GRAHAM BONNET & MICK BOX Throw a Hard Rock Spin on New Wave Christmas Favorite ‘Last Christmas’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 21, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

As Christmas day quickly approaches, metal fans are being given one more stocking stuff to make the season extra special. This time, it’s a powerhouse rendition of George Michael’s perennial favorite, and famously inescapable, new wave pop masterpiece “Last Christmas” performed by Rainbow/Michael Schenker Group vocalist Graham Bonnet & Uriah Heep axeman Mick Box! Together these two craft an electrifying rendition of this ubiquitous earworm that feels like a brand new holiday anthem for headbangers and hard rock enthusiasts alike!

Renowned for his powerful vocals and impressive range, Bonnet grabs a hold of the vocal melody of “Last Christmas” and squeezes new life out of it, all while maintaining the songs poignant emotions. Box, on the other hand, adds some mind-blowing guitar work woven throughout the song to beef up the musical track to fit Bonnet’s commanding vocal performance.  

Stream/download the song: https://orcd.co/grahambonnetmickbox_lastchristmas

This holiday treat and many others await on the two volume set of A Very Metal Christmas and A Very Metal Christmas II released this year featuring brand new recordings from an incredible array of supremely talented metal artists including Megadeth’s Chris Poland, King’s X’s Ty Tabor, Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy, Bulletboys’ Marq Torien, UFO’s Vinnie Moore, George Lynch, Marty Friedman, Great White’s Jack Russell, Vixen’s Janet Gardner, Angel’s Frank DiMino and many more! Available now on CD, digital and vinyl.

A Very Metal Christmas CD: https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/a-very-metal-christmas-cd/
A Very Metal Christmas Vinyl: https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/a-very-metal-christmas-red-vinyl/
Digital: https://orcd.co/averymetalchristmas

A Very Metal Christmas II CD” https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/a-very-metal-christmas-ii-cd/
A Very Metal Christmas II Vinyl: https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/a-very-metal-christmas-ii-green-vinyl/
Digital: https://orcd.co/averymetalchristmas

A VERY METAL CHRISTMAS TRACK LIST:

  1. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Tim “Ripper” Owens, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, David Ellefson
  2. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – Cherie Currie, Tracii Guns
  3. Feliz Navidad – Stephen Pearcy, Vinnie Moore
  4. Carol Of The Bells – Chris Poland
  5. Last Christmas – Graham Bonnet, Mick Box
  6. Please Come Home For Christmas – Carmine Appice, Ty Tabor, Paul Shortino, Phil Soussan
  7. White Christmas – Bulletboys
  8. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 – George Lynch
  9. Merry Xmas Everybody – Kim McAuliffe & Cliff Evans
  10. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town – Paul Dianno
  11. Happy Holiday – Enuff Z’nuff
  12. Little Saint Nick – L.A. Guns
  13. Donner & Blitzen (Achim Koehler Mix) – Thor

A VERY METAL CHRISTMAS II TRACK LIST:

  1. O Holy Night – Glenn Hughes
  2. Blue Christmas – Jack Russell, Chris Holmes
  3. Winter Wonderland – Fast Eddie Clarke, Steve Overland
  4. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Janet Gardner
  5. Another Rock And Roll Christmas – Paul Dianno, Paul Samson
  6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Marty Friedman
  7. It’s A Wonderful Life – George Lynch & Jeff Pilson
  8. Father Christmas – Pretty Boy Floyd
  9. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town – Gilby Clarke
  10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Helix
  11. Run, Rudolph Run – Faster Pussycat
  12. Silent Night – Frank DiMino, Tracii Guns
  13. What Child Is This? – Glen Drover

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO Cross into the Underworld on “Fire Blades From The Tomb” Debut Album, Out February 16th

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 21, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment
Photo by © Cristina Ferrero

Prepare to be ensnared in the haunting embrace of PONTE DEL DIAVOLO. The Italian band weave together a unique blend of doom and black metal, with a touch of old school essence and a modern, avant-garde twist that will plunge you into a sonic abyss.

Today, the dark collective are unveiling the first single off their upcoming debut album, Fire Blades From The Tomb. Led by Erba Del Diavolo’s dark-wave induced vocals, “Demone” is whipped along by devilish mysticism. 

“He lives hidden inside the chest
like a disembodied God
awakened by desire
it will be the most sublime union.”

Watch the mischievous video for “Demone”, which unravels into a gripping story of crime, power and occult mysteries:

Fire Blades From The Tomb is out February 16, 2024.

Pre-order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/PonteFireBlades
Pre-save: https://orcd.co/firebladesfromthetombpresave

Prepare to cross over into the Italian dark arts with Ponte Del Diavolo. “Demone” boils with a blackened bass line that provides a massive platform for the band’s massive rhythmic guitars and raw, dynamic drumming. Heck, you could mistake Erba del Diavolo for Siouxsie Soux, the way she cooly flips between frantic talk-singing and bleak, seductive croons. 

Cover Art by Laura Nardelli

Track-list
1. Demone (5:00) [WATCH]
2. Covenant (6:56)
3. Red As The Sex Of She Who Lives In Death (6:20)
4. La Razza (8:03)
5. Nocturnal Veil (5:17)
6. Zero (5:26)
7. The Weeping Song (5:33)
Total: 42:35

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO bridges the gap between two separate worlds.

The Italian band proposes a Doom / Black metal sound with old-school roots, adding a modern and outside the box background. The female voice – with strong dark wave influences – is the lyric corpus of this strongly esoteric project. The solid presence of two bassists creates the massive foundation for the rhythmic guitar, everything marked by a raw and dynamic drumming.

Mystery of Mystery / Secret Live Session marked the quintet’s debut EP. It was recorded live and without editing at Dracma Studio with the producer L’Ossario in their home base of Turin in March 2020. “I” was released on the web by Iopan Records. It was soon followed by their second single, “The Wickedest Woman In the World”.

At the end of 2021, Ponte Del Diavolo recorded their second EP, Sancta Menstruis at Deepest Sea Studio in Turin with Danilo Battocchio. The first single,  “The Unborn”, arrived in February 2022.

The band’s third EP, Ave Scintilla!, was also recorded in Turin. This time around, they reconvened at Dracma Studio with L’Ossario.

Now that they’ve signed with Season of Mist, Ponte Del Diavolo are ready to release their debut album. Fire Blades From the Tomb  forges classic, cultish doom metal with modern bents of post-punk. Lead single and opening track “Demone” is whipped along by a boiled black bass line and dark-wave induced vocals.

Prepare to cross over into the Italian dark arts.

Line-up
Elena Camusso (as Erba Del Diavolo) – Vocals
Alessio Caruso (as Krhura) – Bass
Andrea l’Abbate (as Kratom) – Bass
Stefano Franchina (as Segale Cornuta) – Drums
Rocco Scuzzarella (as Nerium) – Guitars

Guest Musicians
Andrea l’Abbate – Synth on ‘Covenant’.
Lucynine – Theremin on ‘Covenant’.
Vittorio Sabelli – Clarinet on ‘Covenant’, ‘Red as the sex of She who lives in death’ & ‘Nocturnal veil’.
Davide Straccione – Vocals on ‘The weeping song’.

Recording Studio – Deepest Sea Studio
Producer & Sound Engineer – Danilo Battocchio
Mixing & Mastering Studio / Engineer – Lunatech Sounds / Dimitris Douvras

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ponte-del-diavolo/1639072320
Bandcamp: https://pontedeldiavolo666.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PontedelDiavolo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pontedeldiavoloband/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4mAfr0B2wgIFbVBUAv9btD
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pontedeldiavolo3847

DOOMRAISER Share ‘Procreation of the Wicked’ from “Mesmerized – A Tribute to Celtic Frost” Album

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 21, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Italian label Time To Kill Records will release “Mesmerized – A Tribute to Celtic Frost” on January 26th 2024. “Mesmerized” features various Italian metal bands presenting their interpretation of songs written by Switzerland’s most iconic metal band ever.

Today, DOOMRAISER share their cover of “Procreation of the Wicked”. Stream it at THIS LOCATION.

“When Alberto asked us to join the project we were very happy and enthusiastic. Celtic Frost have always been an important point of reference for us, we grew up with their records and we believe that they were not only the incipit of a certain type of extreme metal, which has taken shape over the decades, but they were true musical and conceptual icons, as well as a source of inexhaustible inspiration for many acts.
Records such as ‘To Mega Therion’ and even more so ‘Into The Pandemonium’ can still be considered modern and unique works as a whole, representing true manifestos of a certain type of avant-garde, as well as obviously being metal classics in general.
We chose to perform and reinterpret ‘Procreation of the Wicked’, a simple and direct tune, with heavy pace and a morbid and primordial halo; all these elements would have made a perfect match with our style.
We took our time in reinterpreting and deconstructing it, turning it into a real Doomraiser tune.
We kept the initial riffing in the beginning of the song, then we moved ahead renewing and reinterpreting the vocals completely, stripping down the verses while enriching the choruses, slowing everything down to our trademark songwriting style, considerably alterating the performance of the final section. We played a lot with it, anyway, making the most out of the timing suspensions and the renewed interpretation of vocal lines.
It has been a pleasant experiment that tickled our fantasy and enrichened our creativity.
We would like to thank Alberto Penzin who wanted us to participate in this project, our label Time To Kill Records and all the bands featured in the compilation.
DOOM OR BE DOOMED!
UH!”

NECRODEATH‘s cover of “Necromantical Screams” is available HERE.

After the release of “Discharged vol. 2- A tribute to Discharge”, Time To Kill Records is now ready to bring the curtain down on another murdersome tribute compilation curated once again by Alberto Penzin (SCHIZO original founding member and prime mover for the whole Italian extreme metal scene). To quote him, “Celtic Frost was simply the epitome of everything the metal genre had set to demolish. Only Death is real.”

All bands involved have become notorious as some of the hardest working acts around, bringing their volcanic, high energy metal to every corner of the world. Now, as all these bands reach some other crucial milestones, they are taking a moment to look back to one of their main sources of inspiration.

Tracklist:

Barbarian – A Kiss or a Whisper
Bunker 66 – Juices Like Wine
CO2 – I Won’t Dance
Doomraiser – Procreation of the Wicked
Kryptonomicon – Morbid Tales
Necrodeath – Necromantical Screams

CAMERA OBSCURA TWO [CO2]
[CO2] is a new extreme musical project conceived by Alberto Penzin [ex-Schizo] on 09/09/07 and ultimately brought to life on 10/10/10. A one-way pathway to spiritual elevation filtered through a lifetime worth of obsession with metallic transgression.

BUNKER 66
Bunker 66 is an Evil Metal power trio formed in 2007 under the sign of the black mark.

DOOMRAISER
Formed in 2004, the Rome-based band have evolved into an instantly recognisable figurehead for those pushing doom metal into crushing new directions. Through the years the band have shared the stage with acts such as Electric Wizard, Reverend Bizarre, The Gates of Slumber and Orange Goblin and have been experimenting and contaminating their music with raw heavy metal, psychedelia and other influences.

NECRODEATH
The moment you hear it, you know it’s Necrodeath. Formed back in 1984, the Italian act is one of the real iconic black-thrash metal bands. With an ongoing career of almost 40 years, the band has helped to shape the Italian metal scene and the international underground as it is today.

KRYPTONOMICON
Kryptonomicon have been a plague on this Earth since 2019, composing fierce old school metal of death deeply influenced by Celtic Frost and Hellhammer.

BARBARIAN
Barbarian’s approach to metal is regressive. By means of Metal retrogardism they interrogate the present: do we really need so many sheep and shepherds today? Heavy Metal is the whip, and you bleed.

More information at
https://timetokillrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/timetokillrecords/
https://www.facebook.com/timetokillrecords/
https://timetokillrecords.com/

WEAK13’s Latest Single ‘On The BBC’ Is Actually on the BBC

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 21, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

UK Metal Punk Group WEAK13 has received airtime on BBC 6 and other BBC shows with their third 2023 single release titled On The BBC; which is a satirical hit-piece poking fun at the organisation known as the BBC. The tune, which has an equally amusing music video racking over 100’000 plays on YouTube, features an out of the ordinary tap dancing solo provided by special guest Laura Stanyer from the band Naked Sunday.

In a recent interview, when asked what it means getting airtime on BBC radio with a tune that roasts it, WEAK13 singer & guitarist Nick J Townsend replied “It’s feasible that it’s the most catchiest and radio-friendly tune they’ve ever received so them not playing it or dismissing further support for intelligent original music would arguably be more inappropriate”.

Nick added “Hey, it’s written with love, I’m an artist being artistic. Do you really think they’d prefer a song called ‘I’m always played on the BBC’? This is punk 4D chess, it’s taylor-made for them and it’s pretty catchy so I’m actually giving them exactly what they want; let’s see if they’ll embrace the song even more. I can easily write a bigger tune”.

On The BBC is available at: Apple Music | Spotify | & other major stores

WEAK13 are:
Nick J Townsend – Vocals/Guitars | Wesley Smith – Bass | Neel Parmar – Drums

More information at Official Website | Facebook | Youtube | Instagram | On Sliptrick

SMORRAH to Release Debut Full-Length Album “Welcome To Your Nightmare” on February 23rd

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 21, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment
📸 Anna-Lena Hickmann

With their debut album “Welcome To Your Nightmare“, SMORRAH release a total of 9 variedly conceived and hellishly powerfully produced songs.

High tension is guaranteed:
“Welcome To Your Nightmare” energetically takes the listener on a gripping journey into the dark abysses of human psychology, leaving you hardly any time to catch your breath – the deliciously tight, bludgeon-from-the-bag quartet really does more than justify the legend surrounding the band’s name!

Tireless headbangers, maniacal Thrashers and hungry Groove heads will all get their money’s worth.

And anyone who has experienced these four likeable, down-to-earth heavyweights from Gelsenkirchen at one of their highly explosive and absolutely sweat-inducing live shows knows that there is only one direction with SMORRAH: Straight ahead! [ learn more here ]

🎨 Timon Kokott

▶ 🗓️ CD, Cassette, Vinyl & Digital official release: Feb. 23, 2024 – 🛒 (Pre)Order at this location.◀

TRACKS:

  1. Welcome To Your Nightmare 04:51
  2. Dead Snake Eyes 04:45
  3. Age Of Decay 05:54
  4. Killing Spree 03:58
  5. Hope Dies Last 03:45
  6. Buried Underneath 05:40
  7. Death Awaits 05:00
  8. Evil Betrayal 05:19
  9. When The Tide Comes In 06:25

total 45:42

LINE-UP:
Marius Wegener • Vocals
Daniel ‘Pumper’ Hartmann • Guitars
Christian ‘Kraje’ Krajewski • Bass
Raphael Swierczynski • Drums

More information at https://smorrah.com/

REVOLUTION SAINTS Announce New Album “Against the Winds”, Out February 9th

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 20, 2023
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

REVOLUTION SAINTS, the band led by Journey vocalist/drummer Deen Castronovo, jumpstarts 2024 with a new album, ‘Against the Winds’, to follow up 2023’s stellar release, ‘Eagle Flight.’ Joined by fellow rockers bassist Jeff Pilson (known for his work with Foreigner and formerly of Dokken) and guitarist Joel Hoekstra (of Whitesnake and formerly of Night Ranger) the new iteration – REVOLUTION SAINTS MKII – have gifted fans a captivating album that sits poised to rekindle the fervor for melodic rock. 

Today, the band shares a new single, “Against the Winds” along with a music video. 

REVOLUTION SAINTS was initially conceived by Serafino Perugino, the President and Head of A&R at Frontiers Records, to showcase the remarkable vocal talents of Deen Castronovo. While Castronovo had always been respected as a drummer, those who took notice of his background vocals and witnessed his lead vocal performances during Journey shows, soon recognized his exceptional singing prowess. 

REVOLUTION SAINTS was, and continues to be, a platform to spotlight Deen’s incredible vocal abilities.

Pre-Order ‘Against the Winds’: https://orcd.co/againstthewinds

‘Against the Winds,’ primarily produced and composed by Alessandro Del Vecchio (who also contributes on keyboards and background vocals), delivers what you would expect: captivating vocals, enchanting melodies, and hooks that will linger in your mind for days. 

With this album, REVOLUTION SAINTS exhibit a heightened sense of cohesion, energy, and emotion. They solidify their status as giants in the genre, and this album unquestionably reaffirms why they belong at the pinnacle once again.

‘Against the Winds’ Track List:

  1. Against the Winds
  2. Changing My Mind
  3. Fall on My Knees
  4. Can’t End It Right Now
  5. Lost in Damnation
  6. Will I See You Again
  7. Show Me Your Light
  8. Save All That Remains
  9. Been Said and Done
  10. Diving Wings
  11. No Turning Back

For the first three REVOLUTION SAINTS albums, ‘Revolution Saints’, ‘Light In The Dark’, and ‘Rise’, Deen was joined by bassist/vocalist Jack Blades (Night Ranger) and guitarist Doug Aldrich (ex-Whitesnake, DIO). Produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio, those three albums brought back the classic melodic rock style that thrilled and delighted legions of fans in the ‘80s and ‘90s and still does today! Inspiring, uplifting vocals, soaring melodies, and hooks for days is what you get in spades across those three albums. 

While REVOLUTION SAINTS, MK I left an indelible mark on the melodic rock world, it was time for MK II to be born. Deen, having recently rejoined Journey, was feeling invigorated and inspired and ready to sing his ass off. Filling Blades and Aldrich’s shoes would be no easy feat, but, mercifully, the exact right guys were found for the job!

Joel Hoekstra is a current member of Whitesnake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Iconic, as well as having his own solo project, Joel Hoekstra’s 13 and is an absolutely stunning guitar player, able to play multiple styles. Jeff Pilson, currently a member of Foreigner, Black Swan, and The End Machine, is also known for his time in Dokken and of course, his more recent production work. Two stellar musicians to compliment Deen’s singing and drumming is exactly what was needed for REVOLUTION SAINTS, MK II and that’s what we’ve got here. As with the first three albums, Alessandro Del Vecchio handles production as well as contributing keyboards and background vocals.

REVOLUTION SAINTS are:
Deen Castronovo
Jeff Pilson
Joel Hoekstra
Alessandro Del Vecchio

FOLLOW REVOLUTION SAINTS: Instagram – Facebook – X