Deiphago - one of the most violent bands on the planet, as well as one of the most envelope-pushing - are set to release their highly anticipated fourth album, "Into the Eye of Satan", on August 7th via Hells Headbangers. Each Deiphago album has seen the Filipino power-trio push the furthest reaches of musical extremity, marking a place in time in their demonic development whilst creating a monument for all perpetuity. "Into the Eye of Satan" is no different in this respect: founding demons Voltaire 666 (bass bulldozers and black vomits) and Sidapa (crasheraxe and leads) are once again joined by Savnok on deathhammers, picking up where they left off with the critically acclaimed/challenging Satan Alpha Omega in 2012.

With this lineup now solidified, Deiphago sought to create a new, defiling standard and went in search of esteemed producer Colin Marston (Gorguts) to man the recording console. And with the perfect amount of clarity and chaos, grit and gleam, Marston was able to capture Deiphago at their most defiant sonically, rendering "Into the Eye of Satan" in pulverizing detail. But recording is nothing if not built upon a foundation of fiery creativity, and indeed do Deiphago distance themselves from the feeble black/death metal scene of today. In essence owing more to avant-garde composition than rote "extreme metal," "Into the Eye of Satan" explodes with an angularity that's truly extreme, even for them. Sidapa's mind-melting solos, in particular, play a huge part in guiding the listener toward literally insane ends.

As ever, the combined crush 'n' sulfurous surge Deiphago so effortlessly harness is characteristically ultra-violent beyond compare: whether you brand such an onslaught "bestial," "barbaric," or whatever, descriptions fail as mere verbiage when faced with the eye of the storm. And in this case, in 2015, it is "Into the Eye of Satan" that Deiphago lead us...

DEIPHAGO "Serpentine Antiworld"

At long last, Japan's BARBATOS returns with their first album in nearly a decade, "Straight Metal War"! A prolific force on the split-release front, "Straight Metal War" is BARBATOS' fifth album to date in 17 years of existence, and their first for HELLS HEADBANGERS. Helmed by Abigail mainman Yasuyuki, BARBATOS have become cult legends in the metal underground with their uniquely filthy 'n' sleazy brand of blackened heavy metal/punk. Possessed by sex, drinks, and metal, Yasuyuki here extols the virtues of high school girls and heavy metal forces, Witching Metal and Tokyo rock 'n' roll shows, Satanik Holocausts and of course the very real "Straight Metal War". It's a dozen dirty songs that are immediately memorable, remarkably varied, and whose dirtiness simply won't wash off. Stock up on ammo and enter the "Straight Metal War" with BARBATOS!

BARBATOS "Goodbye High School Girls"

It's been seven long years since PERVERSOR released their classic debut album, Cult of Destruction, and four nearly-as-long years since their last EP, The Shadow of Abomination, which HELLS HEADBANGERS reissued on a wider scale not long after its initial release - but the Chilean maniacs are as restless 'n' wild as ever on their long-awaited second album, "Anticosmocrator"! Firmly committed to the hellish climes of South American black/death madness, here on "Anticosmocrator", PERVERSOR whip up a fury of filthiness and bestiality that could only come from the cult-metal cauldron of Chile. One track detonates after another, with the band seemingly locked into a state of violent possession, each scabrous riff and vocal vomit summoned from a sulfurous pit far beyond the purview of mankind. But through it all, PERVERSOR stay just as committed to the METAL aspect of their black/death madness, thrashing forth with a memorability rooted in the '80s ways. And the world trembles before the imminent doom of "Anticosmocrator"...

PERVERSOR "Bestial Path"

Scythian - Hubris In Excelsis - 01 Beyond The Dust

At long last, maverick UK death metallers SCYTHIAN are set unleash a storm: Hubris in Excelsis, the band's highly anticipated second album. SCYTHIAN's first album for HELLS HEADBANGERS - and the first UK band to be signed to the label - Hubris in Excelsis marks the transformation of a little-known quartet into a serious contender.

Heavily inspired by apocalyptic science fiction, morbid poetry, and the unlikely mix of Sodom, Bathory, and Angelcorpse - or perhaps more specifically, INRI-era Sarcofago, '90s Zemial, and Desaster's Tyrants of the Netherworld - here on Hubris in Excelsis, SCYTHIAN better the bold sound & vision triumphantly displayed across their celebrated debut album, 2009's To Those Who Stand Against Us, whilst retaining the unique, charismatic core that won them favor 'n' fervor in the international metal underground. From slow-burning beginning to bloody, battle-torn end, SCYTHIAN fire off ten, total-experience epics that are as engaging and invigorating as the last: almost narrative despite the hellfire and fury with which SCYTHIAN play, yet winding through a wide range of dynamic contours and subtly dusted with tasteful nuance.

SCYTHIAN are both obedient to and defiant of metal tradition, for in their world, there are "no gods / no masters" - only the power of the will, and the iron-fisted hand that wields it. They've harnessed such a power with the aid of Esoteric's Greg Chandler, who recorded and engineered Hubris in Excelsis at his Priory Studios, with mastering by Mithras' Leon Macey at Dreaming Studios. Altogether, it's a recording rich with confidence and color, vigor and violence, sweat and celestial space. Completing the totality of Hubris in Excelsis is the cover (and interior) art painted by esteemed underground artist Blanka Dvorak, which is rich with imagery influenced by morbid, dystopian sci-fi and resonates with the album's latent lyrical themes.

From the micro to the macro, above and below and beyond, SCYTHIAN have reached a startling maturity with Hubris in Excelsis, and their coming of age begins here. Prepare for the grand reckoning as tyrants feast...

Scythian - Hubris In Excelsis - 02 Hubris In Excelsis

Scythian - Hubris In Excelsis - 09 Dystopia

At long last, DENOUNCEMENT PYRE are about to unchain their highly anticipated third album, Black Sun Unbound. Three years have passed since the release of their critically acclaimed Almighty Arcanum, which saw these long-running Aussie tyrants evolving well beyond their blackthrashing beginnings and locate a near-perfect balance between aggression and atmosphere. With Black Sun Unbound, DENOUNCEMENT PYRE have perhaps found the balance - between not only aggression and atmosphere, but passion and poison, power and patience, sheer vengeful violence and spiraling night-sky melodicism - in the process delivering a potently BLACK METAL record which emphasizes both titular elements of that genre. In fact, the album title itself bespeaks the brilliance brimming from the quartet here, as each of these ten tracks spills forth a blinding sensation of absolute occult energy, each distinct track distilled into a greater, wholly diabolical totality. Further evidence of such is compounded by the song titles, as well: among them, "World Encircler," "Transform the Aether," "Deathless Dreaming," and the telltale "Revere the Pyre." Fittingly, the production is clear and cutting without sacrificing an ounce of grit on which DENOUNCEMENT PYRE have built their throne these past 13 years. With the band set to perform their first North American live ritual at this year's Maryland Deathfest, there's no better time to behold Black Sun Unbound!

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