Amok
“Necrospiritual Deathcore” picture disc out now

Edged Circle Productions is proud to present a special vinyl edition of a true cult classic, AMOK‘s Necrospiritual Deathcore. Originally released in 2006 on Mysticum’s Planet Satan Revolution label, AmoK’s Necrospiritual Deathcore was a true black sheep amongst a new rising wave of black metal at the time. Not for it distant, spacey bedroom ruminations nor De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas revisionism; instead, a beguiling, oft-blitzkrieging panoply of primitive blackgrind at half-speed, clattering deathrash warped into psychedelic shapes, and industrial-revolutionized musique concrete was presented to the listener, usually to be met with bemused confusion or even outright hostility. Stitched together both with alarming ease and also some form of Faustian pact, Necrospiritual Deathcore verily begat its title, but long before the time when the latter term would be denigrated/bastardized beyond all recognition. It is an album of stark contrasts, conflict yet little resolution, many questions but very few answers: in short, it is an enigma.

Not surprisingly, AmoK at this point was more of a multi-headed beast/collective than a conventional “band” per se. Spawned in the year 2000 as a death/grind/thrash metal unit, AmoK’s aim, from the beginning, was to bring back the doomsday holocaust from the 1980s. Truly postmodern in approach yet eschewing all forms of dilettantish over-theorizing, the band’s primary musical inspiration stemmed from the likes of Autopsy, Beherit, VON, Master’s Hammer, Sadistik Exekution, Carcass, Blasphemy, and old Scandinavian death metal. At first, AmoK consisted of Goatpromoter Lava on guitars/vocals and Stanley bass/drums. After some months of rehearsing, Mord joined and took over the drums, thus making live performances possible. With this lineup, AmoK released two demos – Sadistic Attack in 2001 and LAVA Dictatorship in 2002, both of which would be later reissued on tape and vinyl formats – and performed three concerts before the lineup changed. Both Stanley and Mord left in 2003, and Goatpromoter Lava then joined forces with vocalist Necrocum and bassist Iscariah (also label boss of Edged Circle). AmoK released a new promo in 2003, Effective Mass-Torture, where the title track presented the new lineup; the drums were programmed for this track.

In early 2006, Holycaust Records released A Norwegian Hail To VON as a gatefold double-7” EP. On this release, AmoK were joined by Taake, Norwegian Evil, and Urgehal, all paying homage to VON, and it would serve to be significant both for AmoK’s spiritual/sonic foregrounding and also the alliance the band would make with Taake mainman Hoest, who would soon drum on Necrospiritual Deathcore‘s ending/crowning trifecta “Goatflesh Removal,” arguably the album’s high point. But the roots of Necrospiritual Deathcore began as early as the beginning of 2004. After trying out the material with programmed drums, the search for a full-time drummer started; Stanley rejoined AmoK for this duty. Work then began in earnest, and the result speaks for itself: salvation through fundamentalistic religious fanaticism, sonically run through a sonic meatgrinder. In addition to the core constituents adding their gristle to that meatgrinder, AmoK were joined by Orcustus vocalist Taipan on “Channelling Black Horns” and the shadowy figures of Kybermensch and Chaos providing electronics and sampling, both of which are littered like human ashes across the record.

With nearly a decade for the metal underground to catch up to this album’s innovations and general fuck-off/mindfuck stature, Edged Circle Productions is releasing AmoK’s Necrospiritual Deathcore in a vinyl edition limited to 500 copies, pressed on picture disc with regular picture sleeve and including a 24″ x 24″ full-color poster. Nuclear fallout begins now.