Since June 13th, the new album “Dark Awakening” by German melodic death band IRA TENAX is available in stores, featuring 11 songs that are brute, technically and musically sophisticated, varied and yet precise to the point. A solid video clip “The Last Endeavor” is now available on the MDD YouTube channel – check it out!
Order
MDD: http://mdd-records.de/iratenax
AMAZON: https://amzn.to/3QFPYnN
More information:
https://www.facebook.com/iratenaxhanau
https://www.instagram.com/ira_tenax_official/
12 Years following WINTERSUN‘s TIME I, Finnish heavy metal quartet led by Jari Mäenpää announce their new album TIME II. TIME II will be released on August 30th via Nuclear Blast Records.
Jari Mäenpää comments: “TIME II is an epic journey from light to darkness and back to light, exploring the universe and energy, contrasting dark stormy landscapes to calm and beautiful cherry blossom tree gardens with misty, snowy mountains that will leave you breathless. It has songs with furious speed of drums, guitars, and bass and beautiful melodic slower songs with a magical exotic influence. It has massive orchestrations and choirs spiced with ancient world instruments and glimmering synths. It has Jari’s soaring, clean singing contrasted with his aggressive style. It is a highly detailed and complex album where you will find new things with every listen.”
Pre-Order TIME II here: https://wintersun.bfan.link/time-ii.ema
About WINTERSUN:
Finally our patience will be rewarded when Finnish WINTERSUN’s Time II album is revealed to the world on August, 30th by Nuclear Blast. ‘It has been quite a journey’ admits mastermind Jari Mäenpää who has been working on his expansive Time project since early 2004.
Time II includes six epic tracks with individual stories. Yet the subjects are all linked and this red line gives it a conceptual feeling. Entering WINTERSUN’s universe, we are brought into the right mood with the eastern-influenced, atmospheric intro ‘Fields Of Snow’. The first real WINTERSUN track is the metallic brilliance of ‘The Way Of The Fire’, with fire representing the energy of stars as a source of life, which is also connected to time. In ‘One With The Shadows’ we experience the magic of an opulence of vocal harmonies, while orchestral arrangements loom up as ornamental move. Jari has a remarkable vision on the lyrics, ‘Now I think it is about regret. You are living in the shadows as long as you don’t turn regret into something positive to continue your life. In ‘Ominous Clouds’, clouds are gathering as the interlude journeys towards the next exploring adventure ‘Storm’.
This is the heaviest and darkest track on the album,’ explains Jari. ‘It even has influences from classical music, more precisely from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, furious guitars and heavy drums prevail, while the tone remains chaotic.’ The last track, ‘Silver Leaves’, with an array of harmonious sounds, partly performed with traditional Chinese instruments like the ‘erhu’ (similar to the violin or fiddle). Ending on a positive note the song tells the story of finding a calm place and state of mind after the storm, being satisfied with your life and enjoying nature around you, as reflected by the cherry tree garden on the cover. The artwork was created by Cameron Gray, while the booklet was designed by Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák (lyrics, credits & thanks pages) and Onni Wiljami Kinnunen (band photos pages).
WINTERSUN is:
Jari Mäenpää | vocals, guitars, computer, programming
Teemu Mäntysaari | guitars
Jukka Koskinen | bass
Kai Hahto | drums
More information at https://www.facebook.com/wintersun
Sheffield has been producing world beating rock/metal music powerhouses for decades. Iconic legacy artists Def Leppard put Steel City on the world’s map, paving the way for modern metal heavyweights Bring Me The Horizon and While She Sleeps to emerge and collectively dominate the modern alternative music scene.
Now stepping up to stake their claim is Steal The City, a young Sheffield group whose melodic yet aggressive songs and ferocious live performances have been turning heads and taking names over the past few years. With such a rich musical heritage, Steal The City’s relentless drive and potent creativity is now realised on their upcoming debut studio album, ‘Road To Nowhere.’
As heard on Kerrang! Radio, lead single and album opener, ‘Drag Me To Hell’, reflects on the dark toxic nature of social media and immediately drags listeners in with its unrestrained lyrics and fierce energy.
Recorded and produced by guitarist James Kirkham at STC HQ, with mastering duties courtesy of Ste Kerry (Sleep Token/While She Sleeps/Malevolence), Steal The City’s debut album is stuffed with anthems of protest, but ultimately soaring with unity and fortitude that blend uplifting melodies delivering a potent message of resilience. Highlights tracks? Many feature on ‘Road To Nowhere’. From ‘Drag Me To Hell’ and ‘Stand Together’, to ‘Knight The Unholy’ and ‘You Don’t Define Me’ to name but a few; Steal The City delivers a taste of the dark and epic, capturing the essence of classic rock/metal but with a contemporary edge that’s too irresistible to ignore.
The new album lyrical thematics delve into the myriad challenges faced by modern day music artists and individuals alike, navigating the murky terrain of achieving tangible success in their craft in a time of screens dominating day to day life. Steal The City embraces the liberating realisation that the human journey holds greater significance than the destination and so, ‘Road To Nowhere’ thus becomes a triumphant ode to this perspective, celebrating the true essence of success in the creative journey.
Bold, assertive, dynamic; just a few words to describe this young band, Be ready, as they’re already on the lips of many fans and it’s only a matter of time before one of Sheffield’s boldest breaks through and steals this city.
‘Road To Nowhere’ by Steal The City is released 20th September 2024.
Album Tracklist:
1. Drag Me To Hell
2. In Ruins
3. Stand Together
4. If You Could See Me Now
5. You Don’t Define Me
6. Knight The Unholy
7. Timebomb
8. Tomorrow’s Another Day
9. Up In Smoke
10. Adrenaline
11. Road To Nowhere
Live Dates:
5th July – WHITEHAVEN – Twisted Tongue (w/ The Filth Hounds)
27 Sept – SHEFFIELD – Yellow Arch Studios (Album Launch Show)
Steal The City is:
Joe Chuggy – Lead Vocals and Guitar
James Kirkham – Lead Guitar and Vocals
Tom ‘Smit’ Smith – Bass and Vocals
Ellis Bullement – Drums
Connect with Steal The City:
. Official Website: www.stealthecity.com
. Facebook: www.facebook.com/stealthecityuk
. Instagram: www.instagram.com/stealthecityuk
. TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@stealthecity
Finnish melancholic metal band Garden of Stone is set to release their debut album ‘The Grave Mistake’ on November 29th 2024 via Inverse Records. The first single Day of Discord is released today and music video is available below.
Day of Discord” is showcasing the band’s newfound ferocity and aggressiveness in their songwriting. The brutal riffs and grueling screams are contrasted by a clean, melancholy section that ties the song to Garden of Stone’s roots. “Day of Discord” encapsulates the band’s growth as musicians, proving they are not afraid to push beyond the boundaries of their previously established genre.
The band comments:
“Lyrically the song portrays a dystopian world ravaged by war, where destruction and chaos are inevitable and omnipresent. It personifies conflict as a calculated force that consumes humanity, depicted through vivid and gruesome imagery. The lyrics highlight the futility of resistance and the dehumanizing effects of war, leaving nothing of value behind.”
LISTEN to Day of Discord on streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/gos-dod
The Grave Mistake Track list:
Artwork by Noora Khouya
Garden of Stone is a melodic metal band that weaves together melancholic rock and heavy metal. From the band you can expect brooding atmospheres, beautiful melodies, and face melting riffs.
The band was formed in 2023 when guitarists Jere Mäntysalo and Ville Penkari recruited Jesse Salo to sing and scream for their project. Soon after, drummer Tapio Haverinen joined to keep the rhythm department in check. The group was completed when bassist Kalle Hänninen joined to govern the lowest frequencies.
Garden of Stone published their debut EP, Tides of Decay, in February of 2024. The band is showing no signs of slowing down, as they are gearing up to release an LP later in 2024 after a series of singles.
Line-up:
Jere Mäntysalo – Guitar
Jesse Salo – Vocals
Kalle Hänninen – Bass
Ville Penkari – Guitar
Tapio Haverinen – Drums
https://www.facebook.com/gardenofstonetre
https://www.instagram.com/garden_of_stone_official
https://gardenofstoneband.bandcamp.com
ROT COVEN have announced the release of their debut album “Nightmares Devour The Waking World“, due out August 15th 2024 via Aesthetic Death.
The track “Antimatter Halo” is now streaming at THIS LOCATION.
ROT COVEN is a 2-piece, noise-drenched industrial death metal/sludge band.
MZ sings and plays bass and drums while DD focuses more on guitar, then both members slather everything in layers of noise boxes, scrap metal, ritual drums and processed field recordings. This duo has been creating music together in various bands for around twenty years.
Born of a lifelong love of cosmic horror, heavy riffs, and creeped-out industrial noise, the band that would become ROT COVEN first saw the light of day during the COVID-19 lockdowns of spring 2020.
The initial idea was to fuse ominous dark ambient synth textures with pounding “doom” style drums, but bass, guitars, vocals, and scrap metal percussion were quickly added to the mix resulting in a room-shaking cacophony equal parts Autopsy, Chu Ishikawa and the slow crawling No-Wave dirges of early SWANS.
ROT COVEN‘s first physical release “Nightmares Devour the Waking World” pairs two full-length albums: Phase I (initally self-released through the duo’s bandcamp) and the unreleased follow-up Phase II. Phase I builds colossal sludge riffs out of lurking death industrial dronescapes with the final track erupting into a supernova of scorching psychedelic leads and almost “doomgaze” melodicism, while Phase II descends deeper into the abyss, adding elements of unrelentingly ugly death metal to their apocalyptic scum-dirge.
Both albums explore a planet ravaged by cataclysms – storms of poison ash, churning acidic seas, and deserts that spread like a sentient organism. Colony collapse disorder on a galactic scale. A world where nature is so thoroughly gutted that reality itself starts to corrode, letting something seep in from “outside.” A hostile consciousness so massive and utterly alien that the last remaining humans begin to worship it as a god:
Hideous rituals of blood and fire.
Cathedrals sculpted from scrap metal and the shattered bones of the dead.
The soul slowly, inexorably, replaced by void.
ROT COVEN draws influence from Godflesh, Coffins, Abruptum, Wallowing, Body Void, Ramleh, Pain Teens, White Mice, Throbbing Gristle, Missing Foundation, Melvins, Flipper, early Butthole Surfers, Mighty Sphincter, No Trend, Einstürzende Neubauten, Lustmord and Megaptera.
Tracklist:
Phase I:
01. Blood Pours Out of the Sun
02. Feast of the Rotted Mother
03. Antimatter Halo
04. Queen of the Void
05. Those Who Worship Fallen Stars
Phase II:
01. Inverted Chasm
02. Psychological Contamination Zone
03. Accretion Disk Necropolis
https://www.facebook.com/RotCoven
https://rusteater.bandcamp.com/
Dungeon synth master MORTIIS has now added two new performances to his upcoming North American “The Dungeons are Calling” headlining tour, now stopping in Salt Lake City, UT on September 15 and Phoenix, AZ on September 22. The updated itinerary can be found below!
The tour will be in celebration of MORTIIS’ seminal 1993 album, ‘Født Til Å Herske,’ which played a significant role in popularizing the dungeon synth genre and was re-recorded in 2023. The new itinerary can be found below while tickets can be found HERE.
MORTIIS has previously announced BRIGHTER DEATH NOW as direct support, who will be performing parts of his “Necrose Evangelicum” album from 1995 for this tour for the first time! The band will join from the tour kickoff through the Los Angeles stop on September 21. Local openers will also be added, which are handpicked by Mortiis himself!
MORTIIS’ live soundscape will be accompanied with visuals created by renowned artist and illustrator David Thierree, known for his work with Mortiis, Behemoth, and others.
Previously announced support for the tour includes Sombre Arcane (September 4-17), Malfet (September 14 – 28), and appearances by Fogweaver in Denver, CO and Albuquerque, NM.
MORTIIS w/ BRIGHTER DEATH NOW
(“The Dungeons are Calling” North American Tour Dates):
09/04: Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery~ 09/05: Clifton, NJ @ Dingbatz~
09/06: Boston, MA @ Sonia~ 09/07: Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie~
09/08: New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge~ 09/09: Pittsburgh, PA @ Preserving Underground~
09/10: Detroit, MI @ The Sanctuary~ 09/11: Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s~
09/12: St. Paul, MN @ White Rock Lounge~ 09/13: Lincoln, NE @ 1867 Bar~
09/14: Denver, CO @ The Oriental*^#~
09/15: Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon *^#~ [JUST ADDED]
09/17: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon*^~
09/18: Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s^~
09/19: San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge^~
09/20: San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick^~
09/21: Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom^ ~
09/22: Phoenix, AZ @ Last Exit Live ^~ [JUST ADDED]
09/23: Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad^#
09/24: Haltom City, TX @ Haltom Theater^
09/25: Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live^
09/26: Houston, TX @ Secret Group^
09/27: New Orleans, LA @ The Goat^
09/28: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Altar)^
~w/ Brighter Death Now *w/ Sombre Arcane ^w/ Malfet #w/ Fogweaver
More info: Facebook – Instagram – X – Bandcamp – Spotify – Apple Music – Official Shop
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 