Photo by Marc Sabat – Single Cover Art: Maciej Kamuda – Layout: Juuso Honkanen
Fuzz rock group Thermate (est. 2012) have released a new song, “Buzzkill”, along with a mesmerizing psychedelic sing-along video. With a dynamic blend of heavy riffs and infectious groove, the new single guarantees to make anyone’s flare pants flutter.
New material has been in the pipeline for quite some time, while the rhythm section has seen some changes since their debut album’s release in 2019 through Argonauta Records. The group’s sophomore LP can be expected to come out some time next year.
“The song cruises like a convertible on the groove-filled highways of the ‘70s, making your hair blow in the breeze no matter how bald you are! Towards the end, we slow things down a bit veering towards ’90s vibes and introducing some deliciously heavy stoner riffs. Shamelessly combining various styles, this track serves as a compelling preview of the diverse nature of our forthcoming material,” says the band’s guitarist, Mikko Väätäinen.
Vocalist Arthur Thure continues: “Throughout the history of mankind, good and evil have clashed. Although tyrants have usurped power, there has always been a counterforce which has paved the way for victory over tyranny. The lyrics of this song are meant to encourage one to take a stand against injustice, everywhere and always.”
Members: Arthur Thure – vocals Mikko Väätäinen – guitar Juuso Honkanen – guitar Perttu Moilanen – bass Sami Taskinen – drums
To celebrate the release of the new album, Pearl Jam will present an exclusive cinematic engagement, Pearl Jam – Dark Matter – Global Theatrical Experience – One Night Only, on April 16, 2024. Distributed by Abramorama, Dark Matter will come to life in over 800 locations worldwide, including US theaters AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Landmark, Marcus, Cinepolis, Harkins, Alamo Drafthouse, Chinese Cineplex, IFC, and more. Additionally, AMC and other cinemas will feature Dolby Atmos showings. Worldwide, it graces theaters in over 30 countries, appearing in more than 450 locations across Mexico, the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand, and Poland, to name a few. Today, the band drops their first look at the Theatrical Experience.
You can watch the trailer HERE. Tickets are on sale HERE.
Produced by multi-GRAMMY® award winning producer Andrew Watt, Dark Matter, marks the band’s first release since critically acclaimed Gigaton (2020). In 2023, the members of Pearl Jam—Eddie Vedder [vocals], Jeff Ament [bass], Stone Gossard [rhythm guitar], Mike McCready [lead guitar], and Matt Cameron [drums]—retreated to Shangri-La Studios in Malibu where they simply plugged in and played with producer Andrew Watt at the helm. The band is celebrating indie record stores with the release of a special edition of Dark Matter on April 20. Only at participating stores as part of Record Store Day. Get more information and find stores at www.recordstoreday.com
Album Artwork: light painting art by Alexandr Gnezdilov
Dark Matter Tracklist 1. Scared of Fear 2. React, Respond 3. Wreckage 4. Dark Matter 5. Won’t Tell 6. Upper Hand 7. Waiting for Stevie 8. Running 9. Something Special 10. Got to Give 11. Setting Sun
About Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an alternative rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. The band’s lineup consists of bassist Jeff Ament, rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard, lead guitarist Mike McCready, lead singer/guitarist Eddie Vedder and drummer Matt Cameron. Thirty plus years of live performances, twelve studio albums and hundreds of official live concert bootleg releases later, Pearl Jam continues to be critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The band has sold over 85 million albums worldwide and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Since the earliest days, Pearl Jam has used its platform to elevate people and causes that often go unnoticed or underserved. Much of the band’s philanthropic work is accomplished through its Vitalogy Foundation which to date has raised more than $50 million for organizations supporting issues such as abortion access, climate change and homelessness, and drawing attention to the fight against diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis and epidermolysis bullosa (EB). In addition to the money Vitalogy donates, the band also donates signed instruments, posters and merchandise to organizations to use for their own fundraising purposes. Compounding the impact of Vitalogy Foundation, the band has supported Jeff Ament’s Montana Pool Service building skate parks in Montana and South Dakota. Pearl Jam also lends its voice to notable causes like the West Memphis 3, voting rights and fair ticketing practices. Over the past three decades, the band has a long history of standing up for what it believes in and putting its resources behind those beliefs.
Through its innovative Ten Club and fan engagement, community building, coveted poster designs, and longstanding activism and philanthropy, Pearl Jam continues to have a lasting impact on generations of music lovers.
Finnish death metal band UNEARTHLY RITES has today announced their signing to Prosthetic Records and will be releasing their debut album, Ecdysis, on May 3 via the Los Angeles label. Alongside the signing and album announcement, UNEARTHLY RITES has shared the title track with an accompanying music video. On their first full-length UNEARTHLY RITES offer up a cavernously old school approach to the genre as a rallying cry against corporate greed and ecocide.
Speaking on the signing announcement, UNEARTHLY RITES‘ Simo Perkiömäki (guitar) comments: “We’re thrilled to announce our signing with Prosthetic Records for our absolutely mind snaring debut album Ecydsis, coming out on May 3.”
Vocalist Sisli Piisilä adds: “Ecdysis is a dystopian journey in defense of nature, from the filthy bunkers where old school death metal and DIY punk attitude shake hands.”
Of the title track and music single, Sisli continues: “The title song came from a scene I walked by in the wilderness, a deer that had been ripped up in pieces by wolves. Its fur covered the ground everywhere, leaving only bare bones in sight as the carcass had already offered a feast for the animals of the forest. Ecdysis is about disappointment with modern humanity, wishing to shed one’s skin to join something earthier instead.”
Formed in 2020 through existing friendships in their native underground extreme metal and punk scenes, UNEARTHLY RITES’ members’ mutual adherence to DIY methods and principles of creativity and community resulted in a self-titled EP in 2021. As with their preceding release, Ecdysis once again saw the band record to tape with drummer Tapio Lepistö at the helm of the sessions at Black Floyds Analog Studio between May and September 2022. The ominously stark black and white cover also sees bassist Jennika Vikman once again take on art and logo duties.
At the beating heart of Ecdysis lies UNEARTHLY RITES’ insistence for a better world, with the perilous effects of capitalist interests taking precedence over nature and human life at the core of the group’s concerns. Through their collective work in environmental activism, including anti-mining campaigns in the arctic north, Ecdysis is less a despairing cry as it is a plea for change.
The band’s caustic approach to barbarically punishing death metal adds a feverish urgency to proceedings, with the rhythm section of bassist Vikman and guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko evoking the genre’s most cavernously brutish traits against Sisli Piisilä’s visceral vocal delivery. Despite their rage and despondency at institutional apathy on the title track and the harrowingly doomy highlight cut Sacrifice Zones, album closer Doomed shuns inaction and resigned complicitly by directly challenging the listener to choose their side for humanity’s sake and future.
Ecdysis tracklist: 1. Hellscape 2. Deep Drilling the Earth’s Crust 3. The Master’s Tools 4. Ecdysis 5. Capitalocenic Nightmare 6. New Venus 7. Fuck Ecofascism 8. Sacrifice Zones 9. Doomed
UNEARTHLY RITES is: Sisli Piisilä – Vocals Simo Perkiömäki – Guitar Tapio Lepistö – Drums Jennika Vikman – Bass Santtu Markko – Guitar
Almost 20 long years since the release of their latest studio album “Heathen Machine”, UK heavy metal act BALANCE OF POWER returns with a new band line-up and brand new studio offering! “Fresh From The Abyss” will be released on April 19, 2024 via Massacre Records, the pre-sale is available at https://lnk.to/freshfromtheabyss
Founding members Tony Ritchie (bass) and Lionel Hicks (drums) are joined the band’s new lead vocalist Hazel Jade as well as guitarists Chris Young and Adam Wardle, who have since taken over the reins from guitarists Chris Masimore and Stoney Wagner, with whom the band worked on and recorded the upcoming album “Fresh From The Abyss”.
Following previously-released album tracks such as “Never Be Here Again” and “Abyss”, today, BALANCE OF POWER present their new single “One More Time Around The Sun”!
Tony comments: “The song is about wanting to spend another year and then another and another with the person you love. I don’t usually write about specific people, but this song was inspired by my love for my wife Diki and never wanting it to end. Hazel changed the melody of the line “Take me one more time around the sun” which added such a great hook to the chorus. Lionel was responsible for the double time sections which lifted the song onto another level for the solos.
Written before, during and after the pandemic, the band took a more organic approach and tested themselves with new and different ways of writing their songs. Largely about life and death, “Fresh From The Abyss” is a collection of songs that either stops the clock and points to a moment in time or stands back and encompasses the vastness of time and space, and living and dying.
Produced by Toby Jepson and Lionel Hicks, “Fresh From The Abyss” was mixed by Sam Lowe with a remix by Mike Plotnikoff. For the mastering, the band hired Simon Francis, the cover artwork was created by Antz White with a design from Stuart Dilley.
Cover Design by Stuart Dilley – Artwork by Antz White
Tracklist:
Last Man Down
Never Be Here Again
Monster
Rage Of Ages
Abyss
Velocity
Deadlands
One More Time Around The Sun
BALANCE OF POWER is: Hazel Jade – Lead Vocals Chris Young – Guitars Adam Wardle – Guitars Tony Ritchie – Bass, Vocals Lionel Hicks – Drums
Album Line-Up: Hazel Jade – Lead Vocals Chris Masimore – Guitars Stoney Wagner – Guitars Tony Ritchie – Bass, Vocals Julien Spreutels – Keyboards Lionel Hicks – Drums
French drone-ambient entity EVENTIDE, featuring members of acclaimed progressive death-doom metal act EPITAPHE will release their debut album “Waterline” on April 11th 2024 via Aesthetic Death.
Today, the project shares “Sphere”, the album’s closing track. Get mesmerised HERE.
EVENTIDE and “Waterline” are both somewhat spontaneous and unplanned, both borne into existence out of a necessity to find an outlet for a diversifying creative flow.
Consisting of members of the French progressive death metal act, EPITAPHE, it is easy to see how EVENTIDE has become a continuation and flow of their sounds and directionality, a creative space and capacity for their desire to evolve all the many different sounds and ideas which overspill from that which they do with EPITAPHE.
In fact, it was during the EPITAPHE recording sessions of “II” that the band had such a wealth of ideas for their tracks that EVENTIDE was spontaneously created to bring those ideas to life. How intrinsically linked both bands are becomes apparent in the opening track, which starts with a chord progression that was developed during the recording sessions for the track “Melancholia” from “II”.
As an album itself “Waterline” is a beautiful meandering journey. The album grew out of long improvised rehearsals, mixing modular synthesizers, analog and digital effects, saxophone and guitar. EVENTIDE were able to draw on their love of jazz, drone, ambient and electronic music, and then using shapes, textures and timbres to craft and carve streams of constantly morphing atmosphere.
The music feels seamless – but still covers much ground, with the listener often unaware of these morphing shifts, just blissfully taking the flow of the album as it evolves, unfolds and cycles through eerie and ethereal sonorities. “Waterline” was recorded live (except for the title track and very few overdubs) and the band have had the opportunity to develop and express these ideas live through their involvement with the Collectif Eptagon in Grenoble.
For the physical edition of “Waterline” the band have gathered the great help of Stefan Thanneur for the visuals, it was recorded and mixed at Mémoire Mécanique Studio (France) by Mathieu Gaud (recording) & James Leonard (additional recording & mixing), and the album was mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios (UK).
Source influences include Sunn O))), Ulver, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Portico Quartet.
Norwegian Black Metal Titans 1349 Team Up with Folk-Black Vanguard Kampfar for a Tour That Promises to Ignite the European Underground.
In a union that promises to reshape the contours of black metal, Norwegian titans 1349 are joining forces with the revered Kampfar for the highly anticipated 1349 & Kampfar – 2024 EU Co-Headline Tour. A ceremonial gathering of black metal’s most fervent apostles, ready to spread the gospel of Aural Hellfire and pagan might across Europe.
1349, known for their unwavering dedication to the essence of black metal, have continually evolved while respecting the genre’s roots. From their formation in the ashes of Alvheim in 1997 to their groundbreaking releases like ‘Hellfire’ and ‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos,’ 1349 have cemented their status as a powerhouse of Norwegian black metal. Their journey has been one of relentless touring, including memorable stints opening for metal legends CELTIC FROST, and achieving milestones such as scoring a nomination for a Norwegian Grammy. Their sonic evolution, marked by ventures into ambient darkness and collaborations with icons like CELTIC FROST’s Tom Gabriel “Warrior” Fischer, exhibits an innovative spirit that refuses to stagnate. In 2018, the band’s creative prowess was further recognized when they were chosen to set Edvard Munch’s paintings to music, resulting in the eerie masterpiece Dødskamp.
As 1349 continues to summon the beast of the abyss with their ferocious live performances, this tour marks a new pinnacle in their relentless advance. Alongside the equally formidable Kampfar, this co-headline venture is set to be a beacon for fans of true, unadulterated black metal. They’ll be bringing along special guests Afksy across all 23 EU dates.
1349 & Kampfar Co-Headline – 2024 EU Tour:
01 October: Leipzig, DE @ Anker 02 October: Berlin, DE @ SO36 03 October: Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall 04 October: Gothenburg, SE @ Filmstudion 05 October: Stockholm, SE @ Kolletkivet Livet 07 October: Helsinki, FI @ Aaniwalli 08 October: Tallinn, EE @ Helitehas 09 October: Riga, LV @ Melna Piektdiena 10 October: Warsaw, PL @ Proxima 11 October: Kraków, PL @ Kamienna 12 12 October: Vienna, AT @ Vienna Metal Meeting 13 October: Budapest, HU @ Barba Negra 15 October: Prague, CZ @ Futurum 16 October: Munich, DE @ Backstage 17 October: Milano, IT @ Slaughter Club 18 October: Colmar, FR @ Le Grillen 19 October: Aarburg, CH @ Musigburg 20 October: Oignies, FR @ Tyrant Fest 22 October: Weiher, DE @ Live Music Hall 23 October: Paris, FR @ Le Petit Bain 24 October: Bochum, DE @ Zeche 25 October: Amstelveen, NL @ P60 26 October: Maastricht, NL @ Samhain Festival
1349 States: ““Little did we know, more than four years ago, that by the time we would again go on tour in Europe, the continent was to be hit by a pandemic and a war. We have entered a time where grim realities have already become manifest, and a still deeper darkness hangs over us and has started its descent. To lend from our own songtitles, Pandemonium War Bells chime in the distance, threatening to become louder. It has become imminent to understand and take in the gravity and let the darkness sink in, and 1349 might just be the perfect soundtrack. Especially now, as we are about to release a particularly sinister and eerie album. We look forward to travel out to the Continent again and feel how the new songs work live in all their demonic splendour, as well as performing songs from our history and share their energies with both old fans and new. We are also pleased to be sharing the stage with fellow Norsemen Kampfar and our Danish brothers in Afsky who will join us on our journey southwards.“
Before embarking on this colossal tour, 1349 ascended new heights of darkness with their seventh studio album, The Infernal Pathway.
Emblazoned with the audacious tagline, “AURAL HELLFIRE,” the album maps a descent into darkness and chaos, marking the band’s continued dedication to bridging the old school with the avant-garde. The layered intensity of tracks such as Dødskamp or Striding the Chasm bespeak the band’s ability to create expansive soundscapes that echo with ultra-fast aggression and chilling ambients.
Current plans envision a brand new release to descend upon the black metal realm later in 2024. Stay tuned for the next chapter in the 1349 saga, where the AURAL HELLFIRE we experience, grows deeper and darker.
Norwegian black metal titans 1349 have returned with their long awaited seventh full-length: The Infernal Pathway. The album promises a journey through chaos and madness, darkness and peril, terror, and annihilation.
1349 is AURAL HELLFIRE. That has been, and continues to be, the primary concept since the band first rose from the ashes of Alvheim in 1997. Conceived around the founding members – vocalist and former drummer Ravn, guitarist Tjalve, and Seidemann on bass – 1349 completed their line-up with the addition of guitarist Archaon in 1999 and SATYRICON drum-legend Frost in 2001.
When their debut Liberation was unleashed in 2003, the Norwegians took the world by storm with their intense blend of old school black metal soundscapes and ultra-fast aggression. Further assaults followed in rapid succession. Beyond the Apocalypse (2004) and Hellfire (2005) cemented the band’s reputation as one of the strongest acts in the scene.
Upon the departure of founding member Tjalve, who decided to focus on his band PANTHEON I, 1349 have since continued as a four-piece – occasionally adding guest guitarists. Extensive touring aided the growth of their now massive following when the four-piece opened for reunited metal legends CELTIC FROST in North America in 2006.
Impressively demonstrating that holding true to the principles of the genre do not mean nostalgia and stagnation, 1349 widened their sonic palette with Revelations of the Black Flame (2009), which was co-mixed by CELTIC FROST mastermind Tom Gabriel “Warrior” Fischer. This inspired a newfound ambient darkness from the band, which was further explored on Demonoir (2010).
Massive Cauldron of Chaos (2013) was the next milestone in the Norwegians merciless advance, scoring excellent reviews and a nomination for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen). The release sparked more festival shows as well as extensive touring, bringing 1349 to Australia and New Zealand. In 2018, the Munch Museum and Innovation Norway chose 1349 as one of four bands to create a song based on the paintings of Edvard Munch. As a result, the single Dødskamp was released earlier this year.
After performing a fiery show at Norway’s Inferno festival this year, 1349 started recording in Amper Tone studios and Studio Nyhagen with engineer Jarrett Pritchard. Thus, The Infernal Pathway was born, a sonic parallel to summoning and unleashing the beast of the abyss in all its fearsome, ferocious, and powerful splendour.
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
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 