BELPHEGOR Completes Work On 13th Studio Album, Set For Release In 2027

Black death metal force BELPHEGOR has finished work on its 13th studio album, scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2027 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

The forthcoming record will mark the next chapter in BELPHEGOR's uncompromising legacy, continuing the band's relentless exploration of black death metal and its distinctive fusion of brutality, darkness and ceremonial intensity.

As work on the album progresses, BELPHEGOR reminds its supporters to revisit the first two singles from the upcoming release: "Scarlet Beast - Leviathan", which was released in February 2026; and "Sanctus Diaboli Confidimus", which was released in August 2025.

Since their formation in 1993 in Austria, BELPHEGOR have stood as one of the most brutal and transgressive forces in black death metal. Founded by vocalist and guitarist Helmuth Lehner, the band has spent over three decades refining a sound forged in fire and sacrilege, merging the violent precision of death metal with the ritualistic darkness of black metal. Their musick is an invocation of infernal power, a soundwall of relentless blasphemy.

From the raw intensity of early releases like "The Last Supper" (1995),"Blutsabbath" (1997) and "Necrodaemon Terrorsathan" (2000) to the increasingly sophisticated compositions found on albums such as "Lucifer Incestus", "Bondage Goat Zombie", "Pestapokalypse VI" and "Totenritual", BELPHEGOR have continually pushed the boundaries of extreme musick. Each release marks a further descent into forbidden territory.

The band's thematic focus with ritual magick, religious inversion, and arcane symbolism is matched by their technical mastery, multilingual lyrics, and sonic experimentation.

With their twelfth studio album "The Devils" (2022),BELPHEGOR delivered one of their most punishing and ambitious records to date. Recorded at Fascination Street Studios with producer Jens Bogren, the album features nine meticulously crafted compositions that shift seamlessly between feral aggression and solemn majesty. Tracks such as "Glorifizierung Des Teufels" and "Virtus Asinaria - Prayer" incorporate choral passages and ritualistic structure, while "Damnation - Höllensturz" unfolds with a dynamic complexity that further amplifies the band’s compositional vision. Lyrically, the album weaves together German, Latin, and English to cast incantations of death, desecration, and rebellion against sacred order. Accompanied by visionary artwork from Seth Siro Anton, "The Devils" stands as a high point in BELPHEGOR's canon and underscores their continued relevance in the global extreme metal landscape.

Following the success of "The Devils", BELPHEGOR were honored with the 2023 Amadeus Austrian Music Award in the "Hard And Heavy" category, a rare moment of formal recognition in Austria for a band that has long walked a path far removed from mainstream acceptance. This accolade acknowledges their artistic legacy and highlights the contrast between their recognition and the transgressive nature of their craft.

Renowned for their intense live rituals, BELPHEGOR have toured relentlessly across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia and beyond. They have appeared at Wacken Open Air, Knotfest, Bloodstock Open Air, Hellfest, Tons Of Rock, Sweden Rock and numerous other prestigious metal festivals. Their stage presence is more than a performance, it is a ceremony of magick and infernal theatre, where sound, smoke, blood, and fire converge in a communion with darkness.

Now, as the band approaches its thirteenth studio album, a deeper and more arcane force begins to stir. The number thirteen bears ancient meaning: endings, thresholds, and the passage into the unknown. Rooted in primordial doctrine, the thirteenth seal is said to bind the final veil between worlds, the last barrier between order and chaos.

With this upcoming release, BELPHEGOR prepares to break that seal, not to follow, but to lead. To summon what lies beyond even their own previous creations: something more primal, more ritualistic, more devastating.

Early glimpses of new material point to a continuation of the dark artistic path begun with "The Devils", now delving even deeper. The upcoming album takes shape as a focused ritual: precise, uncompromising, and rooted in the band’s unmistakable vision, the glorification of the Devil.

Photo by: Jeremy Kehlenbeck