Established in 2013, Cult Never Dies is the most active publisher of metal literature, as well as a merchandise company, label and mail order dedicated to underground metal and heavy music. We have published a wealth of books on the subject, released hundreds of official shirts and a number of records. We also distribute other publisher’s books and fanzines, as well as vinyl, CDs, cassettes, shirts, flags and more. We have released more books on extreme and underground metal than any other publisher and are always interested in new ideas and titles, so please feel free to contact us if you are looking to publish your work. (Below are words from some of our authors about their experiences).
By supporting Cult Never Dies, you are supporting the music and culture of underground and extreme metal and helping fund future projects.
“It is our responsibility as students and fans of a genre to be the best stewards of the music we can possibly be.”
From the Dark Dungeon Music book (Cult Never Dies, 2024)
“There were no bystanders in the scene. If you were not in a band, you did a zine, had a distro, or at least traded tapes. All that mattered was to do something now. To take part.”
From the Rotting Ways To Misery book (Cult Never Dies, 2020)
“The purpose of Cult Never Dies is to document, support and contribute to underground metal music, history and culture, offering the most professional standards of quality whilst simultaneously side-stepping the mainstream media, including mainstream metal media. This is work by the passionate for the passionate, without external interference or corruption.”
Dayal Patterson, founder of Cult Never Dies.
TESTIMONIALS
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dayal on two books. He had tons of ideas for expanded editions and boxsets — and both turned out fantastic and totally pro. He’s also very hands-off but knows when to step in to enhance the content, whether it’s a slight wording change or tracking down pictures. There’s a lot of work that goes into writing a book, but Dayal makes it easy. Highly recommended.”
David E. Gehlke (author of ‘No Celebration: The Official Story of Paradise Lost - Expanded Edition’)
"It was a total pleasure to work with Dayal on his recent resurrection of 'The Dead Sea' zine. Not only was his dedication to the project gratifying in itself, but he fully respected my input into all aspects of the presentation, including that of the insightful editor interview that he conducted beforehand. I am a pedant by nature, but Dayal tolerated this because he knows that attention to detail is crucial when one is passionate about one's work. Integrity and independence do not always come with such competence, and I can highly recommend working with Cult Never Dies."
Nick Moberly (author of ‘The Dead Sea: Zine Anthology 1995-1998’)
“Working with Cult Never Dies during the making of our book was really a rewarding experience. Their thorough professionalism gave us the confidence and support we needed when we were finishing the project. Cult Never Dies is a flexible and a patient partner for a creative process. What I maybe valued the most, though, was the know-how and insight during the lay-out process. We talked a lot of preferences and how the book should look like from author’s perspective and found a common ground with the publisher through conversation. Also, I found it important that Cult Never Dies did not rush onward with the decision making in creative matters, but consulted our opinions in every turn. This all resulted to a finished product the author, publisher and obviously reading audience too (at least according to impressive sales and the feedback from readers and reviewers alike) are all very pleased with. Cult Never Dies is a well established publishing house, the best there is, when it comes to extreme metal literature. Dayal’s sense of aesthetic and informative both helped our book a great deal. The promotion is well taken care of and the wholesale matters are handled efficiently. I really have no complaints and am definitely interested of working with Cult Never Dies again in the future.”
Markus Makkonen (author of ‘Rotting Ways to Misery: The History of Finnish Death Metal’)
“Cult Never Dies has a particular place in the metal milieu, unmatched. A melange of passion, honesty, talent, serious work and the candor of the youth. After several years of smooth collaboration with both Christine and Dayal, I can even brag about the fact that we’re friends."
David Thiérrée (cover artist for many of our books and co-author of ‘Owls, Trolls & Dead King’s Skulls’)
“I know I’ve said this before, but Dayal had me crawling in my attic, searching high and low for unpublished material for the ‘Secrets of My Kingdom’ book, and he kept me on the phone for hours, and on countless emails and messenger sessions, to squeeze out any little tidbit of information to include in the books we’ve collaborated on so far. He drove me nuts, but it made those books fucking cool. You have to appreciate that kind of drive and dedication to the projects he undertakes. I was losing my mind at the time, but looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
Mortiis, author of the ‘Secrets of my Kingdom’ and ‘Z.A.S.T.’ books.
“Doom Metal Lexicanum was an ambitious independent project, my own tribute to bands that I respect and love. Searching for a publisher turned out to be a disaster but my friend asked me if I tried to get in touch with Cult Never Dies. I sent an email to Cult the same day and soon it was answered. Looking back I’m still amused how swiftly we came to an agreement and how easy the rest of the process to DML’s release was. Cult is a place of zealots, but they’re managed to keep their sanity and professionalism despite a frenzied dedication to underground scene. So Doom Metal Lexicanum was an ambitious independent project, but there’s no doubt what Cult has raised it to another, far more professional, level.”
Alexsey Evdokimov (author of ‘Doom Metal Lexicanum 1’ and ‘Doom Metal Lexicanum 2’).
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