THE BEAST

Today, Chilean black metallers  Black Grail  stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new mini-album,  VIIII , at  the Transmissions From the Dark YouTube channel . Set for international release on September 23rd via  Iron Bonehead Productions , hear  Black Grail 's  VIIII  in its entirety exclusively  HERE .

Formed in 2005,  Black Grail  are one of the great gems of the oft-overlooked Chilean black metal underground. While much of the focus (rightfully) on the country's long-running/reigning blackthrash idiom, there's existed a parallel paradigm less populous but no less potent, and there  Black Grail  have dug their evil trench with dogged resolve.

Naturally, their ascent/descent from that trench has been extremely patient - to date, two full-lengths have arrived, in 2015 and 2021, respectively - as well as a lauded split with France's well-respected Ysengrin, but this latest  VIIII  mini-album marks a shift toward (hopefully) more prolific days for  Black Grail . Creepy and creeped-out, the five-track/26-minute work maintains all the magic and mysticism of their earlier work but is now cast in a clearer (black)light that does nothing to diminish their sulfurous intensity. Alternately ritualistic, regal, and rowdy,  Black Grail  wind their way through a wealth of treacherous and terrorizing corridors here, establishing foggy atmosphere one minute and then bloody headbanging the other, keeping the listener engaged and on their toes with where the Chileans will lead them next. It's a distinctly Chilean style of black metal still, but  VIIII  could equally sit comfortably alongside the cult likes of Funereal Presence, Cultes des Ghoules or, further back, Germany's mythical Martyrium.

Black Grail  have revealed the number of your doom:  VIIII !

Fully count down to that doom exclusively  HERE , courtesy of the Transmissions From the Dark YouTube channel.