Today, Italian technical thrashers Centripetal Force reveal the first track as well as cover art and tracklisting for their forthcoming debut EP, Eidetic, which will be released on December 20th via Xtreem Music. Entitled “Eidetic Memory,” hear the first taste of Centripetal Force’s Eidetic HERE.
Formed back in 2010 by Stefano Saroglia (guitars) and Andrea Carratta (drums), Centripetal Force completed the lineup with John Knight, who is lead singer of UK progressive metal band Synaptik. The musical style of the band is twisted, technical, and progressive thrash metal in the vein of bands like Watchtower, old Cynic, Mekong Delta, Control Denied, Coroner, later Death, and Toxik.
In 2017, Centripetal Force recorded three songs destined to be their debut EP, entitled Eidetic, and with this, they got a deal with Xtreem Music for its release in December of the same year. The band is now working on more songs for a second EP to be released sometime in fall 2018, but that’s another story…
In the meantime, hear “Eidetic Memory” from Eidetic both HERE
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Centripetal Force’s Eidetic
1. Centripetal Force
2. Eidetic Memory
3. Death of a Marionette
Before we start I just want to say that I LOVE Midnight , I own all their records on vinyl, I always go see them every time they hit the Tri-State Area and I think their Debut “Satanic Royalty” is one of the strongest albums to come out in the last 10 years and that speaks volumes since there has a been a lot of great music in recent years.
So Sweet Death and Ecstasy – where to start? Hell’s Headbangers released a teaser track in advance of the album release about 6 weeks back, “Penetratal Ecstasy” and I have to say I was not all that impressed. I hated the guitar tone and didn’t think it was the strongest thing Athenar had written either hook wise.
So the album was set for a December 5th release date I believe but I guess HHR got their stock in early as I pre-ordered in in September expecting a long wait and mine arrived Friday afternoon, seems like most people I know who ordered it got theirs Friday or Saturday depending on where about you live in the country.
You can’t write an opener as strong as “Satanic Royalty” on
every album
I have to say I put the album on with some trepidation, like I said I was not wholly impressed by the first “single” (side note: do people still call them singles these days? or is it more “album teaser” or what?) and..its a slow start. Sure you can’t write an opener as strong as “Satanic Royalty” on every album but the general school of thought when mapping out a running order for an album say versus a CD is you start with your strongest song on Side 1, followed by your second strongest as the intro to side 2, Lust Filth and Sleaze for example. (With cd running orders most bands just put all their strongest songs first with the album getting progressively weaker as it goes along , but that’s another story)
So yeah the first song “Crushed By Demons” is a slow chugging song. Initial knee jerk reaction is its a strange song to start your album with.Its a long song too taking up the majority of side 1 of the vinyl version.
Following up is Penetratal Esctasy, ok it all makes sense now the slow start and build up and now this song! That guitar tone I hated when I heard first heard this track? Forget it – I am loving it now.
Here comes Sweet Death is next, a classic fist pumping metal anthem followed by Melting Brain an instant Blackened Thrash Classic, short and sweet and that’s it Side 1 is over! Like I said the majority of Side 1 of the vinyl is taken up with Crushed by Demons, the opener.
So far so good – now let’s see what Side 2 has to offer us
Kicking off with Rabid! followed straight up with Bitch Mongrel , side 2 comes out swinging super upbeat catchy blackened thrash we all know and love. Poison Trash is awesome, frantic thrash almost with a Germanic feel to it – so good!
Final track on Side 2 Before My time in Hell – wow its that time already the end of the album, slower than the last couple of tracks – its super catchy and chuggy, easily the longest song on Side 2. Its a great way to round out the album.
Well what can I say – I went into this album with a closed mind, almost a negative attitude towards it but goddam it’s so fucking good. I need to jump up and flip it back to Side 1 again.
Make no mistake this is Midnight at their best
This album may take a while to grow on you (like it did me) but make no mistake this is Midnight at their best, a true metal masterpiece for 2017. Buy it now!
You can order the album directly from Hell’s Headbangers Here
On December 1st internationally, Svart Records will release Kaukolampi’s I. It is the debut solo album of K-X-P frontman Timo Kaukolampi. And today, a new video for the album track “Three Legged Giant Centipede” has been revealed HERE.
“I wanted to break all structure, to see if all form can be destroyed,” says Kaukolampi of his debut solo album. A desire to deconstruct convention is not a new thing for Kaukolampi, given that K-X-P have been blurring the lines between techno, krautrock, space rock, and experimental electronica for the last decade and forging an idiosyncratic and unique sound truly of their own.
Whilst playing some pummelling and PA-testing solo electronic shows over the last year, Kaukolampi has picked up fans such as Erol Alkan, James Holden, and Optimo; they were invited to the latter’s 20th anniversary party in Glasgow this year to perform – they’re the group Optimo have booked the most over the two decades. Whilst K-X-P still remains a strong and evolving force, Kaukolampi has created an outlet for something new in his solo endeavors. “I wanted to make music that has more space in it than I usually do. That captures this lonely sense of emptiness, of euphoria and beauty – a deep sadness,” he says. “It’s a conversation between good and evil, beauty and brutality, and it’s most definitely my inner journey.”
The resulting album is one long track broken up into five titles. Across that runs an eerie dystopian presence driven by pulsating synths and distant beats, whilst stylistically traversing across cosmic disco, techno, and dense cinematic ambience, with the starting point being Kaukolampi’s own radio show. “Initially, this album had a lot more beats on it, but every Sunday evening, I’d play music with no beats: drone, ambient, experimental, and noise. This made me change the concept, and I discarded the beats for half of the record.” It leaves space for contrast, for discordance and harmony, for gentle and loud, for the tender and the rough. This, explains Kaukolampi, is because he feels one can’t exist without the other: “This album also has that hard, violent noise that is more typical for me, but I don’t think noise can ever work if it does not have beauty.”
The album was recorded primarily in Helsinki with some parts in Berlin and was distilled down from between 50-70 “jams” that Kaukolampi had been working on over the years. The solitary working process allowed Kaukolampi to rewire his working ways, to rethink his approach, technique, and what he wanted to get out of the creative process. “I wanted to break all structure, to see if all form can be destroyed, and to see if I can get away from the programming in my brain. I’ve always worked in some song-based form: verse, bridge, chorus. I wanted to see if I could make this form disappear.” It also allowed Kaukolampi to think more carefully about his own definitions of techno and whether what he was creating fitted into the typical conventions of that genre. The answer, unsurprisingly, was no. “I love techno, but I guess the techno I make does not really suit any genre at the moment. Techno for me means sci-fi, cosmic realms, a sense of the inner journey. Like the dark side of new age music.”
Whilst this record may struggle to land neatly into a preexisting genre, it does pay tribute to one of electronic music’s pioneers. ‘Epiphyte (Requiem for Mika)’ is a segment of the record that pays tribute to the late, and truly great, Mika Vainio. Musically, it gently hums, evoking a mournful and emotive tone in its vast richness and depth. It is named after a strange plant he found in a friend’s garden in Portugal, but Kaukolampi felt its tone felt familiar. “I realized that it had that Mika Vainio-type song title vibe, so I dedicated it to him. He was an amazing talent and good friend. I miss him a lot. We all do.”
In the leadup to the release of Kaukolampi’s I, see & hear the video for “Three Legged Giant Centipede” HERE.
On December 22nd, Signal Rex is proud to present a special collection from Thy Sepulchral Moon entitled Indignant Force of Malevolence on vinyl LP format. Already a cult name in the underground, this Canadian/South Korean entity has so far released two EPs in as many years – 2016’s Incantations Inciting Demise and 2017’s Contemptuous Retaliation Storm – and hereby collect on one format both those EPs as well as three unreleased demo tracks and two cover songs, Beherit’s “Sadomatic Rites” and NON’s “Total War.”
As suggested by their spectrum-spanning choice of covers, Thy Sepulchral Moon are not your trendy, identikit “bestial” black metal band. While certainly grounded in the earliest nuclear vomits of the idiom, there’s an especially tweaked and torturedly experimental sensibility at work across their canon. The pulse is primitive and unabashedly mechanistic – cold, lifeless, DEAD – and a swarm of gasmasked voices speak ill tidings from nearly every direction; the layering of sewer-drenched sound is similarly indebted to the foulest depths of the gabber-gore underground. Altogether, it makes for a uniquely ritualistic sound that portends total and utter oblivion. Meet that oblivion head on with Indignant Force of Malevolence!
Take the first step into that oblivion with the track “Insides Disrupt”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Thy Sepulchral Moon’s Indignant Force of Great Malevolence
1. Intro + Spell 1
2. Spell 2
3. Spell 3
4. Spell 4
5. Spell 5
6. Send a plume of Choking
7. Dislocated from advance
8. Insides Disrupt
9. Sadomatic Rites (Beherit cover)
10. Total War (NON cover)
11. Murk Demo Version (Bonus Track)
12. Spell I – Rain as Funerary Attendants Reh Demo
13. Spell II – Translocate Misstep Reh Demo
Tracks 1-5 from Incantations Inciting Demise
Tracks 6-10 from Contemptuous Retaliation Storm
Tracks 11-13 are exclusive to this compilation
Today, Svart Records sets November 24th as the international release date for Anguis Dei’s highly anticipated debut EP, Ad Portas Serpentium.
Anguis Dei represents True Satanik Black Metal. It represents the extremity of hellish orchestral black metal: harsh, majestic, and spectral soundscape based on Satanism, demonology, and the true primordial black metal tradition.
The formation of this sect occurred back in MMXIV anno bastardi. Since then, its devotees have been the following four entities: Adeptus Juno – hæretical strings & darkestrations (Juno Bloodlust); Adeptus Summum Algor – blasting rituals (Adversam, Juno Bloodlust, Natassievila, etc); Adeptus Hakuja – serpentine strings (Hakuja, Cataplexy, etc); and Adeptus U.:È.:Œ.: – séance & magitation (Arkha Sva, Avsolutized…, Ahpdegma, etc). Now, in early Novembre MMXIV, Anguis Dei’s first EP Ad Portas Serpentium shall proudly be unleashed by Svart Records. It shall feature the following three sonic ceremonies on the circular laminas. I. “Maythorns Over Uroboros,” II. “Angela Krudeliis Ambitiosa Nokturniis,” III. “Origin ~ The Lionel.” And, in addition, Ad Portas Serpentium shall shortly be followed by the first full-length entitled Angeist.
Anguis Dei is an audible form of black magick for Satan and Satanists rather than other flooding commercialised music products. It shall provide something invisible affecting your invisible world. Prepare for entering the gates and taking a dark journey into the malign realms of Satanik Magick.
The first realm can be entered with the new track “Maythorns Over Uroboros”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Anguis Dei’s Ad Portas Serpentium album cover artwork
Tracklisting for Anguis Dei’s Ad Portas Serpentium
1. Maythorns Over Uroboros
2. Angela Krudeliis Ambitiosa Nokturniis
3. Origin
4. The Lionel
Today, American black metal cult Worm stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut album, Evocation of the Black Marsh. Now set for international release on November 3rd via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Worm’s Evocation of the Black Marsh in its entirety HERE.
Hailing from the swampy recesses of Florida, Worm is the work of one mysterious Fantomslaughter. To date, he’s done two rare demos, The Deep Dark Earth Underlines All (2014) and Nights in Hell (2016), but now as a duo alongside one Equimanthorn, Worm present the fullest distillation of their foul ‘n’ fetid aesthetic in Evocation of the Black Marsh.
Ever aptly titled, Evocation of the Black Marsh comprises eight hymns to the spiritual swamp lurking in every listener. With titles like “Evil in the Mire,” “Altar of Black Sludge,” and especially “The Slime Weeps” and “Swamp Ghoul,” it would be fair to assume that Worm would worship at the altar of Varathron’s classic His Majesty at the Swamp. However, while faint traces of those Greek gods can be detected, across the 42-minute LP is a clanging, blown-out appropriation of early Goatlord and Mortuary Drape, but strewn with a screws-loose personality that hails unorthodoxy endlessly. It’s a harsh and unsettling listener, but done with the authenticity and purity of black metal’s earliest, pre-tabloid days – and where else would something harsh and unsettling end but at the swamp?
Submerge into the slime and prepare for a true Evocation of the Black Marsh.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Worm (USA)’s Evocation of the Black Marsh
1. Altar Of Black Sludge
2. Winged Beast Of The Phantom Crypt
3. Gravemouth
4. Evil In The Mire
5. Evocation Of The Black Marsh
6. Swamp Ghoul
7. Rotting Semblance
8. The Slime Weeps
AUÐN have released the third stunning track taken from their forthcoming album, ‘Farvegir Fyrndar’, which is scheduled for release on November 10th.
The song “Veröld Hulin” is now streaming at the link below, which may be published immediately.
AUÐN comment: “The title of the opening track of our new album, ‘Veröld Hulin’ roughly translates as ‘Hidden World’. It marks the beginning of the journey that takes you through ‘Farvegir Fyrndar’. We welcome you to join on along the way as release of our album draws near.”
The artwork of ‘Farvegir Fyrndar’ was created by Víðir Mýrmann Þrastarson and can be viewed below.
AUÐN have previously announced a European tour also joined by label mates THE GREAT OLD ONES in support of GHAALS WYRD. A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.
AUÐN
+The Great Old Ones +Ghaals WYRD
01 Dec 17 Bochum (DE) Matrix
02 Dec 17 Vosselaar (BE) Biebob
03 Dec 17 Paris (FR) Petit Bain
04 Dec 17 Toulouse (FR) Metronum
05 Dec 17 Madrid (ES) Chango
06 Dec 17 Barcelona (ES) boveda
07 Dec 17 Marseille (FR) Jas Rod
08 Dec 17 Milan (IT) Circolo Svolta
09 Dec 17 Bologna (IT) Alcemica Music Club
10 Dec 17 Zürich (CH) Werk 21
12 Dec 17 München (DE) Backstage
13 Dec 17 Wroclaw (PL) Firlej
14 Dec 17 Erfurt (DE) From Hell
15 Dec 17 Berlin (DE) De Mortem Et Diabolum
AUÐN Festivals
16 Dec 17 Eindhoven (NL) Eindhoven Metal Meeting 2017
09 Mar 18 Reykjavík (IS) Gamla Bíó (Oration MMXVIII)
30 Mar 18 Oslo (NO) Inferno Festival 2018
For all its beauty, Iceland can be a sinister place where furious elements rage teaching fear but also inspiring human creativity. Hailing from the village of Hveragerði in the south of the volcanic island, AUÐN are the latest offspring from the burgeoning black metal scene in this land of ice and snow to set their dark sails for foreign shores.
With their second full-length, ‘Farvegir Fyrndar’ (literally meaning “Ancient Riverbeds” – with a long tail of untranslatable subtext), AUÐN continue their fast ascent. Unlike the majority of their blackened brethren from the country’s capital Reykjavik, this young band does not base its sound more or less on DEATHSPELL OMEGA worship, but rather reaches back to a more classic second generation black metal approach for inspiration.
AUÐN deliver haunting melodies and beautifully frozen atmospheres – as opposed to the jarring and caustic blunt force trauma that has brought this remote place in the Northern Atlantic to the black metal forefront of late
Founded in the bleak winter of 2010, AUÐN’s talent was quick to be recognised. The band got invited to Iceland’s main metal event, the Eistnaflug Festival and won the local Wacken Metal Battle contest in 2016, while making it to the top 3 at the main event. Performances at the prestigious Inferno and Roadburn Festivals followed in 2017.
With ‘Farvegir Fyrndar’, AUÐN not only demonstrate the impressive progress of their songwriting skills but also deliver a clear definition of their very own black sound. Warning: this album grows with every spin and will take a long time to even come close to any limit!
Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of VREID. The Norwegian black’n’roll veterans will release their highly anticipated next album through Season of Mist.
VREID comment: “We are extremely pleased to get signed by Season of Mist. Like us, they have been around for years, and we have a strong relationship to their people and admiration for their work. We are well on our way with our new album, and are very proud to have Season of Mist as a partner when we will launch the upcoming beast. Our march continues.”
VREID were formed in 2004. The Norwegian metal brigade rose from the ashes of WINDIR after the tragic perishing of the “Sognametal” legends with the declared mission of exploring new musical paths.
The Norsemen proved true to their words and have delivered 7 albums and one DVD, which each received high praise from critics and fans alike. VREID chose a course of constant evolution that is marked by thematically denoted phases regarding their often historically inspired lyrics.
This became particularly clear with albums number 3 and 4, ‘I Krig’ and ‘Milorg’, which both revolved around concepts dealing with resistance and liberation of Norway during World War II. With their following three records, VREID returned to their Norse roots, of which particularly their latest full-length, ‘Sólverv’ received highest critical acclaim.
VREID have hammered out their success partly by being a heavily touring band. The four-piece performed more than 500 shows in 25 countries so far. Their everlasting march to conquer new territories has led the Norwegians to headline tours in Europe, North America, Japan, and India.
Currently, the veterans are working on new material and will record their eighth opus this autumn. Composer and mastermind, Hváll has already announced that “…it will be one hell of an album. After more than 20 years of playing together our spirit is stronger than ever and we can hardly wait to get in studio again to give birth to our new creations”.
VREID’s style is often referred to as “black’n’roll” and Metal Hammer UK described their music as “a unique time travel in metal” as elements of 70’s rock, 80’s classic metal, and Norwegian black metal are all clearly audible.”
VREID will release their forthcoming album in 2018 via Season of Mist.
ROTTEN SOUND have been added on short notice to the billing of the upcoming premiere grind-event Bloodshed Fest at the Dynamo in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on October 27nd!
The Finnish grind-veterans will also perform at the Loches En Grind 8 the next day and have been confirmed for It’s A Gorgegrind Birthday Pt. III at the Kranhalle, Munich, Germany on December 8th.
27 Oct 17 Eindhoven (NL) Dynamo (Bloodshed Fest)
28 Oct 17 Loches (FR) Loches En Grind 8
08 Dec 17 München (DE) Kranhalle (Goregrind Birthday Pt. III)
ROTTEN SOUND have previously released a power-driven live video that shows the band tearing their stage apart and whipping the audience into a frenzy.
The track “Trashmonger” has been taken from the Finnish grind kings’ latest album ‘Abuse to Suffer’.
Artwork and track-list can be viewed below.
Tracklisting
1. Lazy Asses
2. Intellect
3. Fear of Shadows
4. Trashmonger
5. Crooked
6. Time for the Fix
7. Slave to the Rats
8. Brainwashed
9. Cannon Fodder
10. Yellow Pain
11. Machine
12. The Clerk
13. Caged
14. Retaliation
15. Inhumane Treatment
16. Extortion and Blackmail
ROTTEN SOUND are back and angrier than ever. Grindcore is not for the faint of heart and these Finns do not subscribe to the idea of compromise. ‘Abuse to Suffer’ remains true to the band’s resilient roots, while not falling into the traps of chewing endlessly on an old formula gone stale or not daring to add an element of surprise when fitting the style. What sets ROTTEN SOUND apart from other protagonists in the field is an obvious intelligence that shows in their to-the-point songwriting, arrangements, and subtle inclusion of choice death metal elements in their massive sound.
ROTTEN SOUND were conceived in the city of Vaasa, Finland by guitarist Mika Aalto in 1993, who was soon joined by vocalist Keijo Niinimaa. This duo remains in place as the only original members – yet drummer Sami Latva and Kristian Toivainen on bass have meanwhile been steady members for many years as well. The Finns can proudly look back at an impressive catalogue of six highly acclaimed studio albums, seven EPs, three split singles, a single and a live DVD. Furthermore ROTTEN SOUND hit the stages of major metal and hardcore oriented festivals and toured in regular intervals alongside such renowned acts as NASUM, PHOBIA, DISFEAR, CARCASS, MUNICIPAL WASTE, EXHUMED, NAPALM DEATH, and PIG DESTROYER among many others.
With ‘Abuse to Suffer’, ROTTEN SOUND are hammering out an album that equally acknowledges the band’s celebrated past as well as breaking into some new harsh ground that keeps the fire burning.
Line-up
Mika Aalto: guitars
Sami Latva: drums
Kristian Toivainen: bass
Keijo Niinimaa: vocals
Today, the ever-singular Acid Witch reveal the new song “Mutilation Mansion.” The song hails from the band’s massively anticipated third album, Evil Sound Screamers, which will see digital release on Halloween via Hells Headbangers; the CD and vinyl LP formats shall be released by Hells Headbangers in the new year.
Although their catalog is relatively sparse, Acid Witch should need no introduction. It’s been seven long years since the release of their classic second album, Stoned. That album, released to overwhelming international acclaim by Hells Headbangers, saw Acid Witch take the bewitching formula of their Witchtanic Hallucinations debut to greater, more entrancing lengths, swirling about a heady (and headfucking) brew of gutted doom-death riffage and spooky synth embellishments. And most of all, Stoned was as catchy as it was crushing. The attitude and charisma of founders Slasher Dave and Shagrat simply could not be denied: Stoned was simply something special.
Unmindful of “pressure” and other external forces, Acid Witch stayed busy enough in the interim, teasing out a split 7″ with the legendary Nunslaughter and a special covers EP where they gave their own, inimitable renditions of hair metal classics from ’80s horror movies. That latter element, in an evilly crowd-pleasing way, can be immediately felt on Evil Sound Screamers – or, perhaps, Acid Witch had always had their own starpower all along. Either way, one listen through Evil Sound Screamers and it’s awesomely apparent that the band have raised the stakes yet again. Essentially, this is the sound of Acid Witch mastering their own, unique brand of metal and delivering a landmark record for the ages.
The foremost manifestation of that mastery is the truly mindfucking layering of synth here. Slasher Dave has always possessed an authentically classic-horror approach to synths, but through his own selfsame solo-project, he’s developed that aspect in a manner truly befitting the beloved horror canon of the ’70s and ’80s. Here on Evil Sound Screamers, those synths don’t so much take a lead role as unite every thread across the record, flitting in and out of perception like a fever dream (or an LSD nightmare) and otherwise torquing all the gutsfucking riffs that now stomp ‘n’ sway with a rousingly anthemic quality. They are authentically analog synthesizers, too, just like the beloved sound design of those classic horror movies. Additionally, the acute placement of samples further threads everything together in a manner most filmic. And that’s to say nothing of the production here, which finds a hazy, crazy balance between murky and 3D.
Before you know it, the 38 minutes of Evil Sound Screamers is up and you’re immediately pressing “play” again and again. Now more than ever, there’s really no other band out there quite like Acid Witch: Evil Sound Screamers is their magnum opus, and long may their reign continue. This is the season of the Witch!
Release date for the CD and vinyl formats to be announced shortly, as well as preorder info. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Acid Witch’s Evil Sound Screamers
1. Scare Tape
2. Mr. Beistle
3. I Hate Halloween
4. Cheap Gore
5. Nain Rouge (The Red Dwarf)
6. Enter At Your Own Risk
7. Mutilation Mansion
8. Hardrock Halloween
9. Nightmares In A Damaged Brain
10. An Evil Sound Screaming
