Thanatos are celebrating 35 years of fully dedicated fierce death fuckin' thrash metal. Admittedly, they absolutely still sound incredibly and accurately relevant to today's metal scene, thanks to their utterly implacable material. Saying their seventh album, Violent Death Rituals, sounds removed from their original early Slayer, Possessed, Kreator influences would be a mistake. They have undoubtedly honed their vehemently powerful sound over the years to become a purely individual relentless machine.

Their uncompromising new album, Violent Death Rituals is just pure catchy madness, Thanatos thoughtfully pace their songs for maximum ferocious headbanging folly, their furiously sharp arrangements contain so many well balanced acute melodies and enough murderous riffing to crush any fan in genuine extreme metal music history. Fuckin' Hell awaits in 2020.

Violent Death Rituals will be released in Europe on March 20, and in North America on April 3, via Listenable Records. Pre-order the album here, and watch a lyric video for the title track below.

Band leader Stéphan Gebédi comments: "As a first appetizer for our upcoming album Violent Death Rituals we chose to do a (lyric) video for the title track. It starts off rather slowly and builds a lot of tension, until it explodes into a fast, relentless death/thrash metal monster! Ferocious drum beats, pulsating bass lines, two howling guitar solos and aggressive vocals make sure this album starts off with a giant kick in the teeth!"

Violent Death Rituals was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Dan Swanö. Artwork created by Roberto Toderico.

Tracklisting:

"Violent Death Rituals"
"The Silent War"
"Unholy Predators"
"The Outer Darkness"
"Burn The Books Of Hate"
"It Always Ends In Blood"
"Corporate Indoctrination"
"Sent From Hell (I Infidel)"
"Legacy Of The Gods"
"As The Cannons Fade"

"Violent Death Rituals" lyric video:

This album marks the debut of drummer Martin Ooms and bass player Mous Mirer (both ex-Melechesh and ex-Liar Of Golgotha) who have joined guitarist Paul Baayens and founding member Stephan Gebédi (vocals/guitars) in their never-ending quest for death and destruction.

Lineup:

Stephan Gebédi - Vocals / Guitar
Paul Baayens - Guitar
Marco de Bruin - Bass
Martin Ooms - Drums

(Photo - Gerard van Roekel)