The paths traveled by New Jersey black metal unit Krieg and Chicago/Minneapolis blackened crust trio Wolvhammer have crossed countless times over the years: Not only have the two bands toured together, but Wolvhammer leader Jeff Wilson has played guitar with Krieg in the past; also, Krieg mainman Neill “Imperial” Jameson played in black metal supergroup Twilight with Jef “Wrest” Whitehead (of Leviathan) and Stavros Giannopoulos (of the Atlas Moth), both of whom also played in Wilson’s black metal supergroup, Chrome Waves. Finally, both Jameson and Wilson (along with an endless list of others) did time at some point in scene lightning rod/pariah Blake Judd’s Nachtmystium. Both Wolvhammer and Krieg will release new albums this year — the former’s Crawling Into Black Sun is out in July, and the latter’s Transient in September — and to celebrate, they’re releasing a split 7″ next week. On the A-side is Wolvhammer’s “Slaves To The Grime,” an alternate version of a song that will also be included on Crawling Into Black Sun, and on the flip is Krieg’s “Eternal Victim,” which, I guess, may or may not appear on Transient. It’s pretty hard to decipher lyrics, but based on Jameson’s hilarious, confessional Facebook feed (which isn’t public, but you can get a pretty good feel for the man’s blackhearted humor in this great essay he wrote for Decibel last year), it’s easy to imagine his song’s subject being any one of several people. I won’t hazard any guesses here, though. Better to just listen and wonder. Do so.

The Wolvhammer/Krieg Split 7″ is out 6/24 via Broken Limbs. Crawling Into Black Sun is out 7/8. Transient is out in September via Candlelight.