Rockstad: Falun has popularly been called the “Sabaton festival in Falun”, and we have naturally been proud of that since we started it all thanks to the band Sabaton.
The festival has never had the ambition to be the greatest festival in Sweden and never had to book the most famous bands in the world. We have however offered high quality and several exclusive artists at a good price every year, on maybe Sweden’s best festival area.
The band Sabaton, from the town of Falun, has grown to one of the greatest hardrock bands with fans travelling every year from more than 25 countries to Falun to visit us.
Finnish masters of melancholic dark metal, AMORPHIS, have released a video that includes snippets of all songs from the band’s upcoming album Circle,along with track-by-track commentary by guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen.
The Black Dahlia Murder’s sixth full-length album, Everblack, will be released worldwide in June 2013. The album art for Everblack was painted by renowned artist Nick Keller and recording was completed at Audiohammer Studios (lead guitars and vocals), Rustbelt Studios (drums), and Regal Fecal (guitar and bass). Mixing was handled by Jason Suecof and Ryan Williams, mastering was completed by Alan Douches at West Westside. Trevor Strnad’s horror-inspired lyrics persist on Everblack, beginning with In Hell is Where She Waits for Me,a reference to the murder from which the band took for their moniker.
Vocalist Trevor Strnad elaborates on the lyrical concepts: “The opening track is the first actual song we’ve done about the Black Dahlia. This one is for the fans… they’ve been asking for this to happen for a long time. The story takes place at the Elizabeth Short’s rain drenched funeral, where her killer in attendance… just one of the many macabre tales woven into the fabric of Everblack. Subterranean flesh-farming vampires, vine rape, Jeffery Dahmer, amputation… it’s all here! With this sixth slab of sickness I tried my best to honor the band’s legacy and write lyrics that will keep the legions of horror fiends perspiring with fear.”
The debut single, Into the Everblack, is streaming now on metalblade.com/bdm.
Virginia-based melodic tech-death metal masters ARSIS have made a lyric video for the track “Scornstar” available for viewing here http://youtu.be/SNDf5y9CU7Q.The song comes from the group’s upcoming fifth full-length album entitled Unwelcome. Artwork was handled once again by longtime collaborator Mark Riddick. The follow up to their 2010 release Starve for the Devil, will be released on April 30, 2013 in North America via Nuclear Blast records.
AS I LAY DYING, fresh off their co-headlining tour with The Devil Wears Prada, have announced that they will be joining fellow metal pioneers, Killswitch Engage, for the headlining tour this summer. The bands have toured together on multiple occasions, including 2005′s Ozzfest, and 2004′s tour with In Flames. Additional support on this tour will come from Miss May I and Affiance. The tour will begin May 30th in Oklahoma City and will conclude on July 8th in Joliet, IL. The entire list of dates can be found below and on facebook.com/asilaydying.
AS I LAY DYING vocalist Tim Lambesis adds, “We are excited to be touring with our long time friends and looking forward to sharing the stage with them every night.” Read the rest of this entry »
Nuclear Blast is very excited to announce the signing of ASHES OF ARES – the new group featuring Matt Barlow (ex-ICED EARTH), Van Williams (ex-NEVERMORE) and Freddie Vidales (ex-ICED EARTH).
ASHES OF ARES is a band which represents the culmination of experiences, and trials and tribulations of founding members Matt Barlow, Van Williams and Freddie Vidales. Within months of their departures from the iconic metal bands ICED EARTH and NEVERMORE, the trio came together with a renewed drive to create a sound which is a true collaboration of their personal influences, ideas and visions. Armed with the knowledge acquired through years of the writing, touring and recording cycle, and with the support of an army of loyal fans across the globe, ASHES OF ARES is poised to carve out a new legacy and stand alongside those who have helped pave the way.
The band comments on their incredible alliance: “We are proud to announce that we have signed with Nuclear Blast records! We’re really looking forward to working with them in bringing our music to the world. It’s great to be added to the ranks of the already impressive roster of bands that Nuclear Blast represents. We will be entering the studio at the beginning of April under the masterful watch of producer Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording. We and Nuclear Blast are aiming for a release date late in the summer of 2013. This will be followed by a European tour with POWERWOLF. It’s a new beginning for ASHES OF ARES, and we couldn’t ask for a better label than Nuclear Blast to go into battle with. Attack!”
Nuclear Blast A&R Jaap Wagemaker adds: “After we received their first demo we were totally blown away by the power of their music! We are all huge fans of classic NEVERMORE and classic ICED EARTH and we knew that just like us their fans are waiting eagerly to hear this! Their new band is named after the Greek god of war and together we will go forward into to battle conquering the hearts of metal fans worldwide! At the moment the band is hard at work forging their debut album which will see the light in the late summer this year. If you can’t wait that long, make sure not to miss them at the legendary “Rock Hard Festival” this year. ASHES OF ARES: welcome to the Nuclear family!”
Max Duhamel, drummer of the Montreal based death metal powerhouse, KATAKLYSM, recently announced that he is taking a break from the band and won’t be performing on their new record. “I have been struggling with many personal issues the last year but lately, the main one has been alcohol,” commented Duhamel previously. “It’s been affecting my body in a very negative way to the point that when I came home after the EX DEO tour we just did, I tried to stop drinking for few days and it’s been very hard without having any with drawls symptoms. I’ve also lost a lot of weight as some of noticed recently and I’m not in good shape.”
KATAKLYSM have released the following statement in response:
“We as a band of brothers stand by Max‘s decision to get better and to rise from his demons. We all have them; some of us try to hide them and pretend they don’t exist, some of us have the courage to confront them. Max has shown strength to fight his. We stand by him and hope that he returns home when he is ready. In the meanwhile, I want everyone to know for those who haven’t seen the Iron Will documentary that this band’s story is one of drama, pain and the long road to victory. We will practice what we preach on our album and we will come out swinging hard and strong with this new record. We will find a suitable replacement and we will announce him in the next few weeks. We will not disappoint any of you. We have read the messages of encouragements you have posted; we have the best fans. As the saying goes ‘the show must go on.’ Here’s a cool clip we found from Rocky that describes well what is to come from your veterans (http://youtu.be/dtjGvBnAxVE). ‘Horse power.’ See you soon.”
Dear Chicago fans: Due to reasons beyond our control and circumstances of the organization, we announce that we will not be playing this year at Ragnarokkr festival on May 4th. We regret any inconvenience this may cause to those who already have a ticket to see us, but we want to clarify that it is a situation that is not in our hands. For any queries regarding this, please contact the organization. Also we want to show our support to the promoters, we hope the situation improves, hope to see you soon. Sincerely, Split Heaven.
ARCH ENEMY have been forced to cancel all their European festival appearances, including their Wacken Open Air performance, due to private family matters.
An official statement from the band follows: “It is with great disappointment that we have to cancel our shows at European festivals this summer. The reason for this being private family matters that demand our full attention, making it difficult to fulfill our commitments in that time frame. We are currently looking into the possibility of rescheduling these festival slots for next year. We would like to thank the festival promoters, and of course the fans for their understanding and continued support. We will use this downtime to finish up the work on our upcoming DVD/Blu-ray and continue with the songwriting process of the next Arch Enemy album. We look forward to seeing you all in 2014! Metal on!”
This is the first sneak pre-listening from what “The Killer Angels” sounds like. This is the first single, entitled “I Will Rule The Universe”, it will be available for download from APRIL 11!!!
Other news: On Thursday this week, also the 11th, we will attend the Sweden Rock Cruise where we will play more songs from the album, maybe sell some stuff and hang out. So if you got tickets to the cruise, there you go, a bonus for you. For the ones of you who can’t make it there, fear not, we will reveal more in time. They just get to hear it some time before you do, call it a Sonic time delay mystery or something!
Following on from the recent success of “Inheritance”, the latest release from Italian progressive metal outfit ASHENT, Lion Music are pleased to offer up a timely reissue of the bands long out of print 2006 debut album “Flaws Of Elation”. In addition this new print comes with all new artwork and the additional bonus of the bands very first ultra rare 2003 4 track demo!
“Flaws Of Elation” is a prog-power experience with some modern techno-thrash influences which are reflected in the way Ashent arrange and play guitars and drums. There are also some death metal references, in the mode the band use growling as backing vocals that have their importance in the economy of Ashent’s sound, wisely mixed with a modern prog attitude that uses avant-garde and gothic elements in order to create intense and dramatic music. The atmosphere is very dark, but the vocals of American vocalist Steve Braun are extremely melodic, supported by some beautiful orchestrations.
A video presentation with music and interview from the band can be viewed now at http://youtu.be/4j4XviuwKL0
Lion Music are pleased to announce the signing of HEADLESS, a metal band that sees Italian guitarists Walter Cianciusi and Dario Parente teaming up with one of Europe’s premier rock vocalists in Goran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum) and a drum legend in Scott Rockenfield (Queensryche).
The forthcoming album “Growing Apart” sees 10 songs shaped around the classy drumming of Scott Rockenfield and melodic vocals of Goran Edman which fuse hard rock and heavy metal with progressive elements.
“Growing Apart” gets its digital release through Lion Music on 7th June 2013.
Behemoth Bike, as the project is initially called, is a custom motorcycle inspired and currently being created in collaboration with the global Polish icon of metal music – Behemoth and particularly band’s leader – Adam “Nergal” Darski. The project was initiated and is being enforced by Game Over Cycles, a Polish company producing custom motorcycles. The bike is planned by the designers to be a powerful dark machine with exceptional technical parameters and unprecedented ornamentation. Construction started in January 2013. Currently motorcycle’s main components such as body, frame, suspension arms are already completed and the machine is being prepared for test drives. Completion of construction is scheduled for May 2013. The whole process can be followed on Game Over Cycles’ Facebook profile.
The band TERVINGI has published a video for the song “Die Seherin” which is taken from their upcoming album “Gotensaga”. You can find the video right here:
German band Helloween is one of the pioneering forces and most successful bands in the power metal world and its related subgenres. The band was originally formed in 1984 by Michael Weikath, bassist Markus Grosskopf, vocalist/guitarist Kai Hansen and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. Their early albums KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS I and KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS II, which featured vocalist Michael Kiske, are considered masterpieces of the genre. The band went through a large number of changes during the late 80’s / early 90’s. Hansen left in 1988, formed his own band Gamma Ray and was then replaced by Roland Grapow. Kiske and Schwichtenberg were out of picture in 1993 and they were then replaced by drummer Uli Kusch and current vocalist Andi Deris (ex-Pink Cream 69). The renewed lineup re-established the bands popularity and the album THE TIME OF OATH (1996) still remains as their best-selling album to date. Despite the continuous success, the band went through another set of changes starting in 2001. Today the band consists of Deris, Weikath, Grosskopf, guitarist Sascha Gerstner and drummer Dani Loble. This line-up has released altogether 4 studio albums and it seems that Helloween is now even more popular than the so-called “heydays” in the mid 80’s. Three sold out shows speaks for itself when the band arrived to Finland in late March as a part of massive “Hellish Rock II” tour which also featured Gamma Ray. In Helsinki we were fortunate to sit down with the bands guitarist/founding member Michael Weikath and discuss about various topics including the current tour, the latest opus STRAIGHT OUT OF HELL, Helloween’s 30’TH Anniversary and re-union rumors… Read on!
Following on from the recent success of “Inheritance”, the latest release from Italian progressive metal outfit ASHENT, Lion Music are pleased to offer up a timely reissue of the bands long out of print 2006 debut album “Flaws Of Elation”. In addition this new print comes with all new artwork and the additional bonus of the bands very first ultra rare 2003 4 track demo!
