INTERVIEW: Weslie Negrón Pagan of Moths PR Discusses “Space Force” and Album Release Strategy


 

Ghost Cult caught up with our pal Weslie Negrón Pagan of Moths PR to discuss their new album “Space Force” – out now! Weslie discussed the release of the album, the expansion of the sound of the band from the previous release, a change in the line-up with Damaris Rodríguez stepping down and Mariel Viruet joining, heading to Argentina to perform at Heresy Festival, working with cool artists, album release strategy, more new music coming soon, and the chances of the New York Yankees to win the 2022 World Series after their post-All-Star Game slump.

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ALBUM REVIEW: White Magician – Dealers In Divinity


Consisting entirely of musicians from the eccentric Demon Bitch with equally esoteric pseudonyms, Detroit’s White Magician settles firmly into the world of heavy Occult Rock on their first full-length album. “The Agents Of Fortune”-esque cover art is enough to indicate that any comparisons to Blue Öyster Cult are likely intentional; the band exercises a similarly freerolling attitude with an ominous undercurrent. But while Dealers Of Divinity (Cruz Del Sur Music) gambles on a well-trod formula, the group seems to have a couple of aces up their sleeves.

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Deftones Reveal More of New Album Title, Artwork, and First Tease of Music


In a story we have been following, Deftones have shared more clues for their new album, reportedly (over at Metalsucks) titled Ohms, and will be released on September 25th via Reprise Records. The band is due to release both a brand new album and a 20th-anniversary edition and a remix album of their classic White Pony, dubbed Black Pony. The band leaked out clues like a treasure hunt for their new artwork, which you can see below started doing press this week (where the titled was shared) and now a stream of a sample of the title track and the tracklist all on Apple Music. The artwork kind of looks like the end of the “When Doves Cry” video, by Prince! Check it out!

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Dumb and Dumbest Podcast #169: Interview with David Paul Seymour on Art & Branding


Finding your niche and a way to make money in the music business has a lot to do with understanding where you fit in the ecosystem of your particular community. Dumb and Dumbest Podcast number #169 is streaming right now and it’s an Interview with David Paul Seymour on Art & Branding. Hosted by Matt Bacon (Dropout Media, Ripple Music, Prophecy Productions) and Publicist Curtis Dewar (Dewar PR), they also offer The Music Marketing Challenge, a low-cost, super high-value private training to bands and artists. Get hands-on practical experience to market your band like a pro today! Message them at the links below. Continue reading


Dumb and Dumbest Podcast #127: Album Art and You


Album artwork is often overlooked but is crucial to your bands’ ultimate success. Dumb and Dumbest Podcast number #127 is streaming now and it’s all about Album Art and You! Hosted by Matt Bacon (Dropout Media, Ripple Music, Prophecy Productions) and Publicist Curtis Dewar (Dewar PR), they also offer The Music Marketing Challenge, a low cost, super high-value private training to bands and artists. Get hands-on practical experience to market your band like a pro today! Message them at the links below. Continue reading


Dave Davidson Of Revocation Talks New Album, Shred And Lovecraft


David Davidson of Revocation is one of our favorite people in all of metal. We have followed his entire career, and you will be hard pressed to find a person this talented that is also humble and cool. We caught up with Dave at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, New York to chat with him about the brand new album The Outer Ones, releasing from Metal Blade Records on September 28th. We talked about the decidedly brutal death metal sound of the new album, working with producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris, H.P. Lovecraft and Tom Strom‘s insane artwork, Dave’s guitar practice regimen, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, and more. Interview by Keefy with videography by Omar Cordy of OJC Photography.Continue reading


Tragic Idol – Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell


moonspell extinct

 

We live a very intense life. Not just with the band, but keeping together families and things like that.” The deep, dulcet tones of Fernando Ribeiro are unmistakable, coated in this thick Portuguese accent, it is little wonder the forty year-old front man of Moonspell still attracts much attention from swooning nubiles. These days the Goth Metal lothario has a young son to raise which is perhaps a factor on the more mature direction Moonspell have adopted on new opus Extinct (Napalm Records). “We like to delve into the unknown. It is important to be creative when we feel inspired to do so. We had six months of touring left for Alpha Noir and Omega White, but we needed to write when we felt the need to express ourselves, to feed that hunger!”

One thing that immediately noticeable about Extinct is the concept is rooted in reality both on a global and personal scale. As Ribeiro explained, the concept came together relatively quickly. “We did not want to split our direction as we did on the preceding albums. The concept came out very early. I was thinking of extinction on a global scale which affects animals but also how human beings place a higher value on their own existence and will often sacrifice other species and the planet to serve our own selfish needs. Sonically, we have been influenced more by electronic music and used more clean vocals. It is a very desolate album.”

Extinct is indeed a dark affair, not least for the shocking image of a mutilated amputee which adorns the cover which is the work of Septicflesh bassist and frontman Spiros Antoniou a.k.a. Seth Siro Anton. “He worked on ‘Night Eternal’ for us.” Ribeiro mused on this comrade’s work. “We feel an affinity with Septic Flesh and look forward to touring with them this year. His work recalls that of Francis Bacon or Joel- Peter Witkin to me. ‘Extinct’ is an album about imperfections. That figure on the cover looks raped and mutilated but it is about the fear of what could happen and the damage that has been done. Amputee’s feel their limbs long after they have had them removed so it seemed to fit with the concept we had.”

moonspell pic

In addition to its gruesome cover art, Extinct also has some of the most personal lyrics Fernando has ever penned. “Gothic metal has always been very fictional but we have gone through many changes in our lives. ‘The Future Is Dark’ is one song which exemplifies this. Jens and Pedro opened the studio up specially one night for me to do the vocals. It had been a difficult night at home for me and I wanted to get the lyrics on the track straight away.”

The track in question see’s Ribeiro addressing his son with the brooding chorus refrain ‘Without you there is no tomorrow’ it’s a touching moment. “Jens told me it was one of the best personal songs he ever recorded. He is a workaholic who never gave anyone a day off but he was a real team player and supportive of everything we did.”

Adding further depth to the seductive melodies on ‘Breathe (Until We Are No More)’ and ‘Medusalem’ is the use of a Turkish orchestra. “It was a big challenge to get them involved because they do not speak English nor I Turkish so we had to have a mediator in between! Portuguese music has always been influenced by the Arabic scales so we wanted to incorporate that. We didn’t go for these big Wagnerian arrangements most Metal bands use we wanted something more seductive.”

Another highlight is album closer ‘La Baphomette’, a track which sounds positively vaudevillian with its swing feel and elegant piano. “Our bass player Aires wrote this piece with the brass section but Pedro helped with the arrangement. When I listened to the melody I thought of Burlesque and Tom Waits – I love French poets like (Charles) Baudelaire. I was at the French quarter in New Orleans on our last tour and I wrote the lyrics about a burlesque dancer who evokes cosmic chaos. It is a very romantic song and a great way to end the album.”

 

WORDS BY ROSS BAKER


Uneasy Meat- Barney Greenway Talks About Album Cover Art


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In Caitlin Smith’s interview series with Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway, on of the themes was change and renewal while sticking fiercely to the ideals that have always marked the band. Of the may shifts for the veteran grindcore act on their new album Apex Predator – Easy Meat (Century Media), another big change for the band was the artwork. Replacing the collages and the cut-outs, their usual punk style is replaced with a stark, powerful image of pre-packaged crushed brains.

“It was just purely because we’d done the collage and cut out thing a few times and we just wanted a change. That’s not to say we wont go back and revisit that style and develop it a little further. I mentioned the band Swans, their artwork as well as their music has a real characteristic to it. There were 2 colours to it surrounding a main image usually and it was really powerful stuff. We really wanted to try and replicate that for ourselves. The “Easy Meat” we’re talking about on the album is the people in the world that manufacture the goods that we take for granted. They have a lot of negative connotations surrounding them in terms of the production side of things and so they are the easy meat, so you’ve got the meat there in the container. One of the things the album is about is easily disposable things and I think, what is more disposable than those cheap and nasty plastic packages you find in the supermarket. To me that’s one of the icons of disposable consumerism. I wanted to combine the two things and I think it worked really well.”

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Napalm Death From_Enslavement_to_Obliteration

CAITLIN SMITH


Sylosis Release New Video & Album Artwork


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UK riff bringers Sylosis have debuted the new music video for their track Mercy and revealed the artwork for their new album Dormant Heart. The video can be viewed below and comes from the bands fourth album which will be released by Nuclear Blast Records on 12th January.

 

 

Press Release:

Sylosis, Dormant Heart, Album Cover
SYLOSIS: NEW MUSIC VIDEO & ALBUM ARTWORK UNVEILED
The official music video for Mercy, a track off the forthcoming fourth studio album Dormant Heart by the U.K.’s modern thrashers SYLOSIS, is now available for viewing on the Nuclear Blast YouTube channel: http://youtu.be/EXPQR22UwO0?list=PLB4brr7vf-P6vyk4F37Vrm-26uWPQx3nI

 

Mercy’s got a pretty dark and heavy vibe to it, but it’s one of the most melodic tracks on the album at the same time,” reveals SYLOSIS frontman Josh Middleton. “It’s got a big slow, doomy outro with an octave pedal on the guitars so that’s going to rumble some guts live. For this video, we wanted to keep it dark and claustrophobic. It’s got some of the artwork from the album and inlay illustration as well, which came together really well.”

Dormant Heart’s artwork was designed by Bristol-based artist Bonfire (OPETH, SATYRICON, KATATONIA), who previously created artwork for SYLOSIS t-shirts. Speaking to the theme of the artwork,Middleton states: “The cover relates to sacrifice – the sacrificial lamb is more of a symbol than something to be taken literally – but also the looming, oppressing figure in the background represents corruption and being forced into something against your will.”

Dormant Heart is anything but peaceful; it’s a dark, gloomy, and atmospheric album. “The title refers to people going through life on autopilot and being one of the herd,” Middleton has previously stated. “How a lot of people simply accept the way things are just because it’s ‘tradition’ as opposed to taking a good look at the world around you and thinking for yourself. Sometimes there are catalysts that happen and change our perspective or consciousness.”

The album was produced by Middleton with the help of engineer Scott Atkins and is mastered by TesseracT guitarist Acle Kahney.

SYLOSIS began tracking the new album back in March 2014, working away secretly alongside touring commitments. Drum tracks were recorded in May at Monkey Puzzle Studios by original drummer Rob Callard, who parted ways with the band last month due to time restraints. After filling in for some live shows during SYLOSIS’ Spring 2014 tour, BLEED FROM WITHIN’s drummer Ali Richardson is now a permanent member of the band.

SYLOSIS are:
Josh Middleton – Vocals & Guitars
Alex Bailey – Guitars
Carl Parnell – Bass
Ali Richardson – Drums

Visit SYLOSIS online at SYLOSIS.com.
www.facebook.com/SYLOSIS
Follow: twitter.com/SYLOSIS