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When the riffs start to flow, the concrete turns red with blood. Undisputed masters of bloodthirsty Sabbathian purity, Church Of Misery returns to kill again.

Formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 1995, Church Of Misery had a pin-sharp and focused vision from the very start. Led by bassist and mercurial riff-machine Tatsu Mikami, they conjured a perfectly pulverizing new strain of doom metal purity, wherein an endless succession of monstrous pentatonic riffs collided with obnoxious levels of swing and swagger. Early releases like 1998’s seminal Taste The Pain EP and full-length debut Master Of Brutality (released in 2001) heralded the arrival of a uniquely potent and obsessive force. With every song dedicated to a documented serial killer, Church Of Misery set fire to stoner rock’s peace and love principles and plunged deep into humanity’s darkest horrors instead.

Five full-length albums, numerous split releases, and multiple trips around the planet to spread the bloody code of doom later, few would dispute that Mikami’s crew are the living, breathing, riffing epitome of everything Lord Iommi taught us. And now, with the utterly peerless Born Under A Mad Sign, Church Of Misery are back to reclaim the throne.

Testament is one of thrash metal’s most accessible and best-known bands and they quickly earned respect in thrash circles.

Taking no prisoners either musically or lyrically, the headbangers embrace the morbid gothic themes. A relentlessly heavy and promising effort focusing on such subjects as the occult, witchcraft, nuclear war and global destruction.

Hailing from Hungary and proudly performing in their mother tongue, ROTHADAS made their public debut in 2019 with a self-titled demo tape for ME SACO UN OJO. A two-song work totaling 16 minutes, Rothadás suggested - and strongly - that the selfsame band had a staunchly ancient-minded vision of death metal but by no means were blinkered by the past. Perhaps this unique dichotomy is down to ROTHADAS being a self-contained duo of vocalist/drummer Lambert Lédeczy and guitarist/bassist Tibor Hanyi - both men equally prolific veterans of the underground, and both concurrently playing in labelmates CRYPTWORM among others. Now, at last do the duo unveil their debut album, Kopár hant... az alvilág felé. Here, ROTHADAS erect an eerily shimmering monument of slimy, oftdoomy DEATH METAL: for maniacs, by maniacs, young and old and everyone in between. Armed with an absolutely crushing production, the band's first full-length betrays an eternal wisdom by maximizing the basics as well as nodding to various eras and locales of death metal but only subtly - immersion rather than extraction, and addition by subtraction, tastefully so in both regards. As each of these five lumbering/lunging hulks of dread-inducing sound effortlessly morph into myriad shapes, each one as ghastly and grotesque as the last, it slowly begins to dawn on the listener than Kopár hant... az alvilág felé retains a runtime of 44 minutes: truly, an experience that is EPIC - as ever, tastefully and subtly so - rather "epic" in shameless overstatement. Further, ROTHADAS' native Hungarian helps lend another sublime layer of the unique to what is arguably the year's best dark-horse death metal recording...recognize or regret!

The Gates of Slumber return with a new album out in November on Svart Records

“I never intended to pick up with The Gates of Slumber ever again in 2014. While I did start the band and wrote most of the first album it was never intended to be a one man show.” -Karl Simon, 2024

Indiana’s True Doom Metal legends The Gates of Slumber return with their sixth album out in November via Svart Records. The self-titled album is the band’s first full length offering since The Wretch from 2011.

The Gates of Slumber was formed by Karl Simon in 1998. Various people were in and out of the group between 1998 and 2001, when the Blood Encrusted Deth Axe demo was recorded with Jamie Walters aka Dr. Phibes/Athenar (Boulder, Midnight) on drums and bass. In 2003 Jason McCash took over the bass duties and was a long-time member of the band until his untimely demise in 2014, after which Simon decided it was time to call it quits. That was until 2019 when the renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back on stage to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with its original member Chuck Brown on drums and Steve Janiak on bass and got back to work. “We’d been asked several times to play Hell Over Hammaburg. But there was no “we” to play. The germ of the idea started. We started re-learning songs from the first LP. It wasn’t too long into the rehearsals that we started coming up with new songs.”, states Simon.

After a reunion tour was finished, Covid kicked in to slow down the process. Half of the album was already written but the remaining half took its time, and the songs were left to stew in their juices. With bastard heavy songs honoring the Doom Metal greats Saint Vitus and Penance, straight forward bangers, lyrics inspired by the Black Death and John Carpenter’s The Fog, The Gates of Slumber is a truly crushing album and a must listen to any Doom Metal fanatic.

Having toured with Pentagram, Reverend Bizarre, Cathedral, Slough Feg, Earthride, and Weedeater in addition to getting praised by Decibel Magazine such as “The Gates of Slumber have quietly gone about the business of becoming one of the best heavy metal bands in the world.”, it’s safe to say The Gates of Slumber play some of the heaviest metal on this planet.

The fifth album Tapping The Vein by German Thrash Metal legends SODOM, originally released in 1992 and considered one of the best in their extensive catalog, finally available again on limited double-MC.The 2MC contains the 2024 Redux of the original album, remixed by guitarist Andy Brings on tape one and on tape two Live in Tokyo 1992. Both mastered by Eroc.4-panel j-card, limited to 500 copies. TBC

Limited to 2200 copies worldwide. RSD First Release.
For RSD 2023, a limited edition reissue of the bands’ best-selling album, for the first time on vinyl. Pressed on blue/grey swirl vinyl with additional pictures and liner notes.

German post-metal formation THE Ocean will release their new album "Holocene" in May 2023! With Holocene, The Ocean add the new and final chapter in their paleontologically inspired album series. This time, the hardness of the collective is extended by some electronic dimensions. Founded at the beginning of the millennium, the group of musicians around guitarist Robin Stapps has not lost its intensity even after more than 20 years. The Ocean come together each time with a shared vision of boundless sonic exploration, never standing still, the band enjoys a stellar reputation in the genres of post-rock, progressive metal and even hardcore. Robin Staps commented on the final work in the Paleontological album series: "Holocene is an appendix to the 2 Phanerozoic albums and Precambrian, or the final and concluding chapter, making it a quadrilogy if you will. It deals with the Holocene, the most recent and shortest chapter in Earth's history, but essentially it's an album about fear, alienation, the loss of reason and critical thinking, the rise of conspiracy theories and the deconstruction of values in modernity." On the creation process and electronic basis of the new songs, he adds: "The writing process of every album we've ever done started with me coming up with a guitar riff, a drum beat or a vocal idea. This album is different because every single song is based on a musical idea originally written by Peter (Voigtmann, synthesizer). He came up with these amazing synth parts that sounded great even in pre-production, and he sent me some of these raw, unfinished ideas in the middle of "Lockdown 2020"... and even though it was all electronic, it had this definite Ocean vibe to it. I immediately wanted to pick up my guitar.... And I did, and it wasn't long before we had an inspiring creative exchange that went in completely unforeseen but very exciting directions." For fans of Massive Attack, Lorn, Archive, Trentemöller, early Moderat, Portishead, Isis, Mastodon, Katatonia, The Pineapple Thief Vinyl packaging: gatefold + metallic pantone inks + UV spot gloss + 20 pages booklet + printed inner sleeve

Nordic Mission is very proud to announce the 30th anniversary edition of Living Sacrifice’s sophomore album Nonexistent. Totally remixed and remastered from the original 2 inch master tapes by Jeremiah Scott (Demon Hunter) and the band. Nonexistent represent Living Sacrifice transition to something innovative and unique. While the debut album held its feet solid into thrash metal, Nonexistent is death metal art at its finest. The original mixing and mastering of the album had characteristics left fans split. Some loved it, some not….. Now after 30 years we are finally able to present Nonexistent as the band intended you to hear it.

For the 15th anniversary of their most melancholic piece of art, AMORPHIS finally reissue “Silent Waters” on vinyl After the great comeback success with new singer Tomi Joutsen and magnificient album "Eclipse" in 2006, AMORPHIS once more dug deep in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, creating another dark and beautiful masterpiece: "Silent Waters". "We have put a lot of energy and emotion into this album", says guitarist and band founder Esa Holopainen, "and hopefully it will reflect". Shining with exquisite vocals between clean melancholy and powerful growls – once more worked up with the help of Marko Hietala (NIGHTWISH, TAROT) – plus gorgeous folkloristic melodies embedded in straight Rock outfits, "Silent Waters" pleases with songs like the fleet-footed 'Towards And Against', the touching single 'Silent Waters' and the stirring 'Her Alone'. A strong and pithy, yet sensitive album, emphasizing AMORPHIS' status as one of the most outstanding Rock acts nowadays. Founded in Helsinki back in 1990, AMORPHIS constantly worked their way up, developing from a harsh Death Metal band into a serious Rock group. The big break-through came in 1994 with their last really extreme album "Tales From The Thousand Lakes“, scoring a big coup in the worldwide Metal scene. After intensive touring, AMORPHIS decided to discover new musical grounds and hired Pasi Koskinen, who additionally worked with clean vocals, as new singer, leaving guitarist and former singer Tomi Koivusaari the chance to focus more on his six string work. In 1996, AMORPHIS released "Elegy", a Progressive / Folk Metal masterpiece which even managed to climb to # 67 in the German album charts. Three years later, "Tuonela" showed up, combining Modern Rock music with Finnish character and psychedelic 70s influences. A highly successful mix that even topped the triumph of "Elegy", achieving a brilliant # 46 in the German charts again. "Am Universum" was added to the discography in 2001, opening up a new chapter in AMORPHIS' sound with featured electronic soundscapes and saxophone parts. Follow-up "Far From The Sun" eventually fascinated with a PINK FLOYD-esque touch and relaxed atmosphere, but also some more harder Metal elements back from the old days. Many fans hailed the album as the best since the legendary "Elegy".

Italy’s Bedsore and Japan’s Mortal Incarnation, two bands separated by continents of distance, come together for a split release packed with fresh and intense Death Metal energy, with each band contributing a single epic length track.

Bedsore seamlessly melds astral Black Metal, technical Death Metal and 70s Progressive straight out of a planetarium laser show. Witness the rapid evolution of a band with a seemingly infinite trajectory of creativity and imagination. On the 16+ minute journey of ‘Shapes From Beyond The Veil Of Stars And Space’ Bedsore continuously twist into unconventional new directions of cinematic cosmic vastness .

On the B side Japan’s Mortal Incarnation present ‘In The Perpetual Torment Of Recurrence’ a massive 14+ minute track of bludgeoning inventive Death Metal with shards of Doom despondency that rivals and sits equally beside the best bands of the style worldwide. Simply one of the best pure Death Metal tracks that will be heard in 2022.

Coming with a 28 pages booklet.
Ghost, one of the most esteemed and celebrated rock bands in the world today return with their fifth psalm, Impera, fronted by the newly anointed Papa Emeritus IV. A dozen songs take on themes of isolation and demigod worship, as well as colonization of both space and mind. And all with the infectious hooky brand of rock their fans have grown accustomed.



The new leader Papa IV, has stirred yet is not shaken. Building himself up to lead Ghost to further global domination. In his way are not only the vestiges of a global plague but his confidence as the person to deliver on the promise and messages of these songs. As we head into our third year of these ‘20s. the world is poised for new hope and new direction. And for this, legions of Ghost fans await Papa IV’s first moves.

Underoath has been a seminal voice in progressive, heavy rock for almost two decades. On Voyeurist, their seventh full-length (and second with Fearless Records), Underoath has once again found brilliance in walking the line between reinvention and the foundational elements of the project. The story of Voyeurist traces back to their 2020 livestream event, Underoath: Observatory. The success of Observatory, which was orchestrated largely by the band, provided the confidence for them to self-produce their next record for the first time. The result is the most collaborative album of Underoath’s career and, anchored in a profound respect for each other, one that left no stone unturned creatively. The band refers to it as “high-def violence” - technologically advanced, but undeniably visceral. Conceptually, Voyeurist has several interrelated meanings, each tying back to the concepts of how we curate ourselves through social media and how that facade masks a lot of what we actually experience in life. With their shared history of remarkable accolades and trying hardships still shaping who the individual members are as people, Underoath is just scratching the surface of what they can accomplish as a band. There are few acts in the annals of rock history that can say their best work is still ahead of them almost two decades into their career. Fortunately, Underoath falls into that category. It will be something special to witness as this next chapter in the Underoath story unfolds.

"Majesty and Decay" is Immolation's eighth full-length album, originally released 2010. This death metal classic is often cited by fans as the band best album!