Vinyl

Soft touch, gatefold sleeve with poster

The Sinister Initiative is proud to announce that the 11-year re-issue of SHINING's infamous "8 ½" compilation has been scheduled for release in the cold month of November. This anniversary edition features the now celebrated five tracks of demo recordings on which BEASTCRAFT/URGEHAL maestro Lars Erik Frøslie added his nightmarish keyboard soundscapes, raising the bar of creepiness a few steps higher on the ladder. Meanwhile, for each composition, one specifically appointed frontman lent his very own horrifying and "feverish" ideas, guaranteeing every listener a mental downfall into the bottomless, dark depths of the human psyche.

Regarding the specific guest vocalists, Maniac (SKITLIV) and Pehr Larsson (ALFAHANNE) contributed wholly unique touches. The remaining three revered artists leapt even further into the realm of the unexpected by translating the original lyrics into their respective native tongues, offering audiences a taste of what SHINING could have sounded like if Kvarforth wasn't born Swedish: Attila Csihar (MAYHEM/TORMENTOR) therefore performed in Hungarian, Famine (PESTE NOIRE) in French and, last but certainly not least, Gaahl (TRELLDOM) in Norwegian!

Niklas Kvarforth has, on countless occasions, mentioned the month that he spent together with Christian Larsson and Yusaf Parvez (DHG) in an apartment that they rented in Finland's capital. The three resolved to use this space as a base in which to write, experiment and cause various forms of unspecified damage before heading to Varberg to record the new album. For years, the band has wished that these infamous demo tapes could be released officially somehow. We here at TSI, who recently issued the definitive edition of the very album for which these songs were created, feel that the time has now come to release the recording that the band themselves have stressed: "Is in so many ways far superior to the actual album itself".

Niklas Kvarforth has, on countless occasions, mentioned the month that he spent together with Christian Larsson and Yusaf Parvez (DHG) in an apartment that they rented in Finland's capital. The three resolved to use this space as a base in which to write, experiment and cause various forms of unspecified damage before heading to Varberg to record the new album. For years, the band has wished that these infamous demo tapes could be released officially somehow. We here at TSI, who recently issued the definitive edition of the very album for which these songs were created, feel that the time has now come to release the recording that the band themselves have stressed: "Is in so many ways far superior to the actual album itself".

Limited edition ocra-dark yellow vinyl - 200 copies

Blackened death metal one-man band Light Dweller will release their new studio album through Unorthodox Emanations. After making waves in the metal underground with four studio releases, Light Dweller is poised to unleash its fifth full-length album titled The Subjugate, which will see the light in early 2024. Since 2017, the project has forged a distinctive path within the dissonant realms of metal, evolving with each release by seamlessly blending dissonance with melody and juxtaposing aggressive onslaughts with haunting, deliberate passages. The Subjugate will represent Light Dweller's boldest sonic statement yet, marking a significant evolution in sound and cementing their status as a formidable presence in the modern metal landscape. "Cessation Of Time" is the first single from Light Dweller new record, which will see the light in early 2025 via Avantgarde Music death metal division, Unorthodox Emanations.

One-off edition, limited to 150 copies

Sivyj Yar is a post-black metal band formed almost twenty years ago in the countryside south of St. Petersburg. Since 2014, multi-instrumentalist and composer Vladimir Vishniakov has been working closely with Avantgarde Music to release his music endeavors, and A Scarlet Sunset Over The Horrid Abyss marks a new milestone in the artist’s path.

Sivyj Yar has always been about the history and darkest times of the Russian people, and this new album makes no exception. In Vladimir’s words, this work is about the innocent, the tortured, the murdered, the broken, and the forgotten. About those who were destined for unbearable suffering. About the sacrifice that they made. The wheel of terror turns faster. The darkest parts of history repeat themselves if they are erased from human memory or replaced with false images. Entire nations can easily be plunged into darkness for years. Icy fear fetters souls, mutilates them.

A Scarlet Sunset Over The Horrid Abyss features poetry by Andrei Bely, symbolist Russian poet from the early XX century, as well as archival photographs taken in the Kolyma camps — one of the most terrible places in the new history of Russia, a remote, eastern area of the Russian country where dozens of gulags held Soviet POWs and political prisoners in extreme conditions until the ‘70s.
 

Crystal Clear vinyl limited to 400 copies.

Embossed gatefold cover, printed inner sleeve, black vinyl limited to 100 copies.
Recorded in 2016-2017
War Cry by Set, Magnus, Andreas & Henke

Their debut album "Awaken The Black Flame" is clearly inspired by the Scandinavian Black Metal of the late 90's.
Without further ado, UNHALLOWED lead the way with aggressive Black Metal, but give melodic elements again and again space to function as a counterpart in the sound.
The complex guitar arrangements with extensive lead guitars form the basis on which, on the one hand, the excessively aggressive hustle and bustle, but also, on the other hand, the melodic "aha-moments" are created. The cold, catchy vocals underline the gripping atmosphere and provide goosebump moments.
The content of the debut album is characterized by personal strife for spiritual gnosis that goes far beyond the cosmic reality.
UNHALLOWED are a must for lovers of Scandinavian Black Metal art and fans of contemporary Black Metal alike.