Covenant

After his brief PNW run, Crooked Mouth will be making his way to Germany for his first European show.

Superstition contort the spiritual & mental with ancient forces of death on "The Anatomy of Unholy Transformation", out on June 21st through 20 Buck Spin - - - "Each riff on The Anatomy of Unholy Transformation is a transcendent dance of violence, constantly weaving in and out of a storm of chaos that evoke images of grand war. Unholy Transformation is a fitting title for this absolute monster of an album, as Superstition transcends into a new territory of mastery all their own."

A brief spotlight on Sentient Ruin Laboratories and some of their most heinous recent releases, featuring the vile sounds of Miscarriage, SUTEKH HEXEN, and Suspiral. Tear open your ears to new sounds of pure HELL. - - - "As the hideous musical propaganda arm run by Abstracter‘s frontman, one can only expect each of the label’s releases to carry a vicious and unique potency. Read the mission statement: “Denial of the human race through deviant analog audio forms.” Now you have some idea of what to expect."

VENDOR ANNOUNCEMENT III + + + + + + + Another one of our first vendors returns yet again! The mighty Kaos Kult will have their collection of occult jewellery, candles, incense, clothes, and much more for sale at Covenant Festival V - Dead Congregation/Antediluvian/Sortilegia!

Night Profound's recent album Via Nocturna is finally available on LP in 3 different colours from Neuropa Records. Preorder: http://preorders.neuropa.be Listen: https://nightprofound.bandcamp.com/album/via-nocturna

VENDOR ANNOUNCMENT II + + + + + + + It is our distinct pleasure to welcome the macabre and esoteric art of Brutally Beautiful to Covenant Festival!

VENDOR ANNOUNCEMENT I + + + + + + + It is our pleasure to welcome back our dear friend Salamander Salt Curio to Covenant Festival V - Dead Congregation/Antediluvian/Sortilegia. She has vended at every Vancouver edition, and her collection of occult oddities is simply out of this world.

Misþyrming revels in fury and disgust on the Dionysian "Algleymi", available now from Norma Evangelium Diaboli - - - "The album blindsides us with the introduction of a beautiful new side of Misþyrming, a more complex, rhythm driven approach, offering listeners a euphoric voyage through a plethora of human emotion, a creative space as expansive as the cosmos itself, a space that formerly closed itself to all that was not darkness and sorrow."

Precisely one month until Covenant Vancouver V. The seventh overall edition of Canada’s premiere weird music festival. Death, black, doom, experimental, folk, ambient, and beyond. Tickets still available at www.covenanfestival.com.

You are simply just not ready for Suffering Hour ... In fact, no one really was when they absolutely leveled Covenant Montreal II. Now we have the honour of their presence at Covenant Festival V - Dead Congregation/Antediluvian/Sortilegia Join them, along with Antediluvian, Rites of thy Degringolade, Mitochondrion, Gyibaaw, and Tchornobog in a night of pure insanity, on Friday July 5th. - - - Tickets still available at http://www.covenantfestival.com 3 DAY PASSES are close to selling out!

Deathspell Omega drags the unsuspecting to the fires of freedom on "The Furnaces Of Palingenesia", available now from Norma Evangelium Diaboli. - - - "One of the glowering beacons of Satanic power in modern music, the work of these largely anonymous devotees stands overtly apart, conjuring the near unfathomable nature of occult geometry and esoteric practice in the musical form. [...] After what indescribable toiling over nonsensical progressions and signature changes, Deathspell Omega have emerged from out of nowhere with yet another intimidating masterwork of pitch black masonry for us all to stare at in dumbfounded admiration."

Covenant Festival V is right around the corner. Do you have your tickets yet? Head to covenantfestival.com and get them now! Photo credit @factotumphotographybc of @phylacterymetal from Covenant Festival III.

Gridfailure moans of a thousand encroaching illnesses with "Sixth Mass Extinction Skulduggery I", available now from Nefarious Industries. - - - "Gridfailure is sickness given aural form as the experimental project of madman Dave Brenner (ex-Theologian), and marks a departure from his death industrial treatments in favor of hallucinogenic sound collages bringing to mind legends like Nurse With Wound, early Current 93, or a number of experimental film soundtrack composers from Japan or Italy."

DEAF KIDS defies Brazilian political brutality with the pounding energetic chaos of "Metaprogramação", available on all formats from Neurot Recordings - - - "Metaprogramação challenges what we know about the new wave of noise punk with an unexplored cultural flare and an intense youthful energy. Despite the lyrical content being mostly obscured behind the multiple layers of noise the album feels political. And, how could it not, with the looming shadow of Jair Bolsanaro’s wicked hand crushing the country under its grasp? Deafkids challenge you to take a look into yourself and destroy the walls put around you by the constraints of society, the unrestrained ferocity of youth is only captured rarely in music, and has the ability to make tremors deep within the minds of others."

Fetid putrifies to perfection on the grotesquely complex "Steeping Corporeal Mess", out soon on 20 Buck Spin. - - - "Digging through the the freshly renewed mass grave of death metal is a slog through gore and refuse, with fresh corpses being dumped in constantly. Among the stench of decay, you can catch a more pungent malodor, stemming from a writhing pile of extremely rotten flesh. The mass seems to move and shift still, ripe with bacteria and maggots, this pile is Fetid."

Vargrav entrance with a cold fog of mystical malice on "Reign in Supreme Darkness" - - - "... contains all the elements of melody that made early Dissection, Dimmu Borgir, and Emperor so memorable, while maintaining the grim sincerity that Black Metal requires. A spellbinding adventure to the barren tundra, Reign In Supreme Darkness is a hypothermic journey through polar night."

We welcome TO END IT ALL to Covenant Festival V! Formed in the autumn of 2016, long-time collaborators noise artist Masaaki Masao and vocalist & instrumentalist Joy Von Spain began to create new work as TO END IT ALL. The 2018 full-length Scourge of Woman was released on LP through Scry Recordings. The album’s death industrial, dark ambient and noise structures call upon acts like Pig Heart Transplant, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Sutekh Hexen, Throbbing Gristle, as well as artists like Onielar, Diamanda Galas, and Cosey Fanni Tutti. The release features photography by the ritual artist Anima Nocturna (Carlos Melgoza) in collaboration with Joy Von Spain.

Under two months away! Today we announced the addition of Kafirun and To End It All! Get your tickets while you still can at covenantfestival.com.

ANTEDILUVIAN. The name only puts fear and reverence in to the hearts and minds of all who have witnessed this monstrosity live. In what is practically a birthright, Antediluvian will assemble from across the continents, and drag their sopping, rotting gnosis to Covenant Festival V. Get your tickets at www.covenantfestival.com. #antediluvian #deathmetal #marssekhmet

Encoffination suffocate, blaspheme, and declare "We Proclaim Your Death, O’ Lord", out now on SELFMADEGOD RECORDS - - - With "We Proclaim Your Death, O’ Lord", Encoffination have again conjured forth a pure manifestation of malice and decay, with which they beckon forward all who would jump eagerly into the cold and despairing grip of death.

Before you bow down at their Altar of Decay this summer at Covenant Festival V - Dead Congregation/Antediluvian/Sortilegia, smell the miasmic stench of Mortiferum's necrobession in this rare interview. Profound Lore Records - - - With two feet in the grave and a firm grip on the heels of the world, Mortiferum channel their bleak visions of post-mortal horror through their pummeling approach to death doom. “On the demo, lyrically, the songs deal with death, dying, and what happens after you die.” states guitarist/vocalist, Max Bowman. “There’s plenty of this on the upcoming full length, Disgorged From Psychotic Depths, but some of the lyrics on this album have been fueled by dreams, stories, and a few recurring lyrical themes are post-mortem consciousness, ascension, descent, chaos.”

For years, Vancouver has demanded Adversarial to come forth and overwhelm our city, and finally it’s going to happen. Cursed blades fall upon Vancouver from July 4th to 6th. Tickets remain, but not for long. Get them at www.covenantfestival.com!

Nocturnus AD reanimates in the coldest reaches of mind-bending space with "Paradox", available May 24 on Profound Lore Records - - - Mike Browning's first Nocturnus album in almost 27 years marks the return of one of death metal's most significant forebearers. - - - "Enter, Nocturnus AD, a true titan reborn from out of the sands of time long after having irreversibly influencing the death metal genre, steering the minds of both contemporaries and successors alike toward forbidden, interplanar vistas in both subject matter and mind bending instrumentation."

The wolf howls once again! The legendary Gyibaaw will make their return to the stage at Covenant Vancouver V. Undoubtedly the most important First Nations metal band, and plainly one of the most innovative death metal bands in recent history. Prepare for a ruthless Tsimshian War Metal attack! Get your tickets at www.covenantfestival.com!

Covenant Magazine reawakens after a brief hiatus with this dissection of the forthcoming ESOCTRILIHUM album on I, Voidhanger Records. - - - As frighteningly multidimensional as it is devastatingly dense, it is a record that "is the manifestation of an illogical vision that goes beyond the breadth all normality." Read more now and experience this kaleidoscopic chaos for yourself.