Last week, the UK-based blackened death metal group HECATE ENTHRONED announced that “Embrace of the Godless Aeon,” their first album in five years (and their debut for new label partner M-Theory Audio), will be released on January 25, 2019. Now, the group has unveiled the first proper taste of the new record – “Temples That Breathe,” which can now be heard on all streaming platforms. A video for the song, which premiered yesterday via Decibel Magazine, can be seen at this location: https://youtu.be/7wotTFLhXDk
Says bassist Dylan Hughes, “The track is a critique of the Catholic Church for centuries of abuse. It paints the church as a kind of virulent entity that spreads pain and horror, almost as if the church itself is alive – hence, temples that breathe. The stark, menacing stills and imagery within the video create this unnerving miasma, an uneasy feeling like cold, stale secular breath on the back of your neck. The song features epic and sweeping orchestrations, heavy aggressive riffing, breakneck speeds and harmonies with a brutal vocal delivery – all the elements you’d expect from HECATE ENTHRONED, which are contained in abundance on this album, making this track the perfect first release to give you a flavor of what’s to come.”
“Embrace Of The Godless Aeon” – which features cover artwork by Nestor Avalos (BLOODBATH, ROTTING CHRIST, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER), as seen above – can be pre-ordered now on CD and red splatter vinyl at www.m-theoryaudio.com/store A limited-edition deluxe box set that includes exclusive purple vinyl and cassette editions of the album, a signed photo card and other collectibles is also available. Digital pre-orders on Bandcamp and other platforms include “Temples That Breathe” as an instant download.
One of the UK underground’s longest-running and most respected acts, HECATE ENTHRONED has been praised by the likes of Terrorizer for their “mixture of death metal aggression with black metal atmosphere.” “Embrace Of The Godless Aeon” – their first recording with vocalist Joe Stamps, who joined the band in 2015 – sees the group continue to deftly mix black with death, modern with classic and extreme with symphonic. The album, which features guest vocals on three songs by Sarah Jezebel Deva (Cradle of Filth, Therion, Mortiis), was co-produced by Dan Abela (Voices, The Antichrist Imperium).
Originally co-founded in Wales by guitarist Nigel Dennen in the mid-1990s, HECATE ENTHRONED is dedicated to delivering their own brand of evil metal with little regard to politics or the trends of popular demand. The group’s 1997 full-length debut, the Andy Sneap-produced “The Slaughter Of Innocence, A Requiem For The Mighty” (Blackend Records), was a seminal release in the then-burgeoning orchestral black metal movement. Since then, several albums and EPs and numerous live performances have firmly established the band as one of extreme metal’s most important voices, a sentiment that “Embrace Of The Godless Aeon” firmly reinforces.
HECATE ENTHRONED’s next live performance will take place on December 14 in Roeselare, Belgium. The group plans to tour extensively throughout 2019.