Album Review: KADAVAR – ‘Rough Times’

Kadavar

Rough Times

Nuclear Blast Records

Forget the fuzzed-out riffs and the monster choruses, forget the facial hair and silk-and-velvet trappings; the single most ‘70’s thing about Kadavar might be their work ethic. The German stoner-psych trio has been in perpetual motion since their 2010 debut, locked in an album-tour-album-tour cycle that harkens back to the days of their musical forefathers, when bands plied and honed their craft through countless live shows and more than a year between records was simply unheard of. The end result of this ideology couldn’t be more evident. The band has become an incendiary live act, and each of their albums has built on the strengths of its predecessor. To say that trend continues here is a massive understatement; 2015’s Berlin was one of that year’s best albums, but with Rough Times, Kadavar may end up with the 2017 title all to themselves.

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MINISTRY Sign To Nuclear Blast

Illinois based pioneers of Industrial Metal MINISTRY after only recently finishing the recording of their new album titled ‘AmeriKKKant‘ have now signed a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.  This six time Grammy nominated six piece has performed over two thousand live shows as well as having sold over three million albums worldwide, and are now poised to release their fourteenth studio album ‘AmeriKKKant‘ some time within the first quarter of 2018. The man behind it all Al Jourgenson states that ‘AmeriKKKant‘  “Will provide FEMA type relief for the devastion ‘Hurricane Cheeto’ has brought upon us”. Continue reading

MACHINE HEAD Announce North American Tour For Upcoming Album!

San Francisco Bay Area metal titans MACHINE HEAD, have announced the first U.S. tour dates of their world tour in support of their upcoming album, Catharsis.

Vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn adds, “It’s been far too long since we’ve demolished venues in America, we have had an awesome and productive break writing our new album Catharsis, but now it’s time for MACHINE HEAD to go melt some faces! The reaction to our last “Evening With” tours in America were nothing short of incredible, so once again these dates will be “Evening With” and will see us performing 2 1/2 to 3 hours every night with no opening bands.

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Album Review: CRADLE OF FILTH – Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness Of Decay

Suffolk, England – 1991. Darkness manifests itself to the world of the living in the form of CRADLE OF FILTH. 26 years and eleven studio albums later this looming leviathan is back to haunt the dreams of mankind yet again with their twelfth  studio album entitled “Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness Of Decay” (Nuclear Blast Records). Blazing fast execution, macabre imagery, and a complete mastery of the English language have allowed these creatures of the nether realm to imprint themselves into the upper echelons of extreme metal. Now comprised of Dani Filth – Vocals, Richard Shaw – Guitar, Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda – Guitar, Daniel Firth – Bass, Lindsay Schoolcraft – Keys, and Martin Škaroupa – Drums, CRADLE OF FILTH is once again going to whisk you into a realm of lurid beauty and forlorn caliginosity.  Continue reading

Watch BELPHEGOR’s Blasphemous New Lyric Video “Apophis – Black Dragon”

Hailing from one of Europe’s most pristine and beautiful countries, Austria, they are dark, grim and blasphemous, something that is of stark contrast from their motherland. BELPHEGOR continue to raise horns and spit out epic dark and heavy music as we await their all new 11th studio album ‘Totentritual‘ coming out this September 15, via Nuclear Blast Records. In support of their new album the band has released a second single in the form of a lyric video for the song, ‘Apophis – Black Dragon‘. The song sounds blasphemous and vicious. Psst, that double bass though!

Also check out the previously released first track, ‘Baphomet‘ HERE!

Check it out below.

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Review: PARADISE LOST – ‘Medusa’

Paradise Lost are an eclectic bunch. Sure, the metal outfit originating from West Yorkshire, UK has consistently released melancholic and depressive doom metal with a bleak nihilistic worldview that allows the listener to ponder the fruitlessness of their own existence (It’s wonderful!), but Paradise Lost have never been afraid to fuse disparate subgenres such as death metal, goth, symphonic black metal, and even electronic dark pop with their Black Sabbath inspired sound.

Indeed, Paradise Lost’s sonic flexibility has ensured every album in their discography sounds fresh and is easy to differentiate from one another, and this was definitely the case with their previous album ‘The Plague Within’ which was a critically acclaimed beast of an LP that ended up being my favorite album of 2015.

However, despite the rave reviews, Paradise Lost only basked in the praise for a limited amount of time before they embarked on the unenviable task of crafting a dynamic and worthy follow-up. Consisting of vocalist Nick Holmes, guitarists Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy, bassist Steve Edmondsen, and new drummer Finn Walttery Vayrynen, Paradise Lost have created a more than worthy successor in their 15th album ‘Medusa’ which is an LP where the band has decided to strip the symphonic black metal elements that were present in ‘The Plague Within’ in favor of focusing on the doom and sludge sound that made the band so successful in the first place, and with the aid of producer Jaime Gomez Arellano, ‘Medusa’ is a great album with crushing riffs that wallop the listener akin to a strike from a ten ton hammer. Continue reading

ACCEPT Announce Worldwide Live Stream Of Their Big WACKEN Show!

Heavy Metal pioneers ACCEPT are back in the game with a new studio album! The record entitled ‘The Rise Of Chaos‘, will be unleashed this Friday, on August 4th, 2017! This will be the band’s 4th studio release through Nuclear Blast and continues the tradition of its three predecessors – ‘Blood Of The Nations‘, ‘Stalingrad, and ‘Blind Rage‘ – with grandeur and precision.

On Thursday (Aug, 3rd), ACCEPT will celebrate the album’s live premiere exclusively with a special show at Wacken Open Air, Germany. The set will consist of three parts and can be seen worldwide on a live stream.

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Review: ACCEPT – ‘The Rise Of Chaos’ [Official Videos]

My first encounter of ACCEPT is still vivid and it does evoke the exact feelings the band’s music walked me through couple of years down the line, when I stumbled across their legendary song ‘Balls To The Wall‘ of their 1983 album of the same name, which is more than just an album. It is a phenomenon to be honest! Their last three albums have been doing pretty well, with the band achieving more success than they had in their entire career, with Mark Tornillo on vocals it also happens to be my favourites along with a couple of old school classics from the Udo era. After a hiatus and hitting back to the grind in 2009, ACCEPT have been pretty much putting out consistently power packed albums with a cycle of touring followed by the release of each album. They’ve been busy you can tell, and to hit that off at this age even after 30+ years of existence is worth a huge round of applause.

The teutonic titans are here to continue the legacy and deliver more good old school metal to the masses as they are just a knock away from the release of their 15th studio album, ‘The Rise of Chaos’, which comes out crashing through the gates on the 4th of August via Nuclear Blast Records. Back with a new line up and rejuvenated spirit, ACCEPT are pretty much consistent with what they do and hence further cements the fact why they are your old school go-to boys, with this record.

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SLAYER To Perform On ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’

LEFT TO RIGHT: Paul Bostaph, Tom Araya, Gary Holt, Kerry King

Metal and mainstream media don’t really have a good relationship do they? Well, I mean metal has featured a lot of time in the mainstream media, but we still don’t make the cut on the first priority. Among the media, the late night shows have been helping the sheeple get some dose of the unholy stuff. Today we bring to you that the two-time Grammy-winning thrash/metal legend SLAYER will make its 11:35PM late-night television debut on Thursday, July 27 when the band performs its iconic “Raining Blood” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”  The show airs at 11:35PM ET/PT and 10:35PM CT on NBC. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” has previously had many a metal and rock bands play, whether be it METALLICA rocking out with Jimmy involving an all kids instruments song, or BODY COUNT killing it with their groovy beats, or be it the metal gods, JUDAS PRIEST bringing the old school vibe to the late night show. This time though, its your own “SLAYAAAA..” as they plan to annihilate the show with their bloody song “Raining Blood“.

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