WINTER ETERNAL set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS album

Today, Hells Headbangers announces June 28th as the international release date for Winter Eternal‘s highly anticipated fourth album, Echoes of Primordial Gnosis, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

It was but the dawn of summer 2021 when Winter Eternal released their breakthrough album, Land of Darkness. The band’s third album overall and first with Hells Headbangers, Land of Darkness truly launched the name Winter Eternal onto the worldwide metal map with their absolutely authentic synthesis of 1997-vintage melodicism and mysticism. “Melodic black metal” before it became a dirty word, mainman Soulreaper proved that his heart pumped the blood of the ancients, recalling both ’90s Swedish and Hellenic scenes (the band originally formed in Greece, but later relocated to Scotland) but now with charisma and personality to spare. Above all, Land of Darkness bristled with stellar songwriting and impassioned playing – timeless black metal songcraft that can stacked alongside those old, hallowed tomes rather than simply drawing influence from them.

Now, two years later, Winter Eternal return with their boldest record yet: Echoes of Primordial Gnosis. While immediately recognizable as the same Winter Eternal that delivered the preceding modern classic, Echoes of Primordial Gnosis just-as-prominently displays a greater usage of dynamics, particularly those revolving around acoustic and clean-stringed instruments such as cello. Similarly, the still-impassioned playing has been giving an uptick in intensity and analog spirit through session drums by V. Nuctemeron (Sacral Rage, Chainsaw), lending warmth – nay, burning desire! – to the band’s ever-characteristic attack. Soulreaper, for his part, gives a masterclass in spiraling, twilit melodicism: hammering and mesmerizing at first, but his riffs become rippling layers of majesty and mayhem that seemingly echo back on each other, proving that there’s indeed complexity in simplicity of design. Add to this his anguished & emotive vocals, with guest clean vocals courtesy of Macabre Omen mainman Alexandros and Hildr Valkyrie, and the album’s overall concept fully comes into focus: calling forth the spirits of ancient gods and legendary heroes around the world, paying tribute to their timeless powers, with each song thematically focused on one such god or hero. Form meeting content, in every sense – and likewise for Mars Triumph’s symbolic cover artwork.

No longer the black metal underground’s best-kept secret, Winter Eternal step fully into the halls of greatness with Echoes of Primordial Wisdom.

In the meantime, hear the recently revealed track “The Serpent’s Curse” here:

Also hear the previously revealed “Two Heavens as One” HERE, also at Hells Headbangers‘ official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found HERE. Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Winter Eternal’s Echoes of Primordial Wisdom
1. Echoes of Primordial Wisdom (Goddess Athena – Greece)
2. Two Heavens as One (Miyamoto Musashi – Japan)
3. Battle Cry (William Wallace – Scotland)
4. The Serpent’s Curse (God Bida – Uganda)
5. Voices (instrumental)
6. Bending the Fabric of Reality (Common Human)
7. Sacrifice for Glory (Iphigenia – Greece)
8. The Keeper of Sorrows (Goddess Oizys – Greece)

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/WinterEternalBand

www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers 

CULT OF ERINYES set release date for new AMOR FATI album

Today, Amor Fati Productions announces May 24th as the international release date for Cult of Erinyes‘ highly anticipated fifth album, Metempsychosis, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Cult of Erinyes comes back with Metempsychosis, an album to set the band as a main force of inspired and unique black metal. As a conceptual album based on the delirum and the introspection one can live in front of Death, Metempsychosis contains only two pieces, but together clock to more than 43 minutes of relentless darkness.

The Cult makes a statement that will resonate throughout the older generations, but newer ones, as well: vicious leads; perfect dissonance; blastbeats by the beast himself, Ahephaïm from Sabathan; and one of (if not) the best vocal performances from Belgian madman Déhà. Corvus, once again, shows his genius in complex compositions, from violent black metal to “noir ambient,” that will bring you to the brink of Death.

Cult of Erinyes is not just one black metal band amongst others; it is a true force to be reckoned with. And Metempsychosis hammers the nails down. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Cult of Erinyes’ Metempsychosis

1. Death and the Voyage [22:23]
2. Eternity in a Second [21:09]


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/cult.erinyes

www.amor-fati-productions.de 
www.amorfatiproductions.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/amorfatiprod

Mystical black metallers Magistraal stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut EP

Today, mystical black metallers Magistraal stream the entirety of their highly anticipated debut EP, Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht. To be digitally self-released on April 16th – the EP will also be available through Zwaertgevegt on vinyl format as one half of a split release – hear Magistraal‘s Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht in its entirety  here:

Magistraal: a jet-black concoction sprung from the depths of the Shadow Mountains, fashioned in the gruesome sight of the eight hateful eyes of Shelob and beautified by the enchanting fingers of Fëanor, maestro of architecture. Cultivated by two opposing, ancient powers: she is mistress of the cold, dark, drizzly existence and embittered by a lonely exile, cast into a darkness where her shrill voice was banished for an eternity; he was a powerful designer of splendor, an inventor of works of art and a superior preserver of light, a perfectionist whose work proved to be a refuge for the apostate.

In reality, the duo – originating from the Netherlands – do not want to reveal much about themselves, comparing a presence in the scene to an enigmatic and mystical existence of black metal in the ’90s, reawakened in 2023. Magistraal is an expression of fantasy, dreamscapes, the power of imagination, emotion and kinship, audible in hidden lyrics underpinned by an atmospheric-yet-raw approach to workings in dark music.

The duo’s first expression is the EP Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht, penned and crafted in 2023. Here, Magistraal cultivate a wide arsenal of tempo, rhythm, and instrumental styles for the listener – where the title track “Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht” and the eruption of “Waar leed zich eeuwig voedt” are presented with overwhelming violence, the centerpiece of this allotment of music is a constructive opus of 11 minutes of growing madness in the form of “Mijn branded licht.” Dutch evil produced in three depraved episodes, each embracing its own godless theme, but which merge into a creeping, lugubrious muck.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Magistraal’s Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht
1. Waar leed zich eeuwig voedt [5:21]
2. Mijn brandend licht [11:29]
3. Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht [4:37]

MORE INFO:
www.magistraal.bandcamp.com

TORTURERS’ LOBBY premiere new track

Today, nasty metallers Torturers’ Lobby premiere the new track “Reptilian Hide”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Deadened Nerves, which is now set for international release on June 14th: Caligari Records will release the CD and cassette tape versions while Ixiol Productions will release the vinyl version. Hear Torturers’ Lobby‘s “Reptilian Hide” in its entirety here:

Hailing from Tampa, Torturers’ Lobby began as a three-piece band with Tim Anderson on drums, Ryan Conway on bass, and Evan Dawson, on guitar/vocals. After the Again debut demo in 2021, Adam Shaw joined as a dedicated vocalist. With this lineup, the band recorded the Crisis of Faith Rehearsal, which was released later in 2021. The following year, the 7″ EP Man in Zwugzang was released, and Anderson left the band after the subsequent Kinetic Disapproval rehearsal, which featured some early versions of songs that would be on Torturers’ Lobby‘s eventual debut album, Deadened Nerves. Dwane Nihiser replaced him, and that debut album is the first release with him playing drums.

Now at last here and their lineup firm, Deadened Nerves announces Torturers’ Lobby‘s arrival with devastating punctuation. A metal record for metal people, the band’s first full-length doesn’t kowtow to genre conventions – death metal, black metal, thrash, and even juiced-up traditional metal all get diced and sliced into their cranky cauldron – nor does it get overly “clever” and pay lazy lip service to a please-everybody middle ground. No, Torturers’ Lobby simply go for the throat quickly and without compunction, rushing forth with an urgency of approach and physicality that’s tangible – truly, this is a whole band playing together instead of punched-in parts – but soon twist the knife in myriad ways. And that’s perhaps the trump card of Deadened Nerves: violent and off the rails it might often be, but there’s a diabolic logic to the angular shapes Torturers’ Lobby throw, a strive to elevate songwriting to something at once palpitating and mind-bending, careening and in control. RIFFS are aplenty, and the production’s thick and scuzzy yet fully pro, and Shaw’s vocals keep apace with acerbic annunciation. 

“Truly, we just wanted to create unique music we haven’t heard, yet want to listen to,” state the band. “It’s very difficult to nail down what we play, and we like it that way. We worship no specific style, as the greats have already done it, so there is no sense in recreating some watered-down parody of it. We just wanted to be different and pursue something new, a different direction in violent ‘underground’ music. We have jokingly referred to our sound as ‘Florida shitkicker.'”

Still, there’s no joking around on Deadened Nerves. The lyrics match the severity of its music, focusing on actual events and societal ails. “We do not write silly songs about juvenile notions of ‘evil,’ the ‘occult,’ or fictitious gore,” the band continue. “We strive to turn humanity to face its grotesque reflection and reconcile with its own evil and misguided obsession with cruelty, morbidity, and lack of independent thought. This is a real reflection of the decaying world around us, though we are not seeking to advocate for it.”

Nasty, authentically underground, but not bogged down by too-cool borders, Torturers’ Lobby shitkick past, present, and future with Deadened Nerves.

Also hear the previously revealed “Reaper’s Impunity” HERE at Caligari‘s Bandcamp, where the CD and tape versions can also be preordered. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Torturers’ Lobby’s Deadened Nerves
1. Dawning
2. Barbaric Alchemy
3. Chromosomal Devastation
4. Captured Pieces
5. Reaper’s Impunity
6. Hypnotic Seeds Sown
7. Humanity’s Husk
8. Re-education
9. Enduring Spirit
10. Reptilian Hide

MORE INFO:
www.torturerslobby.bandcamp.com

www.caligarirecords.com
www.facebook.com/caligarirecords
www.caligarirecords.bandcamp.com 

www.ixiol.com 

ANCIENT GUARD set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut mini-album, reveal first track – features RUNESPELL member

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces June 14th as the international release date for Ancient Guard‘s striking debut mini-album, Nightfall Enthroned, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

Ancient Guard is a new creation of Nightwolf, renown for pagan black metal vanguard Runespell. As expected, his unmistakable mastery is all across Nightfall Enthroned, Ancient Guard‘s first public work. A surprisingly vast mini-album at four songs in 31 minutes, Nightfall Enthroned is immersive to the extreme and almost soothing in its continually cresting swell of sumptuous black metal mysticism. While Runespell‘s no-less-grandiose sound is oft given to bouts of bloodlust and battle rage, Ancient Guard is pure magisterial march & might as can be expected of such a moniker. And Nighttwolf’s knack for mesmerizing melodicism holds true here, as well, but if one could make distinctions in this regard, it’s that Nightfall Enthroned swirls about to a spacious-yet-thick foundation that’s equal parts stargazing wonder and weight-of-the-universe terror – an infinitely compelling canvas equally suited to adrift dreamers and austere realists alike. Followed by the acoustic lament “Eld,” the synth-heavy epic “A Moonscape Abyss” says exactly everything it needs to about Ancient Guard: awaken to Nightfall Enthroned!

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “A Moonscape Abyss”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Ancient Guard’s Nightfall Enthroned
1. Dominion of Primordial Darkness [11:40]
2. Sepulchral Damnation [9:04]
3. A Moonscape Abyss [7:29]
4. Eld [2:45]

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

HERESIARCH stream new IRON BONEHEAD album

Today, New Zealand dreadnought Heresiarch stream the entirety of their highly anticipated second album, Edifice. Set for international release on April 12th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Heresiarch‘s Edifice in its entirety here:

For over 15 years now, New Zealand’s Heresiarch have patiently crafted a body of work that has come to transcend their early influences. Though lineups have shifted during that time, led by founding vocalist N.H. and enhanced by guitarist C.S. in 2013, Heresiarch have wisely taken their time with recordings and prized quality over quantity. The band’s debut album, Death Ordinance, arrived in 2017 after a trio of savage short-lengths. A new rhythm section took root following that album’s release, and a couple splits in the ensuing years honed their doomed ‘n’ barbaric sound into something more molten and ominous.

And now arrives that megaton payload of devastation, Heresiarch‘s second album, elegantly titled Edifice. If there were any doubts that the band were but yet another toneless ‘n’ tired “war metal” troupe, the New Zealanders trounce any and all trepidation with exceptionally seismic songwriting. Here on Edifice, the parameters of Heresiarch‘s sound – death metal muscle, black metal atmosphere, grindcore aggression – are all in devastating harmony, creating a hydra-headed beast that betrays a wealth of true-yet-twisted ideas. More than just safely evading easy categorization (which is often mere doublespeak for “pleasing all constituents”), the quartet lay bare a landscape of texture titanic in its heft and foreboding in its effect, seamlessly winding through minefields both sonic and psychic and eventually culminating in a grandiose two-part finale in the equally compellingly titled “Hubris and Decline” and “Militate Pyrric Collapse.” For sure, Heresiarch sound as martial as ever, but the lava now flows in palatably unique ways, all without compromising their core aesthetic. Indeed, one could say they’ve finally found order through chaos.

The possibilities of life’s destruction are endless for those who wander before Heresiarch‘s Edifice.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Heresiarch’s Edifice
1. Forged Doctrine
2. Manifest Odium
3. Noose Above the Abyss
4. Gloryless Execution
5. Tides of Regression
6. A World Lit Only By Fire
7. Swarming Blight
8. Mystic and Chaos
9. Hubris and Decline
10. Militate Pyrrhic Collapse

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/heresiarchband

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

FLUIDS release new HELLS HEADBANGERS album today

Today, Hells Headbangers releases Fluids‘ highly anticipated fourth album, Reduced Capabilities, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. On the occasion of this surprise announcement,they stream the album in its entirety. Hear Fluids‘ Reduced Capabilities in its entirety here:

Since 2018, Arizona’s Fluids have been prolifically polluting the underground with their remorselessly disgusting brand of goregrind. While they no doubt made an impact with their first two full-lengths, 2019’s Exploitative Practices and 2020’s Ignorance Exalted, it was the myriad short-length assaults where Fluids truly made their loudest / lewdest declaration of total goregrind purity: knuckle-dragging, ignorant, and intensely foul ‘n’ filthy. Come / cum 2021, Fluids would join Hells Headbangers‘ dysfunctional family and release their grand-reckoning third album, Not Dark Yet, followed by a vinyl reissue of their Fluids of Death compilation and, a year after that, the all-new Fluids of Death 2 compilation. And still, the toilet was not empty…

Now, the sewers erupt again and Fluids expel their fourth full-length, Reduced Capabilities. Immediately, the full force of Fluids is felt – a characteristic stream of slimy, speculum-spreading, all-caps GOREGRIND in the grand, drum-programmed ‘n’ fuzz-toned tradition of godfathers Mortician – but more so is Reduced Capabilities the band at their most stripped-down. No intros, no samples – rather, a rugged & raw and totally streamlined approach to the foulness that is Fluids. Sublime simplicity defined, and then defiled: nothing but blasting and slamming, slamming and blasting, blasting and blasting, and slamming and slamming. Reduced Capabilities also marks the first album with newer vocalist David Duran, who plumbs the absolute depths of his throat whilst evincing slightly more articulation than most goregrinders. And then, surprise of all surprises, Fluids end the album with a cover of Moby’s “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters,” which actually isn’t so shocking given the band’s past dalliances in filmic atmospheres.

“Less is more,” more or less, and Fluids trim the fat with Reduced Capabilities!

Order info can be found HERE. Cover and artwork are as follows:

Tracklisting for Fluid’s Reduced Capabilities
1. Poached
2. Marrow
3. Grifted
4. Rendered (Gastronomically)
5. Measured Antipathy
6. Generational Taint
7. Soot
8. Devalued
9. Reduced Capabilites
10. Parted
11. Unresponsive
12. God Moving Over the Face of the Waters [Moby cover]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Fluids666

www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers 

KERASFÓRA set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces June 14th as the international release date for Kerasfóra‘s highly anticipated debut album, Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

In the summer of 2021, Kerasfóra quietly released their debut EP, Denn die Todten reiten schnell, on CD and cassette in their native Chile. An obsidian gem like few others in the nowadays black metal scene, its mesmerizing mysticism sounded utterly ancient, but it didn’t nod too conspicuously nor too often to any ’90s touchstones. For that reason – and many others, so copious were its charms – Iron Bonehead released it worldwide on vinyl in early 2022.

However, for awe-inspiring as that record often was, Kerasfóra‘s debut album is set to eclipse that and everything else within the wider black metal scene. Titled Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold, indeed does the album comprise six immersive, none-more-mesmerizing songs, each one once again evoking forgotten realms and vast vistas of wonder. And yet, here does the one-man Kerasfóra strike upon bolder or at least more rarefied territory with his inscrutable usage of synths: whereas so many black metal bands, past and present, use synths as a blanket of atmosphere – often unobtrusively, for fear of “un-true” accusations – the selfsame mainman puts them front and center across these Six Nights, carrying each song’s main melody with an almost-demonic lullaby style. It’s difficult, then, to compare that synth usage / prominence to Kerasfóra‘s contemporaries; one would likely have to dig deep into the realm of old psychedelia and krautrock in the ’70s or the first caustic rumblings of post-punk at the dawn of the ’80s to locate a proper analog(ue). Which is all to say that, somehow, Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold manages to be more BLACK METAL than all and sundry: menacing and majestic, wonderfully weird and wildly singular. That Kerasfóra‘s guitar tone is even thicker and his gait grimmer and more lumbering here simply make the album an even grander achievement.

Kerasfóra‘s first EP might’ve evoked the likes of Grimorium Verum, Vobiscum Inferni, and early Hetroertzen as far as displaying a different face for South American black metal brewed in the cauldrons of olde, but with Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold, it’s not unjust to say that the man created a modern classic of spaced-out rawness.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Of Serpent and Return”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Kerasfóra’s 
Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold
1. Of Night and Fire [6:51]
2. Of Omniscience and Mystery [5:08]
3. Of Consternation and Ecstasy [4:07]
4. Of Enlightenment and Fall [5:06]
5. Of Darkness and Confusion [4:37]
6. Of Serpent and Return [5:34]

MORE INFO:
www.kerasfora.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

American black/death institution Crucifier stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Led Astray

Today, American black/death institution Crucifier stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Led Astray. Set for international release on April 12th via Iron Bonehead Productions, hear Crucifier‘s Led Astray in its entirety here:

One of the longest-running entities in the American underground, Crucifier was formed in 1990 by vocalist/drummer Cazz Grant. While myriad lineups would come and go – and the band’s eventual debut album, Stronger Than Passing Time, wouldn’t be released until 2003 – Crucifier have kept consistent to their blasphemous, blackened death metal style steeped in the truly ancient and most underground ways.

Now, two years after their weird & wild Say Your Prayers mini-album, Crucifier align with Iron Bonehead once again for the release of their third full-length, Led Astray. Taking the wandering yet fully locked-in songwriting of that mini to its ultimate conclusion, Led Astray is a masterclass in memorable, METAL riffing and twisted rhythmic thrust. As is their signature, Crucifier sound positively primal here but never primitive; while these nine screeds of blasphemy might confuse or insult normcore listeners, there’s an extremely considered & calculated delirium behind their blackened devilry. As such, the “tight looseness” that’s characterized Crucifier‘s work to date gets sharpened to an enviable degree as these nine labyrinths surge and storm with a paradoxical / perverse sense of class. Credit the latter largely to the jaw-dropping dual lead-work across Led Astray: an element that’s been bubbling in the Crucifier cauldron for years, but which really reaches a superlative level here. Of course, Grant’s vocals are as diabolic as ever, seemingly coming from every direction and hackle-raising in their articulation.

Crucifier hereby have delivered a modern classic of blackened death metal in Led Astray! 

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Crucifier (USA)’s Led Astray
1. Smite…
2. Feed the Furnace
3. In Hircine Splendor
4. Biers of Catholic Bones
5. With Cornu and Peccant Breath
6. Trafficking with the Devil
7. Serenaded by the Angels’ Shrills
8. Harbingers of Apollyon
9. An Endeavour of Rats

MORE INFO:
www.thetruecrucifier.bandcamp.com 

www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

FUNERAL STORM set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS album

Today, Hells Headbangers announces May 10th as the international release date for Funeral Storm highly anticipated second album, Chthonic Invocations, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

It was but 2019 when Funeral Storm made their grand entrance onto the international metal stage with their acclaimed debut album, Arcane Mysteries, courtesy of Hells Headbangers. While their history goes back to 2001, activities didn’t begin in earnest until 2012, and hard graft became their watchword. But it was Arcane Mysteries that majestically consolidated all of Funeral Storm‘s considerable promise into one grand statement of classic Greek black metal in an authentically early ’90s style. It certainly didn’t hurt that that debut album featured Varathron founder Necroabyssious on vocals. Two years came a split 7″ with Greek comrades Synteleia, appropriately titled The Ancient Calling, also courtesy of Hells Headbangers.

That split featured a scaled-back lineup of Necroabyssious and guitarist Arcania and founding guitarist / bassist / drum-programmer Wampyrion, and thus fortified does Funeral Storm‘s second full-length follow. Likewise appropriately titled, Chthonic Invocations further explores the steadfast theme of the Cthulhu mythos. More specifically, Funeral Storm‘s second album in general focuses on death, in every form, for Arcania and Wampyrion were totally isolated during the lockdown and Necroabyssious was heavily infected with Covid-19 to a point where the band didn’t know what would happen. However, after he was healed, Necroabyssious delivered an exceptionally aggressive performance, suiting to his bandmates’ more surging yet more mystical music. Truly, Chthonic Invocations sounds like Funeral Storm 666%, and harkens even further into the ancient past: to say that the album could’ve been released in 1993 on Unisound is an understatement to end all understatements. But again, just like its full-length predecessor, Chthonic Invocations easily avoids lazy “throwback” status on both the strength of its songwriting and its era-authentic synths, handled by both Arcania and Wampyrion.

Featuring another awe-inspiring cover courtesy of Markus Vesper (Denial of God, Manilla Road, Attic), with Chthonic Invocations do Funeral Storm once again triumphantly revive atmospheric tartaric black metal in the vein of the old Hellenic scene. The old ones have been summoned!

In the meantime, hear the previously revealed track “The Void”  here:

Preorder info can be found HERE. Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Funeral Storm’s Chthonic Invocations
1. Whispers From The Beyond
2. Behold The Dark
3. The Void
4. Funeral Pyre
5. The Epitaph Of The Dead
6. The Covenant Of Old
7. Mistress Of The Night (The Gathering Begins)
8. The Calling Of The Father

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/funeralstorm666

www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers