Back in stock

CD Digisleeve "Sentimentale"

One has to be a decided connoisseur of alternative music culture to associate the title "Sentimentale Jugend" (sentimental youth) with the short-lived experimental noise act of the same name, founded by Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) and his then significant other Christiane Flescherinow (also known as Christiane F. from the bestselling non-fiction book "We Children From Bahnhof Zoo") in the early 1980s. However, it is for a reason that Italian indie rock flagship Klimt 1918 names its latest double album after this footnote of pop history, namely a conscious hint at the underlying mood of the songs.

One has to be a decided connoisseur of alternative music culture to associate the title "Sentimentale Jugend" (sentimental youth) with the short-lived experimental noise act of the same name, founded by Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) and his then significant other Christiane Flescherinow (also known as Christiane F. from the bestselling non-fiction book "We Children From Bahnhof Zoo") in the early 1980s. However, it is for a reason that Italian indie rock flagship Klimt 1918 names its latest double album after this footnote of pop history, namely a conscious hint at the underlying mood of the songs. "Sentimentale Jugend" captures West Berlin in its pulsating, nihilistic glory during the late 70s - just as David Bowie did with his Berlin Trilogy of the albums "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger" - and processes notions from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's award-winning movie "The Lives Of Others", be it the foggy winter atmosphere in East Berlin during the early 80s or the female protagonist's melancholy.

Limited to 500 copies worldwide.
Includes poster and mp3 download card.
Gatefold cover.

LP (180g vinyl, black), incl. printed inner sleeve and protection sleeve
 

Clear beige brown marbled 2-LP in gatefold cover with hot foil embossing, 20 page booklet and download card. Limited to 700 copies.

Having grown out of the Norwegian Death Metal band MORTEM, ARCTURUS emerged under the irresistible influence of Oslo's creatively bursting and fast rising underground black metal scene officially with the two-track 7" "My Angel" (1991). With then-guitarist and formidable keyboard player Sverd and MAYHEM drum-beast Hellhammer at its core, vocals were first contributed by Marius Vold, who also sang on the legendary THORNS demo "The Thule Tape". While still very much influenced by death metal, the addition of doom-laden slowness and eerie keyboards already pointed into a far blacker cosmos. On the four tracks of the original 1994 "Constellation" EP, ULVER's Garm had taken over the vocal duties and Samoth from EMPEROR had joined the band on guitar. Yet, ARCTURUS already went off the (in reality quite wide-ranged) black metal norms mainly due to Sverd's keyboard arrangements that were pre-shadowing the trademark theatrical or circus-like style the Norwegians adopted on their following albums.
 

400x black vinyl

For the first time, these 5 tapes (Ash Nazg …, lux devicta est, promo tape 2/94, Moonrise and In Hate & Sin)  are compiled as a stand-alone 2LP / 2CD album, accompanied by extensive photo material and an in-depth interview, covering the period from the formative 1980s, over the conditions leading to the establishment of the band, up to the days when a deal for their debut Verwüstung/Invoke The Dark Age was signed.

The direct and unveiled nature of these recordings invites the listener to travel back in time, step into ABIGOR´s rehearsal cellar and experience the raw, youthful energy which shows a different side of the band than the successive recordings at Hörnix Studio.

The pressing and print quality make this double-album the ultimate memorial to the reckless bygone days not only of ABIGOR but also of Black Metal as a whole.
On 48 A5 pages respectively, the circumstances around each demo are treated individually.

After more than 30 years, the hands-on experiments of those simple, analogue times still work their magic!

ABIGOR’s 1994 full length debut captured the sudden discharge of the scene´s massive energy, which had built up in the early ’90s. As a result, Verwüstung turned out a bold, forceful but also deeply emotional album, created by adolescents who already had a sharp and individual idea how Black Metal should sound like. Although Verwüstung has in retrospect sometimes been overshadowed by the impact of Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom), its songwriting easily matches the 1995 classic and shows even more variety. No other ABIGOR album displays such a mix of demonic furore (“Kingdom Of Darkness”), complexity (“Universe Of Black Divine”) and atmosphere (“Midwintertears”), in addition Silenius delivered a vigorous peak performance and never sounded more powerful before or after.

For the first time, DSR presents a vinyl edition with the original 1994 cover collage. Verwüstung comes in a gatefold sleeve with an extensive 40 page booklet, including a comprehensive collection of photos and artefacts from that year, an A4 sticker sheet with the two blasphemous slogan-flyers made in early 1994, as well as liner notes and two detailed interviews:
one with Bruder Cle, talking about the tape-trading scene which shaped the emergence of Black Metal as well as this very album, and one with Georg Hrauda (Hörnix Studio), who recorded all the classic ABIGOR albums in the ’90s.

The vinyl sound – also for the first time – has been cut true to the original Hörnix master, while the download code leads to a new master, especially created for today´s mobile digital devices.

"This time we entered the studio with the clear intention of creating a landmark album for the band." It's a noble and challenging mission statement from Hellenic black metal troop Yoth Iria, and one that has amply succeeded in the form of Gone With The Devil, the Attica quartet's stellar third album. Their trajectory has been on a steep ascent since crafty 2021 debut As The Flame Withers and 2024's hypnotic Blazing Inferno, but there has audibly been a concerted determination to develop and expand in sinister new directions.
The daemonic avatar Yoth Iria was first explicitly summoned on Rotting Christ's legendary debut Thy Mighty Contract in 1993. Bassist/lyricist Jim Mutilator formed that band as Black Church in 1984, before also becoming a founder member of cult Athenian BM heroes Varathron for their first five years. Renewing the otherworldly atmospheres and occult ravishment for a new era, Yoth Iria functions almost as the third panel in an apocalyptic triptych of Hellenic black metal excellence.
There's a thrilling balance of ancient and modern, good and evil, harmony and dissonance, advancing Yoth Iria as a hungry contender for extreme metal's big leagues - an ever-improving unit with a glorious future. Appropriately, however, Gone With The Devil is best summed up with a line already coined by the band to describe their ongoing body of work: "Every note tells a story of rebirth, tradition, and the relentless pursuit of musical transcendence."

Essential reissue for an essential album