10 Years of Death in Kill-Town

The first Kill-Town Death Fest was held in 2010 so this years edition is billed as "10 Years of Death". Due to 2015-2018 hiatus it's actually fest number eight, but hey, ten years is ten years. All 36 bands of the lineup has been announced and here's a Bandcamp playlist of nearly all of them in announcement order

The first Kill-Town Death Fest was held in 2010 so this years edition is billed as "10 Years of Death". Due to 2015-2018 hiatus it's actually fest number eight, but hey, ten years is ten years. All 36 bands of the lineup has been announced and here's a Bandcamp playlist of nearly all of them in announcement order, some with a quote from the announcement telling why the band is extra special. Even if you won't be visiting Kill-Town this year there should be something to enjoy for any lover of Death Metal.

Like the last years the fest takes place in Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, a venue with small and a larger stage. Expect the small stage to become super crowded for some of the sets. Tickets go on sale here Friday 21st February at 17:00 CET The festival is now SOLD OUT. Check the Kill-Town Facebook page for more information.

This post will be continually updated with with the latest Bandcamp releases from all the bands involved, and when is the schedule is announced the bands will be sorted according to their set times.

1 - Coffin Texts (United States)

They rarely play live and have never set foot on this side of the Atlantic, so it’s with immense pride we can present the first European show ever of the mighty COFFIN TEXTS!!!

2 - Acephalix (United States)

It’s been 9 years since this Bay Area 5 piece played shows in Europe, so it’s with great pleasure we can announce ACEPHALIX for the KTDF VIII lineup!

3 - Father Befouled (United States)

4 - Vanhelgd (Sweden)

5 - Krypts (Finland)

6 - Witch Vomit (United States)

They have never played Europe before and they will only come over to do this KTDF special one-off set. Please welcome one of Portlands best contemporary death metal bands; WITCH VOMIT!!!

7 - Sijjin (Germany)

Arisen from the ashes of the soon defunct Necros Christos, its with great pleasure we can present SIJJIN as part of the KTDF VIII lineup!!!

8 - Mortiferum (United States)

9 - Faceless Burial (Australia)

its with great pleasure we can present the first ever European show for FACELESS BURIAL!!!

10 - Ossuary (United States).

This three piece, consisting of 2 members from the amazing occult rock band Jex Thoth. It’s with tremendous pleasure that KTDF can present the very first European performance of OSSUARY!!!

11 - Burial Invocation (Turkey)

12 - Interment (Sweden)

13 - Bloodsoaked Necrovoid (Costa Rica)

it’s with great pleasure we can announce the first ever European performance for BLOODSOAKED NECROVOID!!!

14 - Gorephilia (Finland)

15 - Deathcult (Switzerland)

16 - Innumerable Forms (United States)

17 - Concrete Winds (Finland)

a new project as a duo who set out to take the direction of Vorum’s final album and bring it to a whole new level of extreme. Therefore it’s with tremendous pleasure we can welcome CONCRETE WINDS to the KTDF VIII lineup!!!

18 - Void Rot (United States)

We are excited to announce that VOID ROT will be performing their first ever European show at KTDF VIII!

19 - Engulfed (Turkey)

20 - Sněť (Czechia)

21 - Ascendency (Denmark)

22 - Atavisma (France)

We are obviously happy to be presenting this band and a special show, but also sad that this will be their last ever live performance ... so it’s with great pleasure that we can welcome ATAVISMA to the Gloomy Sunday line-up!

23 - Mortal Wound (United States)

we are proud to present the very first European performance for MORTAL WOUND!!!

24 - Cryptic Brood (Germany)

25 - Cavurn (United States)

It’s with great pleasure we can present an exclusive one off performance and first European show ever for CAVURN!!!

26 - Carcinoid (Australia)

Today we head all the back down under to present to you another first time in Europe band! We welcome Australia’s CARCINOID to the KTDF VIII line-up!

27 - Convocation (Finland)

This band has never played live before and will possibly never play live again. Therefore we are elated to be able to present a unique one-off live experience with the mighty CONVOCATION!!!

28 - Hyperdontia (Denmark/Tyrkey)

29 - Proscription (Finland)

Please welcome from the ashes of Maveth, PROSCRIPTION!!!

30 - Astriferous (Costa Rica)

We are excited to be able to present the first ever European performance for this great 4 piece from San José, Costa Rica – please welcome ASTRIFEROUS!!!

31 - Encoffination (United States)

We are honoured to be able to present an exclusive European one-off for none other than the mighty ENCOFFINATION!!!

32 - Morta Skuld (United States)

[Morta Skuld only has this compilation of their first two demos on Bandcamp]

33 - Degial (Sweden)

With two members currently playing for Watain their busy schedules rarely allow them to perform live. So therefore its with tremendous pleasure that we can announce that the mighty DEGIAL will be performing the 8th edition of KTDF!!!

34 - Blood Incantation (United States)

35 - Dead Congregation (Greece)

36 - Asphyx (Netherlands)

[Asphyx are signed to Century Media which means nothing on Bandcamp. So here's the last EP by the excellent Dead Congregation to round things off]

Krypts - Remnants of Expansion

By Craig Hayes. It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Finnish death and doom metal necromancers Krypts. But here they are again, crawling from the black-hearted catacombs with their grimmer-than-grim new album, Remnants of Expansion. I’ve never understood why Krypts' storming debut, 2013's Unending Degradation, isn’t raved about more often.

By Craig Hayes.

Artwork by Timo Ketola

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Finnish death and doom metal necromancers Krypts. But here they are again, crawling from the black-hearted catacombs with their grimmer-than-grim new album, Remnants of Expansion. I’ve never understood why Krypts' storming debut, 2013's Unending Degradation, isn’t raved about more often. That album was released by Dark Descent Records, which is a sure sign of commanding metal, and we all know those fiendish Finns are adept at mixing tar-thick doom with crushing death metal. More to the point, Unending Degradation oozed corruption, and like the music of fellow Finnish doom henchmen Hooded Menace, Krypts' songs feature a spine-chilling tempo and tenor that eclipses many of their peers.

Still, I guess there’s something to be said for cult music made by a cult band only ending up the in hands of the most fervent cultists. In any case, Remnants of Expansion is here now, and it wrenches open the gateways to Lovecraftian terror once again. It’s a steep dive into archaic horrors straight away too. Album opener, "Arrow of Entropy", is a supremely dark and atmospheric trudge under endlessly overcast skies. At 11-minutes long, "Arrow of Entropy" is an epic opening gambit as well. But Krypts have no problem filling the track with extremely heavy and hypnotic hooks.

More melodic and monolithic charnel house riffs await on "The Withering Titan". And "Entrailed to the Breaking Wheel" and "Transfixed" are both hulking and bulldozing in equal measure too. If you're a fan of Scandi death metal, then you'll love the mountain of vintage tone, texture, and weight on all the album's tracks. And mixing mortuary leads with mournful refrains keeps the rack and ruin of doom ever-present as well.

There’s an impenetrable density to Remnants of Expansion that's intimidating too. The album’s riffs, courtesy of six-string mage Ville Snicker, and fellow new(ish) guitarist Jukka Aho, are ultra-grim and gargantuan. But those riffs are made all the more wretched and foul as the two guitarists slowly wring every torturous ounce of despair out of them. Vocalist and bassist Antti Kotiranta growls with all the torment and fanatical madness you’d expect from the clergy of the damned. And Otso Ukkonen’s pounding drums provide the all-important doomsday tempo. Add all that up, and there's no question that Remnants of Expansion brings the heavyweight ambience of classic esoteric death metal. But the claustrophobic air of otherworldly forces steadily closing in plays a big role here too.

Obviously, Finland is home to celebrated death and/or doom metal icons like Demigod, Convulse, Thergothon, Reverend Bizarre, and Skepticism. Musically, Krypts are a different breed to those aforementioned bands. But they do bring a similarly solemn sense of gravity. Certainly, Remnants of Expansion is not a shallow or immediate album. And that’s no deficit. There's way too much cookie-cutter death metal out there, and albums like Remnants of Expansion offer a crucial alternative by ensuring that the Devil really is in the details.

Remnants of Expansion is an album to wallow in. Krypts’ slow and steady subterranean dirges divulge more secrets and evoke more menace the deeper you explore them. So get digging into Remnants of Expansion’s earth-quaking murk. Let the corruption take hold. Let the sepulchral insanity reign. Amen.