People of Planet Earth and all Dundee rejoice! Prince ANGUS McSIX has conquered hell and now returns to free the Kingdom of Fife and especially Napalm Records! But times have changed – the shadow of a terrible enemy is looming on the horizon, more dreadful than anything mankind and goblinkind have ever seen!
Are you ready to embark on a quest to gather the most glorious warriors in the world and beyond? Are you ready to face ultimate doom?
Angus says, “Oh yeah”. Now wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe, he has received an upgrade to become the legendary warrior that is ANGUS McSIX – one better!
Napalm Records is proud to embark on this new journey with the reborn prince. The full band, as well as more big updates, will be revealed in the near future, so stay tuned for more news!
Napalm Records founder, managing director and CEO Markus Riedler states: “ANGUS McSIX is the new star in fantasy metal and the power of Captain Napalm will support him! This will be pure fantasy metal perfection – ANGUS McSIX and his allies have a bright future ahead!”
SOLE SYNDICATE have released a video for ‘Count to Zero’ – third single taken from the new album ‘Into the Flames’, released on June 17th by Scarlet Records.
Bridging the gap between traditional European roots and modern American sounds, Sole Syndicate knows well the secret of all the greatest, past’n’present-hard’n’heavy bands: every song counts.
‘Into the Flames’ is a darker and heavier record than its predecessor (the brilliant 2020 classic hard rock affair ‘Last Days of Eden’): earthquaking riffs & tasty solos, roaring vocals, some great melodies and a thunderous rhythmic background represent the foundation of each track.
The lyrical theme of the album is quite gloomy and leads the listener on a journey into the human mind, taking pulse on everyday life. Sole Syndicate is not a political band, but they are not afraid to write and sing about the state of things – war, mental health, environment and social injustices.
‘Into the Flames’ is the raucous and entertaining soundtrack of this crazy world of ours.
The Metal Voice’s Jimmy Kay talks to legendary DJ Neal Kay in an exclusive live interview about the rise of Iron Maiden & NWOBHM. These stories and more told in Neal Kay’s new official biography by author Stjepan Juras with a forward by Iron MaidenSteve Harris.
Neal Kay shows and explains the tape, “This is the original Iron Maiden Demo Tape, with the date, on the top. This is the tape that Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) gave to me at The Bandwagon. It’s the tape I used to take around the recording industry to let them hear what Maiden were. (1978). That’s the one and there aren’t many left. Steve has one I have one and maybe a couple of others. I know this thing is priceless, that I understand. But it is a direct family heirloom to me and it’s more important to me than any gold album. This is what started something immense, truly wonderful, you don’t get anything better than that. That is the tape that did it. “
BAD LUCK FRIDAY’s self-titled debut album will be released by Wilde Fire Records on Friday 2 September 2022. This is being hailed as one of the most highly anticipated debut albums from a British rock band in years. The album is available to pre-order on CD and coloured vinyl from www.badluckfriday.com, and available to pre-save in digital format HERE.
The first single and title track, ‘Bad Luck Friday,’ will be released Friday 1 July 2022 and is available to buy and stream HERE. The official music video for the single can be viewed on YouTube HERE.
Don’t be fooled by the harmonica. Bad Luck Friday is not your typical blues rock band. Will Wilde has a reputation in the blues world as a pioneer of the rock harp, but with Bad Luck Friday, he’s taken the music well beyond its traditional blues roots.
The band formed during the ashes of the pandemic when live music ground to a halt. Frustrated but still determined and highly creative, Wilde teamed up with guitarist, Steve Brook, and together they journeyed inward and developed their original style before bringing in Alan Taylor and Jack Turnbull to complete the line-up. Their fusion of bluesy classic rock and aggressive, contemporary hard rock encompasses anthemic choruses, catchy riffs, searing vocals, and Wilde’s blistering harmonica solos.
ALBUM TRACK LISTING
1. BAD LUCK FRIDAY (3:26) 2. 666 AT THE CROSSROADS (3:16) 3. BANSHEE (3:19) 4. DUST & BONES (4:03) 5. JEALOUS WOMAN (3:36) 6. TAKE THE BEST OF ME (4:18) 7. MISTRESS (4:08) 8. LOW DOWN DIRTY (4:27) 9. BONNIE TO MY CLYDE (3:05) 10. REBEL WITH A CAUSE (4:01)
All songs: Music written by Will Wilde & Steve Brook, lyrics by Will Wilde and Sara Starbuck
BAND LINE-UP
Will Wilde: Vocals, Harmonica Steve “The Beak” Brook: Guitar, Backing Vocals Jack Turnbull: Bass Alan Taylor: Drums
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Recorded at PA Studios and Brighton Road Studios, Brighton Produced by Steve Brook Mixed and mastered by Paul Winstanley Photography by Gili Dailes
ALBUM TRACK BY TRACK BAD LUCK FRIDAY A heavy-hitting monster of a song featuring deceptively simple riffs and an impossible-to-resist groove, this tune begs repeat plays. The lyrics are a play on the old blues trope of selling your soul to the devil. If you take too much fame and fortune from the world, it wants something back in return. So, you’re always waiting for that karmic balance to bite you. We thought it was cool when bands like Motörhead, Bad Company and Black Sabbath have songs named after them. So, after writing this song we took on Bad Luck Fridayas our band name because it just felt like us.
666 AT THE CROSSROADS Taking cues from Bon Scott era AC/DC and Whitesnake, this song takes you on a trip down to a dusty, lonely track where many have struck a deal with the devil. Like ‘Bad Luck Friday’ it continues the theme that rock ’n’ roll is the devil’s music.
BANSHEE This song is about the old Irish legend of the banshee. It’s said that the wail or scream of a banshee is a warning that there is death approaching. In 2019, Will had a motorcycle accident where he broke his neck and thought he was going to die, that’s what the lyrics are about. Big guitars, wailing harp and a pounding rhythm section transforms this tune as a total anthem. Scream if you want to go louder! DUST & BONES This is the only slow track on the album. It’s the most personal and comes straight from a broken heart. It’s about a relationship that has come to an end and all that is left are memories. Our brief for this epic slugger was ‘Free/Paul Rodgers, but on steroids.’ So, get those lighters ready to hold aloft as this layered beast lays the feels down thick. And just when you thought the power ballad was dead.
JEALOUS WOMAN Will shows his blues roots in this stomper and The Beak flashes out his guitar chops in a seriously searing solo. Play this to your ex.
TAKE THE BEST OF ME If you mess with us you might end up in a song. This song delivers bite and bile. It’s Audioslave meets Paul Rodgers. Check out the harmonica solo!
MISTRESS Bad Luck Friday go muscled-up T. Rex and smash out this grimy, sleazy pounder guaranteed to get a crowd moving. And don’t forget your safe word!
LOW DOWN DIRTY The blues never sounded so heavy. Alan Taylor swings hard on the drums, fat fuzz guitars lay the scene and you get more bang for your buck with a double solo section. The lyric, “I lost my woman, my money, and my mind. What more have I got to lose?” is supposed to be tongue in cheek. It’s inspired by B.B. King’s lyrical style on ‘How Blue Can You Get.’
BONNIE TO MY CLYDE Coming straight at you with in-your-face guitars, Bonnie hits hard and doesn’t let up, featuring a harp solo higher than a hippy on the third day of Glastonbury. This is about the kind of destructive relationship you know will end badly, but you just can’t help yourself.
REBEL WITH A CAUSE We’re undoubtedly channeling Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave here. It’s big, bold, and likely to cause riots. When you hear that opening riff it’s time to get to the front.
“Frigid birds fly onward the north, surpassing the distance and gravity They yet don’t know that there is no home, no place to build a nest The rest no longer matters; the sacred land fell prey to fire And someone’s evil will” (lyrics taken from ‘Phoenix‘)
Denoting the importance of the conceptual layer in their Art, Black Metal innovators WHITE WARD created an emblematic lyric video for their song ‘Phoenix‘. The burning tree operates as a symbol for the true and gruesome story of nature’s destruction and the abuse of power. However, as the phoenix rises from the ashes, hope must never be abandoned.
Giving musical life to this narration, WHITE WARD perfected their uncanny formula of merging the harsh aggression of Black Metal fury with melodic as well as dramatic guitar arrangements, subtle saxophone elements and spoken passages. Watch the clip below and immerse yourself in the cosmos of ‘Phoenix‘:
“The tracks ‘Phoenix‘ and ‘Cronus‘ from “False Light” are both based on real and tragic events. The song ‘Phoenix‘ tells the story of Kateryna Handziuk, a Ukrainian activist, involved in the investigation of the purposeful mass forest fires in the Kherson region that were sanctioned by local officials with ties to organized crime. 2018 saw an acid attack and the subsequent hospital death of Kateryna. We decided to create additional content for these songs to motivate people so they would dig deeper into the lyrics and themes of the compositions. The reason why I mention two tracks is the fact that we planned to make a music video for ‘Cronus‘ as well. However, our plans were destroyed by war…“
“False Light” was released on CD, vinyl and digitally with fitting merch on June 17th. The album is available from the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp shops.
WHITE WARD, from Odessa, Ukraine performs intensely deviant music of a noir shade.
Formed in 2012 and taking root in raw depressive Black Metal, the band rapidly shed all boundaries, taking inspiration from an array of dark atmospheres including the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and I.M. Banks. The band’s excellent early recordings were compiled into the “Origins” compilation released in 2016.
First full-length “Futility Report” was released in 2017 by Debemur Morti Productions to instant critical acclaim. Exploring themes of borderline death states, aberrant afterlife worlds, and strange mental disorders, the WHITE WARD sound had evolved into a unique mix of Post-Black Metal, deeply emotive soundscapes and expansive dark-Jazz atmospheres utilising perfectly fitting saxophone motifs.
WHITE WARD continued to evolve in distinctive directions with 2019’s much-admired “Love Exchange Failure“: the dark-Jazz aesthetics more vibrant and deeper than before, the elements of blackened Death, Progressive and Black Metal – propelled by new drummer Noctum – now more furiously intense and complex. Lyrically the record explored more universal, less-abstract dimensions, diving into the abyss of the human psyche atop the band’s most lush and professional sound to date.
In 2021, WHITE WARD composed and recorded two new songs to celebrate the 200th release of their label Debemur Morti Productions. A continuation of the band’s progressive Black Metal experimentalism, the new EP “Debemur Morti” features Lars Nedland (BORKNAGAR, SOLEFALD) on additional vocals.
Just one year later, in June 2022, the Ukrainian Black Metal innovators are prepared to unleash their third album, “False Light“, incorporating and intertwining various influences into a potent and dystopian mix. “False Light” is an indispensable record from a stunning band at the top of their game, skillfully giving form to urban angst and the writings of Mykhailo Kotsubinsky, a famous Ukrainian writer of the early 20th century.
Photo: Jarmo Katila – Cover: Andreas Joakimsson (bild), Simon Jimmefors (design)
Helsinki based rockers TANELI are releasing their anticipated first single in English. When the Stars Begin to Fall is now available on every relevant streaming platform. Watch the lyric video below.
The bands first single “Nakna” was highlighted as best of the week in Finland’s largest music magazine SOUNDI’s demo section and was described as a mixture of Red hot chili peppers, Kings of Leon and the Swedish rock band Kent.
The bands mutual love for Kent was also a reason that the vocals initially were in Swedishbut now it’s time to take the music to an international audience. Nevertheless, the stroke of Nordic melancholy is still very much present and the new single carries a heavy yet important message.
An unspeakable family tragedy in the beginning of 2022 made vocalist Daniel Jakobsson numb, feeling like he would never be able to make music again. But the bass player and creative motor Taneli Tulkki kept sending demos, believing that the power of music at some point would give some energy in the crisis his bandmate and friend was going through.
Suddenly this song just broke through all my barriers. I felt this was a tool to tell something important. A story that needed to be told. I didn’t think I would be able to write music again, but this song wrote itself, says Jakobsson.
The song speaks about how we’ve built a world with impossible standards, an irresistible mirror wall that tells us how to be and what to strive for, and it’s impossible to live up to the fake ideals that we’re facing every day in feeds, commercials and TV series.
The youth of today are facing an enormous challenge just to figure out who they are and what their role is in this strange world. At some point the struggle can just be overwhelming and on a personal level I’ve seen the consequences and whatever we can do to change this is a necessity.
TANELI was born during the pandemic from the love of making music and the fear of creative lockdown. Bass player Taneli Tulkki (Jessica Wolff), had a constant flow of musical ideas that needed to take form and when he met the vocalist Daniel Jakobsson (Superdiesel) the pieces came together.
The heart of our music making has always been about groove, rock and joy and this song is no different, even if the circumstances when it was made was very special, says Tulkki about the song.
When the Stars Begin to Fallwill be the start of the journey of TANELI, a journey fed by the love of making music and the hope of making a change in this world even if it’s only by giving someone a better Friday night with a kickass live performance. And that, my friends, is something that TANELI will deliver – at all times.
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
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 