Purity Through Fire

In December 2021, AVSKRÄDE emerged from storms of old with their debut full-length for PURITY THROUGH FIRE, Det stora tunga sjuka. Hailing from Sweden, the duo dutifully reinvigorated ancient Scandinavian black metal, both from Norway as well as their native land. No more but definitely no less, Det stora tunga sjuka was traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively: pure freezing fire, nasty and rustic and primitive but not without nuance.

And so it goes, a full two years later, with AVSKRÄDE's Undergång. Whereas the duo's debut reminded of Darkthrone's "Peaceville trilogy" and Malicious-era Gorgoroth, here on their second album do they kick up the nastiness and let the (freezing) filth flow freely, nodding to such underrated Darkthrone tomes as Total Death or even Ravishing Grimness. Indeed is AVSKRÄDE's grimness ravishing across Undergång, but compared to successive disciples as early Craft and Armagedda, the duo incorporate a slight bit more melody into proceedings - at times haunting, others anxious, but always hammered with cruel efficiency. And if there's one phrase to characterize AVSKRÄDE at this point, it's "cruelly efficient"; their songwriting is stripped to the fucking bone, but every note and hit is fucking RIGHT, and their live-in-the-rehearsal-room execution is blanching in its tightness. And once again, the album maintains a richly Grieghallen-esque production for maximum authenticity. Winter is looming, so hasten its arrival with Undergång!

In December 2021, AVSKRÄDE emerged from storms of old with their debut full-length for PURITY THROUGH FIRE, Det stora tunga sjuka. Hailing from Sweden, the duo dutifully reinvigorated ancient Scandinavian black metal, both from Norway as well as their native land. No more but definitely no less, Det stora tunga sjuka was traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively: pure freezing fire, nasty and rustic and primitive but not without nuance.

And so it goes, a full two years later, with AVSKRÄDE's Undergång. Whereas the duo's debut reminded of Darkthrone's "Peaceville trilogy" and Malicious-era Gorgoroth, here on their second album do they kick up the nastiness and let the (freezing) filth flow freely, nodding to such underrated Darkthrone tomes as Total Death or even Ravishing Grimness. Indeed is AVSKRÄDE's grimness ravishing across Undergång, but compared to successive disciples as early Craft and Armagedda, the duo incorporate a slight bit more melody into proceedings - at times haunting, others anxious, but always hammered with cruel efficiency. And if there's one phrase to characterize AVSKRÄDE at this point, it's "cruelly efficient"; their songwriting is stripped to the fucking bone, but every note and hit is fucking RIGHT, and their live-in-the-rehearsal-room execution is blanching in its tightness. And once again, the album maintains a richly Grieghallen-esque production for maximum authenticity. Winter is looming, so hasten its arrival with Undergång!

Clear vinyl in single jacket including insert with lyrics.
Limited to 98 copies.

Since 2005, Greece's SAD have been a madly prolific bastion of pure 'n' cold black metal. Their canon is vast and varied - VERY relatively so, given that this is all-caps BLACK METAL after all - with the longstanding duo of instrumentalist Ungod and vocalist Nadir exploring the darkest corridors of their souls every step of the way. They've did so across a half-dozen albums for such esteemed labels as Drakkar, Obscure Abhorrence, and Old Temple among others as well as a dozen splits, but then joined forces with PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2020 for the release of their seventh album, Misty Breath of Ancient Forests.

Indeed, that album was aptly titled, for it saw SAD delivering their most ancient work in many moons. But the Greek duo are ever surprising, and nearly four years later do they emerge from the shadows with the fully-fuck-off Black Metal Craft. It's no accident that the album is titled such, as it reasserts the purity at the very heart of the SAD aesthetic and strips it to the fucking bone with ghoulish violence. Raw and rippling, here SAD somehow inject the melancholic melodicism of its Misty predecessor and then stir the maelstrom to a swirling boil, remaining hypnotic and locked-in whilst managing to gallop forth from time to time in a manner most regal. Put another way, Black Metal Craft could serve as a love letter to the late '90s heyday of Sombre Records or the aforementioned Drakkar, so old & cold its aesthetic (and, again, unapologetic its title). PURITY THROUGH FIRE is thus the most fitting stronghold for SAD's eternal black metal craft!

Since 2005, Greece's SAD have been a madly prolific bastion of pure 'n' cold black metal. Their canon is vast and varied - VERY relatively so, given that this is all-caps BLACK METAL after all - with the longstanding duo of instrumentalist Ungod and vocalist Nadir exploring the darkest corridors of their souls every step of the way. They've did so across a half-dozen albums for such esteemed labels as Drakkar, Obscure Abhorrence, and Old Temple among others as well as a dozen splits, but then joined forces with PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2020 for the release of their seventh album, Misty Breath of Ancient Forests.

Indeed, that album was aptly titled, for it saw SAD delivering their most ancient work in many moons. But the Greek duo are ever surprising, and nearly four years later do they emerge from the shadows with the fully-fuck-off Black Metal Craft. It's no accident that the album is titled such, as it reasserts the purity at the very heart of the SAD aesthetic and strips it to the fucking bone with ghoulish violence. Raw and rippling, here SAD somehow inject the melancholic melodicism of its Misty predecessor and then stir the maelstrom to a swirling boil, remaining hypnotic and locked-in whilst managing to gallop forth from time to time in a manner most regal. Put another way, Black Metal Craft could serve as a love letter to the late '90s heyday of Sombre Records or the aforementioned Drakkar, so old & cold its aesthetic (and, again, unapologetic its title). PURITY THROUGH FIRE is thus the most fitting stronghold for SAD's eternal black metal craft!

For 15 years now, BERGRIZEN have been standard-bearers for the new wave of Ukrainian black metal which honors the old. The work of one Myrd'raal, BERGRIZEN have released five studio albums and even a live album, nearly all of which have been released in some manner by PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Just this autumn, the band released a stopgap album in Orathania, largely comprised of ambient and dark folk with fierce-yet-fleeting moments of black metal. Now, born in the hardest days, BERGRIZEN deliver their all-new (and all black metal) album, Die Falle.

For 15 years now, BERGRIZEN have been standard-bearers for the new wave of Ukrainian black metal which honors the old. The work of one Myrd'raal, BERGRIZEN have released five studio albums and even a live album, nearly all of which have been released in some manner by PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Just this autumn, the band released a stopgap album in Orathania, largely comprised of ambient and dark folk with fierce-yet-fleeting moments of black metal. Now, born in the hardest days, BERGRIZEN deliver their all-new (and all black metal) album, Die Falle.

Criminally, SHADOW'S MORTUARY are still one of the best-kept secrets in the always-fertile Finnish black metal scene. The quartet formed in 2013, and patiently released two digital-only EPs - Kylmään Hautaan in 2015, and then Tulen Valtakunta in 2018 - before releasing their debut album, also titled Tulen Valtakunta, in 2018. That album was initially released on cassette through the cult Worship Tapes label, but soon did PURITY THROUGH FIRE step in to release it on a wider scale on CD format. A year later came the band's equally strong second album, Kuoleman Portit, also released by PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Across these recordings but especially the two full-lengths, SHADOW'S MORTUARY displayed righteously traditional and ever-fiery Finnish BLACK METAL - no more, but certainly no less - that possessed all the iron-clad trademarks of that idiom.

While things have been relatively quiet on their front since then, SHADOW'S MORTUARY return with a righteous fervor with Unohdettu Maa. Translated into English as "The Forgotten Land," Unohdettu Maa "stands for a vision of a place where no religions reign," the band explain, "Without its effect on human behavior and thinking. With this album, we attack towards Abrahamic religions with full force, carrying the torch of northern heritage and mysticism." Indeed do they accomplish that in a swift-yet-satisfying 32 minutes here, making their point plain and proud: melancholic melodicism, cold-fire execution, a punkish straightforwardness but never primitively so, and simply strong songs, just like the album's two predecessors. But Unohdettu Maa's true trump card comes in SHADOW'S MORTUARY's increasingly effortless ability to span the epic and the rabble-rousing, bringing forth grandeur in less cliched "epic" ways and, similarly, to sound incensed and headbanging without resorting to "party black metal" corniness. 

A brand-new entity that sounds positively/negatively OLD, AVSKRÄDE hearken to the most ancient days of Scandinavian black metal, both in Norway and their native Sweden. The duo delivered a demo earlier in 2021, but now arrive from the coldest, purest past with a 36-minute full-length titled Det stora tunga sjuka. Right from the album's opening seconds, there's no mistaking that AVSKRÄDE play nothing but traditional BLACK METAL Exclusively. From the classic "Peaceville trilogy" of Darkthrone to Malicious-era Gorgoroth on to the early works of Sweden's Craft and Armagedda, Det stora tunga sjuka invokes a nostalgia for grim, glorious times. Indeed, to arrive at its rustic sound, the band recorded the album during primitive conditions in the very north of Sweden, where it is cold and dark most of the time - something they endeavored to transfer to the music itself. And accomplish that they did, as Det stora tunga sjuka is authentically vintage black metal, even down to the Grieghallen-esque guitar tone. HAIL DEATH!!!
 

Formed in 2010, HELVELLYN are part of the Cumbrian Black Metal orbiting around the incredibly prolific P.G., who currently numbers labelmates THY DYING LIGHT, NEFARIOUS DUSK, ÚLFARR, and MORTE LUNE among his many endeavors. Joining him in HELVELLYN are other equally prolific members of the UK metal underground whose credits also include THY DYING LIGHT as well as Heathen Deity, Volition, Skiddaw, and Absinthropy among many others.

Now, after a handful of short-length releases, HELVELLYN arrive with their debut album, The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly. No more but definitely no less, The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly is a compact summation of the HELVELLYN aesthetic during the past decade, but sharpened to ice-cold perfection. Theirs is a deliberately (and proudly) traditional style of black metal set somewhere around 1995; the paradigmatic works of earliest Dodheimsgard, Gorgoroth, and especially Darkthrone as well as later gatekeepers like Armagedda and Sweden's Craft keep the parameters pure and cold. Indeed, to say The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly could've come out on Malicious Records back in the mid '90s should be viewed as the highest of compliments, so cryogenically authentic is HELVELLYN's attack here. Those who know, KNOW, for this is The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly!

Forming in 2017 and soon releasing their debut album, The Great Tower, that same year, IKU-TURSO have quietly become a force in the ever-fertile Finnish black metal scene (vocalist Lafawijn hails from the Netherlands). The band includes members with a vast array of underground experience, spanning all sorts of extreme metal styles, and a couple of members currently retain membership in labelmates ORDER OF NOSFERAT. As such, IKU-TURSO's sound is far from strict "Finnish black metal" that's come to be the definition the past couple of decades. Rather, the band cast their gaze back to the cold, dark days of mid '90s Scandinavia, and render it with a (darkly) dramatic flair.

And so it comes to its fullest fruition with Ikuinen Kirous, IKU-TURSO's latest offering and first for PURITY THROUGH FIRE. Like a long-lost relic on Wounded Love or Samoth's Nocturnal Art Productions, Ikuinen Kirous reaps a windswept drama both mystically sensual and scabrously alien. Continuing to maximize the addition of keyboardist F.Nightside (as well as his occasional clean vocals), IKU-TURSO blanket their dungeonic surge with an aristocratic air that's somewhere between funeral fog and orchestral bombast, never quite going into full-on sympho-BM mode nor necessarily shying away from its most plausible elements. Above all, the bands songwriting stays within the epic-yet-linear, building upon themes in the olde way whilst never forgetting that it's black METAL - riffs, riffs, RIFFS. And then, 37 minutes later and Ikuinen Kirous has come to completion, feeling far vaster than that compact runtime (but one ideal for full vinyl immersion). IKU-TURSO are coming to a church near you!

Compilation of the songs from the Split CDs with Oprich (2005) and Velimor (2006).

In 2020, NÔIDVA arrived with the full-length Windseller. A then-brand-new entity, the Finns featured members of labelmates SACRIFICIUM CARMEN and RIIVAUS. Although detectably Finnish black metal in sound and style, NÔIDVA uniquely focused on Laplandish shamanism - and now they return to further flesh out that vision.

Tellingly titled Lappish Shatanism, NÔIDVA's second album bears many of the same traits as its predecessor: a mysticism both magickal and more so folkloric, and a melodicism that stirs the more courageous side of one's spirit rather than immediate and irrevocable bloodlust. However, despite featuring the same four-piece lineup, Lappish Shatanism heads toward rougher, daresay-rowdier territory - more earth and dirt rather than the atmospheric undercurrents of Windseller - with that rowdiness rendering their folk affectations all the more austere and severe. Still, NÔIDVA reveal themselves to be astute practitioners of tradition, poignantly imparting a favorably late '90s aspect in form and feel; whether one wants to qualify it as "pagan" black metal matters not when faced with such stellar quality. Leads prominent but parceled out, Lappish Shatanism is thus a work of undeniable passion - never belabored, but refreshing as it is reverential. The past is still alive across Lapland!

Hateful and melodic Black Metal by IDEALISM. The debut album, "Philosophize With a Hammer", is dedicated to war against all modern, embracing the traditions and love towards the northern lands. Nothing more, nothing less.

Hailing from the always-fertile Finnish black metal scene, NACHTGNAWER are a power-trio who include among their ranks concurrent members of labelmates LICHT DES URTEILS, SACRIFICIUM CARMEN, CORAXUL, RIIVAUS, and NÔIDVA among others. Following a demo last year (which PURITY THROUGH FIRE reissued earlier this year), NACHTGNAWER now unveil a special EP featuring fellow Finnish comrade WOLFSEER. United in vampyric blood, Unholy Vampyric Supremacy isn't so much a regular split release between the two entities as it is a collaborative record. The tracklisting alternates tracks between the two, with NACHTGNAWER delivering black metal and WOLFSEER ambient, but the way the seven-song/18-minute EP plays out creates a haunting (and, at times, jarring) fever dream. For his part, WOLFSEER has years of experience in dark ambient and dungeon synth under other monikers, but here does he deliver shamanistic soundscapes that seemingly reverberate from centuries away. NACHTGNAWER are as nasty as you'd expect, given their considerable pedigree, but temper their traditional Finnish filth with copious amounts of cryogenic melody and a busier, more restless approach to songwriting. Sparse their discography may be so far, but NACHTGNAWER are no doubt on the march... If you want blood, Unholy Vampyric Supremacy's got it!

Comes with matt finish and UV spotlack!

RED VINYL

6 Tracks of raw black metal in the vein of Satanic Warmaster, Horna, Baptism and Sargeist.

Ltd 250

Split LP lim. 250 

A-Side
Band: Atra Mors
EP: Aeons of Death

Atmospheric Black Metal from Finland! Project of the October Falls mastermind. Take from the second Album "Eternal Wanderer of the Night Sky" To be released as Luxus Digipak with embossed goldprints.

LP lim. 250

This split album brings together two entities - one quite prolific, the other brand-new - in the oft-overlooked UK black metal scene. ÚLFARR's name should be more than familiar to those who follow UKBM as well as the crimes of PURITY THROUGH FIRE, for mainman Dominus released the band's debut album through the label in late 2019. Now joined by vocalist Jatvardr, the reinvigorated ÚLFARR quickly whip forth a cold fury on their four exclusive tracks here. Like the '90s never ended, the duo staunchly stick to traditional black metal - no more, but definitely no less - and still come recommended for maniacs of classic Darkthrone and early Ancient. MALFEITOR follow next with four exclusive tracks of their own. The band is the work of one Nosdrahcir, who also numbers the equally-new Wretched Malediction among his current endeavors. Here, MALFEITOR exhibit a comparable grimness, but work with a more measured pace as well as a melancholic melodicism. While making the UK their home, the band's stylistic location would most certainly be Finland, of which PURITY THROUGH FIRE has had a sizable hand in fostering, as exemplified by MALUM, SARKRISTA, GOATS OF DOOM, SACRIFICIM CARMEN, KRYPTAMOK, RIIVAUS, LICHT DES URTEILS, AESTHUS, and many, MANY others. Raise the banners for UKBM!