Dark Descent   Page 2

Qrixkuor

Poison Palinopsia

Dark Descent

Note price increase. The recrudescent scourge of Qrixkuor returns to unleash its debut full-length album, entitled Poison Palinopsia. Following 2016’s enigmatic Three Devils Dance EP, Poison Palinopsia is a sordid wound in reality’s distorted veil that spent five restless years aching for a blade to grant it life.  Recorded, mixed and mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios in Birmingham, England, and with cover art contributed once again by the inimitable Daniel Corcuera, the album is a furious and fanatically channeled tempest of feral energy, synonymous in its nightmarish aural attack that seeks to chisel avenues to black inner worlds—a truly fitting soundscape for man’s current state of despondent dissonance. A forty-eight minute, two-part labyrinthine descent into the demented depths of the divine, Poison Palinopsia is less a listening experience and more a voyage—a summoning to scale the treacherous terrains of merciless mountains of madness. The images remain with the light long slain….

Mannveira

Vitahríngur

Dark Descent

Black metal nihilists Mannveira are preparing to unleash their long-awaited full-length debut, Vitahríngur, on Dark Descent Records.  Formed in 2010, Iceland’s Mannveira have been a relatively quiet band during their first decade of existence. Four years after inception, the band released their first EP, Von Er Eitur. Two years later they teamed up with the enigmatic Ellorsith for a haunting split on Dark Descent Records. Silence has largely followed since that split as the black metal band has honed their songwriting skills for 2021‘s Vitahríngur. Recorded in 2018 to 2019, Vitahríngur is a manifestation of the downward spiral which it represents, portrayed in five tracks of abstract misery and violence. This debut album is the culmination of a decade’s work for the band and the darkest journey in their existence. No longer will Mannveira be lurking in the shadow—Vitahríngur is the statement the band has been working toward all along.

Anatomia

Corporeal Torment

Dark Descent

By now, Anatomia should require little introduction. For nearly twenty years, this Japanese cult have explored the darkest and most deranged ends of the death-doom spectrum. Theirs is a sound that’s intrinsically tied to tradition yet evinces a wealth of weirdness, making their sound both classic and challenging in equal measure. And while their countless split recordings are beloved by the band’s ever-growing legions of fans, it is Anatomia’s full-lengths where they truly dive into the deep end, exploring subterranean expanses of the subconscious and sound itself, making each of their three judiciously-spaced-apart albums unique experiences unto themselves. The same can be said for Anatomia’s long-awaited fourth album, Corporeal Torment. Although it’s been merely four years since the critically acclaimed Cranial Obsession —that span of time rather quick between Anatomia albums—Corporeal Torment offers a more concise and daresay “energetic” counterpart to its epically mammoth predecessor. Then again, with tempos rarely kicking above a sludgy gallop as set forth by early heroes Autopsy, it’s not long before second track “Slime of Putrescence” drags the listener well and truly into the void of nulled-senses atmospherics. Indeed, this band’s grasp of mesmerizing mood and dynamics they so masterfully displayed across the aforementioned predecessor is flexed even more fully on their latest: more extremes between crushing and quiet, BPMs often dialed back into the negatives, and reverberating textures that occasionally recall musique concrète. In fact, the slipstream of energy into inertia as the album throbs onward becomes a vortex that’s nigh impossible to escape...but...

Grave Miasma

Abyss Of Wrathful Deities

Dark Descent

Abyss Of Wrathful Deities is Grave Miasma’s latest opus after five years of quiescence. Bone-breaking, aggressive and demonic death metal pairs with the accomplished and progressive production of Jaime Gomez Arellano (Orgone Studios), forming a sepulchral miasma which elevates the band’s songwriting to a previously unrivalled level. Developing on the powerful and dark sound pursued on Endless Pilgrimage, the London trio presents nine distinctively enigmatic tracks on death and resurrection, the demons of far-away lands and Tibetan burial rituals.Grave Miasma are both the circling vulture and the epiphany, equally well-versed in the raw and primitive as they are in technical lead guitar orgies. Music not as a means of style, but as an accurately-wielded sharp scythe.  The reverence to South American titans is obvious, yet the band has the approach of merging (de)composition with creativity, creating a contemporary yet absolutely timeless atmosphere. Brazil’s Pedro Felipe (Ars Moriendee) is responsible for the three-eyed artwork. Do not gaze long into the abyss, for it will devour you….

Undergang

Aldrig I Livet

Dark Descent

Since 2008, Denmark’s Undergang have been pursuing the deepest, darkest depths of total death metal. Steeped in the classics, the quartet aren’t so much “old school” like so many HM-2 worshippers nowadays as they are simply old-sounding, brazenly brandishing a sound that nods to early Finnish death metal and slimy doom-death as equally as timeless goregrind. It’s a sound that’s garnered the band a legion of devotees across the world, and justifiably so. And while it’s been three interminably long years since their last album, Misantropologi, at long last do Undergang arrive with their long-awaited fifth full-length: Aldrig I Livet. Simply put, this is Undergang at their very best, subtly striving for new twists on their characteristic sound whilst making that sound more engaging than ever before. Graced with utterly crushing production, Aldrig I Livet is undoubtedly the band’s most ominous record to date, rooting among the ruins of the most desolate doom-death committed to tape and warping that wreckage with slithering solos that seem to creep like tendrils across an inter-dimensional portal. It’s a sick and sickening slog through the sewers of the subconscious—forecasted by the cover art, once again courtesy of vocalist / guitarist David Mikkelsen—and the band effortlessly lumber forth with a swagger that’s startling to behold. Even this many years into their celebrated catalog, the quartet show no signs of relinquishing their crown as Denmark’s premier death metal champions, and Aldrig I Livet is disgusting proof.

Adversarial

D.e.n.a.t.b.k.o.n.

Dark Descent

***BACK IN PRINT AND FIRST TIME AVAILABLE AT REVOLVER!!! Canadian underlords of nihilistic warrior cult death metal Adversarial have crawled up from the depths to unleash Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism. The band's first full-length since 2010's All Idols Fall Before the Hammer offers nine tracks of hellishly twisted aural blasphemy. Artwork by Danille Gauvin. Mastered by Damian Herring (Subterranean Watchtower). 16 page booklet with lyrics.

Invincible Force

Decomposed Sacramentum

Dark Descent

A relentless whirlwind of proto-death, hysterical thrash and demonic atmosphere full of riffs and blast beats worthy of Morbid Angel Abomination Of Desolation-era or Incubus. Invincible Force have come of age, blasting heaven’s gates wide open in the process…and there shall be no prisoners. Decomposed Sacramentum is perfectly illustrated by the bleak black and white cover artwork designed by David Jorquera.  “Despite having been a band for thirteen years, Invincible Force’s music offers up a youthful exuberance reminiscent of the Brazilian thrash scene in the ’80s, but with a more modern production. This album would absolutely have been the soundtrack to a basement party full of thrash kids in denim jackets crushing cheap beer as their white high-tops became a blur of circle pits.” —Your Last Rites

Lie In Ruins

Floating In Timeless Streams

Dark Descent

***BACK IN STOCK ON LIMITED SPLATTER VINYL!!! Note new price.  Six years since Finland’s Lie In Ruin’s last full-length, 2014’s Towards Divine Death, Floating In Timeless Streams sees a more streamlined approach for the band. While their previous album clocked in at seventy-one minutes of brutality (!), this latest trims some of that excess at just over forty-two minutes—without losing any of the impact.  Floating... continues to hone and highlight the band’s tremendous guitar work by Roni Ärling and Tuomas Kulmala, but the band has also added the extremely talented Jussi-Pekka Manner (Corpsessed) on drums. Roni Sahari’s (Desolate Shrine) vocals add the icing on the cake, making this the band’s magnum opus and a top highlight of 2020. Finnish death metal’s finest!

Gorephilia

In The Eye Of Nothing

Dark Descent

Although initially going under the moniker Goretexx, since the latter part of 2007, Finland’s Gorephilia have been crafting a classically minded canon of death metal might. Two demos under this more-fitting moniker followed in 2008 and 2011, but it was 2011’s Ascend To Chaos mini-album where the Gorephilia legend truly took flight. Surely, their country of origin signaled some of their aesthetic—names such as Demigod, Convulse, and Adramalech rang true—but even this early on, subtle twists of their own identity crept in. Those would fully blossom the next year with their debut album, Embodiment Of Death. Aptly titled, this first full-length ranged beyond Finland to the rich history of ’90s death metal on both side of the Atlantic, again with an even more pronounced identity: swampy yet clear-headed, exceptionally tight but never sterile, and above all, mind-mangling songwriting that somehow sticks in the head.  It would take another five years before the band would deliver their next album. When it at last arrived, in early 2017, it was very much worth the wait. Graced with electrifying cover art, Severed Monolith matched it musically, showing even-more-twisted prowess in the songwriting department, here largely handled by founding guitarist Jukka Aho. This second album also saw the arrival of prolific drummer Kauko Kuusisalo and second guitarist Pauli Gurko—truly a well-oiled machine at this point.  While no doubt still reeling from the tragic loss of founding vocalist Henu, the band soldiered on, undaunted, and now return with their long-awaited third album, In...

Spectral Voice

Necrotic Demos

Dark Descent

Since the crypt of Spectral Voice was first opened circa the miserable Winter MMXII, a lone full length, five rehearsal promos, multiple 7-inch split EPs, and one infamous demo have been released. The band’s death / doom has been slowly rotting across the USA and Europe for years, putrefying the road alongside allies such as Sempiternal Dusk, Undergang, Blood Incantation, Anatomia, Primitive Man, Superstition, Mortiferum, Demilich, Hyperdontia, Grave Miasma, Flowering Blade and Krypts. For the first time, all official non-album material is finally available in one place, in dedication towards all cultists and gloomy fanatics who have supported the Spectral Voice since the early years of these recordings. Their self-released record Necrotic Demos contained the original Necrotic Doom demo and all the tracks from the out-of-print split EPs. Dark Descent Records present this compact disc edition as a digipak with a bonus track—over forty minutes of primitive and raw slow rotting death doom.

Proscription

Conduit

Dark Descent

***BACK IN STOCK!!! Note price increase. Although a brand new entity to some, Proscription’s origins can be traced all the way to the late ’90s, back when Terry “Christbutcher” Clark was still living in his native Colorado, learning to raise hell with Excommunion. A decade later, after relocating to Finland, Maveth became his new vehicle and over the course of two demos, one album and one split CD, redefined how “dark” death metal ought to be and sound. And while the band’s sudden demise in 2017 took everybody by surprise, instead of resting on his laurels, Christbutcher immediately vowed to follow the same path albeit under a new flag of hate: Proscription. Spearheading a new, broader and even darker sound, this isn’t Maveth Part 2, even more so since Christbutcher is here assisted by a whole new line-up, including Cruciatus from renowned Dark Descent alumni Lantern, who contributed to the music of “Thy Black Nimbus Gate,” for instance. The result is as majestic as it is menacing sounding. Simply put, this is the kind of death metal that can swallow worlds and exterminate all light. Only preceded by one digital-only demo back in 2018, their first album Conduit, recorded between March and June 2019, showcases a new side to Christbutcher’s musical prowess while retaining that suffocating yet catchy trademark touch. Almost symphonic in parts (as hinted by the poignant intro “Four Wings Within The Samiel”) and with a new found sense of morbid melody emphasizing even more their taste for the epic, with a...

Deiquisitor

Towards Our Impending Doom

Dark Descent

Picking up not long after the release of the band’s second album Downfall Of The Apostates, Towards Our Impending Doom shows a band whose sound has evolved compositionally; combining memorable riffing and technical prowess unearthing Deiquisitor’s true sound. The Denmark-based trio has never sounded better than they do across these nine tracks spanning nearly thirty-nine minutes. “Catching the energy of a band that’s still in its new and hungry phase, Towards Our Impending Doom is a Death Metal album that sizzles and bursts like an erupting blister in a hellstorm of fire.” —Voices From The Darkside

Faceless Burial

Speciation

Dark Descent

For the past five years, Australia’s Faceless Burial have been flying the flag of classicist ’90s death metal, first across a demo in 2015 and then the subsequent (and acclaimed) Grotesque Miscreation debut album in 2017, along with the follow-up Multiversal Abattoir 12-inch a year later. Those latter two recordings, in particular, portrayed the potency of this power-trio, displaying an unremittingly dark and dexterous sound which draws in a variety of death metal traditions.  Going from strength to strength, the band play their strongest hand yet with the full-length Speciation. Altogether sharper and more finessed than all previous, this release spreads unimaginable death metal might with malignant ease.  This band exudes a charm that’s all their own, which largely comes down to the songwriting itself. Preceding records maintained a murky ’n’ malodorous aspect, predominantly in the sound; here it’s been parlayed into tense ’n’ treacherous textures. Otherwise, no great changes have been made, nor should there be: forever twisting and never stagnating, each of these six songs reveals new corridors through which to spelunk, and efficiently so across the album’s deceptively epic 36-minute runtime.  Thankfully, once again, Faceless Burial evade the riff-salad tendencies of so much tech-oriented death metal; their sound isn’t so much a restless blast through scattershot ideas as it is an endlessly malforming entity making rude shapes, and now one colored by narrative lead work. Which is to say nothing of the album’s powerful production, rendered in authentically analogue tones, further underlining the band’s...

Chaotian

Festering Excarnation

Dark Descent

Melting into one, Festering Excarnation brings together the first recorded carcinogenic gasp in the shape of Chaotian’s debut demo, Where Gods Excarnate, from 2018, and their follow-up, the more style-defined demo Festering Carcinolith from 2019. These are the first stages of a band to keep an eye open for in the future, while waiting on new material to take shape.

Lantern

Dimensions

Dark Descent

Finland’s Lantern have been illuminating death metal’s dark passages since 2007. Fresh off 2019’s Lost Paragraphs EP (also on Dark Descent Records), they returns with their third full-length of timeless death metal, Dimensions. Dimensions sees the band continuing on their established path by incorporating melodic lead work and memorable riffs with the distinctive vocals of Necrophilos. It’s the perfect balance between the band’s 2013 debut Below and 2017’s II: Morphosis. The six new tracks here further entrenches the band as one of death metal’s elite.

Nox Formulae

Drakon Darshan Satan

Dark Descent

The Red Black Clan of Nox Formulae returns with their second sonic grimoire of Higher Black Magic, delving deeper into the Draconian Universe and the Shadow Current emanating from the hidden and relatively unexplored realms of the Qlipha of the Concealers, Satariel, Archon of which is the second face of Lucifer, the Mighty King Lucifuge Rofocale. Drakon Darshan Satan is based—music and lyric wise—on the grimoire At The Outskirts Of The Shadow Current: The Dark Initiation, in this lifetime by Daemon Gharrassielh, and all those Dark Traditions offered by the Red Dragon to humanity. This album is a musical outcome of actual experiences that took place both on the physical and spiritual planes during the time years 2015-2019. The Shadow Allies are here, welcome the Arrival of Noctifer.

Spectral Voice

Necrotic Doom

Dark Descent

The best demo of 2015 is now available on compact disc. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, Spectral Voice play an ancient style of death metal best enjoyed in the crypt from which it was spawned. For fans of old Finnish death metal delicacies as well as those wanting haunting atmosphere and riffs. The only demo ever grace Decibel Magazine's annual top 40 (#35 in 2015). Over 21 minutes.

Blood Incantation

Starspawn

Dark Descent

***ON MAGENTA VINYL!!! Note price increase. Debut album available again on CD!!! After signing with the label prior to the August 2015 release of the Interdimensional Extinction EP, BLOOD INCANTATION released this 30-minute cerebral whirlwind of powerful atmospheric death metal. The intense and otherworldly technical/ambient/funeral death metal of Starspawn leaves the listener feeling transcendentally disembodied at the end of an unknown dimension.   Produced entirely in analog, the energy and magnetism of live BLOOD INCANTATION is tangibly melting through the speakers, and the songwriting, production and performance constellations have all fully aligned.

Oath Of Cruelty

Summary Execution At Dawn

Dark Descent

Dark Descent Records is proud to present the debut album from Houston’s Oath Of Cruelty. Having formed in 2010, the band has been honing their craft for nearly a decade releasing two demos and 2014’s Hellish Decimation EP. Summary Execution At Dawn is nine tracks spanning thirty-three minutes of death / thrash influenced by bands such Kreator, Sodom, Merciless, Slayer and more.

Horrendous

Ecydsis

Dark Descent

Horrendous burst out of the gates in January 2012 and took the metal world by storm with their debut full-length, The Chills (Decibel Magazine top 40 of 2012). Their sophomore release, Ecdysis, sees the band expand upon their sound while upping the song writing and musicianship. Ten songs, 42 minutes.

Timeghoul

1992-1994 Discography

Dark Descent

Born in the Midwest United States in 1987, Doom’s Lyre remained relatively quiet, recording no material before changing their name. In 1991, Doom’s Lyre, now renamed Timeghoul, set out by releasing two demos: 1992’s Tumultuous Travelings and 1994’s Panaramic Twilight. Largely ignored and mostly forgotten, these recordings did not receive the recognition they deserved until years later. Timeghoul’s eclectic and complex style of US death metal started to gain momentum within the underground as overlooked and classic material.

Crypt Sermon

Out Of The Garden

Dark Descent

The debut long player from epic traditional doom five-piece, Crypt Sermon. Hailing from Philadelphia, U.S.A., Crypt Sermon deliver seven riff-filled tracks with soaring clean vocals. For discerning fans of top quality heavy metal.

Blood Incantation

Hidden History Of The Human Race

Dark Descent

***Received an 8.3 Best New Music rating from Pitchfork.  Featuring classic 1970s artwork by sci-fi god Bruce Pennington, Hidden History Of The Human Race promises to be both a meditative inquiry on the mystery and nature of human consciousness, and a dynamic foray into the realms of progressive, brutal and atmospheric death metal, as revealed by Blood Incantation. Recorded completely analog at World Famous Studios in Denver, Colorado, Hidden History Of The Human Race expands the sonic cosmos explored on Blood Incantation’s critically acclaimed debut album Starspawn.

Phrenelith

Desolate Endscape

Dark Descent

Issuing forth like a deadly miasma from the tombs of subterranean Copenhagen, Phrenelith unleash their debut full-length like the hounds of Hades themselves. Coming off a spate of well-received demos in addition to a split with Spectral Voice on Dark Descent Records Records, plus their Chimaerian Offspring Cassette EP on Extremely Rotten Records, the sound is fetid, guttural and gasping. Like a half-decomposed corpse disinterred from the marshlands, this slithering rotten filth is hideously attractive, repulsively inviting in its gruesome fascination. A fine sense of poise and grandeur leads to unusual progressions and neck-snapping rhythmic variations. Atonal apocalyptic melodies collide with off-kilter riff work, crossing the lines between traditional filthy death metal found on the lost tapes of the ’80s alongside splendid maniacal hooks a mile wide which will stand the test of time. This is the Desolate Endscape—abandon hope and embark on the descent.

Sempiternal Dusk

Cenotaph Of Defectuous Creation

Dark Descent

Sempiternal Dusk return with their second full length of primitive death metal doom entitled Cenotaph Of Defectous Creation. Five tracks of pummeling mid-tempo death played with intent and a disdain for modern “death metal” cliche. Recorded and mixed at The Autopsy Room (Drawn And Quartered, Splatterhouse, Aldebaran) and mastered by Dredged Oblivion. The murky production of the previous full length has been dialed back in favor of a bolder and sharper sound, while retaining the despondent atmosphere. Featuring new artwork by the unholy D. Desecrator.

Diocletian

Gesundrian

Dark Descent

2014 full-length. Tape release on Dark Descent Records. Licensed from Osmose Productions. Black / death metal from New Zealand.

Emptiness

Nothing But The Whole

Dark Descent

***NOW AVAILABLE!!! Since 1998, Belgian death squad Emptiness has shown its ability to write surprising material with diversity and set a real identity, pushing boundaries far beyond traditional black / death metal music. Through their powerful sounds and visuals, they express a dark, original view on an empty, valueless world. When Phorgath and Olve aren't busy touring with their other band Enthroned, the band convenes in their own recording studio, Blackout, which serves as a bursting energy lowland where the members can gather and take the time to shape their sound even closer to their aesthetics and intention. 2014 release.

Thantifaxath

Void Masquerading As Matter

Dark Descent

Enigmatic Canadian trio Thantifaxath return with their first release since 2014's highly acclaimed debut full-length Sacred White Noise. Void Masquerading As Matter is a four-track, 35-minute EP which showcases the band's brand of dissonant and bleak black metal.

Crypt Sermon

The Ruins Of Fading Light

Dark Descent

***BACK IN STOCK ON LIMITED SILVER / PURPLE MERGE VINYL!!! Note new price. Crypt Sermon return with their highly anticipated new album, The Ruins Of Fading Light! A follow up to 2015’s critically acclaimed debut Out Of The Garden, this latest is a collection of existential meditations set to the backdrop of looming, apocryphal vestiges from a lost dark age. The lyrics explore the limits of faith and family, life and loss, strength and pride. Between thundering riffs and plaintive moments of acoustics, the music explores new territories on the landscape of epic doom and heavy metal. Still, one message echos as Crypt Sermon march onward, “We’re doomed.”  This album was again recorded, mixed, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Eternal Champion, Sumerlands, and more) at Creep Records.

Horrendous

Anareta

Dark Descent

***NOW ON LIMITED ULTRA CLEAR WITH RED, WHITE & BLUE SPLATTER VINYL!!! Decibel Magazine's album of the year in 2016! Among the leaders of the newer death metal movement, Horrendous raised the bar last year with the release of their sophomore album, Ecdysis. The critically-acclaimed album was considered by many to be one of the year's most impressive releases. Decibel Magazine ranked Ecdysis 3rd on their 'Best of 2014' list and Fenriz listed the album among his favorites of the year. A year later, Horrendous have once again set a new standard for death metal with Anareta, an eight-track offering of highly-evolved and intense, must-have death metal! Cover art once again by Brian Smith.

Vassafor

Elegy Of The Archeonaut

Dark Descent

Vassafor was vomited forth from the Southern Abyss in the mid-'90s, excreting musical venom within a framework of dark, epic black metal.

Anguish

Mountain

Dark Descent

Anguish's brand new album, Mountain, sees the band expanding upon their oppressive brand of doom metal. Mountain, the follow-up of 2012's Through The Archdemon's Head, is stripped down from its predecessor, clocking in at 48 minutes (eight tracks), but injects more variation. "And you know, there’s a real difference when you listen to an album that has two vocalists and an album that has just one. I wanted it back to that, but mainly I got a real kick out of an album that’s two years old now. The album is called Mountain and the band is called Anguish, from Sweden. It’s very introverted, so I thought I wanted to go in that direction" - Fenriz (on Mountain as an inspiration for Darkthrone)

Cabal

Midian

Dark Descent

Dark Descent Records is excited to release this unheralded gem on vinyl for the first time. Recorded in 1990, Midian was one hell of a death-thrashing ride that was hidden for quite some time until it was unearthed on digipak format by Red Stream in 2000. Cabal was fronted by Killjoy (Necrophagia) and remains the only recording by the band. New themed artwork by Costin Chioreanu. Comes with a full color A2 poster. 32 minutes. For fans of Demolition Hammer, Morbid Saint, etc.

Corpsessed

The Dagger & The Chalice

Dark Descent

Bone-jarring and chest-crushing; if death had a soundtrack, The Dagger & The Chalice would be it. Hailing from Finland, Corpsessed's brand of spine-tingling death metal will not disappoint. Six tracks, twenty-four minutes (plus the addition of bonus live material from Steelfest 2012), The Dagger & The Chalice is pure death metal. No gimmicks, no keyboards, just rotten death metal the way it should be. This release features an eight-page booklet on extra thick matte finish paper complete with art from Alexander "Bad News" Brown.

Dire Omen

Wresting The Revelation Of Futility

Dark Descent

Debut full-length from Edmonton's Dire Omen. Formed in 2008, Dire Omen's vessel is dark black / death metal. Ten tracks. Housed in a upgraded stock digi-jacket with a poster fold out which includes lyrics.

Father Befouled

Holy Rotten Blood

Dark Descent

Having eclipsed their thirteenth year, stalwart American death metal veterans Father Befouled return, their brands still hot with the flames of 2017’s Desolate Gods with Holy Rotten Blood, an enormous twenty-six minute EP of all-new morbid and unholy, dismal death metal. With new drummer Amos Rifkin (Deceased, Death of Kings) in tow, they are poised to even further espouse their militant focus of blasphemy and holy mockery. Adding even more texture and harmonies to their already serpentine sound gives an honestly uneasy feeling across the tracks. The morbid and abysmal sound is owed to Dan Lowndes (Resonance Sound Studio, Cruciamentum), who once again handled mixing and mastering. Long sidled with the “Incantation-clone” albatross, Father Befouled have moved much more-so into their own space with their last record and have fully fleshed that out with Holy Rotten Blood. While Incantation remains a huge influence (and friends), they have taken cues from many other legacy and contemporary bands along with their own unique style to craft and juggernaut of christ-destroying death metal.

Ghoulgotha

To Starve The Cross

Dark Descent

Southern California’s Ghoulgotha have re-emerged from the depths with the release of To Starve The Cross. The band’s 2015 debut—The Deathmass Cloak—was praised by critics for its demented revisioning of doom-infused, old-school death metal. To Starve The Cross sees Ghoulgotha twist an already abstract reality into forms never before experienced. To Starve The Cross is the ten-headed beast ready to devour those who didn’t heed that warning. This album, simply put, is a masterpiece of atonal and dissonant death metal delivered straight from the warped mind of Wayne Sarantopoulos (Decrepitaph, Encoffination, et. al). To Starve The Cross was mixed and mastered by Damian Herring at Subterranean Watchtower Studios with artwork by Mattias Fris.

Gravehill

The Unchaste, The Profane & The Wicked

Dark Descent

Rabid Southern California death metal freaks Gravehill return with their fourth album (first since 2014’s Death Curse) The Unchaste, The Profane & The Wicked. Corpse relinquishes the bass and takes over on vocals from long-time Gravehill growler Abominator. In addition to the switch on vocals, the band welcomes back former guitarist Bodybag Bob (ex-Exhumed) into the fold but this time he’s on bass with Eldehelm taking over on guitar. The changes result in the band’s best and most focused album to date. On The Unchaste, The Profane & The Wicked, Gravehill continues with their “no gimmicks” brand of death metal which promises only to lay waste to your speakers. Artwork by Mark Riddick.

Gravehill

When All Roads Lead To Hell

Dark Descent

Hailing from the urban wasteland of Southern California, Gravehill combines death metal sensibilities with thrash metal madness, arriving at a sound which can be described as hellish and punishing. Gravehill's first proper debut album, titled When All Roads Lead To Hell, is a ten-song journey into the twisted minds of this maniacal bunch. Since their last release on Ibex Moon Records, guitarist Matt Harvey (Exhumed) has joined the band full-time combining more depth and a wall of thick, demented riffing with Mike Abominator's vocal onslaught and Thorgrimm's highly-skilled work behind the kit. This CD release features a 12-page full-color booklet chocked full of lyrics and some truly killer cover art. Recorded at Trench Studios, WARLtH showcases Gravehill at their finest and can easily be described as the proper soundtrack for the journey down to the depths of Hell!

Hacavitz

Darkness Beyond

Dark Descent

The new album is a musical departure for Hacavitz. While long players like 2005's Venganza, 2007's Katun, and 2010's Metzli Obscura were grounded in bestial death / black metal, on Darkness Beyond the group has shed it death metal influences in favor of superbly crafted black metal hymns. Ferocity and grimness permeate what turns out to contain the most memorable material of Hacavitz's outstanding body of work.