MYSTIC CIRCLE Celebrate Release of New Studio Album “Hexenbrand 1486” with Lyric Video for ‘Institoris / Zeugnis Der Verachtung’

Last Friday, on October 31st, black metal duo MYSTIC CIRCLE dropped their brand-new album “Hexenbrand 1486” through ROAR – A Division Of Reigning Phoenix Music, a blazing descent into the dark heart of history, witch hunts, and occult terror. To celebrate their new studio offering in style, today, the band reveals a lyric video for the tracks “Institoris (Heinrich Kramer) / Zeugnis Der Verachtung”, serving as the prologue and epilogue to their Heinrich Kramer Trilogy. This brutal double-feature dives deep into the twisted legacy of the infamous inquisitor and the flames of persecution he ignited.

Since the unholy reunion between the two MYSTIC CIRCLE founders A. Blackwar and Beelzebub in 2021, the Germanic black metal wargods are stronger than ever. What began anew in 2022 with the self-titled “Mystic Circle” album and was rewarded with a sensational #78 place in the German album charts, was continued the following year with “Erzdämon” and now completed with “Hexenbrand 1486”.

“Hexenbrand 1486”, produced with Nils Lesser, is largely about the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’, the hammer of witches, which was written in Speyer/Germany in the year 1486. “We are lucky to live near well-known events and dark legends. Our Nibelungen cult “Drachenblut” comes from our region, as does the concept in the second part of the new record about Heinrich “Institoris” Kramer, the author of the Hexenhammer,” A. Blackwar explains.

“Heinrich Kramer embodies everything we hate about the holy institution of the church,” Beelzebub reveals. “He was a vile sadist who acted out his resentment towards women under the cloak of Christian scripture. The Hexenhammer is the work of a madman and should encourage everyone even more to leave the church and follow their own path of faith.”

“Hexenbrand 1486” is out now and available on CD and Vinyl (both featuring a comic!) as well as in Digital formats. Order your favorite choice of format at: https://mysticcircle.rpm.link/hexenbrandPR

Album Track Listing:

Luciferian
The Scarlet Queen Of Harlots
Boogeyman
In The Sign Of The Goat
Ghost Of Whitechapel
Institoris (Heinrich Kramer)
The Bible Of Witch Chase
Blutschande Unzucht Sodomie
Dance On The Wings Of Black Magic
Zeugnis Der Verachtung (Outro)

MYSTIC CIRCLE sound unmistakable, their trademarks are manifold and their hunger seems almost insatiable. What the duo has created in recent years is unparalleled and continues the legacy that the band created in the nineties with their classics “Drachenblut” (1998) and “Infernal Satanic Verses” (1999). MYSTIC CIRCLE themselves describe their style as melodic extreme metal, their very own mix of old-school death and black metal, traditional heavy metal of the eighties and horror soundtracks.

The horror flair of the 80s already played a major role in the duo’s style on “Mystic Circle” and “Erzdämon”. On “Hexenbrand 1486” they consistently go one step further and add dark synth wave passages in appropriate places, with a comparable flair to legendary horror shockers and soundtracks by Dario Argento, who used synthesizers in his very own way.

In keeping with the theme of witches, three women are represented on “Hexenbrand 1486”: The two singers Sarah Jezebel Deva (ex-CRADLE OF FILTH, THE KOVENANT) and Karo Hafke (UMBRA ET IMAGO, GIANTS CAUSAWAY) as well as Natalie Ostermaier, the author and illustrator of the book “Kramer”, from which the accompanying comic is taken, that is integrated in the CD booklet and comes with the vinyl first edition as a 12-page A5 comic.

“Sarah has once again taken on the classic part. This time it’s different with Karo. She carries the album with her voice and embodies the countless women who were burned and tortured because of sick fantasies back then. She gives the new album a special stamp. Natalie Ostermaier and her book “Kramer” came into play through the concept. She liked the idea of using an excerpt from her book for our album, and so what had to come together came together.”