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Kali Yuga Bizarre was originally released in 1999 by Scarlet Records. Recorded at Temple of Noise Studios - Rome, October 1998. Mixed by Christian Ice and Fabban. Produced by Fabban and Christian Ice. Mastering: Elettroformati Studios, Milan. Music and lyrics by Fabban (1992-1998). Roma Divina Urbs by Totaro/Giannese. Darka Mysteria lyrics by Csihar. For the first time on vinyl Line up in this recording: Fabban (bass, synths, programming) Yorga SM (vocals) Sethlans (guitars) | Nisrok (guitars) Attila Csihar (vocals on Darka Mysteria, The First Four Trumpets, Hellraiser)

Kali Yuga Bizarre was originally released in 1999 by Scarlet Records. Recorded at Temple of Noise Studios - Rome, October 1998. Mixed by Christian Ice and Fabban. Produced by Fabban and Christian Ice. Mastering: Elettroformati Studios, Milan. Music and lyrics by Fabban (1992-1998). Roma Divina Urbs by Totaro/Giannese. Darka Mysteria lyrics by Csihar. For the first time on vinyl Line up in this recording: Fabban (bass, synths, programming) Yorga SM (vocals) Sethlans (guitars) | Nisrok (guitars) Attila Csihar (vocals on Darka Mysteria, The First Four Trumpets, Hellraiser)

guess who's back?

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards And Downwards is the occultist Swedish band ALASTOR’s clever call to arms... and also a reflection of the collective dark state of mind these days. “If our last album Slave To The Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.” Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make one’s skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer JIM Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy. “It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their Blood On Satan’s Claw EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of THE Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.

Alastor hearken to the days when heavy rock was the music of the rebel, the occult adherent and lurker in the shadows, not hipster bros. Theirs is the doom sound for those who discovered it on the edge of town, in the cold rain, perhaps, as an escape from the squares who’ll never understand. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make your skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, Slave To The Grave pulls no punches in the Swedish band’s unabashedly bleak themes.

The band formed under a bad moon in 2016, consisting of Dharma Gheddon (vocals, bass, acoustic guitar and organ), Lucy Ferian on lead & acoustic guitar and organ, Terry Fying on guitar and Levi Athan on drums.

The quartet released its epic three-song debut album Black Magic in early 2017 via Twin Earth Records, followed by the two-track Blood On Satan’s Claw EP on Halloween the same year. Joining forces with Riding Easy Records in 2018, they hunkered down to summon this seven-track hateful gospel with engineer Magnus Sörensen.

Black Ice Vinyl, limited to 300 copies.AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN have become a staple act in both black metal and shoegaze circles, delivering hauntingly evocative missives of introspective, yearning andsorrow alike. On Closure, the Dutch band continues to push the sonic template of their disparate influences to its limits, resulting in a sound that nurtures their ethereal sensibilitiesas much as their wall of sound approach to the genre's more extreme inclinations.Closure is the 10th full length album from Dutch blackgaze outfit, An Autumn For CrippledChildren. It's fused with dreamy, melancholic, blackgaze landscapes that lean with far moreconviction into their aesthetic than ever before.

To know what Anger as Art is, one can look at what they have been since 2004. A first rate, old school, thrash metal band - rooted in the history created by the members of the band. Take one look at their lineage - members of Abattoir, EvilDead, Bloodlust, Hirax, Death, Manowar, Raven, Heretic, Bitch

Over the course of a couple of years in the mid-1970s, several musicians from the St. Louis, Missouri area gave notice to club and festival crowds that they were there to rock the house down. Their cover and original songs were accentuated by a bedrock rhythm section, heavy guitar riffs and tasty solos, topped off with powerful vocals. Rockers that witnessed them agree—Back Jack created solid songs and high-energy performances.

Beginning in 1971 as Trellis, the band members changed their name to Back Jack when they saw the bumper sticker that Kim McKinney’s dad, Jack McKinney, distributed during his election bid for the Mayor of Pacific, Missouri, home of the core three-piece band: Kim McKinney, Mike Collier, and Hans Myers (rip).

The 1974 version of Back Jack was active from very early 1974 to late-fall of 1974. The core three-piece band, Collier, McKinney, and Myers, recorded several tracks during their tenure and four of those tracks are included on this release. Temporary band members not on the recordings were Gary Reed (piano, Rip), Greg Witt (guitar, keyboards), Paul Cockrum (guitar), and Bill Niehoff (drums).

The four-piece, 1975 version of Back Jack was a merging of members of Back Jack 1974 (Mike Collier and Kim McKinney) and another local band, Osage Lute (Jeff Ballew and Mike Lusher). They were active from late-fall of 1974 to late-summer of 1975. Four of the tracks on the Back Jack LP were recorded by these four musicians.

Beasto Blanco was founded by Chuck Garric and Chris Latham. They set out to create a raw, powerful rock & roll band with a blistering, theatrical live experience. Then came Calico Cooper, rock vixen and offspring of Garric's boss, legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper, and a renegade German rhythm section, and Beasto Blanco's inimitable sound and image was born.Blood, sweat and gas fuel Beasto Blanco's explosive rock sound. A band and an audience united in an inseparable bond of musical thunder and sensational spectacle: welcome to the world of Beasto Blanco. Whether under the spotlights of huge arenas or headlining packed theatres and clubs, the band's mission is unwavering: to create an immersive experience where everyone is welcome to join an extended family whose support is unconditional and authentic.At the helm of Beasto Blanco is a powerful triumvirate. Band co-founder, frontman, lead singer and guitarist Chuck Garric, distinguished by his considerable legacy as a touring and recording musician, including 22 years playing bass with Alice Cooper, is a creative force of nature. "Beasto Blanco is my inner beast, my Hulk, my wolfman, the thing I turn into when I step onstage", he says.Calico MachineGirl Cooper is the band's high priestess and serves as an inspirational archetype. "I get approached by women who say, 'Thank you for being so strong and so powerful'"'she explains. Her interaction with Chuck - who she's known for chasing around the stage with a spiked baseball bat - captivates the audience with a dynamic that blurs the line between combat and romance. "We're not just a band, we're a lifestyle".The future is a beast and we are here to ride it. – Chuck Garric 1. Run For Your Life2. Nobody Move3. Heavy Is The Head4. Unreal5. Kill Us Off With A Smile6. Slide7. Skull Rider8. Lowlands9. Diamond In The Dirt10. Bad Thoughts11. Fight

Metal Hall of Fame inductee, Blaze Bayley, releases a brand new live album, featuring versions of songs from his last studio album ‘War Within Me’ and also songs he wrote and/or performed during his time in Iron Maiden (1994-1999).

The 5 songs from ‘War Within Me’ were recorded on tour in the UK, and the remainder were recorded in France.

Having started his career as a professional singer with Wolfsbane in 1984, Blaze went on to front Iron Maiden, touring worldwide and releasing two studio albums - ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI’, both of which achieved top twenty status in many countries. During his time with Iron Maiden, Blaze co-wrote the single ‘Man on the Edge’ (from ‘The X Factor’ album), a top ten hit in the UK, as well as charting successfully across Europe.

Following his exit from Iron Maiden he has pursued a solo career, beginning with his now legendary solo debut album ‘Silicon Messiah’ in 2000, followed by a further ten studio albums, including especially his sci-fi based ‘Infinite Entanglement’ trilogy (released in consecutive years 2016-2018) and the critically-acclaimed ‘War Within Me’ released in 2021.

Starting in 2013 and exclusively since 2016, Blaze records and plays live with Manchester (uk) melodic metal band Absolva, featuring lead guitarist Christopher Appleton and his brother Luke Appleton who is formerly of American metalheads Iced Earth. This consistent line-up is completed by drummer Martin Mcnee and bassist Karl Schramm.

As with all Blaze’s more recent works, he co-produces with Christopher Appleton and mastering is handled by Ade Emsley (Iron Maiden, Tank, Voodoo Six). Artwork is provided by Akirant Illustration (Iron Maiden, Star Wars).

Early in 2023, and in fact just 2 days before the start of a European tour, Blaze suffered a serious heart attack. With the required bypass surgery it’s expected that his recovery period will be several months, so the tour diary is currently being reconstructed. Details of the various postponements will be confirmed at a later date.

Golgotha is the sixth studio album by Bleeding Eyes. After Gammy (©2014 Go Down Records) the band embarked on a different stylistic and compositional path. Starting from long and substantial jams, the five-piece band extrapolated and deepened 7 tracks lasting almost 50 minutes. The influences are getting darker. Black on black. The esoteric doom mixed with the tipically sludgy attitude, give to their personal existential ordeal a picture in which Simone Tesser’s lyrics fit perfectly. Golgotha’s topics tell about saints and unbelievers, the latter ones in constant conflict with life and death. This new interpretation, that also takes inspiration from the heretic gospels of the apocalypse (first 2 tracks), represents the steady and never ending spiritual detachment, that our capitalist society has lived in for several decades. With mocking irony and lots of sarcasm a post-dogmatic dark way is proposed by the band to deal with the ordeal of everyday life. The studio recording process lasted several months and was handled by Jason Nealy and Marco Dussin (guitarist and bassist respectively). Drums and rhythm guitars were recorded at the music club Benicio Live Gigs, located in the suggestive woods of the Montello hill in Italy. While the final steps, mixing and mastering took place at BadRum studio in Asolo, Italy. Golgotha has a really deep and dense meaning for the band and the graphic part plays an important role too; that’s why the Bleeding Eyes has chosen the Lorenzo Ferraro’s photography. The album artwork consists in pictures taken right after the passage of the devastating storm Vaia, that heavily damaged the band’s hometown surroundings. The desolation post Vaia matches perfectly with Golgotha’s magmatic darkness. The event proved our disarming weakness in front of an untamed force of nature, that can unleash destroying powers yet unknown. The album title itself is therefore -calvario- the combination of a natural imagery that reveals the misery of the precarious human condition.

Golgotha is the sixth studio album by Bleeding Eyes. After Gammy (©2014 Go Down Records) the band embarked on a different stylistic and compositional path. Starting from long and substantial jams, the five-piece band extrapolated and deepened 7 tracks lasting almost 50 minutes. The influences are getting darker. Black on black. The esoteric doom mixed with the tipically sludgy attitude, give to their personal existential ordeal a picture in which Simone Tesser’s lyrics fit perfectly. Golgotha’s topics tell about saints and unbelievers, the latter ones in constant conflict with life and death. This new interpretation, that also takes inspiration from the heretic gospels of the apocalypse (first 2 tracks), represents the steady and never ending spiritual detachment, that our capitalist society has lived in for several decades. With mocking irony and lots of sarcasm a post-dogmatic dark way is proposed by the band to deal with the ordeal of everyday life. The studio recording process lasted several months and was handled by Jason Nealy and Marco Dussin (guitarist and bassist respectively). Drums and rhythm guitars were recorded at the music club Benicio Live Gigs, located in the suggestive woods of the Montello hill in Italy. While the final steps, mixing and mastering took place at BadRum studio in Asolo, Italy. Golgotha has a really deep and dense meaning for the band and the graphic part plays an important role too; that’s why the Bleeding Eyes has chosen the Lorenzo Ferraro’s photography. The album artwork consists in pictures taken right after the passage of the devastating storm Vaia, that heavily damaged the band’s hometown surroundings. The desolation post Vaia matches perfectly with Golgotha’s magmatic darkness. The event proved our disarming weakness in front of an untamed force of nature, that can unleash destroying powers yet unknown. The album title itself is therefore -calvario- the combination of a natural imagery that reveals the misery of the precarious human condition.

"The darkness always teemed with unexplained sound..." (hpl)

"Nahab" – the second part of the Disharmonium cycle - finds Blut AUS Nord returning, as if by compulsion, to the Weird nightmarish otherworlds of H.P. Lovecraft to reflect them through a new mirror of terrifying Black Metal lunacy.

Descending into abyssal terrain akin to the twin dark chambers of 2022's first instalment "Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses" and companion-piece-of-sorts compilation "Lovecraftian Echoes", this latest emanation is similarly womb-like, detail-rich, disturbed and transformative.

Musically influenced only by the band’s own extensive oeuvre, in comparison with BAN's recent Lovecraftian explorations "Nahab" has an increased presence of deranged vocal mania, the eerie dynamics are more fully realised, the band's unmistakeable melodic power amplified, the guitars - lower slung for extra resonance - flow in tandem with splendidly lurching grooves like some Stygian wooze-tsunami.

In the dead-eyed trance of one demonically summoned, Blut AUS Nord have once again channelled esoteric folklore and modern violence into another phenomenal slice of outsider art which befits their own Mythos and monstrosity. A Crowning Horror indeed.

Burial are a no-nonsense black metal trio from the bleak industrial landscapes of Manchester, UK, dedicating our sound to the trvest Satanic, ice-cold, blasphemous and goat worshiping origins of the genre. Our songs are punchy and immediate, with a healthy dose of icy atmospheric riffs, recalling legends Darkthrone and Immortal. We also show an underlying British charm, dark and absurd sense of humour, channeling a slight crust punk attitude akin to Discharge. Vocalist Derek Carley comments: “We're proud to release our foreboding new album Rejoice In Sin. Expect sinister black 'n' roll riffs; with all the carnage, bleakness and epic sorrow that Burial manifests.” 1. Rejoice In Sin 2. Wretched Is This Life 3. Sadism For God 4. A Fear More Grave 5. The Wolfskin 6. Let Darkness Reign 7. Bastards Of Christ 8. Putrid Grave 9. Beneath The Trident 10. Black Metal Cunt

Rising from their moss-covered crypt, Cauchemar is back with their third full-length, Rosa Mystica, the band’s first offering since 2019’s Trapped Under Ice compilation. Meticulously composed and rehearsed to perfection, the album is a fully realized expression of Cauchemar’s signature sound of somber traditional doom delivered with the vigor of heavy metal. Perhaps owing to two of the members’ recent migration from Montreal to rural Quebec, the atmosphere on Rosa Mystica is spacious and rustic, gilded by the warm glow of stained-glass luminescence through which cuts the burnished weight of François Patry’s guitars. Settled within bassist Andres Arango and drummer Joël Ladouceur’s vaulted geometry, the austere muscular riffs drive the songs, haunted by the spectral radiance of organs and Annick Giroux’s French-language incantations. Cauchemar’s highly praised performances with Pagan Altar in 2019 reified the band’s style, and Rosa Mystica–easily their most cohesive and complete–bears the confidence of a band that has come into its own.

Quantity: 2500
Release type: 'RSD First' Release

DEATH, the heavy metal institution founded, realized, and helmed by legendary guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, released the Individual Thought Patterns album (the follow-up to their watershed Human release) in 1993. Expectations were high following Human, but Schuldiner proved once again that he could rise to any occasion. Individual Thought Patterns further honed the forward-thinking and progressive direction birthed with Human and included “The Philosopher,” arguably the best song to ever come from the world of extreme metal and to this date the most widely-recognized.

This RSD Black Friday title is a previously unreleased complete album remaster of the original mix of Individual Thought Patterns by Alan Douches at West West Side, pressed on White Inside of Black Ice with Splatter vinyl.

Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, THE Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the band will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country. Immortality comes at a price and the listener is about to pay for it… The beating heart of The Death Wheelers is a rumbling engine. Since their self-titled debut in 2015 and in 2020’s cinematic-storytelling breakout, Divine Filth, the Canadian outfit have tapped into wind-through-hair freedom and careened down open roads of groove, not a cop in sight. Their third record, Chaos And The Art of Motorcycle Madness, more than lives up to its name on all fronts. With songs like “Morbid Bails” and “Lucifer’s Bend,” the in-the-know references abound, and The Death Wheelers draw from classic underground metal, scummer heavy rock and cast themselves into a cauldron of cultish biker devil worship, reveling in any and all post-apocalyptic dystopias with genuine glee at having just seen the world eat itself. One might hear some surf guitar. Crazy things can happen.

Heavy music’s evolution has always been a murky swamp of sub-genres. So, combining Thin Lizzy’s glistening twin guitar harmonies with Melvins-grade sludge and a hearty dose of proto-metal psych probably shouldn’t sound so revolutionary as it does in the hands of L.A. quartet Deathchant. But theirs is a special, transcendent sound. Waste, the band’s sophomore album and first for Riding Easy Records, is anything but. The thirty three-minute, seven-song blast flows seamlessly from song to song, aided by droning segues, while simultaneously slithering between genres and moods. Rumbling noise, chiming guitar melodies, bluesy boogie, Nwobhm thrash, COC grunge and punk fury all rear their head at times, sometimes all at once. Though one wouldn’t be able to tell by the concise structures and well-crafted songs, a lot of Deathchant’s music is improvised, both in the studio and live. That’s not to suggest their songs are jammy— they’re very tightly organized compositions. But the four musicians have that special musical telepathy that allows them to keep the song structures open-ended. “Improv is a huge things for us and always has been,” singer / guitarist T.J. Lemieux says. “The musical freedom to look at the other dudes in the band and be able to take things wherever we want to go is magical. I like the feel of flying off the hinges.” Likewise, the band itself is similarly amorphous in its membership. “We run the band with an open door. No lineup is definitive,” Lemieux explains. On Waste, the lineup is: Lemieux, George Camacho on bass, Colin Fahrner on drums, and John Belino on second guitar. Waste was recorded live in a rented cabin in the mountains of Big Bear, CA. “We packed a big-ass van and set up in the living room and kitchen,” Lemieux says. “Tracked it live, with overdubs after.” The whole album was recorded over two separate weekends, engineered by Steve Schroeder, who also recorded the band’s 2019 self-titled debut album. “I’d say it has sort of a DIY LA punk aesthetic,” he adds. “Very ironically going hand in hand with a classic metal vibe: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, classic Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and other melodic heavy rock bands.”

Summoned to play it the old way in a new age, Trondheim, Norway quintet Dunbarrow draws inspiration from freezing winter nights, unpolished demo tapes from the 70s and the Swedish throwback rock from the beginning of the 21st century. The result is Norwegian proto-doom with a back-to-basics sound, from Pentagram and Witchfinder General to Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Dunbarrows clean, unadorned sound shares the unpretentious brilliance of classic heavy progenitors playing basements and bans, before the big budgets and bloated habits diluted hard rock into an echo chamber awash in reverb and layered in distant, screeching hobbits. The bands 9-track self-titled album is a classic in the sense that every song becomes instantly recognizable after just one listen.

With lyrics like the clever paean to a young witch mothers birth of Lucifers Child, Dunbarrow has a wealth of gloomy sentiments: Can you understand my young mothers plight / Away from the comforts that burn at the stake / She gave birth to a venomous snake / On her great pyre she smiled / For she carried Lucifers child.


Dunbarrow is based in the far northern Norwegian city Trondheim, but is originally from Haugesund on the west coast of Norway. The band has been playing together for over 8 years through different band names and genres. In 2014, vocalist Espen Andersen joined the band upon the departure of original singer/bassist Richard Chappell. Sondre Berge went from playing drums to playing bass. Kenneth Lnning and Eirik vregrd are still on the guitars, with Pl Gunnar Dale taking over the drums permanently in 2016. Espen Andersen recorded and mixed the debut album at Stoy Studios. Dunbarrow is hitting the studio for their second album this summer.

Early Moods’ sophomore album A Sinner’s Past is the ultimate dosage of classic early 70s proto-metal, 90s grunge riffing and timeless songwriting delivered with an explosive youthful energy. The Los Angeles area quartet burst onto the scene fully formed with a sound that somehow simultaneously merged gritty underground Street Doom with slick “big box” Heavy Metal melodies on their self-titled RidingEasy debut album in 2022. And it’s the band’s highly skilled musicianship paired with exquisite aesthetic taste — in addition to their killer live show — that has made them an immediate popular favorite. A Sinner’s Past takes those elements several steps higher with a nod to Soundgarden’s huge sonic depth, the low-mid fuzz drenched tones of Sabotage and classic 70s melodies and structures of Ulli Roth-era Scorpions. The latter in particular inspiring the album’s intricate tonal shifts and shimmering twin leads.

A worthy new member to the Mystískaos family. Les Corps S'Entrechoquent excellently presents the most interesting black metal psychedelia combined with sweet melancholia. A cold and dissonant metamorphosis."

German melodic extreme metal act FAR BEYOND mark their return with their third studio album, The End of My Road, on February 16 via their new label home ProstheticRecords. FAR BEYONDüs latest full-length is an ambitious and fastidiously curated amalgam of melodeath, symphonic and power metal, covering themes of courage and heart in theface of depression and hardship.Formed in the early 2000s, FAR BEYOND is the solo project of Eugen Dodenhoeft. Based in the Franconian Switzerland region of Germany, FAR BEYONDüs history to this pointhas been one of slow and steady artistic progression with 2005's An Angel's Requiem and 2016's A Frozen Flame Of Ice albums showcasing Dodenhoeftüs penchant for seamlessly alternating dynamics of gothic and death metal symphonia.Lusciously complex by design, FAR BEYOND's latest album shines in its songwriting structure. Across the eight tracks, Eugen compiled up to 30 layers of vocals, synthesisers and orchestral textures. Whilst a solo endeavour at its core, The End of MyRoad sees collaborative guitar solos from Nathram's Lukas Grasslin as well as additional synthesiser embellishments from Ari Ahrendt on Tempus Fugit and the title track. The Endof My Road was then placed in the hands of Patrick Staudle of Glaswald Studios in The Black Forest, Germany.Furthering their quest to understand the complexities of the unknown and transcend beyond the unknown, The End of My Roadüs contemplative atmospherics and concentrated sonic extremities merge seamlessly with a deft poetic touch. With Eugen adding: üThe End of My Road is my invitation to get lost in the sonic realms of FAR BEYOND and find a moment of peace and inspiration. I look forward to sharing this album with the world and hope that it touches the hearts of listeners, providing them with an unforgettable soundtrack for their own journey.

The incendiary proto hard rock and ambitious epic journeys this album delivers are all the more uncanny and devastating when you realize Gary Del Vecchio was

a mere 16 years old when the title track Buzzin was unleashed! Even more astonishing is how far he travelled over the next five years, documented in this brilliant selection of nine tracks from the classic daze of early 1970s underground rock. Ohio was a hotbed for hard rock at the time with bands like the James Gang, Glass Harp, Poobah, Left End, Damnation Of Adam Blessing… what you get here matches the style any of those bands laid down. Gary's music grabs you immediately and grows over time. Grabber and Grower… best of both worlds style!

It makes sense that Gary later owned a recording studio, right out of the gate he was laser focussed on all the aspects involved in making music that stands the test of time. The guitar action is incredible, shards of sound flying free yet hitting the bullseye continuously, vocals confident with none of the macho posturing that ages poorly in much early hard rock. These tracks are all vividly recorded and meticulously mixed in a way that balances fiery performance and intelligent structure to maximum effect. The bass and drumming here are phenomenally inventive and propulsive, the several players involved across the album nail it in their support of Gary's vision. This is rock music born in the 'anything is possible' life affirming energy of the late '60s right on time with where the most enduring artists of the early '70s took it. Had he scored the major label deal he pursued with labels like Mercury or London at the time I am confident we'd be hearing his music on classic rock radio today! The music on this album is both uncompromising and accessible. In particular, the two long tracks Wasted King and Starman have all the moves needed to grab fans of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the likes by the throat and brain in the extended progressive epic department!

Formed in recent years in San Francisco (though it may seem more likely that they hatched fresh out of a time travel portal from the mid-’80s Bay Area thrash scene), Hell Fire have the classic look and sound of modern metal’s halcyon days. Their sonic assault warmly condenses elements of Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Exodus, Metallica, Riot, Virtue and Diamond Head into eight tracks of headbanging MUYA anthems.

The free-wheelin’ creativity and infectious vitality of Bay Area thrash is a moment forever locked in time, but its spirit lives on in this band’s galloping guitar picks, soaring harmonies and blistering rhythms. The band’s perfect hybrid of NWOBHM theatrics and American thrash attitude delivers a rousing and genuine expansion on sounds long lost to pointless battles over who can be the most “extreme.”

Hell Fire began when bass player Herman Bandala moved to San Francisco from Tijuana, Mexico, with the hopes of forming a heavy metal band. Herman posted an ad to Craigslist which caught the attention of guitarist Tony Campos. They bonded over a mutual love of ’80s thrash and NWOBHM. Just before they entered the studio to record their debut album Metal Masses, Jake Nunn joined on vocals. The lineup continued to develop over time, finally solidifying with Nunn also taking up second guitar duties and drummer Mike Smith joining prior to recording Free Again.

This sophomore album is being released for the first time on vinyl and remastered for CD and download. It was recorded over five days in Grass Valley, California, at engineer Tim Green’s Louder Studios (The Fucking Champs, Melvins.) Where Metal Masses showcased aesthetic nods to Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All album (as well as a cover photo brilliantly depicting a blurry hand speedily playing a Flying-V guitar), Free Again finds the band coming into their own with emphasis upon grooves, a beefier sound and tighter songs that expertly shift into new parts at the drop of a hat.

Sometimes a band grows so exponentially from one record to the next, it’s almost jarring. Hell Fire has already established themselves as the preeminent masters of a new hybrid breed of Bay Area thrash and Nwobhm in just a few short years, but their fourth album Reckoning is the type of ascendance that truly sets a band apart. Reckoning is their Master Of Puppets, their Number Of The Beast, their Defenders Of The Faith. From the very first notes of the album opening title track, you can feel a vital new energy and inspiration to their music. To say Hell Fire used the recent global downtime to dig within and fully refine their sound would be an understatement. It truly is a reckoning. With no touring on the horizon in 2020, the band hunkered down and recorded nearly a full album in preproduction home demos. The band’s heightened professionalism also brings in guest bassist Matt Freeman (rancid, Operation Ivy) on the album after original bassist Herman Bandala departed the band amicably during the initial writing process. New bassist KAI SUN joined Hell Fire in Fall 2021.

Four albums in, the convenient and generalized catchphrase for Here Lies Man’s erudite sound—if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat—might seem a little played out. But Ritual Divination is perhaps the best rendering of the idea so far. Particularly on the Sabbath side of the equation: The guitars are heavier and more blues-based than before, but the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave remains a constant. “Musically it’s an opening up more to traditional rock elements,” says vocalist / guitarist / cofounder Marcos Garcia, who also plays guitar in Antibalas. “It’s always been our intention to explore. And, as we travelled deeper into this musical landscape, new features revealed themselves.” The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly following their breakout 2017 self-titled debut. Their second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both followed in 2018. Third album No Ground To Walk Upon emerged in August 2019. All of them were crafted by Garcia and cofounder / drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) in their L.A. studio between tours. Ritual Divination is their first album recorded as the full four-piece band, including bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Doug Organ. This album continues with an ongoing concept of the band playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. Musically and sonically, the album is also self-reflexive. “On this album the feel changes within a song,” Garcia says. “Whereas before each song was meant to induce a trancelike state, now more of the songs have their own arc built in.” “We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” Garcia continues. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”

Finland’s Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones. Polar Veil features Ben Chisholm, main collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on Listen To The River, Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song Ring, and Okoi from Bölzer on guest vocals on Older Than The Gods. When the components of the medicine are familiar but brewed in a completely novel concoction, the resulting side effects can be deliriously intoxicating. Peer behind this Polar Veil for a breath of fresh tundra air.

Polar Veil is pressed on limited edition transparent lake green vinyl, limited transparent ice clear natural vinyl and standard issue blacker than midnight wax variants and each comes with a large scale 12 page booklet featuring artwork by Thomas Hooper.

Finland’s Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones. Polar Veil features Ben Chisholm, main collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on Listen To The River, Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song Ring, and Okoi from Bölzer on guest vocals on Older Than The Gods. When the components of the medicine are familiar but brewed in a completely novel concoction, the resulting side effects can be deliriously intoxicating. Peer behind this Polar Veil for a breath of fresh tundra air.

Polar Veil is pressed on limited edition transparent lake green vinyl, limited transparent ice clear natural vinyl and standard issue blacker than midnight wax variants and each comes with a large scale 12 page booklet featuring artwork by Thomas Hooper.

Voice of Storms is a triumph of soaring, obliterating sludge-prog mini-epics, full of blistering tempos, fearless hooks and burly crush. New album from a band whose last record sold through multiple vinyl pressings!Horseburner blasted onto the scene amid comparisons to Mastodon and Baroness, with an iteration of high-energy sludge metal that sprung from their Appalachian industrial background and elevated conceptual themes. Gear-shifting from hard-charging to restrained to urgent and angular, they distinguish themselves from their stoner-psych contemporaries with staggering musicianship, deploying endless musical flexes that a lot of bands just don't have in their bags. Voice of Storms is a sludge-prog triumph of soaring, obliterating mini-epics that goes places a lot of h...

Warning! Listening to If Nothing Is demands your full and undivided attention! This is not elevator music. Trying to perform menial tasks while listening to this album will turn your brain into scrambled eggs!! Melding sharp technical skills, creative and splendid songwriting, a keen eye for detail and a streak of madness, the debut album from ‘If Nothing Is’ is a whirlwind of everything within extreme and technical metal music, from thrash, speed, death to black metal. Intersected with progressive, experimental passages and rich jazzy parts, that can remind you of the early efforts of bands like Atheist and Cynic, each song is in itself a journey. Originally released in 2015 only on digital platforms, the debut album of If Nothing Is has gotten a full make over to give it the presentation the material deserves. With new original artwork, the album has been re-mixed and remastered to finally be released in physical forms. ‘If Nothing Is’ is the brainchild of Dødheimsgard bassist Lars Emil Måløy and started out in Trondheim in 2008 from the ashes of the band Revocation. After working relentlessly on the debut album, they got help from Vicotnik from Dødheimsgard to help out with synths, beats and samples. This almost forgotten masterpiece is finally available in all formats again, and if you love your music extreme, complicated and experimental, you will love If Nothing Is.

Limited to 1000 copies worldwide. White vinyl, comes either with silver or gold splatter. Randomly picked! "Frail hymns at the altar of self defeat_."when all is fullwhen all is fullwhen all us fallwhen all us fallThere are few artists operative at the fringes of popular music today whose sound has not been in some way or another informed or shaped by the works of Justin K Broadrick. As a founding member or sole proprietor of seminal outfits such as Godflesh, Napalm Death, Techno Animal, and Final, Broadrick has managed to help change or even define the now widespread genres of industrial and death metal, abstracted hip hop and dub, grindcore, and ambient electronics. So is also the case with his work in Jesu, who in the course of a very productive seven year existence have taken the churning pummel of his former project Godflesh, augmented it with the textural melody of 90s shoegaze rock and spawned a new sub-genre and the inevitable legions of imitators. And while imitators may abound, as the originator of this relatively newfound musical territory Jesu is still the clearly visible leader.