Okkultist, born in 2016, representing blackened death metal from Portugal, got attention through the successful release of debut album “Reinventing Evil” with Alma Mater Records. Okkultist had previously released an independent EP called “Eye Of The Beholder”, at a time when the band had no idea of the projection it was gonna get. The band got signed to Alma Mater Records in 2018 which then resulted in a first album. Since the release of the “Reinventing Evil” in 2019, with the growth of the band, and with a pandemic hitting us all a year later, Okkultist took advantage of this time to, literally, reinvent the image and sonority of the band. We decided to take the band to a different, yet consistent, direction. We didn’t know exactly how to accomplish all these plans we had in mind, and that’s when the perfect opportunity came along – by the end of 2021, Alma Mater Records proposed a second Okkultist album. Since this was something we had been beyond eager to do, this gave us the push and the motivation we needed so badly, and we were able to conceive “O.M.E.N.” from January to March 2022 from scratch. So, for the entirety of 2022, the band has secretly been working on a new audio-visual project, ready to ravish the community, and give the wide and soulfully devoted fanbase the album they have been begging for, and to give the new fans the album they never dreamt they needed.

 

“O.M.E.N.” is the result of loss and sacrifice. The culmination of pain, and absolute detachment from life. But also, the journey of an obsolete sense of desperateness from walking out of the void weighting us down that is depression, into the high state of spiritual healing, as well as the mental and physical harnessing of the power we have within ourselves, and the strength it takes to let go of all that is harming us. It’s the power of no longer letting anything get to us, and it’s the power of fighting for where we want to be at, without looking back. It’s an ascension to our greatest spiritual form, which we will always and endlessly be fighting for.

This is why I write my lyrics in the first person – because I want the person on the other side who is listening to this, and singing the lyrics, to feel like this is something that they can say or use for themselves. Even though these songs are for every single person out there, regardless of their gender, as a woman I think of other girls and women

listening to these songs, and I hope it makes them feel as powerful and I do. I hope it makes the listener feel the out-of-this-world magick that these songs hold. I hope it makes them fear and respect the intensity they have, and how they can be the catalyst to all of you listening to them. These songs speak of ways of rising to our highest greatness through pain, and through all the obstacles the universe may throw our way. Dark times exist so we can

harness that power through them, and rise above anything or anyone that has tried to put us down. This album is for YOU – YOU who have survived through the worst of your days, YOU who didn’t know what to do when things got tough, YOU who’ve felt hopeless, blind, beaten up, not knowing where you have to be in life. You are not

alone. Take this album, and use its strength to show you how endless your inner power is. It’s all in your hands."
Beatriz Mariano
 

The band’s current lineup consists of Beatriz Mariano, vocalist, lyricist, and visionary (aka founder), Leander Sandmeier on guitar and also co-founder, David J. Rodrigues on bass, and the two most recent members João Corceiro on guitar (who pre-produced “O.M.E.N.”) and Eduardo Sinatra on drums.