RELIQA Return with Pounding New Single + Video ‘Your Touch’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Sydney alternative metal outfit Reliqa are back with pounding new single, ‘Your Touch‘, a genre-blending anthem about ambition’s darker side and the risk of losing sight of what you love, out now via Greyscale Records and Nuclear Blast.

Written in close collaboration with artist and producer James McKendrick (Void of Vision), ‘Your Touch‘ blends the quartet’s trademark progressive metalcore roots with bright, dance-driven textures, pushing deeper into newfound sonic territory on their follow-up to last year’s debut album Secrets of the Future.

“Your Touch is a continuation of a close-to-heart idea we started exploring on Secrets of the Future, about the fear of ambition going too far,” says the band. “It’s about having tunnel vision, where your sight’s set on a single target so narrowly that one day you realise you’ve left everything you love behind. The song is full of outer space imagery for that reason – it felt like a fitting metaphor for making bold moves that leave you more isolated than ever.”

The music video, directed by Colin Jeffs of Ten of Swords Media, sees the band in a spacecraft-like setting that mirrors the song’s themes of confinement, ambition and isolation. Watch it here.

Since rising out of Sydney’s underground, Reliqa have established themselves as one of Australia’s most exciting new prospects. Trailblazers in their own right, they’ve shared stages with the likes of BABYMETAL, Spiritbox, Periphery, Make Them Suffer and more, as well as touring with Good Things Festival last year. Their 2024 debut album showcased a band leaving no stone unturned in their quest for total musical expression, harnessing the most savage and passionate elements of modern metal fused with electronica, pop, prog and post-hardcore for the thrill of it.

With every new experience, they have endeavoured to bottle everything they felt and feed off it as much as possible as they look to the next milestone. Remembering exactly how it felt to watch their dreams playing out before them and using it as a light as they venture into the unknown.

‘Your Touch‘ is the next leap in Reliqa’s unstoppable ascent. Out now via Greyscale Records & Nuclear Blast. Stream it HERE.

MOURNIATY Release Third Single ‘Shrines’ from Upcoming Debut Album

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment
Photo by Venla Rusi

Finnish black metal -group Mourniaty has already pricked ears with their first two single releases, Kyynelten Virta & All Your Lies, sung respectively in Finnish and English.

On the third and final single preceding the Musta Maa -debut album (to be released on 7th of November through Inverse Records), the band yet again refuses to bow down before anyone building places of worship, but will rather see them fall with their shrines.

LISTEN to ‘Shrines’ on streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/mourniaty-shrines

–Music & Lyrics by Karulainen
–ISRC-code: FI3FC2551705
–Single cover by Karulainen

“The song is about the downfall of different religions without singling out any specific one, song writer Karulainen states.

So you better watch the skies at nighttime, since the stars will shine like the eyes of the serpentine!”

LISTEN to

Track list:

  1. Ajan saattama
  2. Musta maa
  3. All Your Lies
  4. Aika Roudan
  5. Shrines
  6. Kyynelten virta
  7. Seventh Seal
  8. A Son of the Plague
  9. Sodomia
  10. Pyhä on valani

Mixed by Karulainen & Joona Rinne / Deep Noise Studios
Mastered by Saku Moilanen / Deep Noise Studios
Album cover by Karulainen

When you get fed up with Christianity and Paganism starts to arouse your interest, interesting things are often created. Sometimes this process needs an accelerant, which is exactly what happened when Karulainen and Metällinen found themselves to be merged in the same family tree. Now, what else would fresh, Finnish relatives do but make aggressive noises together? This gave an outlet for the music Karulainen had already been writing. 

Finnish Mourniaty began its life as a smoldering project already in 2015. It burst into raging fire five years later, when situations in life permitted concentrating on music full-time. When bass player Tenho joined the group in 2022, Mourniaty finally became a real band instead of two men with backing tracks. 

Karulainen describes Mourniaty’s music as black metal, which combines mid-tempo grooves and even symphonic arrangements combined with lyrics sung in both Finnish and English, which revolve around themes of Paganism and Anti-Christianity. The debut album, “Musta maa” (Black Earth), will be released thru Inverse records on digital platforms and in cd-format in November of 2025. What a perfect soundtrack for the darkest season of the year. 

Line-up:
Metällinen – drums
Tenho – bass
Liekkiö – guitar
Karulainen – vocals & guitar

https://www.facebook.com/mourniaty
https://www.instagram.com/mourniaty
https://mourniaty.bandcamp.com/

Brazilian MORTTICIA Release Power Ballad ‘Mistakes’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
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Brazilian Heavy Metal band, Mortticia, has released the single “Mistakes“, the first power ballad of their career, bringing deep reflections on the mistakes we make throughout life and how they shape our path toward the inevitable end, giving meaning and purpose to existence.

“After all, if from birth to death everything went right and we only did what was expected of us, our life would be nothing more than the flight of a bird with the predictable trajectory from the nest to the grave,” highlights the band.

Listen to “Mistakes” on all streaming platforms or via Spotify, here.

About the composition, the band also comments: “It is a song in which we carefully worked on the melodies to create one of those addictive ballads like those of Helloween or Angra. For the first time, we worked with an arranger for the keyboards, and this elevated the instrumental to another level.”

Founded in 2010 in the Brazilian city of Alegrete-RS, Mortticia moved in 2012 to Porto Alegre-RS and became one of the Brazilian exponents of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal (N.W.O.T.H.M.), a movement that has been gaining strength on the global scene by revitalizing the classic sound of the genre with a more modern and sophisticated approach, without straying from its essence. The band’s discography includes several singles, an EP released physically on CD and cassette tape by labels in Romania and Brazil, and now they are preparing to present their long-awaited debut album.

The current lineup of Mortticia features Lucas Zawacki on vocals, Lucio Brenner on rhythm guitar, Gustavo Galho on lead guitar, Guilherme Hoppen on bass, and Doug Mansur on drums.

“Mistakes” was produced by renowned music producer Renato Osorio, former member of Hibria, and features the participation of Rafael Kurai in the keyboard arrangements. The cover art, signed by artist Gus Bringel, visually translates the essence of the song by bringing together elements such as the bird, the cemetery, and the figure of Mortticia, in a composition marked by colors and strokes reminiscent of the classic albums of the 80s and 90s. The promotional photography is by José Florêncio.

Mortticia
http://www.linktr.ee/mortticia.metal
https://www.instagram.com/mortticiametal

Pest Records
https://pestrecords.bandcamp.com

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER Sign with Republic Records + Drop New Single ‘Not OK’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
Posted in: Int. News, News. Leave a comment
Photo by Brian Ziff

History-making multiplatinum Australian alt-rock and future punk / pop band 5 Seconds of Summer return with their first new single in three years, “NOT OK” It not only marks their first release since 2022, but it also serves as the group’s debut under their newly minted deal with Republic Records.

Listen to “NOT OK” HERE

EVERYONE’S A STAR! Tracklist:
1. Everyone’s A Star!
2. NOT OK
3. Telephone Busy
4. Boyband
5. No. 1 Obsession
6. I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep  
7. istillfeelthesame
8. Ghost
9. Sick of Myself
10. Evolve
11. The Rocks
12. Jawbreaker

Preorder EVERYONE’S A STAR! HERE.

The quartet—Luke Hemmings [vocals, guitar], Michael Clifford [vocals, guitar], Calum Hood [vocals, bass], and Ashton Irwin [vocals, drums]—have boldly elevated their sound to another stratosphere with “NOT OK.” Nodding to everyone from The Prodigy to N.E.R.D., the track’s bright hyper-charged beat could just as easily ignite the dancefloor of an underground rave as it could shake festival grounds anywhere in the world. Across the song, anxious cymbals accent a buoyant bassline, and a hummable guitar solo rings out as Luke carries an emotionally complicated and undeniably catchy chorus, “Hey, I’m not okay! I like the darker side of me, that part of me comes out to play when I’m with you, bite the apple, baby.” It has all the makings of a live staple from the group as well.
 
Regarding “NOT OK,” Luke commented, “It has the older 5 Seconds of Summer energy, but it’s different—which is the whole M.O. of this chapter. Lyrically, it’s about letting out the darker side of yourself and embracing it. The song is also a nod to the band itself. We pull those sides out of each other.”

Most importantly, it heralds the arrival of the band’s sixth full-length album, EVERYONE’S A STAR!, coming soon. The guys carefully assembled the record throughout 2024 and 2025, working in Los Angeles and Nashville with the likes of Jason Evigan [Maroon 5, Benson Boone, Papa Roach, Rüfüs Du Sol], Julian Bunetta & John Ryan (Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swims)
 
About the album, Luke added, “This band is made of four people who could all have their own solo albums where they do it all, sing it all, and write it all. EVERYONE’S A STAR! embodies all of that. We were teenagers at the beginning of 5 Seconds of Summer. We were writing with more naivete, but we said what we were thinking. As time goes on, you tend to get a bit more cautious about what you say, but I think this record has more of our original sprit—but with 15 years of wisdom and a dash of reckless abandon.”
 
Back in 2022, 5 Seconds of Summer dropped their most recent album, 5SOS5. It notably bowed at #2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Complete Mess.”

Get ready for a whole lot more from 5 Seconds of Summer very soon though.
 
Their biggest, boldest, and brightest era begins now. This is 5SOS 2.0 – Evolved.

ABOUT 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER
Formed in Sydney, Australia in 2011, 5 Seconds of Summer have grown from local high school friends into one of the biggest bands of the 21st century. Across fourteen years, the multi-platinum group has sold over 18 million albums, moved more than six million tickets worldwide, generated over 10 billion streams, and achieved three Billboard 200 #1 debuts, while winning multiple accolades at the ARIA Awards, MTV EMAs, MTV VMAs, and beyond. Known for their genre-defying collaborations and globe-spanning tours, the quartet – Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, and Ashton Irwin – continue to reinvent what a modern band can be.

With the release of their highly anticipated sixth album EVERYONE’S A STAR! – their first under Republic Records – 5 Seconds of Summer usher in their most ambitious era yet, led by the explosive single “NOT OK.”

HEIDENFEST 2026 Returns with Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Heidevolk, Trollfest & The Dread Crew of Oddwood

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Heidenfest returns in 2026 with Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Heidevolk, Trollfest and The Dread Crew of Oddwood! This will be the first time in their long careers that Korpiklaani & Finntroll tour together, which only took roughly 13 years to finally make happen! Joining them to celebrate this unique event are some of their best friends and drinking partners in Heidevolk and Trollfest. To warm up the evening with all the dancing, drinking, moshing and all round good time are The Dread Crew of Oddwood.

Good music, good friends and never enough celebrations. Heidenfest 2026 will be a night to remember!

Due to prior agreements, Finntroll will miss the first 3 shows. Moonsorrow will replace them, making this a small 10 year reunion of the Finnish Folk Metal Mafia. Vanaheim to also join for the 013 show as special guest.

Tickets @ www.heidenfest.live

09.01.2026 NL Tilburg – O13 * No Finntroll
10.01.2026 DE Leipzig – Hellraiser ** No Finntroll
11.01.2026 DE Hamburg – Markthalle ** No Finntroll
12.01.2026 DE Berlin – Kesselhaus
13.01.2026 PL Gdansk – B90
14.01.2026 PL Warsaw – Progresja
15.01.2026 PL Krakow – Kwadrat
16.01.2026 PK Wroclaw – A2
17.01.2026 HU Budapest – Barba Negra
18.01.2026 CZ Brno – Sono Centrum
20.01.2026 AT Vienna – Ottakringer Brauerei
21.01.2026 HR Zagreb – Boogaloo
22.01.2026 SI Ljubljana – Siska
23.01.2026 DE Würzburg – Posthalle
24.01.2026 DE Regensburg – Eventhall-Airport
25.01.2026 FR Paris – Élysée Montmartre
27.01.2026 ES Madrid – Mon
28.01.2026 ES Barcelona – Salamandra
29.01.2026 FR Limoges – CC John Lennon
30.01.2026 CH Pratteln – Z7
31.01.2026 FR Lyon – Transbordeur
01.02.2026 DE Munich – Backstage
03.02.2026 UK London – Islington Assembly Hall
04.02.2026 UK Manchester – Manchester Academy 2
05.02.2026 UK Wolves – KK’s Steel Mill
06.02.2026 DE Oberhausen – Turbinhalle
07.02.2026 BE Antwerpen – Trix
08.02.2026 FR Rennes – L’Étage

*w/ Moonsorrow & Vanaheim
**w/ Moonsorrow

VIP (Meet & Greet) available for all shows with Korpiklaani & Finntroll only

Tickets available @ www.firebirdindustries.live

KORPIKLAANI Jonne Järvelä comments: 

“I’m more than excited to be touring Europe with such a great group of bands. We’ve known each other for decades and that’s why I might feel a little old. Fortunately, a carefree, joyous, unrestrained, wild, fun, exhilarating, intoxicating, unconventional, extravagant and hilarious tour life is so healthy and refreshing that it keeps us young and fresh. Come along and you’ll be surprised by the amazing and crazy nights with us. Fun is guaranteed!”

FINNTROLL comments:  

 “This is no ordinary tour — it is a march of madness and glory across Europe! Our strings are tuned to mischief, and at last we will tour side by side with our friends in Korpiklaani and TrollfesT, strengthened by Heidevolk and Oddwood. This tour brings forth a storm of dark tunes, overflowing ale, and untamed revelry. Expect nights where reality bends, ancient spirits stir, and the line between myth and madness disappear. Join the horde, this will be legendary!”

HEIDEVOLK comments: 

“Hello fellow heathens! After the crazy successful Paganfest tour earlier this year, we are once again invited to join a legendary tour making its long awaited return: HEIDENFEST! Together with our longtime friends and colleagues from Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Trollfest, and The Dread Crew of Oddwood, we will embark on a European road trip to bring you the songs we couldn’t play at Paganfest. Get ready for a legendary night of exquisite folk metal madness, and raise your horns with the Pagan Metal Brotherhood! 🤘🔥🍻”

TROLLFEST comments: 

“The ultimate tour package straight out of our moistest, wildest dreams has arrived! Korpiklaani and Finntroll — the very reasons TrollfesT was spawned into existence — are leading the charge. Add our beloved drinking brothers Heidevolk and the utterly unhinged Dread Crew of Oddwood, and you’ve got yourself a tour destined for glory! This is not just a tour… this is history, covered in beer foam, accordions, and questionable decisions!”

THE DREAD CREW OF ODDWOOD comments: 

“Sharpen your crab claws and prepare for an evening of ultimate folk metal fun, ’cause we’re bringing Heavy Mahogany back to Europe! We can’t wait to feast alongside the legendary bands on this tour and share a night of nautical debauchery with you all!”

EIHWAR Reveal Hidden World on New Single ‘Hugrheim’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 25, 2025
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment
Photo by © Samuel Maurin

The enfants terribles of Season of Mist’s roster, Eihwar, are releasing a new single today. Known for their explosive fusion of Nordic folk and electro-industrial chaos, the clan continues to defy the solemnity of most pagan acts on “Hugrheim” with a style that is wild, cartoonish, and fiercely ritualistic.

As Eihwar themselves proclaim:

“Over the past few years, our souls have gradually taken over the bodies of two human musicians. Through incarnation, we lost much of our memories. All that remains are images, emotions, and fragments from our previous existence, mixed in with the thoughts and memories of our human hosts. In this new song, we evoke the memories that gradually come back to us: memories of Hugrheim, the tenth world of Yggdrasil, hidden and unknown to men. This world is shaped by the Hugr, the spirit. In this realm dwell the invisible forces of the soul and consciousness. When our vessels perish here and our incarnation ends, we will return to Hugrheim. Still, we hope to remain here as long as possible this time, because nowadays the beer is fucking good, the rockstar life is pretty damn cool, and dental anesthesia actually exists.”

Stream “Hugrheim”: https://orcd.co/eihwarhugrheim

The video for “Hugrheim” was directed by Samuel Maurin and features actors Arya and Benoit Lala. The digital artwork showcases costume design by Yaelle Ghyselink.

Following a summer of electrifying festival appearances at Wacken Open Air, Resurrection Fest and Midgardsblot, as well as dates opening for The Hu, with “Hugrheim”, Eihwar present a song that both deepens their mythos and heightens their trance-driven energy.

The word “Hugrheim” comes from Old Norse roots. It can be understood as the realm of spirit, of memory, of consciousness. In the lore woven by Eihwar, their souls appear as reincarnated essences inhabiting human vessels, recalling fragments of their former existence. The song channels these recollections through warrior cries, horns, ritual percussion and machine-driven pulse, aligning Asrunn and Mark with pagan folk lineage while advancing into their own shamanic and celebratory, dance-driven terrain.

To celebrate “Hugrheim”, Eihwar are opening their new Traveling Merchant Webshop. This shop currently includes four t-shirt designs, one of which was only previously available at their concerts. It also holds the “Eihwar bindrune” medallion, which the duo describe as the “jewelry of the clan” – a symbolic extension of their ritual universe.

Shop at https://www.eihwar.com

Eihwar’s debut album Viking War Trance is out now on Season of Mist. Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/eihwarvikingwartrance

Cover Art by Asrunn

Many bands have explored the Pagan & Norse worlds over the last 15 years seeking atmospheric, acoustic and ritual sounds with great seriousness. This is not the path EIHWAR chose.

Although the musicians of Eihwar are virtuosos in their acoustic traditional instruments, their goal is to bring some fun… and as much chaos as possible during their concerts, provoking the craziest trance on dancefloors. They bring a festive and furious neo-viking music whose primal force is based on technoid machines, mixed with trance vocals, shamanic drums and traditional Nordic sounds. Electronics are a ‘new steel’ for those modern warriors, cold and powerful. As the web already says, the duo is a kind of new ‘Viking Carpenter Brut’.

Lineup:
Asrunn — Vocals, Traditional Percussions
Mark — Vocals, Machines

Website: http://www.eihwar.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eihwar.music
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/eihwar.music
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@eihwar
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@eihwar