Warsaw doom metal heavyweights Dopelord have announced the release of their fifth studio album “Songs for Satan” to be issued on October 6th as part of Blues Funeral Recordings’ deluxe PostWax series. Dive into this gigantic new album with the debut single “Night Of The Witch” streaming on all platforms now!
“Hear you laughing from the dark/As they pray to their god/Now their time has finally come/To reap what they’ve sown.” – Dopelord, 2023
Having paved the way for Polish doom metal for over a decade by sticking to their strictly DIY ethos and hard work, mighty foursome Dopelord is about to open a new chapter of its history by joining the coveted ranks of US label Blues Funeral Recordings (Acid King, Dozer, Lowrider, Dead Meadow).
Their fifth full-length “Songs for Satan” is a moment of critical mass for Dopelord. A blast of devil worship in the riffing realms is nothing new, and while they aren’t the first band to openly embrace the motif, their amplified heresy is uniquely triumphant, their fuzz-drenched apostasy genuine and glorious.
Not only does “Songs for Satan” showcase the band’s equal mastery of lumbering plod and silvery hooks, but it also more importantly mines Polish Catholicism’s decades of oppression for lyrical fuel. Tracks like “Satan’s Call,” “The Chosen One,” “One Billion Skulls” and “Worms” are pointed in their defiance of the church’s cultural dominance, even while managing to be contagiously singable at the same time. Maybe the extremity of their position will lead a few listeners to question their own beliefs and examine the church’s role, religion’s role (whether in Polish society or elsewhere) like a strong push to open a door. The voice of rebellion is crucial, and Dopelord’s shout is unmistakable.
Calling to mind Electric Wizard, Windhand, Belzebong and Acid King, “Songs for Satan” is Dopelord‘s apex, an iconoclastic milestone for stoner doom that rumbles the earth and shakes our figurative foundations. It will be available on October 6th in various vinyl editions, limited digipack CD and digital. The ultra-limited deluxe vinyl edition will be shipped a few weeks prior to PostWax subscribers.
New album “Songs for Satan”: Out October 6th on Blues Funeral Recordings. Preorder on Blues Funeral website, Bandcamp and EU store.
Tracklist: 1. Intro 2. Night Of The Witch 3. The Chosen One 4. One Billion Skulls 5. Evil Spell 7. Worms 8. Return To The Night Of The Witch
Rock and roll’s history with Satan goes back to before there even was rock and roll. A blast of devil-worship in the riffing realms is nothing new, and Warsaw, Poland’s Dopelord aren’t the first band to openly embrace the motif. Even so, their amplified heresy is uniquely triumphant, their fuzz-drenched apostasy genuine and glorious. The band coalesced in late 2010 in the city of Lublin, Poland, where three of the soon-to-be-band’s members attended university. Merging members from two previous groups and pulling inspiration from classic cult films, 70s rock, occult themes and magical herbs, the quartet set its sights on stoner doom before the style had taken much hold in their country.
Dopelord released their debut “Magick Rites” in 2012, a record that flaunted their love of vintage heavy rock and proto-metal, which The Sludgelord noted for its “huge unstoppable riffing in every song.” 2014’s “Black Arts, Riff Worship & Weed Cult” was a leap forward in songcraft, and as the band got serious, they began touring abroad in Western Europe, the members also completing a relocation to Polish capital city Warsaw. Critically-acclaimed 2017 album “Children of the Haze” found their formula for drawn-out psych-sludge behemoths perfected, as confirmed by The Heavy Chronicles, which proclaimed, “Nothing will be the same again. There used to be doom, now there is Dopelord.”
As if heralding the actual end times, fourth LP “Sign of the Devil” arrived on March 10, 2020, just as the covid-19 pandemic took terrifying hold of the planet and called the knowable future of humanity into question. Supremely confident in their infectious bludgeon and thematic overtness, Dopelord presented a record that stepped more fully than ever into both melody and rebellious iconoclasm. Naming “Sign of the Devil” their album of the week, Worship Metal cheered it as, “a torrent of ear-pleasingly suffocating riffs which crush all in their path,” adding, “Satan would be pleased.”
Derailed from their aggressive live schedule for two years, Dopelord blasted out the “Reality Dagger” EP in 2021 before setting to work on their boldest statement yet. On October 6th, 2023, their fifth album “Songs for Satan” will induct the mighty foursome as one of Europe’s heaviest and most faithful doom purveyors of the new era, crushing everything on their path under the Blues Funeral Recordings banner.
Dopelord is Paweł Mioduchowski – Guitars and Vocals / Piotr Ochociński – Drums / Grzegorz Pawłowski – Guitars / Piotr Zin – Bass, Vocals and Mellotron
