After ending 2023 with a full European tour supporting their label mates in KRISIUN, Denmark’s BAEST are opening a new chapter: “‘Colossus’ is the first single taken from upcoming tracks that will emerge from our creative dungeons soon. It’s our slow burner, dirty and mean rock melodies are topped off with some beatdown chugging. Hear, see, feel and fear the heavy weight of our new song ‘Colossus’”, says the band.
Get crushed under the weight of the “Colossus” (directed by Jakob Printzlau), below.
“Colossus” lands right before the band is playing a headline tour throughout UK and Ireland:
01.02.24 (UK) London – The Black Heart 02.02.24 (UK) Newcastle – Little Buildings – SOLD OUT 03.02.24 (UK) Edinburgh – La Belle Angele 04.02.24 (UK) Glasgow – Classic Grand 05.02.24 (UK) Belfast – Limelight 2 06.02.24 (IRE) Dublin – The Grand Social 07.02.24 (UK) Manchester – Rebellion 08.02.24 (UK) Bristol – The Gryphon – SOLD OUT 09.02.24 (UK) Plymouth – The Underground 10.02.24 (UK) Bournemouth – The Anvil
In March BAEST are playing two shows in their native Denmark:
‘Watch You Bleed’ reaffirms Eyes Wide Open‘s commitment to carrying the torch of the Swedish melodic death metal legacy, while seamlessly incorporating contemporary metalcore elements.
Eyes Wide Open comment on the track: “That invisible wound that you see on someone, keeps getting bigger and bigger. Powerless you just watch while they deteriorate before you. The heart screams in silence when you descend. What the hell should you feel? This is our downfall.“
Eyes Wide Open will be kicking off their European tour with Aerial next week! A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.
»INTO DESTRUCTION TOUR 2024« Special guests: Aerial 30 JAN 🇳🇴 John Dee, Oslo 31 JAN 🇸🇪 Kollektivet Livet, Stockholm 01 FEB 🇸🇪 Fängelset, Göteborg 02 FEB 🇸🇪 Babel, Malmö 03 FEB 🇩🇪 Indra, Hamburg 04 FEB 🇳🇱 Patronaat, Haarlem 06 FEB 🇩🇪 Die Trompete, Bochum 09 FEB 🇩🇪 Club Zentral, Stuttgart 10 FEB 🇩🇪 Hellraiser, Leipzig 13 FEB 🇵🇱 Pod Minogą, Poznań 14 FEB 🇦🇹 Viper Room, Vienna 15 FEB 🇮🇹 Slaughter Club, Milan 16 FEB 🇩🇪 frapé, Aalen
»Scar Symmetry – Xenotaph Tour« Special guests: Eyes Wide Open, Torchia 10 FEB 🇫🇮 Turku, Utopia Clubm 13 FEB 🇫🇮 Joensuu, Kerubi 14 FEB 🇫🇮 Seinäjoki, Rytmikorjaamo 15 FEB 🇫🇮 Tampere, Olympia Kortteli 16 FEB 🇫🇮 Helsinki, On The Rocks
Based inKarlstad, Sweden, Eyes Wide Open carry the torch on behalf of the Swedish melodic metal scene. Their sound, which is mixed with modern influences inspired by metalcore, combines catchy melodies, heavy drumming, pumping rhythms and versatile vocals.
Following on from their fourth album, 2019’s The Upside Down, Eyes Wide Open‘s latest full-length Through Life And Death (2021) hits like a juggernaut and paves the road that leads to the top tier of the scene. Lyrically, the album explores depression, greed, betrayal, and every inner demon of the human mind.
Eyes Wide Open are: Erik Engstrand | vocals Kristofer Strandberg | guitar Jesper Lindgren | bass Lucas Freise | drums
EXOCRINE have been turning heads with their philosophical bent on technical-death metal for more than a decade. But on their new album, the daring and deadly French architects spin razor-sharp riffs and precision blast beats into a truly legendary tale.
Exocrine are locked and loaded on Legend. “Eidolon” fires off laser-guided riffs and a bass that grooves with all the flattening force of a tank. “I will rise and your ashes hollow!” the band shout in unison on “Life”, as if charging into battle behind a hail of blast beats.
But for all its metallic might, Legend flexes just as much brain power. Heck, the title track breaks down into a slithering trumpet interlude. “We wanted to create a more intimate atmosphere with this album”, says lead guitarist Sylvain Octor Perez. “The production is more organic and the tempos are calmer at times”.
The band took their time with this album, writing for well over the course of a year while sequestered at a house in the Bordeaux countryside. What they came up with reads more like a blockbuster film. Legend combines the most fantastical elements of Warhammer, Mad Max and Kaiju. The story follows the intersecting paths of three characters: a knight, a godlike destroyer and an immortal man. What unfolds between them is a Dante-like confrontation that tests just how much they’re willing to sacrifice in order to secure their place in the universe.
“This is our most personal album”, Exocrine says. “We decided to go back to something more organic, with more relief, and tried different things in order to bring a stronger atmosphere and connect the music with the story. Legend has a good balance between technicality and lyrics, with each aspect serving the other”.
Cover art: Armaada Art
Track-list 1. Presage (1:26) 2. Legend (3:55) [WATCH VIDEO] 3. Life (3:56) [WATCH VIDEO] 4. Eidolon (3:21) [WATCH VIDEO] 5. The Altar Of War (4:36) 6. Dust In The Naught (3:52) 7. Warlock (3:25) 8. Dragon (4:15) 9. The Oath (3:46) 10. By The Light Of The Pyre (6:19) 11. Cryogenisation (Bonus Track) (4:49) Total runtime: 43:30
Born from the depths of Bordeaux, France, EXOCRINE is a technical death metal juggernaut, a force that has redefined the very essence of the genre. Founded by the guitar-virtuoso Sylvain Octor-Perez, alongside the formidable talents of Nicolas La Rosa and Jordy Besse, this trio embarked on their relentless journey in 2013, marking the inception of a musical saga that would leave an indelible mark on the world of extreme music.
Exocrine’s debut album, ‘Unreal Existence,’ unleashed in 2015, was nothing short of a revelation. It showcased the band’s audacious creativity, instantly distinguishing them within the technical death metal scene. With labyrinthine compositions, ferocious riffs, and relentless drumming, Exocrine’s music delved into uncharted territories of sonic complexity.
In the years that followed, Exocrine solidified their signature sound, with albums such as ‘Ascension’ in 2017 and ‘Molten Giant’ in 2018, upon the latter release, Théo Gendron joined as a new member – forming the current-standing quartet of musicians. These releases cemented their reputation as pioneers of the genre, pushing the boundaries of what technical death metal could achieve. The band’s compositions are like sonic mazes, constantly evolving, keeping listeners captivated at every twist and turn.
Their 2022 release, ‘The Hybrid Suns,’ was yet another testament to their musical prowess. It demonstrated their unyielding commitment to pushing the envelope and exploring new realms of technical complexity.
Now, as the anticipation reaches a fever pitch, Exocrine is poised to release their next full-length opus, ‘Legend.’ This forthcoming masterpiece promises to be an epic chapter in their already storied career, destined to secure their place as legends within the hallowed halls of technical death metal.
Exocrine are architects of sonic transcendence, explorers of the uncharted, and pioneers of the unimaginable. With each release, they redefine the limits of technical death metal, and ‘Legend’ is poised to be their most audacious and groundbreaking endeavor yet, a true testament to their status as legends in the making.
Line-up: Sylvain Octor Perez: Lead Guitars Nicolas La Rosa: Guitars Jordy Besse: Bass, Vocals Theo Gendron: Drums
UK metallers Defects will release their profoundly personal debut album, Modern Error, on 24 May via Mascot Records. They have also revealed the video for their brand-new song Lockdown.
Recently the band have been confirmed to play at Download (UK), Graspop (BE), Rockharz (DE) and Rock The Lakes (CH) and have just announced that they will join Orbit Culture on their UK & European “Descending Into Madness” March tour. They will call through the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland. Tickets are available from HERE.
Modern Error is breathtakingly raw with emotion. Conceptually, it is a deeply cathartic album that acts as a vessel for singer Tony Maue to organise his thoughts on the trauma of being taken into care at a young age.
Threaded through the album are the experiences that Maue has been through, how the five members of the band are all connected and why, at this moment, right now, is the right time for this band to exist. For themselves as much as anyone else.
There is a reason that the album has such personal themes. “I use songwriting as a tool to vent rather than be poetic,” explains Maue. He was taken into care from a young age, and that trauma and the experiences that followed are ones that he has battled with ever since. “The traumatic memories of going into care, losing my family when I was very young, and having to deal with that and adjusting myself to that kind of lifestyle, at the time was brutal. The only thing that helped me, and I’m not just saying this, was music.”
“We’ve always been told to strive for perfection, but I don’t think anyone can be perfect,” he considers. “We are all defects in a way, but that makes us all unique.”
This was the first time he could express these raw feelings in music. Scapegoat, Goliath and Echo Chamber are all about a family member but from different perspectives and Recurring looks at the mental loops that come with dealing with trauma.
All five members have their stories – Tony Maue (Vocals), Luke Genders (Guitar), James Threadwell (Guitar), David Silver (Bass) and Harry Jennings (Drums). Jennings explains his entry, “I’d stopped enjoying playing music, which I had dedicated my life to since I was 7 years old,” he says. “It had all fallen apart. To feel like you’ve had a dream beaten out of you destroyed me as a person. It took me down a very dark path, and I did things I regret and am not proud of. I feel I’m in a position now where I can talk about it.” “It took a lot of help from the people closest to me, and these guys threw me a life raft; I was sinking,” he adds. “What connects us all is that we’ve all got our own stories, but in a different way.”
Genders says, “Having the freedom to write freely in a band whilst trusting and respecting each other’s vision is something I hadn’t had in a very long time; dismissive people helped me to fuel my instrumental contributions to Modern Error. For the first time ever, I learned how to channel negativity into something positive.”
Modern Error hits with the heaviness and aggression of Lamb Of God and Machine Head, a Linkin Park-like sense of melody, and a touch of Bring Me The Horizon’s fearlessness. For all its heavy subject matter, it burns with vitality, power and passion. Woven within is their outlook on the world. The title-track deals with “how the planet is going to crap”, Another Heart To Bleed is about bad relationships, End of Days explores where the world is heading with greed and Dream Awake delves into being trapped in a digital reality. The new single Lockdown is about the mental challenges of the pandemic. Maue explains,”The lyrics are probably some of my favourites on the album as it captures frustration towards a government and the rules we were made to follow.”
Getting back on the stage for their first tour was a colossal moment for the band. “It was overwhelming,” remembers Maue. “In Southampton with In Flames, I came off stage and broke down. I was crying because I was happy. I can’t believe I’ve been given another chance to do this. Not only that, I couldn’t believe that everyone was digging what we were doing.”
They flourished, catapulting them to performing at Bloodstock, 2000Trees, The Great Escape, playing with Bullet for My Valentine, Funeral For A Friend and touring with Of Mice & Men. Jennings reflects, “I had times when I never thought I’d be here again. It was like someone put a defibrillator on me and woke me up from a horrible fever dream.”
What do Defects represent? It’s about believing in yourself. It’s a message to people to give themselves a break occasionally. Jennings remarks. “It’s fine to have bad days. I’ve had my fair share of times very recently. But y’know, everyone can pick themselves up, and go, I’m gonna do me.”
“I felt like I wasn’t worth anything,” Maue adds. “But now I look back, and that was wrong; I shouldn’t have been made to feel that way. When I got older, I realised I was a good person and didn’t do anything wrong. Bad things happen to good people, and you must find a way to make life worth living.”
In reaching out to someone, there can be change; in change, there can be hope. It’s in the hope that you can try to go forward and make something of yourself. We are all defects.
06 Mar – The Cathouse – Glasgow, UK w/Orbit Culture 07 Mar – Exchange – Bristol UK w/Orbit Culture 08 Mar – Rebellion – Manchester, UK w/Orbit Culture 09 Mar – Asylum – Birmingham, UK w/Orbit Culture 10 Mar – The Underworld – London, UK w/Orbit Culture 12 Mar – Zappa – Antwerp, BELGIUM w/Orbit Culture 13 Mar – Kantine – Koln, GERMANY w/Orbit Culture 14 Mar – Dynamo – Eindhoven, THE NETHERLANDS w/Orbit Culture 15 Mar – Frannz – Berlin, GERMANY w/Orbit Culture 16 Mar – Headcrash – Hamburg, GERMANY w/Orbit Culture 18 Mar – Hansa 39 – Munich, GERMANY w/Orbit Culture 19 Mar – Santeria – Milan, ITALY w/Orbit Culture 20 Mar – Dynamo – Zurich, SWITZERLAND w/Orbit Culture 21 Mar – Flex – Vienna, AUSTRIA w/Orbit Culture 23 Mar – Club Puschkin – Dresden, GERMANY w/Orbit Culture 24 Mar – Futurum – Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC w/Orbit Culture 25 Mar – Hydrozagadka – Warsaw POLAND w/Orbit Culture
14-16 Jun – Download Festival – Derby, UK 20-23 Jun – Graspop Festival – Dessel, BELGIUM 03 – 06 Jul – Rockharz Festival – Ballenstedt, GERMANY 16 – 18 Aug – Rock the Lakes Festival – Vallamand, SWITZERLAND
Grammy winning songwriter, platinum solo artist, and voice of Creed, SCOTT STAPP, has released the bombastically ominous “Deadman’s Trigger” as the fourth single from his upcoming solo album, Higher Power. The album is set for release on March 15, 2024 on Napalm Records.
On an album of metamorphosis forged by loss, frustration, betrayal and near defeat, “Deadman’s Trigger” warns of mutually assured destruction when pushed to the breaking point, until the melodic chorus arrives like salvation. The charged-up banger strobes with bold sonic swagger as one of the album’s hardest-hitting tracks.
On Higher Power, Stapp is “primed for a big decade, sounding just as powerful as he did at half his age with a sense of newfound heaviness resting beneath his iconic voice” (Loudwire). The album describes a metamorphosis forged by loss, frustration, betrayal and near defeat. It features stand-out performances by Dorothy, guitar god Yiannis Papadopoulos, and a co-writing appearance by multi-Grammy winning songwriter and musician Steve McEwan. The album was produced by Marti Frederiksen and Scott Stevens and follows Stapp’s 2019 The Space Between the Shadows, which debuted at #3 on the US Current Rock Albums chart, the US Current Hard Music Albums chart, and the UK Official Rock & Metal Chart.
Higher Power track listing: 1. Higher Power 2. Deadman’s Trigger 3. When Love Is Not Enough 4. What I Deserve (feat. Yiannis Papadopoulos) 5. If These Walls Could Talk (feat. Dorothy) 6. Black Butterfly 7. Quicksand (feat. Yiannis Papadopoulos) 8. You’re Not Alone 9. Dancing in the Rain (feat. Yiannis Papadopoulos) 10. Weight of the World
About SCOTT STAPP: One of the most iconic voices in rock, SCOTT STAPP first emerged as the high-energy, post-grunge frontman of Creed. With anthems like “Higher,” “My Own Prison,” “My Sacrifice,” “One Last Breath” and “With Arms Wide Open,” the band sold over 55 million albums, including a Diamond certification. Throughout the early 2000’s, Creed broke airplay records, sold out arenas, earned countless Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards, and a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. As a solo artist, Stapp has released the Platinum-certified The Great Divide (2005), Proof of Life (2013) which featured his first solo #1, “Slow Suicide,” and 2019’s The Space Between The Shadows. In April 2024, Stapp will reunite with his Creed bandmates for the first time in a decade.
Photo by Daniel Almli and Steffen Normark – Edited by Giannis Nakos
Norway’s VICINITY kicks off their upcoming album promotion round with the release of the first digital single and video from the record. The track is called “Purpose”. A progressive metal tune that showcases the technical sides of Vicinity, while maintaining their affinity for strong melodies and relatable lyrical themes. This is also the first song to be released with new vocalist Erling Malm. Fans of bands like Threshold, Circus Maximus and Dream Theater should really check this one out.
Join the premiering here:
Vicinity was founded in 2006 by Kim-Marius H. Olsen, Frode Lillevold and Kristian Nergård. Vocalist Alexander K. Lykke soon joined the blend making the first complete lineup. With the EP “Diffusion of Innovation”, the band’s first official release, Vicinity found its true style, writing longer, more technical progressive compositions.
In 2012 the band recorded their debut full-length album, “Awakening”, making this the debut recording of the new bass player Pierre Schmidt-Melbye, who joined the band following Nergård’s departure in 2009. Reidulf Wormdal joined the recording as a session keyboard player. The album was mixed by André Alvinzi and mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, and was released by Indie Distribution and Pug-Nose Records in the fall 2013.
In 2015 Vicinity went to work with their new album “Recurrence” which was released by Mighty Music in 2017. The drums were recorded at Skarp Studio, known for producing the drums for bands like Triosphere and Keep of Kalessin. Christer-André Cederberg, known for mixing Nine and Havoc for Circus Maximus and several releases by Anathema was enlisted to mix the album. Jens Bogren once again handled mastering duties. Following the release, Vicinity played concerts in Trondheim and Oslo, and was booked to play festivals like Prøvesprengning and Totsås Rock.
Preparations for the upcoming album started in 2020 at Skansen Lydstudio, but further progress was impaired partly by Covid and the fact that, after 15 years in the band, Lykke decided in 2022 to pursue other interests and in agreement with the band decided to part ways. Vicinity tried out vocalist Erling Malm (Articulus, Endolith) at a live show in Trondheim, and decided then and there that he would be the vocalist going forward, and he immediately started working on vocals for the upcoming record.
A new Vicinity album will be released this year.
Lineup: Frode Lillevold – drums Erling Malm – vocals Ivar A. Nyland – keyboards Kim-Marius H. Olsen – guitars Pierre-Nicolai H. Schmidt-Melbye – bass
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 ) 