CD

It is never easy to follow up with another album, especially considering the impact made by the complex wild flight of musical fantasy of "La Masquerade Infernale". ARCTURUS elegantly solved this conundrum by releasing the comparatively more straightforward third full-length, "The Sham Mirrors" in 2002. This does not mean that the Norwegians had lost their appetite for experiments. The vocals by Garm (ULVER) are more soaring and wide-ranging than ever on this release, while main man Steinar "Sverd" Johnsen keeps adding classic prog rock excursions to his repertoire. Yet, the guitars are more often set to a more conventional metal mode on "The Sham Mirrors". Still complex, still avant-garde, ARCTURUS clearly consolidated their compositions on "The Sham Mirrors" and while still using many sonic elements, those rather serve each individual song than try to stick out.

Six panels digipak CD

Sgàile is the solo project of Scottish multi-instrumentalist Tony Dunn, a venture that was a long time in the making due to Dunn’s commitments with other bands such as Falloch, Cnoc An Tursa and Saor. “For almost a decade, I had concentrated on playing other people's songs, singing other people's lyrics, and not feeling that I had an identity of my own. The name Sgàile means "ghost" or "shade" in Gaelic, and this was born from the fact that I didn't quite "fit in" with the Scottish Black Metal scene that these bands were an integral part of”.

In August 2018, Dunn parted ways with Saor in an amicable manner. It was then and there that “I decided to really concentrate on putting out a body of work that I could put my own name to and be proud of”. Sgàile was officially born. Ideals & Morality was conceived, composed and recorded in most of its parts in late 2019/early 2020. At this point Mike Lamb (Sojourner, Light Field Reverie) was brought on board for the mixing and mastering. “He had a look at the quality of the recordings, and gave me a great deal of advice, so much that in late summer 2020 we decided the best course of action was to re-record all of the guitars and bass from scratch. So in essence, Ideals & Morality was recorded twice”. 

Musically and lyrically, Sgàile’s debut is an emotional record. “It is a record that I feel is both melancholy and quite dark in places, but uplifting and inspiring in others, as during the recording sessions I felt like I was in quite a low place at times mentally, but the actual writing process itself lifted my spirits. I feel that the album certainly has the potential to both haunt and elate in equal measure”. Lyrically, it's almost a stream of consciousness of various aspects of Tony’s psyche, dealing with his love for Scottish mountains (“The Summit”), the feeling of becoming a parent (“Instinct”) or even the experiences of the past decade (“Facade”). Every song comes from its own background, making Ideals & Morality a multifaceted experience. “The album is almost like a peek at what goes on inside my head. My ideals and my moral compass are what have guided me on my path as an artist since being thrust into the music industry and will stick with me through the rest of my journey, wherever that may lead”.

First Album from this Atmospheric Appalachian Black Metal Band.

Digipack with 8 pages Booklet limited to 500 Copies

REISSUE ON THEIR NEW LABEL OSMOSE

CD in Digipak with 20-page booklet.

An early progenitor of funeral doom, Norway's FUNERAL have returned with ’Praesentialis in Aeternum’, their first new album in nearly a decade! The quartet bring forth a soul-rending offering that is rife with agony and pain, providing a fitting soundtrack for the times. Crushing, mournful passages and soaring lead breaks amplify its sorrowful atmosphere, and are certain to rive the heart, mind, and soul of listeners.

For fans of: EVOKEN, AHAB, MOURNING BELOVETH

Olio Tähtien Takana is one of the artistic expressions of Finnish multi-instrumentalist v-KhaoZ (Vargrav, Druadan Forest and many others), here joined in his artistic endeavour by singer Hellwind Inferion (Desolate Shrine, Sargeist).

Spectral Katharsis is the third album by Olio Tähtien Takana, and is described by Hellwind with a series of key terms: “Cosmic, majestic misanthropy and ultimate devil worship”. Expect fury, rage and patterns of keyboards to surround you and bring you on your journey through the cosmos.

On the musical side of things, v-KhaoZ says: “We wanted something different than our other bands, a more straightforward, yet melodic approach. To this we added a varied singing style and otherworldly, space-like keyboards, to reach the multidimensionality we were aiming for”. Spectral Katharsis will tickle fans of Limbonic Art, Odium and the mid-’90s symphonic black metal scene.

The band's very name is probably the best expression to describe what v.KhaoZ and Hellwind Inferion are trying to accomplish with their collaboration, as Olio Tähtien Takana is Finnish for 'A Creature Beyond the Stars'.

First full length album by hungarian black metal project Hænesy. Depressive, nature-close mood music. Inspired by atmospheric black metal scene, hungarian literature, hills and mountains.

Ltd 300 copies

 CD/DVD artbook (hardcover, 28x28cm, 36 pages) with enhanced artwork, in-depth essay by Jonathan Selzer, English lyrics translations and bonus DVD with uncut "Brad" music video (16 minutes)

Ikarie is a newborn band formed by experienced musicians from the Mediterranean coast of Spain. They describe themselves as a band developing “the concept we call cosmic existentialism, which is about our freedom and responsibility as a rational species, aware of its insignificant, terrifying and astonishing existence in the universe”.

Cuerpos En Sombra is the first album by Ikarie, a post-metal opus in the vein of Cult Of Luna and Year Of No Light, “a legend of ghosts, of those who emerge from the deepest wounds of the soul. Installed in their universe of silent and silenced scars, inspired by the desert and sea landscapes of the Spanish Levant where we grew up, it delves into the theme of the human being from its limits, where it almost ceases to be, in a world where perhaps it is not allowed to be”.

The album deals with “what happens and doesn't happen when we become an unproductive and annoying absence, showing a series of desolate places and characters as if they had come out of the collective imaginary of the uncomfortable, painful and demented”.

Cuerpos En Sombra is the first chapter of a trilogy in which Ikarie intend to denounce the stigma of being different, the lack of resources in everything related to mental illness and the pathologization of people with problems which are mainly structural.

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.