Jan 282019
 

 

As you prepare to begin listening to this album, imagine finding your seats with other members of the audience in the midst of a blasted concert hall, surrounded by the ruins of a dead civilization (your own), beneath a roiling red sky streaked with cascading black clouds. Soon you will be enveloped by dense waves and gales of sound, as Se Lusiferin Kannel perform four larger-than-life symphonies of Luciferian exaltation and lunacy, apocalyptic catastrophe, and the heart-ache of death and desolation on a massive scale.

These four compositions, each of them as long as an EP, make up the body of Valtakunta (a Finnish word for “kingdom”), the 71-minute debut opus of these mysterious visionaries. It was first self-released digitally in October 2017, but on February 1st it will be presented by Signal Rex on CD and double-LP vinyl formats, remastered by Stephen Lockhart at Iceland’s Studio Emissary and featuring new cover art by Heresie Graphics. Continue reading »

Dec 022018
 

 

Against my expectations I found time to do some further listening while on vacation, and to write this column. As in the case of yesterday’s round-up, I haven’t been able to cast the listening net as widely as usual, but nevertheless found some very appealing music to recommend, including a just-released new album, which is the first item in today’s collection.

STILLA

Preview: Synviljor is the new fourth album by the Swedish band Stilla, which was released by Nordvis Produktion on November 30th. Continue reading »