Swedish Hard Rock / Heavy Metal band Blister Brigade is set to release their fourth studio album ‘A Rioting New Breed’ on April 25th 2025 via Inverse Records. The third single ‘Disturbing Lights’ is unleashed today and the music video can be seen below.
The band comments: “This mid-tempo song was one of the first that was written for the new album. It plays with both heavy riffs and melodic, clean guitars. The pre-chorus with its strong melodies and cool drumbeat goes into a powerful chorus that is lifting the song to another level. Also, the clean outro with its harmonies, adds a depth to the song.
The title came about after loosing sleep over a half-broken lightbulb that was flashing on and off though the night. But because of a fever-condition, there was no ability to do anything about it. As far as songwriting goes, this is one of those songs where the title came first, and then the music and the rest of the lyrics was built around it.”
Greek atmospheric black metallers LUCIFER’S CHILD unveil music video for new single “Ichor” in anticipation of the band’s third studio album, “The Illuminant”, which is set for release on March 28th via Agonia Records.
After a seven year slumber which LUCIFER’S CHILD slipped into following its last full-length record “The Order” – a slumber veiled in shadow and silence – the Greek black metal quartet reawakens the fire which never fully ceased to burn or amaze. In a phoenix-like reprise, the group channels the heights of its esoteric ponder and the depths of its harrowing despair into “The Illuminant”.
The album marks a profound evolution in LUCIFER’s CHILD sound, aspiring to “a journey deeper into the abyss and the emotions, where the extreme meets the melodic, and the unseen becomes manifest,” points out co-founder/guitarist George Emmanuel (ex-Rotting Christ, ex-Chaostar, Necromantia). “Our new album represents a bold evolution in our sound. It is an intense journey that blends the dark, the emotion, and the melody. With eight blasphemous tracks, it is both a reckoning and a revelation, a fire that consumes but also renews. This is our revelation, and we can’t wait to share its intensity across the stages.”
“The Illumimnant” was produced, mixed and mastered by George Emmanuel at Pentagram Studio (Demonical, Septicflesh, Necromantia) with the exception of drums which were recorded at Pale Blue Dot Studios. The album’s cover artwork was hand-drawn by Daniele Valeriani (Dark Funeral, Mayhem).
Tracklisting: 1. Antichrist 2. As Beasts 3. The Serpent And The Rod 4. Ichor 5. Righteous Flama 6. Curse 7. The heavens die 8. And all is prelude
LUCIFER’S CHILD was formed in 2013 in Athens (Greece) by said George Emmanuel and bassist Stathis Ridis (ex-Nightfall). The duo quickly expanded into a quartet, with vocalist Marios Dupont (Karma Violens) and drummer Nick Vell (Chaostar), and released the debut album “The Wiccan” in 2015. Encouraged by the album’s reception, which entailed a string of festival dates (inc. Inferno Festival, Blastfest and Incineration Festival), they delivered a follow-up record titled “The Order” (2018). The album successively emphasized the band’s classic black metal approach, heavy on atmosphere and replete with dark aesthetics, all the more highlighted by Daniele Valeriani‘s cover artwork. The music video for the album’s title song hit over 150k streams on YoutTube and over 500k on Spotify. The collision of Brazilian occultism & Hellenic blasphemy ensues blistering sonic impressions on “Under Statn’s Wrath” – the band’s last output, recorded in alliance with Mystifier and released in 2022. Intact since its formation, LUCIFER’S CHILD line-up welcomes a new bassist on the upcoming album “The Illuminant”, Kostas Gerochristos.
Tour dates: 20.04.2025 – Dark Easter Metal Meeting DE 15-16.05.2025 – Dat Unland Fier Fest DE 27.05-07.06.2025 – Latin America TBC 18.09.2025 – Metal Im Woid DE 08.10.2025 – House Of Metal SWE
Under the ghostly glow of nightfall, inside the deep corridors of Norway’s mythic wilderness, rises Gaahls WYRD, once again shrouded in mystery. The Norwegian Grammy winners’ upcoming second album journeys inward, between the riverbeds of consciousness and dreams. With each cosmic chord, each cold and haunting beat, Kristian “Gaahl” Espedal and his mystical band untell the stories, and in the process, braid the roots that cradle the unseen.
Braiding the Stories comes out June 6, 2025 on Season of Mist.
“Braiding the Stories” emerges from the mysterious place where dreams and the subconscious meet. Guided by Gaahl’s indomitable spirit, together, guitarist Ole “Lust Kilman” Walaunet, bassist Andreas “Nekroman” Salbu and drummer Kevin “Spektre” Kvål traverse the mind and spirit, carving audacious passages that defy the conventional bounds of extreme metal, while still rooted in their Norwegian heritage.
Tracklist: 1. The Dream (2:11) 2. Braiding the Stories (8:37) [WATCH] 3. Voices in My Head (2:00) 4. Time and Timeless Timeline (3:03) 5. And the Now (5:49) 6. Through the Veil (1:57) 7. Visions and Time (6:00) 8. Root the Will (5:25) 9. Flowing Starlight (7:11) Full runtime: 42:15
Norwegian Grammy-winning metal outfit Gaahls WYRD stun with their new album, Braiding the Stories, via Season of Mist. Featuring vocalist Gaahl (aka Kristian Espedal), guitarist Lust Kilman (aka Ole Walaunet), drummer Spektre (aka Kevin Kvåle), and bassist Nekroman (aka Andreas Salbu), the group’s sophomore full-length elaborates conceptually on and widens the musical gaze of Gaahls WYRD sonic aesthetic. To wit, they’ve artfully united introspective vistas and violent upheaval on singles “Braiding the Stories,” “Time and Timeless Timeline,” and “And the Now.” If The Humming Mountain (2021) resided between spaces, Braiding the Stories is the lighthouse out of it.
“I call it the White Lodge,” Gaahl says, referring to Braiding the Stories’ differentia. “Maybe I’ll call it the Bright Lodge. I wanted to put focus on where I think Ole is most comfortable music-wise. There’s more things he’s connected to on this album than before. So, I jumped over the more black metal tracks, as I felt they didn’t belong to this process. For example, when we sat down in the studio, we wanted a specific energy. That energy is a ‘80s and ‘90s thing. Almost gothic rock, but it’s more about the sound than the style. It’s an aesthetic for sure. If I may, everyone should pay close attention to Ole’s fantastic solos. They’re pieces of music [inside the songs].”
Braiding the Stories doesn’t scream retro, though. As with previous releases GastiR – Ghosts Invited (2019) and The Humming Mountain, it’s also not easy to pin down. From the unbridled dissonance of “And the Now,” the first track out of Gaahl’s grimoire, and driving scenery of “Flowing Starlight” to the heavy metal-prone “And the Now” and the aching nostalgia of the title track, Gaahls WYRD cleverly stalk their influences, while also ensuring their unorthodox fingerprints and adventurous mindset remain unspoiled. Reinforced by show-stopping musicianship and Gaahl’s penchant for Peter Gabriel-esque showmanship, Braiding the Stories isn’t black metal, death metal, or any other metal. Truly and utterly, this is Gaahls WYRD.
“Musically, it’s unique,” says Gaahl. “It’s not necessarily connected to GastiR and The Humming Mountain. Those albums are connected to very earthly elements, the natural flow of things. This album is another dimension—behind the veil, if you will. I remember I wanted to release ‘And the Now’ as the first single, but there’s probably too much information to be the first track out. Throughout this album, I use a lot of different voices, and I’ve thought a lot about how all these different characters fit [into the music]. So, I wanted the listener to fall into the album, not be distracted, and I think I’ve accomplished that. It’s cinematic.”
While most artists abhorred the pandemic, Gaahl adored it. Not for its destructiveness, but for what it afforded the songmaster. The isolation was creatively energizing. Without the thrum of the record industry and all its demanding machinations, Gaahl crafted his heavily-cerebrated metals unagitated. Indeed, much meaning and purpose was imbued into the process that fueled Braiding the Stories. The last words (about sleep) uttered by Gaahl on The Humming Mountain have transited into the first words (about dreams) on “The Dream.”
“I always work with the subconscious,” Gaahl says. “And dreams are where we are at the most aware of our subconsciousness, I think. In a way, Braiding the Stories is a continuation [of ‘The Sleep’] but told from a different perspective. So, to simplify, Braiding the Stories deals with dreams. Not specific dreams, though. The transitions of dreams, emotions flowing from one to another without pause. Everything I do tends to end up with a melancholic flow and feel without it necessarily being an idea–it just happens, really–but I avoided that this time around. It’s less physical. I referred to the White Lodge before. This time around, I feel I visited the White Lodge not the Black Lodge.”
The old adage says, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Gaahls WYRD are very much the “old adage” type. For the production, the group returned to Solslottet Studio in Bergen, Norway to co-produce with ace Iver Sandøy (Enslaved, Wardruna). There, they put down and perfected “Time and Timeless Timeline,” “And the Now,” and the title track, as well as the album’s three vivid interludes “The Dream,” “Voices in My Head,” and “Through the Veil.” Though Braiding the Stories wasn’t recorded all at once, it’s audio-visually breathtaking. Sandøy also mixed and mastered the sessions.
“Me and Iver have been working together on several albums,” says Gaahl. “He’s an important part of Gaahls WYRD. He’s used to my way of working. Sometimes, I can be quite frustrating to work with. If my mind isn’t feeding me inspiration, I won’t get anything done. In that way, I’m very comfortable working with Iver. I need to spar conceptual ideas with someone, and Iver’s very good at that. I don’t annoy the rest of the band with these things. Iver and I have a lot of discussions, and the ideas naturally grow from there. This time around, it was very easy.”
The striking cover art by visual artist Øivind Myksvoll (Wardruna, Trelldom) is just as mysterious and arresting as his work for The Humming Mountain. Look closely and you’ll find what appears to be hair (aka the veil) and the cosmos (crystallized wine from Gaahl’s collection). Indeed, the group’s signature horned figure lurks between the layers. For Gaahls WYRD, music, lyrics, concept, and art are synonymous. They’re designed to be experienced in their entirety and in unison. Braiding the Stories isn’t an obvious listen, but it gently (and sometimes maniacally) pulls at the listener. The sensation of the journey from opener “The Dream” to closing epic “Flowing Starlight” is quite unlike anything before. All hail Braiding the Stories!
Line-up Kristian Espedal (Gaahl) – All Voices Ole Walaunet (Lust Kilman) – All Guitars Andreas Salbu (Nekroman) – Bass Kevin Kvåle (Spektre) – Drums
Production Credits Recorded at Solslottet Studio, Bergen, Norway. Produced by Iver Sandøy & Gaahls WYRD. Mixed & mastered by Iver Sandøy at Solslottet Studio, Bergen, Norway.
THE WAVE AND THE PARTICLE proudly present the lyric video for “The Other”, a powerful track from their album Electric Sheep, out now via Wormholedeath.
“The Other” began as a nod to The Birthday Massacre but evolved into something uniquely its own. The lyrics explore humanity’s tendency to seek reflections of itself in others, whether in people, cultures, or even alien worlds. Inspired by Stanislaw Lem’s observation that “We do not need other worlds. We need mirrors,” the song questions our ability to truly embrace difference. Musically, it balances introspection and intensity, mirroring the push and pull between connection and projection.
The Wave and the Particle, based in Fremont, CA, fuses post-industrial rock, symphonic metal, and progressive rock into a powerful, unique sound. Formed in 2015 by Vasiliy and Katie, the band started as an experiment to blend dark industrial beats with soaring symphonic vocals. In 2016, guitarist Chandra joined, adding intricate solos that enriched their sound, culminating in their debut album, “Event Horizon,” released in 2019.
Despite challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lineup solidified in 2021 with the addition of drummer Abhiram and bassist Alessandro. Over the next two years, they refined their sound and experimented with new song structures.
As 2023 approached, the band began work on their second album, “Electric Sheep,” inspired by cyberpunk themes that explore technologies, transhumanism, globalization, and digital identity. Committed to pushing musical boundaries, The Wave and the Particle crafts music that resonates on multiple levels.
Legendary hard rock guitarist Pat Travers’ acclaimed series of archive live performances has already served up some exhilarating performances. But the latest, Statesboro Blues (Live In Baltimore 1982), is sure to be ranked among the greatest yet, and while we await its April 4 release, the title track peels off as a thrilling new single.
Of course Blind Willie McTell blues was long ago proclaimed a classic, with the Allman Brothers having already granted it an incendiary work-up at the dawn of the 70s. It was Travers, however, who made the song his own, and this version illustrates why.
Musically, Travers was truly in his prime. “I’d added some people to my live band and recording band,” he explains. “I had a keyboard player and another guy who sang backing vocals so I had a five piece band behind me.
“I was trying to do something a little more sophisticated,” he continues with a laugh, and his then-latest album, Black Pearl, bore that out. “For me, that was one of my best records with the playing and the production.” Its opening number, “I La La La Love You” (included here, of course) was a smash even before it was included in the cult movie Valley Girl.
By the time this show was recorded, in Baltimore just three weeks before Christmas, Travers and the band had been on the road for most of the year, a back-breaking outing that had long since been aptly nicknamed The Steelworkers Ball.
Tonight, however, the line-up welcomed a very special guest as Buck Dharma, guitarist for the Blue Oyster Cult, took the stage first to introduce the band (“some good friends of mine and the Blue Oyster Cult’s”), and then for the final song, an epic take on Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” “It was a great version,” muses Travers, but it was also no more than the natural culmination to a show that still blazes in the mind, from the moment the band strikes up the tempest that was their interpretation of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
Black Pearl dominates the set, naturally, but there was plenty of room for the oldies, too – “Life in London,” written and recorded while Travers was living in that city during 1976-1977, and capturing both the mood and the madness of the city as it braced itself for the incoming punk scene; “Snortin’ Whiskey, Drinkin’ Cocaine,” another Travers great that would one day make the movies (Alexander Payne’s 2004 classic Sideways); Little Walter’s blues leviathan “Boom Boom, Out Goes The Lights”; and all leading up to that stunning multi-guitar layered climax.
Travers himself is thrilled that this show is finally seeing the light of day. “I had nothing to do with the recording, but I’m glad they did it, as it captures a very interesting time.
“It sounds live,” he says. It may be a little rough compared to some of the over-produced and much over dubbed live albums that are out there, but “I’ve found that people often prefer a rougher sounding live mix, even if they don’t know it. They’re not conscious of it, ‘this one’s too high fidelity’, but when it’s a little trashy, it has more energy and sounds more urgent.
“Rock’n’roll is not supposed to be clean and slick live. It’s got to have an edginess to it, and not be too predictable. There should always be surprises. Especially unintentional ones.”
Italian metallers SICK N’ BEAUTIFUL are excited to share their new single and official video, “Hate Manifesto”, taken from their highly anticipated new studio album “Horror Vacui”, set for release on April 18th, 2025, via BLKIIBLK.
The band is also gearing up for their upcoming European tour supporting the Finnish rock band Lordi, starting on March 25th in Warsaw, Poland, and wrapping up on April 17th in Axone, France.
The band described the track as “a powerful and provocative new single that channels raw energy into a rebellious anthem. The song is an intense outburst of sound and emotion, built for those who have ever felt like outsiders, pushing them to turn their frustration into strength”.
“The meaning of Hate Manifesto is deliberately ambivalent – it’s a battle cry against those who try to label and limit us, but also a reflection on the destructive power of hatred. The lyrics walk a fine line between defiance and self-destruction, asking: what do you do with your anger? Do you use it to fight back or let it consume you?”, they added.
Talking about the video, they commented: “It plunges into a world of late 19th-century occultism, drawing inspiration from colonial-era America, voodoo rituals, and the dark shadows of superstition. Haunting imagery and ritualistic performances set the stage for a feverish descent into hysteria and revolt, where the line between persecutor and outcast blurs. Steeped in mysticism and unrest, the video mirrors the song’s raw energy – an invocation of defiance against those who seek to control and condemn. A song for the misfits, the rebels, and anyone who refuses to be silenced”.
“Horror Vacui” is the fourth album by Sick N’ Beautiful. The album title is derived from an ancient Latin expression meaning “fear of emptiness”, which perfectly represents this new cycle for the band.
The music and lyrics delve even deeper into themes of horror, dystopian sci-fi, and the supernatural – subjects the band has always been enamored with.
Written and produced by the band’s bass player, Big Daddy Ray, at Kinorama Studios in Rome, Italy, the album concept took shape during tours in the UK and Europe alongside Wednesday 13 and Cradle of Filth in 2023 and 2024.
The band stated: “By getting so close to the fans all over Europe, we really got a feel for what excites the audience. Horror Vacui is an album meant to be played live: insane drumming, epic and anthemic choruses, face-melting solos – but also a lot of things we’ve never done before, with plenty of surprises! It’s our heaviest album yet – raw and unrelenting!”
Established in 2014, their music has evolved into a unique blend of hard rock and modern metal infused with industrial and punk overtones, along with generous doses of sci-fi, horror, and occult influences for good measure.
Led by the captivating Herma Sick, they assault the senses with a spectacular production filled with visual extravagance, all set against a musical backdrop that resonates with fans of heavier rock, reminiscent of Rob Zombie, Kiss, Rammstein, Lacuna Coil, Marilyn Manson, In This Moment, Alice Cooper, and Nine Inch Nails.
Currently headquartered in Rome, Italy, Sick N’ Beautiful present an explosive show, featuring songs from their albums “Hell Over Hell” (2015), “Element Of Sex” (2018), and “Starstruck” (2022).
Sick N’ Beautiful tours extensively throughout Europe and has performed standout shows on legendary stages such as Wacken and Lucca Comicon. Their eclectic, cinematic videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
In their own cryptic words: “This is the Ship Of Satan in Space. We have found kinship with the Different, the Strange, The Outcast: over the years, alongside our fans, we’ve laid the foundations of a hidden tribe where the power of music is wielded as a weapon against the Oppressors of all things Alien. In fact, an unseen war is now underway… So the question for you is: on which side will you stand?”
“Horror Vacui” Tracklist:
1. (Human Is) Overrated 2. My Wounds 3. Death Police 4. Haunted 5. Hate Manifesto 6. Septem Maleficas 7. Raise The Dragon 8. Railride 9. God Save The Bride 10. The Rat King 11. Diggity Dig Dig
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
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