Dark Folk Artist Kati Rán Streams New Album 'SÁLA' Ahead of Release

Dutch artist and Nordic Folk pioneer Kati Rán is now sharing the title track from her upcoming full-length, 'SÁLA,' which is out now via Svart Records! The song can be found along with a visualizer at THIS LOCATION and features an array of special guests including Kristian 'Gaahl' Espedal, Heilung warriors, Jaani Peuhu and more!

Kati Rán comments,

"Well well, what can I say or write about this auspicious day, where SÁLA has been born. Such a big event, when you have put all your heart and soul and craft into it makes any artist speechless at first. It’s both a strange feeling of relief and sentimental nostalgia, as we release SÁLA today, so that these songs can live their own lives and their meaning have their own interpretation for all the listeners out there, henceforth.

"In the last two years I myself and Jaani Peuhu have tenaciously co-produced, written/re-arranged, recorded and re-recorded, edited, mixed and tweaked some more and laughed and cried daily to bring this album into its final form out today as it's 'parents' of sorts. I think I can speak for both of us and say that we hope it may bring some healing and light for anyone who finds themselves in a dark place, pleasure for anyone who wants to navigate its literary depths, or simply to have fun with it for all who enjoy listening to good new Dark Folk music. Thank you all. Thanks you Svart Records. And my thanks to Jaani for believing in me and for all the help given while we produced this album together, when before only I believed in it and worked on this alone. It definitely made a difference."

'SÁLA' the album is based on the primeval mythological Northern Cosmos and a patronage by its oceanic nordic deity 'Rán,' as reinterpreted by the artist and other mythological female characters surrounding its musical journey.

'SÁLA' is Old Norse for both 'Sea' and 'Soul,' befitting the Northern-themed album shaped after the shrouded Norse ocean goddess Rán and her 'nine daughters'. It takes inspirations from different weather conditions and nature phenomena and embraces our most vulnerable emotional sides and psychological states, questions our mind and expresses any 'forbidden' or 'taboo' sensitivities and acts as shamanic form of soul-retrieval.

'SÁLA' explores historical literature and mythological source material from the North, as much as it offers new interpretation and poetic lyrics straight from Kati's Rán own gold feathered pen as we journey into the conscious, subconscious, and liminal worlds of the North. Through the act of creating SÁLA and the thirteen tracks it offers, we are given a life raft, or a beacon for all who feel lost or challenged at times by life's turbulences. As much as the creation and crafting of this album was an alchemic process for the artist herself to turn obstacles in life into new found sources of power and wisdom, it aims to welcome anyone in need of support to enjoy and explore the depths it has to offer.

To shape the immense and cinematic Nordic soundscape that Kati Rán and Jaani Peuhu have tenaciously crafted together for 'SÁLA', we hear contributions by a wide array of musical guests and friends of the Nordic Dark Folk genre, the resurrection of extraordinary sounds sourced from Kati's travels and recording sessions at varying locations deep in Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, and a wide range of the artists own vocal expression and instrumental performances.

Ultimately, SÁLA is a homecoming to the existing Nordic Folk genre, as well as a sublime new vision and genre expansion for all lovers of Nordic mythology with its historic and modern sounds, the depth of its skaldic material, heart-pounding drums and its soft and divinely sounding hymns and poetry with which Kati Rán lures our ships to sail further beyond any known horizon of the genre.

Special vinyl editions in gold, transparent smoke, and black as well as digipack CDs are available for pre-order HERE.

'SÁLA' features an impressive lineup of diverse musicians who lent their talents to the record, including Gaahl, Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, members of Heilung, Sígur Rós, and many others!

Kati Rán is known for her collaborative audio work for Netflix’s tv series 'VIKINGS: VALHALLA,' films and work for videogames, her stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahls Wyrd to name a few, and her previous releases of the successful album; and Nordic dark folk tracks “Blodbylgje” and Icelandic track “Unnr | Mindbeach”; that run millions of streams and gathered a tightly knit Nordic Folk music loving audience around her.

If the most profound treasures are often the most deeply buried, the journey to uncover them is vital process of discovery. Five years after the 15-minute single “Blodbylgje” signaled the birth of a new, more primordial, and immersive vision after the dissolution of her band L.E.A.F., Nordic dark folk artist Kati Rán has expanded on its oceanic theme for her long-awaited full-length album, 'SÁLA.' Embarking on a far-reaching musical and personal travelogue, it’s a reawakening of both the feminine narratives submerged and fragmented within Norse mythology, and the enduring, healing powers held within.

Named after the Old Norse word for ‘soul’ and ‘sea’, 'SÁLA' is an act of "soul retrieval," the shamanic art of trauma recovery, be it illness, death, heartbreak or loss, and the reintegration of a splintered self. Across its 13, wide-ranging, elegantly unfolding tracks, the album is an embodiment of different feminine voices and perspectives – from the Norse nine daughters of the sea, or ‘billow maidens’, through various historical and fictional figures to the late-night voices we hear in our most liminal states – all with tales to tell, riddles to solve, challenges to be accepted and guidance to offer. It’s a multiplicity that, like the ocean itself, belongs to a vast, restless dynamic: a matrix of mysteries, unfathomable depths and ever-shifting currents, accumulating into an elemental, regenerative source of power.

Recorded in a barn in Húsafell, Iceland – home to glacier ice caves and a rare lava stone marimba rediscovered for the track “Stone Pillars” – as well as Finland, Norway and at home in Kati’s native Netherlands, 'SÁLA' is as much chronicle of Kati’s own perspective-shifting recording process as it as a pilgrimage through different viewpoints and internal states. That itinerate urge is also reflected in the use of different languages, ranging across Norwegian, Old Norse, Icelandic, and, for the first time, English, her combination of ancient texts, historical reimagining’s and unguarded personal reflection backed up by deep research into the most resonant recesses of Nordic lore.

Spun throughout every thread of 'SÁLA' is a sense of communion - with the power of stories to offer moral guidance and the thrill of the unknown; with the element of water, recreated across the album both in field recordings and the agelessly organic nature of the music itself; with the archetypes whose qualities we are called upon to embody at our most critical moments; and with the internal hidden realms forever whispering at us from the far edges of our consciousness.

Appropriately, it’s a collaborative venture too. As well as working closely together with Finnish producer Jaani Peuhu, there are contributions from across the musical spectrum, including extreme metal vocalist extraordinaire Gaahl, the Icelandic female choir Umbra Ensemble, renowned Norwegian jazz musician Karl Seglem, Björk and Brian Eno contrabassist Borgar Magnason, members of pagan folk acts Völuspá, Gealdýr, Heilung and Theodor Bastard and even Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris on vocals.

For all the many sources 'SÁLA' draws from, the result is a singular, intimately transformative rite of passage, and a retuning of the heart to the reverent continuity of the sacred. It will take you from the opening title track’s chest-pounding rhythmic pulse emerging from a traditional Norwegian bukkehorn (recorded by Karl Seglem), a galloping horse-rider and Kati’s glacial, velveteen chant, through “Kólga’s” recounting of female persecution through the ages borne on the most gossamer-light yet unbreakable of timbres and “Stone Pillar’s” gently percolating, deep wells of abandonment and incantations to recovery. 'SÁLA' closes with the track “Sátta” - Old Norse for ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’ – ending the album as it began with the bukkehorn, as it weaves rich drones and experience-stamped poems and prayers, Kati’s vocals the most sensitively tuned of emotional barometers. An album made in dedication, and in thrall to, its own sense of destiny, 'SÁLA'” is, as all quests must ultimately be, a homecoming.

Lineup:

Kati Rán

Special Guests:

Gaahl (Gaahl, Wyrd, Wardruna)

Mitch Harris (Napalm Death)

Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, IANAI, Lord of the Lost, Hallatar)

Karl Seglem (Norwegian jazz and folk legend)

Borgar Magnason (Björk, Sígur Rós, Brian Eno)

Gealdýr

Emilie Lorentzen (Heilung)

Nicholas Schipper (Heilung)

Yana Veva (Theodor Basterd)

Umbra (Icelandic female choir)

Sól Geirsdóttir, Varg Saastad (Völuspá band)

Marianne Heikkinen, Salla Marja (Saruru)

Páll Guðmunsson (Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Anderssen, Sígur Rós) Florian Ravn (Skáld)

Production: Jaani Peuhu, Kati Rán, Christopher Juul

Mastering: Jaime Gomez Arrelano

Cover Art: Photographer Arne Beck, Illustrator Halfdan Skrifa, Graphic design Jari

Laurén, Charlotte Boer, Deluxe Box Edition with cover painting by Marzena Ablewska-Lech

Bio: Jonathan Selzer

Links:

Official Website

Bandcamp

E-Shop

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter/X

YouTube

Dark Folk Artist Kati Rán Shares Music Video for Emotional New Song, "KÓLGA | 16"

Dutch artist and Nordic folk pioneer Kati Rán is now unveiling her emotional new single, "KÓLGA | 16," along with an epic music video, which was created by Costin Chioreanu. The track is taken from Kati Rán's upcoming full-length, 'SÁLA,' which is due on May 24, 2024 via Svart Records. The clip can be found below.

Kati Rán comments, "'KÓLGA | 16' is one of the coldest waves of the nine billowmaidens of Rán, one that can take your breathe away in a overpowering chokehold of ice water. What we deem the most 'destructive of powerful forces of nature' are aswell a necessary and powerful catalyst for change, or gain newfound clarity.

"The song as well touches upon many female figures that in one way or the other made significant sacrifices in their lives,  have been sacrificed, betrayed, persecuted or deliberately put in another light in history, in mythology and various folktales across time and culture."

 

Svart Records is delighted to expand its international artist roster with the signing of established dark Nordic folk artist Kati Rán and to release her second full-length album 'SÁLA.' Special vinyl editions in gold, transparent smoke, and black as well as digipack CDs are available for pre-order HERE.

'SÁLA' features an impressive lineup of diverse musicians who lent their talents to the record, including Gaahl, Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, members of Heilung, Sígur Rós, and many others!

Kati Rán is known for her collaborative audio work for Netflix’s tv series 'VIKINGS: VALHALLA,' films and work for videogames, her stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahls Wyrd to name a few, and her previous releases of the successful album; and Nordic dark folk tracks “Blodbylgje” and Icelandic track “Unnr | Mindbeach”; that run millions of streams and gathered a tightly knit Nordic Folk music loving audience around her.

If the most profound treasures are often the most deeply buried, the journey to uncover them is vital process of discovery. Five years after the 15-minute single “Blodbylgje” signaled the birth of a new, more primordial, and immersive vision after the dissolution of her band L.E.A.F., Nordic dark folk artist Kati Rán has expanded on its oceanic theme for her long-awaited full-length album, 'SÁLA.' Embarking on a far-reaching musical and personal travelogue, it’s a reawakening of both the feminine narratives submerged and fragmented within Norse mythology, and the enduring, healing powers held within.

Named after the Old Norse word for ‘soul’ and ‘sea’, 'SÁLA' is an act of "soul retrieval," the shamanic art of trauma recovery, be it illness, death, heartbreak or loss, and the reintegration of a splintered self. Across its 13, wide-ranging, elegantly unfolding tracks, the album is an embodiment of different feminine voices and perspectives – from the Norse nine daughters of the sea, or ‘billow maidens’, through various historical and fictional figures to the late-night voices we hear in our most liminal states – all with tales to tell, riddles to solve, challenges to be accepted and guidance to offer. It’s a multiplicity that, like the ocean itself, belongs to a vast, restless dynamic: a matrix of mysteries, unfathomable depths and ever-shifting currents, accumulating into an elemental, regenerative source of power.

Recorded in a barn in Húsafell, Iceland – home to glacier ice caves and a rare lava stone marimba rediscovered for the track “Stone Pillars” – as well as Finland, Norway and at home in Kati’s native Netherlands, 'SÁLA' is as much chronicle of Kati’s own perspective-shifting recording process as it as a pilgrimage through different viewpoints and internal states. That itinerate urge is also reflected in the use of different languages, ranging across Norwegian, Old Norse, Icelandic, and, for the first time, English, her combination of ancient texts, historical reimagining’s and unguarded personal reflection backed up by deep research into the most resonant recesses of Nordic lore.

Spun throughout every thread of 'SÁLA' is a sense of communion - with the power of stories to offer moral guidance and the thrill of the unknown; with the element of water, recreated across the album both in field recordings and the agelessly organic nature of the music itself; with the archetypes whose qualities we are called upon to embody at our most critical moments; and with the internal hidden realms forever whispering at us from the far edges of our consciousness.

Appropriately, it’s a collaborative venture too. As well as working closely together with Finnish producer Jaani Peuhu, there are contributions from across the musical spectrum, including extreme metal vocalist extraordinaire Gaahl, the Icelandic female choir Umbra Ensemble, renowned Norwegian jazz musician Karl Seglem, Björk and Brian Eno contrabassist Borgar Magnason, members of pagan folk acts Völuspá, Gealdýr, Heilung and Theodor Bastard and even Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris on vocals.

For all the many sources 'SÁLA' draws from, the result is a singular, intimately transformative rite of passage, and a retuning of the heart to the reverent continuity of the sacred. It will take you from the opening title track’s chest-pounding rhythmic pulse emerging from a traditional Norwegian bukkehorn (recorded by Karl Seglem), a galloping horse-rider and Kati’s glacial, velveteen chant, through “Kólga’s” recounting of female persecution through the ages borne on the most gossamer-light yet unbreakable of timbres and “Stone Pillar’s” gently percolating, deep wells of abandonment and incantations to recovery. 'SÁLA' closes with the track “Sátta” - Old Norse for ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’ – ending the album as it began with the bukkehorn, as it weaves rich drones and experience-stamped poems and prayers, Kati’s vocals the most sensitively tuned of emotional barometers. An album made in dedication, and in thrall to, its own sense of destiny, 'SÁLA'” is, as all quests must ultimately be, a homecoming.

Lineup:

Kati Rán

Special Guests:

Gaahl (Gaahl, Wyrd, Wardruna)

Mitch Harris (Napalm Death)

Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, IANAI, Lord of the Lost, Hallatar)

Karl Seglem (Norwegian jazz and folk legend)

Borgar Magnason (Björk, Sígur Rós, Brian Eno)

Gealdýr

Emilie Lorentzen (Heilung)

Nicholas Schipper (Heilung)

Yana Veva (Theodor Basterd)

Umbra (Icelandic female choir)

Sól Geirsdóttir, Varg Saastad (Völuspá band)

Marianne Heikkinen, Salla Marja (Saruru)

Páll Guðmunsson (Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Anderssen, Sígur Rós) Florian Ravn (Skáld)

Production: Jaani Peuhu, Kati Rán, Christopher Juul

Mastering: Jaime Gomez Arrelano

Cover Art: Photographer Arne Beck, Illustrator Halfdan Skrifa, Graphic design Jari

Laurén, Charlotte Boer, Deluxe Box Edition with cover painting by Marzena Ablewska-Lech

Bio: Jonathan Selzer

Links:

Official Website

Bandcamp

E-Shop

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter/X

YouTube

Pre-Save // Stream

Dark Folk Artist Kati Rán Shares New Single ft. GAAHL, "Stone Pillars"

Dutch artist and Nordic folk pioneer Kati Rán is now unveiling her moving new single, "Stone Pillars," which features guest vocals from black metal icon GAAHL (Gorgoroth, Gaahls WYRD, Wardruna, Trelldom, etc.)! The track is taken from Kati Rán's upcoming full-length, 'SÁLA,' which is due on May 24, 2024 via Svart Records. The song can be found below.

Kati Rán comments, "'Stone Pillars' embraces our most vulnerable side, questions our mind, and attempts to resurrect or reposition ourselves through spinning with the Fates. It dips right into the heart of things."

 

Svart Records is delighted to expand its international artist roster with the signing of established dark Nordic folk artist Kati Rán and to release her second full-length album 'SÁLA.' Special vinyl editions in gold, transparent smoke, and black as well as digipack CDs are available for pre-order HERE.

'SÁLA' features an impressive lineup of diverse musicians who lent their talents to the record, including Gaahl, Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, members of Heilung, Sígur Rós, and many others!

Kati Rán is known for her collaborative audio work for Netflix’s tv series 'VIKINGS: VALHALLA,' films and work for videogames, her stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahls Wyrd to name a few, and her previous releases of the successful album; and Nordic dark folk tracks “Blodbylgje” and Icelandic track “Unnr | Mindbeach”; that run millions of streams and gathered a tightly knit Nordic Folk music loving audience around her.

If the most profound treasures are often the most deeply buried, the journey to uncover them is vital process of discovery. Five years after the 15-minute single “Blodbylgje” signaled the birth of a new, more primordial, and immersive vision after the dissolution of her band L.E.A.F., Nordic dark folk artist Kati Rán has expanded on its oceanic theme for her long-awaited full-length album, 'SÁLA.' Embarking on a far-reaching musical and personal travelogue, it’s a reawakening of both the feminine narratives submerged and fragmented within Norse mythology, and the enduring, healing powers held within.

Named after the Old Norse word for ‘soul’ and ‘sea’, 'SÁLA' is an act of "soul retrieval," the shamanic art of trauma recovery, be it illness, death, heartbreak or loss, and the reintegration of a splintered self. Across its 13, wide-ranging, elegantly unfolding tracks, the album is an embodiment of different feminine voices and perspectives – from the Norse nine daughters of the sea, or ‘billow maidens’, through various historical and fictional figures to the late-night voices we hear in our most liminal states – all with tales to tell, riddles to solve, challenges to be accepted and guidance to offer. It’s a multiplicity that, like the ocean itself, belongs to a vast, restless dynamic: a matrix of mysteries, unfathomable depths and ever-shifting currents, accumulating into an elemental, regenerative source of power.

Recorded in a barn in Húsafell, Iceland – home to glacier ice caves and a rare lava stone marimba rediscovered for the track “Stone Pillars” – as well as Finland, Norway and at home in Kati’s native Netherlands, 'SÁLA' is as much chronicle of Kati’s own perspective-shifting recording process as it as a pilgrimage through different viewpoints and internal states. That itinerate urge is also reflected in the use of different languages, ranging across Norwegian, Old Norse, Icelandic, and, for the first time, English, her combination of ancient texts, historical reimagining’s and unguarded personal reflection backed up by deep research into the most resonant recesses of Nordic lore.

Spun throughout every thread of 'SÁLA' is a sense of communion - with the power of stories to offer moral guidance and the thrill of the unknown; with the element of water, recreated across the album both in field recordings and the agelessly organic nature of the music itself; with the archetypes whose qualities we are called upon to embody at our most critical moments; and with the internal hidden realms forever whispering at us from the far edges of our consciousness.

Appropriately, it’s a collaborative venture too. As well as working closely together with Finnish producer Jaani Peuhu, there are contributions from across the musical spectrum, including extreme metal vocalist extraordinaire Gaahl, the Icelandic female choir Umbra Ensemble, renowned Norwegian jazz musician Karl Seglem, Björk and Brian Eno contrabassist Borgar Magnason, members of pagan folk acts Völuspá, Gealdýr, Heilung and Theodor Bastard and even Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris on vocals.

For all the many sources 'SÁLA' draws from, the result is a singular, intimately transformative rite of passage, and a retuning of the heart to the reverent continuity of the sacred. It will take you from the opening title track’s chest-pounding rhythmic pulse emerging from a traditional Norwegian bukkehorn (recorded by Karl Seglem), a galloping horse-rider and Kati’s glacial, velveteen chant, through “Kólga’s” recounting of female persecution through the ages borne on the most gossamer-light yet unbreakable of timbres and “Stone Pillar’s” gently percolating, deep wells of abandonment and incantations to recovery. 'SÁLA' closes with the track “Sátta” - Old Norse for ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’ – ending the album as it began with the bukkehorn, as it weaves rich drones and experience-stamped poems and prayers, Kati’s vocals the most sensitively tuned of emotional barometers. An album made in dedication, and in thrall to, its own sense of destiny, 'SÁLA'” is, as all quests must ultimately be, a homecoming.

Lineup:

Kati Rán

Special Guests:

Gaahl (Gaahl, Wyrd, Wardruna)

Mitch Harris (Napalm Death)

Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, IANAI, Lord of the Lost, Hallatar)

Karl Seglem (Norwegian jazz and folk legend)

Borgar Magnason (Björk, Sígur Rós, Brian Eno)

Gealdýr

Emilie Lorentzen (Heilung)

Nicholas Schipper (Heilung)

Yana Veva (Theodor Basterd)

Umbra (Icelandic female choir)

Sól Geirsdóttir, Varg Saastad (Völuspá band)

Marianne Heikkinen, Salla Marja (Saruru,´bunny girl metal´)

Páll Guðmunsson (Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Anderssen, Sígur Rós)

Production: Jaani Peuhu, Kati Rán, Christopher Juul

Mastering: Jaime Gomez Arrelano

Cover Art: Photographer Arne Beck, Illustrator Halfdan Skrifa, Graphic design Jari

Laurén, Charlotte Boer, Deluxe Box Edition with cover painting by Marzena Ablewska-Lech

Bio: Jonathan Selzer

Dark Folk Artist Kati Rán Signs to Svart Records, Announces New Album

Dutch artist and Nordic folk pioneer Kati Rán is now pleased to reveal that she has signed with Svart Records, where she will be debuting her brand new full-length, 'SÁLA,' on May 24, 2024! For a glimpse of what's to come, Kati Rán is now sharing a short docu-clip about the record, which can be seen below.

Kati Rán elaborates: ”For me, signing to Svart Records was the most natural next step. Collaborating and releasing my music with Svart’s long-standing expertise in bringing out amazing artists and vinyl for true music connoisseurs, I’m grateful to be able to bring my audience a beautiful, elevated experience to enjoy my new Nordic Dark folk album SÁLA.

Together with Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, IANAI, Lord of the Lost, Hallatar) and Christopher Juul (Heilung), my new album has been tenuously crafted and produced and is curated by my many years of writing, researching, and traveling the Northern landscapes, taking on board with me incredible artists, sounds, and musicians to breathe the Nordic soul into the heart of this album. 

"I’m looking forward to opening the floodgates to SÁLA with the release of the first single and opening track “STONE PILLARS” on the 23rd of February. It embraces our most vulnerable side, questions our mind, and attempts to resurrect or reposition ourselves through spinning with the Fates. It dips right into the heart of things."

 

Svart Records is delighted to expand its international artist roster with the signing of established dark Nordic folk artist Kati Rán and to release her second full-length album 'SÁLA.' Special vinyl editions in gold, transparent smoke, and black as well as digipack CDs are available for pre-order HERE.

'SÁLA' features an impressive lineup of diverse musicians who lent their talents to the record, including Gaahl, Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, members of Heilung, Sígur Rós, and many others!

Kati Rán is known for her collaborative audio work for Netflix’s tv series 'VIKINGS: VALHALLA,' films and work for videogames, her stage appearances with Wardruna, Myrkur and Gaahls Wyrd to name a few, and her previous releases of the successful album; and Nordic dark folk tracks “Blodbylgje” and Icelandic track “Unnr | Mindbeach”; that run millions of streams and gathered a tightly knit Nordic Folk music loving audience around her.

If the most profound treasures are often the most deeply buried, the journey to uncover them is vital process of discovery. Five years after the 15-minute single “Blodbylgje” signaled the birth of a new, more primordial, and immersive vision after the dissolution of her band L.E.A.F., Nordic dark folk artist Kati Rán has expanded on its oceanic theme for her long-awaited full-length album, 'SÁLA.' Embarking on a far-reaching musical and personal travelogue, it’s a reawakening of both the feminine narratives submerged and fragmented within Norse mythology, and the enduring, healing powers held within.

Named after the Old Norse word for ‘soul’ and ‘sea’, 'SÁLA' is an act of "soul retrieval," the shamanic art of trauma recovery, be it illness, death, heartbreak or loss, and the reintegration of a splintered self. Across its 13, wide-ranging, elegantly unfolding tracks, the album is an embodiment of different feminine voices and perspectives – from the Norse nine daughters of the sea, or ‘billow maidens’, through various historical and fictional figures to the late-night voices we hear in our most liminal states – all with tales to tell, riddles to solve, challenges to be accepted and guidance to offer. It’s a multiplicity that, like the ocean itself, belongs to a vast, restless dynamic: a matrix of mysteries, unfathomable depths and ever-shifting currents, accumulating into an elemental, regenerative source of power.

Recorded in a barn in Húsafell, Iceland – home to glacier ice caves and a rare lava stone marimba rediscovered for the track “Stone Pillars” – as well as Finland, Norway and at home in Kati’s native Netherlands, 'SÁLA' is as much chronicle of Kati’s own perspective-shifting recording process as it as a pilgrimage through different viewpoints and internal states. That itinerate urge is also reflected in the use of different languages, ranging across Norwegian, Old Norse, Icelandic, and, for the first time, English, her combination of ancient texts, historical reimagining’s and unguarded personal reflection backed up by deep research into the most resonant recesses of Nordic lore.

Spun throughout every thread of 'SÁLA' is a sense of communion - with the power of stories to offer moral guidance and the thrill of the unknown; with the element of water, recreated across the album both in field recordings and the agelessly organic nature of the music itself; with the archetypes whose qualities we are called upon to embody at our most critical moments; and with the internal hidden realms forever whispering at us from the far edges of our consciousness.

Appropriately, it’s a collaborative venture too. As well as working closely together with Finnish producer Jaani Peuhu, there are contributions from across the musical spectrum, including extreme metal vocalist extraordinaire Gaahl, the Icelandic female choir Umbra Ensemble, renowned Norwegian jazz musician Karl Seglem, Björk and Brian Eno contrabassist Borgar Magnason, members of pagan folk acts Völuspá, Gealdýr, Heilung and Theodor Bastard and even Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris on vocals.

For all the many sources 'SÁLA' draws from, the result is a singular, intimately transformative rite of passage, and a retuning of the heart to the reverent continuity of the sacred. It will take you from the opening title track’s chest-pounding rhythmic pulse emerging from a traditional Norwegian bukkehorn (recorded by Karl Seglem), a galloping horse-rider and Kati’s glacial, velveteen chant, through “Kólga’s” recounting of female persecution through the ages borne on the most gossamer-light yet unbreakable of timbres and “Stone Pillar’s” gently percolating, deep wells of abandonment and incantations to recovery. 'SÁLA' closes with the track “Sátta” - Old Norse for ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’ – ending the album as it began with the bukkehorn, as it weaves rich drones and experience-stamped poems and prayers, Kati’s vocals the most sensitively tuned of emotional barometers. An album made in dedication, and in thrall to, its own sense of destiny, 'SÁLA'” is, as all quests must ultimately be, a homecoming.

Lineup:

Kati Rán

Special Guests:

Gaahl (Gaahl, Wyrd, Wardruna)

Mitch Harris (Napalm Death)

Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, IANAI, Lord of the Lost, Hallatar)

Karl Seglem (Norwegian jazz and folk legend)

Borgar Magnason (Björk, Sígur Rós, Brian Eno)

Gealdýr

Emilie Lorentzen (Heilung)

Nicholas Schipper (Heilung)

Yana Veva (Theodor Basterd)

Umbra (Icelandic female choir)

Sól Geirsdóttir, Varg Saastad (Völuspá band)

Marianne Heikkinen, Salla Marja (Saruru,´bunny girl metal´)

Páll Guðmunsson (Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Anderssen, Sígur Rós)

Production: Jaani Peuhu, Kati Rán, Christopher Juul

Mastering: Jaime Gomez Arrelano

Cover Art: Photographer Arne Beck, Illustrator Halfdan Skrifa, Graphic design Jari

Laurén, Charlotte Boer, Deluxe Box Edition with cover painting by Marzena Ablewska-Lech

Bio: Jonathan Selzer

Links:

Official Website

Bandcamp

E-Shop

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter/X

YouTube

Pre-Save // Stream

JAAW Share New Single, "Total Protonic Reversal", + Video

New Album, 'Supercluster',

Out May 26th on Svart Records

Pre-Order HERE

Today, JAAW share their new single, "Total Prototonic Reversal", the second single from their upcoming album, 'Supercluster'.

About the single, Andy Cairns comments:

“'Total Protonic Reversal' is an atmospheric slow burning industrial banger. Tension released and synapses cleansed in this steely eyed stare into cosmic unease

“Music video director & animator, Mike Bourne has provided 'Total Protonic Reversal'with the perfect visual accompaniment, morphing vibrant imagery into quotidian urban hellscapes”

JAAW is a post-industrial supergroup featuring Andy Cairns (Therapy?), Jason Stoll(Mugstar, KLÄMP, Sex Swing), Wayne Adams (Death Pedals, Big Lad, Petbrick) and Adam Betts (Three Trapped Tigers, Goldie, Squarepusher). JAAW glories in big riffs and massive hooks, while also pushing the boundaries of what that even means thanks to its uncompromising strangeness.

Recorded intensely in a matter of days at Wayne’s Bear Bites Horse Studio in London, 'Supercluster' is one of the most distinctive and exciting records that will be released this year, so heavy in textures that repeat listens will prove endlessly rewarding.

Watch the Official Music Video for "Total Protonic Reversal"

In the back of JAAW’s minds are the 1990s: an era when the experimental heaviness of acts like Ministry and Godflesh could find surprisingly large audiences.

They also draw on the sonic ground that’s been broken since: the disorientating ferocity of Brazil’s DEAFKIDS, the gaseous, shapeshifted vocals on Burial’s records, and the freakout-laden noise-rock of Lightning Bolt.

Far from emulating the industrial metal masters of the past, JAAW will help shake lesser rock bands out of their generic complacency. With scant regard for typical verse/chorus/verse formulas, JAAW’s song structures are closer to the nonlinear approach of body-shaking dance music.

While recording 'Supercluster' at Wayne’s Bear Bites Horse Studio and experimenting with squealing effects pedals selected from the studio’s racks, Cairns was reminded of his love for the feedback-drenched records of Helios Creed and Nuklear Blast Suntan. Having grown up listening to Therapy?, Adams loved throwing HM-2 pedals at Cairns and hearing his riffs through Entombed-style distortion. Bassist Stoll liked the idea of “Celtic Frost playing something by NEU!

This turned into the album’s bludgeoning centre piece, "Bring Home The Motherlode, Barry". As co-vocalists, Adams and Cairns wrote lyrics informed by the hallucinatory horror movies of Panos Cosmatos and the unforgettable set-pieces from Ari Aster’s Midsommar.

JAAW’s sounds, ideas and modes all bleed into each other. “The lyrics, too, are part of the same whole,” adds Cairns. “I feel you could drop the needle at any point on this record and you know where you are with it. To me, it’s like greyscale psychedelia. It’s just this… experience.”

The greyscale psychedelic revolution starts here. You’d be crazy not to jump in.

Pre-Save 'Supercluster' HERE

NYC Sludge Rockers NETHERLANDS Release New Album, 'SEVERANCE'

Something unlike anything you’ve heard before, 'SEVERANCE' is the 9th release from multi-instrumentalist, compulsive creator, and unrepentant volume addict Timo Ellis (Cibo Matto, Spacehog, Yoko Ono) under the NETHrock moniker.

 

Officially out on March 31, 2023 today via Svart Records'SEVERANCE' features all the hallmarks of Ellis’ work, including blistering post-shred guitar heroics, primal drumming, and soulful, yet searing caterwauls. But as with every NETHERLANDS release, Ellis has inexplicably found a way to ratchet up the intensity, render the dynamic shifts more extreme, and hone his menacing melange of melody and rhythm into a uniquely weaponized form of rock ‘n’ roll that reaches towards high art.

Comment from band leader Timo Ellis:

"We are extremely grateful to SVART, and generally super excited to release SEVERANCE in its entirety, out into the world. In terms of tonal and emotional variety, narrative cohesion, and overall creating a unique mood, we believe it is our best work; I hope everyone enjoys it!"

The band shares a new single from the album, "Animal Insults", along with a shocking music video. Ellis comments on the video:

"The song (and video of) "Animal Insults" is more or less a straight up, punk rock animal-rights anthem/ scream of anger and grief. 

"IMO, any regular meat/ fish/ dairy eaters that have the (relative) privilege + access to be able to *extremely easily* transition to a fully plant-based diet…ought to summon the guts to unflinchingly watch footage like this…in order to plainly see how horrifically inhumane (and socially and environmentally catastrophic!) the worldwide, legal, factory farm system really is. The current cultural and commercial manifestations of malevolent, ecocidal speciesism need to be dismantled, at scale…and as soon as humanly possible. ANIMAL LIBERATION RIGHT NOW!"

Watch the Video for "Animal Insults"

The following video may not be suitable for all viewers and

does not reflect the views of Freeman Promotions

An album exploring topics as heavy as the ones 'SEVERANCE' tackles, requires sonics to match. For Ellis -- a prolific producer and engineer himself -- the skills and peerless engineering sensibilities of taste making heavy music producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, High On Fire) and the hallowed walls of Ballou’s God City Studio in Salem, Mass, proved the ideal space to capture the record’s massive sounds

Ballou’s unmatched attention to detail and “comprehensive tuning” of the drum and organic guitar sounds on 'SEVERANCE' proved to be an x-factor in capturing the most monstrous and fully refined NETHrock release to date.

Order 'SEVERANCE' HERE

New Music from VIRTA

With 'Horros', VIRTA build on and take into new terrain the questing, jazz-tinged electroacoustic adventures of their last album, December 2016’s 'Hurmos', and its predecessor, their November 2012 debut, 'Tales From Deep Waters. Still recognizable as who they were, the VIRTA of 2023 now delves further than ever before into their inner world to craft their most affecting, most atmospheric and most cinematic music to date.

Even so, 'Horros' does not need to be accompanied by images – it envelops so much that signposts are unnecessary. The music itself is the guide through this sound world.

Check Out the Video for First Single, "Tunneli"

Helsinki-based VIRTA is known for their immersive live shows and the extraordinary electroacoustic music they make. The way the band mixes ambient electronic music into nordic jazz, post-rock and psychedelia is something quite unique.

VIRTA, founded in 2011 by childhood friends Erik Fräki, Antti Hevosmaa and Heikki Selamo has released two critically acclaimed albums 'Tales from the Deep Waters'(Tourist Information, 2012) and 'Hurmos' (Svart Records, 2016).

After being in metamorphosis for the past three years - enriching their sonic palette - the trio is about to release their long awaited third album, 'Horros', later this year. With the upcoming album, VIRTA dives deeper into the twilight zone, reaching towards still uncharted soundscapes.

Stream "Tunneli" HERE

'Horros' is more than an album for VIRTA. It is also an expedition into fresh territory for Antti Hevosmaa, Erik Fräki and Heikki Selamo – creatively, musically and metaphorically. The spell it casts instantly captivates. Once this world is entered, it is not possible to depart.

VIRTA are:

Antti Hevosmaa - electronics, flugelhorn, trumpet, vocals

Erik Fräki - electronics, drums, percussion, vocals

Heikki Selamo - bass, electronics, guitar, lap steel, vocals

Italian Doom Metallers MESSA to Release Stunning Live Performance from Roadburn Festival 2022

MESSA to Release New Album

'Messa - Live at Roadburn'

Out April 28th

Pre-Save HERE

Italian Doom trailblazers, MESSA captured live at the Roadburn Festival 2022 with a special extended lineup, have been immortalized on LP, CD and digital via Svart Records with their new Album, 'Messa - Live at Roadburn'.

Relive MESSA’s main-stage Roadburn Festival triumph, featuring songs from album 'CLOSE', and joined by a unique constellation of musicians and instruments that give their massive new album its distinctive sound.

This stunning new live album presents select cuts from the band's critically acclaimed album 'CLOSE', which the critics have called "the sound of a band fleshing out their place in doom metal's past, present and future"(Metal Injection) and "If you’ve ever longed for an album that could reconcile Stevie Nicks at her witchiest with the sublime gloom of How the Gods Kill–era Danzig, this is the LP of your dreams" (Spin).

MESSA’s packed out Roadburn set was one of the most talked about of the 2022 edition, and left the audience gob-smacked in their wake. Invisible Oranges said it best when they described MESSA live as “Captivating from the start, the band meld doom and Mediterranean influences to create a sound that inspires devotion, not least through vocalist Sara’s powerful voice and commanding presence.”

Of their Roadburn set MESSA said:

“Our appearance at Roadburn 2022 saw us performing a specially dedicated and one of a kind set. We played songs from our new record 'CLOSE' with a unique line-up that included other fellow musicians within our project. We involved Giorgio Trombino (Oud, Duduk, Saxophone), Alex Fernet (Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar) and Blak Saagan(Synthesizers) to recreate the sounds of 'CLOSE' in their true form.Our aim with MESSA’s performance was to embrace a musical wandering that could allow all of us – on and off stage – to drift away into another place. We couldn't wait to be on Roadburn’s stage again and we were very excited to be part of the 2022 edition.”

Seeming to both embrace and defy everything it means to be a metal band, MESSA mesh Mediterranean sounds with crushing doom riffs, with an emphasis on atmosphere and unusual use of instrumentation. MESSA are one of the leading lights in the heavy underground, and this performance at Roadburn saw the band shine forth with a brilliant and dominating presence. Get closer than 'CLOSE' and witness for yourself what the bottled magic of MESSA’s live alchemy can bring. 'Messa - Live at Roadburn' is out on April 28th via Svart Records.

Pre-Order 'Messa - Live at Roadburn' HERE

NYC Sludge Rockers THE NETHERLANDS Announce New Album 'Severance' to be Released March 30

As humanity hurtles chaotically, blindly, and seemingly willingly towards what may well be its last act, The Netherlands, NYC’s hulking, intoxicatingly heavy progressive-sludge trio, has returned with an LP which attempts to filter the fury, glimmers of hope, and untenable intensity of life in the anthropocene into a 10 song narrative whirlwind which sounds unlike anything you’ve ever heard. 

'SEVERANCE' is the 9th release from multi-instrumentalist, compulsive creator, and unrepentant volume addict Timo Ellis (Cibo Matto, Spacehog, Yoko Ono) under The Netherlands moniker. 'SEVERANCE' features all the hallmarks of Ellis’ work, including blistering post-shred guitar heroics, primal drumming, and soulful, yet searing caterwauls.

But, as with every Netherlands release, Ellis has inexplicably found a way to ratchet up the intensity, render the dynamic shifts more extreme, and hone his menacing melange of melody and rhythm into a uniquely weaponized form of rock ‘n’ roll that reaches towards high art.

Check out the Video for "Omisha"

While Ellis is perpetually working, he’s not one to work without a grander purpose than loud music for the sake of loud music.

In the man’s own words, “'SEVERANCE' suggests a catastrophic separation, explosively brought about in the last 250 years by techno-industrial civilization and the human supremacist worldview, which separates us from the Earth, from each other, and from ourselves.

"This album is about the urgent need to return to values, traditions, and rituals that restore our connection with the Earth, all of its creatures, and ourselves. It’s about abolishing corporate capitalism, unchecked technological expansion, and halting the unnecessary pillaging of this planet’s creatures and 'resources'...about a path forward that integrates modern foundations of fairness, community, compassion, love, and sovereignty for all people, animals, and Earth systems.”

An admittedly heavy conceptual weight to lift, 'SEVERANCE's exceptionally cinematic arc is aided by Ellis’ stream-of-conscience prose which lends an earnest, exasperated voice to the outrage so many of us feel in our daily lives as we’re blinded by screens and lulled into complacency by various systems of oppression. 

Pre-Order / Save 'SEVERANCE' HERE

An album exploring topics as heavy as the ones 'SEVERANCE' tackles requires sonics to match. For Ellis -- a prolific producer and engineer himself -- the skills and peerless engineering sensibilities of taste making heavy music producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, High On Fire) and the hallowed walls of Ballou’s God City Studio in Salem, Mass, proved the ideal space to capture the record’s massive sounds.

For Ellis, Ballou’s unmatched attention to detail and “comprehensive tuning” of the drum and organic guitar sounds on 'SEVERANCE' proved to be an x-factor in capturing the most monstrous and fully refined Netherlands release to date. The experience of tracking 'SEVERANCE' with Ballou surpassed all of Ellis’ expectations, and reinforced the NETHrock mastermind’s belief that Ballou is “one of the best and most artfully-minded heavy music producers of his generation.”

'SEVERANCE' is another chapter in the book of a band that’s consistently released heavy music on its own terms and with its own undeniable personality. There’s a reason contemporary heavy metal luminaries like Joe Dupontier of Gojira and Bill Kellihar of Mastodon count themselves amongst The Netherland’s biggest fans, and 'SEVERANCE’s 10 tracks prove The Netherland's potency once again. 

Irish Synth Metal Trio NO SPILL BLOOD Release New Single "Anvil Crawler"

Today, Svart Records announces the sophomore album ‘Eye Of Night’ by Irish synthetic kraut-metal trio No Spill Blood. After the 2015 debut ‘Heavy Electricity’, the synth-bass-drums trio have spent the pandemic years working on a triumphant return, set to be released on February 23, 2023No Spill Blood will embark on a 14-date Euro tour with Year of No Light to support the album starting February 4th.

As showcased by the new single "Anvil Crawler" the Dublin trio have refined and developed their signature sound, incorporating elements of doom and thrash into their synthetic kraut metal. ‘Eye of Night' is a feast of thunderous riffs, propulsive rhythms, cosmic textures, and moments of far-reaching minimalism. An arsenal of analog synths and electronics alongside pounding low-end strumming underpin a series of inward-folding tales of a protagonist's journey within the self. An exploration of the cosmos within, an engagement with the inner recesses, bearing witness to lies beneath the real.

The album is adorned with iconic artwork by legendary artist Michael Whelan, it was mixed by Phil Manley (Trans Am, The F**king Champs) and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Sumac, Zombi, etc). Eye of Night will be released on vinyl, CD and digital formats on February 23rd.

Formed in Dublin, Ireland in 2011, No Spill Blood are a forward-thinking synth metal band consisting of Matt Hedigan (bass, vocals), Ruadhan O’Meara (synths and electronics) and Ror Conaty (drums). Their sound has been described as a distinctive blend of heady, electronic riffs and crushing electronics which draws elements from synth punk, noise rock, classic doom, and experimental esoterica. The band’s debut album was on Sargent House in 2015, and they have performed live with Russian Circles, Baroness, Boris, The Fall and Deafheaven.

Die Oberherren Release Single & Video for "The Blood or the Wine"

What on earth has happened to gothic rock? This was the thought burning in Joakim Knutsson’s mind, and he felt that something needed to be done to save the much-loved genre from going down the drain. He embarked on this mission with the aim to create something special but also something faithful to the original ideals of the 80’s gothic genre. 

“I wanted a band that would be an occult mix of The Lords Of The New Church, Adam and the Ants, John Carpenter and Billy Idol”, says Knutsson, “The end result turned out heavier, bloodier and darker than that, but that was probably our destiny anyway.”

With a little help from prominent members of the Swedish metal and punk community the idea recently took a solid form. Today the band together sums more than 250 years of knowledge in music and pop culture - knowledge they shamelessly put to use in their own creation.  

Here they are: die Oberherren. The Gothic rock band the world has been waiting for since the golden age of the 80s. Kept strictly under wraps until now, die Oberherrenfeature members of rock and metal royalty in Sweden, with past or current membership in bands such as The Coffinshakers, Ghost, The Mobile Mob Freakshow, Gehennah and many more.

Watch "The Blood and the Wine"

The band's comments on the video:

"This video somewhat takes over where "The Horned One Stabs" ends. It is also in the vein of 70s and 80s horror movies. This one also points to the so called Highgate Vampire debacle."

About the song:

"When we demoed the song someone pointed out that the main riff sounded alot like a 'bad 80s Alice Cooper', which by today's standards of course, is awesome. A catchy rocker with sing along chorus and stupid nonsense lyrics? The way it should be."

The band snatched their ominous-sounding moniker from the intellectual group that operated at the turn of the 20th century, by whom their lyrics are also heavily influenced.

About die Oberherren, Knutsson comments: “Anarchistic, occult and apocalyptic imagery with prophets of war, armageddon, decadence and love – these themes and ideas are even more actual today than the original ‘overlords’ could ever dream of over a hundred years ago."

 

The debut album 'Die By My Hand', set for release on January 27, 2023 on Svart Records, is a collection of eight songs that are adorned with infectious hooks and laced with vintage darkness.

Shaam Larein Release New Single "Sticka En Kniv I Världen"

Shaam Larein Release

New Single for Title Track

"Sticka En Kniv I Världen"

Coming December 9

via Svart Records

Listen HERE

Svart Records unleashes a heady brew of nocturnal Post-Punk atmosphere and avant-garde Metal from Swedish Goth-tinged Doom Rock band Shaam Larein.

The new album, 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' literally meaning: “stick a knife into the world”, is a ravishing, cut-throat statement of Shaam Larein’s heavy intent, that casts a new shadow of stunning darkness. Formed in 2018, Shaam Larein released their debut album 'Sculpture'' in 2020 to raptured underground praise, earning them an instant booking to the prestigious Roskilde Festival and planting them on the radar of cult artists such as Chelsea Wolfe.

 

Now signed to Finland’s Svart Records, whose reputation has been forged on bringing new heavy rock artists such as Messa, Green Lung and Beastmilk from the underground into the limelight, Shaam Larein is soon to be hot on the tongues of the cult grapevine.

Named after their auteur-like visionary singer Shaam Lerein, who was brought up on Russian classical art and the cinema of Tarkovsky, composes and visualizes their dark materials, cementing 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' as an utterly unique take on bat-winged heavy rock. 

Shaam’s background in the theatrical arts and her Syrian roots shine through in the dramatic structures and middle eastern scales her melodies incorporate, all driven by a powerful female voice that commands and charms in deadly measure. Conducting her band of Swedish vamps like a montage of Siouxsie Sioux and Lisa Gerard meeting in a Murnau horror, Shaam Larein casts a spell both occult and hypnotic.

Shaam, about the single, "I came to wonder, why do we surrender ourselves to a screaming universe? If you are willing to sacrifice your own strength over this life, then you are the greatest fool."

Stream "Sticka En Kniv I Världen" HERE

Carrying a haulage of blackened Heavy Metal Doom in its gothic Post-Punk drive, “Sticka En Kniv I Världen” does what it says on the tin, providing a stab of something unearthly but also hyper-real with songs like "I Have No Face" as a stark eye-meeting stare of emotion. 

Shaam describes "I Have No Face" as: “dying inside and out, a glimpse of hope but not strong enough to last. When you have no face, you are blind on the outside but not on the inside, and that face is trying to survive, holding on to a big desire, because that desire is the hope of surviving.”

Where desperate urges meet cries for survival and a vital force, Shaam Larein is, as she says, “between dream and reality,” beautifully controlled chaos.

With a devout appreciation of the mystic powers inherent in heavy music, Shaam Lareinwill ignite memories of Swedish Metal artists such as In Solitude, who swayed towards the eclectic and gothic atmospheres Shaam’s music touches on in their later days. With artist friends from back home in Uppsala, Pelle Åhman making the Album cover and his brother Gottfrid Åhman, both of In Solitude fame, making four videos for Shaam Larein, the links weave closer, but it is to artists like Chelsea Wolfe, Ruth Rundle & Marissa Nadler that you can imagine fans drawing parallels and opening their heart to the enigmatic sound of 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen'.

 

Shaam describes her music as “a touch of aggression mixed with passion” and 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' for her is about finding the light through a sea of darkness “accepting the melancholy and seeing the beauty of what lies underneath our mysterious sound”.

For a world of heavy rock, hungry for a new wave of something dark and mysterious, Shaam Larein has it all in unparalleled dosage, just waiting to be discovered.

'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' will be released on December 9th by Svart Records. 

Isafjørd Release New Single & Video for "Mín Svarta Hlið"

Isafjørd, meaning literally fjord of ice, is a shining new ethereal post-rock band from Iceland.

Named after the town that both of their fathers came from, Ísafjörður, Aðalbjörn Addi Tryggvason (Sólstafir) and Ragnar Zolberg (Sign/x-Pain of Salvation) sculpt beautiful and desolate pop, as bright and dark as the sub-arctic seasons.

Isafjørd’s new album “Hjartastjaki” is an infectious rush of euphoric melancholy, quiet-loud dynamism, lush instrumentation and unforgettable atmospheric landscapes of song.

Meeting on the road, night creatures of the same renowned Reykjavik music scene, Ragnar playing live session bass for Sólstafir, Addi and Ragnar’s musical paths finally intersect in Isafjørd with a sound that reaches like a stalactite from the past into a gleaming future.

Holed up in the middle of winter, in an old house with a broken piano in the freezing cold, 'Hjartastjaki' is an album of songs that were written straight from the heart, sometimes in a single day.

Watch the Official Video for "Mín Svarta Hlið"

Their chemistry as immediate as the climate they survive in, Isafjørd is a real meeting of spirits, with Ragnar’s sleek and cherubim voice a brilliant counterpoint to Addi’s dusty and aching cries, over orchestrated build-ups of soaring piano and sliding guitars. The catchy and haunting music that Addi and Ragnar create in Isafjørd is at once familiar in that lived-in, well-worn way a great song can touch your soul.

Having both lived in Norway and speaking Norwegian, Addi and Ragnar speak the same language of the heart, as their Nordic melancholy makes for deep and mountainous music. Isafjørd’s songs are sincere icebergs of tundra-anthems that bring to mind Fields of the Nephilim and Duran Duran jamming in a frozen valley, where the creative 80s New Wave meets GodSpeed You Black Emperor. With influences that range from Cardigans, Beatles, early Judas Priest and Neil Young, Addi and Ragnar have struck a vein of gold that crystallizes their own heritage of wide-screen Metal gloom into something new.

Now coming of age, matured into a shimmering diamond of Icelandic pop at its finest, Isafjørd is on another plain from Addi’s own Sólstafir, where their cinematic metal roots have been re-traced into sweeping glacial song-craft. A country known for their honest and heart–wrenching emotional take on pop music with Björk and Sigur Rós, Isafjørd gives a new definition of “landscape music”.

When an album feels like a place you want to inhabit and experience, 'Hjartastjaki' is a journey that you’re going to want to take.

Pre-Order 'Hjartastjaki' HERE

About their first single "Falin Skemmd", Addi says, "This song is about freeing yourself from a toxic relationship and moving on to a brighter future.” Listen HERE

Pioneering Metal Band, Xysma, Ends 25-year Hiatus! New Album Announced

New Single "Well Seasoning" Out Now!

Since the late 1980's when a new form of metal started to emerge from the ashes of the speed and thrash metal movements, Xysma were there making a racket.

They've gone a long way from the pus-oozing grindcore of 'Swarming Of The Maggots'(1989) to the death rolling groove of 'Deluxe and Lotto' a few years later, becoming an internationally revered cult band over the years.

Recently the band thought it best to end a 25-year sabbatical and announced that there's a new album in the works!

Titled, 'No Place Like Alone', the album will be released on Svart Records in early 2023

Preorder the Album HERE

The first slice of things to come drops this week.

The single "Well Seasoning" will be released on all digital platforms this Friday, and you can listen to it below.

The short and to-the-point song is eerily reminiscent of classic mid-nineties Xysma, making the quarter of a century that separates us from those classic albums disappear.

"Well Seasoning" is the first song the band finished after the decision to start working on new material. Xysma's sound has varied greatly from album to album, and 'No Place Like Alone" is no exception to that golden rule.

In addition to straightforward hard rocking numbers the record has its share of heavier moments, but surprising elements abound as well.

The single "Well Seasoning", a two-and-a-half-minute metal ode to the joys of cooking, will be out on Friday 7th of October and the band will play a single release show at Tavastiain in Helsinki, Finland on October 15th.

Xysma are:

Janitor–vocals

Olli Nurminen–guitar

Teppo Pulli–drums

Kalle Taivainen–bass

Janne Lastumäki–keys

Her Shadow Release Single "Devil Inside"

New Album 'Ghost Love Chronicles'

Arrives November 11th!

Her Shadow offers dreamy pop music with moonlight melodies, heavenly hooks and Lynchian twists. The ethereal soundscapes come to life in a dream noir universe oozing with catchy choruses, Morricone motifs and vintage sounds interweave with state-of-the-art production.

Today, they release "Devil Inside" the second single from their upcoming album 'Ghost Love Chronicles' to be release November 11th via Svart Records.

"When writing this song, I set myself a challenge: how many chords could the progression go through before it returns to the start? I made it to ten. As with most good ideas, I came up with the vocal melody to the chorus in the shower. Anna Carolina's vocal delivery, soft as cotton candy, gave the cake a proper Lynchian coating", comments songwriter Tomi Henttunen.

"I find the contrast between the soft doo-wop vocals and the brutal lyrics very captivating. This is one of my favorites on the album", says lyricist Laakso

The birth of Her Shadow was inevitable. Old friends, guitarist-songwriter Tomi Henttunen(Royal Lips) and keyboardist-lyricist Laakso (Kuolemanlaakso) had a versatile but very different background in making music but a shared obsession with Twin Peaks and Lana Del Rey. The original idea in 2016 was to combine the best of both worlds and spice up the mix with film noir and dream-like elements – to make music that they love but had never done before.

They recruited the enigmatic singer Anna Carolina (Royal Lips), drummer extraordinaire Toni Ronkainen (Kuolemanlaakso) and producer-engineer Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, Lord of the Lost etc.), and recorded a four-song demo. They instantly got signed to Svart Records and started working on their debut album. After five long years of hard work, it is finally ready to be released upon the world.

Pre-Order 'Ghost Love Chronicles' HERE

As they say, good things come to those who wait and 'The Ghost Love Chronicles' will be released November 11, 2022. The album was produced by musical and visual mastermind Henttunen, mixed by Sampsa Väätäinen (Ismo Alanko, Neøv etc.) and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Paradise Lost, Opeth etc.) at the world renowned Orgone Studios.

The songs range from the mellow Motown mood of "Fifth Season" to the modern pop banger "Kinda Love You", from the Morricone-inspired "Vigilante" to the nightmarish haunted house thriller "What Hides in the Dark" and from eerie playfulness of "White Lane" to ghoulishly beautiful "Devil Inside". It remains to see, if 'The Ghost Love Chronicles" will grow into a hit album or a cult classic, but it sure has the potential for both.

Slip into something comfortable, open the doors of your perception and enter realm of Her Shadow

Shaam Larein Announce New Single & Video for "Murderer"

Svart Records unleashes a heady brew of nocturnal Post-Punk atmosphere and avant-garde Metal from Swedish Goth-tinged Doom Rock band Shaam Larein.

The new album, 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' literally meaning: “stick a knife into the world”, is a ravishing, cut-throat statement of Shaam Larein’s heavy intent, that casts a new shadow of stunning darkness. Formed in 2018, Shaam Larein released their debut album 'Sculpture'' in 2020 to raptured underground praise, earning them an instant booking to the prestigious Roskilde Festival and planting them on the radar of cult artists such as Chelsea Wolfe.

 

Now signed to Finland’s Svart Records, whose reputation has been forged on bringing new heavy rock artists such as Messa, Green Lung and Beastmilk from the underground into the limelight, Shaam Larein is soon to be hot on the tongues of the cult grapevine.

Named after their auteur-like visionary singer Shaam Lerein, who was brought up on Russian classical art and the cinema of Tarkovsky, composes and visualizes their dark materials, cementing 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' as an utterly unique take on bat-winged heavy rock. 

Shaam’s background in the theatrical arts and her Syrian roots shine through in the dramatic structures and middle eastern scales her melodies incorporate, all driven by a powerful female voice that commands and charms in deadly measure. Conducting her band of Swedish vamps like a montage of Siouxsie Sioux and Lisa Gerard meeting in a Murnau horror, Shaam Larein casts a spell both occult and hypnotic.

Stream "Murderer" HERE

Pre-Order 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' HERE

Carrying a haulage of blackened Heavy Metal Doom in its gothic Post-Punk drive, “Sticka En Kniv I Världen” does what it says on the tin, providing a stab of something unearthly but also hyper-real with songs like "I Have No Face" as a stark eye-meeting stare of emotion. 

Shaam describes "I Have No Face" as: “dying inside and out, a glimpse of hope but not strong enough to last. When you have no face, you are blind on the outside but not on the inside, and that face is trying to survive, holding on to a big desire, because that desire is the hope of surviving.”

Where desperate urges meet cries for survival and a vital force, Shaam Larein is, as she says, “between dream and reality,” beautifully controlled chaos.

With a devout appreciation of the mystic powers inherent in heavy music, Shaam Lareinwill ignite memories of Swedish Metal artists such as In Solitude, who swayed towards the eclectic and gothic atmospheres Shaam’s music touches on in their later days. With artist friends from back home in Uppsala, Pelle Åhman making the Album cover and his brother Gottfrid Åhman, both of In Solitude fame, making four videos for Shaam Larein, the links weave closer, but it is to artists like Chelsea Wolfe, Ruth Rundle & Marissa Nadler that you can imagine fans drawing parallels and opening their heart to the enigmatic sound of 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen'.

 

Shaam describes her music as “a touch of aggression mixed with passion” and 'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' for her is about finding the light through a sea of darkness “accepting the melancholy and seeing the beauty of what lies underneath our mysterious sound”.

For a world of heavy rock, hungry for a new wave of something dark and mysterious, Shaam Larein has it all in unparalleled dosage, just waiting to be discovered.

'Sticka En Kniv I Världen' will be released on December 9th by Svart Records. 

Isafjørd to Release New Album 'Hjartastjaki' December 2nd

Isafjørd, meaning literally fjord of ice, is a shining new ethereal Post-rock band from Iceland.

Named after the town that both of their fathers came from, Ísafjörður, Aðalbjörn Addi Tryggvason (Sólstafir) and Ragnar Zolberg (Sign/x-Pain of Salvation) sculpt beautiful and desolate pop, as bright and dark as the sub-arctic seasons.

Isafjørd’s new album “Hjartastjaki” is an infectious rush of euphoric melancholy, quiet-loud dynamism, lush instrumentation and unforgettable atmospheric landscapes of song.

Meeting on the road, night creatures of the same renowned Reykjavik music scene, Ragnar playing live session bass for Sólstafir, Addi and Ragnar’s musical paths finally intersect in Isafjørd with a sound that reaches like a stalactite from the past into a gleaming future.

Holed up in the middle of winter, in an old house with a broken piano in the freezing cold, 'Hjartastjaki' is an album of songs that were written straight from the heart, sometimes in a single day.

Their chemistry as immediate as the climate they survive in, Isafjørd is a real meeting of spirits, with Ragnar’s sleek and cherubim voice a brilliant counterpoint to Addi’s dusty and aching cries, over orchestrated build-ups of soaring piano and sliding guitars. The catchy and haunting music that Addi and Ragnar create in Isafjørd is at once familiar in that lived-in, well-worn way a great song can touch your soul.

Having both lived in Norway and speaking Norwegian, Addi and Ragnar speak the same language of the heart, as their Nordic melancholy makes for deep and mountainous music. Isafjørd’s songs are sincere icebergs of tundra-anthems that bring to mind Fields of the Nephilim and Duran Duran jamming in a frozen valley, where the creative 80s New Wave meets GodSpeed You Black Emperor. With influences that range from Cardigans, Beatles, early Judas Priest and Neil Young, Addi and Ragnar have struck a vein of gold that crystallizes their own heritage of wide-screen Metal gloom into something new.

Now coming of age, matured into a shimmering diamond of Icelandic pop at its finest, Isafjørd is on another plain from Addi’s own Sólstafir, where their cinematic metal roots have been re-traced into sweeping glacial song-craft. A country known for their honest and heart–wrenching emotional take on pop music with Björk and Sigur Rós, Isafjørd gives a new definition of “landscape music”.

When an album feels like a place you want to inhabit and experience, 'Hjartastjaki' is a journey that you’re going to want to take. 

About their first single "Falin Skemmd", Addi says, "This song is about freeing yourself from a toxic relationship and moving on to a brighter future.” Listen below.

Pre-Order 'Hjartastjaki' HERE

IANAI Release New Single "Khaalo"

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

 

World prehistory is abundant with flood myths, from Chinese and Norse mythology to the first book of Moses, in which God decides to wipe out his entire creation, save for what species could travel aboard Noah's ark. What was essentially destroyed by the Great Flood was the hybrid race of giants begotten by angels and humans - the Nephilim. The question remains, however, whether some of them actually survived. 

 

It is against this backdrop that the story of IANAI begins. The multinational ensemble led by renowned musician Jaani Peuhu channels music given to them, sung in an ancient language. IANAI’s music is imbued with flavors from indigenous musical cultures around the globe and clothed in darkly hued indie moods, bringing to mind a hybrid between Sigur Ros and Dead Can Dance. Peuhu acts as a messenger between two worlds and IANAI is music carried from within through the ages. Now is the time to let the waking world hear it too.

 

From the first outset of the debut musical offering Sunir and the first single “Savoj Icoil”, IANAI abandons the typical notions of ice and frost in which it is depicted, and rather than desolation, offers a guiding force through the notes and words. While the physical manifestation of this album has been years in the making, IANAI decided to pierce the veil during a time when the world was imprisoned and suffering unimaginable loss.

 

As the album progresses, listeners transcend through the instrumentation of Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, Middle East and South America. And while IANAI walks a long path, winding through the earth, IANAI does not walk alone, but seeks to share and learn, collaborate and conceive, music and art. From celestial harmonies to earthly delights, IANAI’s music is a reflection of both the worldly and otherworldly. Channeled through the vessel of the spirit Trevenial, the music voices in tongues long forgotten, singing the songs of the sons of God and the daughters of men. In a language unspoken on this plane, yet unmistakable in its meaning, IANAI embodies the freedom we seek and the ability to achieve that fluidity. 

 

In his music, IANAI is joined by a cohort of musicians from the world music scene and classical orchestras, but also people from modern bands such as Massive Attack (UK), Client (UK), HIM (Finland), Sisters Of Mercy (UK), Theodor Bastard (Russia), Lord Of The Lost (Germany), Swallow the Sun (Finland) and Souvenir Season (Germany).

 

The album Sunir will be released on June 10, 2022 on Svart Records. The album is produced by Jaani Peuhu (Swallow The Sun, Iconcrash, Mercury Circle) and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost).

 

From a time before time, when the ancient ones roamed free, unburdened, IANAIwhispers through the boundary of legends. 

 

With Sunir on the horizon, the question that remains is: when you hear IANAI, will you heed the call?

About the new single "Khaalo", Jaani shares, "It is a song about confronting your own fears and limitations you've carried within since childhood. What things are suitable in our culture and what are we allowed to believe in? In this song, we're breaking free from all that, with no fear of being condemned by our peers or society. Out of our dark hiding places with small, fearful steps first and then onwards and upwards as high as we can. There's no stopping us."

Pre-Order 'Sunir' Here

IANAI Online:

https://www.facebook.com/ianaiofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/ianai_official/

Svart Records Online:

www.svartrecords.com

www.facebook.com/svartrecords

www.instagram.com/svartrecords

IANAI Releases New Single "Elitha"

Debut Album 'Sunir' Coming June 6th

IANAI has released the second single from their upcoming debut album. The new track, "Elitha" is out today, along with an accompanying lyric video which can be seen below.

"Elitha's five minutes manifests an energy into being. The energy embodies a plethora of names and shapes throughout human history, and it can be approached using one's beliefs and cultural roots as a guide.

The music acts as an encouragement to leave earthly worries behind oneself and leap far into lands unknown. When feeling bound down by the shackles of cold, cruel reality of your surroundings, the music flows free, abundant with bliss and a sense of purpose. It is a remembrance of the light that is always there, not at the ends of tunnels but transmitted by the tips of human fingers and carried by the tongues people speak."

The debut album from IANAI, Sunir, will be released on June 6th on Svart Records. The album is produced by Jaani Peuhu (Swallow The Sun, Iconcrash, Mercury Circle) and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost).

Listen To "Elitha" Here

To speak to Trevenial, the single-entity, multi-instrumentalist voice from the other side of the veil, is to speak to a spirit that transcends the veil of this world and crosses borders beyond time and place. But you will not speak to Trevenial, but hear the words put forth in IANAI. IANAI is the essence of music that will permeate culture and influence without thought of boundaries or convention. IANAI is mythos in the making.

With not much known of Trevenial’s identity or nature, IANAI’s music is imbued with flavors from indigenous musical cultures around the globe and clothed in darkly hued indie moods. Acting as a messenger between two worlds and IANAI is music carried from within through the ages. Now is the time to let the waking world hear it too.

From a time before time; before the ocean swallowed Atlantis and the named gods sat atop their mountains. When the ancient ones roamed free, unburdened, IANAI whispers through the boundary of legends.

With Sunir on the horizon, the question that remains is: when you hear IANAI, will you heed the call?

Pre-Order 'Sunir' Here

IANAI Online:

https://www.facebook.com/ianaiofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/ianai_official/


Svart Records Online:

www.svartrecords.com

www.facebook.com/svartrecords

www.instagram.com/svartrecords

IANAI Releases New Single "Savoj Icoil"

Debut Album 'Sunir' Coming June 6th

To speak to Trevenial, the single-entity, multi-instrumentalist voice from the other side of the veil, is to speak to a spirit that transcends the veil of this world and crosses borders beyond time and place. But you will not speak to Trevenial, but hear the words put forth in IANAI. IANAI is the essence of music that will permeate culture and influence without thought of boundaries or convention. IANAI is mythos in the making.

With not much known of Trevenial’s identity or nature, IANAI’s music is imbued with flavors from indigenous musical cultures around the globe and clothed in darkly hued indie moods. Acting as a messenger between two worlds and IANAI is music carried from within through the ages. Now is the time to let the waking world hear it too.

From the first outset of the debut musical offering Sunir and the first single “Savoj Icoil”, IANAI abandons the typical notions of ice and frost in which it is depicted, and rather than desolation, offers a guiding force through the notes and words. While the physical manifestation of this album has been years in the making, IANAI decided to pierce the veil during a time when the world was imprisoned and suffering unimaginable loss.

As the album progresses, listeners transcend through the instrumentation of Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. And while IANAI walks a long path, winding through the earth, IANAI does not walk alone; but seeks to share and learn, collaborate and conceive, music and art. From celestial harmonies to earthly delights, IANAI’s music is a reflection of both the worldly and otherworldly. Channeled through the vessel of the spirit Trevenial, the music voices in tongues long forgotten, singing the songs of the sons of God and the daughters of men. In a language unspoken on this plane, yet unmistakable in its meaning, IANAI embodies the freedom we seek and the ability to achieve that fluidity.

In his music, IANAI is joined by a cohort of musicians from the world music scene and classical orchestras but also people from modern bands such as: Massive Attack (UK), Client (UK), HIM (Finland), Sisters Of Mercy (UK), Theodor Bastard (Russia), Lord Of The Lost (Germany), Swallow the Sun (Finland), Souvenir Season (Germany) and The Rasmus (Finland).

The debut album from IANAI, Sunir, will be released on June 6th on Svart Records. The album is produced by Jaani Peuhu (Swallow The Sun, Iconcrash, Mercury Circle) and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost).

From a time before time; before the ocean swallowed Atlantis and the named gods sat atop their mountains. When the ancient ones roamed free, unburdened, IANAI whispers through the boundary of legends.

With Sunir on the horizon, the question that remains is: when you hear IANAI, will you heed the call?