KARJALAN SISSIT - 'Karjalasta Kajahtaa' CD (Cyclic Law)
2009 edition of Karjalan Sissit's 3rd album (originally released 2004). The Finnish pioneer is back from the degenerated and alcoholised Swedish ghetto of Eskilstuna, diving deeper into total melancholy, anti-socialism, bitterness, disintegration and alcoholism. Filled with bombastic outbursts of Neoclassical arrangements, entwined with traditional Finnish Humppa and deep Industrial sonorities. Produced by Peter Bjärgö (Arcana). Ltd x 1000 copies in an outsized gatefold textured sleeve.
LONGING FOR DAWN - 'A Treacherous Ascension' CD (Grau)
Canadians Longing For Dawn, formed in 2002 by Stefan Laroche and Frederic Arbour (Cyclic Law boss), play heavy, atmospheric, Doom laden Metal. "A Treacherous Ascension" is a wretched, dismal doom album that drips into the abyss at a mournfully slow pace. One of the best acts in the funeral doom movement.
LONGING FOR DAWN - 'Between Elation And Despair' CD (Grau)
Third album of crawling, transcendental, utterly morbid and depressive doom from this excellent Canadian band - Stefan Laroche and Frédéric Arbour (Cyclic Law boss). "...one of those albums you can lose yourself in ...The music is thoroughly morose and depressive, though not on an even remotely whiny sense, and never allows the listener any respite... an album for funeral doom purists to enjoy... this is a band that deserves kudos for the integrity of their approach and the quality of their work." (Chronicles Of Chaos).
MYSTIFIED - 'Passing Through The Outer Gates' CD (First Fallen Star)
Through the end of all things is a new beginning found! The Eulogy Series challenges musicians to create the soundtrack to nothing less than their own death, transition and afterlife, as they see it in their own mind and in accordance with their personal beliefs. Thomas Park (Mystified) has created an album that's worlds apart from his previous releases in both maturity and complexity, and in doing so has opened a new chapter in his own history as a musician. As his body dies and his soul embarks on a timeless journey through an increasingly strange series of gates toward a place of final rest, we find that Thomas` aural vision is crafted with not only spiritual transcendence of this physical world, but also with transcendence of the narrow genres typically used to classify musicians. Ambient and dark ambient soundscapes alike are deftly populated by neo-classical elements, occasionally with an experimental twist! Ltd x 500 copies in a beautifully presented in an A5 digipak with silver foil-embossed lettering and a specially die-cut cover whose coffin-shaped hole reveals only a hint of the true album cover artwork underneath! Mastered by Frederic Arbour (Cyclic Law).
UK 11.00£
Europe 12.50£
World 14.00£
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NEW RISEN THRONE - 'Loneliness Of Hidden Structures' Enhanced CD (Cyclic Law)
The latest chapter of a series from Italy's New Risen Throne that began with "Whispers Of The Approaching Wastefulness" (Cyclic Law, 2007) and continued on with "Crossing The Withered Regions" (Cold Meat Industry, 2009). The first of this series is explained as the annunciation of the end, while the second part was expressing the advent of this end. Now this third chapter speaks of rebirth. Within the caves and ruins left by the destruction, there begins to form the first foundations and structures of a reconstruction that is in turn in constant evolution. The album's tracks are structurally organised in order to evoke that evolution. Filled with NRT's now trademark sound of deep cavernous drones, processed voices and percussive moments, this album features exclusive remixes by Nordvargr and Northaunt. Ltd x 1000 copies in a special A5 folder with a video clip for the track 'New Risen Throne (I)'.
UK 12£
Europe 13£
World 14£
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NORTHAUNT - 'The Ominous Silence' CD (Cyclic Law / Ewers Tonkunst / Indiestate Distribution)
Re-issue of a long sold out Dark Ambient milestone - the debut Northaunt album which first saw the light of day back in 2001 (Fluttering Dragon). "The Ominous Silence" is more musical album than its followers, with a lot of piano, guitar and synth melodic parts, like in the classical tracks 'De Sorte Trær' and 'Pain Is Better', but the typical Northaunt melancholy and dark gloomy Nordic ambient soundscapes are still there. This edition has completely new artwork, new mastering by Hæleif Langås and the bonus track 'Funeral Inside' (audio version). Ltd x 470 copies in a stunning embossed / spot-varnished mini-LP outsize sleeve with 3 inserts.
Sub Luna is a Swedish duo formed by Mikael Lindblom (also a live collaborator for Karjalan Sissit) and Fredrik Sooberg. Their sound has definitely been refined and expands the framework established with their previous album, the double CD "In The Shade of time". Here Sub Luna merge more traditional elements of the dark folk genre with influences from the world of pop and rock and thus avoid falling into trappings of the genre. These are songs of love and hate, nostalgia and progression, magic and loss... songs of protest from the age of nihilism. Features a guest vocal appearance by Ann-Mari Thim (Arcana) and mastering from Peter Bjärgö. Ltd x 1000 copies in a digipak with booklet.
SVARTSINN - 'Elegies For The End' 2 x CD (Cyclic Law)
The 4th album by Norwegian dark ambient act Svartsinn shows a more melodic yet rather obscure side of the artist. This new musical journey from Pettersen deals with sadness and melancholy, about not knowing one's place in this vast and at times uninviting world, how it can become a daily torment to not be able to find one's reason to exist. And it's also about finding one's personal path, finding ways to endure and hopefully transcend these engulfing life challenges. The double CD includes a unique collaboration track with Dahlia's Tear and a 10 Year Anniversary bonus disc containing exclusive remixes by: Triarii, Kammarheit, Letum, Life Toward Twilight, Gustaf Hildebrand, Tenebrious, New Risen Throne, MGriffin, Visions and Hovmod. All acts giving very interesting perspectives on some of Svartsinn's previously released tracks, making this second disc a very special homage to the singular world of Svartsinn. Ltd x 1000 copies in an 8 panel outsize sleeve. Highly recommended!
UK 15.00£ Europe 16.50£
World 18.00£
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SVARTSINN - 'Of Darkness And Re-Creation' CD (Cyclic Law / Ewers Tonkunst / Indiestate Distribution)
The second chapter from Norway's Svartsinn. Gloomy and dark soundscapes collide with sad and dark melodic compositions. A collection of stories based on heavy mind struggles, emotional complicity or elegies which either leads to emptiness or dark places for a re-creation of the self image. Darkness is all around us or inside each and every one of us, let’s not fear it. 2010 reissue. Ltd x 500 copies in a stunning / spot-varnished mini-LP outsize sleeve with spot-varnished inner sleeve.
Visions is the Dark Ambient project of Frédéric Arbour (Cyclic Law boss). Following in the footsteps of "Lapse" (2005), "Summoning The Void" offers a deeper and more refined rendering of previously explored themes. This is unmistakably VISIONS, but a notch above in terms of spaciousness, musicality and profound spirituality. Passages that are more solemn and austere give way to ritualised motifs where voices from the void whisper words beyond words. Calm drifts bearing a more aerial and streamlined quality emerge, from which shards of light cut through the massive pitch-black backdrop where a bulging red sun awaits in the distance, endlessly and slowly consuming itself. Beyond that, nothingness. Void. A world and non-world of infinite proportions, a macrocosmic voyage through the hidden and intangible vastness of all... for we are stardust. Ltd x 1000 copies in an outsize embossed sleeve.
Vortex is a German project from Marcus Stigleger (Golgatha, Aeterna), challenging the boundaries of ritual and dark ambient music. After the debut album 'Phanopoeia' (2008, Tesco Organisation), 'Rockdrill' continues on the same path and mobilises acoustic instruments, voice, electronics and samples to create a unique and epic sound monument in 11 parts. It is inspired by a sculpture called ‘Rock Drill’ by Vorticist artist Sir Jacob Epstein. The sculpture was built according to his sketches in 1913-14 to symbolise 'the terrible Frankenstein's monster we have made ourselves into'. The concept of this album is to reconstruct the history, mood and allegory of this piece of sculptural art as well as its impact on modern art movements. This truly complex album transcends the frontiers of ambient soundscapes in order to awake a nearly forgotten sense of beauty and grace within modernist avant-garde by using twisted rhythm patterns, pounding industrial percussion and fragile organic ambience. Ltd x 500 copies in a gatefold digisleeve.
