Review: SEPTICFLESH – Codex Omega [Song Stream]

It’s cliche to designate a heavy metal album as “epic.” The raging guitar riffs, thunderous bass, thrashing drums, and high pitch screams all create a sound that’s larger-than-life both sonically and thematically, and this go-big-or-go-home mentality was present at the genre’s inception with Black Sabbath and has continued into modernity with bands like Ghost and Avatar because let’s be honest here, if a metal band isn’t “epic” in some capacity or another then it isn’t worth its salt.

With that said, “epic” is the only proper descriptor that encapsulates my feelings on the wonderfully named symphonic death metal band Septicflesh. Originating from Athens, Greece in the mid 1990s and currently consisting of Seth Siro Anton on bass/vocals, Christos Antonou playing the guitar and writing the orchestrals, Sotiris Anunnaki V providing an additional guitar and clean vocals, and Kerim “Krimh” Lechner on drums, Septicflesh is one of the very few metal bands that can gracefully blend the rough brutality of death metal with the awe-inspiring sound of a sweeping orchestra, and this dark yet beautacious sound is ever-so present on Septicflesh’s 10th and most recent studio album ‘Codex Omega’ which is a more than worthy follow-up to their 2014 LP ‘Titan’ due to it being stunning in its scale and punishing in its ferocity.

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Review: Portrait – Burn the World [Album Stream]

Galloping bass riffs, driving percussion and rock-solid guitars have taken their spot at the vanguard of PORTRAIT’s new sound; – and it’s most certainly a fresh one. For almost two years now the Swedish heavy metal group have been working incredibly hard on their newest studio LP, titled ‘Burn the World’, which has finally been released as of 25 August via Metal Blade Records. PORTRAIT as a group have consistently drawn up mixed opinions since their formation, with some bestowing great critical acclaim and others merely citing them as “KING DIAMOND copyists” – but is the latter statement really the case? Originally, perhaps so, but I really think after this album hits the stores those earlier comparisons will cease to exist. Long gone are the eerie undertones that plunged 2011’s ‘Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae’ release and there’s very little tapping into the realms of conceptual horror. What you get here is a somewhat unlikely product consisting of numerous foot-tapping thrash-influenced songs categorized by exceptional percussion. 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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Bruce Dickinson Of IRON MAIDEN To Release Autobiography ‘What Does This Button Do?’ In October

The multi talented, the one and only, legendary vocalist of IRON MAIDEN, Bruce Dickinson, will be adding another feather to his multi faceted cap as he will release his massively awaited autobiography, ‘What Does This Button Do?‘ later this year in the month of October. The memoir of the singer, who is considered to be metal’s one of the greatest of all time, will be published on October 19th via HarperCollins.

Over a career spanning more than three decades, having played all over the world, from being an aircraft pilot to business man, an aviation entrepreneur, a beer brewer, motivational speaker, film scriptwriter, twice-published novelist, radio presenter, TV actor and a world-class fencer, Bruce has had everything under his belt. Not many people can claim to have both writing and motivational speaking accolades under their belts, along with a wealth of other accomplishments, unless they’re veterans of the entertainment industry (like Roger Wolfson who is also one of the few people to have mastered some of these disciplines such as writing for the screen). Count in defeating cancer as well. How bad ass is that? He has been one hell of an inspirational figure not just a metalhead but anyone in general can look up to. Only thing that was missing was an autobiography, and that is going to change this coming fall, now that he has learned how to write a book overviewing his life so far! How much more talent could you want?

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QUIET RIOT Premiere New Music Video For “Can’t Get Enough” Off Forthcoming Album

QUIET RIOT continues their historic journey in 2017 with their new album,”Road Rage. Led by drummer Frankie Banali, who is joined by veteran bassist Chuck Wright (who has been in and out of the band since 1982), guitarist Alex Grossi (who has been in the band since 2004), and new vocalist James Durbin, who also happens to be from the 2011 season of American Idol who made news singing hits like “Living After Midnight” and “Breaking The Law” of JUDAS PRIEST. The band continues to be an unstoppable force in the rock ‘n roll world.  “Road Rage is set for release August 4, 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl.

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MOTÖRHEAD Plan To Release “Under Cöver” Album This September

MOTÖRHEAD had a special knack for covering songs of their favourite artists and giving it a pure rock and roll and classic heavy metal touch to it. Every album had one song or the other which Lemmy and co. liked to morph it to their own taste and it would undoubtedly make an excellent rendition of the original song. Hell, sometimes even better than the original. Be it the legendary British punk rock SEX PISTOL‘s God Save The Queen‘ or The Rolling Stones Sympathy For The Devil‘ or even ‘Whiplash‘ by METALLICA, the band who themselves cite MOTÖRHEAD as their probably biggest inspiration to whatever they’re doing today. MOTÖRHEAD have never failed to take us by storm with their good old fashioned rock and roll twist of their covers.

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ACCEPT Release First Album Trailer For “The Rise Of Chaos”

The Rise Of Chaos is ACCEPT‘s 15th studio album and their 4th offspring under Nuclear Blast Records, following the previous releases of ‘Blood Of The Nations’,’Stalingrad’, and ‘Blind Rage’. The new album is going to come out crashing through the gates on August 4th, 2017 for a worldwide release.

Today, the band releases their first album trailer, which was filmed at the recent ACCEPT media day in Hamburg on June 13th. A press conference took place on the day featuring Wolf Hoffmann and Holger Hübner, the WACKEN Festival organiser, both looking ahead to ACCEPT’s exclusive upcoming Wacken performance. To wrap up the day, Wolf signed the infamous “Golden Book” which belongs to the Hard Rock café in Hamburg. Watch the clip, attached below.

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ACCEPT Release “The Rise Of Chaos” Official Music Video

The Rise Of Chaos is ACCEPT‘s 15th studio album and their 4th offspring under Nuclear Blast Records, following the previous releases of ‘Blood Of The Nations’,’Stalingrad’, and ‘Blind Rage’. The new album is going to come crashing through the gates on August 4th, 2017 for a worldwide release.

Today ACCEPT premiere their first official video from the upcoming album, the title track, ‘The Rise Of Chaos‘. Shot in Nashville‘s famous rehearsal centre Soundcheck, the video consists of 81,127 still images that were later transformed into video sequences.

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GRAND MAGUS To Embark On European Headline Tour This Autumn

Stockholm based Swedish heavy metal/stoner metal trio GRAND MAGUS will be out touring in support of their latest album, ‘Sword Songs‘ which was just released over a year ago via Nuclear Blast on the May 13th, 2016. Taking the classic heavy metal sound and throwing in some doom/stoner metal and power metal, GRAND MAGUS has been doing pretty good, as it is evident on their latest studio album. It has been received well by the critics and also saw it feature on many year end list for best albums last year. The band have been touring ever since they let their album out of the barn. They let the audience have the first glimpse of their new songs live when they joined forces with AMON AMARTH and TESTAMENT on the fomer’s ‘Jomsviking European Tour’ which was one hell of an extensive touring they went through last winter in Europe. Continue reading