This week’s edition of Black Metal Friday features blackened death metal gods Belphegor. Hailing from Salzburg, Austria, and taking the name of one of the seven princes of Hell, these guys have been spreading their blistering blasphemy since 1991. I’m very ecstatic to say that I will be catching the band live this weekend, along with over 60 other metal bands, at Slipknot’s Knotfest festival. And if that wasn’t enough to make me absolutely giddy, the band has also just released a live rehearsal video of themselves performing a brand new track entitled, “Totenkult – Exegesis Of Deterioration.” I assume this killer new song will be part of an upcoming full-length release. Keep your eyes fixed right here at GoD for any news regarding that and for full coverage of the Knotfest weekend.

Belpegor’s most recent studio album, Conjuring The Dead, was released in 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records, and reached number 13 on the Billboard U.S. Heatseekers chart.

April 24th will herald the arrival of the twelfth studio album by Swedish blackened death metal gods Unleashed. The album is called Dawn of the Nine and will be issued by Nuclear Blast Records. The first single is the track “Where Is Your God Now?” and the record company has posted a lyric video for the song online, which you can listen to here below.

Unleashed has never disappointed me with a new release and if this track is any indicator that record will be staying intact. The band will be spreading their brand of blackened death metal around the world with an extensive tour to support Dawn of the Nine. We will pass along the dates and locations when they become available.

“Christians To The Lions” is the sixth track off of Thelema 6, the fifth studio album by Polish juggernauts Behemoth. Check out the clip here below of Behemoth performing “Christians to the Lions” live somewhere around 2004.

Ever since the release of the album Thelema 6 in the year 2000, the aforementioned track has been the central manifesto of nearly every live performance that the band has done. The song’s anti-religion message is a perfect summary of the philosophical stance that has, at times, gotten Behemoth leader Adam “Nergal” Darski into hot water. Darski was charged with causing offense to religion when he ripped the pages out of a bible at a live show in Poland. He was later acquitted of the charges.

Hate may not be as internationally renown as their countrymen Behemoth and Vader, but this Polish band has been cranking out quality blackened death metal for 25 years now. They are set to release their ninth studio album, Crusade: Zero, via Napalm Records on February 10, 2015. It will be the band’s first release since founding bassist Slawek “Mortifier” Arkhangelsky died in his sleep from cardiac arrhythmia while on tour near Munchberg, Germany in 2013.

You can check out the video for the album’s first single “Valley of Darkness” here below. If you’re a fan of Behemoth, this is right up your alley.

Tribulation is a blackened death metal band from Arvika, Sweden. They have released two great records thus far and have just announced their signing with Century Media Records for a worldwide deal. I personally discovered these guys when they opened for Watain and In Solitude on their first American tour late last year and can vouch for the fact that they are a phenomenal live act. I’ve been addicted to their second album, Formulas of Death, ever since. The band is preparing to enter the studio in December to begin work on their third full-length album and if it’s anywhere near as good as the last two, with the strength of Century Media behind them, they should soon be a household name in metal circles.

Here live from Party San in 2010 is Tribulation with a song from their first album, The Horror, entitled “Graveyard Ghouls.”