GRAMMY Award winning bassist DAVID ELLEFSON has announced his BASS WARRIORTOUR in Europe for winter 2025. The tour will feature Ellefson and his solo band performing select cuts from his well-known catalog of Mega hits, solo material and other hard rock & metal favorites which inspired him during his 40-year music career. Direct support on all dates is Screaming Mad Dee Calhoun. Wardogs will be joining as additional support on December 4th.
Ellefson states, “It’s been a super fun and productive year and even more so to be able to close out the calendar one last time with my Bass Warrior shows across Europe. I’m excited to be taking this show into new cities as we celebrate each night with songs from across my career and more!”
Ellefson launched his Bass Warrior tour in 2024, with musical director Andy Martongelli (Ellefson-Soto, Artemis) as a way to perform songs for fans across Europe from his 40+ years as a world renowned recording artist.
Tickets and VIPS go on sale Friday, October 31st. More Information can be found at www.basswarriortour.com
Finnish power metal outfit FROZEN LAND return with their third full-length, “Icemelter”, set for worldwide release on November 21, 2025 via Massacre Records on Digipak CD, limited vinyl LP and digital.
Alongside the album announcement, the band unleash the brand-new single “Dead End,” a hard-charging anthem that stares down life’s futility to find a paradoxical sense of peace. Anchored by relentless riffing and a fist-raised chorus, “Dead End” confronts the inevitability of decay and the liberation that comes from accepting it—an existential rallying cry that distills the album’s darker themes into four visceral minutes.
On “Icemelter”, FROZEN LAND push into their most aggressive territory to date, fusing unusually brutal, steel-edged guitar work with soaring, classic power-metal vocals and widescreen atmospheres. The result is a lean, muscular record that lands impact after impact while carrying a distinctly Finnish sense of melody and melancholy. Lyrically, the album threads short, unflinching vignettes about a world corroded by corruption, fear and spiritual exhaustion—nowhere more stark than on “Dead End.”
The album’s precision comes courtesy of a top-tier production team: mixed by Matias Kupiainen (Stratovarius), drums recorded at Sonic Pump Studios, Helsinki, and mastered by Elmo Syrjäläinen, with striking cover art by Andrey Vasilchenko. All music and lyrics were penned by Tuomas Hirvonen, channeling the band’s sharpened identity into eight tight, explosive tracks.
Tracklist: The Carrier Dead End Dream Away Chosen, Corrupt And Cancerous Losing My Mind Icemelter Haunted Black Domina
FROZEN LAND are: Tony Meloni — vocals Tuomas Hirvonen — guitars Eero Pakkanen — bass Lauri Nylund — keyboards Matias Rokio — drums
Norwegian melodic metal newcomers HOLLOW PEAK have officially signed a worldwide record deal with Massacre Records, and are set to release their debut full-length album “Obsidian Cult” on December 5, 2025 as Digipak CD, Limited Vinyl LP and digital.
To celebrate the announcement, the band unleash their brand-new single and video “Attack” — an energetic and defiant anthem about survival and reclaiming control in times of turmoil.
Through battle-inspired imagery and cinematic soundscapes, “Attack” captures resilience, courage, and the determination to rise from destruction. Blending fierce guitars, thunderous drums, and Ragnhild Westgaard’s commanding vocals, the track sets the tone for an album that combines intensity with emotional depth.
Produced by Ragnhild Westgaard and Marius Karlsen, and mixed and mastered by Corey Bergeron, Obsidian Cult marks a bold evolution from the band’s 2023 self-released EP. The record presents a heavier, darker, and more refined sound — balancing atmosphere, melody, and strength in equal measure.
The album’s concept explores alienation in the digital age, inner battles, and personal renewal. From the reflective opener “From Ashes Rises a Crown” to the haunting title track “Obsidian Cult”, each song unfolds as part of a larger journey between chaos and clarity.
Obsidian Cult – Track listing
From Ashes Rises a Crown
Euphoria
Labyrinth
Unseen
Ray of Light
Liberation
Attack
Obsidian Cult
Celest
Town
With their debut, HOLLOW PEAK rise as one of Norway’s most promising melodic metal acts — uniting emotion, atmosphere, and power in a striking first statement.
True Norwegian black metal horde 1349 is now unleashing a new performance video for the song “Striding the Chasm,” which is taken from the band’s upcoming live album, ‘Winter Mass,’ via Black Metal Promotion. The blistering clip can be found at THIS LOCATION.
‘Winter Mass’ will be released on November 28, 2025 via Season of Mist. The concert was captured on November 20, 2021 in the band’s hometown of Oslo (NO) at the venue Parkteatret.
1349 frontman Ravn comments, “‘Striding The Chasm’ is an emblematic track. It maintains the 1349 signature ferocity, but also adds a complexity in its approach and stands out as the most thrash-infused pinnacle in our catalog. It is the track that challenges the listener to confront their own dark and primal nature. Performing this track live was a revelation to me as the imminent connection between the song and audience became an instant hit and I feel the track’s potential is enhanced even more now within a live setting, within our Live Ritual…within our ‘Winter Mass.'”
Bassist Seidemann adds, “‘Striding the Chasm’ from ‘Winter Mass’ showcases 1349 in supersonic splendor. The live version is a flawlessly executed, hyperaggressive up-tempo rendition, demonstrating the black metal mastery of 1349.”
The offering will be released on vinyl and CD; pre-orders are now live HERE.
1349 has also recently been announced among the first wave of bands to take the stage at next year’s edition of Beyond the Gates Festival. The epic four-day metal event will take place once again in the heart of Bergen (NO) from July 29 – August 1, 2026. Tickets are available HERE.
The cover artwork and layouts for ‘Winter Mass’ were created by Kim Diaz Holm. The Norwegian artist has captured more than 2,000 concerts, often while standing to the side of the stage. Holm has worked with larger-than-life artists like Abbath but developed a special connection with 1349 after drawing them at both Inferno Festival and Hulen in 2012. Over the past 13 years, he has continued to document the band’s incendiary live shows and even designed their merch. What he’s created for Winter Mass draws fans even closer to fire. Sketched while he was headbanging in the pit, these drawings leap off the page with the same raw, dark spirit as their muse.
With their signature aural hellfire, 1349 embodies the original spirit of black metal.
Unhappy with the direction the genre took during the mid-90s, in 1997, vocalist Ravn formed the 1349 with like-minded bassist Seidemann. The band’s current lineup – which is bolstered by guitarist Archaon and Frost (who also drums for Satyricon) – has been in place since 2001. Over the past two decades, they have ignited major European festivals such as Wacken Open Air and Hellfest with their fiery performances and toured internationally with the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Carcass. Each of their eight studio albums have been inspired by the same guiding principal: to bring back the grimness, the eeriness and the primal emotions of Norwegian black metal.
Now, fresh from the ashes of their eighth album, The Wolf & The King, 1349 are releasing a new live album. Though recorded shortly after pandemic lockdown was lifted, ‘Winter Mass’ explodes out the gates with the band’s signature aural hellfire. This hour-plus set, recorded at Oslo’s Parkteatret, enraptured their home crowd with apocalyptic spells from across their discography’s massive cauldron of chaos. Early classics like “Sculptor of Flesh” thrash with unchained madness. Recent favorite “Striding the Chasm” whips by at a blistering pace that could only be captured by cover artist Kim Diaz Holm, who drew the album’s artwork while headbanging in the pit.
“I will always be here / In all ways in all times”, snarls Ravn on hellacious cut “I Am Abomination”. After three decades and counting, what was once a proclamation is now a testament to 1349’s enduring firepower.
Experience aural hellfire live in the flesh back where it all began with ‘Winter Mass.’
Production Credits Producer & Sound Engineer – Hugo Alvarstein Mixing Studio – Alvarstein Mix & Mastering Studio Oslo Norway Mixing Engineer – Hugo Alvarstein Mastering Studio – Alvarstein Mix & Mastering Studio Oslo Norway Mastering Engineer – Huge Alvarstein
Justin Warfield, whose eponymous side project WARFIELD has already been responsible for some of the most enthralling dark wave releases of the year, today previews his next release. Deathrock Devotionals Volume II, with a new single and video, “Only Shadows.”
The She Wants Revenge frontman is justifiably proud of this latest offering, if a little surprised at how the song came together.
“‘Only Shadows’ is a funny one. When I write songs, it happens one of two ways. Either it happens in a rush and my job is to get it down as it’s coming to or through me, or it’s a laborious slog and the song either comes out the other end better for it, or dies on the vine. There’s seldom an in-between.
“My process of writing lyrics is such that that 90% of the time the music is done and I write lyrics and melody after – generally while driving. And in that process, the first words and melody which come to me are the ones that make the final song with no editing, perfecting or revising. I look at that lyric and melody as a clue, a breadcrumb trail which it’s my job to follow, and who am I to say I can improve upon what was given to me in a moment of unconscious/subconscious inspiration?”
With “It’s Only Shadows,” however, “The chorus came fast, but the verses and bridge went through least five different stages of lyrics and melody [and] still, nothing felt right.”
Then, suddenly, “a narrative came to me about a vampiric love story told through a very conventional visual representation of a night between a couple. I latched onto the idea of the eternal life element of the vampire lore, and when I saw, (literally, not figuratively, like seeing a film in your head) the scene in the car playing out beneath the streetlights, the entire song was unlocked.”
Now he could return to the original chorus, “change a few words to fit the new storyline, and then the verses, pre-chorus and bridge came in an instant.
“Sometimes, songwriting is about patience, listening, waiting, and not giving up on something that nags at you to be discovered.”
The accompanying (and so brilliantly atmospheric) video follows the lyric. “I wanted to do a fairly literal interpretation of that narrative, but tie it into the Deathrock Devotionals video universe we’ve created across my other recent videos.”
A recent eastern European tour allowed the video to be shot on location in Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and – of course – Romania (“the actual birthplace of the vampire story as we know it”), and that naturally influenced the finished shoot.
“We ended up getting to do a pretty verité style video which is more impressionistic and a mood-piece, than a formal story or narrative as we’d done in the past, which really lent itself to something special – highlighting both the similarities of those within our community (despite cultural or geographic divides), as well as how special the people we meet on tour are, and how grateful we are that they’ve become a part of what we’re building.”
VIDEO: LINKLINKLINKLINK
As for Deathrock Devotionals Volume II itself, Justin simply says, “it feels to me at least like the logical extension of the series and storytelling.” With the EP releasing on November 14, he explains, “While it wasn’t intentional, it worked out so that if you’re a first time listener, Vol I invites you into the world, and Vol II takes you deeper down into the depths, while also stepping outside for some moments to have fun and celebrate being alive….even if there’s No Party.”
Following the success of singles “I Am The Enemy” and “Remain Unseen,” rising rocker AUSTEN STARR is proud to announce the release of her debut album, ‘I Am The Enemy,’ due out on February 13, 2026 via Frontiers Music Srl. To celebrate the announcement, AUSTEN also shares the third single from the release, “Medusa,” alongside an official music video, available below.
On the new track, AUSTEN comments:
“‘Medusa’ tells a story where I’m this evil seductress who strings guys along just to break their hearts and ‘turn [them] to stone.’ For the video, we definitely took creative liberties with the myth. Medusa’s mask keeps her power sealed, and she is playing with the guy like a cat plays with a mouse, but she intends to let him go–with a turn when he really falls for her. ‘Medusa’ has a special place in my heart because I wrote the song when I was really young and pretending to be confident, and it became the demo shown to Frontiers that sparked the entire album. I’m still waiting on that confidence, but this one little song from forever ago has cultivated something better than I ever could have imagined. I hope ‘Medusa’ evokes a feeling of power in listeners the way that writing and performing it did for me!”
AUSTEN STARR’s debut album, ‘I Am The Enemy,’ delivers a hard-hitting blend of contemporary rock with classic influences, drawing comparisons to artists like The Warning and Halestorm while infusing a more traditional hard rock sound. Featuring powerhouse musicians, the album songs’ have been written by AUSTEN in collaboration with Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Revolution Saints, Iconic, Cher, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), who also takes care of all guitars on the album. Other musicians appearing include Chris Collier (Mick Mars, Lita Ford) on bass and drums, Steve Ferlazzo (Hugo’s Voyage) on keyboards and Chloe Lowery (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) on background vocals.
On the upcoming release, AUSTEN shares:
“I’m ecstatic to finally be releasing an actual album! This project has been a long time coming–a lifetime in the making, as cliché as that may be. It’s a really wild feeling to be putting music out into the world after being so afraid to for the duration of my existence, and the fact that the first couple of songs have been received well is completely blowing my anxious, self-deprecating mind. With the release of this debut album, I feel like I’m putting my life in your hands just to see what you’ll do with it. It’s terrifying, exhilarating, and freeing. Thank you so much to everyone at Frontiers, thank you to Joel Hoekstra, Chris Collier, Steve Ferlazzo, and Chloe Lowery, thank you to everyone who has made this project possible, and thank you to everyone who listens to the music. I hope you all enjoy it!”
‘I Am The Enemy’ Track List: 1. Remain Unseen 2. Medusa 3. I Am The Enemy 4. Read Your Mind 5. Get Out Alive 6. Effigy 7. Running Out Of Time 8. All Alone 9. Not This Life 10. The Light 11. Until I See You Again
About AUSTEN STARR:
AUSTEN STARR is a reluctant Bostonian with a penchant for self-induced misery. A natural contrarian, she was raised in a household where being a musician was the last thing she was encouraged to do—so, of course, AUSTEN recorded an album with the help of some heavy-hitters from Frontiers and beyond. While AUSTEN considers herself to be an “anxious wreck,” she’s channeled her inner turmoil and contradictions into a compelling musical statement. AUSTEN’s penchant for hypocrisy is almost as defined as her narrative voice. After all, she admits to both hating bad grammar and using it in one of her own songs because it fits the meter. When she’s not rocking out on stage or recording, AUSTEN is learning guitar, embracing “emo karaoke nights,” and forging ahead with a relentless, albeit trepidatious, determination to carve out her place in the music world.
BAND LINE UP: Vocals: Austen Starr Guitars: Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Revolution Saints, Iconic, Cher, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) Bass/Drums: Chris Collier (Mick Mars, Lita Ford) Keyboards: Steve Ferlazzo (Hugo’s Voyage, Avril Lavigne) Background Vocals: Chloe Lowery (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
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
Click image to watch the video
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