Article: Possessed's 'Seven Churches' - 30 Years Later

The Metal Crypt posted an article compiling opinions of other musicians on Possessed's 'Seven Churches' album in honour of its 30th anniversary. I found the article linked from Possessed's Facebook page:

http://www.metalcrypt.com/pages/interviews.php?intid=455


It's definitely a long read, but worth it to gain insight into just how influential this album became. I can't personally speak to the evolution of 'Seven Churches' influence, nor can I speak to the impact it had when first released as I have found Possessed relatively recently. The first time I truly took notice of the band was on the Barge To Hell cruise, and I consider myself lucky to have caught them live again at Noctis Festival a few years ago.

Even all of these years after Possessed began, I was blown away by the intensity of their live show. Especially considering that I did not even realize Jeff Becerra is in a wheelchair until the band took the stage. Live, they managed to be one of the most evil sounding bands I've seen without having to use theatrics. 'Seven Churches' has become an album that I thoroughly enjoy, and one that I believe anyone studying the roots of death metal should own.

Månegarm: 'Odin Owns Ye All' Video

Chainmail, battle axes, drinking horns, vikings, and of course Odin…

I actually quite like this video. It's fairly simple yet it creates the perfect atmosphere for the song. While it still seems a little strange to hear this band singing in english, it works. 'Odin Owns Ye All' is a good choice as a preview to the album as it's quite accessible and anthemic, although not quite as much so as a few of the tracks from their last release, "Legions Of The North".

I always look forward to new material from Månegarm and this video serves to increase my anticipation  of the release of the new self titled album later this year.

Belphegor - 'Black Winged Torment' Video

One of my favourite blackened death metal bands, Belphegor, released a new video yesterday. Taken from the 'Conjuring The Dead' album, released last year, 'Black Winged Torment' is the latest in a series of strange, fucked up videos from this band. Featuring blood, feathers and all sorts of other strange things, the video has a bit of an esoteric feel.

VARG - 'Rotkäppchen' Official Video

VARG released the official video for the song 'Rotkäppchen' a few days ago. I love this song and the EP release with different versions and some bonus material is a neat idea. As for the video, it's definitely interesting and a little unexpected. Take a look if you haven't already.


The video comes as a prequel to the Rotkäppchen EP to be released on October 9th. After the EP comes the new album, Das Ende Aller Lügen. This album will be released in January of 2016. There are some nice pre-order bundles available, although to my disappointment, the best one is already sold out on the North American website.