Source: Blabbermouth.net

German gothic death pioneers ATROCITY have unveiled the cover artwork and track listing for part one of their album trilogy, “Okkult”. The CD will feature a three-continent treasure hunt where the band will hide a track for one fan to find for each of the three releases, the first in Europe this year (first evidence and code of the treasure hunt are hidden in the booklet of the limited-edition digipak and in the iTunes version).

“Okkult” will be released via Napalm Records on the following dates:

April 24: Spain/Sweden/Norway
April 26: GAS/BeNeLux/Finland
April 29: Rest of the world
May 7: USA/Canada

The album was produced by vocalist Alexander Krull at Mastersound Studio. The cover art (see below) was created by Stefan Heilemann.

“Okkult” track listing:

01. Pandaemonium
02. Death By Metal
03. March of the Undying
04. Haunted By Demons
05. Murder Blood Assasination
06. Necromancy Divine
07. Satan’s Braut
08. Todesstimmen
09. Masaya (Boca Del Infierno)
10. When Empires Fall to Dust
11. Beyond Perpetual Ice
12. La Voisine

A seven-minute YouTube clip containing “Okkult” audio samples is available below.

Commentes ATROCITY singer and producer Alex Krull: “With ‘Okkult’, we want to start a very special album trilogy. Most recently with the ‘Die Gottlosen Jahre (The Godless Years)’ DVD, a splendid film documentary was released commemorating our longer-than-25-year career, which even now is to run at film festivals. Reason enough now to usher in a new era of ATROCITY! Musically, no prisoners will be taken, the ‘Okkult’ series is also brutal, bombastic and dark. These will not only be the heaviest and most brutal albums of ATROCITY since years, but also the darkest works of our band’s history. Lovers of our harder material like ‘Hallucinations’, ‘Todessehnsucht’, ‘Blut’ or ‘Atlantis’ will surely be delighted with the ‘Okkult’ series at their expense, although the ‘Okkult’ songs have their own trademarks, of course.”

The new ATROCITY opus, “Okkult”. is described in a press release as “the kickstart to an album trilogy as it has not been seen before in the metal scene! Musically, ATROCITY show an enormous tension width, and deliver a very powerful, homogeneous and atmospheric album: On the one hand with much bombast and big choirs a la ‘March Of The Undying’; on the other hand, ATROCITY deliver equally purist, brutal metal songs, which get under your skin just as intensely, closely and authentically. The overall sound is perfectly harmonized. The earthy, brilliant production sounds intoxicating and gives the musical pieces the necessary energy, atmosphere and roughness to dive immediately into the lyrical concept. This is anything but one-dimensional. The lyrics relate to occult magic, mysterious places, conspiracy theories and mysteries that are still unsolved. Thus, ATROCITY turn John Milton‘s vision of ‘Pandemonium’ into reality in an imposing way. With ‘Death By Metal’, a mystical tale from long ago, ATROCITY have composed a tribute to their own musical roots, as well as it is their own band anthem. The band takes us with ‘Haunted By Demons’ on a Scottish haunted castle, and brings in ‘Necromancy Divine’ the ancient necromancer Erictho back to life. Moreover, the ‘Okkult’ cover motif is dedicated to her. With overwhelming power the gates of hell are opened in ‘Masaya (Boca del Inferno)’. The epic ‘When Empires Fall To Dust’ set the mystical prophecies of a mysterious, French Freemason from the First World War to music. Never before has the Ides of March been staged musically as gripping as in ‘Murder Blood Assassination’. Also the myths surrounding the Antarctic have never before been turned into such a hymnic piece of music (‘Beyond Perpetual Ice’). As a culmination the poisoner and witch ‘La Voisine’ does her mischief in the Paris of the 17th Century: What could fit better than a smashing, furious metal song of the brand ATROCITY?”

In keeping with the dark atmosphere of “Okkult”, ATROCITY got the Canadian sound designer Katie Halliday on board. She worked for movies like “Saw V”, “Saw VI”, “Saw 3D (VII)”, “The Devil’s Carnival” and “Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil”, and already could reap some awards for her work. The orchestral parts were recorded by the Lingua Mortis Orchestra under the direction of Victor Smolski (RAGE) in Minsk, Belarus. Besides all harshness and bombast, ATROCITY again show their excellent sense of very good, catchy songs — “Satan’s Braut” is definitely a pure club hit.

Adds Krull: “For our fans, we’ve come up with something very special: There will be no conventional bonus tracks on the ‘Okkult’ albums! In return, all fans can actively engage in a kind of treasure hunt. For the respective ‘Okkult’ albums, we will hide one song on an ‘occult site,’ which is the ‘missing track’ to each album. For the first ‘Okkult’ record, that certain place will be in Europe. All original recording tracks and mixes of these songs will be destroyed by our own hands, that also means we as a band will also not be able to listen to these songs until they are found. They are in the truest sense of the word: Unique.”

ATROCITY 2013 is:

Alexander Krull – Vocals
Thorsten Bauer – Guitar, Bass
Sander Van Der Meer – Guitar
Joris Nijenhuis – Drums