Finnish MERCURY CIRCLE have released a new music video for ‘Black Mirrors’, taken from their first full-length album “Killing Moons”, released in 2021 on Noble Demon. Watch the video below.
MERCURY CIRCLE, born as a brainchild in 2018 by Iconcrash’s and Swallow the Sun’s Jaani Peuhu, offers dark rock infused with electrifying synth wave and slow, epic doom. Truly a genre of its own, the band is establishing their very own kind of “New Doom” – think “Sisters Of Mercy and The Cult shaking hands with Depeche Mode and Cathedral”. Within their own microcosm, the songs tell a story of an ever-repeating journey from painful departures to new beginnings, hope and promises echoing loss and regret.
In June 2020 MERCURY CIRCLE announced the release of “The Dawn Of Vitriol”, the band’s first EP, to be released on August 14th on Noble Demon (Digital) and The Vinyl Division (Vinyl + Digipack CD).
MERCURY CIRCLE are: Jaani Peuhu – Vocals, Guitars, Synths (Iconcrash, Swallow the Sun, Hallatar) Jussi Hämäläinen – Guitars, Synths, Backing vocals (Hanging Garden, The Chant) Juppe Sutela – Guitars (To/Die/For) Ande Kiiski – Bass (Sleep of Monsters, Rytmihäiriö) Jaska Raatikainen – Drums (Children of Bodom)
A quartet of Brazilian metal veterans teamed up to celebrate Entombed, the Swedish death metal giant formed in the late 80s featuring the iconic singer L-G Petrov. The idea of recording “Out of Hand“, originally released in “Wolverine Blues” back in 1993, came from guitarist Elizeu Hainzenreder (ex-Desolate Ways) in 2021, the same year Petrov died after a long battle with cancer.
The musician invited vocalist Eduardo “Clark” Monteiro (ex-A Sorrowful Dream, ex-Unmaker), bassist Fabrício Bertolozi (Dyingbreed, ex-Horror Chamber) and drummer Paulo Wilges (Mortal Touch, Aterro, ex-Baal Hamon). The production was handled by Roger “Earth” Fingle (Seduced by Suicide, Blood Tears), who has been producing rock and metal bands for over twenty years.
“The idea came up in 2021, but being a perfectionist I only do something if I can fully dedicate myself, it ended up taking a little longer to happen”, commented Elizeu. He added, praising his colleagues: “Besides being amazing musicians, they are all my friends. Clark and I have known each other for many years. Desolate Ways and A Sorrowful Dream shared stages and buses several times. Fabrício is killing with Dyingbreed and Paulo recorded with Mortal Touch the album that I consider to be the best Brazilian death metal record. Roger Fingle doesn’t need any comments, just check his work.”
This cover marks the first recording in more than a decade by Elizeu Hainzenreder, after releasing “Eternal Dreams” (2003), “Tearful” (2007) and “Last Moons” (2009) with Desolate Ways, a band founded in 1998 and which was one of the great names of Brazilian gothic metal at the time. This is also a special moment for Eduardo “Clark”, who said: “The importance of Entombed for death metal is unquestionable, and Petrov’s vocals were the pillars of extreme singing in metal! Being able to honor it with this cover is very rewarding, especially at the invitation of a longtime friend like Elizeu.”
In celebration of their recent career-defining headline performance at Bloodstock Open Air 2022, Malevolence offers the world a sneak-peak into the festivities with a video of set highlight ‘Karma‘, featuring live special guest Will Ramos of Lorna Shore. Malevolence laid waste to the attending crowd during their biggest headline show to-date, in a packed-to-the-rafters tent inundated with frenzied crowd surfers.
Watch ‘Karma‘ feat. Will Ramos (Live At Bloodstock 2022):
Malevolence vocalist Alex Taylor commented: “We knew that we wanted to make Bloodstock a special show, so it only felt right that we invited a few special guests onto the stage with us to make the night even more memorable for the people of Bloodstock. I hit up Lorna Shore and asked if Will would be up for it, and he was on it straight away.”
With their critically acclaimed new studio album Malicious Intent,Malevolence have staked out their place as one of contemporary metal’s heavyweight acts. The rising UK stars are now out to conquer the world, having undertaken a huge run of major live dates this summer and into 2023, already blowing away audiences at the likes of Download Festival, Bloodstock Festival, Knotfest Germany and the Bring Me The Horizon Malta Weekender, not forgetting to mention a huge UK arena tour with Architects and Sleep Token, and mainland EU dates with Lamb Of God.
Malevolence will shortly be hitting the road in Australia with Thy Art Is Murder, Carnifex and I AM, followed by a lengthy UK/EU run with Trivium, Heaven Shall Burn and Obituary (EU only) later this year and into early 2023.
Malicious Intent was recorded at Tree House Studios, UK. The record was produced by Jim Pinder and co-mixed by Jim Pinder and Carl Bown. TheMalicious Intent artwork was created by renowned artist Eliran Kantor.
Cathartic black metal entity GAEREA will be releasing its third full-length album, ‘Mirage,’ on September 23, 2022! The enigmatic band is now unveiling the title track from the offering along with a music video. The video, which was directed by Guilherme Henriques, can be seen and heard at THIS LOCATION.
GAEREA comments on the new offering: “The third single for the upcoming GAEREA album is finally upon us. The song is called ‘Mirage’ and it serves as the Bleeding Burning Torch which also names this record. It represents a battle between high and low, reality and perception and Solitude vs Freedom. This is Gaerea in its purest form, where the body language dictates the increasing catharsis of one of the Highest and important Monuments within this Album”
‘Mirage’ is now available for pre-orders HERE. Pre-save the album on your favorite streaming platform HERE.
GAEREA will be supporting legendary black metal band WATAIN for three dates in Mexico this December!
Prior to the dates in Mexico, GAEREA will be embarking on their first ever Latin America tour this November! The headliner will kick off in Brazil on November 15 and will conclude in El Salvador on November 30! The band will then head to Mexico City to headline Mexico Black Metal Chaos Festival from December 2-4 (Exact date TBA). Venues and tickets will be announced soon!
GAEREA is also be appearing at several European festivals this summer, with their next performance taking place on August 4 at the renowned Wacken Open Air. In addition, they will be supporting label-mates Gaahls WYRD and SAOR on an extensive European tour this fall. The band’s full itinerary for 2022 can be found below!
The cover artwork for ‘Mirage’ was created by the SAROS Collective.
GAEREA European Fests 2022: 21 Sep 22 Riga (LV) NOASS 22 Sep 22 Tallin (EE) Sveta Baar 23 Sep 22 Helsinki (FI) On the Rocks
GAEREA European Tour (+Gaahls Wyrd +Saor +Winterfylleth) 30 Sep 22 Haarlem (NL) Patronaat 01 Oct 22 Arlon (BE) Léntrepot 02 Oct 22 Cologne (DE) Club Volta 03 Oct 22 Berlin (DE) Holle 44 05 Oct 22 Poznan (PL) U Bazyla 06 Oct 22 Krakow (PL) Hol 07 Oct 22 Prague (CZ) Futurum 08 Oct 22 Vienna (AT) Vienna Metal Meeting 09 Oct 22 Budapest (HU) Instant 11 Oct 22 Milan (IT) Slaughter Club 12 Oct 22 Martigny (CH) Les Caves Du Manoir 13 Oct 22 Lyon (FR) CCO Villeurbanne 14 Oct 22 Barcelona (ES) Boveda 15 Oct 22 Madrid (ES) Story Live 16 Oct 22 Toulouse (FR) Le Rex 17 Oct 22 Paris (FR) Petit Bain 19 Oct 22 London (UK) The Garage 20 Oct 22 Antwerp (BE) Zappa 22 Oct 22 Essen (DE) Turock 24 Oct 22 Munich (DE) Backstage Halle 25 Oct 22 Frankfurt (DE) Das Bett 26 Oct 22 Leipzig (DE) Hellraiser 27 Oct 22 Hamburg (DE) Logo 28 Oct 22 Copenhagen (DK) Vega 29 Oct 22 Gothenburg (SE) Pustervik 30 Oct 22 Stockholm (SE) Slaktkyrkan
GAEREA Latin America 2022: 11/15: Recife (BR) 11/16: Sao Paulo (BR) 11/17: Curitiba (BR) 11/18: Porto Alegre (BR) 11/19: Montevideo (UY) 11/20: Buenos Aires (AR) 11/23: Santiago (CL) 11/25: Medellin (CO) 11/26: Bogota (CO) 11/27: San Jose (CR) 11/29: Guatemala City (GT) 11/30: San Salvador (SV) 12/2-4: Mexico City (MX) @ Mexico Black Metal Chaos Fest 12/08: Monterrey (MX) @ Cafe Iguana (Supporting WATAIN) 12/09: Guadalajara (MX) @ Foro Indepencia (supporting WATAIN) 12/10: Tijuana (MX) @ Black Box (Supporting WATAIN)
Hard rock band ARTIFAS announced that they will be hitting the road with City of the Weak this fall! The tour kicks off on September 23rd in Jonesboro, AR at The Brick House.
An event page with all currently available information for each show can be found on the band’s Facebook page. Find your city, RSVP to the appropriate event page(s), share the flyer with your friends, and let’s get ready to have your faces melted off!!!
Artifas on tour with City of the Weak: The Building a Legacy Tour:
9/23 Jonesboro, AR @ The Brickhouse 9/25 Fort Worth, TX @ The Ridglea Theater 9/30 San Antonio, TX @ Anthem School of Music 10/1 Laredo, TX @ Wonder Lounge 10/2 San Angelo, TX @ The Deadhorse 10/4 Houston, TX @ Rise Rooftop 10/5 Ocean Springs, MS @ The Juke Joint 10/6 Destin, FL @ Lucille’s Music Hall 10/7 Longwood, FL @ The Shovelhead 10/8 Melbourne, FL @ Club 52 10/12 Piedmont, SC @ Tribble’s Bar 10/14 Teaneck, NJ @ Debonair Music Hall 10/15 Baltimore, MD @ Zen West 10/16 Allentown, PA @ Sportsman’s Cafe 10/18 Mechanicaburg, PA @ JB Lovedrafts 10/19 Akron, OH @ Empire Concert Club 10/20 Okemos, MI @ Double Clutch Bar 10/21 South Bend, IN @ Cheers 10/22 Janesville, WI @ The Back Bar 10/23 Moline, IL @ Rascal’s Live Music Venue 10/28 Jackson, TN @ Slide and Ride 2
American Hard Rock band Artifas was formed in 2011 in Jackson, TN by lead guitarist Cody Criswell and lead vocalist Scottie Somerville. In the months following, the two founders of the group would immediately recruit an assortment of hometown musicians and begin looking to record their debut EP. After having a long and ugly encounter that resulted in the theft of all the bands funds and receiving no album in return, the original incarnation of the group would spend 2012-2013 doing several independent tours and writing music. After debuting with their EP Enemy Inside in 2013 and doing numerous regional/national tours in support of it, the band replaced former members with guitarist Mikey Miller, bassist Anthony Mattox, and drummer Stephen Hatmaker.
With almost two years of touring with the new lineup under their belts, Artifas inked themselves a record deal and hit the studio to make their first full length album. The 2015 release of the title track, “Inhuman,” would bring the band some commercial success, reaching # 32 on Billboard’s Active Rock chart and sending the band on the road in support of their new album. The band landed tours with established artists like Theory of a Deadman, Shamans Harvest, Pop Evil, Saint Asonia, Aranda, and others. The follow up single from that record, “Blood 4 Blood”, would later get picked up by the World Series of Fighting and subsequently land a feature in the UFC movie “Fight Valley”. The band parted ways with their record label in 2016, and remained on tour throughout the US for most of the following year, also traveling internationally for the first time with the likes of Papa Roach, Hoobastank, P.O.D., Trapt, and Sick Puppies to play for our American Troops.
Multiple tour cycles later, Artifas found themselves back in the studio making new music. The band worked with multiple writers and producers throughout the entirety of 2018, but would ultimately only find themselves frustrated with the recordings that resulted. After a soul search within the group, Artifas elected to embrace their own vision and write/produce their next album independently, free from the creative overreach of outside influence.
After two years of writing, recording, and mixing, Artifas completed the new album, and unleashed it upon the world. With catchy guitar riffs, dizzying drums, and soaring melodies, Reflections will send you on an emotional journey, exploring the band’s semi-prog, radio rock sound while diving deeper into the human complex with lyrics centered around self awareness and the bands own struggles with mental health. The goal for the creation of this album was to make a record that met the band’s expectations and you can rest assured they held nothing back. Mixed and Mastered by Forrester Savell (Twelve Foot Ninja, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus), Reflections promises to wow you with musical prowess, all the while delivering Artifas’ important message on unity, inspiration, and the sempiternal battle between dark and light.
ARTIFAS – Safe (Official Music Video):
ARTIFAS – Cut Me Out (Official Music Video):
ARTIFAS – Leave Me For Dead (Official Music Video):
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviews Tesla‘s guitarist and Co-Founder Frank Hannon.
TESLA have returned with their brand new single “TIME TO ROCK!” and proving they are still a credible force creating high energy music both live on tour and in the studio.
When asked about Tesla releasing a song and going on Tour instead of an album “You know we’ve made a lot of albums we’re pushing a lot of years and we’ve done a lot at this chapter of our career. It’s much more rewarding to get together and focus just on one song without the pressure of trying to fabricate 10 songs to create an album. If you rewind back to our first album and the first six albums that we made, that was a different time. I mean we spent years writing that first album in the clubs and had a lot of time. These days it’s just more productive for us just to kind of focus on one song without any pressure and we’re really enjoying that. We’re living more in the moment.The process of making a full-length album would force us like we’ve done before, to lock ourselves in a room and try to force them out (songs). Whereas right now with the way we’re doing it it’s more in the moment and we get to enjoy the songs as they’re relevant in the moment when we write them going on with what’s going on in the world and what we’re being inspired by.”
When asked about if they were offered a spot on the Stadium Tour “Well as you know the stadium tour got off to a rocky start just like everything did with the covid. When that stadium tour was booked years ago and was just able to get going. I don’t know what happened there you know, yes the answer is yes. We’ve been friends with Def Leppard forever we’ve done shows with Motley Crue and Poison and Tesla would have definitely been a great choice and I think would have rounded off that package nicely. Obviously we would want to play in that arena or stadium so to speak but for some reason it didn’t work out. I really don’t know those are reasons that are beyond my control I’m more of the music guy, I’m not really the business guy, so there was some other business politics maybe taking place that i have no idea about.”
When ask if there is any news about Troy Luccketta Hiatus “Troy is on a hiatus. We’re just allowing the time for things to work themselves out. He’s got things that he’s dealing with. Touring is not an easy life it’s a very difficult thing. Being out there on a bus with everybody crammed in that tight situation and when you got stuff going on at home those things need to be taken care. But hey man he’s a long-standing member of the band and we’ll work it out, time will work things out. He’s a brother. The founding members of the band are together and Steve Brown is playing drums for us at the moment and really doing a great job and we’re just happy to be able to keep on working.”
Tell us about your experience in Montreal Canada, meeting your guitar hero Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush “That was a dream come true man Frank has always been like one of my biggest guitar heroes from the 70s and as a kid growing up. I met his nephew Mike (Marino) and what a nice guy, what a great family. Mike found out that I was a huge fan of Frank Marino and Frank invited me over for pizza and Coca-Cola. I got to spend two wonderful evenings hanging out with Frank in his studio and listening to him talk and tell stories and we just laughed and had a great time. It’s really awesome when you meet one of your musical heroes and they turned out to be such a great guy with a lot of heart and especially a guy who’s been through so many ups and downs like frank has. It was very rewarding and very refreshing to meet one of my heroes and have them be so down to earth and cool. He is not only down to earth but also otherworldly in his musicianship and his creativity of electronics and the things that he does and has done. I mean that DVD he did recently, the four-hour show that he worked on so meticulously, it’s just mind-blowing. So to meet a guy who’s got that much talent but also be so cool and inviting into his home was very rewarding and refreshing experience.”
When asked about meeting the Rhoads family at Musonia a few years back “Kelle Rhoads, his brother was very hospitable and Dolores was an angel, she has since passed away, rest in peace. I have not had a chance to visit the school again but they were very gracious to me and obviously Randy Rhodes is the founding father of neoclassical killer guitar playing. I mean those first two Ozzy albums really influenced me 1982. I was 16 years old in high school and just unbelievable influence. That was a moment ti’ll treasure if you people want to see it they can find it on youtube Frank Hannon visits Musonia, There’s a documentary video that I made.”
When asked if they will be working on a new Tesla studio album soon or any other music “I have a lot of ideas and stuff for solo albums that are filled on my hard drives. I did some music with Brian Tichy, an amazing drummer. He and I recorded three songs last year that have never been released, i’ve got some instrumentals that are out of this world crazy experimental stuff as a solo artist. I may put that stuff out but i’m not in a hurry to do it. I’ve just archived it right now because i’m focusing all my energy on Tesla and Jeff Keith and I being the fundamental writers for the band we have another ballad that we’re working on it’s called, All about love’ and it’s really like a segway from ‘love song’ and that side of our band. We did put out the singles ‘Cold Blue Steel’ and ‘Time to rock’ then we got that ballad and we’re just gonna keep cranking them out in the moment. Then the album will come at the end of that creative run and I can’t can’t give you a timeline but we will put them all together on a collection.
Frank Hannon – guitar Brian Wheat – bass Jeff Keith – lead vocals Dave Rude – guitar Steve Brown – drums
TESLA will be on the road thru all of 2022 and kicking off 2023 by headlining the famous “Monsters of Rock Cruise”. The new song TIME TO ROCK! serves as an anthem for a band who originated in the mid-1980s yet continue to sell out theaters and Arenas today with an “active” and modern sound. Self Produced by lead guitarist Frank Hannon and co written with lead singer Jeff Keith, the song is raw and edgy, with lyrics that are a tip of the hat to the genre of music that brings joy and escape to the sometimes harsh realities of todays world. Stemming from a simple phrase they use to signal showtime.. TIME TO ROCK! will take you there.
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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
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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
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 