Today, Goathorned Productions announces September 15th as the international release date for Novae Militiae's highly anticipated second album, Topheth.
Novae Militiae was founded in 2009. In a wish to remain anonymous and develop a mysterious aura in line with its vision of black metal, the band has never revealed who the members involved in this project were.
The first demo EP, Affliction of the Divine, was released on the label Nihilward at the end of 2011. This one, limited to 500 copies, is now sold-out. A tape reissue was published in 2015 by the label From the Dark Past, limited to 99 copies. This first recording aroused a certain interest in the orthodox black metal scene despite low promotion.
The first Novae Militiae album, Gash'khalah - the destroyer in the Tree of Death - was released in 2017 by Goathorned Productions and consisted of eight tracks across a total duration of 55 minutes. It was published as a digipack CD limited to 300 copies. More accomplished than the previous EP, Gash'khalah established Novae Militiae as an essential band to the initiated. Here, the band took on a more brutal orientation, while atmospheres became more developed and transcendental. In 2018, the labels Sentient Ruin Laboratories and Argento Records joined forces to release the vinyl version of Gash'khalah in a double-LP version limited to 300 copies that came in a heavy gatefold jacket and an etched side D.
Now, at long last, Novae Militiae revealed their second full-length work, Topheth, once again through the auspices of Goathorned Productions. Suitably titled, Topheth means "the place to burn" in Hebrew, but is also the place of human sacrifice to the god Moloch in the Bible. Indeed burning, both physically and especially spiritually, this second Novae Militiae album consists of six stout tracks: four of black metal - orthodox in composition, religious in their fervor, blindingly brilliant each one - and two of ritual/dark ambient, altogether making for an immersive 54-minute experience. On this occasion, two tracks from the early Affliction of the Divine EP were re-recorded, as the production was not completely satisfactory at that time, but they duly contribute to a unified whole, which underlines how powerful Novae Militiae's vision was from the very beginning. For the rest of Topheth, the band studiously worked on darker and more complex atmospheres in connection with their investment in the Left Hand Path. The result? Arguably, the strongest statement made in orthodox/religious black metal in over a decade, both revitalizing the form and reshaping it to Novae Militiae's design.
The release of Topheth is planned for September 15th, 2020 on Goathorned Productions in a digipack CD version limited to 300 copies. A vinyl version will also be released later on by Sentient Ruin Laboratories.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track "Elevated to Him"
HERE at Novae Militiae's Bandcamp. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Novae Militiae's Topheth
1. Towards the Sitra Achra [8:08]
2. Advent of the Prophet [7:23]
3. Faithfully Reduced to Ashes [5:30]
4. The Call of Aeshma [4:42]
5. Elevated to Him [9:05]
6. Affliction of the Divine [7:23]
7. The Tables of Revelations [5:53]
8. A.R.F.A. [5:34]
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/novae.miltiae
