As one millennium died and another hateful, enraged age emerged from its rapidly decaying corpse, one band set about reshaping the outer limits of extreme metal. An unholy cyborg, a welding of circuitry and flesh, of tooth, claw and titanic hi-tech firepower, The Berzerker‘s violence beyond reason left gaping wounds in a music scene that thought it understood where its boundaries lay. Safe spaces were set ablaze and the arbiters of genre definition put to the sword as the brute force of albums like Dissimulate and Animosity ran riot. Then, after four albums with Earache Records, The Berzerker independently released their definitive fifth album; a sanity shredding scream of industrial death metal, hyper speed programming and total sonic hostility, a final defiant, self-immolating explosion of fury – The Reawakening.
Despite being hailed as a resounding triumph, The Reawakening blazed fiercely but briefly. Increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the music industry, The Berzerker’s creator, Luke Kenny, pulled the album from sale and streaming shortly after its release. Over the years that followed The Reawakening took on near-mythic status amongst fans – the ultimate expression of The Berzerker’s uncompromising passion becoming a cult obsession surviving in the collective consciousness of the underground through word of mouth, file sharing and hard-won copies passed between diehard devotees. But The Reawakening always deserved more than a shadow existence as a fabled ‘lost album’, a mysterious foot note in the annals of The Berzerker’s legend…and now the time has finally come for it to claim its rightful, unassailable place in the pantheon of extreme music. The Reawakening has found its natural home with Apocalyptic Witchcraft, a label with an unimpeachable reputation for supporting the most creative and unique works of black, death and experimental metal; a label led by Conor Droney, a man with a deep connection to the music of The Berzerker…
“Discovering The Berzerker on a compilation at 15 was a life-changing moment that set me on the path I’m on today. It is only right that The Berzerker would end up working with Apocalyptic Witchcraft. The kings of extreme metal have returned.”
For those who have kept the name of The Reawakening alive throughout the years this reissue is a validation of their support. For those about to discover the album’s obliterating, unhinged chaos for the first time, an experience like no other awaits. Eighteen years on from its infernal birth The Reawakening remains a formidable creation. Abrasive, mechanistic, yet imbued with a burning, violent soul, from the precision riffing and pitiless programming of opener ‘Wisdom And Corruption’ to the rampaging off the rails, machine madness of ‘An Unforgettable Force’, The Reawakening is a whirlwind of razor blades. Be it the lurching mayhem of ‘Disassembly Line’ or the imperious aura of ‘Evolution Of Aggression’, radiating a supreme confidence in its ability to destroy utterly, every song is incendiary and dangerous. The years in the darkness have done nothing to dull the impact of this industrial savagery. It is time to welcome back a true apex predator.
The Reawakening will be released on limited edition splatter vinyl, digipak CD and cassette on October 30th, ahead of the band’s performance at Damnation Festival in Leeds, alongside the likes of Carcass, Crowbar and Satyricon. The album will also reassume its rightful place on all digital platforms on July 17th.
ALBUM PRESALE LINK HERE.
