Vinyl

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.

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.

200x 180g, White vinyl edition with an innersleeve and a gatefold jacket.

A newcomer hailing from Norway, SOLUS GRIEF is the work of one Peregrinus, who handles all instruments, vocals, and mixing & mastering. And where so many "one-man black metal bands" sound as much (or worse), SOLUS GRIEF buck that trend with a righteously robust sound and fully in-the-moment style of execution. In other words, Peregrinus sounds more like an actual band than many "bands" do.

With a Last Exhale is the evocatively titled debut of SOLUS GRIEF, self-released digitally late last year - and so entranced by its rigid-yet-unique style of black metal, PURITY THROUGH FIRE is now rightfully releasing the album on two physical formats. It would not be incorrect to assume a four-song/41-minute black metal record recorded by one man would be of the depressive/suicidal variety, and to some degree, both those appellations could be applied to SOLUS GRIEF. However, as Peregrinus soon displays, With a Last Exhale moves many, MANY places - and many of them quite surprising, despite remaining steadfastly within BLACK METAL - and with a jaw-dropping fluidity; this is NOT one-riff minimalism/"hypnosis" nor an expression living/dying on "atmosphere" alone. Indeed, with plenty of atmosphere to spare, Peregrinus' compositional skills astoundingly span the full reach of extreme metal, subtly (and tastefully) touching such boundaries as '90s melodic death metal, '80s epic doom, or even just proper heavy metal...but the expression is resolutely a black metal one, the emotions intense and inward, as befitting a title like With a Last Exhale. And the bass guitar here is something that must be experienced.

Hailing from the oft-overlooked UK black metal scene, WRITTEN IN TORMENT have been patiently perfecting their craft for nearly 20 years now. A demo and EP followed in quick succession in 2006, followed by a hiatus until 2013, when the debut album Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes was released. WRITTEN IN TORMENT, as ever, is helmed by mainman Leviathan, and he kept apace with a split in 2014, a demo in 2015, and then two full-lengths, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum and Maledictus Dies Illa, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

And now, at long last, WRITTEN IN TORMENT deliver their masterwork: Black Command. Presciently titled, Black Command finds Leviathan hitting a fever pitch of creativity, recasting old ghosts of '90s epic/melodic black metal - Throne of Ahaz, Abyssos, Midvinter, Prophanity, and Amsvartner among others - into dazzling new shapes. Rest assured, in word and deed is Black Command BLACK METAL to the hilt, but by no means does it strident traditionalism hinder it in the least. Ripping chops and deft textural layering take center stage across the album's six-song/41-minute runtime, creating a compact canvas that's somehow vast, which is to say nothing of the well-timed incorporation of acoustic guitars and cinematic synths. All this is filtered into a thematic framework focusing on the life and crimes of Jonathan Martin, the infamous arsonist of the Minster Cathedral in York. Joining Leviathan here - and no doubt adding further fuel to the fire - are Prometheus on lead guitars and keyboards and drummer Storm (Blasphemer, ex-Bal-Sagoth, ex-My Dying Bride).

Fourth press, Black vinyl, gatefold cover

New press, 2022 edition, Black Vinyl

RÄUM was founded in 2020 in Liège - Belgium. The project emerged during the pandemic and offers a journey through the hopes, vices, fears and the decadence of human kind.
It reveals the vacuity and the auto-destructive nature of the human soul, leading to an endless movement of rise and fall. Like a demon, it needs to burn our world to the ground to reborn again.
Expressing a raw and multi-influenced Post Black Metal, the band creates desolate and melancolic atmospheres through oppresive and sometimes chaotic sonic wave.

Emerging Pagan black metal project Unfelled (ft. members of WOODS OF DESOLATION, DRUDKH, AUSTERE) is rising from the underground to release its debut full-length, ‘Pall of Endless Perdition.’ Designed by the same mastermind behind Woods of Desolation, the project serves as a vicious and violent counterpart to its elegant and melodic predecessor, showcasing multi-instrumentalist D.’s impressive musical duality. Musically weaving together fury and triumph with aggression and melody, the lyrics predominately centre on bloodshed, war and death – the threefold cloak beneath which lies eternal darkness.

Project of Lord Vrăjitor (Warmoon Lord, Old sorcery)

Gone are the days of high adventure, but there are portals and webways that cross paths with our mundane lives. Prepare your journey to the war-torn, magical and baroque world of Argenthorns!

A new, mysterious, symphonic black metal project from the land of the thousand lakes will take you on an epic cloak and dagger adventure. Argenthorns is the solo endeavor of Mason Rofocale, multi-instrumentalist and narrator of our tale, who will recount unspeakable perils and obscure enemies. A quest was laid, and The Ravening marks the first chapter of Mason Rofocale’s occult chronicle through lands unknown!

A black metal tale told the way it used in the ‘90s, with piercing screams, fascinating keyboards and icy cold riffs, for fans of (early) Dimmu Borgir, Bal-Sagoth, Odium and Limbonic Art.