Mgla (POL) – With Hearts Toward None LP

Black Metal

The SELVHAT magnum opus Gjennom Mørket Famlende will always be a personal favorite of mine. This is where, in my honest opinion, he peaked before he left us, and yet I feel we had even bigger things to come, but alas.

Written, recorded and performed by himself with assistance from E.Blix, also playing drums on these recordings.

Absolutely mesmerizing, chilling Black Metal perfection, I will never stop praising this album!

Even looking back at playing an instrumental CD-r version back in the day, I instantly knew this was something special, and to this day I still think this is one unique album and one of my favorite albums.

Although slightly updated/adjusted layout, this release remains true to the original.

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

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.

Black Metal

Split LP between two Raw Black Metal hordes from Indonesia.

-180gr. Black vinyl. Limited edition
-350gsm. Jacket. Matt varnish. Black inside flood
-Insert
-Black poly-lined inner-sleeves
-Assembled into plastic outer-sleeves

Black Metal

Limited 200 copies.