Finnish melancholic metal band Kivisydän invites their listeners into a world where fragility and strength coexist, and where the weight of sorrow feels both crushing and liberating. Melodic, symphonic metal meets powerful vocals and lyrics that delve deep into sorrow, despair, and pain – but ultimately also into hope.
“Varjoihin” is the last single release from the band’s debut album “Kuoleva Aurinko” to be released on October 17th 2025. The album was mixed by Heikki Marttila / Guru Studio, known as the guitarist for the band Stella, and mastered by Miro Kiiski / Miromastering.
“Varjoihin” tells the story of a child who is constantly criticized and belittled by his own loved ones, crushing his self-esteem to pieces. The child’s only escape and joy is running in the woods. The song presents a more energetic side of the band, contrasting with the funeral atmosphere of the previous single.” – Kivisydän
Finnish Rimbacher is known as a powerful live band and as a stylish AOR creator. Now they release a cover of the Song “Sold My Soul To Rock ‘n’ Roll” from the 2007 album “Sinner” by the original AC/DC vocalist Dave Evans.
“Jimbo and I had the honor of playing this song with Dave Evans, the original performer and founding member of AC/DC, in his Finnish tour band ‘His Finnish Badassess’. Dave emphasized energy, dynamics, power, and conviction. He instructed us to play each song as if it were our own. Sold My Soul To Rock n’ Roll touched to me in many ways, and I decided to ask the maestro for permission to record the song with our band. We got the go-ahead!” recalls the band’s singer, Niko Rimbacher.
Composition: Dave Charles Evans, Mark William Tinson
Lyrics.: Dave Charles Evans
Mixer : Eero Kaukomies / Helsinki Rock
Productions – Sonic Pump Studios
Mastering: Oskari Olkkonen / Soundear
Previous Rimbacher’s album High Hopes On The Rocks (2024) received widespread acclaim both in Finland and abroad. In the spirit of 80s stadium rock, AOR, and hard rock, the style-conscious band went straight into recording their next full-length album after the release of their debut. Songs from the upcoming album have already been heard at gigs, the official singles haven’t yet scheduled for release. That’s why now is the perfect time to release a new single to ease the anticipation of rock fans.
Earlier this year, the Finnish metal band Garden of Stone released their debut album, ‘The Grave Mistake‘, via Inverse Records. The band has continued to push forward, and their first single, ‘Silence Falters’, along with its accompanying music video, is now available. The track is taken from an as yet untitled second studio album, due for release later in 2026.
-Composed by Jere Mäntysalo & Jesse Salo -Lyrics by Jesse Salo -Mixed by Joona Muistola, HAW Studios -Artwork by Noora Khouya -ISRC: FI3FC2594701
Garden of Stone is a melodic metal band that weaves together heavy/death metal with melancholic rock. From the band you can expect brooding atmospheres, beautiful melodies, and face melting riffs.
The band was formed in 2023 when guitarists Jere Mäntysalo and Ville Penkari recruited Jesse Salo to sing and scream for their project. Soon after, drummer Tapio Haverinen joined to keep the rhythm department in check. The group was completed when bassist Kalle Hänninen joined to govern the lowest frequencies.
Garden of Stone published their debut EP, Tides of Decay, in February of 2024, and their debut album The Grave Mistake a year later. The band is showing no signs of slowing down, as the release of their most brutal single is just around the corner.
Line-up: Jere Mäntysalo – Guitar Jesse Salo – Vocals Kalle Hänninen – Bass Ville Penkari – Guitar Tapio Haverinen – Drums
Glasgow Kiss are a Norwegian female-fronted Alternative Metal band with a power-rock vibe that will rattle the windows and shake the foundations of your mind! They come right at us with that heavy rhythm guitar groove and a vocal attack that is both rich and addictive. The band just dropped a savage new single and music video entitled “Those Wasted Years“. The music video was directed by Bård Leite at USF Verftet in Bergen, Norway. This is the first single & music video taken from their upcoming full-length album Down In Flames which will be released on December 12, 2025 via Eclipse Records.
The album was produced by Glasgow Kiss, and mixed/mastered by Peter Michelsen (Rat City, Madelene, Byting) at The Norwegian Sound studio. Tracking by Dan Mikal Ultang at Secret Location Studio, w/ vocal tracking at Elephant Studios.
“We decided to film a music video for this track because we wanted to give the song a life beyond just the sound” says lead vocalist Charlotte Marlen Midtun. “Music is powerful on its own, but sometimes the emotions and stories we write about deserve to be seen as well as heard. The video lets us share the atmosphere, the energy, and the message in a way that words and melodies alone can’t always capture. For the darker and more intense parts of the song, we leaned into shadowy, low-key lighting to create tension and intimacy. It gave the impression of being pulled into the raw emotion of the lyrics. When the music opened up—whether with hope, energy, or release—we shifted toward warmer tones and brighter contrasts, symbolizing light breaking through.”
The debut album, Down in Flames, by Glasgow Kiss is a burst of sweet dichotomy, altered reflections, foils, doppelgangers, and visions of the self through enchanting and fractured perspectives. First off, the lyrics are devastating portraits of loneliness, toxicity, grief and loss, desire and darkness. The contrast; however, is the rhythm guitar sound: a bold power-rock groove that launches us into the stratosphere, almost as if the band first tempts us to make love with our own misery, just to shake it off and rock ‘til we drop. In conjunction with the band’s overall theme of aesthetic duality, lead vocalist Charlotte Marlen Midtun puts on a clinic of tonal dynamics and emotional depth. From captivating soaring high range to powerful gritty belting to delicate passages in the mid-range, her remarkable range makes for a compelling emotional performance. Moreover, and more specifically, one cannot listen to this record without appreciating the mix on the vocals. Charlotte is produced sonically to be right in our ear, deep in our minds straight down through the heart, and when harmonies are added, they are produced as elegant backdrop, a whisper, like lace. This technique would, at first, seem like the natural “go-to” for most projects, but the effect is quite new compared with the latest trend in the industry to bring the harmony tracks equal in volume and tonality, creating what some might refer to as a “choral wash.” Glasgow Kiss; however, do not “wash” or dilute a darned thing. They write our stories, raw and unedited. All things considered, Glasgow Kiss offer us Down in Flames so we can relate to their sorrow and share in their joy. They prove to us that the two opposite viewpoints can live simultaneously, that both can be true, that both make a beautiful, delicate balance. We can confide in Glasgow Kiss. We come to them with our demons, and they give us a safe space. We include them in our victories and they high-five us when we all reach the top of the mountain. The album was produced by Glasgow Kiss, and mixed/mastered by Peter Michelsen (Rat City, Madelene, Byting) at The Norwegian Sound studio, with tracking by Dan Mikal Ultang at Secret Location Studio. Vocal were tracked at Elephant Studios. Artwork for the album and singles was created by Frode Andreassen and Sveinung Sveen. Down In Flames by Glasgow Kiss will be released on December 12, 2025 via Eclipse Records.
Pre-Save or Pre-Order Down In Flames at this location.
Down In Flames track listing 01. Destiny 02. Down In Flames 03. On Your Own 04. The Wall 05. One Last Time 06. Forsaken 07. Those Wasted Years 08. Put the Blame On Me
Lineup: Charlotte Marlen Midtun (Vocalist), Daniel Anker-Goli (Guitarist), Frode Andreassen (Drummer), John Erik Soltvedt (Bass), Sveinung Sveen (Guitarist)
For the past three decades, Garmarna have won equal praise from metal heads and folk lovers. On their seventh and most recent album, the Swedes continued to weave traditional medieval tales with rock, pop, dance and other modern-day inventions, alongside executive producer Christopher Juul from Season of Mist labelmates Heilung. In 2021, Förbundet was nominated for Folk Album of the Year by the Grammis. Now, four years later, its opening song is taking home a different award.
Today, Garmarna are proud to announce that “Ramunder” was selected by The John Lennon Songwriting Contest as the Session I Grand Prize Winner in the World category. The prize package for this award includes a Taylor acoustic-electric guitar and more than $4,000 in recording equipment.
“It’s a great honor to receive this award”, says Garmarna, who were selected as a finalist by the same contest in 2021 for their song “Dagen Flyr”. “John Lennon and The Beatles pushed the envelope on what you can do in just about every field of the music business. Throughout our 35 year career, we’ve always aimed to do the same by mixing traditional Swedish ballads with contemporary influences. We always try to stay curious and bend the rules, with feet firmly planted in the ballad tradition”.
While they’ve always pulled from the darker chapters of Swedish folklore, “Ramunder” claims the crown as Garmarna’s most chilling tale. Reimagined by razor-sharp acoustics, distorted grooves and a stomping drum beat, the opening of Förbundet sets a rather bloody scene with the tale of a warrior that destroys his enemies purely for the sake of his own enjoyment.
However, “Ramunder” isn’t all doom and gloom. Anders Norudde saws his moraharpa with devilish delight. The Swedish multi-instrumentalist, composer, carpenter and violin-maker is a member of Hedningarna, the fellow groundbreaking Swedish folk band who were an early inspiration for Garmarna.
Next year, Garmarna will face the Session II Grand Prize Winner in a public vote to determine the overall winner for the World category.
Tracklist
1. Ramunder (featuring Anders Norudde) (4:58) [WATCH] 2. Två Systrar (featuring Maria Franz) (5:53) 3. Dagen Flyr (3:51) 4. Sven i Rosengård (5:25) 5. Ur världen att gå (4:52) 6. Vägskäl (4:56) 7. Lussi Lilla (4:35) 8. Avskedet (5:27) 9. Din Grav (1:56) Total runtime: 41:51
It is very easy to tout a band’s eclectism in our modern era of musical mash-ups and globe-spanning Zoom collaborations. But Swedish folk-rockers GARMARNA have been turning traditional ideas on their head long before it was fashionable. Over the last 30 years, they have been stirring in a rich blend of influences that create their unique sonic blend. For their efforts, they have won a Swedish Grammy award, gained the respect and collaboration of esteemed musicians in their homeland, and cultivated an international following.
On their seventh and latest studio album ‘Förbundet’, GARMARNA continue blurring the tradi-tional and the modern, with the often multi-tracked vocals of Emma Hardelin floating above it all. A ballad from the 1700s, “Ramunder” is imbued with heaviness, like an acoustic metal tune, with Anders Norudde from Hedningarna playing moraharpa (a cousin of the hurdy gurdy) on the song. Thumping drums and frenetic strings drive the moody “Sven i Rosengård,” while the danceable “Lussi Lilla” is more playful. On the flip side, acoustic ballad “Ur Världen Att Gå” and the dreamy vocal track “Din Grav” balance out the more propulsive tracks.
As with past efforts, the new ‘Förbundet’ serves up traditional material infused with original ideas, with Garmarna looking to medieval and murder ballads and Estonian chorales for inspiration. It is certainly a dark album. “There is more to the Swedish culture than this darkness,” notes co-founding member Stefan Brisland-Ferner. “But the traditional stories have an edge to them that’s something special. There’s a harshness we just can’t resist. A feeling lurking in there that is beautiful, wild, and haunting. This new one is maybe the darkest yet, in that it deals so much with death, longing, sorrow.”
For Stefan, the most personal song on the new album is the tranquil, ethereal “Vägskäl” which has been described as being about life’s crossroads, grief, and losing someone, and also memories that are slowly erased or that can last a lifetime. “It is the one completely original song on the album and the newest one,” he says. “Both musically and lyrically, it resonates with a certain place in life I have found myself in.”
GARMARNA originally formed as a trio in 1990 featuring guitarist/violinist Gotte Ringqvist, violinist/hurdy gurdy player Stefan Brisland-Ferner, and guitarist/bassist Rickard Westman. After a couple of years of growing their music and audience, they accured drummer Jens Hoglin after being asked to perform at a prominent musical festival in Hultsfred, Sweden. Their friend, singer and violinist Emma Hardelin, was in the audience, and she soon joined their ranks. The line-up has remained solid since then.
After releasing their self-titled debut EP in 1993, GARMARNA toured Sweden and began developing energetic live shows that in subsequent years have inspired everything from dancing to headbanging. Amid her bandmates, Emma became the calm of the storm onstage, her beautiful vocals an anchor for their energetic music. “Emma has a very distinct and beautiful voice,” notes Stefan. ”The choices we made early on were traditional ballads that tell a story. The vocal is delivering information and can’t stand in the way of the story, and the instrumentation and arrangements must help to tell the story. The vocal will always be in the center of our music.”
By 1994, GARMARNA signed a North American distribution deal with Minneapolis-based Omnium, the label founded by Boiled In Lead bassist Drew Miller who has a passion for eclectic world music and punk-folk tunes. Omnium released ‘Vittrad’ (1994) and ‘Gods Musicians’ (1995), and their sister label Northside unleashed ‘Vengeance’ (1999) and ‘Hildegard Von Bingen’ (2001). Now 25 years later, Garmarna is on Season of Mist, the international metal label that is starting to explore the dark folk world.
“We have certainly crossed a few boundaries,” acknowledges Stefan. “We did so quite early and found our own world from which to expand further. Maybe this was luck. Or maybe we are good at finding the right balance between the elements. Again, this wasn’t something we ever strived for.” He adds that at one point, they found a certain tone in our music that resonated with the tones of their other tastes.
“The lyrical specter of the classical world,” he elaborates. “The terror of industrial and black metal. Country music, indie pop, rock’n’roll. At the time, artists like Beck and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion had a great impact on our thinking. Björk, Skinny Puppy, Bowie, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and lots of other artists from different genres were big heroes for us as well.”
What linked the band members together was their passion for traditional Swedish fiddler’s music and folk singing. “We don’t think of music as genres but rather like emotions, colours, elements,” explains Stefan. Despite their sonic deviations, they have always felt they have a specific sound, and an American magazine in ’99 compared Garmarna’s music to a nicely marinated stew, a comparison they favored.
Cooking up this musical melange was not a conscious choice in the beginning. Their collective eclecticism naturally led the way for their folk fusion. “Using samplers particularly was some-thing that felt just aesthetically right,” says Stefan. “We could use layers of drones and re-pitch stuff, use both old and new sounds that fitted the songs.”
Throughout their career, the band has taken many interesting journeys, including music inspired by the medieval work of Hildegard von Bingen and a New Year’s Eve ’99 performance in which Emma performed a song exclusively written by Benny Andersson of ABBA. They have played at medieval, folk, and rock festivals. While the group did take a 15-year break from recording – family and work commitments, a little creative burn out after years of the tour/album/tour cycle, plus the illegal downloading woes of the early ’00s factoring into this studio hiatus – they maintained their chops and passion by continuing to tour.
When asked about how fans have responded to their different influences and diverse output over the years, Stefan cannot definitively say because their followers are seemingly fluid in their tastes as well. “Sometimes we’ve thought the audience will hate the new stuff, all jungle beats or house or pop or whatever,” he says. “The audience is a mix of metal heads, folk enthusiasts, hipsters, and just casual music lovers of all ages. Along the way, they have seemed to like what we do! We know that a lot of people wished the return album 6 would have been a bit more traditional, but then a lot of people also praised it for being ‘so much GARMARNA’ in the sense that it took an unexpected turn somewhere new.”
Their loyal acolytes should be pleased with ‘Förbundet’, and they will likely draw in new converts as well. You’re next.
Lineup Emma Härdelin: Vocals, violin Stefan Brisland-Ferner: Violin, Viola, Hurdy gurdy, Keyboards, Nordic bowed lyre, Kantele, Moraharpa, Mouth harp, Electronics, Electric guitar, Mandolin, Backing vocals Gotte Ringqvist: Acoustic guitar, Hardanger fiddle, backing vocals Rickard Westman: Electric guitar, Electric bass Jens Höglin: Drums, Percussion, Electronics
Guest musicians Maria Franz: Vocals on ”Två Systrar” Anders Norudde: Moraharpa on ”Ramunder” Ulf Gruvberg: Vocals on ”Lussi Lilla”
Producer Stefan Brisland-Ferner
Executive producer Christopher Juul
Mixing Christopher Juul
Mastering Christopher Juul
Recording studios DNA Studios in Stockholm with Stefan Brisland-Ferner Studio NEVO Sundsvall with Stefan Brisland-Ferner and Henrik Heinrich Studio Cobra Stockholm with Christian Gabel
Melbourne’s crust-death metal assault unit KÜNTSQUÄD has dropped their brand-new video for “Ominous”, taken from their acclaimed album Satans Cock, out now via Wormholedeath.
With blast-beaten fury and apocalyptic riffs, “Ominous” captures a world on fire—an existential nightmare where a rising zombie virus collides with the looming collapse of a ravaged, pillaged planet. The result is a sonic and visual assault as relentless as it is uncompromising.
Following their 2022 self-titled debut, which sold out multiple pressings and carved a cult following across the underground, KÜNTSQUÄD (pronounced Kountskard) double down on everything grotesque, unholy, and deliberately absurd. There are no genre walls here—only a relentless descent into sonic madness.
With the album “Satans Cock”, the band delivers a grotesque yet calculated assault—layering blast-beaten fury, apocalyptic riffs, and sneering satire into a weaponized soundscape for the damned.
About KÜNTSQUÄD:
KÜNTSQUÄD (pron. Kountskard) is a crusty death metal band from Melbourne blending guttural vocals, down-tuned riffs, and blackened chaos. Their 2022 self-titled debut on Wormholedeath Records earned global acclaim and sold-out pressings. Raw, extreme, and satirically twisted—this is metal with no genre boundaries.
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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