Back in eeriest autumnal days of September, Decibel and Iron BoneHead Productions teamed up to premiere German black metallers Grabunhold‘s debut EP, Unter dem Banner der Toten (HERE). Many foes were caught unaware of Grabunhold’s mythological might, and fell into the murky recesses of the Germans’ macabre burial vault. If not by the end of “Gespenster,” then by the middle of “Hexentanz,” victims were enthralled at Grabunhold’s strong mid-’90s black metal spells, and have since resided there plagued by knowledge they’ll never escape the lugubrious Teutonic bridewell.
Now, in the ever-weakening rays of the sun, on this most auspicious of Hiemal Solstices, the shadow cast by Grabunhold’s oncoming debut full-length, Heldentod, is long and fraught with much danger. The Draugr-spirits in the Germans is unyielding, as they bewitch with eight new incantations from the deepest dungeons of the darkest castles from the most ancient of forests. These songs of old are a foretokening of chevaliers long since dead and lays now but memory. They are brought to unanimation by Grabunhold, and for this there must be sacrifice!
Howl Grabunhold in unison from the stone pagan temple outside Osnabrück: “Feeble screams of an accursed soul echoing through the catacombs of Isen-castle. The phantom count himself is wandering between the misty ruins of that, what once was his kingdom. Tears of misery and sorrow in his eyes. Doomed by grim forces, betrayed by one of his own blood. Cursed to live in silent eternity, his conscience is his only shady attendant. He will beset this land and those ruins forever.”
With sun yet again vanquished by the oncoming night, Decibel and Iron BoneHead Productions form anew a pact to the sound of forged steel and the storms of old. Here’s Grabunhold with new spell “In Tiefen Verliesen” from Heldentod.
** Grabunhold’s new album, Heldentod, is out January 22nd on Germany’s Iron BoneHead Productions. Pre-orders are not yet live, but click this store LINK to find out when. Before the heroes of ancient times fall, of course.
