Snares Of Sixes – the exploratory and ever-evolving collective of artists and musicians led by Jason Walton of Agalloch, Sculptured, and more – presents its MoonBladder LP, set for release this Friday through Nefarious Industries and Transcending Records. An album-length video for the single 30 minute movement is streaming ahead of its release.
Conceived, assembled, arranged, and constructed by Jason Walton, Snares Of Sixes’ MoonBladder was recorded in various locations all over the world, its impressive cast of guest collaborators including Marius Sjøli (Sculptured, Fauna Timbre), Robert Hunter (Occulted Sound), Martti Hill (Barrowlands, Sculptured), Don Anderson (Agalloch, Sculptured), Toby Driver (Kayo Dot, Asva), Ron Varod (Kayo Dot, Psalm Zero), Ramin Hosseinabad, Peter Lee (Lawnmower Deth), Lauren Viera, (Dreadnought), Andy Winter (Winds, Age Of Silence), and Nick Wusz (Dolven).
MoonBladder was mixed by Jason Walton at Earth In Sound Studios, mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Sunn O))), Merzbow), and completed with a cover painting by Bridget Bellavia and layout/design by Marius Sjøli. Additionally, a psychedelic video for the entire movement was directed by David Brenner (Gridfailure) infusing footage from multiple band members.
Divulging how the record came to be, Walton writes, “MoonBladder emerged in a very odd way. It started as a twenty-five-minute MIDI idea. Then, Robert Hunter and I did an improv noise set in his house that got added to the MIDI piece. After that, Martti Hill, Nick Wusz, Robert Hunter, and I went into my studio and recorded singing bowls, various pedals, and I even recall pounding on a metal bed frame for a while. Once that was all mixed together, that's when Robert, Marius and I started adding more melodic elements. It continued like this for a few years, until the final pieces of samples, field recordings, and Toby Driver's vocals were added to wrap it up."
MoonBladder will see release October 1 on digital and LP
Memoria Avenue is a new melodic rock/AOR band from Norway showcasing an artistic union between guitarist Tor Talle and singer Jan Le’Brandt. The band's self-titled debut album will be released on November 5 via Frontiers Music Srl. Today, the band has released a music video for the song, "Stranded". Watch the video below, and pre-order/save Memoria Avenue here.
Memoria Avenue is yet another newcomer to the AOR scene brought to you by Frontiers Music Srl. Comprised of guitarist Tor Talle, vocalist Jan Le'Brandt, keyboardist Dag Selboskar, bassist Svenn Huneide, and drummer Bjørn Olav Lauvdal, Memoria Avenue create have a sound and style that will particularly appeal to fans of stylish, '80s oriented melodic rock bands (think Journey and newer bands like Perfect Plan and Work of Art) with a hint of that breezy, feel good sound of yesteryear. Listening to these songs will transport you to the feeling of driving by the sea with the windows rolled down without a care in the world. Certainly not a bad feeling in this day and age...
Tor is a skilled and well known musician, best known for the Northern Light project and the band Skyscraper. He has also worked, either writing songs and/or performing with, on records from melodic rock giants such as Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Fergie Frederiksen (ex-Toto), Rob Moratti (ex-Saga), Steve Overland (FM), and the late Tony Mills (TNT, Shy).
Jan Le’Brandt, a relative newcomer to the melodic rock scene, has a voice that is sometimes hoarse and rough, but can also move into a more delicate and sensitive style. Jan masters the whole spectrum to the fullest, with his soulful presence both on stage and in the studio. He has already previously released some material as a solo artist, appeared with the cover band Svigermord, and formerly sang for Big City (also signed to Frontiers recently), but Memoria Avenue is his chance to truly shine.
Keyboard player Dag Selboskar (who also plays in Zelbo, another new signing to Frontiers), has been touring since 1980 with several bands including Da Vinci, Evenrude, Street Legal, and Trine Rein. He started his own band, Zelbo a couple of years ago with Ken Hensley and Wonderworld guitarist Ken Ingwersen.
Bassist Svenn Huneide started touring in his early teens and has released several albums with Norwegian AOR band Stoneflower. He has released solo albums spanning from pop to rock to country and played bass with Norwegian AOR legends Da Vinci.
Bjørn Olav Lauvdal is one of the most experienced heavy rock drummers in Norway and is known as a heavy hitter. He started playing drums at an early age and toured the club circuit in Norway early in his career. He has toured, recorded, and released albums with Street Legal, The Wheel, and Da Vinci. He has also recorded album tracks on releases by Carnivora and Ken’s Dojo, among others. Live, he has also played with Evenrude, Ozzmosis, Dee Snider, etc.
Melodic Rock and AOR fans will have much to enjoy with the self-titled debut from these talented Norwegians.
Tracklisting:
"Stuck"
"Stranded"
"Can't Blame It On The Rain"
"The Air That Breath"
"Waiting Forever"
"Nathalia"
"Sometimes"
"Run With Me"
"If You Fall"
"Someday"
"High As A Kite"
"Picket Fence"
Swedish doomsters, Left Hand Solution, have unleashed a new video for "For The Hallowed Blood" from Studio Nevo. Watch below.
Drummer and songwriter, Erik Barthold, comments about the song and the making of the new video: "The video was shot in Nevo Studios, our favorite recording studio and longtime collaborators of Left Hand Solution. Our album Light Shines Black was recorded there 20 years ago, and since then this studio has a special place in our hearts. Always an awesome vibe to record there and that is what we wanted to show with the video.
“For The Hallowed Blood is about being truly devoted to someone, and to experience the loss of this someone. It also flirts with religious ceremony and vampires, with the blood being a symbol for eternal life and love. The salvation of being loved.”
After the release of “Hidden Window”, Be'lakor are back with their second single, “Foothold”, taken from their new album, Coherence, out October 29 via Napalm Records.
The deep, powerful vocals of George Kosmas unite with a keen sense for captivating, atmospheric and multi-faced compositions. “Foothold” appears as another gem of progressive death metal, proving Be'lakor’s great ambitions to push their boundaries further once more.
The eight tracks on Coherence display Be'lakor’s impressive spectrum of musical abilities, ranging from the 12-minute-long journey of “Much More Was Lost” to the atmospheric, fully instrumental “Sweep of Days”. Be'lakor are not afraid to focus on extensive, cohesive songwriting, and Coherence is full of details that reveal more and more with every listen of the album. Thanks to the marvelous, larger-than-life mix by none other than Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Leprous, At The Gates among others), Be'lakor are as bold and majestic as ever on Coherence!
Coherence will be available on black 2LP gatefold with etching, as well as limited 2LP gatefolds in gold, silver and white. The exclusive Die Hard Edition of the album will feature a metal plate with the lyrics and a slipmat, and a deluxe wooden box (jewel case) limited edition will include a collector’s coin, wall flag, wrist band and pick set.
Swedish avant-garde metallers Diablo Swing Orchestra will release their fifth album, Swagger & Stroll Down the Rabbit Hole, on November 2 via Candlelight / Spinefarm. They have released a new single, "Celebremos Lo Inevitable", and the official lyric video can be viewed below.
Guitarist / vocalist Daniel Håkansson: "The song draws inspiration from the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos and its celebration of friends and family members who have passed on but still live in our hearts and through our memories of them. It's our first song in Spanish and since we wanted it sound authentic, we had a Mexican vocal coach in the studio just to get the pronunciation correct."
The spirited, progressive eight-piece Swedish ensemble are known for pairing elements of jazz, swing, classical, and progressive rock with just about everything in between. Since their foundation in 2003 the band have released four studio albums which push musical boundaries to the extreme with humour, creativity, and a healthy dose of positive aggression. Their debut, The Butcher's Ballroom, was a breath of fresh air when it came out in 2006 to worldwide critical acclaim. Swagger & Stroll Down the Rabbit Hole is the band's fifth effort and is by far their most ambitious undertaking, which pays tribute to all four previous releases and adds some new colors to their already broad pallet of sounds.
DSO have once again teamed up with producer Roberto Laghi (In Flames, Hardcore Superstars), who has become almost the ninth member of the orchestra. Together, they've dug d
Multi-platinum rockers SKILLET will release their new studio album, "Dominion", on January 14, 2022 via Atlantic. Their 11th studio project, it follows SKILLET's amazing track record of two RIAA certified multi-platinum albums, two gold albums, five RIAA certified multi-platinum singles, and four gold singles. Simultaneously unveiling the project's stunning cover art and track listing, "Dominion"'s first Active Rock radio single, "Surviving The Game" is available now as an instant grat with album pre-order, and fans can also pre-save the album. The album, produced by Kevin Churko (OZZY OSBOURNE, PAPA ROACH, DISTURBED), with songs written by John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Kevin Churko and Kane Churko, was created 100 percent remotely between the band's tour dates, home studio in Wisconsin and the Churkos' studio in Las Vegas.
"'Dominion' is about the celebration of freedom, a liberation from fear — to be who we want to be, say what we want to say, believe what we want to believe," John Cooper says. "In some ways, it's a reminder of the God-given rights that we were born with. It's time to regain some sort of control over our lives and not be a slave to fear. I hope this record is going to make people feel empowered, inspired, uplifted and want to rock their faces off!"
Yesterday, in advance of "Surviving The Game"'s release, Atlantic Records president of A&R Pete Ganbarg and the band's A&R rep Andy Karp hosted SKILLET for a performance and question-and-answer session about the track, which Ganbarg describes as "pure anthemic SKILLET — a song that speaks to the unprecedented times we're all facing with the ferocity that has been the band's trademark for over two decades. It's a fierce, welcome return."
John Cooper describes the track as as "a defiant song about not giving in to the fear that the world is and has been experiencing. This song brings a feeling of survival; you have to do what you need to do in order to get your life back; a defiance against fear and the things that want to hold you down. For so many, that's depression, isolation, lonelieness, suicidal thoughts, etc. This song is about becoming the person you are meant be and coming out on the other side of all the madness."
Earlier today, the band premiered the track's music video on YouTube at 3:05 p.m. EST, following a live video chat. Shot in the expansive desert outside Los Angeles last month, the video is made up of a mixture of high-energy band performances alongside a storyline where a young kid rules the land, entraps the band and they have to fight through pain and fear to make it out alive.
"Dominion" track listing:
01. Surviving The Game
02. Standing In The Storm
03. Dominion
04. Valley Of Death
05. Beyond Incredible
06. Destiny
07. Refuge
08. Shout Your Freedom
09. Destroyer
10. Forever Or The End
11. Ignite
12. White Horse
This fall, SKILLET is headlining 24 shows with ADELITAS WAY as main support as well as EVA UNDER FIRE. The trek, dubbed "The Aftermath Tour", kicked off September 12 in Chicago and will run through October 22 in St. Louis. A limited quantity of VIP packages is available as well, which include a ticket, preshow question-and-answer session and trivia contest hosted by SKILLET, and exclusive merchandise.
SKILLET is one of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century. The two-time Grammy Award-nominated Pandora Billionaires Club members have an undying spirit that has humbly asserted and affirmed them as one of this generation's most successful rock acts.
By 2019, they not only garnered a pair of Grammy nods and sold over 12 million albums worldwide, but they also took home a Billboard Music Award for the double-platinum "Awake". Its breakout single, "Monster", remains one of the most streamed rock songs of all time, with over three billion global audio streams.
2016's "Unleashed" bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200. Hitting No. 1 on rock radio, the lead single, "Feel Invincible", cracked 643 million global audio streams and went platinum. Meanwhile, the gold-certified "Unleashed" became their fourth consecutive album to receive either a gold, platinum, or double-platinum status.
Their 2019 release, "Victorious", included the Top 10 rock radio hit "Legendary", which lived up to its name with over 108 million streams. To date, nine original tunes earned RIAA recognition in tandem with high-profile syncs by everyone from WWE and Marvel to ESPN and NFL.
Despite being arguably Brazil’s biggest ever music export, when extreme metal legends Sepultura lost their original frontman and founder (alongside brother and drummer Iggor Cavalera) Max Cavalera in 1996 after their hugely influential Roots album, many thought the band would not recover from his departure. However, in Cleveland, Ohio punk and hardcore scene veteran Derrick Green, Sepultura found a formidable, towering force that would lead the band with power and conviction through this new era of their career.
Sepulnation - The Studio Albums 1998 - 2009, released through BMG on October 22, celebrates the bands seconds phase, and this five-album boxset (across eight slabs of vinyl or five CDs) contains the albums; Against, Nation, Roorback, Dante XXI and A-Lex, all of which are half speed cut, remastered and back on 180g vinyl for the first time in a decade and also as a collector’s CD box.
In addition, the Roorback album features the rare Revolusongs EP, which is available for the first time digitally and saw the band celebrate their influences with covers of bands as musically broad as Devo, Exodus, U2 and Massive Attack.
Any fans who feared that this new lineup of Sepultura would see the band taming their intense and heavy approach were not left disappointed when Against came out of the traps in 1998. With the powerhouse that is Iggor Cavalera still on drums (he remained for four of the five albums), Andreas Kisser’s grinding guitars and bassist Paula Jr’s heavy bottom end powered behind Derrick Green’s guttural roar and Sepultura sounded heavier and more forceful than ever. This period would see the band continue to push their sound forward and challenge new sounds and styles, but they never lost sight of what was the core of the band. The righteous, rebellious nature remained with the 1998 album Nation calling for ‘one nation, Sepulnation,’ – a rallying cry that stayed with the band throughout their long and challenging career.
Sepulnation - The Studio Albums 1998 - 2009 brings the focus back on a period of the band that may have been missed by early supporters and shows that the fire continued to burn bright throughout.
“It’s an honor and privilege to be a part of Sepultura's history,” states frontman Derrick Green. “I’m proud of all the work we have done together and it only makes sense to have this box set format released for the fans to have the complete history of Sepultura. Long live the Sepulnation!”
The 450’s first single and video, for the track “Flowers From Columbine”, has been released today. Watch the clip below.
“Flowers For Columbine” now is also available as digital single on all digital platforms, and the album, The 450s, will be released on November 19 via Louder Than Loud Records. Pre-order here.
Tales of decadence and despair are rendered with dark and edgy musicality in the provocatively titled songs “Flowers for Columbine” and “Lust and Denial.” Cleary, The 450s aren’t afraid to delve deep into the heart of darkness, either lyrically or in their modern take on soulful, raucous rock ‘n’ roll. Thankfully, some do get out alive, including frontman Rhett, who, like the other members of The 450s, is a musician with a storied history and prolific creativity.
But past critical raves and credits—and there are many among this foursome—don’t necessarily translate into brutally honest, beautifully rendered rock songs, influenced by the ages, but sonically current. Musical chemistry is elusive, but this band of brothers— though only two, Robert and James Jacobs, are blood brothers—have been friends and sometime musical collaborators for decades despite living in Florida, Connecticut, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Each musician had their own project when they came together: Respected drummer and producer (Anthrax, Blue Cheer and more) Carl Canedy just released an album with his iconic band the Rods; the Jacobs’ found strong success with a 2019 release from their acclaimed band St. James; while Rhett, a veteran of major labels, was thriving as a solo artist, earning critical praise for his “ugly-beautiful, gutter- to-penthouse vocals.”
When the quartet got together in Miami, on a whim, the chemistry was effortless, the resultant songs so strong that they caught the ear of legendary producer Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith), who went the extra mile in mixing the album, highlighting The 450’s inherent musical tension and dynamics. Chris Collier (Korn, Prong) also worked on the mixing/production, helping to hone the “modern” part of The 450’s “modern vintage” vibe.
The result is songs with an immediacy and nakedness that’s so intense it’s almost scary. The bluesy flamenco spookiness of “One King” is hauntingly cinematic; while the addictive “Black Tar” mixes a raw power with a dramatic string section, courtesy of keyboard player Ryan Sambrook. The musical push-pull comes from their personalities, as they explain: “Carl is the foundation and Bobby is the bridge between Carl and the rest of the band.”
Jimmy, who cites “Jimmy Page’s arrangements and production abilities and David Gilmour’s precision,” among his influences, “brings the whole thing together musically.” And Rhett himself? He brings a reckless urgency vocally, observing, “This is the heaviest record I’ve ever done, yet it has subtleties, and I hope, at times, a pop sense. Lyrically, this album talks about the thin lines that differentiate where one ends up in life.”
Alien Weaponry have issued their sophomore release, Tangaroa, via Napalm Records. The band have also released a video for the third single from the album, "Hatupatu".
Performed entirely in the indigenous language of te reo Māori, the story behind this track is not only legendary in the band's culture – it's about one of the de Jong brothers' ancestors! Journey alongside Hatupatu in the new music video as he escapes the dangerous clutches of the fabled witch of the forest, the evil bird-woman Kurangaituku.
Drummer Henry de Jong says: "The story of 'Hatupatu' is one Lewis and I grew up with – our father was the first person to tell us as children. Having a family connection with it only made creating a song more intriguing for us. Traditionally, Māori legends were passed down through families by re-telling them, not by having them written down in books. It only makes sense for us to be re-telling this story as our tūpuna (ancestors) did for generations. We cannot wait to share with the rest of the world."
Alien Weaponry are poised to dominate with Tangaroa. The album coalesces the band’s growing maturation with an undisturbed songwriting process, resulting in their most inspired, honest and informed material yet. Tangaroa is immersed in important historical accounts and cultural heritage of the Māori people – in addition to lyrics written in te reo Māori, many tracks feature traditional instruments, called taonga puoro, providing the tracks their own warrior-like attitude. Rhythmic, dynamic album opener “Titokowaru” begins with determined rowing chants and depicts the tale of a famous war chief that challenged the colonial government in New Zealand and led a rebel army, backed by quick riffage and driving drums. Following standout “Hatupatu”, inspired by the harrowing, legendary tale of a de Jong ancestor facing off with a witch, is carried by frenzied guitars, spirited chanting and tribal-like percussion. While Alien Weaponry sourced inspiration from their culture and environmental surroundings while writing most of Tangaroa, the band also looked inward – drawing vision for other portions of the album from within. The album dives into some of their most effecting personal experiences, with English-language songs like the pensive “Unforgiving”.
Athens-based metal outfit, W.E.B., will release their Colosseum full-length on November 19 via Metal Blade Records, today unveiling the record's artwork, tracklisting, first single, and pre-orders.
Forged in 2002 out of a "necessity to scream, blast, and create emotions and get on stage to exchange them with an audience," Greece's W.E.B. have steadily forged a path to becoming one of the premier European symphonic extreme metal bands expressing darkness and death through adrenaline and poetry. An output that's both candid and theatrical, W.E.B. is here to move you, provoke you, and invite you on a journey through ravendark and starless nights. With four albums already under their collective belt, 2021's fifth full-length, Colosseum, is inarguably the band's greatest and most direct work to date.
"We wanted this album to be as straightforward as we could make it. We wanted it to be aggressive and to the point, and at the same time we have pushed literally everything, higher, faster, louder, harder. It is our most metal album," states guitarist/vocalist Sakis Prekas. Combining the brutal with the catchy and drenching it in orchestrations that only serve to expand its epic scale, Colosseum is a thrilling, gripping listen with each of its nine tracks playing an important part in the album as a whole, making it clear that W.E.B. stands toe-to-toe with anyone in their genre.
With Colosseum, the band welcomes two new members: drummer Nikitas Mandolas, who joined following the recording of 2017's Tartarus and whose playing is perfectly suited to the music W.E.B. make, and bassist/vocalist Hel Pyre. "Apart from the great lyrics and the perfect bass performance, she offered her brutal and clean vocals on many parts of the album, leaving her own mark of fire. This is a completely new element for W.E.B. that really gave a unique character to the material."
With the lineup solidified, writing commenced in early 2019, sending ideas back and forth to one another, subsequently honing each song over many pre-production sessions. "With no references, when we make music, our only thoughts are that we want to make it sound as awesome as we can," states Sakis. The dramatic orchestrations are of course a large part of that, with Christos Antoniou of Septicflesh handling this aspect of the sound as he has on previous W.E.B. releases. "Metal is the most revolutionary music genre ever to exist; adding to it symphonic orchestra makes the experience even more epic and emotional in a massive way. We want our music to inspire the senses, thus we aspire to make it intense from our perspective."
Stream the first single "Dominus Maleficarum" via the visualizer video below.
Colosseum will be available on CD, Fruit Punch-colored LP, and digital formats. Pre-order here.
In titling the record Colosseum, W.E.B. draw comparisons with the past and present, in typically brutal style. "The Colosseum was the famous gigantic arena in Rome to give the people 'food and spectacle,' whereas what it truly did was to quench the mob's thirst for blood and violence and keep their minds away from thinking; kind of an ancient TV-brainwash machine," notes Sakis. "People nowadays seem to be thirsty for blood more than ever. They seek violence in almost everything. You can see it in social media, in the streets - even a simple fight between kids in a schoolyard attracts the other kids, not to separate but to watch. Humans miss the Colosseum and what it gave to their violent nature, even though they w
On Friday, September 24, POISON frontman Bret Michaels played an intimate concert the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal in Orlando, Florida as part of the "Velvet Sessions" series. Fan-filmed video footage of the show can be seen below.
As a reality TV star, Michaels has appeared in an extensive library of hit shows including VH1's smash show "Rock Of Love", winning the highest-rated season of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" and Travel Channel's "Rock My RV", currently featured on the Discovery+ streaming platform. Fans have eagerly binged his TV hits on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Tubi, PlutoTV and AppleTV.
Bret was born in Butler, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1963. Rising to fame as the frontman of POISON, one of rock's most iconic and enduring bands, he helped define rock 'n' roll on the Sunset Strip. POISON's massive success includes selling over 30 million records worldwide and numerous hit singles. Bret's solo career has charted its own course with multiple solo albums. His "Custom Built" album included guest appearances by Joe Perry (AEROSMITH) Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Buffett, Ace Frehley (KISS), Michael Anthony (VAN HALEN) and members of LYNYRD SKYNYRD.
POISON's "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place last summer but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Devin Townsend performed as the Friday headliner (August 13th) at the 2021 edition of Bloodstock Open Air at Catton Park in Derbyshire, UK. Check out pro-shot video of "Kingdom" from the show below.
Fan-filmed video from the show is available below. The setlist on the night was as follows:
"Aftermath" (Strapping Young Lad)
"Kingdom"
"By Your Command"
"March of the Poozers"
"Supercrush!"
"Almost Again" (Strapping Young Lad)
"Regulator"
"Stormbending"
"Love?" (Strapping Young Lad)
"Deadhead"
Livløs brings melodic death metal to new levels. The Danish metal phenomenon have established themselves as an essential new name in the international metal scene, ready to shake up the landscape of modern death metal with their upcoming album, And Then There Were None, out October 22 via Napalm Records. Their brand of Scandinavian melodic death metal - influenced by bands like At The Gates and Carcass, and paired with American-rooted death metal in the vein of Death and The Black Dahlia Murder - has already earned the five-piece appearances at Copenhell, Eurosonic and Spot Festival.
After releasing the title track “And Then There Were None”, Livløs now present their second glimpse into the upcoming album with “The Purest Black”. Livløs go downtempo and truly evil with stomping drums, heavy guitars and punishing vocals - this song takes the listener through the diverse repertoire of the Danish powerhouse, combining Scandinavian metal influences with American-rooted metal.
Watch the official music video for "The Purest Black":
On their new album, And Then There Were None, Livløs are audibly on top of their game: scrupulously ripping through nine tight, hard-lined tracks, the band takes no shortcuts while still maintaining a dynamic songwriting style that keeps listeners on their toes throughout the album’s runtime. Album opener and title track “And Then There Were None” sets the pace with punishing vocals and raging death metal riffs, leading into dramatic choruses and guitar solos that display Livløs‘ incredibly multi-faceted talent right off the bat. Only very rarely will the band give listeners time to breathe, like on acoustic intermission “Kistefjael” or the slowed-down, stomping “The Purest Black”, which ends the album experience of And Then There Were None in a triumphant, epic manner. Songs like “Seize The Night” are impressive depictions of singer Niklas Lykke’s broad vocal range, reaching from deep and guttural to high-pitched and ear-piercing sections.
Excellently mixed by Jacob Bredahl (ex-Hatesphere) and mastered by Brad Boatright (known for his work with Obituary, Nails and Torche among others), And Then There Were None is an exceptional display of Livløs‘ confident, modern approach to melodic death metal, meticulously executed from start to finish - revealing more of what it has to offer with every listen. Livløs prove that they are here to stay with And Then There Were None.
And Then There Were None will be available as a digipak CD and digital album, as well as 1LP gatefold black vinyl and an exclusive transparent red 1LP gatefold (limited to 200).
Spanish death metallers Deimler, have just launched a visualizer video of the song "The Architect" as a second advance single from their imminent debut album entitled A Thousand Suns, which will see the light on October 19th, through Xtreem Music on CD, 12" LP, Cassette, and Digital formats.
A Thousand Suns was recorded and mastered at Moontower Studios, and features cover artwork by José Vives.
In all the silence, Finnish death doom masters, Swallow The Sun, have written, recorded and mixed a new album called Moonflowers. It is done and ready and will be released on November 19.
Along with some of the album formats, there will also come a full bonus album featuring very special instrumental versions of all the regular album tracks. This instrumental album has been composed for strings and recorded at Sipoo Church in Finland. The strings were performed by the group called Trio NOX from Finland.
All these instrumental songs will be launched as animated videos, which were created by Dronicon Films. One by one every week, leading up to the first single release of the main album. Watch the clip for "This House Has No Home" below:
Check out the instrumentals for "The Fight For Your Life", "All Hallows' Grieve", "Woven Into Sorrow", "Moonflowers Bloom In Misery" and "Enemy", below:
Juha Raivio comments: “I know well that I should not say this, but I deeply hate this album. I hate where it takes me, how it makes me feel and what it stands for me personally. I wish it wouldn’t. But for all its honesty I got no option than also love it. That is all that matters to me with the music anyway and it doesn’t matter how it makes me feel, as long as it does. For me this album is like a mirror of a deep self-disappointment. Even I still want to believe that there is and could be more than this in me. But I don’t need or want to talk more about it. After all music means so different things to each one of us by how we have walked our own paths, and that is a beautiful thing about music. There is no right or wrong.
"After I had finished writing all the music for this record in the fall of 2020 I started to write these small instrumental versions of the album songs for the violin, viola, cello and piano. Mostly because I was wondering how it would feel like to hear all these songs first as these intimate versions instead of a full band album. It was really beautiful to see and hear these songs come alive in this way and form, recorded live in this big church in Finland. To be able to hear the echoes of this music reflecting from the church walls and feel the very soul of these old wooden instruments played by real people in this sacred place. Something about hearing the strings breathe this fragile beauty into these songs that carry so much pain otherwise. Now looking back, maybe I wrote these versions just for myself to be able to hear and feel at least some kind of a beauty and solace in these songs, maybe…
"I wanted to create the cover art of this album myself this time, so it would stand as brutally honest for me as the music is. So I painted the moon on the ‘Moonflowers‘ cover with my own blood and I decorated it with the flowers I picked up and dried on the spring of 2016. Maybe it isn’t the most outstanding looking piece of art ever made in this world, but for me it is everything. I wasn’t going to write any new music before I would have moved towards the right direction in my life, but finally all this music just forced itself out of me during the long nights of this hope crushing and neverending lockdown prison. Something grew out from that void eventually and writing these songs made me think a lot about moonflowers that bloom at the darkest hour of the night, so that name felt right to call the album also.
Iceland's Cult Of Lilith have released an artwork time-lapse video for "Profeta Paloma", a track from their debut full-length, Mara (Metal Blade Records). Watch below:
A frantic collision of death metal, prog, complex classical structures and more, Mara is a restless, constantly shifting collection that is as imaginative as it is compulsive. The album can be ordered here.
SLIPKNOT closed out Riot Fest, one of Chicago's best independent homegrown events, at Douglass Park on Sunday (September 19). Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.
The Riot Fest show came two weeks after SLIPKNOT played its first concert in 18 months on September 4 at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. The gig marked the debut of SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor's new mask, which he had been working on for the past few months.
This past May, Taylor spoke to Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 about the evolution of SLIPKNOT's masks and what fans can expect to see during the band's current touring cycle.
"The mask has been a part of us forever," he said. "The mask is king. And for us, especially people like me and Clown and the guys in the band that really allow those masks to evolve, it's important for it to be a reflection of who we are in that music. And I can tell you that the mask I'm working on is very disturbing. It's gonna be hard to look at. And it'll probably be my favorite mask that I've ever put together. It's little bits and pieces of things that have intrigued me, of masks that I've had in the past. And it's gonna have a devil-may-care kind of terror to it, let's put it that way."
Corey worked on his previous mask with special effects legend Tom Savini, whose extensive career in the film industry and especially the horror genre dates back to the late 1970s, including in such films as "Friday The 13th", "Dawn Of The Dead", "From Dusk 'Til Dawn" and many others.
The other members of SLIPKNOT performed with their current masks for the first time in May 2019 when they appeared as the musical guests on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
During a 2017 appearance on an episode of Viceland's "The Therapist", Taylor was asked about the significance of wearing a literal mask when he is performing with SLIPKNOT. He responded: "With SLIPKNOT, at least for most of us in the band, the mask is part of the art — it's not just the visual and the shock; it's a representation of who I am in that album. So, for me, it's as natural as having a different hairstyle for one album and tour cycle, wearing different clothes for an album and tour cycle. It's a part of the dynamic. It's one of the things that you look forward to. Not just writing the songs, not just putting the music together, not just putting the visuals together, but what… who am I in this album?"
Corey spoke about the changes in the SLIPKNOT bandmembers' masks in a 2014 interview with Metal Mania Radio. "With every album, some of us have evolved our masks more dramatically than others, but there's always a difference, they've always changed a little bit… This band evolves with every album, and it just makes sense that our masks [would as well], because we're not the same people. It's not something that we sit down and we talk about as a group, we just kind of do it. As unified as we all are, the mask is really something that we trust each other to do individually and we trust them to do the right representation."
This past June, SLIPKNOT announced the 2021 incarnation of the "Knotfest Roadshow". Support on the trek will come from three Grammy-nominated heavy music luminaries, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FEVER 333 and CODE ORANGE. The 28-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicks off following the band's previously announced Knotfest Iowa hometown show in Des Moines on September 25. The "Knotfest Roadshow"'s first official date happens at Tinley Park, Illinois on September 28, with the tour then snaking its way across the U.S., wrapping up in Arizona in early November.
Finnish melodic death metal pioneers, Insomnium, present a video for their new song, "The Wanderer”, off the Argent Moon EP, released today via Century Media Records and available worldwide on all digital platforms and in different physical formats.
Frontman Niilo Sevänen about “The Wanderer”: "’The Wanderer’ is the fourth and final song on our ‘Argent Moon’ EP. Composition by Markus Vanhala and lyrics by yours truly. Our goal on this EP was to try a bit different kind of songs and in this sense I believe ‘The Wanderer’ excels. I don't think it really resembles any other song we have done before, yet it still sounds like Insomnium. The video was shot on Suomenlinna fortress island in Helsinki."
The Argent Moon EP is available as Ltd. CD Digipak, LP+CD and as digital album. All physical formats can be ordered here.
The vinyl version will be available in the following colors and limitations:
- Black vinyl, unlimited
- Sky blue vinyl, limited to 200 copies worldwide, available at CMDistro
- Silver vinyl, limited to 200 copies worldwide, only available at the official band store
- Ultra clear vinyl, limited to 500 copies worldwide, only available at the official band store
Tracklisting:
"The Conjurer"
"The Reticent"
"The Antagonist"
"The Wanderer
French death metal masters Akiavel have unleashed a video for their song "Lady Of Death". The track is taken from their album Væ Victis which was released in April 2021.
Frontwoman Aure comments: “'Lady Of Death' is a song about Aileen Wuornos. I absolutely wanted to put her on our album because I find her fascinating. I have studied her story a lot, I have a lot of compassion for her, despite the fact that she has murdered people. That’s why the text isn’t very violent or bloody, it’s more based on how she feels. She had a lot of suffering in her. For the video clip, we got closer to her psychological state. That’s why we chose the actress who clearly embodied her conscience and the struggle within her."
Væ Victis is a concept album that explores the darkest and most depraved spaces of the human psyche. Further evolving their sound, Akiavel takes a radical approach to their musical assault, consuming the listener with dizzying maelstroms of chaos. Væ Victis embodies the word “death,” putting forth an intrusive battery of blistering guitars, pummeling drums, and scathing vocals that culminates in one of the most robust death metal records the genre has seen yet.
Væ Victis is available on CD, with limited edition signed and numbered vinyl pressings. Order yours now at this location.
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