Switzerland's groove masters, VOICE OF RUIN have released a brand new music video for their single 'Blood Of Religions' taken from the latest album Purge and Purify (Tenacity Music).

Voice Of Ruin - Purge And Purify
	1. Disgust 2. Horns 3. Blood Of Religions 4. Snakes In My Head 5. All Hail The King 6. I Confess 7. Voices From The Ruins 8. Animal Kingdom 9. Time For Revenge 10. Piracy

I don't remember much about HEADS FOR THE DEAD's prior full length album Serpent's Curse though I did hear it was a fairly good album. Probably scammed through a few songs that I thought were cool but there was so much other stuff coming out at the time that it was impossible to keep up to date with the band. However, in a few days they are set to release a follow-up to their 2018 effort through Transcending Obscurity. This release is titled Into The Red, has 12 tracks and spans 46 minutes. And in comparison to Serpent's Curse, this latest album, regardless of if other great releases are out there; Into The Red does not take a back-seat and compels you to rank it amongst the best for the year.

You can tell from the very first song 'Into The Red' that HEADS FOR THE DEAD are on a mission to outdo their last recording in all aspects musically. And that's the way it should be if a band is to progress and reach new heights in their music. Featuring black metal tremolo picking, groovy doom metal esque transitions, meaty thumps at the drum kit and vocals that sound a lot more resonating this time around, you feel as though the guys really put their.... you know...... heads down and merged their experience to craft something that will be hard to let go of even for the most decorated of death metal fanatics. Then the tempo takes a turn into the face of aggression on 'The Coffin Scratcher' with vicious blast beats, and murderous riffing to merge with the already clobbering death metal vocals. Off to a killer start already and it only gets better.

Also it should be noted that HEADS FOR THE DEAD do an exceptional job of giving the tracks featured on Into The Red a theatrical feel of sorts, so you get the impression you're listening to the theme music of some sickening event that took place. I found this happening with most pieces; for instance on 'Horror Injection', 'The Seance' and 'Multi Morbid Maniac' having already been titled live sinister incidents, they feature very musically animated, high-octane sort of compositions that truly immerse you Into The Red. This is for me the big difference between Into The Red and Serpent's Curse. Where the latter faltered in conveying its message and pitching its product, Into The Red is in total contrast to that with every song refusing to let go of you. You get lost in the music for the full 45 minutes and in a way you kind of wish the experience would never end.

Full review of HEADS FOR THE DEAD - Into The Red can be found here.

HEADS FOR THE DEAD is:

Ed Warbie - Drums
Ralf Hauber - Vocals
Jonny Pettersson - Guitars, Bass, Keys

MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:

https://www.facebook.com/headsforthedead
https://headsforthedead.bandcamp.com/
https://tometal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurityrecords/

Formed by one Kane, is the raw black metal band UNHOLY VAMPYRIC SLAUGHTER SECT. The World Trapped in Vampyric Sway (Darker and Darker) is the 3rd full-length libation that follows a rapid release of material since its existence in 2015. It's incredible how much has been put forth since the initiation of the project; by the lengthy list of releases in UVSS's catalog, you'd easily assume the project had been active for at least 10 years but it seems the drive to create is just too potent to be contained. This could be either a good or bad feature of any band depending on the quality of the music that in UVSS's case is mostly good.

The World Trapped in Vampyric Sway (Darker and Darker) is for the most part raw black metal that uses up the short runtime of roughly 30 minutes, interestingly. Dominated by what one would come to at least expect from a record under said banner, UVSS institutes traditional mannerisms to decent avail; however, there are elements present that are going to be either upsetting or welcoming for those who come into contact with this avant-garde album of sorts. For me it's a bit of both; while I would enjoy the opening track for its trve to the genre approach, the sudden deter from the norm on 'To Love' was generally uncalled for. Given that black metal is a fairly conservative formula, that once invaded by foreign elements, has the potential to negatively backfire; the risk of failure by incorporating some sort of pulse beat music on this track (and majority of the remaining entries) into the mixture is astoundingly high, as the characteristics of black metal and the aforementioned significantly contrast each other. This somewhat blurs the line between exploration and subversion as you're left pleased but aggravated simultaneously.

'Pummeled Flesh in the Mouth of the Virgin' leans more towards the traditional side of black metal, thus dispersing shrieking vocal yells, fast drumming and staple riffing to accompany it. However, it also implements an obstructive break via the electronic pulse beat. By now it seems even more clear that either its intentional sabotage or innocent experimentation occurring on The World Trapped in Vampyric Sway (Darker and Darker). Yet the pleasure to be found here is generally a matter of individual taste, hence, don't be reluctant to give it a try.

Full review of UNHOLY VAMPYRIC SLAUGHTER SECT's album "The World Trapped In Vampyric Sway (Darker And Darker)" can be found here.

The World Trapped in Vampyric Sway (Darker and Darker), set for international release on August 21st via Crown and Throne Ltd. on cassette tape and digital formats; the vinyl LP version shall be released on September 4th.

UNHOLY VAMPYRIC SLAUGHTER SECT is:

Kane - everything

MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:

https://www.facebook.com/unholyvampyricslaughtersect
https://crownandthroneltd.bandcamp.com/
https://crownandthroneltd.bigcartel.com/

The Finnish horde BEHEXEN reveal a first excerpt of their highly awaited brand new offering, The Poisonous Path, scheduled for release on May 27th through Debemur Morti Productions. This new chant, entitled 'Chalice Of The Abyssal Water', is an uncompromising piece of pure unholy black metal.

The video was created by Håkan Sjödin, aka Mysteriis, from the famous Swedish horde SETHERIAL and can be viewed below:

Behexen - The Poisonous Path
	1. The Poisonous Path 2. The Wand Of Shadows 3. Cave Of The Dark Dreams 4. A Sword Of Protean Fire 5. Umbra Luciferi 6. Tyrant Of Luminous Darkness 7. Chalice Of The Abyssal Water 8. Pentagram Of The Black Earth 9. Gallows Of Inversion 10. Rakkaudesta Saatanaan

A lovely Saturday evening in the Ruhr Area, is there a better thing to do than going to a concert where you can see some really legendary guys playing Death songs? I guess not! Many metalheads were gathered here to see Death To All and the local band Cerebral Invasion opening for them. Unfortunately DTA had some problems with their bus so they arrived very late and everybody had to wait more than an hour in a hall until the doors to the stage finally opened. Good thing about the hall: you could get something to drink, bad thing: there was no ventilation (maybe not the best in times where the number of Covid infections is rising again) and the worst thing: no internet! So you had to go old school and talk to people that you knew and some you didn't! Pretty crazy shit!

So finally the doors opened and soon Cerebral Invasion started to play. They had quite a home match in Bochum and got a lot of support though the crowd. I didn't know the music of the band and I was only aware of their name but what they performed was really convincing. They played a really old-school mishmash of death and thrash and had lots of fun on the stage. If I get it right, they will soon release a full-length album. They played some new tracks and an awesome Megadeth cover of "Hangar 18" at this gig. New album is coming - until then you can check their self-titled '20 EP.

Setlist: 'Pure Insanity' / 'Public Execution' / 'Face Of Fear' / 'Brainwashed' /  'Conquer All' / 'Hangar 18' /'Survival Of The Weak' / 'Rise Or Be Killed' / 'Rotting Existence'

After a short rebuilding break Death To All entered the stage and were loudly celebrated by the audience. I have to say that I got some shivers run down my spine seeing these guys on stage again (even without Chuck) after such a long time. The crowd was celebrating the band and it soon became clear that the music of Death still has a lot of supporters and a high status in the scene even after the tragic death of Chuck Schuldiner and the fact that their last record "The Sound Of Perseverance" is already 24 years old. Bobby Koelble (who made a lot of funny grimaces), Steve DiGiorgio (playing the old tracks with a 3-string-bass!!!) and Gene Hoglan acted as if they had never been away from playing Death songs and Max Phelps, the "new" vocalist / guitar player, 'replaced' Chuck very well (he even looks very much alike). The set was a very entertaining mixture of all stages through the band's history so everybody got satisfied with the music, no matter if it was more into the brutal tracks from the early days or more into the technical songs from "Human" or "The Sound Of Perseverance". It was absolutely amazing how skillful the band performed and the ease with which they did this. Apart from that, Gene Hoglan was in superb form. The last time I saw him was in 1995 where he had a lot of health issues but this night he was in top shape. Band's interaction with the audience was very authentic and pretty close but unfortunately all good things come to an end. The evening ended much too soon (OK, after 20 songs!!!) but everybody went home with a huge smile on his face. Impressive work by 'just a tribute band' – but if you should ever have the chance to see them live, don´t hesitate, just get a ticket and go!!

Setlist: 'Overactive Imagination' / 'Bite The Pain' /' Zero Tolerance' / 'Spiritual Healing' / 'Evil Dead' / 'The Philosopher' / 'Lack Of Comprehension' / 'Leprosy' / 'Jealousy' / 'Suicide Machine' / 'Living Monstrosity' / 'Trapped In A Corner' / 'Secret Face' / 'Perennial Quest' / 'Flattening Of Emotions' / 'Symbolic' / 'Zombie Ritual' / 'Spirit Crusher' / ' Crystal Mountain' / 'Pull The Plug'