Cerca:bea

Overtoun is a Death/Thrash band based between Santiago, Chile, and Boston, MA, fusing the rich musical heritage of Latin America with the complexity and aggression of technical death metal. Founded by Agustín Lobo and Matías Bahamondes, the band solidified its lineup with Yoav Ruiz-Feingold (Atheist, Graviton) on vocals and Matías Salas on bass. Fused with Chilean rhythms, folk-inspired guitars, and memorable riffs, it features guest appearances by MAX PHELPS (CYNIC, DEATH TO ALL), ENRICO H. DI LORENZO (HIDEOUS DIVINITY), and SHANTANU VYAS (HAZING OVER). With virtuosic musicianship and a raw, organic sound that recalls the primal spirit of classic metal, Overtoun channels both precision and rage. Produced by renowned Argentinian producer MARTIN FURIA (DESTRUCTION, BARK) and released via Time To Kill Records, Overtoun asserts itself as one of the most exciting and promising Latin American Metal acts today.

Bellbird hat seinen Namen und seine musikalische Inspiration von dem Vogel, der für einen der lautesten und markantesten Rufe im Tierreich bekannt ist. Die Band beschäftigt sich mit Themen wie der Verbundenheit zwischen Musikern, Genres und der Natur. Ihr zweites Album und erstes für Constellation, The Call, ist direkt vom Weißglockenvogel inspiriert, dessen extremer, unverwechselbarer Ruf analysiert und direkt in den explosiv schönen Titeltrack des Albums eingewoben wurde. Das in Montréal ansässige Quartett bestehend aus Claire Devlin (Tenorsaxophon), Allison Burik (Altsaxophon, Bassklarinette), Eli Davidovici (Bass) und Mili Hong (Schlagzeug) begann während der Pandemie bei Park-Jams zusammen zu spielen, inspiriert von der Jazz- und Free-Improvisationsszene, die sich um das Café Résonance gebildet hatte. Aber die vier Montrealer Neuzuzügler fanden erst nach einer Einladung zum Ottawa Jazz Festival 2021 als Bellbird zusammen und haben seitdem ihre Harmonie und ihren gemeinsamen Sound durch jahrelanges Touren und Zusammenspiel verfeinert. Das Quartett geht über sein gefeiertes, 2023 selbst veröffentlichtes Debütalbum ,Root in Tandem" hinaus und setzt auf einen stark kollaborativen Kompositionsprozess. Nachdem sie zuvor die Kompositionsaufgaben aufgeteilt hatten, entstanden die acht Songs auf The Call aus musikalischen Workshops und Improvisationsspielen, wobei sie sich auf Gedichte und Gespräche stützten, die sie während ihrer Aufenthalte außerhalb der Stadt ausgetauscht hatten. Das Ergebnis ist ein kraftvolles, stimmiges Statement, das ihre jazzzentrierte Instrumentierung mit Einflüssen aus Rock, Fusion und Folk verbindet, von Mingus und Eric Dolphy bis hin zu Ornette Colemans Prime Time und Indie-Rock. Ein wesentliches Merkmal ihres Sounds ist, wie sie die üblichen Rollen ihrer Instrumente umkehren, wobei die Blasinstrumente rhythmische Muster und unterstützende Texturen einsetzen, während Akustikbass und Schlagzeug die Form bestimmen. Dieser Ansatz ist ein Mikrokosmos der egalitären Ethik der Band: Sie agieren als echtes Kollektiv, ohne ihre individuellen Stimmen zu opfern. Das Album schafft einen Ausgleich zwischen kraftvollen Kompositionen wie dem Titelsong ,The Call" und Momenten, in denen die Band das Tempo drosselt, um sich der thematischen Einfachheit hinzugeben, wie in ,Soft Animal" und ,Phthalo Green". Im Gegensatz zu ihrem Debütalbum, das in der Stadt erarbeitet, aber auf dem Land aufgenommen wurde, wurde ,The Call" im legendären Hotel2Tango in Montréal von der Toningenieurin Sylvaine Arnaud aufgenommen, die die rohe Energie der Live-Auftritte der Band einfängt. Die Produktion verzichtet weitgehend auf eine traditionelle Ästhetik und setzt stattdessen auf kraftvolle Drums und einfallsreiche analoge Bearbeitung, die die viszerale Wirkung der Musik unterstreichen. Obwohl die Musik oft melodisch reichhaltig und zugänglich ist, scheut sich die Band auch nicht vor ,hässlichen" Klängen und nutzt Multiphonics, gestrichenen Bass und metallische Texturen, um eine Klangpalette zu schaffen, die ebenso eindringlich und naturalistisch wie explosiv ist. Das Album ist sozial und politisch engagiert und ein Beweis für die tiefgründige Musik, die nicht von einem einzelnen Leader, sondern von einem zutiefst einfühlsamen Quartett geschaffen wurde, das als Einheit zuhört, reagiert und kreiert. The Call vermittelt die Gefühle der Band zur Klimakrise und zur globalen Solidarität, wobei einer der zentralen Titel des Albums, ,Blowing on Embers", ausdrücklich einem freien Palästina gewidmet ist. The Call ist ein entscheidender Schritt nach vorne, ein einheitlicher Aufschrei einer Band, die ihre kraftvolle kollektive Stimme voll und ganz gefunden hat.

We’ve purged the Acid Mothers Temple archives once again, resurrecting another classic album ‘Electric Heavyland’.
Originally released in 2002 on CD only (via Alien 8 Recordings), ‘Electric Heavyland’ is presented here for the first time on vinyl, remastered and with a whole bonus live side!
Housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with heavy use of the original black and metallic silver ink artwork
“Suddenly, my world explodes as the band pounces on the joint with some hell-blues, laced with sci-fi laser transmissions. Jesus H. Fuck, this is loud. There comes a point when heavy jamming and pure noise meet, and that point is tearing shit up at this very moment.” Pitchfork
Of key note for AMT diehards/collectors. Side D was recorded live at at the 2nd Acid Mothers Temple Festival December 13th 2003 with Yamazaki Maso (Masonna) as a guest.
Makoto says "we have played this song, Atomic Rotary Grinding God live only once, this is that recording"
Produced, engineered and mixed by Kawabata Makoto live recorded by Takayama Manabu (original source is VHS video tape)

Ivan The Tolerable returns with Chromophobia, an expansive new double album and his fourth for Riot Season after ‘Water Music’ & ‘Vertigo’ (both 2024) and ‘An Orphan Form’ (2025)
Chromophobia carries with it a deep personal history. The earliest recording sessions date back to 2018 at the IDI in Middlesbrough, engineered by longtime collaborator Nigel Crooks over the course of three weekends. The material was left unfinished for years, shelved for reasons that accumulated and compounded - until the tragic passing of Crooks in 2023. His unfinished work lingered, and the desire to complete it became a mission.
“In the end, I finished this record for Nigel, above all else,” says Oli Heffernan (Ivan The Tolerable). “It always annoyed him that it never got done.”

To bring the album to completion, the original stems were passed to producer Hugh Major (formerly of Benefits) in early 2024. Across a year of meticulous experimentation - countless versions, radical reconstructions, entire songs torn down and rebuilt - the album transformed into something wholly new. The final collection spans 14 tracks, reimagined from the ground up yet still anchored to the spirit of the sessions that began it.
“It’s a very different beast from where it started,” Heffernan adds, “but I think Nigel would really like it - and be glad it was finally finished.”
Chromophobia stands as both a reinvention and a tribute: a document of persistence, creative overhaul, and the enduring impact of a lost collaborator.

Rob Smith, RSD is not only a successful dubstep producer and pioneer of the Bristol sound, but also a very popular deejay travelling the world sharing his music. Coming from a reggae background and well-versed in sound system culture, Rob kept some of his best productions for his exclusive use when deejaying, the only way you would hear these gems was being played in one of Rob's sets. Fortunately, we've managed to persuade Rob to let Reggae Archive Records share these dubplate specials with a wider audience on a limited-edition vinyl LP. Compiled and sequenced in conjunction with Rob, the LP features nine tracks newly edited and mastered by Rob to enhance the bass playback on vinyl - it's cut heavy!
The tracks were recorded between 2006 and 2011, a time when one strand of dubstep heavilyembraced reggae and dub. Rob calls these tracks reggae infused dubstep and that's what they are, but Reggae Archive Records is a reggae label and this selection of dubstep tracks will most certainly appeal just as much to reggae and dub fans. Fusing dubstep beats, reggae samples, and seriously heavy basslines, this is a joyous celebration of musical cross fertilisation that has been tried and tested in clubs worldwide. In keeping with the dubplate origins of the tracks, we have designed the labels to replicate an old school acetate, while the sleeve pays tribute to seventies pre-releases albums with a replica stamp giving just the artist and title on a plain white sleeve with aged effect.

" old school man " Crocodile Boogie is back with a second album recorded at Fly-house studio, packed with greasy Stonian riffs and ramshackle ballads in the vein of early Beasts of Bourbon stuff that reek of tobacco, alcohol, and sex. Seven original tracks and a spirited cover of Iggy & the Stooges' "I Need Somebody." We know it's only Rock'n'roll but we like it , Yes we do .

" Shake away " After many hours of work, the no wave, synth punk crooner has produced his best album yet. The voice is soulful and deep, and each track seems paradoxically spontaneous and thoughtful, while the production is perfect for bringing out all these catchy hits.It inevitably brings to mind Alan Vega at his best, but with that Australian touch that makes this album so personal .

The classic 1988 NOFX album, available on vinyl. First time pressed in Europe on black and colored vinyl. Recorded in 88 by Brett Gurewitz in 3 days at west beach recorders. We we"re all stoked cause we got to meet Brett from bad religion. He asked us if we wanted to put the record out on epitaph, but we wanted to put it out ourselves. What a mistake. It took almost a year to sell 1500 copies at 4 bucks a piece, and we only got paid for half. We ended up giving the record to epitaph like 5 years later with a new cover. I wouldn"t say this record sucks, but it"s still pretty hard to listen to.

The classic 1988 NOFX album, available on vinyl. First time pressed in Europe on black and colored vinyl. Recorded in 88 by Brett Gurewitz in 3 days at west beach recorders. We we"re all stoked cause we got to meet Brett from bad religion. He asked us if we wanted to put the record out on epitaph, but we wanted to put it out ourselves. What a mistake. It took almost a year to sell 1500 copies at 4 bucks a piece, and we only got paid for half. We ended up giving the record to epitaph like 5 years later with a new cover. I wouldn"t say this record sucks, but it"s still pretty hard to listen to.

This 1983 period in which Gyllensköld was recorded was a fantastic time for the evolution of Steven Stapleton’s audio art. His collaborations with Diana Rogerson, Robert Haigh (Sema), David Tibet, and Thirlwell around this time elicited some of the most exciting work Nurse With Wound had yet recorded. Listen to this material and compare it to Chance Meeting and it becomes clear that in just a few years, Stapleton’s art had grown by leaps and bounds. The production quality on these tracks is remarkable, and the widening out of the NWW soundworld opened up a whole new audio toybox that Stapleton has continued to experiment with up to today. This new sound encompasses vocal experiments, vintage LPs of easy listening music, demented nursery rhymes, lateral references to disposable pop music, avant-garde jazz and minimalistic piano composition, all glued together with evocative atmospheres redolent of things unholy, troubling and perverse, but always oddly indefinable and puzzlingly misshapen. In retrospect, Gyllensköld can be seen as the beginning of the “mature” period of NWW, and thus it is an indispensible release for fans of the project. : Brainwashed

The Helsinki-based Bowman Trio return with their second LP on We Jazz Records on October 18. "Persistence" is a strong effort, showcasing the young trio's knack at creating dynamic, sparse and memorable music which carries well the term "loft jazz" occasionally attached to it. Here, drummer Sami Nummela, trumpeter Tomi Nikku and bassist Joonas Tuuri present 9 strong originals, 8 of which are penned by Nummela and one by Nikku.

On the course of the new album, Bowman Trio moves from the introspective, calm moments of "Badwater", "Mac Elliot" and "Mä en jaksa" to the full swing of "The Chase" and the solid grind of "Persistence". The album closing track "Sista sommardagen" ("The last day of summer" in Swedish) is a hauntingly beautiful, delicately breezy ballad. Two years in the making, the album is a testament to the album title and a fine example of a band taking time in developing their sound to perfection.

Bowman Trio debuted in 2016 with the group's first LP also being the first release on Helsinki's We Jazz Records, and since then their reputation has grown in Finland and beyond. The trio is known for making music which invites the listener in and takes it sweet time in unraveling its secrets. Their sound is somewhat dry, naturally relaxed and there's a lot of room for manoeuvre within it for all of the players. That being said, each of the musicians in the trio know how to play for their team, and the compositions move forward constantly and effortlessly. Bowman Trio makes music which always feels close to you, like you're right there in the room with the band. That's "loft jazz".

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

Silver Vinyl

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
d 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

[a] 01: Euro Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[b] 02: Puls Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[c] 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

Jaime Fennelly, as Mind Over Mirrors, makes music that pushes the known to the lip of the unknown, where it rocks precariously and in exhilaration. He scrambles the familiar and tweaks the comfortable, not through aggression, but a throbbing estrangement. When placed at a distance, these require longer reaches to grasp. The reward for this effort is an enlarged field of perspective, experience, and also of feeling. This is deeply feeling music to feel deeply.

In all of Jaime’s records—and, arguably, especially in Particles, Peds, & Pores—there’s a seed of the pastoral, some ancient shepherd’s song ringing through nearby hills and groves, but one also yearning to plumb the uncanny and the creative possibilities of disintegration. “Farewell to woods,” the grieving Damon sings in Virgil’s eighth Eclogue. “Let all be ocean now.” Fennelly sounds vast, enveloping wildernesses and the thrilling disquiet of their echoless grandeur. (Maybe Burroughs speaks to the borders of these zones: “Pulsing mineral silence as word dust falls from demagnetized patterns.”) There’s something of the heroic at work here, too, although the hero’s instinct has been suitably tempered—or awed—to know not to fly too close to the sun.

Just as the traditions of great folk-country songwriting come around again to newfound popularity via Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, Sierra Ferrell and other practitioners, Barsuk releases a 20th-anniversary pressing of Rocky Votolato’s brilliant and beloved album Makers. Featuring “White Daisy Passing,” “Portland Is Leaving,” “Tinfoil Hats,” “She Was Only In It For The Rain” and 8 more indie classics, the release is packaged in a gatefold jacket with updated artwork, a lyric insert and a beautiful multicolored black & blue with white splatter vinyl pressing. Download code features the full album and 10 bonus tracks: the 3-song End Like This EP plus 7 previously-unreleased tracks including 4 demos, 2 never-before-heard outtakes, and a heartbreaking cover of Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should've Come Over"

As the fifth chapter in the band's discography, " The Neonai" arrived at a critical juncture in Lake of Tears' career, marking both an end and a reluctant new beginning. Released in 2002, three years after the melancholic masterpiece Forever Autumn, the album came to life under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Despite the commercial and critical success of its predecessor (the band's best- selling album to date) Lake of Tears found themselves adrift, unsupported by their label at a time when the world expected them to rise higher than ever. Instead of world tours and deserved recognition, the band withdrew, disillusioned, and made the difficult decision to put all activities on hold. But one last obligation remained: to deliver a final album to Black Mark Productions. What could have been a soulless, contract- bound release turned out to be anything but. "The Neonai" pulses with haunting melodies, infectious refrains, and a deeper embrace of keyboards and electronic textures, without ever losing the emotional gravity and sorrowful beauty that define Lake of Tears.

If this album was truly written "in haste," then let us hope Daniel Brennare continues to compose under pressure, for rarely has urgency sounded so inspired. As with the previous vinyl releases, we do not single out any specific tracks. Each song, like every Lake of Tears album, carries its own unique charm, its own shade of shadow and light. "The Neonai" is not simply a continuation, it is a transformation, an echo from a band caught between endings and new beginnings. Another gem in the band's catalogue, a masterpiece where the doom/ gothic equation tilts gracefully in favor of the latter. A deeply cherished album, long adored by Lake of Tears' devoted followers, who have waited patiently for 23 years to finally see it released on vinyl. After all, every ending is but the beginning of something new. And as we've said before: The end for Lake of Tears has not yet come, and we truly hope it won't come for a long, long time.

As the fifth chapter in the band's discography, " The Neonai" arrived at a critical juncture in Lake of Tears' career, marking both an end and a reluctant new beginning. Released in 2002, three years after the melancholic masterpiece Forever Autumn, the album came to life under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Despite the commercial and critical success of its predecessor (the band's best- selling album to date) Lake of Tears found themselves adrift, unsupported by their label at a time when the world expected them to rise higher than ever. Instead of world tours and deserved recognition, the band withdrew, disillusioned, and made the difficult decision to put all activities on hold. But one last obligation remained: to deliver a final album to Black Mark Productions. What could have been a soulless, contract- bound release turned out to be anything but. "The Neonai" pulses with haunting melodies, infectious refrains, and a deeper embrace of keyboards and electronic textures, without ever losing the emotional gravity and sorrowful beauty that define Lake of Tears.

If this album was truly written "in haste," then let us hope Daniel Brennare continues to compose under pressure, for rarely has urgency sounded so inspired. As with the previous vinyl releases, we do not single out any specific tracks. Each song, like every Lake of Tears album, carries its own unique charm, its own shade of shadow and light. "The Neonai" is not simply a continuation, it is a transformation, an echo from a band caught between endings and new beginnings. Another gem in the band's catalogue, a masterpiece where the doom/ gothic equation tilts gracefully in favor of the latter. A deeply cherished album, long adored by Lake of Tears' devoted followers, who have waited patiently for 23 years to finally see it released on vinyl. After all, every ending is but the beginning of something new. And as we've said before: The end for Lake of Tears has not yet come, and we truly hope it won't come for a long, long time.

As the fifth chapter in the band's discography, " The Neonai" arrived at a critical juncture in Lake of Tears' career, marking both an end and a reluctant new beginning. Released in 2002, three years after the melancholic masterpiece Forever Autumn, the album came to life under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Despite the commercial and critical success of its predecessor (the band's best- selling album to date) Lake of Tears found themselves adrift, unsupported by their label at a time when the world expected them to rise higher than ever. Instead of world tours and deserved recognition, the band withdrew, disillusioned, and made the difficult decision to put all activities on hold. But one last obligation remained: to deliver a final album to Black Mark Productions. What could have been a soulless, contract- bound release turned out to be anything but. "The Neonai" pulses with haunting melodies, infectious refrains, and a deeper embrace of keyboards and electronic textures, without ever losing the emotional gravity and sorrowful beauty that define Lake of Tears.

If this album was truly written "in haste," then let us hope Daniel Brennare continues to compose under pressure, for rarely has urgency sounded so inspired. As with the previous vinyl releases, we do not single out any specific tracks. Each song, like every Lake of Tears album, carries its own unique charm, its own shade of shadow and light. "The Neonai" is not simply a continuation, it is a transformation, an echo from a band caught between endings and new beginnings. Another gem in the band's catalogue, a masterpiece where the doom/ gothic equation tilts gracefully in favor of the latter. A deeply cherished album, long adored by Lake of Tears' devoted followers, who have waited patiently for 23 years to finally see it released on vinyl. After all, every ending is but the beginning of something new. And as we've said before: The end for Lake of Tears has not yet come, and we truly hope it won't come for a long, long time.