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Dark Folk from France

CD in Digipack with golden hot stamping

For fans of folk guitars, rainy ambiences and medieval sorcery

Very interesting and quite unique Black Metal with certain Folk-vibe but definitely without any hippie and happy modern melodies. No clean singing here! Eerie vocals add the right atmosphere to keep the music grim and sinister.

This 2nd release and first full length long player from ABSTRACT THE LIGHT, sees a continuation and further development of the sounds and feelings touched on on the debut release “From Out Of The Void” yet steps further into the dark and mystical folk sounds and bleak and emotive black metal touched on in passages previously...

Further drawing influence from a life of experience, trials and tribulations, loss and sadness this album delves further into the psyche of man.

“MAGNA SAPIENTIA QUAERERE : to the depths of thy soul...” was again recorded, mixed and mastered by Jarred Nettle at the House Of SAP, and this time features some excellent vocal contributions from our friends Rowan London (Virgin Black), Gregor Pikl, Sandra Mortis, as well as guest lead guitar performance by Jason Van Den Driesen, and Cello played by Hannah Yates.

marble/galaxy effect in grimace purple with pink

Anyone with the slightest interest in darkwave music and the goth counterculture is familiar with Lycia. Born in Tempe, AZ, in 1988 from the creative mind of Mike VanPortfleet, Lycia is as seminal and influential as a band can get. Devoted to cold, somber and synthetic sounds, these pioneers of the ethereal are responsible for some of the most acclaimed underground albums of the ‘90s. 

The current lineup of the band is John Fair, David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, who has been the only constant member since the band’s formation. Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the groundbreaking groups in the darkwave and ethereal styles. Their 1995 album The Burning Circle And Then Dust "remains a high point of American dark rock" according to AllMusic, and 1996’s Cold has been cited as one of the genre’s best by Post-Punk.com and Alternative Press. Lycia's sound is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of heavily effected guitars, dark atmospheric keyboards, heavy reverb drenched drum machines, VanPortfleet's somber raspy vocals and Vanflower's vivid melodic voice. 

Avantgarde Music had the pleasure to bring the 1991 debut full-length Ionia to a vinyl edition for the first time in early 2021, and this brought along the chance to cooperate on new music. This turned out to be a rich studio EP, Casa Luna. We reached out to Mike VanPortfleet, who describes Casa Luna as a followup to 2018’s In Flickers, with a more varied approach, stylistically and thematically. “In Flickers and Casa Luna are Lycia’s purest releases. Originally planned as a split 7” with the song “A Quiet Way to Go”, as more songs were written they evolved to an EP”.

It has been 17 years, but finally the time has come for the reaper to wield his scythe once again. Ancient Wisdom is the musical alter ego of Marcus E. Norman, veteran of the Swedish black metal scene and member of Naglfar and Bewitched. To us, not only he means one of the best cult acts of the ’90s and early ’00s, but also one of the first artists to find a home under the Avantgarde Music banner, back in 1993.

Formed by Norman in Umeå, Sweden, under the name Ancient in 1992 as a full band, Ancient recorded their demo tape In the Eye of the Serpent. In 1993 the name was changed into Ancient Wisdom, and in December the second demo tape Through Rivers of the Eternal Blackness was recorded, after which the band signed a record deal with Avantgarde Music. In December 1994 the debut album For Snow Covered the Northland was recorded, but due to some technical errors it was not released until 1996, and during this time Marcus decided to continue the project on his own.

From 1997 to 2004 Ancient Wisdom recorded and released three other albums: The Calling (1997), ...and the Physical Shape of Light Bled (2000) and Cometh Doom, Cometh Death (2004), before entering a hiatus seventeen-year long.

A Celebration in Honor of Death, the fifth full length album from Ancient Wisdom and their comeback after such a long time, displays a dismal and more sinister side of this Swedish entity that has been spreading its darkness since 1992. 7 tracks of the purest death worship, draped in haunting melodies and an atmosphere reeking of broken coffins and graveyard dust.

Returning with their third scathing blast of profane black death metal, England’s Wode now join with 20 Buck Spin to unleash ‘Burn In Many Mirrors’, their most potently wild and predatory work yet. With six new tracks spanning 40 minutes of meticulously summoned infernal ferocity Wode scorch the landscape and drape it in the foul reek of death’s fog.

Solbrud is known for performing at unique locations, with special care for lights and props, which now results in ‘Levende I Brønshøj Vandtårn’; a carefully curated live double album and video. Recorded inside Brønshøj Water Tower in Copenhagen at two totally sold-out nights. The tower is known for its brutalist architecture and unique acoustics – 15 seconds of natural reverb, which creates a fitting atmospheric backdrop for the monumental sound of the band. On top of that, the tower was freezing cold, amplifying the nature of the music.

The full concert consists of 8 tracks, including songs from all three previous Solbrud albums. Some have been rearranged, taking the special acoustics into account, while others blast through in their original form. In addition to their set, the new song ‘Sjæleskrig’ was added to their setlist, which resonates hauntingly in the great tower’s reverberance.

‘Levende I Brønshøj Vandtårn’ was recorded on November 23rd and 24th 2019 and mixed by Marcus Ferreira Larsen (Demon Head) at No Master's Voice. Mastered by Flemming Rasmussen (Metallica, Morbid Angel, Rainbow, etc.) at Sweet Silence Studios.

Three years after their fascinating debut, Suicide Forest is back with Reluctantly, a sophomore album which further develops their art. Taking their name from the Japanese Aokigahara forest, where many troubled 
people travel to end their life, the one-man band from Tucson, Az., moves from classic depressive black metal coordinates and expands their sound palette. As a result, Reluctantly settles somewhere in between DSBM, atmospheric black metal and post-black/blackgaze.
The perfect company for restless souls, Reluctantly reminds of the eerie keyboard patterns of Burzum and the dilated atmospheres of contemporary US black metal pillars like Ash Borer, mixed with some unpredictable twists such as dissonant riffs and solos. Suicide Forest will please both those looking for furious up-tempos and the more introvert blacksters, looking for a sanctuary from the outside world.
Multi-instrumentalist and mastermind A.Kruger wrote Reluctantly in the second half of 2019, before the pandemic struck us all, but began tracking the album at his home studio in early 2020. About the lyrics, when asked what themes inform his work, he plainly replied: The whole album focuses
on the themes of resent and isolation, feelings that were only compounded considering the entirety of Reluctanlty was recorded during the covid-19 lockdown”.