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III DAMNATION PRODUCTIONS is proud to present a special compilation from A DIADEM OF DEAD STARS, Emerald Sunsets, on digipack CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
Begun in 2014 and helmed by the prolific The Pilgrim – whose prior bands include the cult Hierophant’s Descent and Angstridden, and currently The Seal of R’Lyeh and Barak Tor – Greece’s A DIADEM OF DEAD STARS proudly play “Misty Lowlands Black Metal.” Theirs is a sound rooted in a (misty) past; whether it’s precisely the mid ’90s or the mid-2000s matters not when faced with such compelling quality. The full-length The Mist Bearer began the journey in 2014, and continued across a demo, two EPs, and then second album Kingdoms Bathed in Golden Light in 2016. A recording hiatus ensued until that cursed year of 2020, but that cursed proved fruitful for The Pilgrim: a single, a demo, and EP followed in quick succession.
And that’s where we arrive with Emerald Sunsets. Totaling four tracks across 28 minutes, Emerald Sunsets includes all previously digital-only material from A DIADEM OF DEAD STARS: namely, 2020’s …Of Green Pastures… single and The Light That Burns demo and 2021’s The Furrow of Woes EP. As such, this collection sees The Pilgrim at his most invigorating and most nostalgic, immediately instilling a sense of loss or at least bittersweetness before building into cresting waves of moonlight mysticism and autumnal splendor – never categorically “negative” like most extant black metal, nor necessarily “hopeful” like much falling under the wider “post-” umbrella – with the upticks/downshifts of speed both fluid and flowing. Of course, atmosphere is always crucial to the A DIADEM OF DEAD STARS experience, and you’ll find a bounty of it here on Emerald Sunsets, verily evoking its title. In fact, the record ends on the especially evocative “Of Green Pastures,” a beautifully haunting hymn of acoustic guitar and birdsong. The way this collection is threaded together makes it less of the standard odds & ends “collection” and one more suited to its own headspace and experience. A DIADEM OF DEAD STARS will guide you to Emerald Sunsets, indeed.
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