AIRBAG Co-Founder BJØRN RIIS Unveils Details, Video + Single from Fourth Full-Length Solo Album

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 16, 2022
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Aside from being one of the founder members, lead guitarist, producer and main songwriter of one of Norway’s most successful  Prog bands AIRBAG, BJØRN RIIS is also becoming a prolific solo artist, with his fourth full-length album set for release on Karisma Records on the 8th April.

Titled “Everything to Everyone”, the album contains six epic new tracks that deal with human emotions and the fear of losing oneself in the constant effort to meet every, often perceived, expectation, as Bjørn explains:

I was inspired by Dante’s Inferno when I started to write. A bit pretentious perhaps, but I’ve always been fascinated by that very personal journey and the search for some kind of piece or redemption, while being both mentored and hurt along the way. Musically, I wanted to take the listener on that journey, experiencing both hope and anxiety.

As a taste of what fans can expect from “Everything to Everyone”, Karisma Records have today released a single and video of the title track, about which Bjørn has this to say:

“Everything to Everyone” goes way back. It’s one of those songs that never got finished but it’s always been in the back of my head. The lyrics are about losing yourself in the struggle to live up to expectations. Either one’s own or those of others. I think we all can relate to that in one way or the other.

I’m very happy with how it turned out!It’s a dramatic piece and I’ve tried to allow the music to have a story in itself. Added to which are Mimmi Tamba’s amazing vocals, Simen Valldal Johannessen’s beautiful piano and Henrik Bergan Fossum’s powerful drumming.

The single “Everything to Everyone” can be downloaded or streamed from a variety of services at https://link.karismarecords.no/Bjorn-Riis_Everything-To-Everyone_Single

Whilst the video, by Anne-Marie Forker, can be seen below.

For “Everything to Everyone”, Bjørn has, once again, revisited his highly successful partnership with long-time collaborator Vegard Kleftås Sleipnes, who, as well as co-producing the album with Bjørn, also handled the engineering and mixing. Mastering was carried out by Jacob Holm-Lupo (WHITE WILLOW and THE OPIUM CARTEL). 

In addition to Bjørn’s vocals and celebrated guitar playing, “Everything to Everyone” also features guest appearances from Henrik Bergan Fossum (AIRBAG), Kristian Hultgren (WOBBLER), Simen Valldal Johannessen (OAK) and Norwegian singer/songwriter MIMMI TAMBA. 

Karisma Records plans to release “Everything to Everyone” in four different versions. Aside from the normal LP version, the vinyl format will also be available as a Limited Edition White/Black Splatter LP, whilst the CD format will be available both as a standard CD as well as a Limited Edition Digi Sleeve version which will include two bonus tracks comprising an alternative version of the title track, and the 2020 stand-alone digital single “Desolate Place”.

With cover photo by Anne-Marie Forker and design by Asle Tostrup, track listing on “Everything to Everyone” is as follows:

1. Run
2. Lay Me Down
3. The Siren
4. Every Second Every Hour
5. Descending
6. Everything to Everyone
 Digisleeve CD bonus tracks:
7. Everything to Everyone (Alternative version)
8. Desolate Place

“Everything to Everyone” is now available to pre-order from:
 
Webshop: https://www.karismarecords.no/kar199-bjorn-riis-everything-to-everyone/ 
Band Camp: https://bjornriis.bandcamp.com/album/everything-to-everyone 
North American Webshop: https://karismarecords.indiemerch.com/band/bjorn-riis 

Now a much-respected guitarist within the musical community, Bjørn ‘s  interest in music began whilst still a teenager, at a time when guitar-led bands were at their height and were spearheading the  rise of the Progressive Rock movement.   It was this movement, together with Electronica and Movie Scores, that influenced the young guitarist,  leading  him to develop a style filled with soaring leads and gorgeous textures.  

Such is his knowledge of, the guitar, and all things related, that his YouTube channel “gilmourish RIIS”, has become an extremely successful  destination guitar fans.  The channel can be seen  at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWcIN_-togBBmlCYsuuy6Pg

CREDIC Share Brand New Music Video ‘Vermillion Oceans’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 16, 2022
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Melodic death metal act CREDIC just recently announced the release of the band’s sophomore studio album, entitled Vermillion Oceans, out on April 22nd via Sweden’s powerhouse Black Lion Records. Today, the band from Stuttgart, Germany, follows up with the premiere of a brand new and intense music video for the album’s title track. 

CREDIC comments: “VERMILLION OCEANS is the prime example of what CREDIC is about. An interplay between rawness and harmonies, aggression and melodies, catchy hooks and heavy breakdowns. It’s when the root of Melodic Death Metal meets modern Metal Sounds and then again forms a symbiosis with Darksynth. It’s the first single as well as the titletrack for the upcoming album, that will take you on a rush through Gothenburg and Hawkins, Indiana all at once.“

While the title of the band’s upcoming record may sound like a biblical apocalypse, of churning blood-red seas and the end of days, it’s actually a metaphor for galleons of heart’s blood shed. Born on the dramatic coast of Cape Town, the album tells a Shakespearean story of love and woe. Featuring ten brand new tracks, with Vermillion Oceans CREDIC delivers a furious and ferocious, yet emotional metal Iliad. An epic brand of melodic death metal that is, despite upholding the very DNA of the genre, free and bold, charging with vigour and embellished by a monumental aura of longing not unlike the feeling you get when you gaze at the starlit sky in wonder and terror. Imagine a cross between Gothenburg metal and the score to “Stranger Things”, Vermillion Oceans sounds like a massive, zeitgeisty metal album taking a stroll through Hawkins, Indiana. You might wanna call it arcade death metal or not: This is a first, not only in the cosmos of melodic death metal.

Vermillion Oceans will be coming out on April 22nd via Black Lion Records and is now available for pre-order at THIS LOCATION

Tracklist:

  1. Tides Disharmonized
  2. Vermillion Oceans
  3. Darkened Fields
  4. The Path
  5. Interhuman Gravity
  6. Autumn’s Spring
  7. Chosen Ordeal
  8. The Mountains Between Us
  9. Tethys
  10. Long Street

HARDCORE SUPERSTAR Release New Single ‘Forever And A Day’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 16, 2022
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment
Edit by Julia Cronqvist

2021 has been a fantastic year for HARDCORE SUPERSTAR with three singles released to critical acclaim, surpassing over 750,000 Spotify plays and 250,000 YouTube plays as well as the band playing sold out shows all across Sweden!

With 2022 now upon us, the band are building on this phenomenal success by kicking off the New Year with the release of their new single “Forever And A Day”, a stomping, attitude laden anthem about standing up for yourself and everything you believe in, that is destined to be both a live classic and an instant fan favourite!

There are many highlights on the horizon for HARDCORE SUPERSTAR in 2022, with a world tour being booked along with numerous festival appearances, including a return to the prestigious SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL… and let’s not forget the release of their highly anticipated new album “ABRAKADABRA” in March.

2022 is destined to be the year of HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, Catch Them If You Can!!!

MARILLION to Release New Album “An Hour Before It’s Dark” on March 4th

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 15, 2022
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The new MARILLION album, “An Hour Before It’s Dark”, to be released on March 4th, 2022. First single available now.

“An Hour Before It’s Dark” – Whether it’s the last hour you were allowed to play outside as a child before you had to go home, a reference to the fight against time in relation to the climate crisis or the last minutes in a person’s life, Marillion once again put their finger on the pulse of time. Be it social, political, or personal issues, Marillion have never minced words and have always found a way to combine them with their own unique sound, known for incredible songwriting, melodies and top-notch musicianship, while swimming against the tide, not bending to norms and limitations.

The first single “Be Hard On Yourself” from the upcoming album couldn’t be a better example of this.
Listen to “Be Hard On Yourself” here: https://Marillion.lnk.to/BeHardOnYourself

“Despite the seemingly bleak contemplations across this album – the virus, our mortality, medical science, care, AND Leonard Cohen (ha ha) – the overall feeling of the music is surprisingly upbeat. I think the band are as on form as they ever were really, and the addition of Choir Noir has added another new soul and colour to things”

Like its predecessor, 2016’s critically acclaimed and chart-topping album “F*** Everyone And Run (F E A R)”, “An Hour Before It’s Dark” was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, which also provided the perfect backdrop for the carefully chosen selection of behind-the-scenes footage in form of a documentary on the making of the album and a performance of “Murder Machines” from Real World that will be released together with the album.

Pre-order “AN HOUR BEFORE IT’S DARK” here: https://Marillion.lnk.to/AnHourBeforeItsDark

SCORPIONS Share ‘Rock Believer’ Single

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 15, 2022
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SCORPIONS have shared the title track for their new album Rock Believer. Listen here.

Commenting on the advance release of the title track of their latest album, due out on February 25, Klaus Meine, both singer and author of the lyrics, says, “Over the years, we’ve heard people say lots of times that rock is dead. But there are still millions of rock believers out there all over the world that prove them wrong. Our fans are the best in the world. We’ll see you someday somewhere out there, because we’re Rock Believers, just like you.” 

The song is a fundamental commitment to rock music, composed by a band in the style of their outstanding, globally successful recordings of the 1980s.

Meine says, “The new material sees us return to our roots. We simply wanted to reactivate the original SCORPIONS’ DNA — great riffs, strong melodies. We tried to transport that live feel to the studio with all five of us playing in one room again at last. Having Mikkey Dee in the band is like a shot of fresh energy and real fun.”

Due to the pandemic, the recording sessions planned in America had to be canceled and relocated to Germany. 

Matthias Jabs says, “In a way, the situation was a blessing in disguise for us.” The band had already hired a studio in Los Angeles, but their plans were thwarted by fate. Instead, the musicians found themselves stuck at home, three of them only a stone’s throw away from the legendary Peppermint Park Studios in Hanover, and as soon as travel restrictions were relaxed, Pawel Maciwoda and Mikkey Dee were able to join them from Poland and Sweden respectively.

“And everything suddenly felt like it had back in the 1980s, when the five of us rocked together, hanging out at the corner pub in the evenings and talking about our music,” Jabs reminisces.

“We had already started to talk about a new album back in 2018,” recalls Rudolf Schenker. 

The new single “Rock Believer” is the album’s exclamation mark and credo. The video will follow on January 18.

The spectacular single cover was designed by Klaus Voormann, Grammy winner (“Best Record Cover 1966“) and also creator of the artwork of the award-winning Beatles album Revolver.

In March and April 2022, the band are set to perform at the Planet Hollywood Resorts & Casino in Las Vegas as part of their residency, followed by a European tour scheduled to kick off with a number of shows in Germany in June 2022, with more concerts around the world in the pipeline.

Listen to the previously released “Peacemaker” here.

ENVY OF NONE – Ft. Alex Lifeson (Rush) – Release Self-Titled Debut Album on April 8th

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 15, 2022
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Alex Lifeson is no stranger to the concept of evolution. As a founding member of Rush, he’s been able to explore more musical ground than just about any other guitar player out there – taking rock to new progressive heights throughout the decades and always in the most wildly inventive of ways. His influence can be heard on countless bands around the world, from indie shoegaze and math rock to heavy metal and beyond. Over the last few years Lifeson has been focusing on a new project that, no matter how well-acquainted you are with his discography, will undoubtedly shatter all seeds of expectation and blow the mind. That project is ENVY OF NONE.

The new band, also featuring Coney Hatch founder/bassist Andy Curran, accomplished producer and engineer Alfio Annibalini and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, will be releasing their self-titled debut album on April 8 via Kscope. Its 11 tracks – which ricochet between various shades of alternative, experimental and synth rock – throw surprises at every turn, twisting dark melodies against contemporary pop hooks. Lifeson himself is proudly aware of how little of it crosses over with the band that made him famous. 

However, it was only when singer Maiah Wynne became involved that this truly started to feel like a band destined to go somewhere. Her haunting melodies and soul-baring intensity is – by the admission of her own bandmates – what truly brought this music to life. All things considered; she is a star in the making… “I sent over an early version of the song Shadow,” explains Andy Curran. “When I played what she’d done back to the others they were like, ‘Who is this crazy talented person?!’”

The album’s first single, Liar, is out now. Its industrial beats, driving fuzz bass and atmospheric guitars concoct a seductive swirl indeed – thrilling in ways closer to the darker art rock of Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle than anything these musicians have been known for prior.

“Maiah became my muse,” continues Alex Lifeson. “She was able to bring this whole new ethereal thing through her sense of melody on tracks like Liar and Look Inside. After hearing her vocals on Never Said I Love You, I felt so excited. I’ve never had that kind of inspiration working with another musician. When we say she’s special, it’s because she’s really fucking special!”

“One of my favourite things about these songs is the intimacy of them,” reveals Maiah Wynne. “It makes them feel different and more honest. There are some heavier songs too, like Enemy, and then tracks like Kabul Blues, that sound completely different to anything else.”

The album closer, Western Sunset, which was penned by Alex Lifeson in tribute to his dear friend Neil Peart. It’s a highly emotive piece of music to honour a man deeply missed by the rock community at large, and even more so by those who were lucky enough to know him. “I visited Neil when he was ill,” says Alex Lifeson. “I was on his balcony watching the sunset and found inspiration. There’s a finality about a sunset that kinda stayed with me throughout the whole process. It had meaning. It was the perfect mood to decompress after all these different textures… a nice way to close the book.”

It’s a book you’ll almost certainly want to be reading. Envy Of None’s self-titled album is due for release on April 8 via Kscope.

Envy Of None track listing 
1. Never Said I Love You [04:06]
2. Shadow [03:21]
3. Look Inside [04:44]
4. Liar [03:13]
5. Spy House [02:23]
6. Dog`s Life [04:36]
7. Kabul Blues [03:12]
8. Old Strings [05:15]
9. Dumb [04:19]
10. Enemy[04:16]
11. Western Sunset [02:25]

The album will be released on the following formats and is available to PRE-ORDER HERE