Following the release of ‘SHIKI’, their new studio album, the cult Japanese black metal legends SIGH have released a new video for the track “Shoujahitsumetsu”.
Sigh mainman Mirai Kawashima explains the meaning behind the track “‘Shoujahitsumetsu’ is a word in Buddhism and stands for “Anything that is alive has to die in the end”. I tried to express my fear of death through the album, and this song should be the case in point. This is the most furious track on the album filled with my feat that will never fade away.”
The release of the performance video comes just as the band are returning to London for their first show in 12 years – they played on Wednesday 14th December at the Scala with Anaal Nathrakh!
Sigh’s recently released opus, ‘Shiki’, is dark & eclectic blackened heavy metal, shrouded in traditional eastern influences, and marks the latest chapter in the Sigh legacy, which includes some of the band’s heaviest and darkest material for some years; has been wowed fans new and old and received critical acclaim from the worldwide media – a selection of comments from reviews are to the right.
German hard rock titans BONFIRE have revealed their new vocalist. The band has joined forces with exceptional singer and frontman DYAN, who may be yet unknown but will immediately convince every heavy and hard rock fan!
“As most of you already know. Bonfire was in the process of re-recording the first 3 albums for a special Box Set to go along with the release of Hans Ziller’s book and a Bonfire documentary,”says bassist Ronnie Parkes.“At nearly the end of the recording process Alex Stahl and Bonfire split ways.
Bonfire would like to welcome to the family our new vocalist DYAN. DYAN was born 31 years ago in Greece and currently lives in the UK. He is an incredible addition to the team and will surely bring Bonfire to new heights!”
Now, BONFIRE has re-recorded the classic “Fantasy”, taken of their iconic 1987-“Fireworks” album, while DYAN is showcasing his extraordinary vocal talent and giving the track a new, fresh sound and shape! Give DYAN a warm welcome and watch BONFIRE’s official music video for the new version of “Fantasy” here:
Founding band member Hans Ziller adds:“At first listen I immediately fell in love with DYAN’s tone and vocal abilities. DYAN recorded 35 songs in 14 days. An incredible show of strength and stamina for any vocalist. The band & I are extremely excited to have him onboard and we feel he will help to get Bonfire back into the first league of Rock & Roll!“
Earlier this year, BONFIRE released a charity single and new version of their 1989-anthem “Freedom Is My Belief”, in order to help traumatized children from Ukraine. Stream, download and support at THIS LOCATION, and stay tuned for many more BONFIRE news and updates to follow soon!
BONFIRE are: Hans Ziller – Lead Guitar Frank Pane – Lead Guitar Ronnie Parkes – Bass Fabio Alessandrini – Drums DYAN – Lead Vocals
Emerging U.K. post punk outfit NAUT will be releasing a brand new full length, ‘Hunt,’ on February 24, 2022 via Season of Mist, making it the band’s debut to the label! The band is now sharing the second single, “Dissent,” along with a music video! The clip can be found at THIS LOCATION.
NAUT comments, “The singles we have selected demonstrate different facets of the band and ‘Dissent’ is a perfect track to highlight certain things we think are key to NAUT’s sound. ‘Dissent’ is ‘Hunt”s opener and one of its ‘heaviest’ offerings, thematically and musically. The video is stark and works as a lyric video of sorts, where key words and phrases are splashed up on screen like a dissenting voice speaking its truth, daubed across a bleak corporate wall.”
Pre-orders for ‘Hunt’ are now live HERE and the album can be pre-saved on streaming services HERE.
The cover artwork was created by NAUT members Gavin Laubscher & Jack Welch.
Tracklist of “Hunt” 1. Dissent (04:17) [WATCH] 2. All the Days (04:07) 3. Gold & Death (04:12) 4. Damocles (05:25) 5. 8 in 3 (06:57) 6. Unity of Opposites (04:24) [WATCH] 7. Nightfall (04:28) 8. Watchers (05:16)
NAUT are a four piece drum machine rock band from Bristol, whose shared love of classic rock and metal, alongside reverence for the post-punk pioneers of the late 70s and early 80s makes itself known from the start. Triumphant synths and scything guitars entwine with danceable beats, while driving bass-lines, moving to pounding drums, create a dynamic and shifting rhythm section. The tracks pulse with a raw post-punk energy but always remain danceable and (perhaps most dangerously) catchy. The lyrics touch on mental paralysis, impending doom and divided peoples, and with the path our world is currently on they have become more relevant than ever.
Starting out as an evening sharing riffs in a flat in Bristol, the first tracks for NAUT had their genesis in 2016. Those first riffs, written by Gavin (vocals) & Jack (guitars) grew to become something much more compelling and after that initial moment, the idea of a band was born. Gathering musicians from Bristol’s small but active post-punk scene and armed with rough recordings, NAUT started working on the tracks as a full band in June 2017.
It all rapidly fell into place. NAUT‘s first show was in September 2017 followed by two shows supporting Grave Pleasures before the year was out, and they entered the studio the following November. Raise the Lights – their debut EP was recorded at RS Studios in Bristol by Jamie Elton (Moss, Amulet, Spite) and was mastered by Orgone Studios (Ulver, Grave Pleasures, Ghost). The final mastered tracks were ready in March 2018 and plans were put in motion for a June release of a debut EP that made people take notice. The intention was to break out into the world and NAUT did just that, with coverage in Kerrang! Magazine as well as a host of smaller blogs, publications and radio.
2018 saw more live shows with Abysmal Grief and David Eugene Edwards & Alexander Hacke as well as a sell out show in Bristol, and the start of some new material.
Not content to sit still, NAUT were soon ready to enter the studio again with new tracks written at the end of 2018, initially planned as a double A single, but growing into a 3 track EP. The song writing was rooted firmly in the foundations laid by Raise the Lights, but also broke new ground. With a solo in the title track Semele provided by Henrik Palm (Henrik Palm, ex-In Solitude, ex-Ghost) and the same winning combination of recording with Jamie Elton and Orgone Studios taking care of mastering duties the tracks were finished by April 2019.
The ‘Semele’ EP was released in November 2019 and was well-received. Featured in multiple high profile websites such as Louder, Vive le Rock, Distorted Sound and more, the EP helped establish NAUT on the scene as a band to watch.
Alongside this, NAUT played several more shows, including supporting post-punk legends Pink Turns Blue and playing the warmup show for Incineration Festival in London alongside Idle Hands.
‘Threads’ and ‘Hand in Hand’ were recorded in late 2019, building on the spirit of experimentation in the ‘Semele’ EP whilst calling on elements from Raise the Lights, creating a tantalising mix of the two. The songs were once again recorded by Jamie Elton with mastering handled by Orgone Studios.
During this time NAUT remained an active presence in the UK live scene, sharing the stage with bands as diverse as their fan base, from Discharge to Orange Goblin.
The end of 2019 also saw a change in NAUT’s format, with the departure of their drummer. NAUT had started life as a drum machine project before the addition of Kenny Selway for the debut EP, and after a string of changes, the obvious choice was to return to that format. This opened up new avenues for musical exploration, on and off stage.
With the spectre of a global pandemic looming large, in March 2020 NAUT played their last live appearance of that year in a sold out St Pancras Church in London with King Dude.
With that the world of live music went silent.
However NAUT remained active below the surface, ‘Threads’ and ‘Hand in Hand’ were released as a double A side 7” in June 2020. With this release NAUT further gained the attention of fans from across the spectrum of dark music. Word spread further around the scene adding fans to the ever growing following, with Hand in Hand featured in Kerrang! Magazine’s Kerrang! Rock Chart and a number of other high profile goth and post-punk playlists and the music video, creatively produced under the restrictions of a strict lockdown, garnering a strong reception.
Not content with releasing these new songs, work on a debut album was also underway. Over the long months of restrictions and lockdowns NAUT crafted the demos for their debut album, making the most of the dormant state of the music world, something special was being fashioned. The turmoil of 2020 also opened other opportunities and NAUT struck a partnership with Doomstar booking agency, ready for whenever the venues open.
Now NAUT are excited to have signed with Seasons of Mist for the release of their debut album. The label has come to represent all shades of musical darkness and feels like a strong pairing for NAUT, as although the band are less extreme in their musical approach, dark music in all its facets underlies all that they do.
NAUT can’t wait to share this upcoming slab of infectious and pulsing drum machine rock with you all.
Lineup: Gavin Laubscher: Vocals, drum programming Jack Welch: Guitar Andi Effe: Bass Laura Taylor: Synths/keys
Recording studio: Shattered Spire Studios & New Cut Studios Bristol Mastering Studio and engineer: Alex Balzama – Swift Mastering Mixing Studio: Jamie Elton Producer/sound engineer: Jamie Elton & Gavin Laubscher
Guest musicians: Stig Miller (Amebix) – spoken word on ‘Unity of Opposites’ Sofie Lee Johansson (Night Viper) – additional vocals on ‘Damocles’
Swedish blackened death metal veterans Fatal Embrace have announced the release of the band’s upcoming new album, entitled “Manifestum Infernalis”, which will be coming out on February 24th via Black Lion Records. “Manifestum Infernalis” is the band’s long awaited first new work since 1997, many years have passed, but that doesn’t change anything and Fatal Embrace are “hungrier than ever and super excited to write, record and release new music again!“
Fatal Embrace on the new album:
“It’s been a long time coming. 30 years have passed since we formed Fatal Embrace back in 1992. It took us 30 years to make the album we always wanted to make. Everything on this album is done by ourselves. Everything.The process of making this album has taken almost 5 years of our lives and a lot has happened during this time. The world seemed to grow darker and darker around us as a pandemic descended upon the world. All this made for an inspiring time to write and record music. This is by far the darkest creation ever from Fatal Embrace and the darker the album became, the more it felt like therapy. A creative channel for when everything in the world takes a turn for the worse and keeps going south.”
Tracklist reads as follows:
Empyreal Doom
The Black Oath
Wolves Of Golgotha
Prometheus’ Sermon 5 Call Of The dark
Eyes of Oak
Sign Of The Pentagram 8 Deus Mali
The Rot
Listen to the first single “Empyreal Doom” here:
“Empyreal doom is the first single from our upcoming album Manifestum Infernalis. This song represents the album in every aspect. Both musically and lyrically Empyreal Doom gives an insight into what can be expected from the upcoming album. Early fans of Fatal Embrace will most likely be in for a bit of a surprise at first before finding that this is still very much Fatal Embrace. We have been around for long enough to know that the Empyreal Doom is inevitable for all of us.” the band comments.
“Manifestum Infernalis” was recorded, mixed, produced and mastered in Studiomega by Christian Silver and Fatal Embrace. Album artwork by Moon Sang. Layout and design by Andreas Johansson and Marcos Cerutti. The album is now available for pre-order at THIS LOCATION
Fatal Embrace are: Henric Serholt – Vocals Christian Silver – Drums Andreas Johansson – Guitars Manne Engström – Guitars John Silver – Bass Guitar
The legendary singer himself is very impressed: Zak: “It’s always challenging and rewarding performing songs composed by Juergen Walzer for Dispyria. In my opinion, this is very powerful prog metal with an intense storyline. I had a great time recording the vocals and shooting the video for “Blue Mirror”. My wife Katherine wrote to the lyrics to this song and four others on the album that I performed vocals on. “Blue Mirror” talks about the ability of Marion, the main character, to physically dive into a blue mirror and experience a real and different reality apart from her very difficult real life. The lyrics make it a deep journey, so it was really cool working on this. The story is very deep.”
This also marks the start of the pre-sale, which of course offers a small special feature for pre-orderers. dispyria.epr.rocks
“DISPYRIA – The Story Of Marion Dust” is the third concept album about the protagonist Josh Devon and his fight against his demons. An essential role plays the girl Marion Dust, who is the focus of the new album. It is about the fatal fate of the girl who – confronted with supernatural powers – has to decide which path she will take in the future to use these powers for good or evil.
Mastermind and composer Juergen Walzer succeeded in winning Zak Stevens (SAVATAGE, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) as well as Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) and Carsten “Lizard” Schulz (Lazarus Dream) for the vocals on this grandiose concept album. Other guest musicians are Markus Pfeffer (Lazarus Dream) and Dezperadoz guitarist Wolfgang Sing.
Musically, the album ranks between Avantasia and Savatage, A masterpiece of progressive metal – without seeming playful or losing itself in itself – with eight gripping songs that tell a poignant story.
Tracklist: 01 – A Girl Called Marion 02 – The Mark 03 – Blue Mirror 04 – Eternal Eye 05 – The Resistance 06 – Fire Child 07 – Pandoras Box 08 – The Curse
Line-up Album Cast: Juergen Walzer – Guitars, Bass, Programming Zak Stevens – Leadvocals (on 01, 02, 03, 04, 06) Ralf Scheepers – Leadvocals (on 05) Carsten „Lizard“ Schulz – Leadvocals (on 07, 08) Roland Moschel – Hammond Organ Markus Pfeffer – Leadguitars (on 03, 08) Wolfgang Sing – Leadguitars (on 04, 07) Sabrina Roth – Backingvocals Stephan Hugo – Backingvocals
Finnish melodic metal band DEAD END FINLAND released a new single and music video Heavy Rain. The track is taken from the upcoming fifth studio album ‘Victory’ which is set to be released on March 31st 2023 via Inverse Records.
Guitarist & Bass player Santtu Rosén comment: “The recordings of Dead End Finland’s fifth album have been completed. The new single “Heavy Rain” from the upcoming album, which will be released in March 2023, will be released on December 15th. Like the previous albums, it will be released in collaboration with Inverse Records.
“The single is about that crushing feeling when gloom and doom take over the mind again. It’s about the powerlessness you feel first thing in the morning and the inadequacy that doesn’t leave you until the next night. The feeling when every day is hard in the wind and in the heavy rain.”
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 ) 