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Germany's Dethroned has set 1 December as the release date for its sophomore album, A Bridge To Eternal Darkness, which will come out via Dominance of Darkness Records on CD, vinyl, and cassette tape formats.
Dethroned is one of the most cult entities in the rich (yet often overlooked) history of German black metal. The band's roots stretch back to 1991, with the band Mysticism, which released but one demo. From Mysticism's ashes came Dethroned in 1993, founded by the members of Barkayal, BSoD, and Morgoth. Over the course of the next three years, the band would release a half-dozen demos, faithfully exuding the spirit of the mid-90s black metal scene. In 1998, Dethroned would release a live tape, Christentod, which included a couple of bonus tracks from an aborted 7" EP. Then it would retreat to the shadows for a full decade before emerging with Promo 2008, soon followed by the Dominance of Darkness-released In The Sign Of The Pentagram, a retrospective compilation covering the band's 90s works. Another hiatus ensued until 2016 when Dethroned released a split album joined by fellow German hordes Sacrilegious Rite and Goatblood. At long last, in 2017, the band finally released its first full-length, Bluotrunst, sounding very much like the 90s never ended.
And so it goes (and, as expected, after some years of silence) with Dethroned's second album, A Bridge To Eternal Darkness. Something of a 30th-anniversary release for the Germans, A Bridge To Eternal Darkness is 47 minutes of trend-free olde-worlde black metal, serving as a portal to mysteries and mysticism beyond the mien of mortals. Like the mythical era from which it sprang, Dethroned here maintains a curious contrast between stark monochromatism and borderless songwriting - a throwback to the days when you immediately knew you were experiencing black metal, but each band offered unique twists in its make-no-mistake presentation. As such, A Bridge To Eternal Darkness is a deceptively dynamic listen. Aggression is certainly accounted for, but so is melancholia, and often within the same song; songwriting largely sticks to mid-tempos at once triumphant and sashaying, martial and reposed. Guitars are sharp and cold, of course, but actual bass guitar pushes those dynamics forward; foggy synths linger where they may, intermittent but always with powerful purpose. The production is superlative in its balance between effervescent rawness and crystalline clarity, altogether highlighting the very real (and very impassioned) playing across the album. Concluding in a manner most fitting is a cover of the scene-legendary Grausamkeit, honouring both traditions as well as BSoD and Barkayal's years in Dethroned.
Keeping matters DIY, guitarist John Never handled all artwork (exterior and interior) for A Bridge To Eternal Darkness. To celebrate this anniversary, Dominance of Darkness will concurrently reissue Bluotrunst as a six-panel digipack CD with alternate cover art. Hate, riot and blasphemy since 1993: Dethroned strikes a blow against modernity!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track "Come To Me"... Link
A Bridge To Eternal Darkness tracklist:
01. Come to Me
02. Vinum Creaturae
03. Disciple of the Elders
04. Colour Out of Space
05. Void
06. Ewig Fäulnis
07. Ruf der Tiefe
08. Descent
09. A Bridge To Eternal Darkness
10. Im Zeichen Des Bösen (Grausamkeit cover)
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