Poltergeist put out Advocatus Diaboli on 31 October, a single of just over four minutes, released with no label behind it.
The band are from Campinas, in the state of Sao Paulo, and have moved slowly since forming in 2015. A demo called Dead House, Ghostly Tales from the Past appeared in 2017 and then nothing for eight years, until 2025 brought both the single Bloody Moon Consecration and the first full length, Pax Satana Infernale, Luciferi Imperium.
Advocatus Diaboli is the first thing since that album, which puts it in the usual position of a song released between records: either the opening of the next one or a loose piece that did not fit the last.
Brazilian black metal carries a long shadow in the form of the bands that made the country's name in the 1980s, and a group working in Campinas today has the harder job of being heard past it. Releasing on their own, with a demo and one album behind them, Poltergeist are at the stage where each song has to carry its own introduction.
The name is shared with at least eight other bands on record, which is its own obstacle.