WATAIN · The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain | BLACK TAPE

Black music cassette, limited to 500 copies.

Background information about 'The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain'

There is a moment about forty seconds into "Ecstasies In Night Infinite" where Watain simply stop pretending to be polite. The riff opens up, the drums start hammering like a blacksmith who has given up on subtlety, and you remember exactly why this band has been a benchmark for Swedish black metal for over two decades. The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain is their sixth full-length, and it lands like a statement of intent rather than a nostalgia trip — the kind of record that sounds like it was recorded in a room full of candles, sweat and old amplifiers that have seen things.

What makes this album so compelling is the balance it strikes. Tracks like "The Howling" and "Serimosa" carry that grand, almost theatrical darkness the band has always done so well, while "Black Cunt" and "Leper's Grace" strip things back to something rawer and more vicious. Erik Danielsson's voice remains one of the most recognisable instruments in the genre — a rasp that feels genuinely worn rather than performed. The production is thick and organic, letting the bass breathe and the guitars gnaw at the edges of every riff. It is a record that rewards volume and patience in equal measure.

For fans of: Dissection, Rotting Christ, Necrophobic, Craft, Valkyrja

Other Versions

RED MARBLED BOX BOXLP · Sold out

Track listing

A1. Ecstasies In Night Infinite
A2. The Howling
A3. Serimosa
A4. Black Cunt
A5. Leper's Grace
A6. Not Sun Nor Man Nor God
B1. Before The Cataclysm
B2. We Remain
B3. Funeral Winter
B4. Septrentrion

Manufacturer: Darkness Shall Rise Productions, Lengenfelder Straße 58, 08107 Kirchberg, Germany, Contact: darknessshallrise.de