Belphegor

Austrian blackened death metal band Belphegor began performing in the early '90s under the name Betrayer. Founded by vocalist and bassist Maxx, guitarists Helmuth and Sigurd, and drummer Chris, the group released its first demo Kruzifixion in 1991 and renamed themselves Belphegor for their 1993 demo Bloodbath in Paradise. Following Maxx's departure from the group, Helmuth took over vocal duties on Belphegor's studio debut The Last Supper, released in 1995 via Lethal Records. Subsequent releases such as Blutsabbath (1997) and Necrodaemon Terrorsatan (2000) allowed the band to secure a deal with Napalm Records, which issued two of their most critically acclaimed albums: Lucifer Incestus (2003) and Goatreich – Fleshcult (2005). By the time Belphegor signed with the Nuclear Blast label in 2006, Helmuth was the only remaining founding member in the group's lineup. Pestalokalypse VI, their first outing for Nuclear Blast, arrived in 2006 and was followed by Bondage Goat Zombie (2008), an album inspired by the writings of the Marquis de Sade that reached Number 42 on the Austrian charts. Starting with 2009's Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn, the band began growing a substantial fanbase in the United States; a trend that continued on LPs such as Blood Magick Necromance (2011) and Conjuring the Dead (2014), both of which entered Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Released five years after 2017's Totenritual, their twelfth long-player The Devils became their highest-charting effort in their native Austria, peaking at Number 8 on the local charts.

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