Psychotron release scream along single off new EP

How is the indian metal scene coming along these days? We didn't had some stuff up from there for some time now but this kick ass thrash song with great tradional flair and a refrain that fastly will let you sing along to it should make clear that there's still alot of activity going on over there.

This song is taken from the newest EP "Lethal Paralysis" which is available from Bandcamp: https://mortuaryrecords.bandcamp.com/track/grinder

Artwork: (c) Somluck Art, used with kind permission.

Grand Sounds Sampler Vol. 6 online / bands for next sampler wanted

So easter may be over but there's still one egg that has not been opened yet. :-)

This time we here at Heavy Metal Underdogs can present a digital band sampler that has been set up by the Grand Sounds PR agency. Volume 6 of the series features 21 tracks contributed by various heavy bands of all around the globe. So let's start discovering new band's - just hit the play button and enjoy.

The cover for Vol. of the Grand Sounds bandsampler, (c) by Grand Sounds PR, used with kind permission

If you would like to participate in the next Volume (No. 7) just write a E-Mail to Grand Sounds PR directly at grandsoundsmetal@gmail.com

or see their Facebook page or visit the website to get in touch with them.

Here's the full tracklisting of the compilation:

01: CIRCLE OF INDIFFERENCE (Swe) "Another Day in Paradise"
02: LOST ETERNITY (Ger) "Orion"
03: MATUBES (Bul) "Left Hand Path"
04: INLANDSYS (Fra) "March Of The Dead"
05: AGAROTH (Mex) "Distortion of Illusions"
06: THIRD ION (Can) "Zero Mass" (feat members of The Devin Townsend band and Into Eternity) (Glasstone Records)
07: RAPTURE (Gre) "Laboratories of Infection" (Witches Brew)
08: WITCHING HOUR (Ger) "Once Lost Souls Return"
09: ZORD (Hun) "Thorns & Wounds"
10: DARK LETTER (Pol) "Toy" (feat.Tomasz Wisniewski)
11: MIECZ (Pol) "Invisible War"
12: STATUE OF DEMUR (Can) "Nungunner"
13: THE SHIVA HYPOTHESIS (Nl) "Caduceus"
14: DISBOSKATOR (Ita) "Passive Suicide"
15: PHANTASMAL (USA) "The Reaper's Forge"
16: ENSLAVER (Bra) "Stained by Blood"
17: STAAR (Fra) "Valkermord"
18: Ungoliantha (Ukr) "Black Winds"
19: Warhawk (Ita) "Flying Tygers"
20: Staar "Vers où nous sommes"
21: Empheris "Nihilistic Black Metal"

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.

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

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.

Happy Halloween with free Freakangel Live DVD

Happy Halloween weekend everyone! Tomorrow night is the night of horror. :-) Have you prepared yourselves for trick or treat? I have done at least a little decoration for my flat. This shows the windlight mummy I've build with simple parts.

My self-build windlight mummy :-)

Here's how to build your own one: all you need is a old and clean sausage glass. Wrap it with a gauze bandage. You'll need to fix the beginning and the end of the badage with some tape. Don't overleap too much or the candle won't shine through enough. Finally take some black paper and make two black dots with a perforator. Cut out two round pieces out of white paper. Affix both on the bandage and put a lighted tea candle inside of the glass.

As for the real metal treat I've found this nice one for you:
It is the full concert DVD of Industrial-Metal artist Freakangel who have released their live DVD "The Show Of Violence" for free. It includes is a 45 minute live performance video that was filmed during Freakangel's "The Ones To Fall" tour in the winter of 2014 in their home town of Tallinn, Estonia. The full DVD-HD recording can be streamed for free via the bands website as well as Freakangel's YouTube Channel. Freakangel states "They have made the video available for free to thank their fans for the many years of support". The video can be found below.

"The Show Of Violence" is also be available as an eleven track live album. It has been released as a digital only album by the Belgium based label Alfa Matrix. It can be purchased HERE. Finally: have a good Halloween party!

CD Review: Vision Lunar - Luna Subortus

Band Introduction

The band was founded by Alexandre Julien (who has also played in Soufferance, Citadel Swamp,Éphémère and Vision Éternel, to name a few). From 2006 to 2007 Vision Lunar released seven demos. After going through a hiatus and ultimately breaking up in early 2009, a complete discography CD was issued, entitled “Phase One (2006-2009)”. This was given away to close friends and collaborators eventually released as a free download, massing over four hundred downloads since October of 2010.

A re-issue of that release was put out on a limited run of CDs starting August 29th 2015 by Abridged Pause Recordings. This second pressing features upgraded artwork, proper chronological track listing and a new song that was discovered in 2014, not found on the original issue.

Alexandre Julien started working on new Vision Lunar material back in February of 2015. After some re-thinking he finally re-animated the band and has just recently put out a brand-new EP entitled "Luna Subortus".

(c) by Vision Lunar, used with kind permission

Summary

So normally when I think of Black Metal I mostly think of very brutal music. It brings the raw power and energy of metal out the most direct and sounds uncompromising like only few. This band called "Vision Lunar" has surprised me a lot. It is Black Metal for sure but with a very atmospheric and haunting attitude in it. It shows that this musical style is not necessary limited or even bound to it's pure darker tone but can also bring in a lot of melody and vibe to it.

Album-Stream
 

Track-by-track Review

Listening to the new EP on Bandcamp I was very pleased to be introduced with a melodic first track called "Desperation". It takes you into a own mood which makes you calm. It perfectly fits to the change of nature which is going on these days with the summer leaving and the silence and darker sounds of autumn coming it. It also prepares you to listen closely.

The second track "Spiritus Luna" see's us going into a heavy metallic guitar storm, proofing the riff abilities of Vision Lunar. Here comes the moment that you realize the heavyweight of the EP. Still it all remains a instrumental song. I think band's doing instrumental stuff need to bring a lot to the table to keep the listener at the Stereo system but this riff monster definitely manages to do so.

Finally the third song "In Hues of Blood Orange" leads you away from the heavy style and brings you back to the melodic site of the record. You're leaving with your mind filled with new impressions. Plus I think you'll long for more once you've taken a ear on this. A very promising release and one which made me think on a different and new way when it comes for mixing musical styles that may sound impossible on a first try.

Final Words and Purchase Link

What makes this release so special is that it follows a sort of release circuit. In earlier times of the band from 2006 to 2007 Vision Lunar released seven demos, always on the day of a  full moon. The September 28th 2015 release date was chosen deliberately as it was the night of a full moon and also a lunar eclipse.

The full moon captured in Lingen, Photopgraphy taken from me in 2014

"Luna Subortus"  (meaning "revived moon" in Latin) is offered digitally. A cassette version is also in the works. Just head over to the Bandcamp page of the record company to purchase the EP.
There's also a physical version available on CD that comes in a clear DVD case for all readers living in Europe. Just head over to the website of Winterwolf Records (based in Germany) or visit their shop at Ebay to get a copy.

INDIAN INVASION 2015: free online compilation of metal bands from India

The metal scene in India is very active and alive! If you're following this blog regulary you know that the bands from that region like Bevar Sea, Grey Shack or Inner Sanctum have released great material in the recent time or are at the moment working on new releases that sound already very promising from the previews available.

But what about all the other bands from there? How do the bands from that part of the world sound like, what is their (fresh) attempt on Heavy Metal music? You can easily check that out for yourselves with the brand new free sampler "Indian Invasion 2015" which has been set up for free download as well as for streaming on the pages of the excellent Headbangers India blog. 

The package is completed by fine artwork from Headbangers India author Ishaan Kumar.

(c) by Ishaan Kumar / Headbangers India

These bands and tracks are featured on the Indian Invasion 2015 compilation:

01. Albatross – Jugglehead the Clown

02. Heathen Beast – Drowning Of The Elephant God

03. Dormant Inferno – Deliverance

04. Sycorax – Designing Eradicaton

05. Bevar Sea – Where There's Smoke (There's A Pyre)

06. Primitiv – Lords Of Primitiv

07. Zygnema – The Phoenix Effect

08. Against Evil – War Hero

09. Shepherd – Spite Pit

10. Chaos – Violent Redemption

11. Demonic Resurrection – Trail Of Devastation

12. Before The Holocaust – Clockwork Orange

13. The Minerva Conduct – End Creation

14. Biopsys – Surgical Symmetry

15. Trinergic – Rise Of Xyrith

Inside the zip file weighting around 161 MB in size you'll also find a pdf file with detailed information for each band. It contains links to websites letting you quickly gather more information about the artists (mostly their sites on social networks) so you will quickly have a good overlook on the featured styles. Further links for streaming more songs and contact data as well as URL's for purchasing the full releases are provided in the document.

One thing I can promise to you: it will be a journey letting you discover bands you don't want to miss out anymore. The bands have created exciting songs which combine the best from the past and present days of Heavy Metal history. And while you're waiting for the download to finish why not log in to your favorite social network and let your friends know about this free sampler? They'll for sure like to know about this cool summer goodie!

It's also a good choice if you know a friend out there celebrates it's birthday and you're on the lookout for a proper gift. Just link him to the compilation and I think that will be one thing he'll remember being a something special even years later.

By the way: this is already the second compilation released by the crew of Headbangers India. If you would like to get to know some more bands from India just see my post about the first sampler which is still up for streaming and free download.

Graspop Metal Meeting & Hellfest to be streamed this weekend

Two big names in the world of Heavy Metal festivals are broadcasting at least parts of the big festival line-ups - both totally for free!

First to go is the Graspop Metal Meeting which gives you the chance to see some bands on two different channels. You need to have Silverlight installed on your device to be able to watch this.

Underneath of the stream window you can check out the schedule of the bands that will be streamed - check for the green or partly green marked fields in the overview. Those bands will be shown, or at least some tracks from their set.

Keep in mind that the schedule changes over the day - bands may be added to the broadcast list very shortly (just for example: I saw two changes in the few moments of time I took to write this article - so check back often :-)  At the moment I'm typing this these bands are confirmed for today (Saturday 20th June)

Orphaned Land
Morgoth
Danko Jones
Godsmack
Judas Priest

Update 2015/06/22: It's sadly over but there's still a chance to see stuff from the Graspop Metal Meeting at the concert video archive that has been opened up. Go and watch it while it's up!

The next one to check out is the Hellfest from France. There it's a bit more complicated. Leave the guy with the gray face on the top of the page behind and scroll to the six pictures below. Hover over the stream you desire (they are sorted with the date and stage name) to see the bands that are scheduled for the live stream. One more click and you can watch it. Or even better: see the bands you want directly here on my page. Great to see the people from Arte allow embeding streams to other sites. Thanks for that! The streams start at 17:15h today.

Update 2015/06/22: It's sad to see the festival is already over now. :-( But wait, some stuff can be seen again (or for the first time if you missed it out). The Hellfest livestream page is now a archive of some of the festival performances. :-) You can watch shows from Sodom, Children of Bodom, Scorpions, Faith no more and many, many more on the linked page. Enjoy (again)!

This is what is confirmed for the Altar & Temple stage at the moment for this very saturday:

Desultory 17:25
Finntroll 18:15
Coffins 19:10
Ensiferum 20:05
Skinless 21:10
Obituary 23:35
Venom 00:40


This overview shows what will be shown from the main stage:

L7 17:50
Slash 18:40
Killing Joke 19:45
Faith No More 21:45
Scorpions 23:25

A Place to Fall upload new tune from the coming record

The second album from the german band "A Place to Fall" is taking shape step by step. The band has uploaded a new full track to Youtube which shows again a very versatile and technical but also raw and heavy approach to writing music in a modern way without forgetting traditional elements.

I like those little elements and variations the band put's inside - it gives them a different note to the obvious heavier elements and makes listen closely well worth it. Same goes for the vocals which vary from clear and pure to dark and screaming.

The full record will be entitled "Call to salvation" and is planned to be released in 2015. Until then check out "We're fading away". Make sure to keep track of the next band steps by following them on Facebook or visit their homepage. They are doing shows from time to time, mostly local gigs in Meppen but they are also confirmed to play in Hannover in December 2015. Just check the proper section on their website.

Rock am Ring 2015 shows to be streamed online and later on demand / TV

Yeah, the festival season has opened up it's doors. Next to go is the famous "Rock am Ring" festival which will take place the coming weekend from Friday 5th June to Sunday 7th June 2015.

You can also be part of the show if you can't make it there (like me)! There will be a free and legal livestream available on the websites of SWR (german TV station), DasDing and on the sites of Ring Rocker. All the streams start daily at 18 pm (CEST, german time) and will run up to 3 am in the night.

The exact timetable and the list of the bands that will be streamed will be released in the upcoming days. So far it is confirmed that the gigs of the Foo Fighters, Slipknot, Beatsteaks, Broilers, Eagles of Death Metal, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Clueso,Bad Religion, Kraftklub, Slash, Interpol, Papa Roach and Yellowcard will be shown online.

I'll update this article as soon as I have info on that so please keep checking back from time to time. 

Update 2015/06/08: Is it all over now? Yeah, the festival is over. But streaming is not. :-) This week TV station EinsPlus is showing Best Of stuff from Rock am Ring 2015 starting today until coming Friday. Best of all: you can watch the stuff online at this location.

Update 2015/06/07: Here we go again. :-) This is day three and the final one of Rock am Ring 2015. Today we can look forward to some special shows I think. Let's hope the stream capacities and our internet connections will keep going strong. Always keep in mind that there's also a audio only stream out there. That one worked out fine for me yesterday. :-)

Livestream 1: EinsPlus	Livestream 2: SWR3	Livestream 3: DASDING
00:00 Slipknot
21:30 Foo Fighters	20:30 In Flames
19:15 Beatsteaks	20:00 Beatsteaks
18:55 Parkway Drive	18:55 Parkway Drive	19:15 Beatsteaks
18:35 Eagles of Death Metal / Godsmack	17:10 Papa Roach	16:30 Papa Roach
18:00 Papa Roach / Frank Turner	16:10 Frank Turner	16:10 Frank Turner
	15:25 Godsmack
	14:55 Eagles of Death Metal	14:55 Eagles of Death Metal

Update 2015/06/06: Here comes the timetable for today (Saturday). I still hope they will show the set from Slash as announced some days ago. Let's hope and see...

DASDING

21:50 KIZ

21:35 Prinz Pi

20:05 Kraftklub

18:45  Fritz Kalkbrenner (showing for the second time)

18:00 Bilderbuch

17:00 Interpol

SWR3

21:50 KIZ

21:35 Prinz Pi

20:05 Kraftklub

19:35  Fritz Kalkbrenner (showing for the second time))

18:25 t. b. a.

18:00 Bilderbuch

17:00 Interpol

EinsPlus

01:45 Marsimoto live

01:05 KIZ

23:35 Deichkind Live

22:50 Interpol

21:55 Prinz Pi

20:20 KraftKlub

19:35 Bilderbuch

18:25 t. b. a.

18:05 Feine Sahne Fischfilet

Update 2015/06/05: The timetable for friday has been released. The shows will be shown on three different webpages. Each site features one stream that will only broadcast a part of the festival. Here's the exact overview with direct links to all the three streaming sites, all times are CEST.

If you prefer to listen only to the shows then you might be happy to know that the Ringradio also streams the shows but they start airing off stuff not before 18h daily.

Livestream 1: EinsPlus	Livestream 2: SWR3	Livestream 3: DASDING
01:35 Uhr Fritz Kalkbrenner
01:00 Uhr Concert-Highlights
00:40 Uhr Bad Religion
23:45 Uhr Mighty Oaks
23:10 Uhr Concert-Highlights
21:55 Uhr Clueso	21:55 Uhr Clueso	21:55 Uhr Clueso
21:30 Uhr Yellowcard	20:25 Uhr Tocotronic
20:25 Uhr Tocotronic	18:20 Uhr Broilers
19:20 Uhr Donots	15:50 Uhr Bad Religion	13:45 Uhr Donots
18:20 Uhr Broilers	14:50 Uhr Yellowcard
18:05 Uhr TÜSN

For all those living in germany it should be mentioned that the show of Die Toten Hosen will be aired exclusively through the TV station Das Erste. From 8th to 14th June special broadcasts of the format "BEATZZ in concert" will daily show off stuff of the festival starting each day at midnight.

Prior to the Rock am Ring fest a radio stream will update people in germany and nearby of the things going on in the festivak location Mendig. For all those who don't live there: you can listen to it through the apps for amartphones. Pick your copy for the iOS or get the version for the Android smartphone system.
A webbased version of this so called Ringradio can be found on the website of SWR3.

After the festival you'll find some stuff of the festival online from 8th June to 12th June 2015 on the websites of SWR and DasDing.

Most of all: have fun through the festival days and enjoy summer!

Neal Schon reveals new track and free download from upcoming album Vortex

Instrumental band give the listener a lot in my eyes. Compared to other bands they cannot work with the classic structures of a song like intro, 1st verse, bridge refrain and so on but have to find other ways of giving the listener a thrill to keep them on the speakers. That's a heavy task in my eyes. Just take a look at how long a minute of instrumental music is and how hard it is to put something inside that's worth listening without making the song sounding monotone.

Recently a brand new track from Neal Schon (guitarist of the famous band Journey) came across my desk and it gave me a lot of positive freezin' chills as well as it shows the superb musical abilities of Schon with it's blistering guitar work and variations. The solo section is held very extensive while the basics of the music constantly keep the song going. Besides playing the guitars Neal Schon also laid down the bass guitar tracks as well as he produced the whole songs on this and all other songs of the album that is yet to come.

(c) by Kaley Nelson, used with kind permission

The track "Tortured Souls" is a first glimpse into the new double album "Vortex" that is set for release on June 22 in Europe and one day later in UK and North America through the Mascot Label Group.

Stream the song in the widget below. And in case you like what you hear why not pick up a free download of the track? Just push the button underneath the picture and enter your email in the box to receive a download link to a full quality wave (!) file of the song.



If you'd like to keep updated on the further release activities make sure to see Neal Schon's Homepage or connect with him through Facebook.

CD Review: The Dry Mouths - Two Months (easter gift inside)

Note:  If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two in a E-Mail. Please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much so don't hesitate to contact me. I'm also interested in band news / updates / tourdates so keep the stuff coming. Thanks!

If you're having troubles writing in English please send me a E-Mail in your preferred language or use the free Google Translator to transfer your message to English. I also use that tool, it's of course not perfect but I think it will mostly likely work out for our purposes.

It's easter again, time to celebrate the (hopefully) upcoming spring time of the year.
As it is already a little tradition over here at the Metalunderdogs blog we are sort of giving away something so we can celebrate together.

Short Introduction

This year, thanks to the guys in The Dry Mouths we can enjoy the full band release catalogue totally for free. The band describes itself on Bandcamp as a "Alternative Rock band from Almeria, Spain. Their music is a mixture between the rock of the 90′, stoner and the experimentation, leaving itself to notice in the first listening influences like Nirvana, Tool, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Black Sabbath or Pink Floyd."
All the four recordings of the band can be downloaded for free from Bandcamp.
This review talks about the newest release of the band the EP "Two Months" which was released at the beginning of 2015.

(c) by The Dry Mouths, used with kind permission

Summary / Player / Purchase Link 

What I like most about the band is that they dare to make things differently. It's not the same odd song structure's they restrict themselves to. They do try out a lot and always look for new ways so the music never get's monotone. Plus all the artworks having something of their own, it's stuff that put's a own finishing note to each recording.

On the "Two Months" album the band is keeping things very straight forward and very hard and heavy. Nevertheless they've also used the room for some experimentation so you'll notice some unusual stuff in the music also on this newest addition to the band's release list.

Since they've set up the download as a pay what you want option you can also decide to give a little back for what you've taken by handing over some coins to the band when asked at the download page.
You can also get physical copies of "Two months" as well as for all the other three releases of The Dry Mouths. Just check the detailed descriptions at the page of each recording on Bandcamp.

In addition the band has set up a download mirror for all the albums in various quality levels on their website. Please consider to spread the word about'em in return.

The band is going to play the next show on

Apr 18th
La Boca Club
Madrid, Spain

Also make sure to keep an eye of the further band activities via Facebook on the band's website.



Track-by-Track review

Tour P-2
A powerfull beginning for the record. Starts with powerfull chords, then goes over to a forth and backward moving riff and rhythm structure. Yet the song spreads a cool feeling with it.

Tea Pex
A compact and hard riff hits this one up. It moves over to a softer section just to return back to the harder structure. Followed up by changing moments between rougher and softer sections. The Solo section is kept with very high notes.

Party & Son
A slower beginning starts this midtempo number. The tempo speeds up with a cool drum fill pattern. The refrain spreads a relaxed feeling with a different speed. Another drum pattern - very diverse. You can feel the band has some fun playing around with their music.

(c) by The Dry Mouths, used with kind permission

Cold Mind
I love the counting in of the song! A rough and very compact track but the structure makes it a cool time to listen to it. Surely one of my favorites of the band so far.

Intromental / Info Mental IV
The last song starts with a softer touch. The band shows it's more technical side on this one. The rougher edge is presented in the second part followed up by some more softer notes the band is jamming upon. Part three holds again more roughness with very powerful chords and guitar leads put inside. Some classic metal riffs towards the end before some notes leave one with the hope behind that there will be more to come of this great band.

Catch the Throne: The Mixtape Vol. 2 up for free download

Get the new "Catch The Throne" Mixtape feat. Anthrax, Killswitch Engange and Mastodon and many more as a free download directly at the german site of Roadrunner Records or simply just stream the compilation from the player below.

It also contains music from artists outside the metal genre but maybe one or another of you out there may like to take a look outside of our beloved music to check out what's going on there as well.

Final Coil thanks fans with free download of first EP

Final Coil have recently decided to hand out their very first EP "Goodbye to all that" as a free download. The band describes themselves on Bandcamp as a "(...) a metallic grunge band incorporating the harmonies of Alice in chains, the twisted dynamics of Tool and the droning heaviness of Swans."

The band has been on hold for some time due to health problems of vocalist Phil Stiles. Happily those days are gone now and the band is back doing shows again and writing songs for a new release.
In the period while it wasn't sure if Phil would recover from his issues the band received many positive vibes, wishes and most of all advice from the fans on Facebook, via Email and so on.

So in the end the band felt the need to give back for what they've received and has put out that record as a gesture of gratefullness. Also it shows Final Coil in their early stages the EP is well worth checking out in my eyes since it has some fine melodies and great groove in them.
Plus it has this exta when it comes to agressive elements and hunger that ist mostly captured the best in the early times of a band. So pick up your copy or listen to in the stream below.

Relapse Records celebrates 25th anniversary with free 184 track sampler

Want a massive load of free music? Relapse Records celebrates the 25th anniversary ob Bandcamp with a sampler on a pay-what-you-want basis including not less than 184 tracks from the roster. Their is no minimum or maximum set for this download so you can also get the full package for free.

Included are bigger names like Obituary, Morgoth, Amorphis and Control Denied as well as a wide selection of not so well known names from the whole list of the bands the label hosts. You can also check out the whole offer from the stream below. A massive pack of music, sometimes discoveries of new, cool bands can be found on such releases. Remember that some nice surprises found the way to my ears through that way...

Omen to tour Europe and new song from Hammer Damage online

The legend Omen will show up in Europe! Yeah, I was also very surprised when I got to know from their Facebook site that the band is going to do a round of headliner shows already in March 2015!
Here is the list of tourdates, supportact will be Masters of Disguise:

07.03.2015 Athen (GRE)
08.03.2015 Athen (GRE)
12.03.2015 Jam, Koblenz (D)
13.03.2015 Little Devil, Tilburg (NL)
14.03.2015 German SwordBrothers Festival, Lünen (GER)
15.03.2015 UJZ, Uelsen (GER)
16.03.2015 7er Club, Mannheim (GER)
20.03.2015 Schlachthaus, Dornbirn (A)
22.03.2015 Rockfesthall, Hamme (B)

And there's one more good message: the band has uploaded a new song from the long awaited new album "Hammer Damage". Countless obstacles kept the band from releasing the album including a change of the singer plus a water damage at the studio the band was recording resulting in a loss of stuff which had to be re-done by the band.

Anyway, enjoy the new track "Hellas" which is a pure pleasure for me to listen to. Just thing of the good old times, I think this one will perfectly fitt into the long list of classics the band has put out so far.

CD Review: Eternal Dream - Reign Of The Skies EP

Note: If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two in a E-Mail. Please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much so please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm also interested in band news / updates / tourdates so please keep the stuff coming. Thanks!

If you're having troubles writing in English please send me a E-Mail in your preferred language or use the free Google Translator to transfer your message to English. I also use that tool, it's of course not perfect but I think it will mostly likely work out for our purposes.

Short introduction

Eternal Dream was founded back in 2007. The band sees their roots in european power metal bands in the style of Rhapsody (Of Fire), Nightwish or Stratovarius. At the beginning of 2008 they closed the line-up and began to prepare their first demo, published at the end of that year with two songs: "Frozen Salanthine" and "Waters of Reality".

In a year and a half they placed in the metal scene of Málaga, with several concerts and high ratings in recognized contests like "Málaga Crea Rock", among hundreds of bands, and "Marbepop".
Their first EP "The Seed of Naryll", totally self-produced by Niko Hartmann (also guitar player of the band), is published in September 2009.

(c) by Eternal Dream, used with kind permission

In the summer of 2010, Álvaro Sabín entered the band as lead guitarist and they began to prepare their first LP. "The Fall of Salanthine". The record has been released in 2011 and for first time in the band history the album is also available as a original pressed CD. The band ever since continued their work on new material and has released their brand new EP "Reign of the skies" at Christmas 2014.

Summary / Player / Download Link

This EP has a superb quality, no question. If you like bands like Epica or Nightwish you should go straight on forward and listen and download the EP. As a addition to the mentioned bands Eternal Dream keep things more straight forward. Where some of the other bands sometimes tend to fiddle around a bit too much the spanish band comes more to the point and keeps it soundwise a bit heavier than compareable bands. That's what makes them to be preferable to those acts in my eyes if you like music to keep pushing forward instead of playing around too much with single parts and elements.

The download comes totally free of charge directly from the bands website.. This is already a reason to be happy to be given such a fine piece of music. Looking closer into the provided zip File you'll recognise that it even holds far more than "only" the mp3 files. It comes completely with a text interior sheet, something I've seen very rarely even in comercial releases. What a nice gesture! In addition there are's also a front and a back cover included in the releases. All files come with the maximum possible quality data rate for mp3 at 320 kb/s.

Don't miss out to follow the further band activities on their social site like Facebook, Twitter or myspace.




If you want to give something back for what you've taken or support the band on their further way you may buy the first full album "The fall of Salanthine" on a physical CD including a 16 page booklet for only 5 Euro plus shipping and handling through the band's website.

Track-by-Track Review

Reign of the Skies
The keyboards at the beginning already tell the maintheme of the song. It's a midtemo song with a direct and clear riff and a blast refrain. Very impressive, high pitch vocals that take you to another world. It is like you're living in a epic story like in a movie such as The Lord of the Rings. Good music to bring your thoughts on a different level far away from the world of everyday troubles.

Reign of The Skies (instrumental)
Of course the vocals are missing in this one. It reveals the instrumental epicness of the track in all it's beauty. You get a sharper look on the aggressive, dark and heavy riffs used in this track than put a contrary to the harmonic vocals. In addition more of the keyboards can be heard making it clearer which role they have in the band's sound.

Neoclassical Fantasy
The one comes in sharp contrast to the other two tracks. The opening riff already makes it clear that it is a much different song. The track is much faster and the vocals are rougher and set in a higher tone. A very edgy piece of music.  After the rough opening the song breaks like a fragile building and builds up slowly again piece by piece up to the chorus followed up by a long solo section. Afterwards it remains a fast, heavy and direct song. The majestic chorus ends the whole song and the EP.

A Light Within stream new single from the upcoming EP

So the clocks are mercyless ticking down the last hours of 2014...
What shall be done left before a new year will begin?

Don't miss out the chance to do something special on day number 365:
hear the new single from A Light Within already today! It will be released at the end of January 2015 but you can already listen to a stream of the full track "Between Shores" on the pages of Ragnarok Reviews. Very haunting and epic atmosphere on this one. Made my last day of 2014 a very special one...

The next show of the band will be on
Friday, 9th. January 2015 21:00 (CST) at the recordBar in Kansas City
If you would like to sneak a bit more into the upcoming EP don't miss out my article about the vocal recordings sessions as well as more clips from the recording process I posted some time ago.

Update 2015/01/17: The new song is available for streaming and download on the bandcamp page from A Light Within on a pay-what-you-want basis. Since it's such a great track I include the stream here as well. For me this track comes with a very haunting and blistering atmosphere. The intro perfectly rounds out this song which offers it's full bandwith and content only to those who listen to it several times...

CD Review: Manach Seherath - Manach Seherath

Note: If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two in a E-Mail. Please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much so please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm also interested in band news / updates / tourdates so please keep the stuff coming. Thanks!

If you're having troubles writing in English please send me a E-Mail in your preferred language or use the free Google Translator to transfer your message to English. I also use that tool, it's of course not perfect but I think it will mostly likely work out for our purposes.

Short introduction

Manach Seherath is a Symphonic Heavy Metal band from Italy, whose name in a dead ancient language means 'to draw from the source'. This cryptic phrase, with all that it hides, is well representative of the marriage of heavy rhytms with epic keyboards and mysterious lyrics, which togheter make the trademark of M.S. sound: a modern heavy metal band which doesn't forget the gloomy lessons of the past.

(c) by Manach Seherath, used with kind permission

The project took the first steps in summer 2012, when Mich Crown after a period of forced musical inactivity,decided that the time had come to back on stage wih a brand new band. After searching and recruiting all the other members the band began in december 2012 to write the first songs of this demo. 

The recordings were done in June 2013. At the moment Manach Seherath are busy with preparing the songs for their first full length album.

Summary / Player / Download Link

From the very first seconds the band reminds me in a very, very positive way of the first records that Tad Morose did back in the day. To be precisely I speak about a mixture between albums like "Leaving the past behind", "Sender of thoughts" along with the heavyness of a album like "A mended rhyme". All of these are amongst my favorite albums as they mix the sheer power of metal with great melodies and the dark touch of melodic keyboards which add so much to the atmosphere. I often wish Tad Morose, as much as I love their more powermetal-oriented current albums which are top notch would give these keyboards a chance to come back in.

This band happily has heard my call somehow. But they did more: they've managed to get some very majestic, powerfull vocals in there as well. Those remind me of the times when Mathew Barlow sang for Iced Earth. This means that the vocals come with a very unique style and tone. I like the lyrics, they tell of ancient tales and fit perfectly to the concept of the record. The cover you can see above gives some idea of that.

(c) by Manach Seherath, used with kind permission

The songs are very diverse, atmospheric and also long tracks (most of them are over six minutes in durance). Tracks one and three and very straight forward while number two comes in a bit more complex and needs some rounds to fully sink. Don't let this stop you from listening. It will add a lot to your enjoyment and it's great if a record won't get boring even after having it heard for several times.

The demo is a free download and I highly recommend to pick it up! Just jump over to Soundcloud and start downloading and hit the follow button while you are waiting for the download to finish. Especially if you agree to what I've written above you'll be very happy once you've done that. In addition you can listen to the three tracks here on my blog. The band kindly also added one more online bonustrack to their rooster on soundcloud, which is a short version of the track "All in all".

Be sure to keep an eye of this great band by following them via their account on Facebook.

Track-by-Track Review


Arti Manthano


A short intro starts the song. Someone knocks on your door twice, a door is opened up and here we go!
After some clearing up of the speakers like at a show the already mentioned keyboards welcome the listener with some notes before the crushing guitars step in and the drums slowly move the song forward. It's like you're introduced to another world and this part is there to take you over there.

After a short time the song starts to get faster and the vocals come in. A fast uptempo track this one surely is a competition in holding the line and not losing the breath. A short breakup with keyboards introduces yet another change in the tempo to build a bridge to the majestic refrain. Without losing any more time the song jumps back to the uptemo formula. Another bridge takes you to the refrain once again. Towards the middle of the song there's another change in the song structure that is introduced by one of these old school screams that you may know from the old school Heavy Metal records where this element was often to be found.  A fine element that most of today's albums are sadly missing.

A midtemp and very groovy part follows up. It's time for some guitar solos which once again turn out to be of the more oldschool direction. Finally we go back to the very first style of the track, so more uptemo in here.  Some more slower parts towards the end, very rough and hard but with the keyboard theme in them bring this song to the ends and fade into eternity...

Timeless

A very dark and slow introduction. The song takes heavy first steps but you can still hear keyboards in the background. This first part feels a bit as it is a spoke introduction to a longer tale. Vocals come in very high and majestic and it all remains in this style. As if a procession takes place, just one intermission with some hacked stuff.

The vocals then come in to the climax, reminding me a bit of one of King Diamond's infamous screams. A short repeating of the very beginning of the song towards the end with only keyboards and drums brings this to come full circle.

All in All

This could easily become a hymn! Majestic keyboards form a bright intro combined with the follow-up military drums. The track itself presents itself as a midtempo song  with much of this vocal-style that Matthew Barlow used on the "Burnt Offerings" album along with very high notes in the refrain.

It all comes in very compact and the guitar solo shows of some of the virtuosity of the guitar player. A reprise of the intro shortly after the solo leads over to some mystic part with more percussive elements and some spoken, narrative elements. This part closes the timeless trilogy and with a abrupt cut the demo also ends here. A perfectly fitting ending for a great epic!

I hope more than everything that we will hear some more from this band. They've in my eyes brought back a style in the Heavy Metal Universe which I thought to be lost for a long time. Happily this demo proves that I've been wrong.