HUGE update from NWN PRODUCTIONS (Nuclear War Now!)

Leviathan “The First Sublevel of Suicide” Double LP
DVT008

Leviathan “Unfailing Fall into Naught” Double LP
DVT009

Devout Records presents two essential Leviathan compilations, “The First Sublevel of Suicide” and “Unfailing Fall into Naught,” both on double-LP format and both containing several additional rare and previously-unreleased tracks. These editions are products of the band’s own label and are thus superior to the notoriously substandard versions from Ascension Monuments Media. “The First Sublevel of Suicide” includes demo versions of songs from the band’s debut album which were not made available to AMM and features new artwork from Brian VDP, who also executed the layout for both releases. “Unfailing Fall into Naught” compiles the recordings from Leviathan’s split releases with Sapthuran and Xasthur and is presented with new artwork from Wrest himself, in addition to the aforementioned bonus tracks. Both compilations were mastered by the renowned James Plotkin and are officially distributed by Nuclear War Now! Productions.

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Oberon “Techen Metal” LP Out Now

Oberon “Techen Metal” LP
ANTI-GOTH 378

2nd pressing of 250 copies.

Techen Metal by Oberon

(Description by C. Conrad)
Continuing in the label’s tradition of reissuing obscure metal gems extracted from the Eastern European underground of the 1980s and 1990s, Nuclear War Now! is proud to announce the vinyl LP release of Oberon’s “Течен метал (Techen Metal/Liquid Metal),” a fourteen-song collection of demo and rehearsal tracks recorded between 1991 and 1993. Oberon (ОБЕРЪН) was a short-lived trio from the slums of Sofia City, Bulgaria, whose style of black metal was in part influenced by their European ancestors in bands like Venom and Sodom. At the same time, their music was also thematically inspired by the atrocious conditions of life in the post-Communist ghettos of their homeland. Comprised of Svetlyo “Thrash” (sinister bass and screams), Ivo “Snake” (chainsaw and axe), and Simo “It” (iron thunder from hell), Oberon’s output was characterized by the desperation of its historical and political context as well as the teenage aggression of its members. The first four songs presented on this release are studio recordings from late 1993, which represent the band at its evil zenith, prior to its imminent dissolution. The fifth track, “Измамник,” is the earliest pre-Oberon recording from 1991, when the band went by its original moniker of Стомана (Steel). The remaining nine tracks were recorded at a rehearsal in a community center in March of 1993. Whereas certain songs, such as “Деца на дявола (Devil’s Children),” demonstrate the more conventional, thrash-oriented influence of the previously-mentioned Sodom, others are much more primitive and unorthodox and are actually somehow more reminiscent of the unique Colombian sound developed by the likes of Parabellum, Reencarnación, and Blasfemia in the late 1980s. In an effort to remain consistent with the spirit and aesthetics of the band, the cover art on this reissue is the very same goat/demon visage pencil-drawing that adorned the original cassette demo, which perfectly reflects the evil austerity of the music itself. As a result, this reissue highlights and once again makes available an artifact of Eastern European metal history that must not be forgotten.

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Exorcist “Voices From the Graves” LP Out Now

Exorcist “Voices From the Graves” LP
ANTI-GOTH 383

2nd pressing of 250 copies.

Voices from the Graves by Exorcist

(Description by C. Conrad)
Nuclear War Now! has once again ventured deep into the forgotten underground wasteland of late-1980s Eastern European metal history to unearth yet another artifact to add to its ever-expanding sub-collection of recordings that were never fully appreciated due to the region’s geopolitical isolation and other related circumstances. This most recent expedition has yielded “Voices from the Graves,” a compilation of Exorcist’s two demos from 1987 and 1988, which continued a Polish tradition of evil thrash first established by Kat and later continued by other similar bands such as Hellias. Formed in Warsaw in 1986, Exorcist originally consisted of an enigmatic quartet that went by the individual monikers of Butcher (vocals), Aggressor (guitars), Antichrist (bass), and Skeleton (drums). However, soon after the band’s inception and following its first recognized recording of a rehearsal that same year, Antichrist was replaced by Necrophiliac on bass. In its early days, and thanks to assistance from Marcin Wawrzyńczak from Eternal Torment zine, Exorcist was able to play several live shows alongside fellow countrymen in similarly obscure bands like Forst and the more renowned Vader. In 1987, the band recorded its first demo, “Voices from the Graves,” in Skeleton’s basement. While this demo is clearly influenced by the songwriting and technical proficiency of the German pioneers of thrash, specifically Kreator and Destruction, it also exudes an aura of darkness that is equally comparable to the early black metal of Sodom. Marked by a distinct rawness and aggression in the music itself, the presumably primitive conditions of the recording space and equipment also manifest themselves in a blown-out production which serves to enhance the destructive nature of the songs. This first demo was originally circulated under a slightly different title, “Voices out of the Graves,” in very limited numbers to a few different fanzines. In addition to the variation in its title and the name of the first track, this advance tape featured a slightly different version of the artwork that was later included on the more widely-spread “Voices from the Graves” tape. These variations notwithstanding, the audio on both versions was identical. As a result of the dissemination of this first demo, Exorcist attracted the attention of several underground zines, such as Slayer Mag, which in turn led to greater exposure. In 1988, the band recorded its second demo, “After the North Winds,” in Ochota studio after a lineup change that involved Butcher and Necrophiliac being replaced by Beerbear on both vocals and bass and the addition of a second guitarist, Rothon. Having been recorded in a professional studio, this second demo exhibits a more polished sound but still showcases the same unbridled spirit in songwriting of the first. In order to properly reissue both demos, NWN! has rightfully chosen to reproduce the same morbid artwork from the first demo on the jacket of this vinyl LP release. Additionally, it has included an insert that contains the original artwork, photos, hand-written lyrics, and other layout materials from the original cassette releases of both demos. The result is one that serves as a metal time capsule, transporting the listener to a region and era where the music existed not simply as a sterile product of its own, but rather as a living extension of its practitioners.

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Cénotaphe “Empyrée” MLP and “Cygne” TS Out Now

Cénotaphe “Empyrée” MLP
ANTI-GOTH 426

2nd pressing of 500 copies.

First 100 orders gets clear vinyl. Rest will be black vinyl. Please don’t email or message me in IG asking for colored vinyl. The rule is first come first serve. Thanks!

Empyrée by Cénotaphe

Over the last several years, France’s Cénotaphe have unassumingly become one of the most promising new voices in black metal. Operating as a duo—each member with a long and distinguished résumé trailing behind him—multi-instrumentalist Fog performs all of the music, while Khaosgott handles the vocals. The band’s auspicious prior releases (a demo from 2016 and the 2018 Horizons MLP, both on the Finnish label Kuunpalvelus) established a foundation for the band to build upon, and the result is the magnificent Empyrée MLP. In both content and spirit, Cénotaphe draws inspiration from a constellation of 19th century French literary and artistic figures, such as Aloysius Bertrand, Théophile Gautier, Charles Beaudelaire, and the painter, Odilon Redon. It is, however, the poet, Stéphane Mallarmé, who casts the longest shadow over the band. Mallarmé’s work is dense with inscrutable and tangled syntax, every poem an arcane cipher; however, despite his modern and unconventional style, Mallarmé tended to rely on stalwart and traditional poetic forms, like the sonnet. Within the framework of these rigid poetic structures, Mallarmé’s language was itself unconstrained, abstract, exquisitely lawless, but also excruciatingly methodical and intentional.
There is a similar sensibility to Cénotaphe’s work. Regarded from a distance, one might not notice the idiosyncratic details that permeate it because the band remains so true to the form and spirit of black metal. But ensconced within the traditional structure of Cénotaphe’s songs are fractured melodies, disharmonies, sowing atonal discord under the surface of the song, like a violent undertow beneath a seemingly serene sea. The songs on this MLP all have an epic quality to them, and yet, none clocks in at more than seven minutes. The grandiosity of the tracks derives from their strength of composition, not overindulgence. The riffs are expansive, stretching out across the roiling pulse of the drums. The vocals, delivered entirely in French, hang in suspended animation, puncturing the surface of the song at precise points. Occasionally, the band modifies its approach, fleshing out the sound with keyboard flourishes or other instrumentation, but noticeably eschewing the use of guitar solos, despite being clearly in possession of the necessary skill. Nothing feels unintentional about Empyrée; it is a highly sculpted aesthetic creation. The album closes with a curious climax, a track that perhaps offers additional clues about the band’s musical interests: a near-instrumental cover of “End of the World” by the 1960’s Greek prog pioneers, Aphrodite’s Child, known for being Vangelis’ first band. Beginning slow, much the same as the original, the song evolves and accelerates, deftly bringing the album to a frantic crescendo, punctuated with piano notes and wordless vocals. Tying the album together is the cover art, a piece from 1893 entitled “In the Dust Cloud” by the Polish symbolist painter Jacek Malczewski.

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Also Available:

Cénotaphe “Cygne” TS

Discharge white and aqueous metallic gold printing on Gildan brand black or white TS. Available in sizes S to XXL while supply lasts. Printed by Inferno Screen Printing from NOLA.

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Necrogosto Demo 1 and TS Out Now

Necrogosto “Necrogosto” Demo 1
ANTI-GOTH 434

Necrogosto by Necrogosto

(Description by C. Conrad)
As one of its first atrocities of 2019, Nuclear War Now! is pleased to present the cassette reissue of Necrogosto´s self-titled demo from 2017 for distribution in the Americas and Asia. Hailing from São Paulo, Necrogosto carries on the tradition of early Brazilian deathcore as it was originally established by bands in the Minas Gerais scene of the late 1980s and as it was propagated to the rest of the world by Cogumelo Records. This demo exhibits the same primitive and feral sound pioneered by Necrogosto’s compatriots in Sarcófago, Expluser, Sextrash, Necrófago, and others of a similar ilk. However, unlike many contemporaries who have tried and failed to recapture the sound of their ancestors, this debut demo could easily be mistaken as an unearthed relic from that very same time and place. Originally self-released by the band in very limited numbers and later by a small Polish label, NWN! aims to call appropriate attention to a band who proves that authenticity in its vision and craft can overcome the usual constraints of time that so often leave an iconic sound buried in history.

TS are printed with discharge ink on Gildan brand TS. Available in sizes small to XXL while supply lasts. Printed by Inferno Screen Printing from NOLA.

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Never Surrender Fest Vol. II – 3 More Bands Announced

NEVER SURRENDER FEST VOL. II
October 19-20, 2019
Oakland Metro Operahouse
Oakland CA, USA
Facebook
Buy Tickets

In 2009, Iron Bonehead and Nuclear War Now! worked together to present the first NWN! Fest. The collaboration proved fruitful and the event was a success, so we continued the partnership, presenting four additional installments over the years. As Iron Bonehead ascended to become one of the preeminent underground labels, it began to make more sense to present bands from both NWN! and IBP, resulting in the Never Surrender Fest, the first edition of which took place this past November. We held all of the previous fests in Berlin because it was a centralized location, allowing us to bring more bands from Australia and Asia, while also presenting many North and South American bands to a European audience for the first time. Ten years later, it seems like the right moment to put together a fest in the United States, particularly, Oakland, CA—the home of NWN! To that end, Iron Bonehead and NWN! are presenting the first ever U.S. edition of the Never Surrender Fest, scheduled to take place on October 19th and 20th, 2019, in Oakland, CA, with a pre-show scheduled for October 18th, 2019. There will be 16 bands performing, with 8 bands chosen from each label. More details will be forthcoming over the next several weeks.

The following bands are now confirmed for Never Surrender Fest Vol. II in Oakland. More bands will be announced in the coming weeks.

BLACK CILICE:
The Portuguese raw black metal icon has only recently stepped from the veil of shadows to give exclusive live performances. This one will be BLACK CILICE’s first and only US performance – undoubtedly, DO NOT MISS.

ANTEDILUVIAN:
The Canadian black death returns to Oakland after many years. Expect only claustrophobic meditation on destruction and total death.

BLUE HUMMINGBIRD ON THE LEFT:
The Mexica war tribe strikes Never Surrender Fest Vol. II for a live assault of pagan black metal! Worship Black Twilight!

Already confirmed bands:

Grave Upheaval (Australia)
Unaussprechlichen Kulten (Chile)
Bone Awl (USA)
Byyrth (USA)
Vassafor (New Zealand)
House Of Atreus (USA)
Siege Column (USA)
Cemetery Lights (USA)

Blue Hummingbird on the Left “Atl Tlachinolli” LP/CD Out Now

Blue Hummingbird on the Left “Atl Tlachinolli” LP/CD
ANTI-GOTH 416

Atl Tlachinolli by Blue Hummingbird on the Left

Regular Version LP: Black vinyl LP, foil stamped jacket, A5 booklet, A2 poster.

Die Hard Version LP: Splatter vinyl LP, foil stamped jacket, A5 booklet, A2 poster, shaped woven patch, sticker, die cast metal pin.

The union of fire and water, bringing forth the sacred war. War chapter of the Black Twilight Circle brings life once more to the forgotten words and stories of the warriors of the past. Indigenous instruments flow like water alongside the fiery force of pagan black metal. Hymns of war, odes to the lords. Hail Huitzilopochtli! Hail Tlaloc!

LP/CD by NWN/IBP
Tape by Crepúsculo Negro

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Gorguts Reissue LPs In Stock Now

Official releases by War on Music from Canada. Exclusively distributed and co-manufactured by NWN.

Gorguts “Obscura” Double LP
WOM 036

3rd album from Canada’s technical death metal masters. Housed in a gatefold cover. Each copy comes with inner printed sheets and an insert with lyrics.

Gorguts “From Wisdom To Hate” LP
WOM 021

4th album from Canada’s technical death metal masters.

Gorguts “And Then Comes Lividity / Demo Anthology Vol. I, II, III LPs are also available.

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Sabbat “Disembody” Double LP/CD Coming Soon

Sabbat “Disembody” 3 Sided Double LP/CD
ANTI-GOTH 436

Disembody by Sabbat

The Japanese blacking metal legends’ third album from 1993 reissued on vinyl for its legion of American fans, featuring artwork and a layout faithful to the original, as well as two bonus tracks and silkscreening on Side D.

May 2019

Nomenclature Diablerie “888″ MLP Out Now

Nomenclature Diablerie “888″ MLP
ANTI-GOTH 427

888 by Nomenclature Diablerie

(Description by J. Campbell)
Occasionally, amid the deluge of new music and the endless procession of reissues, some truly remarkable, nearly forgotten recording rises to the surface. Such is the case with Nomenclature Diablerie’s 888 demo. Formed in Sydney, Australia in 1988, Nomenclature Diablerie was a short-lived project based on songs written by guitarist Matty Boomsticks. The scene in Sydney at the time was potent. Deathrash pioneers Slaughter Lord spearheaded the extreme metal movement, and Sadistik Exekution’s emergence a couple years later set the trajectory for the frenetic and chaotic style that would eventually dominate the Australian scene.
Inspired by the aforementioned local acts, as well as Bathory, Slayer, and the other extreme metal bands that were active at the time, Matty began writing songs on his own. He mentioned to his friend Dave Slave, bassist for Sadistik Exekution, that he was looking for a drummer, and Dave passed the information along to Sloth, also a member of Sadistik Exekution. The band was unnamed until Matty showed Dave one of the songs he’d written, and Dave suggested scrapping the song, but keeping the title, “Nomenclature Diablerie,” and using it as a band name instead.
Matty and Sloth rehearsed together off and on for several months and eventually booked time in a local studio to record a demo. Before recording, Matty recruited another friend, Toneye (Chaotic Impurity, Infinite Black), to handle the vocals. Although they only recorded two songs, the demo, simply called 888, offered a distinguished approach to metal that was incredibly advanced for the time. Matty’s mission with Nomenclature Diablerie was to expand the boundaries of metal, laying waste to the conventional approaches of the day, while still maintaining a sense of purity in the music.
When listening to 888, it is clear that Matty was drawing influence from other styles of music. The songs on the demo are a dizzying spectacle of warped time signatures and clashing chords, but delivered with stunning precision. The second side in particular, featuring the song “Premature Cremation,” shifts with mathematical accuracy, the riffs lurching and bending, mutating as the song evolves. The same innovative spirit that drove so much of the early Australian underground permeates the 888 demo. Of course, one can only speculate about what the band might have accomplished had Matty persisted, but the existence of this demo offers at least a glimpse of Nomenclature Diablerie’s fleeting brilliance.
Originally released in 1988 in an edition of around 500 tapes, and pressed again in 1999 as a very poor sounding 7” limited to 200, these tracks have never been given a proper release until now. Presented here as a 45 RPM 12” with full size cover art, this definitive reissue is intended to restore Nomenclature Diablerie to its proper place in the canon of Australian extreme metal.

Limited to 250 copies on black vinyl with jacket and double sided A3 insert.

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Doombringer “Walpurgis Fires” LP/CD/Digital Coming Soon

Doombringer “Walpurgis Fires” LP/CD/Digital
ANTI-GOTH 432

Walpurgis Fires by Doombringer

(Description by J. Campbell)
For over a decade, Poland’s Doombringer has consistently produced a hybrid strain of extreme sound: the stalwart machinery of death metal adorned in the opaque cloth of black metal. With only two demos and a few EP tracks foreshadowing its debut album, the band’s sparse discography is a testament to the meticulous curation of its body of work. It has now been nearly five years since Doombringer released its first full-length, The Grand Sabbath, and the band’s second album, Walpurgis Fires, demonstrates its substantial progress while retaining the band’s notable traits. Perhaps the most exceptional element of Doombringer’s sound is its sheer unpredictability—the failure to adhere to a particular formula. Tempos shift suddenly, melodies dissolve and coalesce, and the vocals vary wildly across a broad spectrum of styles. Notwithstanding the diversity of tools in Doombringer’s arsenal, the end result is integrated and unified. As is customary for the band, Doombringer wrote Walpurgis Fires over an extended period of time between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018. The dedication to composition is obvious; the songs are complex, unique, and all flow seamlessly together as an album. The lyrics, laden with occult inspiration and influence, were written in tandem with the music in correlation with the atmosphere evoked by the instrumentation. Conceptually, Doombringer draws influence from medieval literary and artistic depictions of the witches Sabbath, and, as with the band’s prior releases, the influence of Polish folklore and music is also always present, in both the lyrics and the music—the ancient feeling interwoven with, and superimposed upon, the nightmarish horror of the present. Following that extended period of composition and perfection of the songs, Doombringer recorded the album in late 2018 at the band’s Black Lodge studio in Poland, and later added lead guitars at Fireball Studios in Greece. Haunted with visions inspired by the recording, Marko Marov, a visual artist with whom the band has a long-standing relationship (he is responsible for most of the artwork featured on Doombringer’s recent releases), masterfully illustrated and designed the jacket. Walpurgis Fires is a monumental work, the culmination of everything the band has done up to this point and an ominous vision of the darkness the band will continue to summon forth.

CD/Digital Feb 2019
LP April 2019

Death Worship “End Times” MLP Coming Soon

Death Worship “End Times” MLP/CD/MC/Digital
ANTI-GOTH 418

End Times by Death Worship

(Description by C. Conrad)
With its highly-anticipated debut recording, “Extermination Mass,” Death Worship emerged in 2016 to write the next chapter in the storied legacy of the Ross Bay Cult. Whereas many bands over the years have striven to claim a position atop the mantle of bestial black metal, the incomparable lineage of Death Worship’s members and the pitiless assault on the feebleness of human existence as evidenced in this first recording confirmed it as one truly worthy of such a distinction. Now, approximately two years later, Death Worship returns with its second siege, “End Times,” which ominously portends the finality to which all mankind will succumb. The perpetrators of this attack are the same as on “Extermination Mass.” Specifically, ‘Deathlord of Abomination and War Apocalypse’ (aka R. Förster), has once again enlisted the services of J. Read on session percussion, and ‘Nocturnal Grave Desecrater and Black Winds’ eagerly offered his own legendary war commands to back those of Förster and his bludgeoning guitar and bass offenses. Although these supporting members have been directly involved in Förster’s lifelong trajectory in black metal through their joint collaborations in Conqueror and Blasphemy, Death Worship is the creative progeny of Förster himself. As he stated in an interview following the initial release of “Extermination Mass,” this entity is best interpreted as his own brainchild moving forward in the aftermath of Conqueror’s split, at which time Read similarly forged his own unique path with Revenge. While it is clear that Förster’s involvement in Conqueror and Blasphemy contributed greatly in shaping this vision, this latter project represents a sound that Förster envisaged and a creation that he has incrementally cultivated since he first picked up a guitar decades ago. In Conqueror, the Superion was seen as a potential to rise above the weaknesses and scourge of humanity at large. In Death Worship, that glimmer of optimism is no longer present, which brings us to “End Times.” The tangible product itself is one that reflects no superfluous experimentation with sound or alien influences from other genres. Instead, it is simply the manifestation of the most purely extreme black metal, inspired by I.N.R.I.-era Sarcófago, Blasphemy, early Beherit (and The Lord Diabolus), early Slayer, Hellhammer, and early Bathory. In order to properly achieve this goal, and in keeping with the traditions of the Ross Bay Cult, Fiasco Brothers Studio in Vancouver, Canada was chosen as the site for its audial incarnation. Given the increasingly nihilistic state of affairs into which humankind has descended, so it is written that “End Times” shall serve as the appropriate soundtrack to its demise.

Feb-March 2019