Posted in Press Releases

Power metal super-group AVANTASIA, fronted by TOBIAS SAMMET, vocalist of one of Germany’s internationally acclaimed bands EDGUY, are set to release a brand new studio album – their first in three years. Entitled ‘THE MYSTERY OF TIME’, the opus is due to street early April 2013 on CD and vinyl via Nuclear Blast Records.

Tobias – AVANTASIA mastermind, frontman and wordsmith, has now released album snippets and an ‘in-studio’ update over at www.tobiassammet.com

Tobi comments;

”Hey friends, as you know I am currently working on a new Avantasia album. It’s a lot of work, but I am so proud of what we are creating right now – it’s amazing stuff.
Of course, Michael Kiske (Unisonic, ex-Helloween), is on board again! I bet you expected this, you can hear him loud and clear, and he i...

Posted in Press Releases

“Around for almost 30 years now, Germanys biggest thrash metal export, KREATOR, have proven to be a persistent, innovative and unstoppable force. And they have stepped it up another level for their return to the UK and Ireland.

Three years have passed since KREATOR headlined in the UK, so we are extremely stoked to announce the thrash-titans return in April 2013, bringing their ‘PHANTOM ANTICHRIST’ tour to the UK and IRE.

Mille Petrozza (Vocalist/Guitarist) comments;

”Finally we are coming back to play 3 selected shows for our loyal fans in the UK! We will bring our 3D tour production to give you the full KREATOR treatment. Support acts will be announced in the next few days, so stay tuned...

Posted in Press Releases

Norwegian progressive extreme metallers ENSLAVED have revealed a tour trailer for their upcoming UK and EU tour, ’Springrite 2013’. The tour is in support of their new album ’RIITIIR’, which was released on the 1st of October 2012. See below for the tour trailer details:

ENSLAVED’s UK dates rack up as follows:

14 March – NQ LIVE, Manchester UK
15 March – HAMMERFEST, Wales UK
16 March – Button Factory, Dublin IR
17 March – Limelight 2, Belfast UK
19 March – The Corporation, Sheffield UK
20 March – The Fleece, Bristol UK
21 March – The Underworld, London UK

Tour dates and tickets can be found on the band’s Facebook page, here: http://on.fb.me/10RqciE.

Buy ’RIITIIR’ on CD: http://smarturl.it/EnslavedCD
Buy ’RIITIIR’ on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/EnslavedRIITIIR

Posted in Press Releases

Australia’s hottest new extreme metal export, THY ART IS MURDER, has signed to Nuclear Blast Entertainment!

Their second album, ’Hate’, was recently released in their homeland where it has been smashing boundaries once thought to confine bands of their ilk. The record came in at #35 on the Top 40 Aria chart, making it the highest debut of any Aussie death metal band ever! Nuclear Blast Entertainment is proud to finally properly release ’Hate’ in the U.K on April 1st. The album was produced and mixed by Will Putney (SUICIDE SILENCE, BORN OF OSIRIS, FOR TODAY) with artwork created by Brent Elliot White (CARNIFEX, DEATH ANGEL).

“Nuclear Blast has always represented the pinnacle of extreme metal, a last bastion in an ever evolving industry,” commented guitarist Andy Marsh...

Posted in Press Releases

FARMERS MARKET – SLAV TO THE RHYTHM, OUT MARCH 4th ON DIVISION RECORDS
“the world’s greatest musical stew…” VF

Twenty years in the making, the Norwegian prog ensemble Farmers Market remains as equally musically complex as they are critically acclaimed. Following their 2008 outing “Surfin’ USSR” (on Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings), the new recordings on “Slav to the Rhythm” have been released by the Oslo-based label Division Records to rave reviews in Norway, and are now set to be released on an unsuspecting British audience.

The former album earned them a Norwegian Grammy in the award ceremony’s open category...

Posted in Press Releases

Onward Chariots is the brainchild of Ben Morss, a multi-instrumentalist and self professed music geek whose journey to This Is My Confession is peppered with eclecticism. In a life filled with music, Morss has toured the world, played with the California acid-jazz group 11:11 at festivals such as NXNW and SXSW, conducted orchestras, played gospel in African-American churches, arranged and played on albums for artists like Cake, and immersed himself in the works of Peter Bjorn & John, Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo and The Beatles.

Taken from the forthcoming album This Is My Confession (Jan 29th), the band now make the track Mama available for streaming and sharing:

Morss had this to say about the track:

“It’s a shimmering, tragic, Sufjan Stevens-esque, minimalism-influenced chamber pop...

Posted in Press Releases

AMARANTHE, the fast-rising modern metal sextet,will release their sophomore album, ‘The Nexus’, on March 25th via Spinefarm Records.
Produced by Jacob Hansen (whose credits include Volbeat, Dreamshade & Ginger Wildheart, and who worked on Amaranthe’s 2011 self-titled debut), ‘The Nexus’ sees the Swedish/Danish outfit further honing a musical style that blends cutting-edge melodic metal with soaring pop melodies, the whole thing topped off by a unique three-vocal attack…
Says guitarist and band co-founder Olof Morck: ”The moment has come to let loose ‘The Nexus’ on an unsuspecting world! This time we went all the way with our futuristic dream-nightmare – a no-compromise vision steeped in deep contrast between the mechanically ultra-heavy and shimmering serene melody...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Den gamla dansbanan Björksäter i Hässleholm har väckt liv igen i sin hårdrockssatsning – Club Metallic. Corroded och Bonafide delade scenen (i dubbel bemärkelse) tillsammans denna kyliga lördag kväll.

Först ut var Bonafide mot min förvåning då jag trodde dem skulle avsluta kvällen! Men vad gör det. Lika bra att börja med det bästa direkt. Med nya Ultimate Rebel i ryggen, ytterligare en ny kritikerrosad platta så bjuds det givetvis friskt på nytt material från denna. Startskottet är energifyllda Doing It Pretty och löper vidare med To Fire Up, The Mess och Rebel Machine. Däremellan hinner dem med att bränna av rökare som Dirt Bound, Butter You Up och odödliga Down.

Niklas på trummor har fått låna Corrodeds trumset och leker ständigt med klockspelet...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Malian singer Salif Keita is often referred to as the ”Golden Voice of Africa”. As an albino he was ostracised by his family and community, and left his village to move to the capital city of Mali – Bamako, in the late 1960s where he joined the Super Rail Band and then Les Ambassadeurs before leaving the country in the mid 1970s during the country’s political unrest. Now he is based in Paris and Bamako and is a major star of African music.

I have to be honest and admit that while I’ve listened to a lot of music genres over the years, I’ve never really paid any attention to African music – like many people the closest I’ve got to African music is Paul Simon’s graceland, or some Ladysmith black mambazo.
Despite this I was familiar with the name of Salif Keita – I just hadn’t heard anything...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lion Music/Border

Project mastermind Tony Vinci has been here before, with a similar band of the same name. But after the self-titled debut he saw the need for a new formation, better suited to the more progressive stand that was taking form. This time around it is Tony on guitars, Andy Engberg of SECTION A on vocals, keyboard player Anthony Brown (GRAPHITE SYMPHONY), Greg Putnam (JAM PAIN SOCIETY on bass, and last but definitely not least prog drummer hero Mark Zonder of FATES WARNING fame. The album centers on the elements, “Fire”, “Wind”, “Water”, “Earth”, and a fifth, “Quinta Essentia” to keep the themes together.

Opener “Fire” is of cause intense, straightforward on the border of leaving the genre, but also boosts a great refrain...