The album “Mentes Reae” by Finnish melodic death metal band Hagalas will be released via Inverse Records on May 31, 2024, as a physical edition, and will be available on streaming platforms as a whole in early autumn 2024. The timely theme of the album, depicting the multifaceted aspects of mental health, also resonates in the newly released track. The message of the song revolves around the continuous search for meaning in human life, and how at the end, the character of the story realizes that their life has been spent chasing meaningless pursuits, and the time given has been questionably utilized. Perhaps the message is to do something with your life before it’s too late.
The song is available on streaming platforms, and a lyric video has been created, which can be viewed on Inverse Records’ and the band’s channels.
Pier Gonella, guitarist and producer known for his work with Necrodeath, Mastercastle, Vanexa, and various other projects, has officially entered the Guinness World Records for “The Most studio album digitally released”.
Gonella has released over 300(!) albums of backing tracks for musicians, and with 122 albums released in 2023, he has surpassed the previous record.
The record can be viewed on the Guinness World Records website at this link https://bit.ly/4arSqX4 (until it is surpassed).
Pier Gonella commented: “I publicly thank Daniele Pascali (Black Tears/Diamonds Prod rec), Pippo ‘Sbranf’ Marino (Metal.it/Rock Hard Italy), and Peso (Necrodeath) who provided their testimonies to accompany the extensive documentation. The Guinness World Records does not decide who the most experienced or ‘skilled’ musician in the world is, but it is a globally recognized institution that gathers all those who decide to distinguish themselves by venturing into something great. It was an exhausting but also fun challenge, which will give a lot of credibility to my work in music production that I have been carrying out with great passion for years. Furthermore, I wanted to send a message to today’s musicians: the time I spent producing 122 albums in a year, in my opinion, is the same time that many musicians spend on social media counting ‘likes,’ posting photos instead of music, and being “keyboard lions”… Let’s aim for more ambitious results, and by leveraging today’s technologies, we can achieve much more significant records…”
Pearl Jam proudly present their latest single, âWreckageâ. The single comes in advance of their anxiously awaited twelfth studio album, Dark Matter, available this Friday, April 19th via Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records.
Stone Gossard on âWreckageâ: âThat one probably has the biggest build for me personally, in terms of hearing it at first and thinking, itâs kind of an Ed song. I wasnât quite aware of its potency until later. Andrew [Watt] encouraged me to play this little harmonic, acoustic part almost like a Cure melody. Iâve been playing along with the song to relearn it and Iâm really looking forward to playing it live. Itâs a really powerful lyric and I think we did a really great job of taking something and really pushing it to its limit.â Â Andrew Watt adds: â[âWreckageâ] started with the riff and everyone kind of formulating sections together. That song just came to Ed right away. Within the first couple takes before the music was even right, his vocals were right. His melodies and words are so strong in that song. Once the initial spark was there and there were a few sections, it was just really about following him.â
Today Non Serviam Records proudly announces the signing of French death metal outfit AD PATRES.  âWe are proud to announce our signing to the label Non Serviam Records for the release of our forthcoming and pivotal 3rd album. We would like to thank them for their support and belief in our vision. Be prepared for the continuation of this ongoing journey into Death Metal,â comments the band.Â
Ricardo Gelok, Non Serviam Records owner continues: “I know Ad Patressince 2010 when i received their 1st prom., It was pleasantly surprised when I received the promo of the new Ad Patres album. The band always created good music, and this new album delivered as well.The brutality in the songs as we as the great guitar riffs tell you how to play brutal Death Metalâ.â
Bordeaux-based AD PATRES were founded in 2008 and released their first EP 2 years later – featuring three intense and brutal tracks that drew inspiration from death metal giants like MORBID ANGEL and SUFFOCATION. The EP laid the foundation for their unique sound, blending classic death metal standards with modern influences.
 After their first full-length offspring “Scorn Aesthetics” in 2012, the band quickly gained recognition for their brutal and uncompromising approach to death metal.
The band is known for a style that seamlessly oscillates between melodic elements and unbridled aggression. Rejecting a calculated approach, AD PATRES focuses on crafting music that resonates with their personal tastes, involves meticulous refinement, and undergo extensive rehearsal.
Describing their sound as clean, direct, and devoid of unnecessary frills, they aim for a music experience that is unequivocally “in your face”, as their latest effort “A Brief Introduction To Human Experimentsâ (2018) showcases.
AD PATRES will release its new album “Unbreathable” on June 7th 2024 through Non Serviam Records.
No one can outsmart Replacire. Not only does the band hold several degrees from Berklee College of Music. Even their name is something of a puzzle. But for their long-awaited third album, they weren’t interested in pumping out just another set of rigorously technical death metal. As their new single so finely demonstrates, they wanted to flex both their brains and brawn. Â
The Center That Cannot Hold comes out June 21, 2024 on Season of Mist.
Metalheads of all shapes and sizes have come to count on Replacire for a dizzying mental workout. The Center That Cannot Hold keeps those synapses firing. On “A Fine Manipulation”, drummer Joey Ferretti and bassist Zak Baskin hardly break a sweat as they run you through a gauntlet of stomach-turning tempo shifts. Before the song is halfway through its compact four-minute runtime, Poh Hock has already lapped the field with a solo that hurdles through the air like a sprinter.
“A Fine Manipulation” will twist even the brainiest tech-death scholar into a pretzel, but the band’s new single works out all your core headbanging muscles. After warming up with some curls of melodic dissonance and a few short but clenched bursts of nervy shredding, Hock gets a spot from rhythm guitarist Eric Alper as the two lock into the kind of steadily pulverizing downhill chug that’s bound for the mosh pit.
“During our last tour, we noticed that fans really responded to the parts of our set that are heavier and more crushing”, says Alper, who when he’s not cranking out records at Ugly Duck Studios is competing as a body builder. “When writing our new album, we tried to come up with more songs like this one. ‘A Fine Manipulation’ retains that technical density that metal fans love, but it’s also more straightforward and hard-hitting in a way that makes people move around”.
Of course, it wasn’t so easy for Replacire to stick to that relatively simple blueprint. Like their current label mates and former tour mates Gorguts and Beyond Creation, this band has always taken their time when it comes to the heavy lifting of writing a new album. But between the global pandemic, countless Zoom calls, bouts with writer’s block, depression, anxiety, sleep paralysis and one near trip to the hospital, their new album is seven long years in the making.
But despite what the title might suggest, The Center That Cannot Hold holds strong and steady. Like any song that’s worth its weight in heavy metal, “A Fine Manipulation” channels that chaotic shit storm into a concentrated, empowering force. James Dorton is so imposing that even his cleans thunder like Zeus, but his growls have never struck more fear.
“I am your lord god”, he roars, as if throwing the weight of the world off his shoulders, before the rest of the band launches into the album’s most muscular breakdown.
On “A Fine Manipulation”, Replacire prove they’re the full package.
Cover Art by Andrew Tremblay (@actremblayart)
Tracklist 1. Bloody Tongued And Screaming (4:26) 2. The Center That Cannot Hold (3:05)Â [LISTEN] 3. Living Hell (2:58) 4. A Fine Manipulation (4:21)Â [LISTEN] 5. The Helix Unravels (3:02) 6. Drag Yourself Along The Earth (3:39) 7. Inglorious Impunity (3:32) 8. The Ghost In The Mirror (3:57) 9. Hoard The Trauma Like Wealth (4:20) 10. Transfixed On The Work (3:28) 11. Uncontrolled And Unfulfilled (6:41) Total runtime: 43:36
When Replacire started thinking about their third album, they gravitated around a simple idea. Write some caveman riffs to feed the mosh pit the next time they went out on tour. Of course, like any good technical death metal band thatâs worth its weight in colored sands, these whiz kids deviated from their initial thought pattern. It wasnât easy. Heck, they ended up crawling down a seven-year rabbit hole. But on The Center That Cannot Hold, the Boston band flex all their muscles
“This was a grueling process”, says guitarist Eric Alper. “But it was worth it in the end”.
On the surface, Replacire starts and ends with Alper. After all, the band is just his name spelled backward. Alper is a competitive bodybuilder with a mean and lean right rhythm hand, but don’t let those beefy credentials fool you. When it comes to the studio, his brain does all the heavy lifting. By day, Alper produces music for other artists, as well as TV and movies. He’s a proud alumnus of Berklee College of Music, which is where he formed Replacire with four classmates back in 2009.
Using the money that they savvily raised on Kickstarter, Replacire self-released their debut album by the end of 2012. A hybrid of thrash, prog and death metal, The Human Burden punched through the underground like a cyborg’s fist. “This is what would have happened if Chuck Schuldiner were still alive today and mixed up with the likes of Obscura and Opeth at the same time”, Metal Injection gushed. After tours with Hate Eternal and Beyond Creation and an unintentional private showcase for a certain label rep, Replacire signed with Season of Mist in 2016. The band wasted no time before making a quick first impression. While still head-spinning, their second album landed with the decisive force of a first-round knockout.
Indeed, Replacire were chugging along with a full head of steam. But there’s a reason why their new album is called The Center That Cannot Hold. After all, this is extreme metal. Things were bound to go flying off the rails at some point. Before they could even step out on their next headlining tour, the band’s lineup completely turned over. While their momentum stalled, Alper went searching for replacements.
Luckily, he didn’t have to go any further than his old stomping grounds. Alper linked up with Zak Baskin, who had filled in on bass for parts of Do Not Deviate. Alper then reconnected with Kee Poh Hock, a guitar whiz who’d lived with Baskin when all three were students at Berklee. Even though he graduated a few classes after them, Joey Feretti was so advanced behind the drum kit that he became Alper’s roommate. With mighty vocalist James Dorton joining fresh off Black Crown Initiate’s breakout, the new-and-improved Replacire were all set to hit Alper’s Ugly Duck Studio come March of 2020.
No one needs to be reminded of what happened next. Replacire always grind in the studio, taking their sweet time to fine tune every technical detail down to the last seventh string. “It never ceases to amaze me the way other metal bands just churn stuff out”, Alper says. “It doesn’t come easy for us. So many hours go into so few seconds of music”. But when the pandemic shut the world down, writing slowed to a crawl amidst the endless slog of Zoom sessions. With live music shut down for the foreseeable future, suddenly, their well-laid plan for pumping out an album of crowd killers seemed more and more like a flimsy proposition. To stay afloat, Alper sold the band’s van and moved out of their rehearsal space.
“Everything that I had built to support the band was falling apart”, Alper says.
The mounting stress would’ve left a lesser band bloody-tongued and screaming. But despite being stuck inside this perfect shit storm, Replacire banged their heads together and pushed through. “Living Hell” was inspired by a nasty spell of sleep paralysis that Dorton suffered after witnessing a traumatic event. “In the wake of suicide”, he groans, shrouded by eerie pangs of distortion. Alper was battling his own bouts with anxiety and depression that were brought on by a rather severe case of writer’s block, but even when all he could stand to do was lay on the couch while humming through a half-finished riff, Poh Hock would pick up his Strandberg and zip past the finish line. “The Helix Unravels” could twist all of Mensa into a pretzel with its interlocked chugs and squealing fret bends.
The Center That Cannot Hold is crammed full of mind-bending tech-death workouts. Baskinâs unfettered groove serves as the perfect springboard for another transcendent Hock solo halfway through “Hoard the Trauma Like Wealth”, though his reverberated bass echoes like a sea of voices trapped at the bottom of a well on “The Ghost in the Mirror”. The title track unspools under Feretti’s syncopated snare hits and precision blasting, though Alper was the real drill sergeant. “I wanted the vocals to sound like they do on Slipknot’s self-titled album, where Corey is gasping for air”. Dorton took the inspiration to heart, running through full takes, with no stops, for hours on end. Heck, his vocal chords were so tattered and torn that he narrowly avoided a trip to the hospital.
“We poured all of our blood, sweat and tears into this album”, Alper says. “It took years off my life. There were plenty of times where I wanted to quit. But I’m glad we didn’t, because this is our best album. Everything from the overall production down to the lead guitar parts took a step up. The tone is more serious The songs are still techy buy they’re also a lot heavier. I’m proud of us”.
On The Center That Cannot Hold, Replacire stand stronger than ever.  Â
“I have probably never released a more personal album than “My Ghost”. This is how CREST OF DARKNESS founder Ingar Amlien defines “My Ghost”, the new full-length album from the Norwegian Black Metal band, set for release on the next autumn on My Kingdom Music and anticipated in June by a single released in an exclusive 7″ EP format.
“My Ghost” is the result of two years worth of blood, sweat and tears, that began with Ingar working alone to mould his very personal thoughts and beliefs into musical ideas that the band can then develop together, each contributing their own ideas to the process, before entering the MLP Studios with Nils H. Maehlum at the helm. The result is an extremely personal journey that defines the very essence of CREST OF DARKNESS.
Here are Ingar’s thoughts about the new music they will be releasing:Â “After what felt to us like an eternity of waiting, the time has finally come for us to be able to present you with new music. Since 1996 I have nurtured CREST OF DARKNESS in my heart, and in all that time I have probably never released a more personal album than “My Ghost”, which will appear in the Autumn of 2024. Before that, however, you can get a taste of what to expect from “My Ghost”, in the form of a single which will be released in June, even before details of the album itself are announced. I can, however, reveal that “My Ghost” is a concept album, one in which you are invited to join me on what I would call an “initiation journey” into the CREST OF DARKNESS Universe. An invitation into my own dark universe where there is only one ruler… one God… ME!!”.
Over the coming days we’ll reveal more details about the album and the upcoming single. For the moment just imagine finding yourself in front of one of the most incredible, mature and deeply personal albums that CREST OF DARKNESS has ever released.
Kimmo Kuusniemiâs 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 Kuusniemiâs 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 âAurora Nuclearisâ, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 