World music outfit Heilung will be working with U.K.-based gaming company Ninja Theory on the soundtrack for their upcoming game, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The announcement trailer for the new game, which has just premiered at this year’s Game Awards, features Heilung’s song ‘In Maidjan,’ which is taken from their debut album, Ofnir. Watch the trailer now!Continue reading
Ghost Cult is bringing you the full album stream from Hashshashin! Their new album Badakhshan releases this Friday, September 27th via the Art As Catharsis label. This innovative band of master musicians combine Middle Eastern musical influences with a ritualistic drone, post-rock and prog, and psychedelic music. Jam out to the album here and pre-order the album at the link below!Continue reading
International Heavy Metal sensations Bloodywood have dropped a new music video for their new song ‘Machi Bhasad (Expect a Riot)’. Originally created for the upcoming Ubisoft game “Beyond Good and Evil 2”, the band ended up keeping the track themselves. The band remarks“Machi Bhasad is a track with a political message that celebrates the power of a new generation and its potential to be better than the last.” The band will play abroad this summer at metal festivals such as Dong Open Air, Wacken, and a UK headline tour. Continue reading
Indian Folk Metal Bloodywood, worldwide sensations due to viral videos of their original music like their metal version of traditional Indian folk song ‘Ari Ar’ and inventive covers on YouTube. They have now released a new song, Endurant’. A defiant, brutal track decrying bullying, ‘Endurant’ has Bloodywood’s signature mix of Indian music Thrash Metal, 1990s groove metal, and hooks of Melodic Hardcore. Purchase and stream the song after you check out the video!Continue reading
Led Zeppelin has few peers on record in their fiery but brief career. Born from the crowded blues-rock wave, post-British Invasion 1960s, the band expertly and cleverly guess the tastes and whims of the growing music world and capitalized on them. Long gestated in Jimmy Page’s brain as a way to create his own band with a distinct identity that could touch many music bases, but not be commercial and weak. Page created Led Zeppelin and the album Led Zeppelin I (Atlantic) on the back of years of writing, planning, and plotting. The marriage of Jimmy Page’s writing and Robert Plant’s voice, in particular, is the secret sauce of the album and the early era of the band and what makes their debut one of the all-time greats. Continue reading
Acclaimed Welsh metal band Skindred have announced a US tour for this fall. The band has been on the road supporting their recent album Big Tings, which released on April 27th from Napalm Records. Direct support will come from Sumo Cuco and Raven Black.
Korn is a band that needs no introduction, they speared headed the Nu-Metal genre back in the early nineties and have continued to be one of the best live bands on the planet whilst maintaining the quality of their recorded output. Frontman Jonathan Davis is a true modern day icon for metal whether it be for that signature voice or the lyrics that spoke to an entire generation. Having dabbled in various projects away from Korn, Davis is now ready to unleash his first solo offering, that being Black Labyrinth (Sumerian).Continue reading
aswekeepsearching is a refreshing cleanse to the aural pallet. Their latest offering is entitled Zia (Flowers Blossom in the Space). Zia is mostly instrumental with some uplifting vocals from Uddipan Sarmah strewn throughout like wildflowers in a field. The band hails from India and sing in Hindi. To be reductionist, it’s “world music”. So if that’s a genre you dig, then Zia is a perfect album for you.Continue reading
The relationship between Metal and Folk has allowed for continuing crossover and in terms of imagery, tone and aesthetic they are often intrinsically linked together. There are of course there are the purely bombastic Folk Metal bands that often invoke a booze culture, but there are also the likes of Wardruna, who offer authentic pagan folk instrumentation and scope yet still prove unquestionably rooted in the metal fraternity. Continue reading
As we dash towards the holidays and the end of the year Ghost Cult is feeling good about this season of giving. So we are giving our fans a chance to get to know our partners, peers, and friends from bands in the world of music. They will chime in with some guest blogs, end of year lists, and whatever else is on their minds as we pull the plug on 2015. Today we have José Carlos Santos, who writes a lot about music, being Senior Writer for both Terrorizer and Rock-a-Rolla UK, Chief of staff for LOUD! from Portugal, shared with us his favorite 10 albums of 2015.
1. Solefald – World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud (Indie Recordings)
Pushing the envelope isn’t the half of it. The first song on this truly revolutionary record is called ‘World Music With Black Edges’, and that’s exactly what it is. It should be just about all the guideline you’ll need before embarking on this journey. Black metal, electronics, Frank Zappa and African sounds, among many, many other things, are thrown into a free-flowing, astoundingly cohesive whole. In an age where having two songs that don’t sound like each other is already considered “genre-hopping”, Solefald are one of the few bands worthy of the term avant-garde.
2. Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors (Relapse)
The best pure, true rock album in years, Crooked Doors sees Royal Thunder fulfill the potential they have always shown, and move up to the pantheon of the greats. It feels and sounds timeless – if you hand it to someone and say that it’s a lost 1978 classic, it’ll make the same sense as if you’ll tell them it’s 2024’s album of the year you just brought back from the future in your time machine. A great song is a great song, and they’re all great here.
3. My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery (Peaceville)
My Dying Bride are back to the masterpieces – 14 years after their last truly great record, The Dreadful Hours, Feel The Misery recaptures the tragic sorrow and the decadent grandeur we’ve always loved from them.
4. Revenge – Behold.Total.Rejection (Season Of Mist)
Because fuck you.
5. Dødheimsgard – A Umbra Omega (Peaceville)
The other band alongside Solefald that warrants the proper use of the avant-garde tag, Dødheimsgard have given us a mysterious, shape shifting record, full of dark nuances and details that we’ll still be discovering come the time for the 2016 lists. The best thing Vicotnik’s done since ‘Written In Waters’ – and yes, I’m including ‘666 International’ in that appraisal.
6. Tau Cross – Tau Cross (Relapse)
Amebix are no more, long live Tau Cross. Not only is this the logical successor to the astounding ‘Sonic Mass’, it’s also enriched by the extra talents of Voivod’s Michel “Away” Langevin and crusty guitarists Jon Misery and Andy Lefton, all of them lead to greatness by the might of Rob Miller, who is still one of the most unique songwriters in extreme music.
7. Sigh – Graveward (Candlelight)
Sometimes you’ll have to pause halfway through ‘Graveward’ and wonder how is this possible – roughly five million tracks are all going in a different direction, all at once, and yet everything makes perfect sense, there is order and flow in the middle of the craziness and chaos. Alongside Solefald and Dødheimsgard, you’ve got enough insanity this year to wreck your brain for years to come.
8. Therapy? – Disquiet (Amazing Record Company)
Most of you might only know Therapy?’s most popular phase, but the true essence of the band has been in their last four or five fiery, adventurous and energetic records. ‘Disquiet’ is the best of them all, a mix between instant punk-ish gratification and deep, deceptively simple songwriting that’ll allow for multiple repeat plays without a hint of exhaustion. Also, closer ‘Deathstimate’ is a serious contender for song of the year, or decade, or whatever.
9. Goatsnake – Black Age Blues (Southern Lord)
It’s been a 15 year wait, but for each year of absence there’s a kickass bluesy riff that’ll stay in your head forever. Goatsnake just picked up where they left off, literally – the first song is called ‘Another River To Cross’, a nod to ‘Flower Of Disease’s closer ‘The River’.
10. Steve Von Till – A Life Unto Itself (Neurot)
Rarely has such a subtle and generally quiet record packed such a thunderous emotional punch – the Neurosis guitarist/vocalist might present himself in the sparser, most minimalist fashion, just one man lost in the woods with an acoustic guitar, some effects and his coarse, haunting voice, but these songs will reach down into your heart and squeeze it with the force of a thousand men.