Nuclear Winter records just announced a new pressing of the 1993 MYTHOS demo that was released back in 2009 on vinyl for the first time. This time you can also get in on CD and tape formats as well. I seldom publish this kind of news but old Mythos was so incredibly good they deserve some extra visibility if I can somehow help promote this old material.
A collaboration between two of the most stalwart Italian labels who in spite of everything and inexplicably manage to maintain enthusiasm for such an unprofitable genre. Despise the Sun from the capital and Terror from Hell from the northwest join forces for these two discographies (only on CD I think, for the moment) of two bands that may be little known outside the underground environment of the early 90s.
Iconoclast came from my hometown and among their various releases include a 7″ on the famous Drowned records. Inspired by the Greek and English scene of the time, they played a type of Death Metal with vaguely melodic but malevolent overtones.
On Funeral Oration there would be no need for an introduction, Nicola Curry’s of Metal Destruction zone appear on legendary covers from the time and his fanzine is still a legend for those like me who devoured every issue. He’s still active as an artist today, by the way.
Get your copies either of the labels.
https://terrorfromhellrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://despisethesunrecords.bandcamp.com/
You know my interest in digital and CD is basically non-existant, although I have to report that this little precious is finally going on vinyl this summer in July, 2022. I love this band. In barely 5 years Kapala managed to enter my top selected records besides the turntable already twice, even if with just two EPs and no albums in sight. I guess a full 40 minutes worth of Kapala might be much even for someone grown up with Japanese harsh noise?
In any case I already have listened to “Doomsday Requiem”, it’s fully available on Dunkelheit’s YouTube and eventually Bandcamp, and it’s freaking delicious. Compared to “Infant Cesspool” their sound has become much thicker and one can finally unravel the songs in just a few listens.
It is worth also mentioning another band on the same label, Brahmastrika, whose “Abhabaniyastral Samsarimplication” was also released last year. They’re too part of that Kolkata Inner Circle like Banish, whose demo tape I released last year on the label (sold out, sorry).
Hellflame magazine is one of the oldest Black/Death Metal fanzines from Italy, dating back to the early 90’s. I know that, I was there, it’s right from my city, actually.
Certainly, Hellflame is one of the first fanzines that focused on a wide variety of extreme metal bands focusing on niche ones with a particular spark of talent regardless if it was German Black Metal or American proto-slam. Written by Nicola aka “Litanie De Dumuzi” who also draws most illustrations and basically coordinates everything. After a long pause during which he lived in UK to wash the clothes in the Strait of Dover, the man is back and is ready to release his new issue. A solid 60-page work with a scattering of interviews with Vilifier, Nuclear Abominations records (yep!), Dreadful Relic, Mara, Iron Tyrant, Crucifier, House of Atreus, Cruciamentum plus the usual flood of reviews and accounts.
Order your copy straight from him also for wholesale, or you can get your own from me.
A full hour-long plus massacre of pummeling South-American influenced Death Metal with a full-bodied production that properly complements the album. This is a band that holds the same banner as the Demonized of some years prior with some spectral moments that mark the slow descent into the lower layers of Hell, sometimes reminding The Chasm. Mostly however this stuff is a machine gun of blast beats and guttural vocals of finest Death Metal, I never get tired of albums like these. Get it.
Talking about Memento Mori, on the 25th of April the second Rotheads album should be released. The first one was pretty rotten and this one looks good so far.
Il 25 di Aprile dovrebbe uscire anche il secondo album dei Rotheads, sempre su Memento Mori. Il primo era bello marcio e questo per il momento si presenta bene.
This is a one man/two men band from Ohio run by the guy who also plays in Mortuary Ghoul (out in CD format on Dismal Fate from Italy, get it it’s great Mortician-like massive Death Metal). They mostly exist online but they have released also some CD/tape in the past. There might be a gazillion digital bands online today if one digs deep enough but I admit I like this Imperium and I hope they can release something proper soon. Expect good savage abrasive shit like Revenge, Goatpenis etc. but a little more linear. The layout is quite terrible from the image we see but nothing that cannot be fixed somehow by a good label. They used to have a bandcamp page that does not exist anymore, so maybe they signed already? Below a link to the second album that was released two months ago, check it out.
https://www.facebook.com/3IMP3RIUM3
Maybe I’m not the biggest fan of this band, but the third and final album of the trilogy that came out on Hell’s Headbangers showed a version of Denouncement Pyre that was evolving from that mishmash of second rate Australian bands that sound a bit like the unfortunate cousins of their Swedish counterparts a la Nifelheim or the recent Ultra Silvam, and unfortunately, under a hat of bands of the caliber of Abominator, Bestial Warlust, Cemetery Urn or Eskhaton there are a lot of them that repeat the usual riffs in a D666 key with more or less protein.
With the third album “Black Sun Unbound”, however, we saw a version of Denouncement Pyre that came out of the trap of the first two, entering into fluider dynamics made of multilayered and well-balanced compositions. We shall see.
As anticipated, after three albums on Hell’s Headbangers they switched to Agonia, which may not be a guarantee of quality but has an established rapport with bands like these.