We caught up with Johannes Mäkinen and Vili Vottonen of Horizon Ignited to discuss their new album “Towards The Dying Lands” – out now via Nuclear Blast! We chatted about the history of the band, signing with Nuclear Blast, death metal guitar, touring with Hypocrisy, and why Finland rules for metal.
Recently renovated classic venue Irving Plaza in New York City is the scene for the finale of the US leg of At The Gates most popular album, Slaughter of the Soul. Enforced opened the night. They’re an interesting group to me. They sound like a mix of Death Metal/Thrash with a some hardcore-tinged vocals. Whatever they’re going for, it’s working for them. I dig it.
Whilst being long-term veterans and a pinnacle force of Swedish melodic death metal, recent years have shown to be quite a turning point for Soilwork. 2019’s Verkligheten was arguably both the band’s strongest album for some time and their most well-received.Continue reading
It’s been thirty years since beard and battleaxe aficionados Amon Amarth began their quest for world domination. Armed with swords, shields, and drinking horns, the hairy horde has journeyed far and wide, going on to become one of the most popular bands in Swedish metal history. Rarely deviating from their tried and tested formula, each successive album is a reliably thunderous collection of ancient history, myths, and legends told in the loudest, catchiest ways possibleContinue reading
New Melodic Death Metal band Darkness Everywhere unites vocalist – guitarist -drummer Ben Murray (Light This City), guitarist Cameron Stucky (Crepuscle), and renowned muscian, producer, and engineer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, All Shall Perish, Pathology) on bass. The band was formed in late 2020 with the goal of writing songs heavily influenced by the classic mid-1990s Swedish Melo-Death sound. The Bay Area-based band will release their new full-length album, The Seventh Circle, will see a digital release on February 25th through Creator-Destructor – the label owned and operated by Murray. There will be a vinyl version to follow shortly after. The digital preorders are live at their Bandcamp. Listen to the first single “Reign of Chaos” right now!
Consistency and identity – albeit a distorted, perturbed sense of being – are the cornerstones of the second album of The Lurking Fear – the “ugly step-child” (according to Tomas Lindberg Redant) of Swedish melodeath rejuvenants At The Gates. There has been a conscious effort to double down and to make clear what was originally “just” a side-project is, why it exists, and just what it’s purpose is. Indeed, as the parent group have taken further strides to redefine and push themselves since their return, particularly this year, so too the offspring has engaged in a campaign of scent-marking; defining their own identity on Death, Madness, Horror, Decay’(Century Media).
At The Gates is a household name to every Melodic Death Metal fan out there. Formed over thirty years ago, this group of guys invigorated the scene by gifting the people with their unruly and extreme proclamations. Along with several other eager acts from their hometown, like Dark Tranquility and In Flames, ATG bolstered what is now defined as Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal. The signature sound that they captured still storms the scene today, showing off the band’s Swedish roots with a grim and wistful flourish. They continue on to profess their dark truths on their new seventh full-length record, The Nightmare of Being (Century Media Records).
North American Symphonic Melodic Death Metal band Gone In April have premiered their new official video for “Haven.” The group also features Canada and the USA – Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio on bass, filmed the new video at The Great Saltpetre Cave! Watch it now!
Ghost Cult has teamed up with rising Pacific Northwest extreme metallers King Guillotine for the debut of their new music video for their track ‘Annihilation Syndrome’. The blistering song is uncompromisingly brutal, has impressive guitar work and will make you want to spontaneously mosh your face off. The band has distinct OSDM grooves, but the flavor and skill of modern European melo-death bands too. Directed and produced by Karl Whinnery and Freddy Heath, you can watch the clip now!Continue reading
In Flames is a band, much like most of the daring few whoever made ground-breaking original art, that seems to be judged forever for their earliest success. While it’s true that that have departed from their original pioneering “Gottenburg sound” of melodic death metal, they are certainly never dull and always capable of solid releases with memorable songs. The chorus of angry, arms-crossed dudes that say “I don’t listen to those guys anymore” will always get drowned out by the die-hards, many whom the band picked up as they exploded in popularity. Once you get past the old narrative of the band that escaped beyond what was narrow sub-genre with four good bands, you can appreciate their entire career arc, which is still evolving on their new album, I, The Mask (Eleven Seven Music Group). Continue reading