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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”.

ISON new album! Gatefold sleeve, double LP in "color in color with splatters" vinyl effect!

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

Australian experimental metal band Bolt Gun return with their 3rd full length album The Tower. Since their first release in 2014, Bolt Gun have continued to push the boundaries of heavy music, adopting a semi-improvised style that combines elements of black metal, post-metal, noise and dark ambient. 

The Tower is inspired by the literary works of Brian Evenson, Franz Kafka and Shirley Jackson and explores themes of isolation, extinction, absurdity and nihilism. Written throughout 2020 to 2022, the album expands on Bolt Gun’s interest in the dynamic possibilities of using ambient music within extreme metal.

The expansive tracks pull listeners into tornadoes of drone, noise and saxophone which then explode into more post-metal/black metal sounds. The music on The Tower is heavily influenced by 2nd wave black metal, experimental heavy bands such as Locrian and Swans in addition to the work of Colin Stetson and Bohren & der Club of Gore.

Artwork by Tomasz Winiarski.

Australian experimental metal band Bolt Gun return with their 3rd full length album The Tower. Since their first release in 2014, Bolt Gun have continued to push the boundaries of heavy music, adopting a semi-improvised style that combines elements of black metal, post-metal, noise and dark ambient. 

The Tower is inspired by the literary works of Brian Evenson, Franz Kafka and Shirley Jackson and explores themes of isolation, extinction, absurdity and nihilism. Written throughout 2020 to 2022, the album expands on Bolt Gun’s interest in the dynamic possibilities of using ambient music within extreme metal.

The expansive tracks pull listeners into tornadoes of drone, noise and saxophone which then explode into more post-metal/black metal sounds. The music on The Tower is heavily influenced by 2nd wave black metal, experimental heavy bands such as Locrian and Swans in addition to the work of Colin Stetson and Bohren & der Club of Gore.

Artwork by Tomasz Winiarski.

BANDCAMP DOWNLOAD CODE INCLUDED 

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...