Slægt (dk) – Ván Records

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Slægt started as a solo-project of Oskar J. Frederiksen (lead vocals & guitars) in 2011. The beginning saw Slægt delve in raw and primitive black metal aggression. Over time the band has developed into having a full line-up now including Anders M. Jørgensen (guitars), Olle Bergholz (bass guitar) and Adam ”CCsquele” Nielsen (drums). Although the current version of Slægt seems to have progressed a lot since its early days, the essence still remains untouched. Stylistically influences are now drawn from a broader spectrum from such diverse movements as the NWOBHM and the black metal scene(s) of the 80’s and 90’s. Slægt delivers what can be best described as an epic blackened heavy metal with lots of catchy moments, played fast but without the usual blastbeats, exploring sound patterns that seem familiar, but always making them sound fresh. The darkness within the riffs and lyrics flows with dark blasts of energy.
The band has, in the current constellation, released the EP “Beautiful and Damned” (Iron Bonehead Productions), which came out in December 2015, and the full-length “Domus Mysterium” (Ván Records), which came out in May 2017. Both releases have received great reviews, at home and abroad, and with a victorious concert at the Copenhell festival, in Copenhagen, June 2017, the band has cemented its place as one of the most exciting and promising bands on the Danish metal scene.

Step into the church of the night with the beautiful and damned sons of Copenhagen.
https://www.facebook.com/Slaegt
http://slaegt.bandcamp.com/releases

TAU CROSS (uk/us/can) – Relapse Records

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Tau Cross is an underground punk/metal union featuring bassist and vocalist Rob “The Baron” Miller (Amebix), Michel “Away” Langevin (Voivod) on drums and Jon Misery (Misery) and Andy Lefton (War//Plague) on guitars. Formed in 2013 across two continents and three countries, TAU CROSS is the natural evolution of Miller’s work in Amebix. Tribal rhythms, searing guitars and Miller’s huge booming voice are all set to an apocalyptic atmosphere that will satisfy the crustiest punks as well as the blackest metallers. Tau Cross refuses to be pigeonholed, affirming the respective legacies of its members – the band delves into the realms of gothic rock, industrial, early doom, post-punk, and prog rock alongside its crust & thrash roots.

The band’s self-titled debut was recorded in 2014 and released in May 2015, and immediately found widespread critical reception. Cvlt Nation called Tau Cross “a thundering sonic journey, conjuring magic and darkness from the listener’s soul,” and Metal Injection stated, “Tau Cross has absolutely killed it and we are all better off for having this album in our collective lives,” while Invisible Oranges described the record as “never losing a penchant for strong song writing” and warned listeners to “ignore it at your own peril.” Tau Cross may have set a high standard for its first record, but if the band has proven anything so far, it’s that they are incredibly skilled at meeting – and exceeding – expectations.

Tau Cross will be releasing the 2nd full length album “Pillar of Fire” in the summer of 2017 on Relapse records and will be performing some of the songs of that album on the forthcoming tour.
https://www.facebook.com/TauCrossOfficial/
https://taucross.bandcamp.com/

BLOOD INCANTATION (us) – Dark Decent Records

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Blood Incantation is an American death metal band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2011. The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Paul Riedl, guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky, drummer Isaac Faulk and bassist Jeff Barrett. Their debut album, Starspawn, was released in 2016 through Dark Descent Records and received critical acclaim from music publications such as Decibel and Stereogum.

The band’s sound features “a psychedelic take on classic death metal” and melds “technicality with tectonic riffs, cavernous vocals and eerie, Dodsengel-like moments of caustic stillness.” On the band’s style, Stereogum’s Aaron Lariviere wrote: “Screaming leads cut a swath through the churn of atonal rhythm guitars, blending the bright melodicism of late-period Death with the alien tones of Morbid Angel circa Domination.” The band’s lyrics mainly deal with topics such as space and death.
https://www.facebook.com/Blood-incantation-508899805936788
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/starspawn

Cruciamentum (uk) – Profound Lore Records

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​Cruciamentum was formed in England during 2007 and recorded their first demo, “Rotten Flesh Crucifix” which was limited to 30 copies in 2008. The second demo, “Convocation of Crawling Chaos” was released in 2009 and led to the band quickly signing to Nuclear Winter Records. 2011 saw both the release of “Eroding Chaos unto Ascendant Flesh” (released on Hell’s Headbangers), a split 7” with Vasaleth from the US, and the MLP/CD “Engulfed in Desolation” (released on Nuclear Winter Records). Cruciamentum have played live extensively throughout their short career, and have built a reputation of being a powerful live act. They have toured Europe with Sonne Adam (Century Media Records), twice in the US with Anhedonist (Dark Descent Records), performed at festivals such as Maryland Deathfest (US), Chaos in Tejas (US), Hell’s Pleasure (Ger), Kill-Town Deathfest (Den), NRW Deathfest (Ger), Black Mass Ritual III (Fin), Martydroom Festival (US), as well as having performed numerous dates in Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, Greece and Romania amongst others. 2015 saw the much awaited release of Cruciamentum’s debut album “Charnel Passages” on Profound Lore Records, with a vinyl version following shortly after on Me Saco Un Ojo. Cruciamentum performs dark, violent death metal influenced by Immolation, Demigod, Incantation, Absu, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Mystifier, Disembowelment etc.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cruciamentum/285239791946
https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/charnel-passages

Vorum (fin) – Sepulchral Voice Records

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VORUM, who hail from Åland, Finland, is a band dedicated to spreading the treacherous and mad gospel of Death’s Metal. After the release of their acclaimed debut full length “Poisoned Void” (Woodcut Records) in 2013 the band followed this up with the MLP “Current Mouth” on Sepulchral Voice which firmly has gripped a chokehold on listeners scince its release in 2015.
EMBRACE THE DEPTHS CALL
www.vorumdeath.com/
http://vorum.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Vorumdeath

Degial (swe) – Sepulchral Voice Records

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DEGIAL from Uppsala, Sweden is an upcoming blackened death metal outfit part of the infamous “Uppsala Metal ov Death” club. Their 2012 debut album “Death´s striking Wings” in 2012 on Sepulchral Voice Records (Necros Christos, Grave Miasma) established them in the metal underground. Now in 2015 they have released the follow up; “Savage Mutany” also on Sepulchral Voice. Their music can best be described as dark occult blackened Death Metal with lyrical themes about death, chaos and blasphemy.
www.facebook.com/pages/Degial/176386435721954
www.degialofficial.com

Ash Borer (fin) – Profound Lore Records

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Ash Borer is a black metal band formed in Western America in 2008. Over the course of multiple studio albums, EPs, demos, and split releases, as well as an infamously decimating live presence, Ash Borer has created a unique sound and aura that can only be called their own; employing elements of psychedelia, dark ambient, funeral doom and noise, while filtering it through their own take on ferocious black metal.
http://ashborer.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ashborer.net/

Vanum (us) – Profound Lore Records

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Vanum, the new band formed by K. Morgan of Ash Borer and M. Rekevics of Fell Voices/Vorde/Vilkacis, have completed work on their debut album “Realm Of Sacrifice”.

With their debut LP, Vanum sees Morgan and Rekevics create some of the best material either of them have ever produced among their respective musical repertoires and showcases the growth of each musician within the genre they’ve been recognized within. “Realm Of Sacrifice”, ultimately, is comprised of four powerful long-running tracks of vicious, and furious, yet melancholic and stirring raw black metal.

It is imperative to also note that Vanum is not a one-off prospect or side-project, but instead will serve its purpose as an actual band that will tour and perform live, and one that will explore different realms of dark music, ambiance, and atmosphere with each album moving forward.
https://www.facebook.com/realmofsacrifice
https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/realm-of-sacrifice

Procession (cl/swe) – High Roller Records

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Formed in Chile in 2006 and currently about to unleash their new opus “Doom Decimation” (High Roller Records, 2017), Procession are no new-name for the lovers of heavy sound, weeping guitars, pounding drums and majestic vocals. After re-locating to Sweden in 2009 and with one EP and two full-lenght releases out, they have managed to tremble the festival scene in Europe as well as gathering up a loyal fan-base of both old and young doom-heads all over the continent. The new album follows the lead and traces left on “To Reap Heavens Apart” (acclaimed by many as “the” doom metal album of 2013) which means traditional doom metal performed with a great sense of melody, strong production, classic heavy metal structures and lyrics for the end of times. Not to miss out by the fans of the likes of Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Solstice, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest…’coz when the scando-southamerican iron fist of doom will hit you, there is no escape!
https://www.facebook.com/Procession-141525302533057/

Epitaph (it) – High Roller Records

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Epitaph was spawned in 1987, by Black Hole escapees Mauro Tollini and Nicola Murari (a.k.a. Luther Gordon and Nicholas Murray, drums and guitar/bass guitar respectively during Black Hole´s heyday). Leaving the aforementioned band after releasing the Land of Mystery album in 1985 that prodigiously flawed gem of weird and occult doom wishing to vent their passion in a crunchier metal way, they put on the short-lived Sacrilege, which in turn horridly blossomed into Epitaph proper: an act deeply rooted in the revered Italian dark sound tradition. In the years that followed, while leaving a wake of blistering shows, three demos were released, which are now relics much sought after. Now, after a dreadful hiatus of almost 20 years, Epitaph are back into the fold, having compulsorily enrolled the services of Emiliano il Confessore (one time singer in All Souls Day) and hard-bluesman Lorenzo Loatelli as the new guitar player. The long gestated full-length album, “Crawling out of the Crypt” boasting both new and revamped old material, was released in 2014 through High Roller Records and has steadily gained appreciation ever since.
www.facebook.com/epitaph.doom
www.youtube.com/channel/UCm0M76aSF2XwqwTzNAa4xiw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=81nf8E4AeZs

Abysmal Grief (it) – Horror Records

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Abysmal Grief is an Italian gothic and doom metal band, formed in Genoa in 1996 by a mysterious character named Regen Graves, enthusiast of Occultism, Black Magic and Horror culture, with the intent to translate into music his spiritual researches. The lack of information about the band and its members, and the gloomy and mournful image that the group has built have favored the birth of a macabre and disturbing aura around them.
The official and definitive line up was completed only at the end of 1997, including Regen Graves (guitars), Labes C. Necrothytus (keyboards & back vocals), Lord Alastair (bass), Garian (vocals) and Lord of Fog (drums), and it saw the release of the first demo tape entitled “Funereal”. The real live activity started only in 2005, with the arrival of a more stable drummer called William Blisset: these concerts were characterized by a strong scenography including objects stolen from graveyards, huge use of candles and smoke machines, and throw of real living worms on the crowd. Many other drummers took place for concerts and studio works until 2013, when former drummer Lord of Fog finally reunited with the band after almost 14 years. Abysmal Grief have just released now their 4th studio album in November 2015, entitled “Strange Rites of Evil”, a complex opus deeply focused on Death and religious superstitions, and will celebrate in November 2016 their 20th anniversary.
www.abysmalgrief.com
www.horrorrecords.bandcamp.com
www.elektroplasmamusik.eu

Dread Sovereign (irl) – Van Records

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Dread Sovereign is the born dead brain child of Nemtheanga from Primordial. Years of string hacking and slashing on guitar have finally come to realization as backed by Dubh SOL (Primordial) on drums and Bones (Wizards of Firetop Mountain/ZOM) on guitar they have forged a new band.The blueprint is rough, raw old school doom / metal which hails of Venom, Saint Vitus, Cirith Ungol and touches of late 80s early sepulchral black metal. Not intended to re-invent the wheel just to give it a good kicking in the true old evil metal fashion.
www.facebook.com/DreadSovereign
http://dreadsovereign.bandcamp.com
www.van-records.de/band/en/Dread-Sovereign.html

Chaos Echoes (fr) – Nuclear War Now! Productions

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Chaos Echœs is a French experimental dark death metal band formed during 2011 on the ashes of Bloody Sign (1995-2010), by Kalevi Uibo & Ilmar Uibo with the intent to transport their death metal to a black hole of improvisations, psychedelia and trance. Extracting the material out of its formal and acoustic envelope to generate a hybrid vitality. Into the unknown…
http://chaosechoes.org

Tyranny (fin) – Dark Decent Records

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Tyranny is an uncompromising Funeral Doom band from Finland, formed in 2001. The current discography of the Tyranny Duumvirate comprises of “Bleak Vistae” EP released in 2004 and “Tides of Awakening” full-length released in 2005. Tyranny plays rarely live but have appeared recently at Kill-Town Death Fest (2012) and Roskilde Festival (2013) after an 7 year hiatus from performances outside Finland. The band is currently slowly building the next album and scheduled to perform at the 2014 Roadburn Festival.
VISIT WEBSITE

Undergang (dk) -Me Saco Un Ojo Records

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Undergang was spawned from the sewers of the Copenhagen underground in the late spring of 2008, with the intention to bring back rot and putridity to the Death Metal scene. Undergang deliver ultra heavy Death Metal in the best traditions of Suffocaton(old), Rottrevore, (old) Carcass, Autopsy and such like with their own twist and a huge splash of sludge. The sound is chokingly fat, low and murky, yet all instruments are quite clear, vocals are used more like an instrument too, low gurgling growls perfectly add to the deadly atmosphere.
VISIT WEBSITE