Véhémence (FRA) – Par Le Sang Versé DLP

Black Metal

Originally released as cassette by Mahamvantara Arts Records earlier this year, RÜNDGARD’s first public recording is one literally out of time. Mainman Lord Valtgryftåk is a prolific veteran of Chile’s increasingly potent black metal underground, concurrently handling the likes of Pyreficativm, 13th Temple, Gryftigæn, and Winterstorm among others. And while a number of those bands and satellite entities belonging to the Pure Raw Underground Black Metal Plague are indeed the rawest of the raw, with RÜNDGARD does he delve into ancient times, medieval majesty, and grim splendor somewhere between the earliest Nordic works and contemporaneous Polish ones.

Recorded during two periods over the course of MMXX/MMXXI and now featuring a mix & master by Rudrah Studios, Stronghold of Majestic Ruins suitably evokes its namesake both sonically and thematically. Empirically, the recording evokes the ancient passages and memories of a distant land submerged in mist and an interesting story behind ruins. As Lord Valtgryftåk explains, “Originally, this entity is directly related to those archaic dimensional Valdivian forces that still inhabit our realms, those forces from the past written in blood and guarded by solemn towers and fortresses that still remain alive.” And truly, that past comes alive across the album’s succinct-yet-expansive 25-minute runtime, maintaining a faithful respect for the old traditions and the sound of glorious times with an interesting melodic register at the same time very organic. No record-collector-nerd “raw black metal” here: only authentic ancient vintage!

For those nostalgic for forgotten realms and archaic ages, RÜNDGARD returns from a deep slumber with the fortifying Stronghold of Majestic Ruins!

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

Four songs of folk/pagan metal from Gelderland in the vein of Isengard, Storm, Grimm, Bergthron.

Limited to 250 handnumbered copies.

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.

Black Metal

Titled Outojen Tornien Varjoissa, FAUSTIAN PACT’s full-length debut is the grand culmination of all the gloriously bewitching work they brewed across that trio of demos. Exploding with an effervescence that’s addicting and undeniable, their swords-aloft attack surges and swells, crests and cascades. At the forefront are stained-glass synths whisked from a time – and a fantastical landscape – far, FAR away, sumptuously underlining their heroic/romantic style of black metal deeply steeped in a nostalgic past. Across the album’s 41 minute (fantastical) landscape are spread lyrics of splendorous mythology, swords & sorcery, vast forgotten realms brought to life through wily, wanderlusting black metal betraying a noble melodicism. FAUSTIAN PACT are thus a unique balance of contrasts: orkish energy vs. mystical atmosphere, dungeon rawness vs. castle-top aristocracy, obsidian darkness vs. gleaming light. So, whether 25 years ago or 2500, removed by a reality or two, Outojen Tornien Varjoissa is timeless BLACK METAL MAGICK – dark medieval times have at last arrived!

Black Metal

Emerging from the void of black devotion, Vampirska, The U.S.-based Raw Black Metal entity offers two of it’s most decrepit hymns yet. Walls of overwhelming chaos and depravity with the essence of mysterious and punishing raw black metal that emits an enchanting hypnoticism. The bombardment of devastation is met with another familiar entity of the grotesque and disgusting chambers; Wampyric Rites, the Ecuadorian spectre of the Black Metal Plague Circle. A two-part deliverance of malevolance and agony that call forth an intense massacre of total hatred and suffering. The conspiracy of these two entities brings four summonings to be unleashed onto the hordes.