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Released in January 2013 as a 7", this split ep is now being reissued ten years later as a 10" with some changes on the MonumentuM side:
PJ Harvey's classic "The River" is here featured in a different version from the one on the original ep, plus, to bless the two bands sodality, we are adding the song "In Misery Front Row", which originally appeared in 1998 as an instrumental track called "The Colour Of Compassion" on Misanthopy Records label's compilation Presumed Guilty, but hereby featuring Shining's mastermind Niklas Kvarforth on vocals.

LP in galaxy effect, oxblood with green. Printed innersleeve

Please note, if you are an Avantgarde Music Circle of Wax subscriber, this release is a part of bundle #3 (February bundle)

Five long years after their fascinating debut, Milan-based duo A Pale December deliver their sophomore album, Death Panacea. Compared to The Shrine Of Primal Fire, Death Panacea steers towards more aggressive, warring sounds. The “atmospheric black metal” label which so aptly described their debut album, is now just one of the many, partial definitions which could be used to define the band’s music.

When asked about their new opus, multi-instrumentalists Riccardo Di Bella and Ernesto Ciotola provided the following, strong statement: “While many metal albums seem to appeal to a feeling of fierceness, a call to war, an urge to fight something, we wanted to express the opposite. Death Panacea is an album about defeat and hopelessness, about the inherent futility of human strife and all our laughable attempts at masking this unescapable nature.

We wanted to praise failing and giving up, as opposed to perseverance, pride and the grinding mentality. We wanted to praise the rejects above the leaders, who naively think they can escape this race towards oblivion, and the coward above the fighting man, whose only fault was believing in the frail concept of nation and a false sense of belonging.

While distancing ourselves from these delusional sentiments, we also didn't want to fall into optimistic nihilism; the idea that the awareness of an impending void can grant any peace is simply preposterous. 

Ultimately, this is the meaning that lies behind the title of the album: death is what keeps us in check and yet is the one and only panacea to all our anguishes. In all this, one could almost find a cold comfort, knowing that the top step of the podium is eventually just a springboard to the abyss”.

Sebastian Montesi is a prolific artist, probably best known for his endeavors in Mitochondrion and for being one of the founding members of Auroch.
With Saturn’s Cross, the Canadian took a very different path, delving into cold wave territories, which little have to share with the bands he is usually associated to. Yet, when we listened to what Sebastian crafted, we had no doubt, and we gladly welcomed this new project to our roster. With neither hope nor fear, Saturn’s Cross unveils Cheat Death.  Now operating as a two piece, with 1908 entering the fold on bass and
vocals, Cheat Death disregards genre with wild abandon in favour of something that is at times overwhelmingly abrasive and at others intoxicating.
This is a willing exploration of the endless labyrinth and a lamp of pitch black glass intended to serve as a beacon in the lightless depths of the human spirit. This is a headlong dive into the soul's psychic darkness, with nothing to break the fall. This ushers in a new era Saturn's Cross.

ISON new album! Gatefold sleeve, double LP in Black vinyl 

Remah is a black metal entity born from a long-standing friendship and split between Paris and Brussels. Dea and ABR have known each other for a very long time and played black metal together since the beginning of their friendship, 17 years ago.

After a 10-year gap in their musical relationship, they gathered once more to create Une Main, Remah debut album, of which Dea wrote and produced all the music and clean vocals while ABR wrote and sang the lyrics. The result is a mixture of ice-cold, blade-sharp black metal with deep roots in several different styles: there’s the circular riffing of Blut Aus Nord most atmospheric and industrial works, the profound suffering of Xasthur depressive black metal records and of course furious, relentless blasts of rage coming from a Scandinavian heritage.

But Remah do not end in black metal. Thanks to a diverse musical background and previous multi-colored experiences (Emptiness, Soror Dolorosa, Luminance and others), Dea’s music is greatly influenced by cold- and darkwave, as the musician specifically names the likes of Lycia among his influences, as well as the early psychedelic rock scene (Ultimate Spinach, The Zodiac, etc).

All these elements find their own place in Une Main, a black metal album capable of delivering the widest range of emotions. Abrasive at times, ominously psychedelic at others, Remah music have a vibe of its own. 

Based out of the frigid capital of the colonial state known as Canada, Dismal Aura surfaced with their self-released debut, Praeagia Tristia in 2021. The trio blend second-wave black metal with crust punk and grind elements, an offering as bleak and chilling as it is melodic and impassioned.

Composed of members with diverse cultural backgrounds and lived experiences, Dismal Aura explores socio-political topics such as colonialism, state-terror, and environmental destruction.

Produced by Topon Das (Fuck the Facts, Gorguts) and Mike Bond (Crusades, Loviatar), the band’s sophomore album was recorded in deep winter forest of Wolf Lake Studios.

Inspired by the essay Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe, Imperium Mortalia spans eight compositions that reckon with the grim relationship between the individual and the state, the exploitative nature of power, and the reduction of human life to commodity.

Based out of the frigid capital of the colonial state known as Canada, Dismal Aura surfaced with their self-released debut, Praeagia Tristia in 2021. The trio blend second-wave black metal with crust punk and grind elements, an offering as bleak and chilling as it is melodic and impassioned.

Composed of members with diverse cultural backgrounds and lived experiences, Dismal Aura explores socio-political topics such as colonialism, state-terror, and environmental destruction.

Produced by Topon Das (Fuck the Facts, Gorguts) and Mike Bond (Crusades, Loviatar), the band’s sophomore album was recorded in deep winter forest of Wolf Lake Studios.

Inspired by the essay Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe, Imperium Mortalia spans eight compositions that reckon with the grim relationship between the individual and the state, the exploitative nature of power, and the reduction of human life to commodity.

BANDCAMP DOWNLOAD CODE INCLUDED

Six panels digipak CD

Ferum is a death doom metal band originated in Italy, but now scattered
over two countries. Asunder / Erode, the band’s debut album, is an
obsessive and monolithic record. Slow, funereal riffs are tied to faster,
sharper parts, while harmonized melodies and solos paint a cavernous
atmosphere. The drums wisely marches, moving from the background into
the spotlight, always followed by the bass guitar.
Asunder / Erode was recorded and mixed at Walter Productions in Tallinn,
Estonia by producer and sound engineer Are Kangus. The studio is located
inside the historic Tallinna Linnahall, a behemoth built during the Soviet
occupation. Today it is an urban wreck kept alive by few commercial
activities which are based on the inside: it is in fact closed to the public,
with the exception of some parts. Its interior is a maze of stillbirth potential,
and inspired one of the album's pieces.
The record was mixed completely in analogue to give the songs a deeper,
more archaic, real thickness. The master by Dan Swanö added the final
touches, making the album consistent, organic and even heavier.
Conceptually, Asunder / Erode is a journey that explores the idea of
separation and its dichotomy, up to erosion and collapse. This is
represented in a morbid and extreme way by the cover by Maestro Paolo
Girardi. The choice of oil on canvas follows the same logic of the analogue
mix: to make the whole as natural, as real as possible, and to pay homage
to the influences that inspired Ferum, by reinterpreting them

This sophomore album by Urkraft celebrates darkness and the lights that shine in it, be they campfires, streetlights or the stars. Through seven tracks, the listener is taken on a journey through forests rife with wondrous complexities, where the blackest of nights are illuminated by the cold glow of the moon.

Urkraft's music is a relentless assault of savage riffs and haunting melodies, driven by thundering drums and punctuated by anguished screams that echo across the barren wastelands.

With "Lyset skinner best i mørket", Urkraft delivers an uncompromising ode to the beauty of darkness and the power of black metal to channel its primal energy. Prepare to be embraced by the shadows that lurk within. The darkness awaits...