Lachryma Christi's playlist for the week

Here is the playlist for the week, hoping you all have a great one!

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

God Seed - I Begin

Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh

Tsjuder - Desert Northern Hell

Upon Shadows - 7 Chapters

Vreid - Welcome Farewell

Koldbrann - Vertigo

DE ARMA - Lost, Alien & Forlorn

Taake - Kveld

Wrong - Memories of Sorrow

News: Endezzma

Norwegian Black Metal band Endezzma will be touring on the Balkan region in the end of this month as support for their recently released album Erotik Nekrosis through Agonia Records.
Please find a review for the album here: http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/review-endezzmas-new-album-erotik.html

Balkan Deathmarch tour dates:

FEBRUARY
Fri 27, Quo Vadis Club, Vukovar, Croatia
Sat 28, Orto Bar, Ljubljana, Slovenia
MARCH
Mon 01, Gun Club, Belgrade, Serbia
Tue 02, Ag Club, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Wed 03, Eski Beyrut Live, Istanbu, Turkey
Thu 04, Arena Music, Varna, Bulgaria
Fri 05, Talir Club, Jagodina, Serbia

Read more in:

http://www.facebook.com/endezzma

Shining - Coming to a cinema near you in 2014

There will be an English subtitled version of it soon. 




Read more in:

http://www.facebook.com/shiningofficial

News: Valfeanor

Black Metal band from Austria Valfeanor are releasing a new album called The Eerie Constellation on the 25th of March of 2013 through Cursed Records. The album will contain ten tracks, and one of them called Kratores can already be heard here:

http://soundcloud.com/valfeanorofficial/4-kratores

The Eerie Constellation tracklist:

01. Interlude

02. Lethe Jenseits

03. Lethe Diesseits

04. Kratores

05. The Eerie Constellation

06. Prelude

07. Chaos Nova

08. Ephemeral

09. The Elegy And The Reverence

10. Postlude

Valfeanor will appear at the Eine in Teich Festival, Neugarten Almseehütte, Gerlitzen, Kärnten, Austria on the 12th of July of 2013.

 

Read more in:

https://www.facebook.com/valfeanorofficial

News: Crest of Darkness

Crest of Darkness, Black Metal band from Norway, will be releasing a new album called In the Presence of Death, and is scheduled to be released in the 25th of February of 2013 through My Kingdom Music. 
Please, find more details of it here: http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/news-crest-of-darkness.html
The band just posted a video for the song Demon Child from the upcoming album on their youtube channel, and you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-sNJCviSGY&feature=youtu.be

Read more in:

http://www.crestofdarkness.com/

News: Carach Angren

Carach Angren, Symphonic Black Metal band from the Netherlands will be touring with Greek Septicflesh in May 2013.

Carach Angren just released a cinematic video for their song The Funerary Dirge of a Violonist from their last album Where The Corpses Sink Forever.
You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAZd9fM0FgM&list=UU5TaZWeRgdN7klKM60Hj6rQ&index=2

The album is available as CD and CD + t-shirt bundle here:

http://e-shop.season-of-mist.com/en/bands/carach-angren/6062

Tour dates are as follows:

06 May 13 Cortemaggiore  (IT) The Fillmore
07 May 13 Montepellier (FR)
08 May 13 Madrid (ES) Caracol
09 May 13 Barcelona (ES) Salamandra 1
10 May 13 Geneve (CH) Lùsine
11 May 13 Luynes (FR) Korigan
12 May 13 Lyon (FR) CCO
13 May 13 Colmar (FR) Grillen
14 May 13 Paris (FR) Glazmart
15 May 13 Rennes (FR) TBA
16 May 13 Vosselaar (BE) Biebob
17 May 13 Cottbus (DE) Glad House
18 May 13 Warsaw (PL) Progresja
19 May 13 Wroclaw (PL) Firlej
20 May 13 Prag (CZ) Nova Chmelnice
21 May 13 Budapest (HU) TBA
22 May 13 Wien (AT) Viper Room
23 May 13 München (DE) Backstage
24 May 13 Hünxe (DE) Extremefest
25 May 13 Winterthur (CH) Gaswerk

Read more in:

http://www.carach-angren.com/
https://www.facebook.com/carachangren

News: Sólstafir

Sólstafir, post-Black Metal band from Iceland will start an European tour on the 1st of March. They will be touring through eleven countries with Long Distance Calling. Audrey Horne will be supporting them on the first eight shows and Sahg in the rest of the tour. This is a tour in support of their last album Svartir Sanda released in 2011 through Season of Mist, which you can stream in the following website:

http://solstafir.bandcamp.com/

Tour dates are as follows:
All shows with Long Distance Calling

Also with AUDREY HORNE:
01 Mar 13 Münster (DE) Sputnikhalle
02 Mar 13 Hamburg (DE) Klubsen
03 Mar 13 Berlin (DE) Festsaal Kreuzberg
04 Mar 13 München (DE) Backstage
05 Mar 13 Karlsruhe (DE) Substage
06 Mar 13 Köln (DE) Essigfabrik
07 Mar 13 Leipzig (DE) Conne Island
08 Mar 13 Prague (CZ) Hoodoo

Also with SAHG:
09 Mar 13 Budapest (HU) Dürer Kert
10 Mar 13 Wien (AT) Arena
11 Mar 13 Milano (IT) Lo Fi Club
12 Mar 13 Aarau (CH) Kiff
13 Mar 13 Geneve (CH) L'usine (Kab)
14 Mar 13 Esch/Alzette (LU) Kulturfabrik
15 Mar 13 Paris (FR) Nouveau Casino
16 Mar 13 Châteauroux (FR) 9 Cube
17 Mar 13 Brussels (BE) Magasin 4
19 Mar 13 Nottingham (UK) Rock City Basement
20 Mar 13 Glasgow (UK) Ivory Blacks
21 Mar 13 Manchester (UK) NQ Live
22 Mar 13 London (UK) Underworld
23 Mar 13 Rotterdam (NL) Baroeg


Read more in:

http://season-of-mist.com/
http://www.solstafir.net/
https://www.facebook.com/solstafirice

Interview with Eïs (GER)

This time Lachryma Christi proudly shares an interview with Alboin from Eïs, the German Black Metal leading top 10 Black Metal albums from 2012. Eïs released their latest album Wetterkreuz in 2012 through Prophecy Productions. A very gelid and skincrawling work. (Please find a review in here: http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/review-eis-new-album-wetterkreuz.html )
Let's see the interesting things Alboin has to tell us.



Why Eïs as a name of a band? What is the main idea you want to transmit to the public?

We had several band names during the past ten years, and to me Eïs is somehow destilled into one word what is important for this band: atmosphere, coldness, solitude... something like that. Actually, a band name should just be fitting to the music and easy to remember, and I guess Eïs succeeds here.

There were a few changes of line up along the time, do you want to tell us a bit of the story of the band and how that happened?

To be honest... no. It's best to keep internal things internal, and to understand what happens inside a band is not only hard to get for external viewers, it also destroys a lot of spirit while listening to the band's music. At least that's the case with me. So, it's done with telling you that we had serious musical and personal  differences, and that's no cliché this time. I had the impression and later the urge to change something within the band, to give the whole thing more intensity and focus again, so it was necessary to act.

What are your favorite artists? Who has inspired you the most?

Mainly norwegian (and some swedish and finnish) black metal bands from the early to late nineties – like Emperor, Satyricon, Troll, Covenant, Arcturus, Morgul, Burzum as well... and a lot more, plus some genius stuff from Summoning for example. What I always find inspiring is music composed with the heart, with not too much thinking about it and handcrafted afterwards with not too many skills, but with the certain atmosphere and spirit only these bands managed to compose back then. This is about feeling and intuitive melodies, and I always tried to come close to this atmosphere with our music.

What are your lyrics usually about? Is there a main concept behind Eïs?

No concept, except for some themes and metaphors returning regularly, like solitude and loss for example. My lyrics are very personal and metaphoric, usually I try to work with personal struggles and experiences and clad them into some kind of metaphoric set by describing certain pictures I see in front of my inner eye. So to say, a lot of it is a katharsis for me.

What comes first when you compose? Lyrics or music?

Music. I'm picky when it comes to composing and arranging music, but it's even MUCH extremer when I'm dealing with lyrics.

Your recent album Wetterkreuz seems to be the most sharp, atmospheric, gelid and intense album so far. Was that intentional? Where did you get the inspiration for this album?

Thanks for the kind words. To record an intense and atmospheric album was of course intended, also the sharp sounding production has been a goal we wanted to achieve. Though, I was a little suprised myself afterwards when listening to the final album. To me, it seems exceptionally rough and aggressive compared to our former albums. Probably a result of the last couple of years, with all these internal band struggles and a bunch of serious personal problems I had to face... seems it was about time to let it all out. I suppose a lot of the inspiration came from these experiences, and the rest – all the metaphors and pictures – just arose when I noticed that this was an album sounding like a blizzard raping a mountain summit.

Wetterkreuz had very good reviews in general, are you happy with the results? Was it what you were expecting?

I don't expect anything when recording an album, at least not from the press or something. Still, it's of course very flattering to read and hear all the positive feedback, and that's some that makes an artists even happier with his piece of art, of course. To be fully honest, we thought „Wetterkreuz“ would some kind of split our listeners – the retro black metal listeners on one side (very much admiring the album), the avantgarde folks on the other side, saying it would be too much nineties style. Seems we catched them all somehow, and that's nice to see.

Germany used to be one of the most famous places for their Metal scene. How do you see this nowadays?

It still is! We have so many bands, big labels, tours, concerts, magazines... in certain regions of Germany you're free to visit two or three metal concerts every weekend, with bands from all over the world... not to speak about festivals. This has positive and negative aspects of course – we have the biggest and most interesting market for metal music of course, but otherwise it's hard to persist as a small band amidst all these giants of rock stopping in all the time. Altogether, we can be pretty happy to live and play in Germany I'd say.

What is your favorite track in Wetterkreuz? Why?

Probably the opening track „Mann aus Stein“, followed by the last track „Bei den Sternen“. Both are really really personal songs, both the music and the lyrics, and it's always moving to perform them live or only to listen to them. Of course, as the composer, I actually like all our songs, but some are just a little more intense than others, of course.

What about next gigs? Anything happening soon that you would like to share in here?

Yes, of course. Next for us are some smaller club gigs all around Germany, plus Ragnarök festival in April and TNT festival in the summer. As we're all employed guys, we can't play as much as we would want to, but we always try to present our music on stage... let's hope we'll be able to play abroad one day, that would be truly fine.

What would you advise to bands that are starting right now? There so many bands now, and some of them seem to disappear quickly, why do you think this happens?

Good questions. Well... we've never been too talented when it comes to composing complex music, or in our instrumental performance and skills. Instead, I always followed a clear vision of what I wanted to express, I never wrote a riff or song I was not 100% happy with, and adhered on my personal taste without turning left or right too much. We always did personal music with true emotions, and I'd say this comes across quite well.
I have no clue about bands disappearing quickly... maybe they just don't have the perseverance to keep doing a band, or just dissolve in their structure, split apart due to personal progression or something. Some bands just start making music to become famous or to copy their faves. Well... that may work for a couple of months, but you can't persist under these per conditions.

Anything else you would like to add?

Well... thanks for the support! Keep updated with our activities by joining us on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/eis.official

Line up:

Alboin - Guitars, Bass, Synths, Vocals
Marlek - Drums

Latest release:

Wetterkreuz (2012)

You can find more information and music of Eïs in:

http://www.facebook.com/eis.official

Lachryma Christi's playlist for the week

Because of some unforeseen circumstances, it wasn't possible to post the playlist for the week yesterday, Monday, as usual. Apologizing for the fault, here is the playlist for the week!

Eïs - Wetterkreuz

Ragnarok - Malediction

Sathanas - La Hora de Lucifer

Eths - Autopsie & Samantha

Ov Hollowness - Drawn to Descend

Fen - Epoch

Mayhem - Deathcrush

Darkthrone - Panzerfaust

Immortal - All Shall Fall

Vreid - V

Lachryma Christi update

Due to some very interesting situations related to Black Metal coming across Lachryma Christi, from now on this webzine won't be dedicated only to Black Metal bands but also to the alternative and underground music, art and literature, primarily that relating to the Black Metal scene.

So, again, if you are related to Black Metal in any way, drop an e-mail to lachrymachristizine@gmail.com

For now, expect some new stuff coming up soon!

News: Foscor

Spanish Black Metal band Foscor have been celebrating their 10th anniversary and will be releasing live material in Pro-Tape format. Deu Anys Vers la Foscor (which is Catalan for "Ten Years Towards Darkness") was originally released in DVD and included live footage of the band’s appearance at the Sala KGB in Barcelona. It is the soundtrack of that appearance that has been released on the tape.

The Pro-Tape of Deu Anys Vers la Fosco is limited to 100 hand-numbered copies and is scheduled to be released in February through Ruptura Records. 

Deu Anys Vers la Fosco tracklist:

SIDE A - SENY-
I. Groans to the Guilty
II. Raids to Punishment
III. The Smile of the Sad Ones
IV. Searching a Seal of Pain (The Beauty)
V. Melangia

SIDE B - RAUXA -
VI. El Palau dels Plors
VII. Al Cor de la Boscúria
VIII. The Other's Voice
IX. I Tornà de les Cendres

Additional Information:

Web: http://www.foscor.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/foscor.official

Management and PR http://patriciathomasmanagement.com/
email: patriciathomas@btinternet.com

Booking: http://www.stigia.org

News: Niklas Kvarforth

Niklas Kvarforth from Swedish Black Metal band Shining will be writing a twelve-part column called Chronicles from the Asylum, the French version of which would be published exclusively in Metallian Magazine. 

Read more in:

www.metallian.net

More information about Niklas Kvarforth and Shining in:

www.shiningasylum.com

News: Aosoth

French Black Metal band Aosoth will be releasing a new album through Agonia Records called IV:Arrow In Heart which is scheduled to be released on the 16th of April.
Aosoth just revealed details for IV:Arrow In Heart:

IV:Arrow In Heart tracklist:

01. An Arrow in Heart
02. One With The Prince With A Thousand Enemies
03. Temple of Knowledge
04. Under The Nails and Fingertips
05. Broken Dialogue 1
05. Broken Dialogue 2
06. Ritual Marks of Penitence 


You can pre-order the album here:

https://www.agoniarecords.com/index.php?pos=shop&lang=en 



Read more in:

https://www.facebook.com/aosoth

News: Arckanum

Black Metal band from Sweden Arckanum will be releasing a new album through Season of Mist called Fenris Kindir. It is scheduled to be released on the 10th of May, and on the 14th of May in North America.
Artwork cover and tracklist to be revealed soon.


Read more in:

http://www.season-of-mist.com/bands/arckanum

News: Imperium Dekadenz

As posted before, Black Metal band from Germany Imperium Dekadenz are releasing a new album called Meadows of Nostalgia in March through Season of Mist.
Lachryma Christi already shared artwork cover and tracklist here: 

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/news-imperium-dekadenz_16.html

Now it's time to share the link where you can stream one brand new song:

Hard Rock Magazine
Rock Hard

You can now also pre-order Meadows of Nostalgia in here:

http://e-shop.season-of-mist.com/en/bands/imperium-dekadenz/6949

Read more in:

http://www.season-of-mist.com/bands/imperium-dekadenz

Advertise your gigs at Lachryma Christi

Black Metal bands touring can drop dates for gigs into Lachryma Christi's inbox, and they will be advertised on the webpage. Please send a picture of the flyer or poster. Thank you!

E-mail: lachrymachristizine@gmail.com

Review: Vreid's upcoming album "Welcome Farewell"

So Vreid. After V, Norwegian Black Metal band Vreid will now release a new album called Welcome Farewell through Indie Recordings. It should be out on the 22nd of February in Norway, Germany and Austria and on the 26th of February worldwide.
Vreid always brought us a very special Black Metal. A Black Metal mixed with a rock & roll. This album is no different in what comes to influences. But much better than any of the others. Welcome Farewell is for Lachryma Christi the best album Vreid has ever released. There is all the Black Metal thing, all the influences, amazing apropriate vocals, ambient; and there is also all the rock & roll thing, very rhythmic and heavy. But this time it also has a huge amount of feelings in there. This is a very strong and touching album, very hard not to like it. Very hard not to love it in fact. It almost seems that the band is in a more melodic phase, with a more harmonic attitude. 
Welcome Farewell is full of powerful and euphonic guitar riffs and heavy and flowing drums arrangements. Every song is as pleasant and majestic as the previous one and once you start listening to it, you will feel like you can't stop, ending up listening to all the songs.
Will probably be in the top 10 Black Metal albums 2013 for Lachryma Christi. 
For first time it is hard to tell which ones are the most remarkable tracks for Lachryma Christi as all them are so amazingly good. The whole thing is very perfect.
Artwork cover is half ghostly half devilish but very good looking, as you can see for yourselves. Artist is Kim Holm, cartoonist from norway who has previously done the cover for Solstafir's Svartir Sandar, and various local bands. Welcome Farewell cover includes an image for each song, and portraits of the band originally drawn live under concerts.
Kim Holm regularly draws sketches live during extreme metal concerts, and has gotten a chance to draw personal favorites such as Taake, Enslaved, Entombed, 1349, Urfaust, and Rotting Christ. 
All his live metal art can be downloaded for free use, both personal use and commercial use, or bought on the following website:
http://denungeherrholm.smugmug.com/

Vreid will start an European tour in April, so keep an eye out, they are also very powerful and engaging live, so it's always worth seeing them. 

Welcome Farewell tracklist:

01. The Ramble

02. Way Of The Serpent

03. The Devils Hand

04. Welcome Farewell

05. The Reap

06. Sights of Old

07. Black Waves

08. At The Brook

Bonus Track*

09. Fossil

News: Aeternus

Black Metal band from Norway Aeternus just revealed new details of upcoming album. The album will be called ...And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth and will first be available as a limited edition which will include Aeternus’1995 debut EP Dark Sorcery as a bonus, and is scheduled to be release through Dark Essence Records on the 18^th March world-wide (except for Norway, Germany, Austria and Sweden where the album will be available on the 22^nd March).
You can now have a look at the artwork cover and at the tracklist:

...And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth tracklist:

01. There Will Be None
02. ...And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth
03. Spurcitias
04. Ruin And Resurrect
05. The Confusion Of Tongues
06. Hubris
07. Reap What You Saw
08. Saligia
09. The Hand That Severs The Bonds Of Creation
10. The Spirit Of Illumination

Dark Sorcery (Bonus)

01. Black Dust

02. Victory

03. Raven and Blood

04. Nordlys (Instrumental)

Read more in:

http://www.facebook.com/Aeternusofficial

News: Spektr

You can now listen to a complete track from the new album of French Industrial Black Metal band Spektr on the link below. 

https://soundcloud.com/agoniarecords/spektr-teratology-full-track

Album is called Cypher and was already released through Agonia Records in Europe. In North America it will be available only on the 19th of February.

Cypher is available to order at http://www.agoniarecords.com/index.php?pos=shop&lang=en

Please find a review for Cypher by Lachryma Christi on the following link:

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-spektrs-upcoming-album-cypher.html

Cypher tracklist:

01. Hermetism
02. Teratology
03. The Singularity
04. Solitude
05. Antimatter
06. Solve Et Coagula
07. Cypher
08. Decorporation
09. Le Vitriol du Philosophe  

Read more in:

http://agoniarecords.home.pl/

Review: Ov Hollowness upcoming album "The World Ends"

Ov Hollowness, Atmospheric Black Metal one man band from Canada will release a new album in March 2013 through Aural Music which will be called The World Ends, containing ten tracks.
If you already know the work of Mark R. from the previous releases of Ov Hollowness, you know what to expect as in fact there are big similarities in this new album.
So, what to say? Well, The World Ends is a bit more heavy and dragged and actually angry than the previous releases.
This is a very special album, as all albums of Ov Hollowness are as they have the ability to make skin crawl with so much emotion. However, even if The World Ends is heavier and obviously more into the traditional Black Metal wave, it still keeps all the melancholy and melody and passion that are always present in Ov Holowness music.
All tracks seem to have an equilibrium, the choice of which comes first and which comes next couldn't be better. Very close to perfection.
For Lachryma Christi the most remarkable track is possibly the 8th track called Hollow. So very melodic and heavy and unexpected, if it can be put that way. 
In all tracks voice is amazingly direct, strong, with perfect utterance. Clean voices also can be heard and they fit in well even if they are not absolutely necessary.
This has been one of the most expected albums for Lachryma Christi and all that can be said to summarize it is: very good, will probably figure in the top 10 for 2013. 
You may think it is a risk to say this so early, as there are so many good albums awaiting to be released in 2013, but well, The World Ends will come out in less than two months time, and by then everyone will be able to hear the masterpiece.
So if you like a good dose of emotion, strength, melancholy, powerful melodies, you will not be disappointed. This is actually a good example of how Atmospheric Black Metal can be really engaging never losing any of the essential ingredients inherent to both atmosphere and black metal as concepts. 

The World Ends tracklist:

I. Abstraction
II. Grey
III. Hoarfrost
IV. An End
V. Ov
VI. The World Ends
VII. Lost Resolve
VIII. Hollow
IX. End in View
X. Outro

Lachryma Christi's playlist for the week

Here is another playlist for you to enjoy in this snowy week!

Vorkreist - Sigil Whore Christ

Windir - 1184

Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger

1349 - Hellfire

Spektr - Cypher

Koldbrann - Vertigo

Fen - Dustwalker

Saille - Ritu

Ragnarok - Malediction

Tsjuder - Desert Northern Hell

News: Blodarv

Danish Black Metal band Blodarv just released a DVD. As it is self financed, it is in format DVD-r.
DVD is called A Doorway Between Worlds Chapter 1, and contains videos for tracks from Blodarv’s albums Soulcollector, Linaria Amlech, Civitas Diaboli and the recently released Gâst, as well as a live recording from their show at Club Brutal, in Aarhus Denmark, filmed in December 2012. 
The DVD will be available exclusively through the band’s webshop on the following link:

http://blodarvshop.bigcartel.com/


Videos featured on the DVD: 

01. A Snowy Night In November (Music Video)

02. I Blaek Og Blod (Music Video)

03. Blood red Rocks (Live Video)

04. Empty Fucking Life (Music Video)

05. Civitas Diaboli (Music Video)

06. Heksen Nitiria Amlech (Musik Video)

07. Those Who Speaks In Minds (Slide W Live Pics)

08. Langt Vaek Fra Livet (Slide W Live Pics)

A Doorway Between Worlds Chapter 1 is compatible to DVD player and PC, and is limited to 666 hand numbered copies.

Please find an interview of Lachryma Christi with Blodarv on:

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/interview-with-blodarv-dk.html

And a review to the album Gâst on:

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-blodarvs-new-album-gast.html

Read more in:

www.facebook.com/blodarvofficial