Out today, ‘Magpie’s Eyelid’ is the new single by THE VALLEY, now available on all major digital platforms via Volcano Records & Promotion. The release is accompanied by a visionary lyric video that enhances the song’s conceptual and narrative depth.
The alt-prog band from Italy, following the release of two impactful tracks that captured the attention of both audience and industry insiders, now continues their journey with a new single that delves even deeper into their distinctive sound—a blend of alternative rock and progressive influences.
Magpie’s Eyelid offers a clear-eyed yet contradictory perspective on the allure of what frightens us. It reflects on how we observe pain from a distance, safe and detached, only to find ourselves strangely fascinated—until we realize that only what hits us directly can truly shake us. It’s an unstable balance between detachment and involvement, shame and desire, atonement and pretense. A deeply intense and multi-layered track, both lyrically and sonically, that confirms the band’s bold artistic direction.
Mixed and mastered by Mattia Miniati, with a lyric video created by Martin V.S.
Watch the video and immerse yourself in the evocative world of Magpie’s Eyelid:
Swedish metal legends TORCH have released their new single and video ‘Wages Of Sin’.
‘Wages Of Sin’ is a brand new song that will be released at a later date on the upcoming TORCH studio album ‘Trail Of The Damned’, which the band has recently started working on.
It’s one of the heaviest tracks ever recorded by TORCH. If Fight and Alice In Chains had a love child it would probably sound something like this. It’s a song about the rise of criminal gangs in TORCH’s native country Sweden. The song deals with the promise of fame, fortune and brotherhood that almost always ends in betrayal and death or prison.
Wages Of Sin is TORCH at their heaviest!
LINE UP Lasse Gudmundsson – Vocals Chris J First – Guitar Hockey Nystrom – Guitar Ian Greg – Bass Pat Stix – Drums
Sweden’s genre-smashing rock outfit SATAN TAKES A HOLIDAY are back – this time with a curveball that hits hard. On June 13, the band unleashed You’re the One That I Want, a moody, riff-driven reinterpretation of the Grease classic that trades sugar-sweet duets for raw intensity and late-night desperation. Now the band release a music video for the single, watch it below.
A staple of their live set over the past year, the track has quickly become a fan favorite. Now it’s getting a proper release as the first taste of their upcoming covers album Covering Our Tracks – their seventh full-length, due out later this year.
Lead vocalist Fred shares the unlikely origin of the cover:
“The song had been living in my head for several years in a version where I had drastically slowed it down to squeeze all the want and pain out of the lyrics and melody. It didn’t occur to me to present it as a potential cover to the band until someone jokingly suggested it when I hummed it during a soundcheck. It has been a part of our live set for about a year now and has quickly become a favorite part of the show for both us and the audience.”
With their signature mix of 60s garage, 70s groove, punk urgency and a dark pop sensibility, Satan Takes A Holiday transform the iconic track into something completely their own – hypnotic, heavy, and undeniably addictive.
Known for bringing the house down with their electrifying performances, Satan Takes A Holiday have built a fierce reputation as one of Sweden’s best live acts. With support from BBC 6 Music (including Iggy Pop), Sweden’s P3 and Bandit Rock, and praise from outlets like Classic Rock, Louder Sound, Ghost Cult Magazine, and Rock Hard, they continue to push boundaries and defy expectations.
You’re the One That I Want is not just a cover – it’s a statement: bold, unexpected, and impossible to ignore.
What’s currently happening in the placid town of Wuppertal, Germany, is sure to make international waves in the not-too-distant future – at least for all those who move in the spheres of melodic death metal to metalcore and simply enjoy overall coherent concepts. Diverse, energetic, and full of dynamics: Darkness Surrounding represent modern metal with depth and recognition value. The band’s sound combines classical as well as contemporary elements – raw yet harmoniously sonorous, powerful yet meticulously detailed. A skillful blend of growls, clean vocals, rousing riffs, and groovy breakdowns makes each of their tracks a special experience.
The new album Is There Salvation?, on which Darkness Surrounding worked intensively for over a year and a half, will be released on September 19th. The record is a multifaceted piece that deals with social injustice, hopelessness, and the search for a way out. Fittingly, the artwork shows a glowing portal in the middle of a gloomy landscape — symbolizing a possible way out of the darkness. Musically, the album impresses with its diversity: Each track brings new impulses, no two songs are alike. It’s an album that will leave no one unaffected — and makes you wanna experience it again and again.
“We want to take the listener on an interesting journey, revealing a new facet with every song. The themes of the songs form a unity with the music, which should inspire you to go off, enjoy, and reflect. Uncompromising blast beats, vulnerable vocal passages, pounding grooves, and epic solos meet themes such as increasingly pronounced black-and-white thinking, cancel culture, unfulfilled love, the inner struggle with unwanted desires, or the feeling that we are insignificant in the eternal wheel of time”, the band says about the album.
To bridge the waiting time, Darkness Surroundings have just released a brand-new single that comes with a stylish music video. With Virtue’s End, the band delves deep into the dark gray areas between desire and resistance. The track deals with inner conflicts, forbidden desires, and the tug-of-war between intimacy and self-assertion. All of this is visually accompanied by an intense, aesthetically rich music video in which powerful symbolism reflects this inner struggle. Virtues’s End is an audiovisual statement: raw, emotional, and visually striking.
Live, Darkness Surrounding also offer an intense listening experience – groovy parts, powerful breakdowns, and emotional vocal passages provide goosebumps and guarantee headbanging.
Upcoming live shows (free entry!): Sunday, June 22, 7 PM – Radio Bob Stage at Kieler Woche (Kiel) Saturday, July 26 – Nord Sommerfest Open Air (Essen)
About Darkness Surrounding:
Darkness Surrounding’s musical journey began back in their school days, when they were still heavily influenced by classic melodic death metal. The band has been active in their current lineup since 2024: With Tim Dau on growls and Kassandra “Kessi” von Bajgar, who impresses with both her voice and on the guitar, the quintet brings new sonic facets to their work. The formation is complemented by founding member Leonard Pott on drums, Simon Adolf on lead guitar, and Nico Schubert on bass. Kessi’s clean vocals make the band’s sound more complex than ever. Inspired by scene giants like Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Gojira, Sylosis, and Bleed From Within, Darkness Surrounding create their own unique style – melodic, driving, and with a natural sound that impresses both live as well as in the studio.
MY MERRY MACHINE are known for their DIY creativity, especially in their videos. In this respect, the joy of new announcements is correspondingly great. This time, too, you can’t be disappointed.
With “From Another World”, the trio heralds the next chapter in the band’s history in order to attract attention in the run-up to “Rock am Härtsfeldsee”, a festival at which they will be supporting Eisbrecher and Soulfly, among others. And so the new song and video are also dark, extreme and disturbing, but on the other hand made for festivals and mosh pits!
Who is My Merry Machine? My Merry Machine – when even the most courageous visions become reality! And My Merry Machine make sure only My Merry Machine take hold of the reins of their wheel – or better machine – of fortune! Founded with a clear vision of their music and their origins and at the same time equipped with super strong visual images and imaginations combined with the enthralling storytelling metaphoric language of their song lyrics, My Merry Machine invite us on “Total War” to their fascinating world, their very own dream factory, fueled by total dedication and unstoppable creativity! Get ready for a deep-dive with no escape-plan! Get ready for My Merry Machine!
Line-up: Kirsten Zahn-Massing – Vocals Markus Visser – Guitar, Bass Tim Schwarz – Drums
Frontiers Music Srl proudly announces the signing of legendary English rock supergroup Asia, for an exciting new chapter in their celebrated history.
2024 was the Year of the Dragon – and with it came a powerful rebirth: a new Asia lineup featuring founding member, keyboardist Geoffrey Downes, acclaimed drummer Virgil Donati, virtuoso guitarist John Mitchell, and stunning vocal newcomer and bassist Harry Whitley. This new chapter promises to reignite the band’s iconic spirit, stepping into a promising new creative era.
Founder member, songwriter, producer and keyboardist Geoff Downes expressed his excitement for the signing:
“Asia is thrilled to have recently signed a new deal with Frontiers Music Srl. Having been loyally supported by the label throughout the Asia reunion period from 2005-2015, we are now entering an exciting new chapter in the band’s 45-year history with a sequence of live albums, DVDs & a brand new studio album scheduled for a 2026 release. It’s very much a homecoming for the band, and so we are greatly looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with them in the future. Watch this space!”
Mario de Riso, A&R and Business Affairs VP of Frontiers, commented: “So proud and excited for the label to be able to bring back this iconic band. There was certainly unfinished business to deal with and, thanks to this fabulous new line-up, new music from Asia can now come to fruition. It will be a blast!”
In the Summer of 2023, Geoff Downes spear-headed a memorial concert to remember and celebrate the life of his late, much-loved friend and Asia co-founder member, the great John Wetton. At the concert, he invited rock ‘n roll veteran John Mitchell – who had played with both Wetton and Downes in Icon and in Wetton’s own band – to join him on stage, taking on lead guitar duties. The duo was joined by newcomer Harry Whitley, who Downes had discovered and whose vocal talents so closely resembled that of Wetton’s, it was nothing short of spine-tingling.
In 1982 John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Carl Palmer and Steve Howe became the founding fathers of super group Asia, responsible for a string of multi-million selling albums and chart-topping hits across the globe. Asia’s self-titled1982 debut album was the biggest selling album in the world in that year. The band dominated the airwaves and for many “Heat Of The Moment”, “Only Time Will Tell” and “Sole Survivor”, amongst others, were the soundtrack to their youth.
Another multi-million seller, “Alpha” followed in 1983 and in 1986 “Astra” competed the trio of MTV era hits. Greg Lake briefly joined the band for a Japanese tour where Asia’s show from the fabled Budokan was the first inter-continental simulcast.
In 2006, the founding members reformed Asia and released several new albums before John Wetton’s untimely passing in 2017. Since John’s passing, Geoff and Carl have toured with Sam Coulson, Billy Sherwood, Ron Bumblefoot Thal and Steve Howe guesting.
Busy touring the globe, Carl Palmer is now immersed in a project very dear to his heart, the Return Of Emerson Lake & Palmer, while the legendary Steve Howe remains at the helm of progressive rock legends, Yes. So, Geoff made the decision to take a fresh, new-looking Asia back out on the road, recruiting Mitchell and Whitley as new members and bringing in the drumming excellence of the incomparable Virgil Donati, who had played with Wetton in UK.
Asia has entertained and delighted a multitude of audiences over the last forty years. Some of the world’s greatest musicians have taken up the Asia baton during that time. However, Geoff Downes believes that time is right to bring a fresh, new-looking Asia out into the light.
The Year of the Dragon foretells good fortune, abundance and prosperity. The Dragon blessed 1982, the year Asia was first unleashed into the world – and now the journey has come full circle. Time for the dragon to take flight once more.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
