Black Metal

Once thought long dead, existing as they did during the ancient days of the early ’90s, Baxaxaxa publicly arose from the dead in 2018 with an exclusive performance at the esteemed Destroying Texas Fest and then a gig in their native Germany. Feeling scorn for nowadays black metal and wishing to stir the cauldron of yore, the then-quintet quickly recorded The Old Evil EP and released it on cassette tape in October 2019. Buoyed by that burning-black momentum, Baxaxaxa released another EP, Devoted to HIM, little more than a year later. Both recordings’ respective titles should surely bespeak the black metal to which the band is beholden: rotten, primitive, and ancient, out of touch and most definitely out of time.

Black Metal

THE CULT IS ALIVE! Once thought long dead, existing as they did during the ancient days of the early ’90s, BAXAXAXA publicly arose from the dead in 2018 with an exclusive performance at the esteemed Destroying Texas Fest and then a gig in their native Germany. Feeling scorn for nowadays black metal and wishing to stir the cauldron of yore, the now-quintet quickly recorded The Old Evil and released it on cassette tape in October 2019. The title itself should say more than enough: The Old Evil is exactly what it fucking is! Ugly ‘n’ primitive riffs, hammering rhythms, raw ‘n’ rotten recording, and hauntingly medieval synths – simply put, BAXAXAXA create black metal out of time! And out of touch, as it should stay, and will remain…back to the coffin they rest.

Black Metal

The first full-length available again on LP.

– 300gsm Jacket With Matt Varnish & Inside Flooded in Black

– 140g Yellow Vinyl

– 250gsm Cardboard Insert

– Limited To 300 Handnumbered Copies

Black Metal

And so it goes with the band’s sixth full-length, Esoteric Atavism. Ever aptly titled, Esoteric Atavism’s contents embody that title in a most provocative manner. While BLACK CILICE is esoteric in the extreme, more so is the entity atavistic, and indeed are those energies the cornerstone of this record. Characteristically coated in miles of miasmic rawness that’s an instrument unto itself, the lyrics of Esoteric Atavism delve into the OLD – old energies, old spiritually – and the music follows suit by reconstituting elements from elder BLACK CILICE recordings. Always in the red but now deeper into the black, that’s not to say Esoteric Atavism is a deliberate throwback or crass “return to the roots”; rather, the band’s birth pangs are given a deeper wisdom and wider-screened hysteria for the listener to drown himself in…or avoid, revoltingly stratifying as BLACK CILICE’s black metal may be. More pointedly, riffs are more forthright, with experimentation subtler, and songs in kind shorter: the proverbial ouroboros, then, forever feeding on the past.

Black Metal

Portuguese black metal with two exclusive tracks.

Black Metal

Pressed on 140g vinyl. Housed in a 350gsm jacket with black-flooded interior and matte varnish.

Includes adouble-sided insert on 300gsm offset paper and an A2-size poster on 150gsm art paper.

Black Metal

FURIS IGNIS is brand-new one-man entity hailing from Germany. Despite its relative newness, FURIS IGNIS indeed wields German steel forged during the days of the ancients. No more but definitely no less, the band’s Decapitate the Aging World debut is pure ‘n’ proud black metal from the days when black metal was strictly BLACK METAL. As forecasted by its starkly alluring cover art, Decapitate the Aging World recalls misty and mystical spirits from glorious, desolate times – be they Moonblood or early Desaster or equally early Katharsis – planting the banner of olde Germania deep into the frost-covered soil. And yet, for all this requisite coldness, more potently does a FIRE burn within FURIS IGNIS that makes its debut statement one that commands attention for its undeniably physical intensity: ghoulish and grim, yes, but stout and muscular and legitimately live. Underpinning this fiery intensity is a tasteful dusting of shimmering synth – “a touch of medieval darkness,” as it were – just lingering enough like fog across a haunted moor.

Undeniably epic in its six-song/40-minute construction, Decapitate the Aging World breathes new life into death.

100x White/Black Vinyl

Wasting no time with this enviable momentum, GRABUNHOLD return little more than a year later with more medieval madness: Heldentod, their full-length debut. Just as spellbinding as the preceding EP but even more expansive, Heldentod immediately creates a compelling canvas that’s simultaneously tied to tradition and pushing that tradition further. Its songwriting and attendant soundfield suggest strong second-wave vibes – silent citadels, sequestered keeps, dark dungeons – but never whiff of retro posturing or ham-fisted revisionism; rather, their invocation runs parallel to the Old Ways, fluently speaking the ancient dialect instead of stunted pidgin. In other, more telling ways, Heldentod strikes upon braver and less-travelled territory, bristling with a sparkling sort of production that’s palatable in its almost-crystalline sheen and befitting the album’s contents. Here, GRABUNHOLD maintain a more solemn aspect – more “pagan,” if you will – that’s given spectral flight through cascading melodicism and an integration of choral vocals, perhaps most stirringly encapsulated in the Spartan hymn “Trommeln in der Tiefe.” Elsewhere, the fire of old burns hotter than ever, with the band’s bravado amplified by the powerful ‘n’ pro production.

Black Metal

Hailing from Germany, GRABUNHOLD are ’90s black metal classicism incarnate. The quartet showed boundless promise with their first demo, Auf den Hügelgräberhöhen, in 2017, but it’s with their debut EP, Unter dem Banner der Toten, where GRABUNHOLD really come into their own – and quickly. Comprising three central black metal tracks and a solemn instrumental, this swift ‘n’ spellbinding short-length references a whole host of timeless influences – beyond the wandering moon, an arising realm upon a shadowthrone, dark waters stirring at the dawn of the dying sun – but processes them in such an undeniably Teutonic, swords-drawn way that’s wholly their own, and wholly refreshing. It’s medieval madness run riot, and it’s riotously compelling.