In anticipation of their upcoming first North American tour this September, on September 8th, Hells Headbangers is proud to present a special compilation CD from Slaughtbbath entitled Contempt, War and Damnation. One of the most elite hordes in the shit-hot Chilean black/death scene, for a decade and a half now, Slaughtbbath have prolifically pursued a fierce ‘n’ fiery vision of total black/death METAL. With a rich yet uniformly exemplary discography, this power-trio have laid waste to the underground across a myriad demos, splits, EPs, and 2013’s now-classic debut album, Hail to Fire.
Now aligned with Hells Headbangers since last year’s red-eyed ‘n’ raging split 7″ with Grave Desecrator, Slaughtbbath hereby present an exclusive collection of tracks from their post-Hail to Fire period. Aptly titled Contempt, War and Damnation, this seven-track CD compiles tracks from splits with Grave Desecrator, Ill Omen, Kill, and fellow Hells Headbangers cult Hades Archer as well as a rare compilation track and a brand-new song specifically recorded for this release. As ever going from strength to strength, Contempt, War and Damnation displays a Slaughtbbath at the peak of their powers, pulsing with both bestiality and burliness alike, and yet exhibiting a nuanced songwriting nous that is second to none.
As North America quivers before Slaughtbbath’s impending assault on its shores (dates after the jump), prepare for Contempt, War and Damnation!
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Slaughtbbath’s Contempt, War and Damnation
1. Astral Rape
2. Nefast Fireground
3. Tyranny From Sodom
4. Inverted Hierophany
5. Bestial Descension
6. The Sands of Despair
7. Black Revelation of Death
Confirmed dates and venues for Slaughtbbath’s forthcoming first North American tour, dubbed Barbaric Cruelty Over North America, as well as poster art are as follows:
September 8-9 – Wings of Metal Festival @ Katacombes
September 12 – Worcester, MA @ Ralph’s Rock Diner
September 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Metal Kingdom
September 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fire
September 15 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
September 16 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies Music Joint
September 17 – Hamtramck, MI @ New Dodge Lounge
September 20 – Buffalo, NY @ Rockin Buffalo Saloon
September 21 – Toronto, ON @ Coalition
September 22 – Sherbrooke, QC @ Le Murdoch
September 23 – Considered Dead Festival, QC @ Multi Meduse
Today, Hells Headbangers sets October 13th as the international release date for Hades Archer’s highly anticipated second album, Temple of the Impure, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
Hailing from Chile, Hades Archer are staunchly and proudly a duo: foul and filthy, yet fuller than most bands twice their membership. Across their prolific canon, Hades Archer have come to define – and set the gold standard for – modern black/death metal hailing from South America. Rabid fans for many years, Hells Headbangers couldn’t be more pleased to work with the diabolical duo for Temple of the Impure and other upcoming assaults.
Hades Archer was formed in 2006 in Santiago, Chile by N-III on guitars and voice and Infernal Desolator on drums. The band launched their first demo-rehearsals through Chilean label Kuravilu, unleashing their glorious influences such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, Sarcófago, Sextrash, Mayhem, Impaled Nazarene, Bestial Warlust, Black Witchery, Inquisition, and more. Later in 2007, Hateaxes Command came in on drums. With this new lineup, the duo recorded the Penis Metal and Gloria Rex Infernvs EPs – released in 2008 and 2010, respectively – and their debut album, 2011’s For The Diabolical Ages. This cult era is considered by Hades Archer where the band’s history truly began.
In 2012, Hateaxes Command departed and was replaced by Skullcrusher Hammers, due to N-III’s move to Valdivia years before. With this lineup, Hades Archer launched a number of live rituals and recorded the mini-album The Curse Over Mankind. Two years later came the Circus of Abominations split mini-album with new labelmates Slaughtbbath. Once more due to Skullcrusher Hammers moving to another city and foregoing Hades Archer embarking upon future tours, the year 2015 saw the return of Hateaxes Command to record the EP Unus Cantus Bestiae, which was later reissued as a split with Japan’s legendary Sabbat.
But, at long last, now arrives Temple of the Impure: the grand culmination of Hades Archer’s hard graft in the underground the past decade-plus, and a grimy new jewel in the reigning crown of Chilean black/death. The band’s first new recordings in two years, Temple of the Impure proves that the silence was indeed golden, for LP#2 is a fucking firestorm of filth and foulness, a forever-flowing fount of unnervingly hypnotic ultraviolence. Both defining and deviating from the classic Chilean archetype, Temple of the Impure sees Hades Archer simultaneously surpassing the boundaries of chaotic overload and somehow delivering their most diseased and dirt-encrusted expression by paradoxically locating their cleanest and most professional recording to date. A dicey move in most bands’ hands, but here, the payoff speaks for itself: Temple of the Impure is precisely THAT, and it can be heard in gleamingly 3D tones, thereby maximizing the palpably physical possession it invokes within the listener. Total and utter diabolism across a dozen tracks in 34 minutes, Temple of the Impure kicks in immediately and thoroughly assaults the senses for its entire duration, along the way finessing forth deft ‘n’ dynamic downshifts and martial headbanging moments.
Aptly titled as anything currently out there, Temple of the Impure is the foundation on which Hades Archer hereby assert their dominance across the nowadays underground metal scene. Behold mastery, and bow down. The first example of that impure mastery can be heard with the previously-revealed track “Chaos Teratosis Chimeras”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Hades Archer’s Temple of the Impure
1. Intro (Ikkibu Ardu)
2. Chaos Teratosis Chimeras
3. The Gods Sold This World For Destruction
4. Circus Of Abominations
5. Sex Sex Sex Perversions
6. Great Moon Tide
7. Hecate Undressed
8. Unus Cantus Bestiae
9. Temple Of The Impure
10. Apollyon’s Brightness
11. The World Inheritance
12. Outro (Homodeus Abortunction)
ALTARAGE are unveiling the first mind-blowing track taken from their forthcoming album, ‘Endinghent’, which has been scheduled for release on October 13th. The enigmatic Spanish death innovators are available for interviews.
The song “Spearheaderon” is presented in the form of an insane video clip
ALTARAGE comment: “Nothing relevant to say. There is no point. Words are futile in the raging waters of the ‘Spearheaderon’. Bizarre thoughts and filth spread, we shall move forward. Through the excess, ‘Endinghent’.”
ALTARAGE are furthermore releasing the artwork of ‘Endinghent’, which can be viewed together with the track-list below.
ALTARAGE deliver exactly what the underground buzz around them promised. Their second full-length, ‘Endinghent’ is bristling with black and dissonant death metal fury that immediately evokes a plethora of sinister images in the brain. Their relentless soul-crushing sound is sending the scared mind on overdrive.
Little is known about this secretive death metal collective, except their origin from Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque country of Spain. In 2015, ALTARAGE unleashed a demo simply entitled after its year of release, ‘MMXV’ generated massive interest in the extreme metal scene around the globe. This was followed by the debut album ‘NIHL’ (2016), which received high praise from critics and fans alike.
ALTARAGE return to mercilessly drag you into an abyss of nightmares and twisted meanings. ‘Endinghent’, in their own words, calls the doom inhabitants to reach a whole nothing. Welcome to this new dimension of sonic darkness.
NEKROHOWL plays abhorrent and paroxysmal form of death metal in the uncanniest path of legendary 90’s era death metal period. The troop consists of the members from some of the finest bands from Bangladesh, including Homicide, Nafarmaan, Enmachined and Warhound.
Toilet ov Hell premiered “Mortal Incubation” — first single from their debut upcoming EP, “Epitome of Morbid”.
“Soon you’ll find yourself clawing out of your grave again, though, because this is the kind of track that demands repeat listens.” — Toilet ov Hell
Nekrohowl originally started as a 4-piece Death Metal band, consisting of members of some other prestigious local extreme metal band. Soon they released their menacing demo and invaded Kolkata. Currently they are active as a trio and their monstrous lineup consists of Obliterator (Homicide), Sadist (Enmachined, Nafarmaan) and Warmonger (Warhound, Ex-Orator).
Track “Mortal Incubation” will be a part of their upcoming EP, to be released within a few months.
Guitarist Obliterator States:
“The song resembles ” death ” as a person / entity with sheer omnipotence and ominous wrath against mortals . It is said that , the bringer of doom and darkness shall forever reign in the realm of man . The temptation to devastate human in flesh will summon ultimate excruciating .”
Nekrohowl has done completing their AGONIZE AND EXCRUCIATE TOUR 2017, where they supported Japanese Tech Death Giant DESECRAVITY on their Bangladesh (Dhaka) and India (Shilong and Kolkata) gigs.
Iron Bonehead Productions sets September 29th as the international release date for Runespell’s highly anticipated debut album, Unhallowed Blood Oath, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Hailing from the shit-hot true Australian black metal scene, Runespell is the work of one Nightwolf, considered by those in the know to be arguably the busiest man in OZBM, maintaining as he does the equally prolific Eternum and Blood Stronghold. While bearing aesthetic similarities to those two bands – this is the purest, most mystical black metal after all – Runespell is a majestic rumination on the mysteries of war and bloodshed, vengeance and valor, memory and destiny. Nightwolf handily accomplished that earlier this year with the debut demo Aeons of Ancient Blood, but now, once again in bloodpact with Iron Bonehead, Runespell rises for its grandest strike in Unhallowed Blood Oath.
Maintaining the same exemplary standards in songwriting and execution, here on Unhallowed Blood Oath, the passion and prowess by which Nightwolf guides Runespell have somehow multiplied tenfold. This is black metal deeply steeped in early ’90s classicism, be it from Scandinavia or France or particularly Poland – again, no sea change there – but to take source material, especially the sort that’s been so widely replicated year after year, and both handily challenge those classics AND resound like an era-relevant relic is no mean feat. In fact, it requires dedication and sacrifice – spiritually, above all, as well as physically – and those are in no short supply across Unhallowed Blood Oath; not for nothing is the album titled that. The seven tracks comprising the record feel strangely far more epic than the compact running-time of 37 minutes suggest, and yet within that mesmerizing maelstrom of alternately grim/gorgeous frequencies lies profound truths, flickering refractions of times distant and as yet lived, of black metal wielded as weapon, totem, and portal simultaneously.
Partake in Runespell’s Unhallowed Blood Oath or be banished: there is only one choice. Begin the journey to damnation/redemption with the opening track “Oblivion Winds”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Runespell’s Unhallowed Blood Oath
1. Oblivion Winds
2. Bloodlust & Vengeance
3. As Old Gates Unfurl…
4. Heaven In Blood
5. White Death’s Wings
6. All Thrones Perish
7. And Wolves Guide Me Home
Today, Seance Records sets September 15th as the international release date for Nocturnes Mist’s highly anticipated third album, Diabolical Baptism. Following quickly on the heels of last year’s scorching second album, March to Perdition, Diabolical Baptism completes an unholy trinity of albums that forever establishes Nocturnes Mist as one of the darkest and most uncompromising antipodean forces. More savage, more immediate, and more engaging, the band goes from strength to strength here, heralding a new era for their characteristically Aussie black metal.
Nocturnes Mist’s Diabolical Baptism is a work of traditional black metal inspired by the occult and Satan. After watching The Omen trilogy, the band was inspired to write a song based upon the iconic film score, “Ave Satani,” and in doing so, this song influenced the tone of the album. Diabolical Baptism is a work inspired by high Satanism, both its medieval origins as well as the presence of Satan and the occult in the contemporary world: from The Omen trilogy to Ken Russel’s classic The Devils (from which a sample is used on the song “Barbs of Sadism) to the illustrations from the works of Lord of De Lancre, the infamous French witch-finder and demonologist of the 17th Century. His image of the Black Mass, the witches Sabbath in addition to horror, both fictional demonic terror and the real life terrors of the medieval age and inquisition, coupled with a fascination for clandestine ceremonies of the left-hand path – all come together with each song representing another page of Nocturnes Mist’s musical grimoire, a tale written in homage to Satan and the vivid imagery that he has inspired throughout the ages.
The lavish artwork throughout Diabolical Baptism, by the hand of modern master Jenglot Hitam, is a re-imagining of Lord of De Lancre’s Black Mass and Witches Sabbath – and here, from Satanic inspiration emerges a new level of primal energy and brutality for Nocturnes Mist. Harsh compositions and raw fury have engulfed symphonic elements, with keyboards only momentarily emerging to highlight mood and atmosphere. The transition of style was not intentional; rather, it’s a subconscious evolution reflecting the band’s collective energy whilst writing the album. As a result, Diabolical Baptism is a natural manifestation of evil and hatred, a return to the raw, unadulterated energy of early ’90s black metal and a vehement outpouring sparked by frustration with the continued dilution of the genre. Diabolical Baptism is a rekindling of Nocturnes Mist’s devotion to black metal, its roots, the feeling and conviction stemming back to the origins of the band, their influences, and the energy that originally galvanized them in the ’90s.
Nocturnes Mist was formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1997 and have since remained veiled in mystery and fog. The band was ignited amidst a strong movement of bands from South Australia such as Stargazer, Cauldron Black Ram, Mournful Congregation, Darklord, and Beyond Mortal Dreams among others. However, Nocturnes Mist remained undeservedly underrated and overlooked, as black metal had yet to reach the peak of its popularity in Australia and Australian bands were hindered by isolation, great distance between states, and poor distribution in the days before the internet was widely available in households.
Embodying the spirit of ’90’s black metal, Nocturnes Mist’s music unites ferocity with darkness, cold vengeance with symphonic poetry, and chilling atmospheres with sheer heaviness. Truly borne from the ’90s and the influence of first- and second-wave black metal, early on, Nocturnes Mist created symphonic black metal in the style of early Emperor, Satyricon, Abigor, and Nazxul. Denying the lightweight flourishes of what symphonic black metal evolved into by the end of the ’90s, Nocturnes Mist remained firmly rooted in the traditional style and ideals of black metal, incorporating rawness, heaviness, dark atmosphere, and a true feeling of aggression characterized within the Australian scene.
The Southern Storms demo EP was released in 1998 by the band and limited in availability, only being traded via mail and sold at the few shows which the band played between 1999-2000. These shows were some of the first black metal shows in South Australia and are now legendary landmarks in the evolution of OZBM. Armed with a full lineup and instilled with the aesthetic ideals of traditional black metal, these shows were impressive rituals of dark, intense heaviness as the band performed in full corpsepaint, gauntlets, and created a lavish scene of gothic candelabras and candlelit atmosphere. Two self-titled demos followed in 2000 and 2004, but these were not widely circulated, and the songs were later reworked & re-recorded in 2009 to become part of what is now the As Flames Burn album, which remained unreleased until 2013.
Nocturnes Mist predated most of the bands that form the current Australian black metal scene, but in a case of being ahead of their time, they slowly slipped into obscurity. Seance Records reignited the flame in 2013 with the first official release of As Flames Burn. The songs were remixed and mastered yet stylistically represent the early era of this band and their body of work to date. The CD also included the Southern Storms tracks as a bonus. Forging ahead, the band soon recorded their second full-length, March to Perdition, released in 2016 by Seance Records. The ten new songs comprising the album were characteristic of the band’s style: unpretentious and atmospheric, yet instilled with a raw, savage element to surpass what has come before. Each song was crafted with skillful writing and musicianship while not losing the energy and spontaneity that fortified the band’s lofty position as forerunners of OZBM
Tracklisting for Nocturnes Mist’s Diabolical Baptism
1. Hammers of Hatered
2. Barbs of Sadism
3. Tears of Misery
4. Temple of Malevolence
5. Pale Face Cold Heart
6. Obscure Reaches
7. Upon The Beast Rode a Whore
8. Shadow of the Flame
9. Domina Noctus
10. Ave Satani
SEPTICFLESH are releasing a lyric video for the second new song taken from their forthcoming tenth full-length, ‘Codex Omega’, which has been scheduled for release on September 1st.
The Greek masters of symphonic death metal are exclusively premiering “3rd Testament”
VIDEO CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
SEPTICFLESH comment on ‘3rd Testament: “As the release date of our new album is getting closer, it is only appropriate to introduce you to the song that revolves around the main theme, ‘3rd Testament’ (Codex Omega). So, behold the anti-bible. Listen to the sutras of the 3rd and final book in the divine drama series…”
SEPTICFLESH have previously revealed the artwork, which has been created by frontman Seth and track-list of ‘Codex Omega’. Both can be viewed below
1. Dante’s Inferno (5:34)
2. 3rd Testament (Codex Omega) (4:08)
3. Portrait of a Headless Man (5:00)
4. Martyr (5:07)
5. Enemy of Truth (4:55)
6. Dark Art (5:24)
7. Our Church, Below the Sea (3:59)
8. Faceless Queen (5:20)
9. The Gospels of Fear (3:41)
10. Trinity (4:07)
SEPTICFLESH are painting an apocalyptic vision and make full use of their impressive musical palette consisting of death metal and orchestral colours on their tenth full-length, ‘Codex Omega’.
From their alpha EP ‘Temple of the Lost Race’ that was released one year after their founding in 1990, the Greek musicians have pushed the limits of the metal genre and continued to explore new sonic path with every following release from their debut album ‘Mystic Places of Dawn’ (1994) to the stunning ‘Sumerian Daemons’ (2003), which have in the meantime all been re-issued by Season of Mist.
Yet SEPTICFLESH had clearly come into their own sound when they unleashed their celebrated comeback album after a five-year hiatus that re-charged their artistic batteries. ‘Communion’ (2008) offered a well-balanced amalgamation of metal elements that were freely drawn from the darker side of the genre including death, black, and gothic metal with epic orchestral arrangements. This symphonic excellence was based on guitarist Christos Antoniou bringing to bear the fruits of his academic studies of classical composition, which he passed with honours and distinction.
With a clear musical compass to navigate, SEPTICFLESH continued to explore their sound and the compositional possibilities of this new-found metal continent. ‘The Great Mass’ (2011) and ‘Titan’ (2014) saw the Greeks evolving at fast speed and at the same time gathering adherents as well as critical praise in ever growing numbers. Extended touring on both sides of the Atlantic and performances at about every important festival further consolidated the bands burgeoning status.
Although the biblical omega marks the end, SEPTICFLESH on the contrary are reaching their current peak with ‘Codex Omega’, an album that clearly witnesses the Greek visionaries having come to maturity and expert craftsmanship in every sense.
SEPTICFLESH are the undisputable masters of symphonic death metal and ‘Codex Omega’ is the perfect proof for this bold statement.
Ukrainian black metal veterans DRUDKH and Swiss underground one-man act PAYSAGE D’HIVER (out on Prophecy) will release their limited 12″ split-EP ‘Somewhere Sadness Wanders / Schnee (IV)’ worldwide on August 25th.
DRUDKH are now premiering their new EP-track, “The Night Walks Towards Her Throne”, which features clean vocals by WINTERFYLLETH frontman Chris Naughton. The lyrics were penned by Ukrainian poet Maik Yohansen (1895-1937), who was murdered by a Soviet firing squad.
The artwork of ‘Somewhere Sadness Wanders / Schnee (IV)’ can be viewed together with the track-list of the split-EP below.
Tracklist
1. DRUDKH – All Shades Of Silence (12:54)
2. DRUDKH – The Night Walks Towards Her Throne (8:08)
3. PAYSAGE D’HIVER – Schnee IV (19:51)
DRUDKH release their next split-EP. The Ukrainian underground black metal veterans collaborate with the Swiss atmospheric black metal project PAYSAGE D’HIVER this time.
Mastermind Roman Sayenko continues to draw his lyrical inspiration from Ukrainian poets. “All Shades Of Silence” derives from the writings of Yevhen Pluzhnyk (1898-1936), who died in a Stalinist gulag. His contemporary Maik Yohansen (1895-1937), who penned the words in “The Night Walks Towards Her Throne” shared a similar fate by being murdered with the guns of a Soviet firing squad.
Both tracks clearly show Roman Sayenko’s musical handwriting by perfectly blending raw harshness, epic melodies and a touch of folklore into black metal masterpieces.
With their latest full-length ‘A Furrow Cut Short’ (2015), DRUDKH continued on the dark and bleak course charted with previous release ‘Eternal Turn of the Wheel’ (2012). In an ever-evolving metamorphosis, DRUDKH have regularly returned to their early legacy from the Nordic Black Metal inspired debut ‘Forgotten Legends’ (2003) as well as the cinematic soundscapes of ‘Autumn Aurora’ (2004) and the traditional influences of ‘The Swan Road’ (2005). On ‘Blood in Our Wells’ (2006) progressive elements surfaced, while after the instrumental and partly acoustic ‘Songs of Grief and Solitude’ (2006) a sharp contrast was created by the harshly black ‘Estrangement’ (2007). ‘Microcosmos’ (2009) seemed to tie up the different strands of DRUDKH’s previous releases, before embarking on a quest to more outlying progressive realms with ‘Handful of Stars’ (2010), which led Roman Sayenko to found OLD SILVER KEY, joined by ALCEST vocalist Neige. The band’s mastermind has often penned his own lyrics, but also continuously rediscovered forgotten poets of his home country. With similar intentions but musically closer to their original band, members of DRUDKH including Roman Sayenko released an album entitled, ‘The Great Cold Steppe’ (March, 2017) using the name WINDSWEPT.
DRUDKH insist to be understood through their music alone and do not provide any kind of promotion. DRUDKH do therefore not release any pictures, nor give interviews, or perform live.
CANNABIS CORPSE are premiering the second smoking hot track taken from their forthcoming album, ‘Left Hand Pass’, which has been scheduled for release on September 8th.
CANNABIS CORPSE have previously released the artwork and track-list of ‘Left Hand Pass’, which can both be viewed below.
Track-list
1. The 420th Crusade (4:29)
2. In Dank Purity (2:57)
3. Final Exhalation (2:54)
4. Chronic Breed (4:46)
5. In Battle There Is No Pot (3:26)
6. Grass Obliteration (3:21)
7. Left Hand Pass (3:18)
8. Effigy of the Forgetful (3:32)
9. Papyrus Containing the Spell to Protect Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Bong Water (4:27)
10. The Fiends that Come to Steal the Weed of the Deceased (3:50)
Total playing-time: 37:00
Turning a classic album title such as ENTOMBED’s ‘Left Hand Path’ into a weedy phrase would normally be punishable by having to listen to the worst of MODERN TALKING on continued play. Yet CANNABIS CORPSE not only get away with it, but the death metal and pot aficionados are actually doing exactly what their massive following is happily demanding of the Americans.
CANNABIS CORPSE were conceived out of a passionate love for Floridian death metal shared by MUNICIPAL WASTE bassist / vocalist Phil “LandPhil” Hall and drummer Josh “Hallhammer” Hall, who created the band in 2006 in Richmond, Virginia.
Sharing a penchant for marijuana, the brothers decided from the start to leave the stereotypical genre subjects of gore, splatter, and horror behind and infuse a green sense of humour into their lyrics. Meanwhile it has become a badge of honour for many of the Halls’ idols to have one of their titles turned into a tongue-in-cheek parody. And while there can be no doubt about what inspired a verbal monster such as “Papyrus Containing the Spell to Protect Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Bong Water”, the track-list of ‘Left Hand Pass’ may be read as a death metal quiz for sorts.
CANNABIS CORPSE immediately hit a nerve with their debut ‘Blunted at Birth’ (2006), while the following full-length ‘Tube of the Resinated’ (2008) and the EP ‘The Weeding’ (2009) demonstrated that the band was a musical match to those that they paid obviously tribute to the likes of CANNIBAL CORPSE, MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, and OBITUARY. With ‘Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise’ (2011), the Americans set another benchmark of keeping the old school spirit alive. Before the release of fourth acclaimed album, ‘From Wisdom to Baked’ (2014), the spliff lovers’ complete catalogue was re-issued on Season of Mist.
Now CANNABIS CORPSE are doing once again what they are best at and hammer out a perfect death metal album that combines straight-to-the-point songwriting with technical prowess. Time to fly high again with ‘Left Hand Pass’!
Today, doom-death titans Temple of Void premiere the new track “Graven Desires”. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Lords of Death, set for international release on July 28th via Shadow Kingdom Records.
Ever aptly titled, Lords of Death is an insanely, irrevocably MASSIVE slab of doom-DEATH, and the album by which Temple of Void will rightfully take their seat at the throne. Nearly three years in the making, Lords of Death is an experience like no other, and will surely go down as one of the top metal albums of 2017.
Temple of Void is an uncompromising collaboration from the depths of Detroit, Michigan. Comprising five musicians who have put in decades of time in the Detroit underground, Temple of Void entered this world with singular focus and methodical execution from the start. Temple of Void harkens back to the somber sound of early European doom, while channeling the energy and devastation of old-school American death metal. But Temple of Void is far more than the sum of its parts: Temple of Void destroys.
Temple of Void self-released their first demo in 2013. Four weeks later, they had signed to four different record labels to release Demo MMXIII and their imminent debut album across the world. The demo was met with staggering support from the underground, but just over a year later, Temple of Void unleashed their debut album, Of Terror and the Supernatural, via Saw Her Ghost Records for the double-LP vinyl version and on CD through Rain Without End Records. The day it was released, Shadow Kingdom contacted the band and requested dibs on re-releasing the album to a worldwide audience. Unleashed internationally in September 2015, the slab of barbarity otherwise known as Of Terror and the Supernatural quickly became a critically acclaimed cult hit amongst the press and those looking for the darkest, dirtiest doom-death.
But, with the bar set so high by that debut album, Temple of Void swagger forth to eclipse that achievement and soundly obliterate any comparisons with Lords of Death. A prescient title if there ever was one, Lords of Death casts Temple of Void in a slightly newer light: whilst unmistakably Temple of Void, this is the sound of the band shorn of any fat and fully representing the powerful, punishing experience of the band in a live setting. It’s still signature Temple of Void, to be sure, but Lords of Death emits an enviable amount of focus and forward momentum, with the band largely ditching the doomier tropes in favor of ones reflective of their all-consuming onstage power. Instead, Temple of Void emphasized the deathlier aspects of their debut, but pumped them full of addicting, headbanging energy. Put another way, whereas Of Terror and the Supernatural was doom with death metal, Lords of Death is death metal with doom. Fittingly, the production here is utterly CRUSHING, and once again recorded at Mount Doom in Detroit.
Completed by appropriately morbid artwork by Paolo Girardi, Lords of Death is that Rubicon-crossing moment where a band becomes masters. Recommended for fans of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Grave, Asphyx, Edge of Sanity, Obituary, Hooded Menace, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and the early works of Paradise Lost, Morbid Angel, and Opeth – behold the new lords of death, Temple of Void!
“An uncompromising record from the band that made one of the very best, if not THE best death/doom debut in last five years or so. Weighty death metal groove and suffocating, gloomy atmosphere in just the right mix together. Album-of-the-year material!” – Markus Makkonen (Hooded Menace / Sadistik Forest)
Tracklisting for Temple of Void’s Lords of Death
1. The Charnel Unearthing
2. Wretched Banquet
A Watery Internment
3. The Hidden Fiend
4. An Ominous Journey
5. The Gift
6. Graven Desires
7. Deceiver in the Shadows
