In July of 2016, Finnish illustrator JP Ahonen reached out to me and asked if I’d like to give him a quote for his newest book, BELZEBUBS. It was in that moment that I could feel the muscles tense in my right hand, as I flexed my pointer and pinkie fingers toward the sky. With a righteous Cheshire’s grin on my face, I lifted those celebratory horns high into the air. Shortly thereafter, I told him that “Belzebubs strikes that delicate balance between adorable and totally fucking metal.” We laughed, I blushed, and he put it on the back of the book. My heart soared.
For those of you who aren’t hip to the BELZEBUBS web comic, the series is like if Spinal Tap and The Addams Family started a mosh pit with Calvin and Hobbes. Hailed by Top Shelf as a “trve kvlt mockumentary,” Ahonen’s darkly-humored strip focuses on the everyday challenges of family life: raising kids, running a small business, and making time for worship. Except the kids are named Lilith and Leviathan, the business is a black-metal band, and the worship… isn’t exactly aimed upstairs.
“Blackened Call” is the band’s first single, taken from their upcoming debut album, scheduled for a February 2019 release. It was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö, who’s also responsible for the sound of Dark Funeral’s The Secrets Of The Black Arts, Dissection’s The Somberlain and many more. You can watch the video for “Blackened Call” here:
To check out more from Belzebubs, be sure to head over to JP Ahonen’s Instagram account or the band’s official website.
Here are some visuals from the release in random order. Feast your eyes!
