EYE-CATCHERS: IRKALLIAN ORACLE, ARKAIK, MAGISTER TEMPLI, DOOMENTOR

 

Your humble editor is about to have to devote the rest of the day to his fucking day job, and therefore this will most likely be the last post of this Friday on our putrid site, other than a big review we’ve got coming. And, sad to say, there’s not a lot of new music in this little round-up (until the end) because my time is regrettably short — but there’s a lot of impressive artwork for forthcoming releases that I spotted over the last 24 hours.

IRKALLIAN ORACLE

This Swedish black/death band’s 2013 debut album Grave Ekstasis drew lots of praise from assorted year-end lists at our site (and elsewhere), and yet I managed to miss it entirely until much later. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

What I saw today (and what you’re looking at above) is the amazing cover art by David Herrerias for the band’s next album, Apollyon. The band revealed the artwork yesterday, and so I assume the recording has been completed, but I haven’t yet seen any info about a release date or method of distribution. I’ll be watching for that….

Although I have no new music to share with you, I am able to embed a stream of Grave Ekstasis, and so I shall.

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/grave-ekstasis
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irkallian-Oracle/453212968079401
http://www.graphic-noise.com/david-herrerias

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARKAIK

California-based Arkaik will be releasing their fourth album, Lucid Dawn, in October through Unique Leader Records. The press release we received states that “as an added bonus, the album features guest appearances from death metal heavy weights, Trevor Strnad and Ryan Knight of The Black Dahlia Murder, as well as Bay Area live string quartet, Amaranth.” That’s enticing.

The same press release also forecasts some changes in the band’s sound due to the addition of songwriting contributions of guitarists Miguel Esparza (ex-Hatriot) and Greg Paulson.

Once again, I have no new music to share, but I do like that artwork. Sadly, the press release did not identify the artist. The title track from the band’s last album is below.

http://www.facebook.com/ArkaikBand
http://www.uniqueleader.com
http://www.facebook.com/UniqueLeaderRecords

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAGISTER TEMPLI

The next striking piece of artwork I spotted is the cover to the second album by Norway’s Magister Templi, which is entitled Into Duat. It’s an acrylic oil piece called “Back to the Deep Lands II” by German artist Stefan Bleyl.

Yesterday Invisible Oranges premiered a song from the album (which is due for release on September 18 by Cruz Del SurMusic). The song’s name is “Horus the Avenger”, and it’s kind of a cross between power metal and doom, as I hear it. It’s an exception to our “rule”, but Abraxas d’Ruckus does have a set of pipes, and the song’s galloping pace and hooky riffs have their attractions, too. You can listen here:

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2015/08/magister-templi-horus-the-avenger/

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOOMENTOR

I can’t say that this cover art is in the league of those above, but I wanted to be able to stream some new music as part of this post, and Doomentor’s debut two-song EP The Second Ceremony happened to be what I heard most recently (and liked, of course). It was released today by Iron Bonehead Productions digitally and on 7″ vinyl.

I mean, I really like this. The music has its foundations in doom, but the band cross boundaries to pull from other genres such as death metal, black metal, and “classic” heavy metal — and they also incorporate classical organ music, acoustic guitar, and the sound of strings in their intros and outros — and do so very effectively.

Killer, hard-rocking riffs; jagged inflamed vocals (and sombre clean ones); and appealing melodies that are occult, dismal, and sinister, all make for a great little release.

(Thanks to my Serbian friend “M” for tipping me to this — I stupidly overlooked the promo when it arrived in our in-box in June.)

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/doomentor-the-second-ceremony

https://www.facebook.com/doomentorcoven