Kaoteon, the band featuring full-time members Anthony Kaoteon (Death Drive) on guitar and vocalist Walid Wolflust (Ordum, ex-Gothmog), as well as studio mercenaries bassist Linus Klausenitzer (Obscura) and drummer Fredrik Widigs (Marduk), will release a new album called Damnatio Memoriae on February 23. We're pleased to premiere the title track from the album for you today, which combines a lot of atmospheric black metal elements with a more devastating death metal style into one crushing package.
As a band, Kaoteon has faced censorship at the highest levels in their home country of Lebanon. According to the press release, they have been put in jail for devil worshipping, attacked by religious groups, and raided several times by police trying to use them as scapegoats to mask political and religious problems in the region. Here's what the band had to say about existing in such a hostile environment.
"Lebanese metalheads are some of the friendliest and most amazing people to hang out with. It is sad to see great potential in this world gone to waste because someone somewhere decided to label people at birth and imprison them into their borders. The scene itself is thirsty for metal, so international bands should expect amazing interaction from the crowd. The Dutch scene – where we exist now – shows strong support for local talent, unlike the Lebanese scene. The Dutch scene love their bands above all, while we feel that the Lebanese metal scene favors the international bands."
Damnatio Memoriae was recorded by Kaoteon themselves and was mixed by Daniel Bergstrand (Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth). Pre-order the album here.
