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marble/galaxy effect in grimace purple with pink

Anyone with the slightest interest in darkwave music and the goth counterculture is familiar with Lycia. Born in Tempe, AZ, in 1988 from the creative mind of Mike VanPortfleet, Lycia is as seminal and influential as a band can get. Devoted to cold, somber and synthetic sounds, these pioneers of the ethereal are responsible for some of the most acclaimed underground albums of the ‘90s. 

The current lineup of the band is John Fair, David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, who has been the only constant member since the band’s formation. Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the groundbreaking groups in the darkwave and ethereal styles. Their 1995 album The Burning Circle And Then Dust "remains a high point of American dark rock" according to AllMusic, and 1996’s Cold has been cited as one of the genre’s best by Post-Punk.com and Alternative Press. Lycia's sound is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of heavily effected guitars, dark atmospheric keyboards, heavy reverb drenched drum machines, VanPortfleet's somber raspy vocals and Vanflower's vivid melodic voice. 

Avantgarde Music had the pleasure to bring the 1991 debut full-length Ionia to a vinyl edition for the first time in early 2021, and this brought along the chance to cooperate on new music. This turned out to be a rich studio EP, Casa Luna. We reached out to Mike VanPortfleet, who describes Casa Luna as a followup to 2018’s In Flickers, with a more varied approach, stylistically and thematically. “In Flickers and Casa Luna are Lycia’s purest releases. Originally planned as a split 7” with the song “A Quiet Way to Go”, as more songs were written they evolved to an EP”.

Todestrieb is a Polish black metal duo formed in 2023 in Cracow by blein (guitars and bass) and Res (vocals and lyrics). After several months of hard work, the duo completed their debut studio record, Corona Tenebra, which will be released in December by Avantgarde Music.
Drawing their inspiration from bands such as Watain, Odraza, Drastus, Kriegsmaschine, Tortorum, Funeral Mist and many more, Todestrieb managed to find their own way in the crowded black metal underground, specifying that “those bands influenced rather the essence of our music than the form”.
Corona Tenebra consists of five tracks and an outro, and its lyrics, all written in Polish but translated into English in the album booklet, circle around themes like spirituality, gnostic satanism, blasphemy, theology and philosophy.

Featuring Mgła, Hauntologist and Owls Woods Graves’ Michał “The Fall” Stępień on drums, Todestrieb debut is a very diverse, fascinating take on black metal. Corona Tenebra was recorded in No Solace studio and mixed and mastered at Impressive Art Studio. With an artwork by Izabela Grabda, Corona Tenebra will be released via Avantgarde Music on CD, LP and digital on December 13th, 2024.

Atmospheric black metal union GRIMA return with a dark ritual of ancient forest magic!

With 10 years of scene-stealing experience behind them, looming stars of Siberian atmospheric black metal, GRIMA, will release their sixth album and Napalm Records debut, Nightside, on February 28, 2025. After several shows accross Europe (one with highly-uprising german death metal force Kanonenfieber), the band is set to honor the spirit of the Siberian Forest, Taiga, with their impending next chapter.
While fans of their deep, melancholic sound can look forward to tales like in “Flight Of The Silver Storm” and “The Nightside”, GRIMA also showcases focused effort and skill on the album’s more brief, accessible offerings. “Beyond The Dark Horizon“ and “Curse Of The Void” are as dreamy and complex as their big brothers, but also satisfy as more direct black metal anthems. The band shows a wide range of variety: First single “Skull Gatherers” is infused with the mesmerizing cold of the Siberian evening wilderness, constructed with folk instruments like the Russian accordion bayan but GRIMA also use death metal-like growls into their delivery on “Impending Death Premonition”.
Mixing, mastering, and helming the album’s clear, powerful sound is black metal-experienced producer Vladimir Lehtinen. The two driving forces behind the band’s unique sound, Vilhelm and Morbius, both deliver different aspects of the band’s impactful, massive guitar riffs, leads and melodies, while Vilhelm also soars as vocalist. Guest musicians Vlad (drums) and Serpentum (guitars) also join the fold both in studio and on stage. In addition to their unforgettable sound, the band’s eerie, piercing look – towering like living trees with intimidating carved wooden masks and branched fingers – adds another haunting element to their brutal yet beautiful output. With their mysterious visual aura and intriguing sound, on Nightside, GRIMA continues to prove themselves as an unmissable band to watch within the genre.

GATEFOLD DIGI POP-UP + 8-page booklet

The remastered reissue of "The Somberlain" is the all-time classic debut album from the Swedish melodic Black/Death Metal band Dissection, originally recorded at Unisound Studios and released in 1993. With this remastered edition, the release goes full circle as Dan Swanö himself, the original recording engineer, lies behind the great effort of making this milestone sound better than ever.

New vinyl edition of Presence mini + Power & Will material on other side!
 

Vinyl edition reissue on Northern Heritage!

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Vinyl edition reissue on Northern Heritage!

AVAILABLE NOW

Disponibile

Ascolta su YouTube

2X black Vinyl