After releasing their epic, highly-acclaimed 2019 album of powerful tales and even more powerful riffs, Wintersaga, power metal’s mightiest dwarves, WIND ROSE, return from the forge – hammering more anthems against the anvil on their new album Warfront, out June 10, 2022 via Napalm Records!
The dwarven power metal army marches onward with their new single “Together We Rise” with solid, stomping riffs and heroic chants! Inspired by brotherhood and dwarven armies in combat, “Together We Rise” truly stands out musically on the new album Warfront. With well over 30 million streams on Spotify alone and another 30 million on YouTube for their last albumWintersaga, Warfront is one of the most anticipated power metal albums of the year!
WIND ROSE on “Together We Rise”: “’Together We Rise’ is a new, heavy piece of metal forged and smithed to the anvil; it comes from deep underground. It’s the sound of a thousand blacksmiths creating weapons for the biggest dwarven army of the century.”
The five-piece from Pisa, Italy – which saw a massive breakthrough with their explosively viral reimagination of Minecraft-themed anthem “Diggy Diggy Hole” (clocking in at over 30 million views on YouTube to date) – resurge with ten heroic songs to prepare for battle. Monumental opener “Of War and Sorrow” makes way for gut-punching “Army of Stone”, immediately getting your blood pumping when the power and folk metal infused hook kicks in – a feat WIND ROSE deftly displays across Warfront! No matter how vast the storm, how frostbitten the winter cold, WIND ROSE’s sense for sensational hooks and catchy riffs, topped by Francesco Cavalieri’s distinct voice, careens them to the forefront of their dark and sinister contemporaries without forfeiting their unique heaviness and grit!
Shortly after WIND ROSE pushes their songwriting to the maximum on the multi-phased “I Am the Mountain”, they swiftly take a step back to build momentum from the ground up before releasing the listener into Warfront’s grand finale, “Tomorrow Has Come” – unmatched battle lore, atmosphere and top-notch production all come together for one of the most anticipated power metal albums of the year! WIND ROSE fully deliver unlimited amounts of dwarven adventures, dramatic orchestra arrangements and pure fun on Warfront – replay value guaranteed!
WIND ROSE on Warfront: “We are really proud to announce the release of ‘Warfront’; it’s an important milestone for our career and a big game changer in terms of quality of songwriting and music videos. We want to give you an ultimate fantasy experience, making it to the next level of epicness and bringing you on the battlefield with us.”
Announcing the June 24 release of their debut album Welcome To The Show today, rising Los Angeles rock band CLASSLESS ACT also dropped a new track and video called “Time To Bleed” via Better Noise Music. The song aims to inspire fans to take action in their communities, as lead singer Derek Day sings, “And even though the earth’s on fire, Waiting for the next Messiah, We still got a job to do.” Having already collaborated with the band on “This Is For You,”Justin Hawkins of The Darkness jumped in the studio to help with the song’s melody. Iconic band Dorothy has co-signed Classless Act, inviting them to open for their “Gifts From The Holy Ghost Tour,” which began this spring. Having already peaked the attention of media at SPIN Magazine and Loudwire with previous singles “Give It To Me” and “This Is For You (ft. Justin Hawkins of The Darkness),” the announcement of their highly-anticipated debut album comes ahead of their show dates with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Poison on the North American Stadium Tour. Mötley’s Vince Neil is also set to feature on one of the album’s tracks.The Stadium Tour is set to kick off in Atlanta on June 16 and end in Las Vegas on September 9. See below for dates and more information. “Time To Bleed” is available to stream and download HERE. Watch the third part of the band’s four-part video series HERE. PRE-ORDERWelcome To Show now. Full tracklisting below.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW TRACKLISTING
Classless Act (feat. Vince Neil of Motley Crue) This Is For You (feat. Justin Hawkins) Time To Bleed On My Phone All That We Are Made In Hell Storm Before The Calm Haunting Love Walking Contradiction Give It To Me Circles Thoughts From A Dying Man
(Artwork Credit: Travis Shinn)
Bass player Franco Gravante, who produced, mixed, and cowrote the track, explained the origins of the song, “It’s one of the first riffs I wrote for the record a couple years back. But I couldn’t finish the song. We got some magic dust sprinkled on it by Justin Hawkins and that gave me the confidence to know THIS song belonged on the record. But the record was already done and delivered. So we called the label and said, HOLD UP! Then we called Keith (Nelson), he booked a studio and 37 hours later, it was on the record and it’s coming out now! It was so fast. I think they’re still cleaning up the mess we made. It takes what it takes, ya know?”
After working on the song with the band during quarantine, Hawkinscommented, “I had the pleasure of writing with these young men at the beginning of the Covidian era. It quickly became apparent that I had underestimated their musicality and talent. They make really sleazy good time rock and roll music with smiles on their handsome faces and I am proud to have contributed. Good luck boys!”
The band also released part three in a four-part series that loosely follows the band as they set the soundtrack for the misadventures of Farley; an unlucky soul who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The official music video was directed by John Orphan, watch the visual HERE.
As an early follower of the band, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee is excited to co-sign the rising rockers and have them join the legendary lineup on the road this summer, saying, the following in a statement last month: “I remember when we went out with Ozzy in 1984 and how it was an insane game changer!! We literally blew up after having that opportunity to play live in front of 20 thousand people every f***ing night! Since then, we’ve always felt it was important to help new bands; whether it was Guns N Roses, Skid Row or so many others. This summer we’re gonna help out Classless Act. They’re gonna sh*t their pants.”
For more information on the band’s touring, and to purchase tickets, visit https://classlessact.com/#tour. Full list of upcoming tour dates are below.
GIFTS FROM THE HOLY GHOST TOUR DATES
April 23 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues Cleveland April 24 – Columbus, OH – Bluestone April 26 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews April 27 – Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation April 28 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Piere’s April 30 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues May 01 – Madison, WI – Majestic May 02 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater May 03 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown May 05 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar May 06 – Wichita, KS – Temple Live May 08 – Denver, CO – Summit May 10 – Boise, Idaho – Knitting Factory May 11 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory May 13 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon May 14 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne May 15 – Reno, NV – Virginia St. Brewing May 18 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades May 19 – Anaheim, CA – Parish at HOB
NORTH AMERICAN STADIUM TOUR DATES
June 16 – Atlanta, GA – Truist Park June 18 – Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium June 19 – Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium June 22 – Washington, DC – Nationals Park June 24 – Queens, NY – Citi Field June 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Citizens Bank Park June 28 – Charlotte, NC – Bank of America Stadium June 30 – Nashville, TN – Nissan Stadium July 2 – Jacksonville, FL – TIAA Bank Field July 5 – St. Louis, MO – Busch Stadium July 8 – Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field July 10 – Detroit, MI – Comerica Park July 12 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium July 14 – Cleveland, OH – FirstEnergy Stadium – Home of the Cleveland Browns July 15 – Cincinnati, OH – Great American Ball Park July 17 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Field July 19 – Kansas City, MO – Kauffman Stadium July 21 – Denver, CO – Coors Field August 5 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park August 6 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park August 8 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre August 10 – Orchard Park, NY – Highmark Stadium August 12 – Pittsburgh, PA – PNC Park August 14 – Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Bank Stadium August 16 – Indianapolis, IN – Lucas Oil Stadium August 19 – Houston, TX – Minute Maid Park August 21 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome August 22 – Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field August 25 – Glendale, AZ – State Farm Stadium August 27 – Inglewood, CA – SoFi Stadium August 28 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park August 31 – Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park September 2 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place September 4 – Edmonton, AB – Commonwealth Stadium/Stade du Commonwealth September 7 – San Francisco, CA – Oracle Park September 9 – Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium
For the last two years, the thousands of Swedish metal fans who would gather once a year in Tyrolen to celebrate their heroes on stage at the annual Muskelrock festival have fallen silent. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the venue was forced to cancel their event in both 2020 and 2021.
It was in this dark time when the mighty metal legend THOR released his ode to the festival “This Is Musclerock” as the lead-off track on his album Alliance. The track featured a stellar, unmistakable vocal from fellow metal behemoth John Gallagher of the groundbreaking metal act Raven. Together, these twin suns of classic metal united with one voice to call for a revival of the Muskelrock festival as well as the Musclerock genre that THOR himself helped to pioneer. And now the two appear in a brand new video for the track, which is being premiered by the venerated Fistful Of Metal magazine.
THOR shares these thoughts, “Some call me The King of Musclerock. As the proponent of the genre Musclerock, a precursor to Heavy Metal, I am happy that Cleopatra Records in coordination with Fistful of Metal are releasing the new video for the song ‘We Need Musclerock.’ I am excited to be joined by the legendary John Gallagher of Raven on this one. This anthem is a tribute to the famous Muskelrock Festival held each year in the mountains of Tyrolen in Alvesta, Sweden. I was happy to help launch the Muskelrock festival with promoter Jacob Hector in 2009. Now it has become one of the greatest Metal festivals in the Universe. Thousands of Muscular Metal fans will gather from all over the world to herald the name of THOR and be entertained by feats of strength and a large roster of top bands. Thanks to Ted Jedlicki for directing/editing this exciting video and John Leibel for writing a great tune. So I say to all of you….SKAAL!”
Check out THOR’s album Alliance which includes special guest appearances from Soilwork vocalist Björn “Speed” Strid, W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes, Danko Jones, Anthrax’s Neil Turbin, Ross “The Boss” Friedman and many more. It features stunning artwork from Timo Wuerz and is available on both digital as well as on CD in a digipak and limited-edition silver vinyl in a gatefold jacket!
Niflhel (Realm Of The Dead) feat. Björn Strid (Soilwork)
The Ultimate Alliance feat. Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.), Ross “The Boss” Friedman (Manowar), Nina Osegueda (A Sound Of Thunder) & Fang VonWrathenstein (Lords Of The Trident)
Ode To Odin feat. Dan Cleary (Striker)
We Will Fight Forever feat. Neil Turbin (Anthrax)
Because We Are Strong
Rock Around The World feat. Danko Jones
Queen Of The Spiders feat. Frank Soda (The Imps)
Power Hungry
Bounty Hunter feat. Frank Meyer (The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs) & Dennis Post (Warrior Soul)
Battlements feat. Trevor William Church (Haunt)
Thor vs. The Juggernaut (War Of The Gods) feat. Sean Peck (Death Dealer)
Generation Now feat. Joey Killingsworth (Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre)
After The Laughter feat. Martin Gummesson (Thundermaker)
Drummer Beau Brandon of tortured blackened death metal outfit WITHERED is now releasing a brand new drum play-through for the song “Casting in Wait.” The track is taken from the band’s latest album ‘Verloren,’ which was released on June 25, 2021. Watch the clip at THIS LOCATION.
‘Verloren’ can be streamed, downloaded, and ordered HERE.
WITHERED recently released signature distortion pedal! Guitarist Mike Thompson teamed up with Michael Klein Audio Design out of Kansas City, MO to build a signature distortion pedal named “Husk,” which is designed for all the tone stackers out there.
Thompson also designed the cosmetics himself, combining a vintage military feel with an ethereal/mystic graphics to capture the “moods” of the pedal.
Husk Features:
Selectable “then” (NOS Japanese 1S1588) and “now” clipping diodes to choose between saturation used on older Withered albums and newer albums.
The bottom row of knobs are a circuit inspired by the classic MIJ DS-1 with high quality/low tolerance components – precision metal film resistors, WIMA caps, MLCC caps, and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors supporting a Toshiba TA7136P Opamp.
The top row is Thompson’s collection of “do my bidding” controls: a clean blend to pepper in some clarity without losing gain, an output boost to keep the dirty tone louder than “pedal off” tone no matter how much you scoop the mids, and a no-fucks-given low pass filter to tame the nastiness however you like.
2 different colored “on” LED’s for a “military control panel” look and max visibility on stage.
Photos of the Husk Distortion Pedal can be found HERE.
Artist Paul Romano (MASTODON, HATE ETERNAL, etc.) gave an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the unique album art for ‘Verloren!’ Both Romano and WITHERED vocalist/guitarist Mike Thompson give in-depth interviews about the concept, working together, and more in this detailed article, which is accompanied by an exclusive video clip and photos! Check it out via Heaviest of Art at THIS LOCATION.
Norwegian metalcore act STORM proves that talent has no age and delivers a huge debut with his first single & music video “Break Yourself” and announces EP 2022.
STORM draws inspiration from bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Falling in Reverse, Motionless in White and Yungblud, and he is a part the new wave in music that appeals to a generation rather than to fans of a specific genre.
“Break Yourself” is an IN-YOUR-FACE melodic metalcore beast packed with brutal riffs, roaring vocals, twists, and hooks that captures the listener from the very first second! About the debut single STORM states;
“The story of the track is about battling the voice inside your head that tells you you’re not good enough. I think it’s important to dare to be yourself no matter what, and to trust your own choices and ideas. This song is the perfect first single to present myself as an artist, it is heavy and in your face, just the way I like it.”
“Break Yourself” is accompanied with a music video directed by Valkyrien Productions
Behind the stage name STORM is Leo Davadi Sundli, who despite his young age of 13 already have accomplished a lot as an artist. His career began in 2019 with the band Snøstorm, and top tier media in Norway such as VG, NRK, Musikknyheter and Adresseavisa quickly noticed the young talents.
“They simply make music that is as catchy as it is heavy. This was altogether awesome for a real metalcore fan like myself. ” Musikknyheter (NO) wrote after their performance at the Rotvoll Festival in 2019.
In 2020, Leo chose to move on from Snøstorm, and started his new band project STORM. It did not take long before the multi-talent was noticed, and in 2021 he managed to secure a record deal with the prestigious Indie Recordings, and booking agent with the renowned All Things Live.
“You very rarely come across such a massive, and at the same time young talent as STORM, and there was no doubt that this was something we wanted to work with. Not only does he make amazing music, but he is a determined and focused young man I think we will hear a lot from in the years to come. Join The Storm !!” – Erlend Gjerde general manager of Indie Recordings says about the fresh signing.
Crew: Lyrics: Leo Davadi Sundli, Nora Eklo Vocal engineer: Olai Wanvik Produced by: Martin Stenstad Selen, Erlend Gjerde Mixed by: Lars André Gussiås Master: Morgen Nicolaysen A&R: Erlend Gjerde
While drawing their inspiration by nature – hailing from the arresting South of the Netherlands – and the colorful, musical facettes of desert, southern sludge and psychedelic rock, SMOKE creates an intense fusion of melody, groove and hard hitting riff tornados. May 27th will see the Dutch trio release their first full-length album, entitled The Mighty Delta Of Time, via Argonauta Records but today, they not only shared some new album details but a music video for their second single, the haunting southern rock juggernaut “Motion”!
Says the band: “Motion is the second single release off our upcoming album “The Mighty Delta of Time” a groove oriented track with clean resonators strumming heavy on a growling bass line that’s supported by a wild drum beat placing you dead center in the Smoke Bayou.
Growing up around the ocean, wetlands and forest we have a strong connection with our surroundings. Having backgrounds in farming and preservation we see a lot of damage and change in the environments we grew up in. Motion talks about the way forward and protecting what is around us.
Let us take you with us on a trip through our Psychedelic Swamp with this Rock groover and share some of our family gumbo with y’all.”
The Mighty Delta Of Time is slated for a digital release on May 27, 2022 via Argonauta Records, with a CD edition to follow in the not so distant future. Fans of southern and desert rock, psychedelia yet sludge metal sounds and a vibrant fusion of all that is heavy, melodic and groovy, should watch out for SMOKE‘s upcoming debut, as it may become a favorite soundtrack of your summer!
Album track listing:
Ride
Lineage
Bereft
Riverbed
Motion
Time
Umoya
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
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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