Enfold Darkness have sure changed a lot since we last featured them in May of 2009 (side note: what I wrote about Sumerian Records’ business model nearly three years ago is still so true). When listening to their new track “Lairs of the Ascended Masters” currently streaming at Decibel I thought to myself, “Gee, I don’t remember the band sounding this blackened,” so just to be sure I wasn’t going crazy I went over to their MySpace page (’cause you know whatever’s there is gonna be old) and listened to some older stuff. While the older material has more elements of black metal than I remembered, it’s also got a lot more tech-death, and it’s the “death” influence that’s almost completely gone on the new song.

Here’s founder/guitarist Matt Brown on the band’s ever-evolving sound:

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In case this year’s mind-bending new release from Obscura, Omnivium, wasn’t enough crazy German prog-death for you, the band has now announced the impending release of a demos and rarities collection, Illegimitation. That’s not a real word, and the album won’t come out on a real label, either — the band will self-release the compilation, which will include their earliest recordings from 2003, unreleased songs from 2006′s Cosmogenesis sessions, and covers recorded by their current line-up.

In fact, they’re already accepting pre-orders via Kickstarter. Packages range from five bucks — which will get you an immediate download of the song “Crucified” and a download of the full album two weeks prior to its official release — to fifteen-hundred dollars, which is a lot of money, but gets you a lot of cool shit, including concert tickets, a drum or guitar lesson, and dinner with the band. Other purchase options come with such prizes as stickers, patches, posters, meet n’ greets, and a private tickle fight with Steffen Kummerer. (I may have made one of those things up.) Go here to explore your options and make a pledge.

Meanwhile, the band’s MetalSucks-presented North American headlining tour with Abysmal Dawn, Last Chance to Reason, and Enfold Darkness rolls on! Obscura and LCTR both absolutely slayed at The Metal Suckfest this past weekend, and Abysmal Dawn rule really hard, too; I’ve never seen Enfold Darkness live, but I hear nuthin’ but good things! Get remaining tour dates after the jump.

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Fuckin’ A right! MetalSucks is proudly teaming up with Guitar World and Hails & Horns to bring you Obscura’s first ever North American headlining tour!!! Earlier this year, the German tech death masters released Omnivium, possibly their strongest album yet, and now they’re coming to your town to kick your ass so hard the scars will be permanent.

And in case that’s not enough for you, they’re bringing out three totally killer bands for support — Abysmal Dawn, Last Chance to Reason (from November 4 through November 25), and Enfold Darkness (from November 28 through December 7). These gigs are gonna be un-fucking-missable, so make sure you get your ass to a show.

Here’s the full tour schedule:

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The MetalSucks-sponsored Pestilence Reigns Upon North America tour is now more than half complete, with the action set to wrap in New York City this Thursday at the Gramercy Theater. In addition to the technical metal legends, Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter will also be in tow; in addition to NYC, those of you in Chicago (tonight!), Montreal and Toronto still have a chance to catch this excellent tour, so don’t snooze and lose.

Axl and Vince will be in attendance at the NYC show on Thursday; as usual, feel free to buy us beers.

-VN

I don’t remember which show it was at, but Vince and I recently saw the ridiculous amount of cell phones snapping photos and video at a concert and started to reminiscence about that time in 1991 when Axl Rose jumped into a crowd in St. Louis to punch some dude who taking unauthorized photos of the show, thus inciting a riot (Rose’s first of at least four). If he pulled that shit today, it would seem even more ridiculous. Hell, before I ever saw Metallica live, I had some bootleg cassette of one of their shows that I bought off some dude at a flea market (seriously) for ten bucks. The audio quality was atrocious, but I still listened to the thing like eighteen-thousand times. Today, bootlegs of live shows are just a given; security doesn’t try and stop anyone from recording the show, because seemingly everyone is recording the show. Even if they find an audio recorder on me during the traditional pat-down, just saying “I’m interviewing the band” is sufficient to get them to ignore it. But they never ask to see my press credentials or anything, ’cause they don’t really care – they can’t take away every cell phone that comes through the place.

Which is all just a long-winded introduction for the very good quality fan-filmed footage of Pestilence playing at Neurotic Deathfest last week. We would have killed to have such easy access to this kind of footage when I was younger; now it’s pretty much expected that if you play a show, it’ll be all over YouTube within a matter of hours. Check out a clip below; you can watch more at Shut Yo’ Mouth.

And if that footage makes you feel all warm and tingly where your bathing suit covers, then don’t forget that MetalSucks and Decibel are teaming up to bring you Pestilence’s first U.S. tour in sixteen years (!) starting at the end of May; Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter are also on the bill, so you know it’s gonna be a good time. Get dates here.

-AR

It’s been over a decade and a half since Pestilence last toured the U.S., but their MetalSucks co-sponsored tour with Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter is right around the corner! I’m fairly certain we have a lot of readers who either weren’t even born yet or were suckin’ at their momma’s teat the last time these dudes came to the States, so this is gonna be a big one.

As if you weren’t already pumped enough for this tour, Pestilence have now posted rehearsal audio of a new song, “amgoD,” on their MySpace page. It’s instrumental right now, but it sounds pretty sick. It also features new drummer Yuma Van Eekelen, in what I guess technically marks his recording debut with the band.

Check out “amgoD” here. And while you’re there, find out when Pestilence are coming to destroy your town. ‘Cause only losers will miss this trek. You’re not a loser… are you?

-AR

As part of our ongoing effort to bring brutal metal tours to you, our deserving (sometimes) readership, MetalSucks and Decibel are proud to present a Spring headline run featuring technical death metal legends Pestilence, their first US tour in over 16 years! The 17-date journey will kick off in Baltimore as part of the Maryland Deathfest on May 30th and close at the Gramercy Theater in New York City on June 17. Support will be provided by Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter. Advance tickets will go on sale for all shows via http://enterthevault.com starting today.

That’s a killer lineup. All dates are posted after the jump. Before you Floridians bitch about how there aren’t any Florida dates, you should know two things: 1) we have zero control over the cities and venues that the tours we sponsor play, and 2) face it, Florida is out of the way, dude.

Onwards…

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Sumerian Records are the “it” label of 2009; those dudes are seriously killing it over there. Seeing the headline “<insert band name here> sign to Sumerian Records” in my RSS reader is always worthy of a click, because at this point you’re sure to get a quality listen. And their model for success is as forward thinking as the music of the bands they sign: capitalize on a burgeoning progressive death metal scene (Sumeriancore. Can we please get everyone to start using this term?) by tying bands into a business model based around a booking agency and package tours rather than selling records. Touring = Win, Selling Records = Fail. Brilliant! How come no one thought of this before? We’re scratching our heads. We’re not the only ones taking notice, either: read what Psyopus’ Chris Arp had to say about Sumerian Records when I interviewed him last month.

Anyway, meet Enfold Darkness, the latest additions to the A-Grade (except one band) Sumerian roster. Enfold Darkness take the trademark Sumeriancore proggy/techy/deathy sound and add their own blacky touch. It’s good. They got the chops. They got the songs. What else do you need? Check ‘em out on MySpace.

Enfold Darkness will release their Sumerian debut Our Cursed Rapture sometime this year. Stay tuned.

-VN