CD

You know you can always count on a highly-respected long term underground label like WITCHES BREW to sniff the right stuff whenever one new kid on the block rears its ugly head. After a welcome change of moniker from COLDBLOODED FISH to FAÜST in 2020, this lot of three Czech boys and one Slovak really showed the rest of the world they meant business with Tinnitus Inquisition on the German imprint, a nasty yet fresh and damn pissed debut album back in 2022.

Shaken by their intense mix of classic crossover and thrash sound boosted by a very contemporary feel, think NUCLEAR ASSAULT attacking MUNICIPAL WASTE in a dark alley with a rusty knife, DOOMENTIA had no choice but to offer to release their next slab of violence. Preceded in August by the Where Nightmares Reign Supreme digital single - aptly described by the band members themselves as ‘this what happens when you play thrash but you really love death metal’ – their sophomore album Death Galore picks things up where its predecessor had left them and push all the buttons to eleven.

It’s no wonder why the whole tracklisting is peppered with nods to some famous names of the extreme metal realms: ‘Entombed Alive’, ‘Diluting The Slime’ or ‘Lust Decontrol’ vividly show how they’ve smartly got out of the comfortable yet sometimes retro-thrash ghetto to fully embrace a more modern but as lethal mix or thrash and death metal with maximum results. They have arrived!

LP:

• 150x BLACK / 150x COLORED
• Sturdy jacket
• Printed inner sleeve
• Poster

CD:

• Jewel case
• 12-pages booklet
• Limited to 300 copies

TAPE:

• Limited to 100 copies on white
• J-card 5 panel

Halfway in between SORCERY’s Bloodchilling Tales, the famous Diablo videogame and a spinoff of Masters Of The Universe, Transylvanian Nightmare striking handmade artwork lets you know right away what the name of the game is doesn’t it? Those Mexican warriors may have started right after Covid and they surely didn’t stop since, this four-tracks EP being the follow-up to their debut album, Handed Execution and no less than three demos… Far being productive for the sake of it, it was actually a matter of forging (in fire) their own brand of classic speed and thrash metal and strike the iron while it was still hot. Hence Transylvanian Nightmare boiling like an unbridled volcano, ready to explode in your face…

While the guitar solos and classic heavy metal arrangements abound here, PHANTOM undeniable biggest strength is their out-for-vengeance energy and neck-breaking pace. If the instrumental “Epitaph” features delicate acoustic arrangements and heart-breaking soaring melodies, the title-track is one ripping early-SLAYER like savage ride whereas closer “Raging Pyres” even adds hints of proto-death à la ONSLAUGHT to make sure no-one is left alive once those 19 minutes are over.

Released on CD with the highest standards available by DOOMENTIA, Transylvanian Nightmare is far just into a nostalgia trip but one fantastic METAL (yes, in capital letters) assault, so true to the vivid sound of 1986/87 speed/thrash metal than one could think the last thirty-five years had never existed!

• 4 panel digipack
• Glossy lamination
• Folded lyrics sheet
• Each limited to 500 copies

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.

• Two bonus tracks
• Miniposter sheet with lyrics
• Limited to 500 copies
• Four-panel digipack

Four months after the super-limited and already sold-out Cataract EP, ALTARAGE strike back with their sixth full-length, and first for DOOMENTIA since 2016’s Nihl.

Those hooded musicians’ taste for thick and noisy layering is quite notorious and indeed, the guitars alone here are not just drowned in tar but are actually bathing in it in delight. Yet somehow for this quite concise album things are taking a slightly different turn here, the mysterious trio has somehow decided to stray away a bit from their usual path in order to achieve something even more unsettling and bizarre, yet as crushing.

If Worst Case Scenario eight tracks – including the song ‘Cataract’ already included on the EP of the same name yet here with a different mix – are once again some of the heaviest and noisiest bastard sons of the (un)holy trinity of black, death-metal and harsh noise you’ll ever hear this year, a new sense of clarity can felt through some of them. Far from away from the standard ‘metal’ production values and more akin to, say, a strung-out noise-rock band desperately looking for their next fix, instead of lessening their impact, this sonic revaluation maximizes it even more.

Yet at the same time, with songs for example like ‘The Rigid Subject’ or ’Exhaust’, ALTARAGE never sounded so chaotic and so on the verge of imploding, super-nova style. Proving once and for all that no other band sounds or even dares going as far as into the abyss as they do… Behold, Worst Case Scenario could well be your worst nightmare.

• Full-lenght album on CD
• Jewel case
• 12 pages booklet