Four months ago Fallen Empire Records announced that it would be shutting down, marching blissfully to its demise at some point before the end of this year. For those of us who had greatly respected the musical choices of this Portland, Oregon label and enjoyed so many of its releases over the last seven years of its existence, this was sad news indeed. But Fallen Empire isn’t moving toward self-extinction with a whimper, but in something akin to a blaze of glory.
Based on a Fallen Empire announcement two days ago, I count 6 albums and one EP scheduled for release later this month (plus a Triumvir Foul release by Vrasubatlat that FE will be distributing), another seven releases in November, and six more in December. Most of these will be physical releases made-to-order based on however many copies are pre-ordered. Some will be digital releases by Fallen Empire, with physical editions provided by Amor Fati Productions, and some will also be released on cassette tape.
Along with that announcement, Fallen Empire launched a sampler of music from eight of these forthcoming releases on Bandcamp — the ones that FE will be handling exclusively — and the music is fantastic. Along with those eight song streams, the label also revealed the artwork for all but one of them, and the cover art is also quite good. In fact, let’s start with the artwork, which I’ve annotated with the name of the band whose album it will accompany:
ANDEIS
DET EVIGA LEENDET
KRUKH
LUBBERT DAS
ACATHEXIS
SERPENT COLUMN
GUÐVEIKI
The one band whose cover art isn’t yet ready for disclosure is Death Fortress — and it was indeed very exciting news to see that Fallen Empire will be releasing a new Death Fortress album (entitled Reign of the Unending), since there are many devoted fans of that band here at our putrid site.
I was very tempted to write my enthusiastic impressions of each song on this sampler, but I’m afraid I don’t have the time to do that, given what else I had planned to prepare for the site today. So I will simply encourage you to give this sampler your full attention, because every track is well worth hearing. (Sorry to say, but the sampler itself isn’t available for download.)
Below the stream I’ve also pasted the schedule of future releases in what remains of Fallen Empire‘s existence.
WEB SHOP:
https://store.fallenempirerecords.com/
BANDCAMP:
https://bandcamp.fallenempirerecords.com/music
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/FallenEmpireRecords/
FALLEN EMPIRE REMAINING RELEASE SCHEDULE:
OCTOBER 26
ANDEIS – SERVANTS OF THE COLD NIGHT LP
DET EVIGA LEENDET – LENIENCE LP
LUNAR MANTRA – GENESIS LP
KRUKH – БЕЗГЛУЗДІСТЬ! LP
SKÁPHE – UNTITLED MLP
SKÁPHE – SKÁPHE² LP
TRIUMVIR FOUL – SPIRITUAL BLOODSHED LP*
WORMLUST – THE FERAL WISDOM LP
NOVEMBER (date to be announced)
ACATHEXIS – S/T LP
ARKHTINN – 最初の災害 LP^
HWWAUOCH – S/T LP^
MAHR – ANTELUX LP^
MARE COGNITUM – PHOBOS MONOLITH DLP
MARE COGNITUM – LUMINIFEROUS AETHER DLP
VOIDSPHERE – TO AWAIT | TO EXPECT LP^
DECEMBER 26
DEATH FORTRESS – REIGN OF THE UNENDING LP
GUÐVEIKI – VÆNGFÖR LP
LUBBERT DAS – DE PLAGEN LP
MISÞYRMING – SÖNGVAR ELDS OG ÓREIÐU LP
SERPENT COLUMN – INVICTA MLP
TCHORNOBOG – S/T DLP
*Released by Vrasubatlat. Distributed by Fallen Empire.
^Digital by Fallen Empire. Physical by Amor Fati. Pre-orders for North American people will be available via Fallen Empire.
6 Responses to “FEAST YOUR EYES AND EARS ON THIS NEW FALLEN EMPIRE SAMPLER”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Some very cool tracks, I especially like Wrath of God by Death Fortress 🙂
I’m a big fan of that track too. Anxious to hear the rest of that album — and the rest of these too.
Time to start saving. This label will be sorely missed, though it looks like Vrasubatlat will carry on its misanthropic mission.
Every Death Fortress album has a slower tempo song and I hope that Wrath of God is this track on Reign of the Unending. I really like the song but what I love most about Death Fortress is their grasp of creating tension and dynamics at the much faster end of the spectrum, something that they do better than virtually any other black metal band. Blastbeats and breakneck tremolo are abused by so many others but mastered by Death Fortress.
Also, that Serpent Column song gave me a strong Ayloss vibe, and this makes me very intrigued.
Overall most impressive song to me was the very last one, though. Evil, oppressive, technical, pummeling – I felt as though I was trapped in the demon’s maze with no way out.
I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard that last track — “trapped in a demon’s maze” is a good way of capturing the experience. Definitely one of my favorites on a sampler filled with good stuff.
It called to mind the best elements of Skaphe, with a more kinetic and death metal-infused approach. Though not strictly Icelandic, this might be the best album to come out of that country this year. We will have to see how that Svartidaudi plays out.