Out Now: Speedwhore, Violent Sin, Armagh, Rapid, Megaton Sword repress

Dying Victims Productions is proud to announce the following new releases:

DVP 254 Speedwhore – Visions of a Parallel World LP/CD/MC

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present the highly anticipated second album of Germany’s SPEEDWHORE, Visions of a Parallel World, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. 

SPEEDWHORE was formed in Munich by Tim Kuntze and Johannes Mikulits in 2006. What started as an alcohol-induced joke soon took its own course when, soon after, SPEEDWHORE had their first rehearsals with a quickly expanded lineup. Three demos followed (one unreleased) as well as two singles and constant gigs in the ever-thriving German underground. But it was the band’s debut album, The Future is Now – released in 2015 by the cult label Witches Brew – that truly put SPEEDWHORE on the metal map, featuring as it did an odd-yet-endearing mix of thrash, black metal, and traditional heavy metal. An EP and a split 7” followed before Tim moved to Berlin and revamped the band completely. With the lineup filled out by Alexander Pusch, Leonhard Link, and Marcel Cording,  SPEEDWHORE started to have national and international gigs again, and this lineup released their first output on a tribute album to Japan’s legendary Sabbat as well as another split 7”.  

Road-tested by yet more gigs, the revamped SPEEDWHORE make their full-length debut with Visions of a Parallel World. At once sounding strikingly SPEEDWHORE and incredibly reinvigorated, the band’s second album takes that odd-yet-endearing mix to grander, grimier levels. On the surface, much of Visions of a Parallel World could soundtrack a heavy metal drinking party…but listen closely and one will detect unique twists of atmosphere and a more idiosyncratic approach to songwriting that jointly put SPEEDWHORE in a whole new realm (or a rarefied one populated by such idiosyncratic cults as fellow Germans Witching Hour or Slovenian labelmates VIGILANCE). The nine-song/39-minute album charges hard and charges in many directions, but always forward and abyss-ward, and the filth freely washes over you as a ghostly fog of ancient terror simultaneously casts its spell. The supremely grainy & old-school yet spacious production skillfully enhances this sensation and further lends an air of the archaic to proceedings, but rest assured that true HEAVY METAL physicality is present and accounted for. Call Visions of a Parallel World, then, a heavy metal drinking party where dread portals are also opened. 

Equally suited to the streets and castles, SPEEDWHORE fire up the motorbikes and evoke Visions of a Parallel World.  

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on oxblood vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
(slightly delayed, will ship next week)
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
MC edition with sticker, button, download code.

DVP 255 Violent Sin – Serpent’s Call LP/CD/MC

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present VIOLENT SIN’s highly anticipated debut album, Serpent’s Call, on CD, music cassette and vinyl LP format. 

Hailing from Belgium, VIOLENT SIN formed in 2016 to honor and build upon the legacy of heavy metal and its varied & diverse forms. Although the band certainly draws inspiration from the days of yore, they’re certainly not limited to what people would call ’80s metal – in their words, “We believe that real metal is timeless” – and humbly and reverentially do they offer a continuation and innovation of what all their predecessors set in motion.  

VIOLENT SIN’s first recording came in 2017 with a digital single, and then was followed a year later by a six-song demo. Five years would pass before a new lineup was configured, but at long last – and with a revitalized sound, to boot – is the band’s debut album ready to unleash its fury upon the world. Titled Serpent’s Call, VIOLENT SIN’s first full-length is indeed a summons to all headbangers who love denim and leather, cauldron and sword. Like a veritable jukebox, Serpent’s Call synthesizes all sorts of righteous metal styles – classic speed, proto-blackthrash, speed-cum-thrash, juiced-up traditional – into one 37-minute thrillride. The recording’s suitably rough but not overly raw, maintaining a “murky clarity” not unlike a classic Combat or Metal Blade record from 1985, and just the right amount of echo to emit sulfurous atmosphere. And at 11 swift ‘n’ stout songs, VIOLENT SIN race from one to the next, but always with memorability and malice. 

For those who hail earliest Slayer, Exciter, Abattoir, Hallow’s Eve, and Germany’s Warlock, heed the Serpent’s Call of VIOLENT SIN! 

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on electric blue vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
(slightly delayed, will ship next week)
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
– MC edition with sticker, button, download code.

DVP 256 Armagh- Serpent Storm LP/CD/MC 

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present ARMAGH’s highly anticipated second album, Serpent Storm, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats. 

Formed in 2012, ARMAGH are a heavy metal force from Satanic City Warsaw. Mixing classic heavy metal from the ’70s and ’80s with proto-black metal, ARMAGH are the creators of First Wave Only movement, which unites several Polish bands delivering old-school metal – among them, labelmates GALLOWER and SEXMAG but also Torpor, Wielki Mrok, and R.I.P. – with primal severity in their sound and message. 

Truly, ARMAGH are a maniac maniac’s band, idiosyncratic mainlining such noble influences as Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, KISS, Manilla Road, early Slayer and Megadeth, W.A.S.P, Bathory, Dissection, Running Wild, KAT, and the NWOBHM in general into something authentically rustic and effortlessly unique. They delivered their first recording, the Venomous Frost EP, in 2016 and then followed it three years later with a split and then debut album, Cold Wrath of Mother Earth. The latter was exceptionally cult, but simply set the stage for their breakout record: Serpent Storm. 

Wild and weird but never belabored, ARMAGH’s second album seemingly comes from an alien place – one where Battle Cry, Another Perfect Day, Haunting the Chapel, Chinatown, Under the Sign of the Black Mark, and Born Again all simultaneously play in perfect, hellish harmony. A true record collector’s record, Serpent Storm displays its power and personality at every turn, each of these ten songs offering its own canvas of darkness and mystery, ultimately making the album an epic of archaic splendor and true rivetheaded spirit. For as “old” as the album supposedly sounds (and by OLD, we mean ANCIENT), ARMAGH’s rumbling ‘n’ roiling attack feels remarkably fresh compared to so much nowadays “heavy metal” or especially “black metal”; from the warlocked clean tones of frontman Galin Soulreaper to his almost rock ‘n’ rollish guitar tones, there’s nothing trendy – only timeless – about that attack. The 45 minutes of Serpent Storm feel too short, so addicting is its alchemy. 

Prepare for the sleeper hit of the year in ARMAGH’s Serpent Storm: FUCK MODERN METAL, FIRST WAVE ONLY!  

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on ultra clear vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
(slightly delayed, will ship next week)
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
– MC edition with sticker, button, download code.

DVP 257 Rapid – Blackstar Oppression Regime MLP/CD

DYING VICTMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present RAPID’s striking debut mini-album, Blackstar Oppression Regime, on 12” vinyl and CD formats.The CD version will include the band’s Deadly Torment demo as bonus tracks. 

Hailing from coldest Finland, RAPID create burning-black speed metalpunk. The band’s roots go back to 2013, when the three friends – vocalist/bassist Vincent Revenge, drummer Tapio “The Goon” Malmström, and guitarist Atte “Spectre” Nikku, the latter two then still members of Excuse – were playing covers of such bands as Venom, Motörhead, Hellhammer, Slayer, and Judas Priest. The next year became more serious, and they decided to name themselves RAPID and soon recorded their first demo, Rapid Metal Attack. In 2016, they released their second demo, Deadly Torment, and garnered some larger recognition, especially outside of Finland. That then led to a deal with Svart Records for the Ancient Force 7” EP, released in 2017.  

Then, in 2020, after a few years of different phases, live shows, and strict practice and composing, RAPID recorded their breakout mini-album, Blackstar Oppression Regime. Immediately upon pressing “play,” lighting strikes and it’s apparent that RAPID are more juiced-up than ever, electricity literally bristling from every second of these four songs. Whereas prior RAPID recordings suggested more convenient subgenre categorization, here on Blackstar Oppression Regime is the attack ever so subtly more unique. There’s the urgency of hardcore punk, the hook-oriented propulsion of speed metal, and the spidery aura of old-wave black metal, but even then, that only tells half the RAPID story; some of the lead lines could come from classic deathrock, while the general hot-rockin’ that anchors everything is pure turn-of-the-‘80s heavy metal. Put together, especially with the power-trio’s charisma spilling over into everything, Blackstar Oppression Regime becomes a four-pronged attack of timeless metal anarchy. 

Previously only available digitally, Blackstar Oppression Regime now sees physical release via DYING VICTIMS, both as a stand-alone 12” and on CD buttressed by Deadly Torment. RAPID have arrived!    

Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on white vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
(slightly delayed, will ship next week)
– CD edition with sticker and obi.

DVP 244 Megaton Sword – Might & Power LP – 2nd pressing

Regular gatefold edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.