Today, American metalcore stalwarts, Atreyu, share “Becoming The Bull”, another track from their new collection of eight reimagined greatest hits and two nostalgic tribute covers, The Pronoia Sessions. The digital release will begin streaming on October 25 while vinyl and CDs will hit streets on November 8. Pre-order here.
On the new version of “Becoming The Bull,” frontman Brandon Saller comments: “We tried to give a new approach to this song. As with all the songs on this album, we wanted to breathe new life into every aspect of this song that to me sounds like a desert sunrise. Enjoy.”
Watch the video via the band’s social media here. Listen below:
Atreyu is a band with a legacy seamlessly intertwined with formative experiences for a diverse legion of listeners worldwide. ‘The Pronoia Sessions’ deconstructs, recreates, and reshapes the Orange County, California, band’s beloved anthems (and cover songs) as a haunting and hypnotic new collection. What began as an acoustic album evolved into a grand re-imagining of Atreyu classics.
The genesis stretches back to a series of acoustic performances at special events on the road. “We had the idea to do a show similar to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged as a one-off thing,” explains frontman Brandon Saller. “Then we thought, ‘Why not spend some time on it in the studio?’ And it built from there. ‘How far can we push this?’ It spawned from there and unexpectedly turned into this monster.”
He adds: “This album, to us, was something that initially came from the fans. During Covid, we started toying around with doing acoustic performances for the first time in our career. Since the release of ‘Gone (Reimagined),’ the outpouring of love and interest from our fans was overwhelming. It got us thinking…what if we didn’t just make some of our classics acoustic, what if we took them to a whole new place? We feel with this album we have carved out a new home for these songs to stand on their own. They are new entities in our musical landscape.
“Making this album brought us such a sense of joy and creativity. It was as if the universe handed us this moment and it was meant to happen…hence, ‘The Pronoia Sessions’.”
Tracklisting:
“Becoming The Bull (Reimagined)” “Save Us (Reimagined)” “Ex’s & Oh’s (Reimagined)” “Right Side of the Bed (Reimagined)” “Like A Stone” (Audioslave Cover) “Drowning (Reimagined)” “The Theft (Reimagined)” “Gone (Reimagined)” “Warrior (Reimagined)” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” (Tom Petty Cover)
Dwarven power metal warriors, Wind Rose, have unleashed their second single, the epic “To Be A Dwarf”, taken from the upcoming album, Trollslayer, out October 4.
After the catchy deep rock galactic hymn “Rock And Stone”, Wind Rose shows another musical facet on the new single. The epic song takes the listener into the depths of dwarven forges and tells of life under the mountain. The accompanying official music video delves deep into the adventures of the dwarves – including terrifying dragons, huge treasures and mighty mines.
The new album, Trollslayer, will be released on October 4, the day of the start of the biggest tour in the band’s history so far, when Wind Rose will head out on the eagerly awaited Wolfsnächte 2024 arena tour throughout Europe with Powerwolf and HammerFall.
Wind Rose on “To Be A Dwarf”: “We chose ‘To Be A Dwarf’ as the second single off of Trollslayer because we wanted to take you deep into the incredible world of the dwarves once and for all. This song is an anthem that makes you feel like you belong to this great folk of fierce warriors, skilled blacksmiths and heavy drinkers. The song also comes with one of the best video clips we have ever made, and it will let you dig through your imagination and see with your own eyes what it is like to be a dwarf.”
Trollslayer follows the success of Warfront (2022), which debuted in the Top 10 on the US Current Hard Music Albums chart. Arriving right before their biggest European tour ever alongside Powerwolf and HammerFall, this album promises to be the perfect blend of signature party anthems alongside select deeper, more serious tracks. Exploding onto the scene with viral appearances on TikTok and amassing almost half a million followers on the platform, as well as almost a million monthly listeners, Wind Rose have solidified their reputation as a powerhouse in the modern power metal scene.
Wind Rose on the new album Trollslayer: “We spent more than 2 years working on Trollslayer, a new Dwarf Metal opera that will entertain you with fast riffs, beer and fun. With Trollslayer we didn’t only keep all the key elements of Dwarf metal, we also brought back the fast paced rhythms typical of our previous albums. Both Wintersaga and Warfront have had a great impact on our fans, even if they have many differences in style. With Trollslayer we unified all the best features of both albums and we are delivering what we believe is the best Dwarf Metal experience so far. We can’t wait to play some of these new songs live for you, are you ready?!”
Trollslayer starts-off with the epic instrumental “Of Ice and Blood”, setting the stage for the fiery energy to come. Next up is the electrifying “Dance of the Axes”, a potent mix of catchy refrains and guttural growls. It is directly followed by two party anthems, “The Great Feast Underground” – which overtakes the listener with crazy dwarven drinking rhythms – as well as throwing the gauntlet with the anthem “Rock and Stone”, a party track inspired by space dwarf first-person shooter video game Deep Rock Galactic. The album continues with three deep and catchy anthems – the fast “Home of the Twilight”, the upbeat “To Be a Dwarf”, and the Warhammer-inspired title track “Trollslayer”. The album concludes with the gripping “No More Sorrow”, showcasing Wind Rose’s ability to weave moments of emotional depth into their music. This track proves that even the mightiest dwarven warriors carry the weight of loss and hardship!
Trollslayer brings the listener into an unforgettable journey through the caves of metal, capturing the epic, medieval spirit of the dwarves!
Trollslayer will be available in the following formats:
– 1CD Digipack & Tankard – Napalm Records Mailorder exclusive – strictly limited to 300 – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Gold, Slipmat, Vinyl Booklet – strictly limited to 200 – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Black / White Marbled – strictly limited to 200 – 1CD Digipack & Shirt Bundle – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Black – 1CD Digipack – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Silver –North America Indies Exclusive – strictly limited to 500 – Digital Album – 1CD Digipak w/ signed autograph card – (limited North American Newbury Comics exclusive) – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Black w/ signed autograph card – (limited North American Newbury Comics exclusive) – 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Trans Clear Red marbled – Wind Rose store exclusive – strictly limited to 500
“Of Ice And Blood” “Dance Of The Axes” “The Great Feast Underground” “Rock And Stone” “To Be A Dwarf” “Home Of The Twilight” “Trollslayer” “Legacy Of The Forge” “No More Sorrow”
Jimi Hendrix in 1968(Image credit: Photoshots / Getty Images)
When Jimi Hendrix died on 18 September 1970 he had released three studio albums, one live album and a hits collection. Since then there have been literally hundreds of Hendrix albums issued, to the point where it seemed like every time he strapped on his guitar somebody pressed record.
In the aftermath of Hendrix’s death the management and record company rummaged through the piles of tapes at his Electric Lady studio in New York where Hendrix had spent over a year recording a new album and hastily compiled a series of cash-in albums – The Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridge, War Heroes and Loose Ends – with little rhyme or reason and certainly without reference to Hendrix’s intentions. Then they started combing through the innumerable outtakes and jams, sometimes arbitrarily replacing the rhythm section on discredited albums such as Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning.
They also sifted through the live tapes but seemed to play more attention to the status of the gig than the quality of the performance. His highest profile shows – at Woodstock and the Isle Of Wight – were both disappointing performances.
Meanwhile, the bands with whom Hendrix had played as a sideman before moving to England in late 1966 – including Little Richard and the Isley Brothers among many others – were checking their tapes for signs of Hendrix, prompting a flood of dubious releases that may or may not have included the incipient genius. Approach anything recorded before 1967 with extreme caution.
Not until the Hendrix family regained Jimi’s estate and set up the Experience Hendrix label was some semblance of order restored to Hendrix’s catalogue, although there is still work to be done.
So here are six essential Hendrix albums released after 1970 that amply demonstrate why he remains the world’s most influential guitarist. Then you can begin to explore the rest of his voluminous catalogue, armed with enough knowledge to avoid the obvious pitfalls.
Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision is scheduled for release in September.
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Henry Yates has been a freelance journalist since 2002 and written about music for titles including The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer. He is the author of Walter Trout’s official biography, Rescued From Reality, a music pundit on Times Radio and BBC TV, and an interviewer who has spoken to Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Wood, Dave Grohl, Marilyn Manson, Kiefer Sutherland and many more.
‘I’m done pleasing the crowds,’ croons Leprous frontman and chief songwriter Einar Solberg on Silently Walking Home, the opening track on Melodies Of Atonement. Which is surprising, as it wasn’t apparent that he had been.
Even in progressive circles there are those who would prefer a band to carry out variations on a theme for the rest of their career and there are plenty who yearn for a return to Leprous’s earlier work – pre-2017’s Malina, essentially – when they could still be accurately described as a prog metal band.
Solberg’s pre-release chatter around this album will be music to those people’s ears. It’s being trumpeted as the heaviest thing they’ve made in some time. At the same time, like some of his peers – Riverside’s Mariusz Duda among them – the Leprous man seems to push back against the ‘p’ word these days. “I’m not sure it’s very prog,” he says of the record.
It sounds like an attempt at distancing the band from the scene that’s supported them, ignoring the fact that the engine which drives most modern prog is experimentation and a desire to carve out new sonic paths rather than week-long solos and capes.
Melodies Of Atonement is certainly not a return to the labyrinthine compositions of 2011’s Bilateral or 2013’s Coal. It’s still shaped by crystalline melodies and the flawlessly expressive vocals that have come to be an increasingly defining factor over the past few years.
Granted, it simplifies the equation to some extent, presenting the essential elements of the band in a more direct and stripped-down manner than they’ve done before, but it’s still recognisable as a Leprous record, forward-looking sensibilities and all.
The most obvious difference is the absence of the symphonic sweeps and strings that augmented 2019’s Pitfalls and 2021’s Aphelion, with Solberg having indicated he’s saving the cinematic soundscapes for the solo career he launched with last year’s mesmerising 16.
There’s far less playing around with unconventional time signatures, but that doesn’t mean everything is entirely straightforward
Melodies Of Atonement might be the most accessible and streamlined thing the Norwegians have put out to date, but they’ve hardly turned into a garage rock band. There are shining hooks and pneumatic riffs aplenty, built into meticulous crafted songs with ever-shifting textures and frequent flourishes of invention.
Silently Walking Home kicks things off in unconventional fashion, riding a warped beat and atonal slashes of guitar through big swathes of melody. Its juxtaposition of the jarring and the soothing that ends on a bed of heavenly tones.
Atonement boasts some of those much-vaunted heavier moments, entering via skittering electronic beats, with Solberg whisper-singing until an insistently repetitive guitar lick muscles into the frame. There’s still an ebb and flow at play, but this is as punchy and direct as they get.
My Specter continues in a similar vein: Solberg hits some incredible highs over chirping synths and unsteady rhythms. There’s far less playing around with unconventional time signatures on this album, but that doesn’t mean everything is entirely straightforward. Tightly-compressed riffs are deployed like naval mines beneath delicate vocals and it builds towards a swell of Muse-esque bombast before flowing out in a trickle.
Like A Sunken Ship contains the most metallic moments they’ve exhibited in a long time, but even here the aggression is entirely measured, with screams tempered by sing-song ‘la la la’ melodies and gently receding waves of keys and guitars.
LEPROUS – Like A Sunken Ship (OFFICIAL VIDEO) – YouTube
Despite Solberg’s claims to the contrary, Leprous are a modern prog band, but one who – like fellow travellers Opeth – retain the muscle memory needed to strategically place the occasional heavier element for counterpoint effect.
Elsewhere, Faceless is the closest to a big pop song they’ve produced yet, sliding from a smoky 4am sigh into an unashamedly huge hook underpinned by equally brazen hard rock dynamics. Starlight is slow, textured and appropriately glimmering.
Self-Satisfied Lullaby places slow melodies and fragile vocal harmonies atop a layer of meticulous rhythms seeded with the occasional misplaced electronic bloops. As with the opener, these entirely intentional imperfections only serve to highlight the delicate beauty of the whole.
Leprous have made a slight change by omission: trimming some of the more extraneous elements away. It might be their most accessible album to date, but it retains much of the subtlety, invention and craftmanship they’ve come to be known for. And for all the talk of throwing the prog baby out with the bathwater, when it comes to a sense of experimentation and fearless exploration, Leprous still bring it in spades.
Melodies Of Atonement is on sale now via InsideOut.
Clem Burke is a drummer. Not just the drummer with Blondie, the band he’s been with since 1975, enjoying hit singles and albums by the score. Burke loves to play, with side projects such as Chequered Past, Romantics, International Swingers and Empty Hearts, and as sideman with such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Pete Townshend and Joan Jett.
Consequently, he’s made an awful lot of friends and met an awful lot of people along the way. So sitting down for a chat with the artist formerly known as Elvis Ramone as he prepares to mount the stage with Lust For Life – the Katie Puckrik-fronted Iggy tribute that also features his long-time chum and sparring partner Glen Matlock – about the countless paths he’s crossed, best be prepared for a veritable deluge of clanging name-drops.
“Lemmy used to hang out with us in the early days of Blondie,” he begins, “I don’t know if we were using him for a connection, but he was quite friendly. We’d go down to [Piccadilly nightclub] Planets, where he and Phil Lynott used to hang out. Lemmy was always on the fruit machine. Later when he moved to LA he did exactly the same thing at the Rainbow.”
Sky Saxon
“You don’t wanna let him know where you live. We did an album together called King Of Garage Rock. He was living in a sort of commune, a ramshackle house in East Hollywood where people were sleeping on the roof, there were drugs strewn everywhere and dogs running around. But he was a nice guy.
“I love meeting Hollywood people from back in the day. Don Randi, who was the keyboard player with [top sessioneers] the Wrecking Crew, is a friend, and Jay Sebring [celebrity hairdresser and ex-boyfriend of Sharon Tate, murdered by the Manson Family in 1969] used to cut his hair. So it’s pretty weird watching Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with Don.”
Nancy Sinatra
“One of the best things about touring with Nancy was you could check into the hotel and say: ‘I’m with the Sinatra party’, and it’s like saying you’re with the king. The Sinatra family are like American royalty. I did quite a few interesting gigs with her. From Maxwell’s, which is basically the back room of a pub in Hoboken, where she duetted with Jon Spencer, to an arena in Vienna celebrating Elvis Presley – because Nancy made the movie Speedway with him – where I got to meet Ron Tutt [Elvis’s Vegas drummer] and DJ Fontana [Elvis’s original drummer].
“When we stayed at The Athenaeum on Green Park, Phil Spector, who had taken over the entire top floor, invited us to lunch. You’d come across a lot of interesting people with Nancy.”
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Steve Jones
“He’s a complicated young man, but always seems to get a leg up. No pun intended. Steve used to come to my loft in New York, jonesing, needing money for drugs. We’d become friends over here in London when I was working with Michael Des Barres. [Blondie producer] Mike Chapman had produced a solo album with Michael, and Nigel Harrison from Blondie used to be in Silverhead with him.
“Anyway, we put a band together for Michael, and as Steve was hanging around we were trying to get Steve to do it with us too. That was Chequered Past. But Steve, who was still on drugs, just wanted to doss around in the apartment. In the end, Nigel and I put him on a plane, took him to LA, and he’s been there ever since. Steve’s a great guitar player, he’s got his own sound. But yeah, he really is a very complicated young man.”
“I came into Pete’s orbit through [Sex Pistols producer] Chris Thomas. I think he’d just gotten sober and wanted to get in the studio and play. Me and the bass player, Phil Chen, recorded with Pete for a couple of weeks and had a tremendous time. Rather than tapping into my inner Keith Moon, I was trying to play more precisely, more like Kenney Jones. I was actually surprised how much Pete would reminisce about Keith.
“While we were in the studio, Pete was sent tickets to the premier of Give My Regards To Broad Street, the Paul McCartney film, in Leicester Square, but said: ‘I don’t think I want to go. Would you guys want to go?’ So me and Phil went, with Pete’s tickets. When we got there we were seated next to Eric Clapton, and then, right before the movie starts – and it’s not a good movie – who comes and sits right behind us? Paul and Linda. They were expecting Pete Townshend, so they placed him among the rock royalty, but they got me and Phil. So that was quite a night.
“I loved working with Pete. A real gentleman. I wish we could’ve done more, because for me it was a dream come true.”
Bob Dylan
“Bob communicated through his music, but we did go to dinner quite a few times. One of the first things that Bob asked me was: ‘What happened to Blondie?’ I was working with Dave Stewart at that time, and he was like: ‘You guys were this big thing. What happened?’ I was sitting in the back of a Mercedes between him and Dave Stewart, going to dinner, and I said: ‘One word: drugs.’ And he got it. I had a great time playing with him. I thought we were recording the next Blonde On Blonde. We recorded a lot of stuff. I’ve still got a cassette tape of all the tracks.
“Bob was just amazing. It’s no surprise that those people are what they are. I don’t really subscribe to ‘everybody is the same’, because they’re not. There’s a reason that Robert De Niro is Robert De Niro. He’s not like the plumber down the road, he’s fucking Robert De Niro. I mean everybody’s human, but Dylan…”
Johnny Ramone
“Bastard. I mean, I knew those guys right from the beginning. I was friends with Joey, but can’t say I was friends with Johnny, even though it was probably his idea to get me in. I was asked to join The Ramones about four different times, right when Tommy first left and all the other times when they went through all the other drummers. When I finally said yes, I told them I didn’t want to do it permanently.
“I did think maybe, but Johnny? His politics? He’d be in the front of the van listening to the baseball, I’m relegated to the next row, then there’s Joey and Dee Dee in the back. So if I’m talking to Johnny, I’m not talking to Joey and if I’m talking to Joey, I’m not talking to Johnny.
“He used the guitar as a means to an end, and I don’t think he particularly cared for it. He refused to rehearse, so I’d spend a lot of time going through stuff on my own. They’re all dead now, which is terribly sad. But being in the Ramones was not a happy place to be.”
Debbie Harry
“My big sister, essentially. Playing with Blondie is like going on vacation. She is just as talented as Bowie, Lou Reed, whoever we want to put in that category. I wouldn’t say she’s as talented as McCartney, because The Beatles are beyond. But Bowie… Debbie and Chris [Stein, Blondie guitarist] are both innovators, and you don’t have to be the most brilliant musician in order to innovate. They’re beatniks too. They always were. Our neighbours were Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs.
“Early CBGB was all beatniks; there were no mohawks or CBGB T-shirts, it was more like a cabaret. There were tables and chairs, little candles burning and the Ramones playing. There wasn’t a moshpit, it was more like the Theatre Of The Absurd. But Debbie’s great. We’ve had a lot of good times together over the years, and obviously a big part of my success has to do with Debbie Harry, and I have to thank her very much for all of that.”
Dreaming – Blondie | The Midnight Special – YouTube
“I used to hang out eating hot dogs with Jerry Nolan at Nathan’s all-night place on the corner of 6th Avenue and 8th Street, and he’d give me advice, because I guess he figured he was kind of seasoned, and his playing was a major inspiration to me, major.
“He was definitely the first person to have short hair on the New York post-glam scene. I remember times when he still played with the Dolls and he had the quiff, which was pretty amazing, because everybody else still had what they call in the States shag haircuts, like feather cuts. So Jerry was an inspiration to us all.
“He was friends with [legendary jazz drummer] Gene Krupa, actually, they’d smoke a joint together. He befriended Gene Krupa in the same way I befriended [Wrecking Crew drummers] Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine.”
Patti Smith
“I was a massive fan and auditioned for her band. I brought her and Lenny Kaye to our rehearsal studio and we were smoking hash and jamming. Gary Valentine was with me and he had sunglasses on, and Patti said: ‘What do you play, sunglasses?’
“When she asked me who my favourite drummer was – even though he never really was my favourite drummer – I said John Bonham, and I think that might’ve been the wrong answer. The drummer that she got, Jay Dee Daugherty, is a friend, and he’s great. So Patti Smith was an early role model, and I really, really wanted to play some music with her.
“Anyway, it didn’t happen, and probably for the better the way things worked out – Blondie were a pretty big success. And while it’s the Patti Smith Group, when you get into the business side of it I’m not too sure how it played out for the other members of the band.”
Iggy Pop
“What can I say? Blondie’s first national tour of the States was with Iggy, with David Bowie on keyboards. The night before the start of the tour we did a gig at Max’s Kansas City, got straight in an RV, drove to Montreal overnight, went to the venue, and were all crashed out in a funky dressing room backstage when the door opened and in walked Bowie and Iggy. They couldn’t have been nicer.
“Iggy and I both had Anello And Davide Beatle boots on, which I’d got on my first trip to the UK in ’75. I later toured as part of Iggy’s band for six weeks promoting the Party album in ’81 and he was basically out of his mind. There was no food allowed backstage, only drugs and booze. It was ‘no blow, no show’, and his only mandate was: ‘Play as loud and as fast as possible.’”
Classic Rock’s Reviews Editor for the last 20 years, Ian stapled his first fanzine in 1977. Since misspending his youth by way of ‘research’ his work has also appeared in such publications as Metal Hammer, Prog, NME, Uncut, Kerrang!, VOX, The Face, The Guardian, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Electronic Sound, Record Collector and across the internet. Permanently buried under mountains of recorded media, ears ringing from a lifetime of gigs, he enjoys nothing more than recreationally throttling a guitar and following a baptism of punk fire has played in bands for 45 years, releasing recordings via Esoteric Antenna and Cleopatra Records.
New England extreme metal powerhouse, Escuela Grind, will release its new LP, Dreams On Algorithms, on October 18th via MNRK Heavy (High On Fire, Slomosa). Recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studio with producer Kurt Ballou, and mastered by Nick Townsend (Dr. Dre, Betty Davis) the record is the follow-up to Escuela Grind’s 2022 full-length debut, Memory Theater. Pre-order / save Dreams On Algorithms at this location.
In advance of the release of Dreams On Algorithms, Escuela Grind will launch a North American headlining tour which will kick off on October 8th in Omaha, NE. The 16-city trek will feature support from Bodybox and Wisdom & War. Tickets for all dates will go on sale Friday, August 30th at 9 AM local time. The full itinerary is as follows:
October 8 – Omaha, NE – Reverb 9 – Denver, CO – Moe’s 10 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad 11 – Las Vegas, NV – Sinwave 12 – Ontario, CA – Glen Helen Amphitheater (as part of Mayhem Festival) 13 – Atadadero, CA – Dark Nectar 16 – Portland, OR – Dante’s 17 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project 18 – Spokane, WA – The Big Dipper 19 – Boise, ID – The Shredder 22 – Des Moines, IA – Lefty’s Live 23 – Milwaukee, WI – X-Ray Arcade 24 – Chicago, IL – Reggie’s 25 – Detroit, MI – Sanctuary 26 – Toronto, ON – Hard Luck 27 – Montreal, QC – Caberet Foufounes
Escuela Grind just released a video for their new single, “Concept Of God”, directed by Seby X Martinez for Negative Kitty (Body Count, [adult swim]). Speaking on the track, the band offers, “‘Concept Of God’ is about the chaos that ensues when humans come together; the good and bad things that happen when opposites and like-minded individuals attract. The main lyrics in the song are, ‘The concept of god only exists because of people.'”
Speaking about the album title, Dreams On Algorithms, vocalist Katerina Economou says, “We wanted to write an album that identifies what it’s like to consume in this era we live in: what we receive through our phones, the social media landscape, and personalized algorithms, and how it is translated by our subconscious. I think most people can relate to something in their online sphere infecting their dreams. This transfer was something we really wanted to expand on, and all of the songs have themes relating to dream analysis and technology.”
Striking cover art by AC Tremblay foreshadows the inherent power and thematic investment contained in Dreams On Algorithms. “We have collaborated with the incredible AC Tremblay once more to create this vision of Dreams On Algorithms,” says the band. “We wanted a similar expression as our last album, but with a different color palette. The art of Kurt Seligmann, Bauhaus theater sets, Nightmare On Elm Street, Eiko Ishioka, and the Cremaster Cycle were source materials of inspiration for this visual storytelling. The amount of detail and attention that AC Tremblay pays to his drawing is what we love most about working with him. You’ll be able to find many Easter Eggs from the album’s lyrics within the artwork. We’re still finding new details.”
Dreams On Algorithms is also advanced by the single and video, “Turbulence”, which showcases clean vocals over an earworm chorus — a first for Escuela Grind — without pulling away from unhinged brutality.
“I had the idea for the ‘Turbulence’ title during a plane ride where I thought I was actually gonna die,” says Escuela Grind drummer Jesse Fuentes. “My mind was fixated on landing and playing the next show. It helped me cope, and then it kept happening on a couple of flights after that. My last in-person conversation with Napalm Death’s Shane Embury was very emotional; he suggested we add clean vocals after he overheard Katerina doing some clean singing on the tour bus (after shows, on our winter 2023 European tour with NxDx, everyone would sing along together. it really was magical). The vocal hook and melody on ‘Turbulence’ was created a day before vocals were to be recorded at GodCity. We took that airplane experience, and wrote some straightforward, but meaningful lyrics.”
“It will be immediately obvious when you first hear this song that it is a departure for us,” offers Economou. “We wanted to take a risk with ‘Turbulence’, and after performing so many live shows over the last year we were ready to compile all that influence. The clean singing may take some people off-guard coming from a grind/hardcore band, but after touring with Napalm Death, we realized we wanted to incorporate that aspect into our music in a similar way. We definitely wanted a grungy, catchy chorus to sing at all of our upcoming festival appearances, and I hope the fans like the song as much as we do.”
The first single released from Dreams On Algorithms is the ominous “Always Watching You”, a video for which can be enjoyed below.
“Most of ‘Always Watching You’ was written in a practice space by Jesse and Krissy, and refined during soundchecks we had over the year,” details Economou. “I’ve had this desire to write a song where I could portray the obsessive-stalker-girl archetype through lyrics for a while. Although not physically threatening, it’s really interesting that society is so terrified of this stereotype. In ‘Always Watching You’, I wanted this fantastical, Nightmare On Elm Street-style imagery that was rooted in the gore and horror of death metal. Themes of parasocial relationships, anxieties from social media, and an omnipresent algorithm are strongly observed in this song and throughout the entire album.”
For further details, visit Escuela Grind on Facebook.
Progressive death metal trio Vile Rites has issued their video for “Only Silence Follows”. The track comes off their Senescence full-length, released earlier this month on Carbonized Records.
Vile Rites uses a hypnotic amalgamation of aggressive riffing, swirling rhythms, wide dynamic range, and dark psychedelic ambience to take the listener on a cerebral journey into the esoteric. Drawing inspiration from events in nature, Vile Rites creates a visceral and kaleidoscopic experience that feels like wandering alone in the forest at night.
Guitarist / vocalist Alex Miletich elaborates on “Only Silence Follows”: “The track is inspired by the relationship between predator and prey in nature. The constant anxiety of the prey, and the constant hunger of the predator. The first half of the song focuses on the suspense the prey feels as they are frozen with fear from the killer lurking in darkness while the second half of the song dives into the idea of the acceptance of death and the fact that the predator must kill to survive. While it is difficult to sum up every way that I internalize the symbolism of this dichotomy, I think the overarching idea is fear versus acceptance and understanding. While the relationship between predator and prey is often perceived as brutal and it is easy to villainize the predator, our human perceptions cannot always be imposed on the world around us. The predator and prey are dependent upon each other to continue the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We are just as much a part of this ‘Yin and Yang’ relationship as any animal, and we often forget that our human nature is just as brutal as that of the lion or wolf.”
Senescence is a 40-minute journey of mind-bending psychedelic death metal that takes its listeners through everything from cavernous darkness to soaring ethereal ecstasy with surprises around every corner. The record features stunning cover art by Justyna Koziczak with logo, additional art, and album title lettering by Karmazid.
Tracklisting:
“Only Silence Follows” “Senescent” “Shiftless Wanderings” “Ephemeral Reverie Of Eroded Dreams” “Transcendent Putrefaction” “Banished To Solitude (Adrift On The Infinite Waves)”
Emerging from the depths of Denver’s metal scene, Torn From Existence is set to unleash their debut album Hearken The Darkened Skies on October 4th, 2024. The LP marks the arrival of a powerful new force in symphonic blackened death metal, blending punishing riffs, dark melodies, and atmospheric synths to create a sound that is both brutal and haunting.
Torn From Existence began to take shape in 2021 when band founder and guitar virtuoso David A. Couch joined forces with versatile bassist Bill Bohlen. Together, they crafted the intense, melodic blackened death metal tracks that would lay the foundation for the band’s debut album. Over the next two years, the band’s lineup was completed with the addition of Craig Rosplock on vocals, whose range and power bring the lyrics to life; drummer Jeremiah Maynard, who delivers blast beats with impeccable tempo and technical prowess; and synth player/vocalist Rhiannon Wisniewski, who adds layers of dark atmosphere and melody.
With the lineup solidified, Torn From Existence entered Sawn And Quartered Studios in November 2023 to work with producer Shane Howard, bringing Hearken The Darkened Skies to life. The album will be available on LP, CD, and digitally, offering fans multiple ways to experience the band’s powerful sound. Pre-orders can be placed now via Bandcamp.
Hearken The Darkened Skies artwork and tracklisting:
“Crawl From The Crypt” “Of Curse, And Covenant” “Sorcery Against Mankind” “Scream No More” “Waves Of Chaos” “Damned By Ominous Fate” “Tempted By The Necromancer”
NightWraith is a progressive melodic death metal band from Denver, Colorado that explores the genre with an eclectic and intuitive approach. Their music encompasses poignant themes: seeking the sublime in nature, being genuine in a deceptive world, and living with the idea of death—concepts that unite us all as people. Using haunting melodies and triumphant anthems, NightWraith offers listeners a sonic pilgrimage into the heart of being human. They have a new album, Divergence, coming out on September 13, 2024. They are continuing their introduction of the album with the single “Perpetual Night”, which they comment on:
“This is actually the first song we completed for Divergence, and we added it to our live set last summer (2023). It’s just a solid song and the lyrical theme fits perfectly with the ‘technology wasteland’ concept of the album. That theme ties into the video as well, which features clips from the 1927 film, Metropolis. The video was put together by the talented Jake Mulhern, who does live visual art for some cool bands like Uncle Acid, Pallbearer, and Elder. And I can’t forget to mention the pedal steel guitar section that is on this track. It was recorded by our friend Cole Rudy (Dragondeer) and adds a really pretty layer of sound to an already dynamic section of the song.”
“Lyrically, this song is about how our global society is kind of blindly going all-in on technology, and how we should maybe take a step back and re-establish a connection to nature. In my experience, I get much more meaning from life through the physical world around us, and not through the dopamine-driven logic of tech. The lyrics also explore what our world might look like if we continue down this path, which is the overarching theme of the album: ‘Colorless dreams in perpetual night’.”
“This song could be the most ‘classic NightWraith’ song on the album, it’s got it all! It has a catchy black metal sound to it, a dynamic bridge section that brings the energy way down and picks back up with back-to-back guitar/keyboard solos, plus the chorus is fun to sing along with.”
“Fruitless” “Perpetual Night” feat. Cole Rudy “One Flower” feat. Andreas Wild “Whispers Of Dragonflies” feat. Kelly Schilling “Invocation” feat. Joey Truscelli “Fallen Kings And Queens” feat. Dan Phelps & Chuck French “Nothing Left To Lose” “Divergence” feat. Jeremy Portz & Xander Galvin-Soto “Us And Them” (Pink Floyd cover)
Poised for greatness with his former band Biters, then dumped like a jilted bride at the altar, Tuk Smith’s been through the record label wringer. It’s still unclear why his band Biters fell out of favour so quickly and completely, but, to Tuk’s credit, he barely paused for breath before releasing 2022’s excellent Ballad Of A Misspent Youth.
That album was something, but Rogue To Redemption is something else again, the complete package: pristine pop and rock with a twist of glam and bursting with arena-ready songs.
It’s hard and perhaps wrong to pick favourites, but let’s do it anyway, the lovely Mott The Hoople vibe emanating from End Of An Era is hard not to love. Ditto the sparkling pop of Little Renegade, which motors into view giving off Cheap Trick and Sweet-like sparks.
That’s only the beginning, though. Put it on repeat and roll on through the summer.
