Norwegian black/death metal act FESTER has just completed the recording of their first studio album in 17 years. Entitled A Celebration Of Death, the album is targeted for a late 2011/early 2012 release through Abyss Records.

Original member Bjørn "Tiger" Mathisen has recruited Thomas Andresen (ALGOL) on vocals, Jon Bakker (KAMPFAR) on bass, and Grammy nominated jazz drummer Audun Kleive for session drums. MORTIIS has made a hellish and dark remix of one of the songs and there are contributions from Mr. Kyrck and Guido of YSENGRIN. The art is done by the infamous Alex Brown of Bad News Brown.

On the selection of Kleive for session drumming, Mathisen had this to say: "He is famous for his ability to become one with the music he plays, and does so in such an unorthodox and dark way. He has never done metal. He listened to the tunes once before he agreed to session them and ended up doing most of the parts in one take. Using only a single bass drum he has helped us create the sinister and lonely mood that we wanted."

As for what to expect musically on A Celebration Of Death, Mathisen is unequivocal about staying the course: "Fester has kept their old school feel, and maybe even taking it back to the Stone Age. No effect boxes are used on the guitars; just the basic and sick sounds of old guitars, amps and racks from the late 60s and early 70s, produced in the most dark and wicked way you can imagine. The influence of old school metal acts like CELTIC FROST, BATHORY, etc can be heard on this release too. Fester has kept its identity from the past. This is surely an atypical metal sound, but cold as ice and mean as hell!"

Pioneers in the seamless blending of black and death metal in the early 90s and well known for their obscure, melancholic and dark way of making music, Fester are now back with their darkest, harshest and most mournful album to date. Having laid the groundwork with Abyss reissues of 1992's Winter Of Sin and 1993's Silence, Fester is now poised to commence this new era of darkness. The end is near.

Further details to follow.