Fans of old-school Epica and Within Temptation are going to lose their minds over North Carolina’s best kept secret; American Empire. North Carolina has bred some top notch metal over the years but nothing that sounds quite like this. With the exception of Kamelot, most North American symphonic metal bands just seem to be missing something. But think again, American Empire is packing some seriously fantastic Euro-sounding metal down in Durham. Continue reading
*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Georgia!
Hey there! Welcome to this week’s edition of State Of The Art, where we help rupture your virginity about the unknown and the underground. We visit Georgia this month, yes! Home of Grammy winners MASTODON, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS, R.E.M. etc. It’s evident that Georgia houses some incredibly talented musicians spanning all genres of music. I normally feature thrash, death bands when my turn on this segment comes. But today, just to break this monotony I chose to feature symphonic folk metal band CROWN OF SORROW from Fayetteville. Among the very few symphonic bands like those of DEVILWRAITH, KYLE MORRISON, AMIDST THE WITHERING, ETHIRIA etc. in the state of Georgia, today’s featured band CROWN OF SORROW is really working it’s way up the ranks of Georgia’s metal scene. It is really good and satisfying to see a band bring back the lost glory of good old classical and folk metal, in an age where thrash and death metal have been enjoying the throne for a bit long.
CROWN OF SORROW is a symphonic folk metal band that has a tinge of doom metal and surplus western classical elements in it, making it feel like a fine old wine. They are a fairly young outfit having released their first demo just in 2013, which featured three songs. With the demo working out for them, they released their debut full length record in 2015 titled, ‘Exile‘. Before all of this, the band was earlier named The Blasted Heath. What we know today as CROWN OF SORROW is a reincarnation that sought life when the former burned out in 2012 after hanging in on there since 2006. Let’s take a look at CROWN OF SORROW, shall we? Continue reading
Hey y’all! We thought it’d be great if we could dawn another premiere on you folks. Where all things are flashy, posh and life moves faster than the speed of light, Los Angeles certainly holds an unique as well as an appealing status to it. Similarly, the music that comes out of this world class city is in no different league. Today, we bring to you another Metal Nexus exclusive music video premiere of the LA based alternative gothic/metal trio, SEVEN DAY SLEEP. The quartet are premiering their all new music video, “Down“, which is a cover of alternative/indie or dance/electronic duo of Marian Hill from Philadelphia. The music video was filmed during the band’s official EP release party for ‘Home For Disgusting Fairies‘, and it incorporates the haunted fairy tale themes that the album revolves around.
Portugal’s Dark Metal pioneers MOONSPELL are back with their brand new and hotly anticipated album, titled ‘1755’. Set to be released on November 3rd 2017 on Napalm Records, this record will outclass all standards you have ever heard from MOONSPELL before!
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
How about a femme fatal double attack? This is probably one of the very few times where two female led bands have toured together. Italian rockers LACUNA COIL are joining hands with new born Swiss folk metal outfit CELLAR DARLING consisting of former ELUVEITIE members Anna Murphy(Vocals & Hurdy Gurdy), Ivo Henzi(Guitars & Bass) and Merlin Sutter(Drums). ‘Delirium‘ was the last and eighth studio album released by the Italian outfit last year in May 2016, and since then they have been touring extensively in support of the same. Now they hop on the same bus with CELLAR DARLING who just released their ground breaking debut album almost over a month ago in June titled, ‘This Is The Sound‘ released through Nuclear Blast Records. The Swiss trio also have been playing a lot of shows in and around Europe in the wake of their new album support, even festival shows and an exclusive concert with EVANESCENCE in Pratteln and their chart success (#16 in the Swiss album charts, #19 in the UK Rock Charts…) only spurred them on. So this autumn, the founders of the New Wave of Folk Rock will not only support DELAIN on several dates, but also join the Italian Gothfathers LACUNA COIL on their extensive European tour!
