Thursday, August 14th 2008
FREE DOWNLOAD WEEKEND - AUGUST 15-17TH

Last November we brought you the first ever FREE download weekend, in a short 3 days we had over 9,000 unique downloads from our website. We're doing it all over again, August 15-17th please join us and download for free 9 quality releases from our catalog! Not only are we giving away downloads from our back catalog, we're giving you some new releases as well!

Here is the official list of titles that will be available:
Atrocity - Contaminated EP
Elgibbor - Stronger than Hell
Frost Like Ashes - Born to Pieces
Grindminded - Domestic Violence
Kekal - The Habit of Fire
Primitive Graven Image - Traversing the Awesome Night + Bonus Demo
Sapremia - With Winter Comes Despair
Skitzo - Five Point Containment
Feast Eternal - With Fire

We will be accepting donations during the weekend, all donations will be split evenly between all of the bands and the label. Please consider a donation of even a small amount.

Wednesday, August 6th 2008
ORPHAN PROJECT SIGN WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Open Grave Records is proud to announce the addition of Abingdon, Maryland's Orphan Project to it's roster. Orphan Project was started in 2001, when vocalist Shane Lankford, collaborating with composter John Wenger, conceived the groundwork for a concept album based on spiritual and physical adoption, incorporating progressive, hard rock, and contemporary influences. With a full length album and an EP under their belt, and in addition, Lankford being a veteran of progressive local bands in his hometown such as Visual Cliff, and Fall of Echoes, the band felt they were ready to strengthen their influence, as well as build more of a following in the mainstream market. Lankford states, "We felt this was an excellent opportunity to get our material exposed to a bigger audience. And being with an indie label such as Open Grave allows us to do exactly that, while still retaining that personal relationship that bigger labels can't give you." This addition also takes place on the heels of a change in the style of artists signed by the label. Open Grave Records CEO James Mattern was quoted as saying "We feel that Orphan Project, as a band, has a little something for everyone. Rock fans, progressive fans, even adult contemporary fans will be able to appreciate this music. It's a great addition in support of our recent diversification efforts. I'm very excited about this release." Orphan project is planning to release new material in March of 2009.

Tuesday, August 5th 2008
POROPETRA SIGN WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Finnish band Poropetra have signed on with Open Grave Records for the North American release of their debut album, "Sinihirwi" Poropetra features members, Juha Jyrkäs (throat-singing, 12-stringed kantele, distorted kantele-effects), Markus Ylikoski (guitar, backing vocals), Leo Herranen (bass, contrabass, backing vocals), Hittavainen (Korpiklaani) (violin, jouhikko, torupill, keyboards, mandoline, flutes and pipes, mouth harp, backing vocals), Lari Hammarberg (drums, percussions, backing vocals), Elsa Pardonen (vocals), and Nancy (vocals).

Poropetra is ancient Finnish and it means the same as Elk of Hiisi (Hiiden hirvi in Finnish) from the Finnish mythology. Elk is an old totem animal of Finno-Ugrian and Siberian peoples, thus it describes so well Poropetra's unique ethnic fusion music, combining together Finno-Ugrian myths and legends, Finnic kantele- and runo-singing traditions, Tuvan throat-singing, world music, psychedelic rock, blues and heavy rock.

Poropetra was founded by Juha Jyrkäs in 2002. Kuuraparta and Hittavainen joined soon after. The first demo, "Poropetra", was self-published in 2004. It represented an almost pure modern Finnish folk sound. After the demo, the band wanted to electrify the sound and bring in some more influences.

It took two years to record the new songs for "Sinihirwi". After many long recording sessions, Poropetra's debut album, "Sinihirwi" was self released in July of 2007. Now a little over a year since it's original release, "Sinihirwi" will see it's North American release this fall via Open Grave Records.

Monday, August 4th, 2008
FROST LIKE ASHES - BORN TO PIECES TO SEE VINYL RELEASE

Sullen Records will release a limited edition vinyl 7" of Frost Like Ashes, "Born to Pieces," and "Pale Shadows". The pressing of this 7" will be limited to 300 individually numbered copies world wide, and available on a first come first serve basis. Both songs are new songs that had only previously been made available via the "Born to Pieces" EP which sold out within a week of its release. Expect a release in September.

Monday, July 14th, 2008
HORTOR SIGN ON TO SULLEN RECORDS

Extreme Mexican black metal band Hortor sign on to Sullen records for the release of their upcoming yet to be titled EP, which will see a release late in 2008. Hortor, is a band that has worked hard over the course of the last 4 years. They have independently released three previous recordings which have all been received well from with the black metal community. This partnership between Sullen and Hortor will continue to strengthen their foothold in the Spanish scene while at the same time exposing them to many more potential fans world wide. Expect a release around October of 2008.

Thursday, July 10th, 2008
SOUNDS FROM THE GRAVE VOL. V

Open Grave unleashes volume V of the popular free downloadable label sampler series. Vol. V features new material from Once Dead, Sapremia, Atrocity, Kekal, Elgibbor, Frost Like Ashes, Sorrowstorm, Triton Enigma, No Souls Lost, and Northern Ash. Please download and distribute as you see fit. Download from this location: CLICK HERE

Monday, July 7th, 2008
AZBUK SIGN ON TO SULLEN RECORDS

Brazilian Black Metallers, Azbuk have signed on to Sullen Records for the release of their much anticipated 10 year anniversary album "Compilation for Eternity" which is made up of material from their 3 demos, "Divine Forces", "Nosferatus Darkness Earl" and "Ancient Secrets of the Bible". "Compilation for Eternity" is scheduled to be released this August, and will be limited to 250 units world wide.

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
FROST LIKE ASHES' BORN TO PIECES BEGIN TO SHIP

Frost Like Ashes' latest recording, "Born to Pieces" have begun shipping to customers that pre-ordered the new EP. "Born to Pieces" is a limited edition release, released by Sullen Records. Extremely limited quantities remain, and 50 copies have been held over for their appearance at Cornerstone Festival on July 3rd.

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
SULLEN TO RELEASE NEW COMPILATION CD

Sullen Records will release a new compilation CD this July titled Revelations Vol. 1: A Light in a Dark Place. This is the first compilation of its kind. Focusing in on a scene that is loathed by some and loved by others. This is the extreme underground scene known as "Unblack". While Black Metal is known as a hateful genre, the artist compiled on this CD stand for the opposite. Artist to be included on this compilation are: Fire Throne, Frost Like Ashes, Ira Divina, Deborah, Winter's Dawn, Northern Ash, Borgazur, Azmaveth, Sorrowstorm, Blood Drift, Day of Ascension, JOB, Reiziger, Sanctus Obscurum, Synnove, Trastorno, and Elgibbor. Volume #2 is already in the works.

Friday. June 10th, 2008
3 NEW CDS ANNOUNCED BY ELGIBBOR

Sullen Records will be releasing a Jubelium series of CDS simply titled Jubelium Vol. 1 & 2. Volume 1 is made of two tracks from each of Elgibbor's early demos (1999-2004). Volume 2 includes two tracks from each of their albums (2004-2007). As well in September Open Grave Records will unleash the latest album from Elgibbor titled, "Repent or Perish". This will be Elgibbor's fist recording under the Open Grave Records flag, having released two previous successful album, "Stronger than Hell" and "Fireland" on Open Grave sub-label, Sullen Records.

Tuesday. June 10th, 2008
ONCE DEAD COMPLETE VISIONS OF HELL

Once Dead, the band featuring ex-members of bands such as Vengeance Rising, The Crucified, Hirax, Fasedown, The Blamed and a slew of others has completed work on their long awaited debut album titled, "Visions of Hell". Expect to see "Visions of Hell" available this Fall on Open Grave Records. Click here for more information on Once Dead.

Thursday, April 24th, 2008
OPEN GRAVE CHILI

So you might find it a little funny for a record label to release a chili  recipe. However this isn't just any chili recipe! The folks at Open Grave love hot food, ok maybe not hot food....but REALLY FREAKING HOT food. In some of experimentation this recipe is something that we came up with. WARNING: THIS CHILI IS EXTREMELY HOT!! WHEN PREPARING WEAR GLOVES AND AVOID ANY TYPE OF EYE CONTACT!

Ingredients:
2 pounds of Ground Beef (cooked)
1 Large can of Tomato Sauce
1 Large can of Diced Tomatos
2 Small cans of Pinto Beans
2 Small cans of Kidney Beans
2 Packets of Chili Seasoning
1 Scallion Onion (chopped)
2 White Onions (chopped)
12 Red Savina Habanero Peppers (chopped) (up to 580,000 scoville units)
12 Bhut Jolokia Peppers (chopped) (up to 1,041, 427 scoville units)
2 Eye Droppers of Pure Capsaicin (up to 16,000,000 scoville units)

Mix all of the above in a large Dutch Oven and cook for 30-45 minutes on the stove top.

Bhut Jolokia Peppers and Pure Capsaicin can not be found in grocery stores. Shop online for these ingredients by searching on google.

Definition of a scoville unit: The Scoville scale is a measure of the hotness or, more correctly, piquancy of a chili pepper. These fruits of the Capsicum genus contain capsaicin, a chemical compound which stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) indicates the amount of capsaicin present. -Wikipedia

 

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Thursday, February 21st, 2008
DOCILE SIGN WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Netherlands based Melodic Death Metal band Docile has signed on with Open Grave Records for the North American Release of their debut, “Babylon Ablaze” which had been released previously in late 2007 in Europe.  The album is currently scheduled for a late Spring release and features seven tracks that will appeal to fans of Death Metal, Thrash, and even Hardcore.

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Monday, February 11th, 2008
NO SOULS LOST COMPLETE "HOSTIS HUMANI GENERIS"

Texas death metal band No Souls Lost have announced the completion of their new album, "Hostis Humani Generis". "After lots of personnel changes, lots of struggle, and lots of hard work, we feel this is an album you'll be very happy with", guitarist Jason Jaeckel was quoted as saying. After a long search, new vocalist Andrew Vasa joined the lineup shortly before the album was completed, and laid his vocals down just in time. The members hold his talent in high regard. "I had been doing lead vocals for a long time, but we wanted a front person that could interact with the crowd more effectively. It's hard to entertain the crowd and perform brutal death metal vocals when you're busy concentrating on highly technical guitar riffs.", Jaeckel said. Fans will be held over with two tracks from the new record available on their myspace site. The album is set to be released in April on Open Grave Records.

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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
SOUNDS FROM THE GRAVE FREE DOWNLOADABLE COMPILATION UNLEASHED

Open Grave Records has announced the release of the forth of its popular free downloadable sampler albums, entitled "Sounds from the Grave Vol. 4".

"Sounds from the Grave Vol. 4" features 9 artists from the Open Grave Records roster, and includes tracks from TRITON ENIGMA (members of GRAVE & DECADENCE) and the Netherlands' GRIND MINDED. The sampler features a yet-to-be-released track from KEKAL off their yet untitled 2008 release, and the track "In the Name of Our Gods" off Italian Pagan black metal band WOLVESGUARD's debut album, "Pagan Heritage" (due February 2008). As well, the compilation features tracks from SHAMAR, FEAST ETERNAL, ELGIBBOR, SHUDDERSOME and DEMON DOG SPERM.

"Sounds from the Grave Vol. 4" is available for download HERE.

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Friday, January 4th, 2008
SAPREMIA TO RECORD LIVE DVD

Sapremia will be performing at the 2nd Annual March Metal Massacre at The Sterling Hotel in Allentown, PA on March 14th 2008. Their performance that night  will be recorded for a live DVD to be released later in 2008 on Open Grave Records. The DVD shoot will be a multiple camera shoot produced by BIZRENTERTAINMENT.

In other Sapremia news the band is currently recording the follow up to their 2007 EP, "Hollow". The new album titled, "With Winter Comes Despair" is slated for a March release. As well it feature cover artwork by well known artist Tony Koehl. 



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Monday, November 26th, 2007
THE COLD EXISTENCE SIGNS WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Open Grave Records has announced the signing of Swedish death metal band "The Cold Existence". Formed at the end of 1999, and featuring members of Maleficio, Garm, and Vindicate, the group first got their entrance into the scene with a well received 15 song demo entitled "Beyond Comprehension", which was released as an MCD on KhaosMaster Productions. Quickly rising to be a major force in Sweden, with excellent reviews by Close Up Magazine and others, The Cold Existence has gained their live experience playing shows such as the Metal Mania Open Air Fest in Slovakia, along with numerous live shows in Germany, Holland, and Serbia.

In December 2005 the band recorded their first full length album entitled "The Essence". It was this hard work and road worthiness that brought them to the attention of Open Grave Records in late 2007. Their sound is classic Swedish death metal, but with added atmosphere and brutality. Expect a new full length in June 2008



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Monday, November 26th, 2007
SHUDDERSOME SIGNS WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Open Grave Records is proud to announce the signing of Shuddersome. Hailing from Danville, Virginia, Shuddersome boasts a powerful conglomeration of many musical styles within its discography, ranging from many influences such as Viking, Death, Thrash, and Stoner metal. They released a full length album entitled "Sanctum Nocturnus" in 2006, and have shared the stage with such national acts as 3 Inches of Blood, Alabama Thunderpussy, and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, among others. The music they create is epic, featuring dual guitar assault, keyboard orchestrations, and sharp drum and bass work allowing them to sound larger than life. Their lyrics deliver tales of arcane mythology and horrific catacyclisms brought alive through the power of their imagination. Shuddersome has made it their mission to break barriers and defy tradition, and it is this attitude that brought them to the attention of Open Grave Records in 2007.



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Monday, November 26th, 2007
OPEN GRAVE RECORDS GIVES AWAY OVER 9,000 ALBUM DOWNLOADS IN 72 HOURS

From November 23rd through November 25th we became the first record label to give music fans the opportunity to sample our catalog by giving away free MP3 downloads of ten of our current releases via our website (http://www.opengraverecords.com).

In the roughly 72 hours that the downloads were made available over 9,000 downloads took place, totaling over 300 gigs of music.

While it is unclear at this point how this will effect sales, label owner James Mattern is declaring the experiment a success, "The main point behind this weekend was to get our artists a larger listening audience and more exposure, and at the same time give music fans what they have been screaming for; the opportunity to sample a complete album before making a commitment to purchase it. 9,000 downloads in such a short period of time, that is something to be proud of."


Albums made available were:

FEAST ETERNAL - "Prisons of Flesh"
NECRODEMON - "Ice Fields of Hyperion"
EXTERMINANCE - "Vomiting the Trinity"
PRIMITIVE GRAVEN IMAGE - "Traversing the Awesome Night"
SAPREMIA - "Hollow"
FROST LIKE ASHES - "Tophet"
A.W.A.S. - "Hope"
DEMON DOG SPERM - "Hopeless"
GRIND MINDED - "9mm Facial" (officially a Filthy Records release)
NO SOULS LOST - "Eulogy of Genocide" (officially self-released)



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Tuesday, October 12th, 2007
TRITON ENIGMA SIGN WITH OPEN GRAVE RECORDS

Swedish death/thrash has never sounded this good! Triton Enigma, a new project featuring members of some of Sweden's most prolific bands, Ronnie.B (GRAVE, EX-CENTINEX, EX-JULIE LAUGHS NOMORE), Thomas Nilsson (EX-JULIE LAUGHS NOMORE), and featuring Metallic Kitty (DECADENCE) on vocals. Originally formed in 2005 as an outlet for the members to utilize musical ideas that they felt didn't have a place in their other bands.

In October of 2007, Open Grave Records signed Triton Enigma. The debut album, "Black Lies" is scheduled for an early 2008 release.



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