Dragon Fire: 28||10||23

Dragon Fire 28||10||23

The legendary Dragon Fire scours through the Earth once more, unearthing the latest campfire tales.

Nail Within – Years Of Madness

First one up is a bit of a banger from Israel, courtesy of Nail Within. This track, Years Of Madness, features Testament guitarist Eric Peterson. No fluke, as their previous single, Bleeding Society, saw them joined by Tom Angelripper from Sodom. Both tracks can be found on their upcoming album, Sound Of Demise, out November 17th on Massacre Records. If you like yourself some gristly death-thrash, this one’s for you.

“It’s a tribute song to L.G Petrov (Entombed) who passed away 2 years ago. It’s a tribute song to the early days of the extreme death metal scene in the underground“, Nail Within frontman Yishai Sweartz reveals. “Growing up with the early records of Entombed, Carnage, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, etc., these were the years of madness when the genre was real and authentic! There was excitement in the air and we all felt that we are part of a new exciting movement far away from the public’s eye. The tape trading, the fanzines, the “no rip off here” on the flyers, the crazy shows and the cult feeling, truly years of madness.“

Pre-order the album here.

Bewitcher – Speed ‘Til You Bleed

If you’re anything like us, you’ll love digging into the crusty back catalogue of a metal band or two. If that’s the case, Bewitcher have go you all hooked up. Their November 17th release, Deep Cuts & Shallow Graves: Ten Years of Black Leather, Black Magic & White Hot Fucking Steel, is a collection of rarities and b-sides. The track below is a remastered version of Speed ‘Til You Bleed, from their 2015 demo, Midnight Hunters. Lovely, dirty, riffy carnage, with a sprinkling of Venom.

The band comments: “One of the all-time classic Bewitcher tracks, the title says it all. Live fast, go hard, do it for the devil.”

Pre-order the album here.

Dragon Fire 28||10||23

Job For A Cowboy – The Forever Rot

If you’re digging modern progressive death metal sounds like Revocation and The Black Dahlia Murder, this crawling slab from Job For A Cowboy should tickle your cerebellum. The Forever Rot is a twisted, pulsing ride for those who like to dive into technical extreme metal. New album Moon Healer is slated for a February 23rd release on Metal Blade.

Frontman Jonny Davy elaborates, “On MoonHealer, we explore a concept centered around a close friend who embarked on a relentless quest for profound enlightenment through the incessant abuse of hallucinogenic drugs, leading to a severe disconnection from reality due to the toll it took on their mental health. The song The Forever Rot touches on their beliefs that human evolution and development have somehow led to the restriction of perceiving otherworldly or inter-dimensional realities and religious entities.”

Pre-order the album here.

Heilung – Anoana (live in London)

It’s not all metal here at SDM. We also like to indulge in a bit of dark folk. One of the bands in this bracket, Heilung, have just released a live video, performing Anoana from their last album, Drif. This one was recorded in London, but right now they’re smack bang in the middle of a US tour. While the video looks impressive, we can assure you, it doesn’t touch the actual live experience.

“All the songs on Drif have their own stories,” adds Heilung throat singer and one of the band’s three composers, Kai Uwe Faust. “Each has its place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations” explains the band.

Get tickets here.

Dragon Fire 28||10||23

Torture Squad – Flukeman

Very thrash riffs. Very death vocals. This tasty number is Flukeman, the third track released from Torture Squad‘s new album, Devilish. The rest of the album follows suit, and is a whole heap of fun, bouncing from horror and fantasy to cultural and ecological concerns.

From the press release: “The album also honors Brazilian heroes with a participation of Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) in the track “Buried Alive”, and a tribute to Rickson Gracie the resilient fighter of Jiu Jitsu considered one of the greatest legends in this sport, the theme of the track “Warrior”. The band also mobilized several musicians related to indigenous causes in their country to collaborate on the song “Uatumã”, making an appeal for the preservation of the Amazon in a song that flows in an powerful way with the speeches of the indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire and tribal rhythms.”

This one is already out on Time To Kill Records.

Get it here.

Ignited – Uncontrollable

Finally, Century Media are unleashing some seriously brutal stuff in the form of as-yet-untitled second album from Folterkammer. I’m pretty sure that translates, somewhat fittingly, as “torture chamber”. If your German is any good, check out the lyric video for Das Peitschengedicht below, and you’ll see what I mean. Utterly perverted, operatic black metal, with strong emphasis on the first and last thing.

Speaking on the empowering themes of the new single and forthcoming record, Andromeda Anarchia eloquently explains, “This song is our kinky ode to the whip as a torture instrument, and a celebratory hymn to the practices of BDSM, particularly, Femdom. The whip, a symbol of domination, pain and humiliation, is described here not only as playful and kinky, but as a poetic enactment of pain through the depiction of female ferocity on a submissive man, whose back the Domme uses like a canvas.”

Get the single here.