Poland-based epic black/death metallers, Devilish Impressions, will release their new album, The I, on September 22nd via Lifeforce Records. The track “Ipse philosophvs, daemon, Devs et omnia”, featuring  special guests appearances by Mike Wead (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate) and Ares (Aeternus), is available for streaming below.

“Following on the notion that one can never reach full potential out in the open being a slave at heart it all comes down to - plain and simple - rising above and stepping over and beyond all force-fed limitations in order to accomplish honest satisfaction, fulfillment and unsuppressed growth as an individual.” - about the concept behind the lyrics comments Darky, a long-time friend of the band considered to be its spirit member who has also contributed to the lyrics.

“To accompany the fierce and powerful lyrical content of The I, we developed an equally strong-minded visual concept resembling the appearance of medieval scriptures. It refers to the intense religious critique omnipresent in each song and depicts the ancient spirit of rebellion at the same time. The cover illustration reflects the general notions of the album - centrality, elucidation and guidance. In the center of the image, the Devilish Impressions’ sigil represents the band’s everlasting propaganda of the aforementioned philosophy. The morning star on top of the sigil radiates enlightenment and wisdom upon and through the darkness of religion and blind belief. Each lyric is coupled with an old engraving modified in a certain way to create a stronger bond with the text. The carefully crafted typography and layout reinforce the antique and authentic look of the artwork.” - comments Infected Minds, the entity responsible for the album’s cover illustration, artwork and layout.

Recorded at various studios, including Dobra12 (drums) and Icaros Studio (guitars) the disc was mixed and mastered at Impressive Art Studio by Przemyslaw Nowak who also handled vocals recording sessions and guitars’ re-amping. The album’s artwork, design and layout were created by Infected Minds.

The album features special guest appearances by Mercyful Fate/King Diamond guitarist Mike Wead and by vocalist / guitarist Ares of Norway’s dark metal masters Aeternus. Other artists who also contributed to the record are shamanic ritual meditative experimental act Bon and Impressive Art Studio’s owner Przemyslaw Nowak, who came up with interludes, additional background tunes and effects.

“It’s been a really long way to be finally able to wrap it all up, countless nights spent on writing the music and lyrics first, then working on the album’s pre-production, followed by what seemed to be never-ending, proper recording sessions, and tones of work that had to be done for the band afterwards. We really wanted this new album to become something really special and therefore, to avoid any haphazard decisions, we let them come out of us smoothly, without putting ourselves under any external tension and stuff. Did it pay off? Well, we’ll see… We surely worked our asses off, pushed things back and forth to get the best out of it. As a result we’ve got something we are damn proud of, something that we believe surpasses on all possible levels everything we’ve done in the past. I simply believe we’d outdone ourselves and recorded something that will cause your hearts beat faster…,” comments Quazarre, the band’s composer, vocalist and guitarist.

The title chosen, The I, for the record is not only a phonetic acronym of the band’s name, but above all it reflects the manifesto they stand for since the Horde’s inception in the year 2000 - the notion of freedom of choice and will. A supremacy of an individual over any external factors being imposed on us by others, with special emphasis on religion and its convictions, dogmas and paradigms. The I is a rebellious manifesto targeted against all those who stand opposed to anything that drives us towards individual perfection.

The album will be available as CD digipak, limited vinyl LP and digital download.

CD digipak tracklisting:

“The I”
“The Dove And The Serpent”
“Eosphoros”
“Blood Imprinted Stigma”
“Ipse philosophvs, daemon, Devs et omnia”
“Czern i Biel”
“The Fatal Messiah”
 
Vinyl tracklisting:

“The I”
“The Dove And The Serpent”
“Blood Imprinted Stigma”
“Eosphoros”
“Ipse philosophvs, daemon, Devs et omnia”
“The Fatal Messiah”

“Ipse philosophvs, daemon, Devs et omnia”:

“The I” video:

Teaser #1:

Teaser #2:

Teaser #3: