Records With History And Future

2013, the year that we will witness the return of the legendary Dark Empire records.

Yes, you heard it right, Dark Empire is back, the original label that was created by Dwid Hellion back in the ’90’s to release the earliest incarnations of Holy Terror upon the world is back, this time with Dwid’s son, Max Mclimans on the helm. To kick off this resurrection they choose Rot In Hell newest ep as it’s first release with the magnificent title Termini Terrae. The process of releasing this 7 inch ep took a while since both label and band needed to work out the details on releasing this together, but it was worth the patience.

Termini Terrae contains four new tracks by the United Kingdom’s chapter of the church of Holy Terror and features their new vocalist Lecky (former Voorhees vocalist). The result of this new influence is mind blowing and has made this first release for Dark Empire a killer release to start the new year.

This four track release opens up with title track Termini Terrae, a vulgar display of what these UKHC (United Kingdom Hardcore) legends are capable of. Every breath is war and that’s exactly the feeling you’ll get when listening to this track, Lecky who has taken the microphone on this release is a perfect choice to help develop Rot In Hell into this apocalyptic machine of world domination. A match made in heaven or should it be hell?

Next up is “Carrion Dawn Of Vultures”, another example of how this band of warriors keep on evolving with every release. When in their earliest releases the band tried to sound like an Integrity clone it seems they have outgrown this phase and evolved into a mighty outfit that takes it to the next level.
With their own style and sound that keeps on developing with every new release and reinventing themselves each time we may say that Rot In Hell is a power on it’s own nowadays.

The B side of the record starts of what seems to be a trademark sound for Rot In Hell, an acoustic intro with a dark atmosphere that erupts into heavy guitar madness, that’s what the song “Black Edelweiss” is all about.
Next to that the following track “Spiritus Mundi” seems to be attached to the hip on previous track “Black Edelweiss” what makes the entire B side into one continuous sonic attack. “Spiritus Mundi” fades out into a chaotic noise near the end that fits the ending of this magnificent release.

The artwork on this release was handled by Give Up again and is truly amazing, from the cover to the center labels, every detail was thought of and creates this dark atmosphere that fits perfect with the sonic terrorism that Rot In Hell delivers again. Available in four colours this release was set to be sold out in no time. A blue and white version were made available as pre-orders through the Dark Empire store and both in a pressing of 100 pieces each. Next to that a red and black vinyl version were released upon this sickening world to the general public, the red also comes on 100 pieces and the black version I haven’t heard numbers yet. Next to that a test press version was available for a short period but as expected sold out in no time.

A neat extra to the white vinyl I got into my hands is you can notice the spot of colour that appears on my copy. Probably some sort of transition during the pressing process when some scraps of red and/or blue coloured vinyl clung to the presses and ended up in the white vinyl pressings. Leaving the virgin white vinyl with an added dimension of a coloured smear.

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