CYNIC has endured more than its fair share of ups and downs. The progressive metal pioneers have weathered hurricanes, teenage angst, homophobia and the tragic loss of their legendary rhythm section. But through it all, Paul Masvidal has stood as a trailblazer for the electric guitar. Today, he’s being recognized with an endorsement from Kiesel Guitars.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
While alien to the scene back when Cynic first started in the early ’90s, the way Masvidal fuses extreme technical thrashing with jazzy, harmonic grooves now holds a heavy influence over the world of metal. His first forays with headless guitars date back to his time in Death. That he’s still finding new ways to break boundaries with these beauties has helped launch today’s headless boom.
Along with Cynic, Masvidal also plays in Æon Spoke, as well as his own solo projects. Wherever he might be, he’ll now be carrying Kiesel’s vast array of headless electric and acoustic-electric guitars.
“I am beyond excited for the opportunity to work with Paul and look forward to a very bright and creative future together”, Vice President Jeff Kiesel says.
“Paul is the best. Without a doubt a true artist to the core”, says Chrys Johnson, Director of Artist Relations at Kiesel Guitars. “An incredible composer and collaborator who channels from the unseen realms. A fully manifested lightworker with a huge heart bent towards the human predicament and a great sense of humor…so yeah ..you could say I’m pretty stoked.”
“I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Kiesel Guitars,” Masvidal says. “The potential for creativity and exploration inspires me greatly. Our goal is to push boundaries and create innovative instruments that will hopefully inspire musicians worldwide to create more art!”
Cynic recently released Uroboric Forms, a compilation that collects the seminal demos from their groundbreaking debut Focus.
CYNIC Live Lineup: Paul Masvidal – Vocals and Guitars Max Phelps (Exist, Death to All) – Guitars and Vocals Brandon Giffin (The Faceless, The Zenith Passage) – Bass Matt Lynch (Nova Collective, Intronaut) – Drums & Percussion Zeke Kaplan – Keyboards
NOLA thrash and groove trailblazers EXHORDER have revealed details and plans for the release of their eagerly anticipated 4th full-length record, Defectum Omnium, that’s due out March 8th from Nuclear Blast Records. Featuring 12 crushing tracks and ominous cover artwork by Travis Smith (Katatonia, Opeth), the album follows the band’s critically revered 2019 release Mourn The Southern Skies. Fans can pre-order Defectum Omnium now!
Commenting on the impending album, vocalist/guitarist Kyle Thomas states:
“It’s been quite a journey for Exhorder since the 2019 release of ‘Mourn the Southern Skies’. Lineup changes as well as the 2020-2021 pandemic and lockdown presented hurdles that weren’t easy to overcome. But we persevered, kept our heads down and went to work with intense focus and real goals. One of those goals was to bring our fourth full length album to our fan base. ‘Defectum Omnium’ is a collaborative effort in songwriting, much as it was in the early days of Exhorder. We produced it ourselves, as we felt no need or desire to bring in anyone from the outside based upon our shared vision. It was also important to us not only to continue the natural progression this band has been in since the early 90’s, but to put a foot back into our roots. The influence punk and hardcore had on this band from getting our start in the New Orleans punk rock scene has a strong presence. We’ve also made sure to keep plenty of our thrash roots as well in our songwriting process.
But we have also managed to keep our doom roots alive, which first surfaced on the song ‘(Cadence of) the Dirge’ back in 1992. In fact, on one new song we have guest appearances by Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin from Trouble, and they absolutely killed it!
From the time that we began pre-production until the actual release date, we can promise you that every bit of ‘Defectum Omnium’ was crafted with great care, and we are really excited about it! Our goal was to make an album that WE loved and gives the experience of a journey, or maybe even a rollercoaster ride effect. We can’t wait to share it with the world!”
Without further ado, EXHORDER kicks in the door of 2024 with a savage new track, ‘Year of the Goat,’ that sets the neck-snapping pace for the record to come. Watch the music video directed by Brian “Bone” Thorburn and produced by Threshold Studios at the link below.
Adding on the new song, Thomas says:
“Our debut single ‘Year of the Goat’ is a fast paced, chugging piece in the spirit of the influence that Motörhead had on punk rock bands like Charged GBH and The Exploited. The lyrical approach is a throwback to early Exhorder attitude, and we had a ton of fun filming the video at a free show that we performed in the greater Cincinnati area. 2024 is the year of the goat!!!”
Following the release of Defectum Omnium in April, EXHORDER will kick off a US tour with Bay Area thrash legends VIO-LENCE, Virginian extreme metalheads DECEASED and LA death metal band MORTAL WOUND. The brutality starts April 5th in Cambridge, MA and will culminate April 13th in Chicago, IL.
Formed in 1986, EXHORDER’s journey has proven exciting, yet tumultuous. After a twenty-seven-year absence following their final Roadrunner Records release in 1992, EXHORDER re-entered the game with an album considered by many to be a contender for the “Best Comeback Album” category. The band released Mourn the Southern Skies in October of 2019 through Nuclear Blast Records. Fraught with euphoric peaks and crippling valleys throughout its existence, lineup changes, and the 2020-2021 pandemic, EXHORDER has since clawed back through the muck to prepare yet another album to add to the discography. In the spring of 2024, EXHORDER presents yet again via Nuclear Blast their fourth full-length recording, Defectum Omnium, the Latin phrase for “The Failure of All”. Singer Kyle Thomas wryly explains that the album title is representative of the current state of affairs that the world is in. “The world is a dumpster fire, and we are all complicit.”, he explains. “People have been talking about, ‘…viruses killing us off, blah-blah, blah…’, when in actuality WE are the virus to the Earth. Mother Nature is simply trying to shake off the fleas, and her ‘viruses’ are the antibodies combating US. Earth will survive, and we will join the dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers soon enough in her history.”
Produced by EXHORDER and mixed by Jens Bogren, Defectum Omnium puts a foot back into the roots of the band’s inception. The scales have tipped favorably towards the presence of punk and thrash more so than on Mourn the Southern Skies. Tracks like ‘Wrath of Prophecies’, ‘Forever and Beyond Despair’, and ‘Sedition’ are what EXHORDER comes by most honestly when referring to their beginnings. There is also a strong presence of doom influence, as always. ‘The Tale of Unsound Minds’ and the haunting ‘Defectum Omnium/Stolen Hope’ will raise utter despair from the depths of your soul. The thick New Orleans grooves EXHORDER has been known for beating out since day one are still undeniable, and they stand out in tracks like ‘Year of the Goat’, ‘Under the Gaslight’, and ‘Three Stages of Truth/Lacing the Well’.
One trait about Defectum Omnium that deserves to be pointed out is that it is more of a journey and experience than just a regurgitated selection of songs on autopilot. With peaks and valleys much like a roller coaster ride, one listener described the album as having “…a little something for everyone.”. As EXHORDER has always been hard to classify by one genre, the album is loaded with heaviness, aggression, speed, and venom. It also has an equal presence of mystery, melody, and harmony, and vacillates between darkness and light. Themes that dart back and forth between surviving oppression, despair, revolution, and brittle hope take you through the band’s madness by way of the musical path that they have forged. With touring plans underway in support of Defectum Omnium, EXHORDER finds itself poised to finally achieve the brass ring potential that has always seemed to be just out of their reach.
Two members of the pioneering progressive metal act Fates Warning, Ray Alder and Jim Matheos continue to brave new waters with NORTH SEA ECHOES. Today, the duo is proud to announce the release of their debut album, ‘Really Good Terrible Things‘, due out February 23, 2024 via Metal Blade. The band is pleased to share the first taste of the upcoming record with their new single, “Open Book“, which is out today!
The first single off the record, “Open Book” kicks things off, and was also the first song written on ‘Really Good Terrible Things‘. Matheos shares, “with Ray’s lyrics about ending and beginnings, it felt like a good mood to start off with.” Alder adds, “The line ‘we’re a cloud behind the moon’ is referring to the fact that we are all basically an impossibility. Yet here we are. And we will go on until we can’t. I’m speaking of inevitability.“
‘Really Good Terrible Things‘ (Tracklist) 01. Open Book 02. Flowers in Decay 03. Unmoved 04. Throwing Stones 05. Empty 06. The Mission 07. Where I’m From 08. We Move Around the Sun 09. Touch the Sky 10. No Maps
Ray Alder and Jim Matheos’ musical legacy is vast and lauded, both as collaborators and individuals. Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for the past 35 years. With them, he has recorded 10 albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Further rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo albums, and the band A-Z with Mark Zonder, which debuted in 2022.
Prolific and pioneering guitarist/producer Matheos is a co-founder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984’s Night on Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to 13 albums with Fates, Matheos’ myriad other work includes several solo albums, four albums alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore, under the name OSI, and new band, Kings of Mercia, a lineup that’s been termed “a hybrid; it’s heavy, but not metal.”
“Throughout Really Good Terrible Things, Matheos and Alder serve up the kind of seductive melancholy Fates Warning fans will recognize,” says Jeff Wagner, author of the Fates Warning book Destination Onward. “Yet there’s a thoroughly different approach here: vocals are delivered with a sort of nostalgic sadness, and the guitar work is layered in such a way as to feel dreamlike. These are rich sonic landscapes, visiting places haunting, beautiful, spectral and secret. The Matheos/Alder partnership is taken to some new and wonderful places here,” Wagner concludes.
Really Good Terrible Things shows the breadth and versatility of the acclaimed pair, along with a freshness that belies their long musical partnership. “We both still love making music and we really enjoy working together. There’s a good amount of chemistry there, I think,” Matheos shares. “We both know what to expect from each other.“
North Sea Echoes – lineup Jim Matheos – guitar Ray Alder – vocals
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Metal Allegiance, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick.
In this fun chat Alex talks about the upcoming Metal Allegiance show on Jan 25, 2024 at the House of Blues in Anaheim. He also talks about the history of Metal Allegiance and discusses the personalities of the core group and the guests who have participated over the years.
On January 25th 2024, the band will re-assemble at The House Of Blues Anaheim for the bands 10th anniversary celebration (which will also coincide with the return of the Winter NAMM show). The night will be sponsored by Dean Guitars, ddrum and Heavys Headphones, with opening acts being Dieth, Held Hostage and QUOR.
Since the band’s inception in 2014, Metal Allegiance is comprised of the core 4 members of (Mark Menghi – bass, songwriter, Alex Skolnick – guitars, David Ellefson – bass, and Mike Portnoy – drums), and has issued two full-lengths (2015’s self-titled debut and 2018’s Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty) and an EP (2016’s Fallen Heroes).
In addition to Menghi, Portnoy, Skolnick, and Ellefson, the show will feature John Bush (Armored Saint), Chuck Billy (Testament), Troy Sanders (Mastodon), Brann Dailor (Mastodon), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Bobby Blitz (Overkill), Gary Holt (Exodus/Slayer), Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves / God Forbid), Hel Pyre (Nervosa) and Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth), among others in addition to their usual unannounced surprise guests.
Members of Metal Allegiance are certainly looking forward to the show.
Finnish atmospheric progressive metal band Alase released a new single Love Crime. This track features a stunning Rioghan as female vocals for this duet where Alase’s mastermind Janne Lunnas handles male vocals. The track is taken from the upcoming Beyond Our Imagination EP which is set to be released on February 23rd 2024 via Inverse Records.
Guitarist Janne Lunnas comments Love Crime: “The upcoming four-track EP “Beyond Our Imagination” had two songs, of which either one would have worked well as a single. However, “Love Crime” was chosen as the single because it presents many new aspects of our music. It was such an honour to have Rioghan Darcy of the band Rioghan as the female voice in this duet. This time I was responsible for the male voice myself.
Love Crime is a story of tormenting love. The song came together pretty quickly as I knew it was a duet and that the other vocalist was Rioghan. That led to me composing what I thought was a bit of “Rioghan-style” stuff, like the electronic drums and synths in the early parts. At that point, I could not guess that I would end up singing the final male parts of the song.
Our lyricist Ninni Swan had a vision of how the music video for Love Crime should look like. Mikko Parkkonen from Aarni Visuals picked up the ideas and created a mystical garden in his studio with very extraordinary plants. Both Alase and Rioghan have worked closely with Aarni Visuals before, so it was clear that the video would be shot at Aarni’s studio in Seinäjoki.”
Beyond Our Imagination Track list:
Broken Pendulum
Love Crime
When?
A Night to Remember
Alase is an atmospheric progressive metal/rock band from Finland. Their music is a melting pot of various genres, but the main focus is on the melody and atmosphere. There are a lot of influences outside metal music as well. Musically, Alase has similarities with bands like Katatonia, A Perfect Circle, The Ocean, Textures and Tesseract, just to name a few. Band’s second album “A Matter of Time” was released in April 2023. A four song EP “Beyond Our Imagination” is to be released in early 2024.
Artwork by Ninni Swan
Current Line-up: Guitars: Janne Lunnas Bass: Ari Miettinen Drums: Ville Aatsinki Lyrics: Ninni Swan
Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett is set to release his new studio album ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ on 16th February 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’s’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”
Today a brand new track is revealed, titled ‘Wherever You Are’, and you can watch the video now here:
Of the track, Steve comments: “’Wherever You Are’ is a song of love winning through, shattering the chains of the physical world… Light obliterating darkness. A new universe has opened up with the hope that such a strong love could even survive death. The dreams of childhood realised, there is a sense of everything coming around full circle… Even the three part harmony guitar at the end of Genesis’ The Musical Box is revisited in spirit with the joy of celebration during this song.”
The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh. Pre-order now here: https://stevehackett.lnk.to/TheCircusAndTheNightwhale
Steve will celebrate the release of his new album with two HMV in-store events in London & Birmingham, where he will be taking part in a Q&A and signing albums. Find out more details on those here: https://ow.ly/HUaT50Q7paJ
‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ is Steve’s first new music in over two years. Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The full track-listing is as follows:
People Of The Smoke
These Passing Clouds
Taking You Down
Found And Lost
Enter The Ring
Get Me Out!
Ghost Moon and Living Love
Circo Inferno
Breakout
All At Sea
Into The Nightwhale
Wherever You Are
White Dove
Summing up ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
Steve Hackett & band will tour the world extensively in 2024, including a brand new UK tour ‘Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo,’ which will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. He will also return to North America early this year, with European shows booked in for the Summer.
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 ) 