DVP 179 Lucifuge – Infernal Power LP/CD DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present the highly anticipated fourth album of Germany’s LUCIFUGE, Infernal Power, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
For the past five years, LUCIFUGE have been perfecting an addicting style of blackened speed metalpunk, all guided by the iron fist of mainman Equinox. Starting in 2018, the one-man wrecking crew released a demo, an EP, and the Ride the Beast debut album. The next year was no less busy, with two EPs and the second album Der AntiChrist. And just last year, the full-length The One Great Curse was released and then the digital single “Infernal Power.” The latter single proved to be a teaser for LUCIFUGE’s fourth album, also titled Infernal Power. Going from strength to strength and now expanded to a full quartet, here does Equinox take his signature sound – greasy ‘n’ galloping riffs, locomotive rhythmic (dis)charge, and twisted ‘n’ pissed vocals – and spit-shine them with the dirtiest motor oil known to man. It’s all righteously party-hardy stuff, headbanging and boozy to the bitter end, but Infernal Power palatably exudes a startling professionalism usually elusive to those flying the metalpunk banner, no doubt a result of the lineup expansion. Likewise, the EVIL is ramped up here, cobwebs of haunting melodicism draped delicately across LUCIFUGE’s no-less-crazed attack. And perhaps most interestingly, Equinox covers GISM’s “As Good As It Is,” from that legendary Japanese band’s cult second album, M.A.N., an idiosyncratic blend of epic metal and noise. Which is all to underline the relatively unique ground LUCIFUGE are travelling with Infernal Power; names such as Inepsy, Blood Spit Nights, and Kriegshog are as easily evoked as those of Exciter, Razor, and English Dogs – and of course, the almighty Warfare and especially equally early Running Wild and Onslaught UK. The full moon is night, and all the witches are about to dance…prepare to feel LUCIFUGE’s Infernal Power! – Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on golden vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch. – CD edition with sticker. Out 30th April |
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DVP 180 Insane – Victims LP/CD DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present the highly anticipated second album of Sweden’s INSANE, Victims, on CD and vinyl LP formats. For over a decade now, Sweden’s INSANE have inconspicuously built a catalog of dark ‘n’ dirty thrash metal worth reckoning. That they’ve gone largely unnoticed by all but diehard thrashers is a crime, and attributable more to the sheer abundance of metallic options still coming out of their homeland rather than any lack of quality. In fact, across INSANE’s two EPs, three demos, one split, one compilation, and especially 2017’s Evil debut album, one will be hard pressed to find a more strident iteration of ripping ancient thrash. And INSANE continue sticking to their (strident, ripping) guns with their second full-length, Victims. Lyrically focused on the dark world of Swedish murderers, Victims indeed evokes a darker aspect than the already-dark Evil predecessor; the harmonic dual-guitar action sends well-timed shivers down the listener’s spine. But just like that preceding LP, here do INSANE show their mastery of epic songcraft, as the majority of the tracks again top five minutes whilst exhibiting that exhilarating rush so crucial to thrash, winding along wildly and ever so slightly touching upon more “tech” textures. If anything, the band engage and challenge in equal measure here, feeding manna to musos and rivetheads alike. Likewise, their iteration of thrash is a multilingual one, varyingly nodding to classic Canadian and German tropes and especially those that have been budding in the wider Scandinavian region more recently and also more “back in the day.” A unique aspect to INSANE that the quartet continue on Victims is the full-bodied, almost rock ‘n’ roll-ish production: warmly analog but not faked, gritty and dirty but never belabored, and thankfully, nothing ear-piercingly overdriven like so much pizza thrash. Essentially, Victims is for those who like their thrash dank and pure and, above all, well-crafted. If thrash as a whole has its waves of popularity/oversaturation, depending on the year, INSANE remain resolute as perpendicular maverick ready to challenge the passé and played-out. If you’re ready for their bandwagon to start rolling, become one of their Victims NOW! – Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on mustard colored vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch. – CD edition with sticker. Out 30th April |
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DVP 181 Bunker 66 – Beyond the Help of Prayers LP/CD DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present BUNKER 66’s highly anticipated fourth album, Beyond the Help of Prayers, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Since 2007, Italy’s BUNKER 66 have been proudly (and prolifically) flying the flag of ‘80s metalpunk, all in the beloved power-trio format. Of course, the joint influence of Motörhead and Venom looms large, but equally so do homeland heroes Bulldozer, the UK’s Warfare, early Running Wild, early Bathory and Slayer, later Anti-Cimex, metal-era Gang Green, and any ‘80s recordings from Discharge and Exciter. With this robust and rust-covered foundation firmly in place, BUNKER 66 recorded a trio of cult albums for High Roller Records as well as a grip of splits with the likes of Italy’s Barbarian and Morbo, Brazil’s Whipstriker, and most recently Scotland’s Vuil. Simply put, they’re a cult band for cult fanatics – and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Now, a couple years on from that last-mentioned split with Vuil comes BUNKER 66’s long-awaited fourth album, Beyond the Help of Prayers. The band’s first full-length in four years and second with the lineup of co-founders vocalist/bassist Damien Thorne and drummer Dee Dee Altar alongside ex-Schizo guitarist J.J. Priestkiller, Beyond the Help of Prayers is a refreshing blast of old air! Right from the opening, galloping minutes of “To the Gates of Death – Lair of the Profaner,” this is 666% BUNKER 66 through and through – all those above influences, all sliced and diced with the deft touch of devotees, but always brimming with a charisma that’s undeniable – and thereafter do the hits keep on coming. But, while one could say that Beyond the Help of Prayers is business as usual for the band (and we’d still love it), the album sees BUNKER 66 taking on subtly more epic touches, ones that feel almost swords & sorcery without being obvious about it, or perhaps the post-apocalyptic wasteland vibes of Dee Dee Altar’s time in Children of Technology played a significant role? Naturally, the trio keep their noses deep within their realms of the black here, and while they’re undoubtedly dirtier and more blasphemous than ever, BUNKER 66 arguably receive their best-sounding production on Beyond the Help of Prayers, which thankfully only maximizes their power that much more. You can’t teach old dogs new tricks, and the same be said – STUNNINGLY – for BUNKER 66, for they’re Beyond the Help of Prayers! – Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on mustard colored vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch. – CD edition with sticker. Out 30th April |
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DVP-R 003 MP – Get it Now LP/CD RELICS FROM THE CRYPT, the newly founded sub-label of DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS, is proud to present a reissue of MP’s cult-classic second album, Get It Now, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Originally released in 1987 on the short-lived Steps Records, Get It Now, was the second recorded statement of Germany’s MP. Their debut album from the year before, Bursting Out (The Beast Became Human), retained all the electricity and urgency of youth, and subsequently become a cult record for its raw verve. A year older and presumably wiser, the power-trio unleashed a more finessed follow-up in Get It Now. While the band hardly wavered in their approach between the two albums – still spanning the early hot-rockin’ throes of post-NWOBHM to the nascent rumblings of speed metal and its subsequent thrash offshoot, and of course the more mainstream stylings which lingered across all those idioms – MP here focused their songwriting into a more streamlined push ‘n’ pull that was 100% HEAVY METAL personified. And yet, its year of release provides some (in-hindsight) context for Get It Now’s unique and underdog nature, which has thankfully made it an enduring album. Not only in Germany but across the world, traditional metal was on the decline as “hair metal” crept up the pop charts and thrash metal exploded all across the international underground – and lest we forget the first album-length rumblings of death metal. In this landscape, where subgenres started taking hold and “heavy metal” as both a term and especially a musical style & subculture became much more defined, MP doggedly defied the norms and stuck to their increasingly gleaming guns. As such, Get It Now retains a rich, metal-for-metal’s-sake balance between slick ‘n’ speeding burners and grimy fist-shakers. And while the debut album conspicuously nodded toward metal culture with “MP (Metal Priests),” here do MP continue to acknowledge that culture through the wider world’s acknowledgement of metal culture with “Rocktober Blood,” about the cult horror film of the same name. Elsewhere, the production was taken up a couple notches without losing that raw verve that so endeared the band’s debut album, arguably making Get It Now the fullest expression of MP’s true metal might. MP continued on for one more album before changing that moniker to Melting Point, the title of their 1992 album still under the MP handle. Like many overlooked albums within the metal pantheon, Get It Now never truly got its due “back in the day,” but thankfully, it sounds surprisingly fresh today, and RELICS FROM THE CRYPT hopes this dog will have its day with this long-overdue reissue! – Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on halloween orange vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch. – CD edition with sticker. Out 30th April |
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DVP 182 Natur – Afternoon Nightmare CD DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present NATUR’s great second album, Afternoon Nightmare, on CD format.
About one year after its initial vinyl release through Blasphlegmy and Crypt of Wizard, this glorious heavy metal album will receive its well-deserved CD edition. 8 years after their debut album, internationally acclaimed NATUR with celebrated gigs at festivals such as Live Evil in London or Muskelrock in Sweden, shows with Afternoon Nightmare once again that this band can stay rather low key in these modern times, yet deliver awesome, ancient sounding heavy metal without slipping into any clichés. Authentic and powerful metal for all the old school denim and leather 80’s maniacs. – CD edition with sticker. Out 26th March
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