Italian death metal outfit, Hour Of Penance, have released a lyric video for "Flames Of Merciless Gods", the first single from their upcoming studio album, Misotheism, set for an October 25 release via Agonia Records. Pre-order here, and watch the new video below.

he band commented on the new single: "'Flames Of Merciless Gods' is a song about a new empire built on the illuministic values of reason and equality, who wages war against the wealthy ones hidden in their ivory towers, worshipping their only god: Money. They are the 'bastard race', because they have no fatherland and no motherland: their loyalty stands to no one but themselves. Their way of life is a blasphemy to everyone who is exploited by the inequalities created by their greed and is starving because of that. They are so afraid to atone for their crimes that they choose to commit mass suicide rather than face justice."

Set in motion in Rome, in 1999, Hour Of Penance travelled a long way to find itself standing strong as one of the most intense, talented and striking death metal acts to emerge from Italy. At the same time, their eighth instalment, Misotheism, cloaks the same verve and mindful perfection, that led to the band's uprising in the first place.

"Like we did with our past records, we’ve started working on this one with the same passion and focus as if we were about to record our very first album", says the group. "We’ve never took anything for granted, not only by keeping in mind the standards our fans are expecting, but also pushing ourselves to try perfecting our sound".

Their excitement for death metal didn't wash out their careful attitude towards tying up all loose ends, either: "We never thought that we would have come this far with our career, and while we didn’t feel any pressure writing this record, we definitely put some extra care this time. In fact, the album was recorded in three different studios and handled by three different sound engineers."

What we receive in the end is far better than what some may have been craving for: Misotheism is a pitch-black and delightfully brutal death metal soundtrack to a collapsing universe. "It pushed Hour Of Penance to a new level of creativity. We’re confident that you will enjoy the new album as much as we do", adds the band.

Misotheism was worked on in three different locations. Drums were tracked at Bloom Recording Studio (Italy), where the band "took advantage of the huge recording rooms and endless choice of microphones". On the other end, we have the Kick Recording Studio (Italy), where guitars, bass and vocals were recorded with Marco Mastrobuono, who also worked on Regicide (2014) and the last album, Cast The First Stone (2017). Finally, the band drove all the way to Poland, where the album was mixed and mastered at Hertz Studios (Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated).

As the band reports: "Working with the Wiesławscy brothers was like putting the icing on the cake and thanks to their mastery we managed to achieve the perfect sound without making any compromises."

The cover for the album was handled by a Hungarian artist, Gyula Havancsàk (Accept, Annihilator, Destruction, Ensiferum). "He perfectly captured the overall feel of the album", comments the band.

Formats:

- jewelcase CD
- box CD (feat. slipcase, patch and flag)
- black LP
- transparent smoked LP
- red with black splatter LP
- t-shirt

Tracklisting:

"Mass Crucifixion Of Kings"    
"Blight And Conquer"    
"Fallen From Ivory Towers"    
"The Second Babel"    
"Lamb Of The Seven Sins"    
"Flames Of Merciless Gods"  
"Sovereign Nation"   
"Dura Lex Sed Lex"    
"Iudex"    
"Occult Den Of Snakes"    

Limited edition bonus tracks:
"Misconception"    
"Slavery In A Deaf Decay"    
"Hierarchy Of The Fools"  

Album trailer:

 

Lineup:

Giulio Moschini - guitars
Paolo Pieri - guitars and vocals
Marco Mastrobuono  - bass
Davide Billia - drums