Band:URUK HAI
Title: Epic
Format: A unique CDr with colour cover produced as a gift from Hugin to fan Tom Kahrin 2014, no catalogue reference, but effectively released by W.A.R. Productions. In a nod to early Hrossharsgrani releases, there is a rusty nail contained in the side spine of the rear jewel case. The case contains a black envelope with a hand-signed letter from Hugin.
Edition:1 copy
Track Listing:
01. Twilight
02. Music Of The Ainur
03. The Lost Road
04. The Return Of The Shadow
05. Embrace The Power Of The Ring
06. The Valley Of Gorgoroth
07. Days Of Bliss
08. The Great Battle
09. The Wars Of Beleriand
10. The Red Dawn
11. Nightfall (The Red Dawn part II)
12. Broken Blade
13. The Ring Of Water
One of the great challenges in maintaining Honour and Darkness as an archive to all things Hugin is that the man never rests, releasing private pressings and one-off specials to fans around the globe as well as music for commercial release. He is, when all is said and done, a man of the people and an all round good egg.
A case in point is covered in today's epistle, with this one-off CDr produced for lucky fan Tom Kahr. Not to be confused with entry #16 in our From the Vaults of W.A.R. series from last November, this version is entirely different and collates tracks from a number of the contemporary releases circa 2014 to make one special package for a fellow fan and collector.
The music here is drawn from a number of releases that will be familiar to you, being the well-versed reader of Honour and Darkness posts of old, including songs from the "Days Of Bliss" tape, from the split CD with When We Live, and also from "The Fellowship" CD release. Of course the special thing about this release is the way in which the songs have been lovingly edited into this unique and therefore priceless release by Hugin's own hand. It uses a graphic style on the cover that is the same as on Lady Nazgul's own "Shores Of Heaven" release too, giving us a good fix on when the piece might well have been created.
Topping off the release nicely is a letter of thanks from Hugin to Tom for the support given over the years. On Uruk Hai personalised stationery too, I might add, which was a new one even for Nazgul!
Tom's own very practical take on this particular item is simply this: "It was an honour for me to receive such a great gift from Alex, and I hope to get more personal releases in future!!!" Well, you can't really say fairer than that!
As you'd imagine it's highly unlikely that our Mr Kahr will ever be persuaded to part with such a treasure. Occasionally, however, such a rare event does happen and before the year is much older Nazgul will regale you all with the short story of one such bespoke release, and how it came to have a home in the Castle library....