Search "88-Keys" 65 Items

A little maturation goes a long way. Youthful energy is key to aggressive music, but it takes experience and talent to channel that energy productively. In the case of The Catalyst, they've tightened the reins on the droopy tantrums of their previous EP's. Now their music seethes, with biting lyrics to match. Eric Smith still vomits vocals like an aural exorcism, but his "singing" is stronger and more prominent in the mix. He takes aim at the rogues behind the economic meltdown ("Corner office with a view / Picture window from which you might leap to join us in the streets"), as well as Internet backbiting ("You never cite your sources when your passion is poison"). Musically, The Catalyst continue to crank out throbbing, screamy, squealing songs. They sound like the swampy middle ground between Karp and Pg. 99. Yet their members have grown into a tightly knit unit. Though sloppiness is de rigueur among bands that have rediscovered vintage Sub Pop and AmRep records, The Catalyst boast real chops and an idiosyncratic take on the form. On Swallow Your Teeth (Perpetual Motion Machine, 2009), The Catalyst control their chaos just enough to create their most cohesive work yet. Besides, can you go wrong with a song titled "Lars Ulrich's 1986 Funeral (It Should Have Been You)"?

Uboa’s fifth album Impossible Light almost never made it out of the dark. From its initial conception in 2018, this record went to hell and back, dragging its immensity and too-big-to-hold emotion through the torturous process of translation to sound and returned triumphantly as a full-bodied record in a distinct new style.

Impossible Light begins where Uboa’s 2019 breakout album The Origin Of My Depression left off—and ends somewhere entirely different. The Origin stunned with its methodical use of doom, harsh noise, and ambient soundscapes while documenting a raw, unhindered account of Xandra Metcalfe’s experiences with her transition and her struggles with mental health. Over time The Origin steadily grew a cult-like following which developed into a full-fledged internet community focused around noise, neurodiversity and transness. While Uboa’s signature style of highly polished, cinematic “hypernoise” is front and center in Impossible Light, there is also a daring departure into the genres of industrial metal / rock, setting it apart from any other Uboa release thus far and distinguishing it from other contemporary noise records.

Metcalfe kept the lyrical content of this record as a time capsule of the catastrophic ups and downs and rapidly changing environments within herself and in the world from 2018-2023. Key collaborators include Blood Of A Pomegranate, Otay:onii, Charlie Looker and Haela Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy. Impossible Light dives fearlessly into queer sexuality, trans embodiment, grief for those who couldn’t make it, solidarity for those facing unimaginable discrimination, the toxic spread of transphobic hatred and misinformation, and the ultimate hope of recovery from trauma and mental anguish. This is a record about the light at the end of the tunnel and the power it takes to keep moving towards it.

King Howl's new album, titled "Homecoming" will be released by Electric Valley Records on June 9, 2023. The work represents a new chapter in the band's stylistic universe, spurring King Howl's trademark sound while mixing it with new compositional and sound influences. A mix of blues, stoner, psychedelia, and classic rock that paints the soundscape of an on-the-road story set in 1960s America, a narrative plot that permeates the entire work, accompanied by a constant sonic evolution, always on the road. Thus, King Howl returns to the theme of travel, the band's favorite concept from the beginning. In this story, a young protagonist escapes from a rural setting witnessed by the blues sounds of opener "The Rooster" and rock'n'roll anthem "From the Cradle," followed by the beginning of the journey on the Kyussian railroad of "The Train." This leads to the nineties echoed Spoken-word of "John Henry Days" to the classic rock sounds of "Motorsound," a true ode to the big truck engine's vibrations. Consequently, the sonic journey flows into the oblivion of "Slowly Coming Down." Here, doom and psychedelia carry a dark foreboding. "Tempted," on the other hand, is a successful mix of country blues and stoner rock, an influence more and more present in the desertic "Jupiter," a track inspired by one of the characters in writer James Anderson's novel "The Never-Open Desert Diner." At the album's heart, the theme of travel and change symbolizes the animal world with the powerful "The Great Blue Heron." This song is marked by the sound of the Hammond organ, which makes the piece even more granitic. "Homecoming" then pays homage to the great Rolling Stones with the sixties classic "Gimme Shelter." Then it concludes this incredible journey with "Home," an angry but hopeful homecoming. An epic in music, a round trip of growth and change, of damnation, redemption, and rebirth. The album was recorded in Sardinia by Roberto Macis and Willy Cuccu and mixed by Nene Baratto and Richard Behrens at Big Snuff Studio in Berlin, a key production hub for international heavy Psych (Kadavar, Samsara Blues Experiment, Elder, Wucan). A sound production focused on an "organic" analog sound, thanks to the use of vintage gear and a reel-to-reel master made by Nene Baratto at the Berlin-based Morphine Raum Studio.

Fresh from the overwhelming success of their latest album ‘IV: Sacrament’ Lancaster's heavy bards and spiritual hard rock titans Wytch Hazel have gone all in on delivering a fully-fledged, tubular-bell-ringing Christmas single. Transposing the hymnal classical influences of Handel's Messiah and the spirit of carols the like of "The First Noël” via the earthy heraldry of Steeleye Span and Wishbone Ash, the band deliver something for which perhaps only they would have the skill, sensitivity and spiritual charge. Replete with Wytch Hazel's trademark twin-guitar harmonies and finely honed arrangements, "King Of Israel" is both a stirring devotional tribute and a heartfelt message of unity, peace and goodwill to all on Earth.

The 7” red marble vinyl edition is backed by Colin Hendra’s minor key arrangement of “Auld Lang Syne” which was misspelled on the first pressing as “Old Lang Syne” by the Bad Omen elves.

King Howl's new album, titled "Homecoming" will be released by Electric Valley Records on June 9, 2023. The work represents a new chapter in the band's stylistic universe, spurring King Howl's trademark sound while mixing it with new compositional and sound influences. A mix of blues, stoner, psychedelia, and classic rock that paints the soundscape of an on-the-road story set in 1960s America, a narrative plot that permeates the entire work, accompanied by a constant sonic evolution, always on the road. Thus, King Howl returns to the theme of travel, the band's favorite concept from the beginning. In this story, a young protagonist escapes from a rural setting witnessed by the blues sounds of opener "The Rooster" and rock'n'roll anthem "From the Cradle," followed by the beginning of the journey on the Kyussian railroad of "The Train." This leads to the nineties echoed Spoken-word of "John Henry Days" to the classic rock sounds of "Motorsound," a true ode to the big truck engine's vibrations. Consequently, the sonic journey flows into the oblivion of "Slowly Coming Down." Here, doom and psychedelia carry a dark foreboding. "Tempted," on the other hand, is a successful mix of country blues and stoner rock, an influence more and more present in the desertic "Jupiter," a track inspired by one of the characters in writer James Anderson's novel "The Never-Open Desert Diner." At the album's heart, the theme of travel and change symbolizes the animal world with the powerful "The Great Blue Heron." This song is marked by the sound of the Hammond organ, which makes the piece even more granitic. "Homecoming" then pays homage to the great Rolling Stones with the sixties classic "Gimme Shelter." Then it concludes this incredible journey with "Home," an angry but hopeful homecoming. An epic in music, a round trip of growth and change, of damnation, redemption, and rebirth. The album was recorded in Sardinia by Roberto Macis and Willy Cuccu and mixed by Nene Baratto and Richard Behrens at Big Snuff Studio in Berlin, a key production hub for international heavy Psych (Kadavar, Samsara Blues Experiment, Elder, Wucan). A sound production focused on an "organic" analog sound, thanks to the use of vintage gear and a reel-to-reel master made by Nene Baratto at the Berlin-based Morphine Raum Studio.

Small light scuff on side B.
Record is close to VG+.
Includes original inner sleeve.

Two limited double album recorded on three-sides. Metallica’s 1988...And Justice For All - their first album to break into the Billboard Top 10, peaking at No. 6 - still remains the bands biggest-seller. Having to date shifted eight million copies in the U.S. alone, the record also earned the thrash metal heroes their debut Grammy award. Containing as it does a number of absolute classics, including hit single One, this enduring masterwork is still the favorite out of all of Metallicas releases for many fans. In the wake of the album success the band embarked on the mammoth Damaged Justice tour, playing a staggering 219 shows across five continents from 11th September 88 to 8th October 89. Many of the performances given during this jaunt remain among the finest Metallica shows ever performed. Notably, their appearance at The Seattle Center Coliseum on 30th August 1989, still is one of the highest point in their career.

Swiss black metal void sculptors Dsknt are back with their immense sophomore LP "Vacuum γ-Noise Transition," a devouring nightmare of omnipotent sonic annihilation conceived at the most liminal edges of sanity. The reality-destroying album takes shape as a dark and multidimensional hallucination deep into reality's most cryptic and terrifying truths, a place where entropy and chaos assume near-corporeal and hyper-realist forms, becoming empirical laws and axioms of all manifestations therein, with the music serving as the abhorrent mathematical key that allows the listener to unlock this realm beyond and "see" the horrors that populate reality beyond the reach of the five senses and of the terrestrial dimension. Harrowingly evocative and devastating beyond comprehension, "Vacuum γ-Noise Transition" assumes its hideous form through a ravaging maze of managed guitar fractals, eviscerating compositional deconstructionism and an inhuman event horizon of decaying soundscapes and oppressive atmospheres that dismantle the listener piece by piece, forcing mind and soul apart to disintegrate in each other's reflection. Somewhat claiming the torch of absolute avant-garde violence and abhorrence from bands like Deathspell Omega and Portal, the devastating album is an all-encompassing and sensorially annihilating masterpiece that transitions this heritage of aural abominations into its most unavoidable future and inevitable conclusions, reshaping the DNA of surrealistic extreme metal as we know it and pulverizing all its known thresholds through a hideous out of body experience ritualized through total aural abandon.

Unmaker, the 3rd album by Copenhagen's LLNN, is a stupefyingly unforgiving affair: abrasive and vile, at times effervescent and escharotic, and finally absolutely smothering, suffocating, terminal. LLNN burst onto the scene with 2016's critically acclaimed debut album "Loss“, a sheer display of "absolute raging rawness“, as Terrorizer put it... But there is more to their sound than that: „the wavering drone synths that are effortlessly merged with a raw hardcore-driven darkness define the subtle idiosyncratic nuances of LLNN's very unsubtle, painfully overwhelming sound“ (The Sludgelord). After European tours with Bison, performances at festivals like Roskilde, Roadburn and Arctangent and a split EP with WOVOKA, LLNN returned with sophomore album "Deads“ in 2018, an album that felt more compact, yet more complex and organic all at the same time. The band further explored the coalescence of the guitar & bass - axis with keys player Ketil G. Sejersen's synth layers – a direction that is now further pursued on Unmaker. In fact, LLNN’s contemporary heaviness is not just “dense, suffocating tracks that build and crash“ or "buried vocals coming from under thick guitars and pounding drums” (Decibel): it’s also the very dominant synths that evoke the feel and vibe of dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies, inspired by composers like Brad Fiedel, Vangalis, John Carpenter and Stanley Kubrick as much as by Sci-Fi / horror games like Silent Hill, Dead Space, Halo & Limbo.
"I’m obsessed with music that explores what sound can do to our body, to our mind, to our imagination. LLNN 's new album is one of the most overwhelmingly intense records I’ve heard in quite a while and the way it blends abstract ambient sounds, shattering rhythms and extreme noise is both hypnotic and powerful. The sense of sonic detail is staggering and for each spin I hear new elements, echoes, textures and my mind gets new visual associations. Sometimes it feels like the soundtracks of Apocalypse Now and Eraserhead has been melted together and blasted through a ferocious guitar amp - these songs have both a sense of impending doom and an extraordinary combination of raw energy and gritty beauty“ - Movie soundtrack composer award-winning Peter Albrechtsen

Dark Buddha Rising unveil their seventh album, Mathreyata on Friday the 13th of November 2020 via Svart Records. Mathreyata album artwork, and teaser trailer for first single “Sunyaga” revealed. Video by Dehn Sora. Finnish “dark underlords of psychedelic drone” Dark Buddha Rising return with their heaviest and darkest record yet. V. Ajomo from Dark Buddha Rising states “Mathreyata follows the visions that were received from Inversum’s implosion and is the accession of what we invoked with the II EP. Before completing the great circle, all cycles must be dissolved. In the end we are standing at the edge of the abyss with all our previous work as weights, impatient to dive in. We recorded the basis of the album just before the Waste of Space Orchestra project began and mostly because of that, it took a few years to get it finished. Finally the material that we have performed live for several years can be experienced as a recorded album.” Dark Buddha Rising’s abyssic and meditative sonic-void has been opening up over the last 10 years to swallow more and more devotees in their wake. Since their inception in 2007, with their first four albums being highly-coveted, sold-out private pressings, to subsequent Svart Records reissues, to their burgeoning fifth album Dakhmandal, Dark Buddha Rising have been shining like a black diamond for those that go mining for the real thing. Embraced into Neurosis’ Neurot Records fraternity, with 2015’s critically acclaimed sixth album Inversum, Tampere-based psychonauts, Dark Buddha Rising have captivated the collective consciousness of the heavy underground and achieved cult-legend status. 2019’s climactic and highly praised Waste Of Space Orchestra collaboration with local kindred spirits Oranssi Pazuzu at Roadburn Festival, put Dark Buddha Rising’s Wastement home studio: “the asylum of eternal feedback,” firmly on the International music world map and into the hearts of the pitch-black psych-rock underworld. Gathering a throng of newly devoted adherents who worship at the altar of their churning vortex, Dark Buddha Rising’s live shows are a transformative experience that are religiously revered by audiences across Europe, with Invisible Oranges calling their performance “brain melting.” Metal Hammer describe Dark Buddha Rising’s music as “a shamanic voice chanting before a tumultuous void, soon all encompassed by a yawning riff chasm, contorted by keys, chants, rants and abyssal atmospherics,” and to put words into what Dark Buddha Rising does to the listening audience is to describe the band surrendering fully to the intuition and primal instincts as altered states of mind. Prepare your mind and body for an initiation into the dark arts of Mathreyata on Friday the 13th of November 2020. Dark Buddha Rising have channeled a work for dark spirits and those who seek to travel beyond the unknown.

Metallica’s 1988...And Justice For All - their first album to break into the Billboard Top 10, peaking at No. 6 - still remains the bands biggest-seller. Having to date shifted eight million copies in the U.S. alone, the record also earned the thrash metal heroes their debut Grammy award. Containing as it does a number of absolute classics, including hit single One, this enduring masterwork is still the favorite out of all of Metallica releases for many fans. In the wake of the album success the band embarked on the mammoth Damaged Justice tour, playing a staggering 219 shows across five continents from 11th September 88 to 8th October 89. Many of the performances given during this jaunt remain among the finest Metallica shows ever performed. Notably, their appearance at The Seattle Center Coliseum on 30th August 1989, still is one of the highest point in their career.

The Chthonic Chronicles is the sixth studio album by English metal band Bal-sagoth. The first in five years since 2001's Atlantis Ascendant, it was correctly rumoured to be their last album. The obscurely-worded album title refers to a key story element in the lyrics, and the chronicles themselves are a pure work of fiction from lyrics writer Roberts. The very rare word has been used in literature by T. S. Eliot, C. F. Keary and M. McCarthy, and is Greek in origin, meaning "earthly", specifically dealing with the underworld and spirits.

Oslo-based sludge-metal power trio SAVER are back with a vengeance. The band's new album `From Ember And Rust' channels the bare-knuckle ferocity of their 2019 full-length debut, `They Came With Sunlight', alongside a formidable command of dynamic, texture and sonic space that belies the relative youth of the project.Having erupted into the Norwegian metal scene without warning, SAVER is the result of heavy veterans Ole Ulvik Rokseth, Markus Stole and Ole Christian Helstad combining their years of experience into one three-headed beast, hellbent on pushing the boundaries of what the band is collectively capable of.Restless by nature, SAVER are constantly refining and reinventing their sound. The band's debut record was followed by two wildly creative collaborations which saw the trio marry their signature ferocity with some unlikely creative bedfellows in order to test new depths. `Emerald', 2021's full-length release, paired SAVER's calculated minimalism with the frenetic, percussive energy of Belgian post-metal collective Psychonaut whilst last year's `Split EP' saw SAVER and Norwegian folk singer/songwriter Frodekal reinterpret a song from each other's back catalogue with hauntingly spectacular results.With this revelatory experience still ringing in their ears, `From Ember And Rust' bears all of SAVER's heavy hallmarks alongside a newfound sense of dynamic anticipation and organic progression, which ties the seven tracks together as a significant body of work in the band's ascendant trajectory. As well as sharing their years of experience making the heaviest music they can, SAVER also share a passion for the unmistakable soundscapes of classic science-fiction. Already a key component of SAVER's distinctive sound; Rokseth's otherworldly, cinematic synth work is given centre stage on `From Ember And Rust' as the band boldly embark on a new journey together.As their first non-collaborative release in four years, `From Ember And Rust' could be interpreted as the band returning to the s...

Legendary Black Metal Band From Oslo, Norway, Founded By Galder (Dimmu Borgir). The Pagan Prosperity Album Was Originally Released In 1997 By Century Media. Here Is The Official Repress On Cosmic Key Creations.

Melodic death/black metal from Fallköping, Sweden. "Thy Black Destiny" is Sacramentum’s 3rd album, originally released by Century Media in 1999 on CD. Cosmic Key Creations brings you the official 2022 deluxe LP re-issue. Issued under exclusive license from Century Media Records.

Enchantment IS Back After 25 Years! In 2019 Cosmic Key Creations issued the long overdue vinyl version of the 1994 ‘Dance The Marble Naked ‘ album by U.K. cult doomsters Enchantment. This was soon to be followed in 2020 with the reissue of the album on both CD and cassette format by Transcending Records. The renewed interest inspired the band to regroup and to set about finishing their 2nd album that was already written and composed back in 1994/5(!) but never made it to the recording stage. The band dug up the old rehearsal tapes and finished the album 25 years after the initial process. This is the album that was meant to follow up from their debut and the songs are therefore an exciting time capsule that will take you back to the heyday of the U.K.’s Death/Doom Metal scene of the early nineties.

KK’s Priest, the band comprised of renowned former Judas Priest guitarist, KK Downing and former vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, is pleased to announce the release of the debut album Sermons OF THE Sinner via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records on August 20.

Sermons OF THE Sinner is an incredible collection of future metal classics, sure to be one of the stand-out metal releases of 2021. K.K Downing’s genre-defining guitar style helped establish Judas Priest‘s iconic sound and helped propelled them to one of the top Heavy Metal bands of all-time, earning numerous accolades including a Grammy® in 2010 for “Best Metal Performance,” a total of five Grammy® nominations and multi-platinum and gold releases.

With Downing on guitar, KK’s Priest also features ex-Judas Priest member Tim “Ripper” Owens on vocals, who fronted the band for eight years and recorded two studio albums, Jugulator, featuring the Grammy® nominated track “Bullet Train,” and Demolition, plus two live albums. They are joined by Tony Newton (Voodoo Six) on bass, A.J. Mills (Hostile) on guitar and Sean Elg (DeathRiders/Cage) on drums. Original drummer, Les Binks, unfortunately sustained a wrist injury, but will make special guest live appearances when the band tours.

HYPERDONTIA is a name that needs little introduction. In 2018 this Turkish-Danish Death Metal machine unleashed "A Nexus Of Teeth" which proved to be some of the most astounding Death Metal of recent years, earning the band a huge amount of respect. Along with a couple of EP's and a split with MORTIFERUM, we have seen the quality of their music remain consistently high. Now they return with their 2nd full length opus "Hideous Entity". The 40 minute length of the LP spans 8 songs, each of which proves to be a wondrous affair of punishing heaviness in its own right, but the sheer brutality and capability of HYPERDONTIA's songwriting / musical talent can only be truly unlocked when listening to "Hideous Entity" as a whole. Aptly titled, this distorted configuration of sounds is utterly abysmal in the best possible way. All of the instruments and vocals alike work in unison to provide a stoic and barbaric yet intricate tapestry of decimating sounds and contorted atmospherics. Precision is of course key, as has always been the case, with every riff or beat or growl feeling deliberate in its conviction. No second is wasted nor ideas linger past their welcome, this entity transcends through so many juxtaposing qualities with sadistic pleasure, as its volatility will throw you into a whole new abyss of demonic soundscapes. HYPERDONTIA return with triumph and glory on their most blazon display of morbid music to date.

Animate the Emptiness is the debut full length by the NYC metal duo Luminous Vault. On their long awaited follow-up to 2017’s Charismata EP, guitarist/vocalist Mario Diaz de Leon (Oneirogen, Bloodmist) and bassist/vocalist Samuel Smith (Artificial Brain, Aeviterne) present a bold and unique hybrid of black/death metal and electronic music.

From their inception in 2015, Luminous Vault have combined the “machine rhythm” approach of pioneering bands Godflesh and Blut Aus Nord with black metal and synthesizers. On Animate the Emptiness, this vibrant fusion is expressed with an intensity surpassing that of the band’s past efforts. Tracks such as Incarnate Flame Arise are pervaded by the slow, speaker-rattling thud of an electronic kick drum, punctuated by Smith’s distorted bassline and synthetic hi-hat patterns, while Diaz de Leon’s guitar intones haunting tremolo-picked melodies and feedback-laden squalls. On closing track Ancient North, melancholic doom metal harmonies sustain over syncopated bass and drum rhythms, giving way to a euphoric surge of major key tremolo riffs. Diaz de Leon and Smith’s vocal lines alternately evoke apocalyptic sermons and a call from otherwordly depths, with surrealistic lyrics that draw inspiration from psychospiritual trials and transformations, full of alchemical imagery.

Riding Easy is now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the ’60s-’70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads to more exciting new discoveries. Like the label has done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Here are just a few of the delights herein: This Trip opens with Adam Wind’s “Something Else,” featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain’t no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band’s heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell’s excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff. Later, Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their—let’s reiterate—weird 1968 track “In Wyrd.” Think if someone left a copy of The Doors’ Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they’d heard. Finally, Crazy Jerry sends this edition off on a high note with “Every Girl Gets One,” featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop ’n’ start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul / funk and rock records from the ‘70s, including The Left Banke’s second album. But here, Jerry is…well, simply crazy. Get comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock ’n’ roll.

There is NO Light at the end of this tunnel! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip fires ten more savage nails deep into the coffin of ‘60s psychedelic idealism. This series is THE premier top dog journey into the rarest and most wasted early local eruptions of heavy rock, unleashed at a time when harsh reality, human nature and disillusionment drove prevailing underground rock glimpses of a ‘better’ world into ever darker selfabsorbed comedowns. Mind expanding ’60s love energies transform into toxic aggression right before your ears! The great thing is that these moves are totally justified, ‘we are all one’ is cosmically good in theory but ‘get it while you can’ ends up perhaps better advice in the light of human history. Both of those angles of awareness can coexist, some of these bands deliver unrelenting sideways positive energy but they aren’t over-thinking it, they are youthfully driven by hunger for life and satisfying the undeniable urges their DNA thrusts upon them. Sonically, the results in the Brown Acid series never fail to breathe hot and heavy, the guitars kill it every time, the variety of approaches these tracks take keep the scenery shifting into new places. The key element that makes this stuff so potent is that They (the bands) are in control. Captured genuinely with no compromise, right out of the gate. No doubt they had ambition with high hopes for the future when they laid down these primal efforts, the fact that they captured their energy so vividly at a moment in time when the only direction imaginable was UP creates a hard hitting life affirming subtext to the proceedings. That is the core energy of blues and rock and roll, dealing with the struggles of existence by flipping a gigantic ‘what the fuck’ high energy bird right in the face of the moronic defective reality these bands were born into. If you take this stuff too ‘seriously’ you are utterly missing the point, it is beyond analysis, it is life itself! No amount of thinking will get you there quicker! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip is scary... the bottomless pit of deranged vintage heavy rock the series presents continually expands over time... one deadly dose too many and you might be trapped in the bad trip loop forever... enjoy it or lose your mind!

Uboa’s fifth album Impossible Light almost never made it out of the dark. From its initial conception in 2018, this record went to hell and back, dragging its immensity and too-big-to-hold emotion through the torturous process of translation to sound and returned triumphantly as a full-bodied record in a distinct new style.

Impossible Light begins where Uboa’s 2019 breakout album The Origin Of My Depression left off—and ends somewhere entirely different. The Origin stunned with its methodical use of doom, harsh noise, and ambient soundscapes while documenting a raw, unhindered account of Xandra Metcalfe’s experiences with her transition and her struggles with mental health. Over time The Origin steadily grew a cult-like following which developed into a full-fledged internet community focused around noise, neurodiversity and transness. While Uboa’s signature style of highly polished, cinematic “hypernoise” is front and center in Impossible Light, there is also a daring departure into the genres of industrial metal / rock, setting it apart from any other Uboa release thus far and distinguishing it from other contemporary noise records.

Metcalfe kept the lyrical content of this record as a time capsule of the catastrophic ups and downs and rapidly changing environments within herself and in the world from 2018-2023. Key collaborators include Blood Of A Pomegranate, Otay:onii, Charlie Looker and Haela Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy. Impossible Light dives fearlessly into queer sexuality, trans embodiment, grief for those who couldn’t make it, solidarity for those facing unimaginable discrimination, the toxic spread of transphobic hatred and misinformation, and the ultimate hope of recovery from trauma and mental anguish. This is a record about the light at the end of the tunnel and the power it takes to keep moving towards it.

In 2013 Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu issued their ‘Valonielu’ LP, an album of timeless creative immensity that was met with ubiquitous praise throughout the world, and solidified the band’s position as one of the most forward-thinking and interesting metal bands. Now, in the early months of 2016, Oranssi Pazuzu returns with the follow-up album and fourth overall, the mind-bending masterwork ‘Värähtelijä’.

Oranssi Pazuzu, since birth, has never been satisfied to stick with a formula. Each album has seen the band expand upon its previous incarnation and then, like a supernova, blow it up and transform again into something recognizable but completely new. ‘Värähtelijä’ continues in this vein, giving the band much more room to diverge and explore the vast regions of hypnotic progressive psychedelia and the nebulous outer limits of Scandinavian black metal. Songs explode with radiant ultraviolet color and plunge into the deep black darkness of innermost consciousness. If ‘Valonielu’ was the creation of a universe, ‘Värähtelijä’ is the magnification and expansion of its infinite boundaries.

A 70+ minute sprawling voyage, ‘Värähtelijä’ more accurately represents the stunning live presence of the band where the songs often span new and previously unheard dimensions of form and structure. Not meant for genre purists, Oranssi Pazuzu are on a trip all their own; modern electric pioneers on an expedition to unlock the keys to the hidden spaces all around and inside us. 20 Buck Spin are pleased to once again present the innovative brilliance of Oranssi Pazuzu and ‘Värähtelijä’.

Re-issue OF Pessimist's 1997 Debut 'cult OF THE Initiated'!! In 1997 Pessimist released their debut CD ‘Cult of the Initiated’, which charted on CMJ Top 40 Loud Rock Charts and received acclaim from around the world. The band continued to play shows in the Mid-Atlantic region, opening for Cryptopsy, Nile, Gorguts, Dying Fetus, Vader, Monstrosity, and festival appearances at Milwaukee Metalfest XII, New England Metal and Hardcore Fest – and the band’s first European tour with Fleshless (Cz) in 1999. Pessimist became recognised for their unique brand of brutal and technical Black/Death Metal, with old-school thrash influences, an emphasis on quality songwriting, powerful live shows and a dark, evil sound. The band is currently writing music for the next full-length album, ‘Keys to the Underworld’.

if you survived trips 1-17 with one tiny speck of psychedelic sunshine intact, Brown Acid The 18th Trip will be your coming of age nightmare. Vintage underground '70s hard rock, coming at you from bizarre angles, local scene wasteland America when everybody was out for themselves and the drugs went bleak. The guitars kill, the attitude is twisted, even the sex is headed down the wrong road. Real people, no compromise, pure and potent. Get stoked, take the 18th Trip and know that the artists will get paid for pulverizing your soul! "People… are you ready?, 'cause the music now is getting so heavy"… Back Jack out of St. Louis, Missouri in 1974 launch our trip with "Bridge Waters Dynamite". It's an invocation to rock flashing on Mark Farner whooping up a Grand Funk crowd, then getting to the point quickly with berserk guitar assaults. Heavy riff with power chord stalks beneath as you take their advice… get loose and blow up the past. Smokin' Buku Band dropped my jaw with the audacious track "Hot Love" coming on like some fractured fever dream burlesque of Led Zep moves out of Hollywood in 1980. Swooping elongated vocals above, a total Zep chord move at the end of each verse. Writer/producer Steve Shauger aka Shag Stevens gets a brilliantly messed up sound quality here, the ideal polar opposite of slick. The extended guitar break is an epitome of serendipitously crude virtuosity, simply outrageous! Coming at you from way outta left field is "Moby Shark" by Atlantis, a hilarious and strange Baltimore pre-punk vibed dose of D.I.Y. meets hard rock. Lon Talbot is the mastermind, the flip side of this impossibly rare Mekon Records label single was featured in an obscure 1978 B-movie titled "The Alien Factor". Follow the lyrics closely, when the ominous jaws jaws jaws start coming after you you you… the song's big hook is so preposterously catchy the shark attack feels like good news. Inquiring minds should know that the band formerly known as Atlantis can now be found by searching for the Lon Talbot Group! Tommy Stuart and the Rubberband's "Peeking Through Your Window" from 1970 opens with a spooky organ riff, slips into a gushy fuzz/organ groove akin to "Mustache In Your Face” by Pretty. The singer creates downright creepy vibes, a stalker peeking through the girl's mind like a peeping Tom at the window up to no good. The lyrics evoke a disturbing scenario. Tommy Stuart also made a strange LP titled Hound Dog Man in 1977 and some terrific rare garage singles under the names Magnificent Seven and The Omen & Their Love in the mid '60s. Nothing better than an angry two chord guitar attack with cowbell to set the stage for this rant about getting "Ripped Off" by love. Taken from their rare 1977 LP on Dynamite Records, Chicago Triangle was Marvey Esparza, Dave Guereca, Jose 'Tarr' Perez and Robert Aguilera. They unleash such strong brain-scrubbing wah wah frenzy in the guitar break here that it seems to perversely mock it's own intensity! Like I said, Brown Acid the 18th Trip comes at you from all kinds of uncanny angles. Damnation of Adam Blessing out of Cleveland, Ohio unleashed a stone killer psychedelic hard rock classic "Cookbook" in the late '60s, this track "Nightmare" from 1973 has them cooking again at full power. A different singer, name change to Damnation and then Glory, unleashing a deadly dose of dark progressive heavy rock drama peaking when spooky 'oooo-wa-oooo' background vocals emerge during a bizarre spoken bit. It unfolds like a mini-epic and includes some remarkably brutal guitar and turbulent organ, too. "Swing your sword, all aboard… bid farewell to the dreamer" Dalquist exclaims. Cynical view of human nature, idealism is over, war is coming, it always does. Opens with a cold menacing riff and atmosphere reminiscent of "Synthezoid Heartbreak" by Maya. Mournful despondent vocals ride an insistent churning groove, gnarly guitar break moves into free noise territory. This rare track is from a local various artists benefit album titled Kangaroo Jam issued for the Waco Family Abuse Center in Texas circa 1980. The Pawnbrokers "Realize" is prime proto heavy rock emerging out of psychedelic garage roots in 1968 Fargo, North Dakota. Unusual arrangement, terrific sustain guitar tones like on the first Blue Cheer LP, even a rip on Hendrix "Manic Depression" with unison voice and guitar ascent near the end. They made three 45s and were active from '65 to '69. Hats off to Blake English, Kent Richey, Paul Rogne and Steve Harrison, you nailed it in just a hair over two minutes! As pure and creative as the original psychedelic garage hard rock gets. Parchment Farm from Union, Missouri gigged with the likes of ZZ Top and Foghat back in the day and unleashed the amazing "Songs Of The Dead" in 1971. Primitive riff/chord pattern dosed with some funky prog moves, sky turning black, 'is this heaven or hell' type disoriented confusion… may as well grab your guitar and sing songs to the dead. Robert 'Ace' Williams on bass, Paul Cockrum on guitar, Gary Reed on keys and Micky Waterman on drums, replacing Mike Dulany (R.I.P.) Cool that they use the Blue Cheer misspelling from Vincebus Eruptum for the band name! Ominous organ, thick minimalist fuzz riff, funky psychedelic wah wah flashes and freaky sex combine in one twisted dance titled "Rockin' Chair" by Brothers Of The Ghetto. Out of Chicago in 1975 with some Santana atmospherics and a delicious fuzz wah screamin' guitar break, the groove is highlighted by an off the wall vocal which sounds eerily detached in a subtly sleazy way. Rene Maxwell is the writer of this hard-rock boogie-down hybrid straight out of the twilight zone. It was issued on Ghetto, a subsidiary of the peculiar Kiderian label that released the Creme Soda LP. Now that your head is totally skewered, go Back Jack and play side one again! (Words by Paul Major)

Known for the monolithic force of their music and their inventive production techniques, The Body"s albums are benchmarks in the expansion and evolution of heavy music. Tightly packed with deceptively nuanced arrangements and exhilarating, challenging distortion, their compositions are possessed of an unmistakably singular sound. The Crying Out of Things is no exception; a culmination of all that The Body have done before, highlighting their mastery of dynamic and monumental music that pushes toward the unmistakable sound of oblivion. The Body have produced a wealth of groundbreaking collaborations with the likes of Full of Hell, Thou, Uniform, BIG|BRAVE, OAA, and Dis Fig. The duo"s benchmark albums have, over the past 2 decades, changed the perceptions and directions of heavy music. The Crying Out of Things" embrace of noise is a comprehensive display of the multitude of expressions possible with abrasive sound, a skill that The Body have pioneered and refined. "I think for us the key to the way we use noise is, it"s not the only element," says Buford. "You"ve gotta really listen if you"re into noise. But it also has to have dynamics. Where, say, BIG|BRAVE (who have a similar ethos) expresses it in this more intellectual, minimalist way, The Body comes from an instinctual, maximalist way. We"re trying to cover it ALL." The Body stand alone in their ability to connect disparate influences and collaborators into a wholly original, potent and singular work. Alongside producer/engineer Seth Manchester, the duo"s voracious and omnivorous musical appetites have pushed the studio as an instrument into new avenues to conjure profound feelings from the music. The Crying Out of Things cements The Body"s place as a leader of heavy new music, their boundless creativity, their defining ability to convey anguish, created with a visceral clarity to devastating impact.

Uboa’s fifth album Impossible Light almost never made it out of the dark. From its initial conception in 2018, this record went to hell and back, dragging its immensity and too-big-to-hold emotion through the torturous process of translation to sound and returned triumphantly as a full-bodied record in a distinct new style.

Impossible Light begins where Uboa’s 2019 breakout album The Origin Of My Depression left off—and ends somewhere entirely different. The Origin stunned with its methodical use of doom, harsh noise, and ambient soundscapes while documenting a raw, unhindered account of Xandra Metcalfe’s experiences with her transition and her struggles with mental health. Over time The Origin steadily grew a cult-like following which developed into a full-fledged internet community focused around noise, neurodiversity and transness. While Uboa’s signature style of highly polished, cinematic “hypernoise” is front and center in Impossible Light, there is also a daring departure into the genres of industrial metal / rock, setting it apart from any other Uboa release thus far and distinguishing it from other contemporary noise records.

Metcalfe kept the lyrical content of this record as a time capsule of the catastrophic ups and downs and rapidly changing environments within herself and in the world from 2018-2023. Key collaborators include Blood Of A Pomegranate, Otay:onii, Charlie Looker and Haela Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy. Impossible Light dives fearlessly into queer sexuality, trans embodiment, grief for those who couldn’t make it, solidarity for those facing unimaginable discrimination, the toxic spread of transphobic hatred and misinformation, and the ultimate hope of recovery from trauma and mental anguish. This is a record about the light at the end of the tunnel and the power it takes to keep moving towards it.

The title, nature morte, is the French term for still life paintings whose literal translation is "dead nature." Big|brave color the songs of nature morte with unease, creating an air of beauty in decay, chords suspended in contemplative stillness. Robin Wattie"s experiences structuring lyrics and song forms on The Body & Big|brave"s Leaving None But Small Birds informed her work on nature morte, creating stories that, like many folk tales, are at once specific and universal. Wattie"s voice manages to be commanding and vulnerable with impressive range and intimacy. Even her gasps carve their way through the tidal crash of Mathieu Ball"s distortion wail and the pummel of Tasy Hudson"s drums. The momentum of nature morte conjures the image of a beast collapsing beneath its own weight before resiliently staggering upright to thunder onward. Big|brave convey heft from silence as deftly as they do from swaths of feedback and distortion to cathartic ends. "Distortion is key," notes Ball The three members recorded primarily live over the course of a week at Machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester, pushing the potential of their instruments beyond expectations. For each song, the trio"s songwriting and attention to detail deliver its simple but devastating emotional power. Across the album"s six pieces Big|brave create a tension between immediacy and patience, invoking the essence of disquiet, while conveying anguish through inventive arrangements and nuanced performances. nature morte captures Big|brave at their heaviest and their mournful fury is at its zenith, an album where each moment is so immense and consuming that it possesses its own gravitational pull.

Oozing Wound are both a subversive force in heavy music and key players in Chicago"s vibrant DIY warehouse scene. Their albums gleefully defy categorisation, delighting in contradictions and delivered with self-aware humor that sets them apart from their peers. No one is safe from their scathing gaze, not even themselves. Self-described as "a rock-band wolf in metal sheep"s clothing", this disparity has brought accusations of the band "not taking this seriously" in the deeply serious business that is entertainment. Beneath the blunt- force of the trio"s music lies a deep-set dedication to sonic experimentalism. Catalysts of Chicago"s underground, the trio of guitarist and vocalist Zack Weil, bassist Kevin Cribbin and drummer Kyle Reynolds are champions of irreverence, experimentation and unrelenting volume. Their impact on Chicago DIY can not be overlooked: Cribbin lived in and ran legendary performance space Situations, while Reynolds" Rotted Tooth Recordings was home to many of the scene"s essential artists. On We Cater To Cowards, Oozing Wound push their music further by turning metal into itself and with their scathing social observations they have produced an album that is devastatingly fierce and undeniably addictive.We Cater To Cowards is the band"s most daring and devastating album; it is a refreshing and exhilarating mutation of genres forging Oozing Wounds" own distinct path. As Weil aptly puts it: "we don"t care about propriety or the sanctity of TRVE METAL or any of that bullshit."

Los Angeles-based dark melodic metal outfit Witherfall proudly presents their fourth full-length, “Sounds Of The Forgotten”, via DeathWave Records. With predecessor "Curse Of Autumn" garnering high praise in Metal Insider, Deaf Forever, and KNAC.com, as well as admirable positions on Germany’s Top 20 Albums chart and Billboard’s Top New Artist Albums and Billboard 100 chart, “Sounds Of The Forgotten" advances Witherfall to legendary status with its epic, foreboding expanse. The album is supported by an ambitious schedule of seven singles, each with an official video linking the album’s story of heartbreak, anger, and tenacity. This is genuinely Witherfall, always willing to go the extra mile to outclass the past.

Witherfall was formed in Los Angeles in 2013. Joseph Michael (also of Sanctuary fame) and Jake Dreyer (ex-Iced Earth/Demons & Wizards) built their new band around drummer Adam Sagan (rip) and accomplished bassist Anthony Crawford (Allan Holdsworth, Chon). Since then, the group have released three highly regarded albums: "Nocturnes And Requiems" (2017), "A Prelude To Sorrow" (2018), and "Curse Of Autumn" (2021) and an EP "Vintage" (2019). Not one to cut corners, Witherfall enlisted famed drummer Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson, Jordan Rudess) on "Curse Of Autumn", ensuring the foundations of singles 'As I Lie Awake', 'The Other Side Of Fear', and 'The River' were second to none. On "Sounds Of The Forgotten", Minnemann returns to the fold with an album-only appearance, while drummer Chris Tsaganeas (Wax Owls) and multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hirschfeld (Willie Nelson) Witherfall’s newest permanent members.

Every Witherfall album is a defining moment. From the moment "Nocturnes And Requiems" thundered across metaldom to the group’s wine endeavours (Tempest Red Blend) with Charlie & Echo Winery, their video collaboration with Cig Neutron (Devil’s Workshop) on 'The Other Side Of Fear', a beer partnership with Adroit Theory Brewing Company (Shadows Black Ipa), and custom Funko Pop set, Michael and Dreyer have made Witherfall their mission. The journey to this point hasn’t been without toil and upheaval. Determination, however, is the key. Today, Witherfall brings “Sounds Of The Forgotten" to the masses. Experience it all with them.

Ltd. Galaxy Yellow/Black Vinyl.The debut album from Nottingham UK's chaotic metallers, Outergods, is pure intense grind with a hint of experimentation black metal and disgustingly ferocious andabsolutely relentless. A Kingdom Built Upon The Wreckage Of Heaven fuses together elements of death metal, black metal and grindcore - blending Outergods' abrasive earlyinfluences such as Morbid Angel and Strapping Young Lad with the intensity of more modern, expansive but intense bands like Full of Hell.Lyrically the album uses dark and sinister metaphors to explore turbulence they were experiencing throughout the album's creation. Specifically Nathe found himself in a situation where his family were staring down an immeasurable bereavement - the feelings of hopelessness, grief, and torment were poured into his writing. Finding comfort in nostalgia and seeking connections to the past, a rich seam of inspiration was found in the music that was key to his own musical development.A Kingdom Built Upon The Wreckage of Heaven was self produced, and stays true to their DIY ethic and underground attitude. The album was mastered by friend Kristofer Strandberg, and the album's cover art was crafted by Nathe's brother, Tim Sinfield.

The first official vinyl re-issue of the beautiful and special Åsmund Frægdegjevar debut album by Lumsk Trondheim, Norway). The band sings merely in Norwegian, and they want to look after the Norwegian language, traditions and the history of the country. Musically Lumsk is a powerful mixture of rock, metal, classic, folk and progressive rock. Originally released on CD by Tabu Records in 2003. Cosmic Key Creations brings you a deluxe and limited vinyl re-issue officially licensed from Cosmos Music Group.

Tamás Kátai has a vision that extends far beyond his native Hungary, but Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album is tied to the past in more ways than one. Whereas his previous album returned to the heavier days of Thy Catafalque, XII takes Kátai on a more figurative journey. The album unfolds like a dark night of the soul, whisked away by the dreamy-yet-haunting opener “Piros kocsi, fekete éj”. “Run with me, life / Whisper the tales”, Attila Bakos sings in Hungarian. His cleans soar over the airwaves, reappearing with ease 15 years after he first joined Thy Catafalque for the project’s underground breakout Róka Hasa Rádió. More old friends join Kátai on this journey. A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek features 20+ guest musicians, including familiar faces from inside and outside of the Hungarian metal scene. Violins, cello and clarinet bring the comforts of home. Still, the road can be quite harsh. “Mindenevő” is consumed with humanity’s self-destructive appetite, fueled by mechanized blast beats and distorted downpicking that recalls the fiery black metal from which Thy Catafalque was originally forged in 1998. Hungarian history looms behind the album’s most crushing moments. The coal blackened chugger “Vasgyár” is named after the rusted-out ironworks that once fueled the country’s economy. In the video for the album’s title track and lead single, Kátai runs through not only his hometown but surreal scenes from past and present issues that lie beneath the surface of the countryside. But his flair for the avant-garde still shines like the dawn. The synth's minor key melody glows with the faint but familiar reassurance that the beautiful dreams are yet to come. 1. Piros Kocsi, Fekete Éj 2. Mindenevö 3. Vasgyár 4. Világnak Világa 5. Nyárfa, Nyírfa 6. Lydiához 7. Vakond 8. Ködkiraly 9. Aláhullás 10. A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek

The debut album from dark esoteric grindcore act Egregore (not to be confused with the Canadian black metal band) takes us into ominous realms rarely explored before by, and in the genre: those of metaphysical occultism and supernatural darkness; a descent into the immaterial self and into alternate realities to transform a tradition inspired by bands like Carcass, Discharge, Convulse, Demigod, Terrorizer and Napalm Death into a destructive psychic mind-weapon. Egregore's grim and mystical amalgam of '90s death metal, crust, and grind aims to use the timeless lesson cemented chiefly by Carcass's Heartwork and Necroticism albums to disintegrate the corporeal self, transfigure the soul and open the listener's third eye unto a superior reality dominated by obscure forces, invisible powers, and higher truths. A passageway album using sonic destruction as a key to dimensions above and beyond the self, Synchronistic Delusions continues the band's explorative synthesis into the unknown, bridging '90s death metal and grind, black metal, crust punk and esoteric projections derived from jungian philosophy, occultism, supernatural theology and paranormal cabalism to destroy reality and liberate the mind from its carnal

The Debut album from Finnish band Graven Sin is a modern classic of godly, Doom-laden Heavy Metal. Veil of The Gods is etched in granite via Svart Records on November 2023

Pristine new Finnish band Graven Sin stomp proudly on the shoulders of giants with their ravishing debut album, Veil of The Gods. Immaculate Heavy Metal, expertly delivered with stunning finesse and elegant Doom perfection, Veil of The Gods is a classic in the making. Rarely has a new band sounded so timeless, serving up a godly platter of first-class Heavy Metal, that Graven Sin seem chiselled in granite to sit side by side at a table with the greats from the very get go.



From the galloping charge of opening barn-stormer Morrigan, with jaw dropping solo guitars courtesy of riff master Ville Pystynen, the epic and anthemic She Who Rules Niflheim with soaring vocals from Greek vocalist Nicholas Leptos to the formidable double bass canter of Ville Markkanen’s drums on songs like Beyond Mesopotamia, Graven Sin knows the true riddle of steel.



Throughout Veil of The Gods’ eleven cast-iron tracks, we can trace veins of recent Finnish greats such as Sentenced, Amorphis, Reverend Bizarre or their nordic counterparts Grand Magus from Sweden, but there is much more at play here. Graven Sin offers up heavy, doom laden orthodox Heavy Metal in the true, chugging, monumental sense of the term. The knowledge and prowess of Heavy Metal craft on display in Veil of The Gods is second to none, from the Maidenesque command of melody to the swarthy Manowar rhythms, herculean Deep Purple keys and Messiah like Candlemass-rich voice of astonishing vocalist Leptos, these are songs to be inscribed into stone tablets.



Where pitch dark mythical themes and occult leanings of the lyrics bring to mind the Heavy Metal running through Black Metal bands like Dissection, the song arrangements swing from gallop to thundering, head-banging mid-sections with such magnificence, you would think you were in the hands of a band with decades of heritage behind their backs. A “where have you been all my life moment” awaits Heavy Metal fans of all shades when Graven Sin hits the speakers, delivering a sound that cuts glass and steel. A refreshing tour–de-force through everything Heavy Metal is loved for, not shrinking from the dark but embracing it with gusto and fierce bravado. Veil of The Gods shows us that real metal lives forever, if crafted with true spirit and belief. Hear the cry of the seer of doom, by heeding Morrigan’s call now:

Ville Pystynen - guitar, bass

Nicholas Leptos - vocals

Ville Markkanen - drums

Where does reality end and where does it begin? And who, or what, decides this? Multinational experimental black metal enigma 夢遊病者 re-propose this question to us via their masterful fourth album Skopofoboexoskelett, an enigmatic and playfully formulaic quandary of deconstructed visionary counter-music reminding us a simple concept: that reality is dictated by perception, and as such, by manipulating perception (via the arts), any reality is not only possible but also valid. And as is always the tradition with 夢遊病者, music is the alchemical key via which questions are raised and answers are found in the labyrinth of history, culture, lore and world traditions. In the case of Skopofoboexoskelett, an exploration of the notions of self-reflection, intuition, phobia, luck, and failure in the context of the evil eye, its historical, cultural, physical and metaphysical meanings, as well as its psychological effects, carefully unraveled and revealed. Within this paradigm Skopofoboexoskelett takes 夢遊病者's vision, agenda, and intents, further than ever before, with musical boundaries shattered, definitions pulverized, genres, styles and aesthetics ridiculed into a masterful sensorial manipulation which draws the listener into the deceptive and subversive absurdity that is their own perception being stimulated in unprecedented ways. Drawing their own line and dictating the guidelines of music's end as we know it, Sleepwalker use their unique sonic idealizations made of lysergic black metal excoriations, kraut, psych, noise rock, world music, improvised deconstructionism and schizoid free jazz to transcend conscience and reason, devastate the senses (particularly the auditory one) and open the mind unto a new plane of perception of which the only logic is illogicality, as only true and unquestionable experimental arts dictate and demand.

Known for the monolithic force of their music and their inventive production techniques, The Body"s albums are benchmarks in the expansion and evolution of heavy music. Tightly packed with deceptively nuanced arrangements and exhilarating, challenging distortion, their compositions are possessed of an unmistakably singular sound. The Crying Out of Things is no exception; a culmination of all that The Body have done before, highlighting their mastery of dynamic and monumental music that pushes toward the unmistakable sound of oblivion. The Body have produced a wealth of groundbreaking collaborations with the likes of Full of Hell, Thou, Uniform, BIG|BRAVE, OAA, and Dis Fig. The duo"s benchmark albums have, over the past 2 decades, changed the perceptions and directions of heavy music. The Crying Out of Things" embrace of noise is a comprehensive display of the multitude of expressions possible with abrasive sound, a skill that The Body have pioneered and refined. "I think for us the key to the way we use noise is, it"s not the only element," says Buford. "You"ve gotta really listen if you"re into noise. But it also has to have dynamics. Where, say, BIG|BRAVE (who have a similar ethos) expresses it in this more intellectual, minimalist way, The Body comes from an instinctual, maximalist way. We"re trying to cover it ALL." The Body stand alone in their ability to connect disparate influences and collaborators into a wholly original, potent and singular work. Alongside producer/engineer Seth Manchester, the duo"s voracious and omnivorous musical appetites have pushed the studio as an instrument into new avenues to conjure profound feelings from the music. The Crying Out of Things cements The Body"s place as a leader of heavy new music, their boundless creativity, their defining ability to convey anguish, created with a visceral clarity to devastating impact.

There is NO Light at the end of this tunnel! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip fires ten more savage nails deep into the coffin of ‘60s psychedelic idealism. This series is THE premier top dog journey into the rarest and most wasted early local eruptions of heavy rock, unleashed at a time when harsh reality, human nature and disillusionment drove prevailing underground rock glimpses of a ‘better’ world into ever darker selfabsorbed comedowns. Mind expanding ’60s love energies transform into toxic aggression right before your ears! The great thing is that these moves are totally justified, ‘we are all one’ is cosmically good in theory but ‘get it while you can’ ends up perhaps better advice in the light of human history. Both of those angles of awareness can coexist, some of these bands deliver unrelenting sideways positive energy but they aren’t over-thinking it, they are youthfully driven by hunger for life and satisfying the undeniable urges their DNA thrusts upon them. Sonically, the results in the Brown Acid series never fail to breathe hot and heavy, the guitars kill it every time, the variety of approaches these tracks take keep the scenery shifting into new places. The key element that makes this stuff so potent is that They (the bands) are in control. Captured genuinely with no compromise, right out of the gate. No doubt they had ambition with high hopes for the future when they laid down these primal efforts, the fact that they captured their energy so vividly at a moment in time when the only direction imaginable was UP creates a hard hitting life affirming subtext to the proceedings. That is the core energy of blues and rock and roll, dealing with the struggles of existence by flipping a gigantic ‘what the fuck’ high energy bird right in the face of the moronic defective reality these bands were born into. If you take this stuff too ‘seriously’ you are utterly missing the point, it is beyond analysis, it is life itself! No amount of thinking will get you there quicker! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip is scary... the bottomless pit of deranged vintage heavy rock the series presents continually expands over time... one deadly dose too many and you might be trapped in the bad trip loop forever... enjoy it or lose your mind!

The title, nature morte, is the French term for still life paintings whose literal translation is "dead nature." Big|brave color the songs of nature morte with unease, creating an air of beauty in decay, chords suspended in contemplative stillness. Robin Wattie"s experiences structuring lyrics and song forms on The Body & Big|brave"s Leaving None But Small Birds informed her work on nature morte, creating stories that, like many folk tales, are at once specific and universal. Wattie"s voice manages to be commanding and vulnerable with impressive range and intimacy. Even her gasps carve their way through the tidal crash of Mathieu Ball"s distortion wail and the pummel of Tasy Hudson"s drums. The momentum of nature morte conjures the image of a beast collapsing beneath its own weight before resiliently staggering upright to thunder onward. Big|brave convey heft from silence as deftly as they do from swaths of feedback and distortion to cathartic ends. "Distortion is key," notes Ball The three members recorded primarily live over the course of a week at Machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester, pushing the potential of their instruments beyond expectations. For each song, the trio"s songwriting and attention to detail deliver its simple but devastating emotional power. Across the album"s six pieces Big|brave create a tension between immediacy and patience, invoking the essence of disquiet, while conveying anguish through inventive arrangements and nuanced performances. nature morte captures Big|brave at their heaviest and their mournful fury is at its zenith, an album where each moment is so immense and consuming that it possesses its own gravitational pull.

Isengard was the solo-project initially started in 1989 by Fenriz – one the key driving forces behind Norwegian legends Darkthrone – because he had many musical ideas to explore that didn’t strictly fit in with the style and music of his main band. Under the Isengard moniker, Fenriz released 2 albums encapsulating doom, death, black & Folk/Viking metal in the shape of ‘Vinterskugge‘ & ‘Høstmørke‘, & finally we welcome the third addition to this cult project. After a period of 25 long years since Isengard’s last studio output, and having recently unearthed a set of tracks from his own archive of material recorded back in those early glory days, this new series of tracks – which were thought to be lost – follow on from some of the metal last heard on 1994’s ‘Vinterskugge’. ‘Vårjevndøgn’ is a monumental journey of epic heavy metal mixed with a often more sombre doomy rock/metal atmosphere bringing to mind bands like US heavy metal veterans Pentagram, & also includes 2 tracks previously only heard on the limited ‘Traditional Doom Cult’ 7” Peaceville release from 2017. Everything on ‘Vårjevndøgn’ was performed and engineered by Fenriz himself. The tracks were all recorded between 1989 & 1993 using the infamous Necrohell Studios, notable for recording Darkthrone’s classic ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ & ‘Panzerfaust’ albums. ‘Vårjevndøgn’ was mastered by Jack control at Enormous Door.

The Debut album from Finnish band Graven Sin is a modern classic of godly, Doom-laden Heavy Metal. Veil of The Gods is etched in granite via Svart Records on November 2023

Pristine new Finnish band Graven Sin stomp proudly on the shoulders of giants with their ravishing debut album, Veil of The Gods. Immaculate Heavy Metal, expertly delivered with stunning finesse and elegant Doom perfection, Veil of The Gods is a classic in the making. Rarely has a new band sounded so timeless, serving up a godly platter of first-class Heavy Metal, that Graven Sin seem chiselled in granite to sit side by side at a table with the greats from the very get go.



From the galloping charge of opening barn-stormer Morrigan, with jaw dropping solo guitars courtesy of riff master Ville Pystynen, the epic and anthemic She Who Rules Niflheim with soaring vocals from Greek vocalist Nicholas Leptos to the formidable double bass canter of Ville Markkanen’s drums on songs like Beyond Mesopotamia, Graven Sin knows the true riddle of steel.



Throughout Veil of The Gods’ eleven cast-iron tracks, we can trace veins of recent Finnish greats such as Sentenced, Amorphis, Reverend Bizarre or their nordic counterparts Grand Magus from Sweden, but there is much more at play here. Graven Sin offers up heavy, doom laden orthodox Heavy Metal in the true, chugging, monumental sense of the term. The knowledge and prowess of Heavy Metal craft on display in Veil of The Gods is second to none, from the Maidenesque command of melody to the swarthy Manowar rhythms, herculean Deep Purple keys and Messiah like Candlemass-rich voice of astonishing vocalist Leptos, these are songs to be inscribed into stone tablets.



Where pitch dark mythical themes and occult leanings of the lyrics bring to mind the Heavy Metal running through Black Metal bands like Dissection, the song arrangements swing from gallop to thundering, head-banging mid-sections with such magnificence, you would think you were in the hands of a band with decades of heritage behind their backs. A “where have you been all my life moment” awaits Heavy Metal fans of all shades when Graven Sin hits the speakers, delivering a sound that cuts glass and steel. A refreshing tour–de-force through everything Heavy Metal is loved for, not shrinking from the dark but embracing it with gusto and fierce bravado. Veil of The Gods shows us that real metal lives forever, if crafted with true spirit and belief. Hear the cry of the seer of doom, by heeding Morrigan’s call now:

Ville Pystynen - guitar, bass

Nicholas Leptos - vocals

Ville Markkanen - drums

This vinyl record album - pressed in clear wax - contains the Kiss Hits Lick It Up, Cold Gin, God Of Thunder, Destroit Rock City and many more. Recorded in 1989.

Tamás Kátai has a vision that extends far beyond his native Hungary, but Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album is tied to the past in more ways than one. Whereas his previous album returned to the heavier days of Thy Catafalque, XII takes Kátai on a more figurative journey. The album unfolds like a dark night of the soul, whisked away by the dreamy-yet-haunting opener “Piros kocsi, fekete éj”. “Run with me, life / Whisper the tales”, Attila Bakos sings in Hungarian. His cleans soar over the airwaves, reappearing with ease 15 years after he first joined Thy Catafalque for the project’s underground breakout Róka Hasa Rádió. More old friends join Kátai on this journey. A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek features 20+ guest musicians, including familiar faces from inside and outside of the Hungarian metal scene. Violins, cello and clarinet bring the comforts of home. Still, the road can be quite harsh. “Mindenevő” is consumed with humanity’s self-destructive appetite, fueled by mechanized blast beats and distorted downpicking that recalls the fiery black metal from which Thy Catafalque was originally forged in 1998. Hungarian history looms behind the album’s most crushing moments. The coal blackened chugger “Vasgyár” is named after the rusted-out ironworks that once fueled the country’s economy. In the video for the album’s title track and lead single, Kátai runs through not only his hometown but surreal scenes from past and present issues that lie beneath the surface of the countryside. But his flair for the avant-garde still shines like the dawn. The synth's minor key melody glows with the faint but familiar reassurance that the beautiful dreams are yet to come. 1. Piros Kocsi, Fekete Éj 2. Mindenevö 3. Vasgyár 4. Világnak Világa 5. Nyárfa, Nyírfa 6. Lydiához 7. Vakond 8. Ködkiraly 9. Aláhullás 10. A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek

EDGED CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS are proud to announce the brand new second full length album “Spilling the Astral Chalice” from Slovenia’s progressive death metal force SIDEREAN. Past the edge of reason and harmony we find SIDERAN coming from space via Slovenia. Cosmic and deadly, atonal but harmonic. Adventurous and unlimited, their cosmic and technical approach to metal does not in any way stand in the way of elegant brutality and force. Yet, it’s a more intelligent force and a more stellar brutality. SIDERAN offers a unique blend of both dissonance and harmony. Freedom of generic arrangements is the key. It’s also wonderfully liberating listening to the easiness of the craftsmanship. Sometimes complexity sounds forced and natural. This is not the case with SIDEREAN. The new album follows up 2021´s Lost on Void´s Horizon even better than we had anticipated. SIDEREAN is a unique and special spectral stone than shines like an illuminated diamond in the night sky, trailing the galaxies and nebulae SPILLING THE ASTRAL CHALICE wherever it might suit them. This new exploration was recorded and mixed by Anze Canzek at Negligence Studios, mastered by Gabriele Gramaglia at Crepuscular Sound Studio and wrapped in stellar artwork courtesy of Fernando JFL. Be sure not to miss SPILLING THE ASTRAL CHALICE! …oh and also absolutely do NOT miss the band on tour throughout Europe in September as well! 01 – The Sacred Sea02 – Visions03 – Forces04 – Emerald Age05 – The Coming Tides06 – To Build Ruins

Los Angeles-based dark melodic metal outfit Witherfall proudly presents their fourth full-length, “Sounds Of The Forgotten”, via DeathWave Records. With predecessor "Curse Of Autumn" garnering high praise in Metal Insider, Deaf Forever, and KNAC.com, as well as admirable positions on Germany’s Top 20 Albums chart and Billboard’s Top New Artist Albums and Billboard 100 chart, “Sounds Of The Forgotten" advances Witherfall to legendary status with its epic, foreboding expanse. The album is supported by an ambitious schedule of seven singles, each with an official video linking the album’s story of heartbreak, anger, and tenacity. This is genuinely Witherfall, always willing to go the extra mile to outclass the past.

Witherfall was formed in Los Angeles in 2013. Joseph Michael (also of Sanctuary fame) and Jake Dreyer (ex-Iced Earth/Demons & Wizards) built their new band around drummer Adam Sagan (rip) and accomplished bassist Anthony Crawford (Allan Holdsworth, Chon). Since then, the group have released three highly regarded albums: "Nocturnes And Requiems" (2017), "A Prelude To Sorrow" (2018), and "Curse Of Autumn" (2021) and an EP "Vintage" (2019). Not one to cut corners, Witherfall enlisted famed drummer Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson, Jordan Rudess) on "Curse Of Autumn", ensuring the foundations of singles 'As I Lie Awake', 'The Other Side Of Fear', and 'The River' were second to none. On "Sounds Of The Forgotten", Minnemann returns to the fold with an album-only appearance, while drummer Chris Tsaganeas (Wax Owls) and multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hirschfeld (Willie Nelson) Witherfall’s newest permanent members.

Every Witherfall album is a defining moment. From the moment "Nocturnes And Requiems" thundered across metaldom to the group’s wine endeavours (Tempest Red Blend) with Charlie & Echo Winery, their video collaboration with Cig Neutron (Devil’s Workshop) on 'The Other Side Of Fear', a beer partnership with Adroit Theory Brewing Company (Shadows Black Ipa), and custom Funko Pop set, Michael and Dreyer have made Witherfall their mission. The journey to this point hasn’t been without toil and upheaval. Determination, however, is the key. Today, Witherfall brings “Sounds Of The Forgotten" to the masses. Experience it all with them.

In the late 80s, King's X had just launched their now-iconic Sam Taylor-produced debut album Out of the Silent Planet (1988), ushering in what would soon become known as the "Houston sound." This sound was a unique blend of progressive metal, groove, rock, and rich harmonies. Around the same time, another band began making waves: The Awful Truth. They had recorded their debut album for mainstream Metal Blade Records but sadly broke up before it even came out. By the time the album was released in 1989, two-thirds of The Awful Truth had formed a new band with two other members, the now-legendary Galactic Cowboys, further defining that groovy-metallic Houston Sound. Although signed to the infamous Metal Blade Records (known for releasing albums by Slayer, Fates Warning, Voivod, etc.), The Awful Truth's eponymous album featured poetic lyrics expressing a sincere faith. A key example is "Ghost of Heaven": High above the highest star Songs of You the angels sing Only You could fill my heart Only You could bring me where You are Ghost of Heaven, hear my plea Holy voice, won't you speak to me? Most of the material was written by David von Ohlerking and is adventurous, though more in a traditional progressive context, not foreshadowing the unpredictable style of the Galactic Cowboys. The one track with shared writing credits is Drowning Man, where you can definitely hear the chugging riffs and rhythms that would characterize Monty Colvin and Alan Doss' next project. The distinctive guitar sound, overdriven/mid-rangey bass tones, and oblique Christian imagery in the lyrics are reminiscent of the first four King's X records, but The Awful Truth ventures into heavier and more progressive territory. The epic Should Have Known All Along might even be mistaken for a lost King's X song, especially with the way Ohlerking's vocals break at the end, sounding very Dug Pinnick-like. The end result is a stone-cold classic in every way. The 2024 Brutal Planet Records reissue has been completely remastered by Rob Colwell (Nevermore, Flotsam & Jetsam, King's X, Poundhound, Voivod, etc.) and it sounds better than ever! Collector's are treated to Orange Crush Heavy-weight Vinyl and a 12x12 full color lyrics insert featuring band photos. This limited edition of just 300 Vinyl units is a must-have. Grab this slab of progressive hard rock brilliance while you can!

EDGED CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS are proud to announce the brand new second full length album “Spilling the Astral Chalice” from Slovenia’s progressive death metal force SIDEREAN. Past the edge of reason and harmony we find SIDERAN coming from space via Slovenia. Cosmic and deadly, atonal but harmonic. Adventurous and unlimited, their cosmic and technical approach to metal does not in any way stand in the way of elegant brutality and force. Yet, it’s a more intelligent force and a more stellar brutality. SIDERAN offers a unique blend of both dissonance and harmony. Freedom of generic arrangements is the key. It’s also wonderfully liberating listening to the easiness of the craftsmanship. Sometimes complexity sounds forced and natural. This is not the case with SIDEREAN. The new album follows up 2021´s Lost on Void´s Horizon even better than we had anticipated. SIDEREAN is a unique and special spectral stone than shines like an illuminated diamond in the night sky, trailing the galaxies and nebulae SPILLING THE ASTRAL CHALICE wherever it might suit them. This new exploration was recorded and mixed by Anze Canzek at Negligence Studios, mastered by Gabriele Gramaglia at Crepuscular Sound Studio and wrapped in stellar artwork courtesy of Fernando JFL. Be sure not to miss SPILLING THE ASTRAL CHALICE! …oh and also absolutely do NOT miss the band on tour throughout Europe in September as well! 01 – The Sacred Sea02 – Visions03 – Forces04 – Emerald Age05 – The Coming Tides06 – To Build Ruins

The style of this album is not heavy in the sense that, giving the songs a charismatic focal point and producing some lyrics that hint just as much towards psychedelia as depression, which makes an unusual change for the genre. The extra parts of this album are what make it special, because there are details and oddities that add to the moody experience and differentiate this from other similar bands as well as making the majority of songs memorable. There are a number of reverb-laden classic guitar leads that enter the fray of 'So Much for Suicide' and 'Love Is as Good as Soma' that exude a freedom and luxury across the compositions, stirring powerful non-specific emotions and complicating the apparently downbeat nature of the band; the same thing can be said of the other instruments used, which include violin, sitar, and oud, as well as excellent judgement with the keyboards, all of which turn what is on paper a dour listen into a much more colourful experience. The presence of some more upbeat songs has a similar effect, particularly the masterfully deployed 'Angel Holograms' that plays with choppy chords and rushing chorus mid-album to break up the dreamier, slower numbers. 'Vote for Love' and 'I Am in Love with Myself' offer interesting variations, the former playing out almost like a late '60s rock song, containing jangly guitars and a group chorus that inspires with major key progressions, while the latter recalls Joy Division and the post-punk era, especially in its insistent bassline and intelligent lyrics. This album comes out in deluxe gatefold edition, in two colors (Gold / Red) 500 limited edition each.

German Pagan Metallers KROMLEK surprise the scene with the release of a monumental double album! "III - III" is coming on November 15th 2024 via Trollzorn Records on 2-CD and 2-LP.The first part, entitled "III-III", is a collection of their latest compositions created over the past decade. These tracks were carefully produced at the Antric Light Records studio and mastered in 2024. The second part, "Upphaf", offers a comprehensive retrospective of the band's history. Here, selected pieces are reworked, recorded, and produced anew to impressively document KROMLEK's musical evolution. While their last album "Finis Terræ" (2011) dealt with the end of the world in various layers of meaning and interpretation, "III-III" turns to origins and beginnings, exploring the spiritual cosmos of pre-Christian philosophy and worldview. Musically, this journey is wrapped in powerful, heavy Pagan Metal, enriched with elements from Melo Death and Black Metal.To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Trollzorn Records, the band reunited in 2023 for two selected best-of concerts before closing the chapter on KROMLEK. It is particularly noteworthy that this double album is a direct response to the long-standing demand from fans for new releases, thus honoring the patience and enthusiasm of their loyal followers.KROMLEK as usual - Pagan, but different. This is not a revival, but a legacy.The album’s opening track "Þursöld I - Gigantenwelle" has been premiered here with a lyric video: https://youtu.be/grm92sBnGOULine-up:NhévanN - Lead GuitarsForad - Rhythm GuitarsHrisDolgR - Keys & SynthT´Bog - BassSgrA - Drums "III-III"1. Þursöld I - Gigantenwelle2. Þursöld II - Seismonade3. Þursöld III - Nunatak4. Ek, Gangleri5. Totem Tales I - I tidevarvet av u6. Totem Tales II - aRktur7. Totem Tales III - AlgyR8. Strandhögg pt. IV - Ráns Schattenpass"Upphaf"1. KromleK2. Träskens Näve3. Strandhögg pt. I - Drachen im Nebel4. Strandhögg pt. II - Gefolgschaft der Gezeiten5. Herjan6. Grim Omens7. Mantikor8. Moritvrvs Immortalis

Get ready to dive headfirst into the electrifying world of HELLOWEEN with their new live album, a colossal release that immortalizes their iconic performance at Tokyo’s legendary Nippon Budokan. With 29 cameras capturing every nuance, each moment of the concert is preserved in stunning detail. This attention to detail means the DVD and Blu-ray versions offer an immersive viewing experience, making fans feel like they are right there in the front row. The setlist of this live album is a treasure trove of surprises, contains the entire 2 hour + show and offering a fresh experience compared to previous releases like "United Alive." This live album is more than just a concert recording; it's a celebration of HELLOWEEN's enduring impact on the metal scene. Dropping on December 13, 2024, through RPM, this release is available in a plethora of formats: 2-CD, 3-LP, Blu-ray, and DVD, ensuring every fan can relive the raw, unfiltered energy of HELLOWEEN in their preferred medium. A01 - Orbit (00:01:58)A02 - Skyfall (00:12:51)A03 - Eagle Fly Free (00:08:04)B04 - Mass Pollution (00:04:57)B05 - Future World (00:05:05)B06 - Power (00:04:26)B07 - Save Us (00:05:16)C08 - Kai's Medley (00:16:07)C09 - Forever And One (Neverland) (00:04:46)D10 - Best Time (00:05:04)D11 - Dr. Stein (00:05:54)D12 - How Many Tears (00:12:20)E13 - Keeper Of The Seven Keys (00:20:46)F14 - Perfect Gentleman (00:04:53)F15 - I Want Out (00:11:09)