Mexican metallers AGORA have today released their riff-fuelled new single ‘In the Name of Destruction’ via Crusader Records/Golden Robot Records. It’s the second single off their upcoming album Empire and can be streamed on all major platforms now.
‘In the Name of Destruction’ depicts a horrific, dystopian world in which zombies are spreading across the land, threatening to annihilate humanity. It’s a powerful musical statement that takes a new but classic approach to dramatic heavy metal compositions. The keyboards are a significant highlight, expertly played by musical titan Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper), whose characteristic sound can be heard throughout the song.
The track is sure to get fans’ blood pumping with its heavy guitar riffs and powerful vocals, while the drumming keeps the pace hard and relentless. The track was made to perform live and will keep audiences begging for more!
Agora has four albums, a live DVD, and performances at renowned national and international festivals like Viva Latino, Rock al Parque, Hell & Heaven and Fronterizo Fest to their credit as a culmination of a decade of diligent efforts.
After performing with groups like KISS, Judas Priest, Guns & Roses, Megadeath, Mötley Crüe, Deep Purple, and Iron Maiden, they have amassed a strong fan following that remains loyal online and at their shows. No text can describe what these artists can achieve live. With this new production, Agora is determined to rule the stage as its new empire.
The tension rises! The world´s biggest and undeniably best outfit sitting somewhere between the realms of industrial and rock/metal – DEATHSTARS – have released an atmospheric, fierce new track in the lead up to their eagerly awaited new album Everything Destroys You, which will be released on May 5th via Nuclear Blast.
Following two extremely successful singles – ´This Is´and ´Midnight Party´– the band presents us with an amazing lyric video for the dark anthem ´Angel Of Fortune And Crime´.
Frontman Whiplasher Bernadotte comments on the song: “For me this song has pretty clear and present Deathstars-DNA, but with some new bloodlines in it… I mean it’s a pretty straight forward groovy jet black tune, but with a certain vocal melody in the latter part to break the pattern completely. Almost like a piece of darkness with some hope to it, but without the hope of course, haha.”
Progressive rock trio BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE is now sharing a brand new single, “The Raven,” along with a music video! The song is taken from the band’s forthcoming full-length, ‘Tempus Veritas,’ due on April 14, 2023! The video was created by Alina Gordienco and can be found at THIS LOCATION.
Speaking about the single, vocalist/guitarist Paul Visser says: “‘The Raven’ is a song inspired by our love of Viking folklore and mythology. After the Danish Vikings began raiding England in the 9th century, many sought long-term settlement – they were farmers who saw an abundance of rich, fertile land in the hands of the Saxons. ‘The Raven’ is written from the point of view of such a settler who, after many years in a foreign land, is struggling with the feeling of losing touch with the old gods of his former home. The insane video created by our friend and visual collaborator Alina Gordienco is a brilliant modern-day take on the idea of losing your identity and fighting your inner demons.”
Pre-orders are now available HERE. The album can be pre-saved on various digital platforms HERE.
Track-list:
1. Tempus Veritas (1:24) 2. Hydrogen (3:57) 3. The Raven (3:41) [WATCH] 4. Last Ronin (4:27) 5. Scarlet Haze (3:42) 6. Deny The Sun (3:15) [WATCH] 7. Glory To The King (3:37) [LISTEN] 8. Summit (3:07) 9. Weakness (2:49) 10. Vesuvius (3:44) 11. Latimer (3:43) Total: 37:26
Cover artwork: Black Orchid Empire & Ines Hernandez
BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE create huge, memorable rock music that combines heavy-hitting savagery with intense melodic beauty. Their technical, fearlessly complex grooves and gigantic sing-along choruses have already earned them a widespread fanbase.
A ferociously tight live band, BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE have toured Europe and the UK extensively, supporting Skunk Anansie, HED p.e, INME and Black Map as well as festival slots at Download, Standon Calling and Planet Rockstock. Black Orchid Empire have sealed the bands reputation as a force to be reckoned with.
Having released their debut album ‘Archetype’ (2016) to universal acclaim, BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE signed with German label Long Branch Records to release the follow up albums ‘Yugen’ (2018) and ‘Semaphore’ (2020). Both albums received stellar reviews and over 3,000,000+ combined streams.
“Tempus Veritas” is a collection of stories that seeks to find compelling imaginary narratives hidden away in what we all think of as history. Behind every milestone or major event in humanity’s long, complex past lies a treasure trove of possibilities for invention – how did Pope Urban VIII feel when confronted by his friend Galileo about the true nature of the sun? What really happened during an almost triumphant but ultimately doomed Everest attempt? What was it like to be a Norse settler amongst the Saxons; did the omens of the ancient gods begin to disappear?
In approaching “Tempus Veritas”, BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE sought collectively to push themselves both musically and thematically. Their pursuit of heaviness, melody, emotional power and rhythmic complexity has pushed them to create something they‘re immensely proud of. “Semaphore” was an album of Sci-Fi, this is an album of Hi-Fi. Tempus Veritas.
Recording studio: The Recording Studio London
Producer / sound engineer: Produced by Black Orchid Empire Paul Visser (engineer) Dobromir Vasilev (assistant engineer)
Mixing studio and engineer: The Recording Studio London Paul Visser (mix engineer)
Mastering studio and engineer: Systematic Productions Ermin Hamidovic (mastering engineer)
Line-up: Paul Visser: Vocals | Guitar Dave Ferguson: Bass | Vocals Billy Freedom: Drums
PARKU is a new folk duo of TUOMAS ROUNAKARI and the accordeon Wizard ANTTI PAALANEN, of two Finnish men who did not find chanterelles in the forest…
PARKU’s debut concert was held on February 10th 2023 at Kulttuurikorjaamo in Kokkola, Finland and boy did the folks laugh!?! Video is edited from the clips that concert goes shared from the event.
Watch the video below.
Videos with the permission of kind concert goers: Anne Ohls, Esa and Paula Rauman and the host Robban Haggnäs!
More to come, stay tuned!
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On April 14th 2022, TUOMAS ROUNAKARI released his solo album “Bear Awakener”, available at https://rounakari.bandcamp.com!
Awakening the Bear is a symbol of succumbing to the greater forces of existence. Awakening a new energy while being more connected to the ancient. And first and foremost – opening to a dialogue with mythical entities and re-creating harmonious and long lasting relationships with our surroundings, including human and non-human beings, seen and unseen worlds.
The songs in this album are formed by Khanty, Mansi, Carelian and Finnish ancestors. They carry a resonance of those before us who were better equipped to collaborate with nature in a sustainable and self-sufficient way. Such songs have always been Tuomas’ best teachers.
“This is music that gods are listening to” said Pekko Käppi after having listened through the freshly finished mastered tracks.
The album coverart was created by Karolina Pärnänen.
“Bear Awakener” tracklisting:
First Morning
In the Land of the Bear
Man with a Bear’s Snout
Second Morning
Song of a Small Goose
Origin of the Bear
Third Morning
Bear Clan Girl
Man-observing-the-world
Roopeska’s Bear Hunt
Last Morning – Departure Running Time: 42,10 min.
“Bear Awakener” was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Verde Studio with the gear-wizard Mika Rintala. None of his modular synthesizers were used. All of the equipment used in recording was built by Mika – microphones, pre-amps, EQ and even the mixing console and electrostatic monitors.
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TUOMAS ROUNAKARI is an internationally acclaimed violinist, composer and ethnomusicologist from Finland. He is a one-man-band blending violin, vocals and stomping with ankle-bells. In his performance he enters various trance-states. In this album he will also be playing a traditional Khanty instrument called Ning-juh.
Tuomas is inspired by different forms of dialogue; man and nature, the seen and the unseen world, ancient and future. His first solo album Shamanviolin was a result of ethnomusicological studies of the earliest 20th century wax-cylinder recordings from Siberia. These studies have also led to many collaborations with indigenous artists. He is one of the few artists who have actually returned their art to native communities for evaluation and development.
Tuomas Rounakari solo performance has been selected to: World Cultures Festival in Hong Kong (2019), Arctic Arts Summit (2019), Nordiskt Ljus Festival in Sweden (2022), Festspillene Helgeland in Norway (2021), Nuuk Nordik Festival in Greenland, Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in Finland (2018, 2013, 2012), Helsingin Juhlaviikot and many others. He has also played the solo performance in several theaters such as Finnish National Theater in Helsinki, Merlin Szinhas Teater in Budapest, AlfredVeDvore in Prague, Ashurst Hall in Flagstaff USA among others.
CAVERN DEEP is a slow, heavy band, founded 2019, by members from Zonaria and Swedish retro riffsters Gudars Skymning. The band released its first self-titled concept album through Interstellar Smoke Records to critical aclaim topping on #7 on The Doom Charts.
The second album is called “Part II – Breach” and is a continuation on the concept of the first album and features Susie McMullan of Brume, Johannes Behndig of Sarcophagus Now and Thomas V Jäger of Monolord(On the bonus track).
The first single “Primordial Basin” is out now and the full album will release the 14th of July. Pre-orders for the vinyl and the Digipack CD is now available through Bonebag Records and the Cavern Deep Bandcamp.
Primordial Basin also has its own Music Video below.
The video recently premiered via Doomed & Stoned and can be found here.
It is made with a home-made AI created by Max, and uses only art that we have the rights to use. There will be a music video for each song on the album and one that stitches the album as a whole.
The tracklist with corresponding synposis is as follows: 1. Breach The archaeologist is no more. Engulfed. As the ungodly withering sentinel feasts on his flesh and mind, something is opening. Picked up by a violent current, the bare essence of the man is plunged through the strange spaces in between worlds. It is reshaped. Traveling in its primal form with the monstrous being as a conduit. Its heart is blank. Mind is void.
2. Primordial Basin She is watching patiently. The engineer. The last of its kind. The theft of this essence from the otherworldy refuge was the final attempt. Embedded in the being below her is the code. Her design. Her revenge. Deep down in the basin, the putrid water stirs as the being breaks free from its membranous nursery. The engineer watches in silent triumph from afar as the being destroys everything in its path in blind newborn rage. Wading through the festering amniotic fluid it is pulled by an inner voice to the east.
3. A World Bereaved No more memories of its earlier existence than glitching, flickering images. Like waking up from distant clouded nightmares. Skin is thin, sore, still growing as it lumbers through desolate landscapes. No signs of life to be seen. The ground is torn by sickly pulsating spirals, shooting up in the thick clouds above. Passing former displays of architectural grandeur; now caved in like hollow skulls. A sense of purpose is shaping inside as it finds its paths through the wasteland.
4. Skeletal Wastes Before it, an ancient war ground. It is vast and dreadful to behold. The last big battle of a dying civilization. The last gasping breath. The being makes its way through labyrinths of giant dead abominations and remnants of war machines since long put to sleep. Picking up pace. Slowly burning from inside with an ever-growing sense of meaning. It is the final solution. The retaliation of many. The faint glow in its veins extends to a cord. The hovering placenta is feeding it in a steady rhythm, preparing the being for its passing.
5. Sea of Rust The Sea. Dead. Acidic. This is ground zero. It knows all. It was here above the greatest of cities they broke through. Drawn by the greed of kings and queens and their ever-growing thirst for the primal energy beyond their realm. It was they who forced the few remaining to take refuge in a distant cold world, destined to wither away in subterranean darkness. Everything is lost. Sunken. All but rust. The engineer gives up a sigh as she from afar witness the being floating above the red watery mass towards the pulsating rift at the horizon. It is starting to shed.
6. The pulse This is it. The release. The soothing of the inner ache. The organic matter is peeled off layer by layer as the being passes the rift. The glowing orb withers away and sinks into the sea. The pulsating passage lays bare. It is liquid. Lethal. Bodiless. It is ready. They are doomed.
“The Loss of Beauty” is SHORES OF NULL’s fourth album and follows the acclaimed “Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying)”, unanimously considered by fans and critics as one of the doom metal gems of recent years. Both albums were recorded between 2019 and early 2020, and although “The Loss of Beauty” was initially conceived as the band’s third album, “Beyond The Shores” took its place as it better reflected the doom and gloom sentiment of the “annus horribilis” 2020.
Across 11 tracks (plus two bonus tracks), Shores Of Null once again submerges listeners with tempestuous and turbulent riffs. The band continues to hone its sound and take its melancholic dark metal to new heights by mastering an assorted palette of genres with inbred poignancy. The lyrics celebrate beauty in imperfection and transience and are meant to be an invitation to seek beauty in little things, especially those unexpected and ephemeral.
“The Loss of Beauty” is dark and heavy, tinged with feelings of despair and melancholy. An album not to be missed and highly recommended for all fans of Amorphis, Enslaved, and Paradise Lost.
The album was recorded by Marco “Cinghio” Mastrobuono at Kick Recording Studio (Hour Of Penance, Inno, Fleshgod Apocalypse). Cover artwork by Sabrina Caramanico.
Listen to the album here:
Shores of Null on “The Loss of Beauty”:
“Stylistically, ‘The Loss Of Beauty’ continues along the path established by ‘Quiescence’ and ‘Black Drapes For Tomorrow’. It’s melancholic dark metal with a wide range of influences, while the lyrics celebrate beauty in imperfection and transience and are meant to be an invitation to seek beauty in little things, especially those unexpected and ephemeral. We look forward to present it on our upcoming tour with Swallow The Sun all over Europe.”
Catch the band live together with Swallow The Sun, Draconian and Avatarium:
02/04/2023 – Parkteatret – Oslo (NO) 04/04/2023 – Pumpehuset – Copenhagen (DK) 05/04/2023 – HeadCrash – Hamburg (DE) 06/04/2023 – Doornroosje – Nijmegen (NL) 07/04/2023 – Het Entrepot – Brugge (BE) 08/04/2023 – Rebellion – Manchester (UK) 09/04/2023 – Slay – Glasgow (UK) 10/04/2023 – Limelight 2 – Belfast (UK) 11/04/2023 – Whelan’s – Dublin (IRE) 12/04/2023 – The Underworld – London (UK) 13/04/2023 – Essigfabrik – Köln (DE) 14/04/2023 – Matrix – Bochum (DE) 15/04/2023 – Colos-Saal – Aschaffenburg (DE) 16/04/2023 – Im Wizemann – Stuttgart (DE) 17/04/2023 – Le Grillen – Colmar (FR) 18/04/2023 – Backstage – Paris (FR) 19/04/2023 – Le Ferrailleur – Nantes (FR) 20/04/2023 – Le Rex – Toulouse (FR) 21/04/2023 – Story Live – Madrid (ES) 22/04/2023 – Sala Bóveda – Barcelona (ES) 23/04/2023 – Secret Place – Montpellier (FR) 24/04/2023 – CCO Villeurbanne – Lyon (FR) 25/04/2023 – Legend Club – Milan (IT) 26/04/2023 – Orto Bar – Ljubljana (SLO) 27/04/2023 – Schüür – Luzern (CH) 28/04/2023 – Undertown – Meyrin (CH) 29/04/2023 – Caves du Manoir – Martigny (CH) 30/04/2023 – Backstage – Munich (DE) 01/05/2023 – Barba Negra – Budapest (HU) 02/05/2023 – Viper Room – Vienna (AT) 03/05/2023 – Futurum – Prague (CZ) 04/05/2023 – Hole44 – Berlin (DE) 05/05/2023 – Drizzly Grizzly – Gdansk (PL) 06/05/2023 – Klub Łącznik – Wrocław (PL) 07/05/2023 – UT Connewitz – Leipzig (DE)
“The Loss of Beauty” is out now on Spikerot Records and available for purchase HERE
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 ) 