Back in stock

With their fifth album "The Stillness of Dissolution", AUSTERE embark on a dark journey that leads through the abyss of time, the inevitable return of order to chaos into the black void. In the words of the poet: everything that arises is worth that it perishes. The new album brings an overall blacker feel to their sound. This slight change of course does not constitute an easy nostalgic return to the old days as AUSTERE remain within the framework of the more mature and defined version of their particular style of depressive black metal, which reflects their greater experience and evolution as artists. AUSTERE arose from a solo-project run by multi-instrumentalist and singer Desolate alias Mitchell Keepin who joined forces with drummer, keyboard player, and vocalist Sorrow aka Tim Yatras in 2005. Signature frost-bitten guitars, alongside high-pitched screams and wails marked AUSTERE's debut album "Withering Illusions and Desolation" (2007). The sophomore album "To Lay like Old Ashes" followed in 2009 and still featured a raw sound but with a refined production. At this point in time, both musicians decided to focus on other projects and AUSTERE went into hibernation until the duo reformed in 2021. The number of followers had only grown during their absence through word of mouth. AUSTERE are back in black with "The Stillness of Dissolution", yet the Australians also keep all the subtle shades of grey that turn the ongoing evolution of their music into a thrilling experience of new sonic spaces of dark matter.

On the third regular PAYSAGE D'HIVER album "Die Berge" ('The Mountains'), mastermind Wintherr has perfectly captured the dark essence of his mountainous Swiss home beyond those pretty picture postcard landscapes. Ragged peaks that unfathomable tectonic forces have crushed upwards and out of the thin cold crust of this planet create a harsh and hostile environment for humans, which is reflected within the sound of raw black metal. Note for note, these grey giants of rock come awake to life in song. Majestic, powerful, dangerous, threatening, and yet also inherent of a fierce beauty, these massive tracks of epic length echo the huge proportions of their source of inspiration and amount to a playing time of more than 100 minutes. With each release, PAYSAGE D'HIVER narrate a new chapter of a continuing story about a mysterious protagonist called 'Der Wanderer'. "Die Berge" takes the wanderer into the 14th chapter, which might end up as his last. The main theme of "Die Berge" is death and this time the enigmatic wanderer's journey is comparable to that of a Zen monk who hikes to the peak of a mountain on feeling that his time has come. Founded in 1997 in the Swiss region of Bern, PAYSAGE D'HIVER remained a strictly underground phenomenon at first. Wintherr unleashed a steady stream of 10 full-length "demos" and 4 split-EPs that earned him an excellent reputation while a massive following grew by word of mouth. When the Swiss came "out of hiding" with "Im Wald" ("In the Forest") in 2020, their regular debut album even entered the German charts, which meant mainstream recognition despite standing firmly with both feet in the underground. With "Die Berge", PAYSAGE D'HIVER continue to expand the horizon of Nordic black metal without ever stepping away from their roots.

Ov Shadows is a Black Metal band from Gothenberg, Sweden. Rising from the ashes of "Waning", a band that all four members previously played in, Ov Shadows introduced their sound with the 2016 self-released EP "Monologues" before releasing its first full-length album "The Darkness Between Stars" in 2018.

This summer, Ov Shadows returns with their second full-length and first release on Hypnotic Dirge Records. Entitled "I Djävulens Avbild" (In the Devil's Image), the new record presents Ov Shadows at an unprecedented ferocity and forward-momentum, and apparently very intent on proving that to their listeners immediately, as pummeling drums and a heavy galloping riff fill the speakers within seconds of the opening track "Den Eld Som Tär Och Förvrider."

Throughout "I Djävulens Avbild, the pace hardly ever lets up, instead taking you on an all-out sensory assault. The combination of infectious riffs, recurring hooks, blastbeats, and tortured vocals create an enveloping claustrophobic and dark dissonance, as if a shroud has covered your face and defined forms have turned to shadows. Despite its unrelenting nature, the details really shine through on "I Djävulens Avbild" thanks to its clear production, precise musicianship, and deliberate flow. 

Five paeans of hypnotic, metamorphic and dangerously addictive Black Metal. A perfect juxtaposition of meticulous craftsmanship and frightening pandemonium.

Comes with an 8-page booklet and download card. Pressed on mustard / beer merge heavy vinyl with splatters.

Gatefold LP, 2025 reissue.

And so it was told that in the seventeenth year, things that were thought to be dead begun to stir again in the earth, as if awoken by the stench of man-fear penetrating deep beyond the reach of sunlight. Reanimated by some nameless and cursed source of vitality they say it has begun pouring and trickling from the dark crevices of the North, like an ancient curse into the veins of the world. And with the same fearful fascination that we behold something full of life being robbed of it's vitality and pulse, we shall now bear witness to that which ought to be forever dead but by unnatural impulse and eager invocation is again given life, to haunt and to stalk the night of the world.

Gatefold DLP with A1 Salvation poster.
 

It took DEATHSPELL OMEGA almost nine years to complete their trilogy.
"Paracletus" is the last chapter, following Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice and Fas Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum of their musical and spiritual quest, during which they put everything at risk. The release closes the circle of the hallucinating sound of dissonant violence and menacing splendour, exploring the depths of abjection and corruption of the other worlds on high.

Grim, evil and obscure, a new masterpiece for this elitarian black metal band from France

Black vinyl, gatefold cover, 8 page booklet