Punk rock revivalists FORE have released a video for their break-neck new single “Welcome To My Ted Talk”. This is the third single from the group’s sophomore album entitled “Skin”, which will be out June 23rd on Listenable Insanity Records, and can be ordered at forepunk.bandcamp.com on cassette tape, CD as well as a limited oven mit pack.
The album and video recently premiered via Ghost Cult magazine and the feature can be found here.
SKULL & CROSSBONES have announced a worldwide signing with Massacre Records. Their upcoming, first full-length studio album, entitled Sungazer, will be released on September 8, 2023.
The band’s debut will be coming out as CD Digipak, Ltd. Vinyl LP and Digital formats, the pre-save is now available at THIS LOCATION!
The four ex-Stormwitch members Volker Schmietow, Tobi Kipp, Jürgen “Wanschi” Wannenwetsch and Marc Opppold, completed by vocalist Tobi Hübner, pick up where they left off. SKULL & CROSSBONES have dedicated themselves to traditional heavy metal.
“While I was a co-founder and the bassist of Stormwitch for many years, it was time for something new. After the successful album ‘Bound to the witch’, in which I was significantly involved with Volker, Tobi and Marc, we decided to start over. Skull & Crossbones was born,“ Jürgen Wannenwetsch reveals. “With our new singer Tobi Hübner came the voice and creativity that really pushed us again.
We’re all into melodic old school metal. The result is an album that we at S&C are not the only ones who are 100% convinced of. With Marc Ayerle, who is responsible for the great sound of the record, and the whole team at Massacre Records, we found the right support for Sungazer. We are excited to see where the path will lead us together with our fans.”
Tobi Hübner adds: “After the songwriting process and completing our new album “Sungazer”, I’m very happy about the deal with Massacre Records and I’m curious what our fans will have to say about our work. We’re definitely very proud of it!”
Sungazer track listing:
Midnight Fyre
Sungazer
Manhunter
The Invisible Man
Tyrant’s Rule
Nature’s Legacy
Inner Self
Live Your Dreams
The Drowned
The Traveller
SKULL & CROSSBONES Live: 09.09.2023 DE Bisingen – Umsonst & Draußen Zollernalb 16.09.2023 DE Gerstetten – Schlicker 09.12.2023 DE Horb am Neckar – Marmorwerk
Italy’s Stoner Rock veterans OJM have released a new live video of the band’s full performance at Venezia Hardcore Fest 2022. Performing alongside bands such as Dropdead, The Flex, Melt and Big Cheese, the band celebrated its 25th anniversary with a reunion show in traditional OJM style, which has been around since their inception in 1997!
About OJM:
OJM is an Italian stoner band from Treviso, founded in 1997 by David Martin and Max Ear. Since the very beginning both the Italian music press and rock’n’roll scene show a certain interest toward the band, due to its personal style featuring rough guitars with a psychedelic touch and hints of Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, MC5 and Grand Funk. As regards their live career, OJM can boast hundreds of gigs and two UK tours, intense and wild performances and the supporting of several legendary bands such as DKT / MC5, Motorpsycho, Brant Bjork, Gorilla, Marlene Kuntz, Hardcore Superstar, Nebula, Josiah, Fleshtones and many more.
OJM are: DAVID MARTIN – vocals MAX EAR – drums ANDREW POZZY – bass ALESSANDRO TEDESCO – guitar
GYPSY PISTOLEROS have released their new anthemic single & Video ‘What’s it like to be a Girl!’ today through Earache records. A 70’s Glamtastic Romp where Marc Bolan & The Sweet meet Phoenix Nights concluding with a B-Movie Horrortastic twist?
This single is from the brand-new forthcoming genre defining album ‘Duende a go go loco!!’ Artwork is revealed and by Lee Stokes LSD Design.
Recorded at The Old Cider Press Studios. Pershore by the legend that is Dave Draper (Nickleback, The Wildhearts, Terrorvision, Kerbdog, etc) who recorded, mixed, mastered and played most guitars on the album too.
The ‘Duende a go go loco!!’ album will be released both digitally & physically through Earache Records on November 3rd. Pre-sale begins on Earache Records Webstore June 23rd. Available in a variety of formats, Splatter & coloured vinyls, deluxe Digipak 6 panel C.D, digital and special bundles are all available at https://www.earache.com/gypsypistoleros
GYPSY PISTOLEROS are “The World’s Greatest Flamenco Punk Glam Rock band Ever!” They are touring throughout the year to promote the next three singles and album! They have also just signed to SD Entertainment Booking Agents (sdentertainment.co.uk).
Gypsy Pistoleros are still something utterly unique and interesting in today’s predictable musical landscape. The sound is flamenco in a head on collision with punk/rock riffs, pounding bass and thrashing drums.
The songs span madly in the best rock ‘n’ roll tradition with big hooks, attitude, and sleaze. Yet those flamenco breaks got into your head and refused to leave – this hybrid rocks.
“Duende a go go loco” the new album is going to be hailed as the band’s masterpiece; an album that brings together all facets of this unique mongrel offspring of fiery flamenco passion and gritty gutter glam Punk.
“The best album GYPSY PISTLEROS have ever made!
Gypsy Pistoleros defy the rules, born roaming somewhere between Zaragoza and Worcester, brought into the world to a soundtrack stack-heeled anthems of sleazy ‘70s Glam. Standing alone in musical ancestry and sum sound, they are one of those most rare acts who can honestly claim the tag ‘unique’.
“One of the hardest things to achieve in music – a unique sound” – Steve BeeBee Planet Rock “Gypsy Pistoleros are a thrill-a-minute collection of melodic eye-patch swagger that smells of exotic spices and forbidden concubines. The Gypsy Pistoleros sound like Hanoi Rocks, if Hanoi Rocks were sultans and snake charmers- Sleaze Grinder”- Classic Rock Magazine
“This, actually, is as good as sleaze ever got in the last decade. Gypsy Pistoleros were, and still are, a breath of fresh air. You will never hear another band like this. They are the greatest flamenco sleaze glam band ever. And that’s just a fact. If you don’t believe me, listen to this.” – Paul Thorley Maximum volume music.
“Gypsy Pistoleros may be best described as being the ideal house band for the fictitious Titty Twister bar of Rodriguez’s ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’. Between the nods to Morricone’s tense, tumbleweed atmospheres and the Gypsy Kings’ manic Latin energy, a New York Dolls raw glam spark and a surplus of prime G ’n’ R attitude!” – Planet Mosh
“Another deft dose of Latin laced, Mariachi sleaze. A Day of the dead, guillotine theatre with cinematic Morricone pretensions. Contrived, preposterous, irresistible” – CLASSIC ROCK
GYPSY PISTOLEROS LINE UP: Gypsy Lee Pistolero – Vox Shane Pistolero Sparkz –Guitars Kerry Pistolero White – Bass Crag Pistolero Shape – Drums
Chicago, Illinois emotional cybergrind mainstay BLIND EQUATION has today announced their signing to Prosthetic Records. Alongside the signing announcement, BLIND EQUATION has revealed plans to release their sophomore full-length, DEATH AWAITS, on September 15 via the Los Angeles label. The lead single, never getting better, and its accompanying music is out now.
Speaking on the album announcement, BLIND EQUATION‘s James McHenry comments: “DEATH AWAITS is the album I have always been wanting to make for BLIND EQUATION, and I feel like this is the perfect time to do so. This album demonstrates strong influence from black metal, modern hyperpop & cloud rap, eurotrance and a wide variety of genres through the BLIND EQUATION songwriting and production lens. I am excited to release something that progresses the project’s sound to the next step, and opens up a whole new world of what BLIND EQUATION could be.”
On working with Prosthetic Records, McHenry adds: “I am thrilled to be releasing this album through Prosthetic Records and be a part of an amazing roster of bands pushing the boundaries of metal. It is absolutely surreal to be releasing a “pop cybergrind” album on the same label that helped grow my taste as a metalhead growing up. On top of that, they share a similar vision as I do and have been very helpful and supportive of my chaotic ideas for the project along the way. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of such a great team.”
Having become a staple name in the burgeoning modern cybergrind scene, BLIND EQUATION has seen sole songwriter James McHenry nurture his talents for the better part of a decade in the form of various split releases, EPs and 2021 full-length Life Is Pain. Abandoning genre confines, McHenry’s unique amalgam of grind, hardcore, extreme metal, chiptune and electronics has come to define BLIND EQUATION’s sound.
Following Life Is Pain’s warm reception in online circles by fans and critics alike, the intervening years have seen BLIND EQUATION amass numerous live performances and US tours – with shows alongside HEALTH, Author and Punisher, Tallah and The Callous Daoboys having taken place in 2023 alone – picking up a dedicated following for the band along the way.
In rare moments of downtime from the road, DEATH AWAITS was conceptualised as a meditation on real world anxieties and largely negative lived experiences. Retaining complete creative control of BLIND EQUATION’s musical and lyrical output, DEATH AWAITS was self-produced and mastered by McHenry for streaming and CD before being placed in the hands of audio engineer Steve Perrino for vinyl mastering duties.
Unflinching accounts of mutilation, deception and depression appear repeatedly throughout DEATH AWAITS, be it the pulsating 8-bit electronics and blastbeats of lead single never getting better that explode into positively anthemic proclamations of the title in the chorus, or the desiderium of you betrayed the ones you love’s electronic strings that give way to scathing rebuttals of broken trust. DEATH AWAITS presents interpersonal disarray and suffering in its rawest and most confessional form, summarised best on suffering in silence’s one-two vocal trade offs and glitched-out hardcore pandemonium featuring New Zealand artist DEATHTRIPPA.
DEATH AWAITS’ fatalistic worldview is captured in blurred neon pinks and grainy black by visual artist angel gasm, with light leaking effects on the symbolic flower as a beacon of hope among the hurt. For all the anguish BLIND EQUATION pulls from for the latest full-length there is sure to be those who find solace and comfort here, and DEATH AWAITS may well prove to not only be a watershed moment in modern cybergrind but also the beginning of a limitless creative incline for the band.
DEATH AWAITS tracklist: 1. death awaits 2. speedrunning life 3. you betrayed the ones you loved 4. fade away 5. choke 6. never getting better 7. killing me (featuring Rat Jesu) 8. suffering in silence (featuring DEATHTRIPPA) 9. warmth 10. the last glimpse of me
PESSIMIST are death metal icons. They played their very first shows back in the mid-’90s, opening for Incantation, Deicide, Testament, Suffocation and Napalm Death. It wasn’t long before Pessimist became hailed for combining a brutal blend of technical blackened death metal with old-school thrash influences into their own powerful, evil live show.
The band have been hard at work on their fourth album at LA’s Black Attack Studios. In the meantime, they’re playing four shows in California starting later this summer and continuing into the fall.
Tour dates 07/22 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick [TICKETS] 09/02 Santa Ana, CA @ Stages [TICKETS] 10/11 Long Beach, CA @ Supply & Demand [TICKETS] 11/11 Los Angeles, CA @ Extreme & Obscure Festival [TICKETS]
Current lineup Kelly McLauchlin – Guitars Andrew Bown – Bass Ivan Alison – Vocals Tim Yeung – Drums
All three Pessimist albums are available through the Season of Mist online store. These reissues include new layouts, rare, archival band photos and never-before-heard bonus tracks. Order them HERE.
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