EPK – Voraath – Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters (Exitus Stratagem Records)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
“We think this album will be something unique, a whirlwind of emotions and an auditory odyssey. We capsulated real events in our lives and laced them through our complex musical universe. We want the fans to feel the music, ride along with us on this musical journey through our dystopian planet. This album will be an investment of thought and emotion. We want to immerse the listener in another world. It’s heavy yet sad, brutal yet immersive, so we hope to take everyone on a journey. That journey is scored with metal! – Voraath
For fans of Fleshgod apocalypse, Cattle Decapitation, Dimmu Borgir, Acid Bath, Septic Flesh, Gojira
Voraath.com | Facebook.com/Voraath | Instagram.com/voraath/ | Tiktok.com/@voraath | Youtube
“Celebrating Sci-Fi Dystopia, and a Debut Album, with Voraath… We’ve made mention of Carolina’s cinematic sci-fi proggy death metal aliens Voraath in this space before… Well, they’re back with yet another Shudder/SyFy worthy, seemingly budget-busting work of dystopian video art. “The Leviathan’s Keep”” – Decibel Magazine
“Voraath‘s aim is to do more than record and release music. The music is part of a universe they’re creating, drawing upon elements of horror and science-fantasy, which includes significant visual as well as audio portrayals, including the band’s own presentation of themselves on stage — each member appears as a character in the lore of the music” – No Clean Singing
“After a foreboding beginning, both visually and musically, the video (Judas, Blood and Vultures) erupts in extravagant scenes of vicious armed combat involving hideous alien protagonists, and other scenes of chilling mystery and horror as the conflict moves into shadowy realms. The music is itself violent, horrifying, and mysterious, a genre-bending extravagance that’s full of startling surprises. At the heights of its intensity the drums fire at superhuman speeds, the riffing roils in madness and maniacally darts and jackhammers, and the vocals rabidly snarl and barbarically scream. The music also channels the alien malignancy at work in the tale, as dire orchestration soars and sweeps, both eerie and stricken in its moods, before the musical fight to the death resumes, accented by a wailing guitar solo. And further, the mysteries unfold through ringing and swirling keys and craggy bass tones, gradually swelling in intensity toward another guitar solo, a captivating one which underscores a building feeling of grief in the music. At the end, another surprise awaits, a gentle but mesmerizing acoustic guitar harmony that seems wistful, but maybe also hopeful. All in all, it’s a hell of a narrative spectacle, musically as well as visually.” – No Clean Singing
“The fact that the troupe is already so mature and professional on their debut, but also so passionate about it, may be due to the fact, that all musicians were previously employed in other projects. But it wasn’t until VORAATH that they obviously found the repository of their creativity and, completely surprisingly, created a small milestone with “Volume 1: Hymny Of The Hunters!” 9/10″ – PowerMetal.de
“Voraath’s “Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters” isn’t just an album; it’s a meticulously crafted portal into a nightmarish realm where each track unfolds a new chapter of struggle and revelation. With their blend of brutal aggression and melodic nuance, Voraath sets a new standard in storytelling, promising listeners an immersive experience that transcends genres and challenges the boundaries of a musical literary experience. Embrace the darkness and join the hunt—Voraath awaits, ready to lead you through their extreme metal multiverse with unparalleled intensity and imagination.” – Metal Lair
“Voraath‘s Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters is a meticulously crafted journey through a rich, dystopian world. The band’s ability to blend metal with intricate storytelling sets them apart, creating an immersive experience that is both brutal and thought-provoking. Voraath has set a high bar with their debut, promising even greater adventures in the metal multiverse they are meticulously crafting.” – Amplify The Noise
“ this first Voraath album sends us into a cosmic epic” – Eklektik Rock
“The Barrens offers a blend of crushing riffs and distinctive soundscapes, delivering a unique cinematic soundtrack.” – Metal Insider
Tour Dates w/ Gorgatron, Casket Robbery, Voraath
June 19 – Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
June 21 – Missoula, MT – The Dark Horse
June 22 – Richland, WA – Ray’s Golden Lion
June 23 – Seatle, WA – The Funhouse
June 24 – Portland, OR – Twilight Cafe and Bar
June 26 – San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
June 27 – Hollywood, CA – Knucklehead
June 28 – San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick
June 29 – San Louis Obispo, CA – Humdinger Brewing
June 30 – Tempe, AZ – Metal Head’s Clubhouse
July 1 – El Paso, TX – Rock House
July 2 – Thornton, CO – Trailside Saloon
July 3 – Albuquerque, NM – Rensden
July 5 – Austin, TX – Come and Take it Live
July 6 – Corpus Christi, TX – Boozerz Rock Bar
July 7 – Houston, TX – The Compound
July 8 – New Orleans, LA – The Goat
July 9 – Nashville, TN – The End
July 10 – Springfield, MO – The Odyssey
July 11 – Lincoln, NB – Cosmic Eye
July 12 – Kansas City, MO – Farewell
July 13 – Sioux Falls, SD – Bigs
** SLAMDAKOTA W/ MAUL & DETERIORATION
August 24 – Battle Creek, MI – Michigan Metal Fest – Leila Arboretum – info
Voraath – Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters
Release Date – June 17, 2024
Track Listing:
1 – Into Perdition – 1:29
2 – The Road to Samm Hill – 4:45
3 – Waypoint Orion – 4:45
4 – Terminus Rift – 4:56
5 – Dreadborn – 5:12
6 – The Barrens – 6:16
7 – Judas Blood and Vultures – 5:45
8 – The Leviathans Keep – 4:35
9 – Dirge Colony – 5:39
10 – The God-Killer Saga – 5:56
11 – Pyrrhic – 3:53
12 – Sirenhead – 4:54
Album Length: 58:11
Album Credits:
• All songs written and peformed by: Voraath
• Produced by: Joshua Ward
• Mixed by: Joshua Ward
• Mastered by: Mike Low
• Album Artwork by: Joshua Ward
Album Band Line Up:
Chelsea Marrow – Vocals
Tylor Kohl – Guitar
Daniel Presnell – Guitar
Paul McBride – Bass
Joshua Ward – drums, Keys, Vocals, studio Guitars
Additional artist:
Taylor Presnell – Studio Vocals
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Track By Track:
1. Into Perdition
The old roads of the Appalachian, barren and soulless lay ahead. Each step reminding us of our failures and a foreshadowing of the unfavorable journey that lies ahead. This song captures the native folk tones on the Appalachian mountains, reworked to resemble the feeling of being lost and broken.
2. The Road to Samm Hill
We have received coordinates to the location of the relay, an alien mechanism that can bend space-time. Employed by EOS Corp, our mission is to retrieve the relay at all cost. As we approach the area of operation, we are confronted by a creature frail and decaying stumbling along the old road. As it approaches us it reaches out its hand, revealing a sort of otherworldly controller. The creature shortly after petrifies and dies. Resuming our journey we come across a barren village, with dead bodies scattered. Further investigating we discover that Ostromek Corp had been conducting experiments on what seems to be an otherworldly entity. The scientist and security officers of Ostromek had seemingly lost control of the creature which had led to the massacre of the local village. This song outlines our battle with the otherworldly entity as well as discovering a traitor in our own ranks.
3. Waypoint Orion
The mission to Samm Hill was a failure. We resumed our pursuit of the relay (The Nexus key) deep into the Appalachian forest where we would discover a mound of bodies, the corpses of the lost villagers. Creatures from beyond our dimension stood guard and at the apex of the mound was a vile creature with authority over the lesser sentinels. The relay had been activated and was shimmering red particles when we noticed the screams of a little girl laying at the base of the corpses.To recover the little girl we would have to eliminate the corpse guardian. After killing a few of the creatures the relay began to resonate louder and louder. As we shot the third creature the very land around us changed. The sky became red and the landscape was foreign. We shot the fourth creature and reality itself transformed around us. With each kill the relay activated, altering the world around us. As we eliminated the final guardian and rescued the little girl, we found ourselves trapped in a different dimension.
4. The Terminus Rift
Stuck in an alternate dimension, a dark world of obsidian spires and tattered geometric architectures, we had to find a way to return home. We are confronted by otherworldly zealots. Our primary mission is to survive while we try to figure out how to operate the relay. While making our way through the chasms of this dark stone city, we awoke a nefarious entity, a vicious titan whom the zealots praised as a god. While attempting to repair the relay, the hunters must survive the onslaught on the titan and its servants.
5. Dreadborn
This song is a flashback to how Marrow came to join the hunters. During a mission to retrieve a key component for the relay, a mechanism called the Navigators Key, the hunters had to infiltrate a military compound controlled by Ostromek Corp. The hunters would arrive to a facility of dead soldiers and a rogue seer with telepathic abilities on a murder spree. While on a mission of vengeance, Marrow (seer) targeted the hunters not knowing that they were not affiliated with Ostromek Corp. After a vicious battle, the hunters were able to subdue the seer, recruiting her into their ranks and acquiring the Navigators Key.
6. The Barrens
This was our first song as a band, a song that encapsulated the brutal and melancholic nature of post traumatic stress (ptsd). The video is a series of flashbacks for the point of view of two of the hunters. One is experiencing loss and betrayal; meanwhile being pursued by a savage otherworldly entity (which shows the layers of coping with one tragedy while fighting to simply exist). The other is the feeling of hopelessness that turns to hate and that hate consumes those around her. The music itself carries out like a metal movie soundtrack, with aggressive peaks and demented valleys, all culminating into the grand apex of the final segway, an epiphany of taking back control (live to fight another day). We hope this brings awareness to the struggles and trauma we all are dealing with, awareness for those coping with PTSD.
7. Judas Blood and Vultures
Mission: 3116 The Red Village incident: The Valewalkers are contacted by an old friend, Tobias to investigate a series of strange disappearances in a neighboring village. It is believed that a vile creature from beyond the Nexus Rift, known by the locals as Lumia is responsible for the missing villagers, among them, Tobias’ new bride and infant child. As the hunters and their forlorn guide begin their pursuit of the creature and its cultist minions, they soon discover that not all is as it seems in the ruins of the red village.
8. The Leviathans Keep
This song is actually a prequel to our main story line. In our musical lore, we are mercenaries who take odd jobs in a dystopian society for resources for our village. We took a contract to escort a EOS Corporation scientist to a classified location in the mountains to recover data on a deceased entity. Our mission is to activate the IC-B18 energy barrier that isolates the area of operation and protect the scientist at all cost. Due to an intense GRS (Gamma Ray Storm), the relay drone used to communicate and initiate the barrier was destroyed which prompted an emergency evacuation, unfortunately the extraction point is occupied by savage mutant cannibals. The song follows our failed mission as we fight to survive the treacheries of the mountain. The end of the song has a unique twist. As our curiosity gets the better of us and we discover what EOS corp was researching; the corpse of a cosmic entity that will change our lives forever. The music is the culmination of primitive brutal rhythmic patterns and the epic soundscapes of survival. We are excited to share what we feel is something very unique in the metal and music community.
9. Dirge Colony
We have been given our final orders, to hunt down and eliminate the vile entity own as UA -33, the ender. While en route, the hunters came across the scattered remains of their friends from a neighboring colony. They dismally traversed the ravaged village. The hunter known as Ward, came across an old house with sounds of men celebrating. Ward began quietly investigating the dilapidated house, coming across a battered and wounded young woman. Bloodied, she fearfully signaled Ward to keep quiet. Realizing that she was a captive of soldiers, celebrating the pillaging of the colony, Ward along with the other hunters would murder the heartless mercenaries and mourn the loss of the young woman. This song was actually a dream that we wove into the music, a song about mourning loss and coping with nefarious circumstances.
10. The God-killer Saga
This song is the apex of our journey, from locating and retrieving the nexus key (relay) and the Navigators key, to grand standoffs with interdimensional entities, their mission would lead them to the very source of the apocalypse, to the entity UA-33 or the “ender.” deep in a gorge in the Appalachian mountains, the hunters approach a rift in the stone, a divot between dimensions. After defeating the creatures guarding the rift, the hunters would finally confront the seemingly iniquitous god; but nothing is what it seems and a secret with unfathomable repercussions will be revealed. Here is where the hunter’s journey ends and the sentinels of Voraath begins.
11. Sirenhead
Though most of the concept of our debut album follows a group of “survivors” who are tasked with hunting down an inter-dimensional deity who has ravaged the earth, for this song (Siren Head) we wanted to do something “less” otherworldly and a bit more of a horror. Our children love watching scary stories about this creature called “Siren Head.” Come to find out that so many kids his age are infatuated by the monster, so we wanted to write our interpretation of Siren Head based on the artist Trevor Henderson. This also allowed for us some family metal/horror time!”
12. Pyrrhic
After learning the truth of our journey, we must cope with the traumas and loss of our endeavors. This song is very bleak, capturing the sound of emptiness. Feeling as if there is no hope, no end, and the endless pain of enduring existence.
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Fun Facts – Story Angles
1 -The lore of the music is inspired by 80’s sci-fi movies, game lore, and folk tales of the Appalachian mountains. We draw inspiration from our personal interests and hobbies here in the mountains which include hunting, martial arts, and tactical training, and our mountain adventures roaming the land.
2 – Our outfits are handcrafted by the wife of our guitarist (Frank Kohl). The armor and cuirass that our vocalist wears was hand crafted by leather crafter/armorer Joshua Niemeyer who is the owner of the crafting company “The Grim Ringer.” Our masks are altered mesh masks crafted by Tylor Kohl and Joshua Ward.
3 – Our drummer Joshua Ward also does drum tech work, working for renowned drummers such as George Kollias and Pete Sandoval.
4- Our Singer Chelsea Marrow is a professional voice actress for the Monster Factory. She was part of the Doom Eternal heavy metal choir.
5- Guitar player Tylor Kohl genuinely gets excited about gas station hotdogs, which is nasty.
Voraath is a Sci-fi horror-inspired extreme metal band featuring members from Xael, Visitant, Rapheumets Well, Implosive Disgorgence, and Sweet Blood. Crafting their own musical, the music serves to take you on an auditory odyssey.
An otherworldly and experimental metal act based out of the Carolinas, Voraath unifies epic soundscapes with bone-crushing brutal riffs. In September 2021, Voraath began as an experimental project with Joshua Nassaru Ward (Xael, Rapheumets Well), Tylor Kohl, Paul McBride, and Daniel Presnell. In April of 2023, Chelsea Marrow joined the team as the lead vocalist. The word Voraath itself refers to an act of vengeance as well as the deity of wrath.
Artist Endorsements: Ddrum, Saluda Cymbals, Los Cabos Drumsticks, Foot Blaster, Volta Innovations, Cad Audio, GHS Strings
Shared Stage with: Rings of Saturn, Extortionist, Volcandra, Born of Osiris
Tours and Festivals:
2022 -Cyber Shed U.S. tour with Rings of Saturn
2023 – Dimensional Destruction tour with Volcandra
2023 – Headlining the Blast Beats and Brews festival in Atlanta GA.
August 2023 – Michigan Metal Fest (with Born of Osiris)
2024 – February 17th – Metal Family Gathering presented Michigan Metal Fest
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