ASHES OF ARES , a banda com os ex- membros do ICED EARTH Matt Barlow e Freddie Vidales , lançou o videoclipe oficial da faixa-título de seu terceiro álbum de estúdio, “Emperors And Fools” . Barlow foi filmado por David Brodsky e Allison Woest para My Good Eye: Music Visuals ; Vidales foi filmado por Adon Fanion . O clipe foi produzido por Woest ( Barlow ) e Fanion ( Vidales ). Confira abaixo:
O LP “Emperors And Fools” , que foi disponibilizado em 21 de janeiro de 2022 via ROAR! Rock Of Angels termina com o épico de onze minutos “Monster’s Lament” , que apresenta a união de forças há muito imaginada entre Barlow e outro ex- vocalista do ICED EARTH , Tim “Ripper” Owens .
Falando ao Metalheads Forever sobre como surgiu a colaboração com Owens , Matt disse: ” Tim , eu e Freddie , mantemos contato através das mídias sociais e todas essas coisas de qualquer maneira. E temos muitos interesses e coisas, obviamente, fora dessa conexão com o ICED EARTH . Estamos todos juntos nisso agora, especialmente passando pelo COVID e tudo isso.“
“Tim faz música para viver. Então nós pensamos que poderia ser legal. Estamos falando sobre fazer uma colaboração por um tempo. Parecia o momento certo porque nós poderíamos realmente pagá-lo como músico e levá-lo como músico a participar. E fizemos isso para alguns músicos que fizeram participações especiais.“
“Nós apenas pensamos que isso era uma boa ideia”, continuou ele. “Esta era uma música que Freddie teve por um tempo. Freddie escreveu a letra para ela. Ele tinha o conceito, essa ideia de uma coisa do tipo dueto. É um dueto, mas não realmente. Quero dizer, é, mas são dois personagens separados – Tim e eu estamos interpretando dois personagens separados. E é bastante longo, mas é muito legal também. Tem as partes de rasgar o rosto e depois coisas mais suaves e meio que voltando. Tem mais de 11 minutos. Eu acho que é realmente uma composição muito legal e espero que as pessoas gostem.“
” Freddie tinha letras, mas ele não tinha necessariamente as melodias vocais, então eu trabalhei as melodias”, acrescentou Matt . “E então as coisas que eu trabalhei, eu trabalhei para Tim e eu e então dei para Tim . Mas eu não o segurei em restrições – eu não disse, ‘Ei, cara, use esse tipo de voz’ ou ‘faça isso’. Eu só queria que ele fizesse o Tim . O que quer que o tenha atingido do jeito que o atingiu e meio que seguindo pelo menos o modelo e permanecendo dentro de certos limites, mas deixando-o ser ele mesmo. E acho que isso realmente funcionou, de fazer algo quase ponto-contraponto ao que ele está fazendo, enquanto eu estava fazendo Matt , e espero que atinja as pessoas da maneira certa que estávamos tentando criar algo que estava fluindo e refluindo. Não estamos competindo uns contra os outros. Estamos tecendo isso para que seja uma música coesa com diferentes personagens envolvidos. Então, espero que as pessoas curtam.”
“Emperors And Fools” foi lançado como um CD digipak, vinil splatter turquesa/preto limitado (300 cópias em todo o mundo), vinil splatter vermelho/preto limitado (300 cópias em todo o mundo) e streaming digital e formato de download.
“Emperors And Fools” foi produzido por ASHES OF ARES , e mixado e masterizado por Byron Filson na Villain Recording em Phoenix, Arizona. A arte da capa foi criada por Kamil Pietruczynik .
Canadian progressive death metal quintet Truent will self-release their full-length debut album, Through The Vale Of Earthly Torment, on June 17.
The official video for album track "The Last Hunt" can be seen below.
Born in a small town outside of Vancouver, BC, Truent is an exhilarating Canadian metal act on the rise. Combining massive riffs, head-spinning technicality, and sharp songwriting, Truent has crafted a crushing brand of groove-laden progressive death metal that is uniquely their own.
The band has released the following statement concerning the forthcoming new album:
"Written and recorded while the world was being ravaged by the pandemic, Through The Vale Of Earthly Torment was an exercise in escapism for us from the grim realities of life in turbulent times. While not a concept album in the traditional sense, we turned to themes of mythology and lore, exploring how people from all corners of the globe across all time periods have used myths to create vivid descriptions of their values. Each song centres itself around a creature or deity, and each of these entities are made to represent one of the seven deadly vices, giving the album a consistent through-line to follow."
"Musically, we expanded our sound with influences from all across the heavy music spectrum in order to create the most dynamic record we could. The songs weave together pummeling and technical riffs, triumphant choruses, and a number of oddball moments that hit seemingly from nowhere. There’s a wide mix of subgenres and sounds we explore throughout the album, often within the same song. We incorporate elements of everything from tech death to thrash metal to metallic hardcore into the records core sound of groove-filled progressive death metal. We do not want to be an easy band to categorize, and we feel this record is our most diverse work to date."
tracklisting:
"Blood And Dust" "Usurper Of The Sky" "Silk And Bone" "The Last Hunt" "This Verdant Coil" "In The Mire" "Scathe Of Branches" "Damned To The Deep"
Keaton Campbell from Of Modern Architecture contributes guest vocals to "Scathe Of Branche
Slithering for 15 years, Polish brigade Crystal Viper are sharpening their steel with The Last Axeman EP, out now via Listenable Records. The title track is a re-record of one of the first Crystal Viper song composed, while also containing one new track (“In The Haunted Chapel”), two covers, and a slew of live performances from their #RockOutSessions online stream. Talented and charismatic frontwoman Marta Gabriel sat down with BraveWords to discuss the EP, 15 years since their debut The Curse Of The Crystal Viper, cover songs, and future plans.
Please explain the idea behind the EP and the decision to rerecord one of your earliest songs, “The Last Axeman”.
Marta: “We wanted to celebrate 15th anniversary of our debut album, by re-recording one of our old songs, ‘The Last Axeman’, and releasing it as a single. As you know the idea with the single didn’t really work out, as we simply gathered more material, so we now have this EP with eight songs on it. An interesting thing about ‘The Last Axeman’ is that it’s the very first song that I composed for Crystal Viper, so it’s a perfect song to celebrate the 15th anniversary. It also seems it’s one of the favorite songs of our fans, so we thought it deserved to be recorded again, with an updated production and arrangement.”
New song “In The Haunted Chapel” continues the Lovecraft lyrical theme from The Cult; what was the idea behind this track?
Marta: “Yes, ‘In The Haunted Chapel’ is a brand new song, that I composed especially for this release, but it would fit to The Cult album perfectly, because as you noticed, it’s lyrically inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft story, The Haunter Of The Dark. Also, the style of the song has a very similar atmosphere to those you can hear on our latest album.”
Happy to see Aria receive some love – such an underrated, excellent band. Why did you choose to cover them and their song “Ulitsa Roz”?
Marta: “We love recording cover songs, and we recorded many, many of them. So it’s basically like a tradition in our case. We keep on recording cover songs of our favorite artists, to show our fans where it’s all coming from, what are the roots of our band, but it’s also a tribute to bands who inspired us and had influence on what we do, so yeah. In the past we recorded cover songs of bands and artists such as King Diamond, Exciter, Riot, Grim Reaper, Agent Steel or Manilla Road. Now for this EP, we recorded cover song of Aria. They’re an excellent band, I’m a huge fan of their first few albums.”
Diamond Head’s “It’s Electric” is a magnificent song and was made even more famous when Metallica covered it! Lightning To The Nations is a legendary record, why choose “It’s Electric” to cover?
Marta: “I’m a big, big fan of Diamond Head, they’re one of my absolutely favorite bands! I’m very happy we had a chance to record it - we were invited to join the official Diamond Head tribute album that is coming out later this year. When the recording was ready, we thought it would be cool to include this song on The Last Axeman as well. We were thinking about recording either ‘It’s Electric’ or ‘Call Me’, we started with ‘It’s Electric’, we liked how it sounded, so we kept it.”
The EP finishes up with songs from The Cult, but performed in a live setting. How was the #RockOutSessions experience? Was it strange playing live without any audience?
Marta: “I actually started the RockOutSessions series 2 years ago with my friend, Rafal Kossakowski (owner of the studio), and so far we recorded six bands as part of it. The reason for this action was the pandemic: we wanted to support other bands, and arrange some studio time for them. When we were rehearsing with Crystal Viper in Poland last year, we decided to make a recording like this as well, to give our fans a bit of a live show feeling. We all liked the final result so much, that we thought this short studio live performance deserves to be released on a physical medium. The experience was cool, but of course it doesn’t replace the actual live show vibe.”
Your voice has incredible range, which is especially evident tackling King Diamond and “Welcome Home”. How challenging was it to sing that song? Are there certain treatments or exercises you do to take care of your voice?
Marta: “Thank you! ‘Welcome Home’ is a great song, which King Diamond performed in a great, theatrical way, and I wanted to create similar atmosphere with my voice. When I was recording this song, I learnt new singing techniques, and that was very exciting. I also remember some funny moments, when I was trying to sing with the new techniques, and I was laughing out loud after I heard some funny noises that were coming out of my mouth. I will always remember the recording session for this song, what an interesting experience it was! As for certain treatments, I simply do what’s best for my health – I don’t drink any alcohol, I don’t smoke, I eat healthy, and I’m hitting the gym couple of times a week. In better shape your body is, the better for your voice.”
2022 marks 15 years since Crystal Viper’s debut, The Curse Of Crystal Viper. What are your memories of the record and how do you feel about it 15 years later? Any reissue plans for the album or any of the past Crystal Viper records?
Marta: “The first Crystal Viper album is still easy to get so there are no plans for any special reissue, and the new EP is actually the anniversary release. Memories, and how I feel about this album 15 years later? First of all I think it’s a huge success that we’re still playing and recording, we did eight albums since then and played in 15 countries. I remember we were very excited when we got the deal offer, and when we were recording that album. Back then we had no Facebook, there was no something called NWOTHM and so on, and actually all people around us were telling us it’s bad idea to play classic heavy metal in Poland. We were outsiders, we were playing Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol covers, while almost all bands around us were playing Black and Death Metal. It sounds insane, but it was like that – 15 years isn’t much, but it feels like a different era now. I also remember we were totally broke at that time, we used our last money to record that album, we were sleeping on the floor in the studio, and we were using some really bad amps and guitars. But we were determined and we didn’t give up.”
What are the future plans for Crystal Viper? Any tour, concert plans or a new full-length album on the way?
Marta: “Well, I really hope that we will finally play some shows, and I hope that the re-scheduled European Tour with Raven and Wolf will finally happen. I can’t wait to return to the stage, to play live and share our music with the people. No, no new album on the way, but in fact I have few other ideas. So keep on checking our pages!”
To finish up, I’d like to ask about Moon Chamber. I enjoyed the 2019 debut – any plans for new Moon Chamber music?
Marta: “Yes, I also enjoyed working on this album, it has some really amazing songs. But no, I don’t think there will be another Moon Chamber album or recordings.
Um filme que circula na seara da comédia romântica adolescente é quase sempre meloso e com passagens dramáticas pueris, além disso, tais filmes usam e abusam das já manjadas reviravoltas no roteiro, onde o protagonista, depois de inúmeros “flagelos”, alcança a glória e se transforma na mais nova sensação do pedaço. Ah, sem contar a trilha sonora, que beira o constrangimento, com canções de procedência duvidosa.
Metal Lords, no entanto, novo filme da Netflix, se esforça para sair dessa zona de conforto da comédia romântica adolescente, já que traz em seu mote o sempre “odiado” heavy metal. A história gira em torno de dois jovens: Kevin (Jaeden Martell) e Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), baterista e guitarrista, respectivamente, que estão determinados a vencer o concurso da escola, Batalha das Bandas, com seu grupo Skullfucker.
Na saga de colocar a banda em pé, o caminho da dupla se encontra com o da talentosa violoncelista Emily (Isis Hainsworth). A personagem, apesar da grande maestria com o instrumento, sofre de transtorno mental, o que a coloca, a princípio, em isolamento e fora dos padrões pré-estabelecidos pelos alunos da escola.
Sem maiores detalhes e spoilers ao leitor, a trama se desenvolve em cima dos dramas de cada personagem e, claro, em cima da Batalha das Bandas. O longa desfila uma bem-vinda playlist de clássicos do heavy metal como War Pigs (Black Sabbath); Metal God e Painkiller (Judas Priest), Whiplash (Metallica), entre outros. Além disso, conta com a participação de Scott Ian (Anthrax), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Kirk Hammett (Metallica) e Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine).
Metal Lords cumpre uma das prerrogativas da arte que é entreter, e se esforça para sair da zona de conforto dos filmes do já citado gênero. O público do universo heavy metal, de certo, vai tirar mais proveito do longa, pois há muitas referências e informações que só quem é do ramo vai sacar. A diversão é garantida e a trilha sonora é classe A.
A banda norte-americana de Rock Alternativo, Against The Sun”, apresentou no último dia 1 de abril o seu mais novo single, intitulado “Chelsea Said”. A canção que esbanja peso e boas melodias, já pode ser ouvida nas principais plataformas de streaming.
O supergrupo Black Swan, formado por pelo vocalista Robin McAuley, o guitarrista Reb Beach, o baixista e tecladista Jeff Pilson, o baterista Matt Starr, além dos vocais de apoio de Casey McAuley, acaba de lançar, via Frontiers Music, seu mais novo e segundo álbum, Generation Mind, com 12 novas canções. Ouça abaixo:
