The bustling Swabian metallers from RETERNITY recorded a brand new song in the studio with producer Andy Horn in the summer of 2023 to creatively bridge the gap to a fourth album.
With “A Spaceman Came Travelling”, the band took on a classic from the 1970s by Irish poet Chris de Burgh and gave the song a metallic corset. The track is now available as a digital single on all common download and streaming platforms. The band is also releasing a video clip for the song on the MDD YouTube channel, which is intended to convey one thing above all: Hope and joy. Check it out!
Extreme Management Group (EMG), home to bands like Suffocation, Atheist, Rings of Saturn, and more, has announced their partnership with Thrash Metal band ARCHAIC.
Archaic are a thrash metal band from Hungary, influenced by bands such as Testament, Slayer, Kreator and The Haunted. The band has a clear aim to carry on the flag of the classic thrash genre with a modern 21st century sound, diverse tempos, catchy melodies impregnated with a relentless energy on stage in order to give the best live experience for any metal fan attending our gigs.
Archaic have three full-length studio albums and hundreds of gigs in their long history. After the release of their first album ’Time Has Come to Envy the Dead (2005 Vic Records) and an intensive 5-year period of gigs and tours, including a support tour with Testament, the band was forced to stop for many years because of various personal reasons and line-up changes, until they reunited again with a new line-up and came back with a brand new release called ’How much blood would you shed to stay alive?’ in December 2017.
With help of the label Nail Records, the album was an attachment of the Hungarian Hammerworld magazine thus reaching a wide audience in the country and became immediately popular and received positive reviews and feedback in all the major metal magazines.
The album cover made by artist Peter Sallai (Annihilator, Sabaton, Hammerfall) and studio production done by Attila Vörös (ex- Nevermore, Satyricon) were voted Hungary’s best in 2017 by the Hungarian metal press.
The band went on to release new videos, playing as many gigs as possible, both in Hungary and in Europe. One of the most important stage in their life took place in 2019 when they managed to play in Wacken as part of the international Wacken Metal Battle competition representing Hungary and they made it to the 2nd place in the finals, making them the first band from their country reaching such a prominent position.
Later on in 2020 they continued the recordings of their upcoming album but unfortunate line-up changes, the covid pandemic and other factors set new obstacles in the way. The most significant change happened at the position of the lead vocalist, as after Tamás left the band, the guitarist, Peter stepped into his place, and it took a while to rearrange and re-record the vocal tracks for the new songs.
The new album named “The Endgame Protocol” was finally finished by the end of 2021. The album was released on 4 March 2022.The album received excellent international reviews, resulting in a growing interest in the band.
In Hungary, ‘The Endgame Protocol’ was the album of the month in HammerWorld magazine and also opened at no. 2 in the domestic sales charts. Along with the outstanding reception of the album, the band has also received international acclaim.
Now the band has signed with Extreme Management Group, and had the following to say about the partnering, “We are proud and happy to announce that the band has become part of the Extreme Management Group roster. We are looking forward to working together and it is a huge step in our history as this the first time when a professional and experienced management team will handle our international aspirations and help us grow and spread the music of Archaic worldwide. Keep supporting thrash metal!” EMG said, “We anticipate big things to come from our partnership with ARCHAIC.”
ARCHAIC is: Péter Erdélyi – vocal, guitar Lászlo Püski – guitar Csaba Zoltán Szabó – drums Gábor Illés – bass
French black-doom metal torchbearers MOURNING DAWN have announced the upcoming release of their sixth studio album, “The Foam of Despair”, on January 12th 2024.
Today, the band unveil a new track from the album. Watch the video of “The Color of Waves” at THIS LOCATION.
The first video from the album, “Blue Pain”, is also available HERE.
Aesthetic Death will release “The Foam of Despair” on digi CD and gatefold LP – (vinyl co-released with Tragedy Productions).
Tracklist:
1. Tomber du temps 2. Blue Pain 3. Borrowed Skin 4. Apex 5. Suzerain 6. The Color of Waves 7. Midnight Sun (CD edition bonus track)
The journey of our personal evolutions should be intrinsically integrated within, and carve out, our creativity.
MOURNING DAWN have always reflected the rich cycles of their lives within their albums – both the bad times and the very bad times. With “The Foam Of Despair”MOURNING DAWN undergo their own metamorphosis, emerging to reach a heightened level of perception, doomed spirituality and self-reflection.
This new album has all the benchmark qualities of MOURNING DAWN – the blackened doom pacing, the anguished vocals and the captivating songwriting – but with any great album there needs to be a creative alchemy, the Je ne sais quoi that brings everything together. “The Foam Of Despair” certainly has that, with this new material elevated beyond that heard before from this now established line-up.
Strong words considering the quality of albums created in the past two decades – just listening to “For The Fallen”, “Les Sacrifies”, “Dead End Euphoria” it’s clear to see the impact MOURNING DAWN have had upon this scene.
This album takes their blackened depressive doomed music to new levels – with the freedom to explore new territories and industrial overtones – and solidifies their position as one of the most important bands of the genre.
Most of all, “The Foam Of Despair” feels like a whole – there’s a new confidence and comfort in their own creativity – reflecting on their journey, really being at one with both their despair and their evolution.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
