Relapse Records has announced the signing of Richmond, Virginia's masters of ethereal doom metal, Windhand. The band has begun laying down tracks for its new Lp in their home studio, The Darkroom, where the outfit will record and mix the entire album, and deliver it to Relapse for a fall 2013 release.

Commented the band: "We're all so honored to be in the company of so many amazing artists. To know that our next record will be alongside some of the albums that inspired us to play music is pretty incredible."

Having formed in 2008 in the fertile Richmond, Virginia musical underground, Windhand's incredible, organic style of low-end doom and trancelike occult/ethereal vocals helped the band catch immediate attention well beyond the region, drawing comparisons to everything from Electric Wizard and Pallbearer to The Devil'S Blood and Blood Ceremony. Continuous live shows and U.S. tours have seen them share the stage with such acts as Pallbearer, Pentagram, The Gates Of Slumber and Graveyard.

"Reflection Of The Negative", a split album with Windhand and local scene brethren and now labelmates Cough, will be released in mid-April via Relapse. Cough leads off, delivering a characteristically electrifying down-tuned epic track, while their brethren in Windhand serve up two brand new epic songs for their half of the dirge, in the end bearing nearly forty minutes music from two prime acts in the contemporary doom/sludge circuit.

Windhand is:

Asechiah Bogdan - guitar
Dorthia Cottrell - vocals
Parker Chandler - bass
Ryan Wolfe - drums
Garrett Morris - guitar