In 2023, after an illustrious cult career spanning more than 20 years, German melodic black metallers, Dark Fortress, came to an end.

Now, the band is making one final offering to its fans; Anthems From Beyond The Grave - Live In Europe 2023 was recording during the band's final European run, The Cosmic End Tour, in 2023.

Dark Fortress is now sharing the first song and video from the offering, "Pulling At Threads" (Live In Europe 2023), which can be found below.

“I never thought Dark Fortress would have a live album,” says V. Santura (guitars). “The technical situation - we had multi-track recordings of two shows [Rotterdam and Bochum] - allowed for Anthems From Beyond The Grave to happen. I didn’t even listen to the recordings for months after the tour. When I finally did, I thought, ‘Holy shit!’ We sounded incredible, and I'm hardly ever happy with our shows. All of our hard work had finally fallen into place on that tour. When Century Media heard it, they said, ‘We’ve gotta release it - it’s too good not to!' If this is our end and it definitely is, then it’s a fitting end to Dark Fortress.”

Anthems From Beyond The Grave - Live In Europe 2023 is due on January 17 via Century Media Records and can be pre-ordered here.

Formats:

- Ltd. CD Digipak
- Gatefold black 2LP & LP-Booklet
- Digital album

Tracklisting:

CD:

Intro
"CataWomb"
"The Silver Gate"
"Isa"
"Pulling At Threads"
"Crimson Tears"
"Cohorror"
"Self Mutilation"
"Chrysalis"
"Ylem"
"Insomnia"
"Evenfall"
"Baphomet"

2LP/Digital Album:

Intro
"CataWomb"
"The Silver Gate"
"Isa"
"Pulling At Threads"
"Crimson Tears"
"Cohorror"
"Self Mutilation"
"Chrysalis"
"To Harvest The Artefacts Of Mockery"
"Ylem"
"Insomnia"
"Evenfall"
"Baphomet"
"Sycamore Trees" (Outro)

"Pulling At Threads" (Live In 2023) video:

Dark Fortress' march to the grave was inevitable. The journey from signing with American independent Red Stream Records in 2001 to The Cosmic End Tour (with The Spirit and Asphagor) in 2023 was circuitous, full of highs and lows and rife with raw potential. Ultimately, Dark Fortress ended life after releasing their lauded final album, Spectres From The Old World, in 2020. By all metrics, self-imposed death is better than zombie-lurching into oblivion.

Dark Fortress 2023 Lineup:

Morean - Lead Vocals
V. Santura - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Asvargr - Guitar
Hannes Grossmann - Drums
Michael Zech - Bass
Linus Klausenitzer - Keyboards

(Photo - Anne Swallow)