Ara (AUT) – Blutroter Mond Black LP

Black Metal

By now, BLACK CILICE require no introduction. Arguably THE most pivotal raw black metal entity of the last decade, this Portuguese enigma has come to both define and defy that idiom. Unmindful of the present, not looking to the future, and undoubtedly rooted in the past, BLACK CILICE simply IS, and its vast body of work speaks for itself: challenging, for sure, but transportative and transcendental beyond compare.

And so it goes with the band’s sixth full-length, Esoteric Atavism. Ever aptly titled, Esoteric Atavism’s contents embody that title in a most provocative manner. While BLACK CILICE is esoteric in the extreme, more so is the entity atavistic, and indeed are those energies the cornerstone of this record. Characteristically coated in miles of miasmic rawness that’s an instrument unto itself, the lyrics of Esoteric Atavism delve into the OLD – old energies, old spiritually – and the music follows suit by reconstituting elements from elder BLACK CILICE recordings. Always in the red but now deeper into the black, that’s not to say Esoteric Atavism is a deliberate throwback or crass “return to the roots”; rather, the band’s birth pangs are given a deeper wisdom and wider-screened hysteria for the listener to drown himself in…or avoid, revoltingly stratifying as BLACK CILICE’s black metal may be. More pointedly, riffs are more forthright, with experimentation subtler, and songs in kind shorter: the proverbial ouroboros, then, forever feeding on the past.

Black Metal

The classic Norwegian black/viking metal material re-issued.

The 1994 Aurora Borealis demo and the 1995 Leve Vikingånden 7″ep presented as one album on jewel case cd and various limited vinyls.

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.

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!

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!