DVP 308 Sign of the Jackal – Heavy Metal Survivors LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s highly anticipated third album, Heavy Metal Survivors, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Since 2007, Italy’s SIGN OF THE JACKAL have been carrying the torch for traditional, female-fronted HEAVY METAL of an authentically mid ‘80s vintage. Over the past 15 years, they’ve played stages all over Europe and delivered two full-lengths – 2013’s Mark of the Beast and 2018’s DYING VICTIMS-released Breaking the Spell – along with a preceding demo and EP: not too shabby for a band who began, humbly enough, with covers of obscure underground metal songs from the ‘80s! Naturally, the electric vocals of Laura DemonsQueen are front and center, but SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s gleaming chrome pulses with pure mid-‘80s speed metal energy, all injected with a heaping helping of classic ‘70s Italian horror atmosphere.
Now, a too-long six years since their last full-length, SIGN OF THE JACKAL are about to unleash their ultimate statement: Heavy Metal Survivors. The title itself is both a perfect summation of their sound and a loose thematic for the album’s post-apocalyptic atmosphere…total ‘80s-style, of course! Each song is gassed up with enough energy to roam the wasteland for days on end, but what sets SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s third album apart from its predecessors is its HOOKS; be it because the more-patient pacing or the space between notes ringing more richly, Heavy Metal Survivors’ eight vocal-led tracks retain a catchiness that’s so engaging and engrossing, it’s not impertinent to suggest that they could’ve landed on the radio circa 1986…late night, of course! And while SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s aesthetic signposts haven’t changed all that much since the last album – or the beginning, for that matter, as Warlock’s True as Steel remains a huge influence – LP#3 moves the Italians even closer to classic Dokken at their speediest as well as Tokyo Blade, Virgin Steele, Finland’s OZ, America’s Abattoir and Chastain or even W.A.S.P. at the leanest and meanest. Through it all, though, there’s that FEELING: of fun, of glory, of eternal obeisance to the electrical currents of classic metal that remain etched in stone to a specific era in a specific way, raised up and reborn with vitality and vigor. Those who know, know, and they’re among the Heavy Metal Survivors!
– Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on creme colored vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
DVP 309 Raptore – Renaissance LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present RAPTORE’s highly anticipated third album, Renaissance, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
From their humble beginnings in 2012, RAPTORE have risen to the top of the true metal pack in the intervening decade. The band’s roots started with vocalist/guitarist Nico Cattoni, originally hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and his first lineup released their first demo in 2014 and then the debut album Rage N’ Fever in 2016, which allowed RAPTORE to tour South America and open for such bands as Exciter and Enforcer. Then, not being able to find suitable musicians for a steady lineup, Nico decides in 2018 to move to Europe in order to give his band better opportunities and recognition. He set base in Barcelona and completed the lineup with three of the most talented musicians in the scene. While they were booked for festivals such as Pyrenean and Trveheim, unfortunately, the pandemic delayed those concerts until 2022. Meanwhile, RAPTORE were brewing their breakthrough record, the full-length Blackfire. Eventually released during the summer of 2022 through DYING VICTIMS, Blackfire literally EXPLODED with an excitement that simply could not be contained – and the international metal scene took notice.
With the stage thus set, RAPTORE manage to magickally eclipse that feat with their third album, Renaissance. Truly titled, Renaissance is a tour-de-force of classic & classy HEAVY METAL steeped in all the black velvet and neon-lit chrome of the mythical ‘80s. So authentically rendered and passionately played, so rapturously engaging and dreamily transcendental, so simply AWESOME (and – again – explosive), it would not be remiss to suggest that RAPTORE somehow travelled through time and returned with a lost sacred scroll from 1986 or even 1989. Across its whip-tight nine tracks in 34 minutes, Renaissance spans a wealth of vintage metallic styles – smoothly cruising speed metal, Sunset Strip darkness, hard rock mysticism, juiced-up hair metal – and weaves them into a rich tapestry of moody & melodic metal that’s so silky and elegant at every turn, simple aesthetic pigeonholing doesn’t apply.
Granted, RAPTORE are very much (and always will be) a metal band above all, but their songwriting and textural coloring have grown impossibly more on Renaissance: by turns, a more “mature” and yet also more “fun” version of themselves. The stained-glass organ & synth intro opens the headspace for the focused eclecticism to follow; there’s a brightness to their attack that soon submits to the shadows – not straight-to-the-abyss “darkness,” but not peering away from it, either – and the deftly layered, powerfully HUGE production allows RAPTORE’s musings to take on an even greater and more personal emotional heft. So, while Renaissance could be likened to the underdog metal that clawed its way onto the radio during the latter half of the ‘80s, Nico & crew exude a daresay smarter sensibility to their catchier-than-ever anthems.
From masterclass to world class, RAPTORE are breaking the chains of their breakthrough record with that ever-crucial third album. How far Renaissance will go, we can only speculate, but it’s not unjust to suggest it stacks alongside other velvet metal classics like Don Dokken’s Up From the Ashes, W.A.S.P.’s Inside the Electric Circus, Whitesnake’s Slip of the Tongue, Warlock’s Triumph and Agony, the more serious moments to Slaughter’s Stick It to Ya, or even ‘80s KISS during theirs – as well as, of course, such cold-steel killers like Judas Priest’s Defenders of the Faith and Scorpions’ Blackout. Ready for this Renaissance?
– Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on red/black marbled vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
DVP 310 High Warden – Astral Iron LP/CD
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present HIGH WARDEN’s highly anticipated debut album, Astral Iron, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Hailing from Münster, Germany’s HIGH WARDEN was founded by vocalist / guitarist Alastair van Morgue-Gûl and drummer Sadistic Hammer in 2022. The first sign of life from this self-proclaimed “Morgul Doom Commando” was the demo Land of Stone, released in early 2023 by DYING VICTIMS. Initially hired as a live bassist, Lord Perish joined the band as a full-time member that year.
With their lineup thus set, HIGH WARDEN prepare to ride into battle with their full-length debut, Astral Iron. The title serves as an aesthetic springboard for their idiosyncratic sound. Granted, HIGH WARDEN are influenced by legendary bands like Reverend Bizarre, Doomsword, Bathory, Manilla Road, Pagan Altar, Trouble, and Mercyful Fate, but their version of epic heavy / doom metal is as foreign as it is familiar: Slow Heavy Metal, as they accurately refer to it.
Recorded live, Astral Iron pounds and pulses vibrantly, deploying riffs coursing and crushing barbarically before leaving wide-open spaces in anticipation of that next addicting slash of ancient steel. HIGH WARDEN’s tones match their execution – earthen and mossy, grit encasing clarity – and each of the album’s five primary tracks (“Burgfrieden” is a hauntingly serene synth interlude that gives way to feedback) lumber forward with epic aplomb and high adventure. The vocals of A. v. Morgue-Gûl are plaintive and poignant, illustrating tales mainly based on individual thoughts but suitably packaged as analogies to various fantasy works (like those of J.R.R. Tolkien), historical events, and legends & myths. Unbelievers only need to hear Astral Iron’s closing epic “We Shall Burn at Foreign Shores (The Choice of Achilles)” to witness the blanching power of HIGH WARDEN!
– Regular edition on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card and download code.
– Special edition on transparent violett vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, download code and patch.
– CD edition with sticker and obi.
DVP 314 Kvicksilver – Lady Unknown MC
DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present KVICKSILVER’s striking debut demo, Lady Unknown, on music cassette format.
KVICKSILVER is a Heavy Rock band from Stockholm, Sweden that was formed by guitarist Filip Herder, drummer Benjamin Curman and bassist Mille Lundström in the summer of 2023. In January 2024 singer Martin Klingvall joined the band on vocals and thus KVICKSILVER was complete. Drawing heavily from god-like influences such as Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and many more, the three-track demo evokes an incredibly OLD sounding 70s rock/proto metal vibe which is rarely this authentic. Big things ahead for these four young Swedes!
– MC comes with sticker, button, download code.
