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Mini album di debutto per questa band spagnola.

Black metal anni 90 in puro stile norvegese.

Cold e Raw.

The colour of every FEN album points towards its lyrical and musical content. For the first time in their career, the East Anglian post-black metal trio has used the colour red on the cover artwork of their seventh full-length "Monuments to Absence". FEN describe the album as an expression of anger, hopelessness and despair – anger at the desperate futility of a human species hell-bent on self-destruction. This is reflected in the decidedly harsh and black sound of "Monuments to Absence", which is undoubtedly FEN's most extreme recording to date, even though there are still moments of atmospheric glory, spatial clean sections, heaving doom, and full-blown riffs, which augment the furious expression of rage. FEN took their name from the Fens of East Anglia when the trio formed in 2006. These desolate and bleak landscapes have left a deep mark in the post-black metal sound, which the band pioneered in the UK when the English scene revitalised in the wake of forerunners FOREFATHER with bands such as FEN, WINTERFYLLETH, and WODENSTHRONE coming to the fore. When FEN released their debut full-length "The Malediction Fields" (2009), the band made good on the huge promise of their previous EP "Ancient Sorrow" (2007) by delivering a first album that already combined the black metal tradition elegantly with a dedicated atmospheric twist and gentle experimentation beyond the perceived narrow confines of their genre. With each following full-length, from "Epoch" (2011), via "Dustwalker" (2012), "Carrion Skies" (2014), "Winter" (2017) to "The Dead Light" (2019), FEN have expanded both their musical range and following, while also perfecting their recognisable and unmistakable sound. "Monuments to Absence" marks FEN's welcome return to a dark and fierce sound.

VEMOD are by no means an average band. The Norwegians exist in the liminal spaces and the crossroads of places. The trio has chiselled their sophomore full-length "The Deepening" from the same sonic granite that its predecessor "Venter på stormene" came from over a decade ago. This bedrock is found in Namsos, where VEMOD were conceived as a lifelong passion project at the turn of the century by then 12-year old Jan Even Åsli. The nearest big city is Trondheim where the fiercely individual local Nidrosian black metal scene, which refers to the city's original name, provided VEMOD with its first point of musical reference as embodied by the first demo "Kringom fjell og skog" (2004).

When the Norwegians reemerged seven years later with both the track "Moestæ Qverelæ" on a split-single and the demo "Vinterilden" in 2011, they had considerably changed. The trio had taken a step outside by strengthening elements that have already been present before: a sprinkle of the majesty reminding of early IN THE WOODS..., a dash of melancholia, and a knife tip of introvert contemplation among a wide range of emotional and vivid sonic imagery. VEMOD's musical transition finds comparable parallels in the development of French brothers-in-spirit ALCEST even though there was no direct influence flowing either way. In hindsight, the Norwegians also pioneered such currently popular styles such as blackgaze and post-black metal, although they never subscribed to either. With their debut full-length "Venter på stormene" just a year later in 2012, VEMOD opened their music to new places: A mind-blowing performance at the prestigious Beyond the Gates festival in 2013 and the legendary special show within the national treasure of the Vigeland Mausoleum at Oslo's Inferno Festival 2014 cemented VEMOD's excellent reputation even across the Atlantic.

Now, "The Deepening" arrives with a different production, which resulted in a changed overall tone compared to earlier works and the Norwegians also reached out and tapped into new stylistic strata adding further elements to their sound. Even the lyrical themes running through "The Deepening" tell of change, transience, transformation, and growth. "The Deepening" offers an opportunity to look past long held beliefs and comforting illusions. At the crossroads of VEMOD's second album at this point in space and time waits a deepening understanding of their musical world.

DYMNA LOTVA have many reasons to carry the torch of rebellion. The duo had to flee their native Belarus due to political persecution and attempts by the Lukashenka dictatorship to censure and suppress their art. On their third album, "The Land under the Black Wings: Blood" (original, not transcribed tile: "Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў"), DYMNA LOTVA continue to sing songs filled with grief and pain. The Belarusians have beautifully and powerfully enhanced their very personal style. With a solid base in black metal, but also taking many elements from doom as well as traditional music, the duo has moved beyond the post-black metal tag and created melancholic, haunting melodies that bear their unmistakable trademark and results in a unique emotional sound. DYMNA LOTVA base their lyrics on true tales from Belarus, which is filled with accounts of sorrow gleaned from historical archives or folklore, while new horrors are committed in their country every day. Composer Jauhien Charkasau and vocalist Katsiaryna "Nokt Aeon" Mankevich date the inception of DYMNA LOTVA to November 8, 2015.
The spark that ignited their musical fire was the news of Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. On the same day, the duo created their first song, which was inspired by the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe and released as a single entitled 'Самотны Чалавечы Голас' ("A Solitary Human Voice") in 2016. This was followed by DYMNA LOTVA's first full-length "The Land under the Black Wings: Swamp" (Зямля пад чорнымі крыламі: Дрыгва) in the same year. The debut album also formed the first part of a conceptual trilogy based on the duo's homeland. With their sophomore album, "Wormwood" (Палын), which is not part of the planned trilogy, DYMNA LOTVA returned to the topic of Chernobyl in 2017. In 2020, DYMNA LOTVA openly supported the protests against their country's dictator Lukashenka. In 2021, following a politically motivated trial of singer Lesley Knife, who was the guest vocalist on the latest single "To Freedom" (Да Волі), all the band's scheduled concerts were officially banned and they had to disband their live line-up. Vocalist Nokt Aeon was forced to leave the country to avoid arrest. The duo intended to reunite in Ukraine, but then Russia invaded the country. Two weeks after the outbreak of war, the singer finally escaped from the heavy fighting around the city of Irpin. Both musicians were later able to meet again in Poland. For DYMNA LOTVA the release of "The Land under the Black Wings: Blood" (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў) is also an act of defiance. Their music can be read in more than one way. By itself it is an extremely beautiful yet also a very painful piece of contemporary metal on the dark end of the spectrum with an audible Belarusian sound. Yet in a wider artistic context, DYMNA LOTVA unleash a furious and mournful cry for freedom and justice with “The Land under the Black Wings: Blood" (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў).

Official reissue on Peaceville

Darkthrone's legendary 1989 demo, including additional tracks from Bootleg TV (1989) and rare rehearsal tracks from 1990.

Darkthrone started in 1986 under the name of Black Death. Although becoming known the world over as a black metal band crucial to the lasting legacy of the genre, Darkthrone began more as an extreme metal band utilising elements of thrash, death and doom metal into their early compositions.

Cromlech was Darkthrone’s final demo release, before a deal was inked with Peaceville Records. The demo was recorded in 1989 with the line-up of Gylve Nagell (Drums), Ted Skjellum (Guitars/vocals), Ivar Enger (Guitars) and Dag Nilsen (Bass); a line-up which would remain in place for the revered Soulside Journey and A Blaze in the Northern Sky albums. 

As well as the iconic demo itself – containing tracks which would go on to form part of the Soulside Journey debut - this release also contains additional tracks from the Bootleg TV Oslo recordings in 1989, including a cover of Celtic Frost’s Visual Aggression. Also includes a trio of instrumental tracks from a rehearsal tape originally made for Peaceville founder Paul “Hammy” Halmshaw in 1990.

Vinyl with printed inner sleeve. Featuring the original Cromlech art/logo.

Doedsmaghird, the new project from Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez, the mind behind longstanding leaders of the Norwegian metal scene, Dødheimsgard, and esteemed French multi-instrumentalist and Dødheimsgard guitarist Camille Giradeau, will release their debut album Omniverse Consciousness, set for release on 11th October on Peaceville