Blaze of Perdition – Near Death Revelations


10690156_678736048892200_6620587785556485213_n

Exams. Phone calls with my Mum. Sitting in the waiting room at the Doctors. The middle section of The Two Towers (the book). Near Death Revelations (Agonia), third album of Polish black metal act Blaze of Perdition. And the Jeopardy answer is “Things that feel like they go on for a very fucking long time, Alex”. “Congratulations, you’re right!”

OK, so maybe being flippant with an album that has clearly had a lot of work poured into it (and an album that is very well produced and crafted) is harsher than a Dave Hunt vocal, but as lengthy song bleeds into similar sounding lengthy song, it begins to do your head in. When people say the same thing over and over, getting louder each time, you don’t listen more intently, or pay more attention, you become desensitized, and when you check the running order, expecting it to be approaching the end and you’re only halfway through and there’s still another 25 minutes (plus) to go, you know this isn’t an album that will be scooping up Album of the Year accreditations.

2011’s The Hierophant (Pagan Records) positioned Blaze of Perdition as an act who were prepared to challenge the established order of things, Near Death Revelations and its less-theatrical Carach Angrenisms is a regression despite the bludgeon, headbanging stabs and aggression worked into its progressive angles; ‘Cold Morning Fears’, for example, flails and smashes from the outset, like a frost-bitten Formulas Fatal To The Flesh (Earache) Morbid Angel halted in their tracks before making a Grand Declaration of War (Necropolis).

It does have to be said that Blaze of Perdition are a very proficient band, who deal in progressive, discordant bastardized (once was) black metal with a gritty quasi mechanized metallic bent, almost as if they are the realization (and extension) of what Gehenna were trying to do with Admiron Black (Moonfog). Credit is also due to their refusal to be destroyed by adversity, following the death of bassist Ikaroz and the severe injuries suffered by vocalist Sonnellion and drummer Vizun. However, Near Death Revelations is a (seemingly endless) repetition of the same new, same new; bashing your head against the same brick wall again and again until you become numbed to the sonic overload.

 

6.0/10

Blaze of Perdition on Facebook

STEVE TOVEY


Album Release: Demonical – Black Flesh Redemption


demonical 2

Swedish old school death metallers Demonical are streaming their new EP Black Flesh Redemption in its entirety, out April 24, 2015 in Europe and May 5, 2015 in North America via Agonia Records. Stream it below.

They have confirmed an upcoming tour with Norwegian black/death legends Gehenna and Finnish death metal newcomer I Saw Red this April and May.

Apr 30: Klex – Greifswald (DE)(with Gehenna)
May 01: Festung – Bitterfeld (DE)(with Gehenna)
May 02: Poppodium Romein – Leeuwarden (NL)(with Gehenna)
May 03: Baroeg – Rotterdam (NL)(with Gehenna)
May 04: Gasolina – Waregem (BE)(with Gehenna)
May 05: Cafe Central – Weinheim (DE)(with Gehenna)
May 06: Rock It – Aalen (DE)(with Gehenna)
May 07: Modra Vopice – Prague (CZ)(with Gehenna)
May 08: Club U Bazyla – Poznan (PL)(with Gehenna)
May 09: From Hell – Erfurt (DE)(with Gehenna)
Jun 13: Metalhead Meeting Festival – Bucharest (RO)
Jul 04: Sick Midsummer Festival – Scharnstein (AT)
Aug 12: Summer Breeze Festival – Dinkelsbühl (DE)
Aug 13: Barther Metal Open Air – Barth (DE)

gehenna demonical tour

Tracklist:
01: Cursed Liberation
02: Drown in Flames
03: Throne of Perdition
04: To Become the Weapon

demonical black flesh redemption

DEMONICAL anno 2015:
Sverker Widgren – vocals
Martin Schulman – bass
Johan Haglund – rhythm guitars
Eki Kumpulainen – session lead guitars
Kennet Englund – session drums

Demonical on Facebook
Demonical on Twitter
Demonical on Youtube
Demonical on Instagram
Demonical on Merchandise
Demonical on Liveblog

Agonia Records on Facebook
Agonia Records on Twitter
Agonia Records on Soundcloud
Agonia Records on YouTube


Forgotten Tomb confirm album title and release details


27a0d598-9487-43e0-a829-65ae55bdc309

Italian blackened doom merchants Forgotten Tomb have confirmed full details of their new opus magnificus.

Released on Agonia Records, the bands eighth album has been adorned with the title Hurt Yourself And The Ones You Love and will be released on April 17th (UK/Europe) and April 21st (US/Rest of World).

Produced by Terje Refsnes (Carpathian Forest, Gehenna), the album is described by Ferdinando “Herr Morbid” Marchisio as “a mix of melancholy, groove and pure malignancy”.

Tracklisting:

1- Soulless Upheaval
2- King Of The Undesirables
3- Bad Dreams Come True
4- Hurt Yourself And The Ones You Love
5- Mislead The Snakes
6- Dread The Sundown
7- Swallow The Void

The band have also previewed the new album cover:

f2b507af-db80-49e4-a008-da6c1b0129e1

 

Forgotten Tomb on Facebook


Demonical: New EP then on the road with Gehenna


72977_logo

With four albums already in the bag, Swedish Death Metallers Demonical have emerged blinking into the light from the murky depths of Amplified and Wing Studios with a new, as yet untitled, EP produced by vocalist Sverker Widgren in the bag.

The release will see the light of day via Agonia Records in Spring 2015.

Bassist Martin Schulman: “Armed with blood and iron we have hereby started the recording process of a new four track EP, once again bringing forth the ravishing sounds of HM-2 and razorsharp chants of Stockholm-style death metal darkness. The hour of death draws near!”.

In the meantime, ahead of working on album #5, the band that rose from ashes of Centinex, are playing a series of shows with legendary black metallers Gehenna.

30.04 (GER) Greifswald – Klex (with Gehenna)
01.05 (GER) Bitterfeld – Festung (with Gehenna)
02.05 (NL) Leeuwarden – Poppodium Romein (with Gehenna)
03.05 (NL) Rotterdam – Baroeg (with Gehenna)
04.05 (BEL) Waregem – Gasolina (with Gehenna)
05.05 (GER) Weinheim – Cafe Central (with Gehenna)
06.05 (GER) Aalen – Rock It (with Gehenna)
07.05 (CZE) Prague – Modra Vopice (with Gehenna)
08.05 (POL) Poznan – Club U Bazyla (with Gehenna)
09.05 (GER) Erfurt – From Hell (with Gehenna)
13.06 (RO) Bucharest – Metalhead Meeting Festival
04.07 (AT) Scharnstein – Sick Midsummer Festival
12.08 (GER) Dinkelsbühl – Summer Breeze Festival
13.08 (GER) Barth – Barther Metal Open Air

 

Demonical on Facebook


Watain, At The Gates, Satyricon Confirmed For Blastfest 2015


blastfest 2015 poster

Blastfest will be held 18-21st February 2015 in Bergen, Norway and in case you missed this lineup announcement, here it is again:

Alfahanne
Aspherium
Asphyx
At The Gates
Baptism
Blood Red Throne
Bolzer
Bömbers
Borknagar
Byfrost
Craft
Crib45
Cryptopsy
Dark Funeral
Dark Tranquility
Dead To This World
Decapitated
Demilich
Den Saakaldte
Djevelkult
Destroyer 666
Destruction
Endstille
Esoteric
Falloch
Finntroll
Gehenna
Hecate Enthroned
Impaled Nazarene
Kall
Melechesh
Moonsorrow
Morgoth
Naer Mataron
Orange Goblin
Paradise Lost
Primordial
Purple Hill Witch
Rotting Christ
Samael
Sarke
Sarkom
Satan
Saturnus
Satyricon
The Sickening
The 3rd Attempt
Tortorum
Tsjuder
Vallenfyre
Winterfylleth
Wyruz
+ more yet to be announced.

Blastfest on Facebook
Blastfest on Twitter


Blastfest 2015 Adds Four more Bands


Blastfest 2014 Poster

 

Norways Blastfest is expanding to a four-day festival with over 60 bands due to perform. The festival, located in Bergen will run from the 18th to the 21st February and will feature performances from the likes of At The Gates, Paradise Lost and Primordial.



Press Release:
Blastfest Is Expanding!

Blastfest has accepted the challenge and has delivered! It is official, Blastfest will be even bigger! With very positive results and excitement of a recent poll, the Bergen, Norway festival have decided 3 days of metal madness wasn’t enough and have expanded the festival into a 4 day event with a total of 60 bands! That’s 4 days, 4 venues, and 60 bands! Yes. 60 BANDS! The festival is now running from Wednesday February 18th to Saturday February 21st.

And that’s not just the only announcement the festival will make today because just like the recent state of updates the festival are keeping form and have just confirmed another 4 bands to the already exploding poster! So without further adieu, we are pleased to report the addition of true Norwegian black metal veterans Gehenna, British symphonic black metallers Hecate Enthroned, Norwegian death metal titans Blood Red Throne and death thrashers Wyruz!

Gehenna
Gehenna
All of our grenade prayers have been answered; the word became flesh! It’s with a shivering voice of the utmost excitement that Blastfest welcome Norwegian black metallersGehenna to the lineup of 2015! These purveyors of the dark arts have long been regarded as one of the most important acts to come out of the Norwegian black metal scene in the 90’s. It’s therefore with great delight that the festival welcome them back to Bergen for their first ever Blastfest performance.

Hecate Enthroned
Hecate Enthroned
Back in the 90’s a band made its way to the forefront of the symphonic black metal scene alongside bands like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, receiving praise for their ability to be both extreme in their expression as well as incorporating symphonic elements. We are of course talking about UK act Hecate Enthroned. As of today the band is still going strong, if not turning towards an ever heavier expression with their now death metal-infused take on the black arts. Blastfest are very pleased to have them cross the North Sea to perform live in Bergen for the very first time ever, as part of the festival!

Blood Red Throne
Blood Red Throne
If you were asked to name a Norwegian death metal band, chances are that the first name to enter into your mind would be that of Blood Red Throne. Ever since the release of their first four-track demo back in 2000, they have been a household name in death metal circles. It’s therefore with great pride that Blastfest welcome the ravenous war machine, the primitive killing machine that is Blood Red Throne into the fold. Be prepared for blood spatter and arterial lust!

Wyruz
Wyruz
Some say Blastfest needed to add more thrash metal to the lineup, so they have decided to include prime death/thrash act Wyruz! These guys have been going strong for over a decade now, and are dead set on destroying everything at Blastfest 2015.

Lineup
Alfahanne | Asphyx | At The Gates | Baptism | Blood Red Throne | Bolzer | Borknagar | Byfrost | Craft | Crib45 | Cryptopsy | Dark Funeral | Dark Tranquility | Dead To This World | Decapitated | Demilich | Den Saakaldte | Djevelkult | Destroyer 666 | Destruction | Endstille | Esoteric | Finntroll | Gehenna | Hecate Enthroned | Impaled Nazarene | Melechesh | Moonsorrow | Morgoth | Paradise Lost | Primordial | Rotting Christ | Samael | Sarke | Sarkom | Satan | Saturnus | The Sickening | Tortorum | Tsjuder | Vallenfyre | Wyruz + more yet to be announced.

Blastfest will be held 18-21st February 2015 in Bergen, Norway.

4 Days | 4 Venues | 60 Bands | Exhibitions | Clinics | Stand Up Comedy | Tattoo Convention | Theme DJ’s

Tickets on sale now: http://blastfest.no/?page_id=60

www.blastfest.no
Blastfest On Facebook


Incubate Festival Report


incubate festival 2013 posterLet’s tell you something about Incubate first; This cultural circus settles itself in Tilburg every year for a week. With art and theatre and music of various kinds, lectures and general cultural goodness it’s known to turn every pub into a venue. It’s not particularly known as a metal festival, however enticing us with a black metal Friday this year, billing names such as Immortal and Mayhem, we couldn’t resist to take a peek. This year Susanne Maathuis and Kaat van Doremalen will brave the tidal wave of different cultural influences to report on the darker and louder sides of this wonderful festival. On the 20th of September they were set up for a good night of some old-fashioned (and some new stuff) black metal. And even took a look at some nice doom on Sunday.Continue reading


Throne Of Katarsis – The Three Transcendental Keys


the_three_transcendental_keysThrone Of Katarsis have been active since 2002, however, for those not in the know the fact that two of their four members also play in Gehenna should speak volumes about what to expect from these Norwegians. They are traditional black metal in every sense; from the raw production, to the cold sound, right down to the ethereal and slightly creepy atmosphere created by each of their songs.Continue reading