• CD,  Distribution

    Ulver – Drone Activity


    Ulver – Drone Activity
    Label: House of Mythology ‎– HOM 018 LP
    Format: CD Album
    Country: UK
    Released: 11 May 2019
    Style: Ambient

    It all happened in a haze. I am not sure everyone was prepared to obey the summons and forsake the shore in order to be pulled under by the loudness of sound. Yet the ethos on that crisp October night was clear in its wording: Drone Activity.

    Upon entering the old fish-warehouse, now converted into an activity hall, on the new Oslo waterfront, the security guards barely cared to check our tickets. Even mammoths would have been able to hide in this enormous dark space, illuminated by a few logos and stalls of sugary drinks, about to disappear in a sea of smoke.

    Disappearance comes in many shapes in the age of extinction. Following the Danish noise act Damien Dubrovnik, Ulver started out in a subtle manner, carefully examining the territory, vast and waste. Screeching sounds echoed distant roars from the approaching edge as snowflakes pierced the air with ferocious speed. Where to go from there?

    A retreat into the sunken paradise. Half-buried misty temples, giant creatures and vaguely prehistoric figures emerged as depth and time intertwined, from the ancient Atlantis to the northernmost seas.

    We stayed there for 90 minutes, of which 70 have been meticulously mixed and mastered for this release. All of them are new sounds. Darker and more dire, yet containing the vibe of their previous semi-improvisatory sessions, documented and catalogued on the “Zodiac” album, ATGCLVLSSCAP (2016).

    If that Zodiac album was a free-form Ulver interpreting the signs in the stars, Drone Activity stares into the abyss, documenting those moments after the last rays of sun speckle the surface and careless subterranean streams start determining the course.

    “Something murky and liminal emerged, in sound and space,” the band states in their liner notes. I can’t think of a more apt description of what, and to where, Ulver brought us that night. There is no shoreline a thousand feet down.

    TORE ENGELSEN ESPEDAL,
    on the ferry from Naples to Palermo, March 2019


  • Distribution,  ¿Cultura?

    NOISE RECEPTOR JOURNAL ISSUE NO.8





    NOISE RECEPTOR JOURNAL ISSUE NO.8

    CONTENT

    Long-form interviews with: Moral Order, Post Scriptvm & Total Black & Nordvargr (30+ year/career spanning interview).
    Detailed report / photos of the Dominion of Flesh: 5 Years of Cloister Recordings festival.
    Reviews: 50+ detailed reviews (ambient/ industrial/ experimental / power electronics etc.).
    Artwork: Original cover artwork + review section artwork by Nordvargr.
    FORMAT

    A5 Format

    Professional print, colour cover, grey-scale throughout.
    ‘Perfect bound’ spine, with matt laminate, thick card stock cover.
    90 pages in length.
    Limited to 600 copies.

  • Distribution,  Vinyl

    Nordvargr – Pyrrhula (Vinyl, LP)


    Nordvargr – Pyrrhula (Vinyl, LP)
    Label: Cold Spring – CSR98LP
    Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Remastered
    Country: UK
    Released: May 21, 2021
    Style: Dark Ambient, Drone, Doom Metal

    Recorded winter/spring 2008 at Villa Bohult, Sweden.

    This edition has been restored from the original masters, and further refined for the vinyl format.

    Based on Swedish doomlord mythology.

    Partly based on an old Swedish folktale, Pyrrhula (“doomlord”) is a pitch black journey into utter darkness. This is a tale of foreboding doom… a portent of dark times to come… a blight on the face of this earth. These eight Black Ambient / Doom / Droneworks were brought forth from the abyss of Villa Bohult exclusively for Cold Spring and contain the malevolent vocals of Lord Nordvargr himself!.

    “Beware the small creatures of light, they only bring misery and death upon the enlightened ones. For they will paint their breast with blood and reap your unborn angels.”

    Ltd x 500 copies on pale amber vinyl.
    Black Fruit Of The Loom Heavy Cotton t-shirt with front and back print.

    Composed By – Henrik Nordvargr Björkk
    Recorded winter/spring 2008 at Villa Bohult, Sweden.
    Artwork – Abby Helasdottir
    Mastered By – Martin Bowes

    Reviews:

    «What is most remarkable about ‘Pyhrrhula’ is given how unrelenting it is, it is an easy album to listen to. There are some pretty great melodies hidden in there… If ‘Pyrrhula’ was colour it would be vantablack, or more correctly the spectrum of darkness, and black, ending in vantablack. It’s an album that feels like it sucks the air out of the room. It makes you sit still and take notice, but most importantly, it still sounds as epic and devastating as it did 13 years ago.» (Vital Weekly)


  • Distribution,  Vinyl

    Mz.412, Trepaneringsritualen ‎– X Post Industriale / Rituals 2015 e.v.



    Mz.412, Trepaneringsritualen ‎– X Post Industriale / Rituals 2015 e.v.
    Label: Old Europa Cafe ‎– OELP 024, AnnapurnA ‎– HIM003
    Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition
    Country: Italy
    Released: Dec 2017
    Style: Industrial, Dark Ambient

    On October 31 2015 «MZ.412» and «TREPANERINGSRITUALEN» performed two memorable «Rituals» at OEC’s label festival
    the «X CONGRESSO POST INDUSTRIALE» at Club Kindergarten in Bologna – Italy.
    Those sounds are finally fixed into solid and heavy vinyl for all those who will re-live those rituals in the next million of years!

    Co-released by OEC & AnnapurnA
    Gatefold-Cover plus Poster
    Artwork by Thomas Eklund / TxRxP
    Mastering by Henrik Bjorkk / Nordvargr
    Black Vinyl limited to 500 copies.

    Each vinyl side includes one long «Akt» (Ritual) by the 2 projects

    Tracklist:
    A. MZ. 412 – Akt I
    B. MZ.412 – Akt II
    C. T x R x P – Akt I
    D. T x R x P – Akt II


  • Distribution,  Vinyl

    Schloss Tegal ‎– Psychometry (Double Vinyl,LP)



    Schloss Tegal ‎– Psychometry (Double Vinyl,LP)
    Label: La Esencia – LER023/2018LP
    Format: 2 LP, Vinyl, Album
    Country: Spain
    Released: Jul 2019
    Style: Dark Ambient, Industrial

    Schloss Tegal is back!! After a long silence since the classic «The Myth Of Meat» album, the legendary project Schloss Tegal take the needed time for work on this new enigmatic opus titled Psychometry.

    13 new tracks in a intense psychogenic journey into the dark side of the human mind, created by the hands of Richard Schneider. A deep experience into the Dark Ambient fields & condensed industrial frequencies presented on this new album.

    The LP Edition comes presented in a Gatefold cover with UVI finish and printed innersleeves (Black Vinyl. Edition of 200 copies)

    *The vinyl Edition contain 2 Bonus tracks only available on this set.
    **Exclusive artwork by Alonso Urbanos (http://www.alonsourbanos.com/)

    Tracklist:
    SIDE A
    – Psychopompus
    – Incorporeal Being
    – The Invalid Earth

    SIDE B
    – Krononaut (Time Zero)
    – Black Vessel
    – Codex Lego

    SIDE C
    – Night Regime
    – Body Farm
    – The Operators
    – I Am I Am

    SIDE D
    – Now Ends Here**
    – The Proper Study Of Man**
    – We All Become Gods


  • CD,  GH Records

    In Slaughter Natives  – Psicofonias – Las Voces Desconocidas (reissue)





    In Slaughter Natives – Psicofonias – Las Voces Desconocidas (reissue)
    Label: Gradual Hate Records GH 131R CD
    Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition , Digipack
    Country: Spain
    Released: 2018
    Style: Martial, Dark Ambient, Industrial

    In the year 2008 the documentary called “Psicofonías: Las Voces Desconocidas” was shot by the film director Jose Moral. This was about the voices of dead people where echoes of spirits leave us some footprint after death. Humankind has believed during a long time that it is possible to communicate with dead people.

    Over the years , seances, mediums and psychics have been possible instruments to make contact with the afterlife. So, EVP is an espiritual footprint and a communication link to the soundtrack in this documentary.

    This one relies on some of the most important projects of the Dark Ambient Industrial music: In Slaughter Natives, which is a pioneer in the symphonic industrial field and part of the legendary label Cold Meat Industry. This music project is formed by Jouni Havukainen who carries out an outstanding and deep work full of aspects where in some parts we can listen the voices of dead people.

    Artwork by Nickolay Busov ( Ufa-Muzak )


  • CD,  Distribution

    Arcana – Le Serpent Rouge


    Arcana – Le Serpent Rouge
    Label: Projekt ‎– PROJEKT171
    Format: CD, Album, Repress
    Country: US
    Released: 2011
    Style: Neo-Classical, Dark Ambient

    On their sixth full-length release, Sweden’s Arcana leaves behind ancient Western ruins and cathedrals for Arabian deserts filled with magic and mysticism. The sound of the Middle East flows through this amazing album; Armenian duduk, dulcimer, Egyptian finger cymbals, timpani and cabasa are just part of the musical arsenal on Le Serpent Rouge, taking Arcana to a higher dimension, exploring new melodies and realms. This is Arcana as you have never heard them before!

    With their lush blend of spirituality and earthly emotions, Arcana has always been compared to Dead Can Dance. At Arcana’s heart is Peter Bjärgö who started over 10 years ago making music that captivated the ambient / neoclassical scene. The traditional sound with strings, bells and timpani, the angelic female tunes, Peter’s dark voice and the emotions behind the music have made Arcana one of the leading bands within this genre.

    Now Peter boldly ventures into the hot Arabian desert, breathing life from the baking sun and the serpent’s dance. Le Serpent Rouge envelops the listener in a powerful rhythmic sensuality; one feels the sands of the desert slowly begin to swirl, twilight falls across the dunes and in the distance perhaps a lonely nomad’s fire burns . . . just beyond its reach, one can make out the subtle movements of a great red serpent . . . edging ever closer . . .


  • CD,  Distribution

    Archon Satani – In Shelter


    Archon Satani – In Shelter
    Label: Dark Vinyl Records ‎– DVLR 6
    Format: CD, Album, Reissue
    Country: Germany
    Released: Apr 2005
    Style: Dark Ambient, Experimental

    Archon Satani. A dark ritual project, playing eerie and haunting industrial ambient music with a satanic background, obsessive percussions and frightening demonic voices. The original line-up consisted of Tomas Pettersson and Mikael Stavöstrand. They worked together from 1990 to 1993, then the former went on to form Ordo Equilibrio, while the latter continued under the name Archon Satani, as well as with his other project Inanna.

    Tracklist
    1.Sheltering – Offering 16:01
    2.Fleshseed 11:39
    3.Deadbeat 16:59
    4.Entering An Soul 10:23
    5….In Abhorence 13:56


  • CD,  Distribution

    Phurpa ‎– Ya Tog Rid Pa’i Gyer


    Phurpa – Ya Tog Rid Pa’i Gyer
    Label: Zoharum ‎– ZOHAR 145-2
    Format: 2 × CD, Album, Limited Edition
    Country: Poland
    Released: 03 Jul 2017
    Style: Overtone Singing, Drone, Experimental

    This double album is the successor to the previous release entitled “Chöd” from nearly a year ago. The new release shows how Phurpa constantly transforms itself through their own musical exploration as well as personal spiritual development. Apart from intensive concerts, its members are famous for their long meditation trainings/sessions. This constant movement, the exploration of various techniques and discovering new inspirations in eastern culture makes Phurpa musicians more and more eager to use traditional instruments in addition to their distinctive “rgyud-skad” singing, thus enriching the already familiar formula. By emphasizing the sacred and spiritual nature of their activity, they seek to enrich it in such a way that the listener can find the novum, bearing in mind that not only the aesthetic but very spiritual world of the ancient deities of the Bön tradition is particularly important. The title, referring to the magical quest for the universe, should set the direction for the interpretation, or be merely a pretext or an invitation to this mystical journey.


  • CD,  Distribution

    Shibalba / Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar – Yang Trol Lé


    hibalba / Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar – Yang Trol Lé
    Label: Nihilward Productions ‎– NAUGHT27
    Format: CD, Limited Edition
    Country: Ukraine
    Released: 05 Apr 2017
    Style: Ambient, Dark Ambient, Experimental

    «Yang Trol Lé» is merging the primordial energies of Shibalba / Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-khar into the physical manifestation of a limited digipack CD edition, featuring new artwork & three songs from each act, with a total play time of 50 minutes.

    Tracklist:

    1. Shibalba – Mantras of the Lotus-Eyed God
    2. Shibalba ft. Of Earth And Sun – Anantashesha
    3. Shibalba – Hymn To The Climbing Scarab
    4. Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar – Samantabhadra
    5. Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar – Shama
    6. Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar – Sangye Menla

    Having its inspiration in tibetan spirituality & other ancient aesthetics, the union between Alone In The Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar offers a transcendent ritual experience for supporting the path to the natural liberation of the soul.

    Alone In The Hollow Garden: chanting, throat singing, amplified strings, kantele, metal percussion, kangling, mey ney & pungi flutes, damaru, rol-mo, tibetan bells & gongs.

    Nam-Khar: analogue synthesizers, drones, textures, effects, rhythm programming.

    All rituals channeled, performed & recorded by Alone In he Hollow Garden & Nam-Khar MMXVI. Mixing, mastering, cover drawings & artwork by A.I.T.H.G.