Earlier this year, occult-inspired Dutch metal outfit the Devil's Blood announced they'd called it quits, but the band are leaving their fans with a final album to mourn over. Titled III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars, the band's swan song drops digitally on iTunes April 30, at other digital retailers on May 28, and on physical formats June 11 through Metal Blade.
A press release notes that the act were already in the middle of pre-production when they decided to split, and had recorded demos for an upcoming disc in guitarist Selim "SL" Lemouchi home studio. A statement from the six-stringer states that the band didn't have a chance to properly record the songs in a slick studio setting, so they're opting to release the raw renditions instead.
"We listened to this material again and decided that even though the audio quality might not be what people have come to expect from a the Devil's Blood release, the song material was and is the best we have ever done," Lemouchi said. "We came to the conclusion that these songs deserve to become a part of the canon and that we would release them as is."
After the now-defunct band chose to release the demos, Lemouchi made a quick mix of the tracks and sent them over to Pieter G. Kloos to be mastered.
On the whole, the seven-song cycle apparently dabbles in the dark arts, but Lemouchi points to first single "White Storm of Teeth" in particular as summarizing the spirit behind the band's transformative journey over the years.
"More so than the other material this song speaks to the completion and transubstantiation that always follows an occult path. Not the end of a journey but the start of a completely new one," he said before jumping into the structural specifics of the song. "Built around 13 stanzas in the first part and 13 stanzas in the second part the process of inner enlightenment through confusion and entropy and the initiation through the death of the lower self is illustrated. This theme is rampant throughout the record and its lyrics but here it culminates and completely devours itself. After this work no words are needed and, on the album, none are offered."
You can stream the psychedelic gloom number in the player down below.
III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars is the Devil's Blood's third LP overall and follows 2012's The Thousandfold Epicentre.
III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars:
1. I was Promised a Hunt
- Part III - ...and the holy cunt spewed forth abomination...
- Part II - ...wielding the hammer of the dead...
- Part I - ...upon the aimless path...
2. The Lullaby of the Burning Boy
3. ...If not a Vessel?
4. In the loving Arms of Lunacy's secret Demons
5. Dance of the Elements
6. White Storm of Teeth
7. Tabula Rasa
A press release notes that the act were already in the middle of pre-production when they decided to split, and had recorded demos for an upcoming disc in guitarist Selim "SL" Lemouchi home studio. A statement from the six-stringer states that the band didn't have a chance to properly record the songs in a slick studio setting, so they're opting to release the raw renditions instead.
"We listened to this material again and decided that even though the audio quality might not be what people have come to expect from a the Devil's Blood release, the song material was and is the best we have ever done," Lemouchi said. "We came to the conclusion that these songs deserve to become a part of the canon and that we would release them as is."
After the now-defunct band chose to release the demos, Lemouchi made a quick mix of the tracks and sent them over to Pieter G. Kloos to be mastered.
On the whole, the seven-song cycle apparently dabbles in the dark arts, but Lemouchi points to first single "White Storm of Teeth" in particular as summarizing the spirit behind the band's transformative journey over the years.
"More so than the other material this song speaks to the completion and transubstantiation that always follows an occult path. Not the end of a journey but the start of a completely new one," he said before jumping into the structural specifics of the song. "Built around 13 stanzas in the first part and 13 stanzas in the second part the process of inner enlightenment through confusion and entropy and the initiation through the death of the lower self is illustrated. This theme is rampant throughout the record and its lyrics but here it culminates and completely devours itself. After this work no words are needed and, on the album, none are offered."
You can stream the psychedelic gloom number in the player down below.
III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars is the Devil's Blood's third LP overall and follows 2012's The Thousandfold Epicentre.
III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars:
1. I was Promised a Hunt
- Part III - ...and the holy cunt spewed forth abomination...
- Part II - ...wielding the hammer of the dead...
- Part I - ...upon the aimless path...
2. The Lullaby of the Burning Boy
3. ...If not a Vessel?
4. In the loving Arms of Lunacy's secret Demons
5. Dance of the Elements
6. White Storm of Teeth
7. Tabula Rasa