Metal 409 Items

When 'One-Armed Bandit' was released back in 2004, the album propelled Zornik to the top ranks of De Ultratop and De Afrekening (StuBru). The Limburg-based group had already staked their claim in the Belgian rock scene with their debut album 'The Place Where You Can Find Us' and a finalist position in Humo's Rock Rally. However, with the release of the album 'One-Armed Bandit' in 2004, the cult status of the Limburg band led by frontman Koen Buyse became an even greater success story. The album, featuring singles like 'Scared Of Yourself', 'Goodbye', and 'Believe In Me' sold over 100,000 copies... on CD. Now, in celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, it is exclusively available on 2LP vinyl for the first time!

Swiss firebrand alchemists Zeal & Ardor are excited to announce forthcoming, self-titled new album!

Hissing and seeping justifiable rage from every pore - yet not an unrelenting musical battering - the 14-track opus was recorded by Marc Obrist and Manuel Gagneux at Hutch Sounds and mixed and mastered by Will Putney at Graphic Nature Audio. All songs were written by the softly spoken, multilingual frontman Gagneux, with some German lyrics intermixed with the English. Gagneux declares, “With the self-titled record, we have arrived at where I imagined this project should sound like. It’s the longest we’ve worked on a single record and I believe it shows. The most important thing for an album of ours to do, is transport you instantly into our mood, our world. Even though this might not be the one you might expect from us, this record certainly delivers on that front. We had time to hone in to what we think makes us interesting and what sounds we would like to explore through this we have found our home. Home is burning. Welcome home.”

Re-issue of Year OF NO LIGHT's album 'Ausserwelt'!! Year OF NO LIGHT's lengthy, sprawling compositions of towering walls of guitars and sombre synths irradiate a sense of dire solemniand spiritual gravity, and couldn't be a more fitting soundtrack for such grim medieval scenarios. But there is also the element of element of absolution transcendence in the face of death. Year Of No Light sound dense, rich and lush and yet somehow starved and deprived. “There's a thread running through all of our albums”, the band comments, “an exploration of the sensitive world that obeys a certain telos, first fantasized ("Nord") and reverberated ("Ausserwelt"), then declaimed as a warning ("Tocsin"). The deeper we dig, the more the motifs we have to unveil appear to us. Yes, it's a bit gnostic. This album is invoked after the Tocsin, it's the epiphany of the Fall”.

After the mind blowing success of Witchcraft's Legend (2012), mastermind Magnus Pelander outdid himself once again with the band's 2016 offering Nucleus. Combining what made it's predecessor the modern classic it quickly became as well as elements of the band's earlier days makes Nucleus a melancholic, raging, fragile, melodic and at times noisy masterpiece filed somewhere between classic rock, doom and ambient music.

With a renewed line-up (Rage Widerberg on drums and Tobias Anger on bass) the band sounds more hungry and powerful than ever. In combination with the thrilling, yet very down-to-earth production by Pelander, Philip Gabriel Saxin and Anton Sundell, Nucleus throws you in dreamy sonic landscapes that will mesmerize and haunt you alike.

Svart Records are proud to re-release Nucleus on black-, green- and Svart exclusive purple/turquoise marble vinyl on May 19th.

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!

The highly anticipated new album from Portland’s Vintersea no on vinyl! One of the best and most consistent selling bands on our roster returns with a new full-length, the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Illuminated. Vintersea combines the essential parts of many genres into a melodic, progressive and at times blackened brand of metal that is undeniably inspired by the majesty of the Pacific Northwest. The quintet led by Malaysian-born vocalist Avienne, whose vocal range spans from haunting melodies to fierce growls, has organically built their following through a variety of top-notch music videos (each garnering hundreds of thousands of views) and social media outreach. Vintersea did two US tours in support of their previous record, alongside bands like Dawn of Ouroboros, Graveshadow and Voices of Ruin, as well as playing regionally opening for Fleshgod Apocalypse, Obscura, Thulcandra, Wolfheart, Ne Obliviscaris, Jinger, Arkona and Sirenia. Now with proper management and booking agent Vintersea seek to take things up a step.

if you survived trips 1-17 with one tiny speck of psychedelic sunshine intact, Brown Acid The 18th Trip will be your coming of age nightmare. Vintage underground '70s hard rock, coming at you from bizarre angles, local scene wasteland America when everybody was out for themselves and the drugs went bleak. The guitars kill, the attitude is twisted, even the sex is headed down the wrong road. Real people, no compromise, pure and potent. Get stoked, take the 18th Trip and know that the artists will get paid for pulverizing your soul! "People… are you ready?, 'cause the music now is getting so heavy"… Back Jack out of St. Louis, Missouri in 1974 launch our trip with "Bridge Waters Dynamite". It's an invocation to rock flashing on Mark Farner whooping up a Grand Funk crowd, then getting to the point quickly with berserk guitar assaults. Heavy riff with power chord stalks beneath as you take their advice… get loose and blow up the past. Smokin' Buku Band dropped my jaw with the audacious track "Hot Love" coming on like some fractured fever dream burlesque of Led Zep moves out of Hollywood in 1980. Swooping elongated vocals above, a total Zep chord move at the end of each verse. Writer/producer Steve Shauger aka Shag Stevens gets a brilliantly messed up sound quality here, the ideal polar opposite of slick. The extended guitar break is an epitome of serendipitously crude virtuosity, simply outrageous! Coming at you from way outta left field is "Moby Shark" by Atlantis, a hilarious and strange Baltimore pre-punk vibed dose of D.I.Y. meets hard rock. Lon Talbot is the mastermind, the flip side of this impossibly rare Mekon Records label single was featured in an obscure 1978 B-movie titled "The Alien Factor". Follow the lyrics closely, when the ominous jaws jaws jaws start coming after you you you… the song's big hook is so preposterously catchy the shark attack feels like good news. Inquiring minds should know that the band formerly known as Atlantis can now be found by searching for the Lon Talbot Group! Tommy Stuart and the Rubberband's "Peeking Through Your Window" from 1970 opens with a spooky organ riff, slips into a gushy fuzz/organ groove akin to "Mustache In Your Face” by Pretty. The singer creates downright creepy vibes, a stalker peeking through the girl's mind like a peeping Tom at the window up to no good. The lyrics evoke a disturbing scenario. Tommy Stuart also made a strange LP titled Hound Dog Man in 1977 and some terrific rare garage singles under the names Magnificent Seven and The Omen & Their Love in the mid '60s. Nothing better than an angry two chord guitar attack with cowbell to set the stage for this rant about getting "Ripped Off" by love. Taken from their rare 1977 LP on Dynamite Records, Chicago Triangle was Marvey Esparza, Dave Guereca, Jose 'Tarr' Perez and Robert Aguilera. They unleash such strong brain-scrubbing wah wah frenzy in the guitar break here that it seems to perversely mock it's own intensity! Like I said, Brown Acid the 18th Trip comes at you from all kinds of uncanny angles. Damnation of Adam Blessing out of Cleveland, Ohio unleashed a stone killer psychedelic hard rock classic "Cookbook" in the late '60s, this track "Nightmare" from 1973 has them cooking again at full power. A different singer, name change to Damnation and then Glory, unleashing a deadly dose of dark progressive heavy rock drama peaking when spooky 'oooo-wa-oooo' background vocals emerge during a bizarre spoken bit. It unfolds like a mini-epic and includes some remarkably brutal guitar and turbulent organ, too. "Swing your sword, all aboard… bid farewell to the dreamer" Dalquist exclaims. Cynical view of human nature, idealism is over, war is coming, it always does. Opens with a cold menacing riff and atmosphere reminiscent of "Synthezoid Heartbreak" by Maya. Mournful despondent vocals ride an insistent churning groove, gnarly guitar break moves into free noise territory. This rare track is from a local various artists benefit album titled Kangaroo Jam issued for the Waco Family Abuse Center in Texas circa 1980. The Pawnbrokers "Realize" is prime proto heavy rock emerging out of psychedelic garage roots in 1968 Fargo, North Dakota. Unusual arrangement, terrific sustain guitar tones like on the first Blue Cheer LP, even a rip on Hendrix "Manic Depression" with unison voice and guitar ascent near the end. They made three 45s and were active from '65 to '69. Hats off to Blake English, Kent Richey, Paul Rogne and Steve Harrison, you nailed it in just a hair over two minutes! As pure and creative as the original psychedelic garage hard rock gets. Parchment Farm from Union, Missouri gigged with the likes of ZZ Top and Foghat back in the day and unleashed the amazing "Songs Of The Dead" in 1971. Primitive riff/chord pattern dosed with some funky prog moves, sky turning black, 'is this heaven or hell' type disoriented confusion… may as well grab your guitar and sing songs to the dead. Robert 'Ace' Williams on bass, Paul Cockrum on guitar, Gary Reed on keys and Micky Waterman on drums, replacing Mike Dulany (R.I.P.) Cool that they use the Blue Cheer misspelling from Vincebus Eruptum for the band name! Ominous organ, thick minimalist fuzz riff, funky psychedelic wah wah flashes and freaky sex combine in one twisted dance titled "Rockin' Chair" by Brothers Of The Ghetto. Out of Chicago in 1975 with some Santana atmospherics and a delicious fuzz wah screamin' guitar break, the groove is highlighted by an off the wall vocal which sounds eerily detached in a subtly sleazy way. Rene Maxwell is the writer of this hard-rock boogie-down hybrid straight out of the twilight zone. It was issued on Ghetto, a subsidiary of the peculiar Kiderian label that released the Creme Soda LP. Now that your head is totally skewered, go Back Jack and play side one again! (Words by Paul Major)

2xLP Black Vinyl + Book.

Heavy metal? Glam? Hard rock? Make your own fuckin' call, you poser. We're not gonna do it for you. Bound for Hell is early `80s L.A. rock as it actually was: a California cataclysm of drunk and horny headbangers, dressed in sharp, shiny, leather androgyny and fire, kicking crowds in the teeth to clear the way to that one big shot. This 2LP set delivers 21 tracks by 21 artists in an ephemera-stuffed gatefold, plus 144-page hardbound book detailing the Sunset Strip's most razor-sharp heathens. Drumsticks burned. Hands were severed. Faces bled. Heavy was Hell for a half decade and it was a long, long way down.

The Night Creeper is the new album by Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. Contained within are ten tracks of the type of sonic psyche-frazzling heaviness and blood-drenched pop that have made Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats one of Britain’s great cult bands.
Recorded at Toe Rag studios in early 2015 with engineer Liam Watson (White Stripes, Tame Impala, Electric Wizard), their fourth opus The Night Creeper, finds the quartet in full-on death-tripping, third eye-widening mode. Here songs ooze louche evil over flesh-melting riffs that creep like hot magma bubbling up through the earth’s crust at their own malevolent pace. This album is in no hurry to destroy you. But it will. It will.
In an age when the word is over-used, Uncle Acid are indeed a true cult. Everything they do is covert, their movements crepuscular, the loyalty they inspire fervent. Every sneering melody and every piece of artwork is loaded with meaning, designed to be pored over. Their press coverage is deliberately limited but doesn’t prevent them selling out US tours or joining Black Sabbath at their personal request. They only reveal what they want to reveal: chiefly that Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats began as a studio project circa 2009 in Cambridge, the wild concept of Kevin Starrs. The rest is academic.
And now comes The Night Creeper, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats’ darkest journey yet.