STORMAGE have released the cover and tracklist of their fourth album “Ashes Of Doom”, which goes on sale on 26.5.2023 via El Puerto Records.
Bassist Dirk Heggemann: “The idea behind it is to address the things that are currently going out of control worldwide. The character stands as a representation for all of humanity, hoping for a helping hand through a broken window to turn everything around. That helping hand could be any one of us.”
Cover-Artwork by Harley Velasquez Cover-Layout by Nina Heggemann Booklet-Artwork by Mystic Arts Photographies by Tobias Naubereit
Tracklist: 01 – Overture Of The Abyss (Instrumental) 02 – Beyond The Horizon 03 – Deniers Of Reality 04 – Fierce As A Dragon 05 – Slide On Your Knees 06 – Our Latest Endeavour 07 – Ashes Of My Doom 08 – The Spirit Never Dies 09 – Blood Shot Eyes 10 – Put The Hammer Down 11 – Son Of Hatred 12 – The Wind Will Take Us Home
In the 20 years of their existence, the quartet from the German Sauerland has continuously honed their own style. For the upcoming fourth album “Ashes Of Doom” no one less than Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann (Orden Ogan) participated as co-producer. The result is a multifaceted. cleverly arranged Powermetal album, but just a touch “darker” than the rest.
Line-up: Heiko Heseler – Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar Tim Sonnenstuhl – Lead Guitar Dirk Heggemann – Bass Vasileios (Billy) Georgiou – Drums
Keyboard virtuoso Derek Sherinian will be joining Joe Satriani’s band this summer for two shows – July 1st at Jones Beach Amphitheater and July 2nd at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – in a band that will also feature Kenny Aronoff on drums and Mark Menghi on bass.
“I am honored to have been personally invited by Joe play these shows with him, says Sherinian. “He is one of the greats, and I knew I was destined to play with him sooner or later.”
Sherinian was also recently named “Best Keyboardist” in Japan’s BURRN! Magazine 2022 Readers Poll (an award he also received previously, in 2020).
Derek was also voted “Greatest Keyboardist of the 21st Century” and #8 “Greatest of All Time” by MusicRadar.com, and also was ranked #9 “Greatest of All Time” in PROG Magazine.
Sherinian has distinguished himself by his versatility, and aggressive “guitaristic” approach to his signature keyboard style. MusicRadar.com declared, “His virtuoso playing has seen him dubbed the keyboard-playing version of Eddie Van Halen.” David Coverdale claims that “Derek plays the Hammond organ like the son of Jon Lord.”
Starting his pro career with Alice Cooper in 1989 on the “Trashes the World” world tour, Sherinian proceeded to tour and record with KISS, Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen, Billy Idol and Whitesnake. He has also released nine solo albums, and was the co-founder of Planet X, Sons of Apollo, and supergroup Black Country Communion (also featuring Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, and Jason Bonham), who will be recording a new album this Summer.
Also, a Sherinian/Phillips live album with drum legend Simon Phillips will be released this fall on InsideOut/Sony Music.
Here is the video for “Scorpion” off Sherinian’s 2022 solo album ‘Vortex’.
Following their latest album “Into Zero” (2018), June 9th will see the release of “The Fifth Dimension”, the highly anticipated fifth full length record by Melodic Death Metal act Rise To Fall, which will be coming out on Noble Demon. Formed in 2006 in Bilbao (Basque Country) in northern Spain, Rise To Fall have established their well-deserved place within the metal scene over the past seventeen years. With a constant output and numerous live shows and festival appearances, Rise To Fall have become known for delivering music of the highest level and their devastating live shows. With the release of four studio albums, the band has kept raising the bar, leading not only to numerous tours across Europe, but also headlining tours in Japan and China, as well as touring alongside Soilwork!
A tour that should still unite both bands in the future – With the track “Intruder” Rise To Fall have now released the first single of the upcoming album, on which none other than Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork / The Night Flight Orchestra ) has taken over as a guest vocalist. The track comes with a brand new music video, which you can watch here:
Rise to Fall on “Intruder”:
“Upon returning from our Japan tour with Soilwork in November 2019 we set out to write the new album. In early 2020 we had already composed the track for Intruder and we talked to Björn from Soilwork to offer him a collaboration. Intruder is the first song we recorded from the new album, in which Dann also participated for the first time in the composition and in which our producer and friend Pedro J Monge (Vhäldemar) also appears as a guest doing the guitar solo. It is a very complete song, in which the melodic voices and screams of Dalay and Björn are interspersed, making the song super epic.”
Tracklist reads as follows:
Rising Sun
Hierophant
Intruder
Test of Time
Empty Ward
Infinite Crossroad
What Lies Beneath
Heroes
The Great Chain
Beam of Light
Black Ocean
So be prepared for the next chapter of Rise To Fall, once again setting their very own benchmarks! “The Fifth Dimension” will be coming out on June 9th and is now available for pre-order at THIS LOCATION
Rise To Fall are:
Alain „Dalay Tarda“ Gutiérrez – Vocals Hugo Markaida – Guitar Dann Hoyos – Bass Javier Martín – Bass Xabier Del Val – Drums
Finnish rock band JUDITH ALICE released a new EP Resolute via Finnish record label Secret Entertainment. Also a new music video ‘Person That I Hate’ is done which can be seen below.
Guitarist June Stacy comments: “Writing and recording the EP was a little bit troublesome and slow because of the covid. We recorded the demos and then the EP versions of the songs little by little when ever we could. Then over a year ago when it was already mixed and mastered Izzy (our guitar player) decided to pursue other things in life and quit the band. We didn’t wanna release anything or shoot music videos before we found someone to replace him. So it took another half a year to find Vasco. But finally here it is: ’Resolute’. The EP that updates the sound of Judith Alice for 2023! Enjoy”
Resolute (EP 2023) -Track list:
Tonite’s Alright (feat. Diison)
Person That I Hate
Watch Out!
Blind Leadin’ The Blind
Close To The Sun
EP Picture by Aaro Tuisku, EP cover by Jussi Aaltonen
BIOGRAPHY: Judith Alice was formed in Helsinki, Finland by old friends June Stacy and Stan Ford (Skeeter Hazy) in 2016. The nowadays five piece band has been creating a reputation as a wild live performer and a party maker since. The first single, “I Only Go Out When It’s Dark” was released in 2017. The second single “Drug Festival” was released in December 2018 and as a third single they recorded a cover for an old danish hit “I WIll Stay”, it was released January 2020. Yeah, the one Hurriganes made famous in Finland back in the day. Recordings of the first album began in 2017, and after all the setbacks and struggle it was finally released Thursday, August 13th 2020. When the world closed because of the pandemic, Judith Alice used the time to write and record new music! 2023 starts with a brand new single/video ”Tonite’s Alright (feat. Diison)” followed by an EP called ”Resolute”!
Line-up: Skeeter Hazy – Vocals June Stacy – Guitar Vasco – Guitar Eric Jacobi – Bass Aaron Snow – Drums
BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS are today premiering their new single and music video, Hallucinative Terror, via Knotfest. Hallucinative Terror is the second track to be taken from the Christchurch, New Zealand progressive death metal group’s upcoming fourth album, Rejecting Obliteration, due out on May 19 via Prosthetic Records. The song and video, directed by Matt Evlampieff, shines a spotlight on BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS’ native country’s mental health crisis.
Speaking candidly about the track’s importance on Rejecting Obliteration, Ben Atkinson (guitar) comments: “Not a year goes by without losing someone we love to suicide. This was evident again throughout the writing, recording, and prep cycles for Rejecting Obliteration where collectively as a group we lost more friends and sadly an old band member. The thought that we will never see their faces or hear their voices again still hurts us.
“Mental Health issues are predominant here in New Zealand, especially in our city that also deals with the trauma of a city leveling Earthquake, and one of the world’s worst single person terrorist attacks.
“We are repeatedly assured that we should be reaching out when we are feeling low in mood, feeling as though we may hurt ourselves or endanger our lives. Which when we can, yes we should. But, not everyone who is feeling suicidal has that person, opportunity or capability to do so.
“The ways in which some people reach out may not be understood by their loved ones or may go unnoticed due to the subtlety of the approach. It is also really important for us all to be more proactive, be upfront with our friends and family when we notice they may not seem their usual self and ask them how they are feeling and what we can do to support them.
“The video for Hallucinative Terror is based at a funeral and shows a person who has passed away by suicide with their family and friends approaching the coffin to share their grief and ask why, pointing out that everything seemed ok. These scenes are intercut with the person seemingly alive in their coffin. They are screaming and thrashing for help as the coffin fills with water but the funeral guests are blind to this and don’t see this person’s struggles, and calls for help. The person is haunted by an older man invisible to everyone else throughout the video who represents the darker thoughts of hopelessness we can have. The video ends with the person drowning.
“The video represents that feeling of drowning in sorrow and hopelessness, that between breaths you are struggling to call out for help, to look for someone who may pull you up and no one truly hears you, or hears what you are going through.
“Hallucinative Terror has taught us that we all need to be better listeners and observers and to proactively reach out.”
Navigating cycles of abuse and trauma, whilst actively reaching for resolution through resilience, BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS‘ aptly titled Rejecting Obliteration is a testament to and declaration of endurance through hardships and loss. Lyrically conceived by Stace Fifield and Stuart Henley-Minchington, Rejecting Obliteration’s ten tracks share a common narrative thread of finding identity and light outside of personal hurt and psychological harm. The pair’s primary focus on inner strength and resilience serves as an unwavering foundation of who the band are in essence.
Whilst despairing in it’s subject matter Rejecting Obliteration refuses to concede to a predestination of further anguish, opting instead to shun all notions of defeat, which in and of itself is vital to BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS’ long fought for and claimed identity.
Rejecting Obliteration tracklist: 1. Monolith 2. Methlehem 3. Hallucinative Terror 4. Rejecting Obliteration 5. Wraith 6. Cicada 7. Funeral Smiles 8. The Waves 9. Hands of Contrition 10. Caustic Burns
Upcoming BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS tour dates:
Headline Australian tour 18 May – King Lear’s Throne – Brisbane, Australia 19 May – Burdekin Hotel – Sydney, Australia 20 May – Evelyn Hotel – Melbourne, Australia 21 May – Crown and Anchor – Adelaide, Australia
BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS is: Stace Fifield – Vocals Stuart Henley-Minchington – Guitars, Vocals Ben Atkinson – Guitars Nick Smith – Bass Tim Stewart – Drums, Percussion (recording only)
After 3 long years VAK are finally back with new music. The brutally melodic, progressive sludge band is set to release a wonderfully dynamic double single ‘Panorama / The Map’.
«Panorama» is the first track from the double single, an upbeat little devil, and a force to be reckoned with. Through hypnotizing rhythms and vibrating and mesmerizing vocals you are chanted into an unknown soundscape.
The second single «The Map» is a seven-minute sludge beast journey bringing you both the powerful and sludgy dimensions and the progressive aspects of the band with head tilting grooves, heavy dark rhythms, and intelligent clean build ups.
VAK states: “The first singles of our upcoming album address, firstly, the theme of Stockholm’s beautiful and treacherous “Panorama”, its lying and sinister post-card character. Secondly, they suggest how city-surveillance needs more resistant and downloadable “cop-maps”, enabling a policing of police. Despite the gravity of these issues, we had fun recording for example the backing vocals on “The Map” calling on the listeners to “download” the not yet existent maps.”
Artwork: Jonathan Hultén
Well-produced, doom-groovy, stoner/sludge Swedish metal band VAK were highly praised for their previous album “Loud Wind” (2019). UK Magazine Zero Tolerance wrote that it was “one of 2019’s contenders for best stoner metal album! […] It’s one thing to pack an album full of crushing riffs, memorable hooks and passionate performances, but VAK truly evoke a unified togetherness that beams throughout”, while Metal Temple (UK) gave it a 9/10, stating that “VAK is its own unique breed, one that has hints of the past but is focused solely on the future.” Praised for their ability to incorporate more than just one style and genre in their music, drawing inspiration from a great variety of bands and artists, VAK’s upcoming album is something to look forward to!
Band Members: Tobias Alpadie – Guitars Anders Bartonek – Drums Patrik Engström – Guitars Jesper Skarin – Bass, Vocals Robin Skarin – Keyboards
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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
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 