ARTCH Reissues Coming This Month
September 1, 2015, 9 years ago
Divebomb Records announce their partnership with Metal Blade Records to bring fans new editions of both Artch albums. Each release contains new liner notes with full lyrics, essays by Carlos Ramirez of Noecho.net as well as archival photos and vintage articles. They will be available direct from the Divebomb Records store starting September 25th. The first 100 customers to order both albums get a free, limited edition, Artch logo magnet.
History books have heralded Norway as the black metal movement’s most fertile breeding ground, but the country’s heavy metal scene isn’t exclusively about corpse paint and Helvete. One of the finest and most underrated groups to come out of the land of 10,000 lakes is undoubtedly Artch. Formed in 1983, the power metal outfit released two demos before hooking up with Eric Hawk, a killer vocalist from Iceland.
With Hawk on board, Artch would eventually sign with Metal Blade Records and release Another Return, their debut full-length. Arriving in stores in 1988, the album garnered rave reviews from the heavy metal media of the day.
1991 saw Artch unleash their sophomore album, For The Sake Of Mankind. The record was packed with anthemic tracks such as “When Angels Cry” and “Titanic”, and it also finds the band also introducing more hard rock elements into their sound. As great as For The Sake Of Mankind is, it failed to bring them commercial success, eventually leading to Artch’s breakup in the early ‘90s.
Their lack of mainstream attention never got in the way of Artch’s popularity within the underground metal scene in the following decades. A longtime fan of the band, Divebomb Records founder Matthew Rudzinski secured the rights to the Artch albums and is bringing you updated reissues of both. Featuring new liner notes, rare photos, and bonus tracks (on For The Sake Of Mankind), these discs will surely sell out of their limited edition runs.
Another Return tracklisting:
“Conversio Prelude”
“Another Return To Church Hill”
“Power To The Man”
“Loaded”
“Where I Go”
“Metal Life”
“The Promised Land”
“Shoot To Kill”
“Living In The Past”
“Reincarnation”
For The Sake Of Mankind tracklisting:
“When Angels Cry”
“Appologia”
“Burn Down The Bridges”
“Paradox”
“To Whom It May Concern”
“Titanic”
“Confrontation”
“Turn The Tables”
“To Be Or Not To Be”
“Batteries Not Included”
“Razamanaz”
Bonus tracks:
“Daredevil”
“Jezebel”
“Dog On The Run” (Demo)
“Sirens” (Demo)
Be sure to catch Artch appearing at Keep It True XIX in April 2016.