New Dominions is an epitaph to an era and a rebirth of another. Inspired by Alan Weisman’s book The World Without Us, it is the profound religious feel of the takeover events that stand out in Weisman's detailed narration. While quite a bleak read, it successfully conveys an image of unstoppable sermon, a service of Life that would continue no matter if humanity or any other species cares to attend it. This collaborative release brings together two of the most exciting artists operating at the forefront of the underground. The groups’ willingness to explore new sounds, textures, and moods sets them apart from other artists operating in heavy music. New Dominions may be the most intense and brooding releases by either group.
The album consists of two extended tracks. “The Gift” begins the record with slowly building layers of bowed and looped percussion, harsh vocals, glistening tremolo guitars, and eerie piano played from the inside. The track ends with sparse, trance inducing, rolling, primordial percussion and mellifluously leads into the next.
The repetitive piano, bass, and percussion of "Our Epitaph" usher in dreamy, chanted, vocals. The instruments become locked in a slowly burning, hypnotic groove as layers of tape loops, guitars, and feedback gradually build and build. New Dominions is an extremely heavy record, but has few of the typical characteristics of a heavy album. The repetition and the subtle changes throughout the album make it all the more bleak and unsettling.
The artwork for the release was done by frequent Horseback collaborator and Russian occultist Denis Forkas Kostromitin. Side A of the LP consists of the album. Side B has an etching of Kostromitin’s “Omega Auroch” drawing. The last few aurochs exist in only one part of the world — the Bialowieza forest, one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe, which straddles the border between Poland and Balarus. The auroch convey many messages: man’s domination over nature — a fragile natural order, the futility of man’s ambitions (the extinguished candles), the bestial origin of all human religions and spiritual practices (the candelabrum coming out of the bull’s head), and the end of days represented by the inverted omega of the composition itself. The image on the album cover “The Wooden Word” is composed of seven aurochs forming the living basis for the church in the painting. The inspiration for the structure was the elaborate and ancient wooden churches — one of the sacred buildings built without a single nail — which even today stand tall in a few small Russian towns and villages. It is the eternal church of Evolution, the true house of tempest, the Devil’s seat. The church and auroch pieces echo each other, raise the liturgical feel and close the omega.
This collaborating represent the future of heavy music and the material on the release is in a category of its own next to Locrian’s The Crystal World and Horseback’s The Invisible Mountain
FIRST 200 ORDERS WITH ALL FOUR NEW RELEASES WILL RECEIVE AN EXCLUSIVE GEHENNA ‘O.D.R.I.E.P’ 7″ FLEXI (AVAILABLE ONLY WITH THESE RELEASES) CONTAINING A NEVER BEFORE HEARD TRACK PULLED DIRECTLY FROM THE MASTER TAPES OF THE ‘NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS’ SESSIONS, FOR FREE!!!
GEHENNA ‘Land Of Sodom II/Upon The Gravehill’ Deluxe 7″/CD
We’re thrilled to announce that the 7″ is finally available with a few improvements to the original recordings, re-titling it ‘Land Of Sodom II’. Also included is a CD with the LOSII tracks and the never before available ‘Upon The Gravehill’ 12″ tracks. Comes in a deluxe 7″/CD gatefold package with a poster insert.
GRAVEHILL ‘Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery’ 12″
These were the only recordings to feature the lineup of R.T. on drums, Mike Apokalypse (Gehenna/Sangraal) on vocals and Shane BastardDemon (Devil/Penetration Panthers) on guitar. The end result is six tracks of classic black/death/trash metal in the vein of Celtic Frost, Sodom and Hellhammer.
Remasted by Kevin Bernsten and available for the first time on vinyl!
(Limited to 500 copies ever)
WITCH-LORD ‘Atomized In The Black Solarian’ 12″
Witch-Lord is the brainchild of DC Grave (Gehenna) playing nightmarish dark psychedelic doom that is best described by Mike Apokalypse as “what Black Sabbath would have sounded like if they took real drugs” Comes with a 22″x22″ poster insert! (Limited to 250 copies ever)
PENETRATION PANTHERS ‘Perpetual 80s’ 7″
DC Grave (Gehenna) and Shane (Devil/Gravehill) have a newband that is full on raw early 80′s punk that sounds like a cross between early Black Flag and The Stooges. This 3 song ep is only a taste of what’s to come with the band’s upcoming full length. (Limited to 500 copies ever)
New material. Two 15 minute tracks. Industrial insomnia.
The first marks the middle ground between the slowcore influence of "The Sunya Is Rising" and the Lovesliescrushing-worship of the recent 5-band split LP. Keyboard, synth, drum machine & voice.
The second is an extended ambient piece. Early Emeralds or Kevin Drumm drone works are a loose estimation, but this conveys a much different message. Depth, texture, synth, noise, death.
No gimmicks, no band members, no virtue, no happiness.
JESU
Ascension Limited edition deluxe version
A deluxe vinyl edition of Jesu's "Ascension" will be released on July 5th 2011 available exclusively through Aural Exploits, Caldo Verde and Jesu.
Aural Exploits in conjunction with Caldo Verde records are pleased to announce the release of a deluxe vinyl edition of Jesu's "Ascension".
Released as a deluxe limited edition of 1000 hand numbered copies.
Pressed on colored vinyl and housed in a gold stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket this exclusive edition (available only via Aural Exploits, Caldo Verde and Jesu) contains three 10" x 10" photo quality prints exclusive to this edition and suitable for framing.
Please Note: We will be doing a drawing every week up until the release date for a test pressing of the album.
Each winner will be notified via email and the test pressings (one set of the double album) will be shipped to them with the album on release.
You will only be removed from the drawing if you have already won a copy of the test pressings.
