''Virulent Rapture'' is the fifth studio album by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

band

Hecate Enthroned Hecate Enthroned are an English symphonic black metal band initially founded with members from both Wales and England, but are now primarily based around Cheshire, England. The band formed in 1993 as a blackened death metal act under the name ...

, and their first album of new material since 2004's ''

Redimus ''Redimus'' (Latin for ''We Return'') is the fourth studio album by British symphonic black metal band Hecate Enthroned. It was released on 3 May 2004 by Blackend Records. It was their last album to be released by Blackend, as well as their las ...

''. It was released on 25 November 2013 via Crank Music Group, being their first album to be so, as well as their only release with vocalist Elliot Beaver and first with drummer Gareth Hardy on the line-up, who replaced long-time vocalist and drummer Dean Seddon and Robert Kendrick, respectively (both were fired in 2012).

Background

The album was initially announced on a 21 January 2013 interview with webzine RoarRock. The band announced on their official Twitter on 8 July 2013 that the new album was finished, "aside from some mixing and mastering issues", and that they were "looking at a self-release in the next few months". According to the band by then, the album was scheduled to be released on late November or early December 2013. On 18 September 2013, Hecate announced they signed to a new label, Crank Music Group, and that it would release their album circa November. On 23 October 2013, the artwork for ''Virulent Rapture'' was unveiled via

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in October ...

, and its release date was revealed as being on 25 November 2013. On the same day, a small, 21-second teaser of the track "Unchained" was posted by Crank Music Group on their official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. The track "To Wield the Hand of Perdition" was released online (via Crank Music Group's YouTube channel) on 19 November 2013.

Sarah Jezebel Deva Sarah Jane (born 25 February 1977), better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is an English singer. She was the female soprano vocalist for Cradle of Filth for 14 years and the frontwoman of the band Angtoria for 10 years. In 2009, D ...

, famous for her work with

Angtoria Angtoria was a symphonic metal band composed of British singer Sarah Jezebel Deva and Swedish brothers Chris and Tommy Rehn. Singer Sarah Jezebel Deva joined with the brothers in 2001 to create the band. Their debut album, ''God Has a Plan for ...

and

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

, provides additional vocals for the album's self-titled track. On 20 June 2014, a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was made for "Abyssal March". It is Hecate Enthroned's first music video since " An Ode for a Haunted Wood", made in 1995.

Track listing

The album's track listing was unveiled by Crank Music Group on their official website on 28 October 2013.

Personnel

;Hecate Enthroned *Elliot Beaver — vocals *Nigel Dennen — guitar *Andy Milnes — guitar *Dylan Hughes — bass guitar *Pete White — keyboards *Gareth Hardy — drums ;Guest musicians *

— additional vocals on "Virulent Rapture" ;Miscellaneous staff * Mike Smith — production, engineering, mixing * Kami Kopat — mixing, mastering, graphic layout * Néstor Avalos — cover art

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virulent Rapture 2013 albums Hecate Enthroned albums