Finnish theatrical melodic metal band ENDLESS EXAM has released new single and music video from their upcoming album. It’s a horror movie -influenced dreamlike song from the album to be released by Inverse Records in May 2023.
Endless Exam backgrounds the song:
“The lyrics of the song is about a world led by better people, where the value and contribution of an ordinary person has no meaning and they can only be used as part of the machine. Their only goal is to be able to just give orders and give the author belief that they are being heard.
However, without these parts, no machine runs. The ordinaries start to resist and the world imagined by these better people starts to fall apart. They realize that nothing works without these ordinary people. They are the basis of everything and if their value is not taken into account, the machine will not run either.”
Ascending British hard rock sect, WYTCH HAZEL, will release its new album, ‘IV: Sacrament‘, on June 2 via Bad Omen Records. Recorded with longtime producer Ed Turner (Purson) and tracked in a converted Baptist chapel in rural Wales, the record is a resounding achievement and glittering treasure chest that builds on the momentum of the band’s celebrated 2020 album ‘III: Pentecost‘.
Having been glorified by Under the Radar as “an invocation of rock and roll at its purest and, more specifically, of all that made the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late ’70s so special“, causing Metal Injection to opine, “Wytch Hazel is arguably one of the best heavy metal bands out there right now and everyone should be listening to them” and described by Metal Hammer as “Quintessentially British-sounding proto-heavy metal, steeped in the mystical harmonies of Wishbone Ash, the heartfelt balladry of Thin Lizzy and the eccentric folk rock of Jethro Tull” each Wytch Hazel album has embodied that old-fashioned notion of unstoppable progress culminating in this, their fourth outing; the point where youthful years of febrile creativity and progressive momentum culminate in a masterwork for the ages, setting the seal on an early signature sound while opening it up to future possibilities.
In advance of the new record’s release, Wytch Hazel unleashes a music video for the new song “Angel of Light”. Created by Wild Stag Studios (Angel Witch, Rick Wakeman), the clip features Wytch Hazel performing in a devout setting, showcasing the radiant energy of its purified live sets.
Watch Wytch Hazel‘s “Angel of Light” video, below.
Led by vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Colin Hendra, Wytch Hazel is a singular source of hard rock/heavy metal dominion, offering a never ending quantum of mediaeval melodic structures and to uplifting hymns, ‘IV: Sacrament‘ is overflowing with indelible ear-worms the likes of which must be heard to be believed. And believe, you shall.
“I’ve blown my own mind a bit,” Colin states, “and even after all this painstaking work, I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what Wytch Hazel could be doing musically. I wish I could have a month to work on one song, and go on a tangent a bit. I will in the future, it’s going in the right direction. It’s some of the most honest songwriting I’ve ever done, and the lyrics come from a darker place, I think. I’m getting older, that comes through in some lyrics: ‘see my body breaking’, ‘I’m digging deeper’, ‘time’s running out…’ – I struggle to see the positive a lot of the time, so the songs end up being negative, the subject matter coming from constant striving.“
It’s these deeply personal lyrics, coming from a place of faith and conviction, which make Wytch Hazel stand out further from the modern herd; although we’ve been bombarded with the cartoon diabolism of the ‘occult rock’ revival for the best part of two decades, no other band has dared to offer the other side of the story. Yet lest any heathen headbanger start to fear any kind of evangelical conversion agenda, Hendra expands on his position: “Music is created for all, it’s a common grace for everyone,” he affirms, “which is why the music that shows the glory of God the most, in my opinion, is not music created by Christians. It’s Black Sabbath, you know!“
Track listing: 01. The Fire’s Control 02. Angel of Light 03. Time and Doubt 04. Strong Heart 05. Deliver Us 06. A Thousand Years 07. Gold Light 08. Endless Battle 09. Future Is Gold 10. Digging Deeper
In addition to vocalist/guitarist Colin Hendra, Wytch Hazel features Alex Haslam (guitar), Andy Shackleton (bass) and Aaron Hay (drums).
Morten Veland (SIRENIA, MORTEMIA and founder of TRISTANIA) has released the second MORTEMIA song from ‘The Covid Aftermath Sessions’. The track features Ulli Perhonen on guest vocals and Nils Courbaron on solo guitar and it is available on all digital platforms now.
Here follow quotes from Morten and Ulli:
Morten Veland: “I am proud and honoured to introduce Ulli Perhonen and my great friend and Sirenia band mate Nils Courbaron as my special guests for ‘The Covid Aftermath Sessions’. This new song is called ‘The Endless Shore’ and will be available on all digital platforms on the 31st of March 2023. Ulli has a really beautiful and expressive classical voice that fits perfectly for this track, and Nils have made an epic guitar solo for the song. I feel truly privileged and thankful to have Ulli and Nils on board this project, and I am really pleased to be sharing this song with you all. You can enjoy ‘The Endless Shore’ on all digital platforms now.
Ulli Perhonen: “I’m proud to be part of Mortemia’s brand new song “The Endless Shore”. I’ve been following the project for a while now, listening to brilliant collaborations with awesome vocalists like Zora Cock, Heidi Parviainen, Madeleine Liljestam and many many more. I was surprised and thankful that Morten asked me to do the vocals here and that I can now also contribute to the Mortemia songs, along with Nils Courbaron on solo guitar. It’s a great honour for me and I hope you will like Mortemia’s soundscape combined with Nils’s and my contribution. Enjoy the song and let us take you to the endless shore …”
After 11 years of silence Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, producer and artist Morten Veland activated his solo project Mortemia during the early stages of the Covid 19 pandemic, this time with a brand new concept consisting of collaborations with multiple guest singers. ‘The Pandemic Pandemonium Sessions’ was a series of singles released on a monthly basis, each song featuring a well known and highly profiled guest singer from the metal scene. Now he is ready to endeavor on the next project entitled ‘The Covid Aftermath Sessions’, once more the project will feature multiple amazing guest singers.
So far the following singers has contributed for his collaborations: Madeleine Liljestam – (Eleine) Marcela Bovio – (Stream of Passion, Ayreon, MaYaN, Dark Horse White Horse) Alessia Scolletti – (Temperance, ERA) Liv Kristine – (Liv Kristine, ex-Theatre of Tragedy, ex-Leaves Eyes) Melissa Bonny – (Ad Infinitum, The Dark Side of the Moon) Brittney Slayes – (Unleash the Archers) Maja Shining – (Forever Still) Erica Ohlsson – (Metalite) Heidi Parviainen – (Dark Sarah, ex Amberian Dawn) Zora Cock – (Blackbriar) Linda Toni Grahn – (Anima Veil, ex Follow the Cipher) Caterina Nix – (Chaos Magic) Federica Lanna – (Volturian) Ulli Perhonen – (ex-Snow White Blood)
Texan black metal outlaws NECROFIER are now announcing a run of Western North American dates in support of MIDNIGHT! NECROFIER will join the trek on June 1 in Denver, CO until the tour’s conclusion on June 16 in Tucson, AZ. The full run can be found below!
NECROFIER is touring in support of its second full-length, ‘Burning Shadows in the Southern Night,’ which will be released on on June 2, 2023 via Season of Mist Underground Activists! The record was recorded at legendary Studio G in Brooklyn, NY by 6xGrammy nominated and 1xLatin Grammy nominated engineer, producer, and musician Joel Hamilton (UNSANE, IGGY POP, TOM WAITS).
‘Burning Shadows in the Southern Night’ is now available for pre-order HERE and can be pre-saved on streaming services HERE.
NECROFIER (w/ MIDNIGHT + EARLY MOODS): 06/01: Denver, CO @ HQ [TICKETS] 06/04: Vancouver, BC @ The Red Room [TICKETS] 06/05: Portland, OR @ Dante’s [TICKETS] 06/06: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon [TICKETS] 06/07: Boise, ID @ The Shredder 06/09: Reno, NV @ The Cypress [TICKETS] 06/10: Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial [TICKETS] 06/11: Oakland, CA @ Eli’s Mile High Club 06/13: Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst 06/14: Bakersfield, CA @ Temblor Brew 06/15: San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar [TICKETS] 06/16: Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
Tracklist: 01. The Fall from Heaven (03:24) 02. Total Southern Darkness (05:43) 03. To the Wolves (03:54) 04. Forbidden Light of the Black Moon (05:20) 05. Destroying Angels (05:09) 06. Whispers That Burn in the Dark (04:40) 07. The All Seeing shadows (04:44) 08. On Wings of Death We Burn the Sky (03:50) 09. Call to the Beyond (04:29) 10. Burnt by the Sacred Flame (06:00) [WATCH] Total Running Time- 00:47:12
The cover artwork for ‘Burning Shadows in the Southern Night’ was created by Burney.
Danish extreme metal quintet THE ARCANE ORDER returns with its fourth album “Distortions From Cosmogony” set for a June 9th release via Black Lion Records.
With its new experienced line-up, the band has created an epic metal album within its singular style combining the extreme, the grandiose, technical and melodic while telling the story of mankind’s eternal existential conflict between autonomy and submission. Featuring members of renowned acts such as Soilwork, Møl and HateSphere, THE ARCANE ORDER are true masters of their craft and have today released the album’s first single with the track “Cry of Olympus”.
Stream the single at THIS LOCATIONor watch the video here:
Lead singer Kim Song Sternkorpf on “Cry of Olympus”: “The Cry of Olympus is the first single from the album and probably the most progressive of the songs on the album. We purposely wanted to create a song that would work well as a first impression of the new album and a gateway into the rest of the songs on the album.
Can man handle true power or will it be his undoing? Cry of Olympus is as classical as a tale of hubris gets. A mortal challenging fate by aspiring to climb as high as one can get to fall just as far. Because all heroes can fail us. That’s what makes us human.“
Tracklist reads as follows:
Distortions From Cosmogony
Cry Of Olympus
A Blinding Trust In Chosen Kings
Starvations for Elysium
Favors For Significance
The First Deceiver
Empedocles’ Dream
Ideals Of Wretched Kingdoms
Children Of Erebos
Wings of Duality
The band’s upcoming fourth album is a 54 minutes long virtuosic display of THE ARCANE ORDER’s unique fusion of death, black, tech, classic and melodic metal. The band’s skillful balancing of the epic and aggressive, the extreme and melodic and of the technical and catchy is unfolded in a dramatic songwriting taking the band’s expression to new heights, while demanding complete devotion from the listener – who are equally rewarded, if this is delivered.
In the same manner, the subject matter of THE ARCANE ORDER demands a will to immerse oneself, look inwards and to be challenged. “Distortions From Cosmogony” revolves around humankind’s eternal existential struggle of division between autonomy and submission, internally as well as externally. The album dives into the distortion and transition taking place, when humans project their incompleteness into the creation of gods and their counterparts, here on earth as well as beyond. Humans have always told stories about itself and the world with cosmogonies carrying reward and punishment as the most archetypal narratives. The album asks the eternal questions about who we are, which narratives shape us and if these will forever determine our species. These fundamental existential questions find their natural habitat in THE ARCANE ORDER’s unique, visionary extreme metal on “Distortions from Cosmogony”.
As the previous three, THE ARCANE ORDER’s new album “Distortions from Cosmogony” is recorded by Jacob Hansen (Aborted, Arch Enemy, Volbeat, Katatonia a.o.) and in addition Jacob Bredahl (Lifesick, Eyes, Livløs ao.) has recorded vocals, while the guitars were tracked in Flemming C. Lund’s home studio.
“Distortions from Cosmogony” will be released on 2-LP, CD and physical formats and can be pre-ordered at THIS LOCATION while digital formats can be pre-saved HERE
THE ARCANE ORDER is: Kim Song Sternkopf – Vocals Flemming C. Lund: Guitar Kasper Kierkegaard: Guitar Anders Frodo S. Mikkelsen – Bass Bastian Thusgaard – Drums
Swedish death metal band DEMONICAL returns with a surprise new EP “Into Victory”, featuring one new, original track and a cover of Ramones‘ song. The EP is due tomorrow, March 31st, on Agonia Records in CD and digital. Its title track received a lyric video, which is premiering now, watch below.
The new material marks a line-up change, with the band debuting a new singer. “With the release of ‘Into Victory’, we hereby welcome Charlie Fryksell as our new vocalist,” comments DEMONICAL. “Like an unstoppable force, we will push on towards new greater goals and this EP is another step on that path. So ladies and gentlemen, join us in death!”
“Into Victory” followed the footsteps of “Mass Destroyer” (2022) to Glashuset and Sellnoise Studios, where it was recorded & produced by DEMONICAL, Jonas Arnberg and Johan Hjelm. Mixing and mastering was done by Ronnie Bjornstrom at BLP Studios (Meshuggah, Blood Red Throne). The cover artwork was painted by Belial Necroarts.
Tracklisting: 1. Into Victory 2. Somebody Put Something In My Drink (Ramones cover)
Upcoming shows: 07.04 23 SE Stockholm – Fredagsmangel 14.04 23 SE Falun – Club Slammer 21.07.23 DE Baden-Wurttemberg – Boarstream Open Air 22.07.23 DE Weil Am Rhein – Baden in Blut Festival 25.07.23 SL Tolmin – Tolminator Festival 11.08.23 CZ Jaromer – Brutal Assault 10.09.23 BR Sao Paolo – Setembro Negro Festival 05.10.23 AM Yerevan – Iron Force Metal Festival 04.11.23 DE Oberhausen – End of Days Festival
Line-up: Charlie Fryksell – vocals Eki Kumpulainen – lead guitars Johan Haglund – rhythm guitars Martin Schulman – bass Ronnie Bergerstahl – drums
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 ) 