ALBUM REVIEWSDOOM METALHARD ROCKPSYCHEDELIC ROCKREVIEWS

Hailing from the City of Brotherly Love and American popular music hotspot Philadelphia, the hard-rocking retro riff machine HEAVY TEMPLE erupted on the scene in 2014 with their self-titled debut EP. A relentlessly hard-working touring band, they have been lighting up stages across the USA and more recently Europe alongside RUBY THE HATCHET, HOWLING GIANT, THE OBSESSED and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. Their debut album Lupi Amoris came out in 2021, and it received a rapturous applause from critics and fans, cementing them as one of Philadelphia’s fastest rising bands. Now the trio of High Priestess Nighthawk (vocals, bass), Lord Paisley (guitar), Baron Lycan (drums) return with their ball-busting sophomore album Garden Of Heathens.



HEAVY TEMPLE have become known for their direct, charged up and electrifying brand of psychedelic doom. Focused on driving riffs and powerful vocals, it’s a high-octane trip into another realm in a rocket fuelled by the power generated by a nuclear weapon. Whilst their debut Lupi Amoris was half an hour of scorching heavy psychedelic doom, Garden Of Heathens is a little more refined whilst still maintaining the band’s signature sucker punch sound and sod everyone else attitude. Amped-up, fuzz-drenched and ballsy, Garden Of Heathens also has a lyrical depth that at first glance is easily missed. Focusing on surreal scenarios and leaning into religious metaphors, Nighthawk’s lyrics are actually her most personal yet; delving into everything from the delusional American Dream to relationships, underneath the surface there is a plethora of emotions that include anxiety, betrayal and doubt.

One thing that marks this album out is that it feels like HEAVY TEMPLE have absorbed the multitude of influences and energies around them whilst on tour. Throughout Garden Of Heathens the Philly trio mix old-school doom heaviness with the youthful exuberance of modern rock with the swamp-soaked grooves of NOLA sludge. Alongside this you have the riff artistry and lucid atmosphere building influences of BARONESS, so it is safe to say that Garden Of Heathens being eclectic is an understatement. The magic happens when the trio put their own twist on it, and as a result it is an abrasive and high-octane record that certainly doesn’t suffer from second album syndrome. HEAVY TEMPLE tangibly exude confidence throughout Garden Of Heathens and it commands your attention.


Ultimately Garden Of Heathens is a gritty and raw experience; imagine being in a spit and sawdust bar, tripping on mushrooms and these guys start firing up their amps. You can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer power of the record. From the unrelenting crackling fuzz from both bass and Lord Paisley’s guitar to the booming – occasionally soulful and bluesy depending on the song – vocals from Nighthawk and the thunderous drums of Baron Lycan you’d be hard pressed to not think you’re going into battle against an army of demons like a crazed Berserker. Compared to its predecessor Lupi Amoris, Garden Of Heathens feels more like a statement of intent. The dust has settled on the band’s rise and now they’re aiming to cement their position at the top of the pile.

Kicking off with Extreme Indifference To Life, HEAVY TEMPLE waste no time in getting down to business. A hypnotic introductory riff gives way to a momentous wall of fuzz that will knock you for six. The band’s innate ability to make catchy vocal hooks is on full display here when Nighthawk launches into the song’s chorus. Hiraeth is a fast-paced, punchy and straight to the point heavy rock track imbued with the soul and blues that surrounds the band in Philadelphia. Divine Indiscretion leans more into the band’s psychedelic sound but pushes it a step further into an anthemic realm, consisting of seven minutes of weaving guitar leads and spine-tingling vocals. House Of Warship is a dark and foreboding track that gives you a sense of impending doom. Slow, trudging and bombastic, your skull feels rather delicate after this track.

Nine-minute heavy psych opus Snake Oil (And Other Remedies) opens up the second half of the album and is loaded with dynamic tempo shifts, bluesy grooves and ball-busting vocal harmonies. In The Garden Of Heathens is a brief, almost spiritual interlude that gives you a breather from the frantic riffing, and sets you up for penultimate track Jesus Wept which follows a similar formula to Hiraeth but it feels like Nighthawk is exorcising some demons with her vocals. Psychomanteum closes the album in bombastic metal fashion, unleashing a barrage of surprisingly thrashy riffs that sound like they could be straight from Kill ‘Em All.

HEAVY TEMPLE have certainly made a statement with Garden Of Heathens. It is a heavy, frantic riff-fest that makes you stand up and listen. This is a band brimming with confidence and they’re making sure that their momentum never slows – definitely not a band to sleep on.

Rating: 9/10



Garden Of Heathens is set for release on April 12th via Magnetic Eye Records.

Like HEAVY TEMPLE on Facebook.

DORO REVEALS 2024 EUROPEAN TOUR SCHEDULE; SELECT DATES SUPPORTING ALICE COOPER CONFIRMED

Following the tremendous success of her latest album Conqueress - Forever Strong and Proud, released last year in October, Doro is all set to conquer stages across Europe, bringing her electrifying performance to fans old and new.

As an extra special treat, she will be joining forces with the legendary Alice Cooper as a special guest on select dates!

May
26 - Fulda, Germany- Kultur.Findet.Stadt
29 - Fritzlar, Germany - Hessentag

DEGRAVED - WHISPERED MORBIDITY & EXHUMED REMNANTS

Pacific Northwest's Degraved are—clearly, based on the album title here—spending their evenings becoming experts in gory, old-school death metal, and this release documents it all.

Containing 2020 demo Exhumed Remnants and 2023 EP—you guessed it—Whispered Morbidity, the release showcases the band's raw approach to the genre. Whispered Morbidity is great, the production quality just this side of demo, but in a wonderful way, with everything barely being held together.

Love songs like “Crematortured” and “Compulsory Bloodletting” and how they embrace the primitive DM chug and wallop, while “Reduced To Bone And Ash” brings things lower and slower, saying hello to Autopsy along the way (“Whispered Morbidity” gets even murkier). Once the demo tracks begin, I'm kinda taken by how the recording quality, while different, is still totally appropriate, the drums in particular sounding just awesome on killer crawler “Exhumed Remnants”.

SABATON LAUNCH 25TH ANNIVERSARY MIXTAPE GENERATOR

Internationally acclaimed heavy metallers, Sabaton, are celebrating their 25-year milestone in the music industry. They have checked in with the following update:

"To celebrate 25 years of Sabaton, we’ve launched a 25th Anniversary Mixtape generator! Whether you’re a Sabaton Cadet, Captain, Commander or Veteran, you can generate your own personalised mixtape based on your years of listening. Simply select your rank and your three favourite Sabaton songs. The generator will create a personalised playlist which you can then save to Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer!"

Go to this location to check out the mixtape generator.






Founded in Falun, Sweden, in 1999, Sabaton's journey has been nothing short of legendary. Their music industry adventures have been fuelled by powerful anthems, 10 studio albums, passionate historical storytelling, and explosive international shows and tours, not to mention out-of-the-box initiatives and projects, all of which wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering support of their dedicated fan base across the globe.

To mark this momentous milestone, Sabaton have embarked on a year-long celebration. Fans around the world can look forward to a series of celebratory events and an abundance of surprises.

They band recently shared a new video along with the following message:

"Welcome to The Art Of War listening party, metalheads! As we’re in the fourth month of 2024 we need to shine the spotlight on our fourth studio album! Did you know that The Art Of War was the genesis of a whole new era for us as a band? It marked the first time we explored the realm of concept albums and it would set the tone for the albums to follow. Grab a drink, grab a snack and come hang out with us!"

NASGUN THE SATANIC BLACK METAL M.L.O

Nasgun is one of the names of Norwegian blackmetal, no one knows anything if it is a blackmetal band or project, but if the black metal genre caused controversy in 1990, with deaths and satanism, Nasgun informs the world that it will clean up, like him says humans deserve the extinction of this planet, living their lives in mediocrity, in their social networks, the M.l.O order will act as it did in the past.nasgun said in a few interviews that the satanic church will be implanted throughout the world.. Nasgun only released a demo, with 4 tracks that refer to Burzum, if he follows a line of bands like Burzum he can possibly use their ideologies.. You don't know anything about Nasgun until you reveal yourself and give an interview to the world.










https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbZeJSrTOiE

INTRODUCING: No Relief

Last year was a big one for NO RELIEF. Building on the momentum of their debut EP Ritual Oppressor from the year before, the Brighton metallic hardcore outfit shot to the forefront of their hometown’s thriving BN1 scene, landing support slots with some of the best bands hardcore has ever had to offer like TERROR and MADBALL alongside all manner of outstanding UKHC groups like GROVE STREET, LAST WISHES and the legendary KNUCKLEDUST. Bassist Joel Riddington and guitarist Jonny Tate tell us they would be happy enough if 2024 was a repeat of the same, but with another killer EP up their sleeves in the form of Destroy Your World it could well be even better.



It’s all happened pretty quickly too, as Riddington explains, “I was always into punk and stuff growing up, and then me and the vocalist Ethan [Barry] were mates pretty much through that. He introduced me to a lot of hardcore because his old man’s into it. We got into some deep dives and that’s pretty much how the band started. It was a bit of a lockdown thing and then at the end of lockdown we found Jonny, wrote some more bits and started playing shows together.”

“For me, getting into hardcore dates back to my dad showing me punk stuff when I was really young,” adds Tate. “There were your household names like the RAMONES and THE CLASH, even early GALLOWS and stuff, so that was kind of the point where I realised it was something that I wanted to get more into. And then growing up just dabbling in stuff like metalcore, hardcore has always been on the horizon for me.”

The band went through a few members before the release of Ritual Oppressor, even pursuing more of a metalcore sound inspired by the likes of RENOUNCED at first, but soon enough they settled on their current line-up, with Tate and fellow guitarist Oscar Rainy taking the lead in writing the music. “We were into an amalgamation of different types of hardcore at the time, and I think we were so excited to get anything out that there wasn’t much of a thought process of what we wanted to sound like,” offers Riddington. “I think the sound really came about as soon as Jonny joined.”

And it’s developed since then too, the band growing increasingly sure of who they are and what they want to sound like with every passing show. “Ritual probably isn’t the best representation of the band now,” suggests Tate. “I feel like although it’s been a year and four months since that release, we’ve come such a long way. We’ve played all around the UK, supported some of the best bands in hardcore full stop – not just in the UK scene – and I think Destroy Your World is more of what we want to keep doing for the foreseeable.”


Seeing as they’ve hinted at it, we have to ask – what was it like playing with MADBALL and TERROR? For Riddington, “it’s a bit of a tricky one because it’s like you’ve got something to prove when you’re playing with legacy bands, but then also you don’t want to break from the mould of what you do every other show. It’s a bit scarier for sure, but I think you play the same way you would if you were playing in the corner of a pub – it’s always gotta be the same thing.”

“With MADBALL you can tell that they’re having a great time on stage,” adds Tate. “As soon as they see the crowd participating, getting the lyrics and stuff, they’re into it just as much as we are when we see our mates knowing the words. So I guess what we learned from them is just to stay passionate about it because it’s important, and to try to put on a good show. There’s no ego there whatsoever, they see us in hardcore merch and they just see a younger version of themselves and that’s it. There’s no cool guy aspect or anything. The crazy thing about this genre is you can look up to these people but you’re in touching distance of them.”

Of course, that’s what’s always been special about hardcore, and it’s exactly what makes NO RELIEF’s beloved BN1 scene such an exciting place at the moment. Riddington and Tate are quick to pay tribute to the bands that paved the way like PLASTICS, IMPOSTER, STONE HAND and SALT WOUND, and indeed the promoters, photographers, videographers, zine-writers, showgoers and everyone else that makes Brighton hardcore happen. “I think it’s accessible,” suggests Riddington. “Brighton’s quite an open-armed place anyway, and I think our scene definitely embodies that.”

“It’s not just a load of straight males,” concurs Tate. “The fact that when we play a show we look up and there’s all different people in front of you I guess makes it more inviting, because Brighton collectively isn’t just a straight male city really so it just means people are more comfortable coming to shows I guess.”

And long may it continue. UKHC is crushing it up and down the country at the moment and NO RELIEF are one of our very best, even if they’re far too humble to say it themselves. “We’re just a bunch of a bunch of dickheads just trying to write cool stuff,” smiles Tate. “We’re just trying to take things step by step and see where it gets us because it’s already taken us to a point where we didn’t think it was gonna go.”

Destroy Your World is out now via Rest Assured Records.

Like NO RELIEF on Facebook.

Sacredeath re-releases its classic Albums

sacredeath has already become one of the biggest bands in Brazil and the world, with great albums released, shows with great bands from the metal world, the band in April made available to their fans, the two albums with the original lineup, the live wakcen battle of 2011, and their first demo in 2006, without a doubt the band is one of the ones that produces the most, the band released the dream and illusion which reached 1st place in Russia and Ukraine, with soldiers listening to their music in the middle of the war. At the end of 2023, he released the Guardians of Death demo, which came in 3rd place in the popular vote in Brazil. Sacredeath is one of those bands that deserve their legacy throughout the metal world.If you don't know the band, then listen, because the band wasn't acclaimed by Roiad Crew magazine as the new metal band in the world for nothing.

https://linktr.ee/sacredeath.metal