Finnish melodic heavy metal band RENEGADE ANGEL released a new single and music video Damnation via Inverse Records. This single features Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth) on vocals.
Band’s mastermind Jani Pöysä comments: “I think we managed to bring the best aspects of our previous songs and create a masterpiece for us. The song has even more variation and a larger production than the prior songs. The riffs and hooks are strong, but there are so many awesome layers of keys, piano, vocal harmonies as well as guitar- and bass fills that take it to another level! I am proud of how everybody did such an amazing job and perfected with the tiniest details and managed to make the song as amazing as it was meant to be.”
With over 20 years of experience and five studio albums under their belts, Hungarian black/pagan metal outfit BORNHOLM are no longer strangers to the scene. Today, the band presents the second single, “Spiritual Warfare”, from their exciting Napalm Records debut and brand-new, fifth studio album, Apotheosis, out November 5, 2021.
With “Spiritual Warfare”, BORNHOLM present a nearly melodic facet of their sonic spectrum – mixing their trademark black metal sound with dashes of pagan and folk metal whilst prominent frantic drumming and forceful riffing underlines their somber side.
Ever since bursting onto the scene in 2000, BORNHOLM has been an unstoppable force in the black and pagan metal realms, touring with household names like Ex Deo, Varg, Arkona and many more. With their upcoming offering, Apotheosis, the unit is ready to take its career to another level and set the stage with sinister first single “I Am War God”. Mixing significant, ground-shaking black metal elements, ruthless growling and heroic pagan accents, the band absolutely showcases their variety and sonic progression.
BORNHOLM’s guitarist/vocalist Sahsnoton “Spiritual Warfare”: “This song is a special song for me, in addition to hitherto unusual musical solutions, it also displays a lyrical apocalyptic vision. It contains biblical references, abstract visions, ritual magic. Behind the scenes of the physical world, warfare always takes place primarily among spiritual forces, which is the real driving force behind. This causes changes in the visible world. Which side is which is not so clear-cut, whether there are any sides at all or just one will. While it’s not a fast track, it still has the fastest part on the album. The cover painting is my work, just like all the visuals related to the album, it was brought to life greatly.”
Watch the new music video for “Spiritual Warfare”HERE:
Apotheosis not only showcases BORNHOLM’s tonal development, but also goes back to the origins of the band’s history and the heavy, often almost doomy influences mixed with indispensable atmospherically dark and raw flavor. Accompanied by sinister sacral sounds of historic proportions and a hypnotizing, incantatory chant, intro track “I Divine” heralds the dark ride to nowhere. It is precisely in the void between pagan and black metal that the sound finds its home, with tracks like “Spiritual Warfare” and “Black Shining Cloaks” – the latter of which featuring a magnificent guitar solo by Mike Wead (Mercyful Fate/King Diamond) – including its diabolic, atmospheric intro, “The Key to the Shaft of the Abyss”, representing the mellowness and extremes of the band. Along with the almost melodic borrowings and acoustic guitar inserts in combination with the pure rawness of “To the Fallen”, the record highlights the band’s variety and sonic progression. The title track “Apotheosis” is a slow, howling homage mixing aggressive, shrieking vocals and melodiously grim anecdotes. Album closer “Enthronement” closes the metaphorical and musical bracket and provides the 52-minute piece with a venerable, instrumental conclusion.
BORNHOLM add: “So the day has come, the new album is coming! Its title is Apotheosis, which is a Greek originated word meaning deification, divinization and the glorification of a human to a divine level. It contains 11 tracks and drives deeper into our musical world and soul than ever before.
We had to deal with a lot of difficulties both in the studio and in our private life during the making, but somehow something was always guarding the birth of the record. Nothing stopped, not even for a single moment, no matter what happened. It was a great experience to go through this uprising while the world is going into another direction. We didn’t lack anything; fate was with us – so the birth of the record was a sort of magical experience. Step by step, everything was in place in time and, without tolerating the outside world, we built another one for ourselves.”
On Apotheosis, the band has built a flowing, epochal sound concept that combines explosive guitar/bass lines with thunder-fast drums, spiced with choral elements and leading into a heavy blend, which BORNHOLM present successfully in all kinds of variations from track 1 to 11.
Recording and mixing took place at SuperSize Recording Studio in Hungary with the contribution of Viktor Scheer, with mastering completed by Maor Appelbaum, who has worked with bands like Dream Theater, Annihilator, Mayhem, Abbath and many more.
Apotheosis track listing: 1. I Divine 2. My Evangelium 3. Sky Serpents 4. The Key to the Shaft of the Abyss 5. Black Shining Cloaks 6. Spiritual Warfare 7. Darkened Grove 8. To the Fallen 9. I am War God 10. Apotheosis 11. Enthronement
Swedish horror outfit OPERA DIABOLICUS are now releasing the second haunting track of their upcoming full length ‘Death on a Pale Horse’! The new offering will be released upon the masses on November 26, 2021 and the track ‘Siren’s Call’ can now be heard via the official Season of Mist YouTube channel HERE.
OPERA DIABOLICUS comment on the track: “Inspired by the ancient Greek mythology creature ‘the Siren’, this Epic Doom Metal ballad really showcases the diversity of the songs on the upcoming album ‘Death on a Pale Horse’. Perhaps this tune is also the answer to the question what would happen if you’d make a witches’ brew by blending equal parts CANDLEMASS and Swedish 1800th balladeer Carl-Michael Bellman and after that top it with a little bit of QUEEN. Who knows? “
Track-list 1. Listen everybody (2:49) 2. Bring Out Your Dead (5:24) 3. Second Coming (9:51) 4. Siren’s Call (7:54) (WATCH) 5. Darkest Doom on the Brightest of Days (7:34) (WATCH) 6. A song of Detestation (6:47) 7. Little Sister (3:05) 8. Night Demon (8:05) 9. At Nighttime (7:46) Total: 59:15
Cover artwork artist: Gyula Havancsák, Hjules Illustration and Design
On Wednesday, September 22nd, LORDS OF ACID, the innovative industrial/techno acid-house band founded by electronic composer PRAGA KHAN, became the first significant rock band to drop an NFT on the Cardano Blockchain.
The Children of Acid coin, a cartoon homage to the 1964 sci-fi movie Children of the Damned, depicts angelic school children with a psychedelic gleam in their single-eyes. The mind-expanding kids are part of the band’s fictional universe of kinky songs and characters.
Extrapolating on Andy Warhol’s theories of mass-produced art, the illustration was designed to have thousands of versions (with different backgrounds, hair colors, clothes, etc.) so that each one is a totally unique, one-of-a-kind work of art. The concept of digital rarity is embraced in the NFT world as a reason to buy NFTs in the same way one would collect real-world coins, trading cards, and other collectibles.
Not knowing what to expect, Praga and the team were pleasantly surprised when 1,800 coins were sold in the first 32 hours. Approximately 7 days later they sold out the entire 2,000 edition.
Visual art is not a new interest for Praga Khan, who has a history of using underground comix imagery, rave-flyers and psychedelic pop-art for branding Lords of Acid. Their best-selling LP of 1994, Voodoo-U, featured an orgy of lesbian devil-girls by the lowbrow artist known as Coop. The cover of their 2010 release Deep Chills, an R. Crumb spoof, by illustrator Karl Kotas, introduced a kinky cartoon character for each of the 15 songs as well as a mobile game that was on iTunes, Google, and Amazon.
In a recent NFT Update podcast, when asked what motivated them to do NFTs, Praga said, “I’ve always been interested in the newest stuff and I was really intrigued by the concept of NFT’s. So I thought of Karl immediately, as we worked together years ago on a CD cover and game and I loved it. So it was a no-brainer.” Karl concurred, “An absolute no-brainer… I was going to contact Praga but I held off. A few days later he contacted me. So I knew we were both on the same page.” Shortly afterwards, Huth Solo contacted them and explained his Cardano NFT startup, Digital Syndicate (digitalsyndicate.io). Cardano is a low-cost alternative to the Etherium blockchain where most NFTs have been minted. As the NFT movement gains momentum many alt-coins are getting in on the action.
The first phase of Lords of Acid NFT project was to establish a visual art presence, but as Praga explains, “It’s only the beginning of a creative journey. The next step is to add music to the NFT’s, but new versions that haven’t been released before.”
Vampire Girl is the next drop and is scheduled for Wednesday, October 6th, 7AM PST.
ONCE HUMAN have released “Only in Death,” the second single from their upcoming new studio album Scar Weaver, which hits streets on February 11 via EAR Music.
Following the first single “Deadlock,” “Only in Death” is yet another killer track from their heaviest album yet and underlines ONCE HUMAN’s presence as the hottest up and coming band in the modern brutal metal world.
“This is my most personal song on the new album,” says vocalist Lauren Hart. “It meant so much to me that I really needed to get my hands dirty with the visuals. Logan and I filmed everything to keep the song’s raw meaning. Musically, it’s very emotional and dire, and the outro is probably my favorite piece of music on the album!”
Pieced together over the last two years, ONCE HUMAN’s Scar Weaver represents a massive step forward for the band. Blessed (or perhaps cursed) with plenty of additional time during the last year’s lockdown situation, the band has been able to refine and redefine their sound, inspired by a sudden creative surge from latest recruit Max Karon. The result is a gloriously idiosyncratic modern metal record, with Hart’s career-best vocal performance as just one of its dazzling revelations. With ONCE HUMAN’s most intense and explosive music to work with, the singer has pushed herself to new heights, showcasing a vastly expanded vocal range in the process.
Scar Weaver will be available on limited edition colored and black vinyl, Digipak-CD and digitally. Pre-order/pre-save Scar Weaver at https://oncehuman.lnk.to/scarweaver.
ONCE HUMAN US tour dates with Cradle of Filth and 3Teeth: Oct. 01 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Oct. 02 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live Oct. 03 – Houston, TX – Rise Oct. 05 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade Oct. 07 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage Oct. 09 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club Oct. 10 – Harrisburg, PA – HMAC Oct. 11 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza Oct. 12 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw Oct. 14 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater Oct. 15 – Detroit, MI – Harpo’s Oct. 16 – Chicago, IL – Radius Oct. 18 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre Oct. 20 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre Oct. 21 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues Oct. 22 – San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park Oct. 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Belasco Theatre Oct. 24 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades Oct. 26 – San Francisco, CA – Regency
S.F. Bay Area based metal band KILL RITUAL will release their new EP “Thy Will Be Done” digitally through Blood Blast Distribution on October 29th. The 5 song effort will include the previously released tracks/lyric videos and the bonus track “The Opaque Is Divine” which was originally tracked for the “The Opaque And The Divine” sessions. Steven Rice comments “Bam here it is! The full EP! We’ve been teasing this for awhile and because of the continued world shit show it took a minute, but damn give it a go and rock like a hurricane! Wait, isn’t that an Accept song? HA!“
Kill Ritual released their last CD “The Opaque And The Divine” in March 2020. The band has toured with Raven, Iced Earth, Sanctuary and Hirax in both North America and Europe.
THY WILL BE DONE -tracklist
Angels In Black Light The Fire (Tonight We Fly)* Thy Will Be Done Obey The Ritual The Opaque Is Divine *Chris Lotesto-guest solo
Kill Ritual: Steven D. Rice- Guitars, bass, vocals, keyboards,whatever Chalice- Vocals Seamus Gleason- Drums David Alusik- Bass, vocals
Produced by Steven D. Rice. Recorded at Fossil Sound, Sonic Train, Audio Wave and Murder Room Studios. Engineered by Steven D. Rice, Andy La Rocque, Seamus Gleason and John Francis. Mixed and Mastered by Andy La Rocque at Sonic Train Studios.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 