Varathron (GRE) – Walpurgisnacht LP
€26.88
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.
Weight | 0.5 kg |
---|
Brand
Nuclear War Now
Related Products
Black Metal
Two great bands together in a covenant of Black Metal, each one parading its unique approach and both building a strong split, a brilliant release.
In stock
Black Metal
Raw melodic Black Metal from Norway and USA.
In this second album, Blutumhang features a more straightforward set of songs, but maintaining their majestic and distinctive venomous sound.
Black vinyl, presented with an insert and an A2 poster.
In stock
Black Metal
Altare is proud to release this visionary project for the first time on vinyl.
Bleak, melancholic and dystopian experimental Black Metal mixed with electronic music, post-punk and other influences.
Black vinyl, presented with a four page extra laminated fold-out cover.
In stock
Doom Metal
All copies pressed on a sort of marbled mauve-coloured vinyl, with few colour-variations due to pressing on vinyl leftovers. Comes with a 4-page A5 booklet with Roadburn poster/info.
Live recording from the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands on April 15th 2011.
In stock
Black Metal
VzörbrëzV demo compilation, presented as a double LP by Altare.
Raw French Black Metal from the Garde Noire circle. Pure demented LLN worship and beyond…
Includes “Demo I”, “Pandemonic Radiance”, “Ascending the Black Throne of Depravation” and “Sacrificial Rites of Infernal Devastation”. Presented with a fold-out sleeve, limited to 200.
In stock
Black Metal
2022 version by Darker than Black, new layout.
In stock
Black Metal
An establishment of new sounds, and an extension of familiar sounds, “Vermillion Apparitions Frozen in Chimera Twilight” is VAMPIRSKA at it’s strongest and most enchanting. Six tracks that stylistically expand on what was previously known to be the VAMPIRSKA sound, redefined into darkness with an all-destroying ritual for the supernatural devastation that captures the unfamiliar essence of the entity. VAMPIRSKA reignites the black flame to burn stronger than ever with its most deadly display of black metal carnage to date.
In stock
Experimental
The full-length from 1998 available again on DLP.
In stock
Black Metal
After 2019’s well-received Endless Trails demo via SIGNAL REX, HOLLOW WOODS strike with a full-length debut fittingly titled Cold Winds Cleave the Earth. While hailing from Finland, this mysterious entity largely eschew their homeland’s reigning black metal idiom, instead taking influence from Ukraine (Roman Saenko’s projects), Norway (early Ulver, equally early Gorgoroth), and especially Russia (the Blazebirth Hall collective). In other words, pure & proud BLACK METAL, nevertheless done with personality and charisma.
In stock
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.
In stock
Black Metal
A monument of melodic and grandiose Black Metal, to metaphysical paganism and spiritual rebirth, from Nahtrunar’s mastermind.
Last copies, available again.
In stock
Black Metal
Housed in folded cover with UV lacquer finish logo and tracklist print.
Azhubham Haani’s second demo from 1992.
In stock