Today, Hallatar release the first music video off the forthcoming album, No Stars Upon The Bridge, for the song “Mirrors.” As all the material on the album, the song is based on the lyrics and poems of Aleah Liane Starbridge. The video is co-directed by renowned Finnish artists Aapo Lahtela and Vesa Ranta. The album No Stars Upon The Bridge will be out on October 13th in various formats, with pre-orders via Svart Records already available HERE.
Although a brand-new name, Hallatar features among its ranks Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity guitarist Juha Raivio, Amorphis vocalist Tomi Joutsen, and former HIM drummer Gas Lipstick. In fact, one could see Hallatar as an extension of Trees of Eternity, whose massively acclaimed debut for Svart, Hour of the Nightingale, served as the swansong of vocalist Aleah Starbridge.
Juha Raivio explains the genesis of Hallatar: “After the death of my beloved and my life partner Aleah Starbridge on April 18th a year ago, I have been gathering writings, lyrics, and the poems of Aleah to keep them safe and close to my heart. About one month after the world came down on the blackest day of my life, I knew I needed to pick up the guitar and try to create something or I would be truly destroyed. And something did arrive out of the darkness, and I wrote the music for the Hallatar album in a week’s time. I don’t have much memory of this week, not a memory of a single day of writing the music. But all I remember when going into this abyss of the writing process was a promise to myself that whatever music would come out, I would not touch or change anything of it afterwards. What mattered was that the music would stay forever as an absolute truth of those moments as they came out. I asked my good friends – and amazing musicians – Tomi Joutsen and Gas Lipstick if they would want to record this music with me, and both of them said yes without even hearing a note of it. I am forever grateful to both of them for sharing this road with me; even the weight of the process has not been easy to carry, or will be.”
Adds Gas Lipstick, “I am grateful and very honored to be asked to join this band. Juha is a dear friend of mine since many years ago, and when he told me about his vision for Hallatar and asked me to join, I said yes instantly – I just had to be part of this amazing journey. I had never heard a single note of the music before I gave my ‘yes’ because I didn’t need to. Juha has been one of my favorite songwriters already for years, and I knew that Hallatar will be a very deep, personal, and one-of-a-kind story which I wanted to help him to bring alive.”
Continues Tomi Joutsen: “I have known Juha from the year 2007, when we worked together for the first time. A couple years ago, I had the privilege to meet Juha’s life partner, Aleah Starbridge, who was such a beautiful person, inside and outside, and had an angelic voice out of this world. Aleah lent her voice on the latest Amorphis album, and we called her ‘the whispering ghost.’ When I heard about Aleah’s passing last spring, it came as a total shock and heartbreaking news out of the blue. When Juha asked me if I would want to be part of this album and carry Aleah’s flame with him, I didn’t have to think twice. When everything has been taken, all that is left is the music. The sorrow strips us naked and leave us humble – this is how it sounds like.”
Concludes Raivio, “What we recorded was a raw moment in time honoring the memory, lyrics, and poems of Aleah Starbridge with all its pain, beauty and darkness. There are no stars left upon the bridge to light the way anymore, but the music will always be a dim light, even in the darkest of the night.”
Cover art and tracklisting for Hallatar’s No Stars Upon the Bridge to be revealed shortly.
HALLATAR is:
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
Gas Lipstick – drums
Juha Raivio – guitar, bass, keys
IRON BONEHEAD PRODUCTIONS is proud to present UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN’s highly anticipated fourth album, Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X). For nearly 20 years now, this Chilean cult has built a commanding canon of eldritch death metal DARKNESS. From their early demos to later splits and especially their preceding three full-lengths – not least of which, 2014’s critically acclaimed Baphomet Pan Shub-Niggurath – UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULT have explored the furthest reaches of primordial dread and ancient mysticism, all through pure ‘n’ authentic Metal of Death. But now, they’ve transcended all past accomplishments with the monolithic Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X).
Verily a summation of the UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEB aesthetic to date – songwriting that slithers through the slime with a preternatural grace, execution that’s barbaric and crusted in mud and blood, production that plumbs the foulest ends of the sonic spectrum – Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X) possesses an immediately engaging aura of demonology and witchcraft. In fact, such themes are central to Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X), as explored in the album’s 12-page booklet, with liner notes painstakingly crafted by the band. “This Chapter is inspired by women, the persecution against them by the Holy Office Sacred Congregation (The Inquisition), their essential role in the myth and legend, their place at the witches’ Sabbath, and the profound fear they spread – and still do – in mankind under the concept of Witch.” Further, as the band explains, “The ancient pagan cults awarded a leading role to the woman inside the spiritual. However, in medieval Europe, among other things, the exaggeration of the divinity and chastity of the feminine, the exaltation of virginity and motherhood as unique roles for women – the image of the Virgin Mary – create a shadow, a mirror image, an opposite principle. The repression of sexuality and denial of the Soror Mystica incubated a mysterious, dark, and evil female image.”
Across its taut, eight-song/39-minute duration, Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X) displays an UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN at their most frighteningly feral and also most devilishly nuanced. The songs’ successive slipstreaming surge creates a miasma of blunt-force trauma and hallucinogenic tension; any dynamic and detail the band wish to engage in is delivered with an almost unsettling, paradoxical grace. Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X) takes all the urgency ‘n’ ugliness of classic death metal and upends into the realm of high art. That assertion is further elucidated by the aforementioned booklet gracing the album, as well as its ominously striking cover. As if their bounty wasn’t already overflowing, UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN here deliver a work for the ages.
Today, Dutch black metallers Sator Malus reveal a teaser video for the new track “Endless Cycles of Life and Death.” The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated debut album, Dark Matters, set for international release on June 30th via Forever Plagued Records. See & hear the teaser video for Sator Malus’ “Endless Cycles of Life and Death” exclusively here at Forever Plagued’s official YouTube channel.
Hailing from the Netherlands, Sator Malus play atmospheric black metal with conviction and ideas deriving behind darkness, space, and worlds beyond the eyes of humanity. Sator Malus include (ex-)members of such bands as The Spirit Cabinet, Walpurgisnacht, Grimm, Cirith Gorgor, and Hooded Priest, so they are not by any stretch new to black metal. Also, they’ve brought upon IX of Urfaust as special guest vocalist to one of the tracks for fans who can relate.
Forever Plagued will present Sator Malus’ Dark Matters on CD worldwide on June 30th, and the LP release later in the year. In the meantime, hear & see a special teaser video for that aforementioned track featuring IX of Urfaust – “Endless Cycles of Life and Death” – exclusively HERE at Forever Plagued’s official YouTube channel and also hear it at the label’s Soundcloud here.
NECROPHAGIA have already kicked off their European tour in support of legendary MORBID ANGEL fronter David Vincent’s I AM MORBID, which is joined by Californian heathens HELSOTT. The American cult death metal pioneers will continue to celebrate their horror shows throughout six more countries before a final curtain on the continent at the Hellraiser in Leipzig, Germany on the 11th of June.
Directly afterwards, NECROPHAGIA will continue to haunt the UK both as headliner and also in support of legendary Canadians, VOIVOD. A list of all new and remaining shows can be found below.
Killjoy commented: “Europe are you ready for some horror and gore? We are very excited to come back and spread the sickness with l AM MORBID!” The mastermind adds: “Following this killer tour, we added some UK shows, which we are already much stoked about
NECROPHAGIA
+I AM MORBID +HELSOTT
31 May 17 Budapest (HU) Dürer Kert
01 Jun 17 Ljubljana (SI) Orto Bar
02 Jun 17 Venezia (IT) Revolver
03 Jun 17 Lyss (CH) Kulturfabrik
04 Jun 17 Hamburg (DE) Logo
05 Jun 17 Moerlenbach-Weiher (DE) Live Music Hall
06 Jun 17 München (DE) Feierwerk
07 Jun 17 Erfurt (DE) From Hell
08 Jun 17 Flensburg (DE) Roxy
09 Jun 17 Den Haag (NL) Paard van Troje
10 Jun 17 Tilburg (NL) O13
11 Jun 17 Leipzig (DE) Hellraiser
NECROPHAGIA (UK)
13 Jun 17 Norwich (UK) Waterfront (+Voivod)
14 Jun 17 Glasgow (UK) Audio (+Voivod)
15 Jun 17 Evesham (UK) Iron Road
16 Jun 17 Swansea (UK) The Pit
17 Jun 17 Manchester (UK) Retro Bar
18 Jun 17 London (UK) Underworld (+Voivod)
NECROPHAGIA will be touring in support of their latest masterpiece ‘WhiteWorm Cathedral’
1. Reborn through Black Mass
2. Вий
3. Angel Blake
4. Warlock Messiah
5. Fear the Priest
6. Elder Things
7. Coffins
8. Hexen Nacht
9. Rat Witch
10. March of the Deathcorps(e)
11. Silentium vel Mortis
12. The Dead Among Us
13. WhiteWorm Cathedral
NECROPHAGIA are back to haunt you! The masters of death metal horror invite you to bang to the Sabbath on a coffin night, when the evil priest and the rat witch raise the dead among us! Once again Killjoy DeSade has taken his time to compose and record ‘WhiteWorm Cathedral’, but the result was well worth the wait. NECROPHAGIA have generally taken another step back to a more straightforward approach. Although their latest full-length ‘Deathtrip 69’ (2011) was generally met with roaring applause, there has been some criticism levelled at the album. Killjoy DeSade seems to have drawn the same conclusions and reduced the atmospheric samples to the necessary, while focusing on songwriting and catchiness. Now NECROPHAGIA deliver more old school death metal with a blasphemous groove and killing hooks. The band was formed in late 1983 by the Godfather of Gore Metal, Killjoy and their debut recording ‘Season of the Dead’ was unleashed in February 1987. In the same year the Americans split despite their tremendous impact in the underground death metal scene, which they helped founding. In the middle of the 1990’s horror fan Philip Anselmo (DOWN, ex-PANTERA) convinced Killjoy to resurrect NECROPHAGIA and joined for the next three releases including their second album ‘Holocausto de la Morte’ (1998). The band released two more albums including ‘The Divine Art of Torture’ (2003) and several EPs despite undergoing continued line-up changes. NECROPHAGIA’s fourth full length ‘Harvest Ritual Vol. 1’ (2005) saw some experimentation, while their next eerie incarnation ‘Deathtrip 69’ featured more evil movie samples adding to the beloved vintage horror feeling. Yet the time has come to light those black candles, chant the incantations and watch the ‘WhiteWorm Cathedral’ rise! Amen, Brother Killjoy!
Today I spoke with Sam the bass player from one of the better Death metal bands coming out of the NY Scene – Artificial Brain – in case you have not seen these guys before their live show needs to be seen to be believed – always a great night out with these guys – read on and learn
* Most of you guys come from a pretty amazing pedigree of extreme bands – How did the Artificial Brain come together?
Dan (guitars) and I have known each other for our entire lives, basically, and all of the original instrumentalists grew up in the same town on Long Island. I went away to college in Boston after high school, and by the time I returned to New York, all of Dan’s musical projects had dissolved. The two of us quickly started working together on some kind of mellow Virus-inspired instrumental music, and also on some acoustic material with Jonathan (guitars), who was close with Keith (drums). The band formed almost immediately after Dan first heard Keith play, and being that Keith’s strengths are firmly in extreme metal, that’s what we ended up doing. We didn’t become involved with most of our associated acts until after the band had already formed, Buckshot Facelift (Will’s long-running grind/death project) excluded. Since Artificial Brain started, Dan has joined Revocation, I’ve become involved with Gath Smane and Luminous Vault, Will has started singing for Afterbirth, Keith has filled in for Pyrrhon and is playing with a new band called Shredded, and we’ve also started to play with Oleg Zalman, who did some touring with Severed Savior.
He was the only person we tried out, and we offered him the gig at the first rehearsal.
* Will is a pretty unique front man – did you try out other guys before him or was it always a case that Will HAD TO be the singer?
For the first year or so of the band’s life, Dan and I handled the vocal and lyrical duties. This phase of the band never left Long Island, and we realized pretty quickly that we’d be better served with a dedicated vocalist/lyricist – someone with a more commanding/less anxious stage presence. We had a friend sing for us at a couple of local shows, as more of a stop-gap measure than anything else, and we began to post some ads online. Eventually, after sifting through dozens of responses from lunatics on craigslist, our friend Paulo Paguntalan (who fills in for us live on occasion, and has played in Copremesis and Gath Smane) suggested Will. We had been fans of Will’s old band, Biolich, and Dan had a band called Cyanide Breed that performed alongside those guys a couple of times, so we asked him to come out to a practice. He was the only person we tried out, and we offered him the gig at the first rehearsal.
* For some one who has never seen your live show before – how would you try to describe it?
We’re going to play the songs faster than they are on the record, whether or not we intend to. Will is going to be wearing some strange strobe-light eyewear, and he’s going to crack some jokes in between songs. At some point, there will likely be a verbal or visual reference made to fishing. Will is going to conduct the band for a little while, and the rest of us will be engaged in sporadic headbanging. Our show is often described as “high-energy.”
* There is definitely some degree of “theater” to an AB show – was that something you guys planned from the start or did that just come naturally?
I think it’s something that’s developed really naturally. We, the instrumentalists, are just trying to play the songs aggressively and with relative accuracy – the theatrical element is Will’s personality coming out on stage. He moves the way he does because he’s feeling the music, and even the “space goggles” just started out as a practical thing. His vision is really poor, and so he got some big old-man sunglasses to wear on stage, which very quickly became popular with the fans. Before long, he started adding lights and wires and electrical tape, and now he’s even got flashing LEDs in those things.
* How did you guys get a deal with Profound Lore and how it been so far to work with Chris?
We paid for the recording of “Labyrinth Constellation” out of pocket, because we really wanted a polished product to hand to a record label. Profound Lore was our first choice, and actually the only label we sent the record to, because we’ve loved so many of the records Chris has put out. In addition to feeling a connection with that roster, we have some friends who had worked with the label and had positive things to say, so it seemed like a natural fit. Thankfully, Chris was really into the record. Our working relationship has been great – he’s extremely supportive and communicative, and the amount he gets done as an essentially one-man operation is pretty staggering.
* I try to catch you guys most times you play in NYC – what’s the furthest you have played away from NY to date? Europe? The West Coast ?
We’ve played all over the United States, and we’ve played in a few cities in Canada so far. I think the farthest we’ve been has been Vancouver, BC, which is about 3,000 miles from where we live. We would love to play in Europe (or on any other continent that would have us) but we haven’t yet had the opportunity.
* How much touring has the band done so far and do you guys have aspirations of living on the road (going full time so to speak) with the band?
We’ve done two major North American tours to date. One of them was with Pyrrhon and Gigan, and the other was with The Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore, Iron Reagan, and Entheos. Aside from those, we’ve done some short regional tours with Cognitive, Pyrrhon, and Die Choking. We love touring, but realistically we’re only able to do about one serious tour a year – we don’t have aspirations of going full time, because some of us have careers outside of this band, or are on career paths, at least. Making a living off of music is extraordinarily difficult, particularly when you’re based in a part of the country as expensive as Long Island, and we recognize that we’re probably also limited, to a degree, by the weirdness of our music. Even a lot of the more accessible bands who are regularly a part of huge package tours really struggle to make ends meet, and while we think that’s amazing, it doesn’t seem feasible for us at this stage in our lives. That said, we’re incredibly thankful to be able to do the amount of touring that we do.
I think the hardest part of playing extreme music in 2017 is really just trying to find something new to say
* What would you say is the toughest adversary facing extreme bands in 2017?
The lack of money can be tough, especially with record sales continuing to sink and underground concert ticket sales having stagnated so long ago…but as long as you don’t go into extreme metal performance expecting to do much more than break even, and you’re willing to accept the very low standard of living that comes along with touring for any extended period of time, this stuff should be fine. I think the hardest part of playing extreme music in 2017 is really just trying to find something new to say, and trying to get noticed in an internet over saturated with music.
This idea of trans-humanism is actually something that frightens me for a number of reasons
* The bands name is Artificial Brain – what are your thoughts on the “Transhuman” movement the belief that Humans can evolve beyond their bodies limitations with science and technology?
To an extent, this is all very exciting. I keep up on the news about CRISPR, and on a personal level, it would be amazing to live in a world that’s unconcerned with alzheimers, cancer, infection, etc. This idea of transhumanism is actually something that frightens me for a number of reasons, though. I don’t see as likely the cheery Ray Kurzweil view of the future, in which nano-machines wipe out all human disease in the blink of an eye, and make sure that we consistently perform at peak levels. Even if I were able to take this view, though, the idea that the human life-span would then dramatically increase doesn’t necessarily seem like a positive. Over-population isn’t just an issue because of the tremendous amount of waste that humans create, or because of crumbling food supplies – problems which Kurzweil sees being solved through nano-machines and radical farming techniques; it’s an issue because we don’t have the global infrastructure to support twenty billion people, nor would economies be able to handle this kind of burden. On top of those concerns, a world where people can address their perceived flaws by strengthening their memory or improving their jumping ability, surgically, would be spooky. Like a woman with an aquiline nose getting rhinoplasty in order to closer resemble a stereotypical Hollywood actress, the removal of traits that we’ve been convinced by society to see as imperfect would destroy individuality, rather than affirm it (as the transhumanist ideal is complete individual customization). We would all love to be geniuses, or to have extraordinary skills, but these things are made monumental by their rarity, to a degree.
* Do you think Hollywood has an agenda in pushing Transhuman topics as some people believe – A.I. features prominently in movies like Prometheus,Terminator, Alien Covenant, Blade Runner etc
I don’t. We chose to tackle these kinds of ideas on “Infrared Horizon” because investigation into the existential implications of A.I seems to be fertile (if already tilled) ground, and because it also has the benefit of being exciting/attractive in an immediate way. It’s my assumption that these films are produced and have success for much the same reasons. I’d also argue that all of the films you’ve listed function more as cautionary tales than as romanticizations of transhumanism (or related topics), for one thing. The Ridley Scott films, specifically, seem to be stories in the Frankenstein mold, about the hubris and potentially the immorality of this kind of creation. Transhumanism seems to come from a similar kind of hubris – and actually, the movie I can think of that most nearly tackles that issue is probably Gattaca, the 1997 film about eugenics and genetic discrimination – again, a dystopian slippery-slope kind of story.
A robot apocalypse sounds far more appealing to me than whatever potential doomsday scenarios we’re looking at right now
* Even scientists like Steven Hawking are concerned about artificial intelligence soon becoming self aware, are you concerned at all for the future ??
Not particularly. We’ve got enough to worry about in the present, and I’m being absolutely honest when I say that a robot apocalypse sounds far more appealing to me than whatever potential doomsday scenarios we’re looking at right now. There’s also the chance that living with machines exponentially more intelligent than we are might not be all bad, which is to say that I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
* What more can we expect from Artificial Brain in 2017?
We’re taking it easy for most of the summer, mostly writing – although we’re going to be back up in Montreal with our label-mates in Chthe’ilist on August 12th. We’ll also be performing at Louisville Deathfest in September. Aside from that, we’ve got some big tour plans that we can’t discuss just yet!
Any final words?
Thanks so much for the thoughtful questions! And thanks to everyone who’s been so supportive of our new record, “Infrared Horizon,” which is out now on Profound Lore Records. Stay tuned for announcements about our touring plans, coming soon!
Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of FESTERDAY. Not counting the compilation of earlier material, the Finnish death metal cult act will release its debut studio album on Season of Mist.
Regarding their signing, FESTERDAY comment: “It is now close to 25 years, following our decision to split up. It has taken as many years after writing any songs for this band that we got our shit together again and came up with new material to see where this might take us. Six new songs later, we sent them to various labels and magazines. Much to our surprise, the feedback was overwhelming. After negotiating with different labels and pondering over their offers, we decided to take action and double the excitement by joining a familiar and globally established label: Season of Mist. It feels like coming full circle to return to the label, where it all started with …AND OCEANS over 20 years ago. Like in this old proverb, it goes without saying: the frost will drive a pig back home.”
FESTERDAY were formed in Pietarsaari, Finland in the year 1989. In the following years, the band released three demos, in truly laconic Finnish style simply entitled ‘Demo I’ (1991). ‘Demo II’ (1992), and ‘Demo III’ (1992) that gained cult status. ‘Demo II’ was also released on a split with CARNIFEX. In 1993, the group split-up.
This could have been the end, but FESTERDAY got together again in 2013, remastered all their previous material with Sami “Jämy” Jämsen at Studio Perkele in November 2014, and released everything on ‘…the Four Stages of Decomposition…’ (2015).
Featuring members of …AND OCEANS, MAGENTA HARVEST, HAVOC UNIT, and KHAOS NIHIL, FESTERDAY are back together and will finally release their debut full-length on Season of Mist later this year.
Line-up
Antti Räisälä: bass
Kena Strömsholm: vocals
Timo Kontio: guitar
Teemu Saari: guitar
Jani Kuoppamaa: drums
SINISTRO are announcing a string of European shows in support of PARADISE LOST and PALLBEARER. For the fascinating Portuguese, the tour will kick off at the Kulturfabrik in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg on September 27th and continue through 13 more European countries before coming to a close at the Columbia Theater in Germany’s capital Berlin on the 9th of November.
Singer Patricia Andrade comments on behalf of the band: “We are very pleased to be touring with PARADISE LOST. It is not everyday, we are able to share the stage with a legendary band that was an important part of our adolescence and gives this tour a special feeling. We are also very much looking forward to be on the road such a great band as PALLBEARER. It is hardly surprising that we are very much looking forward to this tour. See you there!”
SINISTRO
+PARADISE LOST +PALLBEARER
27 Sep 17 Esch-Sur-Alzette (LU) Kulturfabrik
28 Sep 17 Herford (DE) X
29 Sep 17 København (DK) Pumpehuset
01 Oct 17 Oslo (NO) John Dee
03 Oct 17 Helsinki (FI) Nosturi
07 Oct 17 Aarhus (DK) Voxhall
10 Oct 17 Brno (CZ) Fleda
11 Oct 17 Bratislava (SK) Randal
13 Oct 17 Belgrade (RS) Dom Omladine
14 Oct 17 Zagreb (HR) Boogaloo
15 Oct 17 Budapest (HU) Dürer Kert
18 Oct 17 Nürnberg (DE) Hirsch
19 Oct 17 Frankfurt (DE) Batschkapp
20 Oct 17 Saarbrücken (DE) Garage
21 Oct 17 Genève (CH) L‘Usine
28 Oct 17 Fontaneto D’Agogna (IT) Phenomenon
29 Oct 17 München (DE) Theaterfabrik
30 Oct 17 Pratteln (CH) Z7
03 Nov 17 London (UK) Electric Ballroom
06 Nov 17 Utrecht (NL) Pandora
07 Nov 17 Tilburg (NL) 013
08 Nov 17 Köln (DE) Live Music Hall
09 Nov 17 Berlin (DE) Columbia Theater
SINISTRO Festivals
02 Jun 17 Leipzig (DE) Wave Gotik Treffen
16 Jun 17 Dessel (BE) Graspop Metal Meeting 2017
05 Jul 17 Neskaupstaður (IS) Eistnaflug
SINISTRO are currently preparing for their sophomore album, which means that you can expect to hear brand new material as well as songs from their critically acclaimed dark melancholic masterpiece, ‘Semente’.
Artwork and tracklist of ‘Semente’ can be viewed below
Tracklisting
1. Partida
2. Estrada
3. Corpo Presente
4. Semente
5. Relíquia
6. A Visita
7. Fragmento
Portugal is well known for its fascination with the morbid. Death is part of daily conversation. Its national chant, Fado, is the musical incarnation of melancholy and painful longing called “saudade”. And the country’s capital Lisbon only wakes up in the darkness of night.
From this unlikely location, SINISTRO emerged as an embodiment of both lush and devastating musical landscapes driven by five individuals from distinct art circles. Their new album ‘Semente’ (“Seed”) is a fascinating exercise in amalgamating this national legacy into dark and fascinating sound. This unique music is quite hard to easily tag and file into a drawer. The mind tries tricks and attempts constructions like LANA DEL REY meets MY DYING BRIDE – only to drop the idea a minute later.
Looking for points of reference, SINISTRO might at any moment give reason for comparison with MASSIVE ATTACK, ENNIO MORRICONE, BOARDS OF CANADA, HOWARD SHORE, RADIOHEAD, FAITH NO MORE, ANGELO BADALAMENTI, DAVID BOWIE, SWANS, UNWOUND, MOGWAI, and CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX. Yet none of these names dropped here will make sense at another sequence. It is very much up to each listener to determine their own points of reference.
SINISTRO have been cultivating such sonic exploration since writing their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2012 and delivered elegant doom rock combined with a soundtrack like approach that harvested praise from both public and critics alike.
SINISTRO’s following effort ‘Cidade’ (2013) welcomed singer Patrícia Andrade on board and went on to explore a massive wall of guitars combined with gritty keyboard layers and an emotional vocal performance. Backed by unanimous critical acclaim, ‘Cidade’ established SINISTRO as an essential name in the Portuguese music scene.
SINISTRO began composing ‘Semente’ in 2014. The band added a second guitarist to the fold, who helped push their unique style another step further. Keeping a cinematic feeling in the background, the Portuguese vary from abrasive musical thickness to a perfect sense of stillness, which portrays the urban landscapes of their homeland and its legacy with a strong visual presence. SINISTRO created seven brand new tracks that are bound to appeal to music fans of various genres. Now we shall leave you and kindly ask you to listen carefully to form your own opinion…
Cruz Del Sur Music has inked a recording deal with Indianapolis’ SACRED LEATHER for the release of debut album Ultimate Force. With influences that are surely evident to any heavy metal purist, SACRED LEATHER’s music seems to emerge directly from the early 80s, mixing elegant and nostalgic hard rock/ proto metal with the most belligerent side of the traditional NWOBHM sound. The recording of Ultimate Force will start in early September for an expected February 2018 release.
SACRED LEATHER was created out of necessity, to summon the spirit of the Heavy Metal forefathers into an age mired in apostasies. Make sure to keep an eye out for the legion of leather! In the meantime, check out the band’s 2016 official video for “Prowling Sinner”
SACRED LEATHER is:
Wrathchild: vocals
The Devil’s Hellion: guitar
The Highway: guitar
Magnus Legrand: bass
Jailhouse: drum
Unyielding Love announce the vinyl release of The Sweat of Augury – the unbelievable debut EP/mini album from Belfast – Northern Ireland-based blackened noisegrind slaughterers Unyielding Love, which, upon its initial release on tape/digital in September 2016, made heads turn with its mindless and cataclysmic alloy of incredibly savage blackened grindcore and festering harsh noise.
When Decibel Magazine (click HERE to read their feature) first encountered the scathing and torturous sonic depravity of The Sweat of Augury they stated the band “have blasted so hard towards the realm of harsh noise that their song structures are framed around icepick feedback and a layer of pedal abuse that makes it seem like every song they are playing is the last they’ll manage before their equipment disintegrates”, and then further exclaiming that Unyielding Love are “a goddamn nightmare of grind and discord that may have a few of you shitting teeth”. Later, CVLT Nation went to to elect it as one of the best grindcore albums of 2016.
It comes as no surprise that anyone who is first exposed to this band’s skin-peeling music remains completely baffled and speechless in front of the enormous amount of violence and senseless antagonism that bleeds out of Unyielding Love’s crazed homicidal songs. Blending grindcore, black metal, noise and power electronics in a firestorm of abhorrent sonic chaos, Unyielding Love have perfectly bridged the gap between the aesthetics of bands like Full of Hell (for whom Unyielding Love will open all upcoming UK dates), Column of Heaven, Discordance Axis, (early) Knelt Rote, Sutekh Hexen, and Gnaw Their Tongues, creating something so heinous and sonically wretched that the human brain will ever only partially be able to fully grasp the full extent of this band’s immeasurable madness and vision.
SÓLSTAFIR are unveiling their complete forthcoming full-length, ‘Berdreyminn’, which means a “dreamer of forthcoming events”. The new sixth masterpiece of the enigmatic Icelanders will be released tomorrow on Friday, May 26th
Frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason comments on behalf of SÓLSTAFIR: “Finally, the time has come to present you ‘Berdreyminn’ in its entirety. Hopefully, the previous pieces that we have released will now fall into their rightful places in the puzzle that this album represents. There is much to explore, surprises to discover as well as meeting old friends again, and we sincerely hope that you will like what you find. Enjoy!”
The cover art by Adam Burke and track-list of ‘Berdreyminn’ can be viewed below.
SÓLSTAFIR have previously announced their first European tour in support of their forthcoming full-length ‘Beyrdreyminn’ (out May 26th) in June.
The tour will kick off at the Download Festival in Paris on June 10th and afterwards the enigmatic Icelandic rockers will continue to perform in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France before a final show at the Spanish edition of Download in Madrid on the 24th of June.
SÓLSTAFIR commented on the tour: “We are stoked to be back on the road and doing up ‘n close personal club shows between summer festivals. Some of the small venues are expected to sell out fast – so better get your ticket right away.”
SÓLSTAFIR tour
10 Jun 17 Paris (FR) Download Festival
11 Jun 17 Brighton (UK) The Haunt
12 Jun 17 Colchester (UK) Arts Centre
13 Jun 17 Leeds (UK) Brudenell Social Club
14 Jun 17 London (UK) Old Blue Last
15 Jun 17 Breda (NL) Mezz
16 Jun 17 Dessel (BE) Graspop Metal Meeting
17 Jun 17 Utrecht (NL) Tivoli de Helling
18 Jun 17 Hannover (DE) Musikzentrum
19 Jun 17 Dresden (DE) Beatpol
20 Jun 17 Karlsruhe (DE) Jubez
21 Jun 17 Colmar (FR) Fete de la Musique
22 Jun 17 Lyon (FR) CCO Villeurbanne
23 Jun 17 Toulouse (FR) Rex
24 Jun 17 Madrid (ES) Download Festival
SÓLSTAFIR festivals
07 Jul 17 Neskaupstaður (IS) Eistnaflug Festival (Exact date tba)
29 Jul 17 Neuensee bei Lichtenfels (DE) Rock im Wald
18 Aug 17 Borre (NO) Midgardsblot Festival 2017 (Exact date tba)
Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original and fiercely individual bands such as SIGUR RÓS, BJÖRK, and SÓLSTAFIR.
SÓLSTAFIR embody the ever-turning wheel of seasons with their shifting light, darkness, and colours, extreme Northern climate, the stark contrasts, the closeness of beauty and deadly forces of nature, the impressive sceneries that have the bones of ancient gods enshrined in them like hardly any other band in every aspect of their existence.
SÓLSTAFIR are not like any other band. Their latest album, ‘Berdreyminn’ underscores this statement. As its title “a dreamer of forthcoming events” aptly describes, the four Icelanders have taken their already impressive evolution one step further. The band has continued to amalgamate haunting melodies, psychedelic phases, as well as strong undercurrents of classic rock and hard rock with echoes of their metal past. Yet SÓLSTAFIR’s focus is not on style but pure emotion. ‘Berdreyminn’ is eclectic by a conscious choice to make feelings audible and transform taste as well as texture to sound. Genre borders are not broken but simply ignored. Musical influences are gathered from a wide range of sources, re-arranged, and woven into new patterns. Melancholy, longing, anger, joy, pleasure, pain, and other emotions are fulling this album.
Despite leaning clearly towards an expression that can be described as rock today, SÓLSTAFIR have their roots in metal as their debut full-length ‘Í Blóði og Anda’ (2002), which translates as “In Blood and Spirit” still witnesses. Instead of today’s Icelandic gravel throated siren chants, frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason spat forth vitriolic crusty vocals and all strings were forged with black metal. Already their next albums ‘Masterpiece of Bitterness’ (2005) and ‘Köld’ (2009) marked stations of a continuous evolution. SÓLSTAFIR went further along their solitary path and obviously left any categorising box with the ground-breaking follow-ups ‘Svartir Sandar’ (2011) and ‘Ótta’ (2014), which received high critical acclaim and attracted new fans in equal measure, while managing the difficult feat of keeping most of their earlier following too.
SÓLSTAFIR have set sails to new horizons with ‘Berdreyminn’. Yet the Icelanders brought their home with them and the silhouette of their vessels remains easily recognisable. Welcome aboard on a new adventurous musical journey into uncharted territories.
