Black metal classicists Serpentshrine premiere the new track “Satanic Rituals of the Perverse”

Today, black metal classicists Serpentshrine premiere the new track “Satanic Rituals of the Perverse”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Allegiance to the Myth, set for international release on April 22nd via Signal Rex. Hear Serpentshrine‘s “Satanic Rituals of the Perverse” in its entirety here:

Formed in 2015 and hailing from the United States, Serpentshrine are a black metal power-trio literally out of time. Theirs is a sound that proudly and authentically heralds the ancient ways of the 1990s. Raw and rabid but not without a certain nightsky majesty to their blitzed attack, Serpentshrine are poised to elevate themselves out of self-imposed obscurity with the release of their second full-length, Allegiance to the Myth.

Indeed accurately titled, Allegiance to the Myth recalls trace elements of a grand host of noble influences: from prime Throne of Ahaz and Thy Primordial to equally debut-era Ancient and Enthroned, from Malicious-era Gorgoroth and earliest Immortal to old Primigenium and Isvind, Serpentshrine transport the listener to forgotten realms and glorious times. However, such foundational stones would be for naught if it weren’t for the trio’s skillful songwriting and impassioned execution – the former spanning speed and swirl with deftness and nuance, the latter emitting an otherworldly aspect whilst retaining tangible physicality – altogether making Allegiance to the Myth a record that could be respectably placed within such an archaic timeline.

The way forward is to reject modernity: Serpentshrine hereby swear Allegiance to the Myth.

Swearing Allegiance with the previously revealed “Fathomless Rapture” HERE at Signal Rex‘s Bandcamp, where the album can be preordered. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Serpentshrine’s Allegiance to the Myth
1. Ancient Ophidian Lords
2. Satanic Rituals of the Perverse
3. Blaze of the Narthex
4. Queen of the Crimson Moon
5. Fathomless Rapture
6. Witchduck
7. Desecrating the Crown
8. Impaling the Weathered Cross

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/HailTheSerpent

www.signalrex.com
www.facebook.com/signalrex

RUNESPELL set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions announces June 1st as the international release date for a brand-new mini-album from Runespell, Sentinels of Time, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

By now, Runespell should require little introduction. Since this Australian entity’s public unveiling in 2017 with the Aeons of Ancient Blood demo – released by Iron Bonehead, as well as all successive recordings – Runespell has sharpened its sword and quickly, with three albums arriving like clockwork every year: Unhallowed Blood Oath (2017), Order of Vengeance (2018), and Voice of Opprobrium (2019). Although 2020 didn’t see the release of a full-length, a split album with the reanimated Forest Mysticism tided over the bloodthirsty until the arrival of fourth LP Verses in Regicide in 2021, arguably Runespell‘s best-produced and -executed album to date.

This is all not to suggest that mainman Nightwolf is hasty or careless with his creations; rather, the Runespell aesthetic is so etched in iron, so forged in blood, that this mystical & mesmerizing soundworld takes on its own life. And so it goes with the brand-new mini-album Sentinels of Time. Serving as something of a companion to the monolithic ‘n’ majestic Verses in Regicide, Sentinels of Time is every inch as epic and engrossing as its predecessor. Two of the mini’s tracks easily top 10 minutes, with another just over eight minutes; and while those luxurious-yet-portentous waves of blood/fire/death undulate and crash with the same Runespell‘d intensity and immensity, one could argue that Verses in Regicide sees Nightwolf in a slightly more solemn mood. But, all the same, the steel is sharper than ever and wielded like that of a master, reaching a crescendo of battlefury with that aforementioned eight-minute title track, at last concluding with eerily beautiful instrumental lament “A Drakkar’s Last Journey.”

No other words needed: Runespell continue their campaign of grim grandeur with Sentinels of Time!

The first offensive of that campaign can be found with the brand-new track “Claws of Vanagandr” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Runespell’s Sentinels of Time
1. Claws of Vanagandr [10:57]
2. Memories of Steel [11:38]
3. Sentinels of Time [8:10]
4. A Drakkar’s Last Journey [3:03]

MORE INFO:
www.runespell.bandcamp.com

LUNAR CHALICE set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets June 1st as the international release date for Lunar Chalice‘s highly anticipated debut album, Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Formed in 2019, Lunar Chalice comprise prolific veterans of the German metal underground. Under the alluring moniker Lunar Chalice, the band quickly set upon a slew of releases, first with the Walpurgis Dance demo in 2019 and the Night Poetry EP right after, exhibiting a subtly refreshing approach to classics-minded black metal. The next year came the even-stronger Medieval Cults of Heresy EP, thus setting the stage for the band’s debut full-length.

Taking a relatively longer time given their feverish creativity, Lunar Chalice now deliver the grand statement of their so-far-undiscovered powers, Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage. With one steel-toed boot planted under a funeral moon and the other in a world without end, Lunar Chalice give a masterclass in stripped-down songwriting rich in nuance and dynamics. Their black metal is like a boulder gathering momentum down a mountain and rumbling across valleys; the movement is inexorable, and portends doom, and simply cannot be stopped. Lunar Chalice, in effect, extend a spectrum of black metal sonics that’s feral and unhinged on one hand and mercilessly martial on the other; that their almost-overwhelmingly physical onslaught is deliberately (and eerily) clipped betrays both a depth of vision and a rare grace in a landscape usually laden with filth. Which isn’t to say that Transcendentia doesn’t sound “dirty” (it does), but rather that that’s not the overarching thematic – that there’s a sense of ceremony or even regality at play here. Credit due to the absolutely madman vocals of bassist E.I.-M., who more often than not channels a clean tenor that’s more disturbing than most “black metal” vocals.

Past, present, and future: Lunar Chalice‘s vision encompasses all on Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage.

Open thine eyes to the brand-new new track “Calix Cum Velum” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Lunar Chalice: Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage
1. The Accusation
2. Calix Cum Velum
3. Immortuae
4. Descending Shadows
5. The Saturn Rite
6. The Astral Stargate
7. Flagellationis Diaboli
8. Nocturnalia

www.facebook.com/Lunar-Chalice-103072924374033

America’s CRUCIFIER set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets June 1st as the international release date for a brand-new mini-album from America’s Crucifier, Say Your Prayers, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

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, four years after their last recording (the full-length Thy Sulfur Throne on High), Crucifier return to ruin everyone’s day with a five-song/26-minute mini-album titled Say Your Prayers. Primal but not primitive, weird and wandering but fully locked-in and never forgetting the METAL aspect, the quartet create a ghastly, grimy experience here, with Grant’s vocals in particular stunning in their diabolic delirium. Furthering that delirium are the mind-mangled leads by Spencer “Madman” Murphy, also aided by Grant, altogether proving that Crucifier‘s eldritch sound is eternal.

Concluded by a Carnivore cover, Crucifier never stop the madness, so Say Your Prayers!

Begin never stopping the madness with the brand-new track “Into Ash” here:

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Crucifier (USA)’s Say Your Prayers
1. My Soul to Take [6:20]
2. Foul Deeds Will Rise [5:44]
3. Into Ash [3:18]
4. Chime of the Goat’s Head Bell [3:59]
5. Jesus Hitler [Carnivore cover] [5:52]

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

UNFELLED The Pagan Black metal Project from D of Woods of Desolation sign to Season of Mist

Season of Mist is proud to announce the signing of UNFELLED, the pagan black metal project from WOODS OF DESOLATION mastermind and multi-instrumentalist D.!

UNFELLED comments on the signing: “Very pleased to announce that Unfelled has signed to Season of Mist. It is a privilege to be able to release our debut full-length with a label such as Season of Mist, and we look forward to working together.“

For a glimpse of what to expect, check out UNFELLED‘s music here:

https://unfelled.bandcamp.com/

For frequent updates on the recordings and the band in general, check out UNFELLED‘s Facebook! 

Formed in 2016 as a project of D. (WOODS OF DESOLATION, REMETE), UNFELLED first emerged with the solo demo offering “Beneath Distant Skies” at the end of 2017.

Expanding the line-up in 2020, fellow veterans Mitch (AUSTERE, DEARTHE) and Vlad (DRUDKH, WINDSWEPT) were enlisted on vocals and drums respectively, completing the vision for the band.

Moving forward as a three-piece, the forthcoming full-length, recorded through 2020-2021, sees UNFELLED pursuing heavier, more aggressive territory, yet never entirely eschewing the sense of melody and atmosphere established on the debut demo. In 2021, UNFELLED proudly joined forces with Season of Mist who will release the album.

Line-up:
D. – Guitars, Bass
Mitch – Vocals
Vlad – Drums

Links:
www.instagram.com
www.facebook.com/unfelled
www.unfelled.bandcamp.com

ABYTHIC set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets May 27th as the international release date for a brand-new mini-album from Abythic, Eden of the Doomed, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

It was but early 2021 when Abythic revealed their masterful third album, Dominion of the Wicked, via Iron Bonehead. Reaping widespread acclaim, Dominion of the Wicked displayed the Germans at their most DOOMED-OUT…and their brand-new Eden of the Doomed mini-album continues this upward “downward” trend. Impossibly heavy and portending and patient in their stripped-back but nuanced songwriting, Abythic again give a masterclass in pure ‘n’ proud death metal songwriting steeped in the grand teachings of mid-period Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Grave, and Pentacle. Indeed, keeping that same power-trio lineup handily underlines the POWER within the no-less-atmospheric crush ‘n’ cruise; the production, in kind, is sharp and shuddering. Consider Eden of the Doomed a brief-but-robust bookend to Dominion of the Wicked and you’ll once again be under Abythic‘s black-ash spell!

Hear the first spell with the brand-new track “Conquest of the One True Creed” here:

cover art and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Abythic’s Eden of the Doomed
1. Revelation from the Great Vastness Thereafter [6:28]
2. Conquest of the One True Creed [6:10]
3. Victory in your Eden of the Doomed [5:18]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/Abythic

DARKENED set release date for new EDGED CIRCLE album, reveal first track – features members of GRAVE, MEMORIAM, A CANOROUS QUINTET, EXCRUCIATE+++

Today, Edged Circle Productions announces May 27th as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of pan-international death metal elite Darkened, The Black Winter, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

While Darkened made a none-more-auspicious start with the Into the Blackness EP during the summer of 2019, it was the band’s debut album, Kingdom of Decay, where they literally EXPLODED onto the scene. Proud and pure death metal, no more but definitely no less, it was not at all surprising that Darkened made an immediate impact given their lineup on that debut full-length: drummer Andy Whale (Memoriam, ex-Bolt Thrower), vocalist Gord Olson (Ye Goat-Herd Gods / Demisery), guitarists Linus Nirbrant (A Canorous Quintet / This Ending) and Hempa Brynolfsson (Excruciate / Ordo Infernus), and new bassist Tobias Cristiansson (Grave / ex-Dismember). Patient and punishing, they proved that true songwriting stuns and crushes when practiced by masters of the death metal craft.

Now, as presaged earlier this year by the quick-hitting Mourn the Dying Light EP, Darkened arrive with their massive second album, The Black Winter. Immediately, their trademark sound is in place – clear & crushing riffs, grooves like a tank, an overall world-eating sensibility – but delve deeper and one will find Darkened expanding their already-considerable powers. Most prominently, there’s a surprising amount of atmosphere being explored on The Black Winter, true to its namesake. The resultant spaciousness is somehow just as suffocating as the band’s now-characteristic density; whether it’s in the riffing itself or the very subtle touches of synth underneath, the album certainly bears a unique-yet-unified aspect. From there, melancholic twists and wistful melody are seamlessly integrated into the Darkened onslaught of sound, which alternately pushes the aggression to murderous levels and the doom to the darkest depths; put another way, everything here sounds HUGE. And credit for that must go to Linus Nirbrant, who handled The Black Winter‘s production, as well as mixing & mastering by the Dan Swanö at Unisound – truly, one will not find a clearer yet more crushing death metal record this year!

As these endtimes take on a muted resignation, it’s only bleakly fitting that Darkened provide the soundtrack with The Black Winter…

Hear for yourself with the brand-new track “Blood” here:

. Cover artwork, courtesy of Juanjo Castellano Rosado (Unleashed, The Black Dalhia Murder, Gates of Ishtar), and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Darkened (International)’s The Black Winter
1. Premonitions
2. Blood
3. Flayed
4. Terminal Lucidity
5. Black Winter
6. Fearful Quandary
7. Swallowed by the World
8. Plague of Despair
9. Regret

DARKENED lineup 2022
Hempa Brynolfsson – guitar (Excruciate)
Linus Nirbrant – guitar (A Canorous Quintet)
Tobias Cristiansson – bass (Grave, ex-Dismember)
Gord Olson – vocals (Ye Goat Herd Gods)
Andy Whale – drums (Memoriam, ex-Bolt Thrower)

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/darkeneddeathmetal

www.edgedcircleproductions.com

German black metal vanguard Chaos Invocation stream the entirety of their new WTC album

Today, German black metal vanguard Chaos Invocation stream the entirety of their highly anticipated fourth album, Devil, Stone & Man. Set for international release on March 24th via W.T.C. Productions, hear Chaos Invocation‘s Devil, Stone & Man in entirety here:

By now, Chaos Invocation should require little introduction. Formed in 2004 and releasing three increasingly celebrated full-lengths via W.T.C., Chaos Invocation have steadily become a pillar of Germany’s long-potent black metal underground. Their last album, 2018’s Reaping Season, Bloodshed Beyond, was an iron-fisted smash through more dynamic corridors, with their sinuous and serpentine black metal taking on a more heightened (but no less muscular) melodic aspect. As the world has fully turned to shit, Chaos Invocation thus cover that iron fist with a grime unfathomably dark and dreadful. Indeed, Devil, Stone & Man is the record deserving of these times – or rather, vice versa.

Perhaps as a counterreaction or at least parallel development to that dynamic predecessor, Devil, Stone & Man is inarguably Chaos Invocation‘s most direct and aggressive album to date, and one give horrific power through its massive & molten production, which handily challenges those naysayers who claim true black metal can’t palatably possess “professional” recording. Its ultraviolence twists and turns but ever moves forward, downward, diving across dazzling depths and heights with the ease of masters. Truly, Chaos Invocation‘s already-sturdy songwriting has been given an uptick in detail and nuance here, sounding sweeping and ceremonial as it does teeth-gnashingly harsh and harrowing. A whirlwind, a vortex, both and beyond: Chaos Invocation have been qualified as these before, but now one can add world-eating dreadnought to that list, as well, with Devil, Stone & Man.

Gaze deeply into Devil, Stone & Man‘s stark cover artwork – courtesy of BMS Illustration – and one will begin to understand where Chaos Invocation are coming from, and where they are going. Will you follow them to The End?

Aforementioned cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Chaos Invocation’s Devil, Stone & Man
1. Strike Of The Dominator’s Fist
2. A Stranger’s Pale Hand
3. Diabolical Hammer
4. Odonata Fields
5. Where We Have Taken The Cross
6. Triple Fire
7. Curses Upon You
8. The Revolting Abyss

MORE INFO:

www.facebook.com/chaosinvocation

www.w-t-c.org

SEPULCHRAL CURSE set release date for new PERSONAL RECORDS / LYCANTHROPIC CHANTS / TRANSYLVANIAN RECORDINGS EP, reveal first track

On May 6th internationally, Personal Records – in conspiracy with Lycanthropic Chants and Transylvanian Recordings – is proud to present a brand-new EP from Sepulchral Curse, Deathbed Sessions. Personal Records will handle the CD version of the EP, Lycanthropic Chants will release it on vinyl and digital, and Transylvanian Recordings is handling the tape. 

After the release of the highly acclaimed debut album, Only Ashes Remain, the world was ravaged by the plague. As always, Sepulchral Curse did not find it suitable to stand still and instead headed into the studio to record a new EP, titled Deathbed Sessions. Featuring three previously unreleased songs and one Demigod cover track as a tribute to legendary Finnish death metal, their latest offering shows that Sepulchral Curse is here to take the scene by storm! 

Here, furious and relentless death metal is combined with twisted and ominous brutality. From the more atmospheric “Circular Aeons” to the wrathful attack of “Dystheist,” Deathbed Sessions shows that Sepulchral Curse is not afraid to blaze their own trail. In particular, “Dystheist” pushes the boundaries and sound of the band to their extremes. 

You can catch the band live with the new lineup 10.6.2022 at Bar Loose, Helsinki or 10.9.2022 at Byker Grave Festival II in Newcastle, UK. More dates will be announced! 

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Dystheist here:

Preorder info for the CD version can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Sepulchral Curse’s Deathbed Sessions
1. Circular Aeons
2. Harvesting The Bloodlines
3. Dystheist
4. Towards The Shrouded Infinity [Demigod cover]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/sepulchralcurse

www.personal-records.com
personal-records.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/personalrecords666



DEATHSPELL OMEGA release new NOEVDIA album today

Today, NoEvDia releases DeathSpell Omega‘s highly anticipated The Long Defeat.

Stand witness to The Long Defeat! Hearken to the first emanation of the third era of DeathSpell Omega: 44 minutes of black metal enacted through five instalments. Recorded live by the French power trio in July 2021. Bile and venom distilled and added until the leaves fell.

The Long Defeat unfolds over three parallel storylines told via three different mediums. Two in writing: the lyrics, as well as a fable. The third speaks through the artwork – two meters’ worth of maniacally detailed visions depicting the same premise its written content draws from. All three are fundamentally entwined but diverging in narrative, each complementing or contradicting the others.

Cover above and below. Tracklisting is as follows:

Tracklisting for DeathSpell Omega’s The Long Defeat
1. Enantiodromia [11:57]
2. Eadem, Sed Aliter [9:08]
3. The Long Defeat [8:35]
4. Sie Sind Gerichtet! [7:18]
5. Our Life Is Your Death [7:15]

MORE INFO:
www.noevdia.com