Patryk Szymański, a musician well-known locally for his work with the band Transtime, has released his debut solo album, “Time Elevator.” This album is a nostalgic journey back to the golden age of 80s rock, infused with modern production techniques.
Szymański collaborated with renowned guitarist Andrzej Citowicz and Icelandic keyboardist Frederik “Fred” Gustavsson to create a sound that pays homage to bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and Journey. One of the album’s most unique aspects is the use of artificial intelligence for vocals.
“Andrzej and I have been experimenting with AI and generated vocals for some time now,” Szymański explains. “I wanted to use AI to realize my own musical ideas, and Andrzej encouraged me to do so.”
The album, “Time Elevator,” is a sonic journey through Szymański’s musical influences, from his teenage years to the present. “It’s hard to hide my influences,” he admits. “Some of these ideas go back to my teenage years. I dug up old cell phones to find audio files from my dictaphone containing early versions of songs like ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Boulevard of Brokenhearted Souls.’ This album is the soundtrack to my musical life.”
“Time Elevator” is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon, and Spotify.
IRON MAIDEN in 2022 – Photo Credit: John McMurtrie
Nicko McBrain was the rhythmic backbone of Iron Maiden for more than four decades, shaping the band’s iconic sound. Now, he has announced his departure—a decision that was clearly not made lightly. The concert on Saturday, December 7, in São Paulo marked his final performance with Iron Maiden.
McBrain shared an emotional statement explaining his decision:
“After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle. Today, Saturday, December 7th, Sao Paulo will be my final gig with Iron Maiden. I wish the band much success moving forward.”
Iron Maiden has already announced on their website that Simon Dawson will take over on drums for next year’s live shows. Many fans may recognize him from the “British Lion” project with Steve Harris.
The wait is over! International heavy metal powerhouse VEIL OF THE SERPENT has officially unleashed their highly anticipated debut album, Gallery Of Sin – a 14-track masterpiece that solidifies the band’s place as a force to be reckoned with in the metal world!
Gallery Of Sin delivers over 70 minutes of unrelenting heavy metal, seamlessly combining crushing riffs, haunting melodies and an immersive horror narrative that fans and critics alike have been eagerly anticipating. The concept album tells an elaborate story of corruption, greed and the cost of unchecked ambition. The songs take listeners deep into the twisted mind of a manipulative figure who uses power and wealth to control society. Tracks like “Becoming Ascendant”, “The Rolling And The Thunder” or “Deliverance” explore these themes with chilling precision, showcasing the band’s ability to weavea narrative of societal decay and moral compromise.
“Gallery Of Sin” tracklist:
01 The Wolves Among Us 02 Prelude To Dread 03 Profiling A Demon 04 Gallery Of Sin 05 The End And The Beginning 06 Acquiesce And Ignore 07 Absolution 08 Becoming Ascendant 09 Grease The Wheels 10 The Rolling And The Thunder 11 Deliverance 12 Schadenfreude 13 Megalomania 14 Sleep Tight
To accompany this sonic journey, the album is available as exclusive, limited edition 6-panel CD digisleeve with only 100 copies available worldwide. This special edition includes a 24-page booklet, pairing each track with unique artwork that reflects the album’s dark and intricately woven themes. Of course the album is also available via all major streaming platforms. Order/Stream the album now athyperfollow.com/GalleryOfSin.
About the band: VEIL OF THE SERPENT was forged in 2021 by guitarist Gene and his son Felix. United by blood and their obsession for heavy metal, the duo began plotting their thundering assault in 2020. What began as a vision quickly evolved into a full-scale sonic onslaught with the arrival of powerhouse vocalist JD, completing their unholy trinity. Together, they channel the raw, unyielding spirit of metal, delivering a sound that’s both brutal and haunting, destined to leave a lasting scar on the heavy music landscape.
VEIL OF THE SERPENT is: JD – Vocals Gene – Guitars Felix – Drums
German melodic power metal titans Masterplan announce a club tour in Finland for May 2025. The tour will be accompanied by Finnish progressive metallers Damnation Plan as the support act.
Ticket pre-sales for the Finnish club tour have started at the venue-specific ticket services.
The Finnish mini-tour consists of three cities and venues as follows:
Masterplan’s previous performance in Finland was at a festival in 2015, making this upcoming club show tour especially anticipated among Finnish fans, with an extended headliner set in a more intimate club setting.
BLACK OAK COUNTY once again hit the ether with brand new single and lyric video, “Crossed the Line”!
Danish hard rock band BLACK OAK COUNTY is closing in on the release date of their third studio album “III”, with yet another entry from the coming record.
“”Crossed The Line” is a song about addiction, the struggles we phase on our own – even though we shouldn’t have to. It’s about throwing your life away because of substances, going back to a toxic relationship, or whatever you might be struggling with on a personal level.”
Musically, “Crossed The Line” is also a song about firsts for the Danish rockers, thanks to the song being co-written and produced by Nicklas Sonne (Defecto, Aries Descendant, Danish Eurovision preliminaries).
“We’re used to playing fast and heavy riffs, but this one is really a particular thundering one! It’s definitely one of the more metal-inspired songs on the album, with a constant chugging riff, and an almost metalcore-esque groove for the chorus – it really helps sell the story of desperation, frustration and disappointment, which is very prominent in the lyrics. Another first was we open the song right on Niels’ singing, which really catches you on the spot and draws you into the song immediately.”
“Crossed The Line” will be the opening track off of Black Oak County’s upcoming album “III”, set to release on October 25th, 2024 through Mighty Music.
Join the premiering here:
The Danish hard rock quartet Black Oak County releases their third album, taking them to new musical horizons, with a wide mix of thundering breakdowns, catchier choruses than ever before, a massive wall of pounding guitar riffs, and a heartfelt piano ballad.
“III” is co-written and produced with Danish metal heavyweight Nicklas Sonne (Defecto, Aries Descendant, Danish Eurovision preliminaries), which proved to be a fruitful creative relationship between the two parties.
“We came to Nicklas and worked on [the singles] “Save Your Breath” and “Fire Inside” together back in 2023, and we absolutely loved the process”, the band says. “It was amazing for us to have someone as competent as Nicklas giving us feedback on our songs, their structures, compositions and riffs – just to have someone impartial to work with, who wanted nothing but the best for the songs was awesome. We knew right away that we wanted to do a full album together, and hadn’t left the studio before we started working on songs for “III” together”.
The album marks a return-to-form for the band, reuniting with guitarist/singer Niels Beier on 2022’s singles “Back For Blood” and “It’s On You”, produced by former grammy nominee Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Asinhell) and co-written with Soren Andersen (Glenn Hughes, Mike Tramp). Now with both Beier and singer/bassist René Kristensen doing vocal duties in the band, new musical doors have opened for the Esbjerg-based rockers.
“We realized we had two great singers and hadn’t utilized it before”, Kristensen confirms. “We took advantage of that on “Back For Blood”, but have worked out the songs for the album with this in mind. There’s a lot of back-and-forth between us on this album, swapping verses and choruses, doing harmonies for each other’s parts, etc., and we sound better than ever on this album!”.
Black Oak County have dug deep into their pile of musical ideas, in order to come up with a wider range of songs than ever, incorporating brand new ideas with older material from the early days of their career. “III” is an energetic record, with the band’s well-known mixture of high-intensity low-tuned riffs paying homage to their metal and hard rock heroes, mixed with modern mixing techniques, synthesizers and a fresh take on the band’s familiar sound.
“III” will be released on digipack CD, LP (black and green vinyl versions available, each limited to 200 copies) and digital on October 25th, 2024 via Mighty Music.
BraveWords Records is excited to share with all the Rhett Forrester fans, never seen before footage of Rhett in the studio with Rob Robbins recording the Dr. Dirty Sessions. These videos capture what everyone can now hear on the release of “Rhett Forrester & Rob Robbins – The Complete Dr. Dirty Sessions”. Originally billed under the band-name ‘Dr. Dirty’ from 1992-1993, the songs herein were written by Scot Gaines and Rob Robbins before Forrester joined to complete the then new band.
Rob Robbins had this to say about the studio footage, “The Clearlake Audio studio footage was bitter sweet. It would be the last bits of video of Dr Dirty together in one room. Little did we know that only a few months down the road it would be over and less than a year later Rhett would be gone.”
“Anyone familiar with Forrester’s repertoire needs to add this missing piece of the puzzle to their collection.” – BraveWords
“You should absolutely check this out.” – Hard Rock Info
Thankfully, BraveWords Records have given Rhett Forrester’s own brave words one last voice from his work on The Complete Dr. Dirty Sessions. 4.5 Out Of 5.0. – KNAC
Produced by Robbins, this album features Forrester’s distinct vocals accompanied by a talented ensemble of musicians including Rob Robbins on guitar, keys, and vocals, Rod Albon on bass, Brent Gattoni on drums, and Matt Whale contributing keys on the track “Hold On”. Rhett Forrester, known for his powerful voice and stage presence, takes center stage on this album.
‘The Complete Dr Dirty Sessions” offers listeners an insight into Forrester’s musical influences that helped define his style during his “Canadian tenure”… Rhett had cited to Robbins that his biggest influences were Paul Rodgers and Steven Tyler.
The album’s tracks highlight Forrester’s dynamic range and delivery to bring the songs to life. According to producer Rob Robbins, “It was a pleasure to work on and restore these sessions from deep in the archives — it is great that previously unreleased songs are finally seeing the light of day”.
Fans of Forrester will appreciate the opportunity to hear some of his last vocal performances before his untimely death in 1994. ‘The Complete Dr Dirty Sessions’ pays homage to Forrester’s legacy and contributions to the rock music scene, offering a memorable listening experience for audiences old and new. The digital release features numerous exclusive bonus tracks, further pulling back the musical curtain on Rhett’s final years.
Tracklisting: 01 Coming Home 02 Redbone Rock 03 Love Song 04 Rescue Me 05 Too Little Too Late 06 Smokin’ Gun 07 Hold On 08 In And Out 09 It’s A Little Too Much (Unreleased Track) 10 Amazing Grace (Unreleased Track) 11 Rescue Me (Unreleased Clearlake Studios Session) 12 Love Song (Work Tape) 13 Rescue Me (Work Tape) 14 Too Little Too Late (Work Tape) 15 Hold On (Work Tape) 16 In And Out (Work Tape)
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Ads
Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 