REDIKIN, the dynamic Dutch female-fronted groove rock band, has just unveiled the official music video for its latest single, “Am I Really.”
Delve into the raw emotion of REDIKIN’s latest single “Am I Really”—a soul-stirring reflection on grief, regret, and self-discovery. The song captures the chaos of mourning through heartfelt lyrics and a powerful groove-rock sound, from tears over forgotten memories to dancing through heartbreak.
Taken from the album “The Crux” (Wormholedeath), “Am I Really” blends introspective storytelling with REDIKIN’s signature high-energy style.
REDIKIN is a heavy rock band from The Netherlands, blending groove-driven sound with infectious rhythms. Known for their high-energy performances, they explore themes from death to baking chocolate cakes. After releasing Am I Really (2023) and The Crux (2024), the band gained traction with singles “Am I Really,” “Hungry,” and “Nailed It.” In 2025, REDIKIN signed with WormholeDeath Records to take The Crux global.
Ashes of Perishing, a Helsinki-based modern metalcore group released the single “From The Ashes” along with a lyric video. The track was released by Inverse Records.
“From The Ashes is a journey about making your way back to the light after being beaten down.” comments the band
The single reflects the band’s new direction and future production, as this is the first release with the band’s new vocalist, Oskar Solja. Stefan Pommerin of Illusia Productions has also been involved in the song’s production.
At the end of 2021, a new band emerged in Helsinki, and their name was Ashes of Perishing. With a lineup that brought together the raw energy and creative talents of five musicians, this Finnish quintet quickly set their sights on creating powerful music.
Ashes of Perishing consists of Philipp on bass, Joonas and Valtteri on guitars, Olli on drums and Oskar as the vocalist. Oskar joined the band in the summer of 2024, bringing a fresh dynamic and powerful vocal presence. United by their shared love for heavy, melodic, and emotionally charged music, Ashes of Perishing was ready to carve their path forward in the metal scene.
As they continue their journey, Ashes of Perishing look forward to conquering new stages, sharing their music with a growing fanbase, and leaving impact in the world of metalcore. With their relentless dedication and unwavering passion this band aims to set the world ablaze with their music, leaving nothing but Ashes of Perishing in their wake.
Line-up: Oskar Solja –Vocals Valtteri Limnell – Guitar & Backing Vocals Joonas Makkonen – Guitar & Backing Vocals Philipp Kashin – Bass Olli Laine – Drums
FLIGHT OF ICARUS is set to release their new album “Terra Nova” on Battlegod Productions June 13th.
Oskar and Elisabeth from Flight of Icarus, ” “Terra Nova’ is heavier and more guitar driven than our previous two. Each album has amped up the intensity just a notch, but this time it felt more natural. The pop melodies and the Icarus atmosphere is still very much present but the music is leaning more towards a metal edge, if you will. Every song brings something unique to the overall picture as we have experimented more with different styles and various sub-genres.”
Peter Kotevski, President Battlegod Productions, “Very impressed the first time I heard them, the vocals really grabbed me and the music just flowed along nicely. Great songs, awesome album and it really stands out to all other label releases due to it have a commercial sound and vibe. An enjoyable album to listen to and also fresh at the same time.”
Swedish pop metal duo Flight of Icarus originated back in 2016 when Oskar Frantzén discovered the utmost unique and beautiful singing voice coming from his wifes best friend; Elisabeth Särnefält Rösehag. What was meant to be a quick one-off single release became so much more.After years of playing in various metal bands, Oskar shifted gear to put his mind towards contemporary rock with a strong, solid splash of pop. After months of trying different singers on a new song, one voice would suddenly echo through the walls… and what a voice that was. Never would he expect that the talent needed for this one song was present right there in his very own home. Elisabeth Särnefält Rösehag, a close friend to the family, was quickly approached to record vocals on what ended up being “Dawn of a New Day”. Realising this song was something out of the ordinary, Oskar got in touch with long-time friend Oz Hawe Petersson (guitarist of Osukaru) in hopes of getting a few names of whom to contact for radio airplay. It took Oz half a listen before the duo instead was offered an all inclusive management deal with his agency Blindfoldead International MGMT. A new partnership was born. The single became a self-titled album full of powerful pop euphoria and modern day AOR nostalgia. The duo had taken the moniker of Flight of Icarus (inspired by the Iron Maiden song) and saw themselves compared to the likes of Roxette and Heart, with the pump of Meat Loaf and West End Musicals A touch of Within Temptation a nice mix with Evanescence and Battle Beast. The year was 2018 and Flight of Icarus had made everyone sure they were here to stay. In 2021 the duo released their follow-up album “Cleo” with a concept of which the world needed at the time. While everyone was isolated from each other, Flight of Icarus provided us a tale of hope and grandeur where the character of Cleo painted us a brand new world. The music was a mix of cinematic pop and upbeat heavy metal, topped with gorgeous vocals and intersonical soundscapes. An evolution well received from critics all over.Shortly after the release, the world opened up and Flight of Icarus was ready for the stage. After a successful show at Scandirock Melodic in the spring of 2022, the band proved their place for a world-wide audience. Whispers endured and people wanted more.
Tracklisting:
Icarus Rise
Terra Nova
Lost Highway
To the Sun (and Back Again)
Through Space and Time
Deus
God Bless
War Cry
Nangilima
Liberi
Flight of Icarus [Iron Maiden cover] – CD track exclusive bonus track
Line-up: Elisabeth Särnefält Rösehag: Lead & backing vocals Oskar keyboards Erik Söderman: Guitar solo on “Terra Nova” Bobby Rösehag: Additional guitar on “Terra Nova” Rickard Andersson:Duet vocals on “To the Stars (and Back Again)” Magnus Dahlin: Drums Disa Frantzén: Backing vocals
Progressive black metal duo OBSIDIAN TONGUE is now unleashing the official music video for the melodic new single, “To Forgive Oneself.” The song is taken from the band’s forthcoming opus, ‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn,’ which is due on May 30,2025 via Profound Lore Records. The video was created by Stephanie Sintra and can be found at THIS LOCATION.
The band comments, “One of the ways we conceptualized on the album title was to split the two halves of the album into two different moods: ‘Outer Scorn’ and ‘Inner Scorn,’ respectively. Projecting hate outwards vs. inwards. ‘To Forgive Oneself’ opens the ‘Inner Scorn’ half of the album, which in general is more melodic, pensive, and overtly emotional than the first half of the album. Simply stared, the song is about depression. The desperation for a resolution and the vast inner search for the elusive ability to grant yourself compassion.”
In addition, OBSIDIAN TONGUE has recently announced FRAILTY & SCORN, eight performances of black metal intensity this June alongside WOE. The trek will kick off on June 6 in Long Island City, NY and will make its way throughout the East Coast until the final stop on June 13 in Providence, RI. The tour will not only celebrate the release of OBSIDIAN TONGUE‘s upcoming studio album, but also will bring both bands back to many cities they have not visited in nearly a decade. Show pre-orders will begin soon as well as local support announcements. The full itinerary can be found below!
Comprised of multi-instrumentalist Brendan Hayter (Thrawsunblat/Obsequiae live) and drummer Raymond Capizzo (Falls Of Rauros/Panopticon live), OBSIDIAN TONGUE returned to the all-analog Mystic Valley Studio, where their first two records were made, to print their Covid-era home sessions onto two-inch tape. Mixed and mastered in the analog domain as well by Alex Garcia-Rivera, ‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn’ boasts a unique and unmistakable sonic force amidst the modern digital landscape; created with a total absence of click tracks, quantization, or sound replacement of any kind.
‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn’ can now be pre-ordered HERE.
Tracklisting: 01 – Orphaned Spiritual Warrior 02 – Snakeskin Tunnel Colony 03 – Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn [LISTEN] 04 – To Forgive Oneself [WATCH] 05 – …And Still They Dream… 06 – Theater of Smoke & Wind
OBSIDIAN TONGUE Tour Dates (Co-headlining w/ WOE):
06/06: Long Island City, NY @ El Bunker del Diablo 06/07: Milton, DE @ Brimming Horn Meadery // Party Like It’s 793 Fest 06/08: Baltimore, MD @ The Depot 06/09: Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana 06/10: Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House 06/11: Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie 06/12: Syracuse, NY @ The Jugg on Teal 06/13: Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall
Lauded as USBM’s best kept secret, Obsidian Tongue has been on a steadfast artistic journey since their formation in 2009. They’ve never failed to retain the original mission of playing raw and cathartic melodic black metal as they journeyed further into psychedelic and progressive territories with each release following 2012’s self-released debut ‘Subradiant Architecture.’ While their debut won a passionate following for its perfect union of the grimy and the epic sides of black metal, it was 2013’s ‘A Nest of Ravens in the Throat of Time’ (Hypnotic Dirge Records) and its psychedelic dark metal that established their name more into the scene and showcased their ambitious nature even more.
2015’s 15-minute single ‘The Lakeside Redemption,’ with its progressive, haunting, dreamlike and triumphant elements, set the groundwork for their third full length, which took several years of tireless effort to complete. Released in Jan of 2020, ‘Volume III’ (Bindrune Recordings) was clearly the band’s magnum opus but all plans to support the album on the road became thwarted due to the pandemic. So all there was left to do was write even more music. This gradually led to a creation of not one, but three works: the first being 2024’s much-delayed self-released digital EP ‘The Stone Heart’ and the second being their fourth full-length album ‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn’ to be released via Profound Lore Records on May 30, 2025.
In the summer of 2024, Obsidian Tongue, comprised of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Brendan Hayter (Thrawsunblat/Obsequiae live) and drummer Raymond Capizzo (Falls Of Rauros/Panopticon live) returned to the all-analog Mystic Valley Studio, where their first two records were made, to print their Covid-era home sessions onto two-inch tape. Mixed and mastered in the analog domain as well by Alex Garcia-Rivera, ‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn’ boasts a unique and unmistakable sonic force amidst the modern digital landscape; created with a total absence of click tracks, quantization, or sound replacement of any kind.
The progressive black metal journey that is ‘Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn’ takes off immediately with the wrathful sounds of “Orphaned Spiritual Warrior” and “Snakeskin Tunnel Colony,” easily the band’s two heaviest tracks to date. These flow directly into the apocalyptic title track, and onto the vulnerable and surreal sounds of “To Forgive Oneself” leading into the acoustic instrumental “…And Still They Dream.” This dream ends with the triumphant “Theater of Smoke & Wind,” a true psychedelic black metal classic that still evokes some of the original feeling found on the band’s ‘Subradiant Architecture’ debut.
Sixteen years into the band’s existence, Obsidian Tongue clearly show no signs of running out of new ways to alter their sound – song by song, album by album.
“Reqviem For The Oppressor” is the title of the new upcoming album that the Italian Thrash Metallers XENOS A.D. will release on May 23rd, 2025. Now the band has unveiled a new song from it and it is “Bleeding Hands Of Faith”.
It is available as single on digital stores and as audio track, here:
The horrors of war, which represent the concept of the entire work, are analyzed here through the theme of wars waged in the name of a God, by men who commit obscene crimes by invoking a faith that is only apparent.
Like it happens in the previous single “Dogma Of War”, their relentless, neck-breaking Thrash Metal pays homage to the genre’s golden age Gods such as Slayer, Megadeth, Kreator, Exodus and Testament as well as some of the melody and progressive tendencies of Metal Church and Death Angel.
XENOS A.D. is a mandatory listening for fans of Thrash Metal who can rejoice in yet another band proudly flying their Metal flag. Now, all you have to do, is experience the raw power of the fury of XENOS A.D.
After almost a decade of soul searching through the Canadian wilderness, once again, Anciients have reached the summit of progressive metal. The heavy, heady and heartfelt Canucks just won their second Canadian Grammy for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year. Now, sage frontman Kenny Cook, steadily pummeling drummer Mike Hannay and new axemen Brock MacInnes and Rory O’Brien are finally returning the States to bask in the prog metal glory of Beyond the Reach of the Sun.
It’s been a long time coming”, Cook says, “which makes it that much more special to announce that we will finally be returning to the USA for a run of shows this summer/fall. We’ve got a handful of killer bands joining us on select dates, to get us to and from the ProgPower fest in Atlanta. We look forward seeing our American fans out on the road!
Anciients will hit the United States this fall. Amidst their blazing month-long run across the West Coast and Southwest, the band will make two stops on the East Coast, including at ProgPower USA. Along the way, they’ll be joined by blackened progressive metal luminaries Dawn of Ouroboros, California sludge metal palm readers Armed for Apocalypse, Seattle seismic heavies Nott and progressive death metal hijackers Exist.
Quest Beyond Our Minds 2025 U.S. Tour: August 27 – Seattle, WA @ Substation August 28 – Portland, OR @ Dante’s August 29 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder August 30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon August 31 – Colorado Springs, CO @ What’s Left Records September 2 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street September 4 – Atlanta, GA @ ProgPower USA September 5 – Gastonia, NC @ The Rooster September 6 – New Orleans, LA @ No Dice September 7 – Austin, TX @ Come And Take It September 8 – Houston, TX @ Pub 529 September 9 – Dallas, TX @ TX Tea Room September 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Underground September 12 – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick September 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Knucklehead September 14 – San Franisco, CA @ Thee Parkside September 16 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonel September 17 – Reno, NV @ The Cellar September 18 – Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s September 19 – Richland, WA @ Ray’s Golden Lion September 20 – Bellingham, WA,@ The Shakedown
Beyond the Reach of the Sun is available now on Season of Mist.
Tracklist: 1. Forbidden Sanctuary (8:16) 2. Despoiled (5:19) 3. Is It Your God (7:07) 4. Melt the Crown (7:08) [WATCH] 5. Cloak of the Vast and Black (6:20) [WATCH] 6. Celestial Tyrant (5:52) 7.Beyond Our Minds (4:12) 8. The Torch (4:13) 9. Candescence (4:10) 10. In the Absence of Wisdom (6:35) [WATCH] Full runtime: 58:41
It’s been a rough handful of years for British Columbia-based extremity-laced progressive rockers, Anciients. When the quartet unleashed their Voice of the Void album in 2016, the world appeared to be their oyster and things seemed ripe for the picking. They were coming off the success of their Heart of Oak debut from 2013, its ascendancy due in large part to a collective uptick in interest for involved, forward-thinking music. The public had moved beyond toe-dipping and tire-kicking, and were instead doing headfirst dives into exploring the likes of Opeth, Mastodon, Baroness, The Ocean, Intronaut and others who originally hailed from the extreme music underground, but had since grown, matured and scrubbed behind their ears to include heaping and healthy chunks from the outskirts of their record collections and influence pools.
The Band That Auto-Correct Loves to Fuck With™ shared stages with everyone from High on Fire and Goatwhore to Boris and Lamb of God, were in the midst of a European tour when they discovered they were JUNO Award (Canadian Grammy equivalent) winners in the heavy metal/hard rock category. The world was ready to accept Anciients into its welcoming arms. Anciients was gearing up to employ takeover methods, specifically their brand of thunderous rhythms and labyrinthine riffing bolstered by a road warrior mentality. And then, the momentum petered out and the band seemingly fell off the face of the earth.
Today, Anciients are ready and poised to resume their spirited quest for heavy metal paramountcy. There’s no doubt the band is back and with a stunning and beautiful collection of ten songs on offer in the form of new and third album, Beyond the Reach of the Sun, they are positioning to reestablish themselves as a dominant force for those who love windmilling their tresses around thoughtful tempo changes, complex harmonic layers and driving power chord shifting. But what the hell happened and where did they disappear to?
“Basically,” explains guitarist/vocalist Kenny Cook, “right before Voice of the Void was recorded, my wife had our first kid. She ended up having heart complications and almost passed away from it. We recorded the last record and once it came out, I was kind of just focusing on her, dealing with her health issues and keeping that in check. I wasn’t at the stage where I could be gone for half a year, especially with a new kid. Long story short, she’s happy and healthy now, but dealing with family issues was the main priority. It was a bit of a road.”
Adding to that bit of Anciients camp turmoil, guitarist/co-vocalist/co-founding member, Chris Dyck and the band parted ways in January of 2017. This left a gaping lineup hole at an inopportune juncture in the band’s timeline. Not only did Cook have to deal with the absence of his long-term song and lyric writing partner, but Dyck was also someone he had been splitting vocal duties with since the pair formed the band in 2009. And then, while helping his wife with her recovery, raising their new born and “because we wanted to raise our son in a small town environment,” the Cook family uprooted to Columbia-Shuswap four hours east of the Vancouver area, where drummer Mike Hannay, Brock MacInnes (Dyck’s replacement) and brand spanking new bassist Rory O’Brien still reside.
“We knew Brock from other bands he’d been in and we knew he’d be a great fit,” explains Cook. “He actually filled in for Chris on a tour we did back in 2015. As far as the vocals, I just found myself picking up the slack on both ends. It felt somewhat natural, it was definitely different. Doing the lyrics myself for the first time was somewhat daunting, but it was also something done out of necessity. But even when Chris was in the band I handled 80-90% of the vocals anyway, so it didn’t change all that much.”
Then, that whole COVID-19 thing you probably heard about once or twice hit in 2020 and put another restraining bolt on Anciients’ activity, especially touring as the Canadians found themselves dealing with stricter travel restrictions and mandates than many other countries; most notably, not being able to cross the border for almost two years. Once the dust settled, Cook had to adjust to being the lone vocalist and how that impacted the material he was writing while navigating being creative with distance between Anciients’ members for the first time. Not a biggie, as in-person writing sessions are more of a rarity these days, but because of the time elapsed since Voices of the Void, things/interests/influences changed and the band ended up scrapping half of an album’s worth of material and starting fresh. When they put their heads down at the end of 2021 with the focus being Beyond the Reach of the Sun, what was revealed a year later was more streamlined and slithery, more chest-thumpingly direct, more epic and triumphant sounding. Riffs come in explosive layered packets. Leads, harmonies and melodies are more on par with wind-tussled mountain tops instead of sweaty bar shows and the band moves with finely honed, martial accuracy as conducted by Hannay’s rocket-in-the-pocket staccato swing and accents.
Songs like “The Torch” blaze with the shirtless glisten of ‘70s stadium rock power. “Cloak of the Vast and Black” swirls and whirls with a combination of hardcore intensity, grunge groove and expansive six-string parries. “In the Absence of Wisdom” is a hurricane-sized maelstrom of classic and prog rock elevated to grandiosity by a return to their growling sludge/death early years as the song/album concludes. The album’s first single, “Melt the Crown” mixes cues from legendary fellow hosers Rush and Harlequin, turn-of-the-millennium post-metal and the most psychedelic corners of the Rise Above Records roster.
“The new record has a lot more of our rock side,” Cook offers, “and leans towards those elements of our sound and personalities, whereas Voice of the Void was pretty crushing all the way through. With the new material we’ve tried to add more dynamics to the music and give the songs more room to breathe.”
Album opener “Forbidden Sanctuary” is the soundtrack to exploration, of new worlds and sonic arrangement as sine-wave guitars pull from vintage Mercyful Fate covens and Krautrock communes with synths opening up novel textural avenues, as they do on the ethereal wispiness and space rock/sci-fi soundscapes of the instrumental “Candescence.” Beyond the Reach of the Sun sees synths and keyboards making their first appearance on an Anciients record and were played by producer/mixer Jesse Gander and Justin Hagberg at the former’s Rain City Recorders studio. In addition to augmenting the album with his skill on the black and whites, Hagberg — a member of the recently reunited 3 Inches of Blood — also helped Anciients navigate a significant last-minute hurdle, one that threatened to pull the reins back on their comeback roar.
“We lost our bass player literally a month before we were going in to record and were kind of up shit’s creek. Justin also plays in a band called Ritual Dictates with Rory and is the one who brought his name up.”
O’Brien, a former member of Vancouver’s Bushwhacker, was absolutely interested when approached by Anciients.
“We got lucky and he saved our asses at the last minute.”
Cook stepped up to the challenge of being the sole lyricist to drape Beyond the Reach of the Sun in deeply personal expressions of the inner turmoil, fear and isolation he’d experienced in himself and saw in others over the past few years. There were moments where he didn’t know whether loved ones were going to pull through and what life was going to look like were tragedy come to pass. Mental health and people living life without being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel became a very prevalent theme to tracks like “Despoiled” and “Beyond Our Minds.” And while the line that became the album’s title is taken from a David Attenborough-narrated Planet Earth documentary, it speaks more to the coming and going of despondency when one doesn’t know how dark the darkness is going to get, as in “Is It Your God,” which pulls from the manifestation of grief and how it can shatter belief systems.
“That one is a little more personal to me and my situation,” Cook says somberly. “I had a good friend of mine from when I was younger pass away from cancer. His mother was super-religious and there were ideas taken from her questioning how could something like that happen to her when she had such a strong faith.”
The title and themes of stripped away hope and piled on anguish and tumult were parlayed into the album’s spectacular cover art. Created by Adam Burke (Nightjar Illustrations), the drawing is part-pulp novel cover, part-Franzetta landscape, part-sci-fi movie poster and all a vast illustration one can easily lose themselves in while the record spins in the background.
“We gave him the concept and basic outline of how we wanted the cover to look and he took it to a whole new dimension. It turned out pretty wild!”
With all being said and done, Anciients have returned! They stand ready to ascend the prog metal ladder and get back to doing what they do best with a weighty and dense, but wholly accessible, album. It’s a collection of ten songs that possesses the ability to have those furiously banging heads also tapping into their power of self-reflection and contemplation to ponder the finality of existence, the value of life and their place in the universe.
“Totally! We’re going to take as many of the opportunities that come to us. The hiatus is over and I think with the new members and everyone being on the same page we’re ready to get out there as soon as possible. We missed out on a huge block after the last record, so we’ve got to make up for lost time. Now that everyone is happy and healthy, we plan to hit it hard.”
Guest Musicians: Justin Hagberg plays keyboard on “Forbidden Sanctuary”, “Is It Your God”, “Melt the Crown”, “Candescence”, “In the Absence of Wisdom”.
Jess Gander plays synths on “Candescence” and “Cloak of the Vast and Black”.
Recording Studio: Rain City Recorders
Producer / Sound Engineer: Jesse Gander Assisted by Szymon Wojciech
Mastering Studio & Engineer: Stu McKillop @ Rain City Mastering
Mixing Studio & Engineer: Jesse Gander Rain City Recorders
Cover Artwork Artist: Adam Burke @ Nightjar Illustrations
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
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 