A deathrock approach made up of blues and doom and punk, a horror obsession with Danzig worshiping aplenty and a natural veneration for Celtic Frost and Venom and Darkthrone. All these sensible, reasonable things are part of what one may expect from Black Totem‘s sophomore album, «II: Shapeshifting», set to release later this week. As the press release explains, they “are notorious road-dogs of the Finnish underground, cutting their teeth and scraping their raw knuckles in a slew of live shows through the years,” adding that with the new album, they “are downright lycanthropic, breaking out of their enigmatic origins and taking on a much more unadulterated form. Their catchy, raucous blues songs, with wild, untamed backing vocals and horror-soundtrack keys, give a distinctly Finnish lizard-disco hysteria to their fortified sound, coming across like a blood-bath in a moonshine distillery.” High praise, indeed. Below, listen to «Dead Meat», the album’s first single.

«II: Shapeshifting» is set for release on February 26 via Svart Records on digital and vinyl formats. Pre-orders are available here (vinyl) and here (digital).

Below, further listen to the band’s self-titled debut LP, released back in 2015 when they were still a guitar and drums duo, a formation which they have abandoned since 2016, when they became a quartet, complete with a second guitar and a bass.

«Black Totem» was released by Tar Honey Records on July 13, 2015, and is available here on digital format.