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Death Certificate

Sound Cave exclusive vinyl color Aside/Bside blue in grimace purple (final result may vary from this computer generated mock up)

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'.

Russian blackgaze duo Olhava is back with their new studio album. Frozen Blooom is the natural follow-up to self-titled Olhava (2019) and Ladoga (2020), and integrates some dronescapes the band experimented on Never Leave Me Alone (2020), the drone version of their debut.

Multi-instrumentalist Andrey Novozhilov and drummer Timur Yusupov describe their new journey with words of thoughtful contemplation: “When winter is just starting to fade and give some space to the first steps of spring… When life starts to reappear and the very early flowers peek through the thawing soil, a sudden drop of the temperature can leave them petrified and frozen back again, punished by the “Queen of Fields”. This statuesque dead beauty, being infinitely alive and dead at the same time is the main metaphor of this album. Frozen Bloom is about unfulfilled dreams. About how we sacrifice everything today for some abstract “tomorrow”, which may never come. But tomorrow and yesterday don’t exist – only this very moment of static contemplation is real”.

Frozen Bloom is Olhava’s fourth opus in three years, and here the duo took some different routes compositionally. Two of the four tracks are traditionally storm-like blackgaze passages, while the other two are leaning towards a more meditative drone experience. The album also features A. Lunn, who kindly agreed to record an electric guitar solo as well as acoustic parts and choral parts on “Frozen Bloom I”.

Frozen Bloom was recorded at Olhava home studios, as well as at the local rehearsal space. Mikhail Kurochkin took care of mixing and mastering.

200 copies limited, Aside/Bside effect, "blue in blue": this is a computer generated mock-up, final color may vary

Lys is the mastermind of Enisum, the well-known Italian atmospheric black metal band. After focusing on his main band for over a decade, the time came for the musician from Val di Susa to temporarily focus on something different. Here comes Silent Woods, Lys first solo album, a mélange of atmospheric black metal, acoustic music, nature, landscapes, mountains, rivers and forests. 

Similar to yet different from his main musical endeavours, Silent Woods shows a varied sound palette, with the usual Enisum references (Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room and the Pacific Northwestern scene) and some twists. Acoustic guitars and clean vocals find their way in, and so do more extreme elements, such as gurgling screams and hypnotic, circular guitar riffs with clear depressive black metal references (Xasthur, Leviathan and the likes).

Come join Lys in his new venture through the woods of Northwestern Italy. Avantgarde Music will take you to the Alps on October 29th.

Black vinyl - etched D side

It has been 17 years, but finally the time has come for the reaper to wield his scythe once again. Ancient Wisdom is the musical alter ego of Marcus E. Norman, veteran of the Swedish black metal scene and member of Naglfar and Bewitched. To us, not only he means one of the best cult acts of the ’90s and early ’00s, but also one of the first artists to find a home under the Avantgarde Music banner, back in 1993.

Formed by Norman in Umeå, Sweden, under the name Ancient in 1992 as a full band, Ancient recorded their demo tape In the Eye of the Serpent. In 1993 the name was changed into Ancient Wisdom, and in December the second demo tape Through Rivers of the Eternal Blackness was recorded, after which the band signed a record deal with Avantgarde Music. In December 1994 the debut album For Snow Covered the Northland was recorded, but due to some technical errors it was not released until 1996, and during this time Marcus decided to continue the project on his own.

From 1997 to 2004 Ancient Wisdom recorded and released three other albums: The Calling (1997), ...and the Physical Shape of Light Bled (2000) and Cometh Doom, Cometh Death (2004), before entering a hiatus seventeen-year long.

A Celebration in Honor of Death, the fifth full length album from Ancient Wisdom and their comeback after such a long time, displays a dismal and more sinister side of this Swedish entity that has been spreading its darkness since 1992. 7 tracks of the purest death worship, draped in haunting melodies and an atmosphere reeking of broken coffins and graveyard dust.

Colored vinyl LTD - etched D side

It has been 17 years, but finally the time has come for the reaper to wield his scythe once again. Ancient Wisdom is the musical alter ego of Marcus E. Norman, veteran of the Swedish black metal scene and member of Naglfar and Bewitched. To us, not only he means one of the best cult acts of the ’90s and early ’00s, but also one of the first artists to find a home under the Avantgarde Music banner, back in 1993.

Formed by Norman in Umeå, Sweden, under the name Ancient in 1992 as a full band, Ancient recorded their demo tape In the Eye of the Serpent. In 1993 the name was changed into Ancient Wisdom, and in December the second demo tape Through Rivers of the Eternal Blackness was recorded, after which the band signed a record deal with Avantgarde Music. In December 1994 the debut album For Snow Covered the Northland was recorded, but due to some technical errors it was not released until 1996, and during this time Marcus decided to continue the project on his own.

From 1997 to 2004 Ancient Wisdom recorded and released three other albums: The Calling (1997), ...and the Physical Shape of Light Bled (2000) and Cometh Doom, Cometh Death (2004), before entering a hiatus seventeen-year long.

A Celebration in Honor of Death, the fifth full length album from Ancient Wisdom and their comeback after such a long time, displays a dismal and more sinister side of this Swedish entity that has been spreading its darkness since 1992. 7 tracks of the purest death worship, draped in haunting melodies and an atmosphere reeking of broken coffins and graveyard dust.

With their seventh full-length entitled "Narkissos", FORTÍÐ have finally delivered a masterpiece that should easily make it into the top part of those end of the year lists. The Icelandic trio has not even changed much, they are just doing everything even better than before. FORTÍÐ forge melodic riffing from black, death, thrash, and heavy metal threads into one sharp weapon. The Icelanders don't care about any particular genre, but focus entirely on writing excellent songs. As a result "Narkissos" features nine catchy and fiery metal anthems. FORTÍÐ determined the musical coordinates of their long journey with the ambitious "Völuspá" album trilogy, which was released from 2003 to 2010. Their early combination of harsh black and death metal riffing with a pinch of thrash and a penchant for epic melodies, versatile vocals as well as a heavy dose of "Icelandic sound" was continuously refined on the acclaimed "Pagan Prophecies" (2012) full-length and the following "9" (2015) album. With the dark and deadly "World Serpent" (2020), FORTÍÐ charted the current course that led via the two-track EP "Dómur um dauðan hvern" (2022) straight to "Narkissos". Lyrically, FORTÍÐ remain on an Old Norse and pagan course. Guðmundsson has woven a yarn in a Nordic context about a character with the so-called narcissistic personality disorder that runs as a red thread through "Narkissos". FORTÍÐ present a contemporary metal album that is both musically and lyrically taking the Icelanders to a new peak, and by firmly placing substance over style will find its audience.

700 copies on black vinyl 
Includes A2 poster, lyric insert and 12x12cm sticker

Near Mint / Near Mint