NWN

Caixão (“Coffin”) boldly inserted itself into the consciousness of the underground with the release of the otherwise untitled “2020 Demo.” Hailing from Portugal, Caixão is entirely the work of one man, referred to as JG, also known for his superb “Fall to the Idol” zine. Caixão’s debut album, like the demo, exhibits sophisticated composition and musicianship, as well as a staggering breadth of influences deftly woven together to achieve a sound both novel and rapturous. One hears in Caixão the Mediterranean majesty of bands like Varathron, Rotting Christ, Zemial, Kawir, early Moonspell, and Mortuary Drape; the tropical occultism of Mystifier; the hypnotic northern coldness of Beherit and Black Crucifixion; and the outsider unorthodoxy of Master’s Hammer, Root, and Sigh.

Though best known for their magnificent but obscure 1988 album День Гнева, the Soviet band Магнит’s earlier recordings show them in transition as they adopted a heavier sound and moved away from the prog-rock covers of classical pieces on their first self-titled recording. Amid the decline in popularity of classical music and the increasing influence of Western rock ushered in by the opening of the Soviet Union through Gorbachev’s glasnost reforms, Магнит set aside the classical covers in favor of highly technical, melodic hard rock and power metal compositions. 

Formed in 1985, Магнит evolved from playing prog rock covers of classical pieces to energetic hard rock and, finally, to the relentless power metal of their lone vinyl release, “Dies Irae.” Following that album, in 1989, the band underwent a schism, and for a while there were two parallel bands operating under that name. Alexander Bobrov, the visionary founder of Магнит, assembled a new group of musicians and recorded a follow-up album called Платим за всё, which was first issued as a reel-to-reel tape in 1990 under the Магнит name, but changed it to Кредо for the vinyl edition.

Though active for just a few years, from 1985 to 1989, Магнит’s only full-length vinyl release, День Гнева, has since achieved cult status among fans of Soviet-era metal, bringing the band international recognition. As with most obscure rock and metal bands from the former Soviet Union, the details surrounding Магнит’s history are murky. Formed by keyboardist Alexander Bobrov, who primarily acted as the band’s art director and only occasionally performed on the recordings, Магнит evolved out of the Фантазия ensemble, which was associated with the Moscow Philharmonic and, since the mid-1970s, played traditional folk music before gravitating toward more popular sounds. Магнит emerged in 1985 as a symphonic rock band, performing renditions of classical pieces by composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok, Prokofiev and Frescobaldi. The earliest incarnation of the band featured three keyboard players, accompanied by a guitarist, bassist, and drummer, all of whom were classically trained. Through the patronage of the Belgorod Philharmonic Society in St. Petersburg, Магнит recorded their first self-titled recording, consisting entirely of classical music played in something of a prog-rock style, which they self-released on reel-to-reel tape—then a common format in the Soviet Union. By that time, however, classical music’s popularity was on the decline as contemporary styles were gaining cultural momentum, causing Магнит to pivot toward a heavier rock sound, shedding and replacing some former members in the process. (All told, more than a dozen musicians contributed to the band during its brief existence.) In 1987, Магнит released Детектив (“Detective”), a four-song EP showcasing their new heavy rock-oriented sound. Later that same year, Магнит released another EP entitled Слушай рок (“Listen to Rock”), further defining the band’s new, heavier direction. Like the self-titled recording, both Детектив and Слушай рок were only available on reel-to-reel tape, featured no cover artwork, and remained virtually unknown until 2023, when they were first reissued on CD. But the band’s sound did not come to fruition until the release of День Гнева (“Dies Irae”) in 1988 by the state-owned record label Melodiya. Founded in 1964, Melodiya was the only label in the country until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In terms of sound, imagery, and lyrical content, День Гнева reflected new era of glasnost and perestroika advanced by Mikhail Gorbachev as he instituted a series of reforms aimed at opening Soviet society. The severe cover art mostly consisted of sharp, stylized text set against a black background with an inset image taken from a painting entitled “Hourglass” depicting Stalin peering into the lower bulb of an hourglass, watching skulls pass through the neck and accumulate at its base. The artist, Pyotr Alekseyevich Belov, who died the same year День Гнева was released, was known for his work as the head artist of the Theater of NV Gogol, and, later, the Central Theater of the Soviet Army. He produced a series of anti-Stalinist paintings between 1985 and 1988, during the twilight of the Soviet state. Political themes appear in the lyrics as well. Most notable, perhaps, was the inclusion of passages by the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam whose criticism of Stalin—whom he referred to as a “peasant slayer”—led to his temporary exile from Moscow in 1933, and, just five years later, to his imprisonment in a Gulag where he died of typhoid. By the time День Гнева was released, Магнит’s sound had undergone a complete metamorphosis. The band’s classical tendencies are still apparent on the album but channeled into aggressive power metal, their virtuosic and hyper-technical performances tempered by the raw production and unique, unpredictable composition making День Гнева one of the most successful examples of a band synthesizing classical and contemporary sounds.

Like a horror clawing its way out of the darkest pits, Profane Order’s ‘Tightened Noose of Sanctimony’ returns for the vinyl treatment. This destructive EP was originally set on an unsuspecting world in 2017, announcing the Montreal band’s arrival as feral force of bestial Black Metal. With a bristling arsenal of snarling riffs, breakneck blasting and disembodied roars, it represents the group’s first fully-formed release - a distillate of raw aggression and nightmares to come. From the disease-ridden guitar breaks of opener ‘Sick Seed Eradication’ to the slow burning torture of ‘Morbid Lust’, the first invocation of the group’s vile sound can be heard this merciless release. Now finally available in 12” vinyl format via Nuclear War Now! Productions, this special reissue includes twisted new artwork from Nether Temple Design and an insight into the band’s live form, with two bonus live tracks from the Messe Des Morts IX festival in 2019.

It is with tremendous pride that NWN! presents Nuclearhammer’s most potent manifestation to date. The album opens with a sprawling 12 minute track of atmospheric bestiality—the persistent and repetitive nature of which immediately casts a disorienting, hypnotic shroud upon the listener before culminating in a swirling and surreal display of the variegated hues of cataclysmic Luciferian splendor. Filling the interstitial spaces between the band’s hypnotic and opaque deathscapes are otherworldly electronic drone interludes punctuated by convulsive outbursts of Death/Grind violence such that the entire album dilates and contracts with cosmic grandeur. The resulting sound evinces an extreme sense of intentionality and control.

-160 gram vinyl.
-3mm jacket printed on thick cardstock.
-12″ insert.
-A2 poster of the NWN/Hospital Fest in Osaka.

With their second album, “Satan Soldier of Fortune”, Departure Chandelier weave in reverse order the process of Napoleonic battlefield cleanup against self-coronation and the emperor’s ascent to deity whom profited off the fallen of both sides. While the dying are stripped naked to fertilize the countryside, boots and teeth are hurriedly taken for sale in Paris. Blood soaked coins fill the grave robber’s purse, the jangling song heard all the way to Notre Dame. Against the backdrop of the throne Illuminated by the bivouac fires, fallen men, horses and cannon wagons churn like twisted celtic knots across the sea of the battlefield as the coronation begins. Dressed in the gown of swarming Merovingian bees, a wreath of laurel arched above his skull, the Regent diamond flashes in the hilt of the Antichrist’s saber encrusted on the gold scepter – rising in his hand, yet unable to support the weight of Charlemagne’s crown. What is dark if Lucifer’s light? Compositionally wild but rich in melody, the band’s unique combination of perched guitars and impending choral keyboards beneath raw unhinged vocals spearheading lyrics of existential rebellion captures the necro sound of old French black metal. The arrangements are shorn of needless complexity, yet greater than the sum of their parts purportedly recorded on the same 4-track with the old distortions and synths used on ‘Antichrist Rise To Power’ now immortalized on their Occult Antiquities imprint. Indeed, nearly five years in the making, Their Death Is Alive Again!
STREAM TWO SONGS AT THIS LINK

With their second album, “Satan Soldier of Fortune”, Departure Chandelier weave in reverse order the process of Napoleonic battlefield cleanup against self-coronation and the emperor’s ascent to deity whom profited off the fallen of both sides. While the dying are stripped naked to fertilize the countryside, boots and teeth are hurriedly taken for sale in Paris. Blood soaked coins fill the grave robber’s purse, the jangling song heard all the way to Notre Dame. Against the backdrop of the throne Illuminated by the bivouac fires, fallen men, horses and cannon wagons churn like twisted celtic knots across the sea of the battlefield as the coronation begins. Dressed in the gown of swarming Merovingian bees, a wreath of laurel arched above his skull, the Regent diamond flashes in the hilt of the Antichrist’s saber encrusted on the gold scepter – rising in his hand, yet unable to support the weight of Charlemagne’s crown. What is dark if Lucifer’s light? Compositionally wild but rich in melody, the band’s unique combination of perched guitars and impending choral keyboards beneath raw unhinged vocals spearheading lyrics of existential rebellion captures the necro sound of old French black metal. The arrangements are shorn of needless complexity, yet greater than the sum of their parts purportedly recorded on the same 4-track with the old distortions and synths used on ‘Antichrist Rise To Power’ now immortalized on their Occult Antiquities imprint. Indeed, nearly five years in the making, Their Death Is Alive Again!
STREAM TWO SONGS AT THIS LINK

• First pressing of 200 copies all on green marble vinyl. 
• Comes with 3mm jacket and 12" insert.

Nouvo, sigillato

BOX 5 CD

Versione in cd del recente Box-set di vinili, omnicomprensivo della carriera della band americana.

PAIMON GATE’s debut album – BUTCHER TO THE DEVIL’S COURT expands upon the groundwork laid out in the SEVEN LEGIONS demo released last year from this new American Black Metal cult. For fans of brutal Black Metal from a time long lost, the tapestry of influences that make up this work may be noticed via the likes of DEMONCY, VON, old IMPALED NAZARENE, old MARDUK, old SAMAEL and MORBID ANGEL. From a time when the lines between Death Metal and Black Metal were blurred and the potency of dark Satanic music was the focus – PAIMON GATE’s debut album delivers 30 minutes of scathing Satanic work – Executed with an honest and sincere dedication to the evil art of black metal music.

Color Vinyl: Orange Splatter

Color 7": Red

One of the most vile and tormented sounds to ever exist is the “Mental Metal Musik” belonging to none other than the now infamous Sadistik Exekution of Sydney, Australia.
Although these lunatiks gained much of their notoriety from their full-length albums, the full scope of Sad-exe’s unforgiving violence cannot be entirely appreciated without proper exposure to the atrocities committed on their demos and EPs. Nuclear War Now! has conspired with none other than Dave Slave himself to dig up several of these wretched slabs of audial torment and once again offer them posthumously to any who dare expose themselves to such vileness.

Contains tracks from:
-Agonizing the Dead Demo 1992
-Suspiral Demo 1991
-Demon with Wings EP 1996
-Sadistik Elektrokution EP 1997
-Demo 1987

Approximately three years after it first arose to haunt the domain of the living with "Those of the Catacombs," Scolopendra again emerges from its Italian tomb to deliver its second full-length album, "VM18." Much like its predecessor, "VM18" draws notably on an inherited tradition first established by the band's compatriots in Death SS, by evoking a grotesque atmosphere that would befit an old RG horror comic of the 1970s set to motion picture. In fact, the cover art on both "VM18" and the debut are more than a subtle nod to this literary genre. Musically speaking, Scolopendra deviates from the style of Death SS to some degree by heavily incorporating the sound of ancient U.S. death metal, as perhaps most reflected in the work of Autopsy and Necrophagia. The tempo is primarily in the higher range, with occasional dives into doomier interludes. Driving bass lines are dominantly featured in the mix, as the guitars chug along with them and occasionally rise above with a well-timed lead. Of course, it is almost impossible to imagine a horror-based musical form without keyboards, and Scolopendra makes very effective and judicious use of them without going overboard. Finally, aside from their omission in the two instrumental tracks (not including the short intro), it is perhaps most likely the vocals that will leave the greatest impression on the listener. It is this element that contributes most to the overall grisliness of the sound, as the lyrics are seemingly disgorged from the decomposed vocal tract of an undead being. All told, "VM18" serves not only as a laudable follow-up to its predecessor, but also as a worthy descendant in a long and esteemed lineage of Italian horror metal.
 

With a history of metal steeped in horror and the occult - as previously established by bands like Death SS, Black Hole, and Mortuary Drape - Italy has proven itself a fertile breeding ground for extreme music that explores these themes. Formed in 2018, Scolopendra is the latest to continue in this tradition, as evidenced on its debut album, “Those of the Catacombs.” Unlike its Italian ancestors, however, who have more typically opted for the sounds of doom or black metal, the vehicle that Scolopendra has chosen to deliver its horror-tinged themes is that of death metal. This aspect adds an element to the band’s output that distinguishes itself from its predecessors, thus making it a unique addition to its genre. Consisting of two members with a history of many years of collaboration in several bands, including Abhor, Scolopendra boasts both the pedigree and chemistry to give “Those of the Catacombs” the deathly authenticity that is obvious upon first listen.

Official Reissue on Nuclear War Now productions

Official Reissue on Nuclear War Now productions

Raw and melodic black metal from the US. Released in conspiracy with Cultus Caliginous. First pressing of 300 copies.

The 1993 studio demo of raw, cold and obscure Norwegian Black Metal, now presented as single-sided 12″ with screen printed B-side. Released in cooperation with Neseblod Records. Grimm was a short-lived side project of Carpathian Forest members and CF session member, Grimm. This is the first official vinyl edition of this cult demo. Edition of 250 copies on snow white marble vinyl with screen printed B-side.

Necrobutcher are among the many legendary bands that emerged in the late 1980s and gave birth to a primitive strain of Black Metal that is unique to Brazil. This LP collects all of the existing output from this band whose approach deviated considerably in certain ways from more iconic Brazilian Death Metal bands. Both of the demos as well as the rehearsal recordings featured here were recorded in 1989. Necrobutcher adhered to no particularly discernible set of rules. Their sound is rugged and blown out. Their songwriting lies predominantly in the space between Death Metal and Grindcore. Their imagery and lyrical content are decidedly blackened and blasphemous. Few of their songs extend beyond the one-minute mark with many clocking in at 30 seconds or less. Indeed, the only long track in their catalog is their cover of Sarcofago’s “Nightmare.” Most of Necrobutcher’s demo material is fast and violent. The guitars are brittle and wretched. The rhythm section is furious and out of control. Vocals, like distorted howls, saturate the sound when present. Brought together, the effect is alcoholic and unholy. Words do little to convey the effect of these demo and rehearsal recordings. Necrobutcher’s music is about sensory destruction and, as such, must be felt to be appreciated. Includes a booklet.

Triumphant one man black metal from Austin Texas. For fans of Darkthrone, Moonblood, and Horna. Limited to 200 copies.

Smoke/dark grey vinyl

Reissue of the 2007 12-inch MLP. "Follow-up to the classic Vado mori album and my favorite material from the band. Originally released by NWN and Bird Of Ill Omen. Available again by NWN and Heidens Hart with 23 minutes of bonus material on side B, making this basically a full length at 47 minutes. Great Pest sound at its peak. Released on 21 June 2022: today marks 25 year to the day that the first Pest rehearsal took place and the first songs were written. Now in 2022, the band has been officially on hold after drummer Mrok died. But behind the scenes, the three original members Scum, Atax and Mr. Blasphemy have worked on new material—for which recordings are almost finished." Pressed on white/black marble vinyl.