DISTRIBUTION HAMMER
AXIS
Germany SEASON OF MIST
France CODE 7 / PHD
UK DISPLEASED
Belgium
The Netherlands
Luxenbourg VIC-SOLUM
Sweden MASTERPIECE
Italy THE END
USA
Canada NON-STOP MUSIC
Switzerland SOUNDFORGE
Greece
I,
VOIDHANGER RECORDS OBSCURE
METAL UNDERGROUND RECORD LABEL
Thanks to all those who bought the YSENGRIN and ÆVANGELIST vinyls so
far, all the orders have been shipped!
Out now: ÆVANGELIST"Nightmare Flesh Offering"
EP 7"
ÆVANGELIST's latest release is a 7" EP
on black vinyl, strictly limited to 250 copies and never to be repressed.
Comes housed in a luxurious gatefold sleeve with Seeming Watcher's
artwork, shown above in all its terrifying splendour.
YSENGRIN's most brilliant jewel is finally
available on black vinyl, limited to 100 copies only! Comes
with a beatiful A3 poster, with new art on one side and lyrics on the
other side. Specifically mastered for vinyl by Daniel Lowndes at
Resonance Studio, UK.
"...a sprawling, single track
of an album with a sound that has been billed as 'hermetic dark metal',
but in real terms is a more technical cross between early Paradise Lost,
Disembowelment, the occult edge of Death SS, and early Rotting Christ.
There is so much to admire..."
ZERO TOLERANCE
"A slow to mid-paced heavy metal backbone is complemented by half-muffled
growls that add a certain wretched quality to the music, which is, in
essence, very melodic, exercising captivating waves of simple riffs
coupled with minimal keyboard work and sparse acoustic guitar interludes
to which the aforementioned death-like deep vocals add another dimension
of mystical left-hand practice."
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
"...the Frenchmen also incorporate variation in the form of pure old
school death and black metal breaks, not to mention some wicked,
straight heavy/doom riffs that erupt into sheer headbanging pleasure.
Beyond that, there are beautiful passages of classically-inflected clean
guitars, backing synthesizers and organs set up sparsely at just the
right joints in the album's framework to intensify its exotic, morbid
and soul sucking affectations (...) A spellbinding,
atmospheric success for I, Voidhanger."
FROM THE DUST RETURNED
MAY
2013 ______________________________________________________________
We're pleased to announce that the SPECTRAL
LORE / MARE COGNITUM concept-album is currently at the pressing
plant, scheduled for a late June release!Titled "Sol", it offers
3 majestic tracks of cosmic ambient/black metal. The tracking list:
1.
MARE COGNITUM - Sol Ouroboros (29:10) 2.
SPECTRAL LORE - Sol Medius (25:53) 3.
MARE COGNITUM / SPECTRAL LORE - Red Giant (14:24)
"Sol" will be
available as a noble 4-panel digipack, with a 8-page booklet
complete with lyrics.
Below,
the very first "Sol" review, written by Autothrall of the eminent
webzine
FROM THE DUST RETURNED:
There certainly
exists a pantheon of 'great' split recordings throughout the
expanded metalverse, but normally the format presents me with a bit
of a quandary. Are these just two or more bands of the same genre
being haphazardly slapped together? Because they are friends? Pen
pals? Are they covering one another? Was this just a label's idea
with a few favors being called in? It's not really my favorite means
of ingesting music, but once in a while there will come a team-up
which seeks to further the medium by providing a cohesive and
consistent experience that feels more like a direct collaboration,
and Sol is just such an experience, a dramatic and
emotionally ebullient immersion into cosmic, atmospheric black metal
that persists for 70 fucking minutes...
I was actually familiar going into this recording with both of the
constituent artists. Spectral Lore's latest full-length
Sentinel was a game changer among Greek black metal works, and
though my reaction to Mare Cognitum's sophomore An
Extraconscious Lucidity was more reserved, I still appreciated
the potential here for a usurper to the ambient/black throne of
fellow Californians Leviathan and Xasthur. Both are
one man acts, which might have helped them ease this into a singular
experience; for while you'll pick up a few of the distinct traits of
each artist, they've done a superb job here of unifying their
songwriting into a seamless expression of otherworldly resonance
interjected with spurts of incendiary metallic techniques like blast
beats, wretched star-extinguishing snarls and roiling, tremolo
picked rhythm guitars which do not belie their Scandinavian
influences (Emperor, etc). Synthesizers and soundscapes are
in abundance, as one might have predicted, and they're used for both
melodic lines to enhance the other instruments, and cosmic waves of
careening harmony that thrive on their lonesome.
What I found interesting was the sequence here, with each act
contributing a nearly 30 minute track, and then pairing up for
shorter, purely ambient finale "Red Giant" which is structurally the
simplest of the three, but no less poignant or brilliant. "Ouroboros"
and "Medius" each have a lot more dynamic architecture to them, and
are quite intimidating, but it was this last, soothing track that
truly gelled over the experience. That said, both Jacob and Ayloss
prove themselves independent forces with myriad instrumental skills,
shifting riff formations that mirror their respective solo works. "Ouroboros"
is slightly more substantial, with wider contrasts of calm and
intensity that fluctuate between black and death metal progressions;
while "Medius" has a lot more of that harmonic discharge and raw
intensity to the guitars which is redolent of Sentinel,
though undeniable a more ambitious format. The production felt a
little cleaner for the first tune, but apart from that it would be
impossible to choose a favorite, since they complement one another
so well...like stars streaking in tandem through a nebula of loss
and regret.
Admittedly, not all of the individual riffs were that inspirational,
which is why it is so crucial that they balanced in the clouds of
murk and void atmosphere; but there were certainly some uplifting
moments in which the guitars, vocals and arrangements erupted into a
glorious crescendo like an astral leviathan rising out of some
spiral galaxy. Star-whales striding the space-lanes, mother fucker!
The compositions aren't quite so nihilistic as something like
Darkspace, instead balancing a brightness or celestial bodies
against the suffocating vacuum between them, but that's exactly why
I enjoyed this so much, because at each intersection I could never
guess precisely where the floods of notes were going, and its held
up for over four full listens as of this review, a laborious love
letter to a universe which will has birthed us as surely as it will
crush us.
[8,75 out of 10]
Above, Seeming Watcher's cover art for the
upcoming ÆVANGELIST's 7" EP, "Nightmare Flesh Offering",
featuring 2 brand new tracks exclusive to this release:
Side A:
Nightmare Flesh Offering
(5:37) Side B:
Glyph Of Immeasurable Darkness
(5:09)
The "Nightmare Flesh Offering" 7" will come in
a gatefold sleeve with expanded inside artwork. Strictly limited to 250
copies. Out in late June/early July 2013.
APRIL
2013 ______________________________________________________________
We are extremely proud to announce the signing
of MOSAIC, an experimental black metal vision of the sole member
Inkantator Koura (ALCHEMYST, SEREMONI).
Guided by his interest in Magick, Universe,
Stars, Surrealism, Art, Khaos and Mythology, Inkantator Koura
estabilished MOSAIC in 2004-2006, and since then he has composed 4 hours
of music for private use and personal satisfaction. Over the years, only
part of those recordings filtered through Koura's archives, taking the
shape of two split 7" EPs with Alchemyst and Anti, released by Iron
Bonehead and Amor Fati respectively. Now, MOSAIC's amazing music is
going to be perfected, re-recorded and compiled in an album, "...Of
The Fallen One", that we will have the pleasure to release on CD
format in the coming months.
Take notice that both MOSAIC and
ALCHEMYST are currently working on exclusive songs to be featured on
a concept compilation-album to be announced later. For now, we can only
anticipate that our project involve other IVR artists like ÆVANGELIST,
SERPENT ASCENDING and YSENGRIN, as well as some of the
best death/black metal bands out there... Stay tuned for more info.
In the meantime, check
MOSAIC's Facebook page and get a copy of "Landscapes", the beautiful
ANTI/MOSAIC split gatefold 7" EP recently released by our friends at
Amor
Fati Prod.
We congratulate ÆVANGELIST on their
recent signing with Debemur Morti Productions. The band will however
keep on working with our label. In May we will reveal the cover art for
the upcoming "Nightmare Flesh Offering" 7" EP, once again
provided by Seeming Watcher. We have also hired the mighty
Rafal
Wechterowicz to create an original piece of art for the first
official ÆVANGELIST tshirt! Rafal is a very talented artist and has
already worked with bands like Mastodon, Slayer, Down, Metallica, Iron
Maiden, and many others. Both 7" and shirt are planned for an early June
release.
In case you wonder, there's going to be some
delay in the vinyl release of YSENGRIN's "To Endotaton". We are
still waiting for the factory to send us the test pressings. Once they
are approved, this cult dark metal gem will see the light of day once
again.
NAR MATTARU are putting the final
touches on their next album, out later this year. An interview (short
and to the point) with bassist/guitarist Francisco Bravo is now
available at the
Damned By Light webzine.
MARCH
2013 ______________________________________________________________
At last, the long awaited preview from "CONVERGE, RIVERS OF HELL",
the monumental concept album dedicated to the cursed water streams of Hades,
featuring MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY, THE CREVICES BELOW and
TEMPESTUOUS FALL!
Here's the opening track, "Charon",
THE CREVICES BELOW's homage to the hellish ferryman who carries the
souls of the deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron...
