Swedish Black Metal pioneers DARK FUNERAL have blazed a path of Satanic ritualism and anti-religion that has endured for nearly three decades. Now, on the band’s seventh studio album, ‘We Are The Apocalypse’, they find themselves reaching for their most immersive and unrepenting journey to date. Led by the songwriting and technical ferocity of founding guitarist Lord Ahriman, Dark Funeral takes aim to surpass the new foundation they laid forth on 2016’s ‘Where Shadows Forever Reign’ – their first release with current lead vocalist Heljarmadr.
Recorded at Fredrik Thordendal’s (Meshuggah) Studio 33, ‘We Are The Apocalypse’ sees the band once again partnering with legendary producer Daniel Bergstrand. For Ahriman, the creative challenges presented by this
newest offering can be broken down into a few core objectives: forging new ground by creating bigger soundscapes through rhythmic components, and finding symbiosis between the vocal passages and melodic sections. “A lot of death/black metal, it’s kind of stiff and straightforward - I find that boring. I feel like the vocals need to follow the melodies, and on this record, I think Heljarmadr fucking nailed it.”
‘We Are The Apocalypse’ starts things off with the decimation and unforgiving brutality of “Nightfall”, one of Dark Funeral’s heaviest and fast-paced tracks to date. Drawing influence from a lesser-known mythos and a forewarning of the sheer darkness to come, the song brims with a cohesive hellfire that echoes from Heljarmadr’s blood-curdling howls, reverberates through Ahriman’s pummeling guitar chords, and thuds with dread via Jalomaah ́s skull-crushing drum rattle. Throughout these opening salvos, be it the unforgiving darkness of “Let The Devil In’ or the defiant visceral offensive of “When Our Vengeance Is Done”, the band stays true to their promise of delivering Dark Funeral’s most epic and engrossing hellscapes yet.
Approaching the midway point of Apocalypse, Ahriman & Heljarmadr reach deeper into the dark energy which defines them. This comes to the forefront on tracks like “Nosferatu” and “When I’m Gone”, with the latter of the two drawing back the veil on the band’s songwriting process while also exploring untraveled territory. “It’s a first, but we used some clean guitars on this record (on “When I’m Gone” and “Leviathan”) because it just fit so well with what the music was doing. I’m not sure if people have picked up on it yet, but I write pretty much all the riffs acoustically. I do that because I need to hear the tones as they are in order to find the harmonies that I had in my head. It’s only after doing this that I can transform these harmonies into my own Satanic symphonies.”

From the greying plains and urban decay of Oklahoma comes Crá, a vortex of mind-tearing blackness andabhorrence. 

Formed by past and present members of Hersker, Magazu, and Horde Casket, Crá brings forth a feeling of cold rage and hatred through burning melodic darkness.

Since their inception in 2008, Gravehuffer has crafted their sound into an other-worldly amalgamation of Crust, Punk, Metal, Grindcore, and unapologetic down-tuned Sludge-laden Doom.

From the remnants of former projects Initial Detonation, H.R.B., and Aether Bunny, Krom was formed. Krom evolved into what is now known as Gravehuffer. Without ever making a conscious effort to do so, the Joplin, Missouri band proudly shuns the confines of genre confinements and so-called rules for the sake of the music itself and their collective creative output. Featuring James Hiser on vocals, Ritchie Randall on guitar, and a rhythm section comprised of Mike Jilge on bass, and Larry Deardorff on drums, Gravehuffer steers clear of trends and limits by being themselves and letting the music take them where it wants to go. With an assortment of 28 original songs in their repertoire that showcase the vast array of influence the band pulls from and a fearlessness to never conform or compromise, Gravehuffer is in it for the sake of the songs and the art itself in a world where most are content to follow rather than lead.

Gravehuffer has signed on with Bluntface Records for a special vinyl release of their acclaimed Your Fault album, which features 2 bonus tracks and a guest solo by former Carcass lead guitarist Carlo Regadas.