Drummer Sebastian Lanser of modern progressive outfit OBSIDIOUS is now releasing a drum play-through for the band’s latest single, “Sense of Lust.” The track is taken from the band’s upcoming debut album, which will be released in 2022 via Season of Mist, for which more details will be revealed! The video can be seen at THIS LOCATION.
Lanser comments on the play-through: “Hi everyone! This is my playthrough of Obsidious´ latest single ‘Sense of Lust.’ Quite a heavy and straightforward song compared to our first single, ‘Iconic.’ Nonetheless, I really enjoy the simplicity and heaviness. Hope y´all do as well!”
Recently, Season of Mist announced the signing of OBSIDIOUS which was accompanied by the band’s first single ‘Iconic’.
STEVE VAI and Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group will release a CD and digital release of his new studio album Inviolate, coming out on January 28th. LP will follow on March 18th. Pre-Order Here: https://smarturl.it/steve_vai
Today Steve Vai shares a new official video for ‘Little Pretty’ from the album, watch it below.
The recording is a dark-toned fusion-funk workout. Steve Vai shares, “In writing the chord changes for the solo section, and the solo itself, I dug deep into my academic music theory mind to create a set of chord changes where the harmonic atmosphere shifted on every change. The dense chord structures required a series of synthetic modes to navigate. This approach is along the lines of jazz and fusion players, but I knew I did not want it to sound anything like that and the solo had to be totally melodic. The results were pretty powerful in that the entire solo section evokes melodic atmospheric changes that shift dramatically but work together well.”
Looking towards the holidays and a new year, he shares, “I am also wishing all a very happy and restful holiday season. You will need it because I predict in 2022, we will all be out there working together again and blowing up that bridge!”
Over the course of a more than 40-year career, Steve Vai has routinely transformed what would appear to be outrageously impossible into something very, very possible… and still also pretty outrageous. From his days as Frank Zappa’s “stunt guitar” player to his more recent expansive and exploratory solo work, Vai has continually challenged notions of traditional guitar playing and composition – and on more than one occasion even reimagined the very instrument itself.
Vai’s newest and 13th solo album, Inviolate, is a nine-song opus that pushes the boundaries of instrumental guitar music. The body of work presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps invigorating music in years. “It’s very ‘Vai,’ whatever that means,” he says, and then laughs. “Someone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But it’s just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they’re long and there’s a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people.”
In essence, it all comes down to finding your own voice, and then having the courage and conviction to follow your musical and creative instincts wherever they may take you – something Vai has never been shy about in his playing. “One of the great things about the guitar is you don’t need to be a virtuoso to express your creative vision,” he says. “I mean, Bob Dylan plays the guitar perfectly well for his expression. So does John McLaughlin. You just need to decide how much technique you want or need to get there. For myself, I came out of the chute wanting it all. When it comes to my music, I don’t feel like I have to prove anything or conform to anything. I just love to think up creative ideas, and then use whatever skill I have to manifest them.”
“An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure,” Vai explains. “It appears almost in its completeness, and there’s a recognition of it as being right for you – perfectly right for you. There’s no excuses in it. There’s no fantasy in it, just enthusiasm. There’s a recognition of ‘yes.’ And then you capture that in a way that’s authentic to your unique creativity, and I feel as though that’s what I’ve done with this record.”
Steve Vai will begin an extensive tour of the U.S., with 54 scheduled appearances on January 27, 2022 at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. It is the first leg of appearances that begins a World tour planned for the next several years. Vai will be joined by his long-tenured ensemble members Dave Weiner (guitar / keys), Philip Bynoe (bass), and Jeremy Colson (drums). Vai shares, “A performer thrives on performing. It’s been my life for the past 49 years, with the exception of the last two years, so we are chomping at the bit to get out there and play for people. A music concert has the ability to momentarily dissolve the many challenges we face, and celebrate one of the good things in life, live music.”
Track list Teeth Of The Hydra Zeus In Chains Little Pretty Candlepower Apollo In Color Avalancha Greenish Blues Knappsack Sandman Cloud Mist
Hailing from Poland, Transgressive Dark Rock / Metal Band ASGAARD are glad to announce the signing with Wormholedeath for their new album “What if…” due for release in 2022.
Signing statement: Ladies and gents, we’re proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with Szataniec and Wormholedeath for the release of Asgaard’s newest, 7th full-length record titled “What if…”. While Szataniec is taking care of the album’s physical formats, Wormholdeath will be marketing the album worldwide and will handle its digital release via The Orchard Inc. / Sony Music Ent. We are so much looking forward to working with both labels on the release of “What if…” album. It’s been a really loooong, bumpy road not only for all of us in the band but also for all the people engaged into this project in this way or another, and despite the fact that we’ve been forced to keep on postponing many issues related with this new record, we are truly happy to be able to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can’t wait to bring it up to you!
Carlo/WHD statement: “I am proud to be able to work with such a cult band with long term experience and career. Since the release of their beautiful album“Stairs to nowhere” the band has been working hard for their epic comeback.Here we are with this new masterpiece ready for release via Wormholedeath(Digital) and available in other formats thanx to our collegues at SzataniecRecords. Publishing will be handled by Wormholedeath via Warner ChappellMusic as usual. We can’t wait to spread their music all over the worldworking with this amazing team.”
About “what if..” album: Metamorphosis, constant evolution and stylistic unpredictability – amalgamation of these three phrases has become signature quality of Asgaard’s body of work. The band exists and has been present in the scene for 25 years. Due to bold and widely controversial records the band is often considered as one of the most visionary in Poland’s entire gothic / rock / metal genre. “What if…” is the brand new, seventh album in the band’s career and a follow-up to a critically acclaimed “Stairs To Nowhere”. This time around, Asgaard reinvents its formula and the album is the first ever of their releases to feature more rock-oriented sound, rather that straight-up metal one. “What if…” is the very first record in band’s discography with songs composed in more traditional way, full of beautiful melodies and grand, epic choruses. Band enters another novel territory – two out of eight songs on the album are sung in Polish, which language native to the members of the group. Additionally, Asgaard included stylistic features of the broad genre of electronic music in the intricately structured new songs. New album still retains characteristic sense of romance and nostalgia, present in the band’s outputs since the beginning. Such emotional load brings to mind bands like Katatonia, Amorphis, Moonspell, Opeth, Anathema. “What if…” is a triumphant return of Poland’s rock/metal avant-garde.
1. Sisyphus 2. Creeping Miss Lunacy 3. Sny na jawie 4. Horizon upside down 5. What if… 6. Blind man’s buff 7. W sercu nieswiata 8. Not ever again! Bonus tracks: 9. Sny na jawie (radio cut) 10. W sercu nieświata (radio cut)
The band will be revealing further album tracks’ snippets every coming week. Stay tuned!
The epic record is nine tracks that are melodic, technical, and progressive. Led by main composer and guitarist Andy Sartori, with vocalist Scott Board, drummer Dino Castano and bassist Rod Viquez, the band sets the mood for something more than just singing over music.
With grandiose instrumentals and heroic vocals, Sartori creates complex, melodic tunes that command attention. They are heavily influenced by classical baroque music, so the band stands as the symphony behind Andy Sartori as the ‘maestro’. What sets these guys apart from other bands is their music composition. Andy Sartori explains further:
“We use a lot of arrangements that you won’t find any other bands doing. Lots of vocals, lots of guitar quartets, duets, and harmony arrangements. My writing is based on positive vibes, positive lyric content, no criticism, no anger, and I write sometimes about spiritual content in the matter of being a better human and about life experiences, personal and in general along with influence from movies and stories I enjoy… sometimes.”
Track Listing: 1. Evil Hearts (3:02) 2. One Distant Heart (3:57) 3. From Hell To Heaven (4:10) 4. Little Aria In G Major (Instrumental) (0:37) 5. Devil In Disguise (3:54) 6. Through The Eyes of My Soul (3:48) 7. Castles of Lost Souls (Instrumental) (4:18) 8. Battles In The Distant Lands (3:42) 9. Dragon’s Fire (2:57)
Band Line Up: Andy A Sartori: Guitars Scott Board: Vocals Rod Viquez: Bass Dino Castano: Drums
Album Credits: Mixed and engineered by Joe DeMaio at Shorefire Recording Studios, Long Branch, NJ
Drums Recorded and Mixed by Giuseppe Di Giola and Dino Castano at Valentino Recording Studios, Puglia – Italy
Mastered by Leon Zervos at Studio 301, Sidney – Australia.
Art Cover by Antonella Troiano.
All songs composed and written by Andy A. Sartori in cooperation with Dino Castano, Scott Board and Rod Viquez
Produced by Andy A. Sartori. 2007/2021 All Rights Reserved.
Italian legendary Speed/thrash metallers CELTIC HILLS have finished recording their upcoming album, entitled “Huldufólk“, containing 10 tracks + 2 bonus tracks, coming out in 2022 via Elevate Records. It will be the successor of “Mystai Keltoy”. After “Mystai Keltoy”‘s critical and sales success, writing a new album entailed a great responsibility: following in the footsteps or evolving towards something different?
There are also other news: The drummer Simone Cescutti after this job leaves the band to pursue a career as a singer and guitarist with his own band! So, to greet his fans, he sings a song called “Living out of the Egg”. The other texts dedicated to the history of Friuli are “After the Earthquake” which speaks of the strength and courage of the Friulian people in rebuilding the territory devastated by the earthquake of 6 May 1976. “The Gate of Hollow Earth” tells of the legends of the mountains behind the city of Pordenone where there would be a secret entrance to the hollow earth. The album ends with the track “Villacher Kirktag” which tells of the Beer Festival in the city of Villach in Austria where every first Saturday of August Friulian boys go to party getting drunk and harassing beautiful Austrian girls! The text is sung in English with “notations” in Friulian and Austrian.
The album was produced also this time by Michele Guaitoli singer of Temperance and Vision of Atlantis in the studios of the Groove Factory in Udine and for the realization of the cover again the talented Sheila Franco.
Just recently band’s singer and guitarist Jonathan Vanderbilt announced the guest guitarist, Gabriele Pala (Karnak, Azure Agony, Goldenseed), playing two solos in the album for the songs ‘Green Forest’ and ‘Gate of Hollow Earth’. In addition to being a very good guitarist, Gabriele is an expert connoisseur of Chapman Stick, an instrument played with the tapping technique.
Earlier Jonathan revealed on “Huldufólk”: “Again this time we will talk about Friuli, and the theory is at work that the location of the American Air Force Base Aviano is used to control an ancient access to the underground world, which has been used by the pagan gods since ancient times. The magical rites of the inhabitants of the mountains and the places where elves, fairies and gnomes once lived among the people are revealed. There are already definitive titles such as The Sound of the Earth in F sharp minor. A text tells how you can use the beneficial energy of the trees at dawn to strengthen your energies, but there will be no lack of historical events that accompany every CELTIC HILLS album.”
2021 has been a very positive year for CELTIC HILLS! The reviews of the ‘Mystai Keltoy’ album have been many, published on the major world newspapers and all with an average rating of around 9.
“Mystai Keltoy” (which is an enigmatic name that alludes to the Eleusian Mysteries) was released on May 15th 2021 via Elevate Records, and it’s inspired by themes ranging from ancient alien civilizations, European pyramids, legends and historical facts of Friuli, as you can already guess from the album cover. The disc was recorded and produced at the Groove Factory in Udine by Michele Guaitoli, a prominent name for being the lead singer of Temperance, Vision of Atlantis, Era.
The cover is hand painted by Sheila Franco, the same girl who painted Blood Over Intents, and represents the myth of the ancient visitors. Jonathan Vanderbilt played and recorded the album with Panico Custom instruments, the Italian sponsor of custom lutherie of Luca Panico di Ravenna, a guitar specially created with the specifications requested by the Canadian guitarist.
CELTIC HILLS were born in 2010, in 2020 they sign a recording contract with Elevate Records with which they released the album “Blood over Intents” and the EP “Schrage Musik” both in 2020. In 2021 another album is out “Mystai Keltoy” produced and recorded by Michele Guaitoli singer of Temperance, Vision of Atlantis and Era. The style played is difficult to place in a single vein of metal, as there are many influences ranging from death to power, with sound elements that can also recall a certain type of 90’s thrash. The singing is quite varied, and for some listeners it may seem unusual in a metal band. power, speed and good melodic lines distinguish the band from others. Between 2010 and 2020 they released “Horns helmet fighters” and for the Slovak Music Globalliance they came out on international compilations on volumes 2,3,4.
Swedish Heavy Metal masters WOLF announce their return with a new studio album entitled ‘Shadowland’! The album is set to be released through Century Media on April 1st, 2022! It is their 9th studio effort and the follow up to the 2020 release “Feeding The Machine”.
The artwork was once again handled by the one and only Thomas Holm (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond). Pre-Order will start on January 28th, 2022!
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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
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
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