Three-time Grammy-nominated hard rock heavyweights and platinum-selling band Killswitch Engage – Jesse Leach, vocals; Adam Dutkiewicz, guitar; Joel Stroetzel, guitar; Mike D’Antonio, bass; and Justin Foley, drums – just released their new album THIS CONSEQUENCE on February 21, via Metal Blade. Get it here.
They have just shared the video for the brand new track “Collusion.”
“‘Collusion’ is about the struggle between people in power and the common people,” explains Leach. “It speaks about the propaganda and divisiveness used to keep us in control. It’s about the ruthlessness of the ruling class who use wealth to raise, manipulate, and destroy empires at their will.”
He finishes, “I wish for people to use discernment and intellect to read between the lines. My hope is to instill a desire for analyzation and critical thinking amidst the current rigged and corrupt forms of governments the world over.“
THIS CONSEQUENCE TRACK LISTING: “Abandon Us” “Discordant Nation” “Aftermath” “Forever Aligned“ “I Believe“ “Where It Dies” “Collusion“ “The Fall of Us” “Broken Glass” “Requiem”
KsE are also returning to the road this winter and spring.
Their upcoming winter headline tour features support from Kublai Khan TX, Fit For a King and Frozen Soul, and kicks off on March 5 in Nashville and runs through April 12 in Portland, Maine. The band has also announced dates for May, which will feature support from Shadows Fall, Fit for a King, and Boundaries. Tickets and VIP packages are available here.
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE ON TOUR: WITH KUBLAI KHAN TX, FIT FOR A KING, + FROZEN SOUL: 3/05 – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle 3/06 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory 3/08 – Fayetteville, AR – JJ’s Live 3/09 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion 3/11 – El Paso, TX – Don Haskins Center Arena 3/13 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas 3/14 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort 3/15 – Wheatland, CA – Hard Rock Live 3/17 – Garden City, ID – Revolution Concert House 3/18 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount 3/19 – Vancouver, BC – PNE Forum 3/21 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Events Centre 3/22 – Tsuut’ina, AB – Grey Eagle Resort & Casino 3/24 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre 3/27 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center 3/28 – Waukee, IA- Vibrant Music Hall 3/29 – La Vista, NE – The Astro 3/30 – Kansas City, MO – The Midland Theatre 4/01 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live 20 Monroe 4/03 – Corbin, KY – The Corbin Arena 4/04 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE 4/05 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall 4/06 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Special Events Center 4/08 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall 4/09 – Buffalo, NY – Buffalo RiverWorks 4/11 – Laval, QC -Place Bell 4/12 – Portland, ME – Cross Insurance Arena
WITH SHADOWS FALL, FIT FOR A KING, + BOUNDARIES: 5/08 – Columbus, OH- Sonic Temple* 5/10 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre 5/11 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall 5/13 – New Orleans, LA – The Fillmore New Orleans 5/14 – Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing Company 5/16 – Daytona Beach. FL – Welcome To Rockville* 5/17 – Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues 5/18 – Virginia Beach, VA – The Dome *Festival Date
ABOUT KILLSWITCH ENGAGE: Killswitch Engage first shook the structure of heavy music upon climbing out of snowy industrialized Western Massachusetts in 2000. A musical outlier, the band pioneered a union of thrashed-out European guitar pyrotechnics, East Coast hardcore spirit, on-stage hijinks, and enlightened lyricism that set the pace for what the turn-of-the-century deemed heavy. 2002’s Alive Or Just Breathing became avowed as a definitive album, being named among “The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade” by Decibel and celebrated by everyone from Metal Hammer to Revolver. Not only did they bust open the floodgates for dozens to follow, but they also garnered three GRAMMY® Award nominations in the category of “Best Metal Performance” in 2005, 2014, and 2019, respectively, a gold certification for The End of Heartache [2004], and a platinum certification for As Daylight Dies [2006]. The group landed three consecutive Top 10 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 with Killswitch Engage [2009], Disarm The Descent [2013], and their career high best bow at #6 with Incarnate [2016]. The latter two releases, along with 2019’s Atonement, would also both capture #1 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts. The band’s total streams are nearing 3 billion to date, while they’ve remained consummate road warriors who’ve sold out countless headline tours and have shared stages with everyone from Iron Maiden to Slipknot to Slayer to My Chemical Romance to Mastodon to Parkway Drive, which is a testament to their ability to cross genres and appeal to all fans of hard rock. KsE have remained a featured attraction at every major North American and European festival through the years. The band is celebrating an astonishing, 25-year career as one of the most vital and genre-defining bands of the ’00s and continues its incredible legacy.
It was a heavy road, but after soul searching through the Canadian wilderness, at long last, Anciients have come full circle. Seven years removed from winning a JUNO Award for their last album, the hard-hitting Canucks are nominated once more for the band’s latest heady and heartfelt opus Beyond the Reach of the Sun.
“We are very honored and excited to receive a JUNO nomination for our latest record”, says Anciients frontman Kenny Cook. “Win or lose, we are grateful to be recognized on a national scale and we feel privileged to be nominated alongside the other amazing artists in the Metal category. We wish them all nothing but the best of luck. See you soon in Vancouver!”
Anciients are nominated for Metal/Hard Music Album of the year. Also nominated are Devin Townsend (PowerNerd), Kittie (Fire), Spiritbox (The Fear of Fear) and Striker (Ultrapower).
When Anciients learned they’d won the JUNO Award for Metal/Hard Music back in 2018, the band had just woken up in Vienna with eyes still caked in sludge after another blazing show during their headlining tour of Europe.
Now, in 2025, Cook, steady drummer Mike Hannay and the band’s new axe men Brock MacInnes and Rory O’Brien are heading back across the pond for Britian’s ArcTanGent Festival. Later this year, the band will make their long-awaited return to the states for the 23rd edition of ProgPower USA.
“The hiatus is over”, Cook says. “We’re ready to hit it hard”.
Tracklist 1. Forbidden Sanctuary (8:16) 2. Despoiled (5:19) 3. Is It Your God (7:07) 4. Melt the Crown (7:08) [WATCH] 5. Cloak of the Vast and Black (6:20) [WATCH] 6. Celestial Tyrant (5:52) 7.Beyond Our Minds (4:12) 8. The Torch (4:13) 9. Candescence (4:10) 10. In the Absence of Wisdom (6:35) [WATCH]
It’s been a rough handful of years for British Columbia-based extremity-laced progressive rockers, Anciients. When the quartet unleashed their Voice of the Void album in 2016, the world appeared to be their oyster and things seemed ripe for the picking. They were coming off the success of their Heart of Oak debut from 2013, its ascendancy due in large part to a collective uptick in interest for involved, forward-thinking music. The public had moved beyond toe-dipping and tire-kicking, and were instead doing headfirst dives into exploring the likes of Opeth, Mastodon, Baroness, The Ocean, Intronaut and others who originally hailed from the extreme music underground, but had since grown, matured and scrubbed behind their ears to include heaping and healthy chunks from the outskirts of their record collections and influence pools.
The Band That Auto-Correct Loves to Fuck With™ shared stages with everyone from High on Fire and Goatwhore to Boris and Lamb of God, were in the midst of a European tour when they discovered they were JUNO Award (Canadian Grammy equivalent) winners in the heavy metal/hard rock category. The world was ready to accept Anciients into its welcoming arms. Anciients was gearing up to employ takeover methods, specifically their brand of thunderous rhythms and labyrinthine riffing bolstered by a road warrior mentality. And then, the momentum petered out and the band seemingly fell off the face of the earth.
Today, Anciients are ready and poised to resume their spirited quest for heavy metal paramountcy. There’s no doubt the band is back and with a stunning and beautiful collection of ten songs on offer in the form of new and third album, Beyond the Reach of the Sun, they are positioning to reestablish themselves as a dominant force for those who love windmilling their tresses around thoughtful tempo changes, complex harmonic layers and driving power chord shifting. But what the hell happened and where did they disappear to?
“Basically,” explains guitarist/vocalist Kenny Cook, “right before Voice of the Void was recorded, my wife had our first kid. She ended up having heart complications and almost passed away from it. We recorded the last record and once it came out, I was kind of just focusing on her, dealing with her health issues and keeping that in check. I wasn’t at the stage where I could be gone for half a year, especially with a new kid. Long story short, she’s happy and healthy now, but dealing with family issues was the main priority. It was a bit of a road.”
Adding to that bit of Anciients camp turmoil, guitarist/co-vocalist/co-founding member, Chris Dyck and the band parted ways in January of 2017. This left a gaping lineup hole at an inopportune juncture in the band’s timeline. Not only did Cook have to deal with the absence of his long-term song and lyric writing partner, but Dyck was also someone he had been splitting vocal duties with since the pair formed the band in 2009. And then, while helping his wife with her recovery, raising their new born and “because we wanted to raise our son in a small town environment,” the Cook family uprooted to Columbia-Shuswap four hours east of the Vancouver area, where drummer Mike Hannay, Brock MacInnes (Dyck’s replacement) and brand spanking new bassist Rory O’Brien still reside.
“We knew Brock from other bands he’d been in and we knew he’d be a great fit,” explains Cook. “He actually filled in for Chris on a tour we did back in 2015. As far as the vocals, I just found myself picking up the slack on both ends. It felt somewhat natural, it was definitely different. Doing the lyrics myself for the first time was somewhat daunting, but it was also something done out of necessity. But even when Chris was in the band I handled 80-90% of the vocals anyway, so it didn’t change all that much.”
Then, that whole COVID-19 thing you probably heard about once or twice hit in 2020 and put another restraining bolt on Anciients’ activity, especially touring as the Canadians found themselves dealing with stricter travel restrictions and mandates than many other countries; most notably, not being able to cross the border for almost two years. Once the dust settled, Cook had to adjust to being the lone vocalist and how that impacted the material he was writing while navigating being creative with distance between Anciients’ members for the first time. Not a biggie, as in-person writing sessions are more of a rarity these days, but because of the time elapsed since Voices of the Void, things/interests/influences changed and the band ended up scrapping half of an album’s worth of material and starting fresh. When they put their heads down at the end of 2021 with the focus being Beyond the Reach of the Sun, what was revealed a year later was more streamlined and slithery, more chest-thumpingly direct, more epic and triumphant sounding. Riffs come in explosive layered packets. Leads, harmonies and melodies are more on par with wind-tussled mountain tops instead of sweaty bar shows and the band moves with finely honed, martial accuracy as conducted by Hannay’s rocket-in-the-pocket staccato swing and accents.
Songs like “The Torch” blaze with the shirtless glisten of ‘70s stadium rock power. “Cloak of the Vast and Black” swirls and whirls with a combination of hardcore intensity, grunge groove and expansive six-string parries. “In the Absence of Wisdom” is a hurricane-sized maelstrom of classic and prog rock elevated to grandiosity by a return to their growling sludge/death early years as the song/album concludes. The album’s first single, “Melt the Crown” mixes cues from legendary fellow hosers Rush and Harlequin, turn-of-the-millennium post-metal and the most psychedelic corners of the Rise Above Records roster.
“The new record has a lot more of our rock side,” Cook offers, “and leans towards those elements of our sound and personalities, whereas Voice of the Void was pretty crushing all the way through. With the new material we’ve tried to add more dynamics to the music and give the songs more room to breathe.”
Album opener “Forbidden Sanctuary” is the soundtrack to exploration, of new worlds and sonic arrangement as sine-wave guitars pull from vintage Mercyful Fate covens and Krautrock communes with synths opening up novel textural avenues, as they do on the ethereal wispiness and space rock/sci-fi soundscapes of the instrumental “Candescence.” Beyond the Reach of the Sun sees synths and keyboards making their first appearance on an Anciients record and were played by producer/mixer Jesse Gander and Justin Hagberg at the former’s Rain City Recorders studio. In addition to augmenting the album with his skill on the black and whites, Hagberg — a member of the recently reunited 3 Inches of Blood — also helped Anciients navigate a significant last-minute hurdle, one that threatened to pull the reins back on their comeback roar.
“We lost our bass player literally a month before we were going in to record and were kind of up shit’s creek. Justin also plays in a band called Ritual Dictates with Rory and is the one who brought his name up.”
O’Brien, a former member of Vancouver’s Bushwhacker, was absolutely interested when approached by Anciients.
“We got lucky and he saved our asses at the last minute.”
Cook stepped up to the challenge of being the sole lyricist to drape Beyond the Reach of the Sun in deeply personal expressions of the inner turmoil, fear and isolation he’d experienced in himself and saw in others over the past few years. There were moments where he didn’t know whether loved ones were going to pull through and what life was going to look like were tragedy come to pass. Mental health and people living life without being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel became a very prevalent theme to tracks like “Despoiled” and “Beyond Our Minds.” And while the line that became the album’s title is taken from a David Attenborough-narrated Planet Earth documentary, it speaks more to the coming and going of despondency when one doesn’t know how dark the darkness is going to get, as in “Is It Your God,” which pulls from the manifestation of grief and how it can shatter belief systems.
“That one is a little more personal to me and my situation,” Cook says somberly. “I had a good friend of mine from when I was younger pass away from cancer. His mother was super-religious and there were ideas taken from her questioning how could something like that happen to her when she had such a strong faith.”
The title and themes of stripped away hope and piled on anguish and tumult were parlayed into the album’s spectacular cover art. Created by Adam Burke (Nightjar Illustrations), the drawing is part-pulp novel cover, part-Franzetta landscape, part-sci-fi movie poster and all a vast illustration one can easily lose themselves in while the record spins in the background.
“We gave him the concept and basic outline of how we wanted the cover to look and he took it to a whole new dimension. It turned out pretty wild!”
With all being said and done, Anciients have returned! They stand ready to ascend the prog metal ladder and get back to doing what they do best with a weighty and dense, but wholly accessible, album. It’s a collection of ten songs that possesses the ability to have those furiously banging heads also tapping into their power of self-reflection and contemplation to ponder the finality of existence, the value of life and their place in the universe.
“Totally! We’re going to take as many of the opportunities that come to us. The hiatus is over and I think with the new members and everyone being on the same page we’re ready to get out there as soon as possible. We missed out on a huge block after the last record, so we’ve got to make up for lost time. Now that everyone is happy and healthy, we plan to hit it hard.”
Melodic hard rockers ALLIANCE unveil their new single and accompanying lyric video, “Nothing Can Make You Change”, taken from their highly anticipated new studio album “Before Our Eyes”, set for release on March 28th, 2025, via Frontiers Music Srl.
About the new single, Robert Berry comments: “Nothing Can Make You Change was written lyrically with two different paths in mind. If you’ve had a tough relationship it speaks to trying to keep the two as one. On the other hand, if you’ve had a friend or family member with addiction problems it represents the struggles to overcome”.
Gary Pihl gives some insights on the process behind the recording, by saying: “Nothing Can Make You Change” was an opportunity for me to experiment with 60s/70s guitar ideas, using a repetitive eighth-note riff reminiscent of Pete Townshend’s synth patterns. The middle guitar solo is played backwards – a technique used by The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix – requiring me to think in reverse to match the chord progression. I also used a bottleneck slide for the outro, inspired by early blues players and 60s British rock bands like Cream and The Yardbirds.”
“Nothing Can Make You Change”, is one of the earliest songs on our album. I recall us arranging the song and coming up with the “broken down” verses on drums. I love the staccato double stops on the 2nd verse… This song is really an amalgamation of all our “pop” influences. Great track!”, adds David Lauser.
Talking about the album, the band states: “We are excited to have a new label and to be working with the team at Frontiers. With 5 albums released over the last 30 years we are feeling even more creative and energized by the possibilities that lie ahead. We are looking forward to reaching a wider audience and are already hard at work on album 7.”
Renowned melodic hard rock band Alliance, with a nearly thirty-year collaboration, and six highly regarded studio albums, return with their new release, “Before Our Eyes”, their first on the Frontiers label, and the first in several years following “Bond Of Union” (1996), “Alliance” (1997), “Missing Piece” (1999), “Destination Known” (2007), “Road To Heaven” (2008) and “Fire And Grace” (2018).
For the new album, the core of the band remains the same with guitarist Gary Pihl (Boston), drummer Mr. David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) and bassist Robert Berry (3, GTR). After Sammy Hagar stopped his solo career to join Van Halen, his drummer David Lauser, along with guitarist Gary Pihl still longed for the allusive missing pieces for a new project outside of their main gigs.
Early in 1993, Robert Berry received a call from Lauser. They reached out to keyboardist Alan (Fitz) Fitzgerald (ex-Night Ranger), and gathered together at Hagar’s studio in Mill Valley to work through songs from their demos. According to a witness, “there was an immediate connection. Everybody in the room could feel it. The vibe was powerful and inspiring”. They immediately recognized the common thread that would feed their creativity.
A signature style was beginning to emerge, and the band was bonding even though they were spread geographically throughout the country, with Pihl in Boston, Fitz based in Texas, Lauser in Southern California and Berry in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Over the years and up to today, Alliance continues to solidify and bolster their long-distance collaborations. Though the scheduling remains challenging their passion and commitment remains energized. Their musical benchmark, perhaps a product of their high-profile roles outside of Alliance, has always been pushed to the highest standard. And it’s clear that they always strive to surpass their previous release. Thus, they have earned a loyal, patient and growing fan base over the years that are sure to enjoy and embrace the new album “Before Our Eyes”.
“Before Our Eyes” Tracklist:
1. Tell Somebody 2. Nothing Will Make You Change 3. Too Many People 4. Face Of Justice 5. Good Life 6. Joan Of Arc 7. Can’t Stop Messin’ 8. Right 9. 100 Sad Goodbyes 10. Tonight 11. A Bone To Chew On
CIRKUS PRÜTZ release ‘White Knuckle Blues’, the first single from the upcoming studio album ‘Manifesto’ which will be released on 18.04.2025 on Metalville Records.
‘White Knuckle Blues’ is a song about fast cars and racing the strip.
The video was created by Erwan Lengline and can be watched here:
The Swedish blues rock band CIRKUS PRÜTZ have improved from album to album in their career. In order to top their previous achievements once again, they have brought producer, multi-musician, bandleader and songwriter Peter Tägtgren (Pain, Hypocrisy, Lindemann, Sabaton and many more) on board for “Manifesto”.
‘We had the feeling that we wanted to take our music further into the future. We needed a push forward and a new sound,’ explains the band’s singer and guitarist Christian Carlsson.
‘I’ve known Peter for quite a long time and have been a fan of his work over the years, especially with Pain. We talked about working together a few years ago and now it’s finally happened,’ says the band’s bassist Jerry Prütz, adding that Peter has really inspired the band both musically and lyrically.
‘It shouldn’t sound old school or like an old blues album,’ was Peter Tägtgren’s motto for the entire process.
The ten songs on “Manifesto” talk about everything from drag racing to casino visits in Las Vegas, from stalking like in the Netflix series “Baby Reindeer” to an homage to Peter Stormare’s iconic character Karl Hungus in the film “The Big Lebowski”.
Sound and songwriting are right up to date. All the songs were written by the band together in the rehearsal room and were then given the necessary finishing touches by Peter Tägtgren in his studio. The mastering was in the hands of Jonas Kjellgren, who was also responsible for the production of the last “Sabaton” albums.
In a musical genre where most things follow tradition, Cirkus Prütz stand out and dare to challenge themselves, but also their audience.
Manifesto is a blues rock album with many facets!
TRACK LISTING
White Knuckle Blues Drinking Muddy Water Handyman Boogie Walking In The Rain The Blues Is The Cure Living Like A God Twenty4seven Blues Pack Your Bags Highroller (Try Me Out) Water Into Wine
LINE UP
Cristian Carlsson – lead vocals, guitar Franco Santunione – guitar, vocals Jerry Prütz – bass, vocals Per Kohlus – drums
With ‘Eye In The Sky’ LEE SMALL releases his first new music together with Metalville Records since his highly acclaimed solo album ‘Last Man On Earth’ in 2023.
‘Eye In The Sky’ (Lee’s version of the Alan Parsons Project classic) was recorded and produced by Tom Cory (Sweet). The guitar parts are by Jim Kirkpatrick (FM).
The song is available on all known streaming providers, the video can be watched here:
Because of his melodic voice, Lee Small (Lionheart, SHY, Sweet, Phenomena) is often compared to artists like Glenn Hughes, Bobby Bobby Kimball or Steve Walsh and is one of the most established artists in the AOR scene.
Album Artwork by Carl Battams — Photo by Carl Battams Photography
Last week, LOVE IS NOISE released their debut album TO LIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY on heralded metal label, Century Media. Already receiving incredible reviews across the board with Metal Hammer claiming the album is “the first truly great debut of 2025” and scoring it 9/10 and Kerrang! also praising the record.
After an incredibly busy and successful 2024, this year is set to be another massive one for LOVE IS NOISE. February 14th sees the release of their highly anticipated debut album, TO LIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY. With influence from Portishead, Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Oasis, Bowery Electric, Boards of Canada and Deftones, the band created a record that makes you feel every emotion possible.
Speaking of the album, Cam says: “TO LIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY is the story of a kid from Bolton trying to understand the world he lives in. It’s 11 tracks full of love, heartache and dream-soaked melody, I believe we’ve created something special.” He continues, “What Tom and I have created is the debut album WE wanted to make without any compromise. No matter how well it does, TO LIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY is an honest representation of what a band can do when they push the boundaries. LOVE IS NOISE doesn’t exist without the listener and this album brings a form of comfort to your busy everyday lives.”
Watch the music video for “It hurts to know you’re there” here:
Chief Shock Video
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
Ads
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 )