2017-01-11 – The wait is almost over, LANCER‘s label debut, »Mastery«, will be released on Friday through Nuclear Blast Records. To give their fans another taster of what to expect from this upcoming studio album, the band has launched the first track-by-track trailer today. Click here to learn more about the first five songs of »Mastery«: https://youtu.be/kuQdmHL9oYU
This first out of two track-by-track clips features snippets of the following tracks:
01. Dead Raising Towers
02. Future Millennia
03. Mastery
04. Victims Of The Nile
05. Iscariot
Tomorrow, LANCER will kick off their European tour with also Sweden-based metallers HAMMERFALL and space metallers GLORYHAMMER to present »Mastery« live on stage. The band will be opening these evenings, so make sure to be there in time!
LIGHTNING STRIKES have released a video clip for the song ‘Our Lady’ off their eponymous debut album which was issued November 18th 2016 via Germany’s PURE LEGEND RECORDS, a division of PURE STEEL RECORDS.
Our Lady’ is LIGHTNING STRIKES’ nod to Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famers DEEP PURPLE, one of drummer/founding member Karpis Maksudian’s main influences and long time favorite bands. “I grew up in Yerevan, Armenia during the Soviet era and there was no Western music available in stores at the time and very few people had actual Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath records. I think it was in 1974 when one of my relatives came to visit from Beirut and brought with him a mixed tape of rock songs. The first song on that tape was a live version of ‘Black Night’ and that was it for me. My world instantly and completely changed forever. From that day on I kept bugging my father to buy me a used copy of ‘Made In Japan’ which cost 300 Rubles on the black market. Mind you, an ordinary worker in the USSR was making 120 Rubles a month at the time! I’ve been a huge Deep Purple fan ever since and own all their albums.
“When we started working on the album, I wanted to do a Purple cover but I wasn’t interested in re-doing any of the obvious songs that have already been covered to death. I mean, who needs another cover of ‘Highway Star’ or ‘Smoke on the Water’? So I started listening to their early stuff in my car for a few weeks when it hit me that not too many people are familiar with ‘Our Lady’ off of ‘Who Do We Think We Are’ but it’s a killer tune. Bingo! So I asked Rob (Math) and Cat (Tate) to learn it for the album, and then had Derek (Sherinian) come in to do his Jon Lord magic on the Hammond B3, which turned out great. And Nando (Fernandes), too, did an awesome job on vocals so I’m really pleased how it turned out. Hopefully the Purple fans out there will dig our version – so far the response has been very positive.”
Originally formed in the mid-80’s, LIGHTNING STRIKES were part the bustling L.A. scene, with a now highly collectable 7” single to their credit, before going their separate ways due to line-up problems. In 2011, Maksudian began to assemble a new version of LIGHTNING STRIKES, featuring returning bassist Cat Tate (SNEW, RED AGAIN), Berklee trained guitarist Rob Math (LEATHERWOLF, PLAYER), and Brazilian vocalist Nando Fernandes (HANGAR). In addition to Sherinian, ‘Lightning Strikes’ also features guest lead vocal contributions from Tony Martin (BLACK SABBATH) and Japanese visual kei star Noah (AVANCHICK) and koto player Masayo Ishigure.
‘Lightning Strikes’ was mixed by acclaimed producer Roy Z (JUDAS PRIEST, BRUCE DICKINSON, HELLOWEEN) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (HALFORD, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ANVIL). The album will see its official North American release on January 20th 2017.
2017-01-11 – Dutch symphonic metal band EPICA have launched the new music video for ‘Beyond The Matrix’ taken from the band’s latest album »The Holographic Principle«.
Frontwoman Simone Simons comments: “The energy that lives within ‘Beyond the Matrix’ is extremely contagious. It will sweep you off your feet when the melodies enter your mind. The video embodies the spirit and liveliness of EPICA. Transcend together with us and shine past the sky”
EPICA’s guitar player Mark Jansen continues “Beyond the Matrix is one of my favorite tracks to play live from our new album, as it makes the crowd go wild, so I’m happy we are releasing a video of it. We have managed to catch the energy of the song and translate it into images (& words). The song is dealing about us humans, being caught in a matrix (an illusion) because of our excessive thinking. We have lost control over our lives and accept the illusion as ‘the one reality’. But if we manage to free ourselves from those shackles and become masters of our thoughts again, we can make a huge step forward in collective consciousness and will be able to look beyond the borders of our matrix. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride!!!”
The video can be viewed on EPICA‘s official YouTube page:
DIMMU BORGIR – announce New double-DVD “Forces Of The Northern Night”!
2017-01-11 – Norwegian symphonic black metal giants, DIMMU BORGIR, finally emerge from the depths of darkness, to mark 2017 as the year of their monumental return. On April 14th, they will finally release their highly-anticipated DVD »Forces Of The Northern Night«, containing two of the band’s live rituals: Their legendary show in Oslo, showing DIMMU BORGIR on stage with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and a bombastic choir, as well as the entire performance at Wacken Open Air 2012 with almost 100 musicians on stage. Both concerts present a spectacular sound scenario of raging black metal in front of an epic orchestral landscape and the band’s unique visuals.
This authentic combination of the beauty and the beast has long seemed like a natural evolution for fans, but much time, arrangements and commitment were necessary to put this gigantic production into reality and fill the stage with 90 minutes of mindblowing sets per night. The shows guide the fans through classics from the band’s discography – from the majestic finisher ‘Mourning Palace’ to the stomping manifesto ‘Puritania’ and the haunting ‘Gateways’… Norway’s DIMMU BORGIR know how to leave nothing behind but pure ashes.
“For us, this is the pinnacle of our career so far. As a band, we’ve always used a lot of symphonic elements in our music. But we haven’t been able to use a real orchestra. We’ve had to use samples, synthesisers and so on, so this was a huge, awesome experience for us!”, states front man Shagrath.
On April 14th, both concert plus a bonus documentary feature will be available in many different formats that will soon be revealed.
And beware… this is not the only gem that the year 2017 holds for DIMMU BORGIR.
ANCILLOTTI ANNOUNCE THE EUROPEAN TOUR 2017 with Ross The Boss.
After announcing a series Italian Tour dates promoting the new album “Strike Back” we are very excited to announce that the band will embark on tour with the mighty Ross The Boss band in March across Europe as opening act of their “The Discipline of Steel” World Tour 2017!
Today, the Finnish kings of epic melodic death, WINTERSUN, unveil the title of their third full length album coming in 2017 via Nuclear Blast:
»THE FOREST SEASONS«
“That’s right folks, we’ll leave you pondering a bit what this name means”, teases front man Jari Mäenpää. “Next week we’ll release the album tracklist and everything will become very clear to you! Promise!”
Last week, the Finnish mastermind unveiled the very first information about the band’s upcoming studio album – read the full text here:
WHAT IS “IT”?
It’s 2017 folks, and it’s going to be a great year! Time for some big WINTERSUN news? Yes, it is!
When we said that “IT IS DONE”, we did not mean »Time II«, but we meant a NEW ALBUM for sure! »Time II« won’t be the next WINTERSUN album, because of reasons you already know from past updates and interviews.
So what is IT? IT is a NEW ALBUM and it is 100% done! And no, that’s not the name of the album. This album will be something new and different, but equally great or perhaps even better in some ways. Over 53 minutes of solid WINTERSUN material (with no intro tracks) and with a killer concept!
This album will be THE 3rd FULL LENGTH WINTERSUN album. We will release the name of it soon and other details such as the track list etc. We’re gonna start putting the pieces of the puzzle together for you guys, how it’s going to be released and what will happen… It will be a whole new experience! It will all make sense to you very soon!
And this album is not the only thing we’ve done, not by a long shot! In fact your minds will be blown soon! That is a guarantee. So click the notifications ON in our WINTERSUN page, if you don’t want to miss out on the new album! (Because of Facebook algorithm reach limit). THANKS GUYS!
2017-01-11 – The wait is almost over, LANCER‘s label debut, »Mastery«, will be released on Friday through Nuclear Blast Records. To give their fans another taster of what to expect from this upcoming studio album, the band has launched the first track-by-track trailer today. Click here to learn more about the first five songs of »Mastery«:
Dark Art Conspiracy 
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