For over 4 decades, OVERKILL have been trailblazers in producing some of the most signature moments in the world of metal. On April 14th, the New Jersey thrash legends are set to release their twentieth studio album, entitled Scorched via Nuclear Blast Records.
The band have now released their second single entitled, ‘Wicked Place‘. The track offers undeniable blues elements that give off old-school rock ‘n’ roll feels.
OVERKILL‘s Bobby Blitz comments, “One of my favorite rides on the record, a big thick groove reminiscent of days gone by, with a modern punch in the snoot! Get Wicked!”
Starting off, they have signed to Nuclear Blast Records. Massive congratulations to them!
And secondly, the band have dropped a brand new single, ‘I Am Damnation’.
Drummer Ali Richardson had this to say about all of the lovely announcements:
“I’m happy to finally announce that Bleed From Within have signed to Nuclear Blast Records. Their enthusiasm was obvious from our first conversation back in 2020 but as negotiations continued, the team proved that they possess the passion, drive and knowledge to take this band to the next level. It’s also an honour to join such a prolific roster – something that we do not take lightly.
‘I Am Damnation’ is the first step in a new chapter for us; a sonic development and a true taste of the music that has still to come as part of this new deal. I’m very excited for our future together and can not wait to share what we’ve been working on.”
After incubating for the larger part of 2020 – at a time when creative mastermind Al Jourgensen was able to ruminate on the new world we as a society have found ourselves in – the time has finally come for Ministry to unleash their much-anticipated 15th studio album.
In conjunction with today’s album announcement, the latest track ‘Good Trouble’, inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the activist work of the late US Congressman John Lewis, is also released.
Aptly titled Moral Hygiene, the new album will be released via Nuclear Blast Records on October 1. With some of Ministry’s strongest and most inspired material to date, the 10 tracks are a follow-up to 2018’s lauded AmeriKKKant and put forth Jourgensen’s societal manifesto and plea for civilization to get back to a set of standards that lives up to and embraces our humanity.
“The good thing about literally taking a year off from any social activity or touring is that you really get to sit back and get an overview of things as they are happening, as opposed to being caught up in the moment. And what I saw with how we handled several public crises – from the pandemic to racial injustice to who we vote in to lead our country – is that times are changing, and society needed to change to get away from the idea that has permeated us of take care of yourself, fuck everything else. Now more than ever we need moral hygiene,” says Jourgensen of the new album. “It consumed me as I wrote this album. It’s not some pious term. It’s what we have to return to in order to function as the human species on this planet. And I’m proud to have had such great guests on this album to help cement that message like Billy Morrison, Jello Biafra and Arabian Prince.”
The new single ‘Good Trouble’ is accompanied by a new video that includes sampling from last year’s demonstrations in Los Angeles as captured by Jourgensen and his partner Liz Walton. Watch it below:
Jourgensen adds about the new single, “I was watching the coverage last July around Lewis’ death and was in awe the next day when this entire letter from him was published in the New York Times. How suss was that to want to keep making progress after his death by thinking about the legacy he left. I was struck by the reflectiveness of his speech, knowing he was dying and making sure it was released because he saw trouble ahead. That is the moral hygiene of this album – we have to do something to change and I really hope we continue to act and live up to the idea of getting into good trouble for the benefit of society.”
Moral Hygiene also includes the previously released track ‘Alert Level’ that sounded the alarms about our collective dissonance towards the pandemic, climate change and the man formerly in the White House, bolstered by the song’s overarching question posed to listeners: “How concerned are you?”
The new album also adds perspective to the countless lives that were tragically lost to the COVID-19 pandemic on the haunting track ‘Death Toll’ while ‘Disinformation’ decries the too frequent willingness to accept everything – even mistruths – as fact.
Other musical jewels on the upcoming release include a collaboration with Jello Biafra (Jourgensen’s cohort in side project LARD) on ‘Sabotage Is Sex’ and a unique take on The Stooges’ ‘Search And Destroy’ that features guitar virtuoso Billy Morrison (Billy Idol/Royal Machines). Morrison is also heavily featured on a number of songs on the album.
Moral Hygiene was recorded with engineer Michael Rozon (also behind the boards on AmeriKKKant) at Scheisse Dog Studio, Jourgensen’s self-built home studio and creative lab. As with all Ministry albums, all songs are written and performed by Al Jourgensen. Additional contributions come from Billy Morrison (Billy Idol, Royal Machines), Cesar Soto (Man The Mute), John Bechdel (Killing Joke, Fear Factory), Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour, Soulfly, Nausea), Paul D’Amour (Tool, Feersum Ennjin), Arabian Prince (N.W.A.), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) and sitar player Flash.
Check out the track listing for ‘Moral Hygiene’ as well as stream the single ‘Good Trouble’ below.
‘Moral Hygiene’ track listing: 1. Alert Level 2. Good Trouble 3. Sabotage Is Sex 4. Disinformation 5. Search and Destroy 6. Believe Me 7. Broken System 8. We Shall Resist 9. Death Toll 10. TV Song #6 (Right Around The Corner Mix)
Today, Nuclear Blast Records are happy to announce the signing of exciting young psychedelic hard rock band GAUPA from Falun, Sweden.
To celebrate joining their roster, the band have also released a live version of ‘Mjölksyra’ as a single.
With surreal lyrics, an energetic, very unique singer, and an addictive sound that combines progressive stoner rock with doom, folk and psychedelic rock influences, GAUPA released their self-titled debut EP in June 2018 and have since made a name for themselves in the international underground rock scene. The GAUPAEP was well received and led to the band playing one of their first live performances at Scandinavia’s biggest rock festival, Sweden Rock. GAUPA thengot a chance to release the EP on vinyl via German label Kozmik Artifactz in October 2019 and went on to play a good number of shows and festivals. Critics were impressed not only by the studio recordings and their diverse and complex arrangements, but also by the level of intensity the band displayed live.
In April 2020 GAUPA, which means “lynx” in Swedish, released their first full length album Feberdröm, gaining even more attention from both the underground scene as well as Nuclear Blast Records, who will release their next album in 2022.
Jens Prüter, Head Of A&R at Nuclear Blast Records Europe comments: “While most newcomer bands struggled during the Corona pandemic, GAUPA managed to grow in quality. Their unique sound hasn’t remained unnoticed and word of mouth spread fast. Once we had seen their live stream show and had some video conferences, we knew they would sit well in an artist roster that contains the likes of Graveyard, Opeth, Earthless and Meshuggah who appear to be some of their favourite bands, even if GAUPA isn’t very metal at all. But it’s that attitude to tear down boundaries between genres – just for the sake of art. We are proud to welcome them in good company.”
GAUPA‘s vocalist Emma Näslund adds: “We’re all still nurturing dreams of working more with our music and playing larger shows. One could argue that it would be time to shake those dreams and grow up. We don’t. If you’re doing something you love, keep going! We are beyond humbled to find ourselves among the giants and we’re very happy to announce our signing with Nuclear Blast!“
Watch the impressively surreal official music video for the album version of the song ‘Mjölksyra’ below:
Light The Torch will release their new album and second full length You Will Be the Death of Me on June 25 via Nuclear Blast.
Today, the band release new single “More Than Dreaming” along with a visualiser.
“I love starting the album with ‘More Than Dreaming,'” says Jones. “It’s got great energy and bounce to it — exactly what you want as an opener. We are looking forward to playing this live. The wait is almost over!”
The visualizer is a 3-dimensional version of the album artwork. Both the visualizer and album cover were created by Francesco Artusato.
“The idea for this artwork started developing in my head right after we were done with the first session of pre-production,”Artusato explains. “I started seeing certain colors and this style in my head. To me, the music on this record in fact sounds like ‘those colors.’ The concept is pretty simple: You can see a torch in the middle and three flames coming out of it. The three flames represent the three of us. The addition of neons and fog was inspired by John Carpenter’s ’80’s movies.”
He continues, “Having all the artwork created in 3-D, I was able to place it in a CG environment, start animating some of the elements, and create some sort of story. I think in this case it works well with the ‘dream-like’ vibe of these visuals. Artwork and visual creativity have been a big part of my growth as an artist for the past few years and I love to be able to combine music and visuals in one project. It made this album even more special to me.”
Check out the visualiser below.
For ‘You Will Be the Death of Me’, the band returned to Sparrow Sound in Glendale, California to once again work with the production team of Josh Gilbert and Joseph McQueen [Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Suicide Silence]. This time around, they also welcomed Whitechapel’s Alex Rudinger on drums.
Check out the Cover Art and the tracklisting below.
1. More Than Dreaming 2. Let Me Fall Apart 3. End of the World 4. Wilting In the Light 5. Death of Me 6. Living With a Ghost 7. Become the Martyr 8. Something Deep Inside 9. Hate Myself 10. Denying the Sin 11. Come Back to the Quicksand 12. Sign Your Name
Upheld by head-spinning seven-string virtuosity yet anchored to skyscraping melodies, Light the Torch crafted 12 metallic anthems, including an unexpected and awesome cover of the ’80s hit “Sign Your Name” by R&B singer Terence Trent D’Arby. The group shot out of the gate as a contender on their full-length debut, Revival. It bowed at #4 on the Billboard US Independent Albums Chart and at #10 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart in addition to receiving acclaim from Revolver, Outburn, and many more. “Calm Before the Storm” racked up a staggering 15.4 million Spotify streams, while “The Safety of Disbelief” remains one of SiriusXM Octane’s all-time most requested songs. They also crisscrossed North America and Europe on tour with the likes of Trivium, Avatar, In Flames, Ice Nine Kills, Killswitch Engage, and August Burns Red to name a few.
‘You Will Be the Death of Me’finds Light the Torch firing on all cylinders and ready to take things to the next level.
The Duke of Spook and his devilish ghouls, WEDNESDAY 13, have returned from the crypt to release a new digital EP titled “Necrophaze – Antidote” that’s out today from Nuclear Blast. The EP features rare and unreleased music from recording sessions for his latest full-length, “Necrophaze,” including two new songs “Your Mother Still Sucks Cocks In Hell” and “Screwdriver 2 – The Return” and two previously released covers of INXS’ “Devil Inside” and Gary Numan’s “Films” (featuring Calico Cooper).
Commenting on the EP, Wednesday 13 states: “While recording the last record we had a couple of extra tracks that we didn’t know what to do with. Re-recorded version of 2 songs from my former band Frankenstein Drag Queens and 2 cover songs. The idea of putting out an EP tied in with Necrophaze with these songs seemed like the best way to get them out to the fans. The new recorded version of Screwdriver is as loud & energetic as the original from 1998. ‘Your Mother Still Sucks Cocks In Hell,’ was another classic that needed to be heard again.”
Check out the track ‘Screwdriver 2 – The Return’ below.
Here’s the Tracklisting for the ‘Antidote’ EP: 1. Your Mother Still Sucks Cocks In Hell 2. Screwdriver 2 – The Return 3. Devil Inside 4. Films (Featuring Calico Cooper)
Last Friday, the UK based Post Hardcore outfit DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL added another promising chapter to their very own story as a with their new longplayer “Loss”, the band seized their ultimate act of liberation and celebrates this groundshaking stepstone today with the release of a visualiser for ‘Signal Fire’.
Check out the visualiser for ‘Signal Fire’ below.
The album is available now in various formats. Order your copy here.
Singer Paul Green states on the release of “Loss”: “It’s been 9 years of waiting for this day for our loyal fans and we couldn’t be happier to finally have ‘Loss’ out in the wild, we’re hugely grateful for their patience and support throughout these years. We’re incredibly proud of this record and we hope everyone enjoys what is a truly personal account of our lives over these last 3 years. We have endured the same hard times as many of you out there and for those navigating your own grief and mental health journeys, we hope ‘Loss’ helps you in some way.”
Furthermore, he adds particularly with regard to ‘Signal Fire’: ‘Signal Fire represents another dimension of the sound of ‘Loss’, its atmospherics and delicate passages nod to our past yet it looks forward to the new dynamic that flows through the album.’
Check out “The Narcissist” here:
The tracklist of “Loss” reads as follows: 1. Ardour 2. Witness Marks 3. Burdened 4. Tateishi 5. The Narcissist 6. Beyond Reach 7. Signal Fire 8. Acrinomy 9. But Not Forgotten 10. Loss
LIGHT THE TORCH — Howard Jones [vocals], Francesco Artusato [guitar], and Ryan Wombacher [bass] — will release their new album and second full length “You Will Be the Death of Me” on June 25 via Nuclear Blast.
Today, the band has dropped the first single and an accompanying video for the track, “Wilting in the Light,” which was directed by Ramon Boutviseth in L.A.
“You Will Be the Death of Me has been a journey — even without the pandemic,” says Jones. “This album has been emotional and rewarding in every way, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally release it. Maybe there was a bit of desperation writing and recording these songs.”
He shares, “Going through personal turmoil and watching Francesco deal with injuries, we knew this could change things drastically for us. The album was a welcome distraction, and we dumped every emotion we had into YWBTDOM. To watch Fran heal and become an even more complete artist in front of my eyes has been amazing to watch. Everything we went through individually and together with this album drew Fran, Ryan, and I together. I couldn’t be more proud of this album knowing I made it with my family.”
Artusato opens up about his experiences, saying, “This record is special to me in a different way. From writing the music during one of the toughest times of my life while dealing with a bad injury due to a car accident to being obsessively involved with every aspect of its production, recording, and creating the artwork. It’s hard to describe how I feel, and to finally see this record getting ready to be released.”
He continues about the redemptive power of the album, offering, “We are all very satisfied with how this record showcases the evolution of our band and our evolution as individuals. Without our brotherhood, this music could not have happened. Music is what kept us strong together during our toughest times. There’s nothing like art that expresses pure and deep emotions, and that’s what I feel when I listen to Howard’s performance on this record.”
Wombacher concurs, “I think this album shows the growth the band has experienced after years on the road together, and a friendship that has continued to thrive doing what we love together.”
The guys returned to Sparrow Sound in Glendale, California to once again work with the production team of Josh Gilbert and Joseph McQueen [Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Suicide Silence]. This time around, they also welcomed Whitechapel’s Alex Rudinger on drums. “He’s incredible,” says Artusato. “He was exactly what we needed.”
YOU WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME TRACK LISTING:
Check out the Cover Art, Tracklisting and pre-order options below.
“More Than Dreaming” “Let Me Fall Apart” “End of the World” “Wilting In the Light” “Death of Me” “Living With a Ghost” “Become the Martyr” “Something Deep Inside” “I Hate Myself” “Denying the Sin” “Come Back to the Quicksand” “Sign Your Name”
Pre-orders for the record are available via the following link.
With only three weeks left until their debut album Antisees the light of day, Norwegian eclectic hard rock band WHITE VOID are offering another glimpse at the tonal variety you can expect from the record. Their new single, The Shovel And The Cross, manages to hint at classic influences like Roky Erickson, New Model Army and Black Sabbath, while still maintaining a bold anything-goes approach that lets singer Lars Nedland showcase his ability to shift from an uber-cool dark post-punk timbre to formidable theatrical heights with ease. Anti will be released on March 12th, 2021.
Front man Lars Nedland comments on the song:
“Facing the absurd is overwhelming. Sometimes you just feel like digging your own grave. After all, we are here against our will!
This song is about the darkness we face while trying to figure out what the hell we’re supposed to be doing here.
The video goes suitably with that theme as it shows my face quite literally falling to pieces. You know, normal, Norwegian stuff. It’s dark here. We try to entertain ourselves.
Want to see me lose face? This is your chance!“
The Shovel And The Cross is again accompanied by an artfully crafted music video, which you can watch here:
Polish giants Behemoth have shared they have re-signed their deal with Nuclear Blast Records, who will distribute their music worldwide.
The band originally signed with Nuclear Blast Europe prior to the release of 2009’s ‘Evangelion’
Frontman Nergal says on the signing:
“Nuclear Blast has been a household name in metal for decades, and Behemoth has been part of that long and illustrious history. But now is about the future, and we look forward to beginning Behemoth’s next chapter with a refocused and revitalised team at Nuclear Blast!”
In addition to the signing, the band have confirmed new of their twelfth studio record, the follow up to their 2018 release ‘I Loved You At Your Darkest’, scheduled to drop in Autumn 2021.
More details on the upcoming release will be confirmed as they develop.
Friday finally saw the release of Finnish Folk Metal Superstars KORPIKLAANI‘s new album Jylhä! In celebration of the release of their 11th full-length the band have produced another gorgeous music video for new single ‘Tuuleton’.
THE MEANING OF TUULETON (“THE WINDLESS”): “A bird-themed story where Windless is an almost flightless bird. He groans when he flies, but it’s not good to be on the ground either. He mourns his inability to fly like the others and is bitter because he is not accepted by the others just because he’s different. Winter is coming and when the nightly frosts arrive it becomes increasingly difficult to survive in the cold ground. “
DIRECTOR’S WORD: “All of the music videos from the album “Jylhä” are made during the Covid-19 pandemic, and I wanted that to show somehow in this last story. Years have passed and the old man now lives in his hut with his grown-up daughter. Age starts to weigh, he feels feeble and dejected. On top of this he has caught some disease from one of his trips, and his time seems to be running out. The disease makes his mind wander, leading him to his deceased wife and her marshy grave, to landscapes already familiar from the “Leväluhta” video. But will it be his time to go …? “(Markku Kirves)
Check out the video for ‘Tuuleton’ below.
Film was shot at Huovilan puisto in Kärkölä in 2020.
“Thanks to Markku Kirves for visualizing another scene to our main character’s story, cheers to our talented actors Yrjänä & Katri and special thanks to Italo Moncada & Tomi Malin for assisting with lights & smoke. Also thanks to Kari Korvenranta for helping out with location & providing logs for fireplace, Toni Vilén, Tero Doukas, Kärkölän kunta, Huovilan puisto, Kärkölä-seura, Huovilan museoalue, Artistiasu, Isobar Finland and Valofirma.”
Here’s what front man Jonne has to say about the new album Jylhä : “This is the most versatile Korpiklaani album we have done. We have some of our hardest, heaviest & fastest songs ever and we have the happy & melancholic ones. It is funny how you can do so many different kinds of music, but when these guys play it with these instruments it always sounds like Korpiklaani.”
Metal legends Lamb Of God have released a new track, ‘Ghost Shaped People’ which is set to appear as a bonus track on a forthcoming deluxe edition of their self-titled record.
The deluxe edition of last year’s self-titled album will be made available on three-discs, featuring the full record with two bonus tracks and a live version of the album, along with a DVD.
The live portion of the reissue, ‘Live In Richmond, VA’, is also being made available separately in vinyl format.
Check out ‘Ghost Shaped People’ below.
The deluxe edition of the band’s self-titled record with ‘Live In Richmond, VA’ is set to be released on March 26th 2021 via Epic Records, Nuclear Blast Records.
Pre-orders are available via the band’s official webstore.
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