Hour of 13 at their debut live show in 2010 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Though he has been in and out of the band since the release of 2010's great The Ritualist, Hour of 13 have welcomed back the pipes of Phil Swanson for their latest effort 333. The new long-player continues along the path previously-paved by the North Carolina/Connecticut crew, toiling in old-school traditional doom for new label home Earache Records. Order your copy via the label, but you can give a first listen before that -- the entire record is streaming at the bottom of this post.

Hour of 13 shows are somewhat of a rarity, so dates for the band are few and far between though they will play Saint Vitus on 10/26 with Gravehill (tickets). Until then, check out most of their new effort 333 below.

Continue reading "Hour of 13 welcome new LP, '333' (stream first five tracks)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Carcass in NYC in 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

Maryland Deathfest have announced their first batch of bands for their 2013 edition, including a veritable buttload of exclusive appearances. Among those scheduled to appear exclusively at the eleventh edition of the fest are Venom, Carcass, a Righteous Pigs reunion, Antaeus (who played Rites of Darkness), Convulse, Aosoth, !Tooh!, Ahumado Granujo, and Ingrowing.

Also on board will be Manilla Road, Pentagram (who play Power of The Riff next month), Integrity (who played A389), Pelican, Midnight (who played Acheron this year and Rites of Darkness), Morgion, and Kommandant (who played Martyrdoom). Now that the details on the "who" are starting to emerge, we just need some details on the "where" now that Sonar is officially kaput. More details forthwith.

In related news, MDF 2011 alums and over-the-top death metal purists Gravehill give fuck-zero about current trends, they just want to rip, drink frothy cold ones and scare the ever-living shit out of you. The California-based band will head to the East Coast this fall to play Saint Vitus on October 26th with Hour of 13, Master's Eve and Mutant Supremacy. Tickets are on sale. So far, no details on an actual tour yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled (pardon the pun).

by BBG

Inquisition at MDF (more by BBG)

"This is Danny, the promoter for Rites of Darkness. I understand people have been getting frustrated with lack of news so I personally apologize for that. We have gone through a rash of cancellations which were beyond our control.. Paypal froze the Festival's account which caused delayed flights for months. By the time Paypal decided to release our account flights escalated beyond our set budget. So the show is NOT cancelled by any means but the following bands will not be performing: Root, Akitsa, Interment, Demonical, Valkyrja, Dead Congregation, Hour of 13, and Strid"

The festival has remained silent about the situation for close to two weeks, but finally updated festival-goers today. Their message, excerpted above and available in full below, explains the situation, but neglects to mention that Pagan Altar also cancelled (they were slated for a two hour set) and that Zemial cancelled too. Another band that is currently in flux, Stargazer, is reportedly without flights (the band is from Australia) at the moment. The listing is missing General Surgery, and no announcement has been made about the pre-fest which includes France's Hell Militia. Previously announced cancellations include Ondskapt, Urfaust, Behexen, and Sargeist. RoD has added new Profound Lore signees Pallbearer.

Reminder: two RoD bands, Inquisition and Disma, are scheduled to play The Studio at Webster Hall on 12/2 with Agrath. Tickets are still available.

UPDATE: Both Zemial and Pagan Altar are reconsidering their appearances. Statements from both are below.

UPDATED AGAIN: Disma, Funebrarum, Evoken, and Oak have all cancelled their appearances.

The most recent Rites of Darkness statement and the current lineup is below.

Continue reading "Rites of Darkness 2011 still on despite heavy cancellations UPDATED"

by BBG

Inquisition at Maryland Deathfest (more by BBG)

NYC's Studio at Webster Hall will soon host a trifecta of black metal greatness! Inquisition will headline the venue on December 2nd with a rare appearance from Mortuary Drape and Negative Plane. Tickets are on sale.

Italy's Mortuary Drape and Inquisition will then tour their way to Rites of Darkness 3 in San Antonio, Texas where they'll join the newly added Disma, but NOT Urfaust:

URFAUST vs RITES OF DARKNESS III

URFAUST is very sad to announce that we have to cancel our Intoxication Ritual at Rites of Darkness III in Texas, USA.
Our last Alcoholic Rites on US soil where splenditory, so this is just fucked up...
Nothing more to say about this, we hope to return to the USA and Rites of Darkness in 2012!
All hail the madness!
Cheers,
Ix & Vrdrbr on behalf of Urfaust

All known Inquisition dates, the full Rites of Darkness lineup, and some video is below.

Continue reading "Inquisition & Mortuary Drape playing NYC w/ Negative Plane before Rites of Darkness 3 (lineup & dates)"

photos by Suren Karapetyan, words by BBG

Volture

The gallop and shriek of the old school thunder known as Volture echoed through Union Pool on Sunday, 1/30, the third of three US dates in celebration of Shocking Its Prey, the band's new mini-LP. Also on board for the tour were Earache's band of NWOBHM'ers Cauldron, who will welcome their new LP Burning Fortune on Feb 15th and are currently streaming a new track at their myspace.

Rounding out the bill was MVRs (Most Valuable Rookies) Natur, who clearly drew a crowd hungry for homegrown and potent thrash. If you missed Natur, you're in luck, the band will join on with Earache doom gods Hour of 13 and Pilgrim at Cake Shop on March 5th.

Hour of 13 recently parted with vocalist Phil Swanson who has a new project:

NightBitch is the Connecticut based occult heavy metal band featuring Hour of 13 frontman Phil Swanson (vocals) and Hour of 13 live session members Ryan Adams (guitar), Chris Taylor (drums) and Mark Eles (bass). NightBitch is made up of veteran CT musicians all with their own lengthy resumes. They have joined together in NightBitch to bring back melodic traditional heavy metal elements to the state of Connecticut in its purest form.

Continue reading "Volture played Union Pool w/ Cauldron & Natur (pics), Phil Swanson left Hour of 13 for Nightbitch"

by BBG

The Gates of Slumber

I'd never been [to Union Pool] before, but it was Hour of 13's first show in the US, and I wasn't about to miss that, remembering how much ass their 2007 self-titled CD kicked and hoping to pick up a copy of this year's The Ritualist on Eyes Like Snow. They didn't wind up having any for sale, but their set, which they played to a packed house of faces both familiar among the NYC doom faithful and not, was worth the trip anyway.

They opened with "Call to Satan" from the self-titled, and it was an appropriately ritualistic beginning to a set of occult doom worship. I knew that Hour of 13's core duo of guitarist Chad Davis and vocalist Phil Swanson had assembled a band around them, but I was a little surprised to see a second guitarist sharing the stage, as amiable a job as the neck-tatted Brandon Munday did. I guess something in me just always pictured Hour of 13 as a single guitar band, bringing out more of the desolate, abandoned feel. Killer tones all around, and I'd hardly call it a disappointment (hell, Judas Priest did it), it just wasn't quite what I was expecting. -[The Obelisk]

Disma, who recently sigend to Profound Lore for their forthcoming LP, delivered blackened death to the early arrivals (which there were many) before Hour of 13 swooped in with their classic doom approach. The Gates of Slumber with new drummer J. Clyde Paradis of ex-Sourvein fame in tow followed shortly after, dipping into two new tracks (the title, and a second) from their forthcoming, and possibly tentatively-named LP The Scourge of Drunkeness.

More pictures from the show, below...

Continue reading "The Gates of Slumber, Hour of 13 & Disma @ Union Pool (pics) "

by BBG

The Gates of Slumber at The Studio at Webster Hall (more by Markus Shaffer)

BrooklynVegan and 1000Knives are proud to present the return of The Gates of Slumber with the amazing Hour of 13 at Union Pool on Oct 16th! One more band is TBA, but $10 will get you in the door.

After two fantastic LPs, 2007's eponymous release on Shadow Kingdom and this year's The Ritualist on Northern Silence, Hour of 13 will present their material for the first time to North American audiences at the show. If you are a fan of doom then you are most likely aware of Hour of 13, and if you aren't aware of them then I urge you to pick up The Ritualist ASAP! Killr record.

Doom gods The Gates of Slumber played the Attitude Adjustment party at Red 7 during SXSW, and are touring off of their killer LP Hymns of Blood & Thunder released in the tail end of 2009, as well as The Hyena Sessions EP, released in March.

All Gates dates, and some videos are below...

Continue reading "The Gates of Slumber touring, playing Brooklyn w/ Hour of 13"