Twenty-nine years have passed since Spiritual Decay was released, the last full-length from Lethal Prayer. Now, without any digital fanfare, we are presented its long-awaited successor: Sacrilege Infernus. No press release. No Bandcamp. No algorithmic offerings. No social media presence.
Are we not now compelled to reject the funderground’s exhausted status quo, just as Lethal Prayer already has, through negation rather than appeasement: no inbox spam from PR companies, no curated “metal” personae on Instagram and Facebook, no Metal Archives profiles as proof of existence and validity, no Bandcamp pages optimized for mindless consumption; no endless cycle of performative posts for gaining social capital?
Guitarist and composer Belial’s shadowy labor is not nostalgia for the DIY past. It is resistance to the funderground: to create without audience and to release without applause. So yes, perhaps this is the way forward where nothing is begged for; where a record does not arrive in our email inboxes, but rather it finds us.
When asked about the current state of the funderground, Belial said that it is comprised of “greed and narcissism.” To explain why their latest album wasn’t made available on digital streaming platforms, Belial said: “We’re not in this for money, notoriety, or social posturing. For us, it’s about therapy and camaraderie. When you create music or art to serve a specific narrative, to fit into a particular genre, or just to meet expectations, it stops being real. That’s just pandering.”
Belial begrudgingly allowed the following track to be posted on YouTube. We appreciate his time and insights.
I looked into your former presence on Metal Archives, the Belialgoat profile. You contributed to the site by adding bands like Funerus, Derketa, Mythic, Disharmonic Orchestra, Ripping Corpse, and Conqueror, along with your own projects during the turn of the millennium. Why did you abandon Metal Archives so long ago?
I didn’t abandon them. I had a period of time when I wasn’t online for a bit and I had forgotten my password and through many attempts to try to regain access to my accounts I just gave up. There are several things that are incorrect that need changed, and I don’t even have the ability to fix my own pages I created.
With you, it has never been about social performance. While you maintain a professional demeanor in the public eye, the Belial I have encountered uncompromisingly lives and breathes music. Metal is not a hobby for you; it is existence. I do not sense this same fire in those who waste time playing Nintendo games, who post rehearsals and cover songs on social media, often seeking attention through social performance. In short, I do not believe they suffer for the art as you do.
Thanks for the compliment. I basically do this for my own personal gratification.
You are one of the songwriters of Nocturnus AD, and you have played with Acheron, Incantation, and others. Many PR firms would eagerly attach themselves to a legacy figure like you for the appearance of credibility. Yet you reject these machines. Why?
I’ve always wanted to earn any accolades to my own personal achievements not ride the coattails or glory of others. As much as I am grateful and have much respect for bands and people, I’ve had the privilege to work with I’ve always tried to present my own path, for better or worse.
Some record labels today would have welcomed your new album without hesitation. Why did you not submit it to them? Why did you instead choose to release it through your own imprint, Decaying Filth Music, and only send it to people who you know personally?
Wanting to keep and own all my intellectual property fully. There are a couple labels I am sending it too.
What are your thoughts on the so-called funderground and the current metal landscape? Why does it seem that everything now revolves around appearances and social posturing? What went wrong?
Greed and narcissism.
You have stated that you are underground of the underground, there is an element of integrity of staying true or else you are false. What is trueness for you? What is false?
As I said earlier, I do this for me. We (band) aren’t in this for money notoriety or social posturing. It’ more therapy and camaraderie. When you create music or art for a specific narrative or to fit a particular genre and only for what is expected of you then it’s not truly real, it’s pandering. Thats how I see it anyway but hey, to each their own.
What is the true path forward for metal? Is it going back to the shadows?
Maybe ? I don’t know. There are so many forms of metal and means of expression, its all just a personal matter of taste and interest. Keep being original and trying new things just don’t get lost in lunacy. Sometimes extremity is taken too far to the wrong places but there is a market for anything and everything theses days, so it’ll find its way.
LETHAL PRAYER
P.O. Box 113
Pinellas Park
FL. 33782
U.S.A.
Tags: death metal, Florida Death Metal, funderground, interview, Lethal Prayer
You were caught in a third (or possibly fourth) world country with a crime against some tyrannical govermennt, you were going to the worst prison imagineable and you had to face the slayer. In there which punishment would you choose?
A) Sodomized by black panther members, possibly regularly
B) Getting savagely beaten to death like in Shawshank Redemption
C) Having to spend the rest of your life in a very tiny, dark cell, with not even books allowed to be read.
#C seems like a good escape from GNFOS and Shawshank!
I’m praying for cardiac arrest. Maybe a sewer slide.
I contacted Belial through the two emails left on his website. I’d like to get the record but seems he’s not responding…
There is a stark difference between showcasing your work through the usual platforms and merely showing your presence. This band has made it a priority that they intend to be “underground”, that is by not showcasing there work anywhere. I would gladly give them some shekels for their digital album, but if they purposely make finding their output a convoluted process, then the juice is not worth the squeeze. There are already some great releases lately from artists like Diabolizer, Conjureth and Megan Thee Stallion. Also please remove Emperor from the death metal section “best of”. It triggers my autism.
This “interview” would’ve been a lot better if he just said “fuck you suck my dick nerd” but I remain mildly curious based on the sample track. Gonna have to wait for it to pop up on soulseek I guess.
Brett isn’t making up just the interviews; now he’s making up the bands as well.
A band that names a track after Game Of Thrones? No thanks.
Could see it as LotR, the gods descending into finer and finer hierarchies culminating in (gods becoming) men, and death.
All artistic integrity is lost once you start letting people hear your music. Don’t do interviews, shows, don’t record albums, Don’t produce merch, or promote your band. Make your music how you want it and don’t let any outside influences dictate anything about the music or band. If you do any of these things, you are watering down Art for the masses.
Is the album Lord of the Rings inspired? I was thinking that last night first hearing it, and today noticed the use of a LotR lore term. Valar Morghulis is super cozy song. Warm, and embracing. I definitely hear Voivod and Immolation styles. Yo, Jason, of Goatcraft, check out Sterilizer II, Kentucky, NerveWar brand.
Hello, this is Jason. Thank you for the recommendations. I apologize for the difficulties in obtaining this album. Belial is very old school, and the underground scene has changed a lot since he released the last Lethal Prayer album 29 years ago. The surest way to reach him is by writing to his PO box, but I also let him know that people have been trying to contact him via email. Hopefully he will respond soon if he hasn’t already.
Regarding the Lord of the Rings reference, it is actually, as others have mentioned, from Game of Thrones, which I didn’t catch myself as I have never watched the show. I found it amusing, but I understand it may be a bit cringe for others. It is the only song of that kind on the album.
Belial also told me that the CD is $16.66, including domestic shipping. He has now set up a PayPal business account at decayingfilthmusic@hotmail.com.
I’m sure Belial appreciates the support from those who have reached out to him.
Hard-on goats, the reference falls back onto itself. There is no LotR fan who hasn’t noticed [Valar] and [Morgul] used in the same phrase. It could seem that the gods descend unto themselves in an image like auto-fellatio or something ATM, but here we are with very little clues but a whole lot of reference about intention, and much more capability with the tools at our disposal. Dispense with the flesh!
The real God (who is love) told me Christianity is the worst thing to have ever happened, and it’s the devil’s work, because a contrast was needed. Nietzsche, your gut feelings and the metal underground were right, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.
It doesn’t matter though, there will be light at the end of the tunnel, whichever direction you decide to go on.
As someone suffering from anxiety disorder, I can finally give my fears a name: Religion, with Christianity being the absolute worst. False Evidence Appearing Real
In the West, we badly need a replacement for the third world low rent religion of Christianity. We need religions of our own: a German religion, a French religion, hell even the Belgians can have their own. But not this god-is-love pacifistic nonsense based in neurotic grandmother levels of guilt.
Fuck off you don’t actually care otherwise you’d have better shit to do right now
Christianity is such a third world religion. Magical stuff happens, and the message? Treat everyone like they’re good even though they are bad. It is for cuckolds and communists. If you follow Christ, your soul will get AIDS and die.
No one cares sperg
Yeah be cool bro, all the cool kids are doing it, you don’t want to be a weird nerd
I am a weird nerd but you’re fooling yourself with that cheap take on the wests’ relationship to Christianity
The non-ironic Jesus approach likely matched the hermetic: wow, we’re so conquered, let us subvert and blaspheme.
If that’s the case, then you’re no less conquered steeping yourself in the modern iterations of vedanta or studying runes. It’s all gay larping bullshit. I’m not a Christian and hermetic Pinnacle is a song by prolaps, a side project from the minds of people who are actually carrying the torch for heavy music and pushing the boundaries of human consciousness
No u. I follow the true esoteric transcendent path of concealed wisdom as stated in the ancient books of Ba’al, and only I have authentic spiritual wisdom here.
Well you did manage to make a play on that username where I couldn’t think of anything, probably too fried from smoking pot and giving my seed to a woman who listens to rap, so I’m inclined to take your statement at face value. Fortunately for idots like me, higher learning is worthless in and of itself and so long as one keeps in mind that he’s a cunts’ hair away from oblivion at any given moment that should relieve the compulsion for extraneous learning and compel one to make the most of this brutal and fleeting fluke we call a lifetime.
Sounds cool. Nice twang to that bass like on Blasphemy Made Flesh.
VALAR MORGHULIS! WINTER IS COMING!
Is this some kinda new Marvel flick or sumthin?
If some Hollywood garbage is going to rip-off authentic Grail canon, the works written of Tolkien, then we’ll just have to consvme the poison (cvm), and turn it back onto the world goatse style.
wow, we’re so conquered, let us subvert and blaspheme
Goatse, GNFOS, and anime everywhere.
Now that’s a shithole I can get behind.
Just don’t let it get behind you, especially if it’s carrying a pot of lube.