Finnish metallers KAKSONEN return from over 10 years hiatus and releases new album this summer. First single “Kaukana kaikesta” from the upcoming album is now released. The band’s sound is built on extreme metal flavors and smooth melodic soundscapes. The new song is an ode to peace and unity in a world that so often seem like an endless void of loneliness.
Kaksonen was founded 2007 in Äänekoski Finland. On May that year the band played it’s first live show on a local battle of the bands. And as a winner of the contest they recorded their first EP. Main goal from the very beginning was to create really heavy music that would also have a life loving aspect and that would resonate to people from different backgrounds. Next six years Kaksonen played loads of furious shows and released four EPs and one full length album. After that the band split up as the members moved all around the nordic countries. Now after about 10 years the band has activated again and they are releasing the hardest and heaviest album so far!
Swiss hard rock act SHAKRA has finally revealed more details about their upcoming, new album. Invincible will be released this summer, on June 9, 2023 via AFM Records! The album pre-sale is now available at THIS LOCATION! «You are invincible — You can achieve anything, not if you believe in it, but if you know it…and that makes you invincible!» That’s the core message of the band’s forthcoming offering. And after previously-released, first album singles “The Way It Is” or the album title track, SHAKRA proves why they are not only invincible but belong to one of the most enthralling, powerful acts the hard and heavy rock scene has to offer!
In new single “Tell Her That I’m Sorry”, SHAKRA explore the emotional rollercoaster ride of a failed relationship and reflect on missed opportunities and unrequited love. Mark’s powerful guitar sound and haunting voice perfectly capture heartache and the burden of responsibility. “The song is not only a call for reconciliation, but also a powerful testimony to the universal experience of love and loss.” The band comments. “«Tell Her That I’m Sorry» is a must for all fans of straight rock and for anyone who wants to experience the depths of the human heart and the power of music.“
Photo by Sven Isaksson Photography – Cover art: Charlie Granberg
While the world was twisted and spinning oddly like a broken carousel in the last couple of years, Swedish funk-infused rock’n’roll bastard child ELECTRIC BOYS were busy touring, penning their following record, and trying to figure out how to make sense of all this mess we’re living in.
They took the Scandinavian Winter to retreat to warmer climates and booked a studio in Spain, where they spent a few weeks recording what will be their next studio album. But the first teaser is already here, and it lives up to Electric Boys’ high standards. “I’ve Got A Feeling” is pure rock soul, with a classy riff, a mellow chorus, and that storytelling, baritone, charming voice of Conny Bloom to top it all.
All in all, the best way to foreshow the Swedes upcoming studio album and to leave you the feelin’ that they’re up to something really good. Again. Despite the world is still twisted and spinning oddly like a broken carousel.
“Yes, I DO have a feelin’…” Conny Bloom says. “That something good is about to happen. New paths will be crossed and new doors will be opened, so let’s party like it’s 2023!”.
ELECTRIC BOYS have teamed up with Metal Shock Finland to premiere “I’ve Got A Feelin’” for Finnish territory, enjoy it here:
Formed in Stockholm in 1988, Electric Boys is a band with roots in 70s groove rock and 60s pop and psychedelia. Their critically acclaimed debut album, “Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride” was produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, The Cult, Mötley Crüe) and spawned the self-produced Billboard Top 20 single, “All Lips ‘N’ Hips” that got them heavy rotation on MTV.
After extensive touring, the band entered legendary studio Abbey Road to record the follow-up “Groovus Maximus”, which gave the band another Billboard Top 30 single with the song, “Mary In The Mystery World”. The third album “Freewheelin'” (also recorded in Abbey Road) peaked at #16 on the Official Swedish Album Chart before the band called it a day in 1994.
Guitarist and lead singer, Conny Bloom went solo until he, as well as bassist Andy Christell, joined the legendary Hanoi Rocks in 2005. In 2009 they began the process of reuniting the Electric Boys. They released the album “And Them Boys Done Swang” in 2011 and the critically acclaimed favorite “Starflight United” in 2014.
In 2018 the return to studio albums finally happened, with “The Ghost Ward Diaries”, a record that not only topped the charts in Sweden and Denmark but also brought back the distinctive sound of Electric Boys to their countless fans and new listeners. Roughly three years after, “Ups!de Down”, written already under lockdown, repeated the success but brought a broader array of songs.
Lineup: Conny Bloom – guitar, vocals Andy Christell – bass “Slim” Martin Thomander – guitar Jolle Atlagic – drums
Photo by Benedetta Gaiani – The Hurricane Photography
Just a few days ahead of their new album release, Brazilian death metal veterans NERVOCHAOS release “Lullaby Of Obliteration”, another great track from “Chthonic Wrath”. The end of our civilization is upon us; dirty politicians plotting the planet’s destruction, men and women fighting for their lives, nuclear missiles being launched and the world is obliterated. This song captures perfectly this apocalyptic atmosphere, with some tempo changes and several moods that shift between death and thrash metal.
Today Metal Shock Finland has a pleasure to premiere for Finland NERVOCHAOS’ “Lullaby Of Obliteration” video, enjoy the premiering below.
July 2021. Pandemics was still hitting hard the entire globe, specially Brazil, where deaths exceeded the 30 thousand. Local death metal big guns NervoChaos were home for far too long. Being used to tour most of the year and not having that chance, due to Covid-19 related constrictions, the band had a brand new album entirely written and ready to record, even before their current album at that time, “All Colors Of Darkness”, hit the shelves. Not ones to wait for the perfect music industry timing or sit on their arses, the Brazilians got themselves in the Abracadaver Studio, with producers Addasi Adassi and Adriano Daga (Angra, Almah, Torture Squad, etc) and recorded what was to be their next album. “Chthonic Wrath” was born.
Merely two months later, American producer Brendan Duffey, which worked previously with Nervosa, Angra and Andre Matos – to name just a few – got the 14 tracks to mix and master, and was utterly impressed. What NervoChaos achieved with “Chthonic Wrath” was their death metal essence, in all its brutality and technical prowess glory, but with hints of a renewed energy and heaviness. How could a group in their 26th year as a band be so hungry for more, passionated about death metal and still motivated enough to dig up riffs so vile, rhythm patterns so vicious and vocal attacks so violent that shake the listener to the ground? On top of it all, the subtle melody nuances and the superb acoustic guitar interlude (aptly named “Tomb Mold”) recorded by Brazilian traditional music researcher Ricardo Vignini. NervoChaos might be an experienced band with thousands of accumulated stage hours. Some might even call them “old”. But they’re nowhere near their descent of the central role in Brazilian – and South American – death metal and they keep firing all cylinders when it comes to no bullshit, truly angry extreme music.
The band gained cult status in the music scene due to their hard work over the past 26 years, offering a sonic extravaganza in their unique way. The group has tenth full-length studio album out, being the latest one “All Colors Of Darkness” – their first for Emanzipation Productions – released in 2022. NervoChaos is also constantly touring worldwide to support their releases, doing around 100 concerts per year – from clubs to big festivals, with everything in between.
“Chthonic Wrath” will be released on digital and CD via Emanzipation Productions on March 31st, 2023.
Brace yourself for an ear-shattering, face-melting experience as Austrian heavy metal outfit ROADWOLF announces their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Midnight Lightning, set for release on May 19, 2023 via Napalm Records!
With their debut album, Unchain the Wolf (2020), ROADWOLF firmly established themselves as purveyors of classic heavy metal, drawing inspiration from legendary acts such as Judas Priest, Saxon, UFO, Dio and Ozzy Osbourne. Since its release, the band has turned heads on stage, performing at renowned metal festivals such as Wacken and sharing the stage with notable acts such as Enforcer, Skull Fist, Bullet, Lizzy Borden, Vicious Rumors and Night Demon. Now, they bring the madness directly to you with their all killers no fillers album, Midnight Lightning!
To give a first taste of what to expect, the first single “On The Run” has been unleashed today! It’s a fierce exclamation point featuring electrifying guitar riffs, a pulsating bassline and driving drums forming a powerful heavy metal track, which makes it undoubtedly clear that ROADWOLF are here to stay!
ROADWOLF state on “On The Run”: “We are super excited to present the first single of our new album on Napalm Records. Get ready for a fast heavy metal neckbreaker and turn it up loud! Neighbours complaining? A real renegade cranks it up louder!”
ROADWOLF sold their souls to traditional Heavy Metal – showcased on title track “Midnight Lightning”, which brings out their power with soaring vocals and scorching guitar solos, reminiscent of Judas Priest. “Mark of the Devil” presents the band’s songwriting abilities, with multiple Iron Maiden-inspired solos and dynamic changes throughout the track. “Supernatural” offers a softer side of the band with ballad-like verses, but then explodes into heavy metal power during the choruses. “High Under Pressure” races along with a blistering pace that is further enhanced with great dueling guitar and saxophone solos. “Sons Of The Golden Horde” showcases another powerful song with lyrics of historic wars, reminiscent of Iron Maiden’s great historical anthems. “Don’t Deliver Us From Evil” uplifts with pure energy and catchy choruses that will have the whole crowd singing along. ROADWOLF keeps on rolling with another grooving track in “Running Out Of Time”. Bringing out their Motörhead influence on “Savage Child”, the song showcases the band’s speed metal skills, as well as catchy choruses with small alterations to keep it interesting with each repeat. Last but not least, the album concludes with the slow but beautiful ballad “Isolated Hearts”, featuring clean guitar reverb and soft piano underscoring powerful vocals singing of fading of hearts in the face of warfare. With Midnight Lightning, ROADWOLF turns the intensity up to 11 and beyond, taking no time to rest and delivering a more explosive and dynamic sound than ever before!
ROADWOLF state on Midnight Lightning: “Rock and roll maniacs, are you ready to unleash the beast within? We’re finally back from the dead and bringing the thunder with our new album, Midnight Lightning! So crank up the volume, grab a beer and smash your windows so everyone can join the listening party!”
Midnight Lightning Tracklisting: 1 On The Run 2 Midnight Lightning 3 Mark of The Devil 4 Supernatural 5 High Under Pressure 6 Sons of the Golden Horde 7 Don’t Deliver Us From Evil 8 Running Out of Time 9 Savage Child 10 Isolated Hearts
ARJEN LUCASSEN’s SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION will release their spectacular debut album “Golden Age of Music” on 19 May via Music Theories Recording/Mascot Label Group.
Today the band has revealed a video for a new track ‘Rise Of The Starman’ taken from the album.
Arjen Lucassen on “Rise Of The Starman”:
“My guess is that a lot of people will think this lyric is about David Bowie. But they would only be partly right… it is actually about his fictional character Ziggy Stardust. Ziggy was an alien character that Bowie created back in the early 70s with his album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’. I have to admit that I never really understood the deeper meaning behind this concept album, but I did my best to give it my own spin here! Alien creatures land on Earth with a mission to set the children free. The aliens only have 5 years to do this, but they fail hopelessly. Ziggy dies on stage. But… Bowie lived on, and how!”
Watch the video for“Rise Of The Starman” here:
You think you know Arjen Lucassen? Towering Dutch prog rock polymath? The man behind the super successful prog rock conceptualists Ayreon? Not to mention his prog metal of Star One and Guilt Machine? Enormous overarching concept albums about space and time, packed to the hilt with special guests that read like a who’s who of modern day progressive rock? Arjen Lucassen? Well, think again…
Supersonic Revolution, the band behind ‘Golden Age Of Music’, are simply five men: Arjen on bass, long-standing keyboard player Joost van den Broek, guitarist Timo Somers, drummer Koen Herfst and singer Jaycee. Five men rocking out and having one hell of a time doing it.
The whole project grew from a request to provide a track for a cover CD for the German music magazine Eclipsed. “They asked if I had any cover versions lying around,” he recalls. “I said, ‘No but I’ll happily record one for you.’ So, they gave me a list of bands and I saw a ZZ Top song ‘I Heard It On The X’ that I really like. I said I could record it for them, but then they told me it had to be ready in one week…”
“I was like ‘Oh my god!’. I contacted my favourite musicians in Holland via WhatsApp and literally within 30 minutes I had assembled five people. A band basically. From there the seed was sown in Lucassen’s mind. ‘I want to form a band. And I want to simply have fun!’.
“I’m a perfectionist as you know, so I’m always sending musicians their parts back and asking them to change stuff,” he acknowledges. “But this was all brilliant. We were having fun, calling and WhatsApping all the time, and within a week we had a complete product.” He continues, “Also I wanted to have an up-beat, positive project.”
“I was like, let’s form a band and let’s write songs in the style of the 70s, and have the lyrics be a celebration of all the memorable things from that time, because those were my formative years,” he enthuses. “But I didn’t want it to sound like the 70s because that’s already been done, and I can’t do it any better than ‘Stargazer’ or ‘Kashmir’.”
“The guys are all younger than me – around 30 – so they weren’t even alive yet in the 70s. So, it was a great way for me to make 70s music with lots of Hammond and blistering guitars, but to update it to this time.”
The end result is 11 tracks of high energy, progressively inclined heavy rock that swings with the kind of groove Deep Purple rocked with in the early to mid-1970s. “This album is not a typical prog album. It’s not Yes or Genesis. But it’s not a metal album either. There’s a track called ‘Burn it Down’,” Lucassen notes, “it’s totally based on ‘Smoke On The Water’ but written from the perspective of the ‘stupid with a flare gun’ mentioned in the original lyrics.
The album also features covers of some legendary songs given the Arjen Lucassen treatment as bonus tracks: T-Rex’s ‘Children of the Revolution,’ ZZ Top’s ‘Heard It On The X,’ Earth Wind and Fire’s ‘Fantasy’ and Roger Glover’s ‘Love Is All.’
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the real Arjen Lucassen. Job done. Having fun.
Track list 01 SR Prelude 02 The Glamattack 03 Golden Age Of Music 04 The Rise Of The Starman 05 Burn It Down 06 Odyssey 07 They Took Us By Storm 08 Golden Boy 09 Holy Holy Ground 10 Fight Of The Century 11 Came To Mock, Stayed To Rock 12 Children Of The Revolution (Bonus Track) 13 Heard It On The X (Bonus Track) 14 Fantasy (Bonus Track) 15 Love Is All (Bonus Track)
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
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