Samhain was, in the early 80s, one of the first bands playing extreme metal in Denmark. Formed in 1984, the quartet started exploring music in their rehearsal room under the direct influence of their idols – Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Kreator, Venom, Sodom and the likes – and started to forge the Danish extreme metal scene with their early contacts, struggle to get gigs and mouth-to-mouth promotion.

In 1985 the band released their only demo tape, “The Courier”, containing three tracks of the raw and unadulterated death/thrash metal that they played. The demo never really got them a record deal, but put Samhain’s name in the scene, where they gained praise from their peers and underground press and played shows with such fine acts as Kreator, Pestilence, Exumer, Imperator, Mezzrow, Invocator, and Illdisposed. Eventually, the group would change their name to Desexult in 1986 under which name they put out three demos. They disbanded in 1991, but “The Courier” remains one of the finest examples of how early Danish extreme metal sounded and gained cult status in the following decades.

In the Summer of 2023, fans of 80s original death/thrash metal could finally rejoice! The long-awaited album release of the demo tapes from the legendary band was finally released as a full-length album on vinyl format. 

“The Courier” features all songs from the band’s first two demo tapes, recorded in 1985 and 1986. Remastered for maximum audio quality by one of metal’s finest: none other than ex-Desexult drummer and metal producer par excellence Tue Madsen at Antfarm Studio (Rob Halford, Sick Of It All, The Haunted, Vio-Lence, etc.), this is as trve as it gets. 

The release also includes extensive liner notes from metal notables and rare photos from the band’s early days.

Dawn of Demise came to be when members Bjørn Jensen and Martin Sørensen decided that they wanted to play simple and heavy death metal. “Let’s play something that we actually can pull off, something like the heavy, groovy parts from bands like Suffocation, Pyrexia, Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus, earlier Cannibal Corpse, and so on”. “Hate Takes Its Form” is the result of those initial thoughts and ideas. The band worked hard for years on what later would become their debut album. 

The line-up that was responsible for the album was, besides Bjørn and Martin who are still in the band, Jakob Nyholm (later joined Koldborn and Hatesphere), Kim Jensen  (also played in Koldborn and Illdisposed) and last but far from least, Mr. Scott Jensen. Scott, who used to be in the Silkeborg-based death metal band Infernal Torment, stepped out of death metal retirement to join the band. He had earlier stated that he was done with playing in bands and couldn’t be bothered. Maybe some convincing from younger brother Bjørn did the trick. 

The album has through the years earned the title as a modern day, Danish death metal classic. The band is still going strong, but a lot of fans still swear by the debut calling it the band’s best effort. When asked about the success of the album the band said: …“We were a very new band, confused, not knowing exactly what we wanted to sound like. Maybe that “confusion” and “experimentation” was a good thing”. 

“Hate Takes Its Form” was remastered by Marco Angioni at Angioni Studios. 

“Hate Takes Its Form” was re-released in LP (black/gold vinyl, limited to 300 units) on June 2022.

In 1999 the world was a whole different place from what it is today. Amidst kids robbing each others’ Pokemon cards and Harry Potter popularity explosion, there was a whole dark cloud gathering (just think George W. Bush announced his presidential run on that year), which made people have a total over the Y2K bug and the predictions of the world ending in 2000. The world was also changing, as we were shifting from VHS tapes to DVD format and downloading songs on Napster without understanding the ramifications. In a nutshell, it was the right timing for an album like Corpse Vomit’s “Drowning In Puke”.

In that same year, a group of Danish underground musicians got together to record one of the most outrageous and shocking death metal records ever produced. With song titles such as “Reeking Cunt” or “Rotten Fetus” and a cover artwork that simply wouldn’t survive today’s political correctness of social media, “Drowning In Puke” was a fat death metal album, with just the right balance of fast parts, morbid slow parts and growling vokills. In a time when everyone was amazed just how Cannibal Corpse was shocking the censors in Germany, Corpse Vomit did, in their only album, what is probably the most radical and extreme musical/artwork/lyrics package in death metal history.

In 2021, Molesting Mike got released from jail and immediately plotted a deluxe reissue of “Drowning In Puke”, which is out now in LP for the first time – in piss, shit and blood/sperm coloured vinyls, each limited to 100 units – as well as digipack CD. Remastered at Angioni Studios.

Rumours have it that Molesting Mike is working on new music…

Line-up:
Cape Cum – bass
Murder – drums
Caco Cezo – guitars
Anal Al – guitars
Molesting Mike – vocals

Hailing from the soil of Skanderborg, Denmark, Wayward Dawn play gritty, primal and utterly nasty death metal. The band drags you into a world of vicious nihilism and assaults you with grimy bass, cavernous drums and downtuned guitars played through classic Marshall amps. Venomous words of human and societal decay complete the picture with savage roars, abysmal growls and rotten shrieks.

Since their formation in October 2015, Wayward Dawn have, among other things, played at Aalborg Metal Festival, UHØRT Festival and SPOT Festival, and supported bands like Nailed to Obscurity (DE), Blood Red Throne (NO) and BAEST (DK). With mentions in prominent magazines such as Metal Hammer and GAFFA, the band is known for its hyper-energetic live shows with constant use of the windmill headbanging technique and manic interaction with the audience.

With the release of their critically acclaimed debut album “Soil Organic Matter” in 2018 and more than 40 gigs in Denmark and Germany, Wayward Dawn have slowly but surely crawled their way up from the underground to spread the word of their filthy death metal.

After signing with Danish record label Mighty Music, Wayward Dawn released their sophomore album “Haven of Lies” on April 10th, 2020. The album was met with widespread acclaim and entered the official Danish vinyl chart as #25.

Already the same year as the latest release “Haven of Lies”, the band was back with the two-song release “House of Mirrors” released digitally via Emanzipation Productions in December and on cassette via Molten Face Records.

One and half years later, the band announced the release of a new album. “All-Consuming Void” was, like its predecessors, recorded and produced by Jacob Bredahl at Dead Rat Studio, mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Obituary, Nails, Full of Hell), and consists of seven tracks of filthy, unrelenting death metal. With elements of punk, doom metal and grindcore, the band takes the soundscape to its extremes with the fast parts being faster and the slow parts sinking even further down the abyss of mankind. It was released on digital, CD, and LP (transparent orange vinyl, limited to 300 units) on September 9th, 2022.

Line-up:
Jakob Kristensen: Guitar
Rasmus Johansen: Guitar/Vocals
Kasper Szupienko Petersen: Bass/Vocals
Lukas Nysted: Drums

Web:
https://www.facebook.com/waywarddawn

Infernal Torment is a mythical Danish brutal death metal band created in 1992 in Silkeborg (Midtjylland), gaining notoriety in the 90’s. They released two albums, being the debut “Man’s True Nature” a classic record with a style close to bands such as Suffocation, Deranged, Fleshgrind, etc. In 1997 they released a second album, entitled “Birthrate Zero”, but a year later the group disbanded. Between its more prominent members there is Jakob “Batten” Hansen who, after Infernal Torment dissolution, went to join Illdisposed, in which he remains until today. Vocalist Scott Jensen is nowadays a member of Dawn Of Demise.

In 2021, the band saw a resurgence in the interest of the death metal fans due to the re-releases of both albums on Emanzipation, for the first time in vinyl format, on highly collectible editions, and with the sound totally remastered. Limited quantities of the vinyl colour variants are still available, but surely not for long.

Last line-up:
Steffan Larsen: bass
Heinz Kristensen: drums
Poul Winther: guitars
Jacob Batten: guitars, vocals
Kenny Nielsen: vocals

Web:
https://www.facebook.com/infernaltormentofficial

Taetre was formed in 1993 in Sweden and, after shaping up their death/thrash metal sound, released a four-track demo tape in 2996 named “Eternal Eclipse”. With the word on the world, the band was quickly spotted by Emanzipation Productions, who quickly signed them for the 1997 debut album “The Art”, which granted Taetre a good amount of positive reviews and a steady fanbase in the scene.

Two years after “Out Of Emotional Disorder” was released, also via Emanzipation, and continued the musical evolution of the band, which eventually came to its conclusion in the 2002 final album “Divine Misanthropic Madness”, released by Mighty Music. After it, the mastermind, vocalist, guitarist, and main composer Jonas Lindblood embarked on a new musical trip, more brutal and darker, called Puteraeon. It was the end of Taetre – but could it be forever?

(Last) line-up:
Jonas Lindblood: guitars, vocals
Danyael: guitars
D.K.: bass, backing vocals
Graveyard: drums

Web:
https://www.facebook.com/Taetre-261153413896588/

P.O.V secondhand (also known as Point Of View Secondhand) was a short-lived Danish gothic rock/metal band of the 90’s. The band started out around mid-decade of the 90’s and released only one album, “Fraction Of Faith”, in 1997, via Emanzipation Productions.

The label flyer back then described the album as “Emotional, melodic gothic rock/metal, combining the melodies of the 80’s with the distortion of the 90’s. A sophisticated and very avantgarde release in today goth scene. Brilliant orchestral production and great conceptual artwork”.

Unfortunately, after the release of “Fraction Of Faith”, the group slowly fade away and disappeared from the scene. A few years after, drummer Kim Jørgensen re-emerged in the doom/gothic metal band Empire Drowns, but that project was short-lived too.

(Last) line-up:
Kim Jørgensen: drums, backing vocals
Ricky B. Nielsen: guitar
Jan Petersen: guitar
Mikkel Strojek: keyboards, vocals
Rasmus Kabelka: lead vocals, bass

Iniquity was initially formed in 1989 by among others Brian Petrowsky. In the following years the band went through countless line-up changes but still managed to gather an increasingly larger fanbase thanks to numerous live shows and the successfull two demo tapes “Entering Deception” (1992) & “Promo 93” (1993).

In 1995 the band entered the studio to record the debut album “Serenadium” (1996, Diehard/ Emanzipation) but due to those notorious line-up changes the final result wasn’t completed and released until late August 1996. At that time Brian Petrowsky had permanently left the band and the line-up was now Jesper Frost on drums – since 1995. Lars Friis also member since 1995 and Martin Rosendahl who joined in August 1996 delivering the vocals and the bass in place of Petrowsky & Thomas ”Gnist” Christensen. Brian Eriksen joined in early 1997 – this was the line-up which went on tour with the “Serenadium” album.

After a final replacement in the summer of 1997 Jens Lee joined up in place of Lars. The EP “The Hidden Lore” (1998, Mighty) was written and recorded then released in spring 1998. By the end of 1998 both Martin & Jens Lee left the band. Mads Hårløv & Thomas Fagerlind entered in their place. The very successfull and best selling Iniquity release of all “Five Across The Eyes” (1999, Mighty) was recorded and released with many tours and shows in its wake. By 2000 Kræn Meier had replaced Brian Eriksen – this line-up lasted until the band broke apart about two years after the release of the final album “Grime” (2001, Mighty).

In 2003 the compilation / rarities album “Iniquity Bloody Iniquity” (2003, Mighty) marked the break-up of Iniquity. The following 9 years the band was dead…

The silence was only broken once by the release of ”Entering Deception / Promo 93” (2011, Serpent Pulse) which was an official re-release of the two demo tapes on vinyl. In 2012 by pure coincidence a series of events – more or less out of control of any ex-members of the band – led to Martin, Brian & Jesper discussion the idea of “doing something about it”… Mads and other ex-members was asked to join but declined the offer…

However the line-up from “The Hidden Lore” ended up being the basis for he 2012-2013 reunion… and with this line-up the band played numerous festivals and shows around the world – including a full UK tour as the finale. In 2015 the band decided to do a few shows that they’d been forced to cancel on the initial tour. Thomas “Gnist” Christensen from the original “Serenadium” line-up replaced Jens Lee on these gigs as Martin moved to rhythm guitar.

In 2021, Emanzipation productions started a series of reissues of Iniquity’s classic back-catalog. In March 2021, “Five Across The Eyes” was reissued in CD (limited to 500 copies) and LP (black, orange and white vinyls, each limited to 100 copies and numbered).

One year after, in March 2022, it was time for “Grime” to get the full reissue treatment; this time exclusively on LP format (black and grey/black variants, each limited to 300 units), with sound remastered by Marco Angioni (Tardus Mortem, Panzerchrist, Tygers Of Pan Tang) at Angioni Studios.

(Last) line-up:
Jesper Frost Jensen: drums
Martin Rosendahl: bass, vocals
Brian Eriksen: guitars

Web:
https://www.facebook.com/iniquitybloodyiniquity/