African metallists SKINFLINT return on October 25, 2024 with their latest album, ‘Baloi,’ which will be immediately supported by almost a month’s worth of live dates in the US – when the trio tours with Soulfly.
Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Giuseppe Sbrana, bassist Kebonye Nkoloso, and drummer Cosmos Modisaemang, Skinflint’s latest album is their seventh release overall (and issued via Into Records).
“Baloi is the rawest and most aggressive album we have done,” explains the group’s long-time leader, Giuseppe Sbrana. “We recorded it in as few takes as possible. This was done intentionally as we wanted to capture the spirit of the band, in its most natural way as possible. This is who we are, without any masks, in our rawest form and without inhibitions. ‘Baloi’ is glorious in its imperfection.”
And it turns out that one of the album’s standout tracks, “Sangoma Blood Magic,” has been issued as a music video, which can be viewed below.
“Everywhere you go in Africa, you will hear of Sangomas and we chose this track as the music video, because it shows a prominent aspect of African culture and spirituality,” explains Sbrana. “The song was originally composed in a non-metal way, using traditional drums and chanting. We have included this track in the album also (traditional) to show the origins, the skeleton of the song that led to the inspiration for Sangoma Blood magic. I think it’s a very powerful track and is deeply rooted in African tradition. It was the best choice for the video.”
‘Baloi’ Tracklist:
1. Ritual War 03:17 2. Serpent Men 02:44 3. Lentswe La Baratani 08:50 4. Plane of the Condemned 05:46 5. Kishi 05:27 6. Ritual Torturer of Fetish Ghosts 04:11 7. The Beasts Beneath the Rocks 06:21 8. Sangoma (Traditional) 01:42 9. Sangoma Blood Magic 04:40
And lastly, Skinflint is very much looking to hit the road once more with Soulfly.
“It’s an honor to play with Soulfly,” Sbrana adds. “We are excited for the tour and looking forward to our return to the US. We are going to focus on the upcoming tour and album launch for now. We plan to do more tours in support of ‘Baloi’ and start writing new music. As soon as an album is done, we are already writing new music. For us, we want to make metal till we die, and there is nothing that will stop us.”
Skinflint/Soulfly Tour Dates:
Oct. 19, 2024 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater
Oct. 21, 2024 Wichita, KS WAVE
Oct. 22, 2024 Dallas, TX Trees
Oct. 23, 2024 Austin, TX Come and Take It Live
Oct. 24, 2024 Baton Rouge, LA Chelsea’s Live
Oct. 25, 2024 Fort Walton Beach, FL Downtown Music Hall
Oct. 26, 2024 Fort Myers, FL The Ranch Concert Hall & Saloon
Berlin-based HC/Metal entity ANCST has just released a new music video for their song “Negativity Bias” from their album “Culture of Brutality” which was put out in May 2024. After touring through Germany and Europe this year and appearing at several German festivals like Full Force and Masters of the Unicorn, the band sets out for another run through Germany this October to further promote their latest Album.
Find the dates below: 12/10 – Neue Zukunft, Berlin 18/10 – Altes Sportamt, Bremen 19/10 – Biergarten, Schneverdingen 20/10 – Dont Panic, Essen 21/10 – AZ, Aachen 22/10 – Villa Wuller, Trier 23/10 – Fatal, Landau 24/10 – Ponyhof, Frankfurt 25/10 – Kunstverein, Nürnberg 26/10 – Halle am Rhein, Köln
Swedish gothic metal maestros TRIBULATION is now revealing a cinematic music video for their new single, “Murder in Red,” which pays homage to vintage Italian horror cinema. The video was created by Brandon McGowan with additional footage from Damón Zurawski and can be found at THIS LOCATION.
“Murder in Red” is where sinister melodies and chilling lyrics collide: This gripping track takes you on a journey through themes of loss, obsession, and the insatiable urge for destruction. Vivid imagery of blood, dark transformations, and moonlit skies, “Murder in Red” evokes raw emotion and a descent into madness.
The song is taken from Tribulation’s upcoming sixth studio album, ‘Sub Rosa in Æternum,’ which is due on November 1, 2024 via Century Media Records. The offering follows up the band’s award-winning 2021 album, ‘Where the Gloom Becomes Sound.’ On ‘Sub Rosa in Æternum,’ Tribulation conjure new beast: Part psychological horror of Italian cinema, part gaunt British goth, and part Art Deco opulence, ‘Sub Rosa In Æternum’ is a blazing torch upon a cloudy, skeleton sky. Pre-orders are now live HERE.
Guitarist Adam Zars explains, “Draped in the velvet of violent cinema Murder in Red is our operatic homage to the beauty of the macabre. Haunting and deadly.
With a lot of encouragement from the band, Brendan went full Giallo on the video, conjuring up his inner Argento to create this truly memorable music video filled with references and passion. It was a pleasure working both with him and Damon again!”
Brendan McGowan adds, “There’s no better way to visually embrace Tribulation’s evolution into their new sound than with a music video heavily inspired by 80’s Giallo classics like ‘Blood and Black Lace,’ ‘Inferno,’ and of course ‘Suspiria.’ After hearing the first lyric ‘I found her by the side of the road/lips still glowing like embers,’ the entire concept immediately revealed itself – murder is terrifying, but what’s more terrifying than the self, the id, the shadow?
“Our character hasn’t simply died, she has ‘joined the dead.’ We were fortunate enough to be able to film at a number of old and allegedly haunted locations in West Virginia with tons of cooperation from the folks in town (The video’s bartender at ‘The Troubadour’ is the owner of the real Troubadour bar). Combining the psychedelic colors, nostalgic VHS footage, and Katrina’s hypnotizing and dualistic performance with the cinematic language of 80’s Italian horror perfectly supports the eerie atmosphere of this very cool track by Tribulation. Special thanks to Damón Zurawski who returned to help with band footage and to Sylvia Poehler from The Troubadour in Berkeley Springs.”
In addition, TRIBULATION will be supporting legendary progressive metal pioneers Opeth on their upcoming North America tour, which will kick off on October 11 in Milwaukee, WI and conclude on Halloween night in San Francisco, CA. this October 2024 with their last show on Halloween in San Francisco. The full itinerary can be found below while the tickets can be found HERE.
Bonus Track: I takt med otiden* *Bonus track on Ltd. CD Mediabook + Ltd. Deluxe LPs only
TRIBULATION North American Tour Dates (Supporting OPETH):
10/11: Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave / Eagles Club 10/12: Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater & Ballroom 10/14: Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre 10/15: Montréal, QC @ L’Olympia 10/16: Worcester, MA @ Palladium 10/18: Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre 10/19: Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE 10/20: Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre 10/22: Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle 10/23: New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore New Orleans 10/24: Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin 10/25: Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre 10/27: Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom 10/29: Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren 10/30: Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater 10/31: San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Tribulation is known for their unique blend of gothic and death metal. Formed in 2005, the band consists of Johannes Andersson (Vocals/Bass), Adam Zaars (Guitar), Joseph Tholl (Guitar) and Oscar Leander (Drums). They have released several captivating albums during their career and are renowned for their theatrical live performances. ‘Sub Rosa in Æternum’ marks the first release of the band after their 2023 EP ‘Hamartia,’ which has achieved critical acclaim after Tribulation’s award-winning last studio album, ‘Where the Gloom Becomes Sound’ in 2021.
Lineup: Johannes Andersson (Vocals/Bass) Adam Zaars (Guitar) Joseph Tholl (Guitar) Oscar Leander (Drums)
FEVER 333 have released their highly anticipated new full-length album, DARKER WHITE out October 4th and sharee the new music video for “PIN DROP” taken from the album.
Consisting of fourteen tracks, DARKER WHITE is the intersection we will all find ourselves in at some point in our lives,” says Jason Aalon on the theme of the new album. “It is the struggle we will inevitably face when identifying our metric for good or bad. Wrong or right. Dark and light. All based on our environment, social construction and cultural/psychological conditioning. It is the eagle-eyed observation of said intersection and the removing the shame after realizing we all experience it and it is up to us to find use of this taboo so it can be offered to the world as a beautiful story, piece of wisdom or a perspective that ironically changes your life for the better. DARKER WHITE is a sonic and social experience.”
“This album began as one thing and ended as another,” adds Jason. “At least to me. Somehow, it provided a map to me possibly finding a sense of understanding in a rather complex existence without me realizing I was lost in the first place. I began writing this album with a considerably naive sense of hope for a future that delivered liberation to more of us. But by the time I released it I realized that there was still a liberation within myself I have yet to achieve. Both unfortunately and thankfully the only person that can offer such freedom to me is…me. I guess that’s what I meant by DARKER WHITE without even knowing it. We cannot lust for light without loving the dark. So, here’s to living in love and pain. Here’s to DARKER WHITE.”
Metalheads all over the world associate Thy Catafalque with Hungary. But the project’s mastermind has a vision that extends far beyond his home country’s borders and boundaries. With an equal affinity for classical instrumentation, avant-garde experiments and the more vile dealings of death and black metal, Tamás Kátai can take you anywhere: The Great Plains, a philosophical feast, the quiet of a familiar street just before dawn, or, as Red Bull recently discovered, a Chilean mountainside.
Red Bull TV’s new feature-length film ANYTIME follows a daring new generation of mountain bikers as they set out to conquer the world’s most extreme terrains. Bikers Brage Vestavik and Kade Edwards took on the daunting challenge of Chile’s “The Megadolon”, a 5,542 foot descent down a steep and snowy mountainside. This tense scene is set by “Köszöntsd a hajnalt”, the heavy yet serene third single off Thy Catafalque’s tenth album Vadak.
XII features many familiar faces from the project’s wide discography. Dreamy synths swirl amidst riffs that are both catchy and crushing. Traditional acoustic and classical instruments accompany production that’s slightly more modern. But A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek also ties back to Kátai’s past and the history of his home country.
“I felt it was time to move in a different direction, whatever that direction might be, but A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek still possesses the dreaminess that I’ve always associated with Thy Catafalque”, Kátai says. “There is a tinge of nostalgia, a tinge of sadness, a tinge of hope, a tinge of beauty and still a generous amount of metal”.
Artwork
Front cover by Dániel Szécsényi and Tamás Kátai – Illustrations by Orsolya Pintér.
Tracklist 1. Piros Kocsi, Fekete Éj (4:12) 2. Mindenevö (6:35) [WATCH] 3. Vasgyár (6:18) 4. Világnak Világa (6:28) 5. Nyárfa, Nyírfa (2:53) 6. Lydiához (3:05) 7. Vakond (4:29) 8. Ködkiraly (7:58) 9. Aláhullás (3:48) 10. A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek (3:14) [WATCH] 11. Babylon (Bonus Track – Omega Cover) (3:42)* Total runtime: 49:02 *Digital only
For two decades, Tamás Kátai was content on sticking to the studio. That changed in 2021, when he and a cast of heavy hitters performed at the Fekete Zaj Festival. This milestone was later committed to memory on Mezolit, but Thy Catafalque has continued to grow into a steady and spectacular live act.
Earlier this year, Thy Catafalque headlined their first tour of Europe. Now, to celebrate the project’s upcoming twelfth album, Kátai and his ever-growing list of collaborators will perform at four concerts across Europe. This includes a newly added date at Spain’s BIME Live Festival, plus two very special sold-out shows at one of Hungary’s most influential underground venues, where they’ll perform songs off XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek, along with all ten tracks on the recently reissued fifth album Rengeteg.
During these two special shows at Dürer Kert, Thy Catafalque will be joined by the noisy experimentalists in Shum, labelmate Saor and Kátai’s old band, Gire.
Thy Catafalque 2024 Concerts October 12 – Thessaloniki, Greece, @ Mammothfest [TICKETS] October 30 – Bilbao, Spain @ BIME Live Festival [INFO] November 22 – Budapest, Hungary @ Dürer Kert w/ Saor [SOLD OUT] November 23 – Budapest, Hungary @ Dürer Kert w/ Gire, Shum [SOLD OUT]
New fans and long-time appreciators can now rediscover just how much Thy Catafalque has grown since their humble beginnings as a duo. This year, Season of Mist re-issued Thy Catafalque’s first seven albums.
Tamás Kátai has a vision that extends beyond borders and boundaries. Even during its infancy, Thy Catafalque had already outgrown the rather rigid guidelines of black metal. Though only intended for the studio, over the past 20 years, his recording project has evolved into a lively collaboration. With each album, Thy Catafalque has pushed the envelope of extreme metal a step further, bringing the world’s most vile art form into conversation with the avant-garde.
Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album is even more expansive, but XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek ties both to its mastermind’s past and the history of his native Hungary. “For this album, I felt it was time to move in a different direction, whatever that direction might be”, Kátai says, “but XII still possesses the dreaminess that I’ve always associated with Thy Catafalque”.
Of course, Kátai hasn’t been mulling over this album for too long. Keeping in line with his prolific pace, XII arrives just one year after his previous album. Named after the stretch of land where the producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was born in southeast Hungary, Alföld returned to the heaviness from which Thy Catafalque took root during the late ’90s. Once again, Kátai set out to make a straightforward metal record, but while there’s plenty of cause for chest-pounding, A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek ended up taking him on another surreal headtrip.
“I think of this album as an introspective journey through the night”, Kátai says. Opener “Piros kocsi, fekete éj” (which in English means “Red Carriage, Black Night”) glides off through a warm mist of piping keys, led by twin engine guitars that crest with reverb. “Time clatters on the rails”. Attila Bakos sings in Hungarian. His voice beams over the airwaves with the same clean force as 15 years ago, when he helped lift Thy Catafalque out of the Hungarian underground on the recently reissued Róka hasa rádió.
“Attila also sang on Rengeteg“, Kátai remembers about the first Thy Catafalque album that he wrote and recorded by himself. “‘Piros kocsi, fekete éj’ has the same sense for melody. It opens the album with a feeling of nostalgia”.
Of course, many other familiar faces join Kátai on his journey. After all, Thy Catafalque started as a duo with János Juhász. A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek features the biggest guest list in the project’s long discography. More than 20 guest musicians appear on this album, including old friends from inside and outside the Hungarian metal scene. Martina Veronika Horváth — whose band The Answer Lies in the Black Void toured Europe with Thy Catafalque earlier in 2024 — duets with the tender brooding Gábor Dudás for a faithful rendition of “Lydiához”, a 1980 Sebő ensemble classic that sowed the seeds for Hungary’s roots revival.
“That is a song that’s been with me and the rest of my generation ever since we were children”, Kátai says. Violins, cello, clarinet and other classical instruments add to the comforts of home. Before it drifts off high beyond the clouds, “Vakond” strings along like a whistling stroll across The Great Plains. “Alföld was very bleak”, he continues. “Adding classical and acoustic instruments helped add a spring of color and an air of adventure to these new songs”.
Still, A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek can be a hard road — especially during its crushing middle section. Despite the gentle opening plucks, “Mindenevő” crashes down like a boulder, hurtling ahead at terrifying speed behind doomy operatic backing vocals, mechanized blast beats and the eerie fires of tremolo picking that forged Thy Catafalque’s debut Sublunary Tragedies. “This album still has plenty of metal”, Kátai assures.
The heaviest moments are often grounded in Hungary’s history. While colored by nostalgia, XII is also shadowed by the ticking hands of time, a theme that ripples back to 2021’s Vadak. Blackened chugger “Vasgyár” shares a namesake with the rusted-out ironworks that once fueled the country’s economy. It’s not a political statement, but the song does reflect how the landscape has changed to the eye of the now 48-year-old Kátai.
“Even the album’s visuals are from a bygone era”, he says. In the video for its title track, closing song and lead single, Kátai doesn’t just run through the streets of his hometown. Surreal scenes from the past and present linger along his winding path through the placid countryside. Watching his doppelgänger dig his own grave feels like a living nightmare. “‘This song comes from a place of desperation”, he says. “Within the afterglow of nostalgia, there’s also the chill of disappointment”.
Ultimately, the progressive flair that has come to define Thy Catafalque shines through the darkness on album twelve. Only this time around, in order to reach the light at the end of the tunnel, Kátai needed some guidance. “I felt like the production had largely been the same since Geometria“, he admits. XII marks the first time in the project’s history that he worked with an outside producer. Granted, Gábor Vári is no stranger to how his mind works. When he’s not holed away in the studio with other prominent Hungarian metal bands, Gábor could be seen hammering away at his guitar on stage with Thy Catafalque on the live album Mezolit. “He was the perfect person to help give this album a somewhat different sound that is still familiar”.
As a result, “A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek” stands out as one of Thy Catafalque’s biggest crowd pleasers, uplifted by hand claps and catchy, fist-pumping riffs. Even the dark waves of synth glow with the reassurance of the dawn. “At the end, there’s still hope for a future that might offer warmer days after the darkness has ceded”.
Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album looks back longingly at the past, Tamás Kátai isn’t stopping to smell the roses. With A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek, he shows that the beautiful dreams are yet to come.
Recording Lineup Tamás Kátai – guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, programming
Guest musicians Martina Veronika Horváth – vocals on Track 1, 6 Ivett Dudás – vocals on Track 8 Helga Kreiter – vocals on Track 4, 10 Gábor Dudás – vocals on Track 2, 5, 6, 10 Bálint Bokodi – vocals on Track 2, 4, 9 Gábor Veres – vocals on Track 3, 8 Attila Bakos – vocals on Track 1 Zoltán Kónya – vocals on Track 3 András Vörös – vocals on Track 4 Breno Machado – lead guitar on Track 2 Zoltán Vigh – lead guitar on Track 3 Krisztián Varga – lead guitar on Track 4 Daniele Belli – acoustic guitar on Track 2 Miguel Velasquez Matija – fretless bass on Track 2, 6 Edu Giró – oud, bouzouki, baglama on Track 2,7 Grigoris Mitropoulos – bouzouki, mpaglamas on Track 7 Sanja Smileska – violin on Track 3 Jo Quail – electric cello on Track 8 Issar Shulman – contrabass on Track 2 Cal Rustad – French horn on Track 2, 8 Manuel Domenech – cor anglais on Track 8 Khachatrian Lernik – clarinet on Track 2 Gergő Bille – flugelhorn, trumpet on Track 7 Joakim Toftgaard – trombone, trumpet on Track 7 Fabian Hernandez – saxophone on Track 5 Viktória Varga – narration on Track 3 Annamari Sánta – narration on Track 7, 8
Recording Recorded in various countries: Hungary, United Kingdom, Romania, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Greece, North Macedonia, Israel, U.S.A., Colombia, Brazil.
Producer & Sound Engineer Tamás Kátai, Gábor Vári
Mixing & Mastering Miracle Sound Szeged, Hungary. Mixed and mastered by Gábor Vári.
With their ninth full-length album “My Ghost” set to hit the streets on the 18th October on My Kingdom Music, Norwegian Extreme Metallers, CREST OF DARKNESS have today released a second single from the album.
Titled “The Ultimate Truth” the track is a demonstration of the versatility of the band, whose particular take on Extreme Metal pulls in fans from genres that range from Black to Death to Thrash to Metal.
“The Ultimate Truth” can be streamed or downloaded from a variety of services at https://song.link/COD_truth
Accompanying the track is a video by videographer and editor Caroline Kløvrud of Litt Films, who has been able to capture the darkness inherent within the band’s music and its founder Ingar Amlien’s lyrical concepts.
CREST OF DARKNESS’ career spans over 30 years, and “My Ghost” will be the heaviest, darkest and most personal work that Amlien has created to date. As he recently explained:
“Structured as a ritual, “My Ghost” is a concept album, which, from an artistic standpoint, is meant to be heard as a whole. From the album’s evocative opening, the ritual leads us to its climax, embodied by the final song “The Ultimate Truth”. This is the point at which the listener completes the initiation into the dark world of CREST OF DARKNESS, and is thus ready to enter the “Ninth Portal”.
With its varied and uncompromising lyrics underpinning its message, “My Ghost” is essentially a long journey into the darkest recesses of the mind. A place where Nature’s darkest forces breathe energy and vitality into those who have the courage, and the strength, to become their own Gods”.
With cover art by Roy Allan Larsen, tracklisting for “My Ghost” is as follows:
1. My Ghost 2. Infected 3. The Will Of God 4. Call Of The Moon 5. Satanic 6. Sacrificed To The Sun 7. The Awakening 8. Under My Spell 9. The Ultimate Truth
Amlien describes the painstaking creative process that went into the making of “My Ghost”:
“My Ghost” is the result of two years worth of blood and sweat, which began with me working alone to mould my very personal thoughts and beliefs into musical ideas. Then, together as a band, with myself on bass and vocals, Rebo Rebolee on Guitars, and Bjørnar Jenssen on drums, we developed those ideas, each contributing our own ideas to the process.
The end result is an extremely personal journey that defines the very essence of CREST OF DARKNESS.
“My Ghost” features special guest appearances by renowned Norwegian trumpet player Roy Nikolaisen, and long-term collaborator Kristian Wentzel on keyboards. It was recorded at the MLP Studios with Nils H. Maehlum at the helm and was mastered by Giuseppe Nicolò (aka Buzz) at Lost Soul Studio.
“My Ghost” is available to pre-order in LP, Digipak CD, Tape and Digital formats, as well as in a special bundle edition limited to 50 copies from the following: https://shorturl.at/mqf9L
CREST OF DARKNESS will be celebrating the release of “My Ghost” at Friscena, in Govik, Norway, on the 19th October.
The single “Call of the Moon” from “My Ghost” was recently released in 7″ EP and Digital formats which are available from a number of services at https://album.link/COD_moon
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
Click image to watch the video
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