New EP ‘Sermons Of The Infidel’ to be released June 17

On June 17, Dutch Black Metal veterans Countess will release a new EP entitled ‘Sermons Of The Infidel’. The EP will be exclusively available digitally through the band’s official Bandcamp site.

‘Sermons Of The Infidel’ features 35 minutes of METAL spread over eight tracks: six brand new versions of Countess classics and two new songs. The EP is the first Countess release since 2011’s full-length ‘On Wings Of Defiance’, two tracks of which are featured here in killer new renditions. All songs are exemplary of Countess’ unique blend of first wave Black Metal and traditional Heavy Metal.

 

Unreleased live album streaming on last.fm

Back in 1996, we recorded a live album that has so far remained unreleased, although a few tracks have been released as bonus tracks on other releases. Back then, we were an actual band, a four-piece outfit. We rehearsed and played live and when we did, people were always telling us the songs sounded much better live than they did on the albums. So we got the idea to do a live album. We arranged a gig at the place where we usually rehearsed, which was also sort of a club and there was a studio there as well, which would make recording the gig relatively cheap and easy.
We picked a bunch of songs for inclusion on the album and rehearsed these pretty well. Most were from the first four albums, but we included a few new ones as well. On the day of the gig - November 2 - we rehearsed in the afternoon, then set up the recording equipment together with the engineer. Then we just played the gig, which went really well. We didn’t feel any real pressure because of the fact the gig was being recored. A few days after the gig, we all went back to the place and spent an evening and the entire night on finishing the album. First, we listened to everything. Then we did a few overdubs here and there to correct some minor errors and then we started mixing, which is where this album went somewhat wrong. I blame that on the fact that it was really late and the engineer was gulping down whiskey in large quantities. Looking back, I think the album could have sounded much better with a better mix. That being said, it still is a worthy document. This is what Countess was at this point in time.
Of course, we decided to found our own label not too long after the recording of this live album. We recorded and released the 'Hell's Rock & Roll' EP in early 1997 and planned to release the live album later that year, to be entitled 'Into Battle'. However, it is a matter of history that the EP sold very badly and there were no funds to release the live album.
There would be no more Countess releases for a few years until the band resurfaced on Opyros’ new label Barbarian Wrath. By then, the live album was already a few years old and since there was always more than enough new material to release, releasing this live album was something that never even came up. Now, however, we have decided to stream the album in its entirety. It can be found here.

On Wings Of Defiance

This is the title track from the album that was released in 2011. 'On Wings Of Defiance' is a theme album, revolving around, obviously, defiance: standing for what one believes in, against whatever odds, whatever the cost. The album's first eight tracks all tell tales of defiance and the title track explicitly vocalizes the record's theme.

Messalina

While there are probably dozens of metal songs about Elizabeth Bathory, the number of songs about Messalina is surprisingly small. Suprisingly, given that Messalina's reputation makes her a subject that is at least as 'metal' as the infamous countess. Perhaps even more so, when taking into account that Messalina's actions may have been less brutal than Elizabeth's, they were certainly as immoral and definitely more subtle and devious. Also, while nowadays many historians question whether Elizabeth actually committed the brutal acts contributed to her, such doubts hardly exist concerning Messalina's legend.

Bloed In De Sneeuw 2012

This song was the first Black Metal song with lyrics in Dutch. It was written in 1993, when we had just started rehearsing with the line-up that would eventually record the demo 'The Wolves Awake'. At the time, we listened a lot to bands like Master's Hammer and Masacre, who sang in their own languages, which inspired us to also try that.

Feuer Und Blut

German version of "Fire & Blood" that was originally released on "The Return Of The Horned One" (1994). The lyrics were translated by Opyros.
This version has never been released, but can be downloaded here.

Countess @ Reverbnation