Darkened Reveals New Album Details

Edged Circle Productions has announced May 27th as the international release date for the second album of pan-international death metal elite Darkened, The Black Winter, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

While Darkened made a none-more-auspicious start with the "Into The Blackness" EP during the summer of 2019, it was the band's debut album, "Kingdom Of Decay," where they literally exploded onto the scene. Proud and pure death metal, no more but definitely no less, it was not at all surprising that Darkened made an immediate impact given their lineup on that debut full-length: drummer Andy Whale (Memoriam, Bolt Thrower), vocalist Gord Olson (Ye Goat-Herd Gods / Demisery), guitarists Linus Nirbrant (A Canorous Quintet / This Ending) and Hempa Brynolfsson (Excruciate / Ordo Infernus), and new bassist Tobias Cristiansson (Grave / Dismember). Patient and punishing, they proved that true songwriting stuns and crushes when practiced by masters of the death metal craft.

Now, as presaged earlier this year by the quick-hitting "Mourn The Dying Light" EP, Darkened arrive with their massive second album, "The Black Winter." Immediately, their trademark sound is in place - clear and crushing riffs, grooves like a tank, an overall world-eating sensibility - but delve deeper and one will find Darkened expanding their already-considerable powers. Most prominently, there's a surprising amount of atmosphere being explored on "The Black Winter," true to its namesake. The resultant spaciousness is somehow just as suffocating as the band's now-characteristic density; whether it's in the riffing itself or the very subtle touches of synth underneath, the album certainly bears a unique-yet-unified aspect. From there, melancholic twists and wistful melody are seamlessly integrated into the Darkened onslaught of sound, which alternately pushes the aggression to murderous levels and the doom to the darkest depths; put another way, everything here sounds huge. And credit for that must go to Linus Nirbrant, who handled The Black Winter's production, as well as mixing & mastering by the Dan Swanö at Unisound - truly, one will not find a clearer yet more crushing death metal record this year!

As these endtimes take on a muted resignation, it's only bleakly fitting that Darkened provides the soundtrack with The Black Winter. Cover artwork, courtesy of Juanjo Castellano Rosado (Unleashed, The Black Dalhia Murder, Gates Of Ishtar), and tracklisting are as follows:

1. Premonitions
2. Blood
3. Flayed
4. Terminal Lucidity
5. Black Winter
6. Fearful Quandary
7. Swallowed By The World
8. Plague Of Despair
9. Regret More...

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Imonolith To Release New Album In May

Imonolith, the band featuring drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen (Devin Townsend Project), vocalist Jon Howard (Threat Signal), guitarist Kai Huppunen (Methods of Mayhem, Noise Therapy), guitarist Oswin Wong, and bassist Conan Freeman, has announced that they will be releasing their second album, "Progressions" this May. A message from the band reads as follows:

"We're super excited to announce that our second album, Progressions, will be out on May 20th, and you can hear parts of some of the songs from the album in this teaser video."

Ryan Van Poederooyen added:

"Imonolith's new album, Progressions, started out as a 5 song EP, and then grew into a full album's worth of material. The band's sound has progressed in many ways, and I thought the name Progressions suited the message we’re trying to convey with this album.

"This isn’t your typical album, though. The idea behind this album is to show how the band has progressed from our early demo days in 2015 - 2018 up to our current sound in 2022. We’ve become more versatile and, at times, more progressive in playing style, songwriting and musical direction. To put it simply, Progressions covers the musical history of who Imonolith was up to what we’ve become today.

"Thanks for the continued support. We can't wait to share this new record with you." More...

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Rhapsody Of Fire Shares New Music Video

November 2021 saw Italy's symphonic metal kings Rhapsody Of Fire release their 13th, critically acclaimed studio album "Glory For Salvation" with AFM Records.

Eleven epic songs, plus two bonus tracks, take you on a wild ride into powerful, symphonic metal grandeur! Catchy hooks, a sophisticated orchestration and the distinctive voice of frontman Giacomo Voli make "Glory For Salvation" not only a glorious, second piece of the band's trilogy, which started with their latest 2019-album "The Eighth Mountain," but a captivating and true metal masterpiece. The energy of each band member is flowing with precision and fury, opera choirs intersecate with Voli’s superlative vocals in a cinematic orchestral polyphonic escalation towards the highest epic musical peaks.The deeply inspiring solos by guitarist Roby De Micheli and Alex Staropoli’s magic ochestrations once again create the band's renowned Film Score Metal at its best!

While Rhapsody Of Fire already released one of their bonus tracks, "Un'Ode Per L'Eroe", on the day of the album release, they are now presenting a brand new video for the English album version of the track!

"'Magic Signs' sounds like you are in a dream, and the idea behind the videoclip was to make it look like a dream." Says Alex Staropoli. "Fascinating cold natural landscapes underlines the glorious, marvellous music, and the deep meaning of the beautiful lyrics." More...

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Interview

Slaegt Spreads The Word Of The Goddess

In recent years, the metal world has seen Denmark weigh in strongly on the music scene and join their Scandinavian neighbours as a true force in heaviness. From the blackened folk of Myrkur, the brutality of Baest and the grizzly doom of Konvent, there's an explosion in Danish metal and so much of it is good! Joining the ranks of the aforementioned are Slaegt, formed initially as a black metal band but over time, incorporating more elements of traditional and classic heavy metal.

Nowhere is this style more evidenced than with "Goddess," the band's fourth full length album and first since the 2018 release, "The Wheel." Unleashed only nine days ago, their Century Media debut showcases six examples of superb musicianship, well crafted lyrics and fascinating themes. To find out more about this latest opus, Metal Underground caught up with the band's vocalist and guitarist Asrok, who revealed all about the record. You can read or watch the interview below.

Diamond Oz: Congratulations on the new album. What can you tell me about the title?

Asrok: Well, the thing about me and titles is that I usually have a long list of song titles. Usually we have a title track on an album, which begins musically, then I pick the title and then come the lyrics and vocals. I had this title for a very long time and I thought it would be very cool for an album. For a long time, I've been fascinated by this Gnostic creation myth. I'm not an expert on it or anything, but originally there's the one that everything comes from and then you have lower levels, like archangels who are separate but all part of The One.

One of them is called Sophia and one day she, by mistake, veers too far from the original One and creates the material world and then realising that she messed up creates the Demiurge, or "God," to keep an eye on everything. So I thought, even though Sofia is not a goddess, tackling this theme would be good for that title.

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Plague Of The Fallen Premiere New Single & Video

Christchurch, New Zealand-based death metal band Plague Of The Fallen premiere a new song and music video called “Spiritual Emptiness”, streaming via YouTube for you below.

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Ruins of Perception Premiere New Music Video

Berlin, Germany-based deathcore outfit Ruins of Perception premiere a new song and music video entitled “Shinigami”, taken from their upcoming new album of the same name. The effort will be out in stores April 8, 2022 via Rising Nemesis Records.

Check out now "Shinigami" streaming via YouTube for you below.

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VHS Premiere New Music Video For "Martin, Martin"

Canadian old school death thrash metal VHS premiere a new music video for “Martin, Martin”, taken from their latest album "I Heard They Suck…Blood", out in stores via Bandcamp.

Check out now "Martin, Martin" streaming via YouTube for you below.

Explains the band’s own Mike Hochins: More...

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