It’s the most wonderful time of the year — and The Socky Horror Puppet Show is here to get you into the holiday spirit and save Halloween!
Musical group, SOCK PUPPET PARODY, has refabricated the infamous Rocky Horror Picture Show tune, “Time Warp,” into a quasi-parallel universe where sock versions of the film characters proclaim their love for the “Washboard.”
In this sock multiverse, these stockings are quite infatuated with the washboard. The puppets cry out “Let’s use the washboard again!” and longingly reference their time using the laundering instrument, “Soaking those ‘sudsies’ in.”
In the video, a ragtag group of iconic monsters, such as a Frankensock, a “wearwolf” puppy, and Sockula, all energetically sing and dance “A scrub to the left… a schlep to the right” in front of an elegant marble backdrop.
Sock Puppet Parody takes iconic bands and glorifies their undergarments by making high quality music videos featuring socks. For the past few years, they have been treating us with some Halloween spirit, and this is a new holiday special to add to the collection.
Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Armored Saint’s singer John Bush on Oct 28, 2022 at the House of Blues in Las Vegas as the band was preparing for opening night as special guests to W.A.S.P.
Watch the interview here
When asked how the tour came about “We have the same agent. He (Agent) told WASP’s Blackie how about Saints (Armored Saint) opening and Blackie said he loved it. So we got on, it’s been great so far beyond our expectations as far as uh pre-attendance. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that WASP hasn’t toured in a long time. And even though Armored Saint has been busy in the last five to eight years there’s still a lot of places that we haven’t played in a long time. For instance the Albuquerque is the first show on the bill on the tour and we haven’t played there since Delirious Nomad (Album). I am bummed that we are not going to Canada, however I’ve made a list of about 20 to 30 other cities that we could literally do on a second leg if everything goes great. If the tours Smash and The Vibes are great and you know it’s like why not do a Canadian tour? “
Is there any Nostalgia associated with this Tour “I think there’s a Nostalgia Vibe for the obvious reasons because people still talk about that 85′ Tour to this day, the W.A.S.P. Metallica (Armored) Saint . With (Metallica’s) Ride the Lightning (album) first W.A.S.P. record March of the Saints (Armored Saint debut). It was a great run, it was a big buzz, so it makes sense that we would go out on the road with WASP (today). We had a lot of shows together as the bands started out so there’s definitely an LA connection. I think it’s really exciting. It’s 40 years later, it’s kind of their anniversary, it’s our anniversary um it’s a whole new generation and hopefully it just keeps going and going.”
When asked if the band is working on a new album “I don’t know yet we really didn’t do any dates with ‘Punching the sky’ . So even though to some people you may feel like that record’s old it really isn’t because we haven’t toured on it so to me it’s kind of all about that. Have we talked about a record? Well we’ve talked about it, that’s about all I’ll say at this point. Sometimes Armored Saint takes some time to make record.”
Defiant six-piece nu-metal rockers SEETHING AKIRA announce their much-anticipated third album Nozomi releasing on November 11 is now available for pre-order from FiXT.
Nozomi features twelve supercharged tracks across a dynamic mix of metalcore, nu-metal, and hard rock soundscapes with thrashing guitars and brutal, melodic, and infectious vocal hooks. From the hard-hitting track “Punishment Instructions,” the nu-metal single “Internal Antagonist”, the rap/rock anthem “Something In The Water,” all the way to the more introspective metalcore single “Lost At Sea,” the album is an intense journey through the human condition and its response to hope.
The next track off the pre-order campaign is the nu-metal single “Stars.” Carrying on the signature nu-metal/metalcore trend “Stars” also adds a yearning atmosphere to the band’s repertoire with uplifting and thoughtful vocal lyrics intertwined with a powerful vocal performance. Mixing in aggressive synthesizers with thrashing guitars, strong rhythms, “Stars” is an anthem about accepting the past and looking to the future.
“‘Stars‘ is the conclusion of this study,” states Seething Akira. “Accept all the imperfections inside, focusing on the positives that do exist, and the potential that great things may come to fruition. Stars is that feeling of realization, that hope has finally returned after a period of absence, with the knowledge that you are not alone. There’s still hope here for us all.”
Explosive. Bombastic. Defiant. Intense. Seething Akira continues to rock on with their gloriously turbulent nu-metal sound towards their next album, Nozomi. Hot off the editorial success of their last album Dysfunctional Wonderland and with recent appearances at the Download Festival, Heavy Music Awards, Tech Fest, Hammerdown Festival, Amplified Festival, Bloodstock, the Apocalypse Summer Bash, headlining at Southampton, joined Confession Of A Traitor on selected dates for their UK tour, an upcoming headliner at Techabilitation 2022 in Derby, a Hometown Album Launch Party at The Deco, in Portsmouth, and a recently featured single on the hit Meta Quest VR game Smash Drums with “The Fallen,” Seething Akira is not slowing down any time soon.
Seething Akira have developed a gloriously turbulent sound that is uniquely their own. Founded by vocalists Charlie Bowes and Kit Conrad, Seething Akira are a 6-piece electronic nu-core band hailing from the seafront city of Portsmouth, UK that have been tearing venues apart across Europe with their powerful fusion of genres since 2012.
The band’s first full-length album, Sleepy Skeletor, dropped in 2018 and made it clear that Seething Akira would be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. In late 2020, the band launched a series of new singles leading up to their second album, the highly anticipated Dysfunctional Wonderland. With the strength of the band’s music and their popularity with fans rocketing skyward, they connected with the electronic rock label FiXT and forged a partnership for their future releases.
Seething Akira has been featured on the Rock Hard Spotify editorial list, while their single “Firepower” landed on Kerrang Radio and Scuzz. “I Am The Devil” and “The Islander” were both featured on BBC Introducing, and “The Islander” premiered on Soundsphere Magazine.
At home and on the road, Seething Akira have also put their stamp on staple festivals such as Download Festival, Tech Fest, Bloodstock, Victorious, Camden Rocks, and many more while touring with bands like The Qemists and The Algorithm.
Recently Seething Akira have been releasing new singles throughout 2022 for their next album while blazing a trail across Europe on tour.
Split Screen Management is pleased to announce the signing of Finnish BLOODRIDE to its roster family! Musically Bloodride play old school thrash metal with some vibes of darker sound like death metal and harsh edge of hard core. Real stuff to bang your head and break your neck!
Furthermore, the band is currently working on new material for their upcoming album. More information TBA.
Here’s what the band had to say about signing: “Helsinki thrashers Bloodride enthusiastically announce their newly signed collaboration with Split Screen Management”, announces Petteri, the drummer “It’s amazing that we can cooperate with our friends at Split Screen Management and continue Bloodride’ s Thrashing Madness journey”, adds Esa, the bassist “We can’t wait to see what Split Screen Management will bring to Bloodride in the future. I know we’re in good hands”, concludes the vocalist, Jykä
Next BLOODRIDE live shows: November 12th 2022 – SuomiFinlandPerkele, Seinäjoki, Bar15 March 18th 2023 – Slovakia, Podrad, Rock Fabric
Fierce Finnish thrash metal band Bloodride was formed 2000. The band released their first EP “Bloodridden Disease” in 2004 and debut full-length album “Crowned In Hell” came out 2011. Latest and fourth album “Idiocracy” came out September 2021 through Great Dane Records. Musically Bloodride play old school thrash metal with some vibes of darker sound like death metal and harsh edge of hard core. Real stuff to bang your head and break your neck! During these years band has devastated stages all around Europe with names like Exhumed, Exodus, Nunslaughter, Toxic Holocaust, Whiplash etc. On stage you can expect perfect storm from Bloodride!
BLOODRIDE are: Jykä Leskinen: vocals Esa Pennala: bass Simo Partanen: guitar Teemu Vähäkangas: guitar Petteri Lammassaari: drums
Ukrainian Metal band HETMAN set December 9th as international release date for their 5th full-length album Black Heart!
The album calls people to humanity and defense of nature – forests, lakes and rivers from pollution and destruction.
Black Heart album tracklisting and cover-art are as follows: 1. Rusty Nail 2. Black Heart 3. Wings 4. Thirteen 5. Breathe 6. Out Of Shame, Out Of Anger 7. Empty Abyss 8. Dawn, Eyes Of Spring Night 9. Value 10. White Threads, Black Needles
Hetman was founded in 2006 by bassist and vocalist of Kherson’s death/black metal band Demonium in 2006.
From the beginning the concept and ideology of the band was based on classical ethnic and philosophic literature from different nations but with special emphasis on Ukrainian literature.
In 2006-2007 the first album Winter Talks With A Grove was recorded. Poems by T. G. Shevchenko, Omar Hayam, George Byron and Sándor Petőfi were used as lyrics while musically it is black metal with some clean vocals elements. It wasn’t sold but only distributed between friends and colleagues.
In 2011 the album was re-recorded at home studio Cerberus Records and in 2012 it was released as limited edition, 100 copies only, distributed by Sublimity Records label.
In 2013 musicians started to record the second album, which included songs that were written in 2010-2013. The album was named Matir (Mother) and the main concept was about man and the land where he was born and raised and which he should remember. Recording sessions started in March 2012 and finished in June at Oleksii’s home studio.
The third album The Book Sewn From Ashes was also recorded at home studio in 2016 and mastered by Oleksii Romanchenko (Khors, Balfor, Demonium, Semargl.) The album was released in 2017 via Svarga Music.
The next album Clenching Teeth was released in 2019 via Nocturnus Records.
From December 2021 to February 2022 the latest album named Black Heart was recorded. The album calls people to humanity and defense of nature – forests, lakes and rivers from pollution and destruction.
New York based atmospheric coldwave collective BLACKLIST released their highly anticipated sophomore album “Afterworld” today via Profound Lore Records. Featuring ten brand new tracks packed with the band’s captivating and distinctive sound, “Afterworld” seamlessly picks up where its critically acclaimed predecessor “Midnight of the Century” (2009) left off: Powerful and dark anthems, blending elements of shoegaze and heavy metal with coldwave in a fluid motion. In support of the new album, the band has just released a music video for the track “Lovers In Mourning”, streaming here:
Joshua Strachan about the song:
A lot of strange and maybe seemingly unrelated things came together with this song. But with Blacklist I like to lean into those. Post-punk is in some sense a genre exercise, so there’s no point in doing it by-the-numbers. As with much of “Afterworld,” this song is about desire and longing, but also about feeling as if love might be impossible or forever out of your reach. Whether because of distance, isolation, or lots of bad luck, I think we all have hit those walls at one point or another.
What started musically as an early Mötley Crüe/mid-80s Ozzy style riff morphed really quickly into this wistful sounding thing when I kicked on the synth pedal. I had just finished the Meridiane record a few months earlier, a dark ambient collaboration I did with Pieter Nooten (Clan of Xymox) with guest appearances by Warren Defever (His Name is Alive), and Kennedy Ashlynn (SRSQ, Them Are Us Too). Working with Pieter I learned so much about arrangement and dynamics, so I decided to jump head first into a sort of “Hounds of Love” big drums and strings feeling with this. It came together shockingly naturally.
The chorus references “star-crossed lovers,” a well-known expression from Shakespeare – but I think fewer people know that it’s a reference to astrology, to this idea that what you personally want isn’t mapped out in the future the stars foretell. So when I say “stars crossed don’t mean anything,” it’s about feeling doomed, but also rejecting that hopelessness. At the time I found myself relating to very familiar vampire films like “The Hunger” in a new way, as characters who have experienced eons of isolation from the wider world, for whom love is complicated or maybe impossible. I became interested in this idea of paying a certain shameless homage to standbys like “Bloodletting” by Concrete Blonde and “Black No. 1” by Type O Negative while hopefully also pulling them into new territory, where once you peel back the meta-gothic tropes, there are layers of authentic inner life that connect to our deepest emotional turmoils.
Tracklist:
Fires Of Black November
The Final Resistance
Nightbound
No Good Answers
Behind The Veil Of The Living World
Pathfinder
Scarlet Horizon
A Stranger In This Century
In Shadow Light
Lovers In Mourning
“Afterworld” was produced by Joshua Strachan at Primal Architecture Studio, Appalachia, VA and mixed by Sanford Parker (Darkthrone, Yob, BLOODYMINDED). The album is available for purchase HERE
Joshua Strachan: Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer, Saxophone Ryan Rayhill: Bass Glenn Maryansky: Electronic and Acoustic Drums James Minor: Guitar Chad Dziewior: Guitar
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 ) 