A Tribute to Lemmy (R.I.P.)

Rest in peace Lemmy Kilmister. Thanks for sharing so much truth and music with us.

Prog Doom band Awake the Sun streams full first album

So the year is winding down quickly. Time to make plans for 2016. What shall happen in the upcoming time? One thing I'll keep doing is looking forward to new releases.

One of these records that I'll keep a eye upon is the one of the Progressive Doom metallers Awake the Sun. The band from Venice, Italy has just announced the release a new album in Europe on February 2016 through Sliptrick records.

(c) by Awake The Sun, used with kind permission

The band is a project created by the founders of the Italian avant-garde metal band Ensoph (active for more than 13 years with 4 albums released and many gigs played around Europe) and members from Alkemic Generator, Cube and Howl of Minerva.

The project blends together dark progressive metal and electronic/ambient influences with the aim to create unique misty melancholic atmospheres and to obtain a personal interpretation of the classic European Dark/Doom metal sounds. In some ways they remind me of a mixture of the heavier musical side of Paradise Lost with the unconventional arrangements of bands like Vanden Plas.

Gloomy and technical riffs, dismal scores, unconventional rhythmic patterns enhanced by a range of melodic vocal arrangements are the trademark of the band.

The debut album of the band is titled The Barren Sleep, 8 tracks of sad emotional landscapes, a journey through broken hopes and inquietudes, heavy and sharp riffs on polish rhythmical structures entwined with bittersweet melodies and haunting feels. Make sure to have a listen to the band's debut record while we wait for the new album to arrive.

Make sure to see the band's web-presence on Facebook or the record company's website to stay up to date about the impending album release.

X-Mas-Gift 2015: 50 Track sampler from Asher Media

Happy X-Mas everybody! We've finally reached the end of the year so it's time to unwrap all the christmas packages that (hopefully) come along your way.

(c) Asher Media Relations, used with kind permission

We here at Metal Underdogs can also hand one big package over to you. This one comes from Asher Media who have put out a band sampler counting 50 Bands with a playing time just under four hours for your enjoyment.

It features a lot of great bands I already had the pleasure to listen to. Be happy and prepare for some fine thrash from Fallen Angels as well as some Melodic Death Metal from Silent Line or enjoy more relaxed and fun metal stuff from Psychostick. It's all inside this big pack! Just head over to Bandcamp to start downloading your free goodie or stream it directly here from the page.


About: Asher Media Relations is PR company based in Montreal, QC that aids bands both well known and independent getting heard and read about in rock and metal media around the globe for nearly a decade. For more info, please visit the following links.

Website: www.AsherMediaRelations.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsherMedia

Twitter: @AsherMusicPRGuy

Voyager to tour Australia & Europe spring 2016 alongside Epica/Leprous

Progmetal has been on my mind for a long time in recent days. But as always things change so these days I'm back with the thrash metal direction but sometimes a prog band crosses my path that let's me think back to those prog days.

Such a thing happened when I heard about Voyager and saw their clip of "Hypenventilating". It's this mixture of power with emotions and melody that turns my attention towards them.

I call these elements of the sound "dreaming elements". They're often missing in today's prog metal sound where the focus is more set on heavyness. It's these dream elements I would like to see coming back in and Voyager happily still has them.


As ever so often when I discover such bands there's the wish to witness a live performance of them. Well, this could become a reality since Voyager has been confirmed to open up for Epica and Leprous in spring 2016 in Australia as well as in Europe.

Here is a round up of the dates, make sure to reserve your tickets early. I'm pretty sure those Epica shows will go quickly as the band was able to gain a lot of new fans in the last months. Maybe also a nice idea for a christmas gift. ;-)

The European 2016 dates with Leprous are as follows:

31/03: TBA
01/04: 's Hertogenbosch, (NL), W2 www.w2.nl
02/04: Helmond, (NL), Cacaofabriek www.cacaofabriek.nl
03/04: Hoofddorp, (NL), Podium Duycker www.duycker.nl
05/04: TBA
06/04: Essen, (DE), Turock www.turock.de
07/04: Pratteln, (CH), Z7 www.z-7.ch
08/04: Strasbourg, (FR), La Laiterie www.artefact.org
09/04: Durbuy, (BE), Durbuy Rock Festival www.durbuyrock.be

Here's a overview on the shows with Epica in Australia:

(c) by Epica, used with kind permission

Also make sure to see the Voyager Facebook webpage for all the latest updates about the band.

CD Review: Addiction - Addiction (2015)

Short Introduction

Addiction are a Classic Hardrock / Glam formation that is based in Athens, Greece. If you like 80's / 90's bands from that era you'll love them. They're one of the biggest surprises for me this year. They came out of nowhere and immediately struck me like heavy metal thunder with a lot of  positive power. :-)

(c) Addiction, used with kind permission

Summary

Let's have a party - let's have a good time! That's what the tunes on the Addiction album seemed to call at me when I turned on the music. While most of the metal music out there seems to talk about the darker aspects of life and seems to express all the hardships we face this album pushes you up. It's a good dose of positive power and wants to engage the listener to take his life up in a positive attempt.

It comes around with a lot of positive vibes and good feelings, sometimes more sometimes less heavy when it comes to the musical view but always with "Keep pushing forward" attitude. Most of the tracks are set in midtempo format so they can easily used to sing along to them. There also a ballad that made it's way on the album. That one is for the times when you think a lot or just need to relax a bit. It's a fitting difference on the record, a moment to stop from the pumping heavyness for a while. For a quick start and overview on the bands sound I'd suggest you to go with the video for "Bad Addiction". If you liked that make sure to check the samples in the Soundcloud player, "Saturday Night" and Paradise" are good picks.

If you dig Classic Hardrock and Glam Rock from the 80's or 90's you should definitely check this release out. This goes especially if you've been one of those individuals that used to see the german TV show "Hard 'n' Heavy" on Tele5 back in the 90's. I was one of them and I remember that a lot of these bands were shown off back in those days. There was a lot of good feelings hanging in the air which was often was caused by videos of bands like this. Hit the play button and enjoy being in those moments again - also if it's only for one videoclip. Enjoy it anyway - you can never know what comes next in life. 

Player 




 
Purchase Link and Contact Data

You can purchase the CD or a download in high quality wave format directly from the homepage of the band so you're going to support the artist directly if you decide to pick up a copy.

You can follow the band through Facebook or check in to their homepage from time to time to stay up to date about the band's activities.

The Birthday Party gift: "Metal of Oz" download music compilation

Yeah, today it's my birthday. Time goes fast. I'm a year older and maybe a bit wiser. ;-)

And how could we celebrate this better than with music? Here's the soundtrack to the party: a free download sampler featuring fourty tracks mostly held in the style of good old 80's metal.. I think this should keep us going for a good amount of time. :-)

Enjoy and have a good time and thanks for checking in and showing interest in the stuff I post here.

(c) by Online Metal Promo, used with kind permission

Online Metal Promo, Focus on Metal podcast (USA) and Maric Media (Australia) have partnered to offer "Metal of Oz", a free digital download music compilation featuring a mix of 40 past, current and unreleased original songs from established and up and coming bands from the United States, Canada and Australia.

Legendary Australia rock / metal industry publicist Chris Maric has checked in with the following statement:

"Australia’s impact on the global scene is at an all time high and in the last few years the quality of musicianship coming out of our country has been world class. The bands represented on this compilation cover so many of metals intricate genres that Im sure there is something there for everyone. Enjoy!!"

Bands featured on the compilation include:
1. Arcane Saints
2. Azrael’s Bane
3. Blackened Angel
4. Blasted to Static
5. Broken Teeth
6. Canedy
7. Corners of Sanctuary
8. Daemon Pyre
9. Diamond Lane
10. Envenomed
11. Eternal Voyager
12. Flames of Fury
13. Gods of Eden
14. Gundriver
15. Hasta La Muerte
16. Hazmat
17. Heaven The Axe
18. Jimmy Lardner Brown
19. Kara and the Dam Band
20. Killen
21. Killrazer
22. Lillye
23. Lord
24. Lords of the Trident
25. Love N War
26. Maxxxwell Carlisle
27. Melody Black
28. One Kingdom
29. Orpheus Omega
30. Our Last Enemy
31. Outlaws & Moonshine
32. Platinum Brunette
33. Rabid Assassin
34. Segression
35. Shallow Ground
36. Silent Knight
37. The Arbitrary Method
38. Vanlade
39. Whoretopsy
40. Witchcross

Download the free songs, compilation artwork and track listing at this location.

Power Thrashers Sanktuary start Space Race to the upcoming album

The thing that always keeps me coming back to Thrash Metal music is the fact that it doesn't fiddle around too much. It goes straight to the point and keeps pushing on forward very, very heavy. It doesn't stop nor does it look back, it just pushes on straight forward all the time and that's a great feeling. There nothing more frustrating than being stuck somewhere.

The band Sanktuary provides us with this power to move on. The band who is located in the harsh and blisteringly cold of the deep far North of Canada's Yukon Territory situating themselves in the city of Whitehorse is currently preparing the release of their their new self-release album 'Winter's Doom'  on January 22, 2016.

(c) by Sanktuary, used with kind permission

This first full track of the record entitled "Space Race" should give you a positive push of power to move on in your life. To me it reminded me a lot of the old 80's charme albums of Exciter or Metal Church had mixed up with today's songwriting structures of band's such as Evile. Enjoy. :-)


The full album will feature seven killer high speed, breakneck thrash metal tracks inspired by the Yukon's far North they call home along with other issues such as politics, technology, etc..

As the band points out about the first single Space Race: "It's about... the race to space! Superior technology, more advanced weapons, a more modern cold war kind of feel."

Make sure to keep in contact with band using one of the links below.

Links: Facebook| Twitter | Youtube  | Soundcloud | Bandcamp

CD Review: Sorrows Path - Doom Philosophy

Band Introduction
 
Sorrows Path was formed by Takis Drakopoulos (bass) and Kostas Salomidis (guitar) back in November 1993. The doom metal band from Greece is inspired by bands like Memento Mori, Solitude Aeturnus and Candlemass. After many ups and downs the band finally found back to it's form and has released the full-length album "Doom Philosopy" in 2014 via Iron Shield Records.

(c) by Sorrows Path, used with kind permission

Summary

The album is a definite fest for all the dedicated fans of the doom metal genre. It offers 11 in-depth studio tracks that have been worked on with love and passion. The songs range from the midtempo open "Tragedy" over to a fast hacking  "A Dance With The Dead" that finally builds a bridge to a slower middle part of the record which consists of a good buch of slower tracks. Finally the record comes to an end from the start of "The Venus And The Moon" with more faster tracks which bring back the more rough edge of the sound. The final instrumental song "Damned (O)fish-L.S.D." is a absolute killer, bringing the technical abilities of the band up to the point.

If you love to listen to your music very closely and intensively you should give this band a listen, it's music coming from the heart and you can hear that the band put much heartblood and effort in making this record a reality.

Album-Overview

As for me personally I prefer the faster tracks of the record since the slower one's can feel a bit lenghty at times. The track "Epoasis" is a good example for that. The longer, slow introduction together with the hard, ripping guitar riff gives the track a special note. It's cool to have two solo sections in there. The same goes for the song "Tragedy". It has a cool rhythm with it that reminds me a lot of the good old Memento Mori. "A Dance With The Dead" hits it very hard, pushing the band's sound to the heavier limit. 

Anyway two songs of the slower part need a special mention in my eyes. First of "Everything can change". It features guest performances by two well known names in the metal universe, you can hear Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Therion, Dream Evil e.t.c.) and Edgar Rivera (ex-Solitude Aeternus) on this one. I like the message of the lyrics. The song is outworked the very well, I think the band added some unique elements to the traditional doom sound on this one.
"Epoasis" will last in your mind for it's longer, slow introduction together with the hard, ripping guitar riff that gives the track a special note. It's cool to have two solo sections in there.

Player  

There isn't a full album stream available but I put the two official videos for the album up here. Those should give you a good first impression on the band's sound. The other tracks can be heard as short previews for instance on Amazon which gives you a 30 second glimpse on each track.
Purchase-Link / Contact Data

You can purchase the album at the band's website for 10 Euro plus shipping and handling as a physical CD or get a digital copy on stores such as Amazon or CD Baby.

Currently (December 2015) the band also has a special offer up and running. It contains the CD along with the official T-Shirt as well as a patch for free altogether going for the price of 20 Euro plus 5 Euro shipping and handling in a registered mail. The package is available through Paypal, orders can be placed through the merchandise-subsite of the band's officlal Headquarter on the World Wide Web.

If you like to stay in touch with them, make sure to see the band's Facebook page.

BaXnug prevent musicians from becoming tired

In my eyes we live in a world that is often hard and filled with things we don't know how to handle. Music is a great way of having a little escape from all that and lifting one up when things don't look bright. Many bands often add a bit of fun stuff that gives you back your smile.

These thoughts came to my mind when I saw the video of the band BaXnug. It reminds me a bit of the older videos of ZZ Top. While the music comes along in a serious and quality style the video comes around with a lot of fun that made my day and made me move on.

For instance BaXnug introduces the kangaroo tail (the Baxxaver) for human beings in this video. It has been invented to prevent musicians from becoming tired when having to stand the whole time while playing music. Once that problem was solved a new genre was definded: "Ergonomic Rock".

Since the one-man band was able to save energy through the use of the Baxxsaver they were able to create a much more energetic record than other bands could ever have done. Check out the track "Counterattack" in the player below to have a potion of fun and straight forward Rock 'n' Roll.


The album truly has a really rocking cool vibe to it. If you want to hear more of the record just check out the trailer on YouTube.

If you like to support this cool project don't hesitate to head over to digital stores such as Amazon, iTunes or Google Play to purchase a copy so the band can continue to put out more fun stuff for all of us in the future. A closer look upon the website will also reveal more funny details about the device as well as the band.

St. Nicolas day gift: Bandsampler of Metalmessage agency

Yeah,it's St. Nicolas day again. Which albums ended up on your wishlist?

If you still need to find a proper album that would be worth it check this sampler from the metalmessage agency. It contains a lot of great bands especially from the thrash sector.

Enjoy the stream and don't hesitate to pick your free copy from Bandcamp.
And don't forget to gift all of your friends with this nice goodie, too. :-)

Corners Of Sanctuary giving away free christmas album

It's christmas time again. While the days are getting shorter and the heaven darker with every day it starts to get more comfortable inside. I like to watch those strings of lights at houses and have one in my flat, too.

Many years ago there was a compilation called "Banging 'round the X-MAS tree". Does anybody of you guys out there remember this? It was a EP on vinyl that included four christmas tunes in metal versions performed by Axel Rudi Pell, Jörg Michael and even more musicians from underground acts such as Steeler, Lions Breed or Living Death. I liked that stuff, finally some metal tunes for the silent time of the year.

My copy of the Banging 'round the X-MAS tree vinyl EP

But what about these days? Corners Of Sanctuary, a traditional metal band from Philadelphia, PA has taken up this path and compiled a album full of Christmas music. Entitled "Driven Snow", A Merry Metal Xmas III" this 10 track Holiday album will be available as a free download during the entire month of December in mp3 or wave format! Besides christmas classics such as "Silent Night" or "Jingle Bells" it also includes four brand new tracks that were written from the band themselves.

Update 10.12.2015: If you'd like to give a little bit back to the band and / or would love to support them here's your chance: the band is currently running a little Crowdfunding campaign on their website.

Corners Of Sanctuary ask you for a little bit of support so they'll have the chance of making a Tour in 2016.  In return for your money you can receive a mention on the website, MP3 downloads, CDs, patches, T-shirts and autographed photos depending upon the level of support. The tour kicks off on January 2, 2016 in Providence, RI. Dates for Rhode Island, New York, Ohio, Virginia, California, Arizona, Canada and Europe are currently being worked on.

(c) by Corners of Sanctuary, used with kind permission

Corners of Sanctuary guitarist Mick Michaels has checked in with the following comment:

"We are excited to release our new Holiday bum "Driven Snow" for 2015. This album marks the fourth installment of this seasonal release. It is a great mixture of traditional favorites and modern arrangements capturing the metal style of COS. The album includes four all new, all original tracks. Driven Snow will definitely make your merry metal!"

Have a Merry Metal Xmas - COSnROLL!

For the latest band news and show dates, visit their official Facebook page

Silent Line release concept album talking about being lost on a island that fades away

Some bands these days really have a idea of how they can capture one's attention. This thought came to my mind when I head about Silent Line's new album "Shattered Shores". Not only was I curious to get to know more about the band after I read that they make Melodic Death Metal in the style of old In Flames (and old Amorphis also comes to my mind when listening to them) but moreover the album concept got me quite quickly.

Having read about the concept I ended up listening to the album teaser numerous times. Please don't blame me if the same thing will happen to you yearning for the full record at the end of the day. ;-)

It is the band's first attempt on a concept record that depicts a tortured island stuck in time being slowly worn away by an endless ocean. A single person is referred to throughout the album and everything is told from their point of view as they wander, stuck on the island -- unsure of how they got there, and unsure if they will ever leave.

The cover expresses the concept perfectly in my eyes. Just look at the rocks. They show the signs of time and one can easily say that they will break away soon. (c) by Silent Line, used with kind permission

The lyrics revolve around the themes of overcoming hardships, anxiety, and “weathering the storm” in order to persevere. The title track is split into two parts, and throughout the album several thematic riffs and lyrics are repeated, creating a motif for listeners. The title references being stranded and trapped forever as the shores become more eroded and the reality of isolation sets in.

Themes of frost, snow, fire, night, and stars are used to illustrate feelings of hopelessness, fear, and loss. Another recurring theme is the storm, which brings change and renewal; it is – for lack of a better term – the symbol of hope and of a brighter future.

The band had the aim to create a album that leaves hope at the end of the day. Silent Line said about the record in their own words:
"(...) It’s not meant to be depressing, but it deals with real issues and lots of the time those are not pretty. While it is a darker album, the message is not. Overcoming internal issues and feelings is the prime focus, and to describe how important that is, it is necessary to spend time describing the more pessimistic side of things and what makes it so crippling.(...)"

Just check out the trailer to get a idea of the sound of the band and record. You can buy the full album as a physical CD over at CD Baby or digitally through stores such as iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.

For more info about the band and to stay in touch with them make sure to see the Facebook page of Silent Line.

CD Review: Atropos Project - Towards Firmament

Short Introduction

Atropos Project plays instrumental music with a lot of progressive and metal elements in them. The band started out as a one man project and saw it's first release with the full length album "Equator" in 2013. In the meatime John Quarles, who writes and plays nearly all the music has created a follow up record called "Towards Firmament" in his studio in New York. The new album will see the light of day on December 1st 2015.

(c) by Atropos Project, used with kind permission

Summary / Player / Purchase-Link

I am very glad that this outstanding project survived the tides of time. In the two years since the first album Atropos Project developed the song-structures quite a lot. I mean the first album was great but this one shows a bit more precisely that John Quarles has learned a lot when it comes to writing songs. The new tracks that will be released soon have more structure, often follow more a main theme or topic as the songs on "Equator" did.

Still the great thing is that it doesn't miss the fun aspect of music. You can hear a lot of parts on the album where especially all the musicians amongst you out there can nearly re-feel the positive vibes and emotions that John might have been in when writing, producing and recording these songs. You can feel a lot of jazz vibe in the music and that's what makes this recording sound so different from other's that go into the same direction. It comes out with a jam-feeling to it, a great emotion to me. This feeling when everything seem's to come together in a good mood and everyone involved throw's in his power and talent to it.

It sounds very powerfull and hard but also melodic and very versatile when it comes to the playing techniques and styles of the various tracks. One can quickly point out that it's a typically Atropos Project recording you're listening to.

The first half of the album comes more direct while the second one needs more time to fully sink in. Don't let this stop you from buying. I would like to encourage everyone out there dedicated with the full heart and soul to music to buy this diamond. It's always surprising to see how intensive a record can be - this one will be a journey you'll love and enjoy. Just give it a try.

It's also a great idea for a christmas gift if you know someone out there that has this dedication towards music. It will be a great surprise and I think a album one will enjoy even more with every listen. Remember that Bandcamp also offers the possibility to gift someone with a download code directly through the plattform's shop system.

"Towards Firmament" will be available through the Bandcamp page of Atropos Project starting December 1st 2015. It will also be available through other digital merchants such as CDBaby, Itunes, including streaming at Spotify, Google Play, etc. There are no physical copies planned unless demand warrants it this time around.
Note:  I'll add the exact links to the purchase and streaming plattforms once they've been released so please check back if you're interested in buying or listening to the album. The same goes for the album stream. If it should go online I'll add it here, too.

Currently a preview can be accessed through YouTube that gives a good overview on the album with excerpts of each and every track. Just click on the player below, it only takes a few minutes to listen to it.


Update 01.12.2015: The full album stream is online so I've added it here as promised.  
Album Overview (Track-by-track review)

The Slide: The tracks starts with a few broken notes at the beginning and then goes over to a midtempo slower stomping track with full distortion. Sounds very powerfull and heavy. A keyboard intermission lights up the dark feeling of the track with a lighter melody. The track becomes faster and takes up some tempo. A intensive shred section dominates the last third of this opening song before it finally ends on some strange noise. A great opener!

Bent Crown: A rough and compact but also short intro section kicks us into the second number. It finally let's us fall onto some softer notes that finally form the main theme for this song. The rhythm changed to fit to the guitars. A lot of jazzy feelings in here. This is one of my absolte favorites of the album. The jam feeling comes a lot into play on this one. A new melody abruptly comes in giving it a dreaming theme in between just to be followed on a new part that wraps the melody into a rougher noise guitar vibe and rhythm. The melody continues to shine through. Beautiful part! Finally the rougher part get's more intensive and starts to dominate the track giving it a blistering intermission with a fitting rhythm section. The song goes back to the starting theme to start a little play-around with it before climating into going faster with every round further. I love this!

Block No Light: The opening riff makes it already clear that this track comes around a lot sharper and heavier than the previous one. The main theme morphs and forms a lot as the track progresses even further maintaining all the while it's rough style. Finally a new melody comes up giving it a more melodic and mysteric touch. A ghostly feeling comes up before a sharper midtempo riffer rushes in that opens up the way for some keyboard elements which give it a epic theme. The end comes fast and abrupt but also very fitting to the track.

Alchemist: The fifth album track starts out with some soft introduction notes before heading on to a straight rocking number. The short break with silence comes as a surprise but the melody rushes in even better afterwards. Throughout all the changes the song always remains heading straight on forward in a faster mood. The end presents a lot of distortion and drums playing along to it. It plugs out quickly but all of this feels as if it should be this way.

Expeller: This one opens up quite epic with walls of sound of guitar and keyboards. It transforms further into a midtempo number with heavily distorted guitars and a lot of shred formed into the sound. Finally clear guitars softly come in just to leave as fast as they came. The walls of guitars seem to reflect into the music once again before a string of clear guitar melodies form a soft touching outro to this outstanding track. You'll remember it often afterwards.

Towards Firmament: A rather unusual beginning for this Atropos Project tune with a soft arrangement of guitar strings along with few percussive elements at the start. Rough and dry guitars come in forming a pulsating noise gate that along with the constant rhythm sharps the heaviest track of this second album. It's a big surprise even if you're familar with the sound of this instrumental project. The end gives in some more relaxed parts that form a contrast to the first section that is overwhelming with it's sheer intensive power. Surely a track that set's a mark in the world of heavy instrumental music.

Sistine: This one starts out softly. It has overall a lighter feeling to it with percusson adding to it. Thoughout all the variations a main theme runs through all the parts giving this a heavy jamming attitude. It has a attempt like "Bent Crown" in it. The drumming is more versatile and faster but the guitars go more directly on it. A overall straighter number but with the slight progressive elements I like in this music so much.

Red Roads: We reach the final track of this album. It welcomes us with soft keyboards. The eight song plays around a bit before it comes to the next section - a riff hacking heavy track that has a epic keyboard theme with it that seems to form a echo for the guitars. The hacked notes come back in with much jamming added to it. It plays around a lot with the variations that can be made of it and John Quarles knows how to use them. It's great to see what can be made of single elements and this track shows the variations you can make of it. I hope the journey this album provides can be continued one day. I would love to go on. As for the first I'll put it on repeat and enjoy it a second time that's for sure.

Final Coil release thought-filled animation lyric video

Lyric videos have become something that a lot of bands do these days. It's simply cheaper than doing a full blown video but at the same time is not as boring as a standing picture with sound in the backround would be.

But how about making the best of it and do something with a message that goes a bit over the obvious animated lyrics that come with every of these vids? At least there is room to show something off if you really want to.

The metallic-grunge band Final Coil have let this idea become reality. In collaboration with Andy Pilkington they created a lyric video that comes with a message and some visual expression of the lyrics as well as putting in the rawness of the music in wave-forms. You can not only hear but see the tension that the ripping guitars and tight drums create. It really leaves something behind once you've watched it.

"Daylight Fades" is taken from the band's current output "Closed to the light". You can download the whole EP for free from Bandcamp. It's also one of the releases that's worth some money and while I'm typing these lines a limited edition CD is still up for purchase for a fair price on Bandcamp. 
 
Don't forget to follow the band on Facebook and check them out live at TBFM’s Christmas party at Duffy’s Bar in Leicester, England on Dec 3rd 2015. No entrance fee will be taken so it sounds like it could be a great chance to check them out along with two more bands on the billing.

CD Review: Arcade Messiah - II

Short Introduction

Arcade Messiah is a one-man instrumental metal music project from KingBathmat frontman John Bassett. It combines a mix of Metal/Post Rock/Stoner/Doom/Prog elements all together on one disc. The first album was released exactly one year ago and received a lot of positive feedback from fans all over the world.

John Bassett spoke to Prog Megazine about the resonace he received. He was surprised about the positive reactions so he decided to create a sequel. He further said that it's meant to be a sort of continuation of the first record but with the hope of being a better, bigger and more dramatic piece of music. The intention was to grow the music without losing the vibe and atmosphere of the original album. The next chapter in the history of Arcade Messiah is set for release on 22nd November 2015 via Bandcamp and then everywhere else on Nov 27 through Stereohead Records.

(c) by Arcade Messiah, used with kind permission

Summary / Player / Purchase-Link

Please bring some time to listen to the album properly. It comes with many layers of melody and variation in them that are ofter overwhelming on the first listen. But if you give them more spins you'll discover so many fine points that you'll wonder what you may've overheard the time before. 

The album is well worth some money. Currently the pre-order price is set at 0,99 GBP on Bandcamp until the release on 22nd of November 2015. Afterwards you'll be able to set the amount free of choice. Please give some bucks so independent and progressive music can continue to push on forward and offer all of us even more of these great musical journeys. It will take you out of your everyday life for a good amount on time and I remember having enjoyed every single minute of it.

If you decide to pick up a physical copy packed in a six panel digipack you'll be rewarded with a ninth track on the disc that add's a playing time of 19 additional minutes to your playing time. That track is something very special, all of you guys out there digging the long-tracks of progressive music will love this. It's like a never-ending epic.

The record will be released on 22nd November via Bandcamp. Currently a album preview is available for streaming as well as two full tracks. I've included the full songs at the Album-Overview section of the review. Here is the album-roundup to get a quick idea of the record:

Album-Overview (Track-by-track review)

Moon Signal: after a slow intro section the album starts with a high complexity. This is a well outworked piece of guitar work. It really needs a lot of time to get through all of the sections and comes in very rough. Don't let this hinder you. It's a rather heavy start to the album but the further tracks go in a bit easier.

Red Widow: More groove based progmetal. It's a breaker and positive "push-it-forward-track". Complex yet very fitting drums and guitar shred on this one. Rough sections follow cleaner parts and surprisingly some total soft-toned notes see the light towards the last third of the song. They lead over to a very dirstorted part with crushing guitars all over. The end comes fast and abrupt.

Black Dice Maze: The song starts out as a beautifull ballad with clean and pure guitars. The drums fit very well to this starting a soft rhythm. Drastically it all changes and a lot of roughness comes rushing in. This goes over to a typical prometal riff and finally unfolds into some more rough crushing and edgy guitar sound giving it all a more complex and hard sound structure. The next move goes back to the progmetal style and comes around clearer and in a more compact style. The end comes in very climatic and dramatic before the whole soundsphere collapses and goes back to some soft notes but not in the same style as at the beginning.

Gallows Way: A clear and calling sound speaks out of the guitar. Is there someone out there? This creates a very spheric and haunting atmosphere. I often wonder why some of the roughest records include hard tracks but at the same time there are these soft pearls in there as well. Those give you freezing chills. This is one of those shining diamonds. It doesn't last long but maybe you'll remember it as long in your mind as I did... The slightly distorted ending builds a crossing to the next track.

(c) by John Bassett, used wth kind permission

Fourth Quarter: A fine mixture of rougher and silker soundscapes can be found in this one. Held in a typical progressive style it's slightly hard but with a very warm and melodic tonality to it. Beautiful melodies can be found a lot in here.
It's like walking through a garderen that offers so many flowers to see. A intensive journey through what instrumental progressive music can offer in all of it's variations, diversity and complexity.

Via Occulta: A short intermission. Clear guitar notes flying around. The drums catch them up and form a little jam-alike atmosphere.

Read the Sky: A highly complex track. It get's back to the rough style. Held in a midtempo the track evolves around the main riff and comes with a lot of distortion. Inside of the storm you'll find a eye of melody that shine through. The darkest and hardest track of the album in my ears.

Start Missing Everyone: Spacy sounds start this one.But once that is gone sheer power takes over. A compact closing point. A good ending point for all people taking the download edition.

The Four Horsemen (CD-only-track): A catchy start to the epic with soft yet ever-changing guitar sounds and rhythm patterns. It evolves even further to a powerfull guitar bloom but not so heavily distorted as "Read the sky". It comes to a first peak towards nearly the half of the track and goes over to a somewhat ghostly spheric intermission just to come back with fresh power before going back in the softer mode and back to power again. The chilling and dreamingly sphere is present on the vast majority of the next track section before heavyness comes rushing back in. The drumming is most complex on this song. Lot's of variations and drum fills. The end set's a last mark on heavyness leaving me in the hope that we'll hear more of this great musician in the future.

Heartlay confirms show in Paris and helps people affected by terrorist attacks

Last friday we all faced the shocking news that terrorists had stormed a show of the band Eagles of Death Metal as well as several other public places like restaurants and bars in Paris to kill innocent people in the name of their religion. A football stadium was also set as a point of attack but happily the security people could help to prevent this from happening by letting a suspicious person not inside.

Let me express my dislike to any sort of violence anywhere in the world for any reason. There is never a place for such a thing and there is never anything that justifies such behaviour. We all live in one world and by the end of the day I'm quite sure we all believe in the same god or how else we may call it.

I can fully understand that it wasn't sure if the show of the alternative metal / industrial rock band Heartlay along with the bands The Way I Am and The Long Escape in Paris will happen on 20th of November 2015. It's just one week after these events and of course there's still tension and fear hanging in the air that such a thing might happen again. Last night a football game here in germany was cancelled due to serious terror warnings.

The good thing to all of this is that the people in Paris don't want to give in. They decide not to let themselves to intimidate by these mean act of violence. Heartly have finally decided to play that show but it will not be the release party for the new EP "Remedy".

(c) by Heartlay, used with kind permission

Instead the show will be dedicated to all the victims of the terroristic attacks. There will be no entrance free taken for this show but at the entry area of the venue you'll find a box when you can give a amount of your choice. The money collected will be given to the "Association française des Victimes du Terrorisme", a association for the victims of the terror. Their will be books of condolence where you can write in a mention and send some positive power to all those affected by the attacks.

You can find more details about the event on the Facebook page.

Heartlay have released their newest single "Consequence" just at the beginning of this month. It shows that the band has continued their path they began with the "Injection" EP. To me it comes around a bit more edgy and rough as the songs on the debut. If you would like to have a copy of the song don't worry. Just head over to Bandcamp. The band has kindly set up a free download of the track there.

Dark Music collection helps victims of tragedy in Bucharest

On October 30 2015 local band Goodbye to Gravity were celebrating the release of their second album at the nightclub Club Collectiv n Bucharest when the tragedy occurred and a massive fire began to spread. First hints point to a massive lack of security as the reason for this sad event. 

More than 50 people died and many dozens more are still in hospital. The victims and their families continue to need help with all sorts of things from funeral expenses to medical care.

Happily the Romanian artist, Costin Chioreanu has released a collection of avant-garde dark music, entitled "The Quest For A Morning Star", to raise funds for the people in need. The download features one hour of very dark tunes that in my ears perfectly fit to the dark situation we are all facing these days. 

Chioreanu is well known and highly respected for his graphic works for At The Gates, Arch Enemy, Napalm Death, Arcturus, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Ulver and many others. A musician himself, he has collaborated with various artists to create "soundtracks" to accompany his exhibitions in the past. The result can be purchsed now for the first time as a download album.

So if you want to help out the people affected by this sad event please consider buying a copy of the digital album through Bandcamp. This download is available for a limited time until November 27th 2015. You can listen to the full record below to get a idea of how the record sounds like.

Update 30.11.2015: The campaign is over and was a big success. The exact amount that has been raised will be announced on 5th December on the Facebook page of Costin Chioreanu. The digital compilation will remain on Bandcamp for the price of 1 Euro to keep it online forever.

If you still want to help the victims of the Club Collectiv tragedy you can purchase a physical copy of the record through Avantgarde Music. 

Limited to 300 copies, this A5-sized digipack features 8 beautiful art works by Costin Chioreanu on a 7 pages booklet. Includes unlimited streaming of The Quest For A Morning Star via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

All profits of this physical edition will be collected and donated to the Foundation “fundatiamereuaproape.ro". You can check out all the details of the release and find the pre-order link on the pages of Avantgarde Music.

Interview with Eternal Voyager (2015)

Introduction

Eternal Voyager came to me as a sort of good surprise. Being someone who grew up with the old classic bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal I always loved the old style that these bands represent with their classic songs. Just think of Judas Priest with their Screaming for Vengeance album or Iron Maiden's Piece of mind.

Of course times have changed ever since. It's good to see things evolve - these days productions sound very different, much brighter, heavier and often brutal. But it's always running through my head that I still love the old way of doing records.

Eternal Voyager seems to be the answer to what I am longing for. They keep their traditionell Power Metal in the old fashioned way of songwriting and production. For example there are songs on their album "The Battle of Eternity" that repeat the theme that is presented at the beginning of the track at the very end of it again. I instantly had to think of the old Omen albums again.

Eternal Voyager 2015, (c) by Eternal Voyager used with kind permission

I gave the album some spins and was so curious to find out more about them that I asked the band for a interview. I am glad guitarist and vocalist Brian Blake took the time to answer my questions in a very extended way. Get to know more about how the album came together, the myterious man on the front cover of the album and what they are going to do next.

The Interview

Heavy Metal Underdogs: 
The production on the CD sounds very oldschool. I love this, today's albums are often overproduced in my eyes/ears. I grew up with the old sound so I prefer it. Was the old-school production form something you had clearly on your mind as you went into the studio or how did it all come together?

Brian Blake:
It was a natural thing that happened it wasn’t really planned but it came out that way because of the producer’s style. I too enjoy the old school sound and production to albums. But this time around it was not planned out this way. Of course there are a lot things I would like to change but it captured the songs well enough.

The band underwent a lot of line-up changes and is already around since 1998. How did you manage to keep up the motivation?

It went through a lot of lineup changes for various reasons mostly because many people just didn’t make the cut or ended up with life and musical differences, which is a natural thing that happens. It has never been easy because I have been the original member having to carry the weight of the band through all of it and it was very hard; there were many times that I wanted to give up but I kept going. This new lineup has given me a newfound hope and positive outlook on the future of this band. The album itself finally getting recorded was very motivating and gave me more confidence because prior to that we never had the right people all of those years and I was never successful in getting a good professional recording done.

Did the fans maybe also took part in this by constantly requesting new shows or recordings?

Yes there were a few that followed us somewhat distantly through the years but we made a lot more new fans when the album came out because it was a solid recording . For about 4 years before the making of the album we had a big gap of silence due to lineup complications and member issues.

As for the lyrics of "The Battle of Eternity" - does it have a concept behind it? Is there also a relation to the cover artwork?