Desertfest Berlin has added four more heavyweights to its eclectic 2026 line-up! Newly confirmed are Toundra, Causa Sui, Greenleaf and Gumm.
Returning after a well-earned hiatus, Madrid’s instrumental torchbearers Toundra are back. Known for monumental riffs, intricate melodies and an emotional pull that hits hard without words, they return to the stage exactly where they belong. From Denmark, psychedelic explorers Causa Sui bring their ever-evolving instrumental soundscapes. A slow-burning surge of kraut, heavy psych and cosmic rock, rooted in decades of amplified history and built for deep immersion. Sweden’s Greenleaf stand as a true stoner rock institution. Hypnotic grooves, fuzz-soaked riffs and a strong sense of soul define their sound; heavy, grounded and unmistakably connected to the desert rock tradition. Rounding things out, Gumm arrive straight from Chattanooga, Tennessee, delivering raw hardcore punk energy, no frills, no mercy. Fast, furious and ready to level the room!
These additions further shape a line-up that already includes Red Fang, Russian Circles, Hermano feat. John Garcia, The Sword, King Buffalo, Acid King, Truckfighters, Crippled Black Phoenix,Nebula, Earthless, Rotor,Blackwater Holylight, Pelican,Fuzz Sagrado (ex Samsara Blues Experiment), Zerre, The Dharma Chain, among many more!
Desertfest Berlin 2026 takes place from May 14–16, 2026 at Columbiahalle and Columbia Theater in Berlin. Tickets, day splits and venue sleep-over options are available at: www.desertfest-tickets.de
Swedish melodic death metal outfit Skymning have announced the re-issue of their 1999 debut classic Stormchoirs via Hammerheart Records. The re-issue, which will see a vinyl release for the very first time, will be out on 10th April, 2026 via the label.
A gem from the Invasion Records roster, Skymning hit the Swedish melodic death metal scene with a sound that leaned hard into the “melodic” side of the equation. At their core, they were writing power metal-style songs and layering the kind of harsh, growled vocals you’d expect from their peers on top. Sure, bands like Dark Tranquillity or In Flames have always carried traditional melodic metal elements too but on their debut, Skymning push that approach even further.
What makes the album work so well is how naturally it balances aggression and harmony. From the opener ‘Sweeping the World’, their intent is obvious; power metal-speed double bass, raspy (almost blackened) vocals, lead guitars packed with melody, and a rhythm section that keeps everything driving and heavy. The rhythm guitars deliver big, compact riffs that still feel fluid, built to support the record’s sad, epic melodic themes. Solos are a real highlight as well, sharp, tasteful, and genuinely memorable. The occasional blast beat helps break up the double-kick runs without killing the momentum. Tempo shifts are frequent but never forced, and the songwriting shows a band that, despite its youth, plays with confidence and control across the board. Albums that pull off this kind of blend this convincingly aren’t common, and this one deserves to be taken seriously. A small gem in metal’s history.
Track-list: 1. Sweeping the World 2. Memories 3. The Question 4. The Final Battle 5. Above 6. A World in Flames 7. Just Another 8. Stormchoirs 9. At the Fields of Megiddo 10. The Warrior Poet
Birthday EP Marks Milestone of Survival, Creation, and Refusing to Let Pain Write the Ending “Time Is a Thief” Lyric Video Premieres Alongside Full EP Release on February 10th, 2026 Melodic Hard Rock Statement from Living Room Rockstar Who Never Stopped Believing
Today, on his 50th birthday, Andrzej Citowicz‘s CITOVITZ AND FIREFLIES OF FEBRUARY releases “My Revenge,” a five-song EP that maps fifty years of refusing to disappear. Citovitz and The Fireflies of February—the project comprising Citowicz, his wife and lyricist Shereen Shoukry Citowicz, and longtime collaborator bassist Patryk Szymański—premiere the complete EP alongside a lyric video for “Time Is a Thief,” a song about survival when survival felt impossible.
“My Revenge” arrives not as celebration but as statement: proof of existence after everything that said existence shouldn’t continue.
“My Revenge” EP is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and all major streaming platforms.
The lyric video for “Time Is a Thief” premieres simultaneously on YouTube:
FIFTY YEARS: AGAINST ALL ODDS
February 10th, 2026 marks Andrzej Citowicz’s 50th birthday—a milestone that once felt unreachable. “Some years, fifty felt impossible,” Citowicz reflects. “When grief sat heavier than breath. When loss carved holes I didn’t know how to fill. When the world said stop and my heart barely whispered keep going. But here I am. Fifty years of refusing to disappear.”
The journey to this moment has been marked by profound loss—the death of his son Jonasz, documented in his deeply personal album “Living Room Rockstar Part 2″—and the sustained survival that followed. “My Revenge” transforms that survival into sound.
“Revenge isn’t about anger or bitterness,” he explains. “My revenge is existence after everything that said I shouldn’t exist anymore. It’s breathing when breathing felt impossible. It’s creating after everything tried to silence me. It’s still standing with a guitar in my hands after fifty years of being told this was impossible.”
The EP title carries layers of meaning beyond defiance. “Fifty isn’t what it was for our parents’ generation,” Citowicz observes. “Our 50 is different. Still unfinished. Still learning. Still proving something. These five songs are rehearsals for whatever comes next—not endings, but preparation. Fifty doesn’t mean done. It means experienced enough to know what matters. Scarred enough to understand survival. Humble enough to keep learning.”
THE FIREFLIES OF FEBRUARY: LIGHT IN THE DARKEST SEASON
The project name—Citovitz and The Fireflies of February—carries its own significance, drawn from the only fireflies that shine during dark winter months. “Fireflies of February are the rare lights that appear when everything else has gone cold,” Citowicz explains. “That’s what we are: me, my wife Shereen who writes the words I can’t say, and brothers like Patryk Szymański who became family through music. We’re the lights that refused to go out in the darkest season.”
This collective survival—personal, creative, collaborative—forms the foundation of “My Revenge.” “Marriage, brotherhood, music—these are what kept me breathing when nothing else could,” he states. “Shereen held me through the worst of it. Patryk stood beside me when I couldn’t stand alone. The guitar gave me a language when words failed. This EP is all of that woven together—survival as collaboration, creation as revenge against everything that tried to destroy us.”
“TIME IS A THIEF”: EVERY WORD MEANS A LIFE
The lyric video for “Time Is a Thief” premieres alongside the full EP, offering visual accompaniment to one of the project’s most personal tracks. “Every word in this song means the world to me,” Citowicz states quietly. “More than that—it means my life. My fight. My dreams. My hope. Being broken and getting up every single day. When people watch this lyric video, they’re not just reading words—they’re reading fifty years of survival translated into language.”
The song confronts mortality, loss, and the passage of time with unflinching honesty while maintaining hope that creation can transcend what time steals. “Time takes everything eventually,” he reflects. “But music—what we create—that stays. That’s the only revenge against time that works. You can’t stop it from stealing. But you can make something that outlasts the theft.”
MARRIAGE AS SURVIVAL: SHEREEN’S VOICE IN THE DARKNESS
Throughout “My Revenge,” Shereen Shoukry Citowicz’s lyrics provide the emotional core—words that map not just her husband’s journey, but her own fifty-three years of being overlooked, unappreciated, and surviving anyway. “Without my wife, I literally would not have made it to fifty,” Citowicz states with absolute certainty. “She held me when I was breaking. She wrote words I couldn’t find. She believed in this music when belief seemed impossible. Every song on this EP exists because she kept me alive long enough to create it.”
The collaboration between husband and wife—his melodies, her words—creates something neither could achieve alone. “Shereen sees what I feel before I can name it,” he explains. “She writes the truth I’m trying to play. After all these years together, we’ve learned to speak the same language through music. Her lyrics on this EP are some of the most powerful she’s ever written. They carry weight because they’re earned through actual survival.”
Their marriage—seventeen years and counting—provides the foundation for creation that transforms pain into art. “Jon Bon Jovi taught me you can be devoted to one person and still create wild, passionate music,” Citowicz notes. “You don’t have to choose between commitment and creativity. Shereen is proof of that. She’s my partner in life and in music. My revenge against loneliness is still being married to someone who knows my darkness and stays anyway.”
PATRYK SZYMAŃSKI: A DECADE OF BROTHERHOOD
Bassist Patryk Szymański’s presence throughout “My Revenge” represents more than musical collaboration—it embodies over a decade of genuine brotherhood forged through shared survival. “Patryk makes my songs complete,” Citowicz states. “Not just musically—though his bass work is phenomenal—but humanly. He’s been there through the moments when music was the only thing keeping me alive. Through the loss of Jonasz. Through grief that had no words. He stayed when staying was hard. That’s brotherhood.”
The musical chemistry between Citowicz and Szymański reflects years of playing, creating, and surviving together. “We’ve shared more than stages and studios,” Citowicz reflects. “We’ve shared grief, joy, silence, sound—everything that makes up a life in music. You can hear that connection in every track. You can’t fake the kind of chemistry that comes from genuine brotherhood. Patryk understands what I’m trying to say before I say it. That’s what a decade of friendship becomes.”
Szymański’s bass lines throughout “My Revenge” provide the foundation that grounds Citowicz’s guitar work while allowing it to soar—a perfect metaphor for how brotherhood supports individual expression.
MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY: BON JOVI, DEF LEPPARD, AND THE CRAFT OF SURVIVAL
Musically, “My Revenge” honors the classic rock traditions that shaped Citowicz while embracing modern production techniques—creating melodic hard rock that feels timeless but sounds current. “I grew up with Bon Jovi and Def Leppard posters covering my walls in Wałbrzych, Poland,” Citowicz recalls. “Those bands taught me about melodic craft, about hooks that stay with you, about guitar-driven rock that still serves the song. But they also taught me something deeper—Jon Bon Jovi showed me you can survive anything if you stay true to yourself. You can honor commitment while creating passionate music. That philosophy runs through everything I make.” The production balances raw emotion with polished execution—never sacrificing feeling for technical perfection, never abandoning craft for pure confession.
“Desmond Child and Jon Bon Jovi taught me about hooks—those moments that grab you and don’t let go,” he notes. “But they also taught me that commercial appeal and emotional honesty aren’t opposites. You can write a song people want to sing along to that still means something real. That’s what I’m always chasing—music that connects immediately but rewards deeper listening.”
The result is an EP that bridges generations: appealing to listeners raised on 80s rock anthems while sounding vital and contemporary. “I wanted these songs to feel timeless but sound today,” Citowicz explains. “The melodic sensibility, the song structure, the way guitars and bass work together—that’s pure 80s hard rock influence. But the production, the sonic clarity, the way everything sits in the mix—that’s using everything we can do now. It’s respecting where I came from while living in the present. Just like turning fifty—honoring the past while refusing to be finished.”
THE LIVING ROOM ROCKSTAR AT FIFTY
Throughout his career, Citowicz has embraced the identity of “living room rockstar”—someone who never achieved mainstream success but never stopped believing music matters. “I never became the rockstar on those posters in my teenage bedroom,” he acknowledges. “I never played stadiums or signed major deals. But I’m still here. Still writing. Still recording. Still finding people who connect with what I’m trying to say. After fifty years, I’m still standing with a guitar in my hands.”
This persistence—creation without guarantee of recognition—forms its own kind of revenge against a world that measures worth by commercial success. “My revenge isn’t about proving them wrong,” he clarifies. “It’s about proving that creation itself matters more than recognition. That making music because you have to is more real than making music because it sells. I’m a living room rockstar because that’s where the truth lives—not on stages, but in small rooms where you play because stopping would mean death.” The EP’s five tracks collectively represent this philosophy: songs created not for charts or fame, but for survival and connection.
TRACK-BY-TRACK: FIVE SONGS, FIFTY YEARS
While “You’re Not My Friend—You’re My Brother, My Friend” and “Time Is a Thief” serve as the EP’s emotional anchors, each of the five tracks carries its own weight and purpose. “Every song has its own story, its own reason for existing,” Citowicz notes. “But they all connect around this idea of revenge as creation—of refusing to let pain, loss, or being overlooked have the final word. Of still standing with a guitar after everything that tried to knock you down.”
The collective statement is clear: survival itself is creative act, and creation itself is revenge against everything that tries to silence you. “These five songs are my line in the sand,” he states. “They say: I made it here. I survived everything that tried to stop me. And I’m not finished—I’m just getting started. Fifty isn’t an ending. It’s preparation for whatever comes next.”
FROM “MY STORY” TO “MY REVENGE”: A CREATIVE PROGRESSION
“My Revenge” arrives less than six weeks after Citowicz’s surprise album “My Story,” released January 1st, 2026, which featured lyrics entirely written by Shereen chronicling her fifty-three years of survival. The rapid progression from one project to the next reflects creative urgency born from survival.
“‘My Story’ was Shereen’s voice—her fifty-three years, her truth, her refusal to stay silent after being overlooked for so long,” Citowicz explains. “‘My Revenge’ is mine. But they’re connected. Both are about refusing to let pain write the ending. Both prove that even when life tries to destroy you, you can still create. Both say: we’re still here, still making music, still refusing to disappear.”
The thematic and sonic continuity between projects demonstrates that survival isn’t singular achievement but ongoing practice. “You don’t survive once and finish,” he reflects. “You survive every day. You create every day. You choose to keep going every day. ‘My Story’ and ‘My Revenge’ are both part of that daily choice—the choice to make something from what tried to break us.”
A BIRTHDAY THAT MEANS SOMETHING
For Citowicz, releasing “My Revenge” on his 50th birthday transforms what could be arbitrary date into meaningful marker. “I know sometimes a birthday is just a date on a calendar,” he acknowledges. “But hopefully not this time. Hopefully this one means something. Fifty years survived. New music released. Still standing. Still married to someone who tolerates my hair and my dreams with equal patience. That feels like more than just a date. That feels like winning.”
The decision to premiere the EP on his birthday wasn’t strategic marketing but personal necessity. “This EP had to come out on my fiftieth birthday,” he states simply. “These songs are proof I made it here. They’re the evidence that I survived everything that tried to stop me from reaching this day. Releasing them on any other date would miss the point—they are my birthday, more than cake or candles or celebration. They’re what fifty years of survival sounds like when you turn it into music.”
THE LYRIC VIDEO: MAKING WORDS VISIBLE
The premiere of the “Time Is a Thief” lyric video alongside the full EP release serves specific purpose: making Shereen’s words visible, readable, present. “I wanted people to see the lyrics as they listen,” Citowicz explains. “These words matter. They deserve to be read, considered, felt. This isn’t background music. This is someone’s life—my life, Shereen’s life—translated into language that might help someone else survive theirs.”
The lyric video format emphasizes the collaboration at the heart of the project: his melodies, her words, their shared survival. “Every word you’ll see in that video represents something real,” he states. “Every line earned through actual living, actual suffering, actual survival. When people watch it, they’re not just reading lyrics—they’re reading fifty years of refusing to let pain have the final word.”
LOOKING FORWARD: WHAT COMES AFTER REVENGE
While “My Revenge” serves as definitive statement about reaching fifty, Citowicz makes clear this isn’t conclusion but continuation. “These five songs are rehearsals for whatever comes next,” he explains. “Fifty doesn’t mean finished. It means ready for the next chapter. Ready to keep creating. Ready to keep surviving. Ready to keep turning pain into something beautiful.”
The future remains unwritten—and that’s precisely the point. “My revenge against time, against loss, against everything that tried to destroy me is simple,” Citowicz states. “I’m still here. Still creating. Still believing music matters. And I’m not stopping. That’s the best revenge I can imagine—refusing to be finished when the world expected me to disappear.”
CRITICAL RECEPTION AND INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
Recent recognition adds context to “My Revenge” release: Metal Pedia named both “Living Room Rockstar Part 1” and “Part 2” as Albums of the Year, while Citowicz’s YouTube channel recently surpassed 100,000 views—milestones that validate persistence without mainstream support.
“These recognitions mean something,” Citowicz acknowledges. “They say that music made in living rooms, released independently, created from survival rather than strategy—that can still matter. That can still reach people. That’s its own kind of revenge against an industry that said you need major labels and radio play to matter.”
But the real measure of success remains more personal. “If these songs help even one person survive their own darkness,” he states, “if they remind someone that creation is possible after destruction, if they give hope to someone who lost it—then everything was worth it. That’s what music is for. Not charts or streams or recognition, but connection. Human to human. Survivor to survivor.”
AVAILABILITY AND PREMIERE DETAILS
“My Revenge” EP is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and all major streaming platforms. The lyric video for “Time Is a Thief” premieres simultaneously on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmOpZ09ethk
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About Andrzej Citowicz: Andrzej Citowicz is an acclaimed Polish guitarist and songwriter currently based in Cairo, Egypt. As a former recording artist for DownBoys Records, he has built a reputation for emotionally resonant songwriting and distinctive guitar work. His music combines classic rock influences with contemporary production, creating a sound that bridges generational and cultural gaps while maintaining artistic authenticity. His YouTube channel has garnered over 70,000 views from an international audience.
Reunion Island’s rising thrash metal force LOMOR proudly announces the official release of their second full‑length album, “Sabouk Rouge,” out today, as of February 6th, via Rockshots Records. To celebrate the album’s release, LOMOR has unveiled a fierce new music video for the title track. This visual assault channels the record’s themes of historical and modern oppression through the band’s trademark intensity, with its pounding rhythms and razor‑edged lyrics setting the tone for everything “Sabouk Rouge” delivers.
Following the momentum of their previous single “Tantine Lo Clou,”LOMOR continues to carve their identity as one of the most distinctive metal acts emerging from the Indian Ocean. Their sound, described by guitarist/vocalist Eric Castelnau (aka Babouk) as “creole thrash old‑school stuff,” blends classic 80s thrash aggression with the cultural grit and linguistic identity of Réunion Island. LOMOR began as a deeply personal project for Eric, who formed the band in 2018 after the passing of his cousin and brother, both former bandmates in his earlier project, Black Babouk. The name Lomor itself means “The Deads” in Réunion Creole, a tribute to the people and memories that shaped his musical path. Joined by drummer Gurvan Cambrai (aka Typhvs) (also of grind outfit Brvtal trve d’baal) and bassist Micha (member of a local Rage Against the Machine tribute band), the trio has forged a sound rooted in old‑school thrash but sharpened by modern production and raw island energy.
Produced by LOMOR, recorded and mixed by Sébastien Camhi at Art Music Studio in France, and mastered by Kai Stahlenberg at Kohlekeller Studio in Germany,“Sabouk Rouge” broadens the band’s sound while staying true to their raw, old‑school thrash roots. With more Creole lyrics woven in at fans’ request, the album strengthens its cultural identity as it shifts through a wide range of moods.
“The tracks are all different, each bringing its own atmosphere. It’s still trash, but with a variety of flavors,” says Eric. That diversity fuels a record that moves from the title track’s sharp satire of Réunion’s slavery legacy to the grotesque obsession of “Meet Your Meat,” the ritualistic mysticism of “Sanctuary,” and the blistering critique of religion in “La Haine.” The tone lightens with the street‑racing humor of “La Pouss’,” then darkens again with “Panzram,” exploring the roots of a killer’s hatred. The album also revisits Eric’s past with a reimagined “Kit Ta Mère” before ending on “Nevroz,” a reversed, tongue‑in‑cheek remake born from a studio joke, a fitting close to an album defined by intensity, identity, and creative edge.
New album “Sabouk Rouge” is now available as of February 6th, 2026, at the following links:
Track Listing: 1. Sabouk Rouge – 5:13 2. Tantine Lo Clou – 3:40 3. Meet Your Meat – 3:16 4. Sanctuary – 5:17 5. A Shiny Day For A Vampire – 5:14 6. La Haine – 5:06 7. La Pouss’ – 3:07 8. Panzram – 4:29 9. The Ugly, The Bad & The Bastard – 3:02 10. Kit’ Ta Mère – 4:24 11. Nevroz (feat. S. Camhi) – 2:34 Album Length: 45:22
Rockshots Records announces the release of “Libido et Mors”, the new single by Italian melodic death metal act Karmian, out now on all digital platforms.
“Libido et Mors” is taken from Karmian’s upcoming full-length album “Horror Vacui“, a dark and uncompromising concept record that explores the psychological and existential void behind real acts of murder and moral collapse.
Following the intensity of the previous single “Beastmaster Of The Void”, this new chapter reveals one of the album’s most disturbing and symbolically charged narratives.
Entirely sung in Italian for the first time in the band’s career, “Libido et Mors” delves into the collision between repressed desire and corrupted faith. Inspired by the historical case of Sister Maria Luisa Ridolfi and the scandal of the Sant’Ambrogio della Massima convent in 19th-century Rome, the song exposes a world where religious devotion becomes a tool for manipulation, abuse, and murder. Ecstasy and control, flesh and doctrine, spirituality and obsession merge into a single language of power, revealing how denial and silence can turn faith into a breeding ground for violence.
Commenting on the track, the band states: “‘Libido et Mors’ represents a breaking point within “Horror Vacui“. It’s where the spiritual void and the carnal void collide. Writing and performing it in Italian allowed us to strip away any distance and confront this story in the most direct, unsettling way possible.”
Musically, the single highlights Karmian’s ability to balance melodic death metal ferocity with narrative tension. Crushing riffs, oppressive rhythms, and a dramatic vocal delivery reinforce the song’s claustrophobic atmosphere, reflecting the album’s broader vision: melodic death metal as a storytelling tool capable of merging brutality, reflection, and emotional weight. Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Audiocore Studio by Luca Cocconi and Simone Sighinolfi, “Horror Vacui” marks Karmian’s darkest and most mature work to date.
Each track on the album is inspired by a real Italian criminal case, not to glorify horror but to expose the emptiness, alienation, and moral disintegration that precede violence.
“Libido et Mors” stands as one of the album’s most unsettling portraits, where sacred imagery is corrupted, and redemption wears the face of the abyss – reinforcing the central message of “Horror Vacui“: the most terrifying horror is not external but born from the void within.
Track Listing: 1. One Thousand Shining Bubbles – 06:38 2. Beastmaster of the Void – 03:21 3. Gott Mit Uns Nicht – 04:38 4. The Call of the Abyssal Bell – 06:17 5. Black Magical Soap Opera – 03:54 6. Temple of the Fleshless Goddess – 03:23 7. Libido et Mors – 03:40 8. Beyond the Dream Gate of Fear – 04:16 9. Maker of Angels – 04:43 Album Length: 40:50
Karmian Line-Up: Andrea Bertolazzi: Vocals Andrea Baraldi: Guitars Michele Perla: Guitars Luca Marmi: Bass Nicholas Badiali: Drums
More info: https://rockshots.eu/ https://www.instagram.com/karmian_official/ https://www.facebook.com/KarmianBand/
MONSTROSITY, the relentless US death metal legends, have unleashed details on their “Screams Across Europe Tour 2026“! The Florida-based death machine will devastate the continent with crushing, aggressive performances in support of their highly anticipated new album, Screams From Beneath The Surface, to be released March 13, 2026 via Metal Blade Records (licensed by Conquest Music Inc.). Joining the carnage as special guests: Bio Cancer, Reject The Sickness, and Deadwood. Brace for punishing, no holds barred shows!! This juggernaut tour promises to deliver pure brutality and unrelenting extremity. Stay tuned for full dates and ticket info as the screams echo across Europe!
Screams Across Europe Tour 2026 MONSTROSITY +Bio Cancer +Reject The Sickness +Deadwood
April 18, 2026 SWITZERLAND Luzern – Metalstorm Festival April 19, 2026 AUSTRIA Salzburg – Rockhouse April 21, 2026 CROATIA Zagreb – Vintage Industrial Bar April 22, 2026 ITALY Bologna – Alchemica Music Club April 23, 2026 SWITZERLAND Geneva – L’Usine April 25, 2026 FRANCE Saint Omer – Brutal Swamp April 28, 2026 BELGIUM Kotrijk – DVG April 29, 2026 HOLLAND Tilburg – Hall of Fame April 30, 2026 HOLLAND Amersfoort – Fluor May 01, 2026 GERMANY Essen – Turock May 02, 2026 GERMANY Jena – F Haus May 03, 2026 POLAND Swidnica – Bolko May 05, 2026 POLAND Krakow – Zaścianek May 06, 2026 POLAND Bielsko Biala – Rude Boy May 07, 2026 SLOVAKIA Bratislava – Pink Whale May 08, 2026 CZECH REPUBLIC Jablunkov – Rock Cafe May 09, 2026 SLOVAKIA Kosice – Collosseum May 10, 2026 POLAND Lublin – Fabryka Kultury Zgrzyt
More dates will be announced!
Emerging from the shadowy depths of the extreme metal underground, MONSTROSITY reasserts their unrelenting dominance with their latest opus, Screams From Beneath The Surface, set to drop on March 13th on Metal Blade Records.
This ferocious release -their first in seven years – showcases the band’s signature blend of aggression, technical precision, and intensity. Led by drummer, founder, and primary songwriter Lee Harrison, MONSTROSITY is reinvigorated with a formidable lineup: long-tenured guitarist Matt Barnes, the triumphant return of original bassist Mark Van Erp, and vocalist Ed Webb (ex-Massacre), whose guttural, visceral delivery injects electrifying new energy into the band’s sound. Screams From Beneath The Surface not only solidifies MONSTROSITY‘s hallmark death metal ferocity but also pushes the genre’s boundaries, forging a path that is both innovative and true to their roots.
The album, containing ten tracks of uncompromising death metal, exemplifies the insurgent spirit MONSTROSITY has long been celebrated for. Standout songs like “Banished To The Skies” and “The Atrophied” deliver a masterclass in blending bone-crushing riffs, intricate drumming, and vivid, visceral lyrical imagery that sears into the listener’s psyche. Meanwhile, tracks such as “The Dark Aura” and “Fortunes Engraved In Blood” showcase the band’s ability to evolve, introducing fresh sonic dimensions while maintaining the savage intensity that defines their legacy. Each composition is evidence of MONSTROSITY‘s technical prowess and their refusal to compromise, cementing their status as pioneers of the genre.
Screams From Beneath The Surface was crafted with meticulous attention to detail, reflecting Harrison’s monstrous vision and the band’s seamless chemistry. The recording process spanned multiple studios to achieve sonic perfection. Drums, bass, and mixing were handled at Audiohammer Studios under the expert guidance of producer Jason Suecof (The Black Dahlia Murder, Deicide, Job For A Cowboy), while vocals, guitars, and mastering took place at the legendary Morrisound Studios, where MONSTROSITY reunited with revered producer Jim Morris (Iced Earth, Warrant, Savatage), alongside Mark Prator and BJ Ramone. This combination of cutting-edge and classic production techniques ensure a punishing sound that is honoring the band’s storied history while embracing modern death metal’s evolution. The album’s striking cover art, created by artist Timbul Cahyono, is a wholly organic creation, free from AI or computer-generated renderings, embodying the raw, authentic spirit of MONSTROSITY‘s music.
In advance of the record’s release, today the band unleashes first single, “The Colossal Rage.” The track hits hard and gets right to the point. This straightforward song delivers a barrage of riffs with a monstrous attitude. New MONSTROSITY vocalist, Ed Webb, unleashes a punishing performance including some monumental screams. ‘A pedestal for a king to rise‘ indeed. Van Erp’s bass relentlessly pummels throughout, complemented by Barnes’ impressive lead guitar work. Harrison wrote the original themes for the song and collaborated with Barnes to elevate it to the next level. The lyrics are unforgiving and dominating, sparing no living creature. Fully intended to roll over the listener like a bulldozer.
Watch MONSTROSITY‘s video for “The Colossal Rage,” directed by Thomas Crane of Kill Devil Films:
With Screams From Beneath The Surface, the band not only upholds the brutal tradition established by their previous works but also charts bold new territory, delivering a release that is as innovative as it is devastating.
Screams From Beneath The Surface Track Listing: 1. Banished To The Skies 2. The Colossal Rage 3. The Atrophied 4. Spiral 5. Fortunes Engraved In Blood 6. Vapors 7. The Thorns 8. Blood Works 9. The Dark Aura 10. Veil Of Disillusion
MONSTROSITY: Ed Webb – vocals Matt Barnes – guitars Mark Van Erp – bass Lee Harrison – drums
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
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 