Black Metal

Venusberg Cardinal’s Atlas of Dungeons was recorded winter 2010—the same sessions as Departure Chandelier’s Antichrist Rise to Power and was intended as a brother project exploring medieval and ancient tortures depicted across such paintings as The Garden of Earthly Delights and the doom of pre-Raphaelite Greek mythology in what the band describes as “antique black metal.” Originally set for release as a cassette album, this has been pulled from the archives of Occult Antiquities and presented to judged souls now under the banner of NWN! Productions. Musically in line with French black metal influences, Atlas of Dungeons pays special tribute and honors the perverse satanic cruelty, in particular of Cantus Bestiae. Despite using the same 4-track, drums, and guitars as Departure Chandelier in the now fabled Prisoner’s Chant studio, listeners will find a pure minimalist black metal atmosphere devoid of synth with long, hypnotic instrumental passages—until the alarming and eerie outro that features the previously unknown electronic/ambient peripheral of Departure Chandelier…Coronation Prédateur. Welcome, sinners, to the world of Occult Antiquities and antique black metal!

Released at the dawn of 2020 on CD format, Zmierzch Stalowej Ciemności was VERMISST’s first, fuller-length strike since their formation in 2018. Despite being a relatively new entity, the band’s sound is undoubtedly OLD, hailing the old gods of their Polish homeland’s rich black metal heritage. Cryogenically cold, unremittingly grim, shrouded in a mysticism rich in ancient splendor, VERMISST are thoroughly mid ’90s Polish black metal for a modern world too long neglectful of the Old Ways. Pure and proud, Zmierzch Stalowej Ciemności is poignant proof that classicism endures no matter the decade, and that ever-so-subtle twists on tradition can result in resoundingly “new” manifestations worthy of that noble lineage.

Now, courtesy of fans-from-the-beginning SIGNAL REX, VERMISST’s Zmierzch Stalowej Ciemności is being released on vinyl format for the first time ever, with three exclusive (and righteously raw) tracks expanding the release to 40 minutes in length.