NWN

“Forbidden Doctrine of the Youthful Gate Demo 3” and “Shade of Darkness Casting… Demo 4” on one LP.

Pale Spektre is a brand-new creation among three entities. While those three individuals hail from other bands, Pale Spektre is indeed its own beast – a hungry, hideous one arising from the most feral depths of the black metal imagination. Their first public recording, Bereft of Xerotic Layers bursts forth with a bestial energy, but one far more animalistic (and even improvisatory) than conventional “bestial metal.” Indeed, the trio’s hulking attack seemingly strikes, swirls, and recoils of its own accord, creating a slipstreaming delirium that’s transcendental and tension-inducing in equal measure. The specter of primitive, barbaric DOOM is never far away – or rather, always in striking distance – as Pale Spektre pile high these jagged, coruscating layers…only to obliterate and rearrange them at will. The album’s seven-song/46-minute duration thus becomes a sanity-searing experience, and Pale Spektre emerge as altered beasts

Co-release with Amor Fati Limited to 500x copies.
350gsm jacket (reverse side print) + insert on 250gsm offset paper

Often overlooked in most reviews of early 1990s European death metal, Mystic Charm remains one of the more unique and intriguing acts from that era. Originally formed in 1989 by guitarist Herwig Schuiling and female vocalist Rini Lipman, the two began writing songs together and working with other various local musicians, but Mystic Charm’s lineup was not settled until early 1992 with the inclusion of bassist Gerlach Timmer and drummer Gerard van Assen. The band relentlessly rehearsed their original material and recorded a studio demo that year entitled “Endless Sickness.” At the time, Mystic Charm’s rehearsal space was located in a barn, but they were forced to relocate after the owner blamed the band’s loud music for miscarriages suffered by the horses. That same year, Mystic Charm entered Harrow Studios, where fellow Dutch death doom legends Asphyx recorded their early material. And though the comparisons to Asphyx are inevitable because of their common temporal and geographic origins, Mystic Charm’s sound was doomier and more melodic and ethereal. The band’s subtle usage and tasteful placement of keyboards further distinguished them from many of their contemporaries. The dense atmosphere of the music and Lipman’s raspy vocals yield a sound more akin to the burgeoning black metal scene, particularly early Samael. Any points of similarity between the two acts, however, were due to common influences, particularly Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. Owing to the studio production, “Endless Sickness,” despite being a demo, remains one of the strongest death doom recordings from the era. The demo earned the band a recording deal with the new Belgian label Shiver Records and, in 1993, the band released its first 7” EP, also recorded at Harrow, called “Lost Empire.” This new reissue collects together both the demo and EP, which have long been unavailable. Additionally, this new collection includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks—one live and one rehearsal recording.

Green Vinyl.

While the word “evil” is used in nearly every description or review of every metal record, in the case of Demoncy’s classic “Joined in Darkness” album, there is simply no more appropriate adjective to describe the sounds within. From the ominous intro track entitled “Hymn to the Ancients” to the melancholic chord progressions of “The Ode to Eternal Darkness,” this album distills evil into its most elemental forms. “Joined in Darkness” also stands out as one of the comparatively few highly successful albums written and executed by a lone musician. For Demoncy, that musician is the enigmatic entity known as Ixithra. While the vast majority of “one-man projects” fall limp, there are some, such as “Joined in Darkness”-era Demoncy, that achieve a sound every bit as powerful as could be attained by a full line up. It could convincingly be argued that the solitary nature of Demoncy lends to the desolate and alien atmosphere that “Joined in Darkness” evokes. Even the use of a drum machine on this album (before the drum machine became the subject of nearly universal derision) enhances the inhumanly cold feeling of the music. This is representative of Ixithra’s tendency to employ only the simplest tools, but to extract from them their maximum potential. The riffs and song structures, while basic, are executed with precision and exactness. The songwriting evinces a truly visionary ability to piece together instruments and riffs in a masterfully dark manner. Ixithra demonstrates his unique ability to generate fast, low-end minor key melodies that crash suddenly into walls of blackened doom on tracks such as “Winter Bliss” and “The Dawn of Eternal Damnation.” In doing so, “Joined in Darkness” emerges as a harrowing manifestation of the psychosis of possession–perfectly capturing the morbid ecstasy of blasphemic and profane wisdom in the service of infinite evil. “Joined in Darkness” has long been among the most highly regarded works of U.S. Black Metal. As such, this dismal opus should be easily available to all adherents of evil. NWN! is honored to present this new vinyl edition of this highly respected work and to continue the proliferation of Demoncy’s pernicious curses upon the pious.

The relationship between Abigail and NWN! goes back to the 2002 vinyl release of the band’s first album, “Intercourse and Lust.” Since that time, Abigail and NWN! have each mutated into different beasts; however, the relationship between these two forces has remained intact through the years. To honor the nearly 20 year legacy of Abigail, NWN! is proud to present this vinyl collection of some of the band’s earliest work. Along with pioneers Sabbat and Sigh, Abigail have long been recognized as among the most influential Black Metal bands to have emerged from beneath the banner of the Rising Sun. While, in recent years, Abigail has shifted its focus to a more depraved blackened thrash sound, the early work presented on this LP is pure Black Metal played in a manner that is harsh and hostile. This LP opens with the five Abigail tracks featured on the band’s 1995 split CD with Funeral Winds. This material, which has never before been released on vinyl, displays the characteristic wickedness that permeates all of Abigail’s work. These tracks are not merely excursions in sound, however. Each song stands out on its own and the work as a whole evinces a sophisticated level of composition and production. Side B of this LP contains the tracks from Abigail’s first two EP releases. Nearly impossible to find now, “Descending from a Blackened Sky” and “Confound Eternal” contain some of Abigail’s most powerful and blackened revelations. The 1993 “Descending from a Blackened Sky” EP, executed entirely by Yasuyuki, is a magnificent breath of annihilation. Guided by furious and relentless blast beats, Yasuyuki’s style on this EP is more harsh and raw than most of Abigail’s other work. Yet, as with all Abigail recordings, amid the chaos there are well-crafted riffs and song structures that draw the listener deep into the demonic frenzy of the songs.

Thundering forth with frenzied intensity, Montreal’s Profane Order return with their second full-length, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’. From its first moments, the record summons merciless blackened death metal soaked in the old blood of the 90’s trailblazers. The band’s first release with Nuclear War Now!, this latest release features seven tracks of rapid-fire aggression and bestial hostility.

Incubating slowly as the plague months passed, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’’ reveals a rearmed and retaliatory variant of the group. Pared down to a maniac core of two members, ILLUSORY (Spectral Wound) and OLCADÓIR (Skumstrike) invoke the dark gods of ancient black and death metal. Fans of Blasphemy, Demoncy, Beherit and the wildest excesses of Slayer will find fresh meat to feast on amid the record’s barbaric purity.

Packed with demented solos, seething vocals, and a pounding drum assault in the finest tradition of Canadian black/death metal, the album exhibits a violent and pitliless focus. As such, it represents a powerful and distinct follow-up to the band’s acclaimed 2019 debut record, ‘Slave Morality’ and 2017’s ‘Tightened Noose of Sanctimony’ EP, emitting pure hatred as the group shifts from one nightmarish era to the next.

Befitting the band’s most concentrated and corrosive material yet, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’ features artwork by the renowned Alex Shadrin of Nether Temple design (artwork for Morbosidad, Esoctrilihum, Tetragrammacide, and more). Acrid and reeking of disdain, this latest full-length from Profane Order offers a pitiless bludgeoning and bloodthirsty portent of further violence to come.

In the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, Brazil was like a Petri dish upon which grew, with bacterial rapidity, a particularly virulent strain of Deathrash that ushered in the first manifestations of South American Black Metal. In the early to mid-1980’s bands like Vulcano, Sarcofago, and Sepultura began to define a sound that has come to be distinctly associated with Brazil. Within the span of just a few years, a nucleus of bands playing this style quickly emerged, with each providing a variant on the bestial and primitive sound at the core of the Brazilian underground. As this rotten music festered in the sick corners of Brazil, it began to draw the attention of the international underground as bands such as Holocausto, Sextrash, Insulter, Chakal, and others unleashed their own warfare noise and a scene began to coalesce around them.
In 1987, a dark entity known as Necrofago was summoned into existence via the ominous incantations of vocalist/guitarist Deathvomit in association with Rotten on bass, Rotten Corpse on drums, and later joined by Post Mortem on guitar. Not to be confused with various other bands of the same name, this band came from Minas Gerais, Brazil. (Most notably, the Necrofago from Sau Paulo responsible for the “Desire for Blood” demo is often, despite the obvious sonic differences, mistakenly associated with the one from Minas Gerais.)
The entirety of Necrofago’s recorded legacy is encapsulated in their activities during the years 1897 and 1988 with the most important piece being their 1987 demo entitled “Brutal Mutilation.” One of the most unique sounding recordings to have come from the Brazilian scene, “Brutal Mutilation” exemplifies, unlike any other recording, the emphasis those bands placed upon harsh aggression and raw recording techniques. The demo sounds like the result of the potent collision of immense quantities cheap alcohol and inhalants in brains already awash in adrenaline and youthful testosterone. Lacking in nearly every category of technical proficiency, Necrofago focused their entire effort into creating a monument to savagery.
While the apparent ineptness of the playing may initially be off-putting to some listeners, those capable of suspending their need to generate order out of the chaos of the recording will find some of the most truly evil tracks committed to tape in the 1980’s. Even at the time of its release, the demo was well-received and found its way into the hands of some of the more legendary figures in the underground. When asked about Necrofago, Laruent Remadier of Decibel of Death Zine/Snakepit Magazine responded with the following: “Oh man! I recall Necrofago. I recall being in Morbid Angel house back in ’87 and having David mentioning them non-stop like Sarcofago.”
The guitars on the demo are brittle and sordid and rest uneasily atop the drums. The entire cacophonous mixture teeters on the brink of total collapse throughout each of the three tracks as the repetitious riffs, at times almost hypnotic, roil and churn. Deathvomit’s menacing vocals fill out the sound and add to the grotesque character of the music. Aside from the “Brutal Mutilation” demo, only a 1988 rehearsal demo and live recording from the same year exist to affirm the existence of Necrofago. These recordings are more obscure and ridden with even more impenetrable sound quality. Nonetheless, the vitriolic and intense nature of the playing is captivating.
Although these tracks have been bootlegged several times throughout the years, the band’s existence is still often overlooked, and, yet, their influence in the Brazilian scene was immense. This vinyl release marks the first time that these recordings have been officially reissued and will allow new legions to breathe in the foul death-odor emitted by Necrofago.

A storm from the east threatens to burst the united efforts of the Western Confederacy. In silent half crescent formation, Little Turtle and Blue Jacket command their military forces to the greatest indigenous victory in history!

Originally released in 2011 on the Tour de Garde label, Departure Chandelier’s demo recording, “The Black Crest of Death, the Gold Wreath of War,” was recorded in 2010, a year after “Antichirst Rise To Power,” the band’s recently released debut full-length completed in 2009. With slightly heavier production than the album—an intentional act by the band—this demo nevertheless achieves the same atmosphere, one defined by the inherent discord between the visceral body of the songs and the ornate melodies reflected in the poignant interplay of guitars and keyboards, in which one hears the influence of O.T.A.L. and Strid. Musically and conceptually, Departure Chandelier explore the dichotomous relationship connecting unbridled freedom and the concomitant lust for power with tyranny and despotism. “The Genius of France between Liberty and Death,” the late-18th century painting by Regnault, serves as the cover art and the entry point into the release. France appears depicted as an angel, poised, with arms outstretched between the enlightened figure of Liberty and the shrouded voyeur of Death – all three looming along the bloody path to the guillotine of the French Revolution. Internalized in Departure Chandelier’s music is the tension between these contradictory states, and the recognition of the sinister need for opposing forces, held in precarious equipoise, but always pulled to the dark and imbalanced side of the scales. The shadow of the Marquis de Sade—a counterpoint to the Emperor Napoleon—looms over Departure Chandelier’s demo. The superimposition of Sade and Napoleon—both from noble families, both participated in the revolution, and both perished in state ordered incarceration—the dialectic exploration of tyranny and freedom, of libertine sadism—is at the heart of Departure Chandelier’s “Napoleonic War Black Metal.” Usurping the waning power of the divine, clutched in the hands of man, Sade, untethered by moral dogma, indulged his boundless destruction of morality. As his writings turned criminal, Sade drew the ire of Napoleon, who ordered his arrest. The aristocrat-philosopher as prisoner resisted justice until his demise. And yet, whether sequestered behind the stone walls of the Bastille or condemned to Charenton Asylum, de Sade’s corruption still bloomed; loyal to his philosophy, his beliefs remained unaltered. “The Black Crest of Death, the Gold Wreath of War” forms an essential piece of the Departure Chandelier discography, and, as such, is made widely available again with this reissue.

Abigail was formed as a three person band in January 1992. Original members are Yasuyuki(Bass and Vocals), Youhei(Drums), Yasunori(Guitars). I wanted to play black metal like Bathory, Sodom, Hellhammer, Darkthrone, Mayhem. So I asked Youhei, a friend from school who was into Slayer to play drums. I recruited Youhei’s friend Yasunori to play guitar. I had already written some guitar riffs and the three of us headed into rehearsal right away. We rehearsed twice a week in the local studio. Songs came together quickly. Grotesque nightmare, Death of life, The fire of hell, Lucifer sings. They were typical primitive black metal songs: just power chords, no development. I was satisfied these songs. We decided to do a recording for promo tape at the third rehearsal. This is our official first promo tape. We recorded it on cassette recorder. This promo tape used for promotion to overseas. I played the tape to Mirai of Sigh first. He was delighted. He invited us to do a gig in August and We booked Harajuku Los Angels for 7th August 1992. The gig would be called “Evildoom.” We played together with Transgressor, Necro-E, Gore Beyond Necropsy. It’s this performance that is on the this record. I think there were about 80 people there. The audience was stunned. It was the first time they’d seen black metal live, it was probably their first black metal gig. We only had four original songs. We played Bathory and Sodom covers. That was 30 years ago now. Listening to it now is embarrassing. But We had incredible power. It’s just not possible to perform like that anymore. We recorded our first demo in June to hand out at the gig that day. After that, we continued to rehearse every week. This LP rehearsal material we recorded is from after our first gig. The performance came out better than the first promo tape. We recorded Sodom cover as well, which is the same even now. After that, our performance techniques improved, and our music evolved into a black thrash metal style. Anyway, enjoy the our catastrophic black metal sounds. This is Eastern black metal yakuza!
-Yasuyuki/Abigail

“Dripping Papal Blood” is the secret unreleased second demo
recorded a decade ago in 2010, in the band’s now shuttered ‘The Prisoner’s Chant…’ studio which rested at ground level across from the oldest cemetery in New York and rumored to be haunted.
This demo brings to life the complex and fierce rivalry between Emperor Napoleon and the Pope Pius VII. Napoleon went as far as to have Pope Pius VII placed in confinement.
Despite the Antichrist’s repugnancy of the papacy, Napoleon knew he still needed the symbolic authority of the church during his unprecedented self-coronation (referred to by the band as ‘ascension to accipitridae!’ – the classification of predatory birds of prey).
With the appointment of the cruel Cardinal Fesch (a relative of the emperor) after the Antichrist’s coup d’etat of 18 brumaire, Napoleon gave Fesch orders to persuade the pope to attend Napoleon’s coronation, only later to be stripped of religious power and cast out of the diocese upon defiance of Napoleon’s inflexible attitude toward the church. Fesch later died in Rome surrounded by his masterpiece art collection rumored to be pillaged and later bequeathed in his will.
Always through the lens of black metal and Nostradamus’ prediction of the arrival of the Antichrist, ‘dripping papal blood’ intrudes into the interplay and triple-crossing corruption between Napoleon, the Church and his own art-plundering family members appointed through nepotism to the diocese.

Blue Colored Vinyls.

Nuclear War Now! Productions is once again proud and honored to continue its longstanding relationship with the incomparable Sabbat in releasing the American vinyl reissue of the band’s debut full-length masterpiece, “Envenom.” This release is the latest product of a working relationship between band and label that spans almost fifteen years and appropriately follows up on the 2014 “Sabbatical Earlyearslaught” box set, which resurrected the material recorded under the monikers of the band’s prior incarnations as well as Sabbat’s classic first five seven-inch EPs, two demos, live/rehearsal recordings, and a rough mix of this same album. Originally released on CD by Evil Records in 1991, “Envenom” represented the culmination of work and dedication to the band’s craft that founding members Gezol and Elizaveat had initiated in the early 1980s and carried through multiple band name and lineup changes over the course of nearly a decade. In retrospect, the album also marks a significant transition in the band’s long history, as it is both the first studio recording that includes current drummer Zorugelion and the final significant recording that features longtime guitarist and songwriter Elizaveat. The music on the album heavily bears the hallmark of Elizaveat’s role as a songwriter and musician, as the songs within are clearly characterized by a combination of influences from bands like Iron Maiden and others from the NWOBHM movement that typified Elizaveat’s songwriting throughout the course of Sabbat’s formative years. Songs such as “Devil Worship” borrow notably from the NWOBHM recipe book with multiple, contagious riffs and copious doses of laser-sharp guitar leads. At the same time, there is also a pervasive element of darkness throughout, which would logically lead one to consider this a prime example of first wave black metal. Elizaveat’s important authorship role notwithstanding, Gezol’s own songwriting inclinations manifest themselves in higher-tempo, thrash-oriented tracks such as “Eviler” and “Carcassvoice.” Additionally, Gezol’s adeptness as a bassist is particularly salient on songs like “Deathtemptation,” in which he is not simply content to mimic the guitar lines or root notes of each chord, but rather he plays the instrument like a lead guitar with flourishes that at times rival the guitars for the listener’s attention. Perhaps equally striking is his vocal performance, which is noticeably deeper, throatier, and more possessed than it tended to be on earlier recordings. Also present are his trademark double-tracked vocal lines in both the aforementioned low-register pharyngeal growls and higher-pitched, cacophonous incantations. In a foreshadowing of many recordings to come, this album also presents Elizaveat’s successor on guitar, Temis Osmond, who was invited by Elizaveat himself to contribute the solo on “Deathtemptation” in addition to the keyboard instrumentals “Bewitch” and “Reminiscent Bell.”
Although “Envenom” has been reissued several times on a variety of formats since its original CD pressing on Gezol’s own Evil Records, this current version made available to the American market has gone a step further in enhancing the audio and reproducing the visual aesthetic of the original to the greatest extent possible. With the goal of maximizing the sound quality for an album of this length, the track order was rearranged by Gezol himself in order to be pressed on three sides of a double-LP. The fourth side of the vinyl boasts a screen-printed image of the same iconic Elizaveatian artwork that also adorns the cover. Every attention to detail was given to ensure that the layout represented the Evil CD version as faithfully as possible, from the blue ink on black background to the rotated ‘e’ in the title on the cover, which harkens back to Gezol’s painstaking effort in using rub-on letters on the original layout. In sum, this release ensures that the first album in Sabbat’s historic discography is properly immortalized for the legions of the band’s zealous fanatics, and it serves as a harbinger of more Sabbat album reissues to come from NWN! in the coming months.

Seeping with an ominous grandiosity, the sole Lord Kaos album “Thorns of Impurity” is truly a forgotten relic in the pantheon of 90s symphonic black metal. Behind the morose keyboards and rigor mortis burdened drumming lies the key to Lord Kaos’ sound – guitarist Jamie “Astennu” Stinson. Before the release of “Thorns of Impurity”, Astennu migrated to Norway, through his connection to Slayer Mag’s Metalion, in order to record his solo project Carpe Tenebrum at the legendary Creative Studios. While in Norway he would join Dimmu Borgir and Covenant in the midst of a very successful era in both bands’ respective careers. Though the records he would record for those acts and his solo project have garnered fans worldwide, “Thorns of Impurity” has remained an underground classic. Astennu’s razor sharp riffing, alongside the superb musicianship of fellow bandmates Incubus and Lord of Night Summoning added a new dimension to the cosmos of Australian black metal. Though Australia isn’t known for its frost bitten mountaintops, the unforgivingly ice cold atmosphere of this album is a testament to the imperishable vision of Lord Kaos. The time has finally come to enter the Hall of Shadows!

Burning Winds is a highly productive solo Black Metal concern of one Necrodan, owner of Necromantic Productions. Burning Winds rose from the ashes of First of the Fallen in 1997 and released their demo tape in 1999 limited to only 66 copies. Influences include Kreator, Sodom, Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, Beherit, Blasphemy, Necrovore, Profanatica. Altar of the Goat demo was released in 2001 recorded in 2 days on Necromantic Productions limited to 100 copies, Blessed by Hell demo was released in 2002 on Satan’s Millennium Records from the Netherlands limited to 200 copies recorded 10/13-31/01. Nocturnal Evil split 7″ EP from 2010 on Baphometal Productions limited to 300 copies is the only Burning Winds release that was recorded with 2 session members one being Nunrapist (Wind of the Black Mountains, Masochist) on drums and Lord Klopek (Vladislas) backing vocals. The Misanthropy/Burning Winds/Kerberos – Where Darkness Reigns 3 way Split pro-printed booklet & on-CD printing. Co-released by Goat Productions, Necromantic Productions & Satan’s Millennium Productions limited to 333 copies released in 2003. All releases are recorded using 1 microphone on a analog 4-track recorder using cassette tapes to keep the sound raw and underground the way Black Metal was meant to be.

In the late 1980s, the former Czechoslovakia was an incubation chamber for some of the most unique and expressive extreme metal ever produced. Coinciding with the rise of death and black metal, the demise of Communism produced a fertile scene of disaffected youth eager to embrace these new radical modes of expression. By the end of the Communist era, the Iron Curtain had become culturally porous, permitting the influx of art and music from the West that catalyzed underground movements in Eastern Bloc countries. Filtered through a youth movement still shaking off the hangover of authoritarian policies, cultural isolation, and the promotion of Soviet values, the sights and sounds of the early Czech scene were unlike those emanating elsewhere in European. While bands such as Master’s Hammer and Root are widely heralded now as progenitors of Czech black metal, a lesser known contemporary act called DAI fully embodied the same approach. The four demos collected on this double LP were recorded between 1989 and 1992, a transitional period for Czech society. Like the aforementioned bands, DAI’s early recordings were primitive in some respects but displayed an idiosyncratic approach to black metal that sets them apart. And these demos by one of the most obscure Czech acts to emerge during black metal’s second wave should be every bit as revered as the early recordings of Master’s Hammer, Root and others.

After releasing a series of demos between 1989 and 1992, DAI received an offer to record a full-length album for the Czech label, Monitor Records. Started a few years earlier, Monitor was extremely prolific, mostly focusing on Czech rock and punk bands, but it ventured into metal with releases such as the “Ultrametal” compilation in 1990, “Ritual” by Master’s Hammer in 1991, and various thrash bands such as Debusterol, V.A.R., and Krabathor. By 1993, Monitor was the preeminent label for extreme music in the newly formed Czech Republic, working with other significant bands like Torr and Root. DAI entered the studio in the summer of 1992 to record what would be the band’s only full-length release, the monumental album “The Advent.” Released in 1993 on CD and tape, “The Advent” is wildly eccentric. As if viewing the death and black metal produced in northern and western Europe through some kaleidoscopic distortion, DAI produced a uniquely unconventional work, the oblique sensibilities of which rivaled the contemporaneous works of Master’s Hammer. Indeed, had DAI continued releasing music, the two bands would likely occupy similar stations in the history of black metal. Instead, following the release of “The Advent,” DAI disappeared, leaving behind a concise but distinctive catalog. And given the extreme rarity of the demos, few people outside of the former Czechoslovakia likely ever heard the demos preceding the album. Consequently, DAI mostly remained an obscure curiosity known primarily to collectors. This new edition marks the first reissue of “The Advent” since its initial release almost 30 years ago, as well as the first ever vinyl edition. This new version also features five previously unreleased studio tracks, which are among the band’s most experimental.

Mystifier’s status as one of the most celebrated and respected black metal bands ever to have risen from the Brazilian underground is unchallenged. The band’s recorded works extend back over thirty years to 1989, when the “Tormenting the Holy Trinity” demo was released. During the course of the ensuing four years, Mystifier recorded and released the “T.E.A.R. (The Evil Ascension Returns)” EP, the “Aleister Crowley” demo, and its first two full-lengths, “Wicca” and “Göetia.” Each of these recordings documents the incremental steps that the band undertook in developing the infernal sound that it eventually perfected with the release of its second album. In reissuing these seminal recordings on all conventional formats, Nuclear War Now! is honored to resume the unholy alliance with Mystifier that was first established in 2008 with the release of the “Baphometic Goat Worship” vinyl box set. Commencing with the CD release of “Wicca,” this new campaign of Mystifier reissues, to which the copyrights have been secured by NWN!, promises to keep these essential recordings available indefinitely.

Thundering forth with frenzied intensity, Montreal’s Profane Order return with their second full-length, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’. From its first moments, the record summons merciless blackened death metal soaked in the old blood of the 90’s trailblazers. The band’s first release with Nuclear War Now!, this latest release features seven tracks of rapid-fire aggression and bestial hostility.

Incubating slowly as the plague months passed, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’’ reveals a rearmed and retaliatory variant of the group. Pared down to a maniac core of two members, ILLUSORY (Spectral Wound) and OLCADÓIR (Skumstrike) invoke the dark gods of ancient black and death metal. Fans of Blasphemy, Demoncy, Beherit and the wildest excesses of Slayer will find fresh meat to feast on amid the record’s barbaric purity.

Packed with demented solos, seething vocals, and a pounding drum assault in the finest tradition of Canadian black/death metal, the album exhibits a violent and pitliless focus. As such, it represents a powerful and distinct follow-up to the band’s acclaimed 2019 debut record, ‘Slave Morality’ and 2017’s ‘Tightened Noose of Sanctimony’ EP, emitting pure hatred as the group shifts from one nightmarish era to the next.

Befitting the band’s most concentrated and corrosive material yet, ‘One Nightmare Unto Another’ features artwork by the renowned Alex Shadrin of Nether Temple design (artwork for Morbosidad, Esoctrilihum, Tetragrammacide, and more). Acrid and reeking of disdain, this latest full-length from Profane Order offers a pitiless bludgeoning and bloodthirsty portent of further violence to come.

In the late 1980s, the former Czechoslovakia was an incubation chamber for some of the most unique and expressive extreme metal ever produced. Coinciding with the rise of death and black metal, the demise of Communism produced a fertile scene of disaffected youth eager to embrace these new radical modes of expression. By the end of the Communist era, the Iron Curtain had become culturally porous, permitting the influx of art and music from the West that catalyzed underground movements in Eastern Bloc countries. Filtered through a youth movement still shaking off the hangover of authoritarian policies, cultural isolation, and the promotion of Soviet values, the sights and sounds of the early Czech scene were unlike those emanating elsewhere in European. While bands such as Master’s Hammer and Root are widely heralded now as progenitors of Czech black metal, a lesser known contemporary act called DAI fully embodied the same approach. The four demos collected on this double LP were recorded between 1989 and 1992, a transitional period for Czech society. Like the aforementioned bands, DAI’s early recordings were primitive in some respects but displayed an idiosyncratic approach to black metal that sets them apart. And these demos by one of the most obscure Czech acts to emerge during black metal’s second wave should be every bit as revered as the early recordings of Master’s Hammer, Root and others.

CD with Obi.

Venusberg Cardinal’s Atlas of Dungeons was recorded winter 2010—the same sessions as Departure Chandelier’s Antichrist Rise to Power and was intended as a brother project exploring medieval and ancient tortures depicted across such paintings as The Garden of Earthly Delights and the doom of pre-Raphaelite Greek mythology in what the band describes as “antique black metal.” Originally set for release as a cassette album, this has been pulled from the archives of Occult Antiquities and presented to judged souls now under the banner of NWN! Productions. Musically in line with French black metal influences, Atlas of Dungeons pays special tribute and honors the perverse satanic cruelty, in particular of Cantus Bestiae. Despite using the same 4-track, drums, and guitars as Departure Chandelier in the now fabled Prisoner’s Chant studio, listeners will find a pure minimalist black metal atmosphere devoid of synth with long, hypnotic instrumental passages—until the alarming and eerie outro that features the previously unknown electronic/ambient peripheral of Departure Chandelier…Coronation Prédateur. Welcome, sinners, to the world of Occult Antiquities and antique black metal!

Raw and melodic black metal from the US. Released in conspiracy with Cultus Caliginous. First pressing of 300 copies.