This is a DMB exclusive and we’re very happy about that. And proud. And honored! And it makes our cock tickle.

Ever since I discovered Red Descending’s Fragile Nation music video I’ve been keeping a close eye on the band and in touch with front man and bassist Bernard Shaw. An interview I had with him back in early 2010 can be found here.

Skip to the summer of last year, when the band released their Kingdoms album, their second full-length since they started the band in 2003. I did an extensive review of the album and praised its alternating nature between darkness and light, a struggle that is omnipresent throughout the record’s compositions. Great record and one you should definitely check out if you haven’t already!

Shambless. That sounds terrible, like Tinky Winky’s gay friend, or a Pokémon character perhaps. But actually it’s just ‘shambles’ with an additional ‘S’.

‘Cause that’s what the band started out as, as Shambles, back in 1997. The Bulgarians do a piece of Symphonic Death Metal with a medieval / fantasy atmosphere. In their own words, they were influenced by ”early Amorphis, Haggard and even Summoning” and gained a ”cult status” in their home country. With Menra Eneidalen, first released in 2011 and now rereleased globally through Stygian Crypt, their third studio album, they deepen their lyrical and musical concepts of Elfish mythology.

A little lesson in Northern Mythology: Fenrir was a son of god of fire Loki and Hrimthur (a giant tribe) Angrboda. Incest was a common good in those days, because the dude looked nothing like a human or giant, but like a humongous wolf instead. He was bad-tempered and ill-willed and so the gods thought up a plan to tie him up. After wolfman broke a couple of conventional chains they tried it with a dwarf chain. The chain was called Gleipnir and was made of six ingredients of varying questionable existence: the breath of a fish, the beard of a woman, saliva of a bird, roots of a mountain, the sound of a cat’s paws and tendons of a bear. Týr, the god of war, lost his right hand during the event as Fenrir bit it off.

There are more details to this story, but you’ll have to dig through Wikipedia for those yourself. They key message here is that Fenrir got pissed. And apparently he still is, because he’s still in chains. Must be looking for revenge. Long story short: cool title for a Death Metal song, an EP and a band: Wrath of Fenrir, all released last month.

It’s a Swedish band operating in the Melodeath department since ages now – well, actually it’s since 1993. They are based in a place called Örnsköldsvik, which sounds so ‘Viking’ I just had to mention it. The band consists of six guys and have turned out a load of demos during the first ten years of their existence. After that followed two EPs and finally a full-length in 2010, titled Ode to Quietus.

Anyway, that’s not what I want to talk about today, as I’ve been informed Meadows End are working on something new. Recently they uploaded a lyrics video of a song that has not yet been released. The song’s named Masses Flee and it’s stated to be a first draft for the band’s upcoming album. Hence, we can say the song is still raw and unpolished. You would hardly notice though, as it already sounds brilliantly pro.

Some time ago, you found me ranting about lengthy albums, and I discretely hinted about some lengthy goodness which was to come. And finally it’s here. Some time ago we presented you with an Australian one-man project called Aquilus with their full-length Griseus. Amazed by the song Arboreal Sleep I set out to find some more, which I found, but to my disappointment only in digital format. After expressing my distress to main man Horace Rosenqvist, he kindly sent me a little link, and I set off onto a wondrous journey into the Lands of Ashes.

A long introduction for a long album, this beauty contains 80 minutes of Atmospheric epicness. One might find it to be a tad long, but in this case it’s totally justified. After hearing Arboreal Sleep, my jaw dropped an immeasurable amount of inches, while Griseus as a whole just made me pass out.

It’s a Black Metallic week it seems, as we’ve now got material by Haemic, one of the projects in which our young Taiwanese Metal talent Ray Heberer, a.k.a. Halfbreed Ray, is active. We reported on the band’s earlier demo early in 2011 and now hearing a fresh preview for their upcoming album, I can’t help but notice they have made huge strides since!

Hot shit, fresh from the press! US Symphonic Black / Death outfit I Am the Trireme, named after the ancient Greek / Roman type of battleship that was capable of ramming other ships and snapping them in two like matches – it’s a bit what the band’s music does to your head: skull-splitting – is about to release a new, five-song EP, to be titled Pray for Damnation.

The Baboon has got a real premiere this time, as IATT, a five-piece residing in Philadelphia PA, selected us to do the first review of the bleeder, ahead of all the rest of Metal Blogdom. Our fuckin’ honor!

About half a year ago we posted something about Welicoruss, a bunch of Russian Symphonic Black Metallers that many of you will have heard about throughout your Metal-loving careers. Today we’re back. Not with new songs, but with an awesome new music video as well as an interview with the band’s frontman / vocalist / guitarist, Alexey Boganov.

You may remember that some time ago CroOZza wrote a little piece on a Canadian formation named Karkaos. They delivered this immensely intense piece of Melodic Death Metal, with elements of darkness, Folk and pirate atmospheres, as well as a bunch of other stuff. Stuff’s definitely cool!

Anyway, one thing led to another and before we knew it we got into contact with Veronica Rodriguez, lead singer in the band, who got some of her band mates to agree to do an interview with us. That’ll follow in a bit, but first let’s present you with a brief overview of the band’s history, to give you some perspective.

Yes! Part 2 of the most important list in the whole wide world of Metal. The list of best albums I have reviewed all year. You can’t possibly get a more complete overview of what happened in the Metallic world, anywhere.

Seriously though, this is just a list. My own little list of fifteen albums that struck a special chord with me this year. But then again, I do hear a fuckload of Metal over the course of a year and the fact that these fifteen stood out as the top albums does make them a little special, don’t you think? Hence they are albums that I highly recommend you to listen to, and buy when you can get your grubby hands on them and have no more fuckin’ debts to pay off.