This year’s Damnation Festival is the second since it has returned to its original home of Manchester after many years at the University of Leeds. The festival had outgrown the confines of its erstwhile venue and now takes place at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre across three large stages. Continue reading
Ghost Cult Keefy caught Matias and Arve of of DROTT to discuss their new album “Troll” out now from By Norse Music! Made up of members of Enslaved, Ulver, Audrey Horne, Abbath; we discussed the origins of the band, their varying influences, how they got together, the lore of the “Troll-force” and much more!
Bloodstock Open Air has added Grand Magus, Whitechapel, Deicide, Desert Storm, The Vintage Caravan, Exist Immortal Eternal Champion, Mimi Barks, and Grove Street for 2024. See the new poster for the fest, a new trailer, and ticket links below. The fest is headlined by Amon Amarth, Opeth, and Architects, all with exclusive UK festival performances. Bloodstock will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 8th-11th August 2024.
ArcTanGent Festival, a yearly outdoor four-day fixture at Fernhill Farm near Bristol, attracts a devoted following to its niche yet eclectic lineups of artists who generally have an association with post-rock, progressive metal, or experimental rock. It’s “sort of” a metal festival, but the range of acts it showcases steers towards the more left-field and eccentric end of heavy music and at times stretches beyond what could reasonably even be labelled as “rock”.
With the very existence of renowned black metal overlords Helheim, Enslaved, and Gorgoroth, the west coast of Norway undoubtedly always got new enthralling releases to look forward to all year round. The key figures of the Bergen scene truly know what they’re doing, particularly in their respective nichés– and even though it’s not black metal this time, Vulture Industries and their new release Ghosts from the Past (Dark Essence), have gotta be one of the noteworthy releases from Norway’s west coast that everyone ought to keep an eye on.
No matter the time of year, it’s always winter for Norwegian black metal legends Immortal. Feeling nice and warm and looking forward to summer? Don’t be silly. Just one listen to the latest album War Against All (Nuclear Blast) will have you pining for the fjords and wishing the world was a dark, grim, and frostbitten kingdom of cryptic winter storms.
It was a typical, quiet Monday evening last week in downtown Detroit. Except at the city’s treasured music venue, Saint Andrew’s Hall. There was a bit of a hullabaloo happening at the preferred concert spot because metal titans, Enslaved and Insomnium brought their North American co-headlining tour to town. Both of these acts are experts in their respective genres and both of them are on the road to promote their newest full-length albums that have come out earlier this year. The place was buzzing with anticipation as metal fans of all sorts filed in to hear the new tunes.
The mighty Arctangent Festival 2023 today announces their final main stage headliner for this year’s event, The incredible, truly one-of-a-kind Devin Townsend will be closing out the whole festival on the main stage, Saturday night. The festival will be taking place between August 16th through to August 19th, at Fernhill Farm, a short drive from Bristol City Centre. Also announced today include Haken, Yourcodenameis:Milo, Ashenspire, Clt Drp, The Guru Guru, and many more. Acts already announced include Heilung, Converge, Deafheaven (playing ‘Sunbather’ in full as a UK exclusive), Swans, Empire State Bastard, Sikth, The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs7, Elder, Russian Circles, Chat Pile, Svalbard, Jaga Jazzist, Brutus, Loathe, Rolo Tomassi, Svalbard, and many more.Continue reading
Time for another edition of The Steve and Keefy Power Hour! Senior Editor Steve Tovey joins Chief Editor Keefy, recapping March 2023 Rock and Metal Releases and previewing April’s essential new heavy music! Two white guys and music nerds pontificate on the music you love. Also, will we have new music soon from Ghost, Slipknot, Foo Fighters, and Iron Maiden? Shoutout to our amazing team of reviewers worldwide. Also, also, RIP Mat Davies as always. Hosted by Ojaay!
Ihsahn is a true living musical legend who helped shaped the modern symphonic sound of Black Metal with his work across the four albums Emperor produced between 1994 and 2001, particularly with their debut In The Nightside Eclipse which is perhaps the quintessential release of the genre. And although Emperor are still of course touring and Ihsahn has in the 2000’s released music with his Thou Shalt Suffer and Peccatum projects, the focus for the Norwegian musician has undoubtedly been on developing his solo career.