(written by Islander)
Initially formed in 2012 as a studio-only black metal band, Arrogant Destruktor from Birmingham (UK) eventually expanded into a full line-up and have released three albums and a few shorter releases in the ensuing years.
Since the release of their 2023 album Written in Blood from the Blade, they’ve enlisted a new vocalist, and the current lineup now has a fourth album — The Old Spirit Remains — set for release on May 19th by Satanath Records (Georgia) and The End of Time Records (Ireland).
What we have for you today is the premiere of a video for the new album’s dark and daunting title song.
The band’s new vocalist is Attila from Hungary’s Faketefagy. As you’ll hear on the song we’re now premiering, his voice is gritty, fiery, dominating, and intelligible despite its harsh, cutting-edge tones. The music behind him is also a commanding experience.
In the opening verses the riffing is itself fiery and feverish, a rapidly darting, frantically writhing, and mainly sinister experience accompanied by vividly hammering beats. In the chorus, however, the drums become steadier and the music rises in a display of daunting grandeur, dazzling and yet distraught.
After those initial verse-chorus progressions, the pace slows, and although the music still glitters, it feels an order of magnitude more hopeless. When the drumming accelerates again, the sweep of the music expands, providing the setting for a blazing guitar solo that screams and swirls, arcs and descends.
The music remains expansive at the end, and gleaming notes brightly shimmer and shiver, but the song’s mood becomes distressingly forlorn once more.
The video affords good views of the band members dramatically performing the song in an array of desolate settings, including an abandoned cemetery and church, and grim surrounding woods. The settings suit the music’s dark moods.
ARROGANT DESTRUKTOR is:
Attila – vocals
Adam Richardson – guitars, bass, synth
Lewis Chrimes – lead guitars (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8)
Clive Parkinson – drums
The album features artwork by Jari Tanduk, and it will be released on jewel-box CD with an 8-page booklet, as well as digitally. Find pre-orders below, along with a stream of the previously released single, “Total Maniacal War!“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat420-arrogant-destruktor-the-old-spirit-remains-2026
theendoftimerecords@gmail.com
FOLLOW:
https://www.facebook.com/arrogantdestruktor
https://instagram.com/arrogantdestruktorblackmetal
https://arrogantdestruktor.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/the_end_of_time_records