In August 2022 Season of Mist Underground Activists released Death Siege, the very impressive fifth album by the Italian extreme metal band Hierophant. In his review at our site, Andy Synn noted that the album revealed the band “making an unexpected heel-turn away from the crusty, sludgy, Blackened Hardcore sound of their previous records to instead become a full-blown Black Metal band (albeit, one with a distinctly deathly tinge) in the vein of Death Fortress, Rites of Thy Degringolade, Panzerfaust“. Andy further wrote:
“[T]here’s no denying that this new, more blackened version of the band are still very, very good at what they do…. As a result I’d say this is the perfect jumping on point for potential new fans since – if the oppressive atmospherics and visceral sonic violence of closer “Nemesis of Thy Mortals” are anything to go by – Death Siege looks, and sounds, to me, like the beginning of a whole new era for the band”.
Following the release of Death Siege, Hierophant performed on some very big stages, honing their live rendition of the songs on Death Siege and burnishing their reputation. This led to the decision to record their performance at Hellfest 2023 in France, and to release it as Hierophant‘s first live album — Gateway to the Abyss — which will be released on Match 29th by the Dusktone label.
As icing on the cake, that show was also caught on film, and today we premiere the new album in tandem with an exceptional video.
Anyone who has watched and listened to video of a live performance knows that its success depends on three factors: the quality of the filming; the quality of the sound; and the feedback-loop of energy between the band and the audience. The video you’re about to see succeeds in all three respects, and the second and third of these factors fuels the success of the album as well.
All seven songs that Hierophant performed at Hellfest appear on the Death Siege album — the first three songs in a row, beginning with the horrifying overture “Mortem Aeternam“, and four of the final five, ending with “Nemesis of Thy Mortals” — all of them performed in the same sequence as they appear on that album. But if you think that makes the live recording duplicative or superfluous, and therefore not worth having, think again.
While the songs remain essentially the same, the band’s savagery is even more slaughtering, the heavyweight punishment even more explosive, the hostility even more raw and remorseless, the sensations of derangement even more unhinged and otherworldly.
While the sounds are scathing and obliterating, they’re also well-defined, allowing all the component parts to stand out without sacrificing power, including the acetylene-torch brightness of the guitar-leads, the jaw-dropping percussive riots, the circle-saw eviscerating quality of the riffs, and the reverberating ravenous madness of the vocals. While the sheer barbarity of the assaults is breathtaking, the sound quality makes it apparent how tight the performances were — chaos rendered with impressive precision.
A chilling interlude allows just enough time for a few gasping breaths before the eerily wailing guitar tones of “In Chaos, In Death” lead back into further terrorizing assaults, no less exhilarating and no less furiously hostile than before, but interspersed with blood-congealing episodes of hideous strength, terrible grandeur, and occult horror, capped by the breathtaking final tandem of “Death Siege” and “Nemesis of thy Mortals“.
As for the professionally filmed and edited video, it enhances all those feelings, because of the ferocity with which the band throw themselves into their performances and the effectiveness of the lighting. Their charred and bloody visages are fierce and frightening, their movements electric, and the film, created from and switching between multiple camera angles, very effectively makes the viewer feel as if they were there, but with even better and more immediate vantage points than if they had been there (including being crouched right next to the truly astounding performance of live drummer Federico Leone).
So, to repeat, this is an enormously successful video and live recording, well worth seeing and hearing from beginning to end. Enter the Gateway To the Abyss now:
We also share this comment from the band:
“Gateway to the Abyss captures the raw and wild assault we unleashed at Hellfest 2023. Featuring tracks from our latest studio record, Death Siege, it delivers a unique representation of one of the most savage shows we have ever played.
“While we live and feast in the underground, with Gateway to the Abyss we fiercely declare that this sort of extreme music can conquer big stages too”.
Hierophant‘s Hellfest performance was filmed by Sombrero & Co, and the video was edited by Gabriele Lei. The audio was recorded during Hellfest and was mixed by Alex Bounty and mastered by Luca Mascia at Convolotion Studio.
Gateway to the Abyss is available for order now via the link below, in three variant vinyl editions, on CD, and digitally. In addition, fans in Europe will have further chances to see and hear Hierophant on stage in the coming months — take a look at the dates below the links.
PRE-ORDER:
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/gateway-to-the-abyss
HIEROPHANT:
https://www.facebook.com/HIEROPHANTKVLT
https://www.instagram.com/hierophantofficial/
https://hierophant.bandcamp.com/
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26.04 The Tower Music Meeting 2024 (Italy)
27.04 Swr Barroselas Metalfest 24 (Portugal)
07.06 Black Metal Invasion Vol. XII (Austria)
22.06 Boarstream Open Air 2024 (Germany)
13.07 Eresia Metalfest 2024 (Italy)
29.09 Metal Gates Festival 2024 (Romania)
04.10 Scumm Pescara (Italy)
05.10 Rome Carnage Extreme Fest (Italy)
26.10 Turbina Budapest (Hungary)