#News #Stream #Bockreiter Spirits of the Swamp
Bockreiter – Spirits of the Swamp out now via Abstruse Eerie Radiance
Bockreiter is a blackened doom metal band from Belgium, featuring members and former members of Absolutus, Humanitas Error Est, Excavated, Spectre, Garden of Decay, and Caligula. The band takes its name — literally “Buckriders” — from a local legend rooted in present-day north-eastern Belgium, the southeastern Netherlands, and western Germany.
Emerging in the 18th century, the legend of the Buckriders tells of gangs of outlaws said to have forged a pact with the Devil, who granted them goats upon which they rode across the night skies. Some were believed to steal from the wealthy to aid the destitute, while others spread only terror and ruin wherever they passed…
On Walpurgisnacht in 1740, a convent in the Duchy of Limburg was raided by a Buckrider gang. Several of its key figures vanished without a trace. It is said they were secretly executed for witchcraft, their bodies discarded in the swamps of the High Fens. Now, their spirits have risen again.
Bockreiter’s music is a blend of doom and black metal, mixing slow, ominous pulsations with haunting melodies and aggressive black metal riffs, evoking emotions of anger, dread, sorrow, and unease. The lyrics draw from regional folklore and reflect on the burdens of existence.
Formed in 2018, Bockreiter released their first demo in 2021 and have since been invited to share the stage with bands such as White Ward, Devil Master, Lamp of Murmuur, À Terre, Pothamus or Wolvennest.
Their debut album, Spirits of the Swamp, was released in May 2026 by the Belgian underground label Abstruse Eerie Radiance (Oldd Wvrms, Humaniats Error Est, Lebenssucht, Arnwald). It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Déhà at Blackout Studio in Brussels and features guest contributions from Michel Kirby (Wolvennest, Satanic Witch), Aubry André (Excavated, Neverlight Horizon), and Déhà.
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