Vinyl

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

Golden Pearl Marble

The creative centers of Obsequiae and Inexorum come together as one in the preeminent new force known as Majesties. To those familiar with the individual pieces that make up Majesties, the sound on debut album ‘Vast Reaches Unclaimed’ will be another striking addition to their respective oeuvres, recalling the glorious days of Wrong Again and No Fashion Records.

Evoking a time when Gothenburg was starting to unseat Stockholm as the unimpeachable city for Swedish Death Metal in the mind of the international metal scene, Majesties have that intrinsic sense of Death Metal’s rabid intensity and the effortlessly satisfying melodic ability that made albums like ‘The Jester Race’ and its immediate forbears instant classics. The mix of major key melodies and twin guitar harmonies snaking through every track ornament the vigorous riff eruptions and anguished vocals in a sheen of gleaming brilliance that proves an exhilarating triumph to behold.

Without a hint of the corruption the style experienced in a post ‘Slaughter of the Soul’ world, ‘Vast Reaches Unclaimed’ exists as a fervent reminder of what was and what again shall be. Majesties are re-animating the corpse of the true Melodic Death Metal style that both divided and invigorated the Death Metal scene of the mid 1990s and bring it into 2023 like it never left, sounding as novel and thrilling as ever

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.

Cursebinder was born in 2019 in Kraków, Poland, combining black and doom metal influences with an eye for unrestrained experimentation. Pursuing diverse influences and drawing from post rock, shoegaze, avantgarde and progressive metal, they developed a sound entirely of their own.

Cursebinder was born in 2019 in Kraków, Poland, combining black and doom metal influences with an eye for unrestrained experimentation. Pursuing diverse influences and drawing from post rock, shoegaze, avantgarde and progressive metal, they developed a sound entirely of their own.