CD

2CD hardcover artbook (18x18 cm, 36 pages), incl. lyrics and extended artwork (400 copies available)

FEN are climbing to a new artistic height by coming down to earth with their eighth full-length "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth". The East Anglian trio has turned to their 'roots' in every sense, by distilling the true essence of what constitutes their sound through everything that they have learned and added in the last two decades. While the previous album, "Monuments to Absence" (2023), was deliberately arranged dense, fast and intense, FEN decided to leave breathing space on this album to allow more time for themes and ideas to exhale and unfurl. Of course, there is still much sonic aggression but channelled differently as large parts of "Mourning Earth" were recorded live to allow an organic nature to flow, and to permit the natural rhythms of the pieces to develop. Lyrically, FEN sum up their basic idea behind "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth" in their own poetic words: "The morning mists clearing over the boggy expanses of the fens to reveal another grey, gloom-laden day of sorrow and regret. And at twilight, the slow, sad realisation that tomorrow promises only more of the same – tormented by the half-heard whispers of the spirits bound to the soils, our pain continues. And we can only endure." With "Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth", FEN have reached a new pinnacle in their exciting career and achieved a perfect balance between their black metal foundations and post-black metal innovations. FEN take their listener on a journey to grim bogs, languid waterways, and dismal fogs over bare rock – yet on the other side waits a sense of surcease to the endless existential ennui within.

FORSMÁN are a black metal band from Kópavogur, Iceland. After their debut EP "Dönsum í logans ljóma", the members — all only in their early twenties — have been working intensively on new material. Concrete news will follow soon, but the band’s direction is already clear: FORSMÁN (pronounced "fors-mown") stand in the line of modern Icelandic black metal associated with SVARTIDAUÐI, SINMARA, and MISÞYRMING, combining dense atmosphere with focused, forward-driving songwriting. Expect urgent riffing, decisive rhythms, and vocals that cut through a cold, enveloping haze. FORSMÁN are part of a new generation coming out of Iceland with a strong sense of identity, and anyone drawn to the country’s contemporary black metal sound should keep a close eye on what comes next.

For more than fifteen years, Nachtzeit has explored the atmospheric fringes of black metal through his main project, Lustre. Emerging in 2008, the one-man project quickly carved out a distinctive sound: minimalistic, lo-fi compositions where layers of keyboards form the backbone. The result is music that often feels closer to ambient than traditional black metal – mesmerising, hypnotic, and built around melodies steeped in nostalgia, mysticism, and nature.

With Eitr, Nachtzeit takes this atmospheric sensibility one step further. Where Lustre still retains the distant pulse and distortion of black metal, Eitr strips away the remaining traces of the genre, focusing entirely on immersive ambience. The result feels like a more archaic, distinctly Nordic counterpart to Lustre’s dreamlike soundscapes.

The project’s second full-length, “Kvasis Dreyri”, draws its inspiration from Norse mythology and the legendary mead of poetry created from the blood of Kvasir. Across nine pieces named after the myth’s sacred vessels – Óðrærir, Són, and Boðn – the album comes to life through melancholic synthesiser melodies, subtle percussion, patient repetition, and vast ambient textures.