HANGHEDIEF set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut mini-album, reveal first track – features members of POSSESSION, POX+++

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces October 14th as the international release date for Hanghedief‘s striking debut mini-album, Overduyvelsche Boosheit, on CD, 12″ vinyl, and cassette tape formats.

Hanghedief is a brand-new formation between the selfsame Hanghedief from Belgium’s POX and Possession‘s Pz. Kpfw. Together, both men stick to a strange ‘n’ singular style of black metal steeped in the more unorthodox days of the 1990s. Featuring five tracks across 25 minutes, the duo’s Overduyvelsche Boosheit is at once familiar and foreign. That they conclude the record with an Ancient Rites cover gives some clue to their no-less-beguiling direction, and the songs themselves – seemingly far more epic than their individual runtimes suggest – emit an elegant iciness comparable to very earliest Behemoth. However, with the almost-wholesale lack of bass (think Veles’ Black Hateful Metal), an eerily levitational sensation is created, which makes the medieval melodicism sound even more maniacal. Then, there’s Hanghedief‘s visual side, represented by the bright ‘n’ bold cover artwork of CINIS (Seresian Cobra) and especially the band’s similarly monstrous portraiture by same: an undoubtedly unique twist of the knife. In sum, Overduyvelsche Boosheit is the embodiment of CULT.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “1634, K.M.” here:

Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Hanghedief’s Overduyvelsche Boosheit
1. 1611, V.C.
2. 1634, K.M.
3. Meesters van de Hooge Wercken
4. 1638, D.V.J.
5. Longing for the Ancient Kingdom II [Ancient Rites cover]

More Info here : Iron Bonehead Productions

ATRONOS set release date for PURITY THROUGH FIRE debut album, reveal first track – features members of MAVORIM, EISENKULT, AD MORTEM, DRUDENSANG+++

Today, Purity Through Fire announces September 21st as the international release date for Atronos‘ highly anticipated debut album, Fehde, on CD, A5 digipack, and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will follow later.

Formed in 2020, it was not until early 2022 that Atronos released their first demo, Fehde. However, mainman Henker is a prolific underground veteran whose current bands include Ad Mortem, Drudensang, and Blodskut, so it should come as no surprise that Atronos arrived as an already-serious proposition. More specifically, Atronos is a continuation of Henker’s vision after the end of Temple of Oblivion; many of the ideas he had for that band are now becoming a reality under the Atronos banner. Undeniably Teutonic in their stoic march and folkish fury, the Fehde demo was absolutely addicting in its catchiness, so it was no surprise that Purity Through Fire reissued those demo tracks as a split with fellow Teutonic titans Eisenkult and made a blood pact with the band for their debut album.

Striking while the iron’s red-hot, Atronos unsheathe their debut album, Fehde. Indeed bearing the same title as their first demo, the debut album Fehde reprises that demo’s four tracks but in superior versions, sharper and more stealthy. In fact, to qualify the album as sharp and stealthy succinctly summarizes Atronos‘ secret of steel: raucous and rabble-rousing, for sure, their black metal nevertheless bleeds a noble heroism and marching glory that put Fehde in more serious territory than other punkish black metal. Touches of melancholy folk color their black-magick riffing, lending tragedy as much as triumph to that arsenal, and the ripp(l)ingly clear production only makes that attack that much more energizing and effervescent. Leading the charge is the addition of erstwhile Mavorim / Eisenkult vocalist Baptist, whose commanding annunciation sounds like the herald of ancient war. But above all, it’s the earworming songwriting that shows Atronos as true masters, even at this early juncture; you’d be hard-pressed to find a more powerful and professional iteration of modern roots-oriented German black metal than this.

Eight swords-aloft anthems, 37 mesmerizing minutes: Atronos have come to conquer with the debut album Fehde!

Raise the first sword with the brand-new track “Ohne Gestern, ohne Morgen” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Atronos’ Fehde
1. Mit Speeren und Harpunen
2. Ohne Gestern, ohne Morgen
3. Dein Zauber
4. Feuer und Stahl
5. Der Pakt
6. Ich bin der Sieg
7. Nicht auf dieser Welt
8. Ein Gebet aus Panzerketten

MORE INFO:
www.atronos.bandcamp.com

EXORDIUM MORS set release date for new PRAETORIAN SWORD album, reveal first track

Today, Praetorian Sword Records announces October 31st as the international release date for the long-awaited second album of Exordium Mors, As Legends Fade and Gods Die, on vinyl LP and digital formats.

If there’s a word to describe Exordium Mors, it’s outlier. The New Zealand-based band have forged their own path for nearly two decades, disregarding the trends that have come and gone both within the established “underground” and in the more accepted sections of the metal world. This has resulted in hymns that are a chaotic and volatile blend of speed, dynamics, melody, vitriol, and outright violence – too hostile for technically minded “musicians” and, at the same time, too “technical” for those who like simple brutality music. Exordium Mors‘ sound is akin to a glorious sun burning everything in its sight.
 
The rabid words spat forth to this music rise from Ancient Roman and Hellenic wisdom forged with Satanism and Nietzschean thought: a parable of disdain against the modern world, against the 21st century morality and ultimately against death itself. Exordium Mors are comprised of men who draw from years of experience in metal, both in New Zealand and in Southeast Asia – life experience that knows that the human condition is the same everywhere and that humanity overall deserves contempt.   
 
Over the years, Exordium Mors have been branded “blackthrash,” but this term doesn’t do the band justice, as the music and lyrics are harsher, darker, and more complicated than most bands who fit that often-too-convenient description. Point proof is the band’s long-awaited second album, As Legends Fade and Gods Die. Eight long years after their cult The Apotheosis of Death debut, Exordium Mors‘ second long-playing salvo spreads ultraviolence in all directions, dizzying in construction and DEADLY in execution. There’s fire and finesse in equal measure, as epic songwriting gets ramped up to dangerous speeds and the listener’s sense of safety (and sanity) are wholly disregarded as the quintet dive headfirst into a maelstrom of malice and mystery. More than anything, As Legends Fade and Gods Die displays Exordium Mors at their most nuanced and also most unique; respectively, the production is crystal-clear and gleaming but sacrifices not one ounce of power, and the currents coursing through that songwriting bend and break metallic conventions to their own diabolic design. To restate the obvious, this band is an outlier and not for everybody, and their second album decisively draws a line in the blood-soaked sand.

“The reckoning of my soul hath liberated me from their path. No man is born equal. No man is born free.”

In the meantime, see & hear a visualizer for the brand-new track “A Pyrrhic Sacrament” here:

Also hear the track HERE at Exordium Mors‘ Bandcamp, where the album can also be preordered. Cover artwork, courtesy of Khaos Diktator Design, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Exordium Mors’ As Legends Fade and Gods Die

1. I Saw Oblivion [5:57]
2. A Pyrrhic Sacrament [4:12]
3. Flesh Of The Heathen [8:25]
4. Surrounded By Serpents [4:23]
5. Crown Of Dust [7:30]
6. Torn Usunder [4:47]
7. Triumphator [8:06]

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

www.praetoriansword.company.site

Blackened darkwavers Hours of Worship premiere new track

Today, blackened darkwavers Hours of Worship premiere the new track “There By The Window”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, The Cold That You Left, set for international release on August 19th via Iron Bonehead Productions. Hear Hours of Worship‘s “There By The Window” in its entirety here:

Hours of Worship are a New York City/Lisbon-based duo creating depressing music. Their music contains tragic sadness built around epic, doomed themes. Second-wave black metal atmosphere and goth depression appear in equal measures to create a distinct sound.

One listen to the duo’s debut album, The Cold That You Left, will leave a lasting impression that Hours of Worship have indeed created a distinct sound. While something electronically oriented being on Iron Bonehead may seem anathema to the label’s original tenets, it’s worth noting that Iron Bonehead first introduced Rope Sect and Light of the Morning Star to the world – both groups being far closer to deathrock and early goth than anything conventionally “extreme.” Nevertheless, the emotions coursing through The Cold That You Left are, in fact, extremely intense. Lyrically, Hours of Worship‘s deeply personal focus is on themes of nihilism, misanthropy, and veneration of isolation, and they wrap these weighty themes in a dark, sometimes-detouring pulse full of wide-open spaces. That the duo manage to somehow be paradoxically suffocating with this deceptively sensual, spacious sound is a black magick known only to them.

Beautifully bleak and impossibly dense, The Cold That You Left is a clarion call for all outsiders: members Trembling Master and Wound ruminate on their endless, cruel, and unusual hate for this piece-of-shit world. Fans of Death in June, Type O Negative, early The Cure, Shape of Despair, and Lifelover will embrace Hours of Worship‘s uniquely hopeless offering.

Begin embracing hopelessness with the previously revealed “Your Lonely Death My Crown” HERE at Iron Bonehead‘s Soundcloud. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Hours of Worship’s The Cold That You Left
1. Your Lonely Death My Crown
2. Fear in Bloom
3. Watching You Beg for Your Life
4. Ancient Pain
5. Deep Depression
6. A Wretch and a Liar
7. I Know It Hurts You
8. There By the Window
9. Wasting Away Forever

For more info:

Iron Bonehead Productions

WEREGOAT stream new IRON BONEHEAD / PARASITIC mini-album


Today, American barbarians Weregoat stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new mini-album, The Devil’s Lust. Set for international release on August 12th via Iron Bonehead Productions in conspiracy with Parasitic Records, hear Weregoat‘s The Devil’s Lust in its entirety here:

Formed in 2009, Weregoat have assaulted the black/death underground on their own terms. The power-trio are all veterans of the Portland, Oregon extreme metal scene, and while Weregoat‘s catalog to date has been patiently sparse, with the 2017 debut LP Pestilential Rites of Infernal Fornication being their most recent studio recording, they more than make up for this paucity with a pulverizing sound that’s OTT bestiality personified.

And so it goes with The Devil’s Lust, Weregoat‘s first new recording in five years. Characteristically graced with hypersexual cover art courtesy of the legendary Rok, Weregoat waste no time in approximating that tableau with their bestial black/death. Uniquely, the production across the six-song/23-minute record is sharper, drier, and more brittle than most of their bestial brethren. However, with this newfound clarity do the trio render their attack more unhinged than ever, as every element literally assaults from every angle in 3D dementia. And, just as they’ve proven over their handful of records the past decade, Weregoat have a keen knack for actual catchiness, further elevating the band away from the usual Black Witchery / Archgoat clones and closer to Vulcano and very earliest Sepultura.

No other words necessary: this is Weregoat‘s fucking The Devil’s Lust!

Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Weregoat’s The Devil’s Lust
1. Tempter! Abuser! Satan her Master! [3:34]
2. Merciless Execution [2:29]
3. Festering Womb of Uncreation [4:54]
4. The Devil’s Lust [3:44]
5. Goat Perversion [3:46]
6. Burn Deep the Signs of Hell [4:21]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pages/Weregoat/194437767248125 

CELESTIAL GRAVE set release date for new THE SINISTER FLAME album

On September 23rd, the autumn equinox, The Sinister Flame is proud to present Celestial Grave’s highly anticipated second album, Vitriolic Atonement, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
 
Since their public unveiling in 2016 with the hideous & haunting Burial Ground Trance demo, Finland’s Celestial Grave have been steadily perfecting a craft that already arrived fully formed. While the band’s brand of black metal does bear some semblance to certain sectors of their native land’s long-running and -esteemed scene, Celestial Grave largely unshackle themselves from “Finnish black metal” and locate a muse that’s uniquely focused and fiercely personal. Such was the case with the epic four-song Secular Flesh debut album in 2019, and now, three years later, that case is even stronger with their second album, Vitriolic Atonement.

“Vitriolic Atonement is a sonic and visual exploration of the dreadful yet beautiful aspects of life and death,” they begin. “It was a comprehensive work for us, where not only the music and lyrics but also the artwork were really central from the start.”
 
Indeed, lose thyself in the hypnotic layers of that cover art and you’ll begin to understand the experience that awaits within Vitriolic Atonement. In a most disarming fashion, Celestial Grave here sound both bolder and more brittle – robust lead lines painting melancholy and might in equal measure, the execution seemingly more scattered and strident, the songwriting tending toward the anthemic yet upended by haunting twists of texture – whilst not losing that mesmerizing personality that made its predecessors so compelling. As such, Vitriolic Atonement is a full-album experience that’s paradoxically more approachable and more alien: allow that wounded melodicism into your soul, all enticingly come-hither, and then witness the swirlingly obsidian rot spread.

“Vitriolic Atonement goes through different sacraments and rites,” they conclude. “Inhale and take in the aspects of darkness, death, and the beyond that are in reach on this mortal plane. Give in, admire its beauty, and come to terms with it. Prepare for the inevitable, because the beyond will be something no mind nor soul can fully comprehend.”

First track premiere to be revealed shortly. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Celestial Grave’s Vitriolic Atonement
1. Eucharist [5:57]
2. Cadaverous Solace [6:03]
3. Clemency [7:55]
4. The Abyss Exhales [3:34]
5. Exaltation [5:32]
6. Radiant Tides Below [5:03]


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/celestialgrave

www.thesinisterflame.com
www.facebook.com/thesinisterflame

SKARE set release date for AMOR FATI debut, reveal first track

On September 12th internationally, Amor Fati Productions is proud to present Skare‘s striking debut album, simply self-titled Skare, on vinyl LP format. The CD version will be released by Dark Adversary Productions.

A mysterious entity perhaps hailing from the ever-fertile Australian black metal underground, Skare is both traditionalism and idiosyncrasy defined. The band’s sound is undoubtedly rooted in the ancient tropes of ’90s black metal classicism – magick, mysticism, medieval madness – and across the epic expanses of Skare does the band lead the listener on a winding, cobwebbed path of frostbitten fury and majestic melancholy. Peel away those cobwebs and one will find unselfconscious twists of the knife that draw in funer(e)al doom and organ-led dementia, impossibly acrobatic riffing and even-more-impossibly engaging melodicism, and most crucially songwriting that’s simultaneously direct and distant. Which is to say nothing of the production and tones of the album, which evade the usual cliches of “raw” and harken more to an earthy, almost rock ‘n’ roll vintage. Truly, Skare in general and Skare in particular are mystery made flesh, and the 35 minutes contained herein unfold new vistas of the imagination.

Whether your taste runs from the sanguineous surge of old Obtained Enslavement or the swords-drawn swoosh of Perished or especially the recent-years revival of vampiric black metal, Skare‘s debut album is a vital sign of undead life.

The first vital sign can be found with the brand-new track “Threshold Into Death” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Skare’s Skare
1. The Lonesome Ibex [4:39]
2. A Sordid Ceremony [7:38]
3. Beyond The Church Spires [10:10]
4. The Threshold Into Death [6:44]
5. Into Icy Pewter Sky [5:41]

www.amor-fati-productions.de 
www.amorfatiproductions.bandcamp.com

Sweden’s WITCH BLADE premiere new track, set release date for new DYING VICTIMS album

On October 21st, Dying Victims Productions will release the highly anticipated second album of Sweden’s Witch Blade, Månsken, on CD and vinyl LP formats.  Hear Witch Blade‘s “Vittrorna Kommer” in its entirety here:

Hailing from Kristinehamn, Sweden’s Witch Blade were formed back in 2012 by Witchlover and Witchhunter. The two childhood friends had been playing together in other projects but wanted to form a band that honored their heavy metal heroes: namely Angel Witch, Tokyo Blade, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. After writing a couple of songs, the band became a three-piece when drummer Witchburner joined in early 2013. The same year, the band recorded their self-titled debut demo, which sold out quickly and was later re-released by Levitate Records, followed by a 7” single titled Fjärrans Krig in 2014. After working as a sound engineer on the single recording, Witchdoctor joined on second guitar just in time for the band’s debut album, Oskuldernas Eld, released in 2015 by Dying Victims.

Witch Blade made their live debut in 2015 as a supporting act for Black Trip. Since then, the band have made several live appearances around Sweden. Thereafter, a period of hibernation followed until 2021, when the band decided to continue again as a trio. The result is something of a rebirth: Månsken, Witch Blade’s second album.

While the cover to Oskuldernas Eld certainly clued listeners in to its contents, the one for Månsken compellingly complements the album’s contents in a most tasteful fashion. There’s undoubtedly an olde-worlde, magickally musty flair to Witch Blade – also keenly note the band’s change in logos – their traditional heavy metal going back even further in time to the proto-metal era. Nothing overdriven, nothing too over-the-top, just hard rocking AND hot rockin’ and an almost narrative moodiness to the songwriting whilst staying locked into classic verse/chorus/break structures, Witch Blade once again locate that wonderful (and elusive) balance between garage-born emotion and swords & sorcery stateliness. To a man, the riffs and leads of guitarists Witchlover and Witchdoctor (who also drums here) often impart a melancholy on par with Wishbone Ash’s Argus or Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose, while frontman/bassist Witchhunter sings his heart out in his native tongue, which only heightens the heart-on-sleeve pathos across Månsken. And just like its full-length predecessor, the eight-song Månsken is an extremely swift & satisfying spin at 33 minutes.

All those denim-clad diehards and cloak-wrapped warlocks into early (and moody) hard rock AND cult NWOBHM, you are hereby commanded to witness the rebirth of Witch Blade with Månsken!

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Witch Blade (Sweden)’s Månsken
1. Skuggornas Herre [5:02]
2. Månsken [3:32]
3. Vittrorna Kommer [4:09]
4. Hellvetika [4:51]
5. Vidundrets Kall [4:29]
6. Ritual [2:49]
7. Häxjägarna [3:04]
8. Slavarnas Hämnd [4:19]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/witchbladeband

www.dying-victims.de 

DEAD VOID set release date for ME SACO UN OJO / DARK DESCENT debut, reveal first track

Today, Me Saco Un Ojo Records and Dark Descent Records announce September 15th as the international release date for Dead Void‘s highly anticipated debut album, Volatile Forms, on vinyl LP and CD formats, respectively.

After some silence since their magnificent demo, Dead Void return from the depths to bestow a crushing debut LP upon us. Drawing in on doomy yet certainly not-meek atmospherics, the sheer monstrous tone of which will pin you to the wall, it is clear this is something unwieldy. Murmuring bass seeps through buzzing guitars in a manner that sounds profoundly unwelcoming, while the daunting vocals and crashing drums give no alleviation from the bludgeoning force. While the hostile and claustrophobic sounds of the record cannot be ignored, equally impactful are the grooves which hit like a hammer of pure malice when carefully spliced with the caverns of eerily contorting death metal. When the pounding drums break through the guitars, they have a real hard tone, while the seeping filth of the strings is not overshadowed. Clearly, the three demos and spacing between have allowed the band to develop into the best version of themselves, as on this debut album, we hear a refined-but-unpolished and inhospitable cut of truly awesome music take form.

Moving forth, the hooks, the grooves, and the expanses of doom and desolation all conjure something inescapable and dread-tinged while the malignant hammering of pure old-school violence is not lost or forgotten, as warped riffs and blastbeats meet gutturally spewed vocals and occasional lead oddities. Contrasting often-nuanced moments with an assault of bestial ferocity, there is no predictability or obvious pattern – rather, a chaotic and honest approach to all of the songs. These tracks move in a lumbering fashion with organically composed structures while not feeling formulaic or running in circles with the same idea. Dead Void fantastically curate their most vile elements into a cohesive and ultimately expansive experience that takes the promise shown on the demos to unfathomable new heights. This is not simple or easily pigeonholed death metal to follow a tiny niche; this is barbarity, extremity, and atmospherics in death metal contorted to a whole new template of their own, which isn’t followed easily, but this defining debut album certainly makes the vision clear, for those who seek it in the murk. 


Mark the day, for it shall be your last, when you hear Dead Void‘s definitively obliterating debut album. Additionally, catch their album launch show at Loppen in Copenhagen on August 26th. (text by Jørgen Sven Kirby, Nattskog webzine)   

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Perpetually Circling the Void”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Dead Void’s Volatile Forms
1. Atrophy [9:41]
2. The Entrails of Chaos [6:16]
3. Sadistic Mind [8:03]
4. The Reptilian Drive [9:00]
5. Perpetually Circling the Void [11:01]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/thedeadvoid

www.mesacounojo.com
www.mesacounojo.bandcamp.com

www.darkdescentrecords.com
www.darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com

Belgium’s BONES set release date for long-awaited INVICTUS debut album, reveal first track

Today, Invictus Productions announces September 9h as the international release date for the highly anticipated debut album of Belgium’s Bones, Sombre Opulence.

Bones arose from the wastelands of Belgium in 2011, united by a common passion for real-sounding death metal: performed with authenticity and devotion, infused with the sorceries of the ancients. A primitive demo was recorded, released, and re-pressed several times. This was followed by two EPs: the Awaiting Rebirth 10″ from 2014 and the Gate of Night 12″ from 2020, both released through Blood Harvest Records. The interim was spent laying waste to stages across Europe, and the patient forging of the debut album. Now, this work has been completed, and the time has come for Bones to emerge with Sombre Opulence.
 
As deadly of a debut album as it comes, Sombre Opulence is a manifestation of total death metal dedication. Across nine cursed tracks, Bones evoke the ancient forces that lie at the core of true death metal, conjuring visions of primordial violence and sorcery. One can feel a broad range of influences, with a clear affinity for the darker acts that emerged at the genre’s dawn. From fast and ferocious to slow and sinister, their assault is both varied and cohesive, placing importance on organic production and morbid atmosphere, all delivered without mercy.
 
Above all, Sombre Opulence is the sound of triumphant slaughter, obscure magical ritual, and spiritual despair in the face of eternity. It is the slow crumbling of monuments across aeons, the stirring of primordial waters, and the howling of distant jackal gods. Be beckoned to this altar of death, from which flows the blood of crushed enemies…there stands Bones, ready to conquer all. 

Prepare to be conquered with the brand-new track “Twilight Divination”  here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Bones (Belgium)’s Sombre Opulence
1. Execration Rites
2. Funerary Magic
3. Twilight Divination
4. Deserts of Eternity
5. Withering
6. Primordial Idolatry
7. Composite Deities
8. Great Altars of Ascension
9. Formulas of Condemnation

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/pages/Bones-Death-Metal/148871445266066

www.invictusproductions.net