DARK ESSENCE RECORDS

09/07/2025

Wrath + Utflod will be playing at this years BeYoung the Gates at the Beyond the Gates festival.
Two explosive bands with relentless energy!

20/06/2025

Helheim - HrabnaR / Ad vesa is out today!

This time, Helheim has made a split album with themselves. For the first time, the main songwriters V'gandr and H'grimnir have divided the album in two where they solely take care of the vocals on the part they represent musically. This has resulted in two very different expressions - not uncommon for this band, but never as clearly as here.

Founded in 1992, Helheim are known and renowned all over the world for their authenticity and integrity when it comes to portraying their Norse heritage. Constantly growing and evolving, and staying clear from musical trends and fads, they’ve carved their own way for more than 30 years.

HrabnaR / Ad vesa is available on LP, Cassette, CD and digital format.

Link in comments.

30/05/2025

Geist, the second taste from the upcoming Helheim split album, is out today!

Commenting on Geist, Helheim’s biographer Antony Breton has this to say: "Perfectly blending the energy of Jormundgand with Rignir's melancholia, through Heidindomr ok Motgangr's powerful riffs and Landawarijar's percussive rhythms, Helheim summons, by the hand of H'Grimnir, all the spirits that have made their history to reunite them in a single entity more wonderful, subtle and alive than ever.

Choose your preferred music service, or preorder "HrabnaR / Ad vesa" on CD or limited edition LP

23/05/2025

From the shadows of Norway emerges Man Under Erasure, the latest ethereal release by Feversea. Out today.

Musically Feversea's debut album draws from various forms of metal while incorporating influences from neofolk and post punk. The album is melancholic, despairing, and cathartic.
Haunting and melodic while maintaining a strong sense of structure with recognizable riffs, an element often lacking in atmosphere-driven music.

02/05/2025

Find our stuff here at Karmøygeddon Metal Festival

30/04/2025

Helheim unveils split album with themselves - first single and video released today!

Norwegian Viking/black metal legends Helheim return with their 12th studio album titled "HrabnaR / Ad vesa”.

For the first time in their over 30-year career, primary songwriters V’gandr and H’grimnir have divided the creative process, each taking full control over half of the album, including vocals and musical direction. The result is two distinct yet unmistakably Helheim expressions, a bold evolution of the band’s signature sound.

The first half, “HrabnaR”, features four standalone tracks penned by H’grimnir. Opening with the powerful “Geist”, this side highlights H’grimnir’s commanding songwriting — heavy, yet rich with atmosphere — propelled by the relentless, dynamic drumming of Hrymr, whose distinctive style remains a cornerstone of Helheim’s sound. From the haunting, melancholic “Sorg er dødens spade” (“Sorrow is Death’s Spade”) to the intense “Livsblot” and the stirring “Mennesket er dyret i tale” (“Man is the Beast in Speech”), this first chapter offers a profound journey through heaviness and reflection.

The second half, "Ad vesa", delves into Norse metaphysical concepts, exploring the four components of the human soul according to pre-Christian beliefs: Fylgja, Hamr, Hugr, and Hamingja. In ancient Norse thought, the soul was a composite, not a singular entity — and Helheim bring this rich, complex mythology to life through their deeply atmospheric compositions.

As a taster of what fans can expect from “HrabnaR / Ad vesa” we have today released the track “Fylgja” from the album.

In addition, Visual Artist Gjert-Egil Fjelldal has produced a video for the track “Fylgja”

“HrabnaR / Ad vesa” is set for release on Dark Essence Records on the 20th of June.

Photo by Thor Brødreskift.

Links in comments.

28/04/2025

This looks right!

SPELLEMANN!! Thank you for all the congratulations!

Winning the prestigious Spellemannprisen, aka The Norwegian Grammy Award, is a huge honour for us. Thank you so much to the jury and

25/04/2025

“Man Under Erasure”, the debut album from the Oslo-based band Feversea will be released on May the 23rd.
The second single to be unveiled from the album is “Until it Goes Away”.

Link in comments.

Words from the band:
The second single from “Man Under Erasure”, “Until It Goes Away”, is a scream of agony. To be an animal is to be in pain. While Man has desperately tried to elevate himself—to escape his base, material, and animalistic existence through language, symbols, technology, and rites—pain ultimately collapses these feeble bulwarks, hurling him back into the confused and lonely state in which he was born. The universe carries no message beyond cold indifference.

Built around an angular and dissonant riff, the song occasionally breaks into melodic passages and is the most fast-paced track on the album. This structure ultimately gives way to what can be described as a breakdown before dissolving into a cinematic ending. With perhaps the album’s rawest vocal performance, the voice mirrors the song’s lyrical themes. For us, this is a live favourite, offering a more straightforward and energetic rock ‘n’ roll moment amid the larger, more complex pieces.

24/04/2025

Congrats to KOLDBRANN for claiming the award for best Hardrock and Metal album of 2024 at Spellemannsprisen today! Well deserved!
Proud of you guys!

04/04/2025

Sunkindling: Feversea's hymn for a world in collapse.

The first single from Feversea's upcoming debut album "Man Under Erasure" is out today.

Drawing on influences from black metal, sludge metal and shoegaze. Their music lies in the intersection where the ferocity of black metal meets with ritualistic and ethereal soundscapes. Musically, their debut album "Man Under Erasure" draws from various forms of metal while incorporating influences from neofolk and post-punk. The album is melancholic, despairing, and cathartic. Haunting and melodic while maintaining a strong sense of structure with recognizable riffs, an element often lacking in atmosphere-driven music.

Words from the band:
Teetering between the brutal and the beautiful, between anxiety and acceptance, “Sunkindling” is the first single from Feversea’s debut album, “Man Under Erasure”. Part psalm, part primal scream, it invites us to contemplate, resist, or submit to the cycle of birth and death—the giving of bodies into a world that is ending. What once gave meaning to mankind—the concepts and images of our place in the world—is wasting away into nothing, pulling us with it.

The song is built around rhythmic shifts between a crushing 4/4 and an anxious 7/8, culminating in a ritualistic, tom-driven outro centered on a repeating vocal mantra. The voice provides a musical counterweight to the riffs—a multi-layered melody over chugging guitars, and an animalistic scream over soaring leads.

20/03/2025

Renowned for their captivating stage presence and theatrical performances, Vulture Industries are proud to announce the anniversary reissue of their acclaimed 2013 masterpiece, “The Tower”.

This celebrated “Not Avant-Garde” album will be re-released in a stunning Green/Black Galaxy Swirl vinyl (45RPM) edition via Dark Essence Records on May 16.

Limited to 300 copies, the first 100 copies sold will be hand-numbered and signed by the band.

Frontman Bjørnar comments on the re-issue and shows:

I consider “The Tower” to be the album that solidified our musical expression, and set the course for our future. Inspired and ambitious… Bombastic yet at times tender and moody… Meticulous yet flawed… the album is surely human, and probably our most important one to date. Tall croocked and dangerous. Just like the world.

Pre-order links in comments.