Belphegor

An uncompromising Austrian blackened death metal group, Belphegor arose in 1993 from the remnants of the similarly inclined Betrayer. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist Helmuth Lehnerl, the outfit delivered its opening full-length, The Last Supper, during 1995. Its explicitly Satanic, European-flavored black metal later gained traction abroad, producing successive globally charting releases such as Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn (2008), Blood Magick Necromance (2010), Conjuring the Dead (2014), and Totenritual (2017). The band unveiled its twelfth studio album, Devils, in 2022.

Originally assembled in 1991 as Betrayer by vocalist/bassist Maxx, guitarists Helmuth and Sigurd, and drummer Chris, the unit swiftly gained ground within Austria. It assumed the name Belphegor (one of the seven princes of Hell) in 1993 and put out a demo titled Bloodbath in Paradise. Maxx departed soon afterward, prompting Helmuth to assume vocal responsibilities. A revised configuration that incorporated bassist Mario "Marius" Klausner assembled in 1995 to issue the group’s inaugural studio album, The Last Supper, which Lethal Records later reissued; World War III Records subsequently reissued it with six bonus tracks drawn in part from the scarce 1994 Obscure and Deep EP. Blutsabbath (1997) and Necrodaemon Terrorsathan (2000) appeared through Last Episode Records, after which Belphegor signed with Napalm in 2003 for its fourth studio album, Lucifer Incestus.

Issued in 2005, Goatreich-Fleshcult marked the band’s final release for the label before it transferred to Nuclear Blast the next year and delivered Pestapokalypse VI, at which point Helmuth remained the sole surviving original member. Bondage Goat Zombie, released in 2008, drew partial inspiration from the writings of the Marquis de Sade, whereas 2009’s Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn took the history of witches as its thematic source. Both sets registered on the German and Austrian charts, the latter also accumulating U.S. sales. Blood Magick Necromance (2011) pursued a comparable thematic course and became the first Belphegor album to enter the United States charts. The widely praised 2014 album Conjuring the Dead, recorded by Erik Rutan at Mana Recording Studios in Florida, achieved the band’s strongest chart placement up to that time. The ferocious and punishing Totenritual surfaced in 2017, succeeded by the equally ferocious Devils, the extreme metal veterans’ twelfth full-length, in 2022.