On June 25th, FRACTAL UNIVERSE will release their new album, The Impassable Horizon, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of the record, a video for the new single, “Symmetrical Masquerade” (animated by Costin Chioreanu of Twilight 13 Media), can be viewed here:
In regards to the lyrical theme of “Symmetrical Masquerade”, the band comments that it is “the hope humans have of a something, whatever its nature, after death. In that constant denial of the fact that death could equal the ‘non-being’, humans turn this anxiety into an expectation, even a deliverance. But there’s always a doubt remaining. And the most distressing thing isn’t the knowledge of the inevitable, but rather the fact that nothing’s for sure.”
Director Costin Chioreanu adds: “The video is a collection of beyond death moments experienced by the last human body left. The robots are trying to keep the body alive, in order to record the travels into the afterlife of the soul incorporated into it. There are memories melted with products of subject’s subconscious mind work. At one point, the robots are planting in the veins of the character a strange recording device, which will follow his soul beyond the realms of death…and then, the memories of the human collective are accessed and collected, and we can see how the entire species got lost into a self-sabotaging belief system.”
Watch the video for the first single, “A Clockwork Expectation” (directed by Vincent Tournaud), at: metalblade.com/fractaluniverse – where The Impassable Horizon can be pre-ordered on CD, vinyl, as well as digitally. Fans can also visit Fractal Universe‘s official store for additional vinyl and more: shop.fractaluniverseband.com
The Impassable Horizon track-listing 1. Autopoiesis 2. A Clockwork Expectation 3. Interfering Spherical Scenes 4. Symmetrical Masquerade 5. Falls of the Earth 6. Withering Snowdrops 7. Black Sails of Melancholia 8. A Cosmological Arch 9. Epitaph 10. Godless Machinists 11. Flashes of Potentialities (Unplugged)
Early 2020 and close before the world shut down, French extreme sludge and noise rockers SYCOMORE released their highly acclaimed third album, entitled Bloodstone, through Argonauta Records. The band, formed by members of hardcore and stoner acts such as Anorak and Taman Shud, burst into the heavy music scene with their crushing debut, Phantom Wax, in 2016. Following countless shows with bands such as Wiegedood, Sumac, Will Haven, Hangman’s Chair or Coilguns to name just a few, and two full-length records under their belt, the power trio hailing from Amiens, France, released their 2020- successor Bloodstone.
Crossing the influences from extreme metal to noisy sludge rock elements, with a sound driven under a Torche- aerial feeling brutalized with Carcass-alike blastbeats, Mastodon- slashing themes lacerated by Unsane’s swampy grooves, Bloodstone was no exception to recreate SYCOMORE’s crushing live feeling while taking the advantages of a powerful studio production.
The album was mastered by Steve Austin of Today is the Day, and revives your metal heart with 9 heavy brutal tracks, unleashing a raw and high-octane energy while never losing a laid-back rock ‘n roll attitude. Bloodstone has all that is heavy, combined into one unique SYCOMORE sound.
More than a year without live shows, SYCOMORE is now bringing back the spirit of the road with a brand new video for the sludge juggernaut Forever Old! Taken from Bloodstone, join the band on a memorable trip into the world of DIY- touring, and watch the new clip right here:
Bloodstone was released on January 31, 2020 on Argonauta Records, the album is available at THIS LOCATION!
Bloodstone Tracklist: 1. Intro 2. Over My Shoulders 3. Forever Old 4. Power of Romance 5. Knight Coat 6. Fifty-Fifty 7. Fireball 8. The Enemy 9. The Web
Napalm Records recently announced the next chapter in psychedelic rock icons MONSTER MAGNET’s rabbit hole deep dive, A Better Dystopia (out May 21, 2021): a delightfully (and psychotically) curated collection of 60’s and 70’s proto-metal and late-era psych obscurities covered by the heavy New Jersey legends themselves. A Better Dystopia sees the band pay homage to some of their favorite songs of all time, while reflecting on the paranoia, dystopia and revolution of both now – and then.
Before A Better Dystopia drops this Friday, the MAGNET is giving you one more chance to check out a blistering cover version of a classic track. Check out the video for Dave Wyndorf’s take on “Motorcycle (Straight to Hell)”below.
Mastermind Dave Wyndorf on the track: “I’m psyched to unleash our version of ‘Motorcycle (Straight To Hell)’. Table Scraps are a truly great band and prove again and again that garage punk fury lives!”
Watch the new lyric video for “Motorcycle (Straight to Hell)”HERE
Dave Wyndorf says about the birth of A Better Dystopia: “We all agreed that we would be bored out of our minds within a month of lockdown. MONSTER MAGNET loves the road. It’s a lifestyle. So, I considered our options. Rather than panhandle on the internet, hawking masks and Zoom-rocking practice sessions for dollars, I suggested we record a “bunker record”. A total DIY affair (band only) recorded and mixed in Bob Pantella’s small but potent Freak Shop Studios/rehearsal space right here in New Jersey. But what to record?
I didn’t feel much like writing, but working on anything was better than watching the news as hospitals filled up, people died, and American politics went bat-shit crazy. The world roared “Dystopia! Apocalypse! Revolution!”. I’d heard those words before, and they brought to mind my childhood in the late 60’s/early 70’s… and the music… and short playlist of songs (just one of many) that I’d been carrying around with me on my whatever device to listen to before shows. Of course, these tunes have also been in my head for more or less my whole life. These were not the popular hits of the time. This was like a playlist from the 4th dimension… strange bits of musical obscurity, mostly dredged up from that inglorious and freaky “twilight zone” time that preceded Arena Rock, Heavy Metal, Reggae and Disco. A no-man’s land of hard rock that still had remnants of psychedelia and garage punk but had abandoned any notion of “flower power” or frat house fun. And of course, they rocked.
Yeah, these songs were it.”
Wyndorf is at the top of his game on A Better Dystopia, delivering each lyric in his own inimitable style, and musicians Phil Caivano, Bob Pantella, Garrett Sweeney and Alec Morton own the sound – vintage and old school, dense and heavy, with searing fuzz leads and pounding bass and drums all played in a deft style that’s almost been lost in modern music. The album opens with “The Diamond Mine”, as Dave Wyndorf recites a classic monologue by Dave Diamond, an American radio DJ whose programs in the late 60’s and early 70’s helped popularize many psychedelic and acid rock bands. At this point the real trip begins, as the opening chords of the Hawkwind classic “Born To Go” gear up for launch. Tracks like standout “Mr. Destroyer” (Poo-Bah) spur visions of some untold Freak revolution – or perhaps dinosaurs battling on a burning planet at the end of time – creating a perfect blend of hard rock and psychedelia. Feverish “Motorcycle (Straight To Hell)” (Table Scraps) is pure punk fury of the old school tradition, evoking a cross between Iggy Pop and Motörhead as Wyndorf wails “I’m gonna drive it straight to HELL!” Falling even further down the mind-bending rabbit hole, Magnet offers their stunning, whirlwind take on the often-overlooked hard rock classic “Learning To Die” (Dust) and a masterful version the Stooges meets Goth epic, “Solid Gold Hell” (The Scientists). The album closes with a bonus nuclear cover of Morgen’s “Welcome To The Void”, inviting you to restart the ride again and again.
A Better Dystopia tracklisting: 1. The Diamond Mine 2. Born to Go 3. Epitaph for a Head 4. Solid Gold Hell 5. Be Forewarned 6. Mr. Destroyer 7. When the Wolf Sits 8. Death 9. Situation 10. It’s Trash 11. Motorcycle (Straight to Hell) 12. Learning to Die 13. Welcome to the Void – Bonus Track
Death Doom outfit HOODED MENACE will be releasing their new full-length album, ‘The Tritonus Bell,’ on August 27 via Season of Mist! The band has unveiled the cover artwork, tracklist, and additional details below. Moreover, HOODED MENACE is now sharing the pummeling first single, “Blood Ornaments,” which can be heard at THIS LOCATION.
The track may also be pre-saved across all digital streaming services HERE.
Guitarist Lasse Pyykkö comments on the new album and track: “It is with utter excitement that we premiere the first track off our new album ‘The Tritonus Bell!’ There are definitely some new flavours added to the mix, and ‘Blood Ornaments’ comes with some of our most intriguing ingredients yet – and a bloody side taste. There’s a contrast between death/doom misery and head-bangable heavy metal riffs like never heard before in Hooded Menace´s music, making ‘Blood Ornaments’ my favourite track from the album.
“Obviously a lot of inspiration for ‘The Tritonus Bell’ comes from the usual suspects Candlemass, Paradise Lost, and Trouble, but also classic 80´s heavy metal such as Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Dio, and Ozzy Osbourne. Even if you can’t always put your finger on it, they all definitely played a big role in why ‘The Tritonus Bell’ turned out the way it did. When it comes to mixing and mastering, we had the pleasure of working with King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque/Sonic Train Studios, who made sure everything would sound great, and I can honestly say I’ve never been more satisfied with the results sound- and music-wise.“
HOODED MENACE are furthermore unveiling the artwork and album details for ‘The Tritonus Bell’ which can be viewed below.
Track-list 1. Chthonic Exordium (1:16) 2. Chime Diabolicus (8:10) 3. Blood Ornaments (9:01) (WATCH) 4. Those who absorb the Night (5:52) 5. Corpus Asunder (7:17) 6. Scattered into Dark (9:05) 7. Instruments of Somber Finality (2:45) Bonus 8. The Torture Never Stops (W.a.s.p. cover) (4:07) Total: 47:40
With the immaculate songwriting skills and the perfect balance between harsh death metal fueled outbursts and exquisite melodic melancholy, HOODED MENACE unleash skeletal horror and somber despair onto their craving audience with ‘The Tritonus Bell’!
HOODED MENACE were formed in Joensuu, Finland in 2007 by guitarist Lasse Pyykkö, who had also performed in the Finnish cult death metal band PHLEGETHON. The band has always avowed to the strong influence by early CANDLEMASS and CATHEDRAL as well as PARADISE LOST, AUTOPSY, ASPHYX, and WINTER. Their lyrics are often inspired by the classic 1970’s Spanish horror movie series ‘The Blind Dead’.
HOODED MENACE recorded a 2-track demo, ‘The Eyeless Horde’ in 2007, which was released on 7″ the following year. Their debut album ‘Fulfill the Curse’ was released in 2008 and the highly acclaimed sophomore full-length ‘Never Cross the Dead’ came out in 2010. With a penchant for classic vinyl, the Finns also released several split singles and EP’s, for example with ASPHYX and COFFINS, before delivering their full lengths ‘Effigies of Evil’ (2012) and ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ (2015). HOODED MENACE remained in a highly creative mode during their latest full length ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’ which was released in 2018 via Season of Mist.
Throughout the years, HOODED MENACE toured in Europe and North America, and performed at many major metal festivals such as Hellfest, Roadburn, Maryland Deathfest, Tuska, and Party San Open Air among others.
With their upcoming sixth album ‘The Tritonus Bell’, HOODED MENACE threw in more classic 80´s Heavy Metal, such as KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE, resulting to the most up tempo (but never fast) HOODED MENACE album with the catchiest song material to date!
Line-up: Harri Kuokkanen – Vocals Lasse Pyykkö – Lead and rhythm guitar, bass Teemu Hannonen – Rhythm guitar Pekka Koskelo – Drums
Recording studio: Horrisound Studios, SF Sound Studio, The Underground Crypt, Sonic Train Studios Producer/sound engineer: Hooded Menace, Andy LaRocque. Drum recording sessions engineered by Kimmo Perkkiö Mixing studio and engineer: Sonic Train Studios, Andy LaRocque Mastering studio and engineer: Sonic Train Studios, Andy LaRocque
Finland’s hottest new metal export BLIND CHANNEL have signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records. Energetic live performances across Europe supporting the likes of Hollywood Undead, Enter Shikari, Simple Plan and Amaranthe have seen the Finnish Grammy (2019) nominees amass an impressive fanbase, with over half a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Their latest single “Dark Side” already made millions of streams, went number #1 of the charts in Finland and reached platinum status in their home country. Now, together with Century Media, they are set to take on the rest of the world with their unique brand of “Violent Pop”.
Blind Channel comments:
”We’re extremely excited and grateful to join the Century Media/Sony Music family. To join forces with one of the world’s biggest rock/ metal labels is a great honour to us. We’ve been working hard for almost 8 years and now it’s time for yet another level up. We can’t wait to start working with these awesome people to show everyone what Blind Channel and violent pop is all about. This week we’ll start with Europe. Next: the whole planet.”
Philipp Schulte, Century Media Director says:
”No doubt, Blind Channel are the most promising Finnish rock/metal act right now. More than ever, world class bands need to deliver a package of superior songs and live performances, outstanding visuals, constant activity on all fronts as well as highest commitment. We see all this in Blind Channel, that’s why we are committed to doing the best job possible for this great band.Welcome Blind Channel to Century Media Records and Sony Music. Let’s do this!”
The band will perform their latest single “Dark Side” at the Eurovision Song Contest semi final in Rotterdam tomorrow.
Guitar virtuoso PAUL GILBERT will release his brand-new album, Werewolves of Portland, on June 4th via The Players Club. Today he has revealed a video for the title-track, watch it below.
Paul Gilbert tells us: “My song “Werewolves of Portland” is actually two songs, put together. The first song is based on a short lyric, “I’ve got to look out for the werewolves… I’ll take a deep breath… ah-woooooooo!” which allows me to play some dramatic slide guitar.
The second song was originally titled “Dad Metal.” It’s full of fast guitar riffs, percussive picking, and modulating dominant sus4 arpeggios. This section is very “busy” musically, so I was happy to join it with the sustaining “ah-whooooo” howling part for contrast.
I played a melodic blues guitar solo, with some jazz chord changes in the middle, to let the song breathe even more.
For the video, I brought the idea of “Dad Metal” to life by having my 6-year-old son, Marlon, play guitar, drums, and dance together with me. Marlon brought great energy (and mischief, in general) to the video, and I tried my best to keep up with him. I’ll admit that my legs were sore for about two weeks after the shoot. Dancing is hard!
Of course, we stayed true to the “Werewolves” theme by wearing wolf masks and tails, and doing plenty of howling.
I decided to play my Ibanez double neck guitar for the silhouette sections of the video, and Ibanez built a matching double neck (in two days!) for my son to use. He could barely lift it, but he tried his best! (It’s an awesome guitar, that I plan on using myself, at least until he’s old enough to play it.)
Since I played all the instruments on the recording of the song, I also wanted to play some drums in the video. I didn’t own a drum set, so it gave me a good excuse to buy a small kit, which I now use for jamming in my studio.
I’m thinking that the wolf masks and tails will come in handy around Halloween.
Mostly, I’m happy that I could make a video of my “Boy Wolf” and me rocking out and having the best time.”
“Ah-wooooooo!!!”
Recorded at Opal Studio in Portland with co-producer and engineer Kevin Hahn, Gilbert pulled out some of his current favourite guitars for the job. “I mostly used my Ibanez Fireman guitars,” he says. “I’ve been collecting vintage Ibanez guitars lately, too. I brought some models from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s like the Ibanez Artist, Roadstar II and Ghostrider. I also brought and modified a ’60s Epiphone Olympic. I used to play those in the early days of Racer X, so it was fun to have a guitar that reminded me of my early shredder style.”
Track list
Hello North Dakota!
My Goodness
Werewolves of Portland
Professorship of the LeningradConservatory
Argument About Pie
Meaningful
I Wanna Cry (Even Though I Ain’t Sad)
A Thunderous Ovation Shook The Columns
Problem-Solving People
(You Would Not Be Able To Handle) What I Handle Everyday
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
Ads
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 ) 