Finnish black metal band Acolythus are set to release their debut album ‘Unearthly Kingdoms ‘Neath Lifeless Stars’ on May 8th 2026 via Inverse Records. The first and only single ‘Scholars of Empires Beyond’ is unleashed today and it’s available on all essential streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/acolythus-scholars

The band comments:
“Scholars of Empires Beyond embodies the very elements that inspired the creation of the album and the becoming of Acolythus. Born not only from the members’ passion for black metal but also from a growing distaste for the sterile sound of modern metal production, this record rejects perfection in favor of authenticity. Written in its entirety and recorded within a single month—February 2026—we deliberately constrained the production process to preserve the aggression and the human element behind every take. No edits, no gimmicks, only pure expression. Listeners can expect furious, melodic, and at times unexpected echoes of Finnish old-school black metal!”

–Composed, lyrics and produced by Acolythus
–Mix & Master by Teemu Leskinen
–Single cover art by Matias Stenman

Unearthly Kingdoms ‘Neath Lifeless Stars Track list:

1. Among Ruins Forlorn
2. Scholars of Empires Beyond
3. As the Slaughtered Wizards Reincarnate
4. Frozen Desolate Warfields
5. Vacuous Gods of the Abyss
6. Unearthly Kingdoms ‘Neath Lifeless Stars
7. In the Fading Light of Burning Cathedrals

–All music written and produced by Acolythus
–Mix & Master by Teemu Leskinen
–Album cover art by Matias Stenman

Acolythus is a project strongly rooted in traditional black metal, boasting straightforward aggression coupled with a recognizable Finnish melodic approach to the genre. Featuring members from Convulse, Sargassus and Jotungrav, the band was born as an outlet for the musicians’ black metal aspirations. After the inspiration struck, ‘Unearthly Kingdoms ‘Neath Lifeless Stars’ was written and recorded in a matter of weeks. The album aims at conveying the aggression and feeling behind the music in its purest form. Hence in Acolythus’ music, the listener will only hear real instruments being played by real people – free of all edits and tricks that dominate the modern metal sound.  Thematically Acolythus centers itself around esoteric and occult knowledge, as well as a somewhat misanthropic and post-apocalyptic focus on humanity. Much of the inspiration from which the music is born out of can be traced to the mystical worldbuilding and wordweaving of bands such as Alghazanth, Immortal and Emperor, to name a few. In short, Acolythus provides the listener with poetic hymns and sermons of woe, accompanied by blazing and ice-cold riffs in the most authentic way black metal should be performed in.

Line-up:
Guitars & Vocals: Angrmáni (Matias Stenman)
Drums: Maleficarum (Matias Rokio)
Bass: Abyssias (Teemu Leskinen)

https://www.facebook.com/Acolythusband
https://www.instagram.com/acolythusband
https://acolythus.bandcamp.com