To mark two decades of rocking the world with their True Norwegian Balkan Metal, the unrivalled ambassadors of madness, TrollfesT, are dropping a compilation as wild as their journey. From ancient demos to fresh live jams, unreleased gems, bonus tracks, and even a couple of remixes—this collection has got it all!
Staying true to their chaotic selves, TrollfesT delivers an album bursting with joyous fun and kickass musicianship. They plow the metal field, harvesting nothing but the good stuff. Picture this awesomeness on an exclusive picture disc vinyl, adorned with artwork by Jonas Darnell and Terje. It’s a must-have for any TrollfesT fanatic and, for the rest, a splendid wall decoration at the very least. Time to join the TrollfesT madness! 🎉🤘
Speaking of madness & K.A.O.S, first single is an insane & utter mad cover version of Korpiklaani’s “Happy Little Boozer”.
Bonded by Booze, endless late night shenanigans and a few too many hangovers, influence this Balkan madness.
Livedates: w/Tyr, Æther Realm, The Dread Crew of Oddwood
Mar-28 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage Mar-29 New York, NY Gramercy Theater Mar-30 Boston, MA Middle-East Downstairs Mar-31 Quebec City, QC La Source de la Martinière Apr-1 Montreal, QC Studio TD Apr-2 Ottawa, ON Brass Monkey Apr-3 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern Apr-4 Detroit, MI The Sanctuary Apr-5 Chicago, IL Reggies Apr-6 Minneapolis, MN Skyway Theater – Studio B Apr-7 Winnipeg. MB Park Theater Apr-8 Regina, SK The Exchange Apr-9 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room Apr-10 Calgary, AB Dickens Apr-12 Vancouver, BC The Rickshaw Apr-13 Seattle, WA El Corazon Apr-14 Portland, OR Bossanova Ballroom Apr-15 Berkeley, CA Cornerstone Apr-16 Los Angeles, CA 1720 Apr-17 San Diego, CA Brick by Brick Apr-18 Mesa, AZ Nile Theater Apr-20 Austin, TX Come and Take it Live Apr-21 Dallas, TX The Granada Apr-22 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall Apr-24 Orlando, FL Conduit Apr-25 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade (Hell) Apr-26 Greensboro, NC Hangar 1819 May 31 – June 02 Metalfest CZ. Pilsen
Italian blackened deathcore band DROWN IN SULPHUR have released ‘Unholy Light’, second single taken from the new album ‘Dark Secrets of the Soul’ to be released on January 12th via Scarlet Records.
Perfectly balanced between modern, razor-sharp deathcore brutality & bone-chilling 90s black metal atmospheres, the new Drown In Sulphur album is a collection of violent and melodic dark songs that introduces the listener to an esoteric experience, touching the deepest and most controversial aspects of the human soul.
Sharing the stage with genre’s titans like Whitechapel, Carnifex, Rings Of Saturn, Aversion Crown and I Declare War gave Drown In Sulphur the opportunity to become a well-oiled live unit and further develop their own stylistic approach at the same time.
‘Dark Secrets of the Soul’ is an introspective journey in search of man’s spiritual elevation, taking as reference the image of the “vampire communion”, alternating anger, despair and rebellion and moving on to more fragile moments until the very final redemption.
modern in-your-face deathcore heavily influenced by melodic black metal elements
produced, mixed and mastered by Filippo Rambelli; recorded by Filippo Rambelli and Alex Pedrotti
cover & artwork by Alvaro Valverde/Av Art Ilustracion (Unanimated, Wythersake, Night Crowned)
aesthetically inspired by the 90’s most famous vampire-themed books and movies
for fans of Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh, Lorna Shore, Thy Art Is Murder, Type O Negative
DROWN IN SULPHUR: Chris Lombardo “Christ” – vocals, guitar Emanuele Corso “Dimitryux” – guitar Daniele Posillipo “Blacklight” – guitar Domenico Francesco Tamilia “Darth” – drums, backing vocals
Metal is not a genre known for being soulful. But as an outgrowth of rock music, metal has deep roots in the soul music and blues artists who shaped the sound of everyone from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple to Pantera. And many metal musicians and artists will often leap at the opportunity to showcase their powerful appreciation for soul music and how it can be enhanced and combined with metal music to create an impressively rich and vibrant aural collage.
Just witness the absolutely fantastic rendering of a 1960 R&B holiday standard “Please Come Home For Christmas,” done by a crew of metal icons. Written and performed by the great blues singer and pianist Charles Brown, “Please Come Home For Christmas” is a perennial favorite around the holidays, with cover versions done by the likes of The Eagles and Bon Jovi. But none have achieved the full-glory sound as heard on this new rendition released today on all digital music platforms.
Carmine Appice, a drumming virtuoso known for his work with Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, and more, brings his thunderous beats to the mix along with Ty Tabor, the guitar maestro of King’s X, who adds his signature riffs, while Paul Shortino, renowned for his powerful vocals with King Kobra and Quiet Riot, delivers a performance that is both soulful and commanding. Phil Soussan, a bassist with an illustrious career including collaborations with Ozzy Osbourne, completes this all-star lineup, creating a heavy metal masterpiece for the holiday season.
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 Rainbow’s Graham Bonnet, Megadeth’s Chris Poland, 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.
Embrace the profound and immersive sounds of Horrorgraphy through the lyric video “Destiny.” The track offers a thrilling glimpse into their upcoming album, “A Knight’s Tale,” set to unleash its epic narrative on January 19, 2024, through Wormholedeath.
“Destiny,” a soul-stirring composition, delves deep into the enigmatic powers of fate, transcending the bounds of human promises. The eloquently crafted lyrics paint a vivid tapestry of desires, akin to the adrenaline of a hunt, while seamlessly weaving in the timeless presence of Philostrate, an esteemed figure. Offering profound insights into life’s relentless struggles against envy, the verses stand as a testament to the band’s lyrical prowess, entwining themes of destiny, desires, and the perennial battles that shape our existence.
This lyrical opus forms part of Horrorgraphy’s exploration into mythologies and fantastical realms, drawing inspiration for their upcoming album from Geoffrey Chaucer’s renowned work, ‘A Knight’s Tale.’ With two critically acclaimed albums already in their arsenal, the band is primed to elevate the symphonic metal landscape with this eagerly awaited release.
Necrowretch were forged from the blackened and most deathly pits of hell. These putrid French sorcerers recently announced their fifth and fieriest offering with “Numidian Knowledge”, a double-edged blade of riffs and shrieks hot enough to peel flesh.
Today, Necrowretch are opening another fiery pit to hell with “Ksar Al-Kufar”. The second single off Swords of Dajjal opens with a gloomy intro before dive-bombing straight into destructive blast beats. Catchy tremolo picking gets plucked out of the sky by the talons of an ancient dark omen.
As there stood a tree That grew from the bottom of Hell Ksar Al-Kufar
Watch the smoldering video for “Ksar Al-Kufar”, which was filmed on location in Ethiopia and Morocco by Mounit Chraibi:
There’s black metal. There’s death metal. And then, there’s NECROWRETCH.
The French band combine the best of both worlds into music made straight from the depths of hell. After setting a merciless pace with Satanic Slavery and The Ones From Hell, Necrowretch are back and ready to slice open a devilish new chapter of blistering blasts and piercing riffs with Swords of Dajjal.
Cover Art – Stefan Thanneur / Manifeste
Track-list
1. Ksar Al-Kufar (4:22) [WATCH] 2. The Fifth Door (5:30) 3. Dii Mauri (5:07) 4. Swords of Dajjal (4:56) 5. Numidian Knowledge (4:12) [WATCH] 6. Vae Victis (4:18) 7. Daeva (2:49) 8. Total Obliteration (6:13)Total:37:27
Now entering their fifteenth year as a band, France’s Necrowretch are about to open the most ambitious chapter of their career with Swords Of Dajjal, their three-years-in-the-making fifth album.
Initially the sole work of multi-instrument and vision leader Vlad, the band was originally for better and for worse lumped in the ‘old school death metal revival’ of the early 10’s. Yet while their debut Putrid Death Sorcery did bear indeed all the usual suspects of said genre, it nevertheless already had that extra, raw-as-fuck and just plain vicious element that really set them apart from the rest of the pack. Conforming to the norm was never in question and instead of selling out or trying to slow things down, as true misfits as they are, the went the exact opposite direction, first with 2015’s With Serpents Scourge, only to be vigorously confirmed by its furious follow-up, and first for Season Of Mist, 2017’s Satanic Slavery. To the point where once the touring cycle was over for the latter, Vlad himself felt he had explored this direction as far as he could have and that changes were on the horizon.
“On Satanic Slavery we on purpose took things as far as we could as our goal was to deliver the most bestial album possible. But once we achieved that goal, I knew we had to take a slightly different if still as uncompromised direction.” Incidentally, that’s when Wenceslas Carrieu from Cadaveric FUMES entered the picture, first as a momentary live session on bass. But when second stringer Kev Desecrator vowed to amicably part way with the band to focus on DESTRÖYER 666, he switched to six-strings and proved to be the valuable songwriting partner Vlad had been looking for since the departure of the band original bass player Amphycion in 2015. “He immediately came up with lots of ideas and thanks to him, we now have a whole new dynamic: a bit like Sepultura had back in the days in between Max Cavalera and Andreas Kisser, with me focusing now on my vocals and playing rhythm guitars while Wenceslas takes care of all the solos, the starting riffs and the off-the-map bits.
With their fourth album, and first with Wencelas, The Ones From Hell was only one month old,Necrowretch was about to tour Europe with both Kampfar and Taake for three weeks. A tour bus was booked, the set was well-rehearsed, everything was ready and then… disaster struck. “Six days before we were due to play our first show, the whole thing was cancelled. Then COVID hit us and the world was basically shut down. We were numb for a couple of days but soon realized that the best way to bounce back was to move forward so we instantly started working on new songs.” The result is Swords Of Dajjal by far, their biggest, boldest and most ambitious production ever.
“We spent no less than three years working on the songs, demoeing them and finetuning the details and rehearsing them as a three-piece and six weeks in the studio with Francis Caste (Hangman’s Chair, REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER, Svart Crown etc.). Prior to that, we used to be a pure product of the underground, with albums done in just a couple of days whom were never 100% satisfied with in the end as we had to rush everything. We’re still very underground, mind you. But this time around, we knew we had to give it all, no matter what. So we started by changing our gear, our sound and our tuning. And once we entered the studio, we for instance spent a whole day just testing different amps just to get the right sound and crunch we were looking for. I even took some singing lessons to gain more depth and power. In a way, it almost feels like a whole new band.”
The whole record was written on purpose mostly on acoustic twelve-string guitars (“the idea was that if it sounds good and catchy that way, it’d be even better with distortion”) and as a three-piece, “something we hadn’t done in a long time” with their new drummer Nicolas Ferrero, not exactly a newcomer as he’s been playing on and off live with them since 2018. The result is, according to Vlad, “our most black metal record, with splashes of death metal here and there. Whereas on the previous album all tempos were pushed to the extreme, there’s far more variety here to be found. It also gave us free reins to reach a more mystical, Biblical if you will vibe” fed by his experience living in Turkey in the late 10’s. “We choose to focus on the Dajjal character, basically the antichrist in the Muslim religion. The Coran says that he’ll appear as a false prophet only to bring doom to this world, with an army of demons coming from the east.” Represented on the cover of the album with his double edged sword and bathed in the same kind of reddish and orangey mesmerizing lights one can experience when the sun sets on wind-beaten deserts, all eight songs on the album are prophecies, past and future, where Dajjal plays the leading role.
Now completed on bass by R. Cadaver (former Cadaveric Fumes vocalist) who officially joined once the recording was done after playing as a live session member for the last two years, and armed with their biggest, most complex and intense album of their career, Necrowretch are about to yield their sword of destruction and exterminate everything in sight.
Lineup Vlad – Vocals, Guitars W. Cadaver – Lead Guitars R. Cadaver (Live) – Bass N. Destroyer – Drums
Recording Studio Studio Sainte Marthe, Paris
Sound, Mixing & Mastering Engineer Francis CasteCover Art Stefan Thanneur / Manifeste
Following Live at Freak Valley in2017 and their latest, much-acclaimed album, Sphere (2019), instrumental psych rock frontrunners MONKEY3 will herald 2024 with a true album highlight of the new year: The Lausanne-based four-piece has announced a brand new, cosmic studio offering, entitled Welcome To The Machine, set for release on February 23, 2024 via Napalm Records!
Once again, MONKEY3 envelops listeners in their unique, cosmic auditory haze. Welcome To The Machine not only marks their seventh and most epic, dark and captivating record to date, but will also clearly prove why they are one of the most exciting instrumental rock bands in the modern stoner and psychedelic rock scene.
Today, MONKEY3 has premiered a music video for their first album single “Rackman”. “‘Welcome To The Machine’ is a reflection on the future of humanity through the duality of man and machine,“ the band explains. About the new single, they comment: “Are human beings becoming machines or machines becoming human beings?”
Welcome To The Machine’smusical themes are inspired by movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Sunshine, Solaris and 1984, while unveiling an intense mankind vs. machines story that instantly launches the listener into deep space. Right from its first tones, the album immediately emerges as a perfect soundtrack to a journey into the unknown. Tracks such as “Rackman” perfectly showcase how MONKEY3, who formed in 2001, are one of only a few instrumental bands that know how to tell an enthralling story. Welcome To The Machine explores as much as it poses questions. It is dark and menacing; evoking melancholic destruction while somehow bursting with hope at the same time, moving between haunting passages and progressive breaks, mesmerizing grooves and colossal riffs.
The album was recorded and mixed by Raphaël Bovey at Blend Studio and MyRoom Studio, and was mastered by Lad Agabekov at Caduceus Studios in Switzerland. The incredible cover artwork was created by Sebastian Jerke.
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
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 