“A proud and powerful record, inundated with inexorable, punctual and extremely hot electric guitar riffs, which will accompany you in a few quick moves to Hell! To listen to on a full stomach.”
-Extra! Music Magazine
To watch the new music video “THE WITCH” from RATS & RAVENS please visit: www.scourgerecords.com
“Rats & Ravens is one loud, driving, angry ball of noise that doesn’t give a damn about conforming or looking at the bright side of things. The band is comprised of Aleister Sinn (vocals, guitar), Wes Anderson (drums), Stephen Paul Goodwin (bass), and Steve Smyth (lead guitar). What is perhaps most interesting about these guys music is that it is not just a loud and abrasive wall of noise. These guys can really play their instruments. And listeners who dismiss their songs as just loud walls of sound may entirely miss the point. There’s some surprisingly difficult musical stuff going on here. Take our word for it, not anyone can play stuff this complex and intricate.
Rats & Ravens“tells a horror story about a corpse that wakes up in Hell only to find he must go back to earth, recover his soul that still lives inside another body and drag it back to Hell” (direct quote from the press release). Loud, blinding, blistering modern metal with brains and muscle. Kickass cuts include “Dark Heart,” “They Come at Night,” “Forest of the Screaming Trees,” and “Am I Dead?” Simultaneously horrific and progressive. Whew.”
“This has more in common with latter day King Diamond than anything else. This is horror metal with a very clear concept for each album. This one tells the tale of a father who summons Evil and the price he has to pay to the witch. If you like I am a huge Mercyful Fate/King Diamond fan this is a treat. You can always discuss the pros and cons of being this influenced/inspired by a band or artist but when it is done the way this is done I for one have no problems with it. This is very dramatic metal. This is one album you gotta sit back and listen to, to fully get the whole ambience of the story and music in connection. This one was a cool one.” -Anders Ekdahl
To watch the new music video “THE WITCH” from RATS & RAVENS please visit: www.scourgerecords.com
FROM HELL has returned in 2020 with a new album called RATS & RAVENS, album both dark and sinister.
A new music video for the single “THE WITCH” premiered online at Decibel Magazine on June 23, 2020, from the album RATS & RAVENS available now in stores and online! The video is now available to you at www.scourgerecords.com.
Mid 13th Century…somewhere in eastern Europe
“A father disturbs an evil in the east. A witch comes to steal his son and the children of the village to make them her own. She sacrifices them and reanimates the dead with the blessings from the god of vermin. With rats, she brings them back to life and calls them Lilium.” RATS & RAVENS has been receiving a great response from fans and media, with Bravewords calling the album “A thoroughly ‘hellish’ offering” and “a 55 minute descent into madness,” and writes that “From Hell has composed a filthy horror metal album, don’t be afraid to enter the fires of damnation!” The Headbanging Moose says, “This is how heavy music should always sound. Heavy, dark, intricate and above all that, absolutely evil.” That Drummer Guy writes, “This ten-track album showcases this band’s great guitar work, driving drum beats, thumping bass lines and powerful vocals,” and Soil Chronicles says, “Rats and Ravens is full of arrangements and atmospheres that make the listener uncomfortable: if the goal was to give us the impression of watching a scary horror film, it is successful!”
RATS & RAVENS features Aleister Sinn on vocals and guitar, Wes Anderson on drums, Stephen Paul Goodwin on bass and Steve Smyth on lead guitar. As the band rehearsed the songs with Sinn, the richness of what Wes, Steve, and Stephen brought to the material from their varied backgrounds of musical experience added a depth to each song that was later realized in the final recordings.
FROM HELL recorded the album with Greg Wilkinson (High on Fire, Necrot, Autopsy) at Earhammer Studio in Oakland, CA. Sinn says, “When we returned from tour in Russia 2017, we recorded two new songs with Greg and we really liked working with Greg and what we heard. He records bands in a more natural way than many metal engineers and producers and doesn’t rely on sound replacement, but captures great tones to start with and the final mixes of our album came out very natural sounding, heavy and produced, but not over-produced. I personally am pleased.” Mastering was handled by Maor Appelbaum (Faith No More, Annhilator, Cynic) at MaorAppelbaum Mastering in Los Angeles.
RATS & RAVENS is the follow up to the first FROM HELL album Ascent From Hell, which is as heavy as it is epic. The album tells a horror story about a corpse that wakes up in Hell only to find he must go back to earth, recover his soul that still lives inside another body and drag it back to Hell. Ascent From Hell featured metal icons Paul Bostaph, Steve Smyth, and Damien Sisson.
George Anderson (aka Aleister Sinn) has played guitar and vocals for the SF Bay area bands Down Factor and Grandma, a tribute to King Diamond. Wes Anderson has played drums for Les Claypool, Idiot Flesh, BlindIllusion, Young Lions (Noah of Neurosis), SOSA, and Kehoe Nation. Steve Smyth has played guitar for Testament, Nevermore, Dragonlord, Forbidden, Vicious Rumors and One Machine. Stephen Paul Goodwin on bass has played for Vicious Rumors, Diablo Dukes, Journey Unauthorized and has played or recorded with Brad Gillis, MickMestec, Eric Peterson, Will Carroll, Phil Bennett, Sticks Hooper, Eric Barnett and Salar Nader.
To watch the new music video “THE WITCH” from RATS & RAVENS please visit: www.scourgerecords.com
“If you’re a fan of horror movies and at the same time a longtime admirer of Thrash and Death Metal, I highly recommend you go grab a copy of Rats & Ravens either by clicking HERE (where you can also stream it in full on Spotify) or by visiting the Scourge Records webstore, and don’t forget to follow the band on Facebook and on Instagram for an additional share of horror, blood and mystery by keeping up to date with their news, releases and tour dates. From Hell did a fantastic job uniting their scorching metal music with witchcraft in Rats & Ravens, an album that doesn’t get tiresome nor bland at any given moment; quite the contrary, this is how heavy music should always sound. Heavy, dark, intricate and, above all that, absolutely evil.”
For more information please visit the FROM HELL websites:
Independent Distribution Collective Blog 