UK Extreme Metal Duo ITHEIST Streaming Forthcoming Debut Album

Formerly known as Aetherium Mors, UK extreme metal duo ITHEIST will release its self-titled debut album on June 21.

Formed by multi-instrumentalist Dan Couch and vocalist/lyricist Kane Nelson, with roots tracing back to 2004, ITHEIST is ready to enter a new phase of existence and creativity. With songwriter Dan's involvement in multiple musical projects over the years (including Black/Death Metal band Carcinoma and Black/Thrash band Holodomor among others) making a marked impression on his writing style, the new album brings together blackened melody with dissonance, creating a unique style of extreme metal. Elements of classic bands such as Death, Carcass and Dissection collide with more experimental bands such as Akercocke, Ulcerate, and Gorguts, but without compromising ITHEIST's own identity.

Lyricist and vocalist Kane has upped the ante on previous work with powerful lyrics referencing the fall of Lucifer (the first Itheist) as an allegory for personal strength to shape one’s own reality in accordance with one’s own will. Satanism is uniquely expressed in Itheist's music. Kane explains the lyrical concepts as follows: “Previous lyrics have focused on the repugnant ideals of monotheism and theocracy and why it should be abolished. Itheist’s lyrics focus on forging one's own reality through the Satanic virtue of discipline and creating an environment that cultivates the causal advancement of personal greatness and power, creating a dark and powerful mindset that embraces reality as opposed to the life hating, ghoulish trappings of so many black metal bands.”

The new self-titled album was tracked by Dan in his own private studio. Mixing and mastering were handled by Damian Herring (owner of Subterranean Watchtower Studios and Vocalist/Guitarist of U.S. Death Metal band Horrendous). Damian was a conscious choice through his work mixing and mastering his own music, as well as countless highly respected underground bands such as Blood Incantation, Moss Upon the Skull and Ellorsith. His mixing ethos is a highly dynamic, anti-‘Loudness Wars’ approach, which fits perfectly with ITHEIST's sonic vision.

The incredible stippled-style album artwork is by Manuel Tinnemans (who has also provided art for Spearhead, Scythian, and Lychgate among others), and depicts a horde of demons entering a Heavenly throne room, tearing through celestial beings in an orgy of violent destruction; a fitting visual representation of the album’s musical content.

"Dramatically powerful, with songs that are rampantly dynamic, often electrifying, frequently disorienting, and almost always fearsome. They harness elements of classic bands such as Death, Carcass, and Dissection, together with more experimental bands such as Akercocke, Ulcerate, and Gorguts, and the results are riveting."
- No Clean Singing

"This is an album made with guts, credence and an evolving atmosphere, dark and raw. I loved this album." (9/10)
- Metal-Temple

"This blast-beat filled behemoth is a powerhouse of blasphemic energy, merging black and death metal with clear cut precision."
- Heaviest of Art

"Very well made Black Metal, which has an interesting concept and a sense of power and speed, as well as lurking, quieter sections. The dissonant-looking guitars support the overall impression and the concept perfectly." (9/10)
- Metal-Only

"For a death/black metal band, the harmonic writing is surprisingly clever, here. You don’t just get brutal riffs with these guys, you frequently get ideas of proggish/neoclassical complexity. The album will be appreciated by all extreme metal fans, I’m sure."
- The Independent Voice

"It goes from Hypnotic to Majestic into a lumbering Spiral of blissful nightmare you do not want to ever escape from."
- The Doorway To

"Itheist is a wild ride that keeps things entertaining and menacing."
- Lair of the Bastard

"Undeniably black as pitch. But there is an abundance of alternate influence, with plodding death-doom riffage, bespeckled with dissonant black metal high-end notes, ala Gorguts-meets-Belphegor, but with more maniacal blackened furor than either of these artists."
- Indy Metal Vault

"Itheist is not only a worthy successor to their previous work, but it surpasses everything they have released up till now."
- Glacially Musical

Track Listing:

1. Outcast
2. Mighty Father of Rebellion
3. Guardian of Baphomet
4. Belial Unbound
5. Horned One
6. Infernal Insurrection
7. Neter Amon
8. Mankind in Extremis
9. Suffering in Existence

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Tags:  ITHEIST, DEBUT ALBUM, UNITED KINGDOM, EXTREME METAL 

Teddy    June 22, 2019