Black Metal

OCTOBER FALLS reveal new track from upcoming PURITY THROUGH FIRE album

OCTOBER FALLS reveal new track from upcoming PURITY THROUGH FIRE album

Today, Finnish folk/black metal titans  October Falls reveal the new track “The Ruins of What Once Was.” The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, A Fall of an Epoch, set for international release on May 30th via Purity Through Fire. Hear October Falls‘ “The Ruins of What Once Was” in its entirety here:
By now, October Falls should require little introduction. Formed in 2001 by Mikko Lehto and expanding to a full band lineup later on, October Falls have built up a considerable canon of unparalleled power and passion, their epic, folk-inflected black metal both reverential of tradition whilst blazing new trails into the beyond. Amidst their all-enveloping album works, the trio have also concurrently released somber fully-folk releases, displaying the depth of their character and the boundlessness of their vision. In short, October Falls have come to represent the enduring face of Finnish nature-oriented black metal.
 
It has now been an interminable seven years since their last full-length, The Plague of a Coming Age, and now October Falls dive back into the underground which birthed them by aligning with Purity Through Fire for the release of their long-awaited A Fall of an Epoch. Thus, the album’s title takes on even greater significance, but linger under no assumption that “underground” means “underproduced” or similar. Far from it, of course, when dealing with October Falls: nothing but the most strident, splendorous reaches of the spirit, painted with poignancy and vibrancy, racing across myriad shades and sensations, evoking an engrossing narrative which spans windswept speed and achingly beautiful acoustics, all done with the fire & fury for which the trio have made their name so canonical. If anything, A Fall of an Epoch is a tri-dimensional experience that distills past, present, and future into one breathtaking whole, the album’s five-song/48-minute runtime the perfect configuration for their magick to take deepest hold – and never let go.
 
Time moves forward, every second committed to the past, memories fading into irrelevancy. Through these ever-shifting mists stands the firmament of October Falls, ageless and eternal, heralding A Fall of an Epoch!

Begin heralding that return with the previously revealed “Hammering the Tide” HERE, at Purity Through Fire‘s YouTube channel.

Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for October Falls’ A Fall of an Epoch 1. A Fall of an Epoch [11:02]2. The Endtimes Rising [10:06]
3. The Ruins of What Once Was [8:09]
4. Hammering the Tide [9:32]
5. The Flood of Drought [8:29]


MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/octoberfalls
www.purity-through-fire.com

FLAGG set release date for PURITY THROUGH FIRE debut, reveal first track

Today, Purity Through Fire sets June 8th as the international release date for Flagg‘s striking debut album, Nothing But Death, on jewelcase CD, limited A5 digipack, and vinyl LP formats.

A brand-new entity hailing from parts unknown, Flagg exhibit a style of black metal both ancient and ageless, old yet new. Their attack is immediately intense, exhibiting a restlessness that’s roiling and raging, always moving but always with a target in sight; in fact, one could easily be overwhelmed by the ultraviolence across Nothing But Death, in effect being aptly titled. But within and without, above and beyond and ever below, Flagg understand archaic expressions, the Old Language of Black Metal, where medieval atmosphere and ghostly portent informed even the most straightforward forms, rendering an air of aristocracy to that of belligerent bravado. All are in full force across Flagg‘s bolt-from-the-blue debut, holding nothing back and spitting disgust and disease at every turn while turning surprising corners, often in the same song.

Thus, Nothing But Death is a eight-song/36-minute plunge into madness and mysticism, and a fortuitous first strike from Flagg!

Begin plunging into that madness and mysticism with the brand-new title track “Nothing But Death”

Cover and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Flagg’s Nothing But Death
1. Destroy, Desecrate
2. Nothing But Death
3. Dark Clouds Gathering
4. Burning Sky
5. Abomination
6. Apex Predator
7. Sixth Sun Salvation
8. Last Breath Drawn
www.purity-through-fire.com

Finnish metal/grind/crust cult Violent Hammer premiere new track

Today, Finnish metal/grind/crust cult Violent Hammer premiere the new track “Riders of the Wasteland” . The track hails from the band’s long-awaited debut album, Riders of the Wasteland, set for international release on May 29th via Hells Headbangers. Hear Violent Hammer‘s “Riders of the Wasteland” in its entirety here:
Hailing from the ever-fertile Finnish black/death underground, Violent Hammer formed in 2006. Two demos followed in short succession, in 2006 and 2007, before the band would go on hiatus. Violent Hammer would at last return in early 2014 with a new lineup and a new demo, More Victims – Demo 2014, which Shadow Kingdom would release on cassette later that year. Then, another hiatus…

However rough ‘n’ rowdy those earlier demos may have been, the reinvigorated Violent Hammer return with a full-length that handily trounces those not-inconsiderable predecessors. Aptly titled Riders of the Wasteland, Violent Hammer‘s debut album encompasses their simple yet scintillating aesthetic – the full span of death metal and black metal from the ’80s through early ’90s, early thrash, and most significantly early grindcore and UK/Swedish hardcore and crust from the ’80s – and blasts it into oblivion with the aplomb of a nuclear fallout. Unremittingly hammering and remorselessly primitive, each of the nine barbaric slabs of song across the album’s satisfyingly swift 26 minutes gets in, gets out, and fucking DESTROYS. As such, Riders of the Wasteland is deceptively catchy, much like so much ’80s grindcore was, and retains a twisted sense of fun within its gnarled ‘n’ gnarling sonics. And although Violent Hammer here invoke many names – from early Blood, Profanatica, Bestial Summoning, and Naked Whipper to likewise early Doom (UK), Extreme Noise Terror, Mob 47, and even earliest/crustiest Bolt Thrower and Napalm Death – the manner in which they slice and dice all these influences bespeaks an identity wholly unique in today’s underground landscape.

Strap in with Violent Hammer‘s Riders of the Wasteland or get smashed in the fucking face!

Also get smashed with the previously revealed track “(Trapped) in Depths” HERE at Hells Headbangers‘ Bandcamp, where the album can also be preordered.
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Violent Hammer’s Riders of the Wasteland 1. Death Squad
2. Annihilation (Victims of Bomb Raid)
3. Wasted Through Life
4. Screams of Agony
5. Riders of the Wasteland
6. (Trapped) in Depths
8. House of Beria
9. Bratva
10. Prophet of Darkness
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/violenthammer
www.hellsheadbangers.com
www.facebook.com/hellsheadbangers 

DKHARMAKHAOZ set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets July 31st as the international release date for Dkharmakhaoz‘s striking debut album, Proclamation ov the Black Suns, on CD and vinyl LP format.

Dkharmakhaoz is a mysterious, two-person entity hailing from Belarus. Despite their otherwise-new standing, the black metal these Belarusians create is firmly rooted in classic second-wave black metal from the ’90s but just as equally working with palatably modern iterations of obsidian. The soundfield across Proclamation ov the Black Suns, the band’s first public recording, is robust and muscular yet subtly strange; although by no means aiming for anything qualitatively “industrial,” there’s nevertheless a certain post-apocalyptic vibe to its clanging ‘n’ crunchy surge. Riffs are gutted above and below, guitar and bass both working together to weave dense expressions of dread and darkness, but there’s simultaneously a levitational aspect which makes Dkharmakhaoz astute practitioners of atmosphere as they are of black METAL. No doubt, that metal element is surely emphasized across the album’s seven-song/36-minute runtime, as well as a nightsky melodicism that favorably puts the record in paradigmatic No Fashion territory.

A timeless creation paradoxically breathing modernism, Dkharmakhaoz‘s Proclamation ov the Black Suns is an eclipse worth witnessing. Refresh, regenerate, reignite!

Begin refreshing/regenerating/reigniting with the brand-new track “The Way With the Serpent Entwined” here:

Album art and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Dkharmakhaoz’s Proclamation ov the Black Suns 1. The Cycle ov Omega
2. The Way with the Serpent Entwined
3. Beyond the Transcendental Luminescence
4. Proclamation ov the Black Suns
5. Chthonic Rites ov Fertility
6. Ascension
7. Reu Nu Pert Em Hru
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

VASSAFOR set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets August 7th as the international release date for Vassafor‘s highly anticipated third album, To the Death, on CD, double-LP vinyl, and cassette tape formats.

Vassafor should need no introduction. For the past decade and a half, since the band’s reactivation with their Demo II in 2005, this New Zealand cult have patiently plied their idiosyncratic craft, pushing the boundaries of black and death metal ever further whilst driving deep into each’s collective core. Although some will argue that they reached their apotheosis with 2012’s debut album, Obsidian Complex – a true, two-disc double album – Vassafor played their most daring hand with respective split LPs with comrades Sinistrous Diabolus and Temple Nightside (both released by Iron Bonehead in 2014 and 2015, respectively). In miniature, these works amplified the simultaneously world-eating/ethereal textures that lay at the heart of the Vassafor aesthetic. After an intense two years in the shadows, their grandest work so far was revealed: Malediction, released in October 2017 on vinyl and cassette via Iron Bonehead. Vassafor continued to cement their legend…

Vassafor are not ones for half-measures. For them, their spirituality is Satanic and absolute: no compromise, no quarter. Thus, with the aptly titled To the Death do Vassafor render their most direct statement yet, yet one also imbued with a lurking strangeness that’s entirely their own. At once submerging into the murkiest depths of the underground from whence they sprang, in other senses smothering those senses with a serpentine flow that’s stultifying to behold, the seven sonic incantations comprising the 66-minute To the Death prove that the duo indeed are ever able to conjure horrifying new shapes stitched from the fabric of the ancients. Not for nothing is this third full-length titled as such: To the Death bespeaks Vassafor‘s own path – theirs, and theirs literally ALONE – that is verily “Archaic Black Metal that exists outside time.” Any band would kill to write songs as mesmerizing ‘n’ monolithic as the opening 12-minute title track, or the ten-minute self-explanatory “Eyrie,” or especially the 17-minute, likewise self-explanatory closer “Singularity”…and that’s barely half the album.

Vassafor exist on their own terms, and we can only help but bear witness to their black magick. To the Death is a statement of intent, a world unto itself, and so much more: bow, enter, die.

Begin bowing/entering/dying with the aforementioned brand-new track “Eyrie” here:

Cover and Tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Vassafor’s To the Death 1. To the Death [12:03]
2. Egregore Rising [7:36]
3. Eyrie [10:35]
4. Black Talon [2:13]
5. The Burning íthyr [9:17]
6. Emanations from the Abyss [6:13]
7. Singularity [17:56]
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/vassafor
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

SOMBRE HÉRITAGE set release date for SEPULCHRAL debut – features member of HAK-ED-DAMM

Today, Sepulchral Productions sets June 24th as the international release date for Sombre Héritage‘s striking debut album, Alpha Ursae Minoris.

Alongside Moribond’s Serment, Sepulchral Productions will also launch the first album of a new project from another veteran of the Québec scène, namely Exu from Hak-Ed-Damm. With Sombre Héritage‘s Alpha Ursae Minoris, Exu lays the foundation of a more melancholic and contemplative breed of black metal, a bit closer to what is typically done in Québec, but still very much based on riffs and tempo changes. A first album that fans of melodic and powerful black metal will definitely not want to miss!
First track premiere to be revealed shortly. Preorder for the album can be found HERE. 
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Sombre Héritage’s Alpha Ursae Minoris
1. Polaris
2. Sombre Héritage
3. Nature Souillée
4. Déchéance
5. Dissidence
6. Ténèbres
www.sepulchralproductions.com
www.facebook.com/sepulchral.prods

WALPURGIA set release date for HELTER SKELTER debut mini-album – features members of KAWIR, NERGAL, BLACK BLOOD INVOCATION, HATE MANIFESTO+++

Today, Helter Skelter Productions (distributed & marketed by Regain Records) sets June 30th as the international release date for Walpurgia’s debut mini-album, Altar of the Goatbaphomet, on CD and 12” vinyl formats.

Hailing from Greece, Walpurgia were created in 2019 Anno Bastardi with the intention to create blasphemous and apocalyptic war metal. A power-trio in the true sense of the word, the band features a wealth of underground experience in their ranks: Porphyrion (Nergal, Kawir, Cult of Eibon etc) spawned the seed and summoned the exiled beasts of Nyogtha (Hate Manifesto, Black Blood Invocation, Caedes Cruenta, Cult of Eibon etc) and Sadistic Necrofagos (Kawir, Caedes Cruenta, Ithaqua etc) to seal this pact in blood.

Altar of the Goatbaphomet is Walpurgia’s first desecration, featuring five foul hymns in a sulfurous 22 minutes. Undoubtedly, parallels can be drawn to the members’ richly various works – the legacy of true Hellenic black metal endures – but Walpurgia’s ancient attack takes on an altogether more violent and hypnotic aspect, burling deep into the body and subconscious alike with ritualistic ease. Each of those anthems goatgrinds with utterly unhinged abandon, evoking a carnal and charnel hypnosis, with strident war commands atop and flowing forward with filth & fury. No progression, no compromise: Walpurgia play for goat warriors exclusively. Shemhamforash!

In the meantime, stream Altar of the Goatbaphomet in its entirety here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows
Tracklisting for Walpurgia’s Altar of the Goatbaphomet 1. Altar of the Goatbaphomet 2. Anomalistic Orgies of the Mephistopheles
3. Sadistic Recrucifixion
4. Rites of the Black Mass
5. Desecration Ritual
MORE INFO:
www.walpurgia666.bandcamp.com
www.helterskelterproductions.se
www.facebook.com/helterskelterproductions
www.helterskelterproductions.bandcamp.com 

ASCENDENCY set release date for IRON BONEHEAD debut mini-album, reveal first track

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets July 17th as the international release date for the striking debut mini-album of Denmark’s Ascendency, Birth of an Eternal Empire, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.

Initially, Ascendency started out as solo project, formed by the strong desire to ignite the black flame of death. Here in the cover of darkness, concepts and ideas were slowly formed and refined over a number of years, until the enlistment of a competent drummer took place, elevating the band to newer heights and gaining them prowess musically. The band then recorded and made two promotional tapes, before the lineup was completed by the recruitment of a second guitarist, increasing the strength and power of the band once more.  
 
Birth of an Eternal Empire was recorded in May 2019 and has since gone through an extensive process, in the pursuit of a fitting and impactful sound which could showcase the raw energy of Ascendency and leave its burning mark upon a sullied world. Consisting of four tracks, the 26-minute record chronicles the rise to power of an despotic tyrant and will be the first of a trilogy of short releases, with a continuous conceptual narrative, about the thirst for power and hegemony and the ultimate betrayal of ego and arrogance.
 
Musically, Ascendency‘s attack comprises piercing guitars and thunderous bass, with monumental and melodic riffs tearing through an eternal battlefield, accompanied by visceral and commanding vocals that spew forth tales of fiery conquest and herald a new dark era. All this is meticulously completed by a relentless bombardment of drums, which underline the songs with pure rhythmic punishment and primitive force. Indeed, this is a Birth of an Eternal Empire!

Hear the first sounds of that birth with the brand-new track “A Birth in Fire”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Ascendency’s Birth of an Eternal Empire 1. Altered Beast
2. Culling the Weak
3. Tread the Path to Supreme Veneration
4. A Birth in Fire
MORE INFO:
www.prophesiedascendency.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

THE FUNERAL ORCHESTRA set release date for long-awaited second album for NUCLEAR WAR NOW!, reveal first track

Today, Nuclear War Now! Productions sets July 15th as the international release date for The Funeral Orchestra‘s long-awaited second album, Negative Evocation Rites, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Considering its emergence approximately 18 years ago, The Funeral Orchestra’s body of recorded work is relatively sparse. However, rather than surrender to the temptation to equate quantity with quality, this enigmatic entity has instead opted to publish only the work that it deems fully deserving of its creative endeavor.  

Cloaked in black robes and golden masks since 2002, The Funeral Orchestra released three demos prior to its 2003 debut album, Feeding the Abyss, which introduced its apocalyptic minimalist doom to a wider audience. That same year, the band made its first live performance in its native Gothenburg, Sweden, but not many in the local scene at the time understood its music or obscure doom atmosphere.

Since that time, it has released only a handful of splits, singles, and an EP, the latter of which contained two songs from a recording session that was intended to result in its second full-length. This album never came to be, however, due to a general dissatisfaction with the songs and sound captured at the time. Other attempts were subsequently made to meet or surpass the quality of Feeding the Abyss, but that goal was never met…until now.  

In 2019, the Orchestra felt the correct timing and inspiration had coincided to reemerge for the purpose of producing a worthy successor to the original full-length and initiating a series of live performances. This new album, Negative Evocation Rites, was recorded in early 2020 in Studio Trauma and Abysmal Noise Studio in Sweden, with additional recording at an undisclosed location in Colorado, and it is slated for release on Nuclear War Now! Productions this July.  

Those already acquainted with Feeding the Abyss will be certain to find that the band’s approach has not varied significantly from its original formula. That said, Negative Evocation Rites has somehow managed to present an even darker atmosphere than its predecessor, and one that appropriately reflects the bleak outlook for humanity in these uncertain times. Indeed, the band’s name is quite telling in this regard, as each of the four solemn hymns within serves as the perfect accompaniment to the funerary procession that one can easily envision chaperoning our species to its impending mass extinction.  

In January 2020, the band returned to the stage for the first time in 17 years at the Orgivm Satanicvm festival in Oslo, Norway, and additional performances were booked during the year for Never Surrender III (Germany), In Flammen (Germany), and UK Deathfest, with more to be announced. Thus, like the virulent disease that it emulates, The Funeral Orchestra has arisen from its dormancy to portend the end times as it spreads its contagion worldwide.
  In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Negative Evocations”
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for The Funeral Orchestra’s Negative Evocation Rites 1. Negative Evocations [12:42] 2. Flesh Infiltrations [7:49]
3. Negations I [8:36]
4. Negations II [12:31]

 MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/thefuneralorchestra
www.nwnprod.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Nuclear-War-Now-Productions/114864651994141

Turkish Black metal band Seed of Cain release debut EP

We were saying yesterday that one of the good things about all this virus/lock down madness we are facing right now , gives us way more time to discover new bands.

Today I wanna tell you about a new black metal out of Turkey – Seed of Cain. Formed in 2019 by the bands Guitarist and Bassist Ozan, the band really started to gather momentum when Doga joined. Things really picked up pace when vocalist Sazakan best known from some of Ankara’s underground bands (OholYeg, Narken and Cosmic Funeral).

They just dropped their debut ep – check it out on their bandcamp :

Expect a full length album and live shows to follow soon!

Go follow them on Instagram here