Swedish black metallers Shining are set to release an EP of cover songs with a choice of material that will come as a surprise to many of the band’s fans. The four-track EP, titled Lots Of Girls Gonna Get Hurt, includes tracks from Katatonia, Kent, Imperiet and Poets Of The Fall, and is due for release via Spinefarm Records on May 16th. Whilst Katatonia is an internationally recognised name, Kent and Thåström’s Imperiet are relatively unknown outside of Sweden, where they are two of the country’s biggest names, and Poets Of The Fall is a Finnish band with a substantial following in their own country. Cover art is by Pauline Greefhorst.
Commenting on the decision to release an EP of covers, as well as on the choice of material, Shining’s front man and founder Niklas Kvarforth had this to say: “In no way should this EP be seen as a new direction for Shining, and it is absolutely no indication of what you can expect from our upcoming eighth album. Like most musicians neither myself, nor the rest of the band, restrict ourselves to listening to only one genre of music. We all have eclectic tastes, and finding ourselves with some spare time in the studio, we recorded a total of six covers, and decided to release four of them. This EP simply represents some of the artists and music that we like. We know that those fans of Shining who limit themselves to a narrow musical spectrum will hate the album, but that really is of no concern to us.”
Shining‘s eighth, as yet untitled, full-length album will be released in autumn of this year.
DIN BRAD’s debut album “Dor” is now available! It can be obtained in two different physical editions from common record retailers and Prophecy’s online shop:
- Digipak CD (14.99 Euro incl. worldwide shipping)
- Limited collector’s edition: Digipak CD wrapped up in hamp cloth and tied up with a hamp rope, incl. handnumbered and signed certificate, ltd. 150! (22.99 Euro incl. worldwide shipping) “Dor” @ Prophecy’s online shop
The entire album is also available for free streaming on Prophecy’s Youtube channel: “Dor” @ Youtube
Cat. Number : dusk010 Country : France Format : digipack CD (w/8page booklet)
Barcode : 8002565023908 File : Ambient Black Metal Shipping date : Now Download info-selling sheet PDF : here
Audio samples : click here Buy online : here
Tracklist : Intro | L’Abstrait | L’Impression | Opus Demen
Esthaetique is the second Grisatre full length album on Dusktone label. This time Rokkr created a personal journey perhaps even more introspective and oppressive than the previous acclaimed “L’idée De Dieu” album.
Grisatre involve the listener in a timeless and emotionally expansive trave of discovery, evaluation and reflection over the course of the album’s 45 minutes.
Grisâtre produces a music aiming at the call of the feelings which take to the reflexion, to the discovery of an unconscious occult knowledge, it’s also a personal representation of visions, perceptions. A vision Artistically metaphysical.. Grisâtre is an idea (Conceptually).
LOTUS CIRCLE “Caves” digipack CD
Cat. Number : dusk009 Country : Greece Format : digipack CD
Barcode : 8002565023786 File : Esoteric Doom Drone Download info-selling sheet PDF : here
Audio samples : click here Buy online : here
Tracklist : …to witness under the stars | dawn of a dead sun | secret entities | from the depths | plutonian funeral
Lotus Circle’s sound expression is based on an experimental karma of genres such as Doom, drone, black Metal, noise/electronic music always under the sign of a spiritual Inner Ritualism. “Caves” is a truly monster of warm and enveloping drone bringing the listener to an unknown and somewhat psychedelic level.
After five years from the previous praised ”Bottomless Vales and Boundless Floods” album, LOTUS CIRCLE are back for a new spiritual catharsis...
Finnish melodic death/doom metallers Swallow The Sun have announced an European tour with British gothic metallers Paradise Lost for May.
Since their last tour, back in 2010, the band is really eager to playas Paradise Lost direct support in this European Tour.
The band issued the following statement on their website: “For years we have thought that us and Paradise Lost would be a perfect line-up for a tour, and now it’s coming to reality: we’re happy and proud to join them on their European tour as their direct support! It’s been a while since our last tour back in 2010, and we’re excited to be back – see you on the road!”
Tour dates:
02.05. – Tivoli, Utrecht, The Netherlands
03.05. – Den Atelier, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
04.05. – La Rodia, Besancon, France
05.05. – Le Transbordeur, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
06.05. – Le Bikini, Toulouse, France
07.05. – Stereolux, Nantes, France
09.05. – Bataclan, Paris, France
10.05. – Le 106, Rouen, France
11.05. – Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
12.05. – Matrix, Bochum, Germany
14.05. – Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
15.05. – Sticky Fingers, Gothenburg, Sweden
16.05. – Debaser, Stockholm, Sweden
17.05. – KB, Malmö, Sweden
19.05. – Gruenspan, Hamburg, Germany
20.05. – Essibfabrik, Köln, Germany
21.05. – Backstage, Munich, Germany
22.05. – Arena, Vienna, Austria
In addition, the band will be playing the following Metalfest shows:
31.05. – Metalfest Open Air Austria, Mining, Austria
01.06. – Metalfest Open Air Germany East, Dessau, Germany
08.06. – Metalfest Open Air Germany West, Loreley, Germany
10.06. – Metalfest Switzerland, Pratteln, Switzerland
Source: swallowthesun.net
Event: Swallow The Sun + Paradise Lost: European Tour 2012
AHAB, the German funeral doom metal band featuring former MIDNATTSOL members Daniel Droste (guitar/vocals) and Christian Hector (guitar), has completed work on its third album, “The Giant”, to be released later in the year via Napalm Records. The CD features cover artwork (see below) by acclaimed artist Sebastian Jerke (LONG DISTANCE CALLING) and a guest appearance by ENSLAVED vocalist/keyboardist Herbrand Larsen.
The first in a series of video clips featuring behind-the-scenes footage from “The Giant” recording sessions can be seen below.
AHAB‘s sophomore album, “The Divinity Of Oceans”, was released in July 2009 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2006′s “The Call of the Wretched Sea” contains seven songs and is based on the wreckage of the Essex.
AHAB is named after Captain Ahab, a character in the novel “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. Along with its name, the band also draws thematic and lyrical inspiration from “Moby Dick” — some songs even feature direct quotations from the book.
AHAB is:
Daniel Droste: Guitar, Voices, Synths
Christian Hector: Guitar
Stephan Wandernoth: Bass
Cornelius Althammer: Drums
Radio Metal recently conducted an interview with vocalist Vincent Cavanagh of the U.K. atmospheric rock band ANATHEMA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Radio Metal: Were some of the songs of “Weather Systems” composed while you were working on “We’re Here Because We’re Here” or while you were waiting for the release of it?
Vincent: A couple of them were, yeah. One or two of them perhaps came just as an idea. One song particularly, “The Lost Child”, came to Danny in a dream, towards the end of the “We’re Here Because We’re Here” sessions, when we were all living together. I remember, in the middle of the night, he came to my room and woke me up and said, “Hey, I just had this dream. I have this tune and this whole scenario from this dream. We should make a song, and we should make a video for it.” I said, OK, and I got out of bed and recorded the song. We wrote down the idea, and then we said, “OK, let’s go back to sleep, we’ll think about it tomorrow!” (laughs) And eventually, that song became “The Lost Child”. It’s happening all the time, that’s natural. Anytime we’re all together, or at least the main creators — me, Danny and John — we’re really having a spark. Things happen quickly, you know. It’s cool.
Radio Metal: Even if it’s released only two years after the previous one, “Weather Systems” is very different from its predecessor. How did you manage to change the atmosphere between those two records?
Vincent: We always do that. That’s how we write, we’re always progressing forward. The next one’s going to be different again. We’re one of those bands, you know. We do this because we have to. We make music and art for the art. We don’t really have a choice as far as progression in concerned: that’s how the music wants to be. It wants to progress, it changes all the time. I use the word “it” because sometimes, it’s almost like we’re not completely in control. It’s something that’s more subconscious; you don’t make a conscious decision to say, “Let’s make an album that’s different from the last one.” It just happens naturally. Do you understand? That can happen in any song. I may wake up tomorrow and have an idea for a song that sounds completely different than anything else I’ve ever done. And I follow it, and it’s almost as if the song, the idea, leads you where it needs to go. Part of the songwriting process is actually knowing when to get out of the way and let the song take the lead, you know? The song dictates what it wants to be eventually. That’s one of the secrets about progressive music, and about how you can progress with music: don’t think too much. If you do think, then just try not to repeat yourself. We never really want to repeat ourselves, that would be too boring. Music is infinite, and what we can do with music is whatever we like. There’s no end to it, you know?
Radio Metal: About this new record, Danny said, “This is not background music for parties. The music is written to deeply move the listener, to uplift or take the listener to the coldest depths of the soul.” In other words, you wanted to avoid elevator music or background music. Do you think that’s the risk when you are writing such emotional music?
Vincent: When you write music that’s completely direct and honest, you have to sit up and listen to it. Trent Reznor wrote that song, “Hurt”. The original version is amazing, but when Johnny Cash sang it, with just him, a piano and an acoustic guitar, it changed. It’s one of those things where it’s like listening to somebody speak the truth. You have to listen, you know. And if it’s really important, you have to listen to it. Now, I’m not for one minute saying that’s what we do. It’s up to you to decide what we do, I don’t mind. One thing I’m saying is that there’s nothing fake about what we do. All of it is real. That goes right down to the lyrics, right down to every part of how we feel this music. For us, it’s more about the feeling behind the music. It’s about the intuition, it’s about going through it. It’s an experience that changes every time. One of the reasons I love doing what I do, now that I’m a singer, is that each time I experience a song, it’s different every single time. When you listen to a record, it’s the same every time, and that’s great. If you’re happy with it, it’s great. But then comes a certain point where you stop listening to the record, because it’s always the same. It usually takes me a couple of weeks! (laughs) I’m at that position now where I stop listening to the record and I just sing. The only time I get to hear our music is when I sing it. That’s when I know it’s real for me, because I mean it, I mean everything I’m doing, 100%. That’s cool for us, you know? I also don’t mind music that is meant to be just entertainment, that’s meant to sound the same all the time. That’s cool, too. But that’s not what I do.
Radio Metal: Do you think the only way to write good music is to be honest?
Vincent: No, no, that’s not true at all! There’s no secret formula right across the board that you can say, “This is how you write good music”. In fact, the question is false. What you have to ask any person is what do they bring to music. How do you live it? What can you bring to your music? What you have to remember is that each individual has their own voice. Each individual has their own mind, their own heart and soul, that they can put into something. And it’s unique, in and of itself. Even if you try and sound like somebody else, it’s still you, you know? It depends how much you want to give. A lot of people don’t want to be honest in music, because it’s giving too much away. They like to hide a little bit, and maybe to create something else. That’s cool, too. A lot of people write about the world, or about external things. They try to be honest in that way, and that’s cool, too. There’s an infinite set of ways to do music, write lyrics and write poetry. But being honest, it’s… I don’t know, it’s up to you. I’m not so bothered about people knowing my life. I don’t want to explain the meaning and the experience behind these songs, what it all means. I don’t want to explain that, because that is personal. It is in the lyrics, it is in the songs, and you can feel it anyway. The difference is, someone on the other side of the world can listen to this music and relate that is some way to their own life, because the experiences we talk about are quite universal: the themes of love, death, loss, madness, euphoria, all the deep emotions that we go through in our lives every single day. I much prefer to hear somebody else’s story and their experiences, how they relate to our music. Maybe one of our songs reminds them of a relative, or a loved one, or something that they went through. I think that’s beautiful. So in that way, it could be universal. But like I said, there’s no formula. You have to be yourself.
Original press release from Kogaion and DonisArt :
KRUNA MARTA will take place on the 31st of March, at the Cultural Center Reduta (Str. Apollonia Hirscher nr. in Brasov.
For this event, we originally announced four bands, but unfortunately the final line-up will consist only of three:
ATOMA (Sweden), DIRTY GRANNY TALES (Greece) and SLUMBER (Sweden).
Due to the complicated procedures for obtaining the visas and the lack of certainty surrounding the fact of whether or not they will be released on time, we came to the decision that we should postpone the first show of KAUAN in Romania, for a later date. We are very sorry for not being able to include this beautiful musical project in KRUNAMarta, but we hope to make it up for it as soon as we will have the confirmation that the visa issues are fixed.
ATOMA is a new Experimental Metal Rock band, which consists of mostly all SLUMBER members. They are set to release a debut album through the famous Austrian record label NAPALM records, exactly on time for KRUNA Marta. The evening of 31st of March will be the first live appearance of the Swedes in this new formula.
DIRTY GRANNY TALES is a name well known and respected in Romania, because of their two live shows performed at DBE 2 and DBE 3. The talented Greek artists will be coming back to Brasov bringing a new representation, a brand new Dark Theatrical Puppet show, which will find them in a new extended and altered distribution and bears the name “Rejection”. All in all, the concert hall of Reduta is the most suited place for a special DIRTY GRANNY TALES performance.
SLUMBER is an old Atmospheric Doom Death Metal act fans remember because of the 2004 album “Fallout”. The band broke up a few years back, but after common discussions, it was finally agreed that the audience will have the chance of fully understand the concept behind the music the band has crated, only if it would witness two completely separate performances: SLUMBER and ATOMA. The crowd present in Brasov will be able to experience something that months ago, seemed impossible.
The ticket for the event is set to 60 lei and can be acquired only at the entrance at the venue, on the night of the event. The concert hall Reduta can provide about 400 places, a more than enough number for interested parties.
The reservation system has also been put into place. You can now reserve your ticket via krunafest@gmail.com. The advantage in making a reservation is that people who received a confirmation from the DonisArt team will be given priority in front of those showing up to buy tickets without a reservation.
Next Dream Event will also be in charge of hosting the event, and of what will be going on after the concert comes to an end. That means that they will be organizing the after party, so fans will be given the chance to interact with the musicians until early hours of the morning, while having a drink or not. The location will be announced shortly.
Ea “Ea”
CD available for preorder (release date 05/03/2012)
The fourth album of this mysterious band appeared as an unexpected postscript to the previously released trilogy. This new untitled work represented by a single monolith track has no musical and ideological connections to the trilogy; however, it presents further progress of Ea ideas. In this album you will find epic atmospheric funeral doom metal and unique Ea atmosphere highly evaluated by listeners and reviewers.
Aikaintaite, the incredible debut album from SYVEN, is out now via Vendlus Records. The opus bears over an hour of invigorating soundscapes which have been drawing incredibly detailed reviews from journalists who are simply floored by the album’s organic darkness and organic beauty. In honor of its release this week, Aikaintaite can now be streamed in its entirety.
SYVEN is the output of Aslak Tolonen (Nest) and Andy Koski-Semmens (Ereipia), the two Finland-based musicians fusing their insight into heavy folk-based themes, driven by shamanistic chanting and choirs, primordial rhythms in the atmospheric compositions created on Aikaintaite. Their stunning, heartfelt hymns bring to life the comprehensive themes of nature and the struggles of reality and the brutality of survival, as well as the wonderment and the solemn fulfillment that lies therein.
Handmade instruments form the cornerstones of SYVEN’s sound, A.T. having built the 15-string acoustic kanteles, 12-string electric kanteles, Lapland drums and synthetic soundscapes himself. The production, recording, mixing, digital manipulation and hand-drawn artwork of Aikaintaite, was all handled by the duo themselves, wholly expressing the album in the full proper experience.
“…this is music unbound from stylistic borders and floating from deeper wells than the common ‘dark’ sounds.” – Avantgarde Metal
“As picturesque and vivid as it is haunting and desolate, the seemingly perfect artistic union between A.T. and A. K.-S. has taken the worlds of folk and ritual-based ambient music to new, personal heights which will be exceedingly difficult to meet, let alone approach.” – The Inarguable
“There is a solemn quality to this album – the sense of great strength carefully curbed and leashed. For those looking for a release that can become a ritual, for music that doubles as a pagan ceremony, Aikaintaite is perfect.” – Exclaim!
“I put the album on and was blown away by the rich density and otherworldliness of the soundscapes on offer… it is a deep expression of elemental power that should be part of every music lover’s collection.” – Alternative Matter
“..pure perfection, on every level. And it has already joined that small and exclusive list of records I hold to be truly remarkable and unparalleled, past or future.” – Transylvanianhungerrr
“It’s slow and purposeful; it’s heavy, dark and mournful, but lacks that amphetamine-urgency that seems to drive most other metal. 4/5″ – MuzikReviews
“…gives me chills and it should do the very same to you if you have any kind of humanity left in you.” – Absolute Zero Media
Finally “A Disease for the Ages” on double vinyl. Limited to 500 and issued in a very noble Gatefold sleeve with silver scripture and noble rough material. No extra tracks, no splatter versions, no clear versions just black and silver. The new artwork is minimalist and bleak and compliments Mourning Beloveth’s darkest album yet . The 4th album on vinyl is printed through their label Grau Records. The second album “The Sullen Sulcus” will be released on DLP this year, on it’s tenth anniversary
For any other infos or demands contact : Darren@mourningbeloveth.com
Also Mourning Beloveth will be headlining the Into the Void anniversary show on February 11th in The Pint, Dublin
in Brasov.
