FEUERSCHWANZ Releases New Single & Video “Untot im Drachenboot”

New Album, Memento Mori, out December 31, 2021 via Napalm Records

Pre-Order NOW!

Recently, about a year after the release of their last album, Das Elfte Gebot – which reached #3 in the German album charts – FEUERSCHWANZ announced their new album, Memento Mori, set for release on New Year's Eve 2021. Now, with their first single, "Untot im Drachenboot", the pioneers of the German folk rock scene herald a triumphant overseas voyage into another legendary FEUERSCHWANZ saga!

With echoing screams, "Untot im Drachenboot" calls a mighty army aboard a monstrous Viking ship. Wild guitar riffs and rousing violin solos put wind into the sails, while captain Feuerschwanz keeps hold of his crew with strong vocal power and deep growls. Filmed on a real Viking ship, FEUERSCHWANZ literally set sail in the video for "Untot im Drachenboot" and deliver another glorious anthem! The Franconians once again deliver a very strong music video, which offers a first taste of the upcoming album, Memento Mori.

FEUERSCHWANZ on the new song:

"'Untot im Drachenboot' - Pirates of the Caribbean meets Vikings! Ancient Icelandic sagas tell the story of undead fighters, called Draugr, appearing from nowhere to roam and plunder the land. Now our captain is also cursed to eternal capture and gathers an army of undead warriors around him. Ready to fight for our future caper voyages, we want to board the stages of this world again as soon as possible with the wild hordes of our fans - and provide you with the matching soundtrack! Hoist the sails and join our army!"

Watch the New Video for “Untot im Drachenboot”

Shortly following their live BluRay/DVD Die Letzte Schlacht debuting on the German album charts at #4, FEUERSCHWANZ announced their new studio album, Memento Mori. The new album will be released on December 31, 2021 via Napalm Records and will continue the success story of the medieval rockers from Germany / Franconia! Memento Mori, the follow-up to the successful album Das Elfte Gebot, sings about great adventures, past battles and outstanding heroic deeds in pure FEUERSCHWANZ fashion. FEUERSCHWANZ manage to stay true to their trademarks, and at the same time, venture musically into new realms.

FEUERSCHWANZ on the new album:

“You take nothing with you to your grave, except your coffin... Memento Mori is the direct successor to Die Letzte Schlacht! The world of Hauptmann Feuerschwanz is in flames, overrun by the living dead and scourged by religious zealots... All of this sounds frighteningly real, even in Anno Domini 2021, so it's time to defy the storm once again and celebrate life. Let's live here, let's live now - until death sharpens his knife!”

Pre-Order Memento Mori NOW!

As a special highlight, some versions of Memento Mori will feature a bonus CD with seven cover songs by Manowar, Amon Amarth, but also O-Zone, among others.

Memento Mori will be available in the following formats:

2-CD Mediabook + 40 pages booklet

1-CD Jewel Case + 20 pages booklet

Digital Album

Digital Deluxe Album

A few days after album release, FEUERSCHWANZ will go on an extended tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They will be accompanied by fearless heavy metal kings WARKINGS

FEUERSCHWANZ are:

Hauptmann Feuerschwanz - vocals, guitar

Johanna von der Vögelweide - violin, hurdy-gurdy

Rollo - drums

Jarne Hodinsson - bass

Prinz Hodenherz - flutes, bagpipe, vocals, guitar

Hans der Aufrechte – guitar

Royal Metal Powerhouse HAMMER KING Releases New Music Video for “Ashes To Ashes”

New Album, Hammer King, Out Now via Napalm Records

Order HERE!

In the name of thy majesty - HAMMER KING has arrived!

This summer, royal metal powerhouse HAMMER KING dropped a hammer strike with its Napalm Records debut, Hammer King. Now, the German keepers of the hammer surprise their fans with a fiery music video for “Ashes To Ashes”. On “Ashes To Ashes”, the kings from Kaiserslautern, Germany set everything ablaze with an epic battle hymn, leading the journey of their latest chapter Hammer King to its glorious finale.

Kicking off with heavy, burning guitar riffs, “Ashes To Ashes” delivers massive drum play, mighty echoing choirs and the powerful vocals of Titan Fox V that prove the track as a strong, anthemic flagship, bursting with bite and catchiness. HAMMER KING knows how to get your head banging!

Titan Fox V about “Ashes To Ashes”:

"Hammerous Folks! Here it is - our new video "Ashes To Ashes"! A live favorite of our latest album Hammer King. Needless to say that it was a damn hot video to shoot. Let it be a cleansing fire of pure Heavy Metal! God bless the King, may the King bless you."

Watch the official music video for “Ashes To Ashes”

HAMMER KING keeps it heavy with speedy riffs, energic grooves and fist-pumping choruses, devoting their existence to the one and only myth of the godly Hammer King! The new self-titled album starts off with blasting drums and brisk guitars on “Awaken the Thunder”, with frontman and guitarist Titan Fox V showing off his incredible vocal range, whereas tracks like “Atlantis” prove HAMMER KING’s ability to write catchy and memorable choruses. Hammer King tells the lore of the Hammer King himself, a wrathful and mighty war god, who is praised in tracks like anthemic “Baptized by the Hammer”, energetic and double-bass driven “In the Name of the Hammer” and the hard-hitting “Hammerschlag”. Kneel before the king of kings, the HAMMER KING!

Order your copy of Hammer King NOW!

Hammer King is available in the following formats:

- 1-CD Digipak

- 1-LP Gatefold Vinyl BLACK

- 1-LP Gatefold Vinyl RED TRANSPARENT (strictly limited to 100 copies)

- Deluxe Box (Flag, 4x Signed Cards, Keychain/Bottle Opener)

- Digital Album

[Deluxe Box (Flag, 4x Signed Cards, Keychain/Bottle Opener)]

HAMMER KING are:

Titan Fox V – vocals/guitar

Gino Wilde - guitar

Gladius Thundersword - bass

Dolph Aidan Macallan - drums

Rock Royalty RICK WAKEMAN Announces Rescheduled 2022 Dates for his Solo Tour

Rescheduled dates for Rick Wakeman’s The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour of the USA have now been announced for February/March 2022. Tickets for the original 2021 concerts will remain valid for the rescheduled dates and are on-sale now.

Visit Rick’s website www.RWCC.com or the theatres’ sites for tickets and information.

The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour 2021 (Remaining Dates)

October: 22 The Paramount, Huntingdon NY
24 The Birchmere, Alexandria VA
25 City Winery, New York City NY
27 Wellmont Theatre, Montclair NJ
28 The Vogel @ Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank NJ
29 Scottish Rite Auditorium, Collingswood NJ
30 Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield CT

November: 1 Bearsville Theater, Woodstock NY

The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour 2022 (Rescheduled Dates*)

February: 22 Neptune Theater, Seattle WA
24 Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco CA
25 The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles CA
26 Magnolia, El Cajon CA

March: 2 Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix AZ
4 Pantages Theatre, Minneapolis MN
6 The Sheldon, St Louis MO
8 Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater FL
9 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta GA
11 Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Amaturo Theater,
Fort Lauderdale FL

* Further information regarding the originally scheduled shows in Albany, NY, Chicago, IL, Kent, OH, and Buffalo, NY will be forthcoming.

Reviews of The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour 2021

‘A great show by a historic performer’ – Live Music News & Review

‘Everyone left with a smile after enjoying a great night of comedy, stories and music’ – Misplaced Straws

GREEN CARNATION Announce Remastered, 15th Anniversary Edition of 'The Acoustic Verses'

Norwegian progressive rock icons GREEN CARNATION will be releasing a remastered, 15th anniversary edition of their acoustic album, 'The Acoustic Verses!' This anniversary edition, remastered by Maor Appelbaum, contains three bonus tracks and has brand new cover artwork by Lukasz Jaszak. This is also the first time that 'The Acoustic Verses' is released on vinyl.

In celebration of this release, the band has also released a lyric video for the song "My Greater Cause.

Vocalist Kjetil Nordhus comments: "This is something that both we and our fans have been waiting for a long time! 'The Acoustic Verses' is a stand out album in our catalogue, and we hope people will enjoy the vinyl, with its extra songs, new and beautiful cover art, the upgraded sound and not least, the vinyl!"

'The Acoustic Verses (remastered)' will be out on December 3, via Season of Mist.

Pre-orders are live in the shop HERE.

By early 2006, Norway’s GREEN CARNATION had released four studio albums and an EP in five years — including their breakout masterwork, 2001’s Light of Day, Day of Darkness. Albums of such magnitude generally foretell some type of creative cliff is around the bend, but the Norwegians wisely kept updating their sound with more atmospheric and progressive rock elements on the ensuing A Blessing in Disguise (2003) and The Quiet Offspring (2005). This creative direction ensured Light of Day, Day of Darkness would forever stand alone and that GREEN CARNATION was not a band bound to convention.

This brings us to 2006’s The Acoustic Verses, an album — as the title suggests — of completely acoustic originals. Buoyed by the previous year’s The Burden is Mine…Alone EP and the eponymous song bearing its name, The Acoustic Verses found GREEN CARNATION near the peak of their creative powers during their 2000s iteration. Now 15 years removed from its release, TheAcoustic Verses is getting the vinyl reissue treatment from Season of Mist, including new artwork from Polish graphic artist Lukasz Jaszak, an updated tracklisting and three bonus cuts.

According to vocalist Kjetil Nordhus, The Acoustic Verses was born from the band’s never-ending pursuit of something new. Even with regular pleas from fans to recreate the hallowed sounds of Light of Day, Day of Darkness, GREEN CARNATION was more interested in the “next step.” Come 2006, that next step was stripped-down music played on acoustic instruments.

“I think [founding member/guitarist] Tchort thought we didn’t know where to go next,” says Nordhus. “We had time to discover all the areas within our creative scope except for the acoustic landscapes. Especially Light of Day, Day of Darkness, which is a ‘more is more’ album. It sounds strange, but it was a natural step for us because it was an area we hadn’t gone into before as a band. We had different band members that were more or less acquainted with the acoustic ideas. But for the band as a whole, it was a new challenge. It was fresh for us. For some strange reason, but I can understand, I think many people found a lot of atmospheres from Light of Day, Day of Darkness in TheAcoustic Verses, even though it’s the most different sounding album when you listen to it at first. The Acoustic Verses is like a stripped-down essence of what GREEN CARNATION is or was at that time.”

At seven songs, The Acoustic Verses features songwriting contributions from nearly every member of GREEN CARNATION. Tchort provided “Sweet Leaf” and “Alone,” while Nordhus chipped in with “Maybe?” Bassist Stein Roger Sordal penned not only “The Burden is Mine…Alone” but also the 15-minute epic “9-29-045.” “Child’s Play Part 3” (a continuation of the “Child’s Play” story from The Quiet Offspring) was written by guest cellist Bernt Andrè Moen, and album closer “High Tide Waves” was a joint effort between guitarist Michael S. Krumins (music) and drummer Tommy Jackson (lyrics).

The wealth and disparity of songwriting ideas proved to be a double-edged sword GREEN CARNATION. While it made The Acoustic Verses an album of remarkable depth and progression, it put the band at a creative crossroads. Then, the following year, Tchort dissolved GREEN CARNATION after a difficult North American tour. It also put his plans for the sequel to Light of Day, Day of Darkness, The Rise and Fall of Mankind (which was the intended second part of his The Chronicles of Doom trilogy) on the backburner.

“It was a challenge for us to fit the new, acoustic sound into what we were doing,” says Nordhus. “I can’t remember too many albums that have nearly all band members as songwriters and lyricists, which made it very much a band concept. But, after The Acoustic Verses, we certainly didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t a natural step for us to take at that point. There’s a lot of reasons why we decided to split up — that was one of them.”

GREEN CARNATION reformed in 2014 and proceeded to rejoin the European and American festival circuit for special appearances, including a full airing of Light of Day, Day of Darkness at the 2016 ProgPower USA festival. In 2020, they released the highly anticipated follow-up to The Acoustic Verses, Leaves of Yesteryear, an album that drew immediate praise from fans and critics.

“We knew that people wanted us to come back,” says Nordhus. “That wasn’t something new. But the emotions of it all, during that first concert when we came back, we saw several people crying in the audience, we could see how much it meant to people and we were all a bit surprised. There’s a lot of love for the band out there. We needed to be entirely sure that after so many years that we released an extremely good album. It wouldn’t make sense to do something halfway. We took quite a lot of time, wrote a lot of material and set a high bar for our ideas. We tried to gather all the best things we did previously but adding 15 years of life and musical experience.”

Nordhus hints at some “significantly adventurous” plans for GREEN CARNATION in addition to continuing the promotional push for Leaves of Yesteryear. However, assembling the The Acoustic Verses reissue provided a moment of pause and reflection when GREEN CARNATION was writing, recording and touring at a breakneck pace. A decade-and-a-half after the release of The Acoustic Verses, Nordhus says the band is in a significantly better frame of mind and appreciates what they have in each other.

“Those were some hectic years. It was such a short period of time. You look at what we did and it’s like, ‘Oh, wow!’ We did concert DVDs, singles, full lengths…everything. Because of the experience we all have, it feels much more comfortable to play together. We’re more true to what we want to do. We don’t necessarily have the aim of headlining the Wacken festival. We’re happy with our situation in that we have people all over the world who are interested in what we’re doing, and we mean something to them. Not everyone can say that. We want to do stuff that gives us energy and want to continue playing. Economy and money are not our driving force — it never was in the first place. We’re extremely ambitious when it comes to making music together and our live shows are better than ever. I don’t think we talked about those things 15 years ago.”

Links:
www.greencarnationmusic.com
www.facebook.com/greencarnationnorway
www.instagram.com/green2carnation/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vfEaTADayEniT7xbG-XCA

Photo: Jørund Pedersen

Genre: Progressive Metal

Original recording line-up:
Tchort - Guitars (acoustic)
Stein Roger Sordal - Bass, Vocals (backing), E-bow, Vocals (lead)
Kjetil Nordhus - Vocals (lead), Vocals (backing)
Michael S. Krumins - Guitars (acoustic), Theremin
Tommy Jackson - Drums, Percussion
Kenneth Silden - Piano, Mellotron
Bjørn Harstad - Guitars

Line-up:
Vocals - Kjetil Nordhus
Guitars - Terje Vik Schei
Guitars - Bjørn Harstad
Bass - Stein Roger Sordal
Keyboards - Kenneth Silden
Drums - Jonathan Alejandro Perez

Original recording Studio:
Engineered and mixed at Brown Sound Studios, except track 4, mixed at Jailhouse Studios.
Violins, viola and cello recorded at Jailhouse Studios.
Drums recorded at Dub Studios.
Mastered at Lynor.

Remaster: Maor Appelbaum Mastering // Maor Appelbaum

Cover Art:Lukasz Jaszak

Biography:David Gehlke

Pre-sales:https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/gc-acoustic-remaster

Formats: CD digipak, vinyl black and coloured

DRACONIAN Announces Re-Issues of Remarkable Full-Length Albums Where Lovers Mourn (2003) & Arcane Rain Fell (2005)

Out December 17, 2021 - Pre-Order NOW!

Swedish doom/gothic union DRACONIAN will release the atmospheric re-issues of their guiding full-lengths Where Lovers Mourn (2003) and Arcane Rain Fell (2005) on vinyl on December 17, 2021 via Napalm Records.

The Scandinavians’ 2003 album, Where Lovers Mourn, marked a memorable debut filled with stunning atmosphere of unease and sadness. The eight compositions offer melancholic, plaintive guitar melodies and a dark yet melodic male vocal alternating between aggression and chanting in contrast with the angelic voice of former vocalist Lisa Johansson. Their first offering also doesn't shy away from extended-length tracks. In addition, there is a wealth of variety in terms of peaceful piano parts, subtle string inserts, folk interjections and orchestral passages giving the gothic/doom influenced piece of art a flair all its own.

The second studio-album, Arcane Rain Fell, proudly builds upon the Swedish unit’s first creation. With a musically darker and also heavier opus, DRACONIAN venture into poetic lyrical landscapes. A major part of this new lightness is due to a noticeable reduction of the keyboard bombast and above all the poetically inspired lyrics, presented in a both beautiful and dark vocal duet, which takes the listener into a world of sound equally as sorrowful as it is beautiful. The re-issue promises an eerily beautiful atmosphere, full of dark romance as if made for cold winter evenings.

Anders Jacobsson and Johan Ericsson add:

“Our debut album Where Lovers Mourn shows a broad variety of influences, from doom to folk music, all with the gothic vibe that followed us from our first demo. It mostly consisted of reworked material from our demo, Dark Oceans We Cry, released the year prior. You can hear still hear traces of this era in our most recent works.

With Arcane Rain Fell we cemented our sound and took a big step with our song writing. It’s very dear to us and our fans, still to this day. Lyrically it was a continuation of the Luciferian influence starting with our 1999 demo A Closed Eyes of Paradise.”

Pre-Order your copies of Where Lovers Mourn and Arcane Rain Fell HERE!

Where Lovers Mourn will be available as 2LP Gatefold in marbled silver/black and Arcane Rain Fell enchants as 2 LP Gatefold in marbled green transparent/black, each limited to 500 copies worldwide.

[Where Lovers Mourn - 2LP Gatefold silver/black marbled]

[Arcane Rain Fell – 2LP Gatefold green transparent/black marbled]

DRACONIAN is:

Anders Jacobsson - vocals

Heike Langhans - vocals

Johan Ericsson - guitar

Daniel Arvidsson - guitar

Jerry Torstensson - drums

ARCHSPIRE Shares Moms' Reaction Video to Drone Corpse Aviator

Canadian tech death masters ARCHSPIRE recently released the explosive and gory music video for their latest single, "Drone Corpse Aviator." The band has teamed up with Metal Injection to share a hilarious video of their mothers' reaction to the clip.

"Drone Corpse Aviator" is taken from the band's upcoming opus, 'Bleed the Future,' which is due on October 29! The original video can be seen HERE while a behind-the-scenes look at the clip's creation is available HERE.

ARCHSPIRE will be playing an album release show in their hometown of Vancouver, B.C. at the Rickshaw Theatre on October 30! The event is now SOLD OUT!

"Drone Corpse Aviator" is taken from ARCHSPIRE's new full-length album, 'Bleed the Future,' on October 29, 2021 via Season of Mist! 'Bleed the Future' is available now for pre-orders at THIS LOCATION.

ARCHSPIRE Album Release Show:
10/30/2021: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre [TICKETS // EVENT LINK]

Archspire’s JUNO-Nominated (Canadian Grammy) 2017 Relentless Mutationwas a cavalcade of speed and extremity — blasting, accelerating and, in partial reference to its title, “mutating” as each song unfolded, all the while rapid-fire, shotgun vocals blurred the lines between a man’s throat and additional instrument. It was, unquestionably, an innovation of sound and technique — Archspire had broken the speed barrier while creating songs memorable as they were unabashedly extreme for extreme metal. Thus, the pressure was already there to top Relentless Mutation when the band started to compile new songs in 2018. The global pandemic heightened the situation (read: no touring, expanded free time) and caused Archspire to turn inward and apply additional rigor to their songwriting process, albeit painstakingly so. But by the end of the fraught calendar year that was 2020, the band emerged with their fourth studio album, Bleed the Future. 

According to the members of Archspire — vocalist Oli Aleron, guitarists Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli, bassist Jared Smith and drummer Spencer Prewett — they originally went into the making of Bleed the Future under the idea they would finish the album in between the various tours scheduled for 2020. Of course, none of that happened, prompting the band to do more pre-production than at any time in their career. Archspire then subjected the album’s eight songs to near-constant critiquing that ensured they came away with a product, that in their estimation, is their best to date. 

“The benefit we had was that Relentless came out in 2017,” says Lamb. “Since then, we toured more than we ever did before. We had the viewpoint of ‘What do crowds like? What parts should we write more of? What parts do people give us good feedback on?’ We wanted to expand and write those parts more consistently — there are more hooks and when we do have hooks, we wanted to repeat those parts so people will know that this is the catchy part of the song.” 

“The most important thing was that we had clever songwriting,” adds Prewett. “We wanted the album to be more accessible to more people but still keep it extreme, fast and technical. So, we changed our process this time. We recorded rehearsal every day and listened to what we did afterward. We’d then come back to the jam spot and change riffs and ideas based on what everyone was thinking about during the week. It resulted in an album that everyone was happier with.” 

Archspire also had the stated goal for Bleed the Future that they wanted to get faster. While such a feat may defy reason given their previous output, the band wrote their fastest song to date — the album-closing “A.U.M.,” a cut that opens up with an audio recording of a German friend of Prewett’s who, according to the drummer, enjoys ragging on Archspire. Comedic clips aside, “A.U.M.,” caps off an album that pushes the boundaries of speed but also is textured — Smith’s ethereal basslines often serve as mid-song interludes, while Lamb and Morelli weave melodic, spiraling guitar lines that annihilate the fretboard during “Abandon the Linear,” “Bleed the Future” and “Acrid Canon.” Accordingly, the members of Archspire were keenly aware of the expectations placed upon them after the success of Relentless Mutation. The online comments regarding whether they could top 

Relentless Mutation was also occasionally on their minds when composing Bleed the Future and prompted the band to ensure that all five members were happy with everything — down to the last riff, vocal line, bass run and drum pattern. “Audience expectation is really important,” says Lamb. “If we leave the jam spot and everyone is stoked on a song, it’s pretty likely that the audience will be stoked. We have the expectation of the audience but we also have to be pumped on the music. I feel the proudest of the music. We spent more time on the songs and got better at writing. I feel it’s better music.” 

“It’s an extremely tedious writing process,” adds Smith. “If anyone isn’t feeling a riff, we scrap it and have to find something we’re all happy with. It can be super-frustrating in the moment, but in the end, we have something better. We want everything we write to be a step up and I think we achieved that with Bleed the Future.” 

The album is accompanied by a concept developed by Aleron that begs the question: What happens when humans start giving birth to non-humans? Born from a weird dream the vocalist had, Bleed the Future’s concept does not have finality or a conclusion. It does, however, posit a few ethical dilemmas to ties into Archspire’s long-running science fiction themes. 

“I thought about what if those things they were giving birth to could actually benefit them in the future so they wouldn’t want to reject them,” says Aleron. “What would happen to the humans that weren’t born? Would they go to a different dimension? I played with that whole idea because I hadn’t seen a horror movie where that was the theme. It worked for all the songs. The only social commentary is that people don’t know what they’re giving birth to — if you put someone on this planet, you don’t know whether they’re going to be good or evil.” 

Bleed the Future was recorded in October and November 2020 at Flatline Audio in Colorado with producer/engineer Dave Otero. This was the second consecutive album the band worked with Otero. According to Morelli, the recording process was seamless. “Dave was already familiar with what we each can do individually,” he says. “This time, he was more prepared to tackle those elements. How he tracks was more focused on what we were capable of and I think it really shows here.” 

As live show activity for 2021 hangs in the balance (Archspire currently has dates lined up for November), the pandemic has prompted many bands to re-think their new album release dates as well as how to stay visible in a world currently without touring. But, with a fanbase that has embraced the band’s online presence that includes playthroughs, tutorials and now, cooking shows (!), Archspire heads into the Bleed the Future album cycle the benefactors of their commitment to touring and, most of all, position as one of death metal’s most forward-thinking bands. 

“We have a lot of awesome fans, so I think they’ll be there to support us and pick up the album because they like the music,” says Lamb. “We’re a self-managed band; we’ve been working with the same label for ten years and I think the outcome will be good. Would it had been better if we had been on a full North American tour starting a week before the album release? Sure, but I think people will come out and support us through other means. As soon as we’re ready to go back on tour and everybody is safe to do so, we’ll be out there.” 

Links: 
https://archspire.bandcamp.com/  
https://www.facebook.com/Archspireband 
https://twitter.com/Archspireband 
https://www.instagram.com/archspireofficial/  
https://www.youtube.com/user/Archspiremetal  

Lineup: 
Oliver Rae Aleron (vocals) 
Spencer Prewett (drums) 
Dean Lamb (guitars) 
Tobi Morelli (guitars) 
Jared Smith (bass) 

Recording Studio: 
Flatline Audio (Denver, CO, USA) 

Producer/mixing/mastering/engineer: 
Dave Otero 

Cover art: 
Eliran Kantor 

Bio: 
David E. Gehlke 

Pre-sales: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/ArchspireBleed

For more information on ARCHSPIRE, give them a follow on their OFFICIAL FACEBOOK, TWITTER, BANDCAMP, and INSTAGRAM pages.

THE UNITY Release New Video for "Close To Crazy" (Live) with German Comedian Sascha Grammel

Fans of the German puppet comedy superstar Sascha Grammel have known for a while now: The likable ventriloquist from Spandau and proud creator of puppets and audience favorites such as eagle pheasant Frederic Freiherr von Furchensumpf, turtle lady Josie or ecotrophologist Professor Dr. Peter Hacke, is always good for a surprise. Grammel swears by the music of German Metal band The Unity to motivate him during fitness workouts. Apparently, his favorite track to sweat, cycle, run and lift weights along is "Close To Crazy". But that`s not all! Grammel and his endearingly eccentric puppet flatmate now appear in The Unity’s latest video – and you can see they’re enjoying every second of it.

Referring to the unusual song title, Grammel`s alter ego Frederic quizzes his boss in the video intro: “Did you write this song?” And counters Grammel`s honest denial with, “But it would’ve been very fitting! You`re close to crazy too!”

"Close To Crazy (live)" is the forerunner to The Unity’s new live album‚ The Devil You Know – Live, which is due for release by Steamhammer/SPV on November 12th, 2021, and includes recordings of concert highlights from their tours of Germany and several European countries between 2017 and 2020. The accompanying video shows The Unityas comrades in arms with the two Gamma Ray members Henjo Richter (guitar) and Michael Ehré (drums, Primal Fear), alongside bandmates Gianbattista Manenti (vocals), Stef E (guitar), Jogi Sweers (bass) and Sascha Onnen (keyboards) at the Masters Of Rock Festival in the Czech Republic, where the band, as always, managed to thrill fans and critics alike.

The band will also be back on stage for the big release party of The Devil You Know - Live on December 25th & 26th at the Jahnhalle in Nordenham, GER. Additional shows, festival appearances, and tours throughout Europe are also scheduled for 2022. And, who knows, you may even spot Sascha Grammel with his puppet family in the audience at one gig or another. Like all the best fans, they’re close to crazy, after all.

"The Devil You Know - Live" will be released on November 12th, 2021 through SPV/Steamhammer in the following configurations:

=> CD DigiPak

=> Download / Streaming

Pre-Order Link: https://smarturl.it/TheUnityTheDevil

=> Exclusive CD Bundle with rare 7" vinyl single only at the Steamhammer shop

Pre-Order Link: https://shop.steamhammer.de/artists/the-unity/store

For More Info Visit:

www.unity-rocks.com

https://www.facebook.com/unityrocksofficial/

https://www.facebook.com/steamhammerofficial/

SEPULTURA ANNOUNCE ‘SEPULNATION – THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1998 – 2009’8 LP BOX SET AND 5 CD BOXSET TO BE RELEASED VIA BMG ON OCTOBER 22

SEPULTURA ANNOUNCE ‘SEPULNATION –
THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1998 – 2009’

8 LP BOX SET AND 5 CD BOXSET TO BE RELEASED
VIA BMG ON OCTOBER 22ND

LISTEN TO A NEW BAND CURATED PLAYLIST FROM ‘SEPULNATION’ ON SPOTIFY HERE:

WATCH NEW VINYL UNBOXING VIDEO

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 22nd, 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!

Serving as a guided tour of the boxset, Derrick, Andreas and Paulo have curated a Spotify playlist of their favourite tracks from these albums which you can listen to HERE and to further wet your appetites, you can view a new vinyl unboxing video of ‘Sepulnation’ HERE:

‘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!”

Pre-order ‘Sepulnation’ HERE:

MORE INFORMATION
Twitter: twitter.com/divisionpr
Facebook: facebook.com/divisionpr
Web: divisionpromotions.com

AD INFINITUM Announces New Album “Chapter II – Legacy” + Reveals First Single “Unstoppable”

Gripping New Album, Chapter II – Legacy, out October 29, 2021 via Napalm Records

Pre-Order NOW!

Following their captivating first single “Unstoppable” – which captured nearly 100,000 YouTube views within 24 hours of its debut – AD INFINITUM are back with another addictive new single, “Afterlife”. The track, which features magnificent frontwoman Melissa Bonny performing alongside fellow vocal powerhouse Nils Molin of modern metal frontrunners Amaranthe and power metal outfit Dynazty, has premiered today with a cinematic music video.

Cut from their upcoming album Chapter II – Legacy (out October 29 via Napalm Records), “Afterlife” propels the band into the realms of eternity with spine-chilling cembalo insertions, shivering strings and epic guitar riffs. This is an outstanding, harmonic duet that promises instant goosebumps!

AD INFINITUM on the new single:

“'Afterlife' is one of those songs that was an obvious candidate to introduce and represent the sound of our second album. We are proud to present a darker, heavier AD INFINITUM and we are thrilled to share “the stage” with one of the greatest voices in metal nowadays, mister Nils Molin.”

Nils Molin adds:

”AD INFINITUM is one of those few bands that with their second album go beyond delivering upon the great promise established by their first release and instead shatter expectations with Chapter II – Legacy! I’m hella excited to contribute with my voice and be featured on the haunting and devilishly delicate track and second single release - 'Afterlife'!”

Check out the energetic music video for “Afterlife”

Symphonic metal onslaught AD INFINITUM are no strangers to the scene. With their spellbinding debut album, Chapter I - Monarchy (2020), brought to life in the middle of a global pandemic, the foursome reached millions of plays on streaming platforms. With its very first single, “Marching on Versailles”, riding high at more than 1.8M video views to date, the highly talented unit didn't put the brakes on. Instead, they transformed pandemic fatigue into heavier soundscapes without sacrificing their signature aura. Furthermore, frontwoman Melissa Bonny is consistently drawn to exciting musical collaborations, as she recently unveiled the brand new band THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and their bittersweet reinterpretation of Florence & The Machine's Game Of Thrones soundtrack song, "Jenny Of Oldstones". In addition, Bonny's exciting feature with FEUERSCHWANZ on the song “Ding”(Seed-cover) has already gained over 2.6 million views on YouTube since its release. Now, she sets her focus back to her main musical force as AD INFINITUM – with Adrian Thessenvitz (guitars), Korbinian Benedict (bass) and Niklas Müller (drums) – unveils its new opus, Chapter II - Legacy.

Chapter II - Legacy surprises with a melting pot of different influences and a contrast between super heavy riffs, sometimes even djent/metalcore-like touches and catchy hook lines and melodies, giving the band's sophomore album a modern and equally timeless touch. The lyrics have, just like on their debut album, been inspired by a historical figure: the paradoxical life and afterlife of Vlad The Impaler, also known as Dracula, inspired the themes and questions of this album.

AD INFINITUM add:

“Chapter II - Legacy holds a very special place in our heart. It represents months and months of hard work of four bandmates, for a result that we are proud to call “self-produced”. For this record, we decided to work without the influence of an external producer during the songwriting process and to team up with Elias Holmlid for the beautiful and epic orchestrations and of course with Jacob Hansen who recorded [vocals], mixed, mastered and participated to the post production. A younger and heavier sound that defines AD INFINITUM like never before.”

Pre-Order Chapter II – Legacy NOW

Chapter II - Legacy once again showcases the indispensable creativity of AD INFINITUM – featuring twelve complex, marvelous tracks highlighting their sonic development and undeniable symphonic strength. Such talent can be witnessed with opener “Reinvented”, lurking with lovely piano tunes and erupting in intense riffage in the blink of an eye. Right away, the music reflects the extremely multifaceted voice of Melissa Bonny – ranging from crystal clear vocals to impressively powerful screams and menacing growls. Hailing from hell, hard-hitting “Afterlife” features the vocal power of Nils Molin (Amaranthe, Dynazty), merging in perfect harmony with Melissa’s incredibly haunting delivery. Songs like “Your Enemy” and cinematic grand finale “Lullaby” leave no scope for weakness and unveil the heaviest side of AD INFINITUM to date. This grasping hymn is far from lulling you to sleep, as the eclectically versatile sonic world of AD INFINITUM immediately induces you to listen to Chapter II - Legacy again, right from the beginning!

Chapter II - Legacy will be available in the following formats:

-1 CD Digipak

-1 LP Gatefold BLACK

-1 CD Digipak + Patch (limited to 200 copies worldwide)

-Digital Album

[1 CD Digipak + Patch (limited to 200 copies worldwide) – Napalm Mailorder ONLY]

AD INFINITUM are:

Melissa Bonny - Vocals

Adrian Thessenvitz - Guitars

Korbinian Benedict - Bass

Niklas Müller – Drums

CATCH TEN YEARS AFTER RECORDED LIVE IN THE UK, WITH A SPECIAL LIVE Q&A WHERE THE BAND WILL BE TAKING YOUR QU

DEKO ENTERTAINMENT HAS TEAMED UP WITH VOLUME.COM TO BRING YOU A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE TO INTERACT WITH YOUR FAVORITE BANDS. UP NEXT, CATCH TEN YEARS AFTER RECORDED LIVE IN THE UK, WITH A SPECIAL LIVE Q&A WHERE THE BAND WILL BE TAKING YOUR QUESTIONS

Ten Years After are best known for their Platinum selling album ‘A Space in Time’ which featured the Top 40 hit "I'd Love to Change the World", and their prodigious performance appearance at the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York, August 1969. Their rendition of "I'm Going Home" was featured in both the subsequent film and soundtrack album and catapulted them to star status.

Original members Ric Lee and Chick Churchill have continued this legacy and are now rounded out by Guitarist/Vocalist Marcus Bonfanti and Bass Icon Colin Hodgkinson. The band recorded a live set in London during the lockdown and it now being brought to you as a free event from Deko Entertainment and Volume.com. It is being hosted by legendary Philadelphia radio personality T. Morgan and features the band playing classics like “I’d Love to Change the World”, songs from their latest release ‘A Sting In The Tale’, plus taking your questions in a live chat. This will give you the fan, a unique experience of delving into the bands history, and looking into what the future holds for Ten Years After.

It all happens Saturday October 23rd at 4:00 (EST). This is a free event and all you have to do is sign up and claim your ticket here: https://bit.ly/3n1S1TH

Ten Years After released both “A Sting in The Tale” and “Naturally Live” both as “Deluxe Editions” in North America earlier this year through Deko Entertainment. “A Sting In The Tale” Featured new tracks like “Land of Vandals”, “Suranne Suranne”, and “Up in Smoke” and “Naturally Live” was recorded at HsD, Erfurt, Germany on 24th March 2018 and contains live recordings of old favorites such as “I'd Love To Change The World”, “Hear Me Calling”, “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” and, of course, the Woodstock killer track “I'm Going Home”.

There are limited edition bundles (while supplies last), which can be ordered via: https://bit.ly/30fsewb

Product Includes:
- One (1) TEN YEARS AFTER - “Naturally Live” or “A Sting In The Tale” CD
- One (1) TEN YEARS AFTER Tee
- One (1) TEN YEARS AFTER Tote Bag
- One (1) TEN YEARS AFTER Autographed Photo

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:
http://www.ten-years-after.co.uk/
www.dekoentertainment.com

FUNERAL Shares New Song, "Materie

Norwegian doom metal pioneers FUNERAL will be releasing their newest full-length, 'Praesentialis in Aeternum,' on December 10, 2021 via Season of Mist! The band has teamed up with The Obelisk to share the video for the brand new song, "Materie,"

Pre-orders for 'Praesentialis in Aeternum' are now live HERE. You can pre-save the record on streaming services HERE.

Melancholy. Pain. Loss. Solitude. Those had been just some of doom metal main themes ever since bleak pouring rain and the sound of church bell in the distance gave birth to the genre on Black Sabbath self-eponymous debut over five decades ago. But how many musicians have actually been bearing in their very flesh those gut-wrenching feelings?

Anders Eek – Funeral’s founding member, drummer and undisputable leader since 1991 – doesn’t particularly see it as a badge of honour, but he’d be the first to admit that somehow, the “death and loss we had to go through over the years were extremely painful yet inspiring. But as a musician and as a human being.” And indeed, ever since their very first rehearsal in a basement in their hometown of Drammen just outside of Oslo, Funeral had been ridden with problems and tragedy. Originally inspired by Cathedral and Candlemass, they very quickly set out to create the most depressing and slowest form of doom/death possible at a time when their home country was being hailed as the birthplace of black metal. They went through several labels over the years, only to see them bust soon afterwards. Plagued by recurrent line-up problems, they even lost two of their key members Einar André Fredriksen (bass) and Christian Loos (guitar) in 2003 and 2006, respectively, to suicide and overdose.

But somehow, Eek never surrendered, but instead overcame all those obstacles by releasing over the years a slab of classics, each with its own, distinct personality, from the utter misery of the delicate yet none-so-extreme 1995 debut album Tragedies to the more melodic and accessible 2001 gothic/doom masterpiece In Fields Of Pestilent Grief or 2012 symphonic masterpiece Oratorium. Still, after the band most recent performance in Antwerpen on February 3, 2018, “life got in the way” as Anders puts it. “Some of us had kids, other moved out. Even I had quite a lot of things going on in my personal life and, at least for a while, maybe less drive to keep on carrying on the weight of the band on my sole shoulders. I never stopped writing music though because it’s something I’ve always done anyway. But there were less things happening you know. During that nine-year gap, I could have written ten albums but I only wrote two ah!”

The beast did sleep less than two years though as the following year singer Sindre Nedland, who had joined FUNERAL for Oratorium, “woke up from his slumber and told me he was ready to focus music again. I had the whole music demoed and ready, so it quickly snowballed from there.” For the first time ever, not only are the lyrics fully in Norwegian but they were also written by an outside collaborator, a “personal friend” of Anders who happens to be a psychologist. “He’s both a close friend and a fan of the band. So, he knows exactly how I roll and what the band is all about. I knew he was writing on the side so one day, as a joke almost, I told me about five years ago ‘hey, what don’t you write lyrics for my bands instead?’ and within five months, he did! His lyrics are more or less his take on philosopher Emmanuel Kant’s work. Initially, I thought about maybe translating them to English but it would have meant redoing them so in the end, we choose to keep them as they were. The booklet will include a little text explaining what they’re all about for those who don’t speak Norwegian.”

Musically, Anders describes Praesentialis in Aeternum (something along the line of “here eternally”) as a “natural progression. I know we have some fans who are only into the first albums and those who discovered us in the early 00’s but this new opus has a little bit of everything for everybody. The symphonic elements are far more bombastic yet much well more done, thanks to the evolution of technology since Oratorium. It’s in a way a mixture of our three last albums yet our most diverse work yet, with both quite concise and very epic pieces. As a matter of fact, we recorded something like ten songs but vowed to choose only the six best to get the best album possible.” Among them you’ll find one originally written during their third album From These Sounds session, one co-written with former founding member Thomas Angell (who left in 2000) and, in the deluxe version, a Candlemass (‘Samarithan’) cover version originally recorded back in 2005 with their then singer Frode Forsmo, thus linking Praesentialis in Aeternum with the band’s past history. Also guesting on ‘Ånd,’ the first single off the record, is Lars Nedland, Sindre’s own brother of Borknagar and Solefald fame. It’s also the first album for their new partner, Season of Mist.

Since the album was completed, the now septet has welcomed for the first time ever a full-time violin player “to perform live most of the strings you can hear on our albums as soon as we’ll be able to go back on stage.” In the meantime, Anders confesses the next album is more or less “finished. Praesentialis could have been released earlier if we hadn’t to face all those COVID-related problems. We couldn’t meet in person, let alone rehearse or even just take promo pictures… But now we have a new label, a new line-up and a totally renewed sense of energy so why stop there? Funeral started thirty years ago be truth be told, it’s never been stronger. So, doom on!”

Genre: Funeral doom

Recording Line-up:
Erlend Nybø – guitars
Magnus Tveiten - guitars
Sindre Nedland – vocals
Anders Eek - drums
Rune Gandrud – bass
Andrè Aaslie - orchestration

Current lineup:
Erlend Nybø – guitars
Magnus Tveiten - guitars
Sindre Nedland – vocals
Anders Eek - drums
Rune Gandrud – bass
Ingvild Anette Strønen Johanessen / Sareeta - orchestration

Guest Musicians:
Lars Are Nedland (BORKNAGAR) - "Ånd"

Recording Studio:
Strand Studio and Toproom Studio

Producer/Sound Engineers:
Børge Finstad, Marius Strand

Mixing and mastering:
Børge Finstad @ Toproom Studios

Cover Art:
Christopher Rådlund

Bio: Olivier Badden

Pre-sales: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/funeral-praesentialis

Links:
http://www.funeralband.no
https://www.facebook.com/funeralnorway/

Danish Melodic Death Metal Quintet LIVLØS Reveal Hard-Hitting Third Single + Video “Seize The Night”

New Album, And Then There Were None, out this Friday via Napalm Records

Pre-Order HERE

LIVLØS brings melodic death metal to new levels!

Before releasing their new full-length album And Then There Were None this Friday, October 22 via Napalm Records, Danish death metallers LIVLØS reveal their third and final bone-crushing single, “Seize The Night”!

On “Seize The Night”, LIVLØS prove themselves to be one of the most exciting up-and-coming acts in melodic death metal, especially for fans of bands like CARCASS, DEATH and AT THE GATES! This excellently produced, dynamic and hard-hitting rager from the five-piece displays their undeniable confidence and skill – some of the many reasons why LIVLØS has been making waves in the metal scene with appearances at Copenhell, Eurosonic and Spot Festival already under their belts!

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!

Check out LIVLØS going in depth in their Track-By-Track for And Then There Were None:

Pre-Order And Then There Were None NOW:

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).

Like Creatures Seeking Their Own Forms will be available in the following formats:

-CD Jewelcase

-Digital Album

LIVLØS are:

Niklas Lykke - vocals

Franz Aleksander Posch - guitar

Kenneth Breinbjerg - guitar

Thomas Dannemand Jensen - drums

Søren Frambo - bass

IN FLAMES TO REISSUE CATALOG ON CD NOV 26TH

Just in time for the impending holiday season, Swedish heavy metal icons IN FLAMES will reissue their classic albums from 1994-2008 that were previously unavailable and out-of-print on CD on November 26th with Nuclear Blast.

The catalog reissues on CD include:

• "Lunar Strain" + "Subterranean" EP

• "The Jester Race" + "Black-Ash Inheritance" EP

• "Whoracle"

• "Colony" - Reached Top 30 in Sweden and Finland

• "Clayman" - Reached Top 20 in Sweden and Finland

• "Reroute to Remain" - Peaked at #5 on Swedish and Finnish charts and #10 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart

• "Soundtrack To Your Escape" * - Peaked at #3 in Sweden and #7 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart

• "Come Clarity"- #1 on Finnish and Swedish Charts. #2 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart, #6 in Germany, as well as Top 30 in 3 additional European countries

• "A Sense of Purpose"- Reached #1 on Swedish chart and Billboard Independent Albums Chart, and Top 10 in Austria, Finland and Germany

• "The Tokyo Showdown" (Live Album) - Charted Top 40 in Sweden and Finland

• "Used & Abused: In Live We Trust" (Live Album) - Entered at #1 on Swedish Music DVD Chart

Stream and pre-order the CD reissues now at https://www.inflames.com/reissues

Commenting on the CD reissues, vocalist Anders Fridén states:

”I'm thrilled to know that we have label that still believes and supports the physical format. This is a great opportunity to pick up any records from the In Flames catalogue you may have missed. Enjoy our music on compact disc as it was originally released.”

Listen and follow “In Flames - The Complete Discography” on Spotify: https://nblast.de/InFlamesSptfyComplete

IN FLAMES is one of the biggest metal bands in the world - never shying away from pushing their artistic boundaries, crafting music that's as catchy as it is crushing. Formed in 1990, the band is considered one of the forefathers of melodic death metal and the purveyors of the ‘Gothenburg sound.’ With thirteen studio albums under their belt, countless successful tours around the globe playing with the likes of METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, MEGADETH and AVENGED SEVENFOLD - with millions of records sold and a massive fanbase worldwide, IN FLAMES have proven to be an unstoppable force. From their 1994 debut "Lunar Strain" onwards, the band's intricate twin guitar attack, melodic vocals and superb arrangements have given them a signature sound that has evolved throughout the years.

Gaahls WYRD Premieres New Song, "The Seed"

Esoteric dark metal formation Gaahls WYRD will be releasing their five song mini-album, 'The Humming Mountain,' via Season of Mist on November 5! The band is now sharing the second single from the offering, "The Seed." Listen below.

Pre-orders for 'The Humming Mountain' are now available HERE.

Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen)-winning metal outfit Gaahls WYRD return with new mini-album The Humming Mountain. Spanning five thought-provoking songs over 30-plus minutes, the mini-album continues from but challenges the tenets of the group’s lauded debut full-length, GastiR - Ghosts Invited. Conceptually, The Humming Mountain intrinsically ties into the pre-history of its forebear, where heady, fastidious topics of origin, creation, and consciousness are pondered, explored, and conveyed to a riveting score of reflective, if sometimes vicious metal. The Humming Mountain resides between spaces but is wholly its own artistic entity.

“I like the concept of a mini-album instead of an EP,” says Gaahl (aka Kristian Espedal). “I like the format of a mini-album. Back in the day, bands like Hellhammer and Celtic Frost used this format. The audience gets more from this format. To me, it’s more serious than if it’s just a few tracks. Plus, the concept of The Humming Mountain isn't big enough for a full-length album. The concept was something I had to get out of my head."

Three of The Humming Mountain’s tracks were originally slated to appear on GastiR - Ghosts Invited but were eventually shelved when Gaahl determined that they weren't a conceptual fit with the rest of the album’s tracks. Indeed, not one to let good ideas die on the proverbial vine, Gaahl worked with guitarist Lust Kilman (Ole Walaunet) and producer Iver Sandøy to refashion them. Through creative process and artful invention, “Awakening Remains - Before Leaving,” “The Dwell,” and the title track were born again for The Humming Mountain. The mini-album’s introspective bookends—opening epic “The Seed” and filmic closer “The Sleep”—came during and after, one song to remind listeners that patience is a virtue and the other to send them off into dream-like cogitation.

“The title track ‘The Humming Mountain’ dictated how the mini-album would go forward,” Gaahl says. “‘The Humming Mountain,’ however, has connections to GastiR - Ghosts Invited recording-wise, but it’s been reshaped. ‘The Dwell’ and ‘Awakening Remains - Before Leaving’ are more from the same foundation. We did change how we approached these songs by adding keyboards and removing bass grooves, especially on ‘Awakening Remains - Before Leaving.’ We got a different flow and pace to the final versions of the songs.”

While The Humming Mountain is a real place called Gnolloden near the Svalbard archipelago, it has no relation to the mini-album's title or contents. Lyrically, The Humming Mountain is about patience. Not in the human sense of the word—though that certainly can be applied to nine-minute opener “The Seed”—but in the universal sense. The vibrations (hums) of creation ebb and flow sub-glacially. The intent of creation spans eons. Even the mini-album’s artwork—captured and designed by Gaahl—is part of the overall theme. The closer to The Humming Mountain, the farther away it appears.

“I’m always searching,” says Gaahl. “I’m trying to find the core of self, the core of everything. GastiR - Ghosts Invited dealt with being conscious about the subconscious. The Humming Mountain is more direct in dealing with that topic. Creation is something that happens very slowly, I believe. I connected it to ice, in a way. It's a Norse concept, where a witch 'hummer' is feeding on salty ice. Out of this comes the first conscious. In Norse creationism, creation originates with sound. Of course, fire and ice are the two opponents, but every being, which are manifestations of something, are connected to humming or noise, the vibrations created by it. That's how I arrived at The Humming Mountain, a slow vibration from the mountain and the slow movement of ice.”

Gaahls WYRD revisited Sandøy’s Solslottet Studio (Wardruna, Crippled Black Phoenix) periodically from August 2020 through May 2021 to track and complete The Humming Mountain. The sessions were set apart for various reasons (schedules mostly), but the team first focused the groundwork on sound design. Gaahl, Lust Kilman, and Sandøy then pivoted to Spektre’s (aka Kevin Kvåle) drums. From there, vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, and piano were laid down. Sandøy also helmed the mix and master.

"The first thing we did was to work through the songs," Gaahl says. "This was to find the foundation of the sound and how we could reshape the sound. We focused on the sound (or voice) of the drums. We didn't want them to be too close to the drum sound on GastiR - Ghosts Invited. I’ve worked on three albums with Iver this year. It's very easy to work with him. He's good at bringing himself into my philosophical mindset. He's tuned into why I choose to do this or that. Usually, before we start, I explain my direction so that he can understand it, and together we can expand upon that direction. On this EP, he's done a lot of the keys and piano parts. He's contributed quite a lot."

Though The Humming Mountain reveals a more contemplative side to Gaahls WYRD, fans of stunners “Ek Erilar,” Carving the Voices,” and “Through and Past and Past” will find new tracks “The Dwell,” “Awakening Remains - Before Leaving,” and the title track equally engaging, while “The Seed” and “The Sleep” are destined to open new doors with their mercurial angst and picturesque, if involuted themes. Indeed, The Humming Mountain sets the stage for Gaahls WYRD’s next chapter.

"We'll release the mini-album next," says Gaahl. "After that, it all depends on how things open up for us to tour. There will be shows in Europe for sure, though. In a way, I hope the pandemic situation may continue for a bit longer. It's a good time for studio work. So, I hope not to be too disturbed by touring to continue to do more studio work. We're about to enter the studio for the next full-length."

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/gaahlswyrd
http://www.gaahlswyrd.com
https://gaahlswyrd.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gaahlswyrd/

Line-up
Gaahl (Kristian Espedal) - vocals
Lust Kilman (Ole Walaunet) – guitars
Eld (Frode Kilvik) – Bass
Spektre (Kevin Kvåle) – Drums

Style: Expressive, esoteric extreme metal

Guest Musicians:
Iver Sandøy – keys on all tracks

Recording Studio:
Solslottet Studio

Producer, Sound Engineer, Mixing, Mastering:
Iver Sandøy

Cover Art:
Kristian “Gaahl” Espedal

Biography:
Chris Dick

Shop: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/gaahls-wyrd-thm

Vended unveil new single, 'Burn My Misery', announce debut EP

Drop New Single

'BURN MY MISERY'

Announce Debut EP

'WHAT IT IS / KILL IT'

Out November 12th

Debut Headline Tour Begins In Nashville, November 9th

Des Moines’ rabble rousers, VENDED have today premiered a ferocious new single, ‘Burn My Misery.’ The track is anothertaste of new music from their forthcoming self-released 5-track debut EP, ‘What Is It / Kill It’, which arrives at DSPs on November 12th. The collection was recorded together with Griffin Landa of The Acacia Strain. Pre-order/Pre-save here.

The five-piece tell us; “'What Is It / Kill It’ is a collection of music written within the past three years that represents us. Your support means the world to us. The next generation is here, this is only the beginning. Welcome to VENDED!”

In live news, the band are set to lay waste to KNOTFEST LOS ANGELES on November 5th, then kick straight into their first ever US headline tour just a few days later, starting in Nashville on Nov 9th and wrapping in Buffalo, NY on Nov 23rd. Full dates detailed below.

Last month, VENDED dropped their incendiary debut track, ‘Asylum’ to wide critical acclaim, before playing a massive hometown show at the sold-out KNOTFEST IOWA event, which also saw sets from MEGADETH, GOJIRA, LAMB OF GOD, FEVER 333 and TURNSTILE among others, as well as a headline performance from SLIPKNOT.

VENDED‘s fresh and unique sound heralds a new era of heavy music and the arrival of the next generation of brutality. Formed in February 2018 by Cole Espeland (lead guitar), Griffin Taylor (vocals), Simon Crahan (drums), Jeremiah Pugh (bass) and Connor Grodzicki (rhythm guitar), VENDED showcase a barbarous sound built on foundations laid by the power and precision of the rhythm section, layered with vicious guitars, soul crushing solos and guttural-yet-melodic vocals portraying the hardships and harsh realities of life.

Stay tuned for more coming from VENDED very soon. In the meantime, catch them live at KNOTFEST LOS ANGELES or any of the headline dates below.

US Headline Tour. Support comes from Omerta & Hazing Over.

11/09 – Nashville, TN @ The End

11/10 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen

11/11 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s

11/12 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Stan’s Room

11/13 – Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room

11/14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Crafthouse Stage & Grill

11/16 – Reading, PA @ Reverb

11/17 – Richmond, VA @ Canal Club

11/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar

11/19 – Albany, NY @ Empire Underground

11/20 – Hartford, CT @ Webster Underground

11/21 – Boston, MA @ Sonia

11/23 – Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room

Find VENDED Online

www.officialvended.com

OBSCURA - Unveil Music Video For New Single "When Stars Collide (feat. Björn Strid)"

Fast cars and even faster guitars are what you get on OBSCURA's new music video off their upcoming studio album A Valediction! Only one more month to go before the band's 6th studio album will see the light of day on November 19th, and virtuosic frontman Steffen Kummerer and his renowned bandmates unveil yet another new song from their upcoming chef-d'euvre. As one of the more melodic tracks on the album, "When Stars Collide" even features a striking clean vocal guest performance by their label mate Björn "Speed" Strid besides the band's unpreceded polyrhythms and solos.

The music video was once again produced by director Mirko Witzki and does not only offer the possibility to witness the outstanding talent of the musicians during the performance, but also some visual pleasure for car nerds.

Steffen Kummerer comments: "One of the highlights and contested compositions of 'A Valediction' features Björn Strid of our label mates SOILWORK. 'When Stars Collide' recombines an uplifting pace with a rather dark and bitter narrative that leads into to a story for reflection. A sense of delight and feeling of relief covers all mournful misery."

Watch "When Stars Collide" below

The song is featured on A Valediction that will be available on CD, vinyl, and digitally on November 19th via Nuclear Blast. Pre-order or pre-save it here: https://bfan.link/Obscura 

In case you missed the previous music videos from OBSCURA, check them out here:
"A Valediction": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMsTtZSBcXg
"Solaris":  https://youtu.be/PA1CYWB0J5o
"Devoured Usurper": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHwWlAIDLaM

As most other acts of this year, OBSCURA recently had to postpone their planned tour for November and will hit the road with their new songs in 2022:

Line-Up:
Steffen Kummerer – vocals & guitars
Christian Münzner – guitars
Jeroen Paul Thesseling – bass
David Diepold – drums

Pre-order your copy of A Valediction here: https://bfan.link/Obscura

TETRARCH To Embark on Atreyu's 'Baptize' U.S. Tour!

Rising Metal stars TETRARCH are getting ready to return to the road on the strength of their trailblazing sophomore studio album, 'Unstable', which dropped this past spring on Napalm Records. The band will join forces with decorated heavy rockers ATREYU on the upcoming 'Baptize' US tour this Fall. Rounding out the lineup is direct support from Crown The Empire, with SAUL and Defying Decay opening the show each night. The BaptizeTour kicks off on November 9th in Dallas, TX, and concludes in Santa Ana, CA on December 16th. A complete list of dates can be found below!

TETRARCH US Tour Dates

with Atreyu, Crown The Empire, SAUL & Defying Decay:

11/9: Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar And Grill

11/10: Houston, TX @ The Warehouse

11/11: New Orleans, LA @ Republic NOLA

11/15: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade

11/16: Charlotte, NC @ The Underground

11/17: Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live

11/19: Pittsburgh, PA @ The Roxian

11/20: Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom

11/21: New York, NY @ Webster Hall

11/22: Clifton Park, NY @ Empire Live

11/23: Hartford, CT @ The Webster

11/24: Worcester, MA @ The Palladium

11/26: Detroit, MI @ The Majestic

11/27: Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall

11/30: Cleveland, OH @ The Agora

12/1: Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection

12/2: Joliet, IL @ The Forge

12/3: Belvidere, IL @ The Apollo Theater AC

12/4: Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre

12/6: Kansas City, MO @ The Truman

12/7: Denver, CO @ The Summit

12/9: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot

12/10: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

12/11: Portland, OR @ Roseland

12/12: Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile

12/14: Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst

12/15: San Diego, CA @ House of Blues

12/16: Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory

BUY 'Unstable' HERE

Produced by the band and Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Allegaeon, Khemmis), TETRARCH’s new album, Unstable, dropped on April 30 via Napalm Records to major critical acclaim! Loudwire stated, “TETRARCH are not messing around, bringing the heavy with full force…”, while Alternative Press said, “The meteoric rise of nu metal’s brightest new stars TETRARCH has been a compelling show for the scene around them”. Upon release, TETRARCH's debut single, “I’m Not Right” cracked the Mediabase Active Rock Top 30 and has garnered over six million combined cross-platform streams to date. Follow-up single "You Never Listen" received support from SiriusXM, HardDrive, Full Metal Jackie and many more of the country's leading active rock outlets, while one of their most recent singles, "Negative Noise", has reached nearly one million views on YouTube and counting.

Fierce individuality and a fearless embrace of the outsider are at the heart of TETRARCH. The band’s tireless hard work and relentless determination have established them as one of the top up-and-coming bands in heavy music, catching the attention of major media, including Pollstar (cover mention), Billboard, Revolver, Alternative Press, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, many in which lead guitarist Diamond Rowe was the first African American female lead guitarist from the heavy metal genre to be featured. TETRARCH has been featured on Spotify playlists such as Kickass Metal, Rock Hard, New Blood (cover featured), and Metal Tracks and has also seen stellar support from Apple Music and their users, appearing on several additional playlists. Having appeared on major festivals such as Epicenter and Exit 111, TETRARCH is charging back into the major touring scene with renewed persistence and the mighty nonconformist spirit that has driven them since day one.

TETRARCH is:

Josh Fore – vocals/guitar

Diamond Rowe – lead guitar

Ryan Lerner – bass

Ruben Limas – drums

THERION - Release Music Video For "Nocturnal Light"

Swedish symphonic metal pioneers THERION have released their seventeenth Studio album, Leviathan, earlier this year, and it proved to be another big success. It has entered worldwide album sales charts peaking at #8 (Rock & Metal) in the UK, at #11 in Germany, and #14 (physical) in Sweden, only to name a few. Today, THERION are releasing yet another dark and haunting music video for a song from Leviathan called "Nocturnal Light", which you can watch below:

THERION - Nocturnal Light (Official Video)

THERION's Christofer Johnsson comments:
"This is a very epic song with Middle Eastern influences written by Thomas Vikström. The lyrics deal with the Sumerian goddess Inanna. It was one of his first contributions to the Leviathan writing sessions.”

BUY OR LISTEN TO "LEVIATHAN":

http://nblast.de/Therion-Leviathan

THERION - Eye Of Algol (Official Video):
https://youtu.be/3giVFBtjBJg

VIDEOS/SINGLES:
Eye Of Algol (Official Video): youtu.be/3giVFBtjBJg
Tuonela (Official Video): youtu.be/dFC62uL9R1I
Die Wellen der Zeit (Official Video) youtu.be/ESR1Fe5XfpU
Leviathan (Lyric Video): youtu.be/t1h0pdsC6wQ

Purchase your copy ofLeviathan, here: http://nblast.de/Therion-Leviathan

VIDEOS/SINGLES:
Tuonela (Official Video): https://youtu.be/dFC62uL9R1I

Die Wellen der Zeit (Official Video) https://youtu.be/ESR1Fe5XfpU

Leviathan (Lyric Video): https://youtu.be/t1h0pdsC6wQ

FUNERAL Announces New Album, Shares Video for First Single

Norwegian doom metal pioneers FUNERAL will be releasing their newest full-length, 'Praesentialis in Aeternum,' on December 10, 2021 via Season of Mist! The album artwork, tracklist, and details can be found below. The band is now sharing the first single, "Ånd," which features gust vocals from Lars Are Nedland (SOLEFALD/BORKNAGAR), along with an official music video that was created entirely by the band! The song and video can be found at THIS LOCATION.

Pre-orders for 'Praesentialis in Aeternum' are now live HERE. You can pre-save the record on streaming services HERE.

Melancholy. Pain. Loss. Solitude. Those had been just some of doom metal main themes ever since bleak pouring rain and the sound of church bell in the distance gave birth to the genre on Black Sabbath self-eponymous debut over five decades ago. But how many musicians have actually been bearing in their very flesh those gut-wrenching feelings?

Anders Eek – Funeral’s founding member, drummer and undisputable leader since 1991 – doesn’t particularly see it as a badge of honour, but he’d be the first to admit that somehow, the “death and loss we had to go through over the years were extremely painful yet inspiring. But as a musician and as a human being.” And indeed, ever since their very first rehearsal in a basement in their hometown of Drammen just outside of Oslo, Funeral had been ridden with problems and tragedy. Originally inspired by Cathedral and Candlemass, they very quickly set out to create the most depressing and slowest form of doom/death possible at a time when their home country was being hailed as the birthplace of black metal. They went through several labels over the years, only to see them bust soon afterwards. Plagued by recurrent line-up problems, they even lost two of their key members Einar André Fredriksen (bass) and Christian Loos (guitar) in 2003 and 2006, respectively, to suicide and overdose.

But somehow, Eek never surrendered, but instead overcame all those obstacles by releasing over the years a slab of classics, each with its own, distinct personality, from the utter misery of the delicate yet none-so-extreme 1995 debut album Tragedies to the more melodic and accessible 2001 gothic/doom masterpiece In Fields Of Pestilent Grief or 2012 symphonic masterpiece Oratorium. Still, after the band most recent performance in Antwerpen on February 3, 2018, “life got in the way” as Anders puts it. “Some of us had kids, other moved out. Even I had quite a lot of things going on in my personal life and, at least for a while, maybe less drive to keep on carrying on the weight of the band on my sole shoulders. I never stopped writing music though because it’s something I’ve always done anyway. But there were less things happening you know. During that nine-year gap, I could have written ten albums but I only wrote two ah!”

The beast did sleep less than two years though as the following year singer Sindre Nedland, who had joined FUNERAL for Oratorium, “woke up from his slumber and told me he was ready to focus music again. I had the whole music demoed and ready, so it quickly snowballed from there.” For the first time ever, not only are the lyrics fully in Norwegian but they were also written by an outside collaborator, a “personal friend” of Anders who happens to be a psychologist. “He’s both a close friend and a fan of the band. So, he knows exactly how I roll and what the band is all about. I knew he was writing on the side so one day, as a joke almost, I told me about five years ago ‘hey, what don’t you write lyrics for my bands instead?’ and within five months, he did! His lyrics are more or less his take on philosopher Emmanuel Kant’s work. Initially, I thought about maybe translating them to English but it would have meant redoing them so in the end, we choose to keep them as they were. The booklet will include a little text explaining what they’re all about for those who don’t speak Norwegian.”

Musically, Anders describes Praesentialis in Aeternum (something along the line of “here eternally”) as a “natural progression. I know we have some fans who are only into the first albums and those who discovered us in the early 00’s but this new opus has a little bit of everything for everybody. The symphonic elements are far more bombastic yet much well more done, thanks to the evolution of technology since Oratorium. It’s in a way a mixture of our three last albums yet our most diverse work yet, with both quite concise and very epic pieces. As a matter of fact, we recorded something like ten songs but vowed to choose only the six best to get the best album possible.” Among them you’ll find one originally written during their third album From These Sounds session, one co-written with former founding member Thomas Angell (who left in 2000) and, in the deluxe version, a Candlemass (‘Samarithan’) cover version originally recorded back in 2005 with their then singer Frode Forsmo, thus linking Praesentialis in Aeternum with the band’s past history. Also guesting on ‘Ånd,’ the first single off the record, is Lars Nedland, Sindre’s own brother of Borknagar and Solefald fame. It’s also the first album for their new partner, Season of Mist.

Since the album was completed, the now septet has welcomed for the first time ever a full-time violin player “to perform live most of the strings you can hear on our albums as soon as we’ll be able to go back on stage.” In the meantime, Anders confesses the next album is more or less “finished. Praesentialis could have been released earlier if we hadn’t to face all those COVID-related problems. We couldn’t meet in person, let alone rehearse or even just take promo pictures… But now we have a new label, a new line-up and a totally renewed sense of energy so why stop there? Funeral started thirty years ago be truth be told, it’s never been stronger. So, doom on!”

Genre: Funeral doom

Recording Line-up:
Erlend Nybø – guitars
Magnus Tveiten - guitars
Sindre Nedland – vocals
Anders Eek - drums
Rune Gandrud – bass
Andrè Aaslie - orchestration

Current lineup:
Erlend Nybø – guitars
Magnus Tveiten - guitars
Sindre Nedland – vocals
Anders Eek - drums
Rune Gandrud – bass
Ingvild Anette Strønen Johanessen / Sareeta - orchestration

Guest Musicians:
Lars Are Nedland (BORKNAGAR) - "Ånd"

Recording Studio:
Strand Studio and Toproom Studio

Producer/Sound Engineers:
Børge Finstad, Marius Strand

Mixing and mastering:
Børge Finstad @ Toproom Studios

Cover Art:
Christopher Rådlund

Bio: Olivier Badden

Pre-sales: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/funeral-praesentialis

Links:
http://www.funeralband.no
https://www.facebook.com/funeralnorway/

Sodom M-16 The 20TH Anniversary Edition of the Anti-War Album

M-16
The 20TH Anniversary Edition
of the Anti-War Album
Available on:
Deluxe 4LP Boxset / 2LP / 1CD Mediabook
Release: 10TH December 2021 / BMG

Pre-Order the album:
https://SodomOfficial.lnk.to/M-16PR

Listen the new single “Remember The Fallen”
(Live Wacken 2001): https://SodomOfficial.lnk.to/RTFPR

Almost twenty years ago to the day, celebrated thrash metal act Sodom released one of the most significant albums of its career: ‘M-16’, an offering that continues to be a challenge both musically and in terms of its content still touches upon a very sensitive issue in the history of mankind. The theme of the iconic concept album is the Vietnam War, which was officially fought between North and South Vietnam in the 1960s, with the intervention of 500,000 US soldiers fighting and supporting anti-communist North Vietnam against Eastern Bloc detachments. Songs such as ‘Among The Weirdcong’, ‘Napalm In The Morning’, ‘Minejumper’ and ‘Cannon Fodder’ see musicians Tom Angelripper (vocals, bass), Bernemann (guitar), and Bobby Schottkowski (drums), who recorded the album at the time, hauntingly evoke through harsh metal sounds and unmistakable words images of war, brutalisation and devastation, grievances and the excesses of Western civilisation. ‘M-16’ continued Sodom’s tradition of politically committed and socio-critical albums such as ‘Agent Orange’ (1989) and ‘Code Red’ (1999). No doubt: In autumn 2001, Sodom succeeded in creating a masterpiece of international metal history, now set to be re-released on 10th December 2021, remastered by Sodom drummer Toni Merkel and featuring extensive bonus material as well as attractive fan items in a premium-quality package.

‘M-16 (20th Anniversary Edition)’ will be available in three different formats (tracklisting below): as a deluxe box set, including the remastered original album plus bonus live tracks, two additional bootleg LPs with further previously unreleased live versions (recorded in Germany, Thailand, Japan), a USB stick in the shape of a rifle cartridge with all the album songs, a Sodom military ID badge, a poster featuring the cover artwork plus a 44-page booklet with rare photos and liner notes by Tom Angelripper. In the booklet, former ‘Metal Hammer’ contributor Manni Eisenblätter, whose private archive contains countless unpublished Sodom photos, tells the story of the album`s creation and promotion, for which the band travelled to Thailand and South Vietnam just a few weeks before its release to get a first-hand impression of Vietnam, a country scarred by the devastation of war.

In addition to the remastered original songs, the CD media book includes two previously unreleased live tracks from 2001 and additional never-before-seen Sodom photos, which also can be on the orange vinyl version (2LP, 180g).

Looking back two decades on, ‘M-16’ continues to be a very special album to bandleader Tom Angelripper:
“The recording is definitely one of Sodom’s classics, not least because of its consistent thematic concept. It was also our last collaboration with producer Harris Johns, finalising an important era for the band. I'm very happy that ‘M-16’ will now be re-released as a ‘20th Anniversary Edition’ with new versions and lots of attention to detail.”