Apokryphon - Subterra (A5 Digipak)

From the heart of the Midlands hail Wolvencrown, black metal quintet born in 2015 in Nottingham. Following the release of Wolvencrown, their very promising digital self-released ep, in 2017, the band entered the studio in their hometown and started recordiApokryphon is the new project by Zorgh, Darkspace founding member and bassist. This new band has nothing to do with Darkspace, hence it would be inappropriate to make any kind of comparison between the two. Quite the opposite, after twenty years crafting a certain kind of music (and a certain kind of black metal), the Bern-based musician wanted to explore something different, and this is why you should expect a totally distant approach to both themes and sounds. The multi-instrumentalist even chose a new alias for herself, here going by the name of Ophis.

We asked Ophis herself to express her thoughts about this new adventure she embarked on, which you can read hereunder: Apokryphon literally means "hidden" or "dark" and refers to the apocrypha, old esoteric scriptures written by a variety of people that were either actively hidden or controversial and therefore excluded from public viewing or biblical content, for example. Many of them were found to be heretical, some were related to gnosticism. Many of them were written in the geographical area of the Middle East about 2000 years ago. ”Subterra" thematically relates to themes treated in the apocrypha. Musically, it is rooted in black metal, decorated with oriental spices. It is an expression of my own personal and musical identity and themes that touch me generally. I have chosen to liberally interpret both apocryphal texts and black metal in my very own way. And with "Djinn" I have found the perfect voice to interpret most of the vocal aspects.

After more than a decade of cooperation, at Avantgarde Music we have the utmost respect for the Swiss trio, and when one of the few women in album we knew we wanted to give her our full support before even hearing a single note. Once we had Subterra in our hands, we were but proven right. ng what would become their debut studio album.
Of Bark And Ash is the result of two years of hard work, during which the band took every interesting hint they started to develop in their ep, and worked to make it better. And indeed they succeeded. Wolvencrown debut is packed with good riffs and inspiring melodies, where the generous use of keyboards perfectly fits the naturalistic atmosphere.
Their interest in Nature and the emotions she conveys, together with the most romantic feelings of man, bring Wolvencrown close to the current English black metal scene, and the band can righteously sit among their peers Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone and Fen.
If nature, melodies and feelings of longing and yearning are what you crave, then you need to look no further. Of Bark And Ash is the answer. Wolvencrown debut will be out digitally, on cd and on vinyl next December.