Progressive rock/metal outfit Ereley is thrilled to unleash the lyric video for their emotionally charged track, “Orient Flowers.” The song is another powerful offering from their forthcoming album, “Garden,” set to be released in full bloom on May 31, 2024, via Wormholedeath Records.
“Orient Flowers” is a track that follows the journey of a man bidding farewell to his home. Walking through his vast garden, he reminisces about the times when his relationship with his wife was crumbling. The lyrics vividly illustrate his determination to escape the past and start anew, leaving behind the negativity that once weighed him down.
ERELEY’s music style, termed “heavy joy music,” blends elements of doom, death, thrash, and prog metal, creating a dynamic, progressive sound.
Ereley is: Lukáš “LR” Réda – vocals, guitars (and everything behind, between and after) Jiří “York” Réda – guitars Jan “Jofa” Kapr – bass William “Willi” Izmalkov – Drums
Prepare to be further swept away by the emotional depth and sonic brilliance of Ereley’s “Garden.” “Orient Flower” is another captivating layer of their immersive world.
Finland’s UNEARTHLY RITES are today premiering their debut album, Ecdysis, in full via Decibel. The death metal band’s cavernously old school approach to the genre on their first full-length sees UNEARTHLY RITES rallying against corporate greed and ecocide. Alongside the album premiere, the band has shared a string of live dates in support of Ecdysis – with more details below.
Speaking on the premiere, UNEARTHLY RITES’ Santtu Markko (guitar) comments: “As the world is burning, prepare to die! Neanderthal riffs and sonic torture from the death metal caves of Finland. We’ll be supporting the album live on the following dates:
3 May – Bar Loose – Helsinki, Finland w/ Pestigore & Aedes. 4 May 4 – Vastavirta Klubi – Tampere, Finland w/ Sonic Poison & Disguised Malignance. 10 May – Nirvana – Turku, Finland w/ Frigid Winter, Below The Graves & Ruuhi.”
Ecdysis tracklist: 1. Hellscape 2. Deep Drilling the Earth’s Crust 3. The Master’s Tools 4. Ecdysis 5. Capitalocenic Nightmare 6. New Venus 7. Fuck Ecofascism 8. Sacrifice Zones 9. Doomed
Formed in 2020 through existing friendships in their native underground extreme metal and punk scenes, UNEARTHLY RITES’ members’ mutual adherence to DIY methods and principles of creativity and community resulted in a self-titled EP in 2021. As with their preceding release, Ecdysis once again saw the band record to tape with drummer Tapio Lepistö at the helm of the sessions at Black Floyds Analog Studio between May and September 2022. The ominously stark black and white cover also sees bassist Jennika Vikman once again take on art and logo duties.
At the beating heart of Ecdysis lies UNEARTHLY RITES’ insistence for a better world, with the perilous effects of capitalist interests taking precedence over nature and human life at the core of the group’s concerns. Through their collective work in environmental activism, including anti-mining campaigns in the arctic north, Ecdysis is less a despairing cry as it is a plea for change.
The band’s caustic approach to barbarically punishing death metal adds a feverish urgency to proceedings, with the rhythm section of bassist Vikman and guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko evoking the genre’s most cavernously brutish traits against Sisli Piisilä’s visceral vocal delivery. Despite their rage and despondency at institutional apathy on the title track and the harrowingly doomy highlight cut Sacrifice Zones, album closer Doomed shuns inaction and resigned complicitly by directly challenging the listener to choose their side for humanity’s sake and future.
UNEARTHLY RITES is: Sisli Piisilä – Vocals Simo Perkiömäki – Guitar Tapio Lepistö – Drums Jennika Vikman – Bass Santtu Markko – Guitar
Finnish melodic hard rock / AOR band Wake The Nations is back! The previous album Heartrock was released in 2019 via German AOR Heaven. The upcoming third album Heartageddon will be released on September 13th 2024 via Inverse Records. The Finnish label also released the band’s sold-out debut album Sign of Heart back in 2015.
The first single ‘Alive’ from the forthcoming album is released today and a rather personal music video has also been made for the band, replacing the guys with women. You’ll have to check it out here:
The bandcomments: “Storyline behind the song takes us back all the way to 2016, when the first lines were written. Based on a true story including bungee-jumps, rollercoaster-like-emotions, and love (of course… what did you expect from a WTN song…mf´s). Like our drummer Tuomas said: “We really are in a good position as a band, because Gekko‘s style of writing lyrics and Risto‘s way of creating tunes is a match made in heaven.” Alive tries to answer the question, should one drive pedal to the metal all the time or hit the brakes at least in the curves?!?”
Melodic death metal outfit Apocryphal have signed to The Circle Music for the release of their new album, and their first since the 1999 debut “Black Dreams of Silence”. The new album will feature the powerhouse vocals of Soilwork‘s legendary frontman, Björn “Speed” Strid.
After crafting ten tracks of pure melodic death metal mayhem, Apocryphal knew they needed the perfect voice to bring their vision to life. Enter Björn “Speed” Strid, whose aggressive yet melodic delivery has cemented him as one of the genre’s most respected vocalists.
“All we needed was a singer to complete the line-up and take this LP to another level,” says the band. “Finally, the mighty Björn “Speed” Strid completed the line-up and recorded the vocals for the upcoming album.“
Watch a video message from Björn:
The album is now ready boasting stunning cover artwork by Valnoir of Metastazis, and mastered at Skull Tone Studios by Nino Helfric.
The band said: “Our new album may come as a surprise to those who know us, but all the ingredients that make us unique are there. Perhaps less atmospheric, but more effective, the mix of melody and aggression will make every song stick in your head from the first time you listen to it.”
“We are convinced that our decision is the best one to spread our next LP worldwide,” added Apocryphal. “The Circle Music is the perfect record label for our new start.”
Formed in 1992 as Post At Funerals, Apocryphal found their current name and sound by 1994. Their early releases, including the 1995 demo “From Depths”, showcased their blend of death metal, atmospheric, and progressive influences. After a period of inactivity following the release of their 1999 album “Black Dreams Of Silence”, the band reformed in 2022 and recruited legendary vocalist Björn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork for their new album set for release in 2024.
MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER FEST will return in 2024 to Little Rock, AR from May 16-18! The multi-day festival will take place in the Argenta Arts District and has revealed the final lineup, which now includes the new additions of CANCERSLUG and RWAKE. The full lineup can be found below!
In honor of National Concert Week, the festival is now offering a special discount on tickets and passes that will run until this Tuesday, May 7 @ 11:59 P.M. EDT. Currently, fans can score single day tickets for Friday and Saturday for only $20 while a full festival pass is temporarily discounted at $95! Passes are now available HERE and will cover both stages for all three days of the event.
The full lineup is as follows:
John Garcia (Formerly of Kyuss playing all of the hits!) WEEDEATER DEADBIRD TELEKINETIC YETI DEEPSTARIA ENIGMATICA MEDICINE HORSE ADAM FAUCETT REBELMATIC FLUMMOX WHETHER SEAHAG OROROR CRANKBAIT MAMMOTH CARAVAN SPORTS DIREWOLF RWAKE CANCERSLUG
AFTERMATH has unveiled the official lyric video for their single “We Don’t Want A Riot,” set to release on May 10th via TLG|ZOID through Virgin Music Group. The track originally featured on the album No Time to Waste, which debuted on March 17, 2023.
Charlie Tsiolis, vocalist of AFTERMATH, shared insights on the single, stating, “Musically, ‘We Don’t Want A Riot’ channels the punk undertones reminiscent of our earlier work, with an infectious riff. Our aim was for the song’s message to resonate with that authentic punk energy. We recognize the timely relevance of the song’s message, which transcends political divides. It’s a plea for peace, devoid of partisan affiliations, urging listeners to transcend the constraints of party politics.”
Chicago based Aftermath, fronted by Kyriakos “Charlie” Tsiolis, formed in October 1985 when Charlie and his schoolmate Steve Sacco (Guitar) got together. This early incarnation with Adam (Bass) and Ray Schmidt (Drums) released their first demo in 1986 featuring “Sentenced to Death”, “Revenge”, “Shotgun” and “The Aftermath”.
In 1987, they unleashed their second demo entitled Killing the Future featuring the tracks “When Will You Die”, “Going No Place”, “Chaos”, “Meltdown” and “War for Freedom”. The band pursued a mind-blowing speed and technical brand of thrash that soon set them apart from the pack and in the process made them a pioneering crossover thrash band.
The tracks “War for Freedom” & “When Will You Die” were both featured on the British Metal Forces magazine_compilation LP Demolition: Scream Your Brains Out in 1988. Their appearance on the Metal Forces compilation further expanded the band’s international appeal.
By 1988, the band’s musical direction was changing, and Adam’s raw and simple bass lines would soon be replaced with complex and technical bass parts handled at first by John Lovette. Ironically, John never played bass on any Aftermath recording and was not even a bass player. He wanted to join the band so badly, however, that he came to the audition with a friend’s bass he had just started to play. The speed and complex playing he displayed were like nothing the members had ever seen before on bass. He landed the gig that day. When the band decided it was time to add a second guitarist, Lovette told his bandmates of his desire to switch to guitar and for the first time he came clean he was a guitar player pretending to be a bass player all along. His bass playing was surpassed by his guitar skills and the band found its second guitar player, but unfortunately the search for a bass player was forced to resume. Luckily, the search (for the time being, anyway) ended with Danny Vega. His warm and precise playing was the perfect complement to the guitar playing of Lovette and Sacco and worked amazingly well with Schmidt’s powerful drumming. With Lovette handling most of the song writing duties, Aftermath was about to make an unbelievable musical change.
By 1989, that change brought on by Lovette’s writing and the band’s musical tastes and stylings had slowed and matured as evidenced by the release of the underground classic demo Words That Echo Fear. Danny Vega was replaced on bass by Chris Waldron. The band went onto to become a trailblazing progressive/technical thrash band in the years that followed.
In 1990, based on the huge international success of the Words that Echo Fear demo, the metal label RoadRacer Records (a subsidiary of Roadrunner Records) approached the band for a demo deal, which resulted in a live four track demo featuring the songs “Eyes of Tomorrow”, “Afraid Of Time”, “The Act Of Unspoken Wisdom” and “Reflecting Pictures”. Negotiations eventually broke down and Aftermath signed to New York’s Big Chief Records. The label’s collapse halfway through the recording sessions led to a long delay in finishing the record. While the band struggled to pay the studio bill, the album the band started to record in 1990 would not see the light of day for four years. The experience left the band reeling and forced them to issue the album under their own imprint with the help of their manager through Zoid Recordings in 1994. Four long years had passed since the initial recordings for the record Eyes of Tomorrow and the scene had dramatically changed.
The album was subsequently re-released on Thermometer Sound Surface / Zoid and released yet again four years (1998) later on Black Lotus Records in a re-mastered version.
Quite famously, Aftermath, in a notable court case Tsiolis v. Interscope. Records. Inc., 946 F.Supp. 1344, 1349 (N.D.III. 1996) sued high-profile millionaire rapper DR. DRE over the ownership of the Aftermath name. The Rapper tried to buy the name for $50,000, which the band rejected. The band sued him. As part of the settlement, Interscope Records signed the band. To the label’s surprise, the band delivered a record under the moniker Mother God Moviestar. Its eponymous Electro-Metal debut was released in March 1998. The case has been studied in law schools around the US related to the issue of trademark dilution.
Aftermath has continued to receive critical acclaim as one of the major influences in the genre. The band was featured on pages 9 and 10 of Gary Sharpe-Young’s A – Z of Thrash Metal, available on Cherry Red Books. Aftermath is also given an entire feature section in Alexandros Anesiadis’ 2019 book Crossover the Edge: Where Hardcore, Punk, and Metal Collide.
Twenty-five years after its formation, Aftermath’s music made its return in 2011 with the release of the Box Set 25 YEARS OF CHAOS on Area Death Productions and the vinyl When Will You Die on F.O.A.D. The reemergence of one of the most original thrash bands ever continued in 2014 with their decision to reunite for several concerts in 2015.
Coming off their first show in 20 years at Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse in their hometown of Chicago, the band ripped the stage apart at Headbanger’s Open Air in Hamburg, Germany that summer. In the Fall of 2015, the reunion continued with the reissue of Eyes of Tomorrow. With an expanded booklet and remastered by Paul Logus (Pantera, Steel Panther), Shadow Kingdom Records released the band’s debut along with bonus material. Following this release was the Killing the Future reissue on Divebomb Records. Once again Paul Logus remastered the tracks from their original source and created a wall of sound in the process. Killing the Future, along with the expanded booklet and bonus tracks from the band’s 1986 first demo completed the celebration of the band’s 30th anniversary.
In 2017, the band started writing the material for their new album. There is Something Wrong is an 11-song opus recorded by Chuck Macak. mastered by Ted Jensen and released through Ingrooves by Zoid Entertainment and The Label Group. A concept record in the truest sense of the word, the album features a mix of old-school crossover thrash and technical/progressive metal and is a commentary on what is wrong with the world today. A calling out of the masses to wake up and know the real enemy. The music is urgent, and the lyrics challenge the listener to seek the truth. Aftermath went back to its early days and revived its crossover thrash stylings on several songs, but those are only samples of what the listeners have in store for them once they put on their headphones and listen to There is Something Wrong in its entirety.
In 2020, Aftermath released a re-imagined version of the John Lennon classic, “Give Peace a Chance”. The song was remixed and remastered for the new album and included on the record because of the message.
“John Lennon’s urgent call for peace in Give Peace a Chance is more important today than ever, and our call for peace with this cover is the perfect message to follow up our previous album. We released a dark concept album with a bleak message and felt it was important to follow that up with something positive. The visuals in the video are as important as the lyrics in a way. We live in a visual world today and this video needed to get out the message of HOPE. Having a young girl be the focus of the video was our way of getting that across. Seeing only positive acts when she puts on Lennon’s famous glasses was the perfect visual metaphor. Lennon’s message is transmitted not only through his lyrics but also through the perspective created by his unique lenses” says the band.
The video was directed by critically acclaimed video director Steven Nathan in New York City.
Aftermath unleashed their highly awaited masterpiece, No Time to Waste, through Zoid Entertainment/TLG/INgrooves on March 17, 2023. This release stands as the triumphant conclusion to a powerful trilogy, representing a notable departure from the somber tones of its predecessor.
In an exclusive statement, Kyriakos “Charlie” Tsiolis shared, “We take immense pride in this album, a culmination of a trilogy that commenced with our debut. Crafted during a challenging era in contemporary history, ‘No Time to Waste’ emerges as an anthem of hope. In contrast to our previous dark conceptual endeavor, we’ve refined this record. The ten tracks within are both weighty and charged, delivering a potent metal experience coupled with a profound message – that collectively, we can overcome, but time is of the essence.”
AFTERMATH is: Kyriakos “Charlie” Tsiolis – Vocals Steve Sacco – Guitar Ray Schmidt – Drums George Lagis – Bass
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 