Italian heavy rockers SONIC WOLVES have released a very special tribute EP, entitled It’s All A Game To Me. Featuring two high-voltage tracks dedicated to Motörhead icon Lemmy and Metallica’s Cliff Burton, this limited Vinyl edition is out now on Argonauta Records and as part of the labels‘ Argonauta 100Ltd. -series.
“This 12” EP features two songs written in tribute of two of our favorite musicians ever to exist; Lemmy and Cliff Burton.” The band comments. “Motorhead and Metallica (the Cliff era) are two of our favorite bands of all time and we felt that composing these songs serve to keep their memory alive in our own way. Both tracks showcase the great appreciation we have for them and the many years of inspiration they brought to our music and lives.”
To celebrate its release in style, today SONIC WOLVES have shared a new video clip for the track on side A, CCKL. Watch the band’s tribute to the godfathers of rock ‘n’ roll, Motörhead, here:
It’s All A Game To Me, coming with 2 cover artworks, is available via Argonauta Records HERE!
SONIC WOLVES was formed by drummer Vita (formerly in Ufomammut and currently in Rogue State), bassist and singer Kayt Vigil (Rogue State, formerly Pentagram, …Of The Horizon, Syzslak, The Hounds of Hasselvander & many more) and guitarist Alessandro Camu (Kurt RussHell). With their brutally raw, dark and dirty sound – highly inspired by 70’s hard rock, proto metal, psychedelic rock and power blues – SONIC WOLVES take hard rock to a nastier and louder level, and one that is hard not to be moved by. Following several European tours, including festival appearances at Desertfest Antwerp, Headz Up and Tube Cult Fest to name just a few, two 7” singles and two full length albums to date, with entitled It’s All A Game To Me the trio is another enthralling, wild sample of the trio’s exceptional rock ‘n’ roll and songwriting skills. And a hopefully first harbinger of a new album to follow in the not so distant future!
Is it possible to be in Turin for the Eurovision and in Paris inside the Stade de France at the same time?On Saturday, May 14, Rockin’1000, the band that managed to bring the Foo Fighters to Cesena in 2015, succeeded in the quest: thanks to the video made for the Eurovision final, aired just Saturday night and the great live show realized the same evening in Paris in front of a packed stadium, the Biggest Rock Band on Earth amplified its message of peace to the fullest.
Last April 8, indeed, the band Rockin’1000 had descended on Turin’s Piazza San Carlo to record the official Eurovision commercial: a parade of 500 musicians from all over Europe, including singers, drummers, bassists, guitarists, and strings, performed an unreleased version of “Te Deum,” Eurovision historical theme song, arranged in a rock style. A special contribution was recorded that day: the musicians performed to the notes of “Give peace a chance” by John Lennon, giving an emotional moment dedicated to peace, the central theme of the 66th Eurovision; the content aired at 9 p.m. Saturday, May 14, during the opening of the final that declared Ukraine as the winner.
During the same minutes, in front of more than 50,000 spectators, Rockin’1000 finally returned in a live version after almost three years of a forced stop with a great concert at the Stade de France in Paris that featured on stage 1088 musicians from 25 countries in the world and a setlist consisting of 21 songs which have made Rock History and about 200 accredited guests among journalists, influencers, promoters, and industry insiders who have been waiting for this event for a long time.
ust before the performance of Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine, Fabio Zaffagnini – CEO of Rockin’1000 and Artistic Director of the show, took the stage, delivering a touching speech that leaves no doubt about Rockin’1000’s stance on what is happening in the world: “After two years of fear, of prison, of death, a murderer ruined our party, our fucking well deserved party, our rebirth. Meanwhile, other bastards have made new weapons, new bombs. Because obviously all these bastards like war. So many heroes are fighting and dying to defend their home. But there are other heroes, who live in the land of this murderer, they are rebelling to pull him off the pulpit and throw him in the mud, where he deserves to be. They end up in jail. They are my heroes too, and we, Rockin’1000, we are with you! We have no weapons to give you, because war is not our thing. We can only give you the grenades that come out of our drums, the missiles that we launch from our amps and our war cry will be one: fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!”
The protagonists
The second edition of Rockin’1000 in Paris involved 1088 musicians from all over the world who played live, simultaneously a two-hour rock repertoire: 359 guitarists, 166 bassists, 238 singers, 216 drummers, and, for the first time in France, 109 keyboardists, bringing to the turf of the Stade de France, the greatest standards of Rock music.
Coming from 25 countries belonging to the 4 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America): 846 musicians from France only, 160 from Italy and, following from Germany, Belgium, Austria, United States, Monaco, Poland, Switzerland, UK, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia, Algeria, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, and Ukraine. The musician who came from the furthest away is a guitarist from the Philippines, while the oldest musician is a 70-year-old German singer, and the youngest is a 16-year-old French drummer. Finally, pink quotas are growing: for the first time, with 309 females and 779 males, nearly 30 percent of Rockin’1000 musicians are women. Among them is also a young Ukrainian guitarist.
The characters
As in 2019, two strategic figures were happily confirmed: Philippe Manoeuvre, an absolute reference in Rock’n’roll and a true rock icon in France, was the perfect master of ceremonies and godfather of the concert. Thanks to his experience and mastery of the stage, as well as a deep understanding of the audience, everyone felt at home, from the musicians to each and every audience member. Conducting the unique orchestra was the Maestro Alex Deschamps, composer, author, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist: a powerful stage presence who coordinated, guided, and motivated all the instrumental sections, jumping and running all over the stage, never sparing himself.
The central block was dedicated to the special guest Matthieu Chedid, known as -M-, French singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, beloved by the Parisian audience who accompanied him by singing at the top of their lungs every song. Among the special contents, it was much appreciated that of Richard Kolinka, Téléphone’s drummer, who played the legendary track “Un autre monde” in the drum section. Opening the show, warming up the audience before the start, the DJ-set was signed by Émilie Mazoyer, radio host and producer specialized in rock music. Surprisingly, even the famous American drummer Aric Improta (Night Verses and Fever 333) went wild playing Lithium with the Thousand!
Suggestive solos and focuses were performed by Rockin’1000’s Music Gurus, in charge of the band’s 5 instrumental sections: Augusta Trebeschi (singers), Lele Borghi and Alberto Paderni (drums), Stefano Re and Claudio Cavallaro (guitars), Biagio Esposito (basses) e Davide Marani (keyboards).
The official setlist in order of performance:
Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Un Autre Monde (Téléphone)
C’est comme ça (Les Rita Mitsouko)
Antisocial (Trust)
Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Gold On The Ceiling (The Black Keys)
Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis)
Killing in the Name (Rage Against The Machine)
Space Oddity (David Bowie)
Another brick in the wall (Part 2) (Pink Floyd)
Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
Sympathy for the devil (The Rolling Stones)
Mojo -M-
Je Dis Aime -M-
Machistator – M-
Medley – M-
La Seine – M-
Lithium (Nirvana)
My Hero (Foo Fighters) a special tribute to Taylor Hawkins
Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
Paradise City (Guns’n’Roses)
ROCKIN’ 1000
In 2015 Fabio Zaffagnini and a few friends came up with the ridiculous plan to make a video of 1000 musicians playing The Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly” in an attempt to convince the band to come to their hometown of Cesena and do a concert. The gamble paid off. The video went viral with more than 59 million views and The Foo Fighters added a date to their tour to fulfil the dream. And so ROCKIN’ 1000 was born. High off their success, from 2016 ROCKIN’ 1000 continued to grow in Italy. Their first concert was organised at the Stadio Cesena in front of an audience of 13,000. Their second gig at the Stadio di Firenze in Florence brought out a crowd of almost 30,000 with the presence of their rock star guest performer, Courtney Love. In 2019 the Stade de France in Paris hosted nearly 55,000 spectators for a one off concert. 2020 saw the release of the film “We are the Thousand, The Incredible True Story of ROCKIN 1000” directed by Anita Rivaroli and produced by Indyca. ROCKIN’ 1000 is the brainchild of Fabio Zaffagnini, produced with Claudia Spadoni, Martina Pieri, Mariagrazia Canu and Francesco “Cisco” Ridolfi.
CREDIT SHOW ROCKIN’1000 PARIS 2022
ROCKIN’1000 TEAM
Fabio ZAFFAGNINI CEO & Artistic Director Claudia SPADONI General Manager & Executive Producer Cisko RIDOLFI Resp. Operation & Technical Supervisor Martina PIERI Marketing Manager Maria Grazia CANU Media Relation and PR Manager Michele TELARO Chief Strategic Development
PRODUCTION TEAM
Francesca FADALTI Tour Manager/Producer Matteo CHICCHIARELLI Technical Director Roberto BERNABEI Site Manager Davide PEDROTTI Light Designer Nicola COSTAMAGNA Light Designer Assistant
Marco Giovanni BOARINO Show Director Andrea CELI Concept Creator & Author Paola MILAZZO Artistic Producer Sara FANUCCI Show Caller Margherita VACCARI Producer Assistant
Alex DESCHAMPS Orchestra Leader Augusta TREBESCHI Singers Guru Alberto PADERNI Drums Guru Biagio ESPOSITO Bass Guru Claudio CAVALLARO Guitar Guru Davide MARANI Keyboard Guru Lele BORGHI Drums Guru Stefano RE Guitar Guru
COMMUNICATION TEAM
Armando GUASTELLA Brand Manager Silvia GHARABA Social Media Manager Debora CASTELLUCCI Party Coordinator Giulia STRIPPOLI Customer care
PHOTO & VIDEO TEAM
Stefania MAPELLI Photographer Andrea BARDI Photographer Vanessa TONIONI Photographer Marco Antonio POROTTI Video Operator Niccolò CORTI Video Operator Charles GOUPILLE Video Operator
Just recently, Germany’s Cult Thrashers NECRONOMICON drummer Rik Charron was interviewed by Metal-O-Mania, talking about Rik being a fan of and then joining Necronomicon. His days with Exciter, the craziness of the last few years and how good it feels to hopefully put some of that lockdown stuff into the rear-view mirror and look forward.
The interview is on Podbean, Utreon, Streamspot, Applepodcast. The video chat can be watched also via YouTube, below.
The interview starts at 41:35 min.
NECRONOMICON are currently working on their new 11th studio album, last week the band revealed new details about their yet untitled effort!
Freddy, the band’s frontman and vocalist shares: “12 songs are written and today 12.05.2022 the 13th song will be finished. 13 songs full of power and hardness. A wide spectrum from typical thrash metal versions over punk-heavy versions to driving midtempi songs. Next week the lyrics for the vocal parts will be written and after that Marco and Freddy will fly to Canada to record the drum parts with Rik.”
Earlier Freddy revealed on the album topics: “As the world is becoming to resemble the H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon (Book of Dead) we have decided to deal with the current situation in Ukraine and in general with the topic of war and violence against children and women. Musically I would like to tie in with “The Final Chapter” and deliver a wide range of song material which also means a new beginning, a new chapter of the band with Rik and Glen at the same time… Again Achim Köhler will do the mixing and mastering. You can be curious.”
More details TBA, stay tuned!
NECRONOMICON released their latest effort, the 10th studio album “The Final Chapter” on March 26th, 2021 via El Puerto Records.
NECRONOMICON’s Studio albums: 1985: Necronomicon 1987: Apocalyptic Nightmare (Gama-Records) 1988: Escalation (Gama-Records) 1994: Screams (D & S Records) 2004: Construction of Evil (Remedy-Records) 2008: Revenge of the Beast (Xtreem Music) 2012: Invictus (Massacre Records) 2015: Pathfinder… Between Heaven and Hell 2018: Unleashed Bastards (El Puerto Records) 2021: The Final Chapter (El Puerto Records)
Four years after their much-acclaimed Blackout record, on April 22, 2022 Bergen-based heavy rock act AUDREY HORNEreleased their chart-topping, seventh studio album, entitled Devil’s Bell, via Napalm Records.
To celebrate their brand new record in style, the band has just premiered a new music video for the track “Break Out”, but chose a unique, creative way to bring it to life. As guitarist Arve Isdal works at a school teaching music production, the band invited a group of the school’s talented film students to create the track’s amazing music video – supporting arts education and the future of rock! The clip perfectly matches the song – a true hard rocking anthem.
Arve says about the new video and its making-of:
“The film students at a school I work for, Noroff Fagskole, had an assignment to make music videos. I thought it would be a good idea for them to try to make a video for Audrey Horne.
Unfortunately we didn‘t have time to actually be present in the video, so we had to send the infamous doll versions of ourselves to star in it.
The students did a great job and the video turned out very funny and looks professional, so we wanted to share it with you all. None of the dolls were harmed in the making of this video (as far as we know).”
The band’s new album, Devil’s Bell – entering the official album charts with positions such as #16 in Switzerland, #19 in Germany, #61 in France or #89 in Canada – shines with nine fist-pumping songs that will shake concert venues worldwide. As with every AUDREY HORNE album, there are no duds or misfires as the songs flow together seamlessly, making Devil’s Bell a delight to play from the first note straight to the end. Frontman Toschie once again proves that he has one of the most charismatic and energetic voices in rock, and the kinetic guitar-work of Ice Dale (Enslaved) and Thomas Tofthagen (ex-Sahg) underlines an outstanding genre-warp of 70s and 80s rock via NWOBHM, keeping the music rocking and the listener locked in. The band is tight, the music is festive, and the songs stick upon first listen – that’s how a modern hard rock album should sound!
Devil’s Bell was recorded and produced by the band, with mixing by Herbrand Larsen. Highly praised by the music press, with several top album soundcheck and chart positions, AUDREY HORNE’s new album is out now on Napalm Records and available in various formats.
The theme is that of abreaction, a term that in psychotherapy indicates the path that leads to reliving a trauma and through this we arrive at overcoming it: unfortunately a current theme in the times we are living in.
This is the re-edition of a song made in 2018 and now remixed and remastered by Cristiano Sacchi. It is a song entirely self-produced by guitarist Marco Germani and his label After Life Music Dimension and is part of the “Limbo Neutrale” project, a multimedia project that includes two novels, music and visual arts.
Even the video clip has been revived with a new coloring more suited to the mood of the song. The video and the cover photo are made by Elisa Collimedaglia.
Marco Germani (Limbo Neutrale) – Abreaction Music: Marco Germani – Lirycs: Sofia Bonardi
Line up: Voice: Sofia Bonardi Guitars: Marco Germani Bass: Diego Consiglio Battery: Riccardo Ferraresi
CONQUER DIVIDE and Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group have released the official music video for ‘Atonement’, watch it below.
The song, “Atonement,” was premiered by Sirius XM’s “Octane” during the program’s Women In Rock Week-end. Since release, the track has over 500,000 comprehensive streams. Guitarist Kristen Sturgis shares, “The song touches on feelings of regret, which we tried to convey in the video. You can see one of our other music videos in the reflection of the eye, for example. They’re watching the time tick by wondering what their life could have been like if they would have toughed it out and put the work in. The hardest things in life are the most rewarding, and life is short. So, if you’re not ready to meet us on our level, then get out of the way.” Drummer Sam Landa adds, “The word atonement is about making reparations; about seeking forgiveness; about feeling sorry for something you’ve done and hoping to make things right. In the context of this song, it’s too late for that – the damage has already been done and there’s no going back. The song tries to capture the feelings of betrayal, of being left high and dry by people who wanted to take the easy way out. The emotions really explode in the breakdown, and the progression mirrors how situations like this can build up in real life. There’s a kind of calm before the storm, and then another sense of calm after. ‘We don’t know who you are’, and we’ve accepted that – just don’t try to come back and beg for forgiveness when you’ve exhausted all of your chances.”
The five-piece band hailing from the U.S., U.K. and Canada have made a steady progression from their melodic metalcore inspired roots, maturing into a formidable hard rock act, nearing the end of their first decade together. In 2020, featuring a re-tooled all female lineup consisting of Kiarely Castillo (vocals) Janel Duarte (vocals, Bass) Kristen Sturgis (guitar), Izzy Johnson (guitar) and Sam Landa (drums), they returned to the studio with 2x Grammy nominated producer Tyler Smyth (Falling in Reverse, I Prevail) and 4x RIAA certified gold record producer Joey Sturgis (Asking Alexandria, The Devil Wears Prada, Of Mice & Men).
They came back with a bang, moving in a more accessible direction with the release of ‘Chemicals’, which was dubbed “contender for best hard rock/metalcore crossover of the year” by Alt Press Magazine. The song peaked at #23 on the Hard Rock Indicator Billboard chart, and amassed almost two million streams on Spotify. A week later, they released a hard-hitting cover of “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, which quickly accumulated 1.5 million streams and went into regular rotation on Sirius XM Octane.
By the spring of 2021, their next effort marked a stark departure from the sound they honed on their debut, showing their softer side with the mainstream and surprisingly poppy single “Messy.” The track exhibits a maturation of their songwriting ability, with clever wordplay and instantly memorable pop tendencies. It was added into regular rotation on Sirius XM Octane, reached #6 on the Foundations Chart, and became number one most added to the Billboard Hard Rock Indicator Chart. Guitarist Izzy shares, “Our music over the years has become so versatile. Our next album stays true to our metalcore roots but branches out to softer songs, heavy songs and everything in the middle. We understand that people can have a variety of music tastes (like we do) from pop to metal, why not have it all in one place? There really is something for everyone.”
The band’s emerging global fan base emanates from their power as a band. It is not defined by gender, but a body of work that is connecting with males and females alike. It’s this groundswell that led to Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group aligning with Conquer Divide. An affirmation that this collective is on the verge of prominence, standing shoulder to shoulder with likeminded musicians redefining the Rock space. They honor the legacy of those who came prior, while also making an emphatic statement to all they encounter that Rock truly does live circa 2022.
Conquer Divide is managed by Wild Justice Management. Their hard work and efforts put forth as an independent band consistently charting amongst their signed peers sets the stage for great things to come in alliance with this new partnership with Mascot Label Group. Signed by North American President of the company Ron Burman, the girls are excited to partner with a company that allows them to express their creative vision and stay true to their roots, as well as one that has such a long-standing history with successful mainstream rock acts.
“We’ve all grown so much since our first record. We did a lot of introspection and soul-searching about which creative direction to take the band in next, and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on. There will be something for everyone on our sophomore album.” states guitarist Kristen Sturgis.
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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 ) 