Apocalypse Orchestra is a Swedish metal band that masterfully blends medieval melodies with the crushing power of doom metal, creating an epic and atmospheric soundscape that transports listeners to a distant past.
Formed in Gävle, Sweden 2013, the band is known for fusing traditional folk instruments, such as the hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, and mandolas, with heavy, distorted guitars and thunderous drums. With their debut album “The End Is Nigh” (2017), Apocalypse Orchestra quickly established themselves as a unique force in the metal scene. The album received critical acclaim for its innovative approach to storytelling, weaving together history, mythology, and existential themes.
The band is now back with a second single called “Glass and Sun”, taken from their upcoming new album “A Plague upon Thee”.
German artist Florence Besch unveils Gathering Hearts, a new album that merges gritty punk energy with soft, introspective pop. Known for her ability to craft soundscapes that are as tender as they are powerful, Besch has carved out a distinct genre, “Dream Grunge,” which channels the raw, uncompromising spirit of 90s icons like PJ Harvey, Hole, and Nirvana. The album’s release marks a significant step in Besch’s musical evolution, creating an atmosphere that defies expectations and immerses listeners in an experience of self-discovery and community.
Besch’s voice, emotional and raw, floats between vulnerability and defiance, creating dynamic shifts that echo through each track. Her vocals sit atop menacing soundscapes, bright riffs, and rhythmic shifts, reflecting a delicate balance of strength and fragility. Describing her evolution from solo artist to band leader, Besch says, “Gathering Hearts was inspired by the live show experiences with my band. It’s so much fun to create walls of sound together; it builds a beautiful sense of community in the band and the audience. This experience has certainly influenced my writing for this album.”
Gathering Hearts tackle’s themes of love, loneliness, and defiance. In “Nightsong,” the album opens with ethereal guitars as Besch sings, “You’re only free when you’re lonely. Left behind, like the stars in the sky.” With lyrics that explore intense personal battles and universal struggles, Besch’s work is a direct reflection of her own journey through darker moments. “The topics wander between the darkest corners of our thoughts, responses to violence, and the celebration of life and love in all forms,” she says. “It’s about giving up, dreaming, longing, hoping, daring – all of it reflects life as I see it.”
Hamburg, Germany-based heavy metal titans PARAGON are celebrating the release of their much-awaited, new studio album “Metalation”, that is out now on Massacre Records! To order your copy of this must-have heavy metal gem, visit: https://lnk.to/metalation
A music video for the album title track is now premiering below. The song “is about the ‘sickness’ of being a metalhead. How we become fanatics of this music and how it rules our lives through the decades until now. It’s driving us onward – now and forever.” The band comments.
“Killer riffing by Martin Christian, loads of lead guitars, a majestic acoustic middle part with an emotional lead by Jan Bertram. This is how heavy metal should be played, and our tribute to our true believe in this music and the eternal gods of heavy metal!”
According to PARAGON‘s Jan Bünning, their new album “Metalation” was one of the most difficult albums to make, as the band almost broke up in the time between the release of the band’s previous album “Controlled Demolition” and the present day.
Bünning and Martin Christian started working on new song ideas in the winter of 2019 and then the pandemic rocked the world and brought the majority of band activities – ranging from live gigs to rehearsals – to a halt. But still, both continued writing new songs and in the end of a long process, nine songs were ready to be recorded for “Metalation” and the first vocal demos were recorded last year. For this album, PARAGON decided to record the guitars, bass and drums on their own.
Whereas “Controlled Demolition” was a very hard and fast offering, PARAGON weren’t keen to repeat this pattern once again and instead decided for the new album to make it sound a little more melodic and versatile, just like in their old days. “Metalation” was produced with Piet Sielck, who also mixed and mastered the album.
Due to the tensions connected with the pandemic and ockdowns, guitarist Günny left the band in the late summer of 2022 and so did his replacement as well as drummer Sören, who left the band for personal reasons. The remaining band members toyed with the idea to release one final album and to play some farewell shows with Martin on guitar and his son Jason Wöbcke on drums, and then to disband PARAGON. Sometime after Easter 2023, though, Jason joined PARAGON permanently on drums and Martin decided to stay as well.
The band’s chemistry is better than ever, so it’s no surprise that everyone is very satisfied with how the new album turned. PARAGON simply can’t wait for everyone to listen to the new album and they are eager to hit the stages again! Order “Metalation” now at: https://lnk.to/metalation
Album Tracklist:
Fighting The Fire
Slenderman
Battalions
Beyond The Horizon
MarioNET
The Haunted House
Burn The Whore
Metalation
My Asylum
Hellgore (Bonus Track)
PARAGON Live: 21.11.2024 DE Berlin – Cassiopeia * 22.11.2024 DE Hamburg – Knust * 23.11.2024 DE Münster – Sputnikhalle *
*supporting Mystic Prophecy & Iron Savior
PARAGON is: Andreas “Buschi” Babuschkin – Lead Vocals Martin Christian – Rhythm-/Lead-Guitars, Backing Vocals Jan Bertram – Rhythm-/Acoustic-/Lead-Guitars, Backing Vocals Jan Bünning – Bass, Backing Vocals Jason Wöbcke – Drums, Backing Vocals
Graveyard Angel, a new Finnish dark-rock duo released their debut single “Apathy” on November 8th 2024 via Inverse Records.
While the video has been made with the help of AI, the music has been created in the traditional way. Mika “Alde” Ahlqvist – or rather his alter ego “Ground” has written the song and played all the instruments. He has also done all programming. “My responsibilities have been the lyrics, vocals and backing vocals” says Ana, who is already known to some from her other band “LAB“.
Arranged and produced by Mika Ahlqvist and Ana Anna Leppälä
Mixed & mastered by Pekka “Splendid” Laine at East Sound Studios (Finland)
Single cover: Ana Anna Leppälä
Cover layout: Mika Ahlqvist
“We are not gloomy personalities, but for some reason we share a taste for a bit darker and harder music. Rough and punchy riffs combined with disturbed stories is what makes us tick. This pretty much defines the music style of Graveyard Angel: dark, tough and delightfully disturbed.”
“We are very interested in AI as a tool for creating visual material. Ari Kuoppa-Aho made our video using AI tools. We did not know much about visual AI, so it was extremely interesting to follow the making of the video and to see it gradually come to life. We are stunned about how cool the video turned out. So, the video is made by a human using AI tools. One could call it a HIAI video; human intelligence and artificial intelligence combined.”
“I am shamelessly happy and proud of this single. When one does one’s best, one sometimes succeeds”, Ana says. Her long and blond hair is messy in a relaxed way and she looks as pleased as a cat by a lake of cream.
On the 10th of October Graveyard Angel was signed to Inverse Records. “We sent a link to our Apathy video to Inverse Records. Less than 24 hours later we made the deal with them. Sometimes things just go surprisingly smoothly”, Ana says, smiling.
Line-up: Ana Anna Leppälä – Vocals Mika “Alde” Ahlqvist: guitars, bass, synths, programming
DUN RINGILL launch a music video for their latest single “Dark Clouds Are Rising”, released in August. The track is featured on “150-Where the Old Gods Play Act 2”, the second part of the Swedish progressive folk/doom metal outfit’s conceptual double album. After releasing the first part, “Act 1,” in 2023, the band is now set to launch “Act 2” in early 2025 on The Sign Records.
“150-Where The Old Gods Play – Act 1” is available now on vinyl and CD.Get the record
Dun Ringill started in 2017 as a dark and doomy project with Nordic folk influences, creating music with big harmonies and presenting them with lyrics directly from the land of evil and darkness within the creative mind of bassist Winberg. This quickly evolved into becoming something much bigger and before long the unique musical recipe of Nordic folk, doom and progressive metal would be born.
When The Order of Israfel took a one-year break from September 2017, the rhythm section of that band, Patrik Andersson Winberg (Bass) and drummer Hans Lilja (also in Lotus) grabbed the chance to create new music again together with Patrik’s old band mate from the Doomdogs era, Tomas Eriksson (Intoxicate and ex Grotesque). To make this exciting project of Dun Ringill as great as possible, the band teamed up with Gothenburg’s fella musicians, guitarists Tommy Stegemann (Silverhorse), Jens Florén (also in Lommi & ex- live guitarist for Dark Tranquillity) and Patric Grammann (SFT, Neon Leon).
In Autumn 2020, a line-up reshuffle was made with experienced drummer Neil Grant joining the group after Hans Lilja left. This addition would prove to be influential in pushing their musically boundaries even further by not only adding a progressive oddity to the mix, but simultaneously delving even deeper into the folk and heavy doom and metal worlds which the band already use as their playground.
As a follow up their two highly acclaimed albums “Welcome” and “Library of Death” (with average reviews of over 8/10 for both albums), the band toured with acts like Church of Misery, Year Of The Goat and Elder they also played festivals like Headbangers Open Air and Gloomy days to name just a few.
The release of their latest album will be an adventurous double concept album, released as two single albums via The Sign records, is based on a movie script written by Patrik Andersson Winberg (bassist and main songwriter in DR) and Jonas Granath (teacher in religion and literature). Contact has been made with movie producers who have shown great interest in the script thus far. The story (based in Scotland in early 1900) centers around the manipulation of the church with a priest whose secret agenda only reveals itself at the end.
The title of the new albums will be: “150-Where the Old Gods Play Act 1 & Act 2”.
Dun Ringill: Thomas Eriksson – Vocals (Also in Intoxicate and Ex-Grotesque and Doomdogs) Neil Grant – Drums (Ex- End Of Level Boss and RAAR) Patrik Andersson Winberg – Bass (Ex The Order of Israfel and Doomdogs) Jens Florén – Guitar ( Also in Lommi and ex live guitarist for Dark Tranquillity) Tommy Stegemann – Guitar ( Ex Silverhorse) Patric Grammann – Guitar ( Ex Southern Festival Train and Neon Leon)
German death metal juggernauts RISE OF KRONOS have unleashed a dark and intense new music video for their track “Children of Leprosy“, from their recently released album, “Imperium”. Dropping just a month after the album’s release, this latest visual addition deepens the mythological and apocalyptic themes that have become the band’s signature, capturing fans in a storm of unrelenting aggression and atmosphere.
“Children of Leprosy” explores the suffering and decay that permeate the band’s mythological universe, channeling the visceral, brutal energy for which RISE OF KRONOS has become renowned. Packed with ferocious riffs, pummeling drums, and guttural vocals, the track embodies the raw, merciless sound that “Imperium” is built upon. The video amplifies this brutality, drawing viewers into a vivid world where darkness reigns and resilience is tested in the face of despair.
RISE OF KRONOS live: 09.11.2024 DE – Erfurt, From Hell 15.11.2024 DE – Balingen, Sonnenkeller 16.11.2024 DE – Karlsruhe, AKK 23.11.2024 DE – Naumburg (Saale), Tanks 30.11.2024 DE – Oberhausen, Helvete 06.12.2024 DE – Lübeck, Treibsand 07.12.2024 DE – Bremen, Zollkantine 31.01.2025 DE – Hannover, Cafe Glocksee 01.02.2025 DE – Hamburg, Logo 15.02.2025 DE – Berlin, Slaughterhouse 12.07.2025 DE – Barleben, Damned Days Festival
About the band:
In 2021, RISE OF KRONOS exploded onto the death metal scene, rising from the ashes of thewell-established band Surface. After 11 relentless years of intense touring, three hard-hitting albums, and an unyielding dedication to their craft, Surface found themselves at a critical juncture. Feeling an overwhelming urge to evolve and transcend their previous identity, the band membersembarked on a transformative journey to push their music – and themselves – to the next level.
The decision to reinvent themselves was not made lightly. They were determined to honor the legacy they had forged and to maintain the powerful connection they had built with their devotedfanbase, the Titans. In a nod to their past, they took on the name RISE OF KRONOS, a tribute totheir 2015 album and a symbol of their rebirth, blending past, present, and future in a single strokeof defiance.
RISE OF KRONOS represents an unholy fusion of dark, brutal, and modern death metal. Their sound incorporates the vicious edge of Swedish death metal with the technical precision of progressive elements and the raw intensity of hardcore. As seasoned musicians, they have perfected their craft, delivering a sonic experience that is both innovative and rooted in the traditions of extreme metal.
Inspired by Greek mythology, the band has cultivated a rich conceptual identity, invoking the wrathand grandeur of ancient gods. Their live shows are immersive and electrifying, transporting audiences to a world where the power of Olympus and the chaos of the underworld collide. With each performance, they guide their audience on a thunderous journey, wielding crushing riffs andrelentless rhythms like weapons of war.
In 2024, RISE OF KRONOS unleashes their highly anticipated album, Imperium. With this release, they take their mythological themes to new heights, channeling the rage and power of the Titans through blistering death metal anthems. Imperium is an evolution in the band’s sound, delivering a more expansive, ambitious, and ferocious body of work. The album plunges deep intothe battle between gods and mortals, with each track a reflection of the eternal struggle forsupremacy and domination.
Imperium marks a defining moment for RISE OF KRONOS, solidifying their place as a rising force in modern death metal while continuing their legacy of transformation and reinvention. With aburning desire to conquer new territory, the band is poised to leave an indelible mark on the metallandscape. Kronos has risen, and his empire is just beginning!
RISE OF KRONOS are:
Tom Robinson – Guitar, Vocals Tim Broscheit – Bass,Vocals Jhonnie Ritter – Guitar Marco Bechreiner – Drums
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