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For something to be “ecstatic,” the feelings and emotions it evokes must transcend what one tends to experience most regularly in their lives. Ecstatic joy isn’t just happiness; it’s a feeling of jubilation which impacts one emotionally and in a metaphysical, arguably spiritual sense too. Although it has long been associated with connotations of the dark and macabre, extreme music has the ability to be a powerful mode of expression for these feelings of absolute bliss, overwhelming love, and awe-inspiring sublimity. Extreme emotions no less and those which black metal quartet Agriculture evokes with its ecstatic subversion of the subgenre’s tropes.

What was initially a meeting and subsequent series of jam sessions between Kern Haug and Daniel Meyer, two musicians in the Los Angeles underground noise scene, would eventually manifest as a shared vision to portray the sublimity of the human experience through the vehicle of heavy music. Following the additions of veteran guitarist Richard Chowenhill and bassist / vocalist Leah Levinson to the band’s lineup, this idea would crystalize into the “ecstatic black metal” backbone of Agriculture’s music, first heard on the band’s 2022 debut EP, The Circle Chant.

With Agriculture’s self-titled record and first full-length LP, it’s abundantly clear that the band’s use of heavy music to showcase the most resplendent emotions and moments of the human experience has a far deeper meaning. Woven between the flurries of soaring tremolo picking, crescendoing guitar harmonies, celebratory screamed vocals, thoughtful improvisation, and meditative atmospheric passages is the record’s mission statement to experience the wonders and joys of both the esoteric and physical world.

Debut full-length album from Moribund Dawn! Mystical & Imperial Swedish style black metal praising Vinterland, Dawn, & Dissection. Recorded by Zach Rippy (Power Trip, Savage Necromancy) at Sound Signal Audio. Artwork by Neil Frianeza Catangay. Shrink-wrapped jewel case CD with deluxe silver foil-stamped slipcase

Debut full-length album from Moribund Dawn! Mystical & Imperial Swedish style black metal praising Vinterland, Dawn, & Dissection. Recorded by Zach Rippy (Power Trip, Savage Necromancy) at Sound Signal Audio. Artwork by Neil Frianeza Catangay. Shrink-wrapped jewel case CD with deluxe silver foil-stamped slipcase

Back in 2000, MYSTIC CIRCLE just reached their peak with the release of their third studio epic “Infernal Satanic Verses” and were rightly regarded as Germany's leading black metal band. In the summer after the millennium turn, MYSTIC CIRCLE followed up with the 5-track EP “Kriegsgötter II”, a compilation with cover versions of BATHORY, CELTIC FROST and ACHERON, and a new recording of their demo classic “Die Götter der Urväter”.

However, the founding line-up broke up and A. Blackwar left the band. Only his return in 2020 and the reunion with vocalist Beelzebub conjured up the spirit of that time again, resulting in the latest two new records “Mystic Circle” and “Erzdämon”. Now in 2025, “Kriegsgötter MMXXV” will be released as an extended new edition with 8 tracks, incl. the newly re-recorded IRON MAIDEN classic “Afraid To Shoot Strangers”, as well as the POSSESSED cover “Death Metal” and the soundtrack tune “Cry Little Sister” from the movie “The Lost Boys”.

On "Arete", NETHERBIRD return with their signature melodic black/death metal that has become their hallmark. It is deeply rooted in the Scandinavian underground legacy, yet delivered with a strong sense of feel and urgency, allowing these tracks to exude the confidence and songwriting prowess of a band at the peak of their craft. The album itself is the third installment of the trilogy that started on “The Grander Voyage” and continued on “Into the Vast Uncharted”. The journey has come to its completion with this album, where the very concept of Arete – the classic ideal of excellence – is scrutinized from various angles in these songs.

Expertly transitioning between atmospheric Black Metal, Celtic Folk, and traditional Scottish sounds – the wildly exploratory music of SAOR knows no limitations and seeks out every opportunity to expand on its potential. On the band’s third full-length ‘Guardians’, mastermind Andy Marshall channels the Caledonian spirit and landscape into beautiful and vigorous music.

For fans of WINTERFYLLETH, PANOPTICON, AGALLOCH

Sweden's black metal troll ARCKANUM return with his eighth opus, "Fenris Kindir"!! Equal parts ripping riffs and howled vocals from the edge of Ragnarok, "Fenris Kindir" expands on the darkness of "Helvitismyrkr" and finds ARCKANUM taking a battle axe to the world. Having emerged from the black metal underground, the bludgeoning brute force of the "Fenris Kindir" demands the respect and fear that plundering raiders from the North commanded centuries prior.
 

Tracklisting
Cold Landscapes
Downfall of the Epoch
Towards the Light
Twilight Aureole
The Day Will Come
Listening to the Silence