Wollongong based progressive metal/rock band The Sacred Truth have posted a band update on their album recording:
“The EP was part one of a concept story about an unnamed character beset by tragic events and his eventual downward spiral into depression and darkness. Now, the album will essentially be “part two” a sequel which will tie the storyline together and have listeners intrigued form start to finish.
Although very challenging, the idea of writing an album in the vein of great artists such as Pink Floyd who released the concept albums The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon is a very rewarding experience and will hopefully give the listener an opportunity to connect with the charecter and follow the story somewhat like you would reading a novel or watching a movie.“
Brisbane progressive metal band Arcane has released a video clip for “The Seer,” the first single off their new album “Chronicles of the Waking Dream.” The video was an audio-video collaboration between the band themselves, Rad Tape Pictures, and Brisbane-based artist Andrew “Salty” Saltmarsh. Directed by Clint Lewis, it can be viewed below.
Debut work by moscow experimental death formation Fatal Band will be released on the 15th of March, 2010. Disc of the same name is published by Technical Sound Records. It includes 7 tracks. Recording was managed by Evgeny Vinogradov in Die Records in Moscow. Album mixed in Navahohut Records. Belgian guitarist and the leader of In-Quest took part as a guest musician.
Swedish progressive death metal act Opeth have been confirmed to perform at the Paaspop Festival, which takes place on April 3rd and 4th, 2010. More information on the festival can be found at this location. Opeth’s upcoming tour dates are as follows:
3/30 2010 Cirkus Stockholm
4/1 2010 Lichtburg Essen
4/3 2010 Bataclan (SOLD OUT) Paris
4/4 2010 Paaspop Festival Schijndel
4/5 2010 Royal Albert Hall London
4/7 2010 Terminal 5 New York, New York
4/9 2010 The Wiltern Los Angeles, California
6/12 2010 Sweden Rock Festival Sölvesborg
Progressive metal band Periphery has posted an album sampler on their MySpace page. The band has also issued the following announcement about their new singer, Spencer Sotelo, on Metal Injection, which can be seen below:
Montreal progressive death metal act AUGURY is seeking a drummer for its upcoming tour with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, OBSCURA and HATESPHERE. The trek will run from February 24 to March 24. Interest parties can contact the group at info@augurymetal.com.
Drummer Antoine Baril announced his departure from AUGURY last November. He stated at the time, “Some personal and professional reasons made multiple touring impossible for me at the moment.” He added, “I wish all the best for AUGURY because those wonderful guys are making incredibly good music. I will never forget those memorable shows and I would like to thank everyone for their support on the road everywhere we’ve been on tour.”
AUGURY’s first new album in five years, “Fragmentary Evidence”, was released internationally on Nuclear Blast and has been licensed for release at home in Canada through Goodfellow/Sonic Unyon.
Swedish progressive death metallers Opeth have announced they will perform at the Sweden Rock Festival, which is set to take place from June 9th – 12th, 2010 in Solvesborg. More information on the festival can be found at this location. Opeth also have the following upcoming tour dates:
3/30 2010 Cirkus Stockholm
4/1 2010 Lichtburg Essen
4/3 2010 Bataclan (SOLD OUT) Paris
4/5 2010 Royal Albert Hall London
4/7 2010 Terminal 5 New York, New York
4/9 2010 The Wiltern Los Angeles, California
New Jersey progressive metal band EAST OF THE WALL will be embarking on a month-long tour to Austin’s South By Southwest festival this March along with Goes Cube. EOTW will be touring in support of their recently released split EP with Rosetta and Year Of No Light, on Translation Loss Records. The band will also be road testing new material from their forthcoming record “Ressentiment,” which will see a release through Translation Loss this summer.
The tentative routing is as follows. Dates and venues are still “TBA” and cities are subject to change. Anyone who can be of assistance in helping to book a show in or near one of these cities can contact the band directly via email: band(at)eastofthewall(dot)com:
3/05/2010 – New York, NY
3/06/2010 – Philadelphia, PA
3/07/2010 – Washington, DC
3/08/2010 – Raleigh, NC
3/09/2010 – Savannah, GA
3/10/2010 – Jacksonville, FL
3/11/2010 – Orlando, FL
3/12/2010 – Tampa, FL
3/13/2010 – Tallahassee, FL (no Goes Cube)
3/14/2010 – Birmingham, AL (no Goes Cube)
3/15/2010 – Baton Rouge, LA
3/16/2010 – Houston, TX
3/17-20/2010 – Austin, TX (SXSW)
3/21/2010 – Dallas, TX
3/22/2010 – Kansas City, MO
3/23/2010 – Iowa City, IA
3/24/2010 – Madison, WI
3/25/2010 – Chicago, IL
3/26/2010 – Indianapolis, IN
3/27/2010 – Columbus, OH
Finland’s up-and-coming progressive/death metal act BARREN EARTH will release their debut full-length Curse Of The Red River on March 29th in Europe and April 6th in North America via Peaceville Records. The tracklisting is as follows:
‘The Curse Of The Red River’
‘Our Twilight’
‘Forlorn Waves’
‘Flicker’
‘The Leer’
‘The Ritual Of Dawn’
‘Ere All Perish’
‘Cold Earth Chamber’
‘Deserted Morrows’
With a wealth of experience from internationally renowned acts, featuring former members of Finnish metallers AMORPHIS, to current members of SWALLOW THE SUN, MOONSORROW and KREATOR, Barren Earth presents progressive and folk textured death/doom metal of the highest order.
Curse Of The Red River combines the best elements of metal, prog, and more obscure psychedelic rock – from OPETH to PINK FLOYD, and PARADISE LOST to JETHRO TULL.
The Curse Of The Red River recording session took place at Seawolf Studios, Helsinki (GHOST BRIGADE), in summer 2009 with mixing carried out by the prolific Dan Swanц at Unisound in Sweden.
Swano states, “One of the best albums I have ever had the privilege to mix. The album is THAT good!”
Barren Earth recently conducted their debut live gig in their hometown of Helsinki, and plan to embark upon a series of shows throughout 2010, with a performance at the legendary Summer Breeze festival already confirmed.
Barren Earth is:
Mikko Kotamдki – vocals (Swallow The Sun), Olli-Pekka Laine – bass (ex-Amorphis, Mannhai), Kasper Mеrtenson –Keyboards (ex-Amorphis, Ben Granfelt Band), Janne Perttilд – guitar (Rytmihдiriц), Marko Tarvonen – Drums (Moonsorrow), Sami Ylisirniц – Guitar (Kreator, Waltari).
January, the 6th. Moscow. Death-core/death-metal concert organized by Evil Sound Concerts took place in Plan B club. Russian bands Ease Of Disgust and Sumatra played, as well as Americans Carnifex. Unfortunately, the event headliner, The Faceless, could not reach Moscow.
The Faceless and Sumatra are bands in Progress.FM format. It is a pity that they failed to act together.
The Faceless is a prospective tech death metal band from Encino, California. It was founded in 2004. The first album Akeldama was recorded in 2006. After that band started touring with such monsters of technical death as Necrophagist and Nile. Second album, Planetary Duality (2008), had reached 119 line in Billboard 200, which is often shows the popularity of performers in the U.S.
Sumatra is Moscow progressive / death metal / hardcore band. It was founded in 2005. The first EP entitled “The Sixth Circle” was released in 2008. Line-up had changed many times and the last change was made before presentation of the album “Heliocratic Infinity”. The band got into the rotation of Progress.FM in late 2009.
I will not particularly talk about the club – it was normal. Not as big as it was needed for such number of visitors. Sound was nice, illumination too.
The crowd consisted of mixture of all -core, hip-hop, emo and other styles. Metallers with the traditional trappings (even long haired) were in minority. Death f *** ing metal, as was written on t-shirts of some guys.
Sumatra performed perfectly well. Two singers, one completed another and both sang growlings and screaming. Their tones of voices were much alike. Lead guitarist sang clear vocal part a couple of times, but that was not enough to understand how its general impact on music. Stage was cramped for 6 people, musicians played almost elbow to elbow.
In the middle of the set, the “Heliocratic Infinity” disc was raffled off. Two volunteers were suggested to “compete” for it. In Slam-battle the friendship gained a victory, but the disc got only one of the guys.
Ease Of Disgust.were next on the stage. Played smoothly and harmoniously. Teamwork was evident even in the movements – if shake the heads, then synchronously. It always looks cool.
We had to wait the Americans Carnifex for a long time while they tuned drum kit. Why don’t musicians use pit-stop tactics from the Formula One? When the previous band finished playing, technical team rushes at equipment, replaces hats for 15 seconds, stucks in the guitar cords, checks the sound and – Rock and Roll!
Carnifex – deathcore band from California. Founded in 2005. In the same year released their first EP, and two demos in the next year. The first album “Dead In My Arms” was released in 2007, after which the band went on tour with Emmure, Whitechapel, etc. One year later there came another album, “The Diseased and The Poisoned”.
Carnifex were wise. Vocalist Scott Lewis have not arrived on the scene, while guitarist Ryan Gundmunds did not show him that everything is configured. Then he ran to the scene, and it became clear who is “Daddy” immediately. Pro can be found already on the timbre of the voice when he talks to the audience. He speaks loudly and clearly, waiting for feedback. It is even should be said about his hair – it was short, but with one side long bangs, or even forelock. Lewis made typical “nervous” movements threw it back during the whole concert. This wrench complemented standard artistic gestures, which he knew well too. A++ for the performance.
During their show, Carnifex had probably the best sound. This, perhaps, depended on their good equipments in many. Powerful and dense sound of guitars, absolutely regular kick, dynamic, high tempo. And haunting screams “Hell Chose Me” – the words from the new song, which will be released on the self-titled album in February.
After the Carnifex show, it was announced that The Faceless had been unable to fly to Moscow from Germany. The crowd was disappointed, despite the apologises from the band leader and guitarist Michael Keane and the objective reasons of what happened.
Although Sumatra did not play on the same stage with The Faceless, let’s wish them good luck. Guys played well for almost an hour. I hope that they got stage experience, which will help them to climb to the progressive metal Olympus.
