Author: Logan Rocker

BravePicks 2024 – The Scribes Speak!
Sephora Henderson

Top 20 Of 2024
1) BORKNAGAR – Fall (Century Media)
2) DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende (Aftermath Music)
3) FLOTSAM AND JETSAM – I Am The Weapon (AFM)
4) BLOOD RED THRONE – Nonagon (Soulseller Records)
5) EVERGREY – Theories of Emptiness (Napalm)
6) RIBSPREADER – Reap Humanity (Xtreem Music)
7) SWALLOW THE SUN – Shining (Century Media)
8) KOLDBRANN -Ingen Skånsel (Dark Essence Records)
9) IOTUNN – Kinship (Metal Blade Records)
10) HAMFERÐ – Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk (Metal Blade Records)
11) NECROPHOBIC – In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
12) THE CROWN – Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade Records)
13) IHSAHN – Ihsahn (Candlelight Records)
14) 1349 – The Wolf and The King (Season Of Mist)
15) CEMETERY SKYLINE – Nordic Gothic (Century Media)
16) MÖRK GRYNING – Black Angel (Season Of Mist)
17) UNDER THE OAK – The Last Of A Dying Breed (WormHoledeath Records)
18) SÓLSTAFIR – Hin Helga Kvöl (Century Media)
19) DARKTHRONE – It Beckons Us All (Peaceville)
20) ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)

Top 5 Concerts
70000 Tons Of Metal
In 2024 there were 62 bands onboard, and my faves to watch were Kataklysm, The Halo Effect, and Inhuman Condition. I watched both sets for each band and from the first note to the last, they sounded amazing. They also looked amazing – Maurizio Iacono, Mikael Stanne, and Jeramie Kling are all front men who bring the most amazing energy to the stage, and really engage their audiences.  

Scorpions – Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Las Vegas
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Love At First Sting album, the Scorpions presented a larger than life spectacle for their Las Vegas residency, and I was there for the final show. Klaus Meine sported a Rock & Roll Forever back-patch in honour of James Kottak during a tribute to their fallen bandmate, and their show brought all the feels of their long and legendary career.

Uli Jon Roth – Lee’s Palace, Toronto
An acoustic set followed by a band set, this was an almost-perfect setting to enjoy the mastery of Uli Jon Roth (thumping bass from a different event a few floors above did not go unnoticed by the guitar legend). He shushed a chatty audience member near the front at one point, and did not allow any ambient noise to deter him from weaving his magic. I was also fortunate to witness the mastery of guitarist and vocalist Niklas Turmann – check him out.

Summer Breeze Open Air Festival – Dinkelsbuehl, Germany
An impressive lineup, as always, and Amon Amarth as one of the headliners was a definite highlight. My favourite performances were from Sodom, Enslaved, and Moonspell. I was extremely lucky to see Sodom twice onboard 70000 Tons of Metal earlier in the year, and to see these masters of thrash again, and on German soil, was epic. Enslaved had a very late (very early?) set time in the running order, but it didn’t deter me. They played some favourites from across their immense discography, and one of my particular favourites, Ruun. Moonspell has been to Canada, but somehow bypassed my city in recent times, so to see them live, finally, was such a treat – enchanting one might say.  

Goddo – Regent Theatre, Oshawa
Underrated royalty! This was my first time seeing Goddo live, despite this being their 50th anniversary, but better late than never, and it won’t be my last. With stellar additions to the original lineup, these pros are heavy-hitting, grooving, and full of attitude. This is a band that knows how to light that rock and roll fire and keep it burning.

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments
POPPY – Negative Spaces (Sumerian Records)
The title says it all. This album put me in a negative space. Poppy has made my embarrassments list before, and in that regard doesn’t disappoint.

THE BROWNING – Omni (FiXT)
Sonic soup, and not one I want to eat. Not sure what is going on here, but it sounds like a lot of everything, all at once. A glaring confusion of sounds and styles.

DEAD BY APRIL – The Affliction (Self-released)
Schlocky, cheesy, boy-band sound. Completely underwhelming.

SEVEN HOURS AFTER VIOLET – Seven Hours After Violet (Sumerian Records) 
The sonic equivalent of running on a treadmill – repetitive, tiresome, and heading nowhere.

SUM 41 – Heaven :x: Hell (Rise)
If you like this band in general, you might enjoy this latest album, because their sounds hasn’t evolved past the 90’s. I think I can see the frosted tips from here.  

Thoughts On 2024
There was certainly no shortage of concerts and tours throughout the year. I was fortunate to be on board 70000 Tons once again – one of the highlights of my year for its unique setting and utter glut of offerings. Then, from open water to open air, there was Summer Breeze in Germany, with impressive offerings to say the least. It is a beast of an operation, and they manage to run it with unmatched style.

Along with fests, concerts and shows come all the merch and swag you can imagine, and I’ll always be one to support as much as I can and encourage everyone to do the same. Getting out to shows and buying physical product and merch are some of the ways we can show our support. In this post pandemic world we need to keep live music thriving. I have an almost desperate feeling about this, because it wasn’t so long ago that this privilege was denied to us.

BraveWords had two major celebrations this year. First, BW celebrated 30 years since it all began. That kind of longevity in this business is rare, but they are able to reach such a milestone because the dedication never stops. And the best is yet to come! Watch out for some exciting developments in the next few weeks. Second, May 2024 saw the launch of BraveWords Records – an addition to the BW profile, and another testament to their commitment to the scene.

What/Who Needs To Stop in 2025
Over-inflated ticket prices. This one is always a sore spot for fans.

Staying in your pigeonhole. Don’t forget about the smaller, local bands. Some of my favourite discoveries were opening bands, or bands that played on the smaller stages at fests.  

Nu-metal bands. Just stop. Please.
 

Metal Predictions For 2025

The post pandemic plethora of concert offerings that was the hallmark of 2023 continued throughout 2024, and 2025 is already shaping up to be no less in terms of quantity and variety of shows and tours. This year will be one of wonder and wanderings.

Musicians putting pen to paper and telling their story on the page. We have seen a number of great autobiographies and biographies in recent years, and that trend will likely continue as artists reflect on their legacies and pass along their stories.

BraveWords has something exciting on the horizon (stay tuned!), and will continue to be your one stop for everything in the hard rock and heavy metal family tree.

Read our BravePicks 2024 countdown where Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield conquered the throne at #1 here.

More Scribe Speaks:
Mark Gromen
Aaron Small
Carl Begai
Greg Pratt

Happy 75th 
David Roger Johansen (NEW YORK DOLLS) – January 9th, 1950

HEAVY RELEASES

Happy 41st
VAN HALEN’s 1984 – January 9th, 1984

Happy 36th
RUSH’s A Show Of Hands – January 9th, 1989

Happy 19th
DRAGONFORCE’s Inhuman Rampage – January 9th, 2006

Happy 16th
SAXON’s Into The Labyrinth – January 9th, 2009
 
GRAVE DIGGER’s Ballads Of A Hangman – January 9th, 2009
IRON FIRE’s To The Grave – January 9th, 2009
BOURBON CROW’s Long Way To The Bottom – January 9th, 2009 

Happy 13th
WOLFSBANE’s Wolfsbane Save The World – January 9th, 2012 

Happy 10th Birthday 
BATTLE BEAST’s Unholy Savior – January 9th, 2015
CALLEJON’s Wir sind Angst – January 9th, 2015 

Happy 5th 
KRALLICE’s Wolf – January 9th, 2019

Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, who updates his official YouTube channel regularly, has shared a guitar playthrough clip for “Drowned And Torn Asunder”. Check it out below.

Trvium and Bullet For My Valentine recently announced The Poisoned Ascendancy UK / European Tour 2025. Both bands will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut albums by playing them in full.

Tour dates are as follows:

January 
26 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena 
27 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
28 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
30 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live 
31 – Birmingham, UK –  Utilita Arena  

February 
1 – London, UK – The O2
2 – Düsseldorf, Germany – Mitsubishi Electric Hall
4 – Stuttgart, Germany – Scheleyer-Hall
5 – Zurich, Switzerlamnd –  The Hall
7 – Paris, France – Le Zenith
9 – Antwerp, belgium – Lotto Arena
10 – Hannover, Germany – Swiss Life Hall
11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
13 – Hamburg, Germany – Sporthalle
14 – Berlin, Germany – Max-Schmeling-Halle
15 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
17 – Milan, Italy – Alcatraz
18 – Munich, Germany – Zenith
19 – Vienna, Austria – Stadthalle
21 – Gliwice, Poland – Arena
22 – Prague, Czech Republic – Forum Karlin
23 – Luxembourg – Rockhal
26 – Lisbon., Portugal – Campo Pequeno
27 – Madrid, Spain – Vistalegre

Lacuna Coil have unveiled new single Gravity.

The track, which comes with its own music video, continues the buildup to the Italian goth metal unit’s next album Sleepless Empire, which drops on February 14 via Century Media.

The band say of the new single: “Balance is so difficult to keep as we navigate through desperate times, feeling lost and gasping as we ask for help. How do we deal with tough times? Do we ask for a hand? Or do we isolate ourselves from everything else to recollect in our own misanthropic golden cage?

“I hope you will love Gravity as much as we do and that it will make you reflect on the time we have left and how to use it wisely.”

Sleepless Empire, Lacuna Coil’s 10th album, will be their first release of original material since 2019’s Black Anima. The band put out a 20th-anniversary re-recording of their classic Comalies record in 2022.

Of Sleepless Empire, Lacuna Coil say: “Sleepless Empire captures, through our eyes, the chaos of a generation trapped in a digital world that never stops, where social media consumes identity and every day pushes us one step closer to becoming soulless zombies.

“We find ourselves in between, having witnessed a full analogic world and the modern one, confronting the evolution and searching for a true meaning of it all.

“Throughout every song, the journey is an undercurrent of rebellion, a desperate cry to reclaim oneself in an era that seems to have lost its sense of time and reality.”

Gravity is the album’s fifth single. Promotion started with the track Never Dawn in 2023, before the band announced the album and released second song In The Mean Time (featuring Ash Costello of New Year’s Day) simultaneously last year. The singles Hosting The Shadow (featuring Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God) and Oxygen are also streaming.

In November, Lacuna Coil were featured on the Machine Head song These Scars Won’t Define Us. The track is taken from the US groove metal heavyweights’ impending record, expected to land in April, and promotes a Machine Head/In Flames/Lacuna Coil/Unearth North American tour taking place from April to May. See dates via the Machine Head website.

Without Joan Baez, its hard to say what the intersection of American music and social justice would look like, if it had ended up looking like anything at all.

Music, of course, is not inherently political, but Baez, a key figure of the counterculture movement in the ’60s, recognized how it could serve as a propellent for real progress. “Songs change a lot,” she told The Guardian in 2019. “Music lifts the spirits, crosses boundaries and can move people to do things they would not otherwise have done.”

From the time she appeared at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, one of her very first larger public performances, it was clear that this was an artist not only with a stunningly smooth soprano voice, but one with a message of peace, justice and integrity. She was 18 years old. Within just a few years she’d be dubbed the Queen of Folk and have her face on the cover of Time magazine.

In the decades that followed, Baez grew as a performer, an activist, a gifted interpreter of other artists’ music and as a songwriter herself. She has released over 30 albums, earned nine Grammy nominations and has also been honored numerous times for her human rights work.

If you’re new to Baez’s catalog, below are 10 essential songs ranging in topic and release date. And if you’re a longtime fan, it never hurts to revisit the classics.

1. “We Shall Overcome”
From: Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2 (1963)

To speak about Baez is to speak about someone who has committed decades of their life to uplifting the voices of others. She often performed at rallies and marches, and “We Shall Overcome” became one of her staple songs in those early years, a gospel number that swiftly became associated with the fight for racial equality in America. Below is 22-year-old Baez performing the song at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

2. “There but for Fortune”
From: Joan Baez/5 (1964)

It would be difficult to tell the story of American folk music without bringing up Phil Ochs, a prolific songwriter and political activist. Ochs unfortunately never quite found commercial success, but some of his songs did. Baez recorded and released a version of his song “There but for Fortune” in 1964 that ultimately became a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and a Grammy nominee for Best Folk Recording.

3. “Birmingham Sunday”
From: Joan Baez/5 (1964)

If there is one thing you ought to understand about Baez, apart from her political activism, it’s that she’s arguably one of the finest interpreters of other people’s music in history. In fact, much of her early career focused only on performing and recording songs written by others — Baez had the gift of making them sound practically written just for her. “Birmingham Sunday,” a song about the 1963 bombing of a church in Alabama that killed four children, committed by white supremacists, was written by Baez’s brother-in-law and fellow folk musician Richard Farina. Farina’s version is respectable; Baez’s is hauntingly ethereal.

4. “It Ain’t Me Babe” With Bob Dylan
From: 1964 Newport Folk Festival

Speaking of interpretation: Bob Dylan must be brought into this. There is much that has been written about Baez and Dylan’s relationship — as friends, lovers and as working musicians – but fans of both often agree: there was something rare about the way the two sang together. Dylan’s voice and delivery style, even when he was young, is not exactly the easiest to duet with, but Baez made it work in a way that seemed to surprise even Dylan himself. For an example of that, look no further than their live performance of “It Ain’t Me Babe” at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. (More on Baez’s Dylan covers later.)

5. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
From: Farewell Angelina (1965)

Here’s another excellent example of Baez’ adept ability to not only take a song written by someone else and make it her own – in this case, Pete Seeger‘s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” – but also her talent for turning a number with little musical variation into something compelling from start to finish. There is no chorus here, just five verses that mirror one another with lyrical changes, and yet one feels obliged to stay for the whole song, thanks to Baez’s sweet, insistent vocal and measured guitar playing. Below is the English version, but Baez also sang it in German for her 1965 album Farewell Angelina.

6. “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word”
From: Any Day Now (1968)

Many, many singers have interpreted the work of Bob Dylan over the years, but Baez is one the best. Call it a divine gift, or a sixth sense, but Baez had a knack for transforming a Dylan composition into something Dylan almost certainly would never have thought of. In fact, Baez began performing Dylan’s “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word” even before he finished writing it, and then recorded it in 1968. At the time of this writing in January of 2025, Dylan has never released a version of his own nor performed it live.

7. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
From: Blessed Are… (1971)

Levon Helm did one hell of a job with the vocal on the Band‘s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” but so did Baez when she released her 1971 cover of it. Baez’s version was actually the more commercially popular version of the two, going to No. 3 in both the U.S. and the Band’s own birthplace of Canada.

8. “Dida”
From: Gracias a la Vida (1974)

By the mid ’70s or so, Baez began releasing more and more original material. In 1974, she released an album of songs sung primarily in Spanish, a nod to her Mexican heritage called Gracias a la Vida, which included the song “Dida.” (Baez’s father was born in Puebla, Mexico, her mother in Edinburgh, Scotland.) It was a part of her identity that took Baez many years to fully understand and embrace — as a kid, she and her two sisters were often teased by other children for their mixed race. The words “racism” or “discrimination” weren’t in their vocabularies then. “I didn’t know what it was called,” Baez explained to Interview magazine in 2023. “I just knew that I was not accepted in the world of Mexican kids and, at the same time, I wasn’t accepted in the white world because I was too brown.” (Bonus: here’s a video of Baez performing “Dida” with Joni Mitchell in 1974.)

9. “Diamonds & Rust”
From: Diamonds & Rust (1975)

Baez has openly admitted it: her 1975 hit “Diamonds & Rust” is about Dylan and her relationship with him. It didn’t start out that way, but a random phone call from Dylan one day, made from a phone booth somewhere in the Midwest, turned it into something else. “I don’t remember what I’d been writing about, but it had nothing to do with what it ended up as,” Baez told The Huffington Post in 2017. “Well I’ll be damned, here comes your ghost again,” she sings.

10. “The Altar Boy and the Thief”
From: Blowin’ Away (1977)

Well after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964, Baez continued her activism work, appearing at events and sometimes performing at them. It seeped into her songwriting, too. 1977’s “The Altar Boy and the Thief” was written in support of the LGBTQ community — “To me they will always remain unshamed, untamed and unblamed.” Baez herself came out as bisexual in 1973.

Masvidal (Paul Masvidal of Cynic, Æon Spoke, etc.) and MoonBladder (Jason Walton of Agalloch) have teamed up for the Spiritual Weight Tour, which will take place in three cities on the West Coast from January 21-24. Tickets for the intimate, mind-bending experience can be purchased upon walk up day of show. The full itinerary can be found below.

Masvidal comments, “Three exclusive, intimate solo shows across Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. This January, Jason Walton (MoonBladder, Agalloch) and I are teaming up to share an evening of sound and connection. Jason’s experimental soundscapes and my acoustic meditations merge two distinct worlds into a living, breathing organism.”

In addition, Paul recently worked with motion graphics editor Drain Hope to release “The Fisher Tale,” a track from one of his other projects, Æon Spoke. Paul performs material from Æon Spoke at his solo shows, along with stripped-back Cynic songs. A video for the song can be viewed below.

Masvidal explains, “The visuals in this video were created using AI, with editing and motion graphics by Drain Hope himself. The visual approach has a children’s picture book fairy tale vibe, blending the feel of intentionally retro, slightly formal publisher graphics with drawings imagined by a computer. The Fisher Tale has been around for a while, originally written as an Aeon Spoke song, but for me, it always comes back to the music itself. These visuals help bring its dreamlike story to life in a more literal way.

“Musically, it’s likely the simplest song I’ve ever written—a 6/8 piece built on four cycling chords that steadily build tension. Lyrically, it’s a story about a fisherman who meets a magical fish offering him anything he desires. Like many of us, he asks for romantic love, wealth, fame, and power. But as his aspirations grow more deluded, so does his suffering. The message is simple: true joy and freedom don’t come from things outside ourselves—whether possessions, status, or relationships. Sure, they can bring fleeting moments of happiness, but it’s easy to get stuck in the endless loop of striving, thinking that more will make us whole. Ultimately, though, letting go and trusting that we’re already enough seems to be what frees us in the bigger picture. Anyway, I’ve strayed a bit—it’s really just a simple song about a fisherman and a wise, magical fish. Though who knows, maybe he gave up fishing altogether after that and started foraging seaweed instead—it’s more compassionate, and it’s great for your hair, haha.

“Warren Riker’s mix stands out to me—it’s one of those bold, unconventional decisions that just works. Panning the drums hard left and the vocals hard right for the first half of the tune creates such a vibe.

“This song emerged from a queer men’s spiritual group I joined after moving to Los Angeles. Every year, the group would focus on a theme, and we’d express it through performative art. That year’s theme, in particular, was fairy tales retold for gay men. That’s where The Fisher Tale came to life. During the performance, I was nearly naked, costumed like a wood elf, standing in the corner of a surreal forest scene alongside other characters in the piece. With my acoustic guitar, I sang the song over and over to the dreamer (audience) awake in the dream.

“At the end of the tune, you can hear birds chirping—a moment captured while I was recording vocals in an apartment I used to live in on Waverly Drive in Silverlake. It was right across from the infamous LaBianca house, known for the Manson murders, and I’d often see the Tragical History Tour bus packed with tourists driving by. The energy around there was definitely a little odd. In a way, it felt like those birds were letting me know the song was done—guess they had the final say.

“For me, songs like this exist more like physical pieces of art—they hold space and relevance in unusual ways over the passage of time. They evolve and take on new meaning, untethered from the urgency of new releases or trends. Most people haven’t heard The Fisher Tale yet, and its message feels more relevant now than ever. Sharing it again, through this video, feels like the right moment—for whatever it’s worth.”

Dates for the Spiritual Weight Tour 2025 can be found below.

Tour dates:

January
21 – San Francisco, CA – Above DNA
23 – Seattle, WA – Gallery 1412
24 – Portland, OR – Azoth

Paul Masvidal is a groundbreaking guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of Cynic, a pioneering progressive metal band known for its innovative fusion of metal, jazz, and experimental music. Widely respected as a groundbreaking guitarist and songwriter, Masvidal has collaborated with major artists across genres, adding to his legacy as an innovative musician. Over time, he has become a well recognized figure in the metal and progressive music community, with countless younger artists and musicians citing him as a key influence in both technical ability and creative vision.

Known for his philosophical and spiritual approach to art, exploring themes of the dream-like nature of reality, consciousness, and the search for deeper truths, his music transcends labels, resonating with fans of both the metal world and beyond, thanks to his ability to combine technicality with emotional depth.

Masvidal played guitar on Death’s influential album, Human, and helped shape the genre with Cynic’s acclaimed 1993 release, Focus, often regarded as a seminal record in progressive metal. Following Focus, Cynic expanded their sound with albums such as Traced in Air (2008), and explored more experimental territory with EPs Re-Traced (2010) and Carbon-Based Anatomy (2011), which reimagined Cynic’s music with atmospheric and ambient textures. Cynic continued to evolve with the full-length album Kindly Bent to Free Us (2014), which took a more raw, progressive rock trio direction, further solidifying their role as innovators in the genre.

In 2022, Cynic released the futuristic concept album Ascension Codes, a deeply philosophical record that explores themes of cosmic consciousness, spirituality, and transcendence, showcasing Masvidal’s continued creative evolution.

In addition to his work with Cynic, Masvidal has produced a solo trilogy, Mythical Human Vessel, and led the alternative project Æon Spoke. He gained significant attention for his personal coming-out story in the LA Times, advocating for LGBTQ+ representation in the metal community in 2014, where he courageously shared his journey as a gay man in the metal scene, shattering stereotypes and inspiring fans worldwide.during a time when coming out was still taboo. A dedicated vegan, Masvidal promotes conscious living and mindfulness, further extending his creativity through his jewelry line, Masvidalien, inspired by metaphysical concepts.

Masvidal has also collaborated with various artists and composed music for TV and film, including the award-winning ‘The Tiger Hunter.’ He has also launched several signature guitars with Strandberg and now Kiesel, cementing his place as a guitarist whose influence is felt by players across a wide spectrum of genres.

His live performances offer a meditative experience, blending acoustic and electronic elements to create intimate, reflective soundscapes. Widely respected, Masvidal continues to influence generations of musicians with his technical prowess and philosophical approach to art.

(Photo – @ekaterinagorbacheva.art)

Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks announce today the first leg of their 2025 North American tour. The 18-show tour begins at the Rialto Theater in Tucson Arizona on April 1, and concludes at the Carteret New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 18.

The evening will consist of YES epics and classics as well as songs from the band’s debut album, True, which was released in August 2024 to worldwide critical acclaim.

The tour will be in support of the band’s live CD/DVD, Vinyl, and Blu-Ray, Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks Live – Perpetual Change set for release on March 14. Dates for leg one are listed below.

Tour dates:

April
1 – Tucson, AZ – The Rialto Theater
3 – Anaheim, CA – The Grove of Anaheim
5 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
8 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
11 – Sacramento, CA – SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center
14 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theater
19 – Rockford, IL – Coronado Pac
23 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
25 – Des Plaines, IL – Des Plaines Theater
27 – St.Charles, IL – The Arcada Theater
30 – North Tonawanda, NY – Riviera Theater

May
2 – Cleveland, OH – The Agora
4 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theater
7 – Wilmington, DE – The Grand Opera House
10 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
12 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
16 – Westbury, NY – Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair
18 – Carteret, NJ – Carteret Performing Arts Center

For Live – Perpetual Change, out March 14, the band recorded and filmed the entire show at the Aracada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois on their August 2023 summer tour. The concert will be available as a two CD/DVD package as well as a triple vinyl package. Both are available for pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

“Yours Is No Disgrace”
“Perpetual Change”
“Close To The Edge”
“Heart Of The Sunrise”
“Starship Trooper”
“Awaken”
“And You And I”
“Your Move” / “I’ve Seen All Good People”
“Gates Of Delirium”
“Roundabout”

“And You And I” video:

Modern rock powerhouse Pop Evil – vocalist Leigh Kakaty, guitarists Dave Grahs and Nick Fuelling, bassist Joey “Chicago” Walser, and drummer Blake Allison – are pleased to announce their forthcoming eighth album, What Remains. It arrives March 21 via MNRK. Pre-save it here. The vinyl pre-order on the band website begins this Friday, January 10.

To celebrate the news, the band has shared the video for the third single, “Wishful Thinking”. Watch below.

“‘Wishful Thinking’ pushes us into a realm that’s deeper, darker, and more intense than ever before,” says Kakaty.

For two decades, Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kataky has needed to mine the deepest of reserves in order to drag the band up from the blue-collar grassroots of his local Michigan scene to stand proud at the top of the modern rock game. Soaring successes, bitter defeats… Leigh Kakaty has survived it all.

What Remains is the culmination and story of this journey with Pop Evil, laid bare like never before. Continuing in the recent vein of 2023’s acclaimed Skeletons, the new opus is both sonically and thematically Pop Evil’s heaviest ever offering; a thundering collection of arena-ready modern rock and metal hits in which Kakaty opens heart, mind, and soul.

“There are a lot of issues and things that I’ve dealt with in this journey of Pop Evil that I’ve buried for a long time,” the frontman explains of this document of resilience, perseverance, and accountability.

Pop Evil were born in North Muskegon, Michigan in 2001, Kakaty drawing on the lessons of a youth first shaped not by music, but by high school basketball – leadership, team work, the drive to improve in the lonely hours put in at the gym at 5am, the will to win suppressing any fear – in order to fight tooth and nail for their break-out moment.

“I was hustling and learning every day to make my dreams come true,” Kakaty recalls of his time playing local bars and slinging early EPs out of the back of his truck. “Studying never interested me. Neither did getting a regular job. A knee injury wrecked my shot at playing sports. Music was all I wanted to do from that moment, and I didn’t give myself a backup plan. Pop Evil gave me a purpose, and a reason to get up every day. It became a crusade.”

Lipstick on the Mirror, their 2008 debut, and its follow-up, War of Angels, brought acclaim and global attention; 2013’s Onyx delivered the first of the band’s nine No.1 singles and six RIAA-certified gold and platinum plaques, but also a period of darkness brought on by the grief of Kakaty losing his father. “I was completely lost … I had just missed the last five years with my dad, chasing this dream when I could have been with him. I didn’t know if I wanted or could do Pop Evil any more,” he says. The band’’s 2017 self-titled album, opened by the smash-hit “Waking Lions” was written “pretty much to save my life” – but in turn “reminded me of the fire I have inside, and that God put me here to make music that could help people.”

It’s a mission statement enshrined in Pop Evil to this day – and which provided the spark for the genesis of What Remains.

“You’re always chasing that one song that can connect with that one person,” Kakaty says. “And that process has to start with yourself. There’s a lot of personal healing on this record, a lot of things I wanted to get out for my own mental well-being. I’m finally at a place where I can confront my demons.”

Sonically, the album is a riotous explosion of life-affirming noise; a vortex of scything riffs and gut-punch drum beats that regularly give way to Pop Evil’s hallmark anthemic choruses.

“We set out to push boundaries,” nods Kakaty. “Metal has always been a part of our DNA, but we’ve never made it such a focal point before. A lot of writing on this record has been about listening to what my soul is saying and letting the songs find their own path, rather than chasing a sound that might fit in on the radio. I think you can really hear the mood and emotion of the album’s themes in the music.”

What Remains tracklisting:

“The Bullet That Missed”
“Deathwalk”
“What Remains”
“Wishful Thinking”
“Side Effects”
“Criminal”
“Enough Is Enough”
“Zero To None”
“Knife For The Butcher”
“Overkill”

“Deathwalk” video:

“What Remains” video:

(Photo – Nick Fancher)

Finnish folk metal goliaths, Ensiferum, today unveil their official video for “The Howl”. The track is taken from their Winter Storm full-length, out now on Metal Blade Records.

Says the band: “Winter Storm has been out for a few months now, so how about we release a new video? The official music video for ‘The Howl’ is here, and it’s as wild as the track itself! Watch it now.”

Ensiferum’s Winter Storm was produced by Janne Joutsenniemi, mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren, and includes guest appearances by Lassi Logrén on Nyckelharpa and violin and Mikko Mustonen on orchestration as well as Eleine’s Madeleine Liljestam who provides all vocals on “Scars In My Heart”.

Order here.

Winter Storm tracklisting:

“Aurora”
“Winter Storm Vigilantes”
“Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife”
“Fatherland”
“Scars In My Heart” (feat. Madeleine Liljestam)
“Resistentia”
“The Howl”
“From Order To Chaos”
“Leniret Coram Tempestate”
“Victorious”
“Six Ribbons” (Jon English Cover) *
“Lambada” (Kaoma Cover) *

* Special Edition Bonus Track

“Fatherland” video:

“Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife” lyric video:

“Winter Storm Vigilantes” video:

Ensiferum will join their comrades in Korpiklaani for a 2025 North American co-headlining tour. The journey runs from February 27 in Boston, Massachusetts through March 30 in Brooklyn, New York. Additional support will be provided by Trollfest and NiNi.

Comments bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka, “Hi folks! It’s been way too long since we rocked with our North American brothers and sister but the wait is over! It’s an honor to join forces with Korpiklaani, Trollfest and NiNi! This tour will bring the ultimate folk metal mayhem to your city! Definitely a party you don’t wanna miss. See you in the pit!”

Tour dates:

February
27 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
28 – Salle Montaigne – Quebec City, QC

March
1 – Beanfield – Montreal, QC
2 – Overflow – Ottawa, ON
3 – The Concert Hall – Toronto, ON
4 – King Of Clubs – Columbus, OH
5 – Crofoot – Pontiac, MI
6 – Outset – Chicago, IL
7 – Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
8 – Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA
9 – Gothic Theatre – Denver, CO
11 – Metro Music Hall – Salt Lake City, UT
13 – Goldfield Roseville – Sacramento, CA
14 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
15 – Regent Theater – Los Angeles, CA
16 – House Of Blues – San Diego, CA
17 – Nile – Phoenix, AZ
18 – Sunshine – Albuquerque, NM
20 – Beer City Music Hall – Oklahoma City, OK
21 – Granada – Dallas, TX
22 – Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
23 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
25 – Orpheum – Tampa, FL
26 – Masquerade Heaven – Atlanta, GA
27 – Hangar 1819 – Greensboro, NC
28 – Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
29 – Lovedraft’s – Mechanicsburg, PA
30 – Brooklyn Monarch – Brooklyn, NY

Ensiferum lineup:

Petri Lindroos – vocals, guitars
Markus Toivonen – guitars, vocals
Sami Hinkka – bass, vocals
Janne Parviainen – drums
Pekka Montin – keyboards, vocals

(Photo – Svetlana Goncharova)