When the new “Star Wars” trilogy came out, it was exciting but a little bit terrifying. We were talking a major risk at ruining something that was a major part of many people’s childhoods and lives, and there was a great chance that, if anything went awry, that whole magic could be ruined. As we all know, the whole thing went awfully badly, and many people don’t view the “Star Wars” franchise the way they once did.

Same thing can happen with our favorite bands. We develop relationships with them, they become a part of our lives, and they inform a lot of our experiences. But sometimes they go the wrong way and leave us alienated, often never to recover again. Which person who grew up loving and worshipping Metallica still feels the same way about them? I sure don’t. Slayer’s packed and on the road to doing the same exact thing. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest almost undid a part of their legacy and well being by replacing irreplaceable voices with dudes who certainly tried their hardest but just could not fill the enormous shoes.

When word came down that Carcass, the legendary pioneers of melodic death metal and medically gruesome grindcore, were going to try their hands at a new record (18 years after 1996’s “Swan Song”), my initial reaction was worry. They already had a great back catalog, and there had been times when the band said there would be no new Carcass music. I don’t think anyone would have been upset had they done their occasional tours and festival appearances and left their musical legacy in place. But that wasn’t their desire, and the Jeff Walker-led group decided they had more to say, more blood to draw, more flesh to carve. Yeah, it was pretty exciting on one hand to imagine new Carcass music, but would it ultimately prove a foolish move that would leave a dent in their legacy?

Well, simply answered, fuck no it didn’t hurt their legend. In fact, the unreal, savage, heavily spirited “Surgical Steel” is one of the year’s most pleasant surprises, and it definitely will end up on year-end lists everywhere and surely top some of them (ahem, Decibel). It’s arguably one of their best albums to date, and Carcass sound as channeled and furious as they ever have, and this is one hell of a fun, plasma-soaked romp that just grows you on every time you take it on. Ruin their legend? All they did was solidify their standing and prove they’re the masters of this and that everyone who followed them are still trying to catch up.

As noted, bassist/vocalist/all-around madman Walker remains at the head of this thing, and with him is longtime guitarist Bill Steer, whose work is a major reason this record is so good. His riffs are violent and thick, he still has a knack for deliriously catchy melodies, and he’s as important as Walker to making this thing work as well as it does all these years later. The new fellows in the band are guitarist Ben Ash (who has played with bands such as Pig Iron and Desolation), who didn’t actually play on the record, and drummer Daniel Wilding (The Order of Apollyon, Trigger the Bloodshed), whose playing holds up pretty damn well. Live, they are a formidable version of Carcass, and these songs should go over deliriously well with their fans.

It takes less than four minutes for the band to rip through their first two songs on “Surgical Steel,” though that isn’t because they’re back to their grind roots. Instead, “1985” is a brief instrumental opener awash in classic metal glory, and “Thrasher’s Abattoir” is a speedy dose of death that has Walker growling as maniacally as ever, teasing, “Time to die in pain.” Then the album really starts to set up on “Cadaver Pouch Conveyer System,” a track with great lead work, charismatic and catchy vocals, and razor-sharp playing that proves just how on top of their game these guys really are. “A Congealed Clot of Blood” may sound gross on the surface but wait until you cut underneath the crust and get bombarded by meaty thrashing and throaty barks that are commanding through and through, while “The Master Butcher’s Apron” is a cut that starts like relentless death, with Walker howling, “The sun never sets, the blood never dried.” Then once the devastating storming subsides, the song eases into a thrashy groove and starts mauling the world. This is the best cut on the first half of the record.

“Noncompliance to ASTM F 899-12 Standard” is one of many references to steel used to make surgical equipment, and its fluttery power metal style sounds more epic and magical than one might expect about sliced skin and sawed bones. You’re bound to like it if you dork out on stellar playing or if you want your metal blood-splattered. “The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills” opens with a sinister guitar line that seems to have nothing but evil in its sites, but when it fully develops, it becomes an explosive masher with one of the finest, most memorable choruses on the album that I’d expect people to shout back at the band. Not sure what the number sequence “6-0-2-6-9-6-1” stands for, but it sound potent as Walker howls each digit. “Unfit for Human Consumption has a tasty technicality to it, sort of like early ’90s Megadeth before they wimped out, and the shriek lines behind the main vocals make for a fun approach. “316 L Grade Surgical Steel” isn’t tough to decipher and is as chunky and gritty as it is melodic. “Captive Bolt Pistol” is pretty to the point and is one of the tracks most people have heard by now,” while closer “Mount of Execution” (8:24 long) begins with swampy acoustics before slipping into a pure thrash vein. It’s angry and mean but also very approachable. It’s probably the most digestible song on the record, with the slide guitar that keeps coming back, and honestly it’s the one song on here I’m still not overly excited about even after many listens. Maybe it’ll click for me eventually.

Admittedly it took me a little while to fully embrace “Surgical Steel” because of the overwhelming hype and praise most writers heaped upon this record. But once that subsided and I was able to really immerse myself in the music and understand it for what it is, I was thrilled with it and have played it on heavy rotation ever since. Carcass is one of the great metal bands of our time, a group that created new sounds, stretched the genre’s walls forever, and still are making incredible music today, and “Surgical Steel” is one of the best comeback albums in metal history. Hell, in music history. Yeah, this record has been praised and lauded to death, but it’s for damn good reason. Carcass are back, and they’re as bloody good and deadly as ever before.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCarcass

To buy the album, go here: http://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.nuclearblast.com/en/

Witches, am I right? Just can’t seem to keep them down. People have been trying for years, all over the world, and they just keep popping back up for more. We’ve tried burning them, putting them on trial, ostracizing them, and they just keep coming back like they don’t care about what lunatic groups of people think about them (if they’re really witches in the first place).

OK, so there really isn’t so much witchcraft fervor going around today per se, but they’ve been replaced by other groups of people who generally are criticized, demonized, and traumatized by people who usually use a thousands-of-years-old text to justify their fears/paranoia/hatred. I think we all know what I’m talking about, and I don’t want today’s piece to turn into a political/sociological critique of people who just can’t get their shit together and realize their views are ancient and hate-based, so we won’t go any further down that road. But it always makes me think back to the way witchcraft–or the belief it existed in and was practiced by people–caused so many to be tortured, murdered, and cast out of society. We’ve come pretty far as humans, but then again, we haven’t.

Weirdly, that brings us to the Ruins of Beverast, the longtime project of Alexander von Meilenwald, the German musician who not only has made impressive, world-altering black metal under this banner but also has played with Nagelfar and Kurmania. Over the course of four full-length albums he has released the past decade, von Meilenwald has managed to make the Ruins of Beverast a destination point for those of us who love the heathen sounds he makes but also want to be provoked to think, dream, and reason. None of his records are easy to handle and take some concentration to fully engage with the music, and that’s never been more true than with the project’s new fourth record “Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer  (Cryptae Sanguinum – Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris),” a three-movement, wholly ambitious piece of work that is von Meilenwald’s most haunting, sorrowful, and full-bodied releases to date, and one you might have to spend a lot of time alongside to fully appreciate.

The name Heinrich Kramer takes us back to the topic of witchcraft as he, as an inquisitor for the Catholic church in the 15th century, and one hell of a voice at the pulpit, took up arms against this supposedly evil force. He also became one of the primary figures behind fighting back against sorcery and witchcraft on behalf of the church, eventually working on the “Malleus Maleficarum” (translated means “Hammer of the Witches”), used as a guide for prosecuting witches and fighting back against those who did not believe witchcraft even existed (including the church during periods of time). This led to trials and punishments becoming more brutal, though Kramer eventually would be written off by some as a kook and relegated to the speaking circuit, but his impact could not be denied. Clearly von Meilenwald took interest in the story, crafting this nine-track, 78-minute album after him and turning in a very haunting, very liturgical sounding amalgamation of black metal, grime, and doom that’ll stick with you and keep prodding you long after it’s done playing. In fact, it might shake you to your core like it did to me, making me realize that humanity’s penchant for justifying hatred based on theology never gets out of our bloodstream.

The first third of the record begins with “I. Apologia” that is a strange intro that finds von Meilenwald offering a growly narrative, keys, and chilling chants (an element that returns quite a bit on this record), and that leads into “II. Daemon,” built on slow-moving, muddy, grinding riffs and darkness.The song is moody and gloomy, and alien effects eventually dress the vocals, giving the song an otherworldly, chilling feel. It’s a really effective, churning track, and it’s just the start. “III. Malefica” has more extraterrestrial strangeness with the sound effects, chants that swirl into outer space, and emotional clean vocals that take place of the snarling growls, at least for a little bit of this 10:24 epic. The music does a fine job pushing out the boundaries and exploring every ounce of von Meilenwald’s ambitions, and yeah, when he starts growling viciously again amid bloody organs and muddy madness, you’re reminded of the evil afoot. “IV. Ornament of Malice” caps off the opening triptych, spilling over eight minutes, with more growling narration, filthy riffing, funeral doom bubbling, and odd melody zaps and mournful, clean singing that help the song reach its conclusion.

As demanding as the first part of the record is, its middle section is its weightiest and mightiest. “V. Spires the Wailing City” runs more than 13 minutes, opening with a drape of clean guitars and wondering, eventually being disrupted by noisy stabs, quivery monologues, and sludgy Celtic Frost-style brutality. Organs moan, doom spits back at you, and tribal drumming and angelic choral sections leave you in a deep freeze. “VI. A Failed Exorcism” not only is an interesting, telling song title, it’s also the longest track on this document, running 15:33 and scorching every step of the way.There are grisly growls, more infernal chanting, and some Middle Eastern-style melodies that add a sense of mysticism to the music. Doom returns again–in fact, there’s more of that than black metal essences on the whole album–and the entire run is very involved, terrifying at points, and even when you think von Meilenwald may have bitten off more than he can chew, he jerks your attention and grinds you back into focus.

The final third opens with the strange, choral-heavy, deliberately drummed soundscape that is “VII. Trial,” that leads the way into “VIII. Ordeal,” a compact but blood-freezing piece complete with crashing drums, noises that cause a storm of panic, and a female voice pleading, praying, confessing, something of that nature. These two pieces all set up the finale “IX. Monument,” 12 minutes of pastoral-sounding warbling, gothic fog, gritty doom, and churning metal that’s thick, suffocating, and blistering. But as the song draws to a close, those old spirits rise again, voices come out of the night, and a single soul, insisting, “Drink the blood of Christ, eat his flesh,” sounds more ominous and evil than the spirits he’s apparently born to fight. Funny, but you get that sense about the Ruins of Beverast’s message over this entire record.

This is one challenging, attention-demanding journey that requires you to pay attention and immerse yourself in what’s going on. No Ruins of Beverast is ever easy to get along with at first, and that’s something I’ve come to love from this project because I always have to earn the records in order to totally appreciate them. “Blood Vaults” is Ruins’ most ambitious record to date, one that might not be topped as long as von Meilenwald creates music, though it wouldn’t surprise me if he finds a new target to direct his creativity next and come up with something that’ll stretch your brain even further.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ruins-Of-Beverast/116265971848680

To buy the album, go here: http://www.van-records.de/content/en/store.html

For more on the label, go here: http://www.van-records.de/

One of my great irrational fears in a sea of them is to be trapped or encased in concrete or something of that matter. Hearing horror stories–real or not–about mafia members seeing to it that an enemy is somehow built into the concrete pillars of a bridge, ensuring a particularly gruesome death, scares the hell out of me, and I’m sure it’s my claustrophobic nature that amplifies this.

Not that I have any enemies or anyone who would want to subject me to a death inside cement or asphalt or some other inescapable material, but I’m clumsy. I could fall in and be up to my neck in death. Just imagining being trapped, all of that weight bearing down on me, rendering me unable to gasp a breath and left to suffocate is enough to get me shaking and having nightmares. This is why a lot of times when I describe bands as being cement heavy, this is what I think about. Music so thick and weighty that, if it could be converted into the substance, would crush my chest and kill me. I also find it a little odd that I like that kind of music considering my fears.

One such band whose music always sounded thick enough to support a bridge is Ulcerate, the New Zealand-based death metal band that has been crushing people under their weight for more than 10 years now. Their style is quite recognizable, from the mucky, throaty growls, to the penetrating, technically sound instrumentation, to the way their thick, sludgy sound makes you feel like you’re drowning in quicksand. I instantly know Ulcerate when I hear them, and considering how many bands dot the death metal landscape, that’s a badge of honor for this band. There’s also a sort of expectedness when it comes to their music, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. They have a sound, a style, and while they don’t veer too far from it ever, it’s sort of comforting to know you can expect a certain kind of record from them and they always deliver. And it’s always totally worth worrying about your own demise taking on their records.

After offering up their last two albums on the most-excellent Willowtip Records, the band made the jump to Relapse for “Vermis,” their fourth full-length crusher. These 55 minutes of, yes, cement-thick death metal is tried-and-true Ulcerate, and it’s brutal in all the right ways, punishing like you know it needs to be. The lineup of bassist/vocalist Paul Kelland, guitarist Michael Hoggard, and drummer Jamie Saint Merat delivers mightily on this nine-track monster, and if you somehow haven’t been exposed to these beasts before, there’s no better chance than this record to see what all the bruising and carnage is all about and why people righteously praise the name Ulcerate. And it might make you feel like you’re trapped in that dreaded cement mixer.

The opener “Odium” lets things simmer before the record blows open, though it’s ominous and menacing in its own right as it sets the path for the rest of the record, that really picks up on the title cut. The muddy, gritty thrashing gets going in earnest, as Kelland’s grimey growling sounds like a horrible beast rising from the earth with nothing but ill intentions in mind. “Clutching Revulsion” is slower moving in areas and also lets some dissonant melodies rise up, adding a touch of weirdness to Ulcerate’s metallic recipe. It is brutal, of course, and leaves no room for any mercy, with the drumming coming across as particularly pulverizing. “Weight of Emptiness” has an eerie unsettling beginning but eventually becomes a muddy, thick creeper that both slithers and clobbers. “Confronting Entropy” stomps and snarls like a dinosaur, leaving its gigantic paw prints all over and unleashing a vicious, explosive assault that is pure heaviness through and through.

“Fall to Opprobrium” is one of the shorter cuts on the record, and it is one of the most atmospheric, but it’s simply easing you before the throne of “The Imperious Weak,” a creative, intriguing cut that’ll have you following on its bizarre waves even while it’s mauling and bulldozing everything in front of it. Once again the drums cause complete devastation, and the vocals let fire roll out of Kelland’s mouth like he’s trying to gurgle forth the world’s epitaph. “Cessation” also has some airy, mind-altering melodies that break up all the insanity, but make no mistake that your fingertips are going to get crushed under the weight of this one. Closer “Await Rescission” just splatters everywhere, with drums causing wounds that spurt blood, dizzying, savage riffs that make you feel like you’re swallowing concrete, and even moments where the band gets proggy and ambitious musically while they bring down the hammers of destruction.

If you’ve been on this long, bloody road with Ulcerate, there’s no doubt you’re going to keep moving along with them as they bore forward like a hell combine. Or, if you’re like me, it’ll further emphasize that feeling of being trapped in a bin or behind a wall or in a pit as tons of cement come crashing down on you, with no chance of escape. Ulcerate are heavy and have the structural might of a towering skyscraper that looms large, casts a giant shadow, and can crush you at any moment.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.ulcerate-official.com/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.relapse.com/store.html

For more on the label, go here: http://www.relapse.com/

It’ll be chilly really soon, and just having returned from a week at the beach, that makes me kind of sad. Winter is coming, as a certain television show has reminded us repeatedly, and while I actually kind of like that frigid, dead season that’s encased in ice and frigid temperatures, it doesn’t sound appealing in September.

We’re not really going to talk about wintry music today, so sorry about that somewhat misleading intro. Instead, we’re going to talk about a label whose name makes me think of that terribly freezing time with a side of Armageddon, that being Nuclear Winter Records. The Greek label has brought on some of the finest of underground black and death metal, including the awesome Cruciamentum, Trials, and Drawn and Quartered, and yes, when I was at the beach sifting through my promos I was planning to write about, it did put a bit of chill in my bones thinking about death and winter.

Nuclear Winter have two new releases about to hit the market (actually, three, though one, Temple Nightside we’ll talk about in the future since Dark Descent will be releasing it domestically), and both maintain the label’s reputation of finding ugly, punishing, bone-crushing bands that keep real, true death metal pumping through heavy metal’s disgusting body. One band is Altars, who hail from Australia and combine technical wizardry, off-balanced weirdness, and pure brutality on their first full-length effort “Paramnesia” that is a pretty mind-blowing document. The other is Ensnared, a bizarre, punishing band from Gothenburg, Sweden, that keeps thing raw but also carves a bloody new path toward death metal’s future. Both are perfect examples of remaining true to death’s past, but each band also has their quirks that separate them the rest of the pack (as well as from each other) and make them worth following going forward.

Altars, not to be confused with the Christian hardcore band by the same name, has been around since 2005 and have offered up a few split efforts and a demo before finally getting down to their debut long player. The trio is really well polished and machine-like, and their “Paramnesia” could excite people who like really techy death metal and stuff that sounds like it shot in from outer space aboard an asteroid from light years away. Their record is a really strong listen, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this album breaks them out to a larger amount of people.

The trio of bassist/vocalist Cale Schmidt, guitarist Lewis Fischer, and drummer Alan Cadman let things rip early with opening track “Mare,” a weird dose of death complete with gurgly growling, trudging melodies, and blistering drumming that sounds like a panicked soul rapidly pounding on a door for hopes of help avoiding total destruction. “Terse” is a short, violent burst of a song that is one of the most relentless tracks on the album, and that leads toward the mind-altering “Khaz’neh” that is guttural and gritty but also spacious and adventurous. Despite it running near eight minutes, it never feels half as long because the journey is so intoxicating and fun to jump aboard. “Solar Barge” certainly feels spacey, and though it takes a little time to get going, once it does, it rips you through the stars with whirring soloing and technically astonishing playing.

“Husk” is a shorter song that hulks open and gets fully aggressive right away, with punchy, punishing playing and melody presented in a really strange way. The final three tracks comprise the “Paramnesia” triptych, a trio of tracks that run the gamut of Altars’ sound and make for a really adventurous back end.”Descent” is the first part, with its weird, tricky makeup, drums that go nuts, and a nice groove that leads the song to its conclusion and collision with “Gibbous,” the interlude that makes up the middle portion of the piece. “Ouroboros” is the final section, a 10-minute piece that crushes with dizzying riffs, throat-ripping vocals, and bruising drums. The tempo rises and falls, as the song subsides about halfway through only to come blasting back with a healthy serving of thrash and blistering death, eventually letting the song drown out in a haze of noise that buries you in feedback.

Altars’ incredible debut is worth going out of your way to hear, especially if you like your death metal a little more dramatic and technically mangling. Chances are this is only the beginning for these Aussie titans, and we have Nuclear Winter’s excellent ears for talent to thank for that.

For more on the band, go here: https://sv-se.facebook.com/pages/Ensnared-SWE/147726878607702?sk=wall

Ensnared started their filthy existence as Gravehammer in 2005, until their name change in 2010, and their ranks include two members who also ply their trade in their aforementioned band Trials. Their new EP “Ravenous Damnation’s Dawn” is a six-track effort that is as long as some band’s full-length displays and is a blood-rushing joy from start to finish. They play fast–really fast– at times, but when it’s time for them to slow it down and be more menacing, they’re just as adept at that.

This mysterious, occult-driven group of mad men let their music explode in your face with “Adorations,” an insane, massive cut that slithers, circles you like a crazed freak, and sometimes sounds warped like Blut Aus Nord. The song also is pretty weird and mind-warping, but it’s also bloodthirsty and brutal as fuck. “With Roots Below” has a punk-fueled edge that reminds of thrash and death’s early years, and the evil-drenched vocals combined with the lighting-fast speed that bursts from the seams makes for a nasty, tasty track. “Kimiya Ye Al Molekhat” is ominous and a total chokehold of metallic rage, with drumming that turns the world to dust and maniacal mashing that could leave you running for cover.

“The Hungry Darkness of Death,” a song that’s just over eight minutes long, has a clean, eerie introduction that could make you see ghosts, and the long, calculated buildup eventually bubbles over, with Ensnared going back to their endless amounts of speed and devastation. This song will knock you on your side and gallop all over your prone body. The final two tracks are CD bonus cuts, both sounding a little more raw and less polished than the first four but maintaining a killer edge. “Fields of Resurrection” sounds like the guys just letting loose and letting their fists fly, with the drubbing drumming standing out over everything else. “Baneful Blood” is mean and churning, with strong soloing, forceful vocals, and commanding, speed-filled playing leaving you dizzy and gasping for air.

Just like Altars, you’re bound to hear more from Ensnared, though they may appeal more to the heathen, maniac audience. These guys have a knack for playing fast and leaving no drop of blood and sweat unused, and it’ll be fun to watch them accumulate their body count as they go from here.

For more on the band, go here: https://sv-se.facebook.com/pages/Ensnared-SWE/147726878607702?sk=wall

To buy the albums, or for more on the label, go here: http://www.nuclearwinterrecords.com/

Watain are no strangers to controversy. From their hellacious black metal, classic records that have helped transform the genre, animal blood-soaked live performances, and unabashed allegiance to Satan, the band has been one of the most-talked about, controversial acts to come along in some time. In an era when everyone seems to want to play it safe, Watain have gone the opposite direction and brought their madness and darkness on like a storm to shock and startle the masses. Now, the controversy comes from their new, fifth album “The Wild Hunt,” the band’s first for Century Media, one people have weirdly dubbed their “Black Album,” in reference to Metallica’s mainstream-embracing 1991 smash. If “The Black Album” sounded half as ferocious as “The Wild Hunt,” no one would bitch about that record, and honestly, the hand wringing going on over this new Watain statement is ridiculous.

Guitarist/vocalist/spokesman/driving force behind Watain Erik Danielsson frankly doesn’t care what critics think, as you’ll read below, and only is concerned about driving Watain into the future, people’s fretting be damned. “The Wild Hunt” is an important piece of the band’s mission, and Danielsson took time to answer some of our queries about the album, how he feels it fits into Watain’s campaign, and his feelings on how people have been impacted by their 10-minute epic “They Rode On.” He is blunt, to the point, and a little agitated, and we would not have expected any less.

Meat Mead Metal: Congratulations on your new record “The Wild Hunt” not only for creating one of the most anticipated albums of the year but for creating controversy for how it sounds. Are you surprised by the reaction, since some people seem to feel Watain turned their backs on a true black metal sound?

Erik Danielsson: I haven’t heard so much about the reactions apart from the few reviews I’ve read, and of course the reactions of our closest brothers and sisters who were with us during the birth of “The Wild Hunt.” The latter of course means a lot to me. But beyond that, I have very little interest in whether or not people feel we have met their expectations or whatever. To me it’s an album that I am very content with and very proud of.

MMM: The production is the best of any Watain record to date. It’s rich, nicely textured, alive. It also fits the music really well. Was it a goal to go into this and produce a bigger sounding album?

ED: We wanted something production-wise that sounded like a classic, big metal album while having a feverish nightmare.

MMM: What was the goal or mission going into creating “The Wild Hunt” and do you feel you accomplished what you set out for?

ED: As always, we yearned to make an album permeated by an ever deeper level of honesty, passion, and fanaticism than ever before. And as always, we succeeded!

MMM: Century Media seems like a perfect place for Watain to expand their mission. Is that why you chose to go there?

ED: We chose Century Media because they respected our ideas. They seemed to be a label that were not afraid of a band that was not like other bands. We are very confident with that choice.

MMM: To me, this record feels like a pretty natural progression from “Lawless Darkness,” which showed signs of Watain expanding their sound and their mission. Do you feel that way, that the band’s been headed down this path for a while?

ED: Watain has been on the same path since day one; the one into the unknown. So while the progress is indeed as natural as it can get, it is also entirely unpredictable. This is a problem for a lot of people that are afraid of change and prefer the stagnant order of things. Watain has always been about dissolving stagnation and hammering order into pieces.

MMM: Obviously much has been made of “They Rode On” and the clean vocals and slower tempo. Some have alluded to it being a ballad, like you did some sort of your own “Nothing Else Matters,” which couldn’t be further from the truth. Does it give you a sense of satisfaction at all that this song has been able to provoke the way it has? How did the song come about?

ED: I do not care the slightest about whether or not people see that song as “provoking.” If you measure the relevance and value of such opinions in comparison to what the song is actually about and how much it means to us, you would understand. And this is also something that the lyric itself deals with; the ability to shut out the vanity and the irrelevance of this disgusting world and focus only on transcendence and the path leading there. Nothing else matters!

MMM: For those fretting due to what they’ve heard online about the record, there’s plenty of Watain punishment such as “De Profundis,” “The Child Must Die,” and “Outlaw.” How do you feel these songs feed the flames that make up Watain?

ED: Musically, most of the album is pretty much full on Black Metal mania from start to finish, apart from perhaps “They Rode On” and the title track, which for some reason seem to be what most people choose to focus on. “The Wild Hunt” is made out of 11 songs that in turn could be seen as 11 windows that all reveal their own specific angle of the Temple of Watain.

MMM: What is the importance of Satanism to Watain in this stage of your career and your lives? Still as present and powerful? 

ED: Ever more so.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.templeofwatain.com/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.cmdistro.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://centurymedia.com/