Finnish ONDFØDT Announce New Album “Det Österbottniska Mörkret”; Release First Single ‘Dödsrejson’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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April 28th will see the release of “Det Österbottniska Mörkret”, the brand new album by Finnish black metal legion Ondfødt. Written in 2022, “Det Österbottniska Mörkret” is a bleak record, both lyric and sound wise. Hailing from Ostrobothnia, an area in western Finland with lots of urban legends and dark stories, this album is exploring the darkest side of Ostrobothnia, both lyrically and sonically.
“If you are from Ostrobothnia you will understand. The endless darkness during winter when the sun is barely going above the horizon. You will also understand the dark history of the witch hunt.“
“Det Österbottniska Mörkret” is about all of that and going even deeper to the roots of all the evil spirits that lives in the area.

The album takes you through the dark history of murders and the darkest side of people driven by religion. And aswell the urban legends of the spirits and the evil creations that lives in the endless forsts of Ostrobothnia. And finally the album takes you through death itself with the song and first single “Dödsrejson”.

Ondfødt comments: “The song represents the idea of when you have given up on everything and waiting for moment when you are finally dead“. 

Tracklist reads as follows:

  1. Det Österbottniska Mörkret
  2. Tvetalan
  3. Furstins Tid
  4. Tå Do Dör
  5. Where Death Roams
  6. Falskhejtins Folk
  7. Själavandring
  8. Höstfruktan
  9. Dödsrejson
  10. Tå Livi Bleknar

“Det Österbottniska Mörkret” was recorded at Wolfthrone Studios in September/October 2022.
Mixed and mastered by Owe Inborr. Guest contributions include Jacob Björnfot (KVAEN) and Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns. Artwork by René Thuys. The album will be coming out on Black Lion Records and is now available for pre-order at THIS LOCATION

Ondfødt are:

Owe Inborr – Vocals, Guitar
Dario Kåll – Guitar
Joel Notkonen – Bass
Tommi Tuhkala – Drums

SHAKRA Release New Powerful Anthem ‘Invincible’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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«You are invincible— it happens in your brain». That’s the core message of the single “Invincible” by Swiss hard rockers SHAKRA, who kick off 2023 with this new anthem featuring powerful walls of guitars and haunting melodies. As simple as this statement may sound, it stands for the essential in everyone’s life, «the ability to have an unbreakable will and thereby achieve or create great things. But not only that. It can also mean being able to pull oneself out of the deepest swamp and be perceived in this society as a person steeled with self-confidence.» SHAKRA‘s new song is a source of power to strengthen exactly this will. You can achieve anything, not if you believe in it, but if you know it…and that makes you invincible!

After the five piece shared their latest single, “The Way It Is” by the end of last year, today, SHAKRA premiered a music video for their new song “Invincible”. Watch the clip here:

Get the song on all digital platforms HERE!

Finnish-Estonian KILLHALL to Release Debut Album “I Want War”, First Single & Music Video ‘Fear Shaped Man’ Revealed

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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Photo by TPA Productions

Finnish-Estonian metal band KILLHALL is set to release their debut album ‘I Want War’ later this year via Inverse Records. A First single and music video Fear Shaped Man is released today and it’s available here: https://push.fm/fl/killhall-fear

Vocalist Madis “Mad” Velström comments:

“Fear Shaped Man talks about the nightmares I had for about 10 years when I was a kid. There was a huge werewolfish character always watching me in the shadows.

I felt it’s presence the whole night and usually woke up screaming because it had just started to scream at me in the dream, me losing my voice and the ability to move. I have analysed it through my life and understood that I was battling with my fears and have now long ago accepted myself to also be that wolf.

When ever I have been at the crossroads in my life, not knowing which way to go the wolf have returned in my dreams. I now welcome it as an old friend. Hey, maybe it is death itself. There was that white wolf in “Puss in Boots 3” that kind of reminded me of my nightmare character. It scared the shit out of me!

To take it all together – Fear Shaped Man is about accepting your fears, getting over them, growing stronger with them and knowing that you will always have new obstacles to overcome and you will never have anyone else than yourself to get over them. Face your fears “

Fear Shaped man -credits

  • Single cover art by Black Bela Art & Tattoo
  • Mixed & Mastered: Mikko Herranen
  • Vocal recording: Mikko Herranen
  • Instrument recording: Killhall
  • Composed by Killhall
  • Lyrics: Madis “Mad” Velström

JOE BONAMASSA Adds KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD, LAURA COX + WHEN RIVERS MEET to “The Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III” Line-Up

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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3x GRAMMY® Award-nominated guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa and Sixthman, the leader in festivals and music cruises for more than a decade, are proud to announce the addition of 3 new amazing artists to the Keeping the Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III line-up. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Laura Cox, and When Rivers Meet are the latest to join the star-studded lineup on the third European voyage of Bonamassa’s world-famous floating blues-rock party at sea. Keeping the Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III sails August 17-22, 2023, traveling from Athens, Greece  to Dubrovnik, Croatia  and Santorini,  Greece aboard the luxurious Norwegian Jade. Limited cabins are available. For complete details and reservations, please visit www.bluesaliveatseaeurope.com.

This five-night music festival at sea will feature performances from 20+ amazing blues artists, including Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Blackberry Smoke, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Ruthie Foster and more. Cruisers can expect two unique sets from Bonamassa along with dozens of electrifying live performances and once-in-a-lifetime collaborations that can’t be seen anywhere else. Visit www.bluesaliveatseaeurope.com to view the full line-up.

In addition to the non-stop music, Keeping the Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III guests will enjoy an array of unique activities and special programming geared towards the ultimate blues enthusiasts. Wine tastings, exclusive raffles, and opportunities to interact with Bonamassa and other artists onboard are just a few of the unique experiences guests will enjoy at sea. Sign up at www.bluesaliveatseaeurope.com to be the first to know when new artists and activities are announced.

Between the non-stop music and onboard events, the ship will dock at stunning ports in two of the most breathtaking cities in the world — Dubrovnik, Croatia, a medieval city adorned with cobblestone lanes that lead to world class restaurants with delicious cuisine, and Santorini, Greece, known for its iconic whitewashed architecture, steep cliffs, and stunning sea views. Shore excursions will be available to purchase until 4-6 weeks prior to sailing.

The stunning Norwegian Jade will provide everything needed to make Keeping the Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III the most extraordinary cruise vacation yet, with fully stocked bars at (almost) every corner, tasty dining options, the Pool Deck (with multiple hot tubs), the Jade Club Casino, Mandara Spa, Body Waves Fitness Center, Sports Court, and much more.

Keeping the Blues Alive At Sea Mediterranean III will once again benefit the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation (KTBA), dedicated to providing students and teachers the resources and tools needed to further music education. Founded by Bonamassa in 2011, KTBA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to fuel the passion for music by funding programs and scholarships for students and teachers who possess the desire but lack the resources or access to achieve their potential within music education. Through generous corporate sponsorships by industry powerhouses Ernie Ball Strings, Guitar Center, J&R Adventures, and individual donors, KTBA has been able to offer weekly donations to music classrooms and merit-based scholarships all over the United States, reaching over 70,000 students in all 50 states through the funding of over 450 unique projects. In 2020, KTBA took its mission a step further by forming the Fueling Musicians Program, an emergency relief plan for touring musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing financial assistance for essential living expenses, the Fuelling Musicians Program has helped over 300 struggling musicians with immediate cash payments of $1,500. KTBA plans to make the Fuelling Musicians Program a permanent part of the organization to help musicians get on their feet and on the road. For more information, please visit keepingthebluesalive.org.

KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE AT SEA MEDITERRANEAN III
August 17-22, 2023
Sailing from Athens, Greece to Dubrovnik, Croatia and
Santorini, Greece aboard Norwegian Jade

Line-up:
Joe Bonamassa
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Blackberry Smoke
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Ruthie Foster
King King
Jimmy Vivino
Laura Cox
Kirk Fletcher
Vanessa Collier
Henrik Freischlader
Cardinal Black
Bywater Call
Johnny A.
When Rivers Meet
Eddie 9V
Dom Martin
The Cinelli Brothers
True Strays
Alice Armstrong

ABOUT JOE BONAMASSA:
One of today’s most celebrated performing musicians, Joe Bonamassa is a certified blues-rock titan, a 3x GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist whose acclaimed new album, Time Clocks (J&R Adventures), made history as his 25th #1 album on Billboard’s Blues Album chart.

Though still only in his early 40s, Bonamassa is already a living legend with an astounding multi-genre catalogue spanning over 40 albums to date, including studio and live recordings, collaborative albums with fellow blues sensation Beth Hart, and the adventurous side projects, Black Country Communion and Rock Candy Funk Party. The New York State native first captured the imagination of blues aficionados everywhere by opening for the great B.B. King at just 12 years old. Since then, Bonamassa has played alongside a who’s-who of blues and rock icons, including Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, John Lee Hooker, Warren Haynes, Steve Winwood, Peter Frampton, to name but a few. The winner of multiple Blues Music Awards – including the prestigious “B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” award – he has starred on the covers of such publications as Guitar World, Guitar Player, Vintage Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, and Classic Rock, with high profile features in Rolling Stone, Esquire, the Wall Street Journal, Parade, American Songwriter, and many more.

Hailed by Guitar World as “arguably the world’s biggest blues guitarist,” Bonamassa is known for his limitless work ethic and endless hunt to expand his eclectic musical horizons. Bonamassa and his manager, Roy Weisman, furthered their 30-year partnership in 2000 by founding J&R Adventures, a vertically intergrated independent record label, management, marketing and concert promotion company that has survived and thrived during one of the music industry’s most uncertain eras. In 2020, Bonamassa and Weisman created Keeping the Blues Alive Records (KTBA), releasing acclaimed new albums by such artists as Dion, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Larry McCray, Jimmy Hall and others.

As noted, Bonamassa founded the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation in 2011 with a mission to promote and sustain music education and blues music by funding scholarships and providing music education resources to schools in need. KTBA awarded over $1M since its foundation, positively impacting more than 80,000 students all across America.

For more information, please see jbonamassa.com.

ABOUT SIXTHMAN:
Sixthman festivals tear down walls between artists and fans by creating community-inspired vacation experiences at resorts and at sea. Since 2001, Sixthman has set the stage for moments that make life rock, serving over 300,000 guests on over 150 unforgettable vacations on sand and at sea with their favorite artists, athletes, actors, comedians, and brands. These carefully curated, intimate events bring non-stop performances, artist collaborations, in-depth panels, Q&As, fan-artist activities, museums, and overall, truly immersive experiences that celebrate community and change expectations of what a vacation can be. Sixthman’s domestic homeport of Miami brings escapes for guests to dream destinations in the Virgin Islands, Belize, Honduras, Mexico, and The Bahamas. In 2019, Sixthman expanded its festivals at sea to Europe, sailing from Barcelona, Spain to exotic Mediterranean ports and then from Athens through the Greek Isles in 2022. In addition to festivals at sea, Sixthman has taken its innovative vacation concept to world-class, all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. In 2020, Sixthman Services was launched to support other event holders with a suite of on-site and virtual event management services and enhanced experiences. 2023 is poised to be a record year in terms of number of events and expansion into new verticals. LIVE LOUD with us at www.sixthman.net.

DOWNFALL OF GAIA to Release “Silhouettes of Disgust” Full-Length on March 17th, Reveal First Single + Video ‘Bodies As Driftwood’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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Photo by David Stöcklin

Germany’s DOWNFALL OF GAIA will release their sixth studio album, Silhouettes Of Disgust, March 17th via Metal Blade Records, today unveiling the record’s cover art, track listing, and stunning first single.

Over the course of fifteen years, DOWNFALL OF GAIA has carved a unique space for themselves within the metal scene, evolving naturally and unafraid to take risks. With Silhouettes Of Disgust they progress in part by looking backwards and returning to familiar territory. The result is best described as a textured, dynamic blend of crust punk and post-black metal with a lot of atmospheric elements, taking everything that ever made the band compelling and pushing it in new and gripping directions. With the return of guitarist Peter Wolff, who left the band in 2015 to focus on family and other pursuits, the writing process was much more streamlined than the sixteen months spent penning 2019’s Ethic Of Radical Finitude. “We started in October of 2021 and went into the studio in April of 2022,” notes vocalist/guitarist Dominik Goncalves dos Reis. “Having Peter back — who founded DOWNFALL OF GAIA together with bassist/vocalist Anton [Lisovoj] and I in 2008 — was the big difference this time. For Ethic Of Radical Finitude And Atrophy (2016), I prepared all the guitars by myself before the four of us started working on all the details, which is a much longer way of working than doing everything as a couple.“

Wanting to keep things short and simple but straight in the listener’s face, the record does not feature the eight- to ten-minute epics of their more recent releases and is indeed punchier, with a lot of classic d-beat drumming driving the action, as on opener “Existence Of Awe” and the surging “Unredeemable.” They have also expanded their sonic palette with the inclusion of synths for the first time, and female vocals courtesy of Lulu Black, who collaborates with drummer Michael Kadnar in industrial/gothic project This Is Oblivion, making her voice familiar to the band members.

The album title, Silhouettes Of Disgust, is derived from the narratives driving the songs, focusing on the stories of eight different people, as residents of a fictional metropolis, each with their own worries and struggles. “Loneliness, addiction, the fear of tomorrow, pressure from society/work and others, things that many of us probably know all too well,” explains Goncalves dos Reis. “You have to play along somehow, or you fall through the cracks, and once you’re down, it’s hard to get back up. It looks at selfishness and ignorance, the general way of dealing with each other – you’re one, surrounded by millions, surrounded by all these silhouettes of disgust, surrounded by the things you want to avoid and hate. The last few years have impressively proven what you can expect from humanity, and honestly, it’s not much.“

In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils a video for first single, “Bodies As Driftwood.” Offers Goncalves dos Reis of the track, “‘Bodies As Driftwood’ tells the story of a fictional person in a fictional big city who, under the cover of night, can finally be herself and escape the ever-increasing malaise of everyday life. Hopes and dreams quickly give way to reality and threaten to break down due to outside pressures: Unpaid bills, problems at work, no social network, loneliness, no help, total overwhelm in a constantly accelerating zeitgeist… But at night she feels free – no punishing glances from others, no outside pressure, no stress, no expectations, just herself in the darkness while the world sleeps. Metaphorically speaking, this person uses the darkness of the night as a protective veil. Although this person is surrounded by millions every day, she experiences absolute loneliness on a daily basis.“

View DOWNFALL OF GAIA‘s “Bodies As Driftwood” video below:

Silhouettes Of Disgust will be released on CD, LP, and digitally. Find pre-orders at: metalblade.com/downfallofgaia

Silhouettes Of Disgust Track Listing:
01. Existence of Awe
02. The Whir of Flies
03. While Bloodsprings Become Rivers
04. Bodies as Driftwood
05. Eyes to Burning Skies
06. Final Vows
07. Unredeemable
08. Optograms of Disgust

Silhouettes Of Disgust was initially slated to be recorded with producer Timo Höcke at Die Wellenschmiede studio in Hamburg, however a few days before recording was due to commence, Höcke unfortunately contracted Covid. “Due to schedules, family matters and private life, the planned time frame was the only chance to record the album without losing several months, so with drums tracked in New Jersey at Backroom Studios together with Kevin Antreassian, we ended up recording the rest of the album alone in Peter [Wolff]’s studio in Hamburg. After recording guitars, bass, and vocals we went to Die Wellenschmiede for one day — as it was actually planned — and re-amped our own recordings, with Timo handling the mix and Jonas Romann (Chaos Compressor Club) mastering the record.” The record comes adorned in the cover art of Wolff and Goncalves dos Reis.

DOWNFALL OF GAIA:
Dominik Goncalves dos Reis – vocals, guitars
Peter Wolff – guitars, vocals
Anton Lisovoj – bass, vocals
Michael Kadnar – drums

Jay Jay French: “Mike Portnoy & Steve Vai used to sneak into bars to see Twisted Sister at 15 years old”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 20, 2023
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Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Twisted Sister Guitarist Jay Jay French. In the interview Jay Jay French was asked about why Mike Portnoy and Steve Vai were chosen to induct Twisted Sister at the Metal Hall of fame gala 2023. Plus how Mike Portnoy ended up filling in on drums after A.J. Pero died.

French said, “Mike Portnoy and Steve Vai are going to induct us (Metal Hall of Fame) and the reason why they are going to induct us is, they used to sneak in and see Twisted Sister when they were 15 years old in the bars in Long Island. This is Steve Vai and Mike Portnoy, two of the greatest rock musicians on the planet.”

He continued, “Now when A.J. died, for those of you who don’t know, A.J. was in a band called The Adrenaline Mob and that was his side gig when Twisted wasn’t on the road. He was on the road with Adrenaline Mob and he died in the tour bus of Adrenaline Mob in a parking lot in Poughkeepsie, New York, he had a heart attack. A.J. also replaced Mike Portnoy who was in Adrenaline Mob. So A.J. dies and the day after there was a memorial show in New Jersey. Adrenaline put on the show and I went because they asked me to appear on behalf of Twisted Sister and play a song with Adrenaline Mob. And I’m sitting there and Mike Portnoy was there and Mike Portnoy and I were in the dressing we’d never met officially and we’re both crying because A.J. just died 24 hours before. We’re both like crying you know but anyway um Mike looked at me and says man uh what are you guys gonna do because we had a tour lined up and I went I don’t know ? I don’t know if we haven’t even discussed it. He said well look I’m not touring this summer and if you need a drummer call me I’m available. So we attended A.J.’s wake a couple of days later and we’re all sitting around his father-in-law’s house in Staten Island discussing the future of the band and I went you to know Mike Portnoy offered his services should we decide to continue. Now at that point the whole European Festival tour was set up that summer so we all these promoters are now calling to find out because we’re headlining 15 festivals and we’re telling them give us some time because we can’t process this is too traumatic. We were so Blown Away by Mike’s offer and we thought about it and said you know what oh we’ll take you up on it. “

The Metal Hall Of Fame is a non-profit organization that enshrines forever those iconic musicians, artists, music industry executives who are responsible for making hard rock and heavy metal music what it is today. Their contribution to the genre is invaluable, and they keep inspiring fans throughout the world, from generation to generation.

A special Rocavaka meet-and-greet with Snider, Rocavaka’s brand ambassador, will take place after the induction ceremony where limited-edition Snider numbered Rocavaka bottles will be made available for purchase and signing.

Tickets are $35 in advance or $45 at the door via www.metalhalloffame.org