Progressive death metal legends ATHEIST are proud to announce that their entire discography, comprised of 5 albums that span the band’s 30-year career, is once again available on all streaming services worldwide. The return to digital platforms is the first phase of a comprehensive re-issue campaign that will be followed by physical re-issues. Stay tuned for all the announcements ATHEIST has in store for 2023!
ATHEIST’s Kelly Shaefer comments: “Well, it is finally time for ATHEIST to return to the land of streaming, and we couldn’t be more excited to have our stream pour from the mouth of the largest metal river on earth, Nuclear Blast! There is no better place to land as a band than Nuclear Blast, and we are so excited to start this new chapter with this iconic label. Enjoy our entire catalog of music at your convenience on all your favorite streaming services. Big things ahead for 2023!! Thank you for over 30 years of support for ATHEIST!”
TURMION KÄTILÖT are currently out on the road across Europe playing to packed out arenas in support to fellow Finns NIGHTWISH. Today the absurdist industrial metallers have released a brand new video for their new single ‘Kuolettavia Vammoja’.
MC Raaka Pee comments on the new single: “In this song, it’s trauma that introduces itself to the listener, and this is how it sounds when it’s given a voice. Heart rates are raised to 135bpm by just the thought of it.”
There’s still time to catch TURMION KÄTILÖT across Europe this winter alongside NIGHTWISH. They’ll also be returning for their own headline run across the continent in early 2023. Full dates are listed below.
TURMION KÄTILÖT Live Supporting Nightwish 09.12.22 – DE Frankfurt, Festhalle 10.12.22 – DE Bamberg, Brose Arena 12.12.22 – DE Hamburg, Barclays Arena 13.12.22 – DE Leipzig, Quarterback Immobilien Arena 14.12.22 – PL Gliwice, Arena 16.12.22 – CH Zürich, Hallenstadion 18.12.22 – DE Stuttgart, Hannis-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 20.12.22 – HU Budapest, Sportarena 21.12.22 – CZ Prague, O2 Arena
Headline Dates 14.01.23 – FI, Helsinki – Jäähali Black Box 20.01.23 – FI, Nokia – Kerhola 21.01.23 – FI, Turku – Utopia 27.01.23 – FI, Ikaalinen – Ikaalinen Spa 28.01.23 – FI, Valkeakoski – Hotelli Waltikka 03.02.23 – NO Oslo, John Dee 05.02.23 – SE Stockholm, Hus 7 06.02.23 – SE Gothenburg, Valand 08.02.23 – DE Hamburg, Markthalle 09.02.23 – DE Berlin, Frannz 10.02.23 – PL Wroclaw, Akademie 12.02.23 – DE Leipzig, Hellraiser 13.02.23 – CZ Prague, Storm Club 14.02.23 – AT Vienna, Chelsea 16.02.23 – HU Budapest, Barba Negra 18.02.23 – DE Münich, Backstage 19.02.23 – DE Stuttgart, Im Wizemann Club 20.02.23 – IT Milan, Legend Live Club 22.02.23 – FR Paris, La Maroquinerie 23.02.23 – DE Oberhausen, Kulttempel 25.02.23 – BE Vosselaar, Biebob 26.02.23 – NL Utrecht, De Helling 27.02.23 – DE Cologne, Club Volta 01.03.23 – DE Frankfurt, Das Bett 02.03.23 – CH Zürich, Dynamo
A little more than one month is left until the release of TWILIGHT FORCE‘s new opus At the Heart of Wintervale. Today, however, the Swedes please their fans by releasing their second single from their upcoming long-player. With ‘Sunlight Knight‘ there is another foretaste of the long-awaited album. The second single is accompanied by a pixel art video, which visually complements the story behind ‘Sunlight Knight‘ and gives a video game style thrill to every fan. The amazing video can be watched below.
TWILIGHT FORCE comments: “Knights! It is dangerous to go alone! Are you prepared to venture into the unknown together!? Our second single from At the Heart of Wintervale is finally unleashed upon the mortal realms: ‘Sunlight Knight‘ This is the tale of a valiant knight seeking fortune and triumph throughout the kingdom of Aloria. One day he happens upon a village hidden deep in the woods, where all light has been consumed and usurped by an ancient eldritch daemon. Our brave knight must hence journey into the daemon’s mystic realm to unbind the light, and free the villagers from the shackles of eternal darkness. Alas, the daemon appears indomitable at first. Our hero must set out again, to seek further skills and develop additional powers in order to return for the final battle… So, sharpen your swords, and witness the story as it unfolds in this sparkling nostalgic visualisation. The magnificent art and video created by KillingArtworks.
At the Heart of Wintervale will consist of 8 captivating tales from far and wide, and will have a running time of approximately 45 minutes. The songs are all stories and legends from the Twilight Kingdoms, gathered over years of meticulous research, and will further explore and delve into the vast and magical world of its realms.
At the Heart of Wintervale will be released on CD, Digibook, and Vinyl. The limited Digibook edition will also include three bonus tracks. The first one is a song which many of TWILIGHT FORCE‘sloyal knights may somewhat recognize; it is an acoustic blend of some of the older works, featuring an entrancing vocal performance and guitar work by TWILIGHT FORCE‘s very own wood elf Aerendir. The second and third bonus tracks are orchestral versions of two songs from the album, where fans will have the opportunity to experience a different soundscape, and perhaps discover new exciting elements and intricacies never discerned before.
See the tracklist of At the Heart of Wintervale below:
At the Heart of Wintervale Tracklist
1. Twilight Force 2. At the Heart of Wintervale 3. Dragonborn 4. Highlands of the Elder Dragon 5. Skyknights of Aldaria 6. A Familiar Memory 7. Sunlight Knight 8. The Last Crystal Bearer
At the Heart of Wintervale Digibook Tracklist 1. Twilight Force 2. At the Heart of Wintervale 3. Dragonborn 4. Highlands of the Elder Dragon 5. Skyknights of Aldaria 6. A Familiar Memory 7. Sunlight Knight 8. The Last Crystal Bearer 9. The Sapphire Dragon of Arcane Might is Back Again 10. Skyknights of Aldaria (orchestral version) 11. The Last Crystal Bearer (orchestral version)
TWILIGHT FORCE Live
The 20th of January 2023 is not only a special day due to the album release, but also because of the start of TWILIGHT FORCE‘s Winter Wonder Tour, which will bring the Swedes to 19 different cities in Europe! After the tour had to be postponed before, in January 2023 TWILIGHT FORCE will kick off their long awaited tour in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Winter Wonder Tour 2023 w/ SEVEN SPIRES and SILVER BULLET
20.01. DK Copenhagen – Templet 21.01. DE Osnabrück – Bastard Club 22.01. NL Eindhoven – Effenaar Kz 24.01. UK Manchester – Rebellion 25.01. UK Glasgow – Audio 26.01. UK London – Underworld 27.01. FR Paris – Backstage 28.01. DE Mannheim – MS Connexion 30.01. DE Bochum – Rockpalast 31.01. DE Köln – MTC 01.02. FR Lyon – Rock’n’Eat 03.02. CH Pratteln – Z7 04.02. IT Milano – Legend Club 05.02. DE München – Backstage (Halle) 06.02 SI Ljubljana – Orto Bar 08.02. HU Budapest – Barba Negra 09.02. CZ Prague – Storm Club 10.02. DE Hannover – Musikzentrum 11.02. DE Berlin – Frannz 12.02. DE Hamburg – Knust
TWILIGHT FORCE is a Swedish symphonic power metal band known for their highly fantastical lyrics and LARP-style outfits which the band performs onstage in. The band’s main lyrical themes are based on the lore of a fictional world known as The Twilight Kingdoms, created by keyboardist Blackwald. The band has released three albums to date. Their latest, Dawn of the Dragonstar was released in 2019. During the past few years, Twilight Force have been busy forging their newest opus, At the Heart of Wintervalewhich will be released by Nuclear Blast Records on January 20th, 2023.
TWILIGHT FORCE is: Allyon | lead and backing vocals Lynd | lead and rhythm guitars Born | bass Blackwald | keyboards and narration De’Azsh | drums Aerendir | rhythm and acoustic guitars
Undisputed kings of Viking heavy metal, AMON AMARTH, have dropped a brand new cinematic lyric video for track “Oden Owns You All”. Taken from the band’s recent album, ‘The Great Heathen Army‘ (out now via Metal Blade Records), “Oden Owns You All ” is 4:17 of the expertly crafted, Norse inspired death metal brutality Amon Amarth are known for.
Watch the new clip HERE. Listen to ‘The Great Heathen Army‘ HERE.
Amon Amarth are currently raiding their way across North America on their Great Heathen Tour with what is being dubbed as the best heavy line-up of the year, with Carcass, Obituary, and Cattle Decapitation. The tour comes to a historical close on Saturday, December 17th when the band become the first death metal band to ever headline the legendary Kia Forum in Los Angeles with their full-scale European production, featuring Viking ships, a Viking helmet drum riser, live battle reenactments, the now infamous “Viking Row” and enough pyro to raze several villages to the ground. For a small taste of what to expect, fans can watch the tour trailer HERE.
Tickets for the remaining shows on The Great Heathen Tour available HERE.
Remaining dates on the The Great Heathen Tour, produced by Live Nation, can be found below.
Amon Amarth THE GREAT HEATHEN TOUR US HEADLINE RUN W/ CARCASS, OBITUARY AND CATTLE DECAPITATION Friday, Dec 09 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore Saturday, Dec 10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex Monday, Dec 12 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SODO Tuesday, Dec 13 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater Thursday, Dec 15 – Wheatland, CA @ Hard Rock Live Friday, Dec 16 – San Diego, CA @ SOMA Saturday, Dec 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
Morten Veland (SIRENIA, MORTEMIA and founder of TRISTANIA) released the first MORTEMIA song from ‘The Covid Aftermath Sessions’ today. The track features Federica Lanna (Volturian) on guest vocals and it is available on all digital platforms as of today the 9thof December 2022. The track is a cover version of Madonna’s song ‘Frozen’, originally released in 1998.
Morten Veland:
“I am proud and honoured to introduce Federica Lanna from the band Volturian as my special guest for ‘The Covid Aftermath Sessions’. The first song is a cover version of Madonna’s song ‘Frozen’, originally released back in 1998, our brand new version of the song will be available on all digital platforms on the 9th of December 2022.
Me and Federica did an awesome version of the song together, and I feel that this song also fits a symphonic metal arrangement very well. The original version is very dark and melancholic, so it made perfect sense to me to do a cover version of it. Federica has a really beautiful and expressive voice that fits perfectly for this track. I feel truly privileged and thankful to have Federica on board this project, and I am really pleased to be sharing this song with you all. Frozen is a great way to open the brand new project “The Covid Aftermath Sessions.”
Federica Lanna:
“This summer me and Morten were having a little talk on IG about Madonna and her career, and we discovered that we are both in love with her masterpiece Frozen; when Morten told me that he was planning to make a cover of it and he wanted me to be on board I was so extremely happy to jump in. Not only because I am a huge fan of Madonna, but also because the arrangement of Morten was really a killer one, and I fell in love with it. I think that the dark and mystical atmosphere of the original song fits perfectly with symphonic metal sound and even if I am a soprano I always really liked to use my lower register and experience my darkest colors. I truly admire Morten and his work, so I am honored about this collaboration, and I am really proud of the result we achieved”
Also join Mortemia tonight at 18:00 hours CET, when the video clip premieres on the official Mortemia youtube channel.
After 11 years of silence Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, producer and artist Morten Veland activated his solo project Mortemiaduring 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 Morten Veland’s 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)
Swiss thrash metallers GOMORRA released their sophomore studio album “Dealer of Souls” today via Noble Demon! Driven by pure finesse, raging drums and epic singalongs, on their second album Gomorra go on full attack and with an uncompromising metal attitude, the five-piece showcases the absolute finest from the worlds of heavy, power and thrash metal! No surprise, since the line-up consists of experienced and virtuoso thoroughbred musicians like Damir Eskic of German thrash metal legends Destruction and members of well established metal acts, like for ex. Gonoreas.
To celebrate “Dealer of Souls” finally being available worldwide, the band has released a brand new music video for the track “Lost In Darkness”.
“Dealer of Souls” was recorded by V.O. Pulver at Little Creek Studio, Switzerland and mixed/mastered by V.O. Pulver, Damir Eskic and Schmier (Destruction). The stunning album artwork was designed by Gyula Havancsak. The album is available for purchase HERE
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 ) 