Darkthrone (NOR) – It Beckons Us All LP

Experimental Black Metal

The early nineties Norwegian black metal demo “Those who caress the pale” (originally released 1994 on cassette format) has had a cult status for many years. After a few re-issues in the distant past now is the time to honor this pioneering material by making it available again on cd and vinyl including bonus tracks and liner notes by all 3 members!

Black Metal

Burier IV – Wielding Malignity – an auditory altar, forged to conjure a series of surreal, blood drenched nightmares, permeated by abstract and otherworldly expressions of rage, pain, and horror.

Originally planned in concept as 7″ format, the material overflowed and the result is a 12 track 40min full length release.

Recorded at the end of the Australian summer MMXX, Burier IV is comprised of tracks that are short in length and aggressive in nature, bursting forth with a sharpened edge.

Burier IV could be considered a conceptual anomaly, yet is undeniably congruous with the Burier catalog of recordings so far, employing similar palettes of darkly coloured, complex instrumentation and tortured, shrieking vocals, dynamically pulsating, here wielded with a heightened sense of ferocity.

Exclusive import from Goatowarex (CHINA).

Black Metal

One of the most accomplished newcomers Signal Rex has come across in recent years, the shadowy entity of Valais burst from the voidal womb fully formed in the middle of 2021 with their self-titled debut album. Despite existing in the vast (and vastly inconsistent) wilderness of Bandcamp, Valais in fact imparted a power and poignancy that takes most bands at least a couple records to reach, if at all. Both classically composed and forward-thinking, Valais understood right from the start the core tenets of true black metal, but equally understood how to inject their own personality and poise into such to create something that adds to the language of BLACK METAL rather than mimics its speech patterns (and sloppily so).

No, Valais as a work is a towering monument of tension and release, skillful contours and subtle dynamics, richly malevolent melody and slipstreaming violence. Aesthetic touchstones include the likes of Slidhr, latter-day Leviathan, and even Blut Aus Nord at their wiliest, but Valais also exhibit an understated sense of the pagan – perhaps stemming from their native Ireland, or perhaps from some strange cosmos far beyond our comprehension… Either way, all of this coalesces into a whilrlwinding five-song/37-minute experience that feels far vaster than that succinct runtime otherwise suggests. As such, Signal Rex is honored to rightfully release this tome in all physical formats.

Black Metal

Building upon that grand fortress is a four-song/22-minute mini-album likewise truly titled: The Oath of the Black Wolf. Here, ORGREL have gone a-hunting, their ’90s black metal classicism stalking and striking with a hunger only hinted at previously. Still, fueled by this fire they may be, the Italians across this mini manage to maximize their epic side, with the predecessor’s flat-yet-full soundfield now becoming slightly more chromatic in the process. Lead lines portend dark truths, ever building in tension and then grandeur, but the record’s swift-yet-satisfying runtime reveals the darkest, most intrinsic truth: black metal doesn’t need to “become” anything when it already IS. Hail The Oath of the Black Wolf!

Black Metal

The 2017 long sold out full-length available again on LP

Black Metal

The first full-length from 2017 available again on LP