Metal 44 Items

For something to be “ecstatic,” the feelings and emotions it evokes must transcend what one tends to experience most regularly in their lives. Ecstatic joy isn’t just happiness; it’s a feeling of jubilation which impacts one emotionally and in a metaphysical, arguably spiritual sense too. Although it has long been associated with connotations of the dark and macabre, extreme music has the ability to be a powerful mode of expression for these feelings of absolute bliss, overwhelming love, and awe-inspiring sublimity. Extreme emotions no less and those which black metal quartet Agriculture evokes with its ecstatic subversion of the subgenre’s tropes. What was initially a meeting and subsequent series of jam sessions between Kern Haug and Daniel Meyer, two musicians in the Los Angeles underground noise scene, would eventually manifest as a shared vision to portray the sublimity of the human experience through the vehicle of heavy music. Following the additions of veteran guitarist Richard Chowenhill and bassist / vocalist Leah Levinson to the band’s lineup, this idea would crystalize into the “ecstatic black metal” backbone of Agriculture’s music, first heard on the band’s 2022 debut EP, The Circle Chant. With Agriculture’s self-titled record and first full-length LP, it’s abundantly clear that the band’s use of heavy music to showcase the most resplendent emotions and moments of the human experience has a far deeper meaning. Woven between the flurries of soaring tremolo picking, crescendoing guitar harmonies, celebratory screamed vocals, thoughtful improvisation, and meditative atmospheric passages is the record’s mission statement to experience the wonders and joys of both the esoteric and physical world.

New supergroup that consists of guitarist Mike Crain (Retox), bassist Justin Pearson (The Locust, Head Wound City and Retox), drummer Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer and Fantômas) and vocalist Mike Patton (Faith No More and Fantômas).

This edition will be released with new cover artwork and includes a different version of "Skulls And Candles" and the song "Toledo", which was originally released only on the 4 way split with Weedpecker, Spaceslug and Major Kong. Stoner/Doom band from Poland. Founded in late 2010 in Lublin. Released their debut album "Magick Rites" in 2012 followed by "Black Arts, Riff Worship & Weed Cult" in 2014, "Children of the Haze" in 2017, "4 Way Split" with Weedpecker, Major Kong and Spaceslug in 2019, " Sign Of The Devil" in 2020 and "Reality Dagger"(EP) in 2021. Smoking, rehearsing and touring. Their main inspirations are: old movies, 70s music and magical herbs. They tune low and play slow!

2019 will be the 30th anniversary of this seminal record from the hugely influential GODFLESH. 10 tracks of atmospheric and minimalistic industrial metal from one of the genre’s founding fathers. Godflesh was the brainchild of Justin Broadrick, a founding member of Napalm Death who played on the A side of the legendary ‘Scum’ album. Over the band’s career, Godflesh became one of the most influential industrial bands ever, touring the globe with the likes of Ministry, Fear Factory, Danzig and Type O Negative, and gaining influential fans including the likes of Metallica’s Kirk Hammett.

Australian death metal monstrosity Impetuous Ritual are unleashing their new album Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis. It is the follow-up to 2017’s Blight Upon Martyred Sentience and presents itself as the most unnatural, abnormal, and nightmarish Impetuous Ritual offering yet.

Mamaleek seeks to weaponize the tropes of blues, jazz and black metal through an understanding of their respective formal structures. Known for flouting genre conventions, the band’s newest album Come & See, marks yet another degree of separation from their black metal roots. Here Mamaleek draws inspiration from post-war public housing—specifically Chicago’s notorious Cabrini Green housing project—seeking to analyze the emotional impact of the spaces one occupies, the surreal forces behind the appearance of physical reality, and the residues they leave behind. This is the band’s third full-length album for The Flenser, and their first release written and recorded with a full band.

Founded in 2008 in the Bay Area by two anonymous brothers, Mamaleek has explored a vast sonic territory on the edge of a genre often renown for its aversion to change. Their expert utilization of left-field samples and unconventional instrumentation, and their insistent drive to experiment continues to set the band apart from their peers.

limited edition 180 gram vinyl

Ragana is a duo whose members alternate duties on drums, guitar, and vocals to produce some of the most unique and affecting dark music in metal today. The two-piece came together in 2011 in the DIY punk scene of Olympia, WA and are now based in Olympia and Oakland, CA. In their time together so far, Ragana have self-released five albums and teamed up with genre-favourite Thou for a split release in 2018. The following year, Ragana released their heralded We Know That The Heavens Are Empty EP and have quietly been working on new music ever since. The band signed with The Flenser in late 2022 and now present their forthcoming debut album for the label, Desolation’s Flower. On Desolation’s Flower, Ragana draws upon a number of influences from the flora and fauna of their Pacific Northwest origins to the darkly nostalgic folk of Mt. Eerie and, yes, their Olympian forebears Wolves In The Throne Room, synthesising them into an experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal. Held together by an intense focus on raw emotion and haunting atmospherics, Ragana shifts seamlessly from tender, mesmerising vocal harmonies to piercing, heart-ripping screams and back again, yielding music that is heavy, beautiful and punishing all at once. Written over the past few tumultuous years, Desolation’s Flower is the band’s most devastating effort to date, containing seven incantations of loss, rage, pain and hope. Expertly engineered by the masterful Nicholas Wilbur at the Unknown Studio in Anacortes, Washington (Planning For Burial, drowse, Divide and Dissolve, Have a Nice Life), the album serves as the culmination of the past decade plus of the band’s ethos and execution.

The Wire record of the month August 2021 ! From the release of the first self-titled album in 2013, Rakta have lived quite a vertiginous rise. In a particularly rare way for a band from the do-it-yourself scene of São Paulo, the band has aroused immediate international attention. Rakta’s genre-bending intensity, along with its complex, narrative live performances builds peculiarly deep sonic dimensions, creating a “captivating atmosphere that seems to draw people in”, as describes the magazine The Quietus. Today the Brazilian three piece announced the worldwide release of their live – album “Live at Novas Frequências”, which will be released on vinyl, cd and tape on Subsound Records. “On December 4, 2016, Rakta played at Novas Frequências, one of the most significant festivals dedicated to experimental music and sounds in Brazil. In December 2020 they celebrated their 10th year anniversary and we’ve decided to release our live show from that day” Rakta comments.

Limited Edition incl. bonus disc with 5 extra songs

Having played with the likes of influential movers and shakers on the anarcho-punk scene Antisect and Icons of Filth, on their first full-length LP, Birmingham’s Sacrilege established themselves as a unique force to be reckoned with, wreaking havoc on what we could classify as sonic tropes belonging to a spectrum of subgenres dealing in the extremes: hardcore, doom, and thrash. Fronted by Lynda ‘Tam’ Simpson and her seizure-inducing spells injected with a fierce, sociopolitical-cum-mythopoeic banshee bite (but not wanting to understate the line-up of Damian Thompson on guillotine-quick/milkshake thick guitars) - the six-track onslaught is every bit as crushing as the title suggests. From depraved dungeon synth-scapes on opener Lifeline to the planet-flattening funeral toll of The Closing Irony, one question remains: One riff to rule them all? Yes.

Having played with the likes of influential movers and shakers on the anarcho-punk scene Antisect and Icons of Filth, on their first full-length LP, Birmingham’s Sacrilege established themselves as a unique force to be reckoned with, wreaking havoc on what we could classify as sonic tropes belonging to a spectrum of subgenres dealing in the extremes: hardcore, doom, and thrash. Fronted by Lynda ‘Tam’ Simpson and her seizure-inducing spells injected with a fierce, sociopolitical-cum-mythopoeic banshee bite (but not wanting to understate the line-up of Damian Thompson on guillotine-quick/milkshake thick guitars) - the six-track onslaught is every bit as crushing as the title suggests. From depraved dungeon synth-scapes on opener Lifeline to the planet-flattening funeral toll of The Closing Irony, one question remains: One riff to rule them all? Yes.

Limited edition of 100 copies. A whopping 12 years after the release of Monkeys with Guns from the Swedish punk'n'roll gods, it's now going to "bone" on Noisy Plastics Records and Backbite Records. The first time that there is a vinyl reissue of this incredibly good record. The Bones have blasted 15 absolute pieces here that simply don't get boring and, in addition to a fat pogo, also get you dancing.

Melodic boards like Shooting Blanks bring punk rock into your place, but also fine rock 'n' roll songs like the opening song by Bones City Rollers really make every room crack. But even a little mosher can get by. Because one or two tracks definitely make your neck turn to rubber.

Sure, blame the guy in the dress… and then move your tired bodies and die like men. This album offers eternal hits and even more in very elaborate and fantastically beautiful versions.

Finally back in print! One of our most sought after albums "Hour Of The Nightingale" by Trees Of Eternity is soon to be available on vinyl once again.

Born out of the partnership of singer-songwriter Aleah Starbridge and guitarist-composer Juha Raivio, Trees of Eternity began as a quiet acoustic collaboration but then sprouted into a full band, with the Norrman brothers (ex-Katatonia, October Tide) on stringed instruments and the ubiquitous Kai Hahto on drums.

Three years of work on the group's debut album were tragically cut short when Aleah passed away during the album's final post-production phase. The work got finished, and Svart Records are proud to present it to the world once again to honor the legacy and artistry of Aleah Starbridge. Cover art is by the incomparable Fursy Teyssier (Les Discrets). Juha and Fursy had long nightly conversations about the ethereal magic of Aleah, and Fursy's work manages to capture the essence of the album perfectly. "The art contains such power and calm beauty, so many hidden messages. It is mystical in the same way that Aleah always was", comments Juha Raivio.

"This is a celebration of the music, lyrics and life of Aleah, who so tragically and suddenly crossed the bridge of stars and left this world so young and so early. There really are no words to describe the ultimate weight of the darkness, or the rays of the brightest of light that this album holds within its songs and lyrics. In so many ways this album turned out to be the most important album I've done in my life, and we both loved it from the first note to the last as we wrote it.

We were very proud to record "Hour of the Nightingale" together with our friends, band mates and amazing musicians, Kai Hahto, Mattias and Fredrik Norrman who all played their hearts out on this album. And working with another good friend Jens Bogren producing, recording, mixing and mastering the album we’re ready to take this music to the world and play it to you all. Sadly, that never happened... But this is the point where we can finally start this long journey and celebrate our Queen Aleah Starbridge whose words and music will live forever on."

-Juha Raivio

Trees of Eternity are:

Aleah Starbridge: vocals Juha Raivio (Swallow The Sun) : guitar Kai Hahto (Nightwish, Wintersun) : drums Mattias Norrman (ex-Katatonia, October Tide): bass Fredrik Norrman (ex-Katatonia, October Tide) : guitar

By now listeners are probably familiar with Riding Easy’s wildly popular Brown Acid series of rare, lost and unreleased proto-metal and stoner rock singles from the ’60s-’70s. In the endless pursuit of those glorious gems, the label often uncovers equally brilliant rarities from the late-’70s to late-’80s Golden Age of Heavy Metal that also just must be heard, but they don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Scrap Metal Volume 1 collects some of the greatest unknown and lost heavy metal tracks, long buried beneath the avalanche of the era’s classic output. Everyone knows the old adage that history is told by the winners. But sometimes the losers tell the best stories. And while none of these bands found fame and fortune, this artifact and the volumes to come are testament to the enduring power of heavy music. One can hear the blood, sweat and beers that went into each of these singles. The recordings may be low budget, but the inspiration and talent is immutable. Not only are the amps turned up to 11, the boyish sexual innuendo is cranked to 69. One can hear the convergence of influences—NWOBHM, thrash, glam metal, doom, etc—colliding at once as the era birthed a wellspring of subgenres. Many of these singles are self-released and were thus limited to a small run of copies. Those that remain are hoarded by collectors and sold for exorbitant amounts. Riding Easy has collected the best of the best for the listener here. As with Brown Acid, all of these tracks are licensed legitimately and the artists all get paid. Because it’s the right thing to do.

Perpetually out of print, much sought after and universally worshipped amongst those in the know, Winter's "Into Darkness" was a game-changing classic.

Formed in New York circa 1988, Winter played slow, deep and hard nuclear doom with a crust punk rawness, that came across like Hellhammer jamming with Amebix. Their penchant for mammoth sized and funeral-paced, wasteland droning has become a touchstone reference for bands across the whole spectrum of underground metal.

Their pre-internet infamy led to Winter demos being tape- traded in hallowed adoration by fans and bands alike, gaining notable fans such as Fenriz from Darkthrone. Deserving of their special place in the pantheon of one-off classic albums, the Swans-like noise and down-tuned Earth-like riffs of "Into Darkness" went on to spawn countless doom and sludge bands, being an influence for an entire doomed generation.

The Winter come-back show at Roadburn Festival in 2011 was massively anticipated and held a captivated audience. Packing out one of The Netherlands largest stages, that particular Winter show, after many years in obscurity is a rare event that is still highly regarded today. The band is a rare jewel amongst collectors, and audiences alike.

"Into Darkness" was a gateway drug to the dark depths of sludge metal, and now awaits a whole new throng of acolytes who bow down before the throne of heavy doom. Svart Records is proud to re-release it once more, putting the album back in print for a new generation of listeners. Eternal Winter awaits!

Perpetually out of print, much sought after and universally worshipped amongst those in the know, Winter's "Into Darkness" was a game-changing classic.

Formed in New York circa 1988, Winter played slow, deep and hard nuclear doom with a crust punk rawness, that came across like Hellhammer jamming with Amebix. Their penchant for mammoth sized and funeral-paced, wasteland droning has become a touchstone reference for bands across the whole spectrum of underground metal.

Their pre-internet infamy led to Winter demos being tape- traded in hallowed adoration by fans and bands alike, gaining notable fans such as Fenriz from Darkthrone. Deserving of their special place in the pantheon of one-off classic albums, the Swans-like noise and down-tuned Earth-like riffs of "Into Darkness" went on to spawn countless doom and sludge bands, being an influence for an entire doomed generation.

The Winter come-back show at Roadburn Festival in 2011 was massively anticipated and held a captivated audience. Packing out one of The Netherlands largest stages, that particular Winter show, after many years in obscurity is a rare event that is still highly regarded today. The band is a rare jewel amongst collectors, and audiences alike.

"Into Darkness" was a gateway drug to the dark depths of sludge metal, and now awaits a whole new throng of acolytes who bow down before the throne of heavy doom. Svart Records is proud to re-release it once more, putting the album back in print for a new generation of listeners. Eternal Winter awaits!