Japanese alt-rockers XANVALA dropped the digital single “joke” on August 31, 2022. Locked and loaded, the band brings a rebellious spirit with this new work. “joke” is a riff-driven fierce track with a catchy modern sound that showcases the colors of XANVALA.
Speaking about the single “joke”, the band comments:
“The concept for the lyrics is a counterattack. The idea came to me from a movie and I envisioned a scene of oppressed people collectively rising up in revolt.”— Vocalist Tatsumi
We didn’t skimp on time, work, or expenses to deliver the best we could and didn’t let anything compromise the quality at all. The only way to express oneself is from the inside out. You put it out to the world, as it is, and people will either love it or hate it. That’s the true form of art.”— Guitarist Yuhma
“The theme for this work is a graceful villain. I wanted to create a trap music atmosphere, so I researched many evil-looking game soundtracks.”— Guitarist Souma
“So far, this is the song that best synchronizes the concept with the visuals and the music. It’s kind of a new season of a non-Japanese series with an antihero. Please enjoy it.”— Bassist 70.
The antihero of this new era has been born. Check out the badass side of XANVALA.”— Drummer Tomoya
The five-piece band successfully completed their 20-city Japanese tour “ASK”, and they announced a new one starting this December and ending in August 2023. With several sold-out dates during this year, the upcoming tour is a new challenge to break into bigger venues and reach more areas in Japan.
With the future looking brighter than ever, XANVALA has risen to become one of the most promising acts in the current Visual Kei scene.
Two years on from their 2020 full-length Let There Be Nothing, JUDICATOR have today returned and announced their forthcoming sixth studio album, The Majesty of Decay, set for release via Prosthetic Records on November 25. Refreshed and revitalized the US power metal group are now primed and proud to share the lead single and accompanying music video, The High Priestess, which premiered via Metal Injection.
Speaking on the premiere, the band comments: “The High Priestess is daring, it’s catchy, and so refreshing too! It’s our best idea of what it would look like if Tom Jones did heavy metal. We could have chosen any number of safe songs to introduce the new album, but we wanted to throw our fans a curveball. The rest of the album has plenty of speed, riffs, and prog, but only The High Priestess has a full brass section.
“This song embodies the spirit of JUDICATOR these days — fresh and fun, but incredibly sincere. We really hope you enjoy the single and music video! Pre-order The Majesty of Decay and check us out on Patreon!”
As with past releases, The Majesty of Decay is a concept album. But while most JUDICATOR albums have been based on history, this one takes an entirely different direction. The album’s story connects with At the Expense of Humanity, the band’s third album, which recounts singer John Yelland’s experiences watching his older brother die after a long, drawn out battle with cancer.
Whilst the album’s story remains somewhat shrouded in mystery, JUDICATOR utilizes compelling plot devices as a means to encourage fans to piece together the album’s meta-contextual threads. What we do know, however, is that The Majesty of Decay explores the subjects of love, family, and the transformation of suffering into something meaningful. JUDICATOR invites you to step into this world and contemplate how the story might relate to you. The album is a carefully constructed puzzle of mirrors and metaphor that cries out for JUDICATOR fans everywhere to solve it.
What began as a humble homage to their mutual love of Blind Guardian, JUDICATOR have quickly grown into something that has continually had fans begging for more, with JUDICATOR more happy to oblige. With this latest offering, JUDICATOR have delivered yet another thought provoking album that fits nicely into their discography.
With members spread across the United States, recording for The Majesty of Decay was certainly unique. Drums were engineered and recorded by Alex Bosson (Helion Prime, Lunar, Planeswalker). Brass was engineered and recorded by Michael Sasich at Man vs. Music. The album was edited by Will Salazar at Revenant Sound Studios. Reamping and mixing was completed by Carlos Alvarez at Dirty Viking Audio Production. Mastering and sequencing was completed by Brett Caldas-Lima at Tower Studio. In addition, the album features Angel Chatzitheodorou (Angel Wolf-Black, ex-Bare Infinity), whose elegant, powerful voice soars through much of the song Judgment. The beautiful, eerie artwork by Marc Whisnant completes the package.
The ten tracks that comprise The Majesty of Decay are haunting, progressive, and command attention through their adventurous, emotionally cathartic storytelling and pervasive, dynamic atmosphere.
The Majesty of Decay tracklist:
1. Euphoric Parasitism 2. The Majesty of Decay 3. From the Belly of the Whale 4. Daughter of Swords 5. Ursa Minor 6. Ursa Major 7. The High Priestess 8. The Black Elk 9. Judgment 10. Metamorphosis
Allowing a second glimpse into the forthcoming album, THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET unveil the new composition ‘Miserere [Opus III]-Sanctum’. The song is defined by sorrowful instrumentation and the expressive as well as versatile female vocals of Jason Köhnen’s long-time collaborative partner Lilian Tong. By adding eerie and sinister saxophone, noise and ambient elements, the track transforms itself from a neoclassical piece into a Jazz noir mélange. Composer Jason Köhnen narrates on the conceptual background:
“The song opens with a lamentation and gradually progresses to repentance and the penitence of sin. With this composition I tried to transpose religious expressions into a specific musical journey … a confessional journey of a heretic. I composed the classical part and instructed Lilian Tong on the theme and emotion for the song. She is singing a specific part of Psalm 51 which reflects on the concept of the ‘Sanctum’ piece. As a classical trained soprano, Lilian is incredibly fine to work with, she really understands the vocal desperation needed for this song.“
The images used to create the clip stem from the 1928 classic French silent movie, “The Passion Of Joan Of Arc / Le Passion de Jeanne D’Arc“. Jason comments:
“When I was composing this song, I had the images of this film as inspiration. There is an intense lingering sadness, denigration and degradation in this movie that weighs really heavy. It carries this profound load of injustice and suffering … but in the end the relief and the acceptance of death for staying true to one’s convictions. It’s incredibly bittersweet and tells that same story of repentance which is the concept of ‘Miserere’. There is nothing more powerful than someone willing to die for their beliefs and their convictions. The earthly suffering for universal truths.”
“Miserere” will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally via Debemur Morti Productions on October 7th. Pre-orders for the album are possible via the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp stores.
THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET is one of the many projects from multi-instrumentalist Jason Köhnen. Renowned for his previous projects BONG-RA or THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE and THE MOUNT FUJI DOOMJAZZ CORPORATION.
Köhnen coined the term “Darkjazz” back in 1999 when he composed a track entitled ‘Darkjazz‘ for his 2001 “Darkbreaks” EP. From that point embarking on a long musical journey into dark experimentations with the jazz sound palette in combination with a plethora of genres.
THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET was evoked after a void appeared with the ending of his other Darkjazz outlets, firstly TKDE and TMFDJC and then the short lived THE THING WITH FIVE EYES project which saw Köhnen‘s first flirtations with Arabic scales and instruments, progressively transforming into his MANSUR project together with ex-PHURPA member Dmitry El Demerdashi and avantgarde metal THY CATAFALQUE vocalist Martina Hórvath.
Köhnen‘s approach to his releases with THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET are to open the spectrum of Darkjazz in all its wonderful and mysterious facets. Seeing each release as a script and soundtrack to a different movie, setting a different pace and atmosphere and playing with unorthodox climaxes and atmospheres. The projects hosts a list of dedicated guest musicians, who all participate as the leading actors in these scripts, all playing a crucial role in the soundtracks of these non-existing movies.
THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET releases albums on Denovali Records and Debemur Morti Productions, in a way where the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde part of this project comes to its best and most creative fruition.
Apart from the conceptual audio releases, THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET also navigates through the multi-disciplinary arts. The “In Memoriam” release saw a first in a series of short stories and audiobooks combined with an album. Future releases will see more art disciplines combined as a release.
October 21, 2022 see Norway’s GOTHMINISTER release their new album, entitled “Pandemonium”, through AFM Records. Following a previously-released, first single and music video for the album title track, today the goth and industrial metal ministers present a second track taken of their upcoming magnum opus!
“This Is Your Darkness” once again plays with the deepest primal fears of human beings – persecution, hopelessness and no chance to save oneself. This new album single takes up where “Pandemonium” left off. A drama in three acts. The Gothminister and his monsters are coming to get you!
“The aftermath of Pandemonium – or are we somewhere between place and time?” Band mastermind Bjørn Alexander Brem comments. “«This Is Your Darkness» is the 2nd of in all 3 videos telling the «Pandemonium» tale where the army of the undead keeps marching on looking for new souls to conquer in the evil kingdom, while Gothminister himself this time scouts from the watchtower and preaches from the book of evil. Chris Dead has teamed up with his drums from hell – but be aware, there is still a third story to tell!”
With his captivating debut ‘Gothic Electronic Anthems’ in 2003, Gothminister Bjørn Alexander Brem took the dark music scene by storm, unleashing a thunder of pitch-black magic. Powerful metal riffs march relentlessly arm in arm with huge orchestras and heavenly choirs, while the master himself reveals an astonishing range of vocal art: from the deepest gothic-dungeons up to the higher spheres of steaming rock. It’s the overwhelming combination of catchiness and darkness; a thrilling craft of composing within the marrow of gothic, industrial-metal and electronica, that became Gothminister’s trademarks ever since.
With tracks like “Devil” (Gothic Electronic Anthems 2003), “Monsters” (Empire of Dark Salvation 2005), “Darkside” (Happiness In Darkness 2008), “Liar” (Anima Inferna 2011), “Utopia” (Utopia 2013), the last single from the CD/DVD horror movie concept album which even reached the national finals of the Norwegian Eurovision contest, “Ich will alles” and “We are the ones who rule the world” which both entered the Top 10 of the German Alternative charts and brought thousands of fans together on a tour across Germany together with ASP, Gothminister has gotten a significant following all over the world through the years. Today, the Norwegian industrial metal act has suprised them with an epic music video for a brand new single!
The new Gothminister album, “Pandemonium”, will be released on October 21, 2022 through AFM Records, the pre-sale is now available at THIS LOCATION!
Album Tracklist:
Abgrund (Abyss)
Pandemonium
Demons
Star
Sinister
Kingdoms Rise
Bloodride
Norge
Run Faster
This Is Your Darkness
Mastodon
GOTHMINISTER Artist Line-Up: Bjørn Alexander Brem „Gothminister“ (Vocals) Eirik «Blodøks» Øien (Bass) Glenn «Icarus» Nilsen & Ketil «Turbo Natas» Eggum (Guitars) Christian Svendsen „Chris Dead“ (Drums)
GOTHMINISTER Live: Nov 12th Oslo, Parkteateret (NO)
British hard rock supergroup SNAKECHARMER was formed in 2013 by former members of Whitesnake, Wishbone Ash, and Thunder.
The resulting line-up is a veritable who’s-who of classic hard rock: Vocalist Chris Ousey (Heartland), Guitarist Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash), Drummer Harry James (Thunder), and Keyboardist Adam Wakeman (Ozzy Osbourne) Guitarist Micky Moody (Whitesnake).
Given the band’s pedigree, it was inevitable that the music would sound like good-time, classic melodic hard rock with a blues edge, their eponymous debut was released in 2013 by Frontiers. The response from fans and critics alike was rapturous, and the band toured to wide acclaim.
In 2015, Moody left the band, replaced by young Irish-born virtuoso Simon McBride. Snakecharmer’s follow up album, Second Skin, arrived in 2017.
This 4-CD box set collects the bands two studio albums as well as two live shows from Milton Keynes which show the band at work in a live environment, the booklet has notes by Classic Rocks Dave Ling talking to the band about their career as well as newly mastered studio albums done by Tony Dixon.
Featuring: Chris Ousey – Vocals Simon McBride – Guitar Laurie Wisefield – Guitar Adam Wakeman – Keyboards Neil Murray – Bass Harry James – Drums Micky Moody – Guitar
Track list:
DISC ONE: Snakecharmer My Angel Accident Prone To The Rescue Falling Leaves A Little Rock & Roll Turn Of the Screw Smoking Gun Stand Up Guilty As Charged Nothing To Lose Cover Me in You BONUS TRACKS White Boy Blues A Breath Away – Japan Only Bonus Track
DISC TWO: Second Skin Sounds Like a Plan That Kind of Love Are You Ready to Fly? Follow Me Under I’ll Take You as You Are Hell Of a Way to Live Fade Away Dress It Up Punching Above My Weight Forgive And Forget Where Do We Go from Here? BONUS TRACK On My Way – Japan Only Bonus Track
DISC THREE: Live at The Stables, Milton Keynes 26/01/2014 Guilty As Charged A Little Rock & Roll Ready An’ Willing Accident Prone Walking In the Shadow of The Blues Falling Leaves Moody’s Blues Slow An’ Easy My Angel [Band Introductions] Cover Me in You Nothing To Lose Here I Go Again Fool For Your Loving
DISC FOUR: Live at The Stables, Milton Keynes 17/01/2015 Intro. Guilty As Charged A Little Rock & Roll Ready An’ Willing Cover Me in You Accident Prone Falling Leaves Walking In the Shadow of The Blues My Angel Moody’s Blues Slow An’ Easy Nothing To Lose Here I Go Again Take Me with You Fool For Your Loving
Photo credits Morten pic: Angst Im Wald – Photo credits Linda pic: Linda Toni Grahn
MORTEMIA have premiered an official lyric / performance video for the latest song featuring Linda Toni Grahn (Anima Veil, ex Follow the Cipher), watch the video below.
Morten Veland (SIRENIA, MORTEMIA and founder of TRISTANIA) released the 11th MORTEMIA song from ‘The Pandemic Pandemonium Sessions’ today. The track features Linda Toni Grahn (Anima Veil, ex Follow the Cipher) on guest vocals and it is now available on all digital platforms. The track is entitled ‘Forever and Beyond’.
Morten Veland:
“I am proud and honoured to introduce Linda Toni Grahn from Anima Veil (ex-Follow the Cipher) as my special guest for ‘The Pandemic Pandemonium Sessions’. The 11th song is entitled ‘Forever and Beyond’, and will be available on all digital platforms on the 26th of August 2022. This song is a very powerful, groovy and quite uptempo track. Linda has a really cool signature voice with a great diversity that fits perfectly for this track. I feel truly privileged and thankful to have Linda on board this project, and I am really looking forward to sharing this song with you all. Forever and Beyond is an awesome addition to “The Pandemic Pandemonium Sessions.”
Linda Toni Grahn:
“It was a fantastic collaboration with Morten during this song.Super nice and friendly and easy to work with! From the beginning I felt that his way of creating music was in line with my own sense of what I want to sing.The melody and lyrics suited me very well.I really love this song, it’s both heavy and brutal but also soft and elegant. Wonderful work and I just want to say: THANK YOU MORTEN!”
After 11 years of silence Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, producer and artist Morten Veland is once more active with his solo project Mortemia, this time with a brand new concept. ‘The Pandemic Pandemonium Sessions’ is a series of singles released on a monthly basis, each song featuring a well known and highly profiled guest singer from the metal scene, so far the following singers has contributed:
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)
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Ads
Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 