Lebanese extreme death metal band Kaoteon recently announced the release of their new full-length album, Damnatio Memoriae, featuring bass wizard Linus Klausenitzer of Obscura and drum master Fredrik Widigs of Marduk as special guests. The album is due for release on February 23rd, and pre-orders are available here.

Kaoteon is an unusual east-west international extreme metal collaboration, originally hailing from the Middle East but now based in Amsterdam. Kaoteon fled their native Lebanon after the release of their debut 2011 full-length, Veni Vidi Vomui, due to facing censorship at its highest levels for simply being a metal band. They have been put in jail for devil worshipping, attacked by religious groups, and raided several times by police trying to use them as scapegoats to mask political and religious problems in the region. It's a terrifying but enthrallingly honest story of a metal band trying to exist, succeed and break out of the Middle East.

Damnatio Memoriae succeeds at portraying the band's justified "f*ck-the-world" outlook with nine poisonous tracks that brim with exhilarating magnetism and needle-sharp riffing.

Kaoteon's ominous, hellish new track, "Barred Lands", is a perfect example of this aggression. Take a listen below.

Lead guitarist Anthony Kaoteon says: "'Barren Lands' is the first track I wrote for Damnatio Memoriae, and I actually used it as bait to hunt both Linus from Obscura and Fredrik from the legendary Marduk to record the album with us. Our vocalist Walid Wolflust talks about the soulless, purposeless yellow pit that sucks the life out of everyone who gets consumed by its decadence and screams his lungs out as he wishes it would all catch fire. 100% mental, 100% metal."

Damnatio Memoriae was self-recorded by Kaoteon, with mixing and mastering credited to renowned Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, who is recognized for his celebrated work with bands such as Behemoth, Dark Funeral, Dimmu Borgir and many more of today's top metal artists.

Damnatio Memoriae is explosive metal at its finest, and is sure to be one of the most buzzed about extreme metal releases of the year.

Damnatio Memoriae tracklisting:

"Damnatio Memoriae"
"Barren Lands"
"Raging HellFire"
"Venom Of Exalt"
"The Will"
"Non Serviam"
"Light Of Compassion"
"Into The Mouth Of Kaos"
"A Breath"

"Barren Lands":

"Damnatio Memoriae":