DRUADAN FOREST

DRUADAN FOREST sets release date for new WEREWOLF album

Today, Werewolf Records announces February 23rd as the international release date for Druadan Forest‘s highly anticipated fifth album, Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm – Part 2, on CD format. The vinyl LP version will follow later this year.

By now, Druadan Forest should require little introduction. From their demos in the late ’90s to the fever of work from 2016 onward, this Finnish entity has created a vast and magickal world like no other. Naturally, it should come as no surprise given that mainman V-Khaoz is an incredibly prolific veteran of the black metal underground for over 25 years now, and concurrently numbers the likes of Vargrav, Embryonic Slumber, and Grieve among his endeavors. With Druadan Forest, however, the emphasis has always been on atmosphere and its transportive qualities. Whether the medium is ominous, titanic-gait black metal, cosmic ambient, pure dungeon synth, or some symbiosis of those, it matters not: the story – and the voyage – from this realm to another is paramount.

After the interstellar ambient of 2022’s Portals, Druadan Forest returns to a medieval age with Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm – Part 2. As spelled out by its title, Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm – Part 2 is a companion record to 2019’s Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm, arguably V-Khaoz’s most massive work to date: four tracks across 73 minutes, a none-more-immersive journey that felt even vaster than its epic length suggested. While scaled back to 38 minutes and comprising eight component tracks, Part 2 is no less immersive; if anything, it portends more magick and daresay whimsy, further fleshing out Druadan Forest‘s pure dungeon synth worldview. The track titles give credence to this parallel shift – “Moonlight Sorcery,” “Summer Night Orgies,” and “Spells and Magic Potions,” for example – while others suggest specific locales, like “Wizard’s Hut,” “Witches Lake,” and “Black Towers of Kharanos,” altogether serving as a sonic canvas for RPGs in the flesh or within the shadow soul. For his part, V-Khaoz stays within the parameters of dungeon synth – and, indeed, that was the aim with Part 2 – but he’s never skimped on its sonic palette, always rendering his tones in rich, 3D sound and tastefully embellished songwriting; this is far from the pre-programmed, one-note garbage borne of Bandcamp trendiness. Almost deceptively soothing at times, the sometimes-sparse canvas of Part 2 nevertheless reveals shimmering expanses perhaps more on par with Portals than the first part of Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm. 

But no matter where you meet Druadan Forest, the man remains a master of mood, and he again offers infinite landscapes on which to roam. Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm – Part 2 is suitably completed by breathtakingly olde-world cover art courtesy of Misa Horkio.

Preorder info can be found HERE. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Druadan Forest’s Dismal Spells Part 2 – The Night Circus
1. Born From the Unholy Fire (Part II)
2. Iconoclast
3. Aal Apam Li Aamnuk
4. Strife For Blood
5. Life in Death
6. To Die a Thousand Times
7. Summum Bestiae
8. Phosphoros
9. Concerto of Sodomy
10. Celestial

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/druadanforest

www.werewolf.fi
www.facebook.com/werewolf.rex

EMBRYONIC SLUMBER set release date for WEREWOLF debut, reveal first tracks – features members of VARGRAV, SARGEIST, DRUADAN FOREST, DESOLATE SHRINE+++

Hailing from Finland, while Embryonic Slumber may be a brand-new entity in name, the duo are longtime veterans of the underground: Vargrav / Druadan Forest mainman V-Khaoz and Hellwind Inferion, an incredibly prolific drummer but more recently known as the vocalist for both Sargeist and Desolate Shrine. And while what they create together as Embryonic Slumber may show slight shades of their collective pasts, the resulting recording – the full-length In Worship Our Blood is Buried, the band’s bolt-from-the-blue debut – handily transcends comparisons altogether.

On evidence of this fully-formed first creation, Embryonic Slumber are indeed aptly monikered. Theirs is a dense-yet-sumptuous swell of sound, “cosmic black metal” in form and content, but finessed and nuanced to such a sterling degree that this debut album safely evades the cliches endemic to this idiom. Indeed, In Worship Our Blood is Buried moves like a long-obscured fog ominously emerging from a spectral void both above and below. Its soundwalls may feel like purple velvet, but the sheer enormity of their paradoxically spacious swell feel suffocating and liberating simultaneously. Likewise, the moments of placid quietude bespeak a simmering tension bound to burst at any given moment…or build ever high, slowly yet inexorably, toward the very cosmos itself. At the end just as at the very beginning, all one can do is submit to In Worship Our Blood is Buried and allow Embryonic Slumber to be your stargazing guide.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new tracks “I am the Storm” here:

and “Mortify Your Servant” here:

Preorder info for the CD version can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Embryonic Slumber’s In Worship Our Blood is Buried
1. Intro – Blood, Dust and Twelve Thrones [3:21]
2. Unwavering Flame [10:41]
3. Seven Streams of Sidonay [3:34]
4. Mortify Your Servant [9:42]
5. An Oath of Devotion [11:25]
6. I Am The Storm (bonus track) [4:49]

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/templeofthefallenstars

DRUADAN FOREST reveal new song from upcoming three-way split with BANNWALD and URUK-HAI, to be released by ANTIQ

Today, dungeon synth sorcerers Druadan Forest reveal a special edit of the new track “Tuhat Tähteä Ikuisuuden Viitassa.” The track hails from a special split album shared with Bannwald and Uruk-Hai, jointly titled Kingdoms Long Gone, set for international release on February 2nd via Antiq on digipack CD and cassette tape formats.
Hear a special edit of Druadan Forest‘s originally 19-minute “Tuhat Tähteä Ikuisuuden Viitassa” in its entirety here:
With Kingdoms Long Gone, three esteemed projects join forces in an epoch-defining split album, the origin of which already dates back a whole year ago. Bannwald, Uruk-Hai, and Druadan Forest have put together their efforts to deliver what could well be considered a tribute to the dungeon synth subgenre itself. With styles ranging from film music to the purest form of video game OST, going through to medieval dark ambient and even medieval music, the three bands here are forging what can be considered a summation of dungeon synth’s stylistic rebirth as of late.

In addition to a classy digipak, Kingdoms Long Gone will also be available as a tape, as yet more of a tribute to dungeon synth’s aesthetic origins. A coherent split though the variety of bands here – with Bannwald delivering three tracks, Uruk-Hai delivering two, and Druadan Forest with one 19-minute epic – Kingdoms Long Gone poignantly encapsulates the influence of black metal in ambient musics, and could very well shape its future. And, to conclude a truly unique and immersive experience, the front cover was created by Marine Février (Arsule).
Antiq is a label dedicated to the fully coherent concept of making music through sound, image, video, and attitude. They have been putting their entire existence into it since 2009. Over the years, Antiq have been identified as producers of not only perfectly coherent lyrics and themes through music, but also conceptual art and, of course, the manufacturing of beautiful objects. The label tries as much as it can to work with French creators, and if possible, with the smallest and most serious structures.

Also hear Uruk-Hai‘s previously revealed “The Birth of an Uruk-Hai” here:
and Bannwald‘s previously revealed “Fortress I” here:
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Kingdoms Long Gone
1. Bannwald – Fortress I [3:37]
2. Bannwald – Fortress II [4:58]
3. Bannwald – Kingdom Long Gone [7:41]
4. Uruk-Hai – Orkish Hymn [8:28]
5. Uruk-Hai – The Birth of an Uruk-Hai [7:11]
6. Druadan Forest – Tuhat Tähteä Ikuisuuden Viitassa [19:09]
www.antiqrecords.com
www.facebook.com/antiq.label 
www.antiqofficial.bandcamp.com 

ANTIQ to release three-way split among DRUADAN FOREST, URUK-HAI, and BANNWALD – first track revealed

On February 2nd, 2020, Antiq is proud to present a special three-way split album among Bannwald, Uruk-Hai, and Druadan Forest. Jointly titled Kingdoms Long Gone, it shall be released on digipack CD and cassette tape formats.

With Kingdoms Long Gone, three esteemed projects join forces in an epoch-defining split album, the origin of which already dates back a whole year ago. Bannwald, Uruk-Hai, and Druadan Forest have put together their efforts to deliver what could well be considered a tribute to the dungeon synth subgenre itself. With styles ranging from film music to the purest form of video game OST, going through to medieval dark ambient and even medieval music, the three bands here are forging what can be considered a summation of dungeon synth’s stylistic rebirth as of late.

In addition to a classy digipak, Kingdoms Long Gone will also be available as a tape, as yet more of a tribute to dungeon synth’s aesthetic origins. A coherent split though the variety of bands here – with Bannwald delivering three tracks, Uruk-Hai delivering two, and Druadan Forest with one 19-minute epic – Kingdoms Long Gone poignantly encapsulates the influence of black metal in ambient musics, and could very well shape its future. And, to conclude a truly unique and immersive experience, the front cover was created by Marine Février (Arsule).
Antiq is a label dedicated to the fully coherent concept of making music through sound, image, video, and attitude. They have been putting their entire existence into it since 2009. Over the years, Antiq have been identified as producers of not only perfectly coherent lyrics and themes through music, but also conceptual art and, of course, the manufacturing of beautiful objects. The label tries as much as it can to work with French creators, and if possible, with the smallest and most serious structures.

In the meantime, hear Bannwald‘s brand-new track “Fortress I” here:
Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Kingdoms Long Gone
1. Bannwald – Fortress I [3:37]
2. Bannwald – Fortress II [4:58]
3. Bannwald – Kingdom Long Gone [7:41]
4. Uruk-Hai – Orkish Hymn [8:28]
5. Uruk-Hai – The Birth of an Uruk-Hai [7:11]
6. Druadan Forest – Tuhat Tähteä Ikuisuuden Viitassa [19:09]
www.antiqrecords.com
www.facebook.com/antiq.label 
www.antiqofficial.bandcamp.com 

DRUADAN FOREST set release date for new WEREWOLF album, reveal first track – features VARGRAV mainman

Today, Werewolf Records, in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, sets September 27th as the international release date for Druadan Forest‘s highly anticipated third album, Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm, on CD and double-LP vinyl formats.

Hailing from Finland, Druadan Forest originally formed in 1998 and released three demos before receding into the shadows later in 1999. In 2016, the entity was reactivated and released an EP and then two albums and, most recently, a split album with The True Werwolf. Of course, between the two eras of Druadan Forest, sole creator V-Khaoz was not idle, prolifically playing drums for such bands as Azaghal and many others as well as his various solo-projects – namely, the almighty Vargrav, who’ve almost singlehandedly helped revive the symphonic black metal subgenre.

However, as Druadan Forest, V-Khaoz explores the most mystical, folkloric realms between the shadows of black metal and pure ambient music. Some might brand his approach as “dungeon synth,” but such a revisionist appellation sells short not only the man’s decades-deep investment in these realms, but more so that Druadan Forest thus far have safely eluded simple genre categorization: although most of the themes/textures stay consistent – fantasy, wonder, darkness, heroism, general grandiosity – no two recordings during Mk II of the band sound exactly the same.

Following that epic synth-heavy split with The True Werwolf in 2018, Druadan Forest delivers a more plaintive and stripped-down expression with the aptly titled Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm. Whereas the full-length predecessor The Lost Dimension understandably maintained a slightly more optimistic air, here with Dismal Spells From the Dragonrealm does V-Khaoz plunge deeply into the darkest past, evoking dead-silent castles buried by time and dust. This expression of Druadan Forest is arguably his most dungeon synth-oriented thus far, but within those stricter, more traditionalist parameters does he create entrancing spells that duly transport the listener to forgotten realms. One need only give the album’s four component song titles a cursory read to see the landscapes that will soon unfold – “Unsung Spell of No Solace,” “Enthralled by Majestic Winters Eternally,” “The Seizure of Power in the Luminous Lands by the Hands of the Stalking Fiends,” and “No Stars Upon the Black Sea of Macrocosm” – with each track topping 16 minutes, altogether making for a 73-minute journey that feels even vaster than its epic length suggests.

Werewolf Records is a Luciferian metal temple founded in 1998. The wolfish cry from the Carelian battlegrounds, Werewolf Records releases black metal and other dark arts motivated exclusively by theistic Satanist views of the founder Werwolf. In this age when black metal’s worth is questionable, idealism and rigor are the exception when they should be the highest law. We uphold the law of the Wolf – the destruction of the weak and the false so that the original vitality of the dark magic art can continue to grow and create the foundations for an empire. Black metal is Will and Power. We deal with material that inspires us on our journey towards our own kingdom – a kingdom that is not yours, but bears a resemblance to the one there could be for you. Now in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, the temple of Werewolf Records shall wage its war farther and wider than ever, with no spiritual surrender.

In the meantime, hear the new 17-minute Druadan Forest track “Enthralled by Majestic Winters Eternally”

Cover and tracklisting as follows:

Tracklisting for Druadan Forest’s Dismal Spells from the Dragonrealm
1. Unsung Spell Of No Solace [19:26]
2. Enthralled By Majestic Winters Eternity [17:21]
3. The Seizure of Power in the Luminous Lands by the Hands of the Stalking Fiends [19:26]
4. No Stars Upon The Black Sea of Macrocosm [16:05]
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/druadanforest