Listen/Watch Now via Guitar World
 
Damnatio Memoriae Worldwide Release Date: February 23, 2018 
Pre-Order Now via Bandcamp
Featuring Guest Members from Obscura, Marduk & More | Mixed by Daniel Bergstrand
Lebanese extreme death metal band KAOTEON recently announced the release of their upcoming new full-length album, Damnatio Memoriae, featuring bass wizard Linus Klausenitzer of Obscura and drum master Fredrik Widigs of Marduk as special guests. The menacing new album is due for release on February 23, 2018, and pre-orders are available now via https://kaoteon.bandcamp.com
 
Following up on last week’s release of the track “Barren Lands” (which has amassed nearly 12,000 streams on YouTube alone in less than a week), KAOTEON are pleased to reveal a guitar playthrough of another new track, “Raging Hellfire”, featuring guitarist Anthony Kaoteon. Watch now via Guitar World: https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/kaoteon-premiere-raging-hellfire-guitar-playthrough
 
Anthony tells Guitar World: “‘Raging Hellfire’ is a museum of fast melodic but yet brutal black metal riffs. You can take all 13 riffs in the song, play them through an orchestra and still get a dark epic symphony of destruction. My Ibanez Prestige neck allows a very comfortable grip which doesn’t apply to many guitars. I am not tech savvy so I still use the basics. Walid Wolflust (our singer) hates my analog passive old school distortion but I enjoy how bright, crunchy and raw my distortion blazes out of my Seymour Duncan pickups and my Blackstar amp. I hope you enjoy this track as much as I do. Take a guess on which riff in ‘Raging Hellfire’ is the first black metal riff I ever composed even before Walid joined the band in 2001?”
 
While online, check out a brand new write-up on KAOTEON and their fascinating origin story via Revolver Magazine: https://www.revolvermag.com/music/meet-kaoteon-lebanese-metal-band-fighting-religious-political-persecution
 
You can also hear the band’s first single, the title track “Damnatio Memoriae” here: https://youtu.be/gVHcFrVcdEg
 
KAOTEON is an unusual east-west international extreme metal collaboration, originally hailing from the Middle East but now based in Amsterdam. KAOTEON fled their native Lebanon after the release of their debut 2011 full-length, Veni Vidi Vomui, due to facing censorship at its highest levels for simply being a metal band. 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. It’s a terrifying but enthrallingly honest story of a metal band trying to exist, succeed and break out of the Middle East.
 
Damnatio Memoriae succeeds at portraying the band’s justified “f*ck-the-world” outlook with nine poisonous tracks that brim with exhilarating magnetism and needle-sharp riffing. The album was self-recorded by KAOTEON, with mixing and mastering credited to renowned Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, who is recognized for his celebrated work with bands such as Behemoth, Dark Funeral, Dimmu Borgir and many more of today’s top metal artists.
 
Damnatio Memoriae track listing:
1. Damnatio Memoriae
2. Barren Lands
3. Raging HellFire
4. Venom of Exalt
5. The Will
6. Non Serviam
7. Light of Compassion
8. Into the Mouth of Kaos
9. A Breath
 
KAOTEON online:
Anthony and Walid, full time members of KAOTEON