HIM mastermind Ville Valo has released a new single, "Loveletting", under the VV banner. "Loveletting" is taken from VV's forthcoming debut album, "Neon Noir".
Ville explains: "As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually, I decided to put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howling together instead of barking at each other. That's how 'Loveletting' was born."
"Loveletting" is now available across all digital platforms. An official video clip will follow at 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT.
"Neon Noir" is scheduled for release in early 2023. Belonging to the same forlorn world of woe and whimsy once conceived and governed by Valo in HIM, VV arrives with additional nuanced notes of a fine aged Cabernet.
Valo adds: "Artistically speaking, the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the Heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is! It's the MAMAS AND THE PAPAS dressed up as METALLICA on their way to a Halloween bash at the Studio 54, and now who wouldn't want to witness that?"
Further details around "Neon Noir" will be released in due course. In the meantime, fans are invited to any number of VV's headline tour dates taking place next year across Europe and North America. Naturally starting in Helsinki, Finland, the 2023 extensive run reaches the U.K. in March before heading to America come April.
U.S. tickets will be available for purchase from Friday, April 15 at 10 a.m. local time.
"Loveletting" will mark Ville's first new music in over two years, following the arrival of the three-track "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1" EP, also released under the VV banner, in March 2020.
"Gothica Fennica Vol. 1" bore a strong musical resemblance to HIM and featured the tracks "Salute The Sanguine", "Run Away From The Sun" and "Saturnine Saturnalia".
HIM completed a farewell tour in 2017, closing the final chapter on the band's 26-year career. At the time, Ville explained to Kerrang! magazine why the band decided to call it a day. "We were tired of the same shit," he said. "When you've done it for a long time, at some point it doesn't taste good anymore. We started working on some stuff, it didn't sound good enough, and we didn't get the teenage buzz you're supposed get."
He also discussed the future of his artistic and musical endeavors.
"I'll be figuring out the emotions I'll be going through after the HIM period is done," he said. "That's how I experience life. I experience it through music, I'll pick up the guitar and start writing and I'm sure some of the emotions that come out of this wild ride will come through. My life is not done yet. The HIM part is done, as it is now, the chapter is closed, but the book is still unfinished…"
Formed in 1991 by Valo, guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström and bassist Mikko "Migé" Paananen, HIM offered the world a new take on the metal genre, which became known as "love metal" (also the title of their fourth album).
HIM in 2015 parted ways with its longtime drummer, Mika Kristian Karppinen (a.k.a. Gas Lipstick), and replaced him with Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger (formerly of HERRA YLPPÖ & IHMISET).
Three years ago, Valo teamed up with guitar legend Esa Pulliainen to record an album based on songs by the late, legendary Finnish singer Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki. The self-titled album by VILLE VALO & AGENTS was released in February 2019 and was followed by a short tour.
Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE will release a deluxe version of their current, self-titled album on July 8, 2022 via Spinefarm/Search & Destroy. This extended release features four brand new tracks, plus "Stitches", a song previously only available as a Japanese exclusive. Following the CD and digital releases, a vinyl pressing will launch on November 11.
The video for the deluxe edition's first single, "Omen", can be seen below.
"Bullet For My Valentine (Deluxe Edition)" track listing:
01. Parasite
02. Knives
03. My Reverie
04. No Happy Ever After
05. Can't Escape The Waves
06. Bastards
07. Rainbow Veins
08. Shatter
09. Paralysed
10. Death By a Thousand Cuts
11. Omen (deluxe edition bonus track)
12. Stitches (deluxe edition bonus track)
13. No More Tears (deluxe edition bonus track)
14. Step Out From The Inside (deluxe edition bonus track)
15. This Means War (deluxe edition bonus track)
Last December, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck spoke to NME about the fate of the six songs which were recorded during the sessions for the band's recently released self-titled album but were left off the final track listing. Asked if the unreleased material follows in the same direction as "Bullet For My Valentine", Tuck said: "They're part of the same writing and recording process. Some of them are quite different and unique. We didn't want wanna put them on 'cause they were curvebally. But they were curvebally enough to have a spotlight on 'em post-album. We wanted the album to be a really solid, cohesive body of work from front to back and we didn't wanna throw too many creative curveballs in the album. We thought it was actually better to keep them off for standalone singles post-record and maybe have some kind of really crazy EP maybe at the end of the cycle, just so people can hear them, so they get the light of day. But, yeah, they're heavy, they're interesting, they're pushing boundaries and they're super exciting."
As for whether he thinks BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's next album will be a mixture of 2018's "Gravity" — which he had previously described as "probably our most mellow/experimental record" — and the self-titled LP, Tuck said: "It really depends. In a year's, two years' time, whenever we decide to kind of get involved with that, we're just gonna do what we do — we're gonna see what comes out, what feels natural, what makes us happy, what makes us scared, what makes us motivated. And coming off the back of 'Gravity' and this album, we're just gonna that whole process of confidence and no-fear attitude into the writing process, and as soon as we start smiling and high-fiving, that's when we'll know we're on the right track."
"Bullet For My Valentine" arrived in November via via Spinefarm/Search & Destroy. The LP was written beginning in September 2019 with longtime producer Carl Bown, who co-produced the band's 2015 album, "Venom", and produced and mixed "Gravity".
"Gravity" saw BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's catalog surpass one billion streams in the U.S. That accomplishment solidified BULLET's status as one of the most elite bands in the hard rock scene.
FOZZY has released the official music video for its new single, "I Still Burn". The song is taken from the band's upcoming album, "Boombox", which is due on May 6.
FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho comments: "'I Still Burn' is the story of the dreams, the passion and the fire that lie within all of us to be the absolute best we can be...and to do WHATEVER it takes to achieve the goals that make our dreams come true! The sacrifices, the losses, and the triumphs that we have all experienced make up the lyrical DNA of this song. #IStillBurn is FOZZY's mission statement, our life's work and our destiny...and we are so proud to share this message of victory with our FOZZY family!! Plus, Rich's [Ward] guitar solo fuckin rules!!!"
Ward adds: "My entire career has been about pushing to the summit of the climb, never satisfied with boiling water with the Sherpas at Base Camp 2. I've been touring and making records for three decades, and I remain as passionate as ever. 'I Still Burn' is the story of the fire that fuels that passion. This is our story!"
The newest single in FOZZY's arsenal is in good company. The band has recorded five consecutive Top 20 singles, but fans across the world know that the benchmark was set high with FOZZY's 2017 breakout hit "Judas". Reaching the Top 5 on the U.S. rock chart and boasting 55 million views on YouTube for the music video, the song has now achieved its biggest milestone yet — gold certification by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for accumulating 500,000 certified units.
Addressing the news of "Judas" going gold, Jericho said: "Being awarded a gold record has been a dream of mine ever since I started listening to THE BEATLES at nine years old and saw a picture of them getting an award for 'Beatles VI'. Then as I grew older and heard Ozzy [Osbourne] talk about his 'gold discs' and seeing the walls of Rudolf Schenker's house plastered with framed SCORPIONS awards, I set my goals on someday getting one of my own. And for 'Judas' to have sold 500,000 units in this day and age completely blows my mind as a fan and a musician, and also makes me realize how far FOZZY has come and how far we are going to go!! Thanks to all of you for making this dream come true for me and the guys. I can't wait to hang my award on my wall… just like Rudolf."
According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.
"Boombox", which includes the top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane", was once again produced by Johnny Andrews.
Jericho previously stated about the LP: "'Judas'…both the album & the song…was a HUGE breakthrough for FOZZY. It took us to the next level and positioned us as legit players at rock radio and as a live draw. As a result, we knew that we had to follow up with the album of a lifetime… 'Boombox' is that album!! You've already heard the top ten singles 'Nowhere To Run' and 'Sane' — kick-ass, hooky songs that set the tone for this record. But it's 'I Still Burn', 'Army Of One' and 'Relax' that, in my opinion, are going to take this album and this band even further up the rock 'n' roll ladder.
"I firmly believe this is the third best album of our entire career!! (Of course I think it's our best… but I always wanted to hear a band say that.) So crank the volume and hold the 'Boombox' up to your earholes!! It's gonna be a wild ride."
FOZZY's "Save The World" 2022 U.S. tour, featuring special guests GFM, KRASHKARMA and THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR, started on March 31 in Detroit, Michigan and will wrap on May 16 in Sauget, Illinois.
FOZZY debuted a brand new song, "Purifier", during its September 2021 concert in Flint, Michigan and has been performing it live ever since. Back in July 2021, FOZZY played another new song, "The Vulture Club", during its concert in Iowa City, Iowa. The band also performed its previous single, "Sane", live for the first time.
In May 2021, FOZZY dropped a video for its first new song in two years, the aforementioned "Sane", which hit one million views in its first two weeks. This first-of-its-kind video was filmed on the longest wooden roller coaster on the planet today.
In the summer of 2020, Chris revealed that FOZZY's next LP would contain 12 songs, including a cover of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD's "Relax".
Ward and Andrews once again did "the lion's share" of the songwriting for the new LP, which was recorded primarily in Atlanta, Georgia.
In addition to producing "Judas", Andrews previously co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014. He has also written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM.
In November 2020, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
This past January, FOZZY parted ways with longtime drummer Frank Fontsere and replaced him with Grant Brooks (THROUGH FIRE).
Fontsere was a founding member of FOZZY, having formed the group in 1999 with Jericho and Ward.
When FOZZY announced Fontsere's departure, the band said that he was "stepping down to focus on his family and other projects."
FOZZY is Chris Jericho (vocals), Rich Ward (guitars, vocals), Grant Brooks (drums), Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).
Swedish heavy metal masters, Wolf, have released a video for "The Ill-Fated Mr. Mordrake", featured on their new album, Shadowland, out now via Century Media. Watch the clip below.
Shadowland can be ordered here, and is available in the following formats:
- Black LP + Poster
- White LP + Poster (limited to 300 / available at CM Distro)
- Transp. Red LP + Poster (limited to 300 / available at EMP)
- Transp. Orange LP + Poster (limited to 300 / Band exclusive)
- Ltd. CD Digipak
- Digital Album
Tracklisting:
"Dust"
"Visions For The Blind"
"The Time Machine"
"Evil Lives"
"Seek The Silence"
"Shadowland"
"The Ill-Fated Mr. Mordrake"
"Rasputin"
"Exit Sign"
"Into The Black Hole"
"Trial By Fire" (Bonus Track)
"In The Twilight Zone" (Bonus Track)
"The Ill-Fated Mr. Mordrake" video:
"Shadowland" video:
"Dust" video:
Wolf is:
Niklas Stalvind - Vocals & Guitar
Simon Johansson - Guitar
Pontus Egberg - Bass
Johan Koleberg - Drums
SEPULTURA played its first show with drummer Bruno Valverde (ANGRA) Wednesday night (April 6) at the House Of Blues in San Diego, California. Bruno is filling in for longtime SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande at the last three shows of the band's North American after Casagrande broke his right leg in a stage accident. The "North American Quadra" 2022 trek with SACRED REICH and CROWBAR kicked off on March 4 in Sacramento and is set to conclude on April 8 in Berkeley, California. SEPULTURA also has a six-date tour of Mexico scheduled for April 12-17.
Fan-filmed video of the San Diego concert is available below.
On Monday (April 4), Eloy took to his Instagram to share X-ray photos of his fractured tibia and fibula bones, and he included the following message: "It is with deep sadness that I announce that I have unfortunately broken my right leg. Yesterday, at the El Paso show, during the break between songs I ended up falling off the stage and fracturing my tibia and fibula. I'm going back to Brazil to start the recovery. I'll see you soon! The tour will continue, but without me. More news coming soon. I ask for your support."
This is not the first health issue that has plagued the "North American Quadra" 2022 tour. Last month, SACRED REICH was forced to cancel more than half dozen shows on the trek due to frontman Phil Rind's "ongoing respiratory illness."
The now-31-year-old Casagrande joined SEPULTURA 10 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.
SEPULTURA's latest album, "Quadra", was released in February 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was created at Sweden's Fascination Street Studios with renowned producer Jens Bogren.
SEPULTURA comprises Casagrande, vocalist Derrick Green, guitarist Andreas Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr.
German metal duo and recent Metal Blade Records signees, Mantar, will unleash their scathing new full-length, Pain Is Forever And This Is The End, on July 15, today unveiling the record's cover art, tracklisting, and first single.
Founded in 2012 by guitarist/vocalist Hanno Klänhardt and drummer/vocalist Erinc Sakarya, Mantar stands among the leading forces in extreme metal within the last ten years. Loved by fans and press alike, the band took the world by storm with their truly unique sound, leading them to the Top 10 in the official German album charts with their 2018's The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze and sold out shows throughout Europe.
While they've pushed the limits on every output, Pain Is Forever And This Is The End serves as Mantar's most realized release yet. "I just knew I wanted to write stronger 'songs' in relation to 'songwriting' and rely less on being an 'extreme' metal act that only convinces through a certain sound or general 'heaviness,'" notes Hanno. "I invested more time on trying to write better songs, interesting structures, and catchy tunes." The results speak volumes. This is the most diverse and interesting Mantar album to date, taking things to the proverbial next level.
Much of the influence on Hanno's songwriting came from the artists the bband covered on 2020's collection Grungetown Hooligans II, which featured their renditions of songs from the likes of L7, Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus Lizard, formative bands from their respective youths. Songs feature more melody as well as a variety of guitar tones. "I tried to tweak the guitar sound more according to each individual song and its mood. We tried to steer away from 'metal sound' standards and more in a direction where you can hear different nuances in sound. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but we never were a part of any scene, therefore we don't 'owe' a certain sound to anyone." Hanno even sings on occasion "instead of only screaming like a maniac."
With Hanno prolifically writing riffs at his home in Gainesville, Florida - and throwing away whole albums worth of material - and Erinc working in Germany, the record came together over several months, and proved to be a painstaking process. "Nothing came together easily for this album. Everything sucked and I hated most of the process. I wrote it and we recorded it during a very bad time, and even though Covid had not much of an impact on us of course the general fucked up mood in the world and the industry had an impact on the record. Everything was very tedious, up to a point where I literally questioned everything and we were damn close to quitting the band," he states plainly. "I thought I just lost 'it.' There was no fun anymore and with every song I came up with there was a period at some point where I thought it sucked. Then I had moments where I thought it's the best we have ever done. It was bipolar in a way. It was rough and it took a serious toll on me and Erinc that I'm still recovering from. Then again I come from the school of 'no pain no gain,' which obviously is bullshit and self-destructive but unfortunately that is who I am."
After recording their instruments on different continents, Hanno and Erinc entered the studio together in Germany to record vocals and backing vocals, respectively, and decided to take a different, more daring route in terms of production: "With the previous albums I was so focused on making the band sound exactly as we would sound live. That is cool and still important but this time I wanted to make an album that is overall entertaining and not just a forty-five-minute 'live set.' We've proved countless times that we have no problems at all convincing in a live setting, so I had to gather some courage to 'produce' a little more, mostly in order to entertain myself as the songwriter and producer."
In advance of the release of Pain Is Forever And This Is The End, today Mantar unleashes first single, "Hang 'Em Low (So The Rats Can Get 'Em)." Elaborates Hanno on the track, "'Hang 'Em Low…' is one of the catchiest and strongest tunes we ever did. We thought it deserves a cool video that portrays the key Mantar ingredients: stress, hectic and bad vibes plus a whole lot of beautiful sad Florida nature shots… We are an old school band. We can't help it. Good old fashioned music videos still rule."
Watch the video below.
Pain Is Forever And This Is The End will be available on CD, LP, and digital formats. See all options below:
• Box Set (ltd. 1000 w/ Gatefold LP, bonus LP, back patch, slipmat, 12" booklet, and poster)
• Digipak
• 180g Black vinyl
• Violet Marbled vinyl
• Light Blue Marbled vinyl (ltd. 500)
• White vinyl (ltd. 500)
• Orange Beige Marbled vinyl (ltd. 200 - Season of Mist excl.)
• Leaf Green Marbled vinyl (ltd. 300 - EMP excl.)
• Twilight Blue Marbled vinyl (ltd. 300 - Nuclear Blast excl.)
• Clear Ochre Brown Marbled vinyl (ltd. 300 - Metal Blade Eu excl.)
• Maroon Red Marbled vinyl (US excl.)
"Egoisto"
"Hang 'Em Low (So the Rats Can Get 'Em)"
"Grim Reaping"
"Orbital Pus"
"Piss Ritual"
"Of Frost and Decay"
"Walking Corpse"
"New Age Pagan"
"Horder"
"Odysseus"
"Hang 'Em Low (So the Rats Can Get 'Em)" video:
Mantar lineup:
Hanno Klänhardt - guitars, vocals
Erinc Sakarya - drums
I Am The Night have released a music video for "I Am The Night", featured on their upcoming album, While The Gods Are Sleeping, out on May 6. Find the clip below.
The new band, featuring Finnish metal legends, opens an ancient chasm of black metal born of an epic tradition.
Rising from the deep valleys of Kymi in southernmost Finland, I Am The Night is black metal rooted in the classic early ‘90s tradition, where walls of guitars and synthesizers raise the forces of darkness in a battle against the heavens and burning angels light up the night sky.
The band’s debut full-length album, with cover art by scene legend Necrolord, bears the title While The Gods Are Sleeping, and will be released on May 6. The record was birthed during the heaviest blizzard Finland had seen in years in the winter of 2021, with the band holed up at the Soundspiral Audio studio during the height of the pandemic.
“This album, in a way, is both the thing that should not be and something we should have made flesh many moons ago already,” comments Markus Vanhala. He continues, “It is a passage back in time that dark forest of our minds through which we spent our youth traversing.”
Brought forth by underground titans of Finnish Metal, Markus Vanhala (Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum), Janne Markkanen (ex-Omnium Gatherum), Okko Solanterä (Horizon Ignited), and Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost, Bodom After Midnight), the band’s origins date back to the dimly lit subterranean rehearsal rooms of the mid-nineties where the fires of Vanhala and Markkanen’s black metal zeal were ignited.
“Black metal art has been a continuous and serious pursuit in my personal life since my early teenage years”, explains guitarist Vanhala. He continues, “In The Nightside Eclipse, Storm Of The Light’s Bane and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas opened the gate to the dark side for me years ago, as can be heard from the music we make with I Am The Night.”
In recent years, I Am The Night rapidly began to gather flesh on its old bones, and in 2020 the spark burst into a full blaze when elder statesmen Vanhala and Markkanen hired younger cohorts Väyrynen and Solanteräto to help bring their morbid visions into reality. Vanhala states, “Our debut record, the result of a yearning for ancient darkness, turned out to be just the time capsule we wanted it to be, far removed from modern metal. I’ve seldom found anything interesting in post-90s Black Metal. We wanted to realize this in the underground way that felt fitting to the music, and chose to work with Svart Records.”
“Our songs are stories about the worship of night and the triumph of the powers of darkness. At night, sun to his slumber and shadows all over, the forces of the night rise to the heavens, cast angels out and usher in a new era of individual freedom”, vocalist Solaterä explains, “I Am The Night is a real band, not a project. It is unrestrained creation. A ray of darkness for us in the vacuum created by the pandemic. The future remains unseen, and all the better for it.”
Seldom has an instant classic band and timeless sound reached our ears at Svart Records, but we are certain that there will be hordes of new initiates, prepared to declare I Am The Night their favorite new ray of darkness.
“While The Gods Are Sleeping”
“Hear Me O’ Unmaker”
“Dawnbearer”
“Ode To The Nightsky”
“I Am The Night”
“The Owl”
“Among The Unseen Ones”
“Holocaust Of The Angels”
Helsott have released a music video for "Independence Night", featuring guest vocals by Tim "Ripper" Owens. The track will be included on the band's upcoming concept album, Will And The Witch, out via M-Theory Audio on May 20. Pre-orders for CD, limited-edition double vinyl, and digital editions of Will And The Witch are available here.
The visualizer video, created by Raf Ortega (Ayreon, Subterranean Masquerade) for “Independence Night” can be viewed below.
Says Dow, “'Independence Night' is a dark and heavy song. We have Tim "Ripper" Owens doing guest vocals for us on this song and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Besides the opening money shot 'Ripper scream' we think you will be pleasantly surprised with the vocal performance by "Ripper". I have been a fan of his ever since I heard 'Bullet Train' from Judas Priest before the Jugulator album was released. I know how hard it must have been to replace someone like Rob Halford and I felt like "Ripper" killed it. It's definitely surreal to be screaming alongside him in this awesome track. Enjoy!"
Says Owens of his guest appearance on the song, “I gotta say I had a blast doing this awesome tune with Helsott, anytime I can show off the wide range of my vocals, it’s a blast and doing the heavy-ass aggressive vocals are some of my favorite. I am ready for more.”
Helsott's newest album, Will And The Witch - mixed and mastered by J-F Dagenais (Kataklysm, Ex Deo) and featuring artwork by Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, Gamma Ray) - is a concept record that tells a fictional story about how Billy The Kid became the fastest gunfighter in the wild west. The first taste of music from the new album was recently unleashed with a visualizer video for the title track, which can be viewed below. The band returns to its musical roots on their latest record with heavier thrash overtones and less orchestral work than their prior record, while catching listeners off-guard with new influences befitting of the album's theme. Thrash metal, power metal, and death metal all converge with acoustic campfire segments, Southern banjo and fiddle, and Native American-inspired hand drums and flutes. The end result is a record that is musically ambitious while remaining melodic, thrashy, and true to the underlying sound of Helsott.
Tracklisting:
"I'll Make Ya Famous"
"Southern Shine"
"Will And The Witch"
"Independence Night"
"Skin Out"
"Babylon: Scarlett's Saloon"
"Everything Hurts"
"Spit Bucket Brawl"
"Navajo Crow"
"Welded As One"
"Reap The Whirlwind"
"Regulators"
Society 1 have released a video for "I Never Saw You", featured on their sixth studio album, Black Level Six, out now. Black Level Six is available on all digital platforms and physical copies can be ordered at Society1band.com. Watch the new video below.
The album is in memory of DV "Dirt" Karloff and features 14 brand-new songs each featuring the last-known recordings of DV on bass. Black Level Six is also the official soundtrack for the corresponding documentary "The Altered Noise" with interviews by Dave Navarro, Raymond Herrera, Matt Zane and more. The Altered Noise is available to view on YouTube now.
The album is experimental and began with the idea to ask the question, "What would a Society 1 album sound like if we recorded it in 1994 in a similar way that Nirvana recorded In Utero?," explained lead vocalist Matt Zane. "We heard they (Nirvana) recorded the album in six days and of course this was before Pro Tools. So some rules were set up for us such as no vocal tune and no copying and pasting vocals."
The music was recorded in five days and guitar solos performed by Justin Manning were an additional day. Mixing took an additional five days and was done by punk legend Greg Hetson of The Circle Jerks and Bad Religion.
"Always cool to work on heavy guitar laden music. Doesn't matter what genre. Some cool odd time signatures on this." - Greg Hetson
Tracklisting:
"Death Screams"
"Bleed You Away"
"I Am The Walrus"
"The Ghost Remains"
"Get Up Again"
"Altered Noise"
"I Never Saw You"
"Love Is Dead"
"While You Mourn"
"Who Will Know"
"Bleed In Me"
"All For You"
"Ride The Pain"
"As I Die"
Barcelona's Syberia will be releasing their instrumental opus, Statement Of Death, on May 6 via Blacklight Media Records. In anticipation of this release, the band have launched a new video for the cut "Ain't.Care.About.Bullets." Watch the video, directed by Fernando J. Martinez, below.
The band adds their thoughts on the visual accompaniment for the song: "With this video we want to draw attention to a very worrying issue in the United States of America: police violence against people of color. "On the album, each song is about a specific case. We didn't want to name names, but the cases are so well documented and well-known, that with the album insert in hand and a little research, the listener can easily figure out who each song is about."
Having leaned in the direction of post-metal on 2019′s Seeds Of Change, Syberia have enthusiastically embraced the genre on fourth album Statement On Death. Transcending their origins as an instrumental rock band, they show many more sides to their songwriting without losing their unique signature sound. Comprised of five riveting tracks spread across 42 minutes, it covers a lot of musical ground, but never once do they lose the attention of the listener, taking them through numerous textured sonic peaks and valleys in beautiful style.
"On each album we try not to repeat ourselves and look for things that we haven't done so far," states the band. "When we start songwriting, we never do it following a specific plan. We always compose according to what we have heard at that time, normally we record riff ideas individually and take them to the rehearsal room. Once there, we assemble the pieces of the puzzle to find the desired song, and the result this time is a record that is darker than our previous ones but with the same bright moments."
Statement On Death will be available on all digital platforms, CD digipak, and vinyl.
Legendary Symphony X guitarist, Michael Romeo, has released a video for "Hybrids", featured on his new album, War Of The Worlds, Part 2, out now via InsideOut Music. Watch below:
War Of The Worlds, Part 2 is now available as:
- 180g black 2LP Gatefold
- Ltd. 2CD PocketPak (incl. Instrumental version of the album)
- Digital Album
"Introduction - Part II"
"Divide & Conquer"
"Destroyer"
"Metamorphosis"
"Mothership"
"Just Before the Dawn"
"Hybrids"
"Hunted"
"Maschinenmensch"
"Parasite"
"Brave New World" (Outro)
Bonus tracks:
"The Perfect Weapon"
"Alien DeathRay"
“Metamorphosis” video:
"Divide & Conquer" video:
In his groundbreaking work with Symphony X, Romeo established himself as one of heavy metals most exciting maverick guitarists. Influenced by the likes of axe gods Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dimebag Darrell and Uli Jon Roth, he’s also steeped in the works of Beethoven, Ravel and Stravinsky. But there’s yet another side to the New Jersey axe wizard and composer, one who’s enamored of film score giants such as Bernard Herrmann, John Williams, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. Romeo put it all in a Cuisinart for his first musical homage to H.G. Wells, and with War Of The Worlds, Part II, he’s flipped the switch to infinity and beyond.
“The title feels a little more prophetic than usual”, he says. “Just by taking a look around at what’s going on in the world. For the most part, there’s a strong sci-fi element to the album, but on a few songs I’m kind of like, ‘Maybe the aliens can just sit this one out while we fight among ourselves…ha.’”
For WOTW2, Romeo welcomes a couple of returning players – drummer John Macaluso and bassist John “JD” DeServio – but the album marks the first time he worked with Croatian singer Dino Jelusick. “I go way back with John and JD, so they were the obvious choices, but this time I wanted to try something different with the vocals”, Romeo says. “Dino came highly recommended, and he totally nailed it! He really brought an exciting element to the music.”
Summing up the album, Romeo says, “It takes the first record deeper into the journey. It’s H.G. Wells with modern-day sci-fi, and there’s a lot of super-heavy cinematic music and, obviously, lots of guitars. Put it on and forget where you are. Let’s go somewhere else. The real world will still be here.”
ÑØÀ
Tommy Vext![=]](/img/news-bord-shr.gif){kind=small}
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