Forged in the dark shadows of “The Holy Capital,” the most unholy of quartets HOUR OF PENANCE have steadily been making a name for themselves as one of the most intense, talented and impressive modern death metal bands both in-studio and onstage.
Commited to keeping their title as one of the genre’s most productive acts, HOUR OF PENANCE is ready to release their seventh overall album, “Cast the First Stone”, a follow-up to their most recent critically acclaimed effort “Regicide”. Recorded at Kick Recording Studio and engineered, mixed and mastered by bassist Marco Mastrobuono, “Cast The First Stone” is scheduled for worldwide release on January 27, 2017 via PROSTHETIC RECORDS. The band have revealed the debut single “XXI Century Imperial Crusade” with an exclusive lyric video premiere via Decibel Magazine HERE or seen streaming below.
Pre-order’s for the album have also launched, which include offerings on CD, Limited Edition LP and digital download which can be paired with a t-shirt featuring the brutal album artwork completed by Gyula Havancsak. Vinyl variants are limited to 50 total clear black smoke LPs and 50 total clear green with black swirl LPs via the North American webshop, 150 camo green LPs available exclusively to independent retail stores and 150 dark red/black LPs exclusive to the European webshop. Pre-order options can be found at one of the below sites:
Vocalist Paolo Pieri revealed the concept of the new album stating, ” “Cast the First Stone” revolves around the idea that the injustices suffered during the Crusades and Colonialism cannot justify indefinitely a chain of hate that propagandize the destruction of the West. I believe that the political situation in recent years has brought to light again a millennial conflict between West and East, and events like the terrorist attack at the Bataclan, where we only played a few months before the massacre, have influenced the lyrics on this record very much.
It does not matter who has thrown the first stone, but who first evolved his ideology to seek peace and coexistence instead of war to the bitter end. In Europe, people have massacred each other for millennia but in the last 60 years, we were able to overcome differences and secular hatred that divided us, while the blind hatred of Islamic extremism is bringing entire geographic areas back to the darkest middle ages.
We find ourselves once again in front of a war between reason and religion, and unless we take a strong stand in defense of our Western values, we risk falling into chaos because of a weak and coward enemy stubbornly convinced of his senseless laws.”
“CAST THE FIRST STONE” TRACK LISTING
1. XXI Century Imperial Crusade (watch)
2. Cast The First Stone
3. Burning Bright
4. Iron Fist
5. The Chains of Misdeed
6. Horn of Flies
7. Shroud of Ashes
8. Wall of Cohorts
9. Damnatio Memoriae
Since releasing 2012’s acclaimed “Sedition”, which Decibel lauded as a “hyper-blasting, inhuman, machine-like attack,” HOUR OF PENANCE has annihilated fans worldwide with its fiery exuberance, playing well over 200 gigs alongside such acts as BEHEMOTH, SKELETONWITCH, CANNIBAL CORPSE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, DEVILDRIVER, PSYCROPTIC, MISERY INDEX, DEICIDE, BELPHEGOR , NILE and KRISIUN. The band will next hit the stages in December alongside Dark Tranquility and Carach Angren for a one-off performance in Greece and will continue to appear at several European festivals in early 2017.
TOUR DATES
12/11 Athens, GR – Kyttaro Live (w/ Dark Tranquility, Carach Angren)
2/25 Bergen, NO – Blastfest
3/10 Cluj Napoca, RO – Death Metal Supremacy V
4/7 Stockholm, SE – Arena Globen (Darker Days of Stockholm)
4/15 Bristol, UK – Bristol Deathfest (Vader, Immolation)
Keep in touch with HOUR OF PENANCE & stay updated on new music and tours at:
facebook.com/hourofpenance
