On December 15th internationally, Antiq is proud to present Morte France’s second album, Hesperia: Morte France – Europa Aeterna (Track Premiere)
Founded in 2021 by Kval, Morte France is a black metal project at the crossroads of spiritual quest, philosophical meditation, and surges of warlike fury. With Sola Fide, a first EP released in 2022 via Archaic Sound, Kval explored the tensions between Christianity, patriotism, and inner exile. It was followed by Souveraineté Radiale, the debut full-length album issued through Antiq: a blazing, ever-more-virulent record, grounded in reflections inspired by traditional doctrines on the cyclical ages of mankind. The poetry of Ovide, the thought of Nietzsche, Evola, and Mircea Eliade echo throughout the work, woven into a dense and provocative tapestry, in line with the project’s guiding principle: to examine modern decadence and distill from it a radical voice…
With Hesperia, Morte France’s second album, Kval delivers a more intimate piece—without compromising the universal scope of his vision. In conversation with figures such as Ernst Jünger, Hermann Hesse, Jean Cau, and David Engels, the album is a love letter to his continent of origin: Europe, which he chooses to rename Hesperia, as the Ancients once did. This record celebrates the primal magic of European paganism alongside the beauty and truth of Christianity. It strives for a reconciliation between these two foundational poles of European identity—an immersion into its light, its grandeur, and its melancholy. From the anti-modern epic „Waldgänger“ to the mystical stillness of „Lux Meae,“ Morte France deliver a more luminous record here—one marked by hope and vital impulse, without ever renouncing the project’s original radicalism.
The artwork, crafted by Veneden, embodies this synthesis. A fusion between a medieval engraving unearthed by Kval in a treatise on chivalry and Dürer’s Knight, Death and the Devil, it evokes a radiant journey through the modern world: a central cross shines with immortal glory, a banner bears the new logo, and the demons scatter, blinded. Everything vibrates with a conquering, splendid, incorruptible light. True to his will to remain anonymous, Kval further distorts perception by revealing photos of an anonymous European woman. Perfectly echoing the project’s themes, she embodies Morte France through her mysterious and eternal beauty.
Antiq is a label dedicated to the fully coherent concept of making music through sound, image, video, and attitude. They have been putting their entire existence into it since 2009. Over the years, Antiq have been identified as producers of not only perfectly coherent lyrics and themes through music, but also conceptual art and, of course, the manufacturing of beautiful objects. The label tries as much as it can to work with French creators, and if possible, with the smallest and most serious structures.
