Accept’s guitar powerhouse Wolf Hoffmann's classical handwriting carved a different niche for the German legends since the early music labeling of something called heavy metal, which can be witnessed on his second solo album, entitled Headbangers Symphony, completely dedicated to the grand Classic Maestros, out today via Nuclear Blast. And to coincide with its release is the new video fo the song “Night On Bald Mountain”.
Wolf Hoffmann has a passion. His life-long love and dedication to heavy metal music is documented in dozens of albums spanning four decades with his long time heavy metal band Accept. But beyond heavy metal, Wolf has an incessant craving for the classics, yes, the ones written decades and centuries ago.
Classical music has always been an influence - albeit limited - on Accept's teutonic approach to rock and heavy metal. However, it wasn't until 1997 during a extended hiatus from Accept, that Wolf Hoffmann finally had the chance to fully explore and fulfill this interest by recording his first astounding solo album Classical, a record filled with his rock guitar driven interpretations of some of classical music’s most loved compositions.
"I have always incorporated classical music in my songwriting with Accept, especially with Metal Heart, but I constantly felt there was so much more that I could do and I did not want to overload Accept or force it in any way. I always knew I could make a whole record of it and that’s how the first record Classical was born. Even today, fans tell me that they are still listening to it, that's why it is so fantastic now to do another one."
Headbangers Symphony is truly a bold statement by a genuine musician who simply refused to rest on his laurels and continues to push and challenge himself.
Headbangers Symphony tracklisting:
“Scherzo” (L. v. Beethoven)
“Night On Bald Mountain” (M. Mussorgsky)
“Je Crois Entendre Encore” (G. Bizet)
“Double Cello Concerto in G Minor” (A. Vivaldi)
“Adagio” (T. Albinoni)
“Symphony No. 40” (W. A. Mozart )
“Swan Lake” (P. Tchaikovsky)
“Madame Butterfly” (G. Puccini)
“Pathétique” (L. v. Beethoven)
“Meditation” (J. Massenet)
“Air On The G String” (J. S. Bach)
“Scherzo”:
"I am just so excited about Headbangers Symphony. It has taken a long, long time but here we are, it's done, finally!" Wolf is just bursting with vigor as he talks about his latest labor of love. But why now? "It's truly coincidental, after we completed the last Accept tour, I finally had the time to finish it. I started this a few years ago. The early recordings have been sitting in my archives in my home studio for years, almost completed. The reality was that with the continued success of Accept, I was only able to work on it when Accept was not recording or touring."
The prevalent early challenge was to pick the most suitable compositions. This was an exploratory process that only increased Wolf's adoration for the classics. "I always listen to classical music, it's always playing throughout my house. I have a huge collection of classics and as I listen - often at random, I take notes if something truly strikes me. When I notice that this or that could work in a translation to rock or heavy metal, I remember it and I pursue it! This has been going on for a long time!"
There are several reasons for the necessary experimentations that faced Wolf. Most classical compositions were written to be performed by a full orchestra. The fluid timing, those multiple, complex layers and sections that stretched out for lengthy periods, classical music was simply never designed to be played to the rigid beat so prevalent in rock 'n' roll.
Headbangers Symphony showcases an overabundance of highly skilled improvisations. Wolf took the main pieces, and then wrote riffs that fit them. Lastly, in the grand hard rock tradition, he layered a guitar solo over it. He shaped the sound into a quite adventurous elegance, but the key themes of the originals remained.
The first volume had a focus on the better known pieces; the second - Headbangers Symphony - takes a similar approach. "In general, it does follow the same path," admits Wolf, "but this time I did try to add a couple lesser known compositions. Mostly though, listeners will say, hey, I know that melody… so it’s pretty much the same path as the Classical record. It was my desire to record melodies I like and melodies people recognize."
Now that the album is done, Wolf is proud looking back and is pleased with this true labor of love; something he has wanted to do since the first record Classical came out almost 20 years ago. While Accept's Peter Baltes added several impressive bass lines, and other notable guest musicians made an appearance as well, the bulk of the work was completed by himself and Italian musician and arranger Melo Mafali.
"There are two major categories," Wolf elaborates. "First the heavier stuff like Beethoven, the bombastic, full force epics on which you can simply shred along. Of course then there are the ballads, slower compositions that bring out the deeper feelings in each listener."
The highlights on Headbangers Symphony are plentiful and easy to pin point. The album kicks off with 'Scherzo' from the well-known "9th Symphony" by Ludwig v. Beethoven. Many listeners might recognize the opening riff from the Accept song "Teutonic Terror". "Back in 2009," Wolf explains, "when we started working on the songs for the »Blood Of The Nations« album, I played the classical demos to our producer Andy Sneap. He liked that riff a lot and insisted on using it for the album. So we wrote 'Teutonic Terror' using this "borrowed" riff."
Other highlights follow in rapid succession: "Night On Bald Mountain" by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is a very dramatic dark song on the theme of a witches’ Sabbath, a perfect fit for Wolf's "metal treatment". "Symphony No. 40" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be immediately recognizable. "It's a little more up-tempo, pretty happy, typical for Mozart. Not mean and heavy as most of the other stuff," Wolf points out. Additional high-points include Wolf's interpretations of such masterworks as Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake," "Pathétique" also from Ludwig v. Beethoven, "Méditation" from the opera Thais by French composer Jules Massenet, and of course the aforementioned "Madame Butterfly".
All in all, the eleven compositions on Headbangers Symphony paint the perfect portrait of Wolf's life-long passion for the classics and his adoration for heavy metal. "I worked so much and so long on this until I felt it was ready. Now it is and I am thrilled and proud. This is my baby, my labor of love, ready for me to set it free."
US black metal legends Kult Ov Azazel have released a new official video for the song "Dawn of Luciferian Enlightenment".
Comments Xaphan, Kult Ov Azazel frontman: "The video was something we decided to put together using tour footage and photos from the past year. It was conceptualized between myself and Ricktor (Wolfpack 44/Electric Hellfire Club/Coven) with him creating and editing the video."
On January 1st, 2016 Kult Ov Azazel revealed a new pre-production demo track of “Corpus Edimus, Sanguinem Bibimus” on their Facebook page. The pre-pro demo track featured a guest solo by Phil Fasciana of Malevolent Creation. At this time, the band has half of the album recorded as a pre-production demo and continues to forge forward with the pre-production recordings. Violators Of The Covenant will be the first album recorded with the new line-up and will be the first recording appearances of Hag (vocals), Necrol (guitar), Armanen (bass), along with longtime members Xaphan (guitar/vocals) and Hammer (drums). The album will be recorded and produced by the band at S.B.S. Studio in Fort Lauderdale, FL and will include ten tracks. More information will be revealed shortly.
Newly signed Black Swamp Water with former Illdisposed and Dawn of Demise drummer, releases the first single "World On Fire" from the forthcoming album Chapter One.
Chapter One (including "World On Fire") is produced and mixed by Tue Madsen (Raunchy, Moonspell, Sick Of It All).
According to a press release, Black Swamp Water is old school hard rock and heavy metal with obvious references to bands like Black Sabbath, Ozzy and Corrosion Of Conformity.
The long awaited Tue Madsen produced and mixed debut album Chapter One is written with the same energetic approach to rock music - but the band has matured and gathered valuable live experience in the past two years (latest at the Royal Metal Fest 2016).
Check out the ”World On Fire" performance video:
Black Swamp Water:
Vocals: Bjørn Bølling Nyholm
Guitars: Jan Geert & Martin Lykke Hansen
Bass: Jeppe Birch Friis
Drums: Kim Langkjær Jensen
Self-proclaimed Godfathers of Finnish metal, Sarcofagus, have released their final album with the original lineup entitled Back From The Valley Of The Kings. The first video from this release is the 2016 version of "Talo" which can be seen below,along with the original "Talo" video, released in 1982.
The first Limited Edition CD pressing of the album is only available to buy from sarcofagus.com. Fans are advised to act quickly as stock is already running low and there are no plans for a second pressing. The album is also available on most of the digital delivery sites such as Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.
Sarcofagus were founded an eye-rotatingly 38 years ago, way back in 1978. The band originally broke up in 1980 after three albums (Cycle Of Life - 1980, Envoy Of Death - also 1980, and Moottorilinnut - 1981). In 2010, the original lineup reconvened for a reunion tour of Finland and this unique album was the result.
Sarcofagus frontman, guitarist and film-maker Kimmo Kuusniemi talks about the album: "Back in the '90s, I started to ponder whether it would be a cool idea to re-make the two first Sarcofagus albums, Cycle Of Life and Envoy Of Death. These albums where recorded 36 years ago, so the studio technology was fairly primitive. I have always thought that the songs themselves were good and worthy of an update."
"The Back From The Valley Of The Kings album was recorded during a one-day studio session in 2010. Before this session, Sarcofagus had only played together four times (one rehearsal and three gigs) since reuniting. The idea was to achieve a fresh 'live' and original '80s feel on the recording to both do justice to the songs and stay true to the originals."
"Although it was recorded in one day, this album proved to be the hardest I ever had to mix and master in my 40 year music producing career. The problem was to get the sounds right, as during the studio session there was no time to work with individual instrument sounds. Also, the drums bled the other instruments and the Hammond Leslie speaker broke down in the middle of the recording. I'm very happy about the end result so this is an appropriate way to end this chapter of the original Sarcofagus; all done, all good, good bye."
The tracklisting for Back From The Valley Of The Kings is as follows:
"Subconsious Penetrating"
"Astral Flyer"
"Here I Am"
"Eternal Silence"
"Stolen Salvation"
"Insane Rebels"
"Wheels Of Destruction"
"Back To Black"
"2nd Coming"
"Talo"
"Metallinen Sateenkaari"
"1000 Megawatin Totuus"
"Go To Hell"
"Envoy Of Death"
"Deadly Game"
"Die To Win"
Empire State melodic metalcore quintet, Hollow Bones, self-released their debut album, Lionheart, back on May 27th. The band have now released a video for the album track ““Altruistic Lung” (see below).
Over a year in the making, Lionheart was mixed, mastered and engineered by Randy Pasquarella at Pasquarella Recordings and self-produced by Hollow Bones with Pasquarella's assistance.
Tracklisting:
“Wandering Sparrow”
“The November Diaries”
“Lionheart: Execution”
“Altruistic Lung”
“DRYTOOTH”
“I Watched The Snow Fall, And Bury Your Bones”
“Lionheart: Sonder”
“Wolfcrone”
“A Murder Of Crows”
“Altruistic Lung” video:
“DRYTOOTH” video:
“The November Diaries”:
Hollow Bones is:
Patrick Anthony - Vocals
Sharon Malfesi - Guitar/Vocals
Andrew Formale - Guitar
Kyle Cullen - Bass
Connor Warren - Drums
Ripple Music has announced the addition of Bay Area, stoner/doom heavyweights, The Watchers, to their growing family.
Hailing from the great San Francisco Bay Area, The Watchers are a gathering of international seasoned players, from some of the most massive heavy bands of the last decade. Tim Narducci - Vocals (SpiralArms, White Witch Canyon), Carter Kennedy - Drums (Orchid), Jeremy Epp - Guitar (Black Gates, Venting Machine), and Cornbread - Bass (SpiralArms, White Witch Canyon). The guys have come together to preach and worship all things heavy riff rock n roll with there music.
The Watchers have just joined forces with Ripple Music to release their first offering the Sabbath Highway EP, due out on vinyl, CD and digital worldwide on November 4th. The 5-song EP features, "Sabbath Highway", "Today", "Requiem", "Call The Priest" and "Just A Needle."
"We're very ecstatic to be a part of the Ripple family!" says Tim Narducci. "We love their approach and the fact that they have true footing in the underground heavy rock, doom, metal scene. Todd and Pope's passion for their bands and roster is contagious and beautiful. We see a great relationship ahead!"
The first video "Today" was put together by the band paying homage to the late great 70's dare devil Evel Knievel. All hand picked footage by the band to guide the song along with its statement: No regrets, never look back, and live in the moment. This guitar line driven tune sprinkled with some Travers and Thin Lizzy influence, will draw you in and make you a believer.... rock and roll ain't going away... is alive and here to kick your ass.
Trivium have released an official live video for “Dead And Gone”, a track from the album Silence In The Snow, available now from Roadrunner Records. Watch the new clip below:
How do you think Trivium's Corey Beaulieu performed when he took the Jackson Speed Round challenge? Do you think he flew through it with ease, or got a bit stumped? Can you guess the one celebrity he would freak out to meet? Place your bets and enjoy this latest installment of Jackson Speed Round.
Deadlock have released a music video for “Backstory Wound”, a track from the new album, Hybris. Watch below:
Hybris is set to be released on July 8th via Napalm Records and turns out to be a multi-faceted monster in terms of both shape and content. At the same time it painfully digs through the latest events in the Deadlock camp. Despite the tragic death of founder and drummer Tobias Graf (immortalized with a moment of silence on the album) and the departure of singer Sabine Scherer (now replaced by Margie Gerlitz), the megalomaniac creative urge could not be suppressed.
Sebastian Reichl on Hybris: “Hybris is both powerlessness and hope, melancholia and confidence united, accounting for the past in the truest sense. The effort to meet your demons, to forgive and to find salvation with your own history. The release of dammed aggressions and wash away all fears. Put all wrath and anger in music and lyrics to fill with new passion. This is all what Hybris symbolizes and you can feel it every second on the album. It was our longest trip. Giving up was never an option.”
Hybris finds its inseparable counterpart in a 90 min. DVD documentary, The Longest Road, that translates the album concept to visuals. The DVD tracklisting reads as follows:
Intro
Winter - Restart
Spring - Songwriting
Summer - Demo
Fall - Pre-Production
Winter - Recordings
Spring - Hybris
Credits
The Longest Road trailer #1:
The Longest Road trailer #2:
Deadlock have always been about extremes – and always will be! Fans love these Germans for every emotional force run through the raging depths of death metal, technical prowess, borderline pop-laden melodies, nods to classic metal, and casual flirtation with trance and beats. A gripping and blunt rollercoaster ride that sees light in the blackest night – and that is something only Deadlock can achieve!
See Deadlock live at these upcoming summer festivals:
Faithsedge recently returned with Restoration, their third and most melodic release to date. The album was released on Scarlet Records in Europe and North America on June 24th and on Spiritual Beast in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on June 15th. A new video for the track “Faith And Chris” can be found below.
Fronted by mastermind singer/songwriter Giancarlo Floridia, the band returns with a stellar lineup featuring Stryper bass player Tim Gaines, Ace Frehley / Mr. Big drummer Matt Starr and former Dokken guitarist Alex De Rosso. Both keys and production were handled by Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Revolution Saints).
The approach is very melodic with an old school feel: 80's style hooks, big drums, slamming bass, epic keys and big production. At the same time the album keeps a current up to date feel with lyric content of today’s world mixed with a competitive metal feel. Giancarlo's songwriting approach mixed with each members experience and skills takes the album to new heights.
Tracklisting:
“Never A Day”
“Jennifer”
“You Cannot Give Up”
“Faith And Chris”
“Her Way Back”
“Regret At All”
“This War”
“Taking Our Lives”
“Let You Breathe”
“This Is Everything”
“Faith And Chris” video:
“Never A Day” lyric video:
With different supergroups that come and go, Faithsedge is more than just that, the band members worked together as a tight team and the result and chemistry show in the end result.
Grammy-nominated rockers, Skillet, will release Unleashed, their new studio album and follow-up to their 2013 release Rise, on August 5th via Atlantic. The 12-track album, a year in the making, is currently available for pre-order via all digital retailers including iTunes and Amazon (widget below). Pre-orders will include an instant download of the debut single “Feel Invincible”, and the follow-up track “Stars”.
Skillet have released their video for “Feel Invincible”. The single is already #22 at Active Rock and moving up the charts. Check out the clip below:
From the bombastic opening riff of “Feel Invincible” to the memorable closing of the album finale “The Resistance,” it is clear the band has created an album that lets their music speak loudest, while still delivering some of their most personal and heartfelt collections of songs to date.
“I wanted to make an album that could make people feel the music,” said Skillet’s John Cooper. “I always aim to write songs to which people can relate, but this time I wanted to see not only how the songs would connect lyrically, but also how they’d connect musically.”
Songs like “Back From The Dead”, “Stars” and “Out Of Hell” showcase the musicianship and songwriting that has garnered the band a rabid worldwide fan base, a platinum selling album and multiple Grammy nominations. Comprised of husband and wife John (lead vocals, bass) and Korey Cooper (rhythm guitar, keyboards, programming, backing vocals), Seth Morrison (lead guitar) and Jen Ledger (drums, vocals), the band wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album. Once again they collaborated with Brian Howes, (Daughtry, Halestorm, Nickelback), as well as, Kevin Churko (Ozzy Osbourne, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch), Neal Avron (Twenty One Pilots, Walk The Moon, Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park) and Seth Mosley (Newsboys, TobyMac) to create Unleashed.
Unleashed tracklisting:
“Feel Invincible”
“Back From The Dead”
“Stars”
“I Want To Live”
“Undefeated”
“Famous”
“Lions”
“Out Of Hell”
“Burn It Down”
“Watching For Comets”
“Saviors Of The World”
“The Resistance”
“Feel Invincible” lyric video:
Skillet will embark on a headline tour of the United States this September. The tour will kick off on September 22nd in Clive, IA and through October with more dates to be added and announced in the near future.
The tour will feature Thousand Foot Krutch on the first half of the US run and Sick Puppies will finish the second half of the tour. Devour The Day will be playing the entire tour.
The headline tour will make stops in cities such as Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; and Sayreville, NJ to name a few. More tour dates will be announced in the near future. An exclusive pre-sale for The Panheads (The Official Skillet Fan Club) goes live today, Wednesday, June 22nd. Tickets and VIP Packages will be available and fans can sign up for the fan club at this location.
Tour dates:
September
22 - Clive, IA - 7 Flags Event Center *
23 - Turtle Lake, WI - St. Croix Casino *
24 - Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium *
25 - Wichita, KS - Cotillion *
29 - Chicago, IL - Concord Music Hall *
30 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theatre *
October
1 - Peoria, IL - Limelight *
6 - Fort Wayne, IN - Piere’s ^
7 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews #
8 - Cleveland, OH - Agora #
9 - Knoxville, TN - The International #
12 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom #
13 - Washington, DC - The Fillmore Silver Spring #
14 - Stroudsburg, PA - Sherman Theater #
15 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva #
16 - Richmond, VA - The National #
20 - Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre #
23 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom #
* Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Devour The Day
^ Skillet, Sick Puppies
# Skillet, Sick Puppies, Devour The Day
Official video footage of PROPHETS OF RAGE, the supergroup featuring members of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, PUBLIC ENEMY's Chuck D and CYPRESS HILL's B-Real, performing the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE classic "Killing In The Name" on June 3 at the Palladium in Hollywood, California can be seen below.
PROPHETS OF RAGE recently entered the studio to record a brand new song called "The Party's Over", which the band premiered at its recent live shows. Helming the sessions is veteran producer Brendan O'Brien, who has previously worked with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, PEARL JAM, AC/DC and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, among others.
Guitarist Tom Morello told Billboard.com that the members of PROPHETS OF RAGE have set a very high bar for the material that they want to release. "The goal is a simple one: The music has to be devastating," he explained. "In all these interviews, we talk a lot about the politics, but the cornerstone is that the music has to be devastating and we have to not just be competitive with our legacies, but in 2016, it has to be something that goes beyond that and is very authentic, unapologetic and contemporary."
The guitarist added that PROPHETS OF RAGE is still finding its direction.
"When we got in the room, it was like, 'Well, hold on, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We have to figure out what this band's chemistry is to be great. How do we win with this team on the field?'" he said. "And that took awhile to figure out. I would say that it really came together a couple days before the Whisky show [May 31], where it was like, 'Oh, shit, that's what PROPHETS OF RAGE is going to sound like!' And it's still a process. I always look at it like it's never done and will continue to be refined as we go along."
PROPHETS OF RAGE made their live debut late last month in Los Angeles, playing numbers from all three acts.
The band will embark on a North American tour in August.
Long Island, NY-based rockers, Taking Back Sunday, have released a video for “Tidal Wave”, the title track of their new album, out on September 16th via Hopeless Records. The new clip can be found below.
"Tidal Wave" will be included as an instant grat track with the pre-order here. Physical and vinyl pre-orders can be purchased here. The song can also be heard on Spotify.
"Throughout each song on the record, there are a lot of references to water," vocalist Adam Lazzara tells Entertainment Weekly who broke the news about their seventh studio album.
"I'm very excited for people to hear it," guitarist John Nolan told hometown newspaper New York Newsday. "I think it’s going to be a surprise to some people. We're all extremely excited about what we've done. It's the culmination of things we've tried over the past two records. I think it's the strongest record we've done since getting back together. We’ve freed ourselves up to go in new directions."
The classic punk aesthetic of the title track thrusts Taking Back Sunday into a different world of songwriters. Lazzara told Entertainment Weekly, "With our first records, we were writing from the perspective of 17, 18-year-old kids and now it's like, as you grow old, the blinders get pulled back and you have a different way of looking at the world. There’s more of an Americana feel. But we realize anything we do is going to sound like Taking Back Sunday."
Their first new album since Happiness Is in 2014, Tidal Wave is a forceful and fluidly cohesive tsunami of a record. Kicking off with "Death Wolf" whose one-minute atmospheric intro explodes at breakneck speed fueled by Mark O'Connell's muscular drumming, the album pushes the band’s musical boundaries, challenging them into experimenting with different textures and sounds while remaining very true to their trademark sound.
From the anthemic "You Can't Look Back" to the balladic "I Felt It Too" to the mid-tempo closer "I'll Find A Way to Make It What You Want," Tidal Wave is a genuine evolution for the platinum-selling band. "I couldn’t put any more of myself into these new songs and we’ve grown as musicians," Lazzara says about how they've continued to innovate and expand with each progressive record.
Tidal Wave was produced by Mike Sapone (O'Brother, Mansions) in Charlotte, NC and mixed by Claudius Mittendorpher (Weezer, Drowners, Ra Ra Riot).
Tidal Wave tracklisting:
“Death Wolf”
“Tidal Wave”
“You Can't Look Back”
“Fences”
“All Excess”
“I Felt It Too”
“Call Come Running”
“Holy Water”
“In The Middle Of It All”
“We Don't Go In There”
“Homecoming”
“I'll Find A Way To Make It What You Want”
“Tidal Wave” video:
Taking Back Sunday is:
Adam Lazzara (Vocals)
John Nolan (Guitars, Vocals)
Eddie Reyes (Guitars)
Shaun Cooper (Bass)
Mark O’Connell (Drums)
Los Angeles thrashers Mindwars (former Holy Terror guitarist Mike Alvord) have released the third video from their latest album Sworn To Secrecy (mixed and mastered by Bill Metoyer). The song is about animal testing and torturing for cosmetic and scientific purposes.
French heavy metal band, Lorraine Cross, have released a video for “At Close Range”, a track from their upcoming debut album, Army Of Shadows, to be released worldwide on August 26th via Mighty Music. Find the new clip below.
Lorraine Cross was born in 2012 in Toulouse, South of France when two heavy metal enthusiasts - a couple in life, Katia Figuera (manager) and Guillaume (founder and bass player) - decided to form a band to perpetuate the spirit of hard ‘n’ heavy. Soon after this, four talented musicians joined their quest: Tony (lead singer) D.K and Florent (guitars) and Thomas (drums). After a demo (Lorraine Cross, 2014) the band received the support of French heavy metal specialist Christophe Bailet (ex-manager of Sortilège, ADX, Nightmare).
The album, Army Of Shadows, was recorded and engineered by François Merle (Manigance) and mastered by Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray, Pretty Maids) and is a mix of influences like US hard rock, British heavy metal and German speed metal. But even if Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest or Helloween are the inspirations, the heart of Lorraine Cross beats in France.
France and its tormented past, hence the name...Lorraine Cross, the symbol of Free French Forces during world war II. An iconic symbol, for all those who refuse to surrender and to live on their knees. Like Guillaume’s grandfather, a French resistant who was nearly shot by a German fire squad. He was like his brother in arms, one of the anonymous martyrs fighting oppression. He was one, from the Army of Shadows.
Army Of Shadows tracklisting:
“Sharpshooter”
“Black Infantry”
“One Bullet For Me”
“Hard To Get Out”
“Die In Your Arms”
“Target Locked”
“Stray Rocket”
“The Slab Was Trapped!”
“Go To Hell!”
“Don’t Waste Your Energy”
“At Close Range”
“Lorraine Cross”
The Five Hundred are the latest in technical, melodic metal from the rough streets of Nottingham, UK. Dealing in an array of down-tuned riffs and barbed hooks performed on beastly 8-string guitars, the band unleash an avalanche of crushing technical groove and belligerent aggression, broken up by some searing leads, haunting vocal melodies and devastating, earth-shaking breakdowns.
The ear-rattling outfit have just released a new music video for the song “Winters”, taken from their debut EP.
The band say this about the video: "The track is about the miserable and negative people that try to bring you down to their level. The lyrics go:
“The winters of your grief
Shut off that sound it’s deafening
Ripping away belief
A worry that weighs a ton…”
“Every musician or band starting out has had to deal, at some point, with the naysayers, the killjoys and the downers - the people who are so miserable in their own existence that they spend their energy and time trying to bring others down. "Get a real job. Get a career. Get a mortgage, a pension plan, financial security. Quit this rock n roll pipe dream. So, this song goes out to them. All of that noise and negativity just spurs us on, and we wouldn't be where we are now if it wasn't for their inspiration.
“The video was recorded by Shaun Hodson of Loki Films, who's recently done some wicked videos for bands such as Black Tongue, Heart In Hand, and TRC. Filmed in some undisclosed location in the woods of Nottingham (we weren't allowed to be there and had to switch off the power and hide in the dark a few times so we wouldn't be spotted!). It was cold, rainy and miserable, which is exactly what we needed it to be for this video.”
The band are due to release a second EP in 2016, with a full album to follow in early 2017 (all released produced by Justin Hill – SiKth, Heart Of A Coward, Betraying The Martyrs, etc.).
The Five Hundred are touring with Taken By The Tide over the next couple of weeks and will perform at UK Tech-Metal Fest in Newark.
Live dates:
June
30 - Bournemouth, UK - The Anvil (with Taken By The Tide)
July
1 - Hastings, UK - The Carlisle (with Taken By The Tide)
2 - Southampton, UK - Fire House (with Taken By The Tide)
7 - Bristol, UK - Mother’s Ruin (with Taken By The Tide)
8 - Kettering, UK - Prince Of Wales (with Taken By The Tide)
9 - Derby, UK - The Hairy Dog (with Taken By The Tide)
10 - Newark, UK - UK Tech Metal Fest
17 - Coventry, UK - Sophie Fest
August
31 - Derby, UK - The Hairy Dog (with Meta-Stasis, Sworn Amongst and Taken By The Tide)
September
3 - Nottingham, UK - Macmillan Fest (with SiKth, InMe, Black Peaks, Shields and more)
30 - Brighton, UK - Mammothfest (with Heart Of A Coward, Textures and Krysthla)
October
1 - Bristol, UK - The Gryphon (with Shields)
Buenos Aires, Argentina-based heavy metal band, Feanor, have released a video for “We Are Heavy Metal” the title track of their new album, out now in South America and coming soon worldwide via Massacre Records. We Are Heavy Metal is the first record in the band's history that's sung entirely in English.
Tracklisting:
“We Are Heavy Metal”
“Ëol The Dark”
“Ëarendil The Sailor”
“The Discipline Of Steel”
“Water Gardens”
“Dagor Nuin Giliath”
“White And Blue”
“Crying Games”
“The Visitors”
“In The Darkness”
“The Scribe”
“The Epic Of Gilgamesh Pt.1 (The Quest For Glory)”
“We Are Heavy Metal” video:
Teaser:
Band lineup:
Sven D'Anna - Vocals
Walter "The Scorpion" Hernández - Electric/Spanish Guitars
Gustavo Feanor Acosta - Bass, Piano, Keyboard, Percussion & Harp
Frank Gilchriest - Drums & Percussion
Los Angeles metallists Phinehas have premiered their video for "Forever West", which takes loose inspiration from both The Revenant and The Pilgrim's Progress, check it out below.
"Forever West" appears on Phinehas' most recent album Till The End, which was released in July 2015 via Artery Recordings. Catch Phinehas live on tour:
June
29 - Creation Festival - Shirleysburg, PA
July
1 - The Backstage at Championship Bar - Trenton, NJ
6 - Bier Stube - Moline, IL
7 - Lifest - Oshkosh, WI
8 - Lifest - Oshkosh, WI
16 - Double Happiness - Columbus, OH
21 - Sonshine Festival - Somerset, WI
25 - Jackpot Music Hall - Lawrence, KS
26 - Marquis Theater - Denver, CO
27 - The Loading Dock - Salt Lake City, UT
29 - The Hive - Flagstaff, AZ
30 - The Warehouse - Henderson, NV
31 - Malones - Santa Ana, CA
Greek progressive metal band, Sunburst, have released a video for the song “Lullaby”, featured on the band’s debut album, Fragments Of Creation, out now via Inner Wound Recordings.
The sound of Sunburst can be described as Dream Theater meets Nevermore and Conception, and with Fragments Of Creation they show that they are a force to be reckoned with.
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