Ninth Sphere looking for vocalist and share album for free

Dallas, Texas based Symphonic band Ninth Sphere have put out their album "Zenith". Ninth Sphere is the brainchild of guitarist Brian Cravey, one of the original founding members of The Browning, and is heavily influenced by artists such as In Flames, Born of Osiris, Betraying the Martyrs and Architects.

I just had a quick listen into the release and it's fantastic. It gives a redemptive feeling. In addition it shares a lot of positive and dreaming vibes. The tracks have a compact duration so they never feel lengthy or make you feel stressed and overloaded with all the noise. Instead the atmosphere constantly keeps intact also the tracks evolve and change inside each other so much. But they can be followed easily because they always keep the focus on one element at a time. I think that's something not to be found out there too often.

The cover of the "Zenith" album of Ninth Sphere, cover art produced by Nick Baxter

I was so surprised to read that you can pick it up for free but I would love to see people leaving at least a donation for this fine recording. You can listen and download it up from Bandcamp, Soundcloud and the band's own homepage.

In addition to this it's surely a great challenge to all vocalists out there looking for something new and fresh to work on. Currently the band is on the outlook for a person to take over the vocal duties.

Therefore the band is holding open, public auditions for a vocalist. To be considered the band is asking for potential candidates to choose a song from the album and make an audition track and/or video. Submissions can be posted to any of the bands social media accounts like Facebook or emailed to ninthsphereofficial@gmail.com

Have a listen to the music right here.

Ninth Sphere is planning a physical re-release of the 'Zenith'  album once a vocalist is found. They have even more plans for the future. Brian Cravey states, "“After leaving The Browning in 2011 and accomplishing some life long goals outside of music, I decided it was time to get back to a music project.

I’ve been writing this material for a couple of years and finally found a few like minded musicians to join the band. Travis is a true visionary artist and he will create the imagery for the band, as well as holding down bass duties. Dylan is a professional live sound engineer and an amazing drummer. We have big plans for this band and tons of music written. Once we find the perfect voice to finish our sound we will take things to the next level. Expect some live shows and videos very soon!"

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.

Free internet livestreams for Wacken Festival 2015 available

Yeah, there's chance to be part of the biggest metal festival of the world even if you can't go there or couldn't get your hands on one of the tickets that sold nearly out faster than the light.

All the streams can be found on the official Social Streaming center page on the official Wacken Homepage. As a alternative you can also click over to the site of the german TV station ARTE. On that site you'll also be able to access some of the shows in a archive as stream on demand later on.

Update 08/02/2015: Life goes to fast...it's already over again. But wait, there's still a chance to see some of the shows (again) or for the first time if you've missed them out.

Streaming archives

Just click on over to the ARTE streaming archive and you can check out full shows from Amorphis, Running Wild, Rock Meets Classic, At The Gates, Uli Jon Roth and many more.
More shows have been uploaded on 08/04/2015: You can see now shows from Amorphis, Cradle of Filth, Sabaton and Savatage & TSO on the ARTE streaming archive. Some of them are said to be accessable worlwire.

3sat also broadcasted a big four hour special yesterday. It included TSO & Savatage, Sabaton, Running Wild and In Flames. You can watch the whole package on the blog of the TV station. 

3sat began to broadcast single shows on german TV last night. These stuff is also up for streaming in their on demand archive. More shows will be added as the broadcast schedule progresses (see section labeled "Broadcast of shows on TV" in this post for detailed information on that).

There was a little documentary included that talked about the cover artist Seth Siro Anton of the band Septicflesh and his creations for bands like Morgoth, Paradise Lost, Kamelot and more. A very cool gimmick in my eyes!
This mini-movie can also be seen separately in a single stream on the 3sat media-archive if you don't want to watch the full four hour broadcast just to be able to see this.

In addition to that a big archive has been opened up offering a large package of interview stuff. Just head on to the ARTE interview subpage to see them. 

Broadcasts of shows on TV

The exact dates for the single shows on german TV station 3sat and ZDF kultur have been announced in the meantime. The syntax always lists 3sat first, next is ZDF kultur. All times are CEST.

In Flames: 10.08., 2.05 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 20.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
The BossHoss: 10.08., 3.05 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 21.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
In Extremo: 10.08., 4.05 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 22.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
Running Wild: 10.08., 5.05 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 23.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
Queensrÿche: 14.08., 4.10 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 0.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
Cradle of Filth14.08., 5.10 Uhr (3sat) / 08.08., 1.15 Uhr (ZDFkultur)
 
Finally: Have fun!

Internet-Livestreams

Here is the time-table that has been set up so far. Please note that this is subject to change also shortly and all times are CEST.
Update 07/30/2015: Two shows have been added for today (Thursday).

Thursday, 30.07.2015
17.45 – 19.05 h - In Extremo
19.20 h - Grailknights (Recording)
20.10 h - Mambo Kurt (Recording)

21.00 – 22.00 h - New Model Army (Recording)
22.10 – 23.25 h - Uli Jon Roth (Recording)

Friday, 31.07.2015
15.30 – 16.30 h - At The Gates
16.45 – 17.45 h - Queensryche
18.00 – 19.15 h - Opeth
19.30 – 20.45 h - Dream Theater
21.00 – 22.15 h - tba
22.30 – 23.45 h - In Flames
00.00 – 01.30 h - Running Wild
01.45 – 03.00 h - The BossHoss

Saturday, 01.08.2015
14.30 – 15.45 h - Amorphis
16.00 – 17.15 h - Danko Jones
17.30 – 18.45 h - Rock Meets Classic
18.55 – 20.10 h - Dream Theater (Recording)
20.15 – 21.15 h - tba
21.15 – 22.00 h - The BossHoss (Recording)
22.00 – 23.30 h - Sabaton (Time Shift)
23.30 – 00.15 h - In Flames (Recording)
00.15 – 01.30 h - Cradle of Filth
01.45 – 02.45 h - Subway to Sally

In addition to that you'll be able to see some stuff at the german TV stations ARTE and 3sat.
So far 3sat has announced the following on their website:

Wacken Open Air 2015

LIVE from Wacken

Hosts: Rainer Maria Jilg, Markus Kavka
Saturday, 1. August, starting from 20.15 h
with
Sabaton
Trans-Siberian Orchestra & Savatage
In Flames
Running Wild

Ten single show-recordings from the festival, starting on 10. August 2015, here the exact time-table:

Monday, 10.08.2015 ab 02:05 Uhr – 4 shows
Friday, 14.08.2015 ab 04:10 Uhr – 2 shows
Monday, 17.08.2015 ab 02:15 Uhr – 4 shows

More recordings at  ZDFkultur:
Saturday, 08.08.2015 ab 20:15 Uhr – 6 shows
Saturday, 15.08.2015 ab 20:15 Uhr – 4 shows

In Flames concert Cologne 2014 to be aired by TV show Rockpalast

Update 2014/11/25: All the broadcasted stuff has been added the online archive of the Rockpalast homepage! So here's your chance to check the stuff out in case you missed it:

In Flames
While She Sleeps
Wovenwar
Papa Roach


The german TV music format "Rockpalast" is a legendary show. Since nearly 40 years the format has become famous for recording live shows from all of the well known artists, amongst them The Who, David Bowie, ZZ Top and many, many more plus a lot of young and unknown bands.
Check out their massive Video archive to see a list of the bands and have a look at some of the material, they stream all of the offered stuff for free!

On 31st of October 2014 the shows of In Flames, While she sleeps, Wovenwar and Papa Roach were recorded by the Rockpalast team at the Palladium in Cologne, Germany. At the moment you can already take a look at some of the stuff at the Rockpalast homepage (interviews with bandmembers as well as single songs of the show).

In the night from 23. November to 24. November 2014 the full concert will be aired at the german TV station WDR starting at midnight. There's also a webstream of the TV station available but I can't tell if the show will be available there as well or if they have a regionlock activated. Anyway, just try your luck I think it will be worth checking out. Maybe they'll also add the show to their archive later.

Prelistening of the new In Flames album Siren Charms

So by the end of this week the well-known swedish metal band In Flames will release their new album entitled "Siren Charms". Do you already want to know how it sounds like? Well then head over to the website of the german section of the Metal Hammer megazine. They have exclusively been given the honor to stream the full album for free on their website.

One thing's certain: the band has developed and changed their sound a lot. What do you think about the new direction the band is heading to? Some changes were already in sight when they released "Sounds of a playground fading" but this album seems to go even further...

Rewind to Wacken 2013 and 2012 with german TV station zdf kultur

It has just been announced that Wacken Open Air 2014 will be broadcasted by the german TV station 3Sat live. Great news!

For all those of you who would like to re-live some of the (hopefully) sweet memories of the both past events I've got great news as well:

German TV station zdf.kultur will broadcast stuff from Wacken Open Air 2013 and 2012 on the upcoming Saturday night 19th to 20th of April 2014.

For exact timetable and bands see the notices below, all times are german time. Maybe these stuff can also be seen through the webstream of the TV station at the online-webstream of the station but I don't have proper information if there is a region-lock active so go and just try your luck.

Update 2014/04/20: Missed it out? The TV station still streams all the shows on demand for free. Same here with region-lock so just click on the artist name to see if it works outside germany,too. Bandnames without a link seem to have given no permission for streaming.

Besides that there are many more goodies to find there,too. Just click on this search-string to show off what there is, for example interviews but also the big cut-together shows seem to be still up for viewing. Keep in mind that this might only last for a limited time, so better hurry.

20:15 Wacken 2013: Alice Cooper und Motörhead
21:15 Wacken 2013: Deep Purple
22:15 Wacken 2013: ASP
23:15 Wacken 2013: Lingua Mortis Orchestra Featuring Rage
00:10 Wacken 2012: Dimmu Borgir & Orchestra und Cradle of Filth
01:10 Wacken 2012: Sepultura & Les Tambours du Bronx
02:05 Wacken 2012: In Flames
03:05 Wacken 2012: Testament
04:05 Wacken 2013: Anthrax

Assailant

Sometimes someones gives you a link to a band you don't know. You don't exspect much, but then there's a surprise - the band blows you away! That's what happend to me when I saw and heard the music video of  Assailant's Video of "A Day Tomorrow". Surely it's in the style of In Flames but the vocals and melodies but out much more heartblood than a lot of band's I've heard before. So go and
check it out - and have your own being blown away. :-)