Italian symphonic metallers ELEGY OF MADNESS have released a video for ‘Broken Soul’, first single taken from the new album ‘XI’ to be released on October 20th via Scarlet Records.
Modern, occult, epic symphonic metal at its best: ‘XI’ represents a splendid rebirth for Elegy Of Madness, thanks to a redefined sound, a more concise songwriting and the enchanting soprano vocals of new frontwoman Kyrah Aylin.
Conceived in the post-pandemic time, the mood of ‘XI’ tends towards obscure and melancholic atmospheres; the main topic revolves around the symbolic meaning of the number eleven. Each song actually involves some aspects of it, such as spiritual awakening and growth, strength, intuition, new beginning, disorder and chaos, and the sinful nature of man.
A sun ray can always break through the darker clouds: it’s time to rise again from your own ashes.
recorded and produced by Simone Mularoni and Simone Bertozzi; mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni at Domination Studio
orchestral arrangements in the song ‘Broken Soul’ by Francesco Ferrini (Fleshgod Apocalypse)
OCEANS are back with their first new music since the release of their second studio album Hell Is Where The Heart Is last November! The German nu-metal band proudly presents their latest single ‘Chop Suey‘, a cover of the SYSTEM OF A DOWN classic. As you would expect, the Germans have put their own stamp on the song, creating a darker version of the legendary track as they pay tribute to their roots.
Along with the release of their new single, OCEANS also deliver a new behind the scenes video, which you can witness below.
Timo Rotten comments:
“Toxicity was one of my favorite albums when it came out, but I hadn’t heard it in a while. Then Thomas dug it up again a few weeks ago and the question immediately came to my mind: How would this sound with growls? And whether I could do it at all. We just had to try it out. Did I get it right? I think you have to decide for yourselves.”
Ever since their inception, up and coming German outfit OCEANS have dropped jaws everywhere they went. With a unique sound that sits somewhere between nu-metal, progressive, post and death metal and putting mental health at the top of their agenda, the four piece quickly became a known constant in today’s metal landscape. OCEANS have become known for their inclination towards innovation and experimentation within their genre; covering songs by the likes of Alessia Cara and collaborating with prominent musicians such as MACHINE HEAD’s Robb Flynn and CALIBAN’s Andy Dörner amongst others. Having released two EPs in 2019, their debut album in 2020 and another EP in 2021, the band featuring visionary mastermind Timo Rotten can easily be described as one of Europe’s hardest and fastest working bands in the genre. Enter 2022 and OCEANS have already proved that they’re set to continue on their upwards trajectory with the release of their trilogy Hell Is Where The Heart Is – Part I: Love, it’s follow-up Hell Is Where The Heart Is – Part II: Longing and Hell Is Where The Heart Is – Part III: Clarity, which together form their second album Hell Is Where The Heart Is.
OCEANS is: Timo Rotten | vocals, guitar Patrick Zarske | guitar Thomas Winkelmann | bass J.F. Grill | drums
German singer, guitarist, producer MICHAEL VOSS has announced the release of his upcoming album, “Rockers Rollin’ (A Tribute To Rick Parfitt)”, due out on October 13, 2023 via Massacre Records! The album will be available as CD Digipak, Ltd. Vinyl LP and Digital formats, the pre-sale has just started at THIS LOCATION!
Today, Voss is premiering a music video for the first album single! “That’s the title track of the album and features all the ingredients that made me a Status Quo addict,” he comments. “A stomping beat, driving guitars, hammering piano and road movie lyrics that keep that ole train a’drivin on.
I especially love the breaks of the chorus with its fine chord changes. Co-writer Jackie Lynton told me it was composed after Rick gave Jackie a white metal framed Harrods piano as a present!
… Yeah, they had to catch that train…
What a great tune to kick off with… it simply rawwksss!”
From almost year one, Michael Voss has been a huge Status Quo fan after attending his first live concert in a big arena in 1979 at Halle Münsterland, where dumbstruck and starstruck he witnessed the mighty Status Quo on their “If You Can’t Stand The Heat” tour.
Rick Parfitt stepped into the spotlight and fired his intro riff of ‘Caroline’ into the crowd, and Michael Voss was suddenly infected with his hard hitting, take-no-prisoners rhythm.
Filled with an irrepressible desire to embrace all that is Status Quo, he greedily snapped up all their albums and became an ardent soldier in the Quo Army fan club as well.
Furthermore, Status Quo gave this impressionable 14-year-old the great inspiration to follow in their footsteps by learning to sing play and compose. Many years later he found himself with the skill to render Parfitt’s great contribution to rock music in this tribute to his first all-time hero.
Voss has carefully chosen ten songs, that Parfitt sang and wrote, and now proudly presents them in this glorious rock tribute. “Rockers Rollin’ (A Tribute To Rick Parfitt)” features severals high class guests, who shared the music and stage with Rick, such as longtime tour manager and co-writer of many super hits, Bob Young, original founding member of the Frantic Four, John Coghlan, Rick’s son, Rick Parfitt Jr., actual bass player Rhino Edwards, original band member Andy Bown, Mat Sinner of Primal Fear, among many more!
“Rockers Rollin’ (A Tribute To Rick Parfitt)” track listing:
Italian, Bologna-based melodic death metal band MIARA released a new single My Will Dominates. The track is taken from the upcoming debut album Hungering inside which is set to be released on November 17th 2023 via Finnish record label Inverse Records. Miara is characterized by a powerful, modern sound influenced by melodic connotations typical of the Northern European music scene.
Antonio Grillo, guitarist and founder of the band comments: “The song is a hymn to determination, to the pursuit of one’s goals, to motivation but also to lucid awareness of the commitment necessary to reach the much coveted goal. I am very proud of the path taken so far. Although the project was born a few months ago, we found a fantastic harmony that led us to prepare 9 songs in a relatively short time. We know that the road is still long but I am sure that we will be able to obtain great satisfaction. “
Track list: 1 – Hungering Inside 2 – You Still Remain 3 – The Gate of Hell 4 – Fit Into the Mold 5 – Save Me 6 – Broken Bond 7 – My Will Dominates 8 – Trying 9 – Honesty Is a Dream
All tracks composed by Antonio Grillo, lyrics by Markus Kristoffersson.
BIOGRAPHY: Miara was founded in 2022 in Bologna, Italy. The project was born from an idea of Antonio Grillo (guitar) and his brother Francesco (bass). During the pandemic Antonio feels the need to give voice to the feeling of precariousness and impotence that the world was going through in that period. The two brothers recorded the first single “Ascending to Second Life” which was released in February 2022 and immediately received very positive feedback on online platforms.
Framed in the “Death melodic metal” the band was completely formed in 2023 when Ruben Sanchez (guitar), Guido Romano (drums) and Markus Kristofferson (vocals) joined in. They immediately start working on the first album “Hungering Inside” in which there are hard and melodic riffs typical of the Gothenburg sound.
In May 2023 they were the finalists of the Wacken Metal Battle.
Miara is set to release their debut album Hungering Inside on November 17th 2023 via Finnish Inverse Records.
Line-up: Antonio Grillo – Guitar Ruben Sanchez – Guitar Francesco Grillo – Bass Guido Romano – Drums Markus Kristoffersson – Vocals
“He seemed to know what was coming – the monstrous burst of Walpurgis-rhythm in whose cosmic timbre would be concentrated all the primal, ultimate space-time seethings which lie behind the massed spheres of matter and sometimes break forth in measured reverberations that penetrate faintly to every layer of entity and give hideous significance throughout the worlds to certain dreaded periods.” (H.P. Lovecraft)
Shortly before the official release date BLUT AUS NORD premiere their nightmarish new album “Disharmonium – Nahab” via Black Metal Promotion YT channel. Listen here:
BAN‘s “Disharmonium – Nahab” shows an increased presence of deranged vocal mania, the eerie dynamics are vividly accentuated, the band’s unmistakable melodic power amplified and the guitars flow in tandem with splendidly lurching grooves like some Stygian wooze-tsunami.
As Jonathan Rosenthal puts it in Decibel magazine:
“The band’s 15th proper album is a discordant, slinking beast, one that presents this long-standing act as the masters of their own style. […] This means a few things: 1) the album is impenetrably thick, 2) the album is impossibly weird, and 3) the album is incredibly singular.“
The album will be released on CD, vinyl, tape and digital along with merchandising on August 25th. Pre-orders for all items are possible from the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp stores.
Originating in 1994 from the ashes of VLAD (who released two demos), BLUT AUS NORD are undisputable French Black Metal pioneers, always managing to progress and move forward, evolving in perpetual mutation, developing their own vision of Black Metal.
Choosing, from the start, the total opposite path of regressive bands (who copy what others have done ten years earlier and ten times better), BLUT AUS NORD eschews all the inherent clichés belonging to the genre. BLUT AUS NORD‘s Black Metal approach is a fist in the face of mainstream mediocrity, becoming more macabre and sinister through a blend of innovative musical research, subliminal mental manipulation, and an incredible haunted, nightmarish feeling based on disharmony.
BLUT AUS NORD are creators of a hallucinogenic universe, erasing all preconceived ideas of Black Metal – and extreme music in general. They redefine the rules…
Chicago, IL’s BLIND EQUATION is today premiering their new single and accompanying music video, killing me, via Brooklyn Vegan. killing me is the third single to be taken from the cybergrind group’s forthcoming sophomore album, DEATH AWAITS, which is set to be released via Prosthetic Records on September 15. The track features Oklahoma experimental/HexD artist Rat Jesu, and a Thomas Gabriellini directed music video shot at BLIND EQUATION‘s recent Daytona Beach, Florida tour date.
killing me (featuring Rat Jesu) will be available on all streaming services on August 24. Pre-order DEATH AWAITS here.
Speaking on the premiere, BLIND EQUATION‘s James McHenry comments: “killing me is a very fast paced and melodic cybergrind song with occasional bit-crushed pop sections and 808s added to the sound. When people ask me what BLIND EQUATION’s new direction is, this song is the perfect representation of that.
“The song’s lyrics deal with being in a bad place mentally and bottling those emotions up inside and not being able to open up to people, despite knowing that doing so would help. It is easy to fear feeling like a burden to others or that your feelings are not as important as others, but since writing this song I’ve learned how important it is to open up and that your true friends will listen and be there for you during those rough times. I hope that people can relate to this song and can learn from my experience.
“The video was shot and edited in Daytona Beach Florida by my good friend Thomas Gabriellini, who I’ve worked with in the past on a few videos on the last album cycle. The footage is from the show we played there on our most recent run with DEATHTRIPPA and it gives a taste of what a live BLIND EQUATION performance is like.”
Having become a staple name in the burgeoning modern cybergrind scene, BLIND EQUATION has seen sole songwriter James McHenry nurture his talents for the better part of a decade in the form of various split releases, EPs and 2021 full-length Life Is Pain. Abandoning genre confines, McHenry’s unique amalgam of grind, hardcore, extreme metal, chiptune and electronics has come to define BLIND EQUATION’s sound.
Following Life Is Pain’s warm reception in online circles by fans and critics alike, the intervening years have seen BLIND EQUATION amass numerous live performances and US tours – with shows alongside HEALTH, Author and Punisher, Tallah and The Callous Daoboys having taken place in 2023 alone – picking up a dedicated following for the band along the way.
In rare moments of downtime from the road, DEATH AWAITS was conceptualised as a meditation on real world anxieties and largely negative lived experiences. Retaining complete creative control of BLIND EQUATION’s musical and lyrical output, DEATH AWAITS was self-produced and mastered by McHenry for streaming and CD before being placed in the hands of audio engineer Steve Perrino for vinyl mastering duties.
Unflinching accounts of mutilation, deception and depression appear repeatedly throughout DEATH AWAITS, be it the pulsating 8-bit electronics and blastbeats of lead single never getting better that explode into positively anthemic proclamations of the title in the chorus, or the desiderium of you betrayed the ones you love’s electronic strings that give way to scathing rebuttals of broken trust. DEATH AWAITS presents interpersonal disarray and suffering in its rawest and most confessional form, summarised best on suffering in silence’s one-two vocal trade offs and glitched-out hardcore pandemonium featuring New Zealand artist DEATHTRIPPA.
DEATH AWAITS’ fatalistic worldview is captured in blurred neon pinks and grainy black by visual artist angel gasm, with light leaking effects on the symbolic flower as a beacon of hope among the hurt. For all the anguish BLIND EQUATION pulls from for the latest full-length there is sure to be those who find solace and comfort here, and DEATH AWAITS may well prove to not only be a watershed moment in modern cybergrind but also the beginning of a limitless creative incline for the band.
DEATH AWAITS tracklist: 1. death awaits 2. speedrunning life 3. you betrayed the ones you loved 4. fade away 5. choke 6. never getting better 7. killing me (featuring Rat Jesu) 8. suffering in silence (featuring DEATHTRIPPA) 9. warmth 10. the last glimpse of me
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
