Virtuoso mega mind Devin Townsend has released a fantastic lyric video for amazing and inspiring track “Offer Your Light” from recent DTP album Transcendence. May cause head banging yet also staring hopefully at the horizon wondering how to make the most of your life and conquer your demons. Contact your doctor right away if you experience painful urination. That is totally unrelated to how rad this jam is.
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ORPHANED LAND are excited to reveal plans for a headlining North American tour later this fall following their featured performance at the prestigious ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, GA on September 6. The tour will feature support from Swedish industrial metal outfit PAIN and Chinese metallists’ Voodoo Kungfu on select dates. See the above tour admat or find full dates listed at the bottom of this page. Tickets are on sale now!
Vocalist and founding member Kobi Farhi comments, “After 6 years of absence we are thrilled to be back and tour North America! We’ve missed all our fans all over the States and can’t wait to rock you all. Let’s all get ready for some Oriental Metal party!”
ORPHANED LAND recently celebrated their 25th year anniversary with a digital compilation featuring special versions of some of their most popular songs and previously unreleased material titled, “Orphaned Land & Friends”.
Stream and download the album now HERE.
Tour dates BELOW.
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Indiana progressive metallers The Contortionist have released a music video for their song “Reimagined.”
The video for “Reimagined” is the first music video off of the band’s forthcoming full-length album Clairvoyant which will be released on September 15 via Entertainment One Music and Good Fight Music.
Keyboardist Eric Guenther spoke on the album:
“’Clairvoyant’ is the product of not only months of writing and recording dozens of song ideas over the last year, but also a definitive creative artifact outlining the artistic confluence of the six members of The Contortionist for our past and future endeavors. Collectively, we’re feeling proud, apprehensive, but ultimately excited to finally have this record speak for us as a meticulously sculpted voyage into our musical psyche. On album and stage, between the art’s presentation, zealous and even forceful sonic immersion, and interpretable lyrical and visual metaphor, we are attempting to bring the listener deeper into the world and musical language of The Contortionist. ‘Reimagined’ struck everyone simply as the most truthful and sincere place to start in this new universe.”
Check out the video for “Reimagined” as well as the cover art and tracklist for Clairvoyant and The Contortionist tour dates here.
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There are some records I have been waiting for a long time, such as Blackguard’s troubled Storm. Others that are in progress but aren’t near to being done such as the next Wax Idols, for example. Then there are bands like Icelandic rock band SÓLSTAFIR who I don’t follow super closely but am certainly a true fan of. Everything they have done has been stellar and moving stuff, like a kind of Sigur Rós with black metal roots.
I met a film director the other day rocking one of their t shirts and we had a spirited discussion about how great they are. This made me also recall that they had sorted some inner band issues and have a new record almost upon us. In fact, it is called Berdreyminn and is due this May 26th! This one seems to also explore some more of their hard rock influences, but in very non conformist ways.
The album, produced by Birgir Birgirsson (SIGUR RÓS, ALCEST) and Jaime Gomez-Arellano (GHOST, PARADISE LOST, ULVER), is lauded as “a compelling journey that offers ’80’s-style synths, chuggy rock riffing, Pink Floyd-y prog overtones, sweeping Fields of the Nephilim guitars, haunting orchestral arrangements and occasional metallic crunch” (Decibel Magazine) and is available across multiple formats at the Season of Mist E-Shop.
SÓLSTAFIR recently unveiled all of the stunning new music from Berdreyminn. The album stream appears alongside an interview with vocalist Aðalbjörn Tryggvason at Noisey. Dive into another special experience from this smart and original group pushing the boundaries of our scene now.
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North Carolina metallers Between The Buried and Me are preparing to embark on a tour in support of the tenth anniversary of their album Colors.
The tour will feature The Contortionist, Polyphia, and Toothgrinder as support.
Between The Buried And Me comments:
“‘Colors’ was our statement of rebellion. We were challenging how others identified us in the context of heavy metal, and ultimately we were challenging how we identified ourselves. It was some kind of musical manifesto, in which we found new purpose and direction simply by throwing caution to the wind and purging every ounce of creative energy we had, regardless of how unhinged it may have seemed at the time. Ten years have passed and we are lucky enough to be able to play this album from front to back on stage for our amazing fans. See you all soon!”
Check the tour dates out here.
Hickory, North Carolina symphonic metallers Rapheumets Well are preparing to tear up Mexico.
The tour is in support of the band’s upcoming album Enders Door out via Test Your Metal Records on May 26.
The tour will have four dates: two in Mexico City, one in Queretaro and one in San Luis Potosi.
If this is your introduction to Rapheumets Well, get ready for some gurgling, growly, death metal inspired symphonic metal with plenty going on between the layers of instrumentation without ever seeming crowded or busy. Well worth a listen!!
Check out the full list of tour dates as well as videos for “Ghost Walkers Exodus” and the title track “Enders Door” here.
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Between the Buried and Me will release their new DVD/Blu-ray, Coma Ecliptic Live, via Metal Blade Records, in association with Good Fight Entertainment. The concert, which features the band performing their latest album, Coma Ecliptic, in its entirety, was filmed live on location October 4th, 2016 at The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA. For a preview of the release, a live video of “Turn on the Darkness” can now be viewed below.
Bassist Dan Briggs comments: “The genesis of the ‘Coma Ecliptic’ filming was based around capturing the look and feel of the show our lighting director Chris Hill produced for the full album set. It’s such an important record for us and our progression as a band and the visual representation captures the moods of our tragic tale so well. It’s the perfect way to wrap up the last two years we’ve been living with this album day in and day out!”
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EARTH ELECTRIC, the hard rock brainchild of Norwegian guitarist Rune Eriksen (ex-MAYHEM, AURA NOIR, TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, ex-AVA INFERI) are streaming another new track off their forthcoming album, ‘Vol. 1: Solar’. The track, a symphonic hard rock opus titled “The Endless Road” is streaming now, here.
Regarding the new track, EARTH ELECTRIC comments:
“We have chosen ‘The Endless Road’ as the third and final single from ‘Vol.1 Solar’. This one used to be called ‘Burn’ when it was in my Cubase folder – most likely due to the umpteen amount of times I’ve traveled abroad with that glorious Deep Purple album on my headphones. Somehow something must have slipped in; however, I digress. For me, this song represents something alluring and charming yet indefinitely old, something untamed and wild, something that transcribes perfectly into our unique take on hard rock. Carmen’s interest in Gypsy magic and aesthetics is massively present in the lyrics and the hypnotic melodies move forward in a carefree and sort of ‘unattached’ way assisting the music. To be honest, what is a rock band without having a song dedicated to these mysterious traveling people?”
As the press release says: ‘Vol. 1: Solar’, sees the renowned musician joined by front-woman Carmen Simoes (ex-AVA INFERI, ex-MOONSPELL), and marks a return to his roots by exploring a more progressive sound firmly based on rock music. Recorded in Orgone Studio with acclaimed producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (GHOST, CATHEDRAL, PARADISE LOST, PRIMORDIAL), ‘ Vol. 1: Solar’ will be released via Season of Mist worldwide on May 12.
I interviewed Rune once for the defunct Crusher Magazine years ago in the real Myspace days when he was in Ava Inferi and he was great to talk to. So cool to know he is doing music with Carmen again, one of the greatest singers in rock and metal who deserves way more acclaim. I also felt Mayhem was never as powerful again since Rune left, though they tried.
‘ Vol. 1: Solar’ is available for pre-order across multiple CD and LP formats at the Season of Mist E-Shop.
The artwork was illustrated by Costin Chioreanu (GHOST, WATAIN, MAYHEM).
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Isis continue their stellar run of live post-break up releases with Live VII, a fantastic document of a set focusing mainly on the Wavering Radiant-era. Panopticon favorite “Wills Dissolve” again makes an appearance (as it did on Live III) as do a few other older songs- including a massive set closing version of signature post-metal chug anthem “Celestial” that can’t help but make you feel nostalgically recall just how big this outfit could sound and what a hole they left behind. Still, the majority of the songs here are the lengthy and more progressive and melodic forays found on the band’s final opus. This nine-song set was recorded on Feb. 25, 2010, at The Corner hotel in Melbourne, Australia during the band’s Soundwave Festival appearabce. Mr. Aaron Harris mixed the album.
Hearing these live documents in the series, which some Lambgoat comments section type trolls who have never done shit with their lives have called unessential, is really awesome for real fans. I personally love that, say, Ian Mackaye did his extensive Fugazi Live series through Dischord, as it allows for cool versions and the development of the band over time to literally be heard in an organic, non studio setting. Some live albums fall flat, but with bands as exciting as Fugazi or Isis, that is not the case. You are always going to be hearing something special each time. Personally, the one time I saw them I was pretty trashed so it is great to have at least a second audio chance, or third or fourth or SEVENTH in this case.
I am in the minority among most post-metal snobs who personally liked Wavering Radiant perhaps even more than some of their earlier classics. Post chumming with Tool in, I think it was 2006 or 2007, the band really started to stretch their material out even more and expand their vocabulary as players. I for one found it exciting, though some people just don’t have the patience for that. It was kind of a precursor to some of the Palms stuff, but there was still a fair measure of harsh vocals as well.
The Wavering Radiant stuff sounds positively alive on this release, the band’s excitement from this era palpable. The watery grandeur of the hypnotic opening to “Ghost Key” is breathtaking and the rhythmic guitar parts really cut through on this version as the song progresses. The brief post-huge crescendo quiet ending of “Threshold Of Transformation” is another stunning section, almost befitting a calm yet cosmic spaghetti western.
All in all this gets very high marks because it is not only so cool to hear more organic versions of “Hall of the Dead” and a fit to exploding “Holy Tears”, but the simple breadth of what the band accomplishes and the ground covered here is far beyond the reach of most groups.
Roadburn Live is ENSLAVED‘s first official live album, a split release between Roadburn Records and By Norse Music. The album was recorded during one of band’s headlining shows at the renowned Roadburn Festival 2015, an edition curated by ENSLAVED‘s guitar player Ivar Bjørnson.
Walter Hoeijmakers, Roadburn’s Artistic Director comments on the release: “It’s no secret that there’s a strong friendship between Roadburn and ENSLAVED. One of the most hard-hitting and progressive bands to come out of Norway, ENSLAVED has played a significant part in the festival’s history – both musically and antically. Not only has ENSLAVED been our artist in residence, bringing side-projects such as The Armageddon Concerto (the ENSLAVED/Shining collaboration), Dream Of An Opium Eater, and Trinacria to Roadburn, Ivar Bjørnson has also been our 2015 co-curator, along with Wardruna’s Einar Kvitrafn Selvik, resulting in Skuggsjá’s first ever performance outside of Norway. ENSLAVED‘s 2015 performances were the pinnacle of this enduring and artistic friendship, and showcased the massive influence the band has had on both Roadburn and the (underground) metal scene for the past two decades. To have these shows captured on vinyl is a dream come true for me, and I truly hope it’s the same for anyone who was in attendance, or those who want to indulge themselves in the Northern magic of ENSLAVED.”
Roadburn Live will be available as limited and exclusive Record Store Day color editions and as Roadburn/ENSLAVED-Webshop Gold edition including the original A3 Roadburn poster and color stickers!
More BELOW.
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Archspire getting things done
Good news and bad news, friends and foes. The obvious good news (if you love us) is that we’re back! In case you noticed, the site has been non functional for a few weeks. A Danzig album was announced, Ratt became the real Ratt again, Scorpions and Megadeth announced a tour and we could do naught but gnash our teeth! I assume none of you got your news elsewhere since you are so loyal to us. Good little hellhounds (pats you on head). But yeah, we got hit with a malware issue due to some infestation that attacked recent Drewdas Priest’s Blaze Bayley album review. We love Blaze and to send malware against a 5 star review of his recent record is basically up there with attacking democracy itself!
The site is thankfully malware free again and we will resume posting starting…NOW! But, the bad news is we lost about a year of content that simply vanished. Even after two sweeps of the old server and some very helpful tech peeps doing their darnedest, the stuff is just gone. There was some killer interview content from Cliterati to Burn to Fit For An Autopsy, tons of news posts (I myself lost about 400 posts judging by my post counter) and even our 2016 year end list. Crom!!!!!!
Some of that stuff is sadly lost for good as it was transcribed right off my phone into our back end. Other stuff will be salvaged as soon as possible. I will personally never talk shit on the new Suicide Silence album ever again because in fact the site went down right after I gave it a 2.5 star review. I would like to say that it is in fact a masterpiece and ten stars is not enough, in case any mad SS fans out there hacked us and infected the 5 star Blaze review as vengeance.
Joking aside, we thought for a minute things were doneso and it is with great joy and the blood of battle coursing in our veins that we can once again shout ,”Onward pounding into glory ride. Sign of the hammer, be my guide. Final warning all stand aside. Sign of the hammer, it’s my time.”
Let there be metal. Let there be riots. Once again we bring you…METAL RIOT!
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‘Yeah, records on vinyl are a big thing here. Frankly, I prefer it the way it was, as an outsider thing with record fairs, hole in the wall record stores and seedy second hand shops crammed with used porno mags and Bonnie Tyler maxi singles. No, wait, maybe I don’t.’ – Benediktator
If you want to have your day or night irrevocably changed, like entering into a magical and demented forest from which you might not return for a hundred years, look no further than the third release from Norway’s saturnine prog force Tusmørke. Fort Bak Lyset is the album in question, a veritable circus of odd riffs, vertiginous chanting, danceable merry making and impishness on a profound scale. Svart Records is lucky to be releasing this insanity on the masses, dangling a truly adventurous musical carrot out there for the brave souls willing to follow the super weird music into the laughing forest.
Enlightened psychedelic progenitors Benediktator, Krizla and the phenomenon Marxo Solinas speak to us today from a realm of imagination so that we might glimpse a slight understanding of the inner workings of this peculiar and splendid group’s latest.
More below.
Norway progressive metallers Withem have today released their newest song “The Pain I Collected”.
“The Pain I Collected” comes from the band’s upcoming album The Unforgiving Road which is coming out on June 3 via Frontiers Music SRL.
Check out “The Pain I Collected” here.
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It is hard deciding if the best approach to reviewing such an exhaustive and important milestone for Opeth as The Book Of Opeth, a super rewarding and fans in mind work of art (would you expect anything less?) from one of metal’s most revered bands, with a more exhaustive or impressionistic approach.
Aesthetically, it is as stunning visually as any of the band’s greatest achievements. The moody respect for the essential mystery of nature and the spirit and cerebral leaning craftsmanship with an emphasis on complexity has carried over, albeit instead of actual riffs we have the stories in the book which allow a hand swiped view through the foggy window of awe; a peak into the inner workings of a group who have earned every inch of respect over the past 25 years and change.
Much like the crucial Decibel anointed Choosing Death or Only Death Is Real from Bazillion Points, this Opeth doozy is fun while chock full of enough respect for sociology and the genre to warrant such an endeavor even if the band wasn’t as important as they ARE. You really get a sense of their development over the course of hundreds of killer photos, lush layout page detailing and fantastic reflections from members. Like Sean Yseult’s recent I’m In The Band or even, say, the massive Emperor 24 vinyl box set which the mere thought of makes me weep and shiver, this is a serious fucking beast of merchandise of the highest order and a celebration of accomplishment with a major sense of adventure and wonder for the entire business of it all. More than a labor of vanity or love, this says pay attention, this is about the collective work of amazing lives.
More below.
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Cult of Luna have long been sonic architects with the majority of vocals favored as more of the percussive whole of their sound, save for some acoustic versions and certain passages you’re mostly remembering them for well executed, if Neurosis indebted staggered screams atop ingenious arrangements. And while her howls are already the stuff of legend, the most distinctive aspect of Julie Christmas‘ voice is her nursery rhyme-esque sense of melody delivered with the sophistication of a whip smart and no bullshit taking lady with street smarts. You’re never sure if you’re listening to a biographical or fantastical window into life’s estrangements.
The combination of Cult Of Christmas is winning, fit to score a space opera or serve well in a fight sequence between Punisher and Daredevil in an urban locale with equal potency.
Put these parties together and you have quite the remarkable pairing which will make fans of any of the artist’s current or past related projects gush. 5 lengthy songs that build on the success of Vertikal with further exploration of cosmic metaphor, psyche and innerspace.
“A Greater Call” starts things boldly. It begins as a breeze-think the spacious reverence in some of the more ambient Gospel Of The Witches stuff- but by 6:20 the march (which builds to something akin in bruising force to Kylesa’s recent “Crusher”) has become laced with inter stellar prog psychedelia atop sludge space debris. The void is yawning but still you are proceeding unhindered.
“Chevron” is one of the best tracks, a Made Out Of Babies/KEN Mode/Jesus Lizard worthy bassline clattering up to knock on the buzzing noise-rock pop of the pre-chorus section as shrewd as any of the stuff on GVSB’s Freak*On*Ica (which went over people’s heads at the time). This album won’t have the same problem, as the general sophistication level of the people seeking out this type of stuff has hopefully been strengthened through internet access to the history of the sub genres involved (Mike from Yob and I were talking about that subject the last time I interviewed him).
“The Wreck Of S.S.Needle” will likely please Battle Of Mice fans the most, daringly catchy yet sure to make you seasick with emotional unease, ferocious performances from all involved; life time landmark performance type shit that must have been intense for all involved to create. It’s big.
“Approaching Transition” cools you down initially after the exhausting thrill of the prior track, thirteen minutes that start out far more chilled out than anything we have heard yet. Things almost feel Alan Parsons or really sci-fi for a minute in a way Zombi or Goblin fans will appreciate. This is one of the more proggy tracks here, something at first you could almost imagine being part of Emerson Lake and Palmer’s range at first if they got more into Tool, or at least Rush’s Test For Echo if it was more on he post-metal side. The song is good but really drifts expansively, so brace yourself.
“Cygnus” is a dissonant and intense wonder, thumping with a rhythm that could almost be slowed down ragtime married to noise rock if it weren’t so damn metal yet in a truly avant-garde and beastly fashion.The best pay off riff of the record arrives at 1:38 (naturally) after a semi-possessed verse from Christmas. Melodic yet bossy riffing of the stompiest order and drums that sheerly hammer home with the most vigor since Kowloon Walled City’s last record. Shit, the extra layer of sound around the three minute mark is gorgeous as well. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you hear it. I don’t want to spoil it. But you might experience causal domain sheer by the end. Which is kind of like being a fan of real underground music anyway, as we live in our own little dimensions and tribes on the outskirts of mainstream culture.
Christmas really shows growth on this song, something rarely seen with her because she is already so good! But she proves, like on The Bad Wife, that she still puts herself into every song with a lot of passion. And the band plays on like seasoned champs.
Don’t want to say much more. You should probably hear it yourselves.
Defy The Tide have been placing themselves in as many circumstances that will spread their music to the masses as they can since forming in 2014. The Pittsburgh, PA melodic metal band has just released a new music video for their current single "Traced In Flames", a meld of metalcore and classic heavy metal elements paired with the warm voice of Carly Simon-Warneke. She almost sounds like a female version of Devil You Know's Howard Jones' famous clean vocals. We ship a duet, please! The cool song comes from their four track EP, Soteria which was produced by John Burke of Vibe Studios and released this past April.
