So you think you’re metal aren’t you? Maybe so. But Katon W. De Pena is METAL incarnated. The man may have turned sixty last September but he’s more than ever ready to break necks and crush bones with the mighty HIRAX.

Ahead of their long-awaited new studio full-length album (their first in a decade!), upcoming European summer tour and armed with a young, exuberant and hungry line-up, Pena has teamed up with DOOMENTIA to offer a glimpse of their upcoming thrash inferno with this new four-tracks EP, featuring versions of four songs from said upcoming album exclusively mixed for this release-only by Bill Metoyer, the legendary ARMORED SAINT/SLAYER/D.R.I. producer who’s been collaborating with HIRAX ever since their debut full-length Raging Violence back in 1985.

And whoever would be tempted to think that with age comes peace with mind should get ready to be annihilated by this EP opening salvo alone, ‘Drill Into The Brain’, aka sixty-three seconds of the most intense-as-fuck crossover/thrash you’ll hear this year!

• Two colored versions each strictly limited to 250 copies
• First 4 tracks from upcoming full-length album
• Exclusively mixed by legendary producer Bill Metoyer
• Housed in a noble gatefold w/glossy lamination
• Artwork by Thomas Pinheiro
• Includes HIRAX / EXUMER tour 2024 poster
• Release and shipping date: 1st August 2024

Before you ask, LUDGAR is originally an abbreviated word for Loup de guerre (‘war wolf’), describing what was one of the largest trebuchet, or catapult if you will, used in medieval times. We’re basically talking here about one giant destructive force used to crush opponents and villages alike and it’s quite a fitting analogy for what LUDGAR the band stands for.

Formed in 2024 in a dungeon in Linz, Austria by DEATH RACER and CHAINBREÄKER guitar player (here on bass) S. Bruckner and VENATOR drummer J. Steidl along L. Höller on vocals and S. Bolda on guitar, this new outfit is deeply entrenched in the 80s yet refuses to label their music as “everyone brought on the table their own influences.” One thing was made clear though: the result had to be rough and brutal. And their first demo Molochian Rites is, indeed, rough-as-fuck.

As soon as you’re confronted to such raw deliveries of songs like ‘Under Full Moon’s Light’ or ‘Black Torture’ – preceded by one creepy introduction performed on a church organ! – you know you’re treading on pure METAL, yes in capital letters – territory. Unfiltered, raw, explosive. Parallels will probably be made with early DESASTER, WITCHING HOUR or a blacker version of HELISH CROSSFIRE but the truth is LUDGAR does roar from a deeper and more malevolent pit, or should we say dungeon, where all light is shun.

• BONE colour limited to 100 units
• Three panel J-CARD
• Black/clear case

To say that Belgium’s SCHIZOPHRENIA took the underground by storm would be an understatement. Ever since their first EP Voices four years ago and the following insanely intense debut album in 2022, those starving youngsters have reinjected a much need sense of urgency and danger in the otherwise now quite mundane territory separating thrash from death metal. By using elements of both and adding their own twist and fury to them, hey’ve become one of the hottest bands around. They may have spent most of 2023 with over 80 shows played all over Europe and be working, as we speak, on their second full-length yet they still did find time to record a very special EP, first released digitally and on self released CD but now available as a lavish, cut at 45 RPM speed to ensure the best sound quality possible LP thanks to DOOMENTIA.

Meant to salute their wide range of influences, Chants Of The Abyss was destined to be a quite large selection of styles. And indeed, by opening the hostilities with a raging SLAYER tune (‘Necrophiliac’), the very first cover they worked on for this tribute, before switching to death metal (MORBID ANGEL’s immortal ‘Maze Of Torment’), classic heavy-metal (JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Metal Meltdown’) and horror punk (MISFITS’ ‘Bullet’) before paddling back to old-school thrash (EXODUS ‘Strike Of The Beast’) and concluding on a hardcore note (GBH’s ‘Race Against Time’), it goes above and beyond its duty.

We’re not talking here of mere, carbon copy lazy covers but actual performances done with gusto, as if all those songs were theirs and freshly out of the rehearsal room. By paying homage to the godz, SCHIZOPHRENIA solidify their position as their legitimate heirs.

• TRANSPARENT RED ltd to 250 copies
• BLACK ltd to 250 copies
• Lyrics sheet

It’s not that often that you get the chance to work with a true legend, even more so for a special release. Hence DOOMENTIA pride to announce the upcoming release of a very special EP for the legendary death metal act MASSACRE in two different formats with exclusive content and tracklisting.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last thirty years or so, MASSACRE should need no introduction. Not only have the Orlando-based band helped build the very foundations death metal was built upon in the late 80’s, not only have they put out one of the genre best debut ever with From Beyond but ever since Kam Lee has rightfully regained control and firmly put his hands on the steering wheel with 2021 massive Resurgence album, they’ve decided to play the game according to their rules.

Besides working with a rotating line-up of musicians (incl. Jonny Pettersson from WOMBBATH and Rogga from PAGANIZER among others) according to the situation, either be it in the studio or live, they’ve chosen to carefully put out on a regular basis high-quality and limited EPs instead of the regular album/touring cycle. Tri-pocalypse is once ready to set the bar even higher.

A well-known huge horror movie fan, Lee has decided to pay tribute to the three apocalyptic films by director John Carpenter, namely ‘The Thing’, ‘Prince Of Darkness’ and ‘In The Mouth Of Madness’ which all served as a direct aesthetic and lyrical source of inspiration, especially since all three were themselves hugely influenced by Howard Philips Lovecraft writings, one of MASSACRE favourite lyrical theme. The outro (‘Escape From The End Of The World’) was specifically created for this EP by composer Rob Reider, in the style of Carpenter original soundtracks.

Says Lee: “I’m excited for fans to get a hold of this new EP in physical format, because that’s the true way it’s meant for it to be represented. Both versions are awesome and I encourage everyone to try and get both the vinyl and CD copies. It’s a must for the collectors and completionist. The music style still resonates an old school death metal sound veering only slightly from its early roots and continues to combine a mixture of the classic Florida death metal style with a contemporary Swedish death metal sound.” 

Compared to the vinyl, the CD version has two exclusive remixed and rerecorded versions of ‘They Never Die’ and ‘Beyond The Dunwich Hills’, two songs originally included on a supra-limited self-produced CD last year. If the first one is an homage to the vampriric mythology, the second one is directly inspired by the tabletop RPG series Arkham Horror and is a kind of sequel to the song ‘The Dunwich Horror’ from 2022 EP Mythos.

7" EP GATEFOLD

• NEON GREEN ltd to 100 copies SOLD-OUT 
• BLACK ltd to 400 copies
• Sleeve printed on silver lamination