Vinili

High Roller Records, reissue 2021, bone vinyl, ltd 200, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet, poster, restored original artwork, mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony

Hailing from the cascadian gloom of British Columbia, Canada, Ulvik,
formed by Jade Fadel and George Allen, released a double length with
Avantgarde Music in 2019, Volume I & II. After spending the opening
months of the 2020 pandemic creating Isolation Motifs, a short concept
instrumental album and corresponding video series, Ulvik finished writing
and recording their sophomore album, Cascades.
Cascades is a hypnotic, atmospheric black metal album, incorporating the
old, organic textures of plucked and bowed bouzoukis and violins to create
ethereal interludes, in contrast to the visceral aggressive tone of each track.
This melding is mirrored by shared dual vocals, creating a counter balance
that weaves and crashes between malevolent and haunting.

Dormant for over a decade, Beyond Man has been awakened like an ancient curse from an old and sandy burial ground. In an epoch of records in which resounds the dull embellished atmosphere of a cozy bedroom, Beyond Man‘s self-titled album smells of old amplifiers drenched in rotten blood, ash and whisky, the reek of a cave I dare you to enter, where the frustrations of a group of Satanic cowboys take sonic form together with their zealot visions and nightmares, veiled by a truly ferocious and sinister aura.

Call it black metal if you wish, or envision Morbid Angel sitting down with Black Sabbath and listening to Norwegian black metal while sharing a bottle of red wine followed by straight shots of heavy smoked whisky.

Nidrosian Black Metal at its very finest, straight from the source with MARE, ONE TAIL ONE HEAD etc. members

First pressing. 100 copies in "grimace purple" color vinyl (THIS) and 200 in standard black.

Double White LP in gatefold cover, jointly (re)released with Pest Prod.

Melancholic/Depressive Black Metal
 

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.

Black heavy-weight 12 "(180g) vinyl.
 

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”.

Black vinyl - etched D side

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.

Colored vinyl LTD - etched D side

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.