First Fallen Star News

7 . 27 . 2010: Mystified's "Passing..." is due to arrive here from the factory on Thursday (7/29) - just two days from now! Secret Druid Society's "Restless" has been delayed just a bit, but may very well be available next week. Therefore, we have made both albums available for purchase as of today! They can be purchased directly from the "Releases" page on the FFS site, or through www.DarkMusicDomain.com.

 

If your order includes only Mystified's album, it will be shipped to you this week.

 

If your order includes both albums, we will wait to ship until next week.

 

 

 

 

 

7 . 21 . 2010: The factory has informed us that they are behind schedule in completing production of Mystified's album. Apparently, the entire production run had to be shipped to another facility just for the silver foil-embossed lettering, and then shipped back! Of course, none of this surprises us. There are always delays, no matter the factory or the packaging.

 

We have posted the link to Connexion Bizarre's review of Aspectee's "Morben" on the Releases page. The author wrote an excellent, and rather insightful and detailed, review of the album, ultimately rating it 8/10! Connexion Bizarre has informed us that they will soon publish the review of Karsten Hamre's "Through the Eyes of a Stranger."

 

 

 

 

 

7 . 15 . 2010: Reviews by The D Side (Italian e-zine) of Aspectee, Innfallen, and Dense Vision Shrine have been added to the respective details for each album under the "Releases" page. The review for Karsten Hamre has been delayed and will be linked when it becomes available.

 

Production of the Mystified and Secret Druid Society albums was initally set for completion by today, but there have been delays - as is always the case for every record label dealing with every disc factory. We are keeping the release date set as July 31, though, as we should still have the albums here by that day, if not before. Yes, July 31 is a Saturday. If that seems unconventional to you, we ask you: Is there anything about experimental music that is conventional?

 

 

 

 

 

7 . 08 . 2010: The Releases page has been updated in full with tracklistings, descriptions, album images, and song clips for Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates" (Eulogy Series, Vol.1) and Secret Druid Society's "Restless"! There were some delays at the factory that pushed back our anticipated release date, so we have now set it for July 31. With no further delays, the albums will actually be shipping out to customers, magazines/ezines, and radio stations before that date! All First Fallen Star releases are available for purchase directly from our Releases page! There are "Add to Cart" buttons under each album.

 

We have also tweaked the info for Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft, Volumes 1-6" set, pushing it back a bit. At this point in time, the mastering of the bonus CDs is in progress (with the main 12 CDs left to be mastered) and Eclipse Media (who created graphics for the other volumes previously released) will begin the album artwork very soon. We recently received the first photos of the sculpting of the "Tentacle Box Set" (in progress) from the sculptor, Corinne Crowe, who is also the creator of the Cthulhu statues you see at www.CthulhuStatues.com. (No, we won't show you the photos of the box set! It's going to be a surprise!) The "Tentacle Box Set" is actually somewhat box-shaped, with tentacles reaching up from the bottom, up the sides, and across the top. (The tentacles give the appearance of grasping the box itself, dragging it down into the depths!) The tentacles are fully sculpted in 3 dimensions - not simply etched in the side of the box, not drawn or painted. And we must reiterate that this is NOT a wooden box set. Corinne is creating an original sculpture from which a mold will be created. From that mold, copies of the sculpture will be cast in resin (plastic, for all intents and purposes). We know of no other record label or musician who has attempted such a feat, and Corinne is an excellent artist, so fans should note that this remains a long-term project. The album (both formats) may very well not be ready for release until late 2011. Sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, we will begin taking pre-orders (payment in full) for both formats. We do not currently know how many copies of the box set will be available, or how much they will cost. If you definitely want one, or if you just want to be kept up to date on the status of this album, we highly recommend that you visit our Contact page and subscribe to the newsletter!

 

 

 

 

 

6 . 09 . 2010: Reviews by DarkLife Magazine (Switzerland) of the Dense Vision Shrine, Karsten Hamre, Aspectee, and Innfallen albums have been linked (under each album's respective details). The links will take you to a batch of reviews, through which you will have to scroll (rather easily) to find the individual reviews for our releases. Reviews from DSide Magazine (Italy) should be coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

6 . 05 . 2010: Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates" and Secret Druid Society's "Restless" both experienced some minor delays, but we are now just days away from getting both sent off to the factory for production. Expect a release date sometime in July! Both albums are limited to 500 copies. Secret Druid Society's album will be in standard digipak format with a booklet. Mystified's album will be in an A5 digipak, with a cover panel featuring silver foil stamped text and a coffin-shaped die-cut hole. "Passing Through the Outer Gates" is Volume 1 in the Eulogy Series!

 

Copies of the albums will be sent to numerous magazines, e-zines, and radio stations / streaming programs for review and/or airplay. (Heathen Harvest, unfortunately, has chosen to shut down operations and Gothtronic will do so later this year!) If you work / write for such an organization, please email info@FirstFallenStar.com to discuss the possibility of receiving copies of our releases.

 

Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft, Volumes 1-6" set is still in progress. Music mastering and artwork are in progress right now. We are still planning on a late 2011 release date. Pre-orders will be taken, but not yet. There are no plans to trade the box set edition, or sell it wholesale, to any shops or record labels, so if you want to purchase this edition, you absolutely must sign up for the FFS newsletter to be kept updated on the status of this release!

 

 

 

 

 

3 . 26 . 2010: Just posted the link to Side-Line Magazine's review of Innfallen's "Three Days of Darkness"! Yet another excellent review!

 

 

 

 

 

3 . 23 . 2010: We have just posted links to some more reviews! Karsten Hamre's album received an excellent review from La Defuncion (in Spanish), and Innfallen has received two excellent reviews from DarkRoom Magazine (in Italian) and Connexion Bizarre (in English). The reviews are linked from the album list on the Releases page of this site. Due to the sheer volume of albums received by many sites posting reviews, yes, it can actually take 4-5 months or longer for a review to be posted. We're still looking for reliable organizations who would like to receive copies of our releases for review, radio airplay, or streaming over the net, so if your organization hasn't received a set of our releases, contact us!

 

After 4 months of delays on the part of the disc factory, we were finally able to get custom print templates for Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft, Volumes 1-6" set. Mastering of the music has begun, and graphics work will soon begin. The "Tentacle" box set is still in the sculpting phase. No tentative release date!

 

Mastering of Secret Druid Society's "Restless" has begun, and graphics work is still in progress. To be released sometime in the middle of 2010!

 

Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates" is mastered, and graphics work will soon begin. As this is the 1st volume in the Eulogy Series, we actually went through a few drafts of the format / packaging before making a final decision. The final format will be an A5 digipak with a coffin-shaped die-cut hole in the center of the front panel that will reveal a small hint of the actual "album cover" artwork on the panel underneath. To be released sometime in the middle of 2010 - probably around the same time that Secret Druid Society is released!

 

The information / instructions for the Eulogy Series (under "Future Releases") have been updated! If you are a musician who is considering taking part in the series, please take another look at the info.

 

 

 

 

 

2 . 28 . 2010: Song clips for several tracks appearing on Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates" have been uploaded today! (The music was mastered by Frederic Arbour of Cylic Law!) Thomas Park (of Mystified, and side-project Mister Vapor) is a very prolific artist who enjoys experimenting with sounds, as well as bending and breaking the boundaries between the genres of ambient, dark ambient, experimental, and neo-classical. Although he has indeed released several shorter releases on numerous record labels around the world, "Passing Through the Outer Gates" is a full-length release - and this was no fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants release! Thomas labored over countless hours to create his music, perpetually shaping and re-shaping the sound, deleting tracks and creating new ones, incorporating new sounds, shortening one track while extending another, over and over again. And the final product is a well-polished album that does indeed encompass the four aforementioned genres! Check out the song clips today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 . 8 . 2010: Artwork and layout for Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates" are in progress. We plan to do something very nice with the presentation of the A5 digipak, so do not yet have a tentative release date set.

 

We have posted links (under each separate album) to reviews that just came in from NecroWeb Music Magazin (Germany)! Overall, the reviews were good, with Innfallen achieving a score of 10 out of 10! We would like to note that, in the review for Karsten Hamre's album, the reviewer claimed that the DVD did not play. The DVDs are PAL format (not NTSC), and we do not know where the reviewer tried to play the DVD, but the DVDs do play and this is, unfortunately, the first time that we heard of one not working. There was NO replication error at the factory. The DVDs have all worked fine. We appreciate the reviews from NecroWeb, but the problem with the DVD could have either been a problem with just that one DVD or just user error. Oddly enough, the review for the Dense Vision Shrine album noted no problem with that DVD.

 

The reviews on NecroWeb also include links to Amazon.de (Germany), where you can now purchase First Fallen Star releases! We would like to thank Thomas at DarkAmbientRadio.de for accomplishing that for us!

 

Last of all, please note that we are a dark ambient label with few exceptions. If you email us about noise or black metal, that is proof that you did not actually read through the site before emailing us, and we will not respond.

 

 

 

 

 

1 . 28 . 2010: Frederic Arbour of the Cyclic Law label (Canada) has just completed mastering of Mystified's "Passing Through the Outer Gates." Following innumerable short releases on labels around the world, Mystified's work comes full circle - back to his hometown, and ours, of St. Louis, Missouri - to be released for the very first time on professionally pressed discs. Mystified's "Passing..." kicks off our Eulogy Series as Volume 1! More info to come...

 

We have just updated the "Releases" section with even more reviews! We just posted reviews of Aspectee's "Morben" and Innfallen's "Three Days of Darkness" by Mentenebre in Spain (which rated both albums 8.5 out of 10) and Sergey Oreshkin's LiveJournal in Russia. (Sergey has proven himself to be more reliable than some "professional" organizations, and we thank him for his reviews, posted in Russian.) Please note that Mentenebre's pop-up audio player, featuring clips from various reviewed albums, now features song clips from all 4 albums released on First Fallen Star thus far!

 

Last but not least, if this is your first time visiting us, please note that, YES, you can order our albums through this website - directly out of the "Releases" section, in fact! There are several other record labels and distributors around the world that currently carry our releases. Check the "About" page for a list of links!

 

 

 

 

 

1 . 22 . 2010: Side-Line has just published a review of Aspectee's "Morben," noting that it "is a remarkable debut!" The link to the review is (as all review links are) in the item description for each respective album under the "Releases" section. Aspectee can also be found on V/A Dark Ambient Radio Vol.2, which features exclusive tracks from all contributing artists! Through January 31, 2010, purchase V/A Dark Ambient Radio Vol.2 at www.DarkMusicDomain.com, and get Aspectee's "Morben" for just $7.99 (plus postage)! Email info@DarkMusicDomain.com for details!

 

Mystified is wrapping up "Passing Through the Outer Gates," and we will then move on to the artwork and mastering. This will likely be the very next release on our label.

 

In fulfillment of an obligation to the artists on our label - an obligation we take very seriously - we are continously seeking out music magazines, e-zines, radio stations, and podcast hosts (around the world, in any country) who are willing to accept albums for review and/or airplay. (This is why you still see reviews coming in even months after the release date!) If you are a member of such an organization, or if you're just a music fan with somewhere to refer us to, please do not hesitate to email us at info@FirstFallenStar.com!

 

 

 

 

 

1 . 15 . 2010: Under "Future Releases," you can now find some information on a few upcoming albums on the FFS label. We do not release large numbers of releases at one time because we are focused on quality, not quantity: skillfully crafted dark ambient soundscapes, professionally replicated in a factory (not the basement of someone's house with paper disc labels).

 

We are always accepting demos/submissions, but many artists are submitting music that we do not release. Folks who do not care enough to read about a label before contacting them to peddle an album should look elsewhere; there are plenty of homemade labels out there who mindlessly churn out terrible music in small batches, calling them "collector's editions." We do not do that. Also, take note (again) that we focus primarily on dark ambient. Noise, spoken word, post-industrial machine sounds, metal, and gothic rock - these things are not dark ambient, not even a little bit.

 

Please visit the "Antipiracy" page as well. (Unlike many labels who are just too tired of the problem to bother, we continue to actively fight against the illegal sharing of our albums.) The MP3 sites you see featuring our albums are all in Russia where copyright laws do not recognize digital media, only physical media like CDs and vinyl records. None of those sites are legal, no matter what they state on their websites. (Some try to draw you in by using the word "legal" in their company name!) These sites are supposed to pay royalties and fees to a Russian agency that would then pay artists and record labels, but that has not happened. If you are enticed by the low prices of these sites, then by all means, purchase illegal downloads from them ... and enjoy having your credit card or PayPal information stolen. These are unscrupulous people who were all too happy to steal the music from thousands of musicians around the world. Make no mistake; they'll be happy to steal from you as well, if you are foolish enough to do business with them!

 

Neither First Fallen Star nor any of our artists has authorized digital distribution of the albums released on our label, either in whole or in part, either for free or at a price, by any other person or organization. If you downloaded it, it was illegal.

 

 

 

 

 

12 . 21 . 2009: Heathen Harvest has recently published reviews of 3 of our 4 albums! (Aspectee's review will appear on HH in early January.) The links to the individual reviews are in the catalog entries for each respective album. 

 

Don't forget that you only have 10 days left to take advantage of our offer to grab any FFS release (whether you want 1 or all 4) for just $9.99 plus postage! You can order directly out of our "Releases" section. Click on "View Cart" at the bottom of the screen to check your cart contents and complete your purchase.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter at http://www.firstfallenstar.com/newsletter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 . 07 . 2009: Gothtronic has posted reviews of the Aspectee and Innfallen albums, rating both 9 out of 10! Click here to view all reviews of FFS releases: http://wwww.gothtronic.com/?page=23&labels=1132

 

 

 

 

 

12 . 06 . 2009: Because our discount was a bit confusing for people, and a bit restrictive, we have made some changes! Now through December 31, 2009, purchase ANY quantity of ANY of our releases at just $9.99 each, plus shipping! To make it even easier, we changed our catalog (under "Releases"), so that $9.99 is the price you see!

 

We now have a newsletter set up! Visit www.FirstFallenStar.com/newsletter to subscribe! This link will also be available on the "Contact" page. The newsletter sign-up form also allows you to unsubscribe as well.

 

The "About" page has been updated to include a list of distributors, shops, and labels currently carrying our releases. Be aware that some of them may have just recently received our releases and not yet updated their own catalog. In the USA, our releases are being distributed non-exclusively by COP International and EAR/Rational Music. We do not yet have distribution outside of the USA by any company other than ourselves, though we are still working on it. We do sell wholesale to any shops seeking to carry our releases. Our prices are low! Just contact us for more information. ... Also, since we operate the Dark Music Domain shop at www.DarkMusicDomain.com, we are willing to trade albums with other reputable record labels. Again, simply contact us for more information.

 

The spring of 2010 should see the debut full-length from A Child's First Funeral released, along with the first volume in the Eulogy Series! We will announce who that ES artist is in the near future! Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft" (Vol.4, 6) will probably be released late in 2010. There is still more work to be done.

 

Any people involved with magazines, e-zines, review sites, radio programs, or podcasts should contact us to receive promos for review and airplay. Although we have already sent out a large number of promos all over the world in 2009, reviews take a long time to be posted. (Less than 1/5th of the organizations who received Dense Vision Shrine and Karsten Hamre promos did anything with them. That's why there are so few reviews.) We will periodically update the individual catalog listings for each FFS album with links to reviews as they are published.

 

Artists, please take note of a couple of things. ... First, the Eulogy Series has guidelines and it has rules. We are not looking for noise, experimental post-industrial, metal, or anything other than dark ambient / ambient. You're crafting your own eulogy, and expressing your own philosophical/religious views on life, death, and the beyond; you are not writing a eulogy for a family member or friend. ... Second, whether you want to contribute to the Eulogy Series or just have us release your album, do have some album artwork in mind (or at least a graphic artist or photographer whose work you would like to use), but do not bother creating your artwork in advance. Dark ambient may fall under the category of the "post-industrial" era of music, but album artwork consisting of rusted machines and abandoned buildings has become overdone and utterly devoid of any meaning. We will pay a graphic artist and/or photographer to create your album artwork, or just do the final editing on it, but whether you're creating your own graphics or not, the album artwork needs to be considered in advance - with more originality than photos of scrap metal in a junkyard. Know what your album is about (or what you envisioned while creating it), and know what you want the artwork to look like. We'll do the rest of the work to bring your album to life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 . 09 . 2009: Aspectee's "Morben" (ffs003) and Innfallen's "Three Days of Darkness" (ffs004) were released on October 30th! They were available a few days before, but most importantly, they are of course available right now! Promos have been sent to many magazines, e-zines, radio programs, and podcast hosts around the world, so the next few weeks should see an influx of reviews and airplay. We have begun providing links to reviews under the details for each album in the "Releases" section. The first reviews for Aspectee and Innfallen come from Kulturterrorismus (written in German), and both come recommended by the author!

 

For those of you who stopped by once when the Dense Vision Shrine and Karsten Hamre albums were released, as well as those who are here for the first time, we have a special offer available through the end of December to help you catch up on what we've been releasing! Buy any 3-4 FFS releases and get them for just $10 each, plus shipping! (SAVE UP TO $11.96!) Just email us at info@FirstFallenStar.com to arrange payment because the catalog will not automatically apply the discount! The same offer is extended to customers of our shop at www.DarkMusicDomain.com (again, email us first).

 

We do still plan to release the debut from American dark ambient project A Child's First Funeral, as well as the remainder of Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft" series, but those will come in 2010! In the meantime, we are accepting and listening to demos/submissions from artists. Please keep in mind that we are mostly interested in dark ambient, though we will consider some dark experimental music (no noise, no metal). Because we are having the albums professionally manufactured in quantities of 500 or 1000, we are very selective in our decisions. Simple drones are not enough! Please read under "Demos & Artwork" for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 . 24 . 2009: Aspectee's "Morben" (ffs003) and Innfallen's "Three Days of Darkness" (ffs004) are available now! We are extremely excited about these new releases! The release date is October 30th, though, and we will begin shipping no later than this coming Friday (Oct.30). Full release details and audio clips from the albums have been added under the "Releases" section. You can, of course, purchase the albums through either the FFS site or Dark Music Domain: www.DarkMusicDomain.com. If you are a person who prefers to read some online reviews of an album before purchasing, please note that it can take several weeks or longer for sites and magazines to post reviews. Though copies of the albums were sent back in July, some sites still have not posted reviews for the Dense Vision Shrine and Karsten Hamre releases.

 

Also, you can now check out First Fallen Star on MySpace at www.myspace.com/FirstFallenStarLabel, though the FFS website will remain the hub of all activity, including announcements. Until we set up a separate newsletter list, please subscribe to the Dark Music Domain newsletter at the link just below (in the 10/11 news entry).

 

Although we understand that the world economy has forced many people to cut back on their spending, and also that personal opinions on music downloads (illegal or legal) tend to vary widely, we are being very vigilant about illegal downloads of FFS releases. If you see our releases offered for download, please contact us, and include the links where you found the downloads offered. We appreciate it, and our artists do as well!

 

 

 

 

 

10 . 11 . 2009: Construction on the site is now complete. We do not currently have a separate newsletter for First Fallen Star, so if you would like to be regularly updated on FFS news, we recommend subscribing to the Dark Music Domain newsletter at www.DarkMusicDomain.com/contact.

 

Aspectee's "Morben" and Innfallen's "Three Days of Darkness" are currently at the factory and are due to be shipped from there around October 21. We have tentatively set the release dates for both albums as October 31. Audio clips and descriptions for Aspectee and Innfallen will be posted soon.

 

Reviews of the Dense Vision Shrine and Karsten Hamre albums are still popping up around the world, albeit rather slowly. (Some review sites who received the albums in July still have not posted reviews.) We will eventually accumulate links to those reviews under the item descriptions for each album in our catalog of releases. (You can also scour the internet for those.) In the meantime, you can listen to some audio clips through the players embedded in the catalog.

 

The debut from A Child's First Funeral, as well as the remainder of Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft" series, are all in the works with no noteworthy updates at this time. "H.P. Lovecraft, Opus 4" features A.E.P. (aka Dapnom), and "Opus 6" features Xa-Mul - both of whom Melek-Tha has worked with before on other collaborative releases. Expect these releases in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

8 . 25 . 2009: Mastering and artwork are nearing completion for the next two albums, listed below. (Aspectee will be packaged in a standard digipak. Innfallen will be in a DVDigipak, also known as an A5 digipak.) Please note that our site is still actively under construction. If you link to the site, thank you - please make sure that you link to www.FirstFallenStar.com only. Although an HTML placeholder page is there currently, that is where you will access the site in the future.

 

[ffs003] Aspectee: "Morben" (ltd.500) (Evoke Scurvee side-project)

[ffs004] Innfallen: "Three Days of Darkness" (ltd.1000) (Doyle Finley of Invercauld, with Kevin Scala)

 

We are still expanding our database of worthwhile magazines, e-zines, radio stations, and podcasts to whom we will be sending out copies of our releases. Please feel free to email us links to any such organizations/persons.

 

A Child's First Funeral is still working on a debut album (release date unknown), to be released on First Fallen Star. The 4th and 6th volumes in Melek-Tha's "H.P. Lovecraft" series will see the light of day on our label as well, though those releases are currently works in progress.

 

We are currently accepting demos/submissions for consideration of release, but the genres we are focusing on are dark ambient / experimental. Email us for more info.

 

 

 

 

7 . 13 . 2009: Our first two releases are officially released as of today! Artwork for both albums was professionally printed, and discs (CDs and DVDs both) were professionally pressed (no CD-Rs). The first 500 copies of each album include a bonus DVD of imagery used for live concerts! Get your copies now!

 

[ffs001] Dense Vision Shrine: "Time Lost in Oblivion" (ltd.1000)

[ffs002] Karsten Hamre: "Through the Eyes of a Stranger" (ltd.1000)