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In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale. On invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound. The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclast albums. SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metal album conceptually and emotionally, but actualised and evolved into vast, open and bright hypersaturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Air and Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band's ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))). Anna Von Hausswolf and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK leg, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the Pyroclasts pieces.

Gatefold cover with 2-sided poster and insert.
White Vinyl

After releasing the debut album from his Serment project earlier this year, Moribond is back with something completely different, namely his ambient project Oublieth. Falling somewhere in-between what some would call dungeon synth and the much more cinematographic scopes of artists like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Klaus Schulz, Oublieth draws its inspiration in classic 70’s and 80’s fantasy themes, as evidenced by a recording done entirely with analog synthesizers as well as the stunning cover art by renowned Dungeons and Dragons and Ravenloft artist Stephen Fabian. This enthralling ambient journey is strictly limited to 500 copies…

The legendary Slow Death recordings from Mortem, fully re-recorded and reworked (including extra tracks), plus the original 1989 demo.

Presented on double CD, the release also includes an extended biography on the history of the band, plus rare and unseen images.

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Before Arcturus there was Mortem. Originally comprised of members now known from such classic bands as Arcturus, Mayhem & Thorns, Mortem was a leading act of the early Norwegian underground metal scene; their ‘Slow Death’ demo a highly inspirational work of early Norwegian extreme metal.

Formed by Marius Vold & Steinar Sverd Johnsen in 1989, Mortem was one of the first black metal bands to crawl out of the woodwork in Norway, releasing the highly coveted and brutal ‘Slow Death’ demo, with Euronymous & Dead of Mayhem acting as producer and cover artist respectively. After the release of ‘Slow Death’, the band was laid to rest with members going on to form and feature in acclaimed titans such as Arcturus and Thorns, both of which would become mainstays in the black metal scene and beyond.

This special release of ‘Slow Death’ contains the tracks newly recorded and reworked in a style more akin to the recent ‘Ravnsvart’ album material, plus also includes the legendary pioneering 1989 demo itself, with a fresh transfer from a new tape source. The new recordings also include a rendition of the old Mortem track ‘Satanas’, plus a cover of ‘Likferd’ (Funeral Fog) by Mayhem, this time sung in Norwegian. Joining the original line-up of Marius, Steinar & Hellhammer is Tor Seidemann of 1349 on bass guitar.

BRAND NEW COPY, SEALED, COMES WITH A VERY VERY SMALL DAMAGED TO THE OUTERSLEEVE (happened during transportation) 

LP in galaxy effect, oxblood with green. Printed innersleeve

Please note, if you are an Avantgarde Music Circle of Wax subscriber, this release is a part of bundle #3 (February bundle)

Five long years after their fascinating debut, Milan-based duo A Pale December deliver their sophomore album, Death Panacea. Compared to The Shrine Of Primal Fire, Death Panacea steers towards more aggressive, warring sounds. The “atmospheric black metal” label which so aptly described their debut album, is now just one of the many, partial definitions which could be used to define the band’s music.

When asked about their new opus, multi-instrumentalists Riccardo Di Bella and Ernesto Ciotola provided the following, strong statement: “While many metal albums seem to appeal to a feeling of fierceness, a call to war, an urge to fight something, we wanted to express the opposite. Death Panacea is an album about defeat and hopelessness, about the inherent futility of human strife and all our laughable attempts at masking this unescapable nature.

We wanted to praise failing and giving up, as opposed to perseverance, pride and the grinding mentality. We wanted to praise the rejects above the leaders, who naively think they can escape this race towards oblivion, and the coward above the fighting man, whose only fault was believing in the frail concept of nation and a false sense of belonging.

While distancing ourselves from these delusional sentiments, we also didn't want to fall into optimistic nihilism; the idea that the awareness of an impending void can grant any peace is simply preposterous. 

Ultimately, this is the meaning that lies behind the title of the album: death is what keeps us in check and yet is the one and only panacea to all our anguishes. In all this, one could almost find a cold comfort, knowing that the top step of the podium is eventually just a springboard to the abyss”.

ON LIMITED NEON PINK / NEON ORANGE MERGE W/ CYAN SPLATTER VINYL!!! Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) and Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms) have joined their dark psyches and deliberate, distinctive approaches to create Dream Unending. While it might be possible to point to certain elements of their debut album Tide Turns Eternal that are familiar in that regard, the fact is Dream Unending takes these two stalwarts of the modern underground death metal scene in some entirely new and unexpected directions, offering the first glimpse of what promises to be a constantly evolving form. Imbued with the dark atmosphere and wilting romanticism of the legendary “Peaceville 3”, (Anathema in particular), Dream Unending merely uses that moment in time as a starting point to compose songs that drift between emotional states both forlorn and uplifting. Ascendent Floydian guitar textures and sparkling The Cure-esque strumming lift Tides Turns Eternal out of the purely metal realm, where moody rock introspection allows for Elysian respite before DeTore’s world crushing roar assures no escape from earthly tumult is certain. Yet Tide Turns Eternal is more a fever dream than the perpetual nightmare typical of the genre, a place where guarded hope is as possible and real as despair. In that way Dream Unending step into riskier territory, free to explore the vivid spectrum of human sentiment that ultimately leads away from the nihilism of everlasting pain.

- 350gsm Jacket with inside flooded in black and matt varnish
- 140g Black Vinyl
- 220gsm printed Innersleeve
- Limited to 300 copies

Black Vinyl with Silkprint