hatbanger_ollie
Ignore all the reviewers who keep on comparing this to their previous record "Ageless Fire". The new output is a monument of melody, variety and atmosphere. Great stuff.
Favorite track: Frozen in Vile Illumination.
Middle Earth
This is a fantastic album. Have it in constant rotation. American Black Metal as good as it gets.
Favorite track: Frozen in Vile Illumination.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
€7EUR
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
6-panel Digipak CD with golden hotfoil embossing, plus 24x24 cm fold-out poster booklet. Comes with a designed download card for the album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
Purchasable with gift card
€8.44EURor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
180g vinyl in solid sleeve on matte stock, golden hotfoil embossing, thick 12" insert, black paper inner sleeve with a protective layer, designed download card for the digital album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
Purchasable with gift card
€14.14EURor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
180g vinyl in solid sleeve on matte stock, golden hotfoil embossing, thick 12" insert, black paper inner sleeve with a protective layer, designed download card for the digital album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
edition of 300
Purchasable with gift card
€14.14EURor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
180g vinyl in solid sleeve on matte stock, golden hotfoil embossing, thick 12" insert, black paper inner sleeve with a protective layer, designed download card for the digital album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 10 days
edition of 100
Purchasable with gift card
€14.14EURor more
Cassette + Digital Album
Aqua shell, with black ink. Professionally duplicated tapes, full-color cover on haptic card stock, and a designed download card for the digital album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 30 days
edition of 100
Purchasable with gift card
€5.55EURor more
Cassette + Digital Album
Aqua shell, with black ink. Professionally duplicated tapes, full-color cover on haptic card stock, and a designed download card for the digital album.
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 30 days
edition of 100
Purchasable with gift card
€5.55EURor more
Finest Dark Arts Tote Bag [Organic] (Black)
Bag + Digital Album
Exclusive artwork by David Csicsely (also drummer/vocalist of The Flight of Sleipnir).
Organic cotton bag with double-sided screen print in white & grey.
Durable, eco-friendly 100% cotton (organic), long handles.
Features: Organic Cotton • Control Union certified cotton •
Rip-Strip • Durable fabric, soft quality • Long handles
Grammature: 170 g/m²
Volume: aprox. 8 Litre
Ships from Germany
Includes unlimited streaming of Legend
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Dagger’s breadth, venom drenched,
Pierces through supplicant flesh.
Righteous dog held in scorn.
Poisoned blood
Spirit torn.
Born into opposition
Child of war
Merciless retribution
For all that has come before
Adversary; Prince of earth and air
Emissary, beyond the veil
Morningstar, in all your faces
Adversary; Prince of earth and air
As flame veiled in flesh
As struggle itself incarnate
As pain given shape
The great beast unbound from the chains of culture
Adversary
Prince of earth and air
As flame veiled in flesh
As struggle itself incarnate
Adversary.
The stone guardians crumble
And the sanctum is laid bare.
Demon winds rise in fury
Blowing monoliths to sand.
Aura stripped away
The structure is revealed;
Architecture of man’s design
Unhallowed, desanctified.
The myth and the mystery
Live in flesh.
The myth and the mystery
Transcend death.
I am the gateway
I am the key
As ancient as stone
As clear as morning light
Into the treasuries of Heaven
And the armories of hell
Into the confidences of elders
And the intrigues of the adept.
When the guardians made of stone
Are brought to kneel
and the sentinels of paradise
Meet steel.
More ancient than stone
As clear as dawn’s first light.
I am the gateway, I am the key
Beyond the myth.
Through the heart of the mystery
On the crest of raven’s wing,
Frozen in lightning strike.
Man, undone, plummets from
The heights of the cliffs of slate.
In the mania of harrowed flight
The frenzy of escape
The intoxication of vain denial
The terror of iron fate.
On raven’s wing, tumbling
Frozen in vile illumination.
Grasp at the fabric of history.
Cling to the wheel of time.
Kneel before the inevitable.
Fall from the cliffs of slate.
On the crest of raven’s wing,
Frozen in lightning strike.
Torn between delight and lamentation,
Beneath the burden of will.
As it was
As it is and shall be.
As it was
Forever locked in combat.
Vision, at odds with faith,
Man alone in the throng of the blind.
As it was
Restless, longing
Endlessly searching, Seething, spitting,
Kicking at the mire.
As it is and shall be forever
Legend
Legend, amidst the bastards;
Above the rot.
Legend, bathed in glory;
In death, as is our lot.
Forever locked in combat
Vision at odds with faith
Legend, bathed in glory
Legend in death; as is our lot.
Invocation, seven rites.
The pillars of this cursed firmament
Are brought to life.
Each before me revealed in flesh
Offer elixir to abate my death
In return for tribute,
A duty pledged;
A mortal offering to divine ends.
“Will you free me from my past?
And release me from my shame?
Unshackle me from my burden
This prison I have made
This labor of choice, this weight unnamed?”
The light of grace veils the chains of servitude.
Invocation, seven rites
Bring me darkness; forsake the light.
Beyond redemption: (as I have always been) for it is not yours to bestow
Above reprisal: (the right I have claimed) for I am the master of all that is known.
All that I have been
and all that I’ve strived to be.
Beyond redemption, Above reprisal.
The right that I have claimed
Will you hold this vision?
Will you tend to the embers?
Know that this death
Is not defeat.
about
After a period of smoldering dormancy Vanum reappears, blazing and alive, with their third full length album, Legend. Continuing the triumphant march of previous works, but raising the stakes even higher, Legend finds Vanum both expanding and refining their approach, and in turn delivering their most fully realized recording to date.
The core of the band's sound remains unchanged: unyielding and grandiose Black Metal that traces a hellish through line from the power of mid-era Bathory, through the riff-craft of the Hellenic masters, to the bitter fury of the Slavic greats. But amidst the pantheon of familiar influences new touchstones become ever more apparent. With Legend, the continuum is charted further back and to new lands. Within the throes of the Black Metal maelstrom, echoes of classic heavy metal are increasingly recognizable, further bolstering Vanum‘s towering melodic sensibility and epic songwriting. Coupled with a deeper and expanded exploration and use of ambience and synthesizer, the album is imbued with a richness and sense of majesty that underpins each of its five towering compositions.
Due to the global chaos of 2020/21, initial recording plans had to be scrapped in favor of extremely detailed demo and pre-production work, followed by a remote tracking process. As the album was recorded in various locations throughout the country, producer Andrew Oswald was enlisted to oversee technical and performance nuance from afar before handling the mixing duties in which he meticulously sculpted the thunderous, full sound of the album. Adorned with an original painting by Petri Ala-Maunus, the entire package from concept through composition, execution, and presentation is one unified by a sense of strength, power, and romantic awe.
While musically dynamic as ever, the overriding theme of the album is one of victory. Victory amidst bloodshed; triumph amidst loss. This is Black Metal as spiritual war, the aural embodiment of ancient combat and heroic struggle. This is Legend.
credits
released April 22, 2022
Produced and Mixed by Andrew Oswald
Recorded by Jean Paul Gautreaux and K. Morgan
Mastered by Dan Lowndes
Art by Petri Ala-Maunus
Design by K. Morgan
Released by Profound Lore Records (North America / Rest of World) & Eisenwald (Europe)
What an impressive piece of black metal. This one-man hurricane is pure art. Sgah‘gahsowáh creates an haunting atmosphere. He puts so much soul in his music. Sælzer Bub
An outstanding Extreme doom death album, in the best tradition. The funerary atmosphere reminds of Evoken ('Centuries of ooze" bears striking similarities, for my delight). It is overall sharp, dark, hypnotic and unrelenting. One of those rare convincing new bands that hold proud the legacy of the biggest names. Bertrand Marchal
Brutal and massive yet melodic, dynamic and even delicate. In other words: perfect extreme metal. Pummeling, oppressive, a deep personal and emotional experience. One hell of a ride delivering the pure joy of excellency. Masterpiece. mourner