Metal / Death / Black Metal

3LP Box Set containing “Noregs Vaapen” and the “Kveld” EP on 180g black vinyl, with 16-page booklet.

TRACKLIST, KVELD:
1. Nordbundet
2. Motpol
3. Hordalands Doedskvad 1
4. Over Bjoergvin graater Himmerik 4
5. Nattestid ser Porten vid 1

TRACKLIST, NOREGS VAAPEN:
1. Fra Vadested til Vaandesmed
2. Orkan
3. Nordbundet
4. Du ville ville Vestland
5. Myr
6. Helvetesmakt
7. Dei vil alltid klaga og kyta
8. Die when you die
9. I am The Black Wizards

“Noregs Vaapen” is the fifth studio album from the legendary Norwegian black metal band Taake, considered by many to be their strongest album. The album saw the band refine their True Norwegian Black Metal sound, while also taking a step further, including some new elements. The album is filled with Hoest’s trademark riffs, melodies and vocals, but also includes more unpredictable parts, more black’n’roll grooves, ice cold mellotrons, and a now legendary banjo solo. The album features classics like the catchy “Nordbundet”, “Myr” and the controversial, anti-religious “Orkan”.

Hoest himself is behind all music, lyrics, instruments and vocals as usual – but the album also features contributions from Taake’s live line-up at the time; Thurzur, V’gandr, Aindiachai and Gjermund. There are also some prominent guest appearances from people like Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone), Attila Csihar (Mayhem), Demonaz (Immortal), Bjørnar Nilsen (Vulture Industries) and Skagg (Gaahlskagg, Deathcult).

After being out of print for a few years, Dark Essence Records is now releasing a very special edition vinyl box set – Containing a fully remixed & remastered version of “Noregs Vaapen” spread across two LPs, with the first (and probably last) ever repress of the “Kveld” EP – as well as a 16-page booklet, featuring lyrics and photos.

One-time limited pressing of 500 copies

From the depth of in Iceland’s Reykjavik NYRST has forged a new blackened creation by the name “Völd”, an album that pays homage to the immense volcanoes of Iceland.

With “Völd” which roughly translates to “Force, power or might”, NYRST conjures forth music with the unrelenting and unforgiving harshness that the forces of nature have wrought upon every living being in their land through the ages. Written and rehearsed only a few kilometers from a lava spewing active volcano, they sought inspiration in the beauty and perilousness danger of the stark and chaotic surroundings, wishing to portray their material accordingly.

As the band says themselves:

This release marks a big milestone in our career as a band. We’ve developed a lot as musicians since the release of “Orsök” and we took a very different approach to writing and composition. Our intention was to bring all the best elements of our previous work and implement new ideas along with a different theme, which in turn resulted in a much heavier, grim but melodic album.

Reykjavík, Iceland-based black metal act NYRST was formed in the year 2013 with the aim of creating the coldest, most eerie and barren soundscape possible. After the release of their demo in 2016 and a full-length debut album in 2020, a dense atmospheric experience which gained much praise for perilous melodies and intense vocals, NYRST display a vicious prowess in their craft, unusual in a band so early in their career.

After some years of focusing on several other projects, Anna Murphy (Cellar Darling, ex-Eluveitie) and Tor-Helge Skei (Manes, Manii, etc) are back with the 3^rd Lethe album. “Alienation” is a continuation of the special soundscapes of Lethe, while also testing new territories.

Taking their name from one of the five rivers in Hades in Greek mythology, the Swiss/Norwegian duo formed in 2012 as a home for Anna and Tor-Helge’s musical and artistic experiments – and right from the beginning, the main rule has been that there are no rules, no expectations, no compromises. The band has been categorized as a lot of things, i.e. genre-bending, style-bastardization, eclectic, and just plain weird, but even if experimentalism and fuck-all-rules is an important factor, the band is not afraid to incorporate melody and catchiness into the music. Lethe is something unique, something personal and quite different. The result is a melting pot of dark rock, pop, electronic, experimentation and metal, filled with a cold and harsh atmosphere, beautiful melodies and mesmerizing grooves.

“Alienation” is about being outsiders, outcasts, and alienated in various forms, mentally, physically, ideologic(ally) and musically. Expect the unexpected!

Taking one step forward and three steps back, Alfahanne returns home to Dark Essence Records with their most furious and heavy release to date! Marking exactly 10 years since the band’s debut, the new album “Vår tid är nu” will see the dark of night in February 2024. Loaded with the catchy melodies that has become the Alfahanne signature, the album combines a punk attitude, melody and groove with a bleak atmosphere somehow both reminiscent of the 80s and the early days of black metal. Adding such noble and notorious guests as Nattefrost (Carpatian Forest), Spellgoth (Horna), Nattfursth (Sorhin) and Doedsadmiral (Nordjevel) into the mix, you have an explosive cocktail fit for the end of days.

On “Vår tid är nu”, Alfahanne looks back while leaning forward, staring deep into the abyss. The band quotes “Our time is now, this is the beginning of the end.”

Helheim, one of the founding pioners of the Norwegian viking metal genre, are ready to release their 12th studio album “HrabnaR / Ad vesa”.

On this record, Helheim has made a split album with themselves. For the first time, the main songwriters V’gandr and H’grimnir have divided the album in two where they solely take care of the vocals on the part they represent musically. This has resulted in two very different expressions – not uncommon for this band, but never as clearly as here.

The first half “Hrabnar” contains four stand-alone songs written by H’grimnir.
The second part “Ad vesa” is about the four components in Norse mythology that we know collectively as the human soul. In pre-christian Norway, the concept of the soul was not a singular, unified entity, but a composite of many elements – of which the four key components was Fylgja, Hamr, Hugr, and Hamingja.

Founded in 1992, Helheim are known and renowned all over the world for their authenticity and integrity when it comes to portraying their Norse heritage. Constantly growing and evolving, and staying clear from musical trends and fads, they’ve carved their own way for more than 30 years.

This split album is no exception. Recorded in Duper and Solslottet Studio in 2024/2025, the album was engineered, produced, mixed and mastered by Iver Sandøy.

Tracklist

HrabnaR:

1. Geist
2. Sorg er dødens spade
3. Livsblot
4. Mennesket er dyret i tale

Ad Resa:

1. Fylgja
2. Hamingja
3. Hugr
4. Hamr

It’s been 16 years since the last album from Norwegian progressive folk band Lumsk last released an album, but that won’t say they haven’t done anything the last years. Actually, they started working on this album not long after they released “Det Vilde Kor”, and the first recordings started as early as in 2009. However, life came in the way and since then they’ve been working on “Fremmede Toner” on and off until they finished it in 2022.

“Fremmede Toner” is the name of a collection of poems by Norwegian author André Bjerke. He has translated and re-authored poems from some of the most famous poets in Europe and North America. This record is based on some of these poems. The idea was to compose music to the Norwegian versions, and then try to mirror these songs using the original poems. The songs are not the same, but in a way similar.

On “Fremmede Toner”, Lumsk welcomes new guitarist Roar Grindheim and vocalist Mari Klingen, who both makes great contributions to the unique sound of the band. This is a highly anticipated return and a huge step forward for Lumsk.

Uncompromising, with their backs to the world and a fierce grin! KOLDBRANN has been at the forefront of the Norwegian Black Metal underground since the band was formed in 2001.

Now a new chapter is at hand! Expect a relentless display of pitch-dark disharmony!
This 7” single contains two exclusive tracks, not included on the upcoming album.

Led by Mannevond’s characteristic, strict vocals and Kvass’ cunning Norwegian lyrics, KOLDBRANN has delivered the real goods from day one. With obscure and unique riffs, free from all trends and plagues. From the raw and cold debut “Nekrotisk Inkvisition” (2003), to the varied and distinctive “Vertigo” (2013).

KOLDBRANN has been a notorious live band since the beginning, touring with bands such as TAAKE, URGEHAL, ENDSTILLE, MARDUK and SHINING, and making a mark at principal festivals such as Hellfest, Inferno, Party.San and Wacken.

Over the twenty plus years of their existence T.O.M.B have skilfully crafted their own avant-garde style, which is characterised by an eclectic mix of Ambient, Doom, Industrial, Noise and traditional Black Metal. It is a style that has earned the band a well-deserved place as one of the top innovators of modern day Black Metal.

“Thin The Veil” features MAYHEM’s Hellhammer on drums, alongside collaborations with musicians such as Craig Smilowski (Ex-IMMOLATION), Andy Winter of WINDS, Duncan McLaren of VENOM WOLF, and with spoken necromancy spells recited by Maurice De Jong (“Mories” of GNAW THEIR TONGUES). All in all fans can expect “T.O.M.B’s unique harsh atmospheric death-industrial style to be combined with a relentless, fierce and primitive form of musicianship reminiscent of the old glory days of 2nd Wave Black Metal.

Dwaal is a six-piece from Oslo, Norway, that plays heavy, atmospheric sludge, doom, post-metal or whatever you might like to call it. Their dense wall of sound fluctuates between aggressive, suffocating, melancholic and hypnotizing. Formed in 2014, they’ve become known as a captivating live act, with performances at legendary festivals like Inferno and Mystic in their bag.

When Dwaal’s debut album “Gospel of the Vile” was released in early 2020, the future was bright. Little did they know, the agenda over the next couple of years was about to include: 1 surprise pandemic, 1 rehearsal space eviction, 1 rehearsal space flooding, 1 booking deal evaporated into the covid mist, an unknown number of cancelled gigs all over Europe, 2 covid related layoffs, 3 breakups, 5 mental breakdowns, 5 hospitalisations, 1 near-death experience, and in the end, 1 new full-length album. The sophomore album “Never Enough” is the culmination of all the pent-up rage and frustration of the past 3 years, and it marks a hard reboot of the Dwaal machinery. Angrier, hungrier, more ruthless and more personal than ever before.

With a name taken from the last know brothel in Bergen, the band Vestindien was formed in 2009 as an up-and-coming hardcore band with a heavy metal twist. But only one year after the release of their 2011 EP “We are the Lords of Hellfire”, and despite having built up a solid following eager to experience the band’s frenetic live shows, Vestindien called it a day.

Some years later, though, the band re-emerged and changed their style quite a lot. The band’s current lineup consists of Torjus Slettsnok on vocals, Simon Skøien on guitars, Karl Johan Johannessen on drums and Pål Eirik Veseth on bass, and their debut is demonstrating an introverted and less hardcore aggressive approach to their art.

With the new sound, the band started playing around the venues in Bergen, and supporting bands like Taake among others.

There are still hints of their hardcore roots, but the band has engulfed themselves in a dark shroud conjuring the essence of black metal, punk and old school rock’n’roll. The songs are dark, desperate and desolate, but there are also hard punches of energy and groove.

With the debut album “NULL”, they present a quite unique approach to a dark, harsh and sinister old-school metal sound.

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "Yanantin" the debut full-length of Ukhu Pacha on vinyl.

“Yanantin” unfurls like a sun-scorched hymn borne on windswept peaks, where black metal’s icy ferocity entwines with the molten pulse of Andean myths.
Ultimately, Ukhu Pacha beckons the listener into a realm where black metal becomes a conduit for ancient flame and frost, as a ceremonial passage through sun-swathed ridges and moonlit caverns.

- 50 silver
- 50 transparent blood red
- 100 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Insert

A lo-fi and raw atmospheric black metal infused with scandinavian mythology. A huge gem for the fans of the genre.

- 75 white/black
- 75 splatter white/blue
- 150 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Poster A3

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "In the Garden of Somer", the compilation of the two demos by THY HEART, THINE KINGDOM, a collaboration between Till and Upir, of distressed audio effigies of dark dreams, conjured from an altered realm of conscious shaped into an haunted afterlife of primitive magickal black metal.

- 70 colored
- 130 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Insert

Official debut of the mysterious Blood Sigil! Brutal transmissions from the depths of the American Midwest, Blood Sigil materialize from shadows fully formed, a burning tapestry of phantom vocals, slasher guitar riffs and dust bowl blast beats, vicious disintegrations from the precipice of the void...

- 70 colored
- 130 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "Opiated Devilsperm" - the along awaited pressing of the first album to vinyl!

Intoxicated psychedelic madness over synths with some bits of black metal.
A decayed manifestation of blackened drug induced creativity

Hail the spoon!
Hail the silverware death rays!

- 70 colored
- 130 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Insert

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "Calleth The Void" the debut full-length on vinyl.

The music offered on Ouroboric Deity's debut album is pure sonic alchemy - a synthesized black magick in audio form, guiding the listener on a strange and immersive journey through untrodden territory.

- 50 mixed yellow and green
- 50 red in purple
- 100 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Insert

LISTEN: https://ouroboricdeity.bandcamp.com/album/calleth-the-void

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "Dark Medieval Hash" the second full-length on vinyl.

Pure 90s black metal worship from Norways take the elements from symphonic black metal, dungeon synth and mixed with the epic weed-themed droped a truly unique record in the best traditions of DIMMU BORGIR, OLD MAN'S CHILD, GEHENNA and the first SATYRICON.

- 70 green marbled
- 170 regular black
- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Poster A3

LISTEN: https://badnoiserecords.bandcamp.com/album/dark-medieval-hash

Obscurant Visions is proud to present "Hvis pipen tar oss" the debut full-length on vinyl.

Pure 90s black metal worship from Norways take the elements from symphonic black metal, dungeon synth and mixed with the epic weed-themed droped a truly unique record in the best traditions of DIMMU BORGIR, OLD MAN'S CHILD, GEHENNA and the first SATYRICON.

- Pressed on 180g vinyl
- Printed labels
- Poster A3

LISTEN: https://badnoiserecords.bandcamp.com/album/hvis-pipen-tar-oss