SVALBARD are proud to announce their ardently anticipated new studio album, The Weight Of The Mask, due out on October 6th via Nuclear Blast Records.
White-hot new single ‘Faking It’ has also been revealed, accompanied by a video. The track lays bare a poignant, candid account of dealing with depression and coming to the realisation that you are “faking it” to just get by.
Svalbard’s intention with their music is to make people feel less alone, and to be there for people in their darkest times. The Weight Of The Mask bravely lays out experiences of mental illness and depression, hoping to help destigmatise these topics.
Svalbard’s Serena Cherry stated, “If the previous record was about facing your demons, then The Weight of The Mask is about fighting them with everything you’ve got. You can literally hear the depression transform into aggression in these songs. The Weight of The Mask was admittedly a challenging album to make because we cut so deep this time around, it was a painful but ultimately cathartic process. This album is the sound of two years worth of internal darkness boiling away inside and then finally being unleashed. Faking It is a song about feeling deprived of meaningful human connection due to depression acting like a wall that shuts you off from others. It addresses the ways in which those who suffer with depression can feel guilted into putting on a happy mask. The lyrics are a reflection on happiness as a social obligation and how scarily good you can become at deceiving everyone around you into thinking that you’re fine when you’re not. With Faking It, we are both acknowledging the pressure for forced positivity, the fear that people won’t like you if you’re sad and also questioning where the root of this intolerance towards depression lies.”
Pre-order The Weight Of The Mask + stream ‘Faking It’HERE
Watch the ‘Faking It’ video below.
Serena added about the ‘Faking It’ video, “This video leans on deliberately obvious binary oppositions to hammer home the message of the song. We have the glossy smiling shots, filmed in the fakest place we could find: The Selfie Factory; mixed with dark, expressive performance footage that represents the internal struggle within.”
The Weight Of The Mask was recorded at The Ranch Production House, UK. The record was produced and mixed by Lewis Johns, with mastering by Grant Berry. Engineering was handled by Lewis Johns, assisted by Matt Janke, with additional editing by Kel Pinchin and Sebastien Sendon.
The beautiful album artwork was created by artist and illustrator Hestor Aspland, with layout by Lee O’Connor.
Serena Cherry stated about the album artwork, “We have been huge fans of Hester Aspland’s Illustration since we saw her stunning art work carved into a wooden table at our favourite metal bar, The Gryphon. The intricate, floral aspect of her artwork for The Weight of The Mask reflects the sonic beauty within our melodies. Then the bleaker animal skull mask symbolises the lyrical content. Working with Hester was an absolute dream and we love the art she has created for us.”
The Weight Of The Mask – tracklist: 01. Faking It 02. Eternal Spirits 03. Defiance 04. November 05. Lights Out 06. How To Swim Down 07. Be My Tomb 08. Pillar In The Sand 09. To Wilt Beneath The Weight
SVALBARD will be returning to the EU mainland for six headline show dates in October, which will be concluded by a headline date at The Key Club in Leeds, UK.
Summer Festivals 04-06 Aug – CH, Gränichen, Gränichen Open Air 11-13 Aug – BE, Kortrijk, Alcatraz Festival 16-19 Aug – UK, Compton Martin, ArcTanGent October Headline Dates 14 Oct – NL Nijmegen, Soulcrusher 15 Oct – DE Cologne, Helios 37 16 Oct – DE Berlin, Urban Spree 17 Oct – DE Dresden, Chemiefabrik 18 Oct – DE Neunkirchen, Stummsche Reithalle 19 Oct – FR Paris, Backstage By The Mill 21 Oct – UK Leeds, The Key Club
St. Louis horror metal outfit THE LION’S DAUGHTER will be releasing its brand new full-length, ‘Bath House,’ on October 13, 2023 as an independent entity. In celebration of this new release, the band has partnered with Metal Injection for the premiere the title track along with a disturbing music video that is certain to shock and excite horror fans everywhere. The video can be found at THIS LOCATION.
“Saying that this album was influenced by everything-that-I’ve-ever-liked-ever isn’t a very good answer, but it’s an accurate one,” explains frontman Rick Giordano on ‘Bath House’s’ unique sound. “I turned the left side of my brain off completely and let a lifetime of soaking up great art just come to the surface naturally. There are bits of all the things I love in there… from old Metallica to film scores to industrial and whatever else, but I think these things have melded together in a way that is cohesive and not just nonsensical genre-hopping. There are clean vocals and guitar solos, a lot of things that we’ve never tried before. It really feels like you uploaded my entire record collection to a hard drive and had an AI create an album based on that.”
In addition, The Lion’s Daughter will be performing live later this year! On October 13, the band will have a special Friday the 13th album release party in its hometown of St. Louis, MO. Then, the band will hit Black Circle Brewing in Indianapolis, IN on 11/11 for another rager! The full itinerary can be found below with more dates TBA!
The artwork for ‘Bath House’ was created by UK artist Daniel Peacock and can be found below along with the tracklist.
‘Bath House’ Tracklist: Bath House (4:10) [WATCH] Maximize Terror (3:24) Your Pets Died on TV (4:19) Liminal Blue (4:11) Rerouted (4:22) 12-31-89 (4:47) Crawler Night (5:12) She Does Not Exist (3:40) End Credits (5:19)
The Lion’s Daughter Live Dates (U.S.): 10/13: St. Louis, MO @ Red Flag (Album Release Show) 11/11: Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing
“What we did see… was something altogether different, and immeasurably more hideous and detestable. It was the utter, objective embodiment of the fantastic novelist’s ‘thing that should not be.’” – H.P. Lovecraft, “At The Mountains of Madness”
Some creations are designed to elicit nightmares, evoking unspeakable terrors that are meant to shock, terrify, and mesmerize the masses. Since the release of its first full-length in 2012, The Lion’s Daughter has consistently put forth music that is just as disturbing as it is enticing, making a name for itself as a dark force among its musical contemporaries. And much like an eldritch horror, the band is constantly shape shifting like a Shoggoth, capable of fitting into many different musical spaces, while at the same time, fitting into no earthly dimensions just as an ancient alien rising up from centuries of arctic slumber with a mission to destroy and conquer.
And much like the Shoggoth, The Lion’s Daughter have defied all gods and masters, releasing its latest opus as an independent entity, breaking away from the corporate confines of a label. ‘Bath House’ is another generically unclassified masterpiece from the St. Louis horror quartet, pulling elements from everything from Faith No More to Godflesh to Samhain, creating a sound that’s way ahead of its time and yet certain to grab the listener by the throat.
“Saying that this album was influenced by everything-that-I’ve-ever-liked-ever isn’t a very good answer, but it’s an accurate one,” explains frontman Rick Giordano on the band’s unique sound. “I turned the left side of my brain off completely and let a lifetime of soaking up great art just come to the surface naturally. There are bits of all the things I love in there… from old Metallica to film scores to industrial and whatever else, but I think these things have melded together in a way that is cohesive and not just nonsensical genre-hopping. There are clean vocals and guitar solos, a lot of things that we’ve never tried before. It really feels like you uploaded my entire record collection to a hard drive and had an AI create an album based on that.”
As the music itself on ‘Bath House’ is a representation of Giordano’s musical palette, the lyrics are perhaps the darkest and most vulnerable of his career. The band strays away from fantasy on this record and instead, gets raw and relatable. “It’s all really ugly shit,” he says of the new album’s themes. “Which, for our band, is not shocking at all. But this time around, it’s all much more personal to me, which makes it a bit difficult and uncomfortable to talk about. I wasn’t in a great place while writing this record. Grief, fear, jealousy, and general devastation can be found all over this thing. That wasn’t my intention exactly, but like the music, I let the lyrics kind of write themselves without letting logic or reason interfere.”
To further illustrate the darkness that dwells within ‘Bath House,’ The Lion’s Daughter commissioned a perverse and unnerving image from UK artist Daniel Peacock for the album cover. The image not only works well in cohesion with the record, but also symbolizes that while ‘Bath House’ still very much carries the band’s signature sound, it still isn’t exactly what fans might expect. Giordano explains, “Our previous two album covers featured masked characters. I wanted to see what happens when you take the mask off. This record isn’t shrouded in mystery the same way the previous couple have been. It’s much more of an in your face kind of attack, and I felt the artwork should represent that. This horrible creature looks dangerous and frightening, but is also clearly in pain and also afraid. It’s the perfect image to represent whatever the fuck ugly thing lives in my head. On this record it is no longer hiding behind a mask… it is loose and it’s right outside your fucking house.”
As the St. Louis horror masters set forth on a new trajectory, the former trio has also added Black Fast guitarist Aaron Akin to the lineup, creating a sound that’s more intense and grand. “Aaron was the guitarist and vocalist of a band called Black Fast. They were hands down the best metal band to come out of St. Louis in decades. Once they disbanded, it was a no-brainer to try and get the guy who fronted my favorite local band to be in my band. Why wouldn’t I? Plus, as anyone who knows Aaron will tell you, he’s an all around great guy,” explains Giordano on how this new union came about.
And as a new union has been formed, former binds have been severed as The Lion’s Daughter is no longer tied to a label, doing this record fully independently for the first time in its career and taking full and total control. “It’s just nice to have 100% control over everything again,” Giordano says of the band’s new freedom. “That was the whole intention when we started this band years ago. We lost sight of that for a while. No disrespect intended towards anyone, but this band has always been pretty anti-music industry and anti-bullshit.”
Despite so many changes, The Lion’s Daughter is still the same band that cult followers have come to worship, but with everything cranked up to 11. With heavier music, a fuller sound, and darker themes, the band is maximizing terror with its monstrous brand of debauchery and unspeakable perversions. Unpleasant dreams…
Recording Lineup: Rick Giordano – vocals, guitars, bass, synths Erik Ramsier – drums Scott Fogelbach – additional vocals on tracks 2, 7, 8
Live Lineup: Rick Giordano – guitar and vocals Scott Fogelbach – bass and vocals Aaron Akin – guitar Erik Ramsier – drums
Guest Musicians: Sarah Vie – violin and vocals on tracks 2, 4, 7, 9
By now, you’ve already heard the rumors about a new tribute album to the godless ghouls of Goo Goo Muck, punkabilly fiends The Cramps. Well, my friends, the rumors are true! Alt country icon Shooter Jennings recently shared his twisted version of “Human Fly” while TX neo-psych singer/songwriter Danny Lee Blackwell, a/k/a Night Beats, blasted out a slick rendition of “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” just last month. Now, it’s THE 69 EYES‘ turn with an ultra cool apocalyptic boogie woogie take on “Aloha From Hell.”
Originally released on the landmark 1986 album A Date With Elvis, The Cramps’ third full-length and its commercial breakthrough, “Aloha From Hell” offered a perfect distillation of the band’s sound – rollicking drums, a throbbing bass line and uber creepy tremolo guitar. The 69 Eyes’ version retains all of the best elements of the original while adding in their own distinctive goth metal sounds, including the signature baritone voice of frontman Jyrki 69 and the twin guitar attack of Bazie and Timo-Timo with bassist Archzie and drummer Jussi 69 holding down the steady driving groove. Check out the performance video for the full experience of these veteran rockers making a full meal of The Cramps influential horror punk stew!
Goo Goo Muck – A Tribute To The Cramps is set for full release on August 4. The album presents an all-star line-up of ghouls and goblins from across the musical spectrum including retro rockers The Courettes, Swedish rockabilly heroes The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, sister of Jerry Lee Lewis, Linda Gail Lewis, and so much more!
SEAL FUR PEELING is a masked duo project which play experimental death metal with grindcore elements. Lyrics are themed of universe, natural environment and human stupidity.
Music was recorded, mixed and mastered between July 2021 and April 2023 by Yuki Nakatani as sound engineer at Studio Life in Japan.
Debut album “Daggers Predacious” will out digitally and on CD in cooperation with Polish label Via Nocturna. Release date is scheduled on July 28, 2023. Pre-order is available at webstore.
Tracklist:
01. Bestial Code 02. Human Domestication 03. Degeneration Reveration 04. Blade in Severance 05: X-Trilogy Part One: Disarray of Berserkx 06. X-Trilogy Part Two: Pitch Black Iron Horse Mechanix 07. X-Trilogy Part Three: Unsane Paradox 08. Jet Frozen Dagger
First song titled “Bestial Code” you can stream below.
CROBOT and Mascot Records have released a recording of Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat”. The band’s singer Brandon Yeagley shares, “Every time we talked about covering a song, ‘Black Cat’ would come up as one we wished we had written. So, here’s our chance to pay homage to the great Janet Jackson. It’s got all the things that go into the Crobot sound – bad ass riffs, a funky groove for days, and soaring high vocals. What’s not to like about this tune? It’s even got cow bell!”
Crobot’s most recent studio album titled FEEL THIS, has delivered 4.3 million streams to date. Band members Brandon Yeagley [vocals], Chris Bishop [guitar], and Dan Ryan [drums] picked up where they left off with MOTHERBRAIN, whose cumulative streams have now surpassed 33 million, two thirds of which were for the goliath track “Low Life,” a Top 10 single at Active Rock radio, with a 29-week run on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
They made waves with Legend of the Spaceborne Killer [2012], Something Supernatural [2014], and Welcome To Fat City [2016]. However, Motherbrain [2019] represented a high watermark. They’ve crisscrossed the U.S., and The World, in road-warrior style, playing with the likes of Anthrax, Black Label Society, Chevelle, Clutch, Volbeat, Halestorm and more. They’ve lit up festival bills and the annual Shiprocked! Cruise, Rocklahoma, Aftershock, and the Jericho Cruise alongside others. “We tour the pockets off of our pants and sleep in our van for half of the year. To some, that may seem like misery, but to us – it’s Heaven baby!” the frontman says.
Modern heavy symphonic metal leaders KAMELOT recently released their most introspective, uplifting, vital release to date – their first full-length in five years, The Awakening. The album, which debuted at #2 on the US Current Hard Music Albums chart and #27 on the Current Album Sales chart, connected with fans and critics alike – touted by many as the best late-era KAMELOT release to date!
In anticipation of their upcoming “Awaken The World” North American headline tour with special guests Battle Beast and additional support from labelmates Xandria, which kicks off August 17, KAMELOT have revealed an exciting new music video for the new fan favorite album single “Eventide”. The video showcases the band playing puppet masters inside a castle far beyond imagination, setting a scene of gothic darkness amid love lost.
Tickets are on sale now for the North American “Awaken The World” tour – visit the official KAMELOT website or local venue websites for tickets and more information.
North American “Awaken The World” Headline Tour Dates: w/ Special Guests Battle Beast + Additional Support from Xandria August 17 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore August 18 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium August 19 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall August 21 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre August 22 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House August 24 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theater August 25 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater August 26 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman August 27 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre August 30 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox September 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom September 2 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern September 3 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren September 5 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues September 6 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall September 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage (ProgPower USA) – SOLD OUT! *KAMELOT ONLY September 9 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
Additional Confirmed Dates: November 1 – Osaka, JP @ Umeda Club Quattro November 3 & 4 – Kawasaki, JP @ Club Citta December 2 – Mexico City, MX @ Life After Death Horror Festival
KAMELOT‘s new album,The Awakening, enters the band’s legacy as their most massive and diverse offering yet – mixing symphonic, gothic, melodic, progressive and power metal styles while yielding some of the heaviest tracks in the band’s history. Having reigned supreme with the release of internationally top-charting melodic metal pinnacles such as The Fourth Legacy (1999), The Black Halo (2005), Silverthorn (2012), Haven (2015, #1 US Hard Rock Albums), and most recently 2018’s acclaimed The Shadow Theory (#2 US Hard Music Albums), KAMELOT’s intense brand of ultramodern gothic and symphonic theatricality is amplified further and with more emotionality than ever on The Awakening.
Showcasing the incomparable, stage-seasoned vocal acrobatics of Tommy Karevik and increasingly airtight, renowned technical teamwork of guitarist Thomas Youngblood, drummer Alex Landenburg, keyboardist Oliver Palotai and bassist Sean Tibbetts, KAMELOT’s score-like 13th studio album is accented by guest contributions from the likes of Melissa Bonny (Ad Infinitum) and renowned instrumentalists like violinist Florian Janoske and cellist Tina Guo. The Awakening features crystal clear modern production helmed by the band and longtime producer Sascha Paeth, plus mixing and mastering by Jacob Hansen of Hansen Studios.
The Awakening tracklisting: 1. Overture (Intro) 2. The Great Divide 3. Eventide 4. One More Flag in the Ground 5. Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem) 6. Midsummer’s Eve 7. Bloodmoon 8. NightSky 9. The Looking Glass 10. New Babylon feat. Melissa Bonny 11. Willow 12. My Pantheon (Forevermore) 13. Ephemera (Outro)
KAMELOT are: Tommy Karevik – Vocals Thomas Youngblood – Guitars Oliver Palotai – Keyboards Sean Tibbetts – Bass Alex Landenburg – Drums
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 ) 