Four years ago we entered the labyrinth for the first time. ‘Monumental Bitterness’, well received by the audience, was the birth certificate of LABYRINTH ENTRANCE, one man black metal project from Poland, created and commanded by Hunger (also Stillborn, Horror of Naatu). It was dark, it was black, it was almost literary journey through Dante’s hell. But it was just the beginning. Now, we are pleased to announce the second entering. Labyrinth Entrance is back, with yet another dark road, but this time, it leads deep into faith, religion and vanity behind it. Second full-length entitled ‘Deplore the Vanity’ is a big step forward, being also a mark of progress. It will be released on May 21, as a standard jewel case CD.
And now enjoy the first track entitled ‘Absence of Light Surrounding’:
Hunger comments: ‘If sin is fighting and breaking the covenant with God through evil deeds, then this album is a great sin of mine’.
The artist himself may be concise, but his second work deserves attention and recognition. „Deplore the Vanity” consists of eleven compositions and lasts fifty minutes, which gives its author a lot of space to show his abilities and talent. Hunger takes full advantage of this and gives us an album that is extensive, complex, full of various arrangements and changes in the atmosphere that surrounds the music and listener. Make no mistake though, it’s still aggressive, fast and passionate black metal at its best. Not only Hunger sinned by creating it, we all will just by listening to it. And believe us, it will be a pleasure.
‘Deplore the Vanity’ was recorded at 666Studio, during winter 2019 and 2020. Engineered, mixed & mastered by Michał Grabowski. Piano in ‘Drowned’ by Łucja Cieśla. Front cover photo by Katarzyna Urbanek SEI Art. Layout and design by Black Team Media.
Tracklist: 01. Spirituality I 02. Absence of Light Surrounding 03. Spirituality II 04. Dogma Hexagram 05. Spirituality III 06. Supreme Rapture 07. Paroxysm of Blakk Kult 08. Dissolving Weakness 09. Deplore the Vanity 10. Presence of Great Sadness 11. Drowned
German Berlin-based death/thrash metallers BLOODBEAT have released a new single No Control. The track is taken from their upcoming second studio album ‘Process of Extinction’ which is set to be released by Finnish record label Inverse Records on June 18th 2021. The album is mixed & recorded by Marc Wüstenhagen at Dailyhero Recordings Berlin and it’s mastered by Gunnar Refardt.
Song description by singer and guitarist Jason Kuhn: “The song “No Control” is about the Nazis’ megalomania and inhuman body experiments. The scenario describes the devil’s cruelty in Auschwitz. The perverse human experiments became a kind of addiction. They always wanted to try more and more. The mental and physical control of the Nazis in Auschwitz disappeared.
The lyrics describe that many autopsies were shown publicly while the person was still alive. Brains were exchanged, the heart was operated into another body and amputations were performed while the body was still alive. The song is not meant to glorify anything. It is meant to be a reminder of the cruelty so we don’t forget. The lyrics describe what really happened and the hatred that always remains in our minds.”
BLOODBEAT is a death/thrash metal band from Berlin, Germany. With heavy riffs, brutal guitar sounds and crushing drumming that resembles a steamroller, the band manages to reproduce the ultimate Death Metal sound of the 90’s and also add their own character. The brute voice of singer and guitarist Jason adds the right shell to the rough instrumental core of the music. With recognizable death metal riffs and hacking and brutal thrash beats, the band puts a huge pressure wave in the audience’s ears. Bloodbeat manage, despite their audible influences like Napalm Death and Slayer, to create their own recognizable and distinctive style of music that immediately throws the listener into the past of 90’s Death Metal. Lyrically reveal and reproduce Bloodbeat atrocities and abysses of humanity. Pre-order Process of Extinction CD: https://bit.ly/3dCbwxj
A Bandcamp exclusive version of REVOCATION‘s classic album – Deathless (2014) – is available now for purchase via: smarturl.it/revocation-bandcamp – for the next 30 days only! Estimated to ship September 2021, the vinyl is transparent royal blue with opaque white and black splatter, and it features a gatefold jacket (semi-gloss), color labels, and poly bag.
Revocation‘s David Davidson (vocals/guitar) comments: “‘Deathless‘ was a pivotal record for us in many ways. It was our first release on Metal Blade, our first time working with Zeuss on a full-length record and it marked more of a shift in focus of our style. While we still maintained a solid thrash metal influence, we decided to further embrace the death metal elements of our music and brought them to the forefront of our sound. We’ve always been a band that likes to take risks, thankfully our fans have been very supportive which has further inspired us to continue down darker and more adventurous paths.”
Earlier this year, Canadian cellist and composer RAPHAEL WEINROTH-BROWNE unveiled a stunning performance video featuring “Unending I” and “From Within II.” The tracks come from his critically adored solo debut Worlds Within which was released independently in January 2020. The video serves as the first in a series of performance clips from Worlds Within, ultimately culminating in a live recording of the album in its entirety, with preorders to be available on June 4th.
A single composition divided into ten tracks which play out like movements in a classical variation set, Worlds Within is a cinematic sound collage that plays on the listener’s perception of time, evolving gradually and fluidly, but always in motion. The music itself ranges from ethereal and atmospheric to aggressive and intense, combining elements reminiscent of contemporary classical minimalism, metal, post-rock, and even electronic music while retaining its own distinct sonic language.
Comments WEINROTH-BROWNE, “Realizing Worlds Within in the studio was more of a process of discovery rather than one of conscious creation. Long after its release, I felt that I was still getting to know the music and understand its nature. Learning to recreate the album live was an extension of this process which has taken me full circle, back to the initial impulse from which this music took seed, much in the same way that the record itself has a cyclical journey that ends where it started, rather than a linear path.”
Enjoy “Unending I” and “From Within II” at THIS LOCATION.
Worlds Within — produced by WEINROTH-BROWNE, recorded and mixed by Dean Watson, and mastered by Alan Douches — is available now on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. For orders, visit Bandcamp at THIS LOCATION and all other digital platforms HERE.
Having been an integral creative force in groups such as The Visit, Musk Ox, and Kamancello, as well as having recorded and toured extensively with Norwegian progressive rock/metal band Leprous, Worlds Within sees WEINROTH-BROWNE exploring his cellistic voice even further. The record takes full advantage of the possibilities of the instrument; all of the sounds on the album — melodies, harmonies, riffs, textures, and even percussion — were created on cello with amplification and effects pedals.
For over fifteen years, New England’s WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS have lurked in the dark corners of underground metal. With a doom style both psychedelic and unsettling, their music has been labeled many things -heavy, daunting, overwhelming, unnerving- while the band is singer/guitarist Aaron Lewis’s gritty vision of life on the subcultural fringes of New England society. Following five highly acclaimed studio records, a split and a remix album to date, When The Deadbolt Breaks have announced their worldwide signing with Italy’s powerhouse label Argonauta Records, who will proudly release the band’s forthcoming album, entitled As Hope Valley Burns, during 2021!
“We are extremely excited to release this record worldwide with Argonauta Records and see where the future takes us,” Lewis comments. “Argronauta has been very welcoming and has a massive reach around the world. We feel that this is going to be a long a exciting journey!”
For more than a decade the Connecticut-based trio has carved a niche for themselves within the interplay of extreme genres. They are no less at home in grind than they are in pummeling sludge or ambient soundscaping, casting forth triumphant riffs or proffering murder-dirge nods at a volume level that can only be considered violent. When The Deadbolt Breaks have always struck a balance between the ugly and beauty: long compositions wade through detuned, discordant, and murky sludge before shifting into melodic ambient space rock territories, and back again. It’s not hard to see that cinema is often what informs Lewis’s songwriting: the grueling discomfort of E. Elias Merhige or surreality of David Lynch have provided as much inspiration as his musical influences.
Give ear, as When The Deadbolt Breaks‘ have just unleashed a first album sneak peak with a video clip for the heavy as hell track “The Crushing Weight of the Sun”, watch it right here:
The band is no stranger to the stage, having played the SXSW, New England Stoner & Doom Fest, and toured the southwest in 2018. As the pandemic recedes, the trio looks forward to bringing Lewis’s dark vision back to the stage, unleashing As Hope Valley Burns on unsuspecting and often unprepared audiences. “This album is a unique one for When The Deadbolt Breaks. We have pushed our boundaries sonically,” Lewis reveals. “The heavy is heavier, and the mellow, spacial parts are even more so. Akin to our first few records, we have returned to more aggressive drumming, and psychedelic spaces, yet this record has a certain depth and maturity to it that was missing in the past.”
As Hope Valley Burns is slated for a release during 2021 through Argonauta Records, with many more album details, pre-order info and songs to follow in the weeks ahead. They have also been added to the bill of this years’ Maryland Doom Fest.
Loudwire is hosting the worldwide exclusive of Israeli progressive metal outfit SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE’s official video for “Somewhere I Sadly Belong.” The song precedes the arrival of the band’s fourth LP, Mountain Fever, which sees release Friday through American prog powerhouse, Sensory Records.
One of Mountain Fever’s most explosive tracks, “Somewhere I Sadly Belong” features guest vocals from Ashmedi Melechesh of Mesopotamian black metal band Melechesh and gospel choir vocals by British Singer Jackie Hole. The song comes to life through an official video directed and filmed by Yalon Schori and Yoni Sherman Heschel and edited by Yalon Schori.
SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE’slead vocalist Davidavi Dolev reveals, “This one is extremely dear to us and might be one of the most personal songs on the album. It’s about history, but also about history in the making. The song is dedicated to all people in refuge and exile. I would also like to dedicate it to my grandmother. We used sign language in the chorus of the video to symbolize the deafness of our society towards those who are in need. It’s about roots, identity, love, guilt, trauma, immigration, and wars. Are we going to make it? In order to bring our complete vision to life we were extremely honored to host Ashmedi Melechesh, who is the original source of extreme metal in the Middle East, who really brought to the song the spirit we were looking for.”
With the video’s premiere, Loudwire writes, “Musically, ‘Somewhere I Sadly Belong’ meshes elements of classic prog rock with Middle-Eastern melodies and folk touches. The band navigates some surprising instrumental turns, flipping the switch between aggression and whimsy. Even amid these more uplifting elements, the lyric, ‘Are we going to make it?’ sung as a gospel choir, leaves the most poignant impact as citizens of the world look to escape the clutches of cruelty and pursue individual freedom.”
SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE’s “Somewhere I Sadly Belong” video is playing exclusively through Loudwire now at THIS LOCATION.
Lasers Edge division Sensory Records will release Mountain Fever worldwide on May 14th across all digital platforms, on CD, and multiple double-LP vinyl variants cut at 45RPM.
Find preorders for the CD, the Black vinyl, and the Yellow vinyl HERE, the standard digital HERE, the Hi-Rez 24 Bit digital HERE, and an array of new merch items at the band’s webshop HERE.
Following nearly a year-and-a-half off the road, SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE is ecstatic to finally announce new live performances in support of Mountain Fever. The band has confirmed their first actual attended live performance since before the pandemic, as they prepare to headline FestiKasach 2021 in Jerusalem on June 3rd. They have also booked a special headlining release show for the new LP, set to take place in Tel Aviv on July 1st, where they will be joined by guests from Orphaned Land, Amaseffer, and more musicians from the Oriental Metal Scene.
SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE will continue to announce more live performances over the months ahead as more lockdown restrictions are lifted, including a set at Maximum Rock Festival Bucharest, Romania and much more. Watch for new live updates and much more to post over the months ahead.
SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE Live:
6/03/2021 Yellow Submarine – Jerusalem, IL @ FestiKasach 2021 [info]
7/01/2021 Gagarin Club – Tel Aviv, IL @ Mountain Fever LP release show [info]
Boasting ten new songs, Mountain Fever sees SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE continuing to push the balance between pioneering experimentalism to their own take on modern pop culture and its manifestation in the Middle East. With nearly an hour of engaging music, revealing an album composed of African and Balkan brass sections, Arabic violins, extended vocal techniques, and several special guest appearances, the band explores radio friendly hooks that emerge out of heavy riffs and polychromatic arrangements.
Mountain Fever was recorded in Golan Heights, Israel with engineer David Castillo, after which it was sent to Fascination Street in Örebro, Sweden (Leprous, Katatonia, Opeth) where it was mixed by Jens Bogren and mastered by Tony Lindgren, then completed with artwork and layout by Costin Chioreanu of Twilight 13 Media. The record features several notable guest contributions, including drums from Matan Shmuely (Orphaned Land), bouzouki and lead guitars on “Mångata” by Idan Amsalem (Orphaned Land), and vocals on “Somewhere I Sadly Belong” by Melechesh Ashmedi (Melechesh) and Jackie Hole (The Super Things).
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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 ) 