The pioneers of melodic death metal are back, and they’re ready to redefine the genre they helped create. THE HALO EFFECT, a band formed by some of the most iconic names in the Gothenburg metal scene, today proudly announces the release of their highly anticipated new album, March Of The Unheard.
More than just a nod to their iconic roots, March Of The Unheardboldly announces that melodic death metal is still evolving. Thirty years after their members first propelled the Gothenburg sound to global prominence, THE HALO EFFECT proves there’s no shortage of fresh ideas and electrifying energy in the genre.
As a testemony of the album’s ferocity, THE HALO EFFECT has released a stunning video for the lead single ‘What We Become’. A quintessential display of the Gothenburg sound, the track is a masterclass in melodic aggression, featuring razor-sharp guitar leads, driving percussion, and shout-along hooks that have kept metalheads enthralled for generations.
The video perfectly captures the song’s intensity and the band’s vision.
Frontman Mikael Stanne comments:”The wait is over! Our second album drops today and we could not be more proud of this one. The level of confidence, experience and love of the craft is beyond evident in these songs and to finally be able to share it with all you feels amazing. First up though, just to make sure that you get the album on day one, is our brand new video for the song ‘What We Become’! This song is all about how our emotions can break us down and transform our very being through depression, self doubt and insecurity. The video which we shot in an ice cold barn in the middle of nowhere with director Johan Carlén gives the song the right kind of mystique and sense of being forgotten or silenced. Enjoy!”
Shortly after the album´s release, the band will embark on their first ever headline tour across Europe. Industrial outfit and label mates PAIN will be special guest on this tour and to round up this great package, melo-death shooting stars from Finland, BLOODRED HOURGLASS, will join as support.
HALOS OVER EUROPE 2025 SPECIAL GUEST: PAIN SUPPORT: BLOODRED HOURGLAS 15.01. NO Oslo – Vulkan Arena (without PAIN) 16.01. DK Copenhagen – Amager Bio 17.01. DE Hamburg – Markthalle SOLD OUT 18.01. DE Cologne – Essigfabrik SOLD OUT 19.01. NL Haarlem – Patronaat 21.01. UK Bristol – The Fleece LOW TICKETS 22.01. UK Glasgow – Slay 23.01. UK Wolverhampton – KK´s Steel Mill 24.01. UK Manchester – Manchester Club Academy 25.01. UK London – Electric Ballroom 26.01. BE Antwerp – Trix 28.01. FR Paris – Bataclan 29.01. DE Frankfurt – Batschkapp 31.01. DE Stuttgart – LKA Longhorn LOW TICKETS 01.02. DE Munich – Backstage LOW TICKETS 02.02. CH Solothurn – Kulturfabrik Kofmehl 04.02. DE Berlin – Kulturbrauerei Kesselhaus 05.02. DE Leipzig – Hellraiser LOW TICKETS 06.02. AT Vienna – Arena Wien LOW TICKETS 07.02. HU Budapest – Barba Negra Blue Stage 08.02. CZ Brno – Sono Centrum 09.02. PL Warsaw – Progresja
without PAIN 11.02. FI Helsinki – Tavastia SOLD OUT 12.02. FI Tampere – Tavara Asema LOW TICKETS 14.02. SE Stockholm – Fallan 15.02. SE Gothenburg – Gothenburg Studios
Modern rock powerhouse Pop Evil follow their scorching singles ‘What Remains‘ and ‘Deathwalk‘ with a new, dark track ‘Wishful Thinking’, along with cinematic music video, via MNRK Heavy.
The band comments on the track: “‘Wishful Thinking’ pushes us into a realm that’s deeper, darker, and more intense than ever before.“
The six-time RIAA gold-certified band are gearing up for their forthcoming eighth studio album What Remains, which is set for release 21st March, 2025.
For two decades, Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kataky has needed to mine the deepest of reserves in order to drag the band up from the blue-collar grassroots of his local Michigan scene to stand proud at the top of the modern rock game. Soaring successes, bitter defeats… Leigh Kakaty has survived it all.
What Remains is the culmination and story of this journey with Pop Evil, laid bare like never before. Continuing in the recent vein of 2023’s acclaimed Skeletons, the new opus is both sonically and thematically Pop Evil‘s heaviest ever offering; a thundering collection of arena-ready modern rock and metal hits in which Kakaty opens heart, mind, and soul.
“There are a lot of issues and things that I’ve dealt with in this journey of Pop Evil that I’ve buried for a long time,” the frontman explains of this document of resilience, perseverance, and accountability.
Pop Evil were born in North Muskegon, Michigan in 2001, Kakaty drawing on the lessons of a youth first shaped not by music, but by high school basketball — leadership, team work, the drive to improve in the lonely hours put in at the gym at 5am, the will to win suppressing any fear — in order to fight tooth and nail for their break-out moment.
“I was hustling and learning every day to make my dreams come true,” Kakaty recalls of his time playing local bars and slinging early EPs out of the back of his truck. “Studying never interested me. Neither did getting a regular job. A knee injury wrecked my shot at playing sports. Music was all I wanted to do from that moment, and I didn’t give myself a backup plan. Pop Evil gave me a purpose, and a reason to get up every day. It became a crusade.“
Lipstick on the Mirror, their 2008 debut, and its follow-up, War of Angels, brought acclaim and global attention; 2013’s Onyx delivered the first of the band’’s nine No.1 singles and six RIAA-certified gold and platinum plaques, but also a period of darkness brought on by the grief of Kakaty losing his father. “I was completely lost … I had just missed the last five years with my dad, chasing this dream when I could have been with him. I didn’t know if I wanted or could do Pop Evil any more,” he says. The band’’s 2017 self-titled album, opened by the smash-hit ‘Waking Lions’ was written “pretty much to save my life” – but in turn “reminded me of the fire I have inside, and that God put me here to make music that could help people.“
It’s a mission statement enshrined in Pop Evil to this day — and which provided the spark for the genesis of What Remains.
“You’re always chasing that one song that can connect with that one person,” Kakaty says. “And that process has to start with yourself. There’s a lot of personal healing on this record, a lot of things I wanted to get out for my own mental well-being. I’m finally at a place where I can confront my demons.“
Sonically, the album is a riotous explosion of life-affirming noise; a vortex of scything riffs and gut-punch drum beats that regularly give way to Pop Evil‘s hallmark anthemic choruses.
“We set out to push boundaries” nods Kakaty. “Metal has always been a part of our DNA, but we’ve never made it such a focal point before. A lot of writing on this record has been about listening to what my soul is saying and letting the songs find their own path, rather than chasing a sound that might fit in on the radio. I think you can really hear the mood and emotion of the album’s themes in the music.”
Fans and critics have been losing their minds over Defeated Sanity. Last year, brutal death metal’s most relentless innovators returned to the raw brutality of their early classics, but the band’s new album has also taken their legacy to even greater extremes. Not only has Chronicles of Lunacy landed on notable year-end lists from across the world of metal, rock and pop. It’s also broken onto the Billboard charts.
“Germany’s gods of brutality never disappoint” Loudwirewrite in naming Chronicles of Lunacy one of the best death metal albums of 2024.
“Chronicles of Lunacy is 2024’s most vivid reminder of why I love death metal”, Angry Metal Guy’s Maddog howls, slotting the album at #8 on their year-end list.
“…it’s simply amazing that they can pull this insane shit off live!”, says Dave Davidson of Revocation, who named Chronicles of Lunacy one of his top albums from last year.
While known for their mind-bending jazzy interludes, Defeated Sanity aren’t ones to slow down. The band are slamming into 2025 with their first headlining tour of Europe in six years. To gear up for this 20+ date run, they’re releasing a new playthrough from Chronicles of Lunacy. “Amputationsdrang” opens their new album and it wastes no time before burying you underground. Even when Jacob Schmidt slips off into an oozing, bouncy groove, the tone of his Modulus Quantum bass keeps the song’s low-end nice and filthy.
Watch Defeated Sanity bassist Jacob Schmidt rip through “Amputationsdrang”:
Get tickets for Defeated Sanity’s European tour, here.
Note: The February 15 date was originally scheduled for Berlin but has been re-routed to Rostock.
Defeated Sanity Chronicles of Lunacy 2025 European Tour January 23 – Wolfburg, DE @ Jugendhaus OST* January 24 – Hambourg, DE @ Bambi Galore* January 25 – Copenhagen, DE @ Temple of Doom* January 26 – Dyestad, SE @ Dyestads Bygata* January 27 – Stockholm, SE @ Kollektivet Livet* January 28 – Aalborg, DK @ Studenterhuset* January 29 – Tilburg, NL @ Hall of Fame* January 30 – Lille, FR @ The Black Lab* January 31 – Paris, FR @ Glazart* February 1 – Basel, CH @ Kaschemme Basel* February 2 – Milan, IT @ Slaughter Club* February 3- Graz, AT @ Explosiv* February 4 – Vienna, AT @ Escape^ February 5 – Zagreb, HR @ Klub Močvara^ February 6 – Budapest, HU @ Dürer Kert^ February 7 – Belgrade, RS @ Dorcol Platz^ February 8 – Sofia, BG @ Oldskulls Club^ February 9 – Varna,BG @ Club Smile^ February 10 – Bucharest, RO @ Quantic^ February 11 – Cluj-Napoca, RO @ Flying Circus^ February 12 – Košice, SK @ Collosseum Club^ February 13 – Prague, CZ @ Modrá Vopice^ February 14 – Bielsko-Biala, PL @ Rudeboy Club^ February 15 – Rostock, DE @ M.A.U. Club^ * with Iniquitous Savagery, Strangle Wire ^ with Asylum, Embryonic Devourment
Defeated Sanity 2025 European Festival Dates 9-13 July – Trutnov, CZ @ Obscene Extreme 25-27 July – Manchester, UK @ Offal Fest 6 – 9 August – Jaroměř, CZ @ Brutal Assault
Tracklist 1. Amputationsdrang (2:30) [WATCH] 2. The Odour Of Sanctity (3:36) [WATCH] 3. Accelerating The Rot (3:22) [WATCH] 4. Temporal Disintegration (5:52) [WATCH] 5. Extrinsically Enraged (4:09) [WATCH] 6. A Patriarchy Perverse (4:16) 7. Condemned to Vascular Famine (6:00) 8. Heredity Violated (3:48) Total runtime: 33:35
DEFEATED SANITY is unequivocally one of the most unique, boundary-pushing and crucial bands in the history of extreme death metal. Their music is as technically coherent as it is mind-bending and memorable. Endlessly replay-able and full of discovery, their maze of riffs and musical passages is inspired by infamous classic bands in the extreme metal genre, while also heavily steeped in jazz and progressive classical elements.
The band consists of four members. They’re led by drummer Lille Gruber, who’s the son of deceased co-founding member Wolfgang Teske. Gruber is joined by bandmates Jacob Schmidt (bass), Josh Welshman (vocals) and Vaughn Stoffey (guitar).
As well as being the drummer of Defeated Sanity, Gruber is the multi- instrumental, songwriting mastermind behind the band’s deep and compelling catalogue of songs and compositions. He possesses a bag of tricks seen nowhere else in the genre, and a musical prowess which is on full display throughout their new album Chronicles of Lunacy.
“We love experimenting”, explains drummer and founding member Lille Gruber. “But we realized that some of our oldest fans might have gotten lost after our last couple of albums. With the new one, we wanted to focus more on neck-snapping brutality”.
Chronicles of Lunacy punches you right in the face. Press play and “Amputationsdrang” already has you pinned to the mat beneath its non-stop blasts. Get comfortable, too, because Defeated Sanity don’t let the album up for air until the very end of Track 4. But turns out, acting like knuckle-dragging cavemen isn’t so easy for a band that has a Mensa-level maestro like Gruber at the controls.
At the tender age of six, Lille Gruber picked up heavy guitar and drums. Inspired by killer American BDM bands like Disgorge, Monstrosity and Brodequin, the German wunderkind recorded the band’s first demo alongside his father, Wolfgang Teske. Since Wolfgang’s passing in 2010, Gruber has taken on the bulk of the composing for Defeated Sanity. Whether he’s hammering his snare, pinging between cymbals or riding a colossal groove, The Chronicles of Lunacy flows like a never-ending stream of filth.
“Lille’s drumming is just ridiculous”, Jacob Schmidt says. Schmidt – who toured with Obscura behind Cosmogenesis – joined as the other half of Defeated Sanity’s chaotic rhythm section for the band’s beloved second album. His nimble, belching bass give the new album’s lead single “The Odour of Sanctity” a dizzying bounce. “He’s the face of the franchise, so we’re never going to abandon those head-scratching moments that set Defeated Sanity apart”.
Indeed, Chronicles of Lunacy isn’t Defeated Sanity for dummies. Heck, the lyrics are wrapped up in the twisted ways that delusions can rot the human psyche. This heady concept was made flesh by none other than Jon Zig. Drawn in painstaking detail by his wicked right hand, the album’s cover shows that the birth of some ideas look an awful lot like a gory and sex-crazed nativity scene.
“Each song on Chronicles deals with a different form of mental corruption”, Josh Welshman says”. “Odor” stinks of religious fanaticism. “A Patriarchy Perverse” cracks open the mind of co-ed killer Ed Kemper, while “Extrinsically Enraged” practically foams at the mouth with squealing hammer-ons. “That one’s more literal”, says Welshman with a hearty laugh. “It’s about contracting rabies”. If it weren’t for Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata, then Defeated Sanity would’ve chewed through as many vocalists as they have albums, but after a brutal showing on their last one, Welshman is back with more guttural vengeance. His growls ooze from the pit of his gut on “Temporal Disintegration”, stomped out like the innards of a cockroach by the gravity-defying slams.
While it still hits from every odd angle, Chronicles of Lunacy does draw a jagged red line back to Defeated Sanity’s brutal origins. After all, the band now share a label with their namesake. In true, DS fashion, the first song written for this album was “Heredity Violated”, a headbanging grand finale that never stops chugging. “This album isn’t as tough on the brain as the last two”, says new guitarist Vaughn Stoffey, whose chunky riffs whip “Accelerating the Rot” into the fastest song in the band’s canon. “It’s rawer and more straightforward, which gets back to what fans love about Psalms of the Moribund“.
To dig up the sheer brutality that long-time fans have come to crave, Defeated Sanity returned to Thousand Cave Studios. New York City’s most vile underground hotspot also served as the excavation site for the Billboard-charting The Sanguinary Impetus, which shoveled a fresh layer of dirt over the “polished” production of Passages into Deformity. But the band encouraged producer Colin Marston to get down and dirty with Chronicles of Lunacy. “We still wanted some of the high fidelity that you hear on modern death metal records”, Schmidt says, “but this album has the same crushing low-end as Psalms or Chapters of Repugnance“.
The band execute this two-headed approach to monstrous effect on “Condemned to Vascular Famine”. At just under six minutes, the song delivers the longest ass beating on Chronicles of Lunacy. At times, all four members sound like they’re climbing up the walls in separate asylums, but after slipping in a brief nod to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the band come slamming down into the album’s ugliest breakdown.
“That’s one of our favorites”, the band says. “It lands at a crossroad of the DS sound that we ended up with on Chronicles of Lunacy. Even though it gets pretty fucking weird at times, there’s still an emphasis on heavy, straight-up slamming”
None of their albums are ever going to follow a straight line, but on Chronicles of Lunacy, Defeated Sanity return to sheer brutality.
Lineup Josh Welshman – Vocals Vaughn Stoffey – Guitars Jacob Schmidt – Bass Lille Gruber – Drums
Guest musicians Danny Nelson and Paolo Paguntalan provide backup vocals on “Amputationsdrang” and “Accelerating the Rot”
Recording Studio Thousand Caves Studio in January 2024.
Production Recorded, mixed and mastered by Colin Marston. Produced by Colin Marston and Defeated Sanity.
Cover Art Artwork by Jon Zig Title lettering by Liz Schmidt Layout by Alex Eckman-Lawn
Sweden’s JÄRNBÖRD released their second album “Filmer för blinda” (Movies for the blind) yesterday, on January 10th 2025.
Good Guy Go Grind presents an exclusive premiere of the album. Stream “Filmer för blinda” at THIS LOCATION.
The album took almost four years to complete. The fact that it took so long has a lot to do with the band releasing a handful of split records and singles in the meantime, but also because of an ambition to really invest this time. “What happens if we broaden the view of what our grindcore really is? Can we attack the songs from another direction – plank a Pixies stick, interpret Björn Afzelius?”
On Björn Afzelius’s song “Flickan i snøn”, the band is guested by Anna Wagner from, among others, Dead Sleep. She is joined by more guest artists. In “Rockar med mammon” Mikey Lennartsson from Gamla Pengar and The Dahmers rasps out lines about having time to listen to Slayer and in “Vi ska ätas, vi ska dömas”, the techno artist Johanna Knutsson sings about how sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut.
“Filmer för blinda” revolves around the phenomenon of being human – during one and the same day, we can be exposed to feelings of helplessness, joy, sadness, anger, fatigue, love, friendship and hatred. How do we handle it? How do we stay afloat? Some close their eyes, others confront it. Some booze their day away, others go to work. Some becomes right-wing, others renovate their balcony. But in the end, nothing really matters. It’s movies for the blind.
“It has been important for us not to get stuck in the generic. Although we have taken every opportunity to place ourselves in the grindcore genre, we have always identified ourselves as a regular rock band. We quite often play a very fast form of rock music, but in the end it’s completely normal rock we deal with. It also gives greater freedom in terms of lyrics. I want to be able to write about raw capitalism, but I also want to sing about fast cars and Torgny Lindgren”, says Anders Schärberg, who plays guitar and sings in JÄRNBÖRD.
“Filmer för blinda” is mostly recorded in Studio Covid by Niklas Ehrlin, with the exception of the drums, which were recorded in Studio Tonhuvud by Hannes Heed. Mixed and mastered by Ulf Blomberg, HoboRec Recording Studio.
Vinyl-LP is released by De:nihil Records (SWE) and 7Degrees Records (GER). CD is released by Hecatombe Records (SP) and Esagoya Records (JPN).
Album tracklist:
01 Gärning Och Lidande 02 Ormens Väg På Kvarnberget 03 Filmer För Blinda 04 Rockens Heraldik 05 Vi ska ätas, vi ska dömas 06 Rockar med Mammon 07 Okomplicerad 08 Flickan i snön 09 Dött format 10 Nu kör vi
Sweden’s Dark Driven emerge in a chilling debut of grandeur and grit with From the Unbeliever, a collection of dark, gothic metal that fuses melancholy with menace.
A first offering, in the form of their single ‘Dressed Divine’, is now streaming via Hammerheart Records. From the Unbeliever will be released on 21st March via the label.
The band comment on the track: “‘Dressed Divine’ is one of the songs that we wrote and recorded at the end of the whole album process. The music is quite a melodious piece that starts with a rocking White Lion inspired riff with a nice hooky lead loop on it. The lyrics deals with a killer’s ego and perspective on his own excellence and is slightly inspired by the video for ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ft. Kylie Minogue“
Dark Driven’s debut doesn’t merely flirt with darkness; it inhabits it. There’s a rawness here that feels simultaneously classic and refreshingly new, blending gothic melancholy with a relentless drive. You can expect music that is as uncompromising as it is evocative, bleak yet beautiful, with a depth that demands multiple listens to fully unravel. This isn’t just an album; it’s a journey into the abyss, with Dark Driven as the dark architects leading the way.
From the Unbeliever isn’t here to bow to trends or polish up for radio play; this is metal for those who prefer their music with shadows intact.
• Mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound AB (Dissection, Opeth, Marduk, Skeletal Remains) • Produced by Joakim Rimhagen and FilipLeo • Artwork and layout by Filip Leo, inspired by an idea from photographer Maria Åsén
Track-list: 1. To Death, Too Soon 2. Through Waves of Sand 3. The Letters Said Nothing 4. The Gods Won’t Intertwine 5. Tell Me 6. From the Unbeliever 7. Never Mind the Pain 8. Dressed Divine 9. Cinder to Stone 10. A Song for Revenge
Dark Driven are: Joakim Rimhagen: Guitars, keys Filip Leo: Lead guitars, vocals, bass, keys Nir Nakav: Drums
“full-throttle melodic Black…launched with atomic force!” (The Heavy Communion)
Emerging from out-of-nowhere, the enigmatic BLOOD ABSCISSION made a formidable entrance in 2023 with their short, sharp and startling debut album, simply titled “I“. Described as “a black gem” by No Clean Singing, the enigmatic entity quickly captivated a devoted following with their searingly powerful, emotive and transcendent modernist Black Metal.
BLOOD ABSCISSION has now inked a deal with DMP for the release of their sophomore album, aptly named “II“, in early 2025. The ever-ominous entity will present five more symphonies for the lost and forsaken, each note bearing the weight of unseen inner and outer universes. As BLOOD ABSCISSION themselves proclaim:
“United in pain, we step into the abyss – not as mere individuals, but as a collective force seeking meaning within the chaos, finding a voice in the silence between the stars.“
More information will be unveiled in due time. For a first musical teaser of the forthcoming work, click here! Alongside “II,” a physical edition of “I” will also be released in 2025.
Amidst the shroud of eternal night, where shadows and light dissolve into insignificance, a new soundscape emerges. An aural entity weaving chaos and purity into an ethereal hymn of resilience. BLOOD ABSCISSION‘s namelessness carves melodies of erupting rage and transcendental calm, capturing the collective pain that unites us all.
Each composition is a descent into the abyss of mind, where darkness sears and transforms, where fleeting moments of serenity are born from the fire of suffering. Melodies coil and writhe like serpents in the void, unearthing ancient emotions buried beneath the ever-present silence. Here, the unyielding embrace of mortality gives way to an eternal song – a journey that fractures reality and rebuilds it through the raw power of sound.
Through a haze of nihilism, the music transcends the boundaries of conventional form, speaking a language that defies both reason and tradition. This is a symphony for the lost and the forgotten, where the notes themselves seem to carry the weight of unseen universes. Each sonic texture calls to those who wander unseen and frees them from the chains of reality. Music to unbind the spirit, to navigate twisted paths, and to re-ignite the flame within. United in pain, we step into the abyss – not as mere individuals, but as a collective force seeking meaning within the chaos, finding a voice in the silence between the stars.
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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
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