SEEN AND HEARD: ROTTING CHRIST, POPIÓŁ, WARDRUNA

 

Last Sunday when I wrote about my imminent two-week vacation I though it was unlikely that I would be able to assemble any new-music round-ups. But for my traveling companions, yesterday was an especially lazy day, and so I found a bit of guilt-free time to explore new music.

Not a lot of time, mind you, and so I didn’t cast a very wide net over everything of interest that had surfaced since the last of these round-ups, nor was I able to choose as many songs as I usually do. But these three struck a strong chord, and I’m happy with the choices.

ROTTING CHRIST

Season of Mist uses the term “anthemic” to describe the new Rotting Christ song it released yesterday, and so it is — in a way that’s distinctively Rotting Christ. If you’re familiar with their music, you would know it’s them even if no one told you.

 

 

“Fire, God and Fear“, which premiered through a lyric video at Blabbermouth, is the first new song revealed from The Heretics, which is Rotting Christ‘s first new album in three years.

The band’s founder and frontman Sakis Tolis says the song “definitely won’t create a clear opinion on how the new album will sound like”, which suggests there will be divergences among the sounds of the remaining songs. This one is tremendous — a big head-mover and a big ear-worm, with a beguiling interlude accented by a woman’s singing followed by a fantastic guitar solo, yet with an unmistakably grim and gloomy atmosphere, as befits its subject matter.

The Heretics will be released on February 15th. The cover art, used to good effect in the lyric video, was created by by Greek artist Maximos Manolis.

PRE-ORDER:
https://shop.season-of-mist.com/list/rotting-christ-the-heretics

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Rotting-Christ-290468585669/

TRACK LIST:
01. In The Name of God(04:14)
02. Vetry Zlye(03:13)
03. Heaven And Hell And Fire(04:52)
04. Hallowed Be Thy Name(05:06)
05. Dies Irae(03:46)
06. I Believe(03:42)
07. Fire God And Fear(04:50)
08. The Voice of the Universe(05:23)
09. The New Messiah(03:07)
10. The Raven(05:23)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POPIÓŁ

The Polish band Thy Worshiper released their first demos in 1994 and 1995, and four unevenly spaced albums followed those over the next 20 years. The band’s 1996 debut album, Popiół (Introibo ad Altare Dei), became the source of the name of a new black metal band consisting of former and current members of Thy Worshiper, who have recorded a debut album that they describe as a continuation of that 1996 record.

Zabobony is the name of this debut album, and the band have said that “Wybiło“, the one track from it released so far (through a disturbing yet enthralling music video), was originally intended to be the opening song on the sequel to Popiół (Introibo ad Altare Dei), which never came. The song tells us, they say, “about what is hidden in noisy trees, wind and streams, about what we are afraid to think about and those who come to us in dreams….”

The multi-faceted music is deep, dark, perilous, haunting, and ferocious, both heavy and light in its sound, with especially livid vocals. And like the Rotting Christ song above, it’s also a big head-mover and a big ear-worm. The interweaving of bright acoustic melody, ravaging, explosive power, and soaring harmony makes the song a jaw-dropper.

Zabobony will be released on February 27th by Godz Ov War Productions.

(Thanks once again to Rennie from starkweather for pointing me to this wonderful track.)

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Popiolofficial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WARDRUNA

Skald is the title of the new album by the Norwegian band Wardruna, and “Voluspá (skaldic version)” is the name of the single from the album that the band released earlier this month, along with a captivating video. It’s an example of a beautiful melding of sight and sound that’s a rarity among music videos.

There are 26 production credits listed for the video, including four animal trainers, with special thanks given to the three wolves that make haunting appearances in it: Tihu, Tahoe, and Siida

The song is a one-man show, the instrumentation consisting of a simple melody picked or plucked on the strings of old Nordic instruments by Einar Selvik, and his own magnificent voice. I won’t attempt to describe it further.

(Thanks to our old friend Phro for linking me to the video.)

DIGITAL SINGLE:
http://radi.al/WardrunaSkald

PRE-ORDER SKALD:
https://wardruna.aisamerch.de/shop-en
https://wardruna.aisamerch.com/

WARDRUNA:
http://www.wardruna.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wardruna/