Today sees the shadowy emissaries known as ZETRA sign to Nuclear Blast Records. To celebrate this unholy union, ZETRA have released a visual manifestation of their newest sonic offering ‘Sacrifice’.
An envoy from the void bestows the following message on behalf of the enigmatic duo:
“The Portal has opened The Darkness is calling. Absolution can only come through loss. A sacrifice must be made. Zetra asks the question. Do you believe enough?”
SKULL SERVANT are a 3-piece psychedelic doom metal project centered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band formed in 2022, and have since solidified into a trio of devoted musicians who work exceptionally well together. Bassist Noah Terrell and guitarist Calvin Bauer have collaborated on musical projects off-and-on since 2015. Each contributes a distinctive vocal style, yet they masterfully weave them together into a singularly compelling and effective sound. The exceptional drumwork of Ryland Dreibelbis, with whom Calvin has performed since 2021, completes the package. And what a package it is!
Watch their new lyric video for ‘Satan’s Broomstick’ taken from “Traditional Black Magicks II” EP.
Skull Servant’s material reliably delivers an occult impression of a spell being cast upon their audience. The inception of this image can best be seen in their hit EP Astral Apothecary, which topped the Doom Metal Charts upon its release in March, 2023. It was in the wake of EP Astral Apothecary’s success that the project doubled down, beginning to refine their brand in earnest. This new, definitive image shines through as it coalesces in their subsequent work, most notably in single Pray for Blood and their latest EP Traditional Black Magicks II, released in May and October of 2023 respectively.
With a smorgasbord of influences ranging from Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Sodom to Gandalf and The Sword, Skull Servant’s brand displays a faithful commitment to the genre staples of Doom. Skull Servant’s quintessential stoner metal sludginess is deftly enhanced by the daring juxtaposition of haunting vocal melodies, their heaviness made unique by undeniably groovy psychedelic undercurrents.
“I give Traditional Black Magicks II a very high recommendation, and it’s an album that should be streamed continuously for a while to let the awesomeness absorb into your psyche. I can’t get enough of it.” – Scott Spiers, Clean And Sober Stoner
On September 15, the young death metal band OVERTOUN gave a show that was packed with energy, strength, and attitude. While on the road supporting their award-winning album, THIS DARKNESS FEELS ALIVE, they ruthlessly demolished their most violent songs in the city of Rancagua, Chile.
The band formed by Yoav Ruiz-Feingold (ATHEIST, TILL THE DIRT, GRAVITON), Matias Bahamondes, Agustin Lobo and Matias Salas, recorded a live performance of the song MADE MANIFEST, which was selected by cameraman/photographer Cristian Belano and their sound engineer Ignacio Portales for a very high-quality video recording because of its powerful lyrical and musical content. This cinematic footage captures the band’s excitement as they play every note of their repertoire live, moving around the stage and interacting with each other at every chance. Matias Bahamondes at The Dog Studios later restored, mixed, and mastered the audio.
OVERTOUN is currently writing their third album and programming their 2024 tour schedule, which will include their postponed 2020 tour over Brazil. Their latest tour took them to Argentina for the second time, opening for the legendary band SINISTER.
THIS DARKNESS FEELS ALIVE was originally produced by Pancho Arenas, mastered by Flemming Rasmussen (METALLICA) with artwork by Paolo Girardi (REVOCATION, POWER TRIP). It was re-released by WORMHOLEDEATH RECORDS in 2022.
OVERTOUN is a Metal band from Santiago-Boston Bringing back the brutal force and sounds of Old School Metal and Latin American roots, the revolutionary young band from Santiago/Boston has been spreading their talent, passion, and energy all over the world, characterized by their outstanding musical quality and powerful social commentaries.
“This Darkness Feels Alive” is available on all digital platforms HERE
Singapore’s NOPROPHECY‘s debut album “As The Bridge Collapses” is now ready to captivate fans with its versatility from Rockshots Records. Promising a multifaceted experience, the album delves into the band’s signature melodic style while exploring various stylistic shifts across metal genres.
Describing their sound in five words – Aggressive, Melodic, Intense, Groove, and Dynamic – NOPROPHECY has consistently pushed boundaries, showcasing their signature blend of fierce intensity and melodic artistry.
“There are so many variations the band incorporates into its songwriting with this album and we believe there is something for everyone. We feel an album should always have a flow from start to finish and that is what we’re trying to achieve with this album. We definitely played around with the choruses more this time, keeping in mind to engage more crowd participation for this album cycle. We want to give the fans a refreshing experience, yet something that is relatable on a personal level.” adds the band.
NOPROPHECY invites fans and metal enthusiasts alike to join them on this exciting and diverse musical venture. With their dedication to delivering a powerful live experience, NOPROPHECY incorporates backing tracks during performances to elevate the audience’s engagement.
Recommended for fans of Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, and As I Lay Dying, “As The Bridge Collapses” is now available as of November 24th, 2023 from Rockshots Records.
Track Listing: 1. Convelescent 0:38 2. As The Bridge Collapses 3:05 3. Ghost Of Yesterday 4:28 4. Sorrows 4:03 5. Burn It Down 3:33 6. Broken 3:31 7. Set Me Free 4:15 8. Voices 3:39 9. Higanbana 3:29 Album Length: 29:21
About: Established in 2013 by Alveria Sykes, Singapore’s NOPROPHECY has emerged as a formidable force in modern metal. The band’s inception was fueled by a collective passion for music and a desire to unite their musical abilities in a band setting. Each member looked up to revered musicians, aspiring to bring their own unique touch to the musical landscape. During its formative years, NOPROPHECY saw a rotation of musicians, but by the release of “After Life Comes EP” in 2016, the band had solidified its lineup, setting the stage for what would become a promising musical journey. Their debut full-length “As The Bridge Collapses” is due out in November 2023 from Rockshtos Records.
Hungarian extreme groove metal pioneers Omega Diatribe have premiered the song “Stench Of Demise” with an outstanding music video ahead of their forthcoming fifth studio album “Deviant“.
The new album will be released on the 1st of December under the wings of Metal Hu Records, in an impressive 8-panel DIGIPAK CD and 2 types of vinyl editions.
Co-produced, mixed and mastered by the legendary producer Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, Suicide Silence, The Haunted, etc.) at Antfarm Studios in Denmark.
Gergo Hajer, the band’s songwriter & guitar player commented of this new offering: “Unfortunately, we and our families were not spared by the pandemic either, so we had to deal with many human losses recently. In this song, we were able to release these negative energies and process the grief. A few songs or records helped me a lot to get through the dark periods in my youth, but also to this day. I believe that this song (or even the whole record) can provide support to those who have gone through or will go through similar traumas in their lives. Deviant wasn’t a happy record at all, but we never had the goal to write happy music. Instead, it’s the deepest and most honest record we’ve ever released.”
Then Akos Szathmary the bass player & graphic designer continues: “This is a topic that we try to avoid on a daily basis. For those who haven’t experienced it up close, it’s hard to get a feel for it, because it’s so unreal. Then it just happens to you and you stand there helpless, you have to accept that you can’t help. Unfortunately, death is inevitable for everyone and is constantly breathing down our necks. I don’t think we planned the main theme for Deviant this way, life just came and hit us in the back and took over. The graphics of the album cover are also based on passing away, on the pages of the 8-panel digipak we depicted the last moments of a human being’s life.”
When internationally-renowned actor Brian Blessed OBE delivers a proclamation for opening track, “The Prophecy”, expectations are automatically high for Saxon’s latest album. Have no fear and make no mistake, SAXON meet and exceed them on their 24th studio album, Hell, Fire And Damnation, set for release January 19th 2024 via Silver Lining Music.
Biff Byford, lead singer and founder-member reminisces when asked about the title of the band’s brand new release, Hell, Fire And Damnation.
“I’ve had that saying in my head since I was a small boy because my dad used to say it when he was upset,” Biff smiles. “He used to say, ‘Hell, fire, and damnation, what’s tha’ been doing now?!’ when I was ‘messing up his cabbage patch’ or carving things into the kitchen table. It was a very ‘Yorkshire’ saying back in the day.”
The title track unleashed today is a superlative British Heavy Metal classic exploring the juxtaposition between good and evil.
“There’s so much music out there about hell and the devil and the occult that I just thought it’s about time somebody wrote one about the battle just between good and evil!” explains Biff. “You can’t sing about the devil without singing about the good guy either, and the song basically says ‘make your choice’. We all have to make the choice, are we evil or are we good? The song’s about that fight.”
Hell, Fire And Damnation is an album which sees Saxon investigate all areas of history and mystery amidst ten of their most confident and thunderously powerful songs yet. Biff delivers his richest vocals in years, Nigel Glockler and Nibbs Carter on drums and bass respectively lay down the rhythmic law with bombastic power, and the guitars of Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler are fresh and fiery, a perfect complement to each other, carrying an overall energy and fury which will have fans salivating. Musically, Saxon bring it all to the table. There’s a furious tribute to actual heavy metal in the denim & leather coated super-sprint “Fire And Steel”, a wonderful nod to the NWOBHM’s birth in the electric mid-pace “Pirates Of The Airwaves”, but maybe the true treasure amidst the jewels is “There’s Something In Roswell”, with the sort of expansive groove and embrace which deserves arenas.
Produced by Andy Sneap (Judas Priest, Exodus, Accept and Priest guitarist) and Biff Byford, with Sneap mixing and mastering, Hell, Fire And Damnation strides the perfect line between confident, current power, and gloriously irreverent flexing of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal muscle which Saxon co-created.
“I think this album’s one of the best he’s done sound-wise, and he’s done a lot of albums” Biff declares. “It has a really raw, vibrant sound… if you compress the total time making this album, it was four weeks tops… you can hear everything brilliantly, nothing’s overcomplicated, nothing’s over compressed. The guitar sounds are fucking immense, they’re just great, raw guitar sounds. And we haven’t done a lot of overdubbing on there, it’s just playing. I really, really like it.”
2024 promises to be a great year for Saxon, with the European tour alongside Judas Priest and Uriah Heep kicking-off in the UK in March, plus the arrival of the heavy metal masterpiece Hell, Fire And Damnation.
“Getting these shows in March 2024 with Judas Priest and Uriah Heep meant it made sense to push and get the album made faster,” says Biff, “so, we got on with it in haste and pulled it out of the bag. It was tricky, but I think it’s safe to say we managed it well.”
Oh, it’s safe to say alright!
Hell, Fire And Damnation will be available in a variety of formats and pre-orders can be placed at this location.
Vocals recorded by Seb Byford at Big Silver Barn, York (UK); Drums recorded by Jacky Lehmann at Lampes Posthotel Old Cinema Restaurant Der Krug (Germany); Guitars recorded at Big Silver Barn, York (UK).
HELL, FIRE AND DAMNATION WORLD TOUR (Part 1) 11 March – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (UK) 13 March – First Direct Arena, Leeds (UK) 15 March – 3Arena, Dublin (IE) 17 March – BIC, Bournemouth (UK) 19 March – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham (UK) 21 March – OVO Arena Wembley, London (UK) 24 March – Festhalle, Frankfurt (DE) 25 March – Olympiahalle, München (DE) 26 March – Volksbank Messe, Balingen (DE) 27 March – Westfalenhalle, Dortmund (DE) 29 March – O2 Arena, Prague (CZ) 30 March – Tauron Arena, Kraków (PL) 1 April – Wiener Stadhalle, Vienna (AT) 2 April – Roxy, Ulm (DE) 3 April – St. Jakobshalle, Basel (CH) 5 April – Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon (FR) 6 April – Mediolanum Forum, Milan (IT) 8 April – Zénith, Paris (FR) 13 June – Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona (ES) 15 June – Navarra Arena, Pamplona (ES) 17 June – Palacio Vistalegre, Madrid (ES) 1 July – Barclays Arena, Hamburg (DE) 2 July – Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin (DE) 4 July – Arena Nürnberger, Nürnberg (DE) 8 July – Sap Arena, Mannheim (DE) 10 July – Messehalle, Dresden (DE)
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 ) 