In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, on January 20th, 2025 internationally, Memento Mori is proud to present Putred‘s highly anticipated second album, Megalit al Putrefacției, on CD format.
Hailing from Transylvania, Romania’s Putred was formed by Uriel on guitars (Morbicus, Vorus, Reveler) and Filip on vocals / bass (Necrotum, Vorus, Demoted) back in June 2020. Dante (Slaughter Ceremony, ex-In Obscurity Revealed, ex- Infested) joined the band behind the drumkit right after writing the first two songs, titled “Necroza” and “Devorat de Viermi.” These tracks were self-released as a promo/demo tape in July 2020. In late 2021, Corina (ex-Deimos, Vorus, Reveler) joined the band as a bass-player and Filip stuck to vocals only. In October 2022, Doru (ex-Necrovile, Vorus, Malpraxis) replaced Dante on drums, and the band immediately started playing live all over Romania. After myriad splits and more demos, Putredreleased their debut album, Repulsie Post-Mortem, in early 2023.
If that simple-yet-sublime debut full-length firmed up their filthy foundation, then Putred‘s second album surely builds that foundation ever higher – and deeper – with miles of slime! Titled Megalit al Putrefacției, Putred perfect pounding, ponderously mid-paced DEATH METAL of a most eldritch nature. Rancid and foul-smelling as ever, the Romanians’ tank continues to crush forward at a patient gait, exhibiting brutality and all-out heaviness not through sheer speed or dazzling displays of technique, but rather through thoughtful songwriting, slamming / slithering riffing, and none-slimier atmosphere. The leads are especially eerie, as are the multi-tracked high / low vocals, with Corina’s wandering bass-work instilling a truly unsettling feeling. Sonic references across Megalit al Putrefacției are many – Mortician at half-speed, Cianide at their world-eating best, early Necrophagia’s weird textures, Apparition / Sorrow with a shot of energy, and of course the unholy trifecta of Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, and Grave – but Putred manage to integrate their own personality into proceedings, particularly their lyrics, all written and growled in their native tongue, telling short horror-drenched stories about death, horror, the occult, and the afterlife. The closing cover of Autopsy’s “Critical Madness” simply underlines that spiritual center.
Completed by absolutely perfect cover artwork courtesy of Jan Pysander Whitney, Putred‘s Megalit al Putrefacției is prime-grade DEATH METAL for those who want it slower, deeper, and harder – no progression, no way!
Find the way with the brand-new track “Necromanție” here:
Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:
Today, funereal death-doomers Trollcave stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new mini-album, Adoration of the Abyssal Trespasser. Set for international release on November 15th – Me Saco Un Ojo Records will release the 12″ vinyl version while BlackSeed Productions will handle the CD version – hear Trollcave‘s Adoration of the Abyssal Trespasser in its entirety here:
Trollcave, Spain’s funereal death-doom titans, are back with a new record. Following their 2021 EP, 2022 debut LP, and recent split with Putridarium, here comes another crowing opus of decay.
Brooding atmospherics begin with some unnerving synths – this record promises a descent into the crypts. After these tense few minutes, monolithic guitars and thunderous drums reanimate a slew of fetid compositions. Gurgling vocals blend into hypnotic rhythmic sludge to convey a drudging sense of dread. This is one of those records that will make you feel entombed from the start to the end with its convulsive swaying gloom, mesmerizing you with its grotesque atmosphere and crushing delivery. Ever wondered what it would feel like to have your head pulverized by a sledgehammer of death-doom perfection? Then stick around – your answer lies in this record!
Prepare to be bound to the spot by a spectral apparition of death metal much darker and more despairing than most. This Spanish horde craft a duo of spellbinding and dynamic songs which fill the air with a sepulchral stench yet manage to retain an interesting range of ideas. For those seeking the most doomed realm of death metal, this is the final destination: no hope, only crawling rot and restless melancholy. Every sound seems to roar from the deepest abyss, and with each passing moment, you will find yourself pulled further into it… [text by Jørgen Sven Kirby, Nattskog webzine]
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Trollcave’s Adoration of the Abyssal Trespasser 1. Intro / Grotesque Abyssal Trespasser [15:06] 2. Abominator’s Diseased Carrion [16:20]
On January 3rd, 2025 internationally, Mutagenic Host will release their highly anticipated debut album, The Diseased Machine. The album will be co-released by Gurgling Gore (vinyl, cassette), Dry Cough Records (vinyl, cassette), and Memento Mori (CD). The CD version will be released on January 20th, 2025.
Mutagenic Host are a five-piece band hailing from London, as part of the New Wave of British Death Metal (see also: Coffin Mulch, Celestial Sanctuary, Slimelord, Vacuous, Mortuary Spawn, etc.). The group comprises members from various parts of the UK and United States. With a diverse background spanning the hardcore, black metal, and death metal scenes, Mutagenic Host blend hardcore sensibilities and groove with the heavy, well-crafted sound reminiscent of ’90s Floridian death metal.
Mutagenic Host dive into a technological apocalypse, examining a world overshadowed by hypocritical, insidious, and murderous global powers. The band is deeply disillusioned with the traditional themes of death metal and hardcore, feeling that these subjects no longer capture the urgency of the present. Instead, Mutagenic Host tackle the modern-day specters of complacency, apathy, and the looming threat of AI. Their work is an allegory for the systematic industrialization of humanity’s eradication — whether by human hands or by the machines we create to snuff out life. In this narrative, the instruments of the state use AI to monitor, control, and suppress the population, sounding a warning of impending doom through a fresh, intense lens in the death metal genre.
The Genotoxic Demo, unleashed in early 2023 via Dry Cough, featured four tracks that plunged listeners into a cerebral mulch while simultaneously slashing through them with a ruthlessness found in the streets. Following a year of relentless live performances alongside bands such as Incantation, Fulci, Fuming Mouth, Undeath, Celestial Sanctuary, Kruelty, Portrayal of Guilt, and Doldrey, Mutagenic Host have now finished writing, producing, and recording their inaugural full-length debut, The Diseased Machine.
Aptly titled, The Diseased Machine is a dark and thought-provoking journey into that post-plague world, which frankly doesn’t feel so far away from present times. As a debut album, it consolidates Mutagenic Host‘s myriad strengths – stomping ‘n’ slamming grooves, world-eating heaviness, patient deployment of double-bass movement – and then intensifies them to an enviable degree. To be sure, the band are the proverbial well-oiled machine (but not diseased!) across the album’s ten oft-twisting tracks, the clean-yet-crushing production amplifying their strident execution. And with their fluid shifting between tank-rolling downtempo and galloping bouts of speed, we can confidently declare The Diseased Machine as the epitome of “chug and slug” – Mutagenic Host have stormed the gates to further solidify their ferocious presence in the death metal scene!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter” here:
Preorders will begin on November 22nd. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Mutagenic Host’s The Diseased Machine 1. Neurological Necrosis 2. Genestealer 3. The Twisted Helix 4. Artificial Harvest of the Obscene 5. Organometallic Assimilation 6. DIRECTIVE:: [kill_on_sight] 7. Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter 8. S.W.A.R.M. (Systematic War Against Restless Machines) 9. Promethean Dusk 10. Rivers of Grief
In their endless quest to push and support current underground acts that perpetuate the odor of vintage death metal, Memento Mori are extremely thrilled to announce a new signing: Ataudes, from Argentina.
The entity known as Ataudes was called forth in Buenos Aires back in 2019, out of a rabid desire to play blackened death metal pervaded by destructive riffs, blastbeats, and gut-wrenching vocals, and exhibiting a dazzling taste for haunting sections that create an eerie atmosphere that spreads through their music like a malevolent blend of all things morbid. From the high-speed rampages to the creepier slower parts, Ataudes have a brilliantly grim and defiling sound that hits all the right spots for old-school extreme metal diehards to feast upon. The band are recommended for fans Morbid Angel, Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, Immolation, Dead Congregation, Krypts, and Incantation.
Ataudes‘ second full-length is due out on April 21st, 2025. Memento Mori will release the CD version, and Obscure Disharmony Records will take care of the tape version. Further details to follow in the coming months. For more info, consult the links below.
Today, Norwegian death metallers Shaarimoth stream the entirety of their highly anticipated third album, Devildom. set for international release today via W.T.C.Productions, hear Shaarimoth‘s Devildom in its entirety here:
Formed in 2004 but tracing its origins back to 1998, Shaarimoth emerged from the then-barren Norwegian death metal underground, and along with it, so did new incantations of darkness, death, and destruction. Both dark and ecstatic, furious and violent, defying genres, but at the same time paying tribute to its predecessors of the black arts, Shaarimoth‘s goals were firm from the very beginning.
To date, Shaarimoth have released two albums, a full 12 years apart: 2005’s Current 11 and 2017’s Temple of the Adversarial Fire. Indeed not ones to rush things, the Norwegians maximize “delayed gratification” and embrace bold & brazen reinvention. Such was the case for the universally celebrated Temple of the Adversarial Fire, which saw Shaarimoth evoking the album’s namesake: a wholesale stripping-down their aesthetic to its barest essentials, only to be rebuilt into an incendiary, black-smoke-billowing monolith of blackened death metal majesty. Rarely in the nowadays metal underground will one hear a death metal record this pure and reverential in its intent whilst being so suffused with the blackest of blood…that is, until the arrival of Devildom.
Almost elegantly simple in its title, Devildom nevertheless reveals the fullest depth(s) of Shaarimoth‘s ever-entrancing vision. The template remains unyielding and limitless – technical Morbid Angel-esque death metal given unique twists in texture, ambience, and authentically occult lyrical content – but the execution of such is taken, impossibly, up to yet another level. Devildom delves into themes of darkness, death, rebellion, and the acosmic forces of the infernal, guiding the listener on a journey through the boundless abyss, beyond the illusions of creation. It reveals a path to transcendence, returning to the true darkness from which all things arise and to which they will eventually return. Grounded in esoteric philosophies and dark spiritual doctrines, the music acts as a conduit to an otherworldly domain where reality’s limitations are cast aside to embrace the forbidden light of the dark gods. More than just a collection of songs, Devildom offers a ritualistic experience meant to invoke the Devil’s presence and power, immersing the listener in a realm of liberating madness. This journey celebrates the sinister and the spiritual, inviting exploration of the shadow self and crossing the boundaries between the mundane and the mystical to confront the darker aspects of existence.
Thankfully, a dozen years were not necessary for Shaarimoth to continue the glorious new epoch they ushered in with Temple of the Adversarial Fire. Patiently and painstakingly crafted all the same, Devildom soundly cements Shaarimoth‘s status as the Devil’s Death Metal ELITE.
Cover artwork, courtesy of Vamperess Imperium, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Shaarimoth’s Devildom 1. Call To Prayer 2. The Midnight Sentinel 3. Blood Covenant 4. Into Everlasting Darkness 5. The Voiceless Call 6. Apotheosis 7. Blade Of Malediction 8. The Impulse Of Rebellion 9. When Blood Becomes Fire 10. For His Eyes Of Judgement Are Forever Upon You
On November 1st internationally – All Saints Day – Invictus Productions is proud to present a brand-new EP from Crucifixion Ritual, Desecration of the Archangels, on cassette tape format. And today, they stream the EP in its entirety. Hear Crucifixion Ritual‘s Desecration of the Archangels in its entirety here:
Desecration of the Archangels is Crucifixion Ritual’s second deathstrike to the skull of Nazarene. Soon to be unleashed by Invictus like the band’s debut Gouging the Eyes of Angelic Purity EP, this second EP contains four hymns of profane savagery against the archangels of Jehovah, forged in the spirit of the old, true underground. No technicality, no melody, no polish— only war metal barbarity, blasphemy, and death. BLUDGEON THE FUCKING NAZARENE!
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Crucifixion Ritual’s Desecration of the Archangels 1. Michael – Castration 2. Raphael – Gouging 3. Gabriel – Elinguation 4. Uriel – Lobotomy
Today, New York death metallers Festergore premiere the new track “Glass Casket”. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Constellation of Endless Blight, set for international release November 29th via Personal Records on CD format; Iron Fortress Records will be handling the cassette tape version. Hear Festergore‘s “Glass Casket” in its entirety here:
Festergore is a death metal act formed in 2021, coming from the slums of Staten Island, New York. While maintaining their own unique “Deadass Death Metal” sound, Festergore‘s influences stem from such legendary bands as Autopsy, Demolition Hammer, and Morbid Angel. In suspense, after a trio of short-length releases, Festergore have returned to the Kozmos with a full-length, Constellation of Endless Blight.
As forecast by its classic-style cover art, Festergore‘s debut album positively screams – authentically – the early ’90s. Indeed, every element of Constellation of Endless Blight – not just artwork, but also production, execution, and especially songwriting – combine into a masterclass of American death metal that variously nods to the aforementioned Morbid Angel but also contemporaneous Immolation, Malevolent Creation, Suffocation, Monstrosity, and Deicide. Sharp and surging, Festergore‘s nine songs here walk a taut line between labyrinthine and linear, with a dark ‘n’ doom-soaked atmosphere adding a pallor of gloom to their tendrilous death metal. What’s more, the feeling of filth coats every crevasse of the album, even with the production being so era-authentic polished. From slipstreaming speed to brutal beatdown, Festergore cover every classic base, inducing blight and decay every step of the way. The Kozmos will be crushed by this Constellation of Endless Blight!
Also hear the previously revealed “Cryogenic Decay” HERE at Personal Records‘ Bandcamp. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Festergore’s Constellation of Endless Blight
1. Ironborn 2. Glass Casket (feat. Anthony Bramante) 3. SMA 4. The View From Halfway Down 5. Synchronizing the Kozmos part I 6. Surrender to Madness 7. Cryogenic Decay 8. Synchronizing the Kozmos part II 9. What Once Was Proud
Today, French death metal institution Mercyless stream the entirety of their highly anticipated eighth album, Those Who Reign Below. Set for international release on October 25th via Osmose Productions, hear Mercyless‘ Those Who Reign Below in its entirety here:
Those Who Reign Below is the eighth studio album of Mercyless in the purest tradition of old-school death metal, a work of musical impiety, a death metal as hateful as much as aggressive, switching imposing mid-tempos and demonic accelerations, sulphureous melodies and vocals straight from the Devil’s forge. An aura of evil surrounds each track, in a veritable debauchery of hate that gives the impression of having witnessed the manifestation of the Devil.
This album represents the extreme and uncompromising side of Mercyless, which has grown steadily over the years, in a blasphemous symphony inherited from the ’90s death metal scene.
The cover was designed by Mexican artist Nestor Avalos, whose talent represents all the darkness emanating from this album. The production was entrusted to Raph Henry of Heldscalla Studio, who sculpted a sound highly representative of the violence and anger of this extreme and irreligious music.
It’s a tribute to the underground, to the man who blends in with the crowd and takes on a presence so frightening that he’s so clearly recognizable… the Devil… on his throne, majestic and merciless!
Preorder info can be found HERE. Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Mercyless (France)’s Those Who Reign Below 1. Extreme Unction [5:24] 2. I Am Hell [4:03] 3. Evil Shall Come Upon You [3:59] 4. Phantoms Of Caïn [3:47] 5. Thy Resplendent Inferno [4:12] 6. Crown Of Blasphemy [4:55] 7. Prelude To Eternal Darkness [4:38] 8. Chaos Requiem [4:14] 9. Absurd Theatre [2:09] 10. Sanctus Deus Mortis [4:29] 11. Zechariah 3:1 [1:02]
DEFEATED SANITY Up the Punishment with Accelerating the Rot
Hear the new album from the legendary death metal band two weeks early by joining their Bandcamp Listening Party
“Defeated Sanity have captured the throne of brutal death metal…” – Angry Metal Guy
Ever since their maniacal mastermind picked up his first pair of sticks at the tender age of six, DEFEATED SANITY have found newly inventive ways to spin death metal on its deformed head. This band of technical headbangers have broken onto the Billboard charts with jazz-infused chaos and even recorded a proggy split with…themselves?
But on their upcoming seventh album, DEFEATED SANITY are returning to the brutal slamming that cemented their legacy. The latest single off Chronicles of Lunacy is still plenty twisted, but Accelerating the Rot now stands as one of the fastest songs in the band’s history.
Chronicles of Lunacycomes out November 22 on Season of Mist.
Over the past 30-odd years, many esteemed vocalists have cycled in and out of Defeated Sanity. However, after a satisfyingly gruesome performance on their last album, Josh Welshman is back for Chronicles of Lunacy. His foul emanations bring a refreshing air of continuity. “Each song on the album delves into a different form of mental corruption”, Welshman says.
The album’s lead single stunk of religious fanaticism, but “Accelerating the Rot” races like the mind of a vigilante whose idea of justice is more than a little warped. “One by one, I decimate the miasmic masses“, Welshman roars above a bass line that scrambles all over the fretboard like a blood-hungry tick.
When it comes to death metal, Defeated Sanity understand that there’s more than one way to deliver a beating. After all, the band’s mastermind is one of the world’s sickest drummers. Since his father’s passing in 2010, Lille Gruber has composed the bulk of their imposing discography.
“We love experimenting”, he explains. Even though “Accelerating the Rot” is just a few scraggly chin beard hairs over three minutes long, Gruber never stops switching between different blistering tempos. And yet – whether he’s blasting, pinging or flaying his snare, the song never loses its oddball bounce.
“Lille’s drumming is just ridiculous”, says bassist Jacob Schmidt. “He’s still the face of the franchise, so we’re never going to abandon those head-scratching moments that have always set Defeated Sanity apart”.
The band’s previous single crept and crawled into the album’s most slam-heavy breakdown. Thanks to its lurching groove, the breakdown on the latest single from Chronicles of Lunacy will still scrunch plenty of noses, but “Accelerating the Rot” punches the gas and heads straight for the loony bin. Their maniacal timekeeper is still working the controls, but the blinding pace is set by new guitarist Vaughn Stoffey, who chews through chunky shredding and squeals of dissonance with fresh fingers.
“Accelerating the Rot is one of the fastest songs in Defeated Sanity’s history”, Stoffey says. “It gets back to the sheer brutality that fans love about Psalms of the Moribund and Chapters of Repugnance“.
The video for “Accelerating the Rot” was created by Obscenery Films.
More praise for Defeated Sanity:
“One of the most extreme things I’ve ever heard” – Decibel
“A jazz ensemble hiding in plain sight as a brutal tech-death band” – No Clean Singing
“While the rest of us smooth-brained mortals are content with playing checkers or Connect Four, these guys are playing six simultaneous games of 3D chess with their swollen, pulsating minds” – Metal Sucks
“Should be up for some sort of award for being one of this offshoot’s most steadily morphing bands” – Last Rites
“Defeated Sanity’s brutality comes almost entirely from their demandingly intricate songwriting” – Toilet Over Hell
“Defeated Sanity has crafted a sound that is wholly their own” – Heaviest of Art
The underground lost their collective mind when DEFEATED SANITY announced Chronicles of Lunacy. Metalheads couldn’t wait to bang heads over the first pressing of their new album. Several of the color variants are already sold out, but anyone who missed out isn’t condemned to suffer in silence.
The second pressing of Chronicles of Lunacy is now available for pre-order. This pressing includes a translucent lime color variant that’s exclusive to the Season of Mist webstore. Don’t wait! This variant is limited to 150 copies.
Can’t wait for your pre-order? RSVP for Defeated Sanity’s upcoming Bandcamp Listening Party. Chat with the band and listen to all of Chronicles of Lunacy two weeks before the album comes out.
To celebrate Chronicles of Lunacy, DEFEATED SANITY are embarking on their first headlining tour of Europe since 2018. They’ll be performing songs off their brutal new album alongside Wisconsin’s Putrid Pile and To Violently Vomit, a tribute to Disgorge that features current and former members of the legendary brutal death metal band.
Iniquitous Savagery, Strangle Wire, Asylum and Embryonic Devourment round out the two legs of this stacked bill.
Defeated Sanity Chronicles of Lunacy 2025 European Tour 23 January – Wolfburg, DE @ Jugendhaus OST* 24 January – Hamburg, DE @ Bambi Galore* 25 January – Copenhagen, DK @ Temple of Doom* 26 January – Dyestad, SE @ Dyestads Bygata* 27 January – Stockholm, SE @ Kollektivet Livet* 28 January – Aalborg, DK @ Studenterhuset* 29 January – Tilburg, NL @ Hall of Fame* 30 January – Lille, FR @ The Black Lab* 31 January – Paris, FR @ Glazart* 1 February – Basel, CH @ Kaschemme Basel* 2 February – Milan, IT @ Slaughter Club* 3 February- Graz, AT @ Explosiv* 4 February – Vienna, AT @ Escape^ 5 February – Zagreb, HR @ Klub Močvara^ 6 February – Budapest, HU @ Dürer Kert^ 7 February – Belgrade, RS @ Dorcol Platz^ 8 February – Sofia, BG @ Oldskulls Club^ 9 February – Varna,BG @ Club Smile^ 10 February – Bucharest, RO @ Quantic^ 11 February – Cluj-Napoca, RO @ Flying Circus^ 12 February – Košice, SK @ Collosseum Club^ 13 February – Prague, CZ @ Modrá Vopice^ 14 February – Bielsko-Biala, PL @ Rudeboy Club^ 15 February – Berlin, DE @ Orwohaus^ * with Iniquitous Savagery, Strangle Wire ^ with Asylum, Embryonic Devourment
Tracklist: 1. Amputationsdrang (2:30) 2. The Odour Of Sanctity (3:36) [WATCH] 3. Accelerating The Rot (3:22) [WATCH] 4. Temporal Disintegration (5:52) [WATCH] 5. Extrinsically Enraged (4:09) 6. A Patriarchy Perverse (4:16) 7. Condemned to Vascular Famine (6:00) 8. Heredity Violated (3:48) Total runtime: 33:35
DEFEATED SANITY is unequivocally one of the most unique, boundary-pushing and crucial bands in the history of extreme death metal. Their music is as technically coherent as it is mind-bending and memorable. Endlessly replay-able and full of discovery, their maze of riffs and musical passages is inspired by infamous classic bands in the extreme metal genre, while also heavily steeped in jazz and progressive classical elements.
The band consists of four members. They’re led by drummer Lille Gruber, who’s the son of deceased co-founding member Wolfgang Teske. Gruber is joined by bandmates Jacob Schmidt (bass), Josh Welshman (vocals) and Vaughn Stoffey (guitar).
As well as being the drummer of Defeated Sanity, Gruber is the multi- instrumental, songwriting mastermind behind the band’s deep and compelling catalogue of songs and compositions. He possesses a bag of tricks seen nowhere else in the genre, and a musical prowess which is on full display throughout their new album Chronicles of Lunacy.
“We love experimenting”, explains drummer and founding member Lille Gruber. “But we realized that some of our oldest fans might have gotten lost after our last couple of albums. With the new one, we wanted to focus more on neck-snapping brutality”.
Chronicles of Lunacy punches you right in the face. Press play and “Amputationsdrang” already has you pinned to the mat beneath its non-stop blasts. Get comfortable, too, because Defeated Sanity don’t let the album up for air until the very end of Track 4. But turns out, acting like knuckle-dragging cavemen isn’t so easy for a band that has a Mensa-level maestro like Gruber at the controls.
At the tender age of six, Lille Gruber picked up heavy guitar and drums. Inspired by killer American BDM bands like Disgorge, Monstrosity and Brodequin, the German wunderkind recorded the band’s first demo alongside his father, Wolfgang Teske. Since Wolfgang’s passing in 2010, Gruber has taken on the bulk of the composing for Defeated Sanity. Whether he’s hammering his snare, pinging between cymbals or riding a colossal groove, The Chronicles of Lunacy flows like a never-ending stream of filth.
“Lille’s drumming is just ridiculous”, Jacob Schmidt says. Schmidt – who toured with Obscura behind Cosmogenesis – joined as the other half of Defeated Sanity’s chaotic rhythm section for the band’s beloved second album. His nimble, belching bass give the new album’s lead single “The Odour of Sanctity” a dizzying bounce. “He’s the face of the franchise, so we’re never going to abandon those head-scratching moments that set Defeated Sanity apart”.
Indeed, Chronicles of Lunacy isn’t Defeated Sanity for dummies. Heck, the lyrics are wrapped up in the twisted ways that delusions can rot the human psyche. This heady concept was made flesh by none other than Jon Zig. Drawn in painstaking detail by his wicked right hand, the album’s cover shows that the birth of some ideas look an awful lot like a gory and sex-crazed nativity scene.
“Each song on Chronicles deals with a different form of mental corruption”, Josh Welshman says”. “Odor” stinks of religious fanaticism. “A Patriarchy Perverse” cracks open the mind of co-ed killer Ed Kemper, while “Extrinsically Enraged” practically foams at the mouth with squealing hammer-ons. “That one’s more literal”, says Welshman with a hearty laugh. “It’s about contracting rabies”. If it weren’t for Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata, then Defeated Sanity would’ve chewed through as many vocalists as they have albums, but after a brutal showing on their last one, Welshman is back with more guttural vengeance. His growls ooze from the pit of his gut on “Temporal Disintegration”, stomped out like the innards of a cockroach by the gravity-defying slams.
While it still hits from every odd angle, Chronicles of Lunacy does draw a jagged red line back to Defeated Sanity’s brutal origins. After all, the band now share a label with their namesake. In true, DS fashion, the first song written for this album was “Heredity Violated”, a headbanging grand finale that never stops chugging. “This album isn’t as tough on the brain as the last two”, says new guitarist Vaughn Stoffey, whose chunky riffs whip “Accelerating the Rot” into the fastest song in the band’s canon. “It’s rawer and more straightforward, which gets back to what fans love about Psalms of the Moribund“.
To dig up the sheer brutality that long-time fans have come to crave, Defeated Sanity returned to Thousand Cave Studios. New York City’s most vile underground hotspot also served as the excavation site for the Billboard-charting The Sanguinary Impetus, which shoveled a fresh layer of dirt over the “polished” production of Passages into Deformity. But the band encouraged producer Colin Marston to get down and dirty with Chronicles of Lunacy. “We still wanted some of the high fidelity that you hear on modern death metal records”, Schmidt says, “but this album has the same crushing low-end as Psalms or Chapters of Repugnance“.
The band execute this two-headed approach to monstrous effect on “Condemned to Vascular Famine”. At just under six minutes, the song delivers the longest ass beating on Chronicles of Lunacy. At times, all four members sound like they’re climbing up the walls in separate asylums, but after slipping in a brief nod to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the band come slamming down into the album’s ugliest breakdown.
“That’s one of our favorites”, the band says. “It lands at a crossroad of the DS sound that we ended up with on Chronicles of Lunacy. Even though it gets pretty fucking weird at times, there’s still an emphasis on heavy, straight-up slamming”.
None of their albums are ever going to follow a straight line, but on Chronicles of Lunacy, Defeated Sanity return to sheer brutality.
Lineup: Josh Welshman – Vocals Vaughn Stoffey – Guitars Jacob Schmidt – Bass Lille Gruber – Drums
Guest Musicians: Danny Nelson & Paolo Paguntalan provide backup vocals on Amputationsdrang and Accelerating the Rot
Recording Studio: Thousand Caves Studio in January 2024.
Production: Recorded, mixed and mastered by Colin Marston. Produced by Colin Marston and Defeated Sanity.
Cover Art: Artwork by Jon Zig Title lettering by Liz Schmidt Layout by Alex Eckman-Lawn
Blood Harvest Records is proud to present Nogothula‘s striking debut album, Telluric Sepsis, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. The tape version will be released on October 25th, the CD on November 29th, and the vinyl on December 13th.
Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nogothula formed in 2021 originally as a trio, including vocalist / guitarist Colton Deem of the mighty VALDRIN and vocalist / bassist Eric Payne of regional heroes Verment. Alex Hooper rounded out the band on drums, and together they released the Gore Vortex Ascension demo a year later. The title itself gave more than a small indication of the sci-leanings the band would soon explore across their surging & slamming style of death metal. Guitarist Nick Moeller would later join, and as a quartet, Nogothula would record their debut album, Telluric Sepsis.
Released digitally in April 2024, Telluric Sepsis now sees a physical release courtesy of Blood Harvest. And for good reason: sharper, strangely concise, and yet also more mind-bending, Telluric Sepsis is prime progressive-leaning death metal that never loses sight of the original essence of DEATH METAL. References are many – early 2000s Decapitated, Pierced From Within-era Suffocation, pre-Obscura Gorguts, late ’90s Cryptopsy – but Nogothula possess an elusive nous that minces and mangles those sturdy signposts in a manner that’s familiar and foreign in equal measure. While the sci-fi element isn’t as pronounced as, say, Nocturnus’ first couple albums, there’s nevertheless an undercurrent of “supernatural spaciness” to the overall atmosphere of Telluric Sepsis – part production, perhaps, or part songwriting itself. For the latter, the songwriting found within the nine-song / 43-minute albumslices & sluices with deadly precision, keeping momentum always moving forward but equally unsettling the listener; linear trajectories are to be found here, but the sum effect is swarming and cyclonic. And even amidst the brutal breakdowns, the razor-wire riffing runs riot across Telluric Sepsis, peppered with fleeting-yet-furious leads while Deem and Payne’s dual vocals make that swarming / cyclonic effect hit that much harder. Feel the lacerating vibrations of Nogothula and behold their labyrinthian sunken spires!
In the meantime, stream Telluric Sepsis in its entirety here:
Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Nogothula’s Telluric Sepsis 1. Pinnacle Of Death 2. Astonishing Devastation 3. Pyres Of The Altar 4. Incandescent Debris 5. Embers Of An Ancient Fire 6. Volcanic Winter 7. Fogo Nas Entranhas 8. Burial Swamps
