Out Now: Significant Point, Sandstorm

Dying Victims Productions is proud to announce the following new releases:

Unfortunately, most of the February releases are delayed due to the pandemic:
Sandstorm, Night Prowler, Midnight Priest LPs will hopefully arrive in the 1st week of March, Megaton Sword in the 2nd.
Shipping will start as soon as they are in!

DVP 172 Significant Point – Into the Storm LP/CD

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present SIGNIFICANT POINT’s highly anticipated debut album, Into the Storm, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Hailing from Japan, SIGNIFICANT POINT was formed by guitarists Kazuki Kuwagaki and Gou Takeuchi in March 2011. Holding high the banner of old-school speed/heavy metal, they started playing live shows in Tokyo. Through a lot of member changes, SIGNIFICANT POINT released their first demo, Attacker!, in 2014 and the Live at Tokyo CD in 2017. In 2018, the two-song EP Attacker was released on 7” vinyl by France’s Inferno Records, and it received a good reaction in the underground scene.

Itormentor (drums) and Kazuhiro Watanabe (bass) joined in 2016 and 2018, respectively, and the current lineup of SIGNIFICANT POINT was at last finalized. In 2019, they started recording their first album. With great help from George Itoh (Risingfall / Military Shadow), it was completed in September 2020 after a year and a half of effort.

Fittingly bearing the title Into the Storm, SIGNIFICANT POINT’s debut album is indeed a monsoon of heavy metal mayhem, spanning traditional and epic styles to speed metal and even early power metal. The band live and breathe heavy metal in all its classicist forms, and the quintet know the intrinsic power of hooks and especially variety, both of which are found bountifully across Into the Storm. With enviable ease, SIGNIFICANT POINT marry masterful execution to high drama whilst never losing the importance of actual songs – in other words, no style over substance here. Truly, you will NOT be able to get any of these 10 anthems outta your head, and large credit is due to the poetic dual-guitar interplay of Kuwagaki and Takeuchi; dazzling to say the very least, their leads and solos are almost another singing voice. Which is to take nothing away from the rest of the band, who bring together melodic bass-work, tastefully propulsive drumming, and the high-pitched metal-warrior vocals of George Itoh to create a veritable orchestra of sound.

While the bulk of the lyrics are in English, the unique tonal qualities of Japanese lend Into the Storm comparisons to Loudness’ early, proto-epic metal albums like Devil Soldier and The Law of Devil’s Land. But casting one’s metallic gaze further across continents (and decades), SIGNIFICANT POINT significantly point to myriad elements of such legends as Grim Reaper, Metal Church, Sinner, Cloven Hoof, and Omen on to the culter likes of Shok Paris, Liege Lord, Sortilege, Agent Steel, and Savage Grace, all with a firm grounding in the classics of Scorpions, Rainbow, Judas Priest, UFO, and Iron Maiden. Any way you slice it, the katana of SIGNIFICANT POINT is deadly, so prepare to go Into the Storm!

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, postcard and download code.
Special edition sold out


CD edition with sticker.

DVP 173 Sandstorm – Desert Warrior MLP/MCD/MC

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present a brand-new mini-album from Canada’s SANDSTORM, Desert Warrior, on CD, 12” vinyl and cassette formats.

It was but the spring of 2020 when DYING VICTIMS unleashed SANDSTORM’s debut album, Time to Strike, onto the worldwide metal scene. Prior to that, the Vancouver-based band had self-released the album in early 2019, and while the initial run sold out quickly, it remained a diamond in the rough. But indeed, diamonds shine regardless, and soon enough did Time to Strike’s gleam reach all corners of the globe: here was glorious (and gloriously scrappy) pre-speed/thrash HEAVY METAL in the literally ancient, sword-wielding style so favored in the early ‘80s, rendered in such authentic (and authentically over-the-top) style, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was some unearthed relic from the era. Word spread, and rightly, that SANDSTORM were the Real Deal.

And now, with the imminent release of Desert Warrior, SANDSTORM prove loudly that they are the REAL fucking DEAL! A swift-yet-generous record at 21 minutes, the four songs comprising Desert Warrior are thematically unified by classic late ‘60s / early ‘70s sci-fi tropes, and the power-trio suitably keep the focus squarely on riffs and atmosphere. Those riffs retain the same feeling as the full-length predecessor – nothing overdriven, everything moving at a hot-rockin’ pace – and where medieval magick ran riot across a strongly rock ‘n’ roll backbone, here do SANDSTORM evoke a strong sense of the epic and tragic. That Desert Warrior’s atmosphere is noticeably more moody takes nothing away from the metallic heights they reach; if anything, one could liken the mini-album to ghostly NWOBHM bordering on lonerist AOR, but still with a propensity to kick out the jams when needed. For proof, see the aptly titled “Evil Wins” and note the specter of Mercyful Fate floating nearby. Plus, the band aren’t monikered SANDSTORM for nothing: it was about damn time they did a record called Desert Warrior and made a musical mini-movie of sorts!

Still obscure and old-school as ever, SANDSTORM etch out an even more undeniable identity with Desert Warrior. Will you enter the wasteland with them?

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, postcard and download code.

MCD edition with sticker.
MC edition with sticker, button and download code.