RAC/Oi!

Vengeance was a RAC band, an anti-communist Oi/punk band from Norwich, founded in 1985. With Daz on vocals, Tim on guitar, Rach on bass and Tom on drums, the band expressed their political views in raw sounds. Before their debut LP “Forward into War” in 1988, two demo tapes with different line-ups were released in 1986 and 1987.

Side A of the disc contains the two street rock’n’roll singles SRR 003 and SRR 004 with alternative versions of the songs “Fight for your Life”, “Working Class Hero”, “I don’t wanna know” and “Vengeance”, and the sampler track “Pride and Pain” is also included. The B-side contains the album recordings “Fight for your Life”, “Working Class Hero” and “I don’t wanna know” for direct comparison.

RAC/Oi!

In 1988, “Forward Into War” was released on Herbert Egolt’s Cologne Rock-O-Rama Records label. The band originally started out as a four-piece in 1985, but then found their ideal line-up on their debut album with Tom (drums), Andy (guitar) and Vernon (bass, vocals).

On the “Forward Into War” album, Vengeance played a heavy metal-influenced sound, with an ingenious brutal voice and patriotic to nationalistic lyrics. The three British musicians created their own distinctive style, which is still unparalleled today and which, if you want, can easily be described as Oi!Core. All tracks are performed hard to brutal (with the exception of “Wake Up England”) and are of a high level. Unfortunately, singer Vernon, who was also responsible for the cover design, died in 2008. As they said, it was due to an incorrectly dosed medication. It’s always the same: Only the best die young!

Black Metal

“Betrothing Spirits at Nightfall” is Vengeance Sorcery’s debut full length of morbid black metal. This slab of occult metal has been conjured by the mind of Deathwalker (Nihil Invocation, USA) and derives its influence from bass-driven, black metal cults such as Barathrum, Ride for Revenge, Perverted Ceremony, Demoncy, etc. Originally a 1 piece project, Deathwalker has welcomed help from his homelands & Russian tundra along the path.

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.