New Album

Icelandic Metal Band SÓLSTAFIR Stream their new album Beyrdreyminn in its Entirety

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.

Track-list
1. Silfur-Refur (6:54)
2. Ísafold (4:59)
3. Hula (7:07)
4. Nárós (7:23)
5. Hvít Sæng (7:22)
6. Dýrafjörður (7:32)
7. Ambátt (8:08)
8. Bláfjall (8:00)

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.

Line-up
Aðalbjörn Tryggvason: guitar, vocals
Svavar Austmann: bass
Sæþór Maríus Sæþórsson: guitar
Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson: drums, backing vocals

Guest musicians
Brass, strings, and piano across the tracks

Recording: Sundlaugin Studio (IS), Birgir Jón Birgisson & Jaime Gomez Arellano

Mixing: Orgone Studio (UK), Jaime Gomez Arellano

Mastering: Sterling Mastering (US), Ted Jensen

Cover art: Adam Burke

www.solstafir.net
www.facebook.com/solstafirice

Finland’s Urn set to release their fourth album of blackened Thrash “The Burning”

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions sets July 28th as the international release date for Urn’s highly anticipated fourth album, The Burning. One of the Finnish underground’s longest-running yet best-kept secrets, Urn have been flying the flag of hate for unholy blackthrash since 1994. Founded by ex-Barathrum guitarist Sulphur, Urn have been a study in delayed-gratification patience and trend-bucking defiance. Their 2001 debut LP 666 Megatons sounded exactly like that, detonating a nuclear blast of classic blackthrash-cum-speed metal, which was further roughed up and refined on the successive LPs Dawn of the Devastation (2006) and Soul Destroyers (2008). But just as Urn had seemingly perfected their addicting ‘n’ acidic style, their classic power-trio lineup disintegrated and it was up to Sulphur to rebuild the band again. And rebuild, the bass-playing frontman did, as The Burning is the triumphant phoenix from the ashes.

Still maintaining that power-trio formation but now featuring a new lineup that includes guitarist Too Loud and drummer Revenant, The Burning literally explodes with an excitement that’s long been missing in black metal – suitably so, as it’s Urn’s first new recording in nearly a decade. Well rested, then, but certainly not resting on past laurels, Urn here fire off one veritable anthem after another with an urgency that’s startling to behold; the energy and passion are writ large across The Burning, and absolutely impossible to contain. And yet, for all its immediacy, there’s a certain grace and grandeur to The Burning that Urn have never revealed before: a wide-open, widescreened “man on the mountain” type of atmosphere that makes this pure black HEAVY METAL all the more majestic. However, let it be known that these Finnish bastards still revel in the dirt, just that now they’ve delivered their rancorous visions in a recording that’s their most robust and powerful to date.

Feel The Burning? It’s Urn, 666% back with a bestial invasion in the sign of evil! Bow before its first sign HERE at Iron Bonehead’s Soundcloud with the new track “Sons of the Northern Star.” Cover art, by Rok of Sadistik Exekution, and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Urn (Finland)’s The Burning
1. Intro – Resurrection
2. Celestial Light
3. Hail The King
4. Morbid Black Sorrow
5. Sons Of The Northern Star
6. Nocturnal Demons
7. Wolves Of Radiation
8. All Will End In Fire
9. Falling Paradise
10. The Burning

www.facebook.com/Urnofficial

Italian Horror Death Metal Band GRAVESITE set release date for new their album “Neverending Trail of Skulls”

The second album of Italian horror death metallers Gravesite is ready! Entitled Neverending Trail of Skulls, the album is set for international release on August 1st via Xtreem Music. The album was recorded by Umberto Furlan at Black Sun Studio between October 2016 and February 2017, with a later mastering by Daniel Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studio and topped off by the artwork of Matteo Zanella.

Gravesite was formed back in 2014 by members from other bands like Haemophagus, Undeed Creep, and Cancer Spreading among others, and released a demo entitled Obsessed by the Macabre. This led to their signing with Xtreem Music, who released their debut album Horrifying Nightmares… in July 2015, which was formed by nine tracks of old-fashioned death metal in the best tradition of bands like Autopsy, Grave, Death, and Carcass.

In the meantime, check out the title track to Neverending Trail of Skulls

https://www.facebook.com/gravesitedeathmetal

Italian death metal band HORRID to release their fifth album, Beyond the Dark Border

DUNKELHEIT PRODUKTIONEN is proud to present HORRID’s highly anticipated fifth album, Beyond the Dark Border. Italy’s longest-running death metal band, HORRID have built an enviously dependable, unyielding body of work since 1989. Taking initial inspiration from the dual gods of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, the band spent the 1990s solidifying their sound over a clutch of demos and EPs. Eventually, come 2002, their debut album manifested itself as Reborn in Sin. From there, the name HORRID has continued to stand for the timeless upholding of classic death metal values.

But now, with the imminent release of Beyond the Dark Border, HORRID are set to stake their claim for death metal supremacy. Truly a summation of everything that makes the Metal of Death so enduring and engrossing, Beyond the Dark Border possesses pretty much every element one would want in a pure ‘n’ authentic death metal record: immediately memorable songwriting, crushing-yet-clear songwriting, breathless execution, interesting twists of texture, and just enough melody to remain rooted in foundational heavy metal. More than that, HORRID render the album a rollercoaster of dynamic darkness, leading the listener down nine separate-yet-linked corridors of nameless horror and eldritch dread. And, at a stout 50 minutes, Beyond the Dark Border remains compact and concise and yet fully satisfying – whoever said meat & potatoes death metal wasn’t the best meal? Go Beyond the Dark Border with Italy’s HORRID!

HORRID lineup 2017

Davide “Dagon” Ariostini – vocals/bass
Mario “Belfagor” Plumari – guitars
Simone “Eligor” Della Chiesa – drums

German Black Metal Legend’s NARGAROTH streams long-awaited new album

Today, reinvigorated black metal infamists Nargaroth stream the entirety of their highly anticipated seventh album, Era of Threnody. Set for international release on May 16th via Inter Arma Productions, hear Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody in its entirety exclusively HERE.

Nargaroth needs no introduction. German black metal’s longest-running and most prolific band, Nargaroth has built a canon of work that’s as infamous as it is legendary in the underground. Led as always by the peerless vision of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ash, the Nargaroth aesthetic has spanned the many extremes of black metal as an artform, but always done with bravado and self-belief, purity of intent and purity of purpose. Now, with the band’s first full-length in a long eight years, Era of Threnody has arrived to mark a glorious new epoch for Nargaroth.

Ever aptly titled, Era of Threnody burns with rage and repose – a war cry from a battlefield long forgotten, a remembrance of sorrows past, present, and future. Across its 65-minute landscape, the 10 songs which comprise Era of Threnody paint a portrait of Nargaroth at its most dynamic: nearly every unique era of the band is represented, but executed with a startling sense of professionalism. But let it be known that “professionalism” in no way should be conflated with mainstream ambitions, for this is still pure ‘n’ pristine BLACK METAL in all its monochromatic grandeur. More accurately, perhaps, Era of Threnody is the sound of Nargaroth at the height of its powers, well rested from the studio hiatus and eager ‘n’ emboldened by an upcoming European tour with Absu and Hate (dates after the jump). The time of reckoning is at hand, and it is indeed the Era of Threnody!

Stream Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody at Inter Arma Productions’ Bandcamp HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Nargaroth’s Era of Threnody
1. Dawn of Epiphany
2. Whither Goest Thou?
3. Conjunction Underneath The Alpha Weel
4. …As Orphans Drifting In A Desert Night
5. The Agony Of A Dying Phoenix
6. Epicedium To A Broken Dream
7. Love Is A Dog From Hell
8. Era Of Threnody
9. TXFO
10. My Eternal Grief, Anguish Neverending

Full “Crusade of Threnody” tour dates with ABSU and HATE, as well as poster art for the tour, are as follows:

19.05 – Zilinia (SVK) @ Klub Koleko
20.05 – Cluj Napoca (ROM) @ Flying Circus
21.05 – Bucharest (ROM) @ Fabrica
22.05 – Budapest (HUN) @ Durer Kert
23.05 – Vienna (AUT) @ Viper Room
24.05 – Cottbus (GER) @ Gladhouse
25.05 – Oberhausen (GER) @ Helvete
26.05 – Schweinsburg (GER) @ Dark Troll Fest
27.05 – Annaberg (GER) @ Alte Brauerei
28.05 – Flensburg (GER) @ Roxy
29.05 – Tilburg (NLD) @ Little Devil
30.05 – Cardiff (UK) @ The Globe
31.05 – Glasgow (UK) @ G2
01.06 – London (UK) @ Boston Music Rooms
02.06 – Amstelveen (NLD) @ P60
03.06 – Kuurne (BEL) @ Throne Fest

www.nargaroth.de
www.facebook.com/nargarothofficial
www.youtube.com/user/NargarothChannel

French Canadian Black Metal Band Neige et Noirceur to release new album

Highly anticipated new album of Neige et Noirceur (Canada) – Verglapolis is now available for pre-order

Release date will be 1st June 2017

The album will be available on limited A5 Digipack CD and Digital Digital
http://www.dusktone.eu/product/neige-et-noirceur-verglapolis/

The brand new Neige et Noirceur ALBUM “Verglapolis” will take you into the coldest and most desolate part of your essence.
Every track is a continuous flow between the most oppressive and cold black metal and melodies that seem to come from unknown and repetitive realities.
Slow-motion rhythms and haunting vocal melodies seemed to be emanated from some bleak cavernous subterranean chambers and create unique hypnotic atmospheres. Waves of disorienting sampling come and go, dotted with dragging beats and the harrowing integration of a choir’s howl.
This is pure despair just like the winter that cyclically holds us in.

1. Le monde est une foret noire
2. L’hiver de force
3. Nordet – Les premieres neiges
4. Pluie verglacante et brouillard de glace
5. Energie noire
6. Ruines electriques

pre-order here: http://www.dusktone.eu/product/neige-et-noirceur-verglapolis/

Finnish Death Doom Band Hooded Menace start recording drum tracks for new album

HOODED MENACE are busy with the recording of their next full-length. The Finnish death doom prodigies are revealing their progress in a statement, which is given below.

HOODED MENACE comment: “We are excited to announce that Jaime Gomez Arellano (SÓLSTAFIR, CATHEDRAL, GHOST) will be handling the mixing and mastering for our new album, which is targeted to come out on Season of Mist in 2018. Drum tracking begins this weekend at SF Sound Studio. We are stoked!”

Guitarist Lasse Pyykkö sent a pre-production picture, which can be viewed below.

Season of Mist have previously announced the signing of HOODED MENACE.

Regarding their signing, HOODED MENACE commented: “We are stoked to join the very diverse roster of Season of Mist. This is a rather logical step onward on our path. New possibilities under new circumstances. We have exciting plans for the next HOODED MENACE album and we are glad we have a strong, forward-thinking label backing us up.”

HOODED MENACE are a death doom metal band that was formed in Joensuu, Finland in 2007 by guitarist Lasse Pyykkö, who had also performed in the Finnish cult death metal band PHLEGETHON. HOODED MENACE have always been open about being strongly influenced by early CANDLEMASS and CATHEDRAL as well as PARADISE LOST, AUTOPSY, ASPHYX, and WINTER. The Finns successfully aimed at playing very doom-laden death metal that combined crushing and somber riffs with an essential hint of melodies. Their lyrics are often inspired by the classic 1970’s Spanish horror movie series ‘The Blind Dead’ that included such films as ‘Tombs of the Blind Dead’, ‘Return of the Evil Dead’, ‘Horror of the Zombies’, and ‘Night of the Seagulls’.

HOODED MENACE proceeded to recorded a 2-track demo titled ‘The Eyeless Horde’ in 2007, which was released on 7″ the following year. The Finns unleashed their debut album ‘Fulfill the Curse’ in 2008 and the highly acclaimed sophomore full-length ‘Never Cross the Dead’ delighted fans and critics alike after its release in 2010. HOODED MENACE remained in a highly creative mode and increased their following with the next two milestones ‘Effigies of Evil’ (2012) and their latest album ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ (2015). last year. True to classic vinyl style, HOODED MENACE also released several split singles and EPs for example with ASPHYX and COFFINS.

As an active live band, HOODED MENACE performed at many prestigious major metal festivals such as Hellfest, Roadburn, Maryland Deathfest, Tuska, and Party San Open Air among many more. The Finns toured Europe as a headliner in 2015 and are about to embark on a North American road-trip with DEMILICH and VASTUM, which includes an appearance at California Deathfest.

www.facebook.com/HoodedMenace
https://hoodedmenace.bandcamp.com

California’s death-thrash machine Sacrificial Slaughter announce their new album Generation of Terror

California’s death-thrash machine Sacrificial Slaughter return to Horror Pain Gore Death Productions for the release of Generation of Terror.

Since forming more than 15 years ago, Sacrificial Slaughter has grown into one of the most dominant forces in the underground. The band’s evolution is fueled by series of full-lengths, EPs and splits, along with relentless tours with the likes of Vader, Master, Vital Remains and more.

Generation of Terror showcases the band’s razor-edged aggression and calculated violence with five brutal new tracks and a cover of the classic Carnivore track “Race War.”

RIYL: Asphyx, Autopsy, Behemoth, Cephalic Carnage, Cryptopsy, Death, Exhumed, Goatwhore, Malignancy, Massacre, Misery Index, Monstrosity, Nile, Razor, Suffocation and Vader.

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions will release “Generation of Terror” May 12 on CD and digital formats.

Preorder at: https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/generation-of-terror

Catch the band live on the Strike of the Empire 2017 Tour featuring Vader & Internal Bleeding. Sacrificial Slaughter will also appear at the Las Vegas Deathfest.
Sacrificial Slaughter w/ Vader, Internal Bleeding, Voices of Ruin & Micawber:
5/22 – Santa Fe, NM @ Underground
5/23 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Thunder Alley
5/24 – Memphis, TN @ Growlers
5/27 – Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero
5/28 – Tampa, FL @ Brass Mug
5/29 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
5/30 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
5/31 – Houston, TX @ Arcadia
6/01 – Dallas, TX @ Curtain Club
6/02 – El Paso, TX @ Rockhouse Bar
6/03 – Albuquerque, NM @ Blu Phoenix
6/04 – Mesa, AZ @ Club Red
6/05 – Santa Ana, CA @ Malones
6/06 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro
6/07 – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
6/08 – LAS VEGAS DEATH FEST – details at lasvegasdeathfest.com
6/09 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
6/10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
6/11 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
6/12 – Newport, MN @ Opinion Brewery
6/13 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
6/14 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies Rock Club
6/15 – Lakewood OH, @ The Foundry
6/16 – New York City, NY @ Webster Hall
6/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung-fu Necktie
6/18 – Richmond, VA @ Banditos
6/19 – Louisville, KY @ Highlands Taproom
6/20 – Murfreesboro, TN @ Autograph Rehearsal Studio
6/22 – Shreveport, LA @ Bushnookies
6/23 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well
6/24 – Odessa, TX @ Krazy 8
6/25 – Tucson, AZ @ The Loudhouse

facebook.com/sacrificialslaughter

Canadian Black Metal band The Projectionist release their new album “Exalted Solitude”

THE PROJECTIONIST, black metal band from Canada, formed and fronted by Lord Matzikeitus (ex-Idolatry) has recently released their 2nd full length “Exalted Solitude” via Appalachian Noise Records & The True Plague Records;

The Projectionist (previously known as Lord Matzigkeitus), was initiated by the frontman Lord Matzigkeitus (Ex – Idolatry). He was soon joined by comrades from some other diabolic acts including Vile Insignia, Unrest, Ov Enochian, Belchior etc, however the lineup has continued to change. The music is centered on themes of hatred and isolation, to evoke new unexplored domains of intellectual fury and bleakness in black metal with complete despotic will poured over its endeavors.

Beginning their warpath in 2016, they released a full length and EP, entitled “Poisonous Disengagement” and “The GallowForest Eulogy” respectively, which attacked listeners with ghoulish screams and mournful yet ultimately violent guitar work, gaining good reviews in the process. Exalted Solitude is the Projectionist’s next phase in evolution. Refined and despotically black. Here, the ramparts of hell are fully manned and blotting out the sun with hateful arrows. Meant to vanguard the tortured isolation of Satanic rule. Lord Matzigkeitus, Parageist and new drummer Malphas bludgeon True cultists with eloquent savagery and indominable power.

With lavish artwork by Sang Ho Moon and Jan Pysander Whitney, and a guest guitar track by Christopher Hernandez of Xasthur. Out April 20th on Appalachian Noise Records and The True Plague Records jointly.

Testimony from the Vocalist, Lord Matzigkeitus:

“Exalted Solitude is the Projectionist’s next phase in evolution. Refined and despotically black. Here, the ramparts of hell are fully manned and blotting out the sun with hateful arrows. Meant to vanguard the tortured isolation of Satanic rule. Lord Matzigkeitus, Parageist and Malphas bludgeon True cultists with eloquent savagery and indomitable power.”

The Projectionist

Exalted Solitude
(Full Length)

Location: Canada

Release Date: 20 Apr, 2017

Label: Appalachian Noise Records & The True Plague Records

Format: CD & Digital

Track – List:

1. 11 Strikes to Incite Incurable Silences
2. Suckling a Most Hateful Claustrum
3. Ineffable Inner Void
4. Oubliette Threnodies
5.If Erased, So Fertile Ought
6. Draw Away
7. Chapel of Astaroth
8. Zarathustra Within
9. Sleepless Witching Curse
10.Harpy Whispers Malice (The Regent’s Downfall)

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FUNERAL TEARS Russian Funeral Doom New Album Out Now

Russian one man Funeral Doom Project FUNERAL TEARS released its third full length “Beyond the Horizon” via Satanath Records & Cimmerian Shade Recordings; bandcamp exclusively streamed the album, which can be found at this location

Initiated from Tomsk, Russia during December, 2007, Funeral Tears is the solo Funeral Doom project of Nikolay Seredov (leader of bands like Стахановцы [Stakhanovite] and Taiga). Dark melodic music and lyrics convey the inner state of Nikolay at different periods of life, the struggle for spiritual balance, at war with himself for only purpose – to find his own eternal peace. With two grief-stricken full lengths and a split with Poyezd Rodina, Funeral Tears has made their place in the realm of underground Funeral Doom Metal.

The third full-length of Funeral Tears, “Beyond The Horizon”, clocking in at near an hour, creates the aura of getting buried into the grave of intense depression. Prepare to be crushed amongst the gloomy passages of 06 unadulterated Funeral Doom tracks.

FUNERAL TEARS
Beyond The Horizon
(Full Length)

Location: Tomsk, Russia

Release Date: April 13, 2017

Label: Satanath Records (Rus) & Cimmerian Shade Recordings (USA)

Format: CD

Track – List:
01. Close My Eyes
02. Breathe
03. Dehiscing Emptiness
04. I Suffocate
05. Beyond The Horizon
06. Eternal Tranquility

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 56:07

Members:

Nikolay Seredov – Everything

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