New Jersey thrash metal veterans OVERKILL have set "Grinding Wheel" as the title of their new album, due this fall via Nuclear Blast.
OVERKILL frontman Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth revealed the name of the band's new CD during an interview with Alternative Nation. He said about the follow-up to 2014's "White Devil Armory": "I was just adjusting the lyrics for our upcoming album. We are inches from completion at this point. Just a few more guitar leads need to be done and a few more backing vocals need to be done. The majority of the tracks are finished. We are looking for a first-week-of-November release."
Asked how the new OVERKILL album will compare to the previous ones, Blitz said: "At the end of the day, OVERKILL is OVERKILL. Our trademark is that we are always recognizable on every release. For the three decades we have been around, we were always OVERKILL. So, sure, it is a metal record, and like always, it will have sort of a thrash vibe to it with some melody in it."
He continued: "It's always best to try to make it better, or at least think in your mind that it is going to be better. That becomes the challenge. I think that is what keeps the band rolling.
"A lot of bands are known for what they have done, but I feel being known for where you are and what you are doing is where true value lies. I feel we accomplished that on the last few albums."
OVERKILL will embark on a European headlining tour in November. Support on the trek will come from U.S. sludge metal kings CROWBAR, Israel-based metallers SHREDHEAD and Aussie thrashers DESECRATOR.
OVERKILL played a special anniversary show on April 16 at Turbinenhalle 2 in Oberhausen, Germany. The evening saw the group perform their classic records "Horrorscope" (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary) and "Feel The Fire" (30th anniversary) in their entirety. And if that wasn't enough, the show was professionally filmed and recorded for an upcoming DVD and CD.
OVERKILL utilized a stand-in drummer — their soundman Eddy Garcia, who is also a member of the El Paso, Texas band PISSING RAZORS — for their recent European tour because the band's regular drummer, Ron Lipnicki, was forced to stay home due to undisclosed family issues.
Multi-national rock actn Blues Pills have released the official music video for the song "I Felt A Change" today. It was directed by Johan Bååth (Avatarium, Dregen) who is best known for his work with cult director Jonas Åkerlund (Rolling Stones, U2, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica) and shot by well known Backyard Babies drummer Peder Carlsson.
Blues Pills have released their new album, Lady In Gold, via Nuclear Blast. A new video trailer can be found below. Just as its successful predecessor, Lady In Gold, was once again produced by Don Alsterberg (Graveyard, Division Of Laura Lee, José González, Jerry Williams).
Tracklisting:
“Lady In Gold”
“Little Boy Preacher”
“Burned Out”
“I Felt A Change”
“Gone So Long”
“Bad Talkers”
“You Gotta Try”
“Won’t Go Back”
“Rejection”
“Elements And Things”
Lacrimas Profundere will release their first concept album, Hope Is Here, on August 12th via Oblivion / SPV. The video for the title track can be seen below:
“We’ve never done a concept before and it was quite a challenge, but once Rob (Vitacca - vocalist) started writing the story and got totally buried in it, there was simply no going back,” explains guitarist Oliver Nikolas. “When you’ve got a concept you have to arrange it like a film, you have to follow certain moods and really think about where to put the faster, harder pieces and where the slower and sadder moments best fit in,” continues the band’s founder. “We’ve never worked together so hard and so well as a unit,” explains Oliver.
In the past, Lacrimas Profundere worked separately on the songwriting, practicing in short stints in the rehearsal room. On Hope Is Here they worked intermittently for three months perfecting the pre-production at the Engine Studios, allowing the material to take shape – letting their visions develop and grow. “One of the challenges we set ourselves was that every single note should hit the listener as hard as possible, inescapable,” Oliver Nikolas explains. “We feel we’ve finally reached the next level.”
Indeed: with Hope Is Here the guys drag you out of your comfortable world, deep into a forest – to a boy who lives there. Alienated at home for years. The dangers, the emotions, the sudden twists. Feel his freedom. Taste his dirt in the deep dark woods that our parents warned us from in all those good night stories. Enjoy the trip!
Tracklisting:
“The Worship Of Counting Down”
“My Halo Ground”
“Hope Is Here”
“Aramis”
“A Million Miles”
“No Man's Land”
“Pageant”
“You, My North”
“Awake”
“The Path Of Broken Homes”
“Timbre”
“Black Moon”
Bloody Hammers have released a video for the track “Lights Come Alive”, featured on their new album, Lovely Sort Of Death, out now via Napalm Records. Watch the new clip below.
"This album is certainly the darkest album I've ever recorded", states Bloody Hammers mastermind Anders Manga, who stays on the dark path to the nether world and opens the seven gates with Lovely Sort Of Death.
Lovely Sort Of Death tracklisting:
“Bloodletting On The Kiss”
“Lights Come Alive”
“The Reaper Comes”
“Messalina”
“Infinite Gaze To The Sun”
“Stoke The Fire”
“Ether”
“Shadow Out Of Time”
“Astral Traveler”
“Catastrophe”
Deluxe Edition Bonus CD:
“Altar Of Fear”
“The Shrine”
“Halloween”
“At Dawn They Sleep”
“Lights Come Alive” video:
“Messalina”:
“Bloodletting On The Kiss” video:
“The Reaper Comes” video:
Fomats:
Limited 4 Panel Digipack CD
1LP Gatefold edition
Strictly Limited 4 Page Digipack & Bonus CD - 300 worldwide
Strictly Limited 1LP Gatefold & Bonus CD - 200 worldwide
Anders Manga on Lovely Sort Of Death: "We live high on a mountain with a steep treacherous driveway so when any snowfall happens, we're stuck for days. Luckily, as a result of all the isolation, my songwriting mood ended up much more on the darker side than previous records. The songs are heavy, but not always heavy. I wanted to create more atmosphere than before. It's a stylistically varied record, which I'm very proud of. I used the Moog more on this album, which blends well with the heavy guitar fuzz tones. It's definitely my favourite album so far in every way."
Bloody Hammers are a duo who hail from the mountains of Transylvania County, NC. The project and first self-titled release was originally formed as a studio only project with vocalist/songwriter, Anders Manga producing and recording all instruments. Soon Anders decided to take the project from the studio to a real band by recruiting his wife Devallia to play keyboards and other local musicians for live shows.
In late 2013 Anders was approached by one of Europe's largest rock and metal labels, Napalm Records. In 2014 Napalm released Bloody Hammers' third official album titled Under Satan's Sun. Through the snowy winter of 2015, Anders began writing again, but this time took a much darker and atmospheric direction. For the first time he added thick Moog sounds along with his normal fuzzed-out guitar, with more atmospheric keys provided by Devallia. They emerged from the winter with Lovely Sort Of Death, their darkest album yet.
Dallas trio True Widow have released a video for the track “Theurgist”, featured on their fourth album, Avvolgere, due out this September 23rd on CD/2xLP/DLX 2xLP/Digital via Relapse Records. Pre-order the album at this location.
“We invited out friend Mats Ek over from Sweden to make a couple of videos for the new record. We wanted this one to be pretty simple. Just us playing the song with no story line,” explained singer/guitar player D.H. Phillips of the new clip. “As for making it something worth watching we wanted it to be psychedelic but in an organic way. We attached several prisms to the lens of the camera and put the camera on a spinning sculpture base. Mats took it home and lost his mind editing the footage with the instruction to make it as crazy as possible. He did good.”
The forthcoming LP perfects the formula that 2013's Circumambulation established: Avvolgere rocks and rolls with serene, rounded climaxes and steep, jangling choruses that engulf the listener with waves of downbeat, saccharine melodies and mesmerizing distortion. True Widow's signature alternation between male and female vocals helps further blur the boundaries between the heft of stoner rock, the droning atmosphere of shoegaze, and the twangy catchiness of blues and indie rock. It's both concise and circuitous - the album takes you on a journey that you can't ever quite predict or expect. Avvolgere is True Widow sounding more infectious and consummate than ever before.
The first single from the album, “Entheogen”, is streaming below and is available as an instant download with digital pre-orders (at above link).
The band recorded Avvolgere with Matt Pence, who recorded their 2013 release, Circumambulation, at his Echo Lab studio in Argyle, Texas earlier this year.
Avvolgere tracklisting:
“Back Shredder”
“Theurgist”
“F.W.T.S:L.T.M”
“The Trapper & The Trapped”
“O.O.T.P.V”
“Entheogen”
“To All That He Elong”
“Sante”
“Grey Erasure”
“Entheogen”:
The band have also announced their first round of US dates in support of the new album, with the tour launching on October 13th in Phoenix.
October
13 - Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit
14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
15 - San Francisco, CA - Brick & Mortar
17 - Portland, OR - Holocene
18 - Seattle, WA - Highline
19 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
20 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
22 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
23 - Kansas City, KS - Riot Room
24 - Norman, OK - The Opolis
November
3 - New Orleans, LA - Zeitgeist
4 - Birmingham, AL - Syndicate Lounge
5 - Orlando, FL - Will’s Pub
7 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
8 - Charlotte, NC - The Station
9 - Nashville, TN - The End
11 - Richmond, VA - Strange Matter
12 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
13 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
14 - Boston, MA - Great Scott
15 - New York, NY - Market Hotel
17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo
18 - Cleveland, OH - Malhall’s
19 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
20 - Detroit, MI - El Club
21 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
German folk/power metal heroes Winterstorm are set to release their fourth studio album, Cube Of Infinity, on August 19th via NoiseArt Records. A new video for the album track “Timeshift” is streaming below.
The album artwork was created by guitar player Michael Liewald. The band states: "Just like in the album itself the cover artwork centres the Cube Of Infinity. It combines myth and darkness to an epic structure of metal. Hard riffs and hard edges. We, Winterstorm, tried to upgrade our style with new elements. In our opinion the result is the best and hardest Winterstormalbum so far. Old and new fans can be looking Forward to (will be pleased about) the upcoming storm!"
Tracklisting:
“Infectious”
“Pacts Of Blood And Might”
“In Clarity”
“Secrets And Lies”
“Effects Of Being”
“Through The Storm”
“Cube Of Infinity”
“Frozen Awakening”
“Timeshift”
“Hymn Of Solitude”
“Timeshift” video:
“Pacts Of Blood And Might” lyric video:
Album teaser:
“Through The Storm” lyric video:
Cube Of Infinity shows that Winterstorm by far haven't reached the end of their journey. Once more, their highly diversified songs lure the listeners into a Fantasy World that becomes a thrilling adventure thanks to the high quality of the musical background. Catchy rhythms, enthralling melodies, and elating refrains make Cube Of Infinity a model of how power metal should sound in the year of 2016 they will fascinate not only fans of bands such as Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, and Orden Ogan.
Winterstorm again skillfully succeed in uniting folk elements and power metal to form a unique and kitsch-free mixture of their own. Cube Of Infinity is in schedule to offer a cooling summer storm in the heat of August, drying the sweat of fans with a huge portion of passion and fresh wind.
Atlanta-based rock band Kickin Valentina has released a new video for the single “Alone”, from their debut album Super Atomic, released on Danish label Mighty Music.
“Kickin Valentina is a live band, so when we decided to put out a new video, we knew we wanted to show what this band is like on stage. We went through a bunch of footage and put together a fun compilation of live and fan clips,” states bassist Chris Taylor.
The band recently completed a successful European tour, and are taking a short break to finish writing and demo new music for their next release planned for the spring of 2017. They are currently booking shows for the US and internationally for the rest of 2016 and 2017.
Kickin Valentina has been busy touring America and opening for artists as diverse as Buckcherry, Queensryche, Pop Evil, Fozzy, Skid Row, Red Dragon Cartel, Sebastian Bach, Doro, Eve to Adam, Faster Pussycat, Nonpoint, Kix, LA Guns, and Cilver to name a few. In May 2016 Kickin Valentina embarked on their first European tour performing in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Denmark (Nordic Noise Festival). In addition to their own headlining shows, they have also performed at a variety of music festivals including Rock Fest (WI), Farm Rock (IL, TN & GA), Soundwave (MD), Rock n Skull (IL), Wolf Fest (CO), Skull Fest (NE), Summer Rock Party (IL), and Outskirts 53 Music & Bike Fest (GA).
Kickin Valentina were nominated for – and won – the prestigious 2014 GA Music Award for “Rock Band Of The Year”, and in 2015 they won the GA Music Award for “Video Of The Year” for their single “Wrong Way”.
Check out the brand new tour video for the single "Alone":
Kickin Valentina lineup:
Joe Edwards - Vocals
Heber Pampillon - Guitar
Chris Taylor - Bass
Jimmy Berdine - Drums
Veteran hard rock singer Frank DiMino has released the second video from his current Old Habits Die Hard album. "Never Again" reunites the singer with Angel guitarist Punky Meadows, who makes a cameo appearance. The video was shot over two days in and around Frank's adopted hometown of Las Vegas, including the famed Bootlegger Bistro. Additional filming was done in North Carolina. For the premiere of the video DiMino teamed up with the popular outlet Classic Rock. The video can be viewed below.
The video is basically a tribute to Mad Max racing throiugh the desert with a Dark Angel watching over a young, turbulent couple. It stars 2015 Miss Nevada United States Amanda Gibson and actor Mark Justice whose film credits include Bleach (Eric Roberts) and The Immortal Wars (Tom Sizemore). It was directed by Paul Gervasi from the feature film Cherri Future and whose music video credits include Melissa Manchester, Katja Rieckermann (Rod Stewart), and production for Lady Gaga’s “G.U.Y.”
Of the video, Frank says, "Doing the new video for 'Never Again' was great! Our director Paul Gervasi and all the actors made it easy for me. Having Punky in the video was the icing on the cake. Job well done by all.”
DiMino's Old Habits Die Hard was released in July of 2015 through the Frontiers Music srl label and features collaborations with former ANGEL bandmates Punky Meadows and Barry Brandt, as well as Paul Crook (Meat Loaf, Anthrax), Oz Fox (Stryper), Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister) and Rickey Medlocke (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot) amongst others.
DiMino recently commented on reuniting with his Angel bandmates for the Vegas Rocks! Hair Metal award show and the future:
“It's been one month since the Vegas Rocks! Hair Metal Awards and I had such a great time seeing and hanging out with all the guys. It started Saturday when Barry and I went to pick up Punky and Felix at the hotel and we drove over to meet Gregg at Ron Mancuso's studio, The Hideaway, where we did the Eddie Trunk Podcast. As soon as it started a very weird thing happened... we all slid into 'Angel mode' and bonded all over again. The five of us grew up and went through a special time in our lives together so we were working our way through a lot of good feelings and emotions. Even though we have always kept in touch, it had been 35 years since all of us were together in one room. By the time Sunday came, it felt like 35 years had never passed. Then doing the red carpet and being backstage with all the bands and musicians it felt especially great being there as Angel. Getting the award from Sally Steele and Vegas Rocks Magazine and having it presented to us by Eddie Trunk was the topping on a great weekend that manager Peter Kalish worked very hard to help put together. Great ride, next stop... who knows?”
Atmospheric doom metallers, Trees Of Eternity, have released a lyric video for their new track - their first since the tragic loss of lead-singer Aleah Stanbridge - entitled “Broken Mirror". Featuring Fredrik Norrman and Mattias Norrman (ex-Katatonia, October Tide) and Kai Hahto (Wintersun, Swallow The Sun), you can watch the lyric video below.
“Broken Mirror” is featured on their forthcoming album, Hour Of The Nightingale, which will be released November 11 via Svart Records. Album available to pre-order from August 29th.
Hour Of The Nightingale tracklisting:
“My Requiem”
“Eye Of Night”
“Condemned To Silence” (feat. Mick Moss of Antimatter)
“A Million Tears”
“Hour Of The Nightingale”
“The Passage”
“Broken Mirror”
“Black Ocean”
“Sinking Ships”
“Gallows Bird” (feat. Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost)
“Broken Mirror” lyric video:
Says Juha Raivio on behalf of the band: “Today is the day we can start to celebrate the music, lyrics and life of our beautiful Queen who so tragically and suddenly crossed the bridge of stars and left this world so young and so soon... So with tears in my eyes but my heart pounding with a proud, victorious beat I can finally tell you that our long awaited album "Hour Of The Nightingale" will be released worldwide on November 11th through Svart Records and pre-orders start August 29th.
“Here is the first single from the album, "Broken Mirror", with a beautiful and very touching lyric video Vesa Ranta made for the song.
“There really are no words to describe the ultimate weight of the darkness, or the rays of the brightest of light that this album holds within its songs and lyrics. In so many ways this album turned out to be the most important album I've done in my life, and we both loved it from the first note to the last as we wrote it.
“About Aleah... I have never met a person and a musician more connected to the very core of the absolute emotion and the soul of each note and every word she wrote or sang. She wanted her music and lyrics to be 110% honest and truthful, absolutely nothing less would do. Music was her religion and passion, a gateway to her soul and beyond. There will never be another songwriter or voice like hers that can turn the day into the darkest of night, or turn the darkness into blinding light with just one word or a whisper.
“We were very proud to record Hour Of The Nightingale together with our friends, band mates and amazing musicians, Kai Hahto, Mattias and Fredrik Norrman who all played their hearts out on this album. And working with another good friend Jens Bogren producing, recording, mixing and mastering the album were were ready to take this music to the world and play it to you all. Sadly that never happened... But this is the point where we can finally start this long journey and celebrate our Queen and singer Aleah Starbridge whose words and music will live forever on.
“My heart is truly black and broken after the tragic loss of Aleah, but every time hearing her voice in these songs something pierces through the darkness like an flaming arrow. I hope this album will do the same to you no matter what might be shadowing your own path and bring you some solace and peace.
“I want to thank you all for showing so much love towards Aleah after her sudden passing. My friends, this is where her legacy starts, through the voice of an angel at this Hour Of The Nightingale. Bless you all.”
"Mad Dog”, the debut single from Black Oak County, manages to sum up everything that the young Danish hard rockers are all about, in a mere 249 seconds. With plenty of power, aggression, a wall of distorted guitars, and a chorus that’ll stay in your head for days, “Mad Dog” is the perfect example of what’s to be expected of Black Oak County’s upcoming album.
In spite of the band only having been around since 2012, Black Oak County have already managed to make their mark on the local music scene of their hometown of Esbjerg, on the west coast of Denmark. With their energetic live performances, the band landed a supporting spot with the national Danish rock-legends of D-A-D (Disneyland After Dark), got their first endorsement with the world renown pedal manufacturers T-Rex Effects - and in the spring of 2016, Black Oak County signed a record deal with Target Records/Mighty Music. With the label backing the band, Black Oak County are ready to take the nation, and the world, by storm!
Check out the video for ”Mad Dog" below:
Black Oak County will be playing two shows this week: Firstly when opening the big local Made In Esbjerg show on Thursday, August 11th in their home town celebrating local heroes, and secondly the band will be visiting Zeppelin Rock Bar in Vesterbro, Copenhagen on Saturday, August 13th, hosting a release party for the new single and video and playing an acoustic show on the intimate stage.
Black Oak County’s self-titled debut album will be out in January 2017.
Black Oak County lineup:
Niels Beier - Guitar & Vocals
Jack Svendsen - Guitar
René Hjelm - Bass
Mike Svendsen - Drums
The official video for "Call Me", a brand new song from PAIN, the Swedish metal band led by multi-instrumentalist and producer Peter Tägtgren, can be seen below. The song is taken from PAIN's new album, "Coming Home", which will be released on September 9 through Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2011's "You Only Live Twice" features cover artwork by Stefan Heilemann.
Since the beginning of his career in the early '90s, the Swedish allrounder has enjoyed diving into the extreme and has grown to be an untameable force. But this is exactly what makes him so fascinating. Taboos, creative stagnation, or genre boundaries have never existed in the world of the forty-six-year-old mastermind. And, of course, Peter Tägtgren wandered the same unexplored paths when the time came to forge "Coming Home", the eighth studio release of the industrial institution PAIN. However, the path was long and winding and therefore, the writing process for the follow-up of "You Only Live Twice" wasn't all fun and games, but Peter Tägtgren is well prepared for the fight:
"Sometimes you pull your hair out and lay sleepless all night long, because you can't figure out this one chorus or don't know how to finish a certain song," admits the singer and guitarist."That's just me: When I dive into it, there's no ending in sight. It's a self-destructive mechanism. But I want perfection — or I don't want it at all."
Therefore, it is no wonder, that PAIN delivers a revolutionary mix of styles on this new release — bizarre alternative metal meets electronic melodies — and, in addition, the band weave some spectacular orchestral arrangements into the tracks on "Coming Home", without risking any cheesy moments or overloading the songs. The result is ten highly addictive hymns with massive depth and experimentation. With the orchestrated portions, PAIN entered a new era and seeked assistance from CARACH ANGREN's Clemens "Ardek" Wijers, who added some magical final touches to Tägtgren's bombastic songwriting. But the album also has time to breathe with beautiful acoustic guitar intros appearing hand in hand with stormy moments, showing the band at the zenith of their creativity.
"Coming Home" includes drummer Sebastian Tägtgren, Peter's seventeen-year-old son who delivers an impressive guest appearance on the title track as well as SABATON's Joakim Brodén who joins the team for some typically raw warrior vocals on "Call Me".
But a PAIN release wouldn't be a typical masterpiece without some thought-provoking topics and tales: On the callboy-singalong "Call Me" and "Final Crusade", the band crawls through the deepest corners of society and the human mind, while "Absinthe-Phoenix Rising" is based upon an incident in Leipzig during PAIN's tour with NIGHTWISH, where the band was attacked and beat up after leaving an Absinthe bar. And of course, lovers of mystery and conspiracy theories also get their money's worth with "Black Knight Satellite". "Nikola Tesla, who invented the lightbulb, electricity, and other stuff, thought that he heard beeping sounds from space," Tägtgren elaborates of the track's inspiration, "It was around the year 1899 and it seemed like a message to him, a hidden code. He was the first one to discover it, but in the 1950s, when humans started to go into space, they heard the same noises and found out: There is some signal from a satellite out there… but it isn't ours. And as they started their research, they found out, that people had been talking about this phenomenon for around thirteen-thousand years. The story of this so-called 'Black Knight Satellite' is very fascinating to me. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. But it definitely inspired me to write these lyrics."
PAIN will hit the road for a full European headline tour this autumn. The band will join forces with the German gothic metal outfit THE VISION BLEAK.
Last summer, internationally-renowned heavy rock band Lamb Of God released their latest Grammy-nominated full-length album, VII: Sturm Und Drang, which includes the emotive anthem "Embers”, featuring Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno.
In order to further illustrate the story behind "Embers", Lamb Of God has revealed the official music video for the track. The video is directed by Zev Deans, also recognized for directing videos for Ghost, Behemoth, Chelsea Wolfe, and others.
Lamb Of God will perform in their hometown on August 20th at Gwar BQ 2016 in Richmond, VA. Tickets are available here.
VII: Sturm Und Drang landed a #2 first week debut on the Billboard U.S. Top Current Albums chart, #3 on the Top 200, and #1 on both the Rock Album and Hard Rock Album charts.
Lamb Of God is:
Randy Blythe (vocals)
Mark Morton (guitar)
Willie Adler (guitar)
John Campbell (bass)
Chris Adler (drums)
It only seems like yesterday that Mexico's melodic death metal quartet Nuclear Chaos released their second record Ruins Of The Future. That release also came with the band's first ever music video “Suffocate” which featured guest vocals from none other than David Vincent of Morbid Angel fame. Having been on the road including a stint in Europe playing at prestigious events such as Wacken Open Air and Metal Days we're now over half way through 2016 and the band have been busy tracking the follow up to that release.
The band comments, "The new record is very different from what we did in the past but it keeps the Nuclear Chaos essence intact. The album will contain many different influences going from melodic death metal to Latin metal. We are very excited about this release and this album will show a stronger and more mature Nuclear Chaos."
With a title yet to be revealed, and a release date slated for early 2017 the band have a new single to bridge the gap. Coinciding with the new single, entitled “Shockwave”, the band have also unleashed a new music video for it. The video was shot in Templo San Lázaro (St. Lazarus Temple), an abandoned church from the 1520's in Mexico City. It was shot, directed and edited by Frank Fletcher and Ponce Chiefs from the Mexican studios Soberbios Films.
"’Shockwave’ is an allusion to what we have lived in the past years," comments the band. "It shows a metaphor of how we overcame some personal problems that we will carry as chains forever. They will always be there as a reminder of what we have gone through but they also show that what doesn't destroy you will make you rise stronger."
The official Dan Sturgess-directed video for the song "Ribcage" from BLACK VEIL BRIDES singer Andy Biersack's solo project, ANDY BLACK, can be seen below. The track is taken from ANDY BLACK's debut album, "The Shadow Side", which was released on May 6 via Lava/Republic.
"The Shadow Side" was produced by John Feldmann and is expected to include collaborations with FALL OUT BOY's Patrick Stump, Gerard Way, 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER's Ashton Irwin and ALL TIME LOW's Rian Dawson.
"The Shadow Side" track listing:
01. Homecoming King02. We Don't Have To Dance03. Ribcage04. Stay Alive (feat. Matt Skiba)05. Love Was Made To Break06. Beautiful Pain07. Put The Gun Down08. Drown Me Out09. Paint It Black10. Break Your Halo11. Louder Than Your Love12. Broken Pieces13. The Void
Regarding the making of ANDY BLACK's debut CD, Biersack told U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine: "It's completely different, very unlike my entire career, which has been spent in a collaborative effort with four other individuals. There's also a precedent when it comes to making a BLACK VEIL BRIDES record. At this point now, this is our fifth record that we're making — and that's not to say that we go in with a cookie-cutter approach, but we certainly know stylistically what we like. The odd thing about the solo record was there was no precedent."
Asked what ANDY BLACK sounds like, Biersack said: "I think my intention for this was to go as far in the other direction as possible. Sonically, the goal was to really play with music and a lot of different stuff, to have a lot of odd instrumentation and to have a lot of programmed stuff, keyboards and more classic, almost pop-rock guitar. It's more U2 than MEGADETH. There are no guitar solos on the record. There's a lot of drumming styles; there's some weird sleigh bells. It was about playing with music and seeing what happened. We came up with something in the vein of stuff I love — U2, Adam Ant… It's somewere between Springsteen, new romantic and modern goth-pop music."
Biersack previously described ANDY BLACK as a "fun and artistic way for me to try something that musically I wouldn't want to force into BLACK VEIL BRIDES."
Asked why he couldn't incorporate his songs into BLACK VEIL BRIDES, Biersack replied, "There are so many bands I loved growing up whose singer would have a new idea for a sound and then completely ruin the band by taking a shit on the whole audience. That wasn't my interest."
Biersack continued, "It would be different if the reason I was doing this was that I wanted to get away from BLACK VEIL BRIDES… This is more that I didn't want to cross the two things."
The singer said that when he informed his bandmates about the project, "I made it very clear… it was a passion project on the side, and everybody in the band gets it."
"New Leaf", the debut video from the brand new hard rock group ZEN FROM MARS (ZFM), can be seen below. The single will be available for purchase this Friday on iTunes and Amazon through Thom Hazaert's THC Music, a subsidiary of David Ellefson's EMP label. The song was mixed by Matt Wallace (FAITH NO MORE, MAROON 5) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (FAITH NO MORE).
ZEN FROM MARS is a new six-piece hard rock band consisting of the following musicians:
* Stephen Shareaux (KIK TRACEE): Vocals* Mike Heller (FEAR FACTORY, MALIGNANCY): Drums* Chip Z'Nuff (ENUFF Z'NUFF): Bass & Backing Vocals* Brynn Arens (FLIPP): Guitar* Drew Fortier (BANG TANGO): Guitar* Kate Catalina (THE SHOWGIRL OF ROCK): Keyboards
ZFM came together over a year ago and has been working on a full-length record in secrecy up until now. Very few details are known about the project aside from the quotes by members of the band which can be read below:
Drew Fortier: "ZEN FROM MARS has been our secret baby for a long time now. I am so relieved and excited to finally start getting it out there. A lot of thought has gone into this band and the release structure for the record will surely be very unique. Keep your eyes and ears peeled. This is only the beginning."
Chip Z'Nuff: "Great song, rock-star singer, two solid guitarists, brilliant drummer, world renowned bassist, foxy keyboardist = Supergroup!"
Stephen Shareaux: "ZFM is purely a passion project. I just really love this music! We had a deep connection musically from the word go, Drew and I! Plus he was just so damn persistent! [Laughs]"
Kate Catalina: "It has been a really thrilling process watching this band come to life and hearing musical concepts turned into beautiful, heavy, transcending songs. The contrast alone is mesmerizing: each member operates from a different genre, but we all met in the same land of songwriting and performance."
Brynn Arens: "ZFM is the BEST fucking band you'll NEVER see."
The "New Leaf" video was directed and shot by the team of Joe Placzkowski and Frank Ritter. It was edited by Drew Fortier.
BraveWords is premiering the new video from Chains Over Razors. The track, “Damnation”, is featured on the band’s new album, Crown The Villain, and the video was directed by Michael Jacobs.
About the new video, the band states: “The video focuses on the grittiness of war. We as a society tend to view war through depicted events on television or photographs, but the reality is that we have become somewhat desensitized to the events of war. We sympathize during the events for many, but neglect to realize those who fought and are involved with these atrocious events are left in the dark with no support and care when they return. The song itself focuses on political disruption, stripped liberties, and a hero who returned from acts of war realizing that he was nothing more than an item utilized for a political party agenda.”
Few bands have come out straight out of the gate as heavy and hard-hitting as Chains Over Razors has on their debut album, Crown The Villain. And it's even more impressive to learn that the group creates such a mammoth sound as a three-piece, who will be hitting the stage three times in August - on the 10th in Elmhurst, NY (at Blackthorn 51), the 11th in Brooklyn, NY (at Saint Vitus), and the 12th in Liverpool, NY (at Sharkey’s Summer Stage). “Destructive and intense,” is how the band describes their live show. “No mercy, no forgiveness.”
Comprised of singer Franco "V" Roc, guitarist Mikey Vujasin, and drummer Andy Vujasin (the Vapor Brothers), the 12 track album was produced by rock legend Carmine Appice, released via Sweden Music Group. And the band has honed their live show by opening up for such renowned acts as Metal Allegiance, of which Franco said, “With a lineup of iconic musicians and being a huge fan of these guys growing up, it has been an honor.”
And despite two of its members being based in Chicago and one in Montreal, all are fully committed to the band, and will not let a little distance get in their way of success. And they certainly have the tunes to accomplish this, as heard by such ragers as "The Center Line of a Lie," "Devil's Eyes," and "Damnation."
Crown The Villain tracklisting:
“Center Line Of A Lie”
“2020 (Silence Of The Moonlight)”
“Damnation”
“Devil’s Eyes”
“Subtle Words”
“Live It Loud”
“Letters Of Twelve”
“Promises Of War”
“The Run”
“Monster”
“7 Years”
“Only God Can Judge Me”
“Devil’s Eyes”:
"An assault of pure madness," is how Franco describes COR's sound. "This record is a heavy hitting face smasher," adds Mikey. "I can't wait to get this record into the world's hands and perform these songs live." And lastly, Andy describes 'Crown the Villain' as "An adrenaline, frenzied, melodic hard rock album. The unexpected twists within the compositions progressively moves the songs forward to tell the story."
“We love playing New York,” adds Mikey about the upcoming shows. “We feed off of the energy the crowds give and we give back, they get rowdy! New York is very supportive to the rock/metal community. We look forward to our next run of shows on the east coast.”
Ever since the album’s recent release, metalheads worldwide have fallen under the spell of the brutal yet melodic sounds of Chains Over Razors.
Tour dates:
August
10 - Blackthorn 51 - Elmhurst, NY
11 - Saint Vitus - Brooklyn, NY (supporting Metal Allegiance)
12 - Sharkey’s Summer Stage - Liverpool, NY (supporting The Appice Brothers)
German epic metal band, Equilibrium, have released a video for “Eternal Destination”, a track from their upcoming Armageddon album, out on August 12th via Nuclear Blast. The clip can be found below.
Armageddon tracklisting:
“Sehnsucht”
“Erwachen”
“Katharsis”
“Heimat”
“Born To Be Epic”
“Zum Horizont”
“Rise Again”
“Prey”
“Helden”
“Koyaaniskatsi”
“Eternal Destination”
“Eternal Destination” video:
“Born To Be Epic” lyric video:
Track-by-track Part 1:
Track-by-track Part 2:
“Prey” lyric video:
The limited Digipak Edition includes a bonus CD with the instrumental versions of the entire album.
Crystal Ball have released a video for the title track of their new album, Déjà-Voodoo, which will be released on September 2nd via Massacre Records. The “Déjà-Voodoo” music video can be found below.
Déjà-Voodoo is the ninth studio album by the Swiss melodic metal gods. The expectations are high since their latest album LifeRider is widely considered as the band's best album so far.
"It was quite a challenge to deliver a high-class album within a year, but we're sure that Déjà-Voodoo will step it up a notch, both regarding the songwriting as well as the sound,” comments the band.
The cover artwork was designed by Thomas Ewerhard.
"The artwork is the perfect symbiosis between the terms déjà-vu and voodoo: Déjà-Voodoo! Our main character, a voodoo doll names Louis, is standing in the water, which mirrors him. The water is symbolic for the sub-consciousness here. Louis also wears the Crystal Ball LifeRider amulet around his neck, as a personal item. Why LOUIS? Well, keep your guesses coming!"
Tracklisting:
“Déjà-Voodoo”
“Director’s Cut”
“Suspended”
“Never A Guarantee”
“Reaching Out”
“Home Again”
“To Freedom And Progress”
“Time And Tide”
“Without A Net”
“Full Disclosure” (Bonus Track)
“Fool’s Parade” (Bonous Track)
“Dr. Hell No”
“To Be With You Once More”
Italian Gothic doom metal masters Motus Tenebrae, have released a new video for “Desolation”, a track from their album, Deathrising.
The video, directed and edited by the great surreal artist Andrea Falaschi, also drummer of the band, and Davide Frino, shows the decadent essence of a band celebrating one of the best and absolutely the darkest and gloomiest songs off Deathrising. The final result is a totally dark, dismal and dreary videoclip.
The band recently celebrated their 15th anniversary with a cover of The Cure’s classic, "Burn”, for what is intended to be a new manifesto of heaviness, depth and atmosphere. Listen to the track below:
With a penchant for horror and classic rock, Arizona quartet Take Over And Destroy have propelled the boundaries with the 10 tracks featured on their debut Prosthetic Records self-titled release due October 7th. Merging their eerie post-punk atmospherics with a blackened rock'n'roll twist, the band's signature sound is completed by heavy deathrock, classic rock, doom and black metal influences scattered throughout each track.
Take Over And Destroy commented, "Our idea behind this album is that each song is crafted as a single and curated into a collection. From early Beatles singles collections, to Misfits & Black Flag collections. Each song is its own entity, but is part of a unified design. To accompany the album we wanted the visual elements to portray the same concept. A collage of individual images converge together to form a whole". The band continue to reveal, "The album includes a double sided cover, with collages on both sides of the packaging. Another dimension presents itself by turning the covers upside down; a new image emerges."
Honing in on their cinematic inspirations, the quartet have showcased the album's debut single, "By Knife", with an unnerving, found footage shot music video.
"The video tells a story of a young couple in love", the band states, "They are at their usual spot along the river having a romantic picnic date. What they don't know is that they're not alone. Those familiar with famous murders of the 60's and 70's may notice correlations with a certain unidentified astrological killer in both the video and music.Although the video takes place in a nonspecific time era, we do know that there's someone out there who is quite handy with a VHS camcorder. Just remember... life's not always a picnic."
The video can be seen below.
Tracklisting:
“By Knife”
“Leave The Door”
“Let Me Grieve”
“Separate From The Shadows”
“Out Of Frame”
“Red Ink”
“Job Coffins”
“Love Among The Ruins”
“Bring Me The Rope”
“Night Work Begins”
“By Knife” video:
Produced by Bob Hoag (The Bled, Hour Of The Wolf) at Flying Blanket Studios, Take Over And Destroy will be offered in limited quantities on vinyl (black and purple/green swirl variants) and on CD. Pre-orders are currently available for US/CAN, and UK/EU.
Take Over And Destroy is:
Andrew Leemont- Vocals
Alex Bank Rollins - Guitar / Vocals
Pete Porter - Bass
Jason Tomaszewski - Drums
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