Illyrian share free beat'em up thrash anthem

As you all know Metal is my passion. But there are more things in my life that found my interest. One of them is gaming. I prefer the old plattforms. Games back in the day were more direct and straight forward. It was the fun that mattered most and you didn't needed to fiddle around so much or worry about system requirements and what not.

One genre that is very cool is the beat 'em up genre. There are many great games out there. They all have their own speciality to offer and you can unlock new stuff if you manage to beat a good many of opponents.

The cool thing is that the canadian thrashers of Illyrian have picked up the beat 'em up theme and formed the title track and cover of it for their upcoming album "Round 2: Fight!" that is coming up on October 7nd.

The cover of Illyrian's album Round 2: Fight!, (c) by Illyrian, used with kind permission

As a little teaser to the record the band has set up a first insight into what's to come with putting out a single of the same name as the album. Just look at the cool lyric video and if you like those games and music you'll quickly pick fire on the fighting characters shown at the beginning as well as on the music. It's thrash with some incredible progressive extras added to the sound formula and drums that are nearly impossible to replay in my ears. Plus they have this tri-vocal attack in their sound. I've not heard a band doing this before so it was one more reason for me to check 'em out. This refrain is a kicker and fits perfectly to the topic. I can already hear the fans screaming it out at the shows. I love the way the lyrics move forward during the song. It's like someone tells a mini-story and that's a good feeling to me.

If you like what you hear you'll be happy to read that you can pick up this song for free. The band has teamed up with PureGrainAudio to give you this nice freebie.

Make sure to see the band live on stage in the coming weeks and months and/or follow them on Facebook for more news on the album release.

October 1 - Calgary, AB - Distortion - CD Release Show - Facebook event info link
w/ Tyrant, Gales of Avalon, Leave The Living
October 22 - Medicine Hat, AB - Oly's Ale House
w/ WMD, World Class White Trash, Junkies Rush, Poke the Bear

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.