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AEF started the Boreal project somewhere around 2003, avoiding the spotlight due to a limited discography and private existence. The Battle of VOSAD was crafted during a time of turbulence in AEF's life, leading to unexpected adventures into the wild. Inspired by the wilderness surrounding him in the Pacific Northwest, AEF would record music intermittently and then drive through some incredibly far out places in the wilderness, listening to it over and over, leading to dozens of in-progress cassettes. A literal life soundtrack, The Battle of VOSAD evolved with the struggles AEF endured during that time. Surrounded with loss, AEF became homeless, delaying the album further. After he finally landed on his feet again, AEF continued to record the album with borrowed equipment. Upon finishing the album months later, AEF made ten DIY-style CDs in which the packaging was coated with ash from the fires he made in the woods during his period as a vagabond. The CD packaging was coated with ash from the fires he made in the woods during this period of homelessness and adorned with stones from nearby water bodies and twigs he gathered for kindling. The Battle of VOSAD was later released on cassette by Eternal Warfare in 2009.

Wanting to hear a more completed, properly mastered version of the album he crafted so long ago, AEF began to re-record The Battle of VOSAD in 2018. Through those two years, time decided to rhyme with his past experiences, suddenly experiencing a great deal of loss during that period. Again, he felt as though he was under another battle spell. It had taken nearly two years to the day that he recreated this album, and just now he has regained independence. Joined by his bandmates JR and AW, and featuring guest guitars and programming by Déhà (Cult of Erinyes, Acethexis, Silver Knife), Boreal has achieved a great and special recording of The Battle of VOSAD.

That said, VOSAD means the Valley of Sickness and Death. It is what folks used to refer to the Willamette Valley (Oregon), where AEF experienced these turbulent times.Through this rerecording, AEF has completed his quest with Boreal as a project now, and intends to continue the spirit of it under the name of Valley of Sickness and Death in the future. Each album will be of a location in the wilderness that he had spent a great time exploring and contemplating, but that is in the future.

The Battle of VOSAD will be available on 180 gram red vinyl in a limitation of 300 copies on or around Halloween 2020 through Nebulae Artifacta and King of the Monsters Records.

INCLUDES DIGITAL DOWNLOAD