Black Metal

Beginning in the early 1990s, a handful of musicians in Greece established one of the most distinctive and compelling regional sounds associated with the Second Wave of Black Metal. Rotting Christ laid the foundation for this particular sound, and other acts immediately followed suit helping to define the Greek Black Metal sound and bring it to prominence within the international scene. The importance of Varathron’s contribution cannot be overstated. After releasing what is arguably the greatest Greek Black Metal album of all time, 1993’s “His Majesty at the Swamp,” Varathron recorded and released the superb follow-up, “Walpurgisnacht” two years later. Since that time, the overwhelming brilliance of the former has often overshadowed the fact that “Walpurgisnacht” is a classic album in its own right. From the outset, with the opening track, “Tleilaxu (The Unborn Child),” it is clear that “Walpurgisnacht” contains all of the characteristic traits of Greek Black Metal. The riffs are somber and melancholy, yet driven by a sense of mania, often suddenly giving way to slower, majestic passages firmly set in the Hellenic tradition. Reminiscent of the early recordings of Monumentum, on “Walpurgisnacht,” Varathron skillfully weave into the fabric of the album a slightly gothic influence producing an unearthly effect in which transient, morose interludes and subtle keyboard flourishes accentuate the album’s mystical feel.

Black Metal

From the earthen tomb the sepulchral shadows of the Varcolaci cultus, reaches with wolfish claws and burning eyes towards the moon. Storm-clouds darken and envelop the sky, bringing the shadows and nightmarish spirits of night.
Varcolaci is Vampyric Magick woven in sound, obscure black metal and ambient waves of the tomb and darkened skies.
Varcolaci is a conceptual manifestation of the deep knowledge and ancient powers associated with Vampyrism from Slavic and Pagan magical practices and religion. The depths of meaning are as the vast green vines and snakes which enter the dark earth to find balance between the chthonic and the skies of both storm and night.

Varcolaci is an entity created by Akhtya Nachttoter & Azgorh, both are well known for their work together in Black Funeral & Strigoii, as well as their various other entities such as Valefor, Darkness Enshroud, Akhtya, Drowning the Light, Harvest, Ghosts of Oceania, Forgotten Kingdoms – to name a few.

Majestic Black Metal

Finally available on LP, originally released in 2000.

With a fully restored layout, including handwritten lyrics and totally re-mastered for LP.

CLEAR LP, Lim. 88 copies.

Officially released by Ragnarok Records, and distributed worldwide by ASRAR.

180g 12” LP, 3,5mm spine, 350g cardboard jacket, UV SPOT, BLACK FLOOD, thick INSERT

Majestic Black Metal

Finally available on LP, originally released in 2000.

With a fully restored layout, including handwritten lyrics and totally re-mastered for LP.

Officially released by Ragnarok Records, and distributed worldwide by ASRAR.

180g 12” LP, 3,5mm spine, 350g cardboard jacket, UV SPOT, BLACK FLOOD, thick INSERT

Black Metal

Majestic Black Metal

Finally available again on LP, originally released in 2001.
With a fully restored layout, including handwritten lyrics and totally re-mastered for LP.
Officially released by Ragnarok Records, and distributed worldwide by ASRAR.

180gr LP, 3.5mm spine printed on 350gsm cardstock jacket with BLACK FLOOD, UV SPOT and INSERT.

Black Metal

Majestic Black Metal

Finally available again on LP, originally released in 2001.
With a fully restored layout, including handwritten lyrics and totally re-mastered for LP.
Officially released by Ragnarok Records, and distributed worldwide by ASRAR.

RED LP, Lim. 88 copies.

180gr LP, 3.5mm spine printed on 350gsm cardstock jacket with BLACK FLOOD, UV SPOT and INSERT.

Black Metal

From the dawn of the classic debut album, Netherstorm, in 2018, Finland’s VARGRAV have almost single-handedly reinvigorated the oft-maligned symphonic black metal subgenre. Forged in fires from the ancients – founder V-Khaoz’s credentials are vast and stretch back decades – and stoking the embers last left by Obtained Enslavement and Norway’s Covenant and Odium, VARGRAV’s two albums to date stand as proud pillars of shimmering, classics-based obsidian.

As momentous as those two full-lengths have been, VARGRAV arguably eclipse both with their third album, The Nighthold. With a lineup that now includes the notorious Graf Werwolf von Armageddon on vocals and Moonsorrow members Trollhorn of the Black Harvest on guitars/bass and Baron M. Tarwonen on drums, VARGRAV’s swirling, cosmic surge has never been more potent; their attack is both sharper and dreamier, crystal-clear and opaque simultaneously. That added clarity creates more immediacy as The Nighthold kicks in, for the aggression of old is kicked into overdrive here and the synths take on a truly orchestral aspect. It’s not for nothing that the album is a full hour in length: everything here sounds (and feels) HUGE, one massive velvety purple landscape of stained-glass visions as far as the third eye can see. And all 12 tracks are threaded together in a plausibly cinematic manner; while each is mighty in its own respective right, VARGRAV sequence every song with artistic flair and high drama, concluding the immersive experience with a daresay-soulful guitar solo during the coda of “Creator of the True Realm” that then segues into the nearly-10-minute big-screen instrumental “Ghostlands.” What film or filmic realm one enters into (or leaves) is entirely up to the listener…The Nighthold is boundless!

Black Metal

From the dawn of the classic debut album, Netherstorm, in 2018, Finland’s VARGRAV have almost single-handedly reinvigorated the oft-maligned symphonic black metal subgenre. Forged in fires from the ancients – founder V-Khaoz’s credentials are vast and stretch back decades – and stoking the embers last left by Obtained Enslavement and Norway’s Covenant and Odium, VARGRAV’s two albums to date stand as proud pillars of shimmering, classics-based obsidian.

As momentous as those two full-lengths have been, VARGRAV arguably eclipse both with their third album, The Nighthold. With a lineup that now includes the notorious Graf Werwolf von Armageddon on vocals and Moonsorrow members Trollhorn of the Black Harvest on guitars/bass and Baron M. Tarwonen on drums, VARGRAV’s swirling, cosmic surge has never been more potent; their attack is both sharper and dreamier, crystal-clear and opaque simultaneously. That added clarity creates more immediacy as The Nighthold kicks in, for the aggression of old is kicked into overdrive here and the synths take on a truly orchestral aspect. It’s not for nothing that the album is a full hour in length: everything here sounds (and feels) HUGE, one massive velvety purple landscape of stained-glass visions as far as the third eye can see. And all 12 tracks are threaded together in a plausibly cinematic manner; while each is mighty in its own respective right, VARGRAV sequence every song with artistic flair and high drama, concluding the immersive experience with a daresay-soulful guitar solo during the coda of “Creator of the True Realm” that then segues into the nearly-10-minute big-screen instrumental “Ghostlands.” What film or filmic realm one enters into (or leaves) is entirely up to the listener…The Nighthold is boundless!