The upcoming fourth full-length release from the notorious UK act THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL, entitled The Murder of Jesus The Jew, is set for North American release via Candlelight Records on January 11, 2011, their first for the label. Continuing their notoriously bizarre integration of torrid black metal, infused with countless other styles, and the band's unique style of theatrical storytelling, the madness runs rampant on the new album, sure to be one of the most talked about black metal releases of 2011.
Proof of this bizarre and intriguing genre-bending mastery can be witnessed today via a Stereogum premiere of THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL's newly unleashed track "My Psychotic Sand Deity" HERE!
The Murder of Jesus The Jew Track Listing:
1. Boiled In Hell Broth And Grave Dust (Intro)
2. My Psychotic Sand Deity
3. Apocalypse Of Lazarus
4. Addicted To God
5. Stiller Of Tempests
6. Man From Kerioth
7. Dark Gethsemane
8. Jew Killer
9. Genesis Of Death
10. From Eagle To Cross
11. Apostle Of The Uncircumcised
12. A Canticle for the lost amputees of Aelia Capitolina who have been trampled under the iron shod hooves of salivating Hell Rams and impaled on the shimmering tusks of salvation within the abandoned tabernacle of a Bronze Age myth
After three well received demos in the late '90s, the MEADS OF ASPHODEL signed to Supernal Music in 2000 and their debut album The Excommunication of Christ appeared in 2001. The narration/intro was voiced by AC Wild of cult Eighties Italian Black Metal band Bulldozer. Here began the bands long association with Hawkwind, as Huw Lloyd Langton played lead guitar on two tracks, including a cover of Hawkwind's "Assault and Battery." Whilst musically the MEADS veered away from the icy monotone fuzz blasts of what could be cited as traditional black metal, lyrically the band were, and ARE a black metal act. The second album, Exhuming the Grave of Yeshua, was released in 2003 and featured, Guest musicians, Huw Loyd Langton and Alan Davey (Hawkwind), Deorth (Ragnarok), Mirai (Sigh) and Paul; Carter (Thus Defiled). During 2004 and 2005 the band crafted theDamascus Steel album with input from Mirai (Sigh), Max Rael (History of Guns), and new associate, Alisa Coral from Russian Space rock band Space Mirrors. The album's concept concerns the evil in human kind and the wanton slaughter in the name of God or whatever reason.
The brand new album The Murder of Jesus The Jew details the historical life of Jesus (Yeshua) the Jewish rabbi who was slaughtered on a tree by the Romans on a cold winters day 2000 years ago, and thereafter his people condemned to be pariahs of the earth due to Christian hatred. It is ironic that the Jewish roots of the Christian church have been erased and the blame of their man-god’s death cruelly placed upon a people already broken by the yoke of Roman imperialism. Truth is often blinded by faith, none more so than the story of Jesus and his maligned people.
“The Meads of Asphodel have forged a path that can only be described as unorthodox, fusing together a multitude of genres flawlessly.” - Chronicles of Chaos
"...The Murder Of Jesus The Jew is the densest, shiniest, more stadium-sized work to date. Play it beside Cathedral’s The Guessing Game and A Forest Of Stars’s Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring for some truly bonkers UK heavy metal, circa 2010." - Stereogum
"...more diverse than ever, with every track committing grave heresies against orthodox BM dogma, ranging from the jazzy vamping and 'Jesus Christ Superstar'-style piano led narrative chorus of 'Addicted To God' through the acoustic blues stomp and bongo break of 'Stiller Of Tempests' to the moody trip-hop beat of 'Dark Gethsemane'." - Terrorizer
"UK weirdo black metallers the Meads of Asphodel take the light-speed black metal, carnival music, female operatic vocals, and rock-god guitar solos of Sigh and Cradle of Filth a few steps further into the abyss... kudos for the awesome and absurd experimentation of it all." - Snowboard Canada
