STRIGOI were already plenty unsettling on their debut album. After all, this band includes current and former members of Paradise Lose, Extreme Noise Terror, Satyricon and Carcass. But the UK death-doom band’s follow-up pushed their grinding asphyxiations to such vile extremes, that it produced an abundance of putridity.
‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ includes four unreleased or exclusive songs from the recording sessions for their last album ‘Viscera’, which was mastered by Brad Boatright and mixed by Kurt Ballou. The title track oozes pure, unadorned filth, slimed with sludge riffs and a crusty drum groove, while other songs spew punkish riffs atop leather-spiked d-beats.
“‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ is part bridge, part exorcism”, writes No Clean Singing. “Strigoi will always have that big pit-riff bubbling up just inside them and they have to unleash it somehow”.
Strigoi’s terrifying new EP comes out this Friday, November 3. But seeing as it’s Halloween, they’re treating our blackened sweet tooths with an early taste of all five tracks.
“We’ve been dying to release this EP as a companion to ‘Viscera’,” says the band’s bassist Chris Casket. “Enjoy these extra cuts of raging spite and cold despair.”
Track-list 1. Bathed In A Black Sun (4:19) [WATCH VIDEO] 2. The Grotesque (2:56) 3. Beautiful Stigmata(00:41) 4. A Spear of Perfect Grief (04:14) 5. The Construct of Misery (01:33) Total runtime: 12:63
Recording Studio: Oregon Studios Producer/Sound engineer: Jamie Gomez and Strigoi Additional recording and production: Gregor Mackintosh at Black Planet Studios Mixing studio/engineer: Kurt Ballou – Godcity Studios Mastering studio/engineer: Brad Boatright – Audiosiege
Recording line-up: Greg Mackintosh: Vocals and Guitar Chris Casket: Bass Guido Zima: Drums Ben Ash: Guitar
STRIGOI were already plenty unsettling on their debut album. But the UK death-doom band’s follow-up pushed their grinding asphyxiations to such vile extremes, that it produced an abundance of putridity.
‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ includes four unreleased or exclusive songs from ‘Viscera’. Get re-acquainted with the pure, unadultered filth of the title track, which is slimed with sludge riffs and a crusty drum groove.
Watch below the horrifying new video for “Bathed In A Black Sun”.
The ‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ EP comes out November 3.
“We are pleased to finally do this, as ultimately ‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ as a track is lamentably all the more relevant today than it was when it was written”, says bassist Chris Casket. “We also wanted to release this EP as a companion to the album ‘VISCERA’, so finally all the tracks recorded during that studio session are available for all to ‘enjoy’ the extra cuts of raging spite and cold despair.”
Greg Mackintosh already had one side project from his main gig as the guitarist for Paradise Lost. But when Vallenfyre ran its course, he started Strigoi with bassist Chris Casket in hopes of dragging death and doom metal even further afield.
‘Bathed In A Black Sun’ proves that Strigori can mold nasty blackened death doom from anything – even their own remains.
Track-list 1. Bathed in A Black Sun (4:19) [WATCH VIDEO] 2. The Grotesque (2:56) 3. Beautiful Stigmata(00:41) 4. A Spear of Perfect Grief (04:14) 5. The Construct of Misery (01:33) Total runtime: 12:63
When Paradise Lost guitarist Greg Mackintosh put to rest his Vallenfyre side project in 2018, he closed a difficult, but ultimately cathartic period in his life. Created as a tribute to his father John, who passed away in 2009, Vallenfyre originally served as a sounding board for Greg’s grief, but then delved into his nihilistic take on the world. Vallenfyre’s brief existence was intentional — the band always knew they could go no further than the three studio albums that bore their name.
A mere few days after Vallenfyre played its last live show in September 2018, Mackintosh announced the formation of a brand-new band with Vallenfyre bassist Chris Casket (Ex. Extreme Noise Terror), Strigoi. The English twosome released their debut album Abandon All Faith on 22nd November 2019 which was met by widespread critical acclaim and support. From this success, the band began preproduction to take the project live, recruiting to the line-up drummer Guido Zima (Ex Implore / The Secret) and live guitarist Sam Kelly-Wallace (Ex Vallenfyre) to begin spreading their foreboding gospel throughout the European festival circuit.
Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic that hit Spring 2020 Strigoi were unable to perform live as planned, and realising this situation was going to be a long-term constraint Greg and Chris decided to begin writing for a second album. This 18-month process culminated in Strigoi signing to Season Of Mist records, then heading to Orgone Studios UK to track 14 brand new songs under the watchful eye of award winning producer Jamie Gomez Arellano.
The bands line up, now set with the addition of guitarist Ben Ash (Satyricon / Ex. Carcass) completed the recording of the album ‘Viscera’ in October 2021, subsequently mixed by Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studios and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Studios. ‘Viscera’ represents the further evolution of Strigoi as a band, a concept fully realised as a statement of terror, malaise, and ultimately a record representing what Greg and Chris wanted to achieve from the band’s inception.
Their new ‘Bathed in Black Sun’ EP includes five unreleased songs from the recording sessions for ‘Viscera’. The title track is pure, unadulterated filth, slimed with sludge riffs and a crusty drum groove.
Recording Studio: Oregon Studios Producer/Sound engineer: Jamie Gomez and Strigoi Additional recording and production: Gregor Mackintosh at Black Planet Studios Mixing studio/engineer: Kurt Ballou – Godcity Studios Mastering studio/engineer: Brad Boatright – Audiosiege
Recording line-up: Greg Mackintosh: Vocals and Guitar Chris Casket: Bass Guido Zima: Drums Ben Ash: Guitar
Blackened death doom outfit STRIGOI, the brainchild of Greg Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST, VALLENFYRE) and Chris Casket (VALLENFYRE), have teamed up with Decibel Magazine for the exclusive release of their brand new song, “The Construct of Misery,” via the Decibel flexi series! Decibel Magazine is now offering an exclusive stream of the new single, which can be heard at THIS LOCATION.
The exclusive flexi issue of Decibel Magazine can be found HERE.
The band is supporting their brand new sophomore album, ‘Viscera,’ which was released in September 2022 via Season of Mist. The record can be streamed, downloaded, and ordered HERE.
The cover artwork for ‘Viscera’ has been created by Brian Sheehan of Legerdemain Art.
Track-list 1. United in Viscera (6:44) 2. King of All Terror (2:38) [LISTEN] 3. An Ocean of Blood (4:13) [WATCH] 4. Napalm Frost (2:26) 5. Hollow (6:20) [WATCH] 6. A Begotten Son (3:51) 7. Bathed in a Black Sun (4:19) 8. Byzantine Tragedy (5:28) 9. Redeemer (2:38) 10. Iron Lung (7:55) Total: 46:32
Blackened death doom outfit STRIGOI, the brainchild of Greg Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST, VALLENFYRE) and Chris Casket (VALLENFYRE), have teamed up with Decibel Magazine for the exclusive release of their brand new song, “The Construct of Misery,” via the Decibel flexi series!
The only way to ensure your copy is by signing up for a deluxe Decibel subscription by Monday, January 9 at noon ET. Doom may be eternal, but this offer is not. Sign up today HERE.
The band is supporting their brand new sophomore album, ‘Viscera,’ which was released in September 2022 via Season of Mist. The record can be streamed, downloaded, and ordered HERE.
The cover artwork for ‘Viscera,’ was created by Brian Sheehan of Legerdemain Art.
Track-list 1. United in Viscera (6:44) 2. King of All Terror (2:38) [LISTEN] 3. An Ocean of Blood (4:13) [WATCH] 4. Napalm Frost (2:26) 5. Hollow (6:20) [WATCH] 6. A Begotten Son (3:51) 7. Bathed in a Black Sun (4:19) 8. Byzantine Tragedy (5:28) 9. Redeemer (2:38) 10. Iron Lung (7:55) Total: 46:32
Unsettling: it’s a word which can be used to describe a good swathe of the music which has come from the mind of Greg Mackintosh over the years, but in the context of Strigoi, it feels particularly apt.
Formed immediately after previous side project Vallenfyre had run its course, Strigoi found Greg and Vallenfyre bassist Chris Casket reconfiguring the aesthetics of that band. Their 2019 debut, Abandon All Faith, was a notable transition, taking the crust punk, death metal and grind influences which had defined Vallenfyre and deriving from those an extreme music amalgam which was altogether more…well, unsettling.
But if Abandon All Faith was a record where the memory of Vallenfyre exerted an inevitable, but important, influence, then second album Viscera is where Strigoi define and express themselves on their own terms.
“It’s the second album and we’re pushing those limits,” says Chris Casket. “The longer songs are longer; the shorter songs are shorter. It’s fully realising the concept. When we did the first album, there were certain expectations as we were coming from Vallenfyre. I felt that it was a really good transition from one to the other. But I feel that with this record, it’s more of a fully fleshed out concept. It’s pushing the light and shade further out.”
“The first album was us giving it its own identity separate from Vallenfyre, even though it’s kind of an obvious continuation, in a way,” adds Greg. “But with Viscera, it’s a combination of pushing the envelope a little bit, making it a bit less raw. Because, we had done that to the Nth degree with Vallenfyre. I’d also say there’s a bit of sound design in there, too, to make it very creepy and, yes, unsettling, sound wise.”
With Covid thwarting Strigoi’s plans to do shows to promote Abandon All Faith, Greg and Chris used the down-time to work on what would eventually become Viscera.
“We have a strange way of working,” says Chris. “I will send words, prose, whatever it may be to Greg. He likes that process, because he reads what I’ve written and it inspires the music he comes up with. I’ve never worked that way before. But that and the added time we had, the space away from things, is what I think has made Viscera what it is.”
Greg adds, “If it’s a song where Chris’ lyrics sound angry, I’ll do a song that’s more, I guess, grounded in the essence of early grindcore. Something that expresses that mood. But if it’s something more sombre or unnerving, then I’ll start with a bit of sound design and work towards riffs. I’ve always thought of music in terms of visuals, and that might come from the lyrics. The last song on the album, ‘Iron Lung’, for example: I actually said to Chris that I had an idea for a song where it feels that you can’t breathe, that it feels like you’ve got a weight on your chest. And the result is probably the toughest going song on the record to get through. But I think it does get that across.”
Viscera, then, clearly defines the Strigoi sound and vision – as Chris says, it’s a “mix tape of misery” and points at ways in which the band may develop in the years ahead.
“I get bored easily,” Greg laughs. “I’ve got a very short attention span. I love doom metal, I love funeral doom, crust punk, grindcore…all these things. But usually after two songs of each I’m thinking, ‘Right, what’s next?’ And that’s my problem, but it does determine what this band and this music is like.”
“There’s not much light on this record at all. If there’s any, it’s there just to emphasise how dark the shade is, really. And what I loved about early death metal, which is when I got into it, is that everything had its own feel back then. That was at the back of my mind the whole time when making Viscera – that I wanted to give it its own feel. But the listeners are going to have to decide whether that was successful or not.”
Blackened death doom outfit STRIGOI, the brainchild of Greg Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST, VALLENFYRE) and Chris Casket (VALLENFYRE), have released their sophomore full-length, ‘Viscera,’ via Season of Mist tomorrow, today, September 30, 2022, making it the band’s debut to the label! The band is now streaming the new album in its entirety! Listen at THIS LOCATION.
The cover artwork for ‘Viscera’ was created by Brian Sheehan of Legerdemain Art.
Track-list 1. United in Viscera (6:44) 2. King of All Terror (2:38) [LISTEN] 3. An Ocean of Blood (4:13) [WATCH] 4. Napalm Frost (2:26) 5. Hollow (6:20) [WATCH] 6. A Begotten Son (3:51) 7. Bathed in a Black Sun (4:19) 8. Byzantine Tragedy (5:28) 9. Redeemer (2:38) 10. Iron Lung (7:55) Total: 46:32
Blackened death doom outfit STRIGOI, the brainchild of Greg Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST, VALLENFYRE) and CHRIS CASKET (VALLENFYRE), will be releasing its sophomore full-length, ‘Viscera,’ via Season of Mist on September 30, 2022, making it the band’s debut to the label. The band is now premiering the official music video for the latest single, “An Ocean of Blood.” The song and video can be found at THIS LOCATION.
STRIGOI comments: “We chose this track as the third single taken from our new album VISCERA due to it’s almost cinematic take on the internal and external conflict of existence. A transformational journey into the bloodshed and horror of the human condition.”
Pre-save ‘Viscera’ across streaming services HERE and pre-order physical copies HERE.
The cover artwork for ‘Viscera’ was created by Brian Sheehan of Legerdemain Art.
Track-list 1. United in Viscera (6:44) 2. King of All Terror (2:38) [LISTEN] 3. An Ocean of Blood (4:13) [WATCH] 4. Napalm Frost (2:26) 5. Hollow (6:20) [WATCH] 6. A Begotten Son (3:51) 7. Bathed in a Black Sun (4:19) 8. Byzantine Tragedy (5:28) 9. Redeemer (2:38) 10. Iron Lung (7:55) Total: 46:32
Chief Shock Video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Ads
Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi's Ancient Streaming Assembly - 'Perpetuae Memoriae', ft. Tuomas Rounakari + Steve Di Giorgio - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 