tones and attendant execution are superlative for their defiance against prevailing trends, and the full might of their mysticism is surely felt every second of this six-song/38-minute album.
“Pakt mit dem Teufel was signed in blood somewhere in Poland during the full moon in 2022,” the band declare. “Teufelsberg continues to follow the path of Unholy Black Metal. The funeral bell carries its song bathed in moonlight. It calls impure souls to the top of the Devil’s Mountain, calls to make a pact and worship HIM.”
Also hear the previously revealed “Der Ruf Des Mephistopheles”both HERE at Signal Rex‘s official YouTube channel as well as HERE at Signal Rex‘s Bandcamp. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Teufelsberg’s Pakt mit dem Teufel 1. Hunger etter synd 2. Der ruf des Mephistopheles 3. Gospel of Diabolical Freedom 4. La Beauté du Diable 5. Noc Walpurgii, Lucyfera Dar! 6. Wpiekłowstąpienie (in Herrlichkeit inmitten der Flammen)
Would you submit yourself to human torture to go beyond your limits to expressing art? Voluntary suffering for the greater goal in pursuit of artistic excellence is what one of the members of cathartic black metal band GAEREA (PT) went through for the visualisation of ‘Dormant’.
The video (recorded by the great Claudio Marino, distinguished for working with giants like BEHEMOTH, WATAIN, SHINING) simply can’t be classified as a music video to give visualisation to the song. It’s an 8 minute excruciating compilation of being waterboarded, trapped in a cycle of unending pain, with each passing moment feeling like an eternity, time becomes the cruellest enemy.
‘Dormant’ is a ghost track, a song only available on the (sold out) Media book from their recently released album “Mirage”. Out of billions of people, a mere group of just 1349 holds ownership of this exceptional track.
But no more.
To mark the start of their US tour with WOLFS IN THE THRONEROOM and BLACK BRAID in October 2023, the band is releasing ‘Dormant’ for all fans to let their minds wander freely and share their suffering.
GAEREA comments: “Complementing the song’s aural journey, the video art installation accompanying “Dormant” delves into the anguish and struggle for survival. The visuals depict the main character, trapped and enclosed in a tormenting world, as water relentlessly pours over his body, simulating drowning and suffocation. This immersive and visceral experience offers a harrowing glimpse into the protagonist’s fight for life, evoking a range of emotions and challenging viewers to confront their own mortality.”
Video directed by Claudio Marino
The track ‘Dormant’ is a bonus track taken from the previously released album “Mirage”. Details of the album and tracklisting can be found below.
Behind black shrouds of obscurity and desolation, the men of GAEREA deliver their odes in cascading maelstroms of aggression and beauty. Emerging from the age of pandemic to whatever awaits humanity next, the Portuguese horde remains on the frontlines of the next generation of extreme metal. With an EP and two albums to their name, GAEREA has rapidly distinguished themselves from the thousands of bands toiling away in the underground. Brewing their cauldron of sound from a recipe of pounding black-metal blast mixed with a touch of harrowed, reflective longing, many devotees of the darkened arts have flocked to their banner. With the emergence of third full-length album Mirage, those numbers are sure to grow.
Underground metal itself is a strange and cyclical beast. Trends come and trends go. But at no point in the genre’s history have we borne witness to what happened to the world in 2020. GAEREA met this challenge by releasing their second album, the aptly titled Limbo, to excellent world reception. In the meantime, they found the total suspension of interactive life as it was previously known to be the perfect breeding ground for further creation and making. As the troupe’s main songwriter elaborates, “I lost two precious years of my life, years that I would rather have spent touring and growing as an artist. But they were crucial for us, these years, because not too many bands stayed relevant and productive. The pandemic gave us the time to make the best release we could. All the promo-shoots, interviews, videos, we all had time to prepare for everything. Mirage was the product of a sudden inspiration. The basic parts were written over about two weeks.”
Such a stunning admission goes to show that art is fickle, and the artist is merely a vessel through which the sweet sorcery we call music may flow. It can mute itself to frustrating silence – or it can explode into being regardless of all consideration. For this band on the rise, it is most certainly the latter. Sizzling with ambition from day one, GAEREA may present one unique face to their audience, masked and enshrouded, but the truth is they have not remained changeless. “We are not the same band who recorded Limbo,” he insists. “We are more eager to take on the world. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that nothing is certain.”
This lack of certainty plays heavily into newest creation Mirage. As its name suggests, the inability to trust what our senses are telling us could be construed as one of the album’s central themes. Rather than constrict their art to mythological references or anti-religious tropes, GAEREA instead plumb the depths of the human experiences of isolation and suffering. “The concept, the subject, of each song is everyone, you, me . . . if people were alone together in Limbo, in Mirage they are truly alone. Nobody is truly real until they are alone.”
If existential dread could be turned into sound, GAEREA have carved their own philosophical path through its stygian tunnels. It isn’t Satan, demons, death, or even suicide that is waiting for us there. “What if people finally reached their goal,” he posits, “to end their suffering, and instead of dying they find themselves in a new reality, lost in a big city they were once a part of – they don’t know if anyone else is still alive. They are alone inside their own world.” This theme of being alone in a world full of familiar scenes, unable to end things and unable to reach anyone else, might well terrify the listener more effectively than any glimpse into the imagined hellscapes of our nightmares. Being isolated in your own world is the real nightmare, and GAEREA strum the chords of this horror with nuance and a miserable grace.
Boasting a superior production that threads the needle between clarity and causticness, GAEREA unwaveringly admit their loyalty to countryman and producer Miguel Tereso of Demigod Recordings. “Miguel is fantastic,” enthuses the band’s primary composer. “He comes from a brutal death metal background. I thought if this guy can pull off a punchy, modern, but still authentic production with a slam / death metal band, I wonder what he can do with a band like GAEREA. He has a vision for a sound, and that is what I really like. He is not a black metal fan, but it’s this very external set of ears and eyes from a guy who really knows his craft, and he brings all of that to our sound.” The fruits of this union are quite evident, as the turbulent moods of the title track are so wonderfully tossed between tension-building moments, and the explosive payoffs which set GAEREA apart from so many who try but come up short.
Tormented leads and building riffs sit atop some seriously explosive drumming, waxing and waning, on “Arson,” a tempest of moods and one of the album’s centrepieces. Emotion, at times sounding triumphant in brilliantly wrought guitar leads, is skewered by vocals that bustle with shattering despair. The dichotomy is magnificent to behold. GAEREA’s composer makes no mistake. “I want to hear the throat on the album, and if we are a vocals-driven band, I don’t want to over-process them during the recording. Striking that balance is one of the beauties for me in this record.”
In a world that increasingly elevates the shallow and the narcissistic, GAEREA pursues an artistic struggle of inward isolation, honest self-examination, and a dogged refusal to bow to the void that awaits. Thus, the persistence of their shadowed visages, draped in the masks which codify their anonymity while also creating a reliable extreme metal brand that fans can appreciate, especially in the live setting. “GAEREA are truly ourselves when we put these masks on, and we transcend into something different, and primitive,” he asserts. “It still makes total sense, and this band would not be a band anymore if we ever dropped the masks.”
As GAEREA prepares the release of Mirage, the world has resumed functioning, and as it lurches onward into its bleak future, one could stipulate that the pressure may be on to continue its rise amid the clamor of this renewal of activity. Does this challenge intimidate GAEREA? “We want to do better, but I don’t feel any pressure because we are in very good hands with the people we work with. We are building a strong team that really cares for us, stage-wise, promotional-wise, website and sales-wise. We are building a very structured confident teams that aims for the same goals we do. What I truly care about is continuing our ever-growing concept of the band GAEREA, and not becoming sterile, and I would not want people to be unaffected by our music. In the end we’re trying to express something within ourselves, and I don’t want it to be too complicated.”
The beauty of GAEREA lies in the directness and simplicity found within their florid tapestry of extremity and aggression. Whether it is in the less-polished aural dynamite of their self-titled EP, or in the lustrous textures of Mirage, GAEREA is building a mighty edifice of underground metal. With talons dipped in the inky blood of black metal and scraped across the flesh of human suffering, GAEREA is leading a charge into the future of darkness, and all those who find beauty and power in the dark side of existence would do well to take heed.
WE ARE GAEREA.
Recording Studio: Demigod Recordings Producer/Sound engineer: Miguel Tereso Mix/Master: Miguel Tereso (Demigod Recordings)
Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces December 8th as the international release date for Azathoth’s Dream‘s striking debut album, Nocturnal Vampyric Bewitchment, on vinyl LP format.
Azathoth’s Dream are a brand-new entity hailing from the United States. On one hand, the one-man band’s sound is undeniably late ’90s French vintage, maintaining a similarly necrotic-yet-aristocratic mysticism not unlike Osculum Infame, Bekhira, Winter Funeral, and very early Seth. On the other, one could liken Azathoth’s Dream to the uprising of raw vampiric black metal in the U.S., spearheaded by Sanguine Relic, Vampirska, early Lamp of Murmuur, and Geist of Ouachita among others. Either way, one listen to the aptly titled Nocturnal Vampyric Bewitchment and one will be indeed bewitched by the band’s melancholic-yet-feral spell…or duly repulsed by it. There’s no other way; just like those stratifying days of the 1990s, you either understand this as BLACK METAL – and stand with it – or you stand against it. It matters not to Azathoth’s Dream: the empty castle’s drawbridge is down, and one need only enter if the spirits are willing.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “A Millennia Perished” here:
Today, Australian death metal barbarians Cemetery Urn premiere the new track “Suffer the Fallen”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Suffer the Fallen, set for international release on October 27th via Hells Headbangers. Hear Cemetery Urn‘s title track “Suffer the Fallen” in its entirety here:
By now, Cemetery Urn require no introduction. Pillars of Australia’s now-legendary extreme metal scene, for nearly 20 years have these barbaric death metallers pursued their strict ‘n’ staunch vision of absolute ultraviolence – and ultraviolence with poise and daresay class. Though lineup shuffles have always been a part of the band’s picture, through it all, erstwhile Abominator founder Andrew Gillon (guitar, sometimes-bass) has steered their turbulent ship and rendered four equally punishing full-length tomes: each one immediately recognizably Cemetery Urn, but each one subtly expanding their sound with no compromise and no quarter. That seven years separated their second and third albums and five years have passed since their fourth matter not; dread deeds are always bubbling within Gillon’s cauldron, and he’s now assembled another deadly lineup, resulting in another deadly LP.
Titled Suffer the Fallen, Cemetery Urn now see the arrival of drum god Brandon Gawith (Eskhaton, Hobbs Angel of Death, Vahrzaw), bassist Joel Westbrook, and fellow Abominator founder Chris Volcano on vocals. Wasting no time, Suffer the Fallen kicks in and proceeds to scorch all and sundry. Once again, Cemetery Urn exude their trademark poise and, yes, CLASS; pulverizing and often operating at unsafe speeds, the quintet still put proper songwriting at the forefront, and color it with a payload of devilish details and deft shifts in tempo and texture. To the uninitiated, Suffer the Fallen will stun and likely sound overwhelming, but those who already drink deeply of the extreme arts will perhaps be surprised at how lithe Cemetery Urn‘s characteristic barbarism has become. Sharpening that attack to an enviable degree is the clear ‘n’ cutting production courtesy of Adam Calaitzis at Toyland Studio, resulting in a fortuitous first partnership. Same goes for the stark cover artwork courtesy of scene legend Mark Riddick – Suffer the Fallen indeed!
Given Cemetery Urn‘s deep roots in the Australian scene and their preceding history, both in Abominator and Gillon’s late-days work in the influential Bestial Warlust, it’s with no small amount of fanfare that original vocalist Damon Bloodstorm – of course, former frontman for both Bestial WarlustandAbominator – is resurrected from the grave on the vinyl-only bonus track “Mass Graves of Blood,” an unreleased track from 2007 which also features original bassist Squiz and thus marks the final time that the original Cemetery Urn lineup was together. Altogether, eight tracks in 35 minutes of pure Australian Barbaric Death Metal: Suffer the Fallen and none survive!
Also hear the previously revealed “Damnation is in the Blood” HERE at Hells Headbangers‘ official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Cemetery Urn’s Suffer the Fallen 1. Damnation is in the Blood 2. Kill at a Distance 3. Savage Torment 4. Embers of the Burning Dead 5. Room of Depravity 6. Suffer the Fallen 7. Compulsive Degradation 8. It Will End in Death
Today, Purity ThroughFire sets October 27th as the international release date for Nôidva‘s highly anticipated second album, Lappish Shatanism, on digipack CD format.
In 2020, Nôidva arrived with the full-length Windseller. A then-brand-new entity, the Finns featured members of labelmates Sacrificium Carmen and Riivaus. Although detectably Finnish black metal in sound and style, Nôidva uniquely focused on Laplandish shamanism – and now they return to further flesh out that vision.
Tellingly titled Lappish Shatanism, Nôidva‘s second album bears many of the same traits as its predecessor: a mysticism both magickal and more so folkloric, and a melodicism that stirs the more courageous side of one’s spirit rather than immediate and irrevocable bloodlust. However, despite featuring the same four-piece lineup, Lappish Shatanism heads toward rougher, daresay-rowdier territory – more earth and dirt rather than the atmospheric undercurrents of Windseller – with that rowdiness rendering their folk affectations all the more austere and severe. Still, Nôidva reveal themselves to be astute practitioners of tradition, poignantly imparting a favorably late ’90s aspect in form and feel; whether one wants to qualify it as “pagan” black metal matters not when faced with such stellar quality. Leads prominent but parceled out, Lappish Shatanism is thus a work of undeniable passion – never belabored, but refreshing as it is reverential. The past is still alive across Lapland!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new title track “Lappish Shatanism” here:
Cover artwork, courtesy of Mara Hiltunen, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nôidva’s Windseller 1. Korpikutsu 2. Fall of the Axis Mundi 3. Natural Oneness 4. Dryads of the Virgin Forest 5. Supranormaali Transsendentaali 6. Hidden Hate of the Northern Shamanism 7. Pohjolan Hymni 8. Lappish Shatanism
Today, Purity ThroughFire announces October 27th as the international release date for Iku-Turso‘s highly anticipated new mini-album, Ikuinen Kirous, on CD and A5 digipak formats. The 12″ vinyl LP version will follow later in 2023.
Forming in 2017 and soon releasing their debut album, The Great Tower, that same year, Iku-Turso have quietly become a force in the ever-fertile Finnish black metal scene (vocalist Lafawijn hails from the Netherlands). The band includes members with a vast array of underground experience, spanning all sorts of extreme metal styles, and a couple of members currently retain membership in labelmates Order of Nosferat. As such, Iku-Turso‘s sound is far from strict “Finnish black metal” that’s come to be the definition the past couple of decades. Rather, the band cast their gaze back to the cold, dark days of mid ’90s Scandinavia, and render it with a (darkly) dramatic flair.
And so it comes to its fullest fruition with Ikuinen Kirous, Iku-Turso‘s latest offering and first for Purity ThroughFire. Like a long-lost relic on Wounded Love or Samoth’s Nocturnal Art Productions, Ikuinen Kirous reaps a windswept drama both mystically sensual and scabrously alien. Continuing to maximize the addition of keyboardist F.Nightside (as well as his occasional clean vocals), Iku-Turso blanket their dungeonic surge with an aristocratic air that’s somewhere between funeral fog and orchestral bombast, never quite going into full-on sympho-BM mode nor necessarily shying away from its most plausible elements. Above all, the bands songwriting stays within the epic-yet-linear, building upon themes in the olde way whilst never forgetting that it’s black METAL – riffs, riffs, RIFFS. And then, 37 minutes later and Ikuinen Kirous has come to completion, feeling far vaster than that compact runtime (but one ideal for full vinyl immersion). Iku-Turso are coming to a church near you!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Adinkra” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Iku-Turso’s Ikuinen Kirous 1. Nkotimsefuopua 2. Ebenezer 3. Adinkra 4. Een Zucht Van Verdriet 5. Gauss 6. Noirthoren 7. Thornspawn Chalice
Today, Eternal Death announces November 24th as the international release date for One Master‘s highly anticipated fifth album, The Names of Power, on CD, cassette tape, and limited-to-100 double-vinyl boxset.
After six long years of lycanthropic reclusion, One Master are ready to unveil a new full-length recording: The Names of Power. Taking its title from the ancient occult idea that if one learns the true name of a deity, access to its power can be obtained, the theme of the album is on the power of language, with each song being focused on its use in a different context: religion, heresy, a cult, solitude, the universe, and modernity.
Comprising six songs over 55 minutes of music, The Names of Power is the long-running band’s first double LP. Active on the recording front since 2002, One Master here keep to their well-worn path of traditional black metal, but more so make the album their diverse release to date, incorporating more mid-tempo sections, atmospheric dirges, and even some acoustic guitar. It’s both unmistakably One Master yet surprising all the same – and no compromise either way.
The Names of Power is also the band’s first full-length with their “Mark IV” lineup, with band founder Valder on guitar and vocals, long-running member Black Wolf on guitar and bass (who writes and plays all of the leads and solos), and the first full length with Eponymous on drums. Although he joined after the album was recorded, new bass player Grave Dog (having been long affiliated with the band, providing artwork since Reclusive Blasphemy) is part of the band’s lineup moving forward. This being the band’s first recording at Sonic Environments with Jeff Weed (with mastering still provided by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios), the album’s production allows the band to shine more than any prior record. “Crystal clear and bloody raw” is perhaps a close approximation of that production.
To mark this momentous occasion, the release of The Names of Power is set to coincide with One Master‘s second performance at the esteemed Messe des Morts festival in Montreal, with a full East Coast / Midwest tour currently being organized by Ripping Headaches for Spring 2024. Long the embodiment of New England black metal, One Master have returned to resume their throne.
Hear for yourself with the brand-new track “The Forbidden Names” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for One Master’s The Names of Power 1. The First Names [7:52] 2. The Forbidden Names [6:29] 3. The Secret Names [10:36] 4. The Solitary Names [6:42] 5. The Celestial Names [8:20] 6. The Final Names [14:33]
