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The heathens of Kampfar give us yet another black metal masterpiece, following up the success of Mare and Djevelmakt.
Jewelcase.

edizione in jewelcase

JEWELCASE EDITION 

CURRENT REPRESS

CD in jewel case

Carried on the brisk wind of eager rock, with foundations in black, thrash, doom and heavy metal, Astral Fortress is the 2022 album of stellar, eclectic old metal from the legendary Darkthrone.

With a seemingly endless dungeon full of heavy metal influences channelled through Darkthrone’s dynamic riff-machine, plus increasing inspirations taken from their own back catalogue, Darkthrone has become very much its own beast within the metal world. Though sprinkled with atmospheric touches, such as synthesisers and mellotron, the Darkthrone sound remains stripped to the core, primitive and organic.

Astral Fortress was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, the same location used for the Eternal Hails album, with Ole Øvstedal and Silje Høgevold.

From their formation back in 1986, to becoming one of Norways’s finest musical exports (with a number of highly revered black metal masterpieces released in the early 1990s helping to solidify their legacy), Darkthrone has continued to evolve and challenge in equal measure, throughout their illustrious recording career spanning over three decades. And now, the ever-productive duo of Nocturno and Fenriz continue their own metallic saga with a new selection of fine, vintage sounding headbanging classics in the making. 

Six panels digipak CD

Mike Lamb (Sojourner) and Heike Langhans (Sojourner, ex-Draconian) are back with their personal gothic/doom project, Remina. The duo’s sophomore album, The Silver Sea, will follow their 2022 debut Strata and will be released on October 24th 2025 on CD and digital, once again via Avantgarde Music. Here follows the band’s statement.

The Silver Sea was written over the three year period following the release of our debut album Strata, and it is the product of the changes we experienced as both a band and on a personal level.

Remina took to the stage for the first time in 2023, and through this process we got to spend a lot of time in beautiful northern Italy bringing to life live versions of our songs with our excellent live lineup. The process of seeing how our sound translated to a live setting ultimately impacted how we approached this album. We didn't want to deviate from our vision for the band or the sound, but we did incorporate a much more musically 'direct' approach in the way the songs were written this time around. This was helped massively by the excellent drum tracking of Shayne Roos, who lifted our original ideas to an entirely new level. We are also honored to be joined by guest vocal spots from two musicians we greatly look up to, Mick Moss of Antimatter (Algol) and Tony Dunn of Sgàile (Vanta Ray).

On a personal level, we were dealing with the decision of having to uproot our lives in Europe and move back to New Zealand to be closer to family. The weight of the decision to move across the world, so far from the lives we had built, was reflected in the overarching themes and atmosphere of the album. While each song deals with its own subject matter, there is an overarching story running throughout as an invisible thread tying the album together. 

Gatefold

Gatefold Double LP with golden UV spot laque and 16 pages booklet in 30x30cm with illustrations and lyrics.

3rd press on black vinyl

Gatefold DLP on black vinyl

For explanation: Because licence of the old record is not completely Ellendes, and additionally, all recordings were deleted by the former recording studio this is the only way that this album can be released again as a full re-recorded reinterpretation. Realized together with Markus Stock and Klangschmiede Studio E in 2023-2024. In our opinion this record hits the nail on the head. Packed with recent vitality and executed with refined abilities while also staying true to the atmosphere and devastation created in 2016.