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Carried on the brisk wind of eager rock, with foundations in black, thrash, doom and heavy metal, Astral Fortress is the 2022 album of stellar, eclectic old metal from the legendary Darkthrone.

With a seemingly endless dungeon full of heavy metal influences channelled through Darkthrone’s dynamic riff-machine, plus increasing inspirations taken from their own back catalogue, Darkthrone has become very much its own beast within the metal world. Though sprinkled with atmospheric touches, such as synthesisers and mellotron, the Darkthrone sound remains stripped to the core, primitive and organic.

Astral Fortress was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, the same location used for the Eternal Hails album, with Ole Øvstedal and Silje Høgevold.

From their formation back in 1986, to becoming one of Norways’s finest musical exports (with a number of highly revered black metal masterpieces released in the early 1990s helping to solidify their legacy), Darkthrone has continued to evolve and challenge in equal measure, throughout their illustrious recording career spanning over three decades. And now, the ever-productive duo of Nocturno and Fenriz continue their own metallic saga with a new selection of fine, vintage sounding headbanging classics in the making. 

Gatefold Double LP with golden UV spot laque and 16 pages booklet in 30x30cm with illustrations and lyrics.

3rd press on black vinyl

2018 re-release in black gatefold vinyl by AOP Records.
Artworks are done from the original photo used on the highly limited digipack from 2012

Marrok shares his very personal vision of serious art influenced by a wide range of genres. It's a blackened journey full of soundscapes between beauty and bleakness, hope and oppression, reality and the world beyond. Accordingly, each subgenre is utilized to its fullest potential without falling into cliche nor easy categorization, each one swelling until it's fit to burst, so overcome with passion and emotion.

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The first official release of Lost Relics has been unveiled. Originally a limited bonus CD for the first edition of Tales of Othertime, Lost Relics will now be presented as a MC with completely new art by Gabriel Danilchik. Featuring 5 tracks of dungeon synth and fantasy ambient derived from this first era of the band.

One-man Black Metal Band from United States (Los Angeles, California).

A rider, burdened by a past which grows like a tumor inside of him, struggles against himself and loses - he chooses the rope. During what would be his last breath, he is instead given a second chance by forces beyond his comprehension, under the condition that he carries out a quest he thinks impossible. The rider flees, frightened of his own potential for greatness or for failure - but no matter how far he rides, destiny is not so easily dissuaded...

For better or worse, whether he wishes it or not, no man on this earth rides alone. We are all of us bound together, heart to heart and soul to soul -- all of us bit players in stories bigger than we know - stories we have no hand in writing. This is one of those stories - a story of friendship, love and war.

With an inception heading back to the year 2020, UK’s Final Dose have built a reputation from its feral blend of black metal’s icy malevolence and the raw, uncompromising power of punk through the release of a demo, an EP and a full-length album in 2023.
With the experience of touring across the US and Europe granted by the excellent reception of aforementioned “Void Inside”, Final Dose return with a vengeance, a bone-crushing slab of savagery and frostbitten fury entitled “Under the Eternal Shadow”.

Merging Black Metal and Punk is not in any way a novelty, however few acts have managed to imply the solid edge of both approaches in a such a vehemently organic fashion as the UK horde. From the very first seconds of opener “Eternal Winter”, a clear, powerful, in-your-face production compels the razor-sharp virulent riffs to gleam and cut through the ether like an electrical storm, whereas pounding fast beats function as a taser for the body, a remarkably pulsing mania which serves as a marching order for the wild raging vocals, a performance which renders gist to each word yelled in anguish.

But, beware. “Under the Eternal Shadow”’s ornamentation is yet provided by various elements such as Dungeon Synth and Folk, details that supply the record with more than a Black Metal/Punk substance. The brilliant slower moments offer an extra dose of bleakness and despair to the filthy fury, together with the lugubrious clean chords, filled with disheartening melody. These traits blazingly give shape to the lyrical concept of the album, the pain and gloom of mental decline, the misery of the societal ravishingly decay. This layer of mournfulness genuinely confers momentum to Final Dose’s art, a sense of impending doom which sticks to the brain and captures the heart, making “Under the Eternal Shadow” much more than a musical record, but a tome of inspiration through the ashes of the world’s turmoil and dismay.