Modern melodic metallers SYNTHETIC present their edition of the IRON MAIDEN classic “Be Quick or Be Dead”!
Re-emerging from the ashes of a severe pandemic and living through tough economic times and geopolitical turbulence, Be Quick Or Be Dead felt like the most musically energetic and lyrically relevant way for Synthetic to reappear in the scene. Through covering this iconic Iron Maiden song, the band wants to remind the wider metal audience that Synthetic are still around and working on new original material, whilst at the same time giving a flavour of its future sound texture and production value.
Digital single of “Be Quick or Be Dead” is now available across all digital and streaming platforms! Stream/Download, here: https://bfan.link/be-quick-or-be-dead
Legendary guitarist STEVE HACKETT is pleased to announce ‘Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More’, the visual document of his 2022 UK tour celebrating the classic Genesis live album. Set for release on the September 2nd 2022 (with vinyl following on the November 25th), it sees Steve and his band perform ‘Seconds Out’ in full & in sequence, as well as a selection of solo material including tracks from his most recent studio album ‘Surrender of Silence’.
Watch the band perform the Genesis track ‘Squonk’ here:
Steve comments: “I’m so happy to release my Seconds Out & More show… A spectacular night with a band on fire tearing into that magic music combining the true spirit of Genesis with a fresh virtuosic approach and an extraordinary sound under amazing lights. This show is a feast for both ears and eyes. The best of so many worlds!”
‘Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More’ will be available as Limited 2CD + Blu-ray & Limited 2CD + DVD, both including 5.1 surround sound, behind the scenes documentary & promo videos. Steve Hackett and his band comprise Roger King, Rob Townsend, Jonas Reingold, Nad Sylvan & Craig Blundell, and they were joined by Amanda Lehmann as special guest on the night.
It will also be available as Ltd Gatefold 180g 4LP+2CD, and as Digital Audio Album (in 16 & 24bit).
Steve Hackett & his band have just completed a run of shows in New Zealand and Australia, and will continue their ‘Seconds Out & More’ tour in Japan, Europe and North America throughout the rest of year. In September and October 2022, they will present their ‘Foxtrot at Fifty’ 25-date tour in the UK. For the full list of dates and to buy tickets go to HackettSongs.com
Denmark’s premier roots-rockers THORBJØRN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO have announced they have signed to Provogue / Mascot Label Group; home to Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Walter Trout and more.
Thorbjørn Risager comments, “We’re super thrilled and proud to announce that we have signed with legendary Provogue/Mascot Label Group. Looking forward to a long and fruitful cooperation starting out with the release of our forthcoming album”
The multi-award-winning band will reveal their brand-new song, “Watch the Sun Go Down,” on 1st July – which is taken from their brand-new album. More information on that to follow soon. You can pre-save the first single here.
With its rolling rhythms and yearning guitar licks, it’s the soundtrack to a glorious dusk desert sunset with a fizzing coolness that puts its foot on the pedal and rides off into a Tarantino horizon.
In 2003, singer and guitarist Thorbjørn Risager asked some of his favourite musicians to join him in a brand new band. The picked the band name ”Thorbjørn Risager Blue 7” and started playing round Denmark. A year later they recorded their first album, ”Live 2004”, and in 2005 in connection with the release of their second album, ”From The Heart”, they got considerable media recognition. BluesWax, a well-respected US publication, used the headline ”Next big name in blues: Thorbjorn” and the epic quote ”Risager has songwriting skills that match his larger-than-life voice” is from that review. The same magazine wrote about the next album ”Here I Am”: Sometimes a singer’s voice just stands out and forces you to listen. Take one part Ray Charles, one part Bob Seger, and one part Joe Cocker and you may have the vocal instrument of Denmark’s Thorbjørn Risager.
The septet has been blazing a trail across Scandinavia, wider Europe, Canada, the US and Asia for the past 20 years. They’ve been captivating crowds with their dynamic stage presence and a sound that fuses soul, Chicago blues, boogie and rock ‘n’ roll with a voice where Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Billy Gibbons meet in the middle. They’ve brought dancing shoes to Europe’s largest festival stages, low-light noir-ish blues to Jazz clubs around the globe and shared stages with the likes of Buddy Guy and Tedeschi Trucks.
Highlighting their pedigree, they’ve once again been nominated in this year’s Danish Music Awards (for the seventh time), this time for the “Best Blues Live Band,” which is due to take place on 17th August. The band have already taken two awards home as the “Best Band” in the European Blues Awards and the winner of the German Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Jahrespreis.
With an impressive cannon of material, Risager and his orchestra have already released twelve previous albums, including the award-winning Too Many Roads and last year’s critically lauded Best Of.
On their prolific travels around the globe, they’ve swept-up fans across every corner, including non-other than Elwood Blues himself, Dan Ackroyd! Who hailed their “Hot rhythm and blues”, saying Risager has “got a great voice, great delivery and feels the blues…. The songs are original, but sound like they come from a Stax recording session circa 1965.”
At twenty years in, the band are in white-hot form and will be showcasing their new material across Europe for the rest of 2022.
Keep your eyes peeled for more news soon.
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado are:
Thorbjørn Risager – vocals and guitar Emil Balsgaard – piano and organ Joachim Svensmark – guitar and back-up vocals Kasper Wagner – ten/alto/baryton saxophone or Hans Nybo – saxophone and back-up vocals Peter Kehl – trumpet/flg horn and back-up vocals Søren Bøjgaard – bass / synthbass / samples Martin Seidelin – drums and back-up vocals
Album cover by Roberto Toderico – Single cover by Heidi Laitalainen
Finnish symphonic melodic death metal band CLAMORIS is set to release their debut album Opus Limbonica on October 28th 2022 via Inverse Records. The first single “Rage, Rain Down on Them” is released today and lyric video is available below.
Composer & lyricist Sami Selkäinaho comments: ” “Rage, Rain Down on Them” is the first single of our upcoming debut album, Opus Limbonica.
The song is the shortest song of the album and represents the fastest side of Opus Limbonica. It’s the best song to kick things off as it condenses what the album is about to a tight package. Revolving around melodic delivery, the song utilizes a few symphonic, namely ones characteristic of Baroque music, concepts to aid us deliver this bitter ode to the Apocalypse. A subtle black metal presence lurks along the music, giving the offering a slightly haunted atmosphere.
Right from the beginning, it should be clear that our music is not the easiest type to pull off. Our group consists of highly competent musicians and “Rage, Rain Down on Them” also reflects this. The guitar solo by Joonas Kinnari in particular showcases the demanding side of Clamoris’ output and is a taste of what to expect of Opus Limbonica, where the neoclassically inspired bitter and haunted metal concept is expanded on to great lengths.”
1) Regurgitated 2) The Bite of The Cosmic Snake 3) Schemer’s Paradox 4) A Window to My Dreams 5) Rage, Rain Down on Them 6) Forma Inversa 7) Opus Limbonica 8) Walking in the Graveyard
Founded in 2017, Clamoris set out to bring to life their vision of neoclassically inspired extreme metal.
Originally planned as a two-man studio project formed by keyboardist/composer Sami Selkäinaho and vocalist/bassist Niko Peräkorpi, but feeling that due to the demanding nature of the songs a full band effort would be highly beneficial. They introduced drummer Tom Israels and guitarists Joonas Kinnari & Samuli Kaakinen to the music who, upon hearing the material, agreed to join the band.
After working out the songs for the album, rehearsing them for a while and demoing one of them on the latter half of 2018 the band felt they were ready to start working on recording the debut album, named “Opus Limbonica”, which was finalized and ready for release in 2022.
Louisville, KY’s VOLCANDRA have today shared a new music video for Resonance Cascade, taken from the melodic black metal groups recently released Border World EP. Pulling inspiration from the seminal first person shooter Half Life, the music video features a special guest appearance from Inferi guitarist Mike Low – who lent his playing to one of the track’s solos. VOLCANDRA are currently on tour in the US in support of Border World, with more information on upcoming shows below.
Speaking on the music video, Dave Palenske (vocals) comments: “The music video for Resonance Cascade was shot in two days over Memorial Day weekend at our rehearsal spot in Louisville, KY and Falls of the Ohio in Clarksville, IN.
“We hired Malcolm Pugh and Mike Low from Inferi/The Artisan Era to film and edit. A lot of planning went into this video, starting with storyboards I drew mapping out narrative scenes and band footage. Malcolm Pugh really knocked it out of the park by bringing these ideas to life.”
Speaking on the inspiration behind the track, Dave adds: “The song is based on the classic first person shooter game Half Life, so we went all out with the concept by investing in costumes, props and a lot of fake blood. It was decided early on that Mike Low needed to make a guest appearance in the video, since he lays down an absolute ripper of a solo on the song. So keep your eyes peeled for that.
“This was an incredibly fun experience, and we wanted to make a video that was actually entertaining to watch. So I hope people tuning in get a real kick out of it.”
Since their 2019 inception and a well-received 2020 debut full-length, Into the Azure, VOLCANDRA have steadfastly been honing their craft on both the live-circuit and in the recording studio. Across Border World’s runtime, VOLCANDRA offers a distinctively futuristic vision of melodic black metal – with lyrical tales of possessed mythical beasts, draconic cyborgs and mystical border worlds inspired by a deep love for video games and futuristic storytelling. All of these thematic elements are brought to life in stunning fashion by Varises Otak (Cattle Decapitation, Cryptopsy and Amon Amarth)’s cover art.
Produced in its entirety by Devin Harper at Nocturnal Audio in the band’s home city of Louisville, Border World’s amalgam of sonic extremity and melodious sheen compliments the band’s lofty musicianship – with guitar duo Jamie DeMar and River Jordan alternating between contorted rhythms and luculent leads. VOLCANDRA’s propelling force of Mike Hargrave (drums) and Dyer Keathley (bass) provide a resolute backbone to the EP’s more excoriating passages of black metal, allowing Dave Palenske’s vocals to sit commandingly atop Border World’s barrage of sound.Disinterested in theatrics and forced mystique, VOLCANDRA’s latest slice of fantasy world building is a byproduct of the band members lifelong reverence for science fiction – which serves as a vibrant alternative to some of metal’s darker corners. The group have officially opened the portal to their border world, and the invite remains open for all dreamers and wide eyed escapists who wish to enter.
Upcoming VOLCANDRA tour dates: August 31 – Yellow Cab Tavern – Dayton, OH September 01 – Squirrel Hill Sports Bar – Pittsburgh, PA September 02 – RPM Fest – Mantague, MA September 05 – The Depot – Baltimore, MD September 06 – The Loud – Huntington, WV
Swedish heavy metal band LION’S SHARE has made a new song, ‘Infernal Soul’, available on streaming services and digital service providers.
LION’S SHARE singer Nils Patrik Johansson commented: “Our last three singles are all pure heavy metal. You can look at it as a trilogy in a way where they all belong together. This one has some furious riffing and some heavy lyrics about being an artist.”
In late 2018, LION’S SHARE released a new five-track EP, plus its complete catalog – remastered with new artwork – on streaming services and digital service providers for the first time. The band have since released a few more digital singles, some of which will and some of which won’t end up on the forthcoming full-length album.
LION’S SHARE guitarist Lars Chriss added: “I just got back from playing in the support act (JOHAN KIHLBERG’S IMPERA) to KISS in Gothenburg – so I’m super charged to get on the road again with LION’S SHARE and to put the finishing touched to our new album that will be totally awesome.”
Both Johansson and Chriss remark that they have always worked very well together, and at this point it feels the most natural to keep LION’S SHARE as a duo, with friends helping out wherever needed.
“We are aware our fans want a new album and the plan was to release one in 2020, but we all know what happened then. We had just started playing live again with a couple of headline shows in Germany in March and were gearing up towards a new album and tour. Since we think it’s very important to tour behind a new album, we just have to wait until things go back to “normal” again”. Until then, we plan to release a new single every 2-3 months and keep building our fan base.”
The LION’S SHARE catalog features appearances by members and ex-members of KISS, MEGADETH, KING DIAMOND, HAMMERFALL, SYMPHONY X, CHIMAIRA, THERION, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, CANDLEMASS, etc. Mixers include top engineers such as Jens Bogren (ARCH ENEMY, OPETH, SYMPHONY X, AMON AMARTH) – Niklas Flyckt (one-time Grammy Award winner and four-time nominee) and Ronny Lahti (ROXETTE, EUROPE, Glenn Hughes).
LION’S SHARE has toured with bands like MOTÖRHEAD, MANOWAR, DIO, SAXON, ICED EARTH, NEVERMORE, U.D.O. (ex-ACCEPT), Dee Snider (TWISTED SISTER) and has played many of the major rock and metal festivals.
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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 ) 