Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

CRYSTAL TEARS Sign with Sliptrick Records for Release of New Album “Athanato” & Two Singles Out Now

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 6, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: Crystal Tears. Leave a comment

Cover Artwork by: Nick Markogiannakis (www.zila.gr)

Greek heavy metal titans CRYSTAL TEARS are thrilled to announce their worldwide signing with Sliptrick Records, alongside the release of two electrifying singles and their brand new album “Athanato”.

Delivering their signature fusion of heavy metal and melodic death metal, Crystal Tears have built a formidable legacy with past releases such as Hellmade and Decadence Deluxe. With the release of Athanato, the band enters a new era of sonic power and emotional depth.

The band introduces this new era with the release of two singles: “Bloodstorm”, a track defined by its sharpened edge and metal precision, and “Naked”, which dives into powerful emotional territory with intricate melodies and soaring vocals. Both tracks are available now on major streaming platforms.

“Athanato” brings together the best of both worlds: raw heavy metal energy and polished, cutting-edge production. Mixed and mastered in London by renowned producer Matt Hyde (Slipknot, Machine Head, Trivium, Kreator), the album boasts a dynamic sound that captures both brutality and beauty in equal measure.

“Working with Crystal Tears on their album has been such a great project for me to be part of. I was immediately struck by how professional the band are and from the outset they were very clear on their musical vision for how the record should sound which really helped me with the direction of the mix. Together I believe we have created something great that I hope gets this fantastic band the recognition they deserve.” — Matt Hyde, London UK

The album includes high-caliber guest appearances, featuring a blistering solo by Mike Wead (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate) and the hauntingly beautiful vocals of Helena Josefsson (Roxette, Per Gessle).

Tracklist:
01. Athanato
02. Bloodstorm
03. Naked
04. All Sins Remembered
05. Crawl Into Your Grave
06. Ghostdance
07. Ov Flesh And Pain
08. Nosi Balasi
09. Eros And Psyche
10. Chaos Thy Name
11. You Could Be Mine (Guns N’ Roses cover)

Release Format: Digital | CD | Vinyl LP

Follow Crystal Tears:
Facebook: facebook.com/crystaltearsband
Instagram: @crystaltearsband
YouTube: youtube.com/crystaltearsband
Spotify: Crystal Tears
Apple Music: Crystal Tears

RIMMAR Celebrates Release of Debut Album “Raises” with Video for ‘Mighty Messenger’ Ft. Fabio Lione

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 6, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: RIMMAR. Leave a comment

RIMMAR, the audacious solo project of Italian guitarist and producer Marco Rinaldi, has officially dropped its long-awaited debut album “Raises”—now streaming worldwide on all major platforms.

Blending the raw power of industrial and progressive metal with melodic finesse, “Raises” is an atmospheric ride through epic soundscapes, haunting vocals, and virtuosic guitar work. The release is accompanied by a brand-new music video for the single “Mighty Messenger”, featuring a spectacular vocal performance by symphonic metal icon Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire, Angra).

Filmed with cinematic flair, “Mighty Messenger” explores themes of destiny and defiance, fusing Lione’s soaring vocals with Rinaldi’s thunderous instrumentation. The video’s dystopian visuals echo the album’s concept of personal evolution and universal struggle.

Rimmar is not a conventional band but a one-man artistic endeavor shaped entirely by Marco Rinaldi. His creative process begins with a riff or rhythm, eventually evolving into fully orchestrated arrangements through the use of synths, pads, and layered textures. His lyrics draw inspiration from readings, philosophical thought, and vivid dreams, always serving the music rather than leading it. As Rinaldi says, “The word is a servant of music in my case.”

The album “Raises” features a cast of exceptional guest performers from the Italian metal scene. Among them, Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire, Angra) appears on two tracks (“Mighty Messenger” and “Vortex”), along with Kyo Calati (MindAheaD), Marco Andreotti (Imagine Dragons tribute), Mattia Fagiolo (White Thunder, Dragonhammer) and Alessandro Cola (Eldritch)—each lending their voice and energy to the project.

On stage, Rimmar becomes a full live band composed of experienced musicians from the Italian scene, delivering performances that merge metal’s impact with the visual and rhythmic elements of electronic dance.

Whether you’re into the genre-defying swagger of Devin Townsend or the mechanized punch of Rammstein, “Raises” deserves a front-row spot in your playlist.

Digital Album – https://lnk.to/LSOElQT4
CD Album – https://rockshots.eu/products/rimmar-raises

Music Video – “Planet Mars” – https://youtu.be/O2JwJ8UtSO4
Visualizer – “Unreal” – https://youtu.be/KxbLQZ3guNU

Track Listing:
1. Unreal (feat. Mattia Fagiolo)
2. Mighty Messenger (feat. Fabio Lione)
3. These Ruins (feat. Marco Bertuccelli)
4. 8th Sin (feat. Marco Andreotti)
5. Planet Mars (feat. Mattia Fagiolo)
6. Vortex (feat. Fabio Lione)
7. Queen of the Gold (feat. Marco Bertuccelli)
8. Cruel Summer (feat. Kyo Elisa Proietti)
9. Raises

Rimmar Line Up:
Marco Rinaldi: Guitars
Tommy Pellegrini: Rhythm Guitars
Marco Moretti: Drums
Alessandro Cola: Bass Guitar

More Info:

TUOMAS ROUNAKARI Shares Tour Recap from Beginning the Quest European Tour with YASUHARU TAKANASHI’s Far East Groove

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 6, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: Far East Groove, TUOMAS ROUNAKARI, YASUHARU TAKANASHI. Leave a comment

Renowned Finnish violinist, composer, and ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI—fresh from the successful European Beginning the Quest tour with YASUHARU TAKANASHI’s Far East Groove—has issued the following tour recap:

“Beginning the Quest tour with Yasuharu Takanashi’s Far East Groove ended in jubilant way at the Milano Legend Club. The colorful audience was enthusiastically singing along throughout the set to these songs that define many anime series, especially Naruto and Fairy Tail.
This was the most joyous tour of my life so far! In Milano we just could not get enough, and played 4 encores, while the audience joined to sing along even louder, hearing Naruto main theme once again!
This band has an incredibly uplifting energy and eventhough the tour was too short, a strong bond was formed between us.
This was truly just a beginning! Great plans are ahead of us and we can’t wait to reunite for more!!”

Photo credits: Kazuki Takanashi & Vicente Zurita

The “Far East Groove – Beginning the Quest Tour” featured music from beloved anime series like Naruto and Fairy Tail, as well as other surprises, performed by an all-star lineup of musicians.

Far East Groove Tour Lineup:

🎹 Yasuharu Takanashi – Keyboards
🎸 Nozomu Wakai – Guitar
🎻 Tuomas Rounakari – Fiddle
🎸 Jesper Anastasiadis – Bass
🥁 Tino Jäntti – Drums

Tour Dates & Venues:

June 24 – Helsinki (FI) – On The Rocks
June 26 – Cartagena (ES) – Rock Imperium Festival
June 28 – Milano (IT) – Legend Club

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On January 26th 2024, at the Sibeliustalo in Finland, TUOMAS ROUNAKARI and YASUHARU TAKANASHI came together for a groundbreaking concert, ‘Epic East Meets Northern Beasts’. This sold-out event captivated audiences with its breathtaking performances, and the footage is now available for your viewing pleasure.

In case you missed it, dive into this mesmerizing musical journey, with video courtesy of Yasuharu Takanashi: https://www.facebook.com/100005974353144/videos/1142301077141918

The concert featured the lineup of skilled artists:

Yasuharu Takanashi – Keyboards and others
Tuomas Rounakari (Korpiklaani) – Violin
Toni Porthén (ex-Värttinä) – Drums
Jesper Anastasiadis (Turisas) – Bass
Ossi Maristo (Battle Beast tour member) – Guitar
Iivo Kaipainen (Arion) – Guitar

TUOMAS ROUNAKARI released his acclaimed solo album “Bear Awakener” on April 14th 2022! Still available at https://rounakari.bandcamp.com + https://www.recordshopx.com/artist/rounakari_tuomas/bear_awakener/

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TUOMAS ROUNAKARI is an internationally acclaimed violinist, composer and ethnomusicologist from Finland. He is a one-man-band blending violin, vocals and stomping with ankle-bells. In his performance he enters various trance-states. In this album he will also be playing a traditional Khanty instrument called Ning-juh.

Tuomas is inspired by different forms of dialogue; man and nature, the seen and the unseen world, ancient and future. His first solo album Shamanviolin was a result of ethnomusicological studies of the earliest 20th century wax-cylinder recordings from Siberia. These studies have also led to many collaborations with indigenous artists. He is one of the few artists who have actually returned their art to native communities for evaluation and development.

Tuomas Rounakari solo performance has been selected to: World Cultures Festival in Hong Kong (2019), Arctic Arts Summit (2019), Nordiskt Ljus Festival in Sweden (2022), Festspillene Helgeland in Norway (2021), Nuuk Nordik Festival in Greenland, Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in Finland (2018, 2013, 2012), Helsingin Juhlaviikot and many others. He has also played the solo performance in several theaters such as Finnish National Theater in Helsinki, Merlin Szinhas Teater in Budapest, AlfredVeDvore in Prague, Ashurst Hall in Flagstaff USA among others.

Also watch
-Tuomas’ performance video, a throwback to Tokyo 2017, from the materials of ‘Live in Japan’ documentary by Kimmo Kuusniemi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g718diJlW1s
-‘Farewell of Kamas People’ – https://youtu.be/oV16Qipd0MQ
-‘Langetus’ – https://youtu.be/HVsU7PTqqHY

More information at
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI: http://www.rounakari.com | http://www.facebook.com/shamanviolin | https://rounakari.bandcamp.com
MANAGEMENT: https://www.facebook.com/SplitScreenManagement | http://www.splitscreenproduction.com

SOULS OF DIOTIMA Announce Guitarist Fabio Puddu on Vocals with Claudia Barsi

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 6, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: Souls Of Diotima. Leave a comment

Italian SOULS OF DIOTIMA have announced a few more details about the next album, and it is no small detail. Fabio Puddu, already the band’s guitarist, will from the next album become the band’s vocalist together with the band’s front woman Claudia Barsi.

“This detail could perhaps give us some more idea of the new artistic mood taken by the band, which, as Claudia Barsi herself has already revealed in a previous press release, will be a completely new direction compared to the past. Recall that the band will enter Studio Bohus in Sweden this summer with their producer Oscar Nilsson for the production of the new album. We look forward to more details!”

Please find more information at https://linktr.ee/soulsofdiotimaofficial

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In 2024, SOULS OF DIOTIMA released their stand-alone single for Phil Collins’ ‘Another Day In Paradise’, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their artistic career!

THE BRAINS Release Video for Title Track of New Album “Crazy Monster”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 5, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: THE BRAINS. Leave a comment

It seems like forever, but it really isn’t… forever, that is, since word first started percolating about a new album from THE BRAINS.

How it was one of the loudest, loosest and, therefore, loveliest records they’ve ever made. How the turbulent trio of Rene De La Muerte, drummer txernobilly and bassist Bruno Malo aren’t simply storming the barricades, they’re building new ones simply so they can knock ‘em down again.

In other words, it’s classic Brains meet modern horrors, all incendiary guitar riffs, heart attack percussion, batshit bass and the most gorgeously ghoulish punk rock attitude! Two singles have already set the scene for the main course, “Evil” and “Feel No Pain.” Now prepare yourself for “Darkness,” “Candy Apple Red,” and the rest of this 12 song horror show, because if you don’t pick it up yourself, it’ll probably reach in and grab you instead.

And if you don’t believe us, catch the graveyard garage fury of The Brains’ new video, crushing the new album’s “Crazy Monsters” title track with spooky contact lenses, glamorous companions, and a quick march through one of London’s most atmospheric cemeteries, the Highgate, north London resting place of Karl Marx, Malcolm McLaren, Douglas Adams and more.

Plus, of course, the lair of the legendary Highgate Vampire.

Not to mention Professor David Edward Hughes, the late Victorian inventor of the telephone microphone, and the man who discovered wireless waves years before Marconi grabbed all the credit. The good professor’s ornate family vault is one of the many hidden treasures of the cemetery, and it is truly a costar in the “Crazy Monsters” video.

“Highgate Cemetery captivated the intro and outro with its beautiful esthetics, and great history,” says Rene. “The other scene was filmed in a reputable dungeon in London, as well.

“We also ended up having the luck to snap the album cover during the filming by none other than the great photographer David Hindley.”

It’s a glorious video, stygian glamor in a vivacious void, with the band (and friends) clinging like ivy to thunderous rhythms, dementoid riffola and a melody that digs so deep inside your mind that who knows what will crawl out of there.

Who’s the crazy monster now?

Orders:
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=the+brains+crazy+monster
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/thebrains_crazymonster

MELANIE Gets The Bootleg She Dreamed Of – 50 Years On

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 5, 2025

Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: Melanie. Leave a comment

Melanie at Crystal Palace, 1972. Photo Barry Plummer

A lot of artists complain bitterly when they find their music being bootlegged – think of that famous footage (available on YouTube) of Neil Young walking into a Hollywood record store in 1971, to discover an unauthorized live album sitting on the shelves!

Melanie felt the same way. The latter part of her career was positively plagued by fans trading, selling and posting online her unreleased out-takes and live shows, a flood that ultimately led her to authorize the wholesale emptying of her archive by Cleopatra Records for a marathon series of releases and bonus track-stacked reissues. Check them out here: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=Melanie&options%5Bprefix%5D=last

But she also regretted never having been “properly” bootlegged – that is, having a concert pressed on vinyl, slipped into a plain white sleeve with photocopied art gummed to the front, given a bizarre title, and sold through the underground network of mon-and-pop stores that once proliferated.

So we did it for her.

From The Banks of the River Effra – Crystal Palace 1972 was recorded at the Crystal Palace Garden Party in London, and is released today resplendent with its own bootleg-style art insert, white label and a suitably obscure title – the River Effra is one of London’s so-called “lost rivers,” flowing through the area now occupied by the Crystal Palace site.

The gig was a truly heavyweight occasion. Melanie was a festival veteran by now; Woodstock in 1969 was followed by the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970, Glastonbury Fayre and the Montreux Jazz Festival (also available from Cleopatra Records) in 1971, and many more.

Crystal Palace itself was a veritable Woodstock reunion. Staged on June 3, 1972, Melanie headlined a bill that also featured Joe Cocker, Richie Havens and Sha Na Na, alongside the Beach Boys.

Unfortunately, the day didn’t really live up to its billing. It rained for most of the afternoon, the PA was problematic, and delays plagued the show – including a 90 minute wait for the Beach Boys. By the time Keith Moon and Legs Larry Smith introduced Melanie (who flew in specifically to play the show), even the rain-soaked faithful were grumbling.

But 16,000 people welcomed her all the same; and, by the time her set was over, maybe… just maybe… they’d forgotten how miserable the rest of the day had been.

The album does not feature the complete performance. Although the entire festival was filmed, and excerpts (including three Melanie songs) were broadcast on US TV the following month, the whereabouts of the footage today is unknown.

At some point, however, an edit of the event seems to have been made, leaking out on a bootleg cassette a couple of years later, and then vanishing from view. From The Banks of the River Effra – Crystal Palace 1972 is its first ever official release, and while the fidelity – like the artwork – could be described as bootleg quality, it is nevertheless a powerful, and joyous performance.

Track Listing