Good Evening Everyone,
As many of you now know, we’ve signed with the German label Prophecy Productions. They will be reissuing our previous releases on July 22nd followed by our new album this winter. One of the reasons for this is that they didn’t want our new album to be perceived as our first album and that our old releases deserve some exposure (with a focus on Wildwood in particular). Needless to say, we were humbled and excited by this. I’m particularly obsessed by uniform packaging/album designs as some of you will have noticed on all of our Seraphim House releases–digipacks with no text on the cover and the back covers all stylized in the same manner with the logo at the top. That was never enough for me as I was always quite taken by the uniform looks of the Crass Records 7 inches, the Misanthropy Records versions of the first 6 Burzum albums, the Sacred Bones Records designs, what Prophecy did for the Sol Invictus reissues, and even the Iron Maiden album covers. I wanted something that unified the way our albums look and was distinctly our own. These reissues of our albums provided a perfect opportunity to do that. It was difficult at first because I was overthinking it. After some months, I realized simplicity was the key especially because most of what we do focuses on vibe and atmosphere above all else. It would make no sense to have “loud” or oppressive designs. As all of our albums are usually different musically, we thought a more uniform look for the packaging would give them all the consistency they deserve. We will show you these inside and out as they get closer to release but for now, here are the covers and some explanations.
Smoke In The Sky
We have an entirely new layout and set of photos for this one mainly because we no longer have the original photos. The original layout was also rushed in order to meet a deadline so we didn’t have the resources together (or ideas!) to have nicer art at the time. This new cover photo is a picture taken by the artist Old Hag. Check her work out here: http://www.old-hag.com/about/
This is a single CD, 6 panel digipack. Included on this release are bonus tracks of the entire live album that came with the first 100 copies of the original release. Pre-Order here: http://en.prophecy.de/1476-smoke-in-the-sky.html
Wildwood/The Nightside
The Wildwood imagery remains the same though there are some adjustments made to the packaging. The reason being that this is a 2 CD set including The Nightside EP that was only available with the special edition of the original Wildwood release. *Also important* This will be available as a double LP vinyl with Wildwood on the first 3 sides and The Nightside on side 4. *And even more important* This was remastered specifically for vinyl by our man Sean Glonek at SRG Studios in New Jersey who did the original–and it sounds fucking killer.
So, this is a 2 CD set in a 6 panel digipack with a full booklet. The vinyl is a double LP in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a poster. Pre-Order here: http://en.prophecy.de/1476-wildwood-the-nightside.html
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life Of Hope & Despair
Our first adventure into a soundtracking. We have an entirely new layout for this one as well. It all began because I was never happy with the original cover photo because we only had two days to get the imagery and create the layout. Once again we were crushed by time. I would have been happy with a new cover because I liked the vibe of the rest of the photos but they were all low resolution photos anyways. So, we said “fuck it” and took all new hi res photos.
This is a single CD in a 6 panel digipack. Pre-Order here: http://en.prophecy.de/1476-edgar-allen-poe-a-life-of-hope-despair.html
One thing I’d like to say about Prophecy is that all orders over 50 Euros get free shipping. This has come quite in handy for me over the last few years!
Detailed descriptions of all releases can be found at their respective links above and on our website. Also, for digital people–Prophecy has a Bandcamp page for us here: https://1476.bandcamp.com
Anyone that’s interested in the original Seraphim House versions and our shirts, they can be found at the new store on our website here: http://1476.bigcartel.com Or at the Store link on this page. These original releases we made will only be available for a few more weeks so if you like little artifacts and oddities, now is the time to get these.
That’s about all for now. I want to apologize for being all business this time but I don’t want make this longer than it needs to be. Next newsletter will be more personal. Thanks again to all of you for your support and kindness to us over the years. Big things are to come.