Posted in Press Releases

ENSIFERUM, THE highly visual troupe who’ve long been a market leader when it comes to stirring, armour-plated anthems, have unleashed their brand new video for ‘In My Sword I Trust’; this is the lead track from the Finnish outfit’s forthcoming fifth studio album, ‘Unsung Heroes’, set for release via Spinefarm Records on August 27th.

You can watch the video below

Recorded in Wrocklaw, Poland, and directed by Rafal Szermanowicz for Grupa#13, the clip – according to Ensiferum – “Tells how ordinary town people rebel against a greedy and cruel king and the upper classes. There are swords, corpses and drinking; pretty much all you need for a great video! We are looking forward to playing this new Ensiferum anthem to our fans around the world. Folk on!”

The Finnish quintet r...

Posted in Press Releases

SHINING
SHINING ANNOUNCE TITLE AND RELEASE DATE OF UPCOMING ALBUM, NEW WEBSITE NOW OPEN…

Sweden’s SHINING have today announced that their new album will be called “Redefining Darkness”.
Unlike all previous SHINING albums, “Redefining Darkness”, which will be the band’s eighth full-length release, will not preface its title with a number.
According to founder and frontman Niklas Kvarforth: ”The use of numbers to describe their albums is no longer something that SHINING is interested in doing. The new album is without a doubt the darkest thing I have ever done or heard. People will be upset for sure – and hopefully its divine genius will destroy the lives of thousands”
“Redefining Darkness” is set for release via Spinefarm Records on October 29th 2012.
In other news from the ...

Posted in Press Releases

REDLIGHT KING
CANADIAN ROCKERS ANNOUNCED TO APPEAR AS SPECIAL GUESTS TO SHINEDOWN ON OCT/NOV EUROPEAN TOUR…

REDLIGHT KING, the touring and recording project centred around vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Mark Kasprzyk, will join Shinedown on their European tour featuring seven UK dates. Tickets are on sale now.

UK dates are as follows:
24/10 – Southampton
25/10 – Exeter
27/10 – London
28/10 – Birmingham
29/10 – Manchester
31/10 – Edinburgh
01/11 – Sheffield
02/11 – Cardiff
04/11 – Norwich

In addition to this, Redlight King will release their debut album in the UK on August 27th via Spinefarm Records.

Titled ‘Something For The Pain’ and Produced by WAX LTD, whose previous credits include Muse, The Rolling Stones and New Order, this 11-track outing features the singles ‘Old Man’, which includ...

Posted in Press Releases

THE TREATMENT
YOUTHFUL UK ROCKERS ANNOUNCE DIGITAL RELEASE OF COVERS EP, ‘THEN AND AGAIN’, VIA SPINEFARM RECORDS AS THEY CONTINUE US MEGA-TOUR WITH KISS & MOTLEY CRUE…

PROUD BRITISH rockers, The Treatment, have confirmed the digital release of their five-track covers EP, ‘Then & Again’.
Originally limited to 300 signed physical copies and recorded in celebration of Record Store Day on April 21st 2012, ‘Then & Again’ was produced by Airrace guitarist/songwriter Laurie Mansworth, who also produced the band’s debut album, This Might Hurt, released through Spinefarm in September 2011.
You can now get your copy through iTunes.
The track-listing for the EP – a choice selection of ’70s covers – is as follows:-

Motorbikin’ – originally recorded by Chris Spedding
Let’s Work ...

Posted in Press Releases

On September 21st, 2012 the loudest, most real and raucous rock’n’roll Grammy-winning band in the world, Motörhead, will release “The Wörld Is Ours – Vol 2 – Anyplace
Crazy As Anywhere Else”, the follow-up to 2011’s “The Wörld Is Ours – Vol 1 – Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else”.

Like it’s sibling, Anyplace Crazy… will come packed with more magnificent Motörmaterial from “The Wörld Is Yours” tour, including the triumphant 2011 Wacken headline appearance as well as highlights from the Sonisphere and Rio shows.

Release Dates:
U K: September 24th, 2012

The band will commence with their 2012 European Tour on November 5th in Wolverhampton, UK, ending on December 11th in Kempten, supported by Anthrax.

Track Listing:

Formats:
* digipak – D...

Posted in Press Releases

earMUSIC releases “Concerto For Group And Orchestra”
on 1st October 2012, the first studio recording of Jon Lord’s groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music.

On 1st October 2012, earMUSIC , the Hamburg based rock label part of Edel Group, releases the first studio recording of Jon Lord’s groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music – ”Concerto For Group And Orchestra”

“Over these last years since leaving Deep Purple, I’ve played it over 30 times with different orchestras and conductors all over the world, and, of course, in 2000 I did it well over 30 times with Purple on the Concerto tour, so I’ve been honing the piece live on stage, and I’ve had the opportunity to change things in the score that weren’t sounding quite right...

Posted in Press Releases

Slam Cartel announce the release of their third single from debut album Handful of Dreams: haunting track Breathe – already a favourite with critics and fans – will be released via digital outlets on 21st August. To support the release, the band will be hitting the road for their first full UK tour, also called “Breathe”, visiting venues and festivals across the country over the rest of 2012 to give fans what they have been asking for, for a long time… Slam Cartel LIVE. Additional shows are still being scheduled.

Since Handful of Dreams was released in 2011, Slam Cartel have been steadily conquering press and public with their now familiar true rock sound, combining memorable hooks and incendiary riffs...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

As with the other parts of the review, apologies to any bands I omit from the review.

Sunday at Bloodstock started for me with Kobra and the Lotus performing on the main stage. This is a band who have been working hard over the last few years playing gigs around the country as well as in their native Canada, and have played smaller festivals before, but with the release of their new album they’ve exploded this summer playing pretty much all the major festivals around Europe including Download, Graspop, Wacken and many more, and now its the turn of Bloodstock. Frontwoman Kobra Paige has a superb voice, and really shows its power as she belts out the songs...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

As with the friday review, apologies to any bands I missed or cover here with a one-line review – seeing so many bands means that to do them all justice would lead to this review being ridiculously long.

Saturday at Bloodstock got off to an early start with Apollyon on the New Blood stage. Some great heavy guitar work helped the coffee to wake me up, but all too soon it was over to the Sophie Lancaster stage for one of the bands I’d been looking foward to seeing – Splintered Soul. They played the New Blood stage back in 2010 but since then have undergone lineup changes, including a new vocalist. Well they were definitely worth the wait – a really good performance...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

When the clock struck midday on Thursday 9th August, this was cause for celebration – not just because I wouldn’t be back at work till Tuesday the next week, but for a far better reason – time to set off for Bloodstock, the highlight of many metalheads calendars. A quick drive to Catton Hall followed by picking up my press credentials and it was time to enter the arena once again.
I knew there were bands due to play on Thursday night but had no idea who – when the festival released the stage times they omitted the Thursday night lineup for some reason, but never mind, it would be a surprise.
In the end one band cancelled due to having broken down abroad and not being able to get to the site in time, leaving just three bands to play. Of those I watched two...