CD

Jewelcase CD.

Recent output has seen OCTOBER TIDE tone down on the doom particle, and throw the listener in a colder embrace of a melodic death metal rainstorm. This trend remains consistent on "The Cancer Pledge", and overlaps with the direction spearheaded by guitarist Fredrik Norrman (ex-Katatonia, ex-Trees Of Eternity, Thenighttimeproject), keen on rejuvenating OCTOBER TIDE with a touch of the past. "It's a direct continuation of the previous album," states Norrman. "Less doom and more death metal, yet melodic and with more layers. I’ve searched for inspiration in records I listened to in the 80’s and 90’s when I grew up. But it still sounds like October Tide."

The sound of OCTOBER TIDE, aside from being doom intertwined melodeath, is fronted by emotionally compelling guitarwork, known to subside into melancholic and introspective tones. Even though the band has shapeshifted over the years - starting off as a duo of Katatonia fame musicians, Fredrik Norrman and Jonas Renske, back in 1994 - it has retained and evolved its trademark formula. The present-day line-up, intact since 2016, features said guitarist & founder Fredrik Norrman, second guitarist & Fredrik's brother Mattias Norrman (ex-Katatonia), vocalist Alexander Högbom (ex-Demonical), bassist Johan Jönsegård (Letters From The Colony) and drummer Jonas Sköld (Letters From The Colony / Thenighttimeproject).

"The Cancer Pledge" was recorded and produced in 2023 by OCTOBER TIDE and Karl Daniel Lidén (Bloodbath, Katatonia). The latter mixed and master the album, whose cover artwork was designed by Albin Högbom.

After releasing three albums in three years and then spending the next four in the wilderness, Tomb Mold has been reborn on fourth album The Enduring Spirit, a thoroughly unabashed step into vast new territories. Yet for all its frenetic daring and audacious exploration, it is never anything other than unmistakably Tomb Mold.

While the expanding Tomb Mold architecture could be heard on last year’s self-released Aperture Of Body tape, it comes into clear focus throughout The Enduring Spirit. Certainly Derrick Vella’s time creating within and expanding the doom genre in Dream Unending has seeped into the flesh of Tomb Mold, not to mention Payson Power and Max Klebanoff’s explorations in their own Daydream Plus project.

With album opener “The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura)” the band’s angular dimension shifting riffing appears right out of the gate as the track travels through varying degrees of progressive death metal and some of the band’s most extreme material yet. “Will Of Whispers” enters with a jazz-like fantasy sequence before careening into a blinding white light barrage, tasteful guitar leads and back to a dreamy serpentine pattern, encompassing whole universes in its nearly seven minute run-time.

Collector's Edition in 4-panel digipack, limited to 500 copies.

Hån's third album "Conquering Magnificent Halls" marks a significant evolution in the band's song structures while maintaining their trademark infectious melodies and steadfast aggression. Mixed and mastered once again at Liquid Aether Audio Studio, this album promises to showcase Hån's relentless dedication to pushing the boundaries of Black Metal.

Wintereintritt (2008) - Full Lenght

Winter Suicide (2007) Demo
Verzweiflung (2008) - Full Lenght
Ambient Stuff

A still-mysterious quintet hailing from the black metal hotbed of Finland, AGANTHROS formed in 2021 and digitally released their debut demo a year later. Those two songs served as a swift foretaste of the band's forthcoming debut album, Syntiset Saatanat Kurjat, which is at last at hand.

Unlike the vast number of bands honoring their homeland's prevailing black metal paradigm, AGANTHROS walk their own left-hand path both lyrically and especially sonically. Those lyrical themes of course include Satanism and the left-hand path; others more or less include the noble tragicalness of humanity and life. Gazing within instead of outside and walking the sewers of the individual and collective subconscious, AGANTHROS on their debut album musically illustrate such pathos through a wide-ranging but always-melodic sturm und drang style of black metal that bears similarities to Finnish iconoclasts Enochian Crescent and Trollheims Grott - or, thinking further afield of Finland, the avant-garde angularity of Ved Buens Ende meeting the spiraling melodicism of Mgla. However, such references are merely a springboard from which to meet AGANTHROS on Syntiset Saatanat Kurjat. From its disarming folk-inflected opening on through the rest of its 41-minute runtime, the album bracingly balances a whole host of extremities that the band masterfully wrangle to their own design, reaping triumphant rumbling on to twisted nightmare psychedelia. You never quite know what's coming next, but AGANTHROS thread it together with punishing physicality and serpentine flow. Refreshingly different and yet timeless all the same, Syntiset Saatanat Kurjat sounds the trumpets for the new/now sound of Finnish black metal.

Jewelcase

Following the incredible success of the debut, the second full length, entitled ”Militant, Penitent, Triumphant”, builds on this rock solid foundation. It showcases the unique sound and song structures that so many people appreciated about “Six Voices Inside”, thus making it instantly recognizable as none other than Faidra. To keep that typical sound and atmosphere was indeed a very conscious decision. The familiar structures, ambient synth sounds and slow tempos from the first album are present and continue that tradition, while also including occasional new elements and influences.

The work on this new album started almost immediately after the release of the debut album, knowing that it would take a long time to complete because of rather limited free time. The project was worked on from time to time during almost three years without a consistent work flow, where sometimes months passed by without a single note recorded.

Where the debut tackled a lot of different subjects, the new album has a very specific theme running through almost every track. The larger concept handles the themes of sin, penitence and redemption; also mirroring the title of the album, which are the three states of the Catholic church.

While work continues towards materializing Aethyrick's fifth full-length album, the two-headed serpent strikes from the womb of spring with a new EP entitled Kolme veljestä. As the name of the EP already suggests, on this special release the band pays homage to their Finnish roots with lyrics entirely in their native language (physical releases come with English translations). Released on April 9th, the Day of the Finnish Language, Kolme veljestä EP contains three monoliths of atmospheric black metal witchcraft with a total playing time of 27 minutes

Forndom was born as a reflection of bygone days – of the forests and open landscapes of central Sweden, as well as its historical heritage. Similarly, coinciding with the project’s nine-year anniversary, Ludvig Swärd muses over his own musical past.

Following the enthusiastic reception of “Och med vinden ack de gunga” – Ludvig’s re-envisioning of his droning masterpiece “Jag vet ett tempel stå" - comes “Alster”, a piano work of contemporary classical with a distinct Scandinavian atmosphere. Six Forndom compositions in brand new interpretations alongside "Aska", a fresh take on an old unreleased song.

In the remote forests of north-eastern Finland, a primal force has been unleashed. Noitila, translated roughly as ‘Witches’ Bay’, resonates with the ancient echoes of a sacred land where worlds and energies intersect.

Conceived and recorded in a family cabin, employing minimalist equipment and instruments, “Langennut” captures an authenticity that is as powerful as it is pure. The band used an old leather chair as a bass drum, recorded acoustic guitars in the open forest, and wrote lyrics through psychography. No metronome, three microphones, and a passion for the ancient sounds of Ildjarn, Ulver, Isengard, Bathory, Satyricon, Tulus, and Beherit – this is black metal distilled to its essence. Primitive, soulful, and unfiltered.