Sofia-based progressive rock band Odd Crew is thrilled to unveil their latest single, “Stranger Things,” along with a captivating music video! “Stranger Things” serves as a preview of the band’s forthcoming, eighth studio album, ‘Dark Matters – Part III,’ that is set to be released on December 6, 2024.
The single’s evocative lyrics delve into the complex emotions of self-discovery and existential questions about time and the meaning of life, and the challenges of reconstructing one’s identity. The song, rich with introspective storytelling, takes listeners on a journey as the lyrical hero pieces together the fragments of his life, through the long journey he faces.
“‘Stranger Things’ is about finding yourself amidst the noise of life,” says vocalist Vasko Raykov.“It’s a song for anyone who’s ever felt lost but kept searching for the missing pieces.”
The accompanying music video enhances the narrative, bringing the song’s themes to life through stunning visuals and symbolic imagery. The video can be streamed here:
Following seven much acclaimed studio records, two DVDs and countless live shows over more than two decades, ‘Dark Matters – Part III’will see Odd Crew continue where they left off with Part II: Elevating their musical maturity on a new level, and one that doubles down on the band’s songwriting skills and exceptional talent! ‘Dark Matters – Part III’, the third chapter of their gloomy Dark Matters tetralogy, carries on to explore deep emotional landscapes and promises to be a fitting continuation to the series. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered in the band’s own ButcherHouse Studio in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“Dark Matters – Part III” track listing:
01 – Blaming Time 02 – New Waters 03 – Stranger Things 04 – Turning Tables 05 – Detox 06 – Still Alive 07 – The Sandman 08 – Change The World
ODD CREW is: Vasko Raykov – Lead Vocals Vasil Parvanovski – Guitar, Backing Vocals Martin Stoyanov – Bass, Backing Vocals Boyan ‘Bonzy’ Georgiev – Drums
Melodic black metal project FRAGMENTARY SOLID ABYSS, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Ömer Doğramacı, has inked a deal with Wormholedeath Records for the release of the upcoming album, “Concento Pavor Nocturnus,” arriving on December 20th, 2024.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be working with WormHoleDeath Records,” stated Ömer. “I set out to make music that expresses my feelings and thoughts about life and death, and honestly I did not care during the making of this album whether anyone would eventually hear it or not. Once it was completed I felt as if I would be satisfied with it for as long as time exists, because I felt that it resonated with the whole of existence. I believe that if not one person listened to this music I would still feel happy with it and listen to it myself.”
Tracklist:
The King’s Feast
Pray for Death
Fog of War
Deep Gaze into the Flames of Hell
Call to Prayer
Narcissistic Society
Inner Sanctum
Pain of Existence
Get a taste of Fragmentary Solid Abyss’s mesmerizing world with the official teaser for “Concento Pavor Nocturnus”:
A Universe of Influences Collide
Ömer Doğramacı is a multidimensional artist and musician who brings a unique blend of cultural and musical influences to his work. Born in the Bronx, New York, Doğramacı’s upbringing was shaped by a diverse range of experiences and cultural influences. From an early age, he was exposed to various traditional wisdom teachings, which ignited a deep interest in spirituality and mysticism that would come to influence his artistic and musical pursuits.
Throughout his life, Doğramacı has pursued a wide range of musical styles, drawing on the diverse cultural influences that have shaped him. He has studied and performed traditional Turkish and Middle Eastern music, as well as jazz, rock, and electronic music. His work is characterized by a fluidity that crosses boundaries and defies categorization, as he brings together elements of these diverse genres in his compositions and performances.
In addition to his musical pursuits, Doğramacı is also a visual artist whose work explores the intersection of the spiritual and the material. His art is characterized by a sense of transcendence, as he seeks to evoke the mystical experiences that lie beyond the physical realm. Drawing on a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, and installation, Doğramacı’s work is deeply personal and reflective of his spiritual journey.
Throughout his career, Doğramacı has collaborated with a wide range of artists, musicians, and spiritual teachers, sharing his unique perspective and bringing his distinctive voice to a variety of creative projects. His work is a testament to the power of cross-cultural exchange and the transformative potential of art and music. As an artist and musician, Ömer Doğramacı continues to push boundaries and explore new frontiers, inspiring others with his innovative and visionary approach to creativity.
Nordic alternative folk group Kalandra are thrilled to announce the release of their song “Ghosts“. This single follows the latest album “A Frame Of Mind” in September this year. The track is out today via By Norse Music and available worldwide on all major streaming platforms.
Vocalist Katrine states: “We’re releasing a new song that didn’t’ quite fit on the album, so it’s coming out as a standalone single. This track is all about slowing down and reflecting a winter song for everyone, no matter what you believe (or don’t believe).
The song is inspired by the essence of this time of year: shorter days, time to pause, and remembering those who aren’t with us anymore. It’s about coming together and finding the strength to make it through another winter.
This is a song for anyone who finds meaning in the quiet of winter. Let’s light a candle, remember, and take care of each other.
Listen and let it bring some calm to your season.”
Kalandra live: 07/12 – TR Ankara, Club Mirador 14/12 – DE Dortmund, Fredenbaumpark 07/02 – TR Istanbul, If Performance Hall Beşiktaş 08/02 – GR Athens, At-a-Glance 30/04 – FR Bascala, Echoes & Merveilles 06 – 09/06 – DE Leipzig, Gothic Wave Treffen
It’s a paradox that the guiding principle that’s driven Oslo’s Kalandra through 13 years’ worth of hardship, sacrifice, determination and the nurturing of an ever-growing, devoted community of fans has been to ask a simple but potent question: where do I belong? It’s a question with many dimensions, be it spiritual, personal, our relationship with a world out of balance, or the space that exists for a band who have always defied easy categorisation.
Over the course of one EP, an exquisite debut album, “The Line”, that emerged after 10 years of line-up changes, musical refinement and the relocation from the Liverpool art school where they first met, as well as a deeply atmospheric soundtrack for the videogame, “Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Land”, the Norwegian/Swedish quartet have used elements of Norse folk, Scandic pop and alt and progressive rock without being beholden to any of them. In the process, and aerated by frontwoman Katrine Stenbekk’s sublime, stratosphere-ruffled vocals that belong to the same rarefied realms as artists such as Eivør, Aurora and Gåte’s Gunnhild Sundli, they’ve woven their own restless yet immersive world. It’s one that fuses fragility and fortitude with a rare capacity for self-reflection, mapping out wholly individual internal terrain that resonates across genre and scene borders, and on both the most vast and intimate of scales.
In true Kalandra fashion, the band’s new album, “A Frame Of Mind”, doesn’t just tell a story, it embodies one. Emphasising both the delicacy and the dynamism of “The Line”, both sonically and lyrically it gives voice to a shared sense of displacement, and the strength needed to navigate circumstances that can feel open-ended and unsettled. From the first, elegantly acoustic cadences of the Tool-tinged “I Am”, it’s the sound of being drawn in to the most confidential of endeavours, Katrine’s self-reflective, gossamer-fine lilt searching for a way to deal with past wrongs and focus on one’s own narrative as a path towards healing, as the song meticulously brews up a storm of deliverance.
For all the space and scope it allows itself, “A Frame Of Mind” is a transformative experience, underpinned by a constant sense of motion and a feeling of one’s way towards resolution, as if new senses are emerging and being tested to their fullest extent. Through “Are You Ready?”s understated chant that ushers in a metallic crescendo, “Bardaginn”’s liberated Norse ritualism riven with tungsten-weight riffs ,the pastoral romanticism infusing lead single “The State Of The World” and “Segla”’s cinematic swells of neo-classicism to the closing acoustic campfire folk of “I Remember A Time”, “A Frame Of Mind” is an ongoing journey of self-discovery, with the organic sensation of unfolding in real time.
For all the plaudits Kalandra have now gained, the rapturously received tours with Wardruna, Leprous and A.A. Williams, their viral cover of Wardruna’s “Helvegen” coming close to 6 million views on YouTube and over 7 million streams on Spotify, the closely-knit four piece – completed by guitarists Jogeir Daae Mæland and Florian Döderlein Winter and drummer Oskar Johnsen Rydh – went back to the outlook of that first 2017 EP, “Beneath The Breaking Waves”, when they were still trying to find a foothold and stepping into the unknown, in order to stay true to themselves.
“It’s extremely important to remember the first time we created those songs,” says Katrine. “There was no expectation, and we just did it for ourselves. I need to make music for my own healing and expression and I’m so glad that we managed to find a way back to that mindset, and it’s absolutely crucial if you are going to continue and make music on your own terms. You need to be able to access that perspective of everything is allowed, no ideas are dumb and develop them as you go.”
“It’s the nature of creativity in that have to challenge yourself,” adds Jogeir, “and that is a state of restlessness in itself. It’s a hard balance to not let the inner critic become too strong, but not to silence it either, because you need it to grow. If you can manage to look at yourself and your issues without judgment and just curiosity it becomes much easier to bear.”
It’s that process of healing and working through, that willingness to face life’s storms in order to be released from them that’s given Kalandra such a close connection with their fans, and given many a means to deal with their own struggles. They’ve had feedback from health professionals who have used their music for therapy, and even used with psychedelics to help people overcome addiction and trauma. For Katrine and Jogeir, their own experiences of meditation, Eastern philosophy and psychoanalytic therapy all contributed to the process of writing “A Frame Of Mind”, and the far-sighted acceptance and perspective the album allows for itself, and for others.
Kalandra may still see themselves as outsiders, may still be persevering along a path that may be never fully mapped out, but theirs is the broadest, most challenging of ventures with the richest of rewards, and one whose sense of accommodation feels equally boundless.
Peru’s brutal death metal contingent INTESTINAL LACERATION has a new guitar and bass playthrough to unleash upon fans. The video is for their track “Abyss of Atrocities” off their latest album “Chaotic Eschatological Madness” released in 2022 from Gore House Productions.
The band adds about the track:
“This song is about a fight for the end of the world that ends with one’s autophagy reflecting itself in the narrative as a mirror, but it is oneself.”
Watch the visceral brutality via its premiere on Technical Music Review HERE.
Formed in 2009, Intestinal Laceration is for thetwisted minds obsessed by the extreme, ancestral eschatology, existential cosmology, anti-Christianity, cannibalism, genetic mutation, and pathological malformations.
Conceived in the underworld of Lima, Peru, Intestinal Laceration began rehearsals where compositions of fast and rotten riffs, extreme blast beats, and overwhelmingly chaotic guttural vocals converged. Grinding the local scene over the next five years, the band unshackled their debut EP “Species of Ptrid Minds” in 2015 on Coyote Records (RU).
Their follow-up and first full-length “Chaotic Eschatological Madness” ischaotic, forceful, heavy, and gutturally raw for a brutal and pleasurable listening experience. An evolution from their EP, the album is high energy and nods to true old-school death metal with its elaborate and complex riffs.
The lyrical theme of “Chaotic Eschatological Madness” deals with the cosmological existential anguish as an answer to the absurdities of the world, searching for the true essence of nature in the phenomenological subjective experiences and cosmological knowledge, manifested in the cult of ancestral eschatologies as a symbolic cognitive cultural legacy that is shown in its original way of conceiving the universe (cosmological prefiguration). The album also talks about catastrophic natural phenomena, the regeneration of time, and the extinction of the human race as a misanthropic seed because of its self-destructive nature.
Recommended for fans of Guttural Secrete, Deeds of Flesh, Arsebreed, Gorgasm, and Defeated Sanity.
“Chaotic Eschatological Madness” was released on May 20, 2022, on Gore House Productions and is available on CD, Cassette, and Digitally at https://orcd.co/chaotic-eschatological-madness
Golden Robot Records is thrilled to announce the signing of the dynamic Central Queensland trio, ViperSnatch. The group’s powerful new single, ‘Therapy’, is now available for pre-save ahead of its highly anticipated release on November 29, 2024.
‘Therapy’ is the latest emotionally-charged single from Central Queensland’s rising alternative band, ViperSnatch. In this raw and powerful track, the band crafts a stark juxtaposition between delicate and aggressive musical elements, creating a sonic landscape that mirrors the complexities of its subject matter. Shimmering clean guitar tones, ethereal vocals, and haunting flute melodies set an atmospheric foundation, before the track explodes into a punk-infused barrage of gritty basslines and thunderous drums. This dynamic contrast underscores the emotional weight behind the song’s themes.
At its core, ‘Therapy’ delves deeply into the trauma and emotional scars left by sexualisation, abuse, and sexual assault experienced by young women. ViperSnatch confronts these painful realities head-on, exploring how these experiences shape a woman’s view of intimacy and trust in her relationships with men. The band refuses to shy away from these hard truths, delivering a bold, unflinching narrative that exposes the ongoing impacts of trauma.
More than just a reflection on pain, ‘Therapy’ is also a call for acknowledgment, healing, and empowerment. Through its poignant lyrics and cathartic instrumentation, the song offers a voice to those who have been silenced and a raw confrontation of issues that are too often pushed to the margins. ViperSnatch continues to prove themselves as not only skilled musicians but fearless storytellers, using their music to provoke meaningful dialogue and awareness around vital social issues.
About ViperSnatch: Formed in 2018 on Darumbal Land in Central Queensland, Australia, ViperSnatch has quickly emerged as a distinctive force in the region’s alternative music scene, delivering an unfiltered, strong female perspective. With their fearless approach to songwriting and performance, ViperSnatch effortlessly fuses elements of punk, folk, grunge, and indie rock, creating a soundscape that is as diverse as it is dynamic. Their music is a visceral expression of defiance, rebellion, and empowerment, refusing to be boxed into any single genre or identity. Tracks like Witchcraft, Baby, Therapy, and SLUT showcase this sonic fluidity, each weaving together different musical textures while staying true to their raw, unapologetic ethos.
Their unapologetically bold lyrics and genre-blurring compositions reflect a mantra that is central to their identity: defying labels and challenging societal expectations to be authentically yourself is more powerful than conforming to traditional ideals of what women or musicians “should” be. They embrace their individuality with pride, favouring audacity and truth over demureness and restraint, encouraging their listeners to do the same.
Known for delivering emotionally charged, high-energy live performances, ViperSnatch has built a reputation for electrifying shows that resonate deeply with their audience. Whether it’s their blistering punk riffs or haunting, melodic folk-inspired moments, each live performance is seasoned with the perfect dose of Central Queensland sass, leaving a lasting impression on anyone lucky enough to experience their energy firsthand. Their concerts can only be described as cathartic experiences – raw, real, and emotionally immersive, reflecting the authenticity of the band members themselves.
Whether they’re addressing themes of identity, trauma, or empowerment, ViperSnatch is unafraid to push boundaries both musically and socially, making them a vital voice in Australia’s alternative music scene.
In a new post on the Alcatrazz Official Facebook page Larry Paterson, drummer of Alcatrazz shares his memories of being present during Black Sabbath’s “Forbidden” album and of late drummer Cozy Powell.Offers exclusive photos.
Larry Paterson issued:
“I’m really pleased that Sabbath’s ‘Forbidden’ album and the whole Tony Martin era (sans-Eternal Idol, which is an excellent record!) is being re-released and rediscovered by people.
I was lucky enough to be present when they were writing ‘Forbidden’ at the residential rehearsal room in Wales; can’t remember what it was called. At the time I was good friends with Eddie Naughton, Cozy’s tech, and through him I got to know Cozy pretty well and ultimately ended up in Wales watching this amazing band get stuff together for their new album.
The first time I had seen Black Sabbath after arriving from New Zealand was on the Headless Cross tour at Hammersmith Odeon. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but they absolutely blew me away. It’s still one of my favourite gigs and one of the best Sabbath shows I have seen, from any of their line-ups. And some years later, there I was…standing in the room while Tony Iommi tried out riffs on everybody.
It was pretty surreal to be honest, and I vividly remember how everybody was very cool to me, no doubt because Eddie was my mate. That was the first time I met the rest of the band; the two Tonys, Neil Murray, Geoff Nicholls and Tony’s guitar tech Mike Clements who was a truly nice bloke, very warm and welcoming to this star-struck kid that was hanging around. I stayed as far out of the way and inconspicuous as I could as I watched them bat riffs about and song pieces. It was really something else! I didn’t take photos. I didn’t hunt autographs. I just sat and watched and learned (though I photographed the gear when they were away!) At the time I was drumming for the thrash band Arbitrater (of which I was very proud, and whose name Cozy always seemed to find rib-ticklingly amusing) and I remember thinking that even the riffs Tony Iommi junked because they didn’t soar would have been treasure for most other bands.
The day I arrived with Eddie we were bringing Cozy his new Yamaha drum kit. It was this absolutely spectacular light woodgrain finish with pale gold hardware. I helped unbox it, cringing as Eddie whipped out a drill and started putting holes in it to get it ready for Cozy’s custom set-up. What a kit that was! In the rehearsal room was his gold and black kit already set up and fully miked up for recording demos. The first person I saw when we rolled up was Tony Iommi, walking about taking a break. He had these ankle weights on as he ambled about, I guess to strengthen his legs. I didn’t ask…didn’t want to piss the great man off by being impertinent! Ha ha! It was difficult enough saying my own name when Eddie introduced us. And when we shook hands I did my best not to look at his finger tips!
Ultimately, I was there for a reason. The band were taking a break for a couple of weeks and were thinking of relocating studios. I remember nobody liked the corn-beefed hash we had for the first lunch I was there for, and the lady in charge seemed to get under Cozy’s skin somehow. Not sure why, but she was a little snooty I thought.
So, while they were gone, I was baby-sitting their gear that they left all set up and ready to use as soon as they reconvened.
And that was it really. They toddled off and I stayed with their gear, sleeping in a little room next to the rehearsal area and lounge with pool table and everything. It was fantastic, but again, pretty surreal. Every morning I’d wake up, open the door to my room and be presented with the back of Tony’s Laney stacks with his named stencilled all over them, Awesome! The lady who ran the place was very pissed off at my presence, so I kept out of her way and just spent every evening looking at all the gear and wondering why I had been so lucky.
So, that was my first brush with Sabbath. I later saw them in the studio in Liverpool as they were finishing the album, and it really didn’t seem a happy band. I know Cozy was pretty pissed off that Ernie C had asked him to play differently, replacing his 26” bass drums with 20” or maybe 22” I seem to recall, which did NOT go down well. As an outside observer, it looked like Cozy would walk soon, and so he did. Bands are a mercurial thing…and sometimes you just have to go.
One of my prized possessions was a hotel receipt from where I stayed in Liverpool, with my name and the organisation name ‘Black Sabbath’ next to it. It was like a little piece of paper-gold to me…but I don’t know where it is now. Lost in one of my many moves.
I got to help carry the master tapes to London with Mike Clements. We rode with the gear truck driver who was next going out with Saxon. He was talking about tours he’d done and so was Mike; all the kind of talk that I still find exciting after all these years. The driver and I were joking that the car that was following us through the night on the motorway was probably driven by Sharon Osbourne as she tried to fuck Sabbath up somehow…and I remember Mike raising his eyebrows and saying nothing was impossible. I’d already heard the whole nappy story and few more from some of the band. Strange days eh?
Anyway, Mike thanked me profusely for my help, not that I really did anything but be star-struck and baby sit the equipment. I had my name in the album as ‘backline security’, though they spelled both my first and last names wrong. Ha ha! But then, it didn’t matter. I didn’t do it for that; I did it because it was an honour to meet all these guys and watch the magic up close.
I saw Tony Iommi quite a few times after that. Helped him move house and marvelled at all the polaroids from the ‘Born Again’ tour that were upstairs in his garage in Solihull. Took his little practice amp to the Laney factory for repair. The reception barely acknowledged me and kept me waiting for ages. I was just some annoying long-hair with a little amp. Of course, I couldn’t help myself, and said: “it’s not for me, it’s for Tony Iommi.” Suddenly they couldn’t have been nicer… I don’t like that.
I got to know Cozy quite well over later years and helped him out here and there with stuff, as he helped me as well. A genuinely lovely bloke. I saw the Headless Cross stage set in the Rich Bitch rehearsal studio storage when I was collecting some of Cozy’s drums, and then saw Freddie’s piano and stage gear when I dropped it off at Queen’s warehouse in London (Cozy was out with Brain May).
I’d bump into Tony Martin here and there and he was always a lovely bloke. Same with Neil Murray and Geoff Nicholls’… Genuinely nice guys and absolutely top of their game musicians. Of course, Geoff is gone now which is a tragedy. As is Cozy. I was working as a diving instructor in Grenada when I heard the news. I’d sent him a couple of postcards, as Cozy was a diver too. I’d also given him all of my books on The Beatles that I’d had since I was a kid, as he was really into them. He had a photo of Keith Richards on his fridge as Cozy was trying to lose weight and seemed to take inspiration from that photo! But it was The Beatles that he liked more.
Of course, Eddie Naughton is also gone. He was a remarkable guy, truly one of a kind. Through him I found myself hanging out with many of my heroes, and Eddie and I would the toddle off and go diving together. He was an instructor too and always had a plan in the making for some new dive business idea. None of them worked, but he always had a plan.
I miss Eddie. He was a good mate.
So, I’ll listen to the new remix of ‘Forbidden’ and wander down memory lane in my head. Thanks to all those guys, who were so nice to me when they could have just ignored my presence. I’ll never forget that.”
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
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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
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