Search "peaking+lights+936" 154 Items

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs

Case with light scratches

Limited edition of 300 copies on black vinyl. 'Graceful Pandora' is the first single taken from the album 'Those Horrors Wither'. The music on the 7-inch perfectly represents the sound of the band, as it blends various influences (Voivod, Tool, Deathspell Omega ... ) and showcases the matured personality of a band at its creative peak.

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs

We announced our cooperation with Grá over one year ago. Now, the time has finally come to shed some light over the Swedish black metal band’s latest activity, and there is no better way than a good, old 7’’. Here comes Flame Of Hephaestus. We asked the band to comment on the new single, which will serve as an anticipation for their incoming fourth studio album, following the acclaimed Väsen (2018). Guitarist and singer Heljarmadr (Dark Funeral) expressed his thoughts: “Flame Of Hephaestus” is the first single from our new album Lycaon. We feel that it is a good representative for the album and it carries an intensity that kinda connects it with our last album Väsen. It serves as a natural bridge, if you will.

With their sophomore full-length "Gotta Light?", dark rock innovators Crone are cruising in a high octane fuelled hotrod. Channelling their personal musical inspirations that range from Alice IN Chains, via Killing Joke, NEW Model Army, and JOY Division to Pink Floyd among many others, the Germans leave their very own and personal mark on the genre that has been brought back to the forefront of interest by acts such as Ghost in recent years. While composer, guitarist, and singer Phil Jonas had felt tired, burned out, and empty, working on new songs for Crone provided the spark that kindled the firestorm of fresh ideas and led to the creation of "Gotta Light?". The album title was inspired by the haunting eighth episode of David Lynch's masterpiece TV series "Twin Peaks". A corresponding element of the mysterious and surreal permeates all of the new songs that revolve around topics such as the hope of receiving signals from the afterlife 'Waiting for Ghosts'), shattered dreams 'Abyss Road'), and a guiding last will 'Gemini'). Crone was conceived out of a musical collaboration between Phil "sG" Jonas and Embedded drummer and guitarist Markus Renzenbrink. Both musicians wanted to explore musical horizons beyond the metal limits of their regular bands at the time. As a result the "Gehenna" EP was released in 2014 and sparked a first wave of interest. Critics labelled the first effort post-rock, post-punk, and even as shoegaze. The well-received debut full-length 'Godspeed' hit the streets in 2018 and its more focussed and consistent songs got often filed under "post-rock". With Crone having been elevated to the main band of each protagonist, the band's renewed focus and urgency is clearly audible on "Gotta Light?”. With Christian Schmidt a permanent keyboard player has been added to the line-up that now also features lead guitarist Kevin Olasz for added sparkle and sonic depth. From the ashes of Secrets OF THE Moon a dark reborn phoenix is rising with Crone and this bird of prey is ready to rock humanity's unstoppable descent into madness: "Gotta Light?"

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.

Terminus' is a varied yet still cohesive album that leaves the crushing heaviness of jesu’s early material behind for the most part while also containing their most introverted emotive cold spaces. following the EP “never” which was released earlier last year, this is jesu’s first full-length release since 2013’s “every day I get closer to the light from which I came”. The space between these two albums is significant as in the interim jesu main man Justin Broadrick resurrected the beyond cult and inimitable Godflesh. Fold out cover with deluxe multi-panel spot gloss art variation. Includes digital download code.

„This is the missing link between Explosions in the Sky and Bongripper“ says a friend about Berlin based instrumental 5-piece neànder. Where do you draw the line between Post-Metal, Doom, Stoner or even Modern Black Metal? Post-Rock and Underground Metal have always been familiar. This is sweeping Ambient music combined with the intensity of a Norwegian Black Metal group. Epic songs hovering around the 10 minute mark. Black Sabbath influenced droning Doom riffs ascending into heavenly, dreamy soundscapes. 5 hypnotic chapters made to be listened to in its entirety; this album tends to be ritual music.

Founded in 2017 the collective consists of musos from Blackgazers Ånd, Hardcore Punks Patsy O' Hara, Berlin Sludgers Earth Ship, Doomsters Albez Duz and live band members from Indie outfit Casper. Asked about why they keep their music on an instrumental level the answer is „a singer would reduce us into being either a Metal- or a Post-Rock band. We believe that the sacrifice of lyrics will keep our musical vision open and will help to intend on the music“.

neànder recorded its self-titled debut album in March 2018 at Hidden Planet Studios, Berlin (The Ocean, Abest, Sun Worship) mixed by Jan Oberg from Earth Ship, mastered by Magnus Lindberg from Cult of Luna. This monolith of an album is due to release in February 2019. Coming via the independent Hamburg St. Pauli based diy record label Through Love Records, which released stunning records from artists such as God Is An Astronaut, Fjørt, Wayste, Lirr and Svalbard, just to name a few.

For fans of Pelican, Bongripper, Wolves in the Throne Room, Deafheaven, Explosions in the Sky, Isis, Neurosis, Russian Circles, Year Of No Light, YOB or Mogwai.

Huata play a truly haunting and spell-binding blend of retro sounding doom mixed with an amazing occult psych based ambiance. Astonishingly their first record, “Atavist of Mann”, was released more than 6 years ago now and during a tumultuous period for the band, they have come through the other side stronger and better than ever. The beast that is Huata has finally awaken and they are back with a renewed sense of vigour, armed with an album that is epic in scale in every sense of the word, big riffs, bigger melodies and bathed in both light and darkness, “Lux Initiatrix Terrae” is one of the stand out records of 2018. Spread over one hour, Huata will captivate, enthral and mesmerize the listener, with their utterly stunning and beguiling new record which will remind you of Ancestors, YOB and Ramesses. An impressive record? Why don't you be the judge. Now sit back and prepare to watch your speakers die.

In early 2021, Eroded comes as a strong, hopeful voice expressing the suppressed yearning for an end of this madness which we all carry inside.

Back in 2012 LIZZARD recorded with Rhys Fulber in L.A. (Paradise Lost, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly...) who confesses his love for their "marvelous poly-rhythmical sound". It is true that LIZZARD's songwriting is distinguished by at times intricate rhythmical patterns, but these are always woven into the fabric of immensely catchy song constructs. The technical prowess here is well concealed behind the glaring allure of the immediacy of raw, in your face rock music.

Formed in 2006, when Katy Elwell (drums), William Knox (bass) and Mathieu Ricou (guitar & vocals) met and discovered that they shared a common vision in music, LIZZARD soon set out to work on their sound with a mission to find their own idiosyncratic approach to contemporary rock music – music that makes confident reference to the past without romanticising it. In many ways, Eroded is a trip back to the best parts of the 90's, but in the sound of 2020.

Sophomore album Majestic was released in 2014 and met with great critical acclaim: a more spontaneous and raw affair compared to its predecessor, recorded live and produced by the band themselves, the album captures the intense energy the band unleashes on stage. “We’re very much a live band creatively speaking”, says bass player Will Knox. “All of the writing sessions happen in our rehearsal space rather than at home. We believe that to capture any vibe, the chemistry between members needs to occur in real time... at least for us.”

Shift (produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Junge), released in 2018, opened new doors for the French trio: “Lizzard accomplish the perfect balancing act between music that is challenging and catchy in equal measure”, Metal Hammer raved. The band opened for Gojira and Terry Bozzio who invited them to perform on Drum Channel, and embarked on month-long European tours with the likes of HIGH ON FIRE, THE PINEAPPLE THIEF and the ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO.

Recorded during a long month of voluntary isolation at the legendary Castle Studios in Germany, Eroded brings a light at the end of the tunnel: “The vibe on the album is generally one of hope and an invitation to stay alert to the light within ourselves, and to keep moving towards brighter destinations.”

Bring on the future and for once, let it be the past, as we knew it before the pandemic.

There's no better way to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of your best record than playing it in full, twenty-nine nights in a row. Hailing from Tokyo, beloved psych-doom shredders Boris performed their critically acclaimed album PINK in full, live in the Blue Room at Third Man Records. They recorded it direct to 8 track, 2'' tape, providing an incredibly high fidelity document of an unforgettable night. Local weekly The Nashville Scene reviewed this show as ''at least in that moment... by far the greatest show Third Man Records has hosted to date.''
It's hard to disagree. Atsuo, Takeshi and Wata filled the room with foreboding smoke, dark red light reflecting off of the blue walls and, to this date, was our loudest performance yet. This is almost certainly the only time that we've handed out and required earplugs for every single audience member upon entry. And now you can keep the celebration of PINK going with the choicest tracks of the night - get this record!

Tracklist:
1A. Blackout
2A. Pink
3A. Woman on the Screen

1B. Just Abandoned My-Self
2B. Farewell

There’s a real sense of loss on Brooklyn experimental black metalists SCARCITY’s debut album Aveilut, an inescapable presence of the realities of death. Multi-instrumentalist Brendon Randall-myers (conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble since Branca’s passing) wrote Aveilut while processing the sudden deaths of two people close to him, tracked it while caught in Beijing’s first lockdown of 2020, and finished it while surrounded by the overwhelming plague visuals of New York’s early Covid peak. Back in Brooklyn, vocalist Doug Moore (of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus) soon found himself in the midst of an equally bleak lockdown experience—living next to a funeral home when New York City was America’s Covid epicenter. From conception through development, tangible death surrounded Aveilut. The result of such a profound closeness with death is this grief-stricken release, which takes its name from the Hebrew word for mourning. 72-note octaves, alternate tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena and macro-phrases embody the hugeness of loss, the inexplicable space of death’s void that Randall-Myers faced both on a personal and existential scale. Together with Moore’s gripping vocal delivery and stark lyrics, the album takes the form of a hyperobject, an entity with such vastness and reach that it’s difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Consisting of one 45-minute composition, the music is black metal roughly in the vein of Jute Gyte, Krallice, Mare Cognitum, and Enhare—with hefty doses of post-Branca microtonal guitar abuse, and a cinematic scope that draws on Randall-Myers’ work with orchestras. Aveilut’s mathematical abstraction and lyrical focus on the greatness of the void breed raw emotion, attempting to represent a catastrophe, the vastness and inevitability of things outside one’s control, as well as a direct expression of grief, a kind of requiem. Though born of Randall-Myers and Moore’s intense intimacy with absence, Aveilut is an attempt to present a harrowing universal representation of death’s true form.

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

Small light scuff on side A.
Record is close to VG+.
Includes original inner sleeve with small seam split

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.

ARE YOU A Good Witch OR A BAD Witch?

Prog-metal pranksters Flummox are back with IN Hindsight, featuring the hit second amendment anthem "Trans Girls Need Guns" along with 4 heavy new cuts. IN Hindsight is Flummox at their most playful, a whirlwind of chaotic energy centered on the satanic personality of frontwoman Alyson Dellinger. "Good Witch" kicks off the set, backing rock and roll mayhem with big band jazz, while "Bad Witch" and "Holy Ejaculate" pay homage to Mr. Bungle's tongue-in-cheek bangers. "Excelsior" works nostalgic throwbacks to 70s prog virtuosity into the havoc, packing all the jaw-dropping goodness of a King Crimson epic into a bite-sized 4-and-a-half minutes. Everything culminates in Dellinger's manic, magnetic performance at the heart of "Trans Girls Need Guns," a finale as empowering as it is groovy. Miss the mosh pit? Just light your candles, draw you

Time fortifies the bonds between us. Since emerging in 2018, Light The Torch have grown stronger in lockstep together as a band and as friends. Through this growth, the Los Angeles, CA trio—Howard Jones [vocals], Francesco Artusato [guitar], and Ryan Wombacher [bass]—only enhanced every aspect of their signature sound. Upheld by head-spinning seven-string virtuosity, yet also anchored to skyscraping melodies, the group crafted twelve no-nonsense and no-holds-barred metallic anthems on their 2021 second full-length album, You Will Be The Death of Me

"Out of the ashes of the disbanded Dawn of Disease, a furious death metal steamroller is about to embark! German-based formation Hiraes - featuring Lukas Kerk, Oliver Kirchner, Christian Wösten, Mathias Blässe and the powerful Britta Görtz (Critical Mess, ex-Cripper) on vocal duties - will release their stunning debut full-length, Solitary, on June 25, 2021 via Napalm Records! With their very first offering, Hiraes create an exciting new melodic death emergence. The five-piece already established its own remarkable identity built upon a smashing femme vocal attack, intense melodies and charging guitars, led by guitarist Lukas Kerk as main songwriter. An atmospheric, instrumental intro introduces the album opener “Shadows Break”, whilst showcasing the impressive vocal onslaught of well-experienced frontwoman Britta Görtz shortly after. “Under Fire” alternates between raging, relentless drums and a chorus that causes goosebumps due to its heavy and meaningful lyricism. “Grain Of Sand” sets the next exclamation mark when delivering an unrelenting attack of smashing riffs along with an inexorable vocal performance, followed by standouts such as brutal “1000 Lights”, razor-sharp “Eyes Over Black'' and fast-twitching title-track “Solitary”, proving that Hiraes don’t decelerate for a second. This massive melodic death metal assault leaves no scope for weakness and serves an exciting take on the genre with hymnlike melodies, enthralling drums and guitar riffing as well as breathtaking hooklines. Topped with the distinctive and versatile performance of Britta Görtz, this powerful new formation and its debut is a must have for fans of bands like Insomnium, At The Gates, Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth. Solitary will also be available as strictly limited 1 LP Gatefold Silver. "

In early 2021, Eroded comes as a strong, hopeful voice expressing the suppressed yearning for an end of this madness which we all carry inside.

Back in 2012 LIZZARD recorded with Rhys Fulber in L.A. (Paradise Lost, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly...) who confesses his love for their "marvelous poly-rhythmical sound". It is true that LIZZARD's songwriting is distinguished by at times intricate rhythmical patterns, but these are always woven into the fabric of immensely catchy song constructs. The technical prowess here is well concealed behind the glaring allure of the immediacy of raw, in your face rock music.

Formed in 2006, when Katy Elwell (drums), William Knox (bass) and Mathieu Ricou (guitar & vocals) met and discovered that they shared a common vision in music, LIZZARD soon set out to work on their sound with a mission to find their own idiosyncratic approach to contemporary rock music – music that makes confident reference to the past without romanticising it. In many ways, Eroded is a trip back to the best parts of the 90's, but in the sound of 2020.

Sophomore album Majestic was released in 2014 and met with great critical acclaim: a more spontaneous and raw affair compared to its predecessor, recorded live and produced by the band themselves, the album captures the intense energy the band unleashes on stage. “We’re very much a live band creatively speaking”, says bass player Will Knox. “All of the writing sessions happen in our rehearsal space rather than at home. We believe that to capture any vibe, the chemistry between members needs to occur in real time... at least for us.”

Shift (produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Junge), released in 2018, opened new doors for the French trio: “Lizzard accomplish the perfect balancing act between music that is challenging and catchy in equal measure”, Metal Hammer raved. The band opened for Gojira and Terry Bozzio who invited them to perform on Drum Channel, and embarked on month-long European tours with the likes of HIGH ON FIRE, THE PINEAPPLE THIEF and the ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO.

Recorded during a long month of voluntary isolation at the legendary Castle Studios in Germany, Eroded brings a light at the end of the tunnel: “The vibe on the album is generally one of hope and an invitation to stay alert to the light within ourselves, and to keep moving towards brighter destinations.”

Bring on the future and for once, let it be the past, as we knew it before the pandemic.

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs. Cover with beginning of seam split on top spine.

Garden-fresh trail-blazers from the UK, Famyne drag Doom kicking and screaming into the 21st century on epic new album “The Ground Below”. Svart Records unleashes heart-rending game-changer “The Ground Below” from melancholic crushers Famyne on Friday the 13th, May 2022.

Svart Records is proud to present “The Ground Below”, the stellar new album from UK Progressive Doom Rock band Famyne. Hailing from the heart of the garden of England, Canterbury gloom-fathers Famyne slug and soar their way up and out from the underground, shaking off any shackles of genre constraints on their new album “The Ground Below”. Since their inception in 2014, Famyne have been rapidly building an incendiary reputation for themselves, and an epic universe all of their own, magnetising more souls into the orbit of their unique expansion of masterful Doom metal. From their ‘Famyne EP’ in 2015, earning a place at Bloodstock Open Air 2016, to their break-out self-titled debut in 2018, Famyne have been constantly turning heads as a promising new light in the darkness. “The Ground Below” is a brave and inimitable statement which re-draws a line in the sands of Metal tradition. Famyne boldly march over the limits, re-riffing the rules, washing listeners in pristine waves of hypnotic melody on 8 tablets of stone-carved ageless songs that “The Ground Below” lays on the altar. Tracks like For My Sins and Babylon conjure paragon English Doom with a long line of lineage like country-mates Warning, Paradise Lost, Pagan Altar and Cathedral to songs like A Submarine where warm oceans of sweeping guitars and wide-screen desperate euphony bring to mind genre-changing pioneers like Anathema and Porcupine Tree. Mind-blowing Lead vocalist Tom Vane’s omnipotent vocals deliver the shivers in dynamite doses, unearthing perfect hair-raising emotions that are at once timeless and freshly captivating. It is an understatement to acknowledge how exceptionally unforgettable Famyne’s distinct voice is. The guitars of Martin Emmons and Tom Ross range from an Iommi masterclass to Åkerfeldt progression in a heart-beat, delivering breath-taking riff-mountains that are sumptuously original and catchy in both style and opulent panache. It is Famyne’s canny confidence to re-mould traditional Doom metal artistry with their own wave of emotive progression that makes “The Ground Below” a brilliant restoration of the craft, reminding us how crushing and poignant innovative Doom Metal can be if done with passion. Fans of everything from Opeth, Katatonia to Soundgarden and all the trad legends of Sabbath, St Vitus and Solitude Aeturnus will be suitably wowed in Famyne’s wake. “The Ground Below” is a modern classic, reverential but so supremely powerful that Famyne have securely carved their own place on the monoliths of the future.

From the cold dank fog of Portland, Oregon USA re-emerges Petrification with their highly anticipated sophomore album nearly 5 years in the making titled “Sever Sacred Light”! Conjuring all the dark powers of Death, Doom, Punk and THE Occult, Petrification brings their most barbaric, heavy, and yet sophisticated release to date. This new full-length opus will be released on Svart Records 9th of February 2024.

“Sever Sacred Light” paints a mental landscape of a crumbling universe magnified through the hysterical mind of a deranged and rottenly eccentric undead enigma “Arach-Ned”. “Sever Sacred Light” illustrates vast musical growth from the critically acclaimed 2017 demo “Summon Horrendous Destruction” and the 2018 full length debut of “Hollow of the Void”. They continue to advance and evolve while honoring the traditions and influence of ungodly masters of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Coffins, and all the celebrated favorites of the early 90’s Finnish death metal scene such as Rippikoulu and Demigod. With Petrification’s top tier sonic depravity this album is promised to be looked back at as the measuring stick of what an old school death metal album of this era should be.

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.

When a band is more than a decade of age, the tradition is to give numbers instead of writing down epic poetry on their music, right? Well, regarding Kruger, here we go : 12 years of existence ; 4 albums ; around 350 shows throughout Europe ; probably 50'000 km touring between Prague and Sheffield (if you don't count Canada) ; 1 tour overseas (if you do count Canada) ; 3 Hellfests, 1 Roadburn, 1 Montreux Jazz, 1 Transmusicales, 1 Dour festival, 1 Paléo, 1 Brutal Assault ; live audiences ranging from a minimum of 2 people (still working on breaking that record) to a maximum of 2'500 (working on that one too). If we had to give names, it'd be Listenable Records, Roadburn Records and Pelagic for labels ; Unsane, Gojira, Knut, Year of No Light, Latitudes, Deftones, Hacride, Bossk (find the intruder) when it comes to stage mates ; Breach, Entombed, Neurosis or Tool as acknowledged influences. And Raph, Margo, Blaise, Reno and (newly) Raul as the names of the five Swiss dudes still delivering uncompromising, intense, inventive yet shellacking noise-metal-punk songs. After a few months spent to raise the kids, earn real money, find a reliable second guitar guy and write new music, KRUGER are back with new material : a gorgeous very-limited-handnumbered-collector-coloured 10'' vinyl containing two brand new songs, along with a new video clip. Two songs only, kidding me ? Nope. Swiss quality, not quantity - and this should be enough to put the Lausanne-based noisemongers back in the post-metal panorama they contributed to shape. Shows are planned through Europe in the spring of 2013, including an appearance at PELAGIC FEST in Berlin on May 10th...

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs. Japanese pressing with OBI and insert.

First album by mystifying entity called Am Himmel lead by M, who is active in many band and under a lots of (dis)guises.Am Himmel is the ecclesiastical nightmare formed by emanations from the metaphysical voids trapped in the eternal light. A starless kingdom bereft of celestial pureness. Strange rituals in the gothic catacombs of christianity and insanity.Sounds like: synth heavy doomgaze with a strong hint of raw black metal.FFO Lurker Of Chalice, Xasthur, Vrörsaath

Hyrgal was formed in 2007 by the guitarist/vocalist Clément Flandrois (Pillars, Oorthian, Svart Crown) with the help of Quentin Aberne (Carcolh, ex-Sun Preachers, ex-Marble Chariot) as a bass player and Thibault Meunier (ex-Otargos) on drums.

The trio released its first demo on a split album with Kairn (acoustic project of the former Otargos guitarist, Julien Savy). They then opened for bands such as Wolves in the Throne Room, Year of No Light, Otargos, etc.

In 2016, Clément decided to take back the project with a new drummer, Emmanuel Zuccaro (Oorthian, ex-Karne, ex-Sulphureign), with whom he had been in touch since 2012, and Quentin, still playing bass. Together, they present their first album Serpentine at the Ladlo Fest in the end of 2018, shortly before Emmanuel and Quentin’s departure. They are replaced by Nicolas Muller (ex-Svart Crown) and Alexis Chiambretto (Deveikuth).

Even if the line-up went through some ups and downs, Clément and his new accomplices made a strong comeback with Fin de Règne in December 2020, and in the spring of 2022 with an unnamed album.

M-Theory Audio is proud to announce the first-ever vinyl releases of the two acclaimed albums by metal supergroup Divine Heresy, featuring members of Fear Factory, Morbid Angel, Bad Wolves and Nile! After temporarily parting ways with Fear Factory – the influential, gold-certified industrial metal band he co-founded – in 2002, guitarist and extreme metal pioneer Dino Cazares (also of Brujeria and Asesino) began laying the foundation for a new project that would combine metallic aggression, muscular precision, and melodic accessibility. Upon joining forces with acclaimed drummer Tim Yeung (Morbid Angel, Vital Remains, Hate Eternal), and vocalist Tommy Vext (Bad Wolves, Snot), Cazares’ vision was realized, and Divine Heresy was born. The group’s 2007 debut, “Bleed The Fifth” – produced by former Machine Head/Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader (Gojira, Devildriver), and released in North America via Century Media Records and via Fear Factory’s longtime home, Roadrunner Records, in Europe – received rave reviews from the global metal press. Metal Hammer called Divine Heresy “a quintessential 21st Century American metal band,” while Kerrang! raved that the album “couldn’t be more metal if it hung a massive V around the neck of the Eiffel Tower while gargling liquid mercury.” After adding bassist Joe Payne (Nile), the band supported the album’s release by touring extensively alongside the likes of Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Static-X, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, Shadows Fall and Chimaira. Unfortunately, Divine Heresy’s initial lineup splintered in 2008 when Vext left the band, but Cazares, Yeung and Payne quickly rebounded with new vocalist Travis Neal (Dirge Within, The Bloodline) and released their second album, “Bringer of Plagues,” in 2009. Again, produced by Mader, the album – which cracked the Billboard Top 200 upon its release – was heavier than its predecessor, with AllMusic describing it as “a head-down, hair-pinwheeling metal album” and Kerrang! praising its “thunderous, jaw-dropping intensity.” Again, the band hit the road with gusto, touring with the likes of Moonspell, Gigan, After The Burial and 36 Crazyfists, but soon after Cazares re-joined a new-look Fear Factory, Divine Heresy went on hiatus. After more than a decade in hibernation, the time has finally come to shine a fresh light on Divine Heresy via the first-ever vinyl releases of “Bleed The Fifth” and “Bringer of Plagues.” “Bleed The Fifth” will be released on white vinyl, while “Bringer of Plagues” will be offered on clear wax.

New studio album of the most legendary traditional heavy metal band of Greece! Formed in 1984, Spitfire is the most legendary heavy metal band of Greece. The debut album "First Attack" (released by EMI in 1987) stands at the top of the greatest metal albums coming from the country and has built a strong following over the decades worldwide. At the same time, the band suffered a major blow when original singer Dinos Costakis was seriously injured in a car accident. Spitfire had everything going for them until that day and the tragic accident that forced Dinos to retire from the stage. Over the course of one night, his emotional voice became metal history before he even reached his peak. Despite adversity, Spitfire found the strength to go on but a few more problems rooted in the music industry led the band’s career in a dark period while they were also pushed to change the name to Speedfire for a while, releasing the live album "100% Live" in 1990. With important line-up changes and the Spitfire moniker back in the mid-90s the legend was growing and the act kept performing live and released the second studio album "Die Fighting" in 2009.

A manic clash of guitars, bass and drums beating each other’s brains out in the same sonic bullring? Check. Despite already (if a little unbeknownst) being considered crust pioneers, by 1988, Hellbastard had firmly inserted themselves, even proudly so, in between a series of bifurcated genre schisms well-protected by those scene’s respected guardians. Their official debut, Heading For Internal Darkness no less perfectly exemplifies that schism. With Wendy V Gill’s haunted-cosmos monologues injecting some transcendental light into the neck otherwise being mercilessly ripped to pieces by Scruff and Scotty’s spaced-out vocal grunts, opener We Had Evidence to the equally arresting elevator-shaft-with-a-mind-of-its-own Death Camp to The Pylons whip up seriously dark whirlwinds into atmospheric dances of rapid energy and relentless spasms of spellcasting drama. Never mind metal, too punk for anything.

Svart Records offers up Messa’s extraordinary live show from Roadburn Festival 2022.



Italian Doom trailblazers, Messa captured live at the Roadburn Festival 2022 with a special extended lineup, immortalised on LP, CD and digital via Svart Records. Relive Messa’s main-stage Roadburn Festival triumph, featuring songs from album Close, and joined by a unique constellation of musicians and instruments that give their massive new album its distinctive sound.



This stunning new live album presents select cuts from the band's critically acclaimed album Close, which the critics have called "the sound of a band fleshing out their place in doom metal's past, present and future"(Metal Injection) and "If you’ve ever longed for an album that could reconcile Stevie Nicks at her witchiest with the sublime gloom of How the Gods Kill–era Danzig, this is the LP of your dreams" (Spin).



Messa’s packed out Roadburn set was one of the most talked about of the 2022 edition and left the audience gob-smacked in their wake. Invisible Oranges said it best when they described Messa live as “Captivating from the start, the band meld doom and Mediterranean influences to create a sound that inspires devotion, not least through vocalist Sara’s powerful voice and commanding presence.”



Of their Roadburn set Messa said: “Our appearance at Roadburn 2022 saw us performing a specially dedicated and one of a kind set. We played songs from our new record Close with a unique line-up that included other fellow musicians within our project. We involved Giorgio Trombino (Oud, Duduk, Saxophone), Alex Fernet (Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar) and Blak Saagan (Synthesizers) to recreate the sounds of Close in their true form. Our aim with Messa’s performance was to embrace a musical wandering that could allow all of us – on and off stage – to drift away into another place. We couldn't wait to be on Roadburn’s stage again and we were very excited to be part of the 2022 edition.”



Seeming to both embrace and defy everything it means to be a metal band, Messa mesh Mediterranean sounds with crushing doom riffs, with an emphasis on atmosphere and unusual use of instrumentation. Messa are one of the leading lights in the heavy underground, and this performance at Roadburn saw the band shine forth with a brilliant and dominating presence. Get closer than Close and witness for yourself what the bottled magic of Messa’s live alchemy can bring.

With their new concept album "2222", Chaosbay definitely leave their status as an insiders' tip behind: The Berlin Progressive Metalcore band pushes their unmistakable interplay of unrestrained brutality and inescapable catchiness to the extreme in the almost 45 minutes spread over 12 songs. Almost every song has the potential for an epic stadium hit that couldn't be more festival-ready. The album describes a utopia of our future world in a kind of anti-apocalypse, from the point of view of a person who finds himself in the year 2222. He is surprised how many problems that seem insoluble today have been overcome in the meantime. In the light of the new era, many things that still determine our everyday life seem bizarre. The album is also interesting because of three internationally known feature guests: "What Is War" was created in collaboration with Mirza Radonjica from the Danish band Siamese, to whom Chaosbay feel very close. The other two collaborations can be heard in the songs "Home" (with Alexia Rodriguez from the US band Eyes Set To Kill) and "Passenger" (with Jake Oni from the Canadian band ONI).

The band came into being at the end of 2013, thanks to the artistic collaboration of Sinai and Aharon. Their first release, an EP, saw the light of day in 2014, marking their musical debut. In 2016, the band released their debut album entitled "Har HaKarmel", exploring themes related to the decay of paganism. In 2019, the band released a split in collaboration with Darkenhöld, under the aegis of Les Acteurs de l'Ombre. Continuing their momentum, 2020 saw the release of their second album, dubbed "ὄ θεός ό βασιλεύς", distributed by Les Acteurs de l'Ombre. This album delves into the relationship between politics and divinity. In 2023, the band reveals its third album, entitled "De Republica".

The Finnish death doom spearhead Kuolemanlaakso, starring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), are about to release their first album in eight years. The band’s third full-length Kuusumu was co-produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by the Triptykon and Dark Fortress guitarist V. Santura, with whom the band has worked with on all of their releases. Kuusumu will be released in 2022 via Svart Records.

“The recording break streched unforgivably long, but in doom there’s no rush. It was great to get back to business with the guys and have the opportunity to invite a couple of old friends to help us out, too. Kuusumu’s keyboards were produced and co-arranged by Aleksi Munter (Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade), and Lotta Ruutiainen (Luna Kills) did some amazing singing on a couple of tracks. In my humble opinion we took many steps forward on Kuusumu”, says guitarist-songwriter Laakso.

Kuusumu’s texts are loosely based on the sudden global cooling that began in 535, leading to a 10-year long winter, loss of crops, famine and mass deaths of cattle and other animals. The climate change was most likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions, the fog of which darkened the sun for 1,5 years, causing loss of light and intolerable coldness. Moreover, the bubonic plague that began in the Byzantine Empire in 541 swept across Europe, killing tens of millions of people during the climate crisis.

“I see our previous releases as autumn albums, so this time we decided to make a winter album. I came across some literature about the catastrophic events by chance, and got immensely inspired by them – especially the contemporary writings of the 530–540 era. It didn’t take long for me to write the album after that. It’s spine-chilling to ponder that a deadly climate change and a pandemic raged also 1,500 years ago when medical knowledge, information flow and living conditions were in their infancy. And there was no electricity, of course. People thought that they have angered the gods and the darkness will last forever,” says Laakso.

On Kuusumu, Kuolemanlaakso stretch their artistic boundaries even further. The album contains the trademark Kuolemanlaakso heaviness, but also more bombastic, fast and meticulously arranged material. The first single Katkeruuden malja, featuring Lotta Ruutiainen, represents the catchier and lighter side of the album.

“Katkeruuden malja draws its inspiration from grief and misery. Musically it’s almost tripping in the landscapes of recent day Tribulation, but with melancholic and Kalevala-infused melodic influences, that sound very Finnish to me. The music video sort of mixes and matches the frost theme of the album with the color palette of the cover artwork,” states Laakso.

Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its
imperfection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation.
Defeat has inspired some of our best art. If you survive something terrible, you surface on the other side, walk toward the light, and come back to life. If you’re an artist, this kind of new self-knowledge can lead to creating something universal and remembered, something that can live longer than you do. While Deafheaven have managed to cross over this road in the past, they’ve nailed the feeling wholly with Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, a feeling that comes with experience and wisdom.
Yes, everybody deals with hurt, everybody’s been the cause of their own implosions, and everybody has the capacity to overcome and love again. Deafheaven have found a way to externalize all of this, and in making their most complete record to date, they turn it into a balm and a cathartic exorcism.

“In a music realm that often feels as exciting as watching paint dry, Henrik Palm revitalizes the mundane, injecting life with the grim and unsettling.

While "Poverty Metal" blazed a trail, "Nerd Icon" takes a deeper plunge into shadowy themes, exploring the space between the sinister and the sublime, echoing a life less touched by joy. Guitars command attention, sound captivates focus, and the vision remains transparent, driven by an unbridled spirit.

In these times, where artistic offerings often lack substance, Henrik's third album under his name bursts forth with brilliance, offering a raw, soul-baring experience. It's music that transcends and explodes within the recesses of your mind, shattering boundaries and obliterating limitations.

"Subway Morgue" feels like Van Halen reimagined by a tribe of rat people—a mutated take on classic rock for those who've lost their way. [...] You might even find your mental gears grinding in sync with the relentless crescendo of "Lunch Hour (Of the Wolf)".

Within the darkness, a glimmer of positivity emerges in "Swim to the Light," a momentary respite. Picture a blend of Alice Cooper's "Goes to Hell" and Sopor Aeternus, the first Gauze album played at half speed, infused with Magazine minus the problematic lyrics, and delivered by Bobb Trimble in a dumpster fire—devoid of vaudeville nonsense.

Henrik Palm, a street level sorcerer, seamlessly travels through record collections and musical realms, from eerie gothic rock, via heavy metal "heroticism" to anarchic punk tempests. His avant-garde explorations defy convention, employing unique song crafting methods and dissonant harmonies, guiding listeners through hallucinatory dimensions.

In an enigmatic twist, Henrik channels H.P. Lovecraft's prose, crafting arcane soundscapes where cosmic horrors and existential enigmas collide—an eldritch portal into the depths of the human psyche, a mysterious tapestry of melodies.

Every moment is a riveting one; if you've got headphones, steel yourself for an abyss that swallows you whole.

Prepare to be chained and shackled to the train tracks as you plunge into "Nerd Icon".”

— Ted Cadwalleder

"Nerd Icon" is Henrik Palm’s third album. He has played in many bands. Some you might have heard of and some you probably never heard of. He doesn’t give a fuck really. The present is much more important than dwelling in past victories and/or missteps.

There’s a real sense of loss on Brooklyn experimental black metalists Scarcity’s debut album Aveilut, an inescapable presence of the realities of death. Multi-instrumentalist Brendon Randall-Myers (conductor of the Glenn Branca Ensemble since Branca’s passing) wrote Aveilut while processing the sudden deaths of two people close to him, tracked it while caught in Beijing’s first lockdown of 2020, and finished it while surrounded by the overwhelming plague visuals of New York’s early Covid peak. Back in Brooklyn, vocalist Doug Moore (of Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Glorious Depravity, and Seputus) soon found himself in the midst of an equally bleak lockdown experience—living next to a funeral home when New York City was America’s Covid epicenter. From conception through development, tangible death surrounded Aveilut. The result of such a profound closeness with death is this grief-stricken release, which takes its name from the Hebrew word for mourning. 72-note octaves, alternate tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena and macro-phrases embody the hugeness of loss, the inexplicable space of death’s void that Randall-Myers faced both on a personal and existential scale. Together with Moore’s gripping vocal delivery and stark lyrics, the album takes the form of a hyperobject, an entity with such vastness and reach that it’s difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Consisting of one 45-minute composition, the music is black metal roughly in the vein of Jute Gyte, Krallice, Mare Cognitum, and Enhare—with hefty doses of post-Branca microtonal guitar abuse, and a cinematic scope that draws on Randall-Myers’ work with orchestras. Aveilut’s mathematical abstraction and lyrical focus on the greatness of the void breed raw emotion, attempting to represent a catastrophe, the vastness and inevitability of things outside one’s control, as well as a direct expression of grief, a kind of requiem. Though born of Randall-Myers and Moore’s intense intimacy with absence, Aveilut is an attempt to present a harrowing universal representation of death’s true form.

Rising from the deep valleys of Kymi in southernmost Finland, I Am The Night is Black Metal rooted in the classic early 90’s tradition, where walls of guitars and synthesizers raise the forces of darkness in a battle against the heavens and burning angels light up the night sky.

The band’s debut full length album, with cover art by scene legend Necrolord, bears the title “While The Gods Are Sleeping” and shall be released on May 6th, 2022. The record was birthed during the heaviest blizzard Finland had seen in years in the winter of 2021, with the band holed up at the Soundspiral Audio studio during the height of the pandemic. “This album, in a way, is both the thing that should not be and something we should have made flesh many moons ago already”, comments Markus Vanhala, and continues: “It is a passage back in time that dark forest of our minds through which we spent our youth traversing.”

Together with the album announcement the band are set to release a second single from the album, titled “Ode To The Nightsky”. The music video for the song was created by Coldstore Productions, and it is online now at https://youtu.be/YhNpG4u8Xgw

Brought forth by underground titans of Finnish Metal, Markus Vanhala (Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum), Janne Markkanen (ex-Omnium Gatherum), Okko Solanterä (Horizon Ignited) and Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost, Bodom After Midnight), the band’s origins date back to the dimly lit subterranean rehearsal rooms of the mid-nineties where the fires of Vanhala and Markkanen’s Black Metal zeal were ignited.

“Black metal art has been a continuous and serious pursuit in my personal life since my early teenage years”, explains guitarist Vanhala, and he continues; “In The Nightside Eclipse, Storm Of The Light’s Bane and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas opened the gate to the dark side for me years ago, as can be heard from the music we make with I Am The Night.”

In recent years I Am The Night rapidly began to gather flesh on its old bones, and in 2020 the spark burst into a full blaze when elder statesmen Vanhala and Markkanen hired younger cohorts Väyrynen and Solanterä to help bring their morbid visions into reality. Vanhala states that: “Our debut record, the result of a yearning for ancient darkness, turned out to be just the time capsule we wanted it to be, far removed from modern metal. I’ve seldom found anything interesting in post nineties Black Metal. We wanted to realise this in the underground way that felt fitting to the music, and chose to work with Svart Records.”

“Our songs are stories about the worship of night and the triumph of the powers of darkness. At night, sun to his slumber and shadows all over, the forces of the night rise to the heavens, cast angels out and usher in a new era of individual freedom”, vocalist Solaterä explains

“I Am The Night is a real band not a project. It is unrestrained creation. A ray of darkness for us in the vacuum created by the pandemic. The future remains unseen, and all the better for it.”

The Finnish death doom spearhead Kuolemanlaakso, starring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), are about to release their first album in eight years. The band’s third full-length Kuusumu was co-produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by the Triptykon and Dark Fortress guitarist V. Santura, with whom the band has worked with on all of their releases. Kuusumu will be released in 2022 via Svart Records.

“The recording break streched unforgivably long, but in doom there’s no rush. It was great to get back to business with the guys and have the opportunity to invite a couple of old friends to help us out, too. Kuusumu’s keyboards were produced and co-arranged by Aleksi Munter (Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade), and Lotta Ruutiainen (Luna Kills) did some amazing singing on a couple of tracks. In my humble opinion we took many steps forward on Kuusumu”, says guitarist-songwriter Laakso.

Kuusumu’s texts are loosely based on the sudden global cooling that began in 535, leading to a 10-year long winter, loss of crops, famine and mass deaths of cattle and other animals. The climate change was most likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions, the fog of which darkened the sun for 1,5 years, causing loss of light and intolerable coldness. Moreover, the bubonic plague that began in the Byzantine Empire in 541 swept across Europe, killing tens of millions of people during the climate crisis.

“I see our previous releases as autumn albums, so this time we decided to make a winter album. I came across some literature about the catastrophic events by chance, and got immensely inspired by them – especially the contemporary writings of the 530–540 era. It didn’t take long for me to write the album after that. It’s spine-chilling to ponder that a deadly climate change and a pandemic raged also 1,500 years ago when medical knowledge, information flow and living conditions were in their infancy. And there was no electricity, of course. People thought that they have angered the gods and the darkness will last forever,” says Laakso.

On Kuusumu, Kuolemanlaakso stretch their artistic boundaries even further. The album contains the trademark Kuolemanlaakso heaviness, but also more bombastic, fast and meticulously arranged material. The first single Katkeruuden malja, featuring Lotta Ruutiainen, represents the catchier and lighter side of the album.

“Katkeruuden malja draws its inspiration from grief and misery. Musically it’s almost tripping in the landscapes of recent day Tribulation, but with melancholic and Kalevala-infused melodic influences, that sound very Finnish to me. The music video sort of mixes and matches the frost theme of the album with the color palette of the cover artwork,” states Laakso.

American technical brutal death metal absurdity Edenic Past join Sentient Ruin for a vinyl release of their synapse-twisting first ever LP Red Amarcord. Formed by Colin Marston and Nicholas Mcmaster of Krallice fame along with vocalist Paulo Paguntalan of Encenathrakh, on the surreal debut offering Edenic Past unfold an absurd and ultra-brutal hallucination of futuristic aural atavism that touches lows of knuckle-dragging sonic primitivism and brutality and peaks of masterful ambient avant-garde deconstructionism that will be both too much to handle or understand for the average “slam” knuckle brains, and too fucking brutal and ignorant for the average elitist prog nerd. Perhaps standing as the most imaginative and visionary “slamming” technical brutal death metal releases ever conceived, with Red Amarcord Edenic Past redefine the outer limits of brutal death metal and set an unprecedented foot in the future for the genre.

Multinational industrial black metal rising force Decoherence join Sentient Ruin again to bring you "System I", a 12" vinyl, digital and cassette tape full-length album/compilation of all the band's recent digital only singles and EPs, remastered to their final and ultimate form along with a glorious and previously unreleased cover rendition of Killing Joke's classic cut "The Wait". While these tracks were previously already digitally (self)released, don't be fooled or misled to think you're hearing any "b-sides" or otherwise "left over" material, rather, consider "System I" not only the righteous third official full-length album from the band, but also by far Decoherence's most visionary, cohesive, and imposing songs to date. Awe-inducing and ghastly in its enveloping immensity, the tracks on "System I" see the enigmatic multinational black metal band morph into their most defiant and commanding form yet, as they construct an impenetrable mechanized swarm of liquefying industrial hallucinations and swirling dissonance that eradicates the listener from their corporeal and terrestrial self to cast them at the edge of a light-devouring void. Stylistically "System I" sees Decoherence's sound still thrive and evolve within the familiar synthetic black metal deconstructionist framework of progenitors like Blut Aus Nord and Darkspace, but as the Killing Joke cover included unmistakably hints at, these tracks also reveal a marked shift for the band toward a more unintelligible, unpredictable, and ominous immateriality, as elements incorporated from post-punk and experimental industrial assume stronger delineations adding ulterior dimensions and identities to the band's already alien and otherworldly sound.

German Black/Death Metal Legion Voreus Debut With "The Proclamation" Mini Album, A Twentythree-Minute Light-Devouring Hellscape Of Complete Chaos And Inhumanity That Establishes The Band As An Implacable Rising Force In The Elite Of German Extreme Metal. With A Massive Cavernous Sound, A Delivery Of Pure And Unbridled Ferocity And Atmospheres Of Complete Lightlessness And Abandon "The Proclamation" Evokes Complete Hell On Earth, Conjuring The Same Otherworldly And Hellish Realms Of Aural Obliteration We've Seen In Highly Elitarian And Evocative Blackened Death Metal Entities Like Teitanblood, Temple Nightside, Vassafor, Impetuous Ritual, Pseudogod, And Proclamation.

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.

From the cold dank fog of Portland, Oregon USA re-emerges Petrification with their highly anticipated sophomore album nearly 5 years in the making titled “Sever Sacred Light”! Conjuring all the dark powers of Death, Doom, Punk and THE Occult, Petrification brings their most barbaric, heavy, and yet sophisticated release to date. This new full-length opus will be released on Svart Records 9th of February 2024.

“Sever Sacred Light” paints a mental landscape of a crumbling universe magnified through the hysterical mind of a deranged and rottenly eccentric undead enigma “Arach-Ned”. “Sever Sacred Light” illustrates vast musical growth from the critically acclaimed 2017 demo “Summon Horrendous Destruction” and the 2018 full length debut of “Hollow of the Void”. They continue to advance and evolve while honoring the traditions and influence of ungodly masters of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Coffins, and all the celebrated favorites of the early 90’s Finnish death metal scene such as Rippikoulu and Demigod. With Petrification’s top tier sonic depravity this album is promised to be looked back at as the measuring stick of what an old school death metal album of this era should be.

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs. Cover close to NM

Science and religion; facts and faith".... The brainchild of Spanish multi-instrumentalist CG Santos (also of Like Drone Razors Through Flesh Sphere and Teitanblood), Emanation is a disembodied auditory reflection on various cryptic ruminations surrounding science, faith, belief, and their many ramifications within human consciousness. One of the most mutant and defiant black metal entities to emerge in the last decade, the now dormant and always elusive project reached the pinnacle of its deconstructed and aberrant expression with 2011's one-hour and eleven minute long masterpiece and heirloom of total sensorial dissolution The Emanation of Begotten Chaos from God, now seeing the light for the first time ever on vinyl format to coincide with and celebrate the 10th anniversary of its conceivement. The glorious double album incarnates via Sentient Ruin and France's Cavsas label (a subdivision of Cyclic Law) through a carefully crafted high end double LP edition envisioned with maniacal care by the artist and both labels to enshrine the work in its ultimate and most timeless physical incarnation yet.

Embark on a Journey with Thermality’s Latest Album! In the heart of Sweden, a stone's throw from the melodic death metal capital of Gothenburg, Thermality was born in 2020. With their roots deeply embedded in the rich soil of 90s and early 2000s melodic death metal, Thermality has quickly established themselves as torchbearers of the genre. Their unique sound blends the nostalgia of melodic death metal’s golden era with a fresh and innovative approach, creating music that resonates with fans across the globe. Following the acclaimed release of their debut album, "Before I Get to Rest," in February 2023, Thermality wasted no time basking in the glow of success. Instead, they channeled the positive worldwide feedback into the creation of their first EP, "Tales from the North," which saw the light of day on June 30, 2023. The reception was nothing short of spectacular, further fueling the band's creative fire. Now, Thermality invites you to dive into their latest masterpiece. Recorded at the legendary Studio Fredman and masterfully mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström, this album is a testament to the band's dedication to their craft. It embodies the essence of traditional melodic death metal while paying tribute to pioneers like In Flames, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, and Arch Enemy. Yet, Thermality’s latest work transcends homage, weaving together diverse styles and sounds to forge something truly unique and refreshing. Heavier than its predecessor yet melodically rich, the album boasts the iconic old-school death metal drums, prominent in the mix, and captivating melodies that are sure to enthrall. Each track is a labor of love, meticulously crafted to engage listeners in a sonic journey that is both familiar and exhilaratingly new. Thermality's latest album is not just a collection of songs; it's an invitation to experience the evolution of melodic death metal through the lens of artists who respect its origins while daring to explore uncharted territories. Join Thermality as they continue to push the boundaries of the genre, offering a sound that is as timeless as it is groundbreaking. Prepare to be captivated by the sheer dedication and passion poured into every note. This album is a beacon for fans old and new, signaling the vibrant future of melodic death metal. Welcome to Thermality’s latest offering - a heavy, melodic masterpiece poised to make its mark on the world. 1. MMXXIV2. Weeping Angels3. Thorns of Salem4. Fire Will Reign5. Stranger6. Windigo7. Clones8. Forsaken9. Nightfall10. The Hunter & The Nightmare11. The Guardian12. Divinity Pt.113. Divinity Pt.2

Arriving directly from a zone between dream and waking, the third album from Spell is here to weave its potent magick. Established as intrepid pathfinders on the journey of classic Heavy Metal into the mystic, ‘Tragic Magic’ sees the Vancouver outfit honing their approach to seductive effect. The songcraft here is steeped in the atmosphere of the arcane, yet the hooks are more razor-sharp than ever as ten occult-tinged anthems marry majestic bombast with otherworldly allure. Fans of Rush, Blue Öyster Cult and the Nwobhm will find much to sink their teeth into, yet more than ever this unearthly brew sounds like no one else but Spell - gnostic rock warriors transposing their dark arts fearlessly and alchemically into the light.

Rising from the deep valleys of Kymi in southernmost Finland, I Am The Night is Black Metal rooted in the classic early 90’s tradition, where walls of guitars and synthesizers raise the forces of darkness in a battle against the heavens and burning angels light up the night sky.

The band’s debut full length album, with cover art by scene legend Necrolord, bears the title “While The Gods Are Sleeping” and shall be released on May 6th, 2022. The record was birthed during the heaviest blizzard Finland had seen in years in the winter of 2021, with the band holed up at the Soundspiral Audio studio during the height of the pandemic. “This album, in a way, is both the thing that should not be and something we should have made flesh many moons ago already”, comments Markus Vanhala, and continues: “It is a passage back in time that dark forest of our minds through which we spent our youth traversing.”

Together with the album announcement the band are set to release a second single from the album, titled “Ode To The Nightsky”. The music video for the song was created by Coldstore Productions, and it is online now at https://youtu.be/YhNpG4u8Xgw

Brought forth by underground titans of Finnish Metal, Markus Vanhala (Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum), Janne Markkanen (ex-Omnium Gatherum), Okko Solanterä (Horizon Ignited) and Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost, Bodom After Midnight), the band’s origins date back to the dimly lit subterranean rehearsal rooms of the mid-nineties where the fires of Vanhala and Markkanen’s Black Metal zeal were ignited.

“Black metal art has been a continuous and serious pursuit in my personal life since my early teenage years”, explains guitarist Vanhala, and he continues; “In The Nightside Eclipse, Storm Of The Light’s Bane and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas opened the gate to the dark side for me years ago, as can be heard from the music we make with I Am The Night.”

In recent years I Am The Night rapidly began to gather flesh on its old bones, and in 2020 the spark burst into a full blaze when elder statesmen Vanhala and Markkanen hired younger cohorts Väyrynen and Solanterä to help bring their morbid visions into reality. Vanhala states that: “Our debut record, the result of a yearning for ancient darkness, turned out to be just the time capsule we wanted it to be, far removed from modern metal. I’ve seldom found anything interesting in post nineties Black Metal. We wanted to realise this in the underground way that felt fitting to the music, and chose to work with Svart Records.”

“Our songs are stories about the worship of night and the triumph of the powers of darkness. At night, sun to his slumber and shadows all over, the forces of the night rise to the heavens, cast angels out and usher in a new era of individual freedom”, vocalist Solaterä explains

“I Am The Night is a real band not a project. It is unrestrained creation. A ray of darkness for us in the vacuum created by the pandemic. The future remains unseen, and all the better for it.”

Garden-fresh trail-blazers from the UK, Famyne drag Doom kicking and screaming into the 21st century on epic new album “The Ground Below”. Svart Records unleashes heart-rending game-changer “The Ground Below” from melancholic crushers Famyne on Friday the 13th, May 2022.

Svart Records is proud to present “The Ground Below”, the stellar new album from UK Progressive Doom Rock band Famyne. Hailing from the heart of the garden of England, Canterbury gloom-fathers Famyne slug and soar their way up and out from the underground, shaking off any shackles of genre constraints on their new album “The Ground Below”. Since their inception in 2014, Famyne have been rapidly building an incendiary reputation for themselves, and an epic universe all of their own, magnetising more souls into the orbit of their unique expansion of masterful Doom metal. From their ‘Famyne EP’ in 2015, earning a place at Bloodstock Open Air 2016, to their break-out self-titled debut in 2018, Famyne have been constantly turning heads as a promising new light in the darkness. “The Ground Below” is a brave and inimitable statement which re-draws a line in the sands of Metal tradition. Famyne boldly march over the limits, re-riffing the rules, washing listeners in pristine waves of hypnotic melody on 8 tablets of stone-carved ageless songs that “The Ground Below” lays on the altar. Tracks like For My Sins and Babylon conjure paragon English Doom with a long line of lineage like country-mates Warning, Paradise Lost, Pagan Altar and Cathedral to songs like A Submarine where warm oceans of sweeping guitars and wide-screen desperate euphony bring to mind genre-changing pioneers like Anathema and Porcupine Tree. Mind-blowing Lead vocalist Tom Vane’s omnipotent vocals deliver the shivers in dynamite doses, unearthing perfect hair-raising emotions that are at once timeless and freshly captivating. It is an understatement to acknowledge how exceptionally unforgettable Famyne’s distinct voice is. The guitars of Martin Emmons and Tom Ross range from an Iommi masterclass to Åkerfeldt progression in a heart-beat, delivering breath-taking riff-mountains that are sumptuously original and catchy in both style and opulent panache. It is Famyne’s canny confidence to re-mould traditional Doom metal artistry with their own wave of emotive progression that makes “The Ground Below” a brilliant restoration of the craft, reminding us how crushing and poignant innovative Doom Metal can be if done with passion. Fans of everything from Opeth, Katatonia to Soundgarden and all the trad legends of Sabbath, St Vitus and Solitude Aeturnus will be suitably wowed in Famyne’s wake. “The Ground Below” is a modern classic, reverential but so supremely powerful that Famyne have securely carved their own place on the monoliths of the future.

Defecto’s dive into the metal scene has been fast and even frantic at times. Only a year after the release of their debut album, the band supported acts like Metallica and Rammstein. They sold out headlining tours in Denmark and played on successful tours throughout Europe. They performed at large festivals both in- and outside Denmark and amassed several million streams. Few metal bands in Denmark have achieved such progress in such a short amount of time. The band is now set to release their next album Duality. Taking inspiration in the duality of life, the band uses their sonic diversity to create a seamless mix including both the explosive and the atmospheric. Duality is the combination of light and dark, and the culmination of what Defecto stands for.

Power metal for eternity...Fellowship was the absolute power metal revelation of 2022; after successfully bringing their positive vibes live in Europe, Japan and America, the English band is now ready to set the bar higher. "The Skies Above Eternity” takes the classic Fellowship sound, adds a healthy sprinkle of Japanese power metal influence, and then makes a darker turn on a journey into a world where light is all but gone, and where hope is all but lost… Perhaps along the way we might find enough light within ourselves to illuminate the pathway home. A tale of princes and paupers, of oppression and resistance, of the value we get from simply looking up at the sun when times get tough, “The Skies Above Eternity” represent those human aspirations to live freely, live well and live on – no matter how hard or how bleak life may seem. 1. Hold Up Your Hearts (Again)2. Victim3. The Bitter Winds4. Dawnbreaker5. Eternity6. King Of Nothing7. World End Slowly8. A New Hope9. Memories On The Wind