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DOUBLE DISC EDITION OF SIGH’S 1997 RELEASE OF ECLECTIC DARK & ATMOSPHERIC METAL, NOW ON PEACEVILLE. WITH NEW AUDIO MASTER, EXTENSIVE EXTRA MATERIAL & BOOKLET CONTAINING AN INTERVIEW WITH MIRAI KAWASHIMA.

Japanese black metal legends Sigh formed in 1989/1990. The genre-classic debut ‘Scorn Defeat’ followed on Euronymous’ Deathlike Silence Productions in 1993 & with each subsequent release, Sigh grew to become one of the country’s greatest & most revered metal exports. With a journey through the strange & the psychedelic, incorporating a whole eclectic mix of genre styles & experimentation throughout their career, Sigh has remained a vital creative force in the avantgarde field whilst maintaining their old school roots, as witnessed with the stellar 2022 album, ‘Shiki’. 2025 also saw Sigh reimagining their ‘Hangman’s Hymn’ album for a release on Peaceville as part of the band’s 35th anniversary celebrations, in the shape of ‘I Saw The World’s End: Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV’.

Maintaining the core trio of Mirai Kawashima, Shinichi Ishikawa & Satoshi Fujinami & on the back of the epic & darkly symphonic opus ‘Infidel Art’ (1995), Sigh adopted a more boundary-defying approach to their writing, whilst still keeping the dark foundations & traits of the band’s fundamental sound. The result was ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’ which surfaced in 1997 & draped in Eastern & horror-based atmospherics, the band also embraced elements outside of metal with what was their most experimental offering to date; utilising instruments such as the saxophone as well as acoustic passages & notoriously drawing comparisons to the moods of bands such as The Beatles at times, featuring catchy hooks & structures in line with the rock music genre, but masterfully woven into Sigh’s unique blackened metal tapestry.

Continuing with Peaceville’s re-issues of Sigh’s classic early ( & until now, hard to find) works, this edition of ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’ contains a new master created by Patrick Engel at Temple of Disharmony, featuring a new transfer from the original DAT source.

In addition to the original studio tracks, this special double-disc release contains an expansive selection of material from the time, from unreleased mixes of album tracks & rare cover songs, to the inclusion of the very rare ‘Funeral Theatre’ Promo tape created by Mirai Kawashima in 1995.

The release also includes a new interview with main-man Mirai Kawashima conducted by Dayal Patterson of Cult Never Dies, delving into the history & inspirations behind ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’.

Icons of goth and doom, PARADISE LOST will release their long-awaited, 17th album Ascensionon September 19th. The band’s first album in 5 years, following 2020’s critically acclaimed Obsidian, was produced by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh and mixed/mastered by Lawrence Mackrory. Ascension is a testament to the band’s longevity and relevance over their 35+ year career, encompassing their signature styles of gothic, death and doom fans have cherished along the way.

Ascension’s album cover fittingly features the painting The Court of Death (1870-1902) by renowned British artistGeorge Frederic Watts, which hangs in the ate Gallery in London. The painting depicts Death as an enthroned angel flanked by allegorical figures of Silence and Mystery guarding sunrise and the star of hope, while a warrior surrenders his sword and a duke his coronet, showing that worldly status offers no protection. The painting’s bleak, prophetic vision embodies Ascension’s dark, tormented soundscapes as mournful verses collide with dire, foreboding riffs

Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Few can claim a sonic watershed as readily as the Denver, Colorado quartet. At roughly 45 minutes, the two compositions that make up this album are as confounding as they are engaging in their scope, melding the 70's prog leanings of Tangerine Dream (whose Thorsten Quaesching appears on „The Stargate [Tablet II]”) with the deathly intent of Morbid Angel. Blood Incantation has already proven themselves, perfecting progressive death metal with 2019's Hidden History of the Human Race while branching out into exclusively synth-driven soundtrack territory with 2022's Timewave Zero. Now, with Absolute Elsewhere, which takes its title from the mid-70's prog collective (best known as a celestial stopover for King Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford), Blood Incantation are leaving the notion of genre behind and writing a new language for extreme music itself 

As with its predecessor, KANONENFIEBER’s second album “Die Urkatastrophe” is based on factual reports, letters and original documents from the surviving and deceased soldiers from the First World War. Its intent is not to glorify, because there is no glory in war. Everyone loses – their lives, their souls, their humanity. War is often depicted in an abstract way, through numbers and statistics. KANONENFIEBER aim to tell the stories of the nameless and the faceless in order to allow for a small glimpse of their personal horrors, and thereby the larger scale horror for mankind as a whole. KANONENFIEBER’s black and death metal isn’t meant to solely entertain, but also educate and raise awareness against the glorification of war. “Die Urkatastrophe” was recorded with Kristian Kohle (Powerwolf, Aborted, Benighted and many more) at Kohlekeller Studio, and features guitarist Maik Weichert of HEAVEN SHALL BURN on the song “Waffenbrüder”

Black Vinyl

Drawing from a wellspring of sinister musings and an incessant drive for musical experimentation, Iterum Nata presents “From the Infinite Light”, due for release by Nordvis on March 15, 2024.

In the wake of his critically acclaimed 2023 album, “Trench of Loneliness”, Jesse Heikkinen (The Abbey, Henget, ex-Hexvessel) embarks on a bold foray across the boundaries between folk music, black and doom metal, neo-folk, and progressive rock, orchestrating a symphony where every note is a harbinger of both darkness and light.

As twelve-string and six-string acoustic guitars weave a cloak of folky serenity, tremolo-picked electric guitars inject black metal mysticism, forging a sound that's as distinctive as it is immersive. Fusing the brooding narratives of Nick Cave, the avant-garde creativity of Dødheimsgard, and the spectral chants of Dead Can Dance, “From the Infinite Light” is a beckoning path into a world where the melancholy of introspection meets the rage of existence.

Classic jewel-case CD incl. 8 page booklet.

Trench of Loneliness” is the fourth album of Iterum Nata – a psychedelic folk-rock project by Finnish multi-instrumentalist Jesse Heikkinen. While the music is occasionally upbeat, the general atmosphere has more in common with neo-folk than Jesse’s former band: Hexvessel, for whom he played lead guitar for five years. All aspects of Iterum Nata are profoundly inspired by the pagan worldview, esotericism, and the dark regions of the human mind; the result is something that could easily pass as the bastard offspring of Rome, Tenhi, Of the Wand & the Moon, Linda Perhacs, Espers, and early King Crimson.

“Trench of Loneliness” was recorded at Studio Beyond North Star. With the exception of Hiski Pajuniemi’s appearance on tin whistle, Jesse handled everything – from the composition to tracking and mixing – entirely by himself.

Another wicked project released by the Ancient Records family....
a modern trademark for ultra-underground, spiritually ill, swedish black metal.
 

 

Certainly to be counted among the most talented and visionary contemporary metal musicians, GG sets COSMIC PUTREFACTION aside for a moment to give space to the sophomore release by VERTEBRA ATLANTIS, a project that sees him grappling with a progressive, dissonant and symphonic black/death metal, on the border between late EMPEROR and GORGUTS.
Accompanied by the excellent RR (drums) and GS (rhythm guitars), authors of a masterful performance, GG makes no secret of considering "A Dialogue With The Eeriest Sublime" the most complete and mature work he has released so far. The album is a large canvas on which the Italian musician has poured all his creative flair thanks to intense symphonic brushstrokes perfectly embedded in the geometric shapes evoked by his twisted black/death metal riffs, supported by an equally powerful rhythm section.