Artist

On June 3, exactly one week after the self-proclaimed "world's ugliest band" desecrated Maryland Deathfest, Aura Noir—made up of guitarist Blasphemer, drummer Kristian Valbo and bassist/vocalist Apollyon—made their way to Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg to show locals how blackened thrash metal should be done.

That night's bill also featured Marduk, Natur, Black Anvil, HOD and Panzerfaust. (For a full review of this show courtesy of Revolver's own Chris Krovatin, click here.) On the scene was photographer Chris Shonting (who also recently captured some images of Ghost's NYC debut). Check out his photos of that night's unholy gathering below.

Richmond, Virginia neo-crossover kings Municipal Waste have recently joined the worldwide Nuclear Blast Records roster.

"It took a real long time to decide what we were going to do for our next record," says frontman Tony Foresta. "We wanted to work with a label that were not only fans of the band and our music, but were willing to get behind any ridiculous idea that we could think of. Once we realized this, Nuclear Blast was the obvious choice. The Blast has been friends with the band long before doing a record was even a possibility. I feel like we're starting off with a clean slate and decade of experience to start back up on the right track. Expect some great things in the near future from the Waste. This is only the beginning!"

"Nuclear Blast has shown their love for the Waste for years," added drummer Dave Witte. "And when it came time for a new deal, it was a no-brainer in my eyes. Nuclear Blast all the way. We are thrilled to be included among a roster of great bands and hard-working people that love them. I can't wait to get into that studio!"

Nuclear Blast Records USA manager Gerardo Martínez comments with the following statement: "We've known the Waste guys for some time and when the moment was right to bring them on board, we did not hesitate one second. They are the best and most relevant band at what they do, and a pleasure to be around… not to mention they are some of the funniest and down-to-earth people we've met. The excitement level for a new Municipal Waste record is at its highest and we are ready to deliver this to the masses!"

The band will be entering the studio this summer to record its fifth full-length album for a 2012 release.

Contributing writer Chris "Potable" Krovatin is the author of two young adult novels, Heavy Metal & You and Venomous. He is currently working on multiple new writing projects, as well as new material with his New York metal band Flaming Tusk. Many people call Chris an alcoholic. He prefers the term "mixologist." Join him as he makes a series of potables inspired on songs and albums by his favorite extreme-metal bands and serves them to his unwitting friends.

Plenty of modern-day kultists laugh at black metal's corpsepaint-and-leather imagery, but no one fucks with Immortal. While many black-metal bands were shying away from the Kiss-like origins of the scene, Immortal were owning it. And as if it weren't enough that they're grimacing badger-faced night warriors who worship a raven-headed deity in a mountainous wasteland they made up—the music, man. Songs like "Damned In Black," "Tyrants," and the inimitable "Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)" stripped away the genre's newfound love of goth symphonics, returning it to the shred-heavy thrashiness that made Venom and Celtic Frost the legends they are.

My Immortal drink had to reflect the band—abrasive, swift, awesome, but still straightforward and simple. I also wanted to use ingredients from the band's native Norway. A boiler maker-esque shot-drop would do. For the beer, I decided to use Norwegian Bøkkol, or Bock beer, a heavy brew meant to be sipped and savored, not pounded. For the shot, I decided to do a half-and-half of Jäger—hail Satan—and Linie Aquavit. Linie is fascinating—to obtain its nutty, biting flavor, the liquid has to be transported by ship over the equator twice (the word 'linie' means 'line'). It is, I imagine, a beverage oft enjoyed between frozen raids on the mountains of Blashyrkh.

Immortal's "Norden On Fire"

1 bottle—eight to 12 oz—of Bock beer, preferably Bøkkol.

Jägermeister

Linie Aquavit

Pour beer into pint glass. Pour a shot equal parts Jäger and Linie. Drop shot into beer and drink swiftly.

Reactions From Friends:

Alex: Blargh!

Andy: Hugh!

Bernard: Ugggh!

Final Rating:

Fail! The flavor of Jäger-diluted Linie and full-bodied beer is a sudden assault on the senses that results in gagging and stomach trouble (See photo). More so, all of these ingredients are far better served on their own or chasing another than as an epic single gulp. Only consume if you're preparing for the most ferocious battles in the north.

If you or your dirtbag friends can come up with metal-themed cocktails, send your recipes to krovatinc@gmail.com. Remember, though, these should be metal-themed and original, not the usual headbanger fare like Blacktooth Grins and Butt Burners. Use your imagination, and get slaughtered!

Chris "Cheese Dog" Krovatin is the author of two young adult novels, Heavy Metal & You and Venomous. He is currently working on multiple new writing projects, as well as new material with his local New York metal band Flaming Tusk. He is a contributing writer for Revolver and generally comes off as a good-natured pain in everyone's collective ass.

On June 3, I saw Marduk with Aura Noir, Black Anvil, Hod, Panzerfaust, and Natur at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in NYC. Here's what I witnessed.

• Number of hours spent being tattooed before the show: Three.
• General feeling: Just…just a little woozy.
• General feeling about the tattoo: Hail!
• Easiest way to find the Williamsburg Music Hall: Follow the guy in the Nunslaughter T-shirt!
• Disheartening sight of the night: The sheer lack of Aura Noir merch available. I wanted an "Ugliest Band In Metal" shirt!
• Onstage when I arrive at Williamsburg Music Hall: Natur from Brooklyn.
• Sounds like: Blackened thrash with over-the-top power-metal moments. Pretty entertaining overall.
• Happy time fun fact: The cover of Natur's Spider Baby EP is preeeetty fucking cool.
• Number of people in corpse paint present: So far only one, and his is pretty low key.
• Thoughts on this: Marduk is just a little too militant and nihilistic for people to dress up in full black-metal costume for.
• Unlike: When I saw Immortal in February: Half the crowd wore corpse paint.
• Next up: Panzerfaust from Ontario.
• Sounds like: Really raw, acidic black metal powered by thrashing rage and morbid chugs.
• Overall opinion: Any band that turns their mic stand into a chain-and-skull-covered inverted cross is OK by me.
• Rainbow puppy good time fact: The band's name is taken either from the Darkthrone album of that title or a German anti-tank weapon whose name means "armor fist."
• Hope for the night: That some corset-wearing black-metal chick will notice my awesome new tattoo and swoon over me.
• Only people who notice my awesome new tattoo: Two Mexican black-metal dudes, in the bathroom.
• Sustenance consumed: A cheese dog and a Lone Star over at the Levee on North 3^rd Street.
• Now, we have: Hod from San Antonio, Texas.
• Sounds like: Unrelenting death-march black metal instilled with a weirdly American sense of groove and sweep.
• Number of leather/denim vests onstage: 4.
• Number of members in Hod: 4.
• Diagnosis: True.
• "Say No To Drugs" fact: Hod's first demo is named Cry And Piss Yourself. You only wish you could come up with such an awesome title.
• Weirdest merch: Thin metal shields and blasphemous art prints by Remi from Light's Eclipse Productions. (Check his shit out at remiart.carbonmade.com).
• Other random items sold: A whole bunch of rare patches, sold, I think, by the dudes from Warhemic in Flushing.
• Patches include: A Raped God 666 patch! Holy shit, I just got a Raped God 666 patch! MEXICAN METAL DEATH SQUAD ARISE!
• On that note: Black Anvil from Brooklyn.
• Sounds like: Shred-heavy thrash with holocaustic black-metal overtones and brilliantly dark lyrics.
• Favorite song of the evening: The cunt-punching declaration of "Angels To Dust."
• Explanation: It's not a song about cunt-punching; it just feels like some huge unholy necrospirit has uppercutted you clean in your cunt.
• Members of the Metal Press Class Of 2009 present: Two that I've run into—Henry Yuan and "Grim" Kim Kelly.
• Members of the local Brooklyn metal militia present: At least six, including Lucky 13's Melody Henry, Ralph from Demilitia, and a slew of others.
• Shout outs: Done and done, son.
• Second to last: Aura Noir from Oslo, Norway.
• Sounds like: Furious black metal-inspired thrash putridity.
• Personal response: AURA FUCKING NOOOOOIR!
• Standout track of the night: "Unleash The Demon." What lyrics.
• "Unleash the demon!": "Come satisfy my need!"
• "Release the semen!": ….uuuuh…
• Aura Noir songs to look up when you get home: "Death Mask," "The Pest," "Blood Unity," "South American Death."
• Physical state at this point: Semi-conscious.
• State of my tattoo: Officially starting to throb like a bastard.
• Finally: Marduk, from Norrkøping, Sweden.
• Sounds like: Steel-plated occult war brigade marching across a field of desecrated coffins and burnt church remains.
• Peace love and happiness fact: Marduk's lead singer Mortuus studies Judo (I believe) and threw a drunken fan over his shoulder at a show.
• Performance observation: Man, these guys are killing it, much more so than the last time I saw them.
• Favorite track: "Burn My Coffin."
• Wave of nausea and exhaustion: Sudden and jarring.
• Number of times I've missed "Panzer Division Marduk" encore: Twice, once due to excessive drunkenness, once due to tattoo-inspired blood loss.
• Diagnosis: False.
• But guess what: No one really gives a shit.

Norwegian doom rockers Devil are currently in the studio recording their debut LP, Time to Repent, for a late 2011 release through the Dutch label Soulseller Records.

"I must say it sounds pretty damn vintage, and those not afraid of Devilish catchy tunes, are in for a treat," says guitarist Stian Fossum. "Ranging from hard rock to heavy metal, and even with a very good, if we can say so, ballad, we feel that the diversity and quality of the album is really up there. It's still not for feinschmeckers or proggers, but we're a hard rock 'n' roll band, and fans of Pentagram, Black Sabbath and NWOBHM will still be our main audience. We haven't timed the album yet, but it will clock in somewhere around 40 minutes. The next few days we'll be doing vocals and stuff, and hopefully the mixing and mastering process will start in a couple of weeks."

The band—which also includes Ronny Østli on drums, Thomas Ljosaak on bass, Kai Wanderås on second guitar and Joakim Trangsrud on vocals—will release a new seven-inch with two new tracks—"The Noble Savage" and "Blood is Boiling"—via Soulseller Records and can now be pre-ordered at this location. Read our feature on the band and their debut demo here.

Time To Repent track listing:

01. The Welcome (intro)
02. Break The Curse
03. Blood is Boiling
04. Time to Repent
05. Crazy Woman
06. Open Casket
07. Death of a Sorcerer
08. Howling (at the World)
09. At the Blacksmith's
10. Outro

Every Memorial Day weekend, metal fans from all corners of the globe convene in the heart of Baltimore for Maryland Deathfest. Sure, the lineup was stellar and the performances were excellent (Did anyone catch Ghost?!) but the real spirit of this four-day festival was the overall atmosphere amongst the rabid metalheads themselves.

MetalKult made the trip down to the fest with photographer Matt McGinley, where he captured some of the festival's charm. At the end of the day, Maryland Deathfest is indeed America's biggest extreme-metal party of the year. See what you missed in the gallery below.

Blackened thrashers Skeletonwitch have entered a Los Angeles studio today with producer Matt Hyde (Slayer, Machine Head, Kreator) to begin recording the follow up to 2009's Breathing The Fire. The as-yet-untitled album, expected to be released this fall, features the track "The Infernal Resurrection," the demo version of which appears as the B-side on the soon-to-be-released final 7-inch of a limited-edition vinyl trilogy. This will mark the first recording with their new drummer Dustin Boltjes.

Guitarist Scott Hedrick commented: "Waiting fucking sucks! So, after months of writing, it's great to finally be in the studio tracking the new album. It's not rocket science...it's epic, it's brutal, it's fucking Skeletonwitch! We can't wait for everyone to hear it.

"We'd also like to officially welcome aboard our newest member Dustin Boltjes. He's a great fucking dude and an animal behind the kit. We couldn't have found a better fit. Welcome aboard, brother!"

After finishing tracking, the band will head to Europe for a run of dates which will include stops at several festivals.

SKELETONWITCH's confirmed dates, as of now, are as follows:
8/4 Dortmund, NW, DE- FZW Freizeitzentrum West
8/6 Wacken, GER- Wacken Open Air
8/8 Toulouse, FR- La Dynamo
8/9 Montpellier, FR- The Secret Place
8/11 Jaromer, Czech Republic- Brutal Assault
8/12 Schlotheim, GER- Party San
8/13 Walton On Trent, UK- Canton Hall/Bloodstock
8/14 Nottingham, UK- Rock City
8/16 London, UK- Barfly
8/19 Dinkelsbühl, GER- Summer Breeze
8/20 Dinkelsbühl, GER- Summer Breeze

Cult Finnish black metal band Archgoat have announced they will be hitting the studio in July to record five new tracks for an upcoming mini album due out this October. More information to be announced.

In addition, the band's two full-lengths—2006's Whore of Bethlehem and 2009's The Light-Devouring Darkness—will be re-released by Debemur Morti Productions as 12-inch picture discs. The albums' art and layout are currently being reworked by Finnish artist Helgorth from Babalon Graphics.

Fans can also catch the band perform at select festivals this summer, including a headlining set at Germany's Deathkult Open Air in Gera, Thüringen, Norway's Hole in the Sky Festival in Bergen and the fourth edition of the Return Of Darkness & Evil Festival in Clifton, NJ, which is the band's only East Coast appearance.

When the four-day Maryland Deathfest kicks off in Baltimore this Thursday, May 26, metalheads will have an overwhelming number of bands to check out.

To help point you in the right direction, we asked Brooklyn heavy metal die-hards Tooth and Weibs—members of the band Natur and hosts of East Village Radio's Metal Inquisition Radio Show—to compile the five bands that should not be missed by attendees. Here's what they had to say:

"Maryland Deathfest is one of the sickest things that has ever happened on American soil. Our friend Sean Bell from Rhode Island had been boasting about it for a few years but we could never pull it together enough to go. Then in 2009, Norwegian black thrashers Aura Noir were confirmed to play their first ever American show, alongside bands like Abscess, Absu, Bolt Thrower, Deströyer 666 and a shitload of other not-to-miss bands. This put the nail in the fucking coffin for us and we immediately purchased our tickets and booked the hotel.

When the day finally came to make the trip down to Baltimore from New York City, we didn't know what to expect. However, when we arrived, it was very clear: tons of vendors carrying our favorite obscure bands' merch, endless amounts of beer, new bros everywhere and heavy fucking metal! The festival has gotten better with every year and this year promises to be one of, if not, the sickest line-ups of bands to hit U.S. shores. Here are some of the bands we are most looking forward to seeing."

IN SOLITUDE
"This band is absolutely unreal and their self-titled debut album has been on constant rotation since it was purchased. This is serious, blazing heavy metal that has unearthly guitars and lyrics that you will have stuck in your head after the first listen. MetalKult just streamed their newest record, The World. The Flesh. The Devil, and it does not disappoint. These Swedes are not to be missed!"

NUNSLAUGHTER
"What can you even say about these maniacs? They're one of the most fun bands you'll ever see. They can also be summed up in two words: [drummer] Jim Sadist."

GHOST
"We had the chance to play with these ghouls at the Live Evil Festival in London last October, which was also their second show ever [they played their debut show the night before in Germany]. Nobody knew what to expect. When [singer] Papa Emeritus walked onto the stage, we were pretty sure everyone shit themselves. They put on one Hell of a show. Haters can hate all they want but this band will make the hair stick up on your neck. For this we'll burn in Hell."

AURA NOIR
"After seeing them in 2009 at Maryland Deathfest and having our heads torn off our necks, we seriously can't wait to see what they have for us this time around. Kristian Valbo from the mighty Kolboltn, Norway-based death metal band Obliteration will be on drums and if there's anyone to compare to the psycho abilities of [multi-instrumentalist] Aggressor, it is Kristian. Speaking of Aggressor, will he be making it this year? He kicked everyone's ass during the Inferno Fest in Oslo, Norway a few weeks back. Only time will tell."

REPUGNANT
"We cannot wait to see this band! If anyone reading this hasn't heard [the band's debut album] Epitome of Darkness yet, please, go buy it, download it or ask someone to make you a tape of it. This is the scariest recording we've ever had possession of. 'Voices of the dead, chanting inside your head.' Fuck."

In this final part of our exclusive premiere of In Solitude's upcoming album, The World. The Flesh. The Devil, we bring you Side B, which includes "Demons," "To Her Darkness," "Dance of the Adversary" and the epic, Seventies-esque "On Burning Paths." (Check out Side A and the first part of our interview with singer Hornper here).

In listening to the last half of the album, it's clear that the young Swedish five-piece isn't interested in the latest retro trends. Instead, In Solitude are determined to push the boundaries of heavy metal into darker territories without falling into tired black metal clichés. Finally, read what Hornper has to say about working with producer (and ex-Dismember drummer) Fred Estby, analog vs. digital music formats and the album's bleak cover artwork.

The World. The Flesh. The Devil is out next Tuesday, May 24, through Metal Blade Records. Be sure to be at the band's debut North American show at this year's Maryland Deathfest, set to take place from May 26 - May 29 in Baltimore (In Solitude will perform on Saturday, May 28). Get your tickets here.

[audio:http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/insolitude/05Demons.mp3, http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/insolitude/06ToHerDarkne..., http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/insolitude/07DanceoftheA..., http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/insolitude/08OnBurningPa...|titles="Demons","To Her Darkness","Dance of the Adversary","On Burning Paths"|artists=In Solitude, In Solitude, In Solitude]

Production-wise, what made you choose to work with Fred Estby? Did he bring anything to the table or did the band already have a clear idea of where it wanted to go sonically?
Fred has a good ear for music, that's for sure. After the first meeting, we knew we wanted to work with him. We share similar preferences of how a rock album should sound and he also had a similar vision of how our album should sound, too. The ship sailed in a steady direction downwards the deep river, meaning, there were no arguments or any opinions that differed. We didn't write the album during the studio session, so to speak. We were quite prepared but he came with a fresh ear and had many good ideas which ended up on the album. This is something we admire him for.

Was there any consideration for the album's sequencing?
We wanted to have a track listing that was as dynamic as our material allowed and to recreate the journey we were on when we wrote this album in the best possible way.

What are you thoughts on presenting music digitally as opposed to analog?
I prefer an analog production and presentation of music. Though an album needs to function on MP3, vinyl and CD these days, I don't have a problem with that.

Finally, the cover art is quite ominous and bleak—can you give us some background information on it?
We had a lot of problems trying to find a suitable artist for the cover. We collaborated with different artists and explored many ideas but none seemed to capture the album's essence in the right way. However, as we discovered the world of Jesse Peper, we felt at home, especially as we saw the specific shadow-portrait that the album carries on the cover.

Like I've said before, it was as if we stood face to face with something that had been present our whole lives and it symbolized a triggering and driving force into another step deeper into the darkness. We have come to realize that the painting depicts our guide in one of its many masks. I told you earlier about the "voice that is calling on you." I think that this voice shows one of its many faces on our cover.