CD

Comes in a 4-panel digipack.

"I I", the aptly-titled and comprehensively majestic second album from BLOOD ABSCISSION fortifies the veiled project as a major new player in the increasingly overcrowded field of contemporary Black Metal.

While the sense of perpetual forward motion and cascades of opulent melodies from outstanding 2023 debut "I" remain, the band here raise their compositional acumen: balancing out eruptions of chaotic rage with mystical transcendent calm, increasing push/pull dynamics to elevate the physical and emotional weight of each piece, and delivering upgraded songcraft to pack an ever more affecting punch.

The five tracks comprising "I I" are a showcase for first-rate symphonic layering, riffing of multifaceted power, steamrolling rhythms, and sublimated vocal fury with a wider sweep of feelings than before. Produced with crystalline clarity for the ultimate drive, this is an elegiac, intoxicating and compulsive odyssey through unseen inner/outer universes.

The Atmospheric Black Metal project Autrest hails from the mountainous region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Founded as a solo-project in the winter of 2022, the debut album was written, recorded and produced between September 2022 and January 2023.

Autrest draws inspiration from nature, incorporating the sounds of the forests and mountains into its music to create an immersive experience. Influenced by bands such as Cân Bardd, Saor, Caladan Brood, Elderwind and Eldamar, Autrest creates powerful and introspective, nature-themed music that transports listeners to a world of misty forests and icy peaks where each song becomes new a journey.

Belenos, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025, returns with the 10th studio recording  "Egor", meaning "space" in Breton. This album is the last part of a trilogy on the 3 elements among the Celts. It started with "Kornog" (2016), the water element, with mainly Breton legends about the sea, followed by "Argoat" (2019), the earth element, bringing together more varied themes linked to life on earth, and finally "Egor", the fire element, but the stellar fire seen on a large scale. It is composed of 12 tracks with 63 minutes playing time, the longest Belenos album recorded to date, still sung in Breton with only one short text in french. Musically, it is similar to Kornog and Chemins de Souffrance (2007), a mix of dark and melodic black metal with doom and death touches in the well-known Belenos style.

One of Australia's longest-running and most respected black metal bands, Pestilential Shadows have been building a towering canon of work since 2003. Whereas many of their native land's extreme metal exports either tend toward the chaotic or too clean, the shadowy collective led by founding vocalist / guitarist Balam consistently create compelling swathes of drama and darkness, all-enveloping emotion and regal-yet-gritty grandeur. Truly, Pestilential Shadows are black metal classicism par excellence.

And while the last handful of their albums the past decade-plus have seen sizable gaps between them, Pestilential Shadows strike while the iron's hot with Wretch. Simply and substantially titled, Wretch follows from last year's Devil's Hammer and continues the band's progression / regression toward uglier, gnarlier expanses. Mind you, it's a lateral development rather than a vertical one - the "form" is still BLACK METAL, and its attendant contents are ruminations on death and the beyond - but the fact that Pestilential Shadows can subtly-to-significantly shift their sonic palette whilst conveying their characteristic melancholy and tragedy speaks to the enduring strength of their songwriting. What's more, the album's production is palpably professional, feeling effervescent and crisp even when running through those uglier, gnarlier expanses. If anything, said recording style of Wretch - mastered by Krvna mainman Krvna Vatra, who played on the aforementioned Devil's Hammer, with mixing done by Balam - gives the record a uniquely ethereal aspect, even when the band have kicked into ultraviolent overdrive. Above all, the eight songs that comprise the 49-minute Wretch prove Pestilential Shadows as masters of pacing, doling out the sublime and the profane with equally windswept aplomb. Of especial note is the solemn procession of "Where Sunlight Goes to Die," which features guest choral vocals from Dis Pater of Midnight Odyssey.

As always, totality is key, and thus has Greallach Art been brought back to provide stark & austere cover artwork for Wretch. On the strength of this album alone, Pestilential Shadows continue to assert their position as a classics-minded black metal vanguard.

Isen’s debut album delivers a powerful blend of melodic black metal, diving deep into the aggressive essence of late Norwegian second wave while weaving in melodic elements reminiscent of classic Swedish black metal, yet with a unique twist. Cutting riffs, bleak atmospheres, and organic production converge to form an album that honours the genre’s golden era, yet forges its own dark and evocative path. Each track unfolds like a puzzle piece in a haunting journey through frozen emotional landscapes, where melancholy and fury coexist in eerie harmony. A must-have for any fan of the genre

Vintersorg returns with their long-awaited new album “Vattenkrafternas Spel”! Merging old and new with a captivating mix of athmospheric Metal and Folk!

Sweden’s elemental force Vintersorg returns with their new album “Vattenkrafternas Spel”! “Vattenkrafternas Spel” merging old and new with a captivating mix of atmospheric Black Metal and Folk! It doesn’t just retrace old steps... it digs deeper! This is not the “let’s drink ale in the woods” version of Folk Metal,Vintersorg deals in frostbitten grandeur and soaring melancholy.

As always, Andreas Hedlund (aka mr. Vintersorg himself) leads the charge, balancing razor-edged riffing with layered clean vocals, icy shrieks, and a knack for songwriting that’s as cinematic as it 
 ispunishing. There’s no scientific concept this time around, no tangled progressive detours, just full immersion in atmosphere, feeling, and elemental force. Call it Folk Metal, call it Black Metal, call it Vintersorg at full power!

Vintersorg’s classic second album remastered! One of the best Folk Metal ever made!

“Ödemarkens Son” (translates as “Son of the Wilderness”), the second full length from the Swedish band Vintersorg is unique Black/Folk Metal release. Generally speaking, this is not the ‘happy dancing’ Folk Metal like Korpiklaani, Finntroll or the likes, this is mournful. blackened Folk Metal, with very poetic and sorrowful lyrics, more on the side of old Ulver, but still is something very different from any released before.

On this album, Vintersorg deals with old Scandinavian tales, pagan themes and his impression of Nature. Lyrically this is the most personal work of Vintersorg where, using the aforementioned elements, he expresses his own feelings.
Musically, this is what everyting one could expect from a really amazing Folk Metal album.

The album is very melodic, using a lot of acoustic guitars, most of the time the guitars (acoustic and distorted ones) are doing different things, complementing each other perfectly, also still there is a good amount of catchiness, specially on the choruses, but not the ‘let’s drink another beer’ kind of, more majestic, epic yet woeful ones.  Also there is an unusual high amount of riffs and rhythm changes on each song, not allowing the music fall on tediousness and unnecessary repetitions.
Vintersorg sings with full emotion. His voice has an inner strength, self-confidence and epic feel that captivate the listener instantly, leaving the instrumental section sometimes on the background.

About the song themselves... there’s no filler here. Almost all songs change a lot nicely and switch smoothly from folk acoustic passages to fast black metal moments, carrying the listener through the atmosphere and preparing him to the climax moments on every song. Did we say that the songs are very epic?