Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy and mythology, as well as numerous songs celebrating the genre and its core audience. The band is also known for a loud and emphatic sound. In an interview for MTV in February 2007, bassist Joey DeMaio lamented that "these days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras... so it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that". In 1984, the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on two occasions. They also hold the world record for the longest heavy metal concert after playing for five hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008. They also have been known for their slogan "Death to false metal".
Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pagan metal, and death metal records, the label moved on to releasing albums of avant-garde metal, gothic metal and punk bands as well. The label has two offices, one in Marseille, France and one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Deathspell Omega is a French black metal band formed in 1998 in Poitiers. The group is an anonymous collective which has never confirmed the identity of any of its members.
Shining is a Swedish black metal band formed in 1996 by Niklas Kvarforth in Halmstad, Sweden. The band's music contains depressive undertones, which include personal and suicide-themed lyrics.
Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice is the third full-length album by black metal band Deathspell Omega. The album title is a grammatically mis-quoted version of the Latin epitaph on the tomb of Christopher Wren in St Paul's Cathedral, meaning "If you seek his monument, look around you". This album is the first part in a trilogy of albums released by the band, followed by Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum in 2007 and Paracletus in 2010. The trilogy has been described as "a theological dispute on the divine essence of the Devil, the roles and virtues of faith and the place of man therein", particularly from a Theistic Satanist perspective. One interpretation of the purpose of the album is to examine and proclaim that "Satan is pervading every part of our material and metaphysical realms and how Man’s relationship with Him should be one of reverence and devotion." The album draws on themes of putrefaction, decomposition, antinatalism, as well as the work of the French philosopher Georges Bataille.
Infernal Battles is the first album by the black metal band Deathspell Omega. It was released in 2000 by Northern Heritage Records in a limited run of 200 vinyl copies, then re-released in 2003 by the same label and in 2010 by End All Life Productions, both times on CD.
Kénôse is an EP by the black metal band Deathspell Omega, released in 2005 under The Ajna Offensive. It continues the avant-garde and progressive direction they had been exploring on 2004's Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice, and is considered by the band as something of an "appendix" to that album.
Clandestine Blaze is a one-man Finnish black metal band from Lahti, formed in 1998 by Mikko Aspa. Aspa cites Darkthrone, Burzum, Beherit and Bathory as key influences. Aspa is also currently involved in many other projects, such as Stabat Mater, Creamface, Fleshpress, AM, Grunt, Clinic of Torture, Alchemy of the 20th Century, and Nicole 12.
Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von. The band have become famous for their Theistic Satanist views and for their live shows which involve pyrotechnics, candles, Satanic rituals, animal carcasses, and blood. At a now-notorious live performance in Brooklyn in 2014, they doused audience members in animal blood, allegedly causing some members of the audience to vomit. This was picked up and publicised by TMZ, generating controversy around the incident. To date they have released seven full-length albums, as well as three live albums and a number of demos and EPs. Their most recent album The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain was released on 29 April 2022 through Nuclear Blast. The band's core lineup has remained stable since their formation, consisting of Erik Danielsson, Pelle Forsberg, and Håkan Jonsson, though as of 2015 Jonsson no longer performs live, Emil Svensson of fellow Uppsala death metal band Degial was recruited as live drummer.
Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum is the fourth full-length album by the black metal band Deathspell Omega. The album takes its title from the Vulgate translation of Matthew 25:41, "discedite a me maledicti in ignem æternum", usually quoted as "ite maledicti in ignem aeternum".
From the Entrails to the Dirt is a compilation album released by End All Life Productions, featuring songs by French black metal acts Malicious Secrets, Antaeus, Mütiilation and Deathspell Omega.
Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon is a 22-minute EP containing a single song, recorded by the French black metal band Deathspell Omega. Chaining the Katechon was released through Norma Evangelium Diaboli on 8 December 2008. The title Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum is a work of two French black metal bands—Deathspell Omega and S.V.E.S.T. —and can be understood as a variation on a same theme, independent yet complementary.
Krallice is an American black metal band formed by New York City musicians Colin Marston, Mick Barr, Nick McMaster and Lev Weinstein. They play an experimental, highly technical style of black metal. The band has released twelve studio albums and three EPs, most recently the LP Porous Resonance Abyss on May 5, 2023. They have been described as "one of the most interesting, engaging black metal bands to emerge in recent years" and "one of the most important bands in modern black metal".
Daniel Rostén is a Swedish black metal vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, known as the frontman for Funeral Mist and singer/guitarist of Triumphator under the stage name Arioch, and for having been the vocalist for renowned Swedish black metal band Marduk since 2004 under the stage name Mortuus. He is also a professional graphic designer.
Mgła is a Polish black metal band from Kraków, formed in 2000. The duo consists of vocalist, guitarist and bassist M. and drummer Darkside.
Paracletus is the fifth full-length studio album recorded by the French black metal band Deathspell Omega, released on 9 November 2010 through Norma Evangelium Diaboli along with Season of Mist. It is the third part in their metaphysical trilogy of albums representing God, the Devil and Man.
The Ajna Offensive is an American independent record label which releases extreme metal, experimental music and neofolk records, and books related to occultism, ritual work, magic theory and meta-history. The proprietor of the label is Tyler Davis, who had met a man with a music project called Plecid and who subsequently worked with Stephen O'Malley on the black metal fanzine Descent. O'Malley was later involved with the development of The Ajna Offensive record label.
Drought is an EP by Deathspell Omega. It is the band's first release of new material since their 2010 album Paracletus. It is the final release included in the band's 2012 vinyl box set incorporating the trilogy and related works, suggesting that the band regards it as thematically connected, and can be regarded as an epilogue to the trilogy.
Hero is the debut full-length studio album by the Swiss extreme metal band Bölzer. The album was released on November 25, 2016 through Iron Bonehead Productions and Invictus Productions. The band made the tracks 'I Am III' and 'Spiritual Athleticism' available to stream in advance of the album's release. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release, although the changes in musical style compared to the band's previous records was a divisive matter among fans and music critics.
Michael W. Ford is an American occultist, author, and musician. He is the former co-president of the now closed Greater Church of Lucifer (GCOL) which was the first Luciferian building in the United States. It was located in Old Town Springs, Texas. More recently, he works with Jeremy Crow and Hope Marie Ford operating the Assembly of Light Bearers. Ford has published a number of books on the occult and recorded a number of albums as well. Ford's company, Succubus Productions Publishing publishes a majority of his English Language books, while his works have been translated into a number of languages and published by companies in Italy, Peru, Brazil, France, Germany, and Serbia. His magical name is Akhtya.
