Hellfest have announced their complete line-up for their 15th anniversary extended XXL edition! The festival will take place from June 17 until June 26, 2022 and sees more than 350 bands perform on 6 stages! More info & ticket information can be found HERE.
Several bands on the Season of Mist roster have been chosen to perform at this edition of the prestigious festival in Clisson, France. We congratulate the following bands with their additions:
Hellfest part 1 (June 17-19) ABBATH GAAHLS WYRD NECROWRETCH NUMENOREAN REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER* ROTTING CHRIST SETH THE GREAT OLD ONES VREID
Hellfest part 2 (June 23-26) AUTARKH BENIGHTED CARNATION GAEREA HEILUNG MOLASSESS NERO DI MARTE VLTIMAS
*RLHT will also perform a special show with Hangman’s Chair during Hellfest part 2
Season of Mist is proud to announce the additions of a few more of our distinct and visionary artists whom have been chosen and announced to perform at the 2021 ‘Redux’ edition of the prestigious and unique Roadburn Festival. We congratulate NERO DI MARTE who have been selected for the already mind blowing digital event that will occur on April 16-18.
Besides these live performances, REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER, OBSIDIAN KINGDOM and THE DEVIL’s TRADE will premiere their exclusive pre-recorded live shows and there will also be an exclusive track premiere from the upcoming THY CATAFALQUE album! EMPTINESS and AUTARKH have also previously been revealed as part of the phenomenal lineup. Stay tuned for more updates and time-tables.
Roadburn 2021 will be taking place in an unfamiliar format – but it will still retain the hallmarks of what makes the usual editions a must-attend event for fans of heavy music around the globe. Roadburn Redux will feature exclusive performances live at the 013 venue which will be broadcast around the world via the Roadburn purpose-built platform which includes a real-time live blog. In between those shows will be a whole programme of premieres and special performances as we continue to highlight the most innovative and engaging artists in the Roadburn universe.
Season of Mist is honored to announce a partnership with Haulix to create a mini-season of HIGH NOTES, the critically-acclaimed and first of its kind podcast about addiction and recovery in the music industry. The new episodes will debut in March on all streaming platforms. Listen and subscribe at THIS LOCATION.
The upcoming mino-series will feature personal interviews with SÓLSTAFIR frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, NUMENOREAN guitarist Roger LeBlanc, and Flying Fox Management founder Erin Lynch, who has been a long time partner and friend of the label.
“We at Season of Mist are extremely thankful for the meaningful work that James and Haulix are doing with High Notes,” says Katy Irizarry, North American Publicist for Season of Mist. “We are so proud of our artists and friends of the label who came together to share their addiction and recovery stories, a feat that requires much courage as there is still a dark stigma attached to this often misunderstood illness. We hope to help erase that stigma and, more importantly, that these stories will help those who are struggling to know they are not alone and that recovery is possible.”
Hosted by Haulix’s Director of Customer Engagement, James Shotwell, HIGH NOTES features exclusive, in-depth conversations with rock and alternative musicians in various recovery stages. Guests from the first two seasons include Shannon Larkin of Godsmack, Brian “Head” Welch of KoRn, Craig Mabbitt of Escape The Fate, Eric Christopher of Hospital Bracelet, Clint Lowery of Sevendust, Amanda Lyberg of Eva Under Fire, Donovan Melero of Hail The Sun, Bert McCracken of The Used, Anthony Green of Circa Survive, and more. Each episode delves into a different guest’s journey to sobriety and the role the music business played in helping (or hurting) their recovery.
“At Haulix, in addition to taking care of our customers, we take pride in using our industry reach to educate and shine a light on topics less heard about, like addiction and recovery,” says company founder and CEO Matt Brown. “Our High Notes series lets us tap into real-world experiences spoken by the artists themselves.”
Besides sharing new episodes, HIGH NOTES is also debuting a new logo for use exclusively in their partnership with Season Of Mist. The logo is the craftsmanship of designer Nick Ferran, who created all promotional art for the series.
Seasons 1 and 2 of HIGH NOTES are available now on all streaming platforms. The show is produced by Landon Defever, with additional help from programming consultant Laura Haggard. The show’s theme music is from the band You, Me, And Everyone We Know. Listen HERE.
Since their incarnation in 1988, the Lovecraftian inspired pioneer of blackened death metal, NECRONOMICON, has certainly established itself as one of the hardest working bands in the industry. Founded by composer, guitarist and frontman Rob The Witch in Quebec Province, Canada and following an early demo and EP, the band released its first full length album “Pharaoh Of Gods” in 1999.
A steady release of five further albums and a high level of commitment to touring and performing on stage has been a constant in the life of NECRONOMICON, all the while establishing an ever growing fan base around the globe. Changes in line up and other issues haven’t been a deterrent for the charismatic Witch King, resulting in the sixth brutally dark album “Unus” being unleashed in October 2019, via Season Of Mist Records.
Alison recently caught up with Rob The Witch for her Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show on UK station TotalRock. The whole show can be heard on Mixcloud at this location, but the audio interview (split into two parts for radio) can be listened to below. Many topics were discussed with the eloquent frontman, from the worldwide pandemic to Dean guitars and more in between! Check out a few excerpts from the chat, followed by the audio:
Discussing touring, Rob stated:
“Touring is what I like the most, it’s being on the road – I don’t get enough of that. I did like around twelve hundred shows in my career, I lost count, I know it’s over a thousand. It’s just doing my music you know – recording albums, going on tour and just rocking the stage you know. That’s just what I want to do. When I started Necronomicon, I was seventeen, now I’m almost fifty, I never stop. As long as I play my music, I’m happy, I’m satisfied with that.”
Regarding the Coronavirus pandemic and getting back to touring in 2021, Rob expressed:
“Really, really not easy, that’s one thing. I think that pretty much any artist that does this mostly for a living will feel the impact pretty well. When you’re going on full tours like months at a time and spend many, many, many, many hours you know practice by yourself, but I mean like many hours per week – days per week literally practising with your band, you have situations like that coming out of nowhere in a way, it’s pretty challenging actually. For example, our drummer is stuck in California, can’t come to practice and it’s been months, so it’s really not easy.
Of course we’re trying to see what we can do now. Nothing is certain at this point how it’s going, it’s totally out of control, especially in the U.S. I mean in Canada we’re doing really good, they responded really quick, I don’t know how it is in Europe. I really don’t know how we’re going to do that, because when we finished the U.S. tour we were already planning to go in Europe and something happened and we had to pull out. And that tour started without us and the tour went to hell because Covid started. So, at first I wasn’t really happy because we had to pull out of the tour, then I realised after it was almost a blessing. These bands that were on tour in Europe were in a really shitty situation because of that. They’re having some major financial problems due to what happened there. If we’d been on that tour it would’ve really fucked us, really in a bad way. So, the fact that we’d been forced to pull out of that tour and not going, saved our ass in a way. That’s the irony of that.”
On videos and being creative, Rob had lots to say:
“I don’t wanna bash any of my friends or other bands – there’s a lot of bands I respect musically and stuff like that. But if you have to shoot your band in an abandoned warehouse, stay home come on, I mean be more creative. It’s supposed to be art. I don’t get the people going on stage with their flip flops and Cannibal Corpse shirts, even their glasses. Even fucking Judas Priest, they go on stage with outfits and stage clothes. Even Metallica, ok they don’t have armour and stuff like that – but if you see James Hetfield or Kirk Hammett in the street, they’re not dressed like they’re dressed on stage, it’s totally different. Music is art, so why don’t you do it properly you know?
When you go to see a show, you need to see something, you need to have a visual of it. I’m going to take a band that’s really shitty music to me right now – that’s Ghost, I really don’t like what they’re doing. The first album was really good, I really liked it, the rest – ugh! But they would never have succeeded if they didn’t have the image. The same for Slipknot and the same for Dimmu Borgir or any bands that had success with that, it’s a part of the game. You sell a product and the image of a band is fifty percent of the job, if not more.”
If you’re lucky, you can see the uncensored video of ‘The Thousand Masks’ – unfortunately some countries have blocked it:
Canadian blackened death metal horde NECRONOMICON released their latest album “Unus” back in October 2019, via Season Of Mist. Due to the current pandemic situation, the band who normally have a busy touring schedule, obviously can’t get out on the road and perform for fans at the moment.
So, due to popular demand, the individual members have been recording playthroughs of various tracks from “Unus”. This time, it it is the turn of NECRONOMICON founder, composer and frontman – The Witch King himself! Check out the epic video of Rob the Witch playing ‘Vox Draconis’:
Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s legendary grimoire, NECRONOMICON formed in 1988 by founding guitarist and singer Rob The Witch in the deep, northern part of Canadian province Quebec, Fjord of Saguenay. Since then, the band have carefully released each full-length album without haste, allowing them to perfect every nuance before unleashing their sonic assaults upon the masses. In 2019, NECRONOMICON was presented with a certificate of honour for over 30 years of service via H.S. production/Tommy Tremblay, and the people of Saguenay Lac St Jean, making them the second band after VOIVOD to ever receive this honour.
Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of the Belgian experimental death and black metal band EMPTINESS. The band will release their next full-length worldwide next year.
Regarding the signing, EMPTINESS comment: “We are currently working on the follow-up to ‘Nothing But The Whole’, for which our aim is to release it in late 2016 on our new label Season of Mist. We also would like to thank Dark Descent for supporting us in our decision and for helping to spread the seeds of the void. Important news will follow in due time.”
Founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1998, EMPTINESS have since maintained a vision to explore darkness and horror, while taking musical inspiration from the extreme aspects of black and death metal, approaching these in a truly unique experimental way. The band have since created waves in the underground, and a cult following, after the release of 4 well-received lengths, the latest of which have earned the band several “best of the year” mentions.
EMPTINESS prefer to express their biography in their own words:
“Think having, think defending your turf, but once asleep I will dance on your bones. So go and hope boy… Go mash the roots of knowledge… Nothing really matters when you are nothing, nothing but the whole. But we know what lies behind the curtain; all is known but no one knows… These are the melting words, the tale of a burning man, the concrete and the anti-life. It’s so easy to open yourself and control hazard. Think those corpses are just alive for a little while, let them dance and love each other. And all will be blurring because all is not, each step tightening the knot more. The liquid and the light, as a start and an end. Between the two, being a flaccid stone. Breaking out of the egg, prison from the past. The past is death, so let’s get fried by the future. Escape with me, let’s get drowned in the lowland. There, sleeps the answer for all life and death. And remember, meaning is a liar, questions and answers never meet.”
Alison recently caught up with Rob The Witch for her 
On videos and being creative, Rob had lots to say:
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 