By now the name Valdrin is known to many ears. The melodic black metal band from Ohio has been constantly rising in the underground for over a decade now, gathering acclaim across the board thanks to its unique narrative approach, singing the deeds of Valdrin Ausadjur. Still, it is not known to many that the first Valdrin studio album, the first chapter in the Valdrin Ausadjur saga, is somewhat of a lost record. Originally crafted between 2011 and 2012, Beyond The Forest only saw the light through two small runs of CDs in 2013 and 2014, and has been unavailable since. Until now.
The renewed collaboration between Valdrin and Avantgarde Music brings forth the first proper edition of Beyond The Forest, scheduled for release on March 27th, 2026, just in time for the band’s first European tour ever. Valdrin’s very first effort, now made available on CD and double LP with a brand-new cover art by long-time collaborator Lucas Ruggieri and a dedicated vinyl mastering by Tim Yatras (Austere, Germ), tells the first steps of a hero. Here is how the legend was born…
A nameless man leaps from a bridge with the intent to end his earthly life, only to find his body siphoned into a mysterious drain at the bottom of a river. Through a maze of sewer pipes descending far below the Earth, he glimpses a mysterious red bulb before plunging into a pit of darkness. Upon awakening, he finds himself trapped in a dense fog at the mouth of a nightmarish, surrealistic underworld: a veritable collective of all human negativity known as Orcus.
Navigating his way through this charred black domain, he comes upon the colossal tower of the great overseer: Nex Animus, who informs him that his arrival in Orcus has been foretold in ages past, for he is the reincarnation of a heroic mercenary, Valdrin Ausadjur. Alongside this proclamation comes a great sword – a scimitar blade with the hilt of a wolf’s mouth, and a mission to quell an insurrection of dissident gods in Orcus, namely the feared Senjyn Ahkci: God of Hatred and Perversity, whose very existence threatens the balance between the underworld of Orcus, the light world of Aurae, and the host domain, Earth.
Valdrin’s journey takes him to the darkest depths of Orcus and his own psyche, as the great backstory of his previous life begins to unravel. Under the watchful, floating red eye of Nex Animus, Valdrin contends with a myriad of truths and lies regarding his identity, and the events that follow decide the fate of Orcus, Aurae, and Earth.
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