Dying Victims Productions is proud to announce the following new Pre-orders:
DVP 303 Midnight Force – Severan LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present MIDNIGHT FORCE’s highly anticipated third album, Severan, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Formed in 2016, Glasgow’s MIDNIGHT FORCE are a heavy metal band that set out to follow in the footsteps of their heroes of old – US heavy metal, the NWOBHM movement, and ‘70s rock – as well as inject some fresh blood into the genre they love so much.
MIDNIGHT FORCE released their full-length debut, Dunsinane, in 2018 to much critical acclaim. DYING VICTIMS would release the cassette version later that year, and the band went on to play Brofest in Newcastle as well as support slots for the likes of High Spirits, Riot, and Ross the Boss in Glasgow and Angel Witch, Savage Master, and Riot City in Germany. Continuing that momentum, MIDNIGHT FORCE performed at other such notable festivals as Harder Than Steel Festival, Hell over Hammaburg, and Echoes from the Labyrinth in Crete as well as tours in Germany, Ireland, and the UK and shows in Paris, Athens, Marseille, and Madrid.
In October 2019, MIDNIGHT FORCE released their second album, Gododdin. Taking the elements of Dunsinane further – songwriting both heroic and melancholic (and even a bit folksy at times), hot-rockin’ execution to push that bravado further, and a rustic atmosphere equally 1970s and medieval – Gododdin was exactly the sophomore record MIDNIGHT FORCE needed to both expand and focus their ancient aesthetic. Olde Worlde Heavy Metal this was, based on historical lore and myth: in many ways, the band had arrived.
After a two-year hiatus induced by restrictions on international travel and live shows, MIDNIGHT FORCE released a new single in September 2022 and returned to the stage. Meanwhile, the seeds of their third album were being planted – and at long last, they’ve blossomed into Severan. Bristling with energy somehow stoic and patient, fit to burst but brewing dark thoughts, Severan sees MIDNIGHT FORCE truly taking their influences into a realm entirely their own. Totaling nine songs across 46 minutes, Severan sounds HUGE yet intimate. Its scope is again historical, the songwriting hits frantic peaks and stern valleys, the execution is even sharper whilst evincing old-school grit, and their characteristic atmosphere is OLDER than ever. Indeed, MIDNIGHT FORCE are engagingly earnest in their sonic campaign – true metal never dies and lives eternally, unfazed by time and trends, and its champions carry a great weight upon their shoulders of leather & steel – but above all, the aesthetic signposts is superlative songwriting, and this Scottish-German band have delivered their most refined set of songs to date. Severan is transportive to the extreme!
Five years in the making, MIDNIGHT FORCE’s Severan has arrived bearing banners of ancient metal myth & magick. Raise your swords and shields, those whose hearts beat True!
– Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on purple vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi
DVP 304 Warlust – Sol Invictvs In Vmbrae Satanae LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present the highly anticipated third album of Germany’s WARLUST, Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Once one of the metal underground’s best-kept secrets, WARLUST began their assault on the false in 2012. The title of their debut demo, 2014’s Unholy Attack, said everything it needed to: here was blackthrashing METAL, steeped in the spirits of old and with genuinely evil blood coursing through its veins. However, it was 2017’s Morbid Execution debut album where WARLUST first truly took flight – on burning wings of flame! More intense, more epic, more heavy fucking metal, Morbid Execution carried on the noble work started by founding fathers Desaster in their homeland and Deströyer 666, Zemial, and Aura Noir abroad. Still, more swords were to be sharpened, and they were held aloft in glorious might on WARLUST’s second album (and first for DYING VICTIMS), 2020’s Unearthing Shattered Philosophies. Unshackling themselves from a strict(er) blackthrash template, the band’s songwriting blossomed on their sophomore assault alongside an increased understanding (and usage) of dynamics. Meanwhile, WARLUST’s simultaneously cryogenic / burning-hot melodicism heighten comparisons to classic Dissection and Necrophobic and justifiably garnered a wealth of acclaim upon its release.
That noble trajectory continues, four years later, on WARLUST’s Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae. That title serves as a clarion call for those who heed the call of Hell’s heavy metal – eternal, unyielding, suffused with strength and vigor in times of terror and triumph, melancholy and malevolence. Taking a wider view of WARLUST’s discography, this third album follows logically from its predecessor, making for an equally-cutting counterpart compared to the rougher outlier of the debut. Thankfully, then, little has changed in the band’s arsenal – the narratives are epic but always urgent, the melodicism still surges and sways with maximum evil, muscular chops melded with blackest atmosphere – but if there’s one uptick to be said for Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae, it’s how HUGE the whole record sounds. Much of that can be attributed to the pronounced integration of marching mid-tempos as well as some tasteful clean tones, but from the brief intro to bristling opener “Serpent Crown” onward, WARLUST exude both a tightness and clarity of execution that altogether spell “classy,” and all without any sacrifice of their original black/death fire. Put another way, with the palatably professional production pushing the album atop the uppermost echelon of nowadays evil metal, the Germans sound like they could command the biggest of stages, wielding their weapons of sonic sin with the composure and charisma befitting of total legends. But that legendry is still being written, and Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae is no doubt WARLUST’s biggest & boldest script yet!
– Regular gatefold edition on black vinyl, with poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special gatefold edition on black/golden vinyl, with poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
DVP 305 Bottomless/Witching Altar – Graveyard Thunder LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present Graveyard Thunder, a special split album between BOTTOMLESS and WITCHING ALTAR, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Graveyard Thunder is aptly titled, for it brings together two cult doom metal bands, each offering three exclusive new tracks for a total of 40 minutes of bewitching, bottom-heavy sound. BOTTOMLESS are likely familiar to those following the dark deeds of DYING VICTIMS, for the Italians released their second album, The Banishing, through the label last summer. While they largely stick to their tried & true template of classic Candlemass, Trouble, and Solitude Aeternus, there’s a certain silkiness to their entry here. “Soothing” is a strange misnomer, but not entirely inaccurate; slicked-up doom this is definitely NOT. Rather, one could maybe point to the almost-hushed haunting tones of Blue Öyster Cult’s “Burning for You” and indeed even “Don’t Fear the Reaper” as extrapolated touchstones for BOTTOMLESS’ velvety rumble on their three tracks – a unique and ultimately awesome development from this increasingly potent bunch.
WITCHING ALTAR complement their split-mates well, for they’re just as – if not more! – entrenched in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. And while the Brazilians had been on something of a hiatus until last year’s surprise release of the Morningstar EP, any new WITCHING ALTAR material is cause for celebration. Thankfully, no great changes have been made to their sound: always and forever, Ozzy-era Black Sabbath and oldest Pentagram form their foundation, fleshed out by the likes of Witchfinder General, Pagan Altar, and Count Raven. Maniacal DOOM METAL traditionalism for traditional doom metal maniacs, WITCHING ALTAR nevertheless inject their own spooky personality to proceedings, particularly on the titanic “The Crypts Below.” Graveyard Thunder rolls!
– Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on purple vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi.