DOPELORD’s 2012 debut album Magick Rites is scheduled for reissue through Season of Mist on December 11, 2026. The announcement pairs the return of the Polish stoner doom band’s first album with bassist and vocalist Piotr Zin’s recollections of its recording. The listed formats are jewel-case CD, black 12-inch vinyl and glow-in-the-dark 12-inch vinyl.
“For most of us, Magick Rites was our first-ever recording session in a proper studio”, Zin recalls. “The studio was located in Bialystok and belonged to some friends of ours, whose band we had previously played gigs with. We recorded these songs mainly for ourselves. We had no expectations whatsoever regarding how they would be received. Well, maybe with one exception – having a CD would make it easier for us to get gigs. But everything that happened afterwards was completely unplanned”.
The album was recorded at Studnia Studio in Bialystok in November 2011 and mixed by Michael Anuszewski. Its recording lineup comprised Paweł Mioduchowski on guitar and vocals, Zin on bass and vocals, Grzegorz Pawłowski on guitars and Arkadiusz Ziemiński on drums. Mioduchowski also created the cover art.
The announcement places particular emphasis on “Lucifer’s Son,” one of the album’s six tracks. In a review excerpt reproduced by Season of Mist, The Sleeping Shaman described the song as “[…] the off-the-bat highlight of Magick Rites”. The release presents the debut as an early example of the band’s combination of heavy riffs and recurring vocal hooks within stoner doom.
The supplied running order is:
- The Pentagram (5:56)
- Ghost Cargo From the Bong (7:37)
- Lucifer’s Son (8:16)
- Possessed (5:55)
- Magick Holocaust (6:19)
- Rise! Undying! (11:13)
DOPELORD formed in Lublin, Poland, in 2010. The accompanying biography describes a psychedelic doom sound with stoner metal influences and lyrics drawing on occultism, drugs and dark fantasy. Following the debut, the band released Black Arts, Riff Worship & Weed Cult in 2014, Children of the Haze in 2017, Sign of the Devil in 2020 and Songs for Satan in 2023.
Season of Mist identifies itself as DOPELORD’s new label home and also lists the band’s fourth album, Sign of the Devil, as available through the label. Its October 6 announcement states that the band are working on their sixth full-length album, without supplying a title or release date for that project.
The current lineup listed with the announcement retains Mioduchowski, Zin and Pawłowski, with Piotr Ochociński on drums. The supplied band photograph is credited to Michał Sobociński.
