Dutch black metal ritual Doodswens have released the first official track from their upcoming album, Doodswens, alongside a new music video which is not for the faint hearted. The new album is due on 17th April, via Svart Records. 

Pre-orders are available here: https://www.svartrecords.com/en/product/doodswens-doodswens/14147

Listen to ‘Driven By Death’ here: https://orcd.co/drivenbydeath

About ‘Driven By Death’, drummer and vocalist I. comments: “I was on the way back from a spontaneous adventure, full of music, new connections, and inspiration. A path without a plan and a journey without a goal, with only a very strong feeling that this is where I’m meant to be.

“With a misty horizon of endless asphalt before me. A large tree at the edge of the road, in the corner of my eye, screaming that this could just be the end. But what I felt wasn’t fear, it was happiness. With the thought that if I crash into that tree now, I won’t care at all. Because up until this moment, I’ve done everything possible, experienced every adventure, and each time, gotten up again and faced life with that gray cloud around my head.

“I have a death wish, so if it happens now, it’s okay, and I’m at peace with it. This was the moment I realized, I’m not afraid of life. I’m driven by death.“

Doodswens is a Dutch black metal band, forged in 2017 by I. The name translates to ‘Deathwish’ but its true meaning heavier; Not giving up, but returning with power after looking the end in the eye. 

Live, I. performs drums and vocals as one, a single body split into rhythm and invocation. She is joined by R. and P. on bass and guitar. R.I.P. is a line-up that moves like a blade; precise, violent, and locked in. Their shows are as ceremonial as confrontational. Doodswens doesn’t soothe; it exposes. Bring your demons and they will be named. Bring your grief and it will be heard. Whatever you carry into the room is dragged into the light because this band chooses confrontation over comfort, every time. Blood, bones, bullets, flame, skull, sweat: not props, but real artifacts of the rite. A full-body experience with sound, smell, vision and vibration which is meant to pull you under and return you a changed person.

After rising through the Dutch underground, Doodswens gained an international following through tours alongside Marduk and Gorgoroth. In 2021 they entered the chaos of the pandemic era on their first Massive Music run, supporting Marduk and Valkyria between lockdowns when venues were closing behind them and the world was unstable. But their will was unbroken. In 2024, on the Marduk/Origin tour, I. made the impossible possible; taking on lead vocals while remaining the drummer. With only months to prepare, she cut out all doubts and locked herself into rehearsal. The result? I. carried Doodswens across 30 shows back-to-back, barely losing her voice. 

Doodswens was recorded and produced by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt at Galloway Studio and mastered by Alex McCullough (who re-mastered Dolly Parton‘s Backwoods Barbie) at True East Mastering. 

If you’ve been close to ending your life, or if you think about it more often than you admit, then you know what it is to live with a death wish. It’s weight. A grey cloud that follows you everywhere, depriving you of your breath and blurring your sight. It’s almost impossible to explain to anyone who hasn’t been inside it. Doodswens isn’t an album about giving up. It’s about what happens when you stop looking away. About meeting death face to face and coming back with strength. Not because the darkness disappears, but because you learn how to carry it without letting it own you.

The heart of Doodswens is not the wish for death, but the death of the wish, the breaking of a curse. A taboo spoken aloud. A darkness worn on the chest, not as pride, but as truth: “This is what I feel, and I will not hide it.“

Track-list:
1: Driven by Death
2: Verrot
3: The Black Flame
4: These Wounds Never Healed
5: She Carries the Curse
6: Devils Stone    
7: Vlaamse Vloek

FFO: Darkthrone, (early) Mayhem, Wiegedood, Fluisteraars

Live 2026: 
07.03 In Theatrum Denonium festival, FR
03.04 Under The black Sun festival, DE (exact date t.b.a.)

Line-up:
R. – Bass
I. – Drums, vocals
P. – Guitar 

Follow Doodswens:
https://doodswensband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DoodswensOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/doodswens.band