Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets September 28th as the international release date for a new mini-album from the legendary Black Funeral, The Dust and Darkness, on CD and 12″ vinyl formats.Formed in 1993, Black Funeral are one of the founders of American black metal. The band’s first two albums, 1995’s Vampyr – Throne of the Beast and 1997’s Empire of Blood, are widely considered black metal classics, and are among the earliest releases on the cult Full Moon Productions label. Since the beginning, the band has been guided by the boundless vision of one Michael Ford (AKA Akhtya Nachttoter), who has concurrently garnered international respect as a leading author on Luciferianism and occultism. And although many lineups have come and gone since those pioneering first two lineups, Black Funeral found its strongest formation yet with 2016’s Ankou and the Death Fire. Released to widespread acclaim by Iron Bonehead, the album saw the inclusion of Drowning the Light mastermind Azgorh Drakenhof handling guitar, bass, and keyboards. As such, musically, Akkou and the Death Fire was a purely black metal record brimming with medieval majesty and malnourished misery, a blackflame both bright and bleary, all laced with Ford’s characteristically chilling ambient soundscapes. In many ways, it was a reinvigoration of the classic Black Funeral sound, and that forward momentum continues unabated with The Dust and Darkness.

Recorded 2017 in Australia and the United States, The Dust and Darkness is a recalling and vampyric sonic ritual of Hittite, Hurrian, Canaanite, and ancient Syrian Underworld offerings and necromancy. The title “Dankuis Daganzipas” is the Hittite Underworld, “The Dark Earth,” and is the dwelling place of spirits and chthonic deities who desired blood as their primary offering besides incense and libations. The Lady of the Underworld, Allani, is the ancient Hurrian goddess who is a type of psychopomp as a solar deity who guides the dead into the Underworld. Allani is identical to the Mesopotamian Ereskigal. The god “Chemosh of the Dust and Darkness” is an epithet for an Ugaritic deity of the Underworld who is similar to both Baal of Peor (Belphegor) and Nergal. His name was associated with elements of the underworld and “Bird of Prey.” As such, the four songs comprising The Dust and Darkness sonically surge with grim abandon and majestic melancholy, unflinching in their familiarity but only because this is the Black Funeral whose name is legendry within the darkest depths of the black metal underground. It is altogether 17 minutes of invocation and seduction, exacted by deft hands well versed in the blackest of magick. Here, there is only The Dust and Darkness…

Step forward into that dust & darkness with the new track “Dankuis Daganzipas (Dark Earth)”

Tracklisting for Black Funeral’s The Dust and Darkness
1. Dankuis Daganzipas (Dark Earth)
2. Alanni Goddess of the Underworld
3. Chemosh of the Dust and Darkness
4. Mistress of the Pit

 

Today, Werewolf Records, in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, sets August 17th as the international release date for Morketida‘s striking debut album, Panphage Mysticism, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Hailing from the black metal hotbed of Finland, Morketida drive deeply into their native land’s most mystical depths. Whereas so many nowadays Finnish black metal bands derive influence from the cryogenic fury of the Satanic Warmaster axis or the paradigmatic bestiality of early Beherit, Morketidareturn to the woodland wonder of such oft-overlooked hordes of Noenum, Vritra, and Blood Red Fog’s most desolate musings. By no means plagiarists, the young mavericks behind Morketida similarly invoke a ghostly grimness, wandering within the night to thick-yet-spacious swells of ripped-raw guitar and foggy organ. Largely downtempo, this is black metal stripped of superfluous aggression but suffused with beyond-the-shade atmosphere. Indeed, this is Panphage Mysticism!

Werewolf Records is a Luciferian metal temple founded in 1998. The wolfish cry from the Carelian battlegrounds, Werewolf Records releases black metal and other dark arts motivated exclusively by theistic Satanist views of the founder Werwolf. In this age when black metal’s worth is questionable, idealism and rigor are the exception when they should be the highest law. We uphold the law of the Wolf – the destruction of the weak and the false so that the original vitality of the dark magic art can continue to grow and create the foundations for an empire. Black metal is Will and Power. We deal with material that inspires us on our journey towards our own kingdom – a kingdom that is not yours, but bears a resemblance to the one there could be for you. Now in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, the temple of Werewolf Records shall wage its war farther and wider than ever, with no spiritual surrender.

In the meantime, hear the new track “Temple of Prevailing Darkness”

You can pre-order the album here at Werewolf Records‘ Bandcamp.

Cover and track-listing are as follows:

Tracklisting for Morketida’s Panphage Mysticism
1. Intro
2. Invoking the Seventh Moon
3. Witchcraft
4. Serpent’s Grail
5. Throne of Unseen
6. Panphage Mysticism
7. Temple of Prevailing Darkness
8. Outro