REVIEW: Keroscene – Our Time (Single )by Carina Lawrence / Dark Art Conspiracy
London psychedelic rock act Keroscene are certainly ones to watch, being so early into their career they have already gained the support and attention from NME, Q magazine and more with their unique sound. Impressively they are yet to even release an EP or album, but have grown in popularity solely through their four singles, ‘Regret’, ‘Just Like Zero’, ‘I Can’t Do A Thing’ and ‘Like The First Time’.
Now they are back to create some more noise with their latest single, ‘Our Time’ which was recorded with Matt Peel, (Pulled Apart By Horses, Eagulls) which may be their best yet, again highlighting their ever expanding genre defining sound. The song itself is a bouncy vibrant track, aided by the guitar effects and synth sounds with complimentary resonant vocals, all wrapped in a fuzzy ambience giving it an upbeat vibe that is irresistible to the ear!
The song was written during the band’s days at their ‘Unit 4’ warehouse in West London, and again as the band have displayed before in previous tracks there is a deep meaning behind the lyrics, this time it focuses on the bands time there and how they developed: “Lyrically the song is inspired by everything currently happening in the world around us, both on a societal level with rapid changes in technology and politics and on a personal level. This apparent lack of tangibility of anything genuinely real in our digital world can sometimes make us feel bored and at odds with a sense of cultural stagnation”.
Keroscene have already shown through their singles that they are not afraid to experiment and explore their musical depth, it will be exciting to see what they do next! Score: 4/5
PVRIS have already kicked off 2017 with a huge announcement that they will be supportMUSE on their US tour, then have today announced four shows in UK & EU this coming May. This will be the first time on these shores since their support slot at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall.
FULL DATES BELOW
4th May – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London, UK
8th May – Trabendo Paris, France
10th May – Melkweg, Amsterdam
11th May – Columbia, Berlin
The band— vocalist Lynn Gunn, guitarist Alex Babinski and bassist Brian MacDonald—and producer Blake Harnage are currently putting the finishing touches on the much-anticipated follow-up to 2014’s White Noise, the album that prompted MTV to write, “get acquainted with the mysteriously awesome PVRIS before they become the biggest thing in rock. For fans of The Neighbourhood, CHVRCHES, and Paramore, PVRIS are the best thing since sliced bread.”
TogetherFest comes to London’s Electric Ballroom next Saturday the 25th of February 2017.
TogetherFest featuring YOUTH OF TODAY, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, TRASH TALK, VANISHING LIFE and WOLF DOWN will be touring around Europe before coming to London.
First up is Germany’s own WOLF DOWN opening the night with the fervor and respite of their recent Incite & Conspire LP. Known to hate fascists and welcome refugees, Wolf Down bring the political heat to the TogetherFest mix, a one, two, punch with LOVE tatted on the right fist and HATE on the left.
Next up VANISHING LIFE throw down like Jaques Lacan vs. Greg Ginn. On the strength of their recent debut LP Surveillance TogetherFest will be VL’s first appearance outside of the US. Featuring members of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Bad Religion, Rise Against and Quicksand, VL is a true amalgam of assassins urging you to enjoy yourself because it’s later than you think… Only then L.A.’s TRASH TALK take the stage like a bathtub full of meth spilling into your unsuspecting eyes and ears. T.T. the band are an extension of their art collective located in one of the few remaining industrial corners of Los Angeles. Trash Talk have been touring actively since 2005 and have taken their unique strain of HC from house shows to festivals around the world culminating in their fourth full length No Peace released on Odd Future Records, crowd participation is mandatory.
This year it’s a unique honor for TogetherFest to present one of the most influential and innovative hardcore bands of the last two decades, Boston’s own AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. A.N. brought a much needed emotional depth and dark imagery to a 90’s hardcore scene that still looks and sounds like the future. A.N. pointed the way for countless bands, Glassjaw, My Chemical Romance and New Found Glory to name a few that site AN as a major influence. TogetherFest will be A.N.s first European tour since reforming in 2011.
And to close the night is the legendary Youth Of Today in classic 88’ line up, featuring Ray Of Today, Porcel on guitar, Sam Seigler on drums and yours truly on bass. Back in 89’ Y.O.T. was the first New York Hardcore band to tour Europe, seven months later the Berlin Wall fell. Coincidence? Perhaps, but after a handful of raved about Festival appearances, TogetherFest marks Y.O.T.’s triumphant return to tour form. Wake up Pegida, U.K.I.P and Donald Trump, at TogetherFest it’s time to “BREAK DOWN THE WALLS!!!”.
SATURDAY 25TH FEBRUARY, ELECTRIC BALLROOM , LONDON
Upcoming Act Bleed Again Are Getting A Hell Of An Album Launch Show With Brutality To Prevail, Raging Speedhorn and More In Metal All Dayer!
Commonly Mammothfest is known for bringing some of the best emerging metal acts to Brighton, but now it’s venturing into the world of hardcore bringing genre favourites Brutality Will Prevail and UK metal icons Raging Speedhorn on the south coast along with some of the best emerging acts in heavy music…
Brutality Will Prevail, (commonly known as BWP) will headline this special event. They are about to release their highly anticipated fifth studio album, “In Dark Places”. This will be the band’s second album to feature Louis Gauthier on vocals, formally of popular Brighton-based hardcore act Breaking Point. The Welsh outfit is known for producing a unique style of sludge-hardcore, adding it the energy and aggression of metalcore. More importantly BWP deliver some of the best pit-starting grooves in UK hardcore. Expect a high- octane show.
As main support is Raging Speedhorn who have been going since 1998. They have a lot of experience under their belt as the band quickly established itself as a major presence within the UK’s metal scene early on into their careers. The band’s first single, “Thumper” was released in 2000, which received significant critical acclaim, then in 2001, Raging Speedhorn charted in the UK Singles Chart with “The Gush”.
The band of the day Worthing metallers Bleed Again who will be launching album release at the show, have become Mammothfest favourites in recent years. So, it’s no surprise they are helping to celebrate the release of the band’s album, “Momentum” on the 1st of May. At last year’s Mammothfest Bleed Again delivered one of the most memorable sets of the weekend, in which they filmed their latest song and video for the melodic “Through The Eyes” and earned them one of the best crowd reactions of the whole festival. Having already supported the likes of Soil, Darkest Hour and Devil Sold His Soul with their reputation for blistering live sets, you don’t want to miss them.
Other acts gracing the stage at this event include Giants, High Hopes, Death Remains, Up River and More! See poster and website for full details.
To get tickets to this massive event go here: https://mammothfest.uk/product/brutality-will-prevail-raging-speedhorn/ Hurry as limited amount of early bird tickets at just £18!
For more info on this event plus all other Mammothfest shows and tickets visit: www.mammothfest.uk
Interview by Carina Lawrence / Dark Art Conspiracy
Can you tell us about how you came up with the name Emerald? Al: The name is taken from the Thin Lizzy classic “Emerald”. We still think it’s a cool name, even though there are some other bands acting under the same name. If you choose a name this short and catchy, there’s always a big chance that it is already taken. But back in 1995 you couldn’t just google a name and check if it was still available. So we just went with it!
You have been going for more than two decades now, how would you say your sound has evolved in that time? Al: I guess it evolved just the way any band’s sound is supposed to. The first songs were pretty simple and the abilities of each member were rather limited. Over the years the songwriting became more mature and everyone got more experienced.
Each line-up change also brought some new influences to the mix, which led to more diversity in our sound. We certainly got heavier and more open minded over the years but we always stayed true to our roots!
Following on from that, how much has the metal music scene changed, especially in your home country Switzerland since your formation? Al: The metal scene in Switzerland definitely grew stronger within the last years. Back in the mid 90s classic heavy metal was completely shut out. In our region, Emerald was pretty much the only band playing this kind of sound. In the beginning it was rather hard to find good gigs to play since the demand for this kind of music was rather small. But nowadays there is a good and healthy underground metal scene growing here in Switzerland with lots of cool bands playing all different kinds of metal and lots of small new metal festivals popping up each year.
So you are releasing your seventh album, ‘Reckoning Day’ on the 24th March, what can you tell us about this new release? Al: For us, “Reckoning Day” marks some kind of turning point since it is the first album with a whole new line-up and the first sign of life after 5 years of silence. Some might even call it a comeback album because no one heard or saw anything of us within the last years and considered us dead. It was indeed very quiet after the departure of former singer Thomas L. Winkler, but we’ve always been active, writing songs and planning our return to the surface… plotting our day of reckoning, so to speak!
What was the writing and recording process like for the album? Al: The writing process was very unusual since it was the first time that we had to write everything without having a singer in the band. We just wrote and recorded some instrumental demo songs and added some of our own demo-vocals while we were searching for a new singer.
In 2014, American singer George Call (Aska, ex-Omen) joined our band and agreed to sing on all songs on “Reckoning Day”. So we went to the Little Creek Studio here in Switzerland where we recorded all songs in instrumental versions under the supervision of producer V.O. Pulver (Gurd, Poltergeist, Destruction…). Then we sent the tracks to Texas where George was supposed to record his vocals. Since George was very busy with some other projects, it took him more than a year to finally start working on our songs. In the meantime, as we grew more and more impatient, we started looking for a new singer here in Switzerland and finally found the great voice of Mace Mitchell, who was very eager to finish the vocals on our record and become a permanent member of Emerald.
George Call still delivered the vocals for 2 songs that appear on “Reckoning Day” as well as a third song which will be used as a bonus track on the limited edition version.
As you can see, the whole process was pretty tedious. It never took us five years to put out a new record before. But now it’s finally here and we are really happy with it!
How would you say it compares to the rest of your back catalogue? Al: Well, the new album is always the best, haha! No, of course that’s always a matter of opinion! But we certainly think it is a step forward and the logical continuation of the path we chose on the previous albums. It features a much broader range of musical influences and some excellent vocal work from Mace Mitchell and George Call.
One thing that’s unique on this record is the 7 track mini-concept “The Burgundian Wars” on the second half of the album. It is based on the novel “Der Löwe von Burgund” from our keyboarder Thomas Vaucher and tells the story of the conflict between Charles the Bold and the Swiss confederates.
Oh… and the new album has definitely the best sound we ever had, thanks to the great production of V.O. Pulver!
As well as a new album you have a new band line-up, how are things going so far and how would you say the dynamics have changed following this? Al: You could say that Emerald 2017 is a whole new band! From the very first line-up only band founder Michael Vaucher (guitars) and his brother Thomas Vaucher (keyboards) are left. I consider myself as one of the “old guys” as well since I’ve been playing the part of Emerald’s drummer for already 10 years now. The rest of the bandmembers all joined the band within the last four years: Julien Menth (guitars) in 2013, Vania Truttmann (bass) in 2014 and Mace Mitchell (vocals) in 2016. All three of them brought a lot of freshness and enthusiasm into the band, which was exactly what the rest of us needed.
I think I can speak for everyone in the band when I say that we now have the greatest line-up ever! The dynamics in Emerald have never been this powerful before and it has never been this much fun to play in this band. I believe that, in this constellation, we have a great future ahead of us!
Collectively what are your main musical influences? Al: Well, there’s one band we can all agree upon: Iron Maiden! Apart from that, everyone in the band has his/her own personal favourites. That leads to a wide range of influences that includes bands from the hard rock, punk, heavy, power, prog, thrash, symphonic and even modern metal sector.
How is it to be signed with Pure Steel Records? Al: It’s a cool underground label that stands 100% behind everything we do. For them, heavy metal is not just business but a lifestyle. We’ve been part of the Pure Steel family for more than 10 years now and are very happy for everything they have done for us so far. They never treated us like just another number in their roster. They are big fans of every band they sign.
Are there any plans for a tour in support of the new album? Al: We certainly want to do another tour, yes, but so far we don’t have any specific plans.
What else has Emerald got planned for the year? Al: We already have some great gigs confirmed and hope to play some festivals across Europe this year. Apart from that we are already working on our next album and want to hit the studio again as soon as possible.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Al: First of all, I’d like to thank you, Carina, for your interest in Emerald and the opportunity to share my thoughts with you! I’d also like to thank all Emerald fans worldwide for their loyalty and endless support! You rock!!!
And I promise it won’t take another five years to release our next album. We are back, stronger than ever and ready for the next 20 years of Emerald!
Let’s raise our horns up high!!!
Thanks for your time!
Carina
Dark Art Conspiracy
TRACKLISTING:
1. Only The Reaper Wins
2. Black Pyramid
3. Evolution In Reverse
4. Horns Up
5. Beyond Forever
6. Through The Storm
7. Ridden By Fear
8. Mist Of The Past
9. Trees Full Of Tears
10. Lament Of The Fallen
11. Reckoning Day
12. Reign Of Steel
13. Signum Die
14. Fading History
15. End Of The World (Bonustrack)
Total Playing Time:: 62:08
Total Playing Time with Bonustrack: 67:15 min
Line Up
vocals – Mace Mitchell
guitars – Michael Vaucher
guitars – Julien Menth
bass – Vania Truttmann
drums – Alex Spicher
keys – Thomas Vaucher
Special Guests
vocals – George Call – “Evolution In Reverse”, “Through The Storm”
guitar solo – Slädu – “Horns Up”
backing vocals – Alexx Suter – “Beyond Forever”
British Alt rockers, Courtesans who like to break the norm with their unique sound which has elements of doom, grunge and pop. They have gained mass attention from the media and music lovers alike for their innovative and exciting sound.
The band have just dropped their latest new video single taken from their upcoming and highly anticipated EP, ‘Better Safe Than Sober’.
Check out the dark alluring and hypnotic new video which accompanies the mood and tone of the song perfectly making it very powerful and captivating:
The new single Mesmerise is taken from their upcoming new EP Better Safe Than Sober which is out March 31st.
Dark Art Conspiracy 
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