Old Forest – Into The Old Forest (1999)

Country: England

Tracklist

1. Grond (Hammer Of The Underworld) 04:29
2. Death In The Cemetary 04:57
3. To Haunt The Old Forest 03:38
4. Hymn Of The Deep 05:19
5. Glistening... 03:34
6. Where Trees Are Withered 04:05
7. Shadow Whispers 04:20
8. Become The Gods Of War 04:19
9. Hammer Of The Underworld (Demo Bonus Track) 04:13
10. Death In The Cemetary (Demo Bonus Track) 04:50
11. Shadows Whispers (Demo Bonus Track) 03:29
12. The Deepest Caves (Demo Bonus Track) 01:04

Old Forest was formed in 1998 and consisted of Kobold (James Fogarty of In the Woods..., Ewigkeit),

 Beleth and Lord Grond (Orcrypt).
With influences from the early 90s classic bands, such as Emperor, Ancient, Darkthrone and Burzum,

Old Forest formed in order to preserve the underground and, by then, lost feeling of cult spirit of Black Metal.
The debut demo "Of Mists And Graves" was self-released, and led to a handfull of offers 

from reputable black metal labels to release the debut album.
After the second demo "The Kingdom Of Darkness" was recorded,

Old Forest set about recording their debut album "Into The Old Forest" for the label Mordgrimm Records.
The album was universally hated by commercial magazines,

got terrible reviews and became an instant underground classic.
A second album was recorded in 1999, "None More Black", but this was never released.
The band was placed on hiatus and the master tapes of the unreleased album were buried in the New Forest in Hampshire.
In 2007, Old Forest reactivated once again re-releasing all of their demo recordings as free digital downloads,

to re-aquaint the old fans, and to act as a flag-bearer for a new crusade of anti-commercial Cult Black Metal.
They then began work on writing and recording the "Tales Of The Sussex Weald" trilogy of EPs

for the record label Death To Music Productions.
In 2011, the 3rd and final part of the trilogy was released,

along with parts 1 and 2, on the full-length album "Tales Of The Sussex Weald".
In 2015 the band released their latest album "Dagian" through the Avantgarde Music label

featuring Kobro (In the Woods..., ex-Carpathian Forest) on drums.

Memory

Exiled Shadow – North Abyss Shadows (Demo 1999)

Country: Greece

Tracklist

1. Anguish Of Pagan Night 04:08
2. Where The Shadows Rise 02:00
3. Haunting The Light 02:23
4. The Testimonial Code Of Death 02:42
5. Savior Of Sorrow 02:27
6. Ancient Spirits Of Evil 01:49

Exiled Shadow was created in the summer of 1998 in Thessaloniki, Greece,
by Tasos (guitars, vocals) from Ptolemaida and Vasilis (drums) from Thessaloniki.
The group's basic influence was Scandinavian black metal while the lyrics were based on evil, darkness and paganism.
Their first demo "The Lost Mist Path" was released in September 1998 

with Kostas (of the local death/grind band Soultaker) handling the bass.
The second demo "North Abyss Shadows" was recorded only by Tasos and Vasilis and released in February 1999.
After a few months with the pseudonyms Shadefrost (Tasos) and Haggath (Vasilis) 

Naethor joined the band as a full time member in bass.
With this line up, apart from the old tracks, they also worked on four new songs 

which were released in September 2000 as their third demo "...And The Funeral Becomes".
Throughout their existence Exiled Shadow appeared live only once 

participating in a rock/metal festival in Ptolemaida in the summer of 2000.
In 2018 Askio Productions released "North Abyss Shadows" compilation 

that features all the demos of the band in a limited handmade ekopak CD-r edition of 50 copies.

Memory

Univers Zero – Heresie (1979)

Country: Belgium

Tracklist

1. La Faulx 25:25
2. Jack The Ripper 13:30
3. Vous Le Saurez En Temps Voulu 13:02
4. Chaos Hermétique (Bonus Track Recorded In 1975) 11:52

Univers Zero are an instrumental progressive Belgian band formed in 1974 by drummer Daniel Denis.
The band is known for playing dark music heavily influenced by 20th-century chamber music.
In 1973, Claude Deron and Daniel Denis, both former members of the band Arkham, set up a new group, Necronomicon.
By that time, apart from Deron (trumpet) and Denis (drums), the group consisted of Roger Trigaux (guitar),  

Guy Segers (bass guitar), Patrick Hanappier (violin), John Van Rymenant (sax) and later on Vincent Motoulle (keyboards).
At the time, Guy Denis (percussion) took part in some shows and rehearsals 

and Jean-Luc Manderlier (keyboards) was present only during rehearsals.
Necronomicon was renamed to Univers Zero in 1974.
The band was part of a musical movement called Rock In Opposition (RIO) which strove to create dense challenging music, a direct contrast to the disco and punk music being produced in the late 1970s.
Obvious early influences were Bartók, Stravinsky and composers such as Albert Huybrechts, who was also Belgian.
Whereas their early albums were almost entirely acoustic, featuring oboes, spinets, harmoniums and Mellotrons, 

their 1980s albums tended to rely more on synthesizer and electric guitar, sounding much more electric.
In 1977, they released their first eponymous album "Univers Zéro", later remixed and renamed as "1313". 

The album shows a heavy rock and roll approach despite the fact that the instrumentation was largely acoustic.

This is mostly due to the use of drums and bass guitar.

Two years later the album "Heresie" proved to be even darker and more complex.

Subsequent albums lightened the sound only slightly but became ever more electric.
The group disbanded in 1987 but reformed in 1999.

In the interim, drummer Daniel Denis released two solo albums and joined Art Zoyd, a similar band from France.

Since 1999, Univers Zero released five studio albums.
In 2011, they joined forces with Belgian groups Present and Aranis 

to form a 17-member ensemble called Once Upon A Time In Belgium.

They premiered at the fourth edition of the Rock In Opposition festival held in Carmaux, France in September 2011,

where they performed "New York Transformations", a work composed by Kurt Budé.
Once Upon A Time In Belgium and Univers Zero appear in the documentary film

"Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock In Opposition".

Memory