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Described by the band’s creative mastermind Juha Raivio as “a mirror of a deep self-disappointment”, “Moonflowers” is an album with sorrow and dismay at its very core. That will not come as a huge surprise to fans of SWALLOW THE SUN, as the Finnish band have long established themselves as the finest exponents of crestfallen heaviness around, with a catalogue full of songs seemingly designed to tear hearts out and stamp on them in majestic slow motion. This one is different, however. It hurts more. Created during lockdown, “Moonflowers” takes Raivio’s introspective approach to new levels of agonizing vulnerability, and at times the very real nature of the songwriter’s disquiet is genuinely difficult to listen to. But for all its heart-rending rawness, SWALLOW THE SUN’s eighth full-length album is also one of their most beautiful.

The opening title track is wonderfully elegant and melodic, and while there is nothing wistful or otherworldly about its atmosphere, the sheer stately power of the Finns’ performance creates a stirring momentum of its own. Recent single “Enemy” is a morbid gem, with a lethally effective chorus that you might want to avoid if you’re having a bad day, but with great ensemble lightness of touch on display, particularly during its none-more-goth midsection. Frontman Mikko Kotamaki has never sounded more lost in the moment, and he remains a superbly skilled mouthpiece for Raivio’s innermost thoughts. His effortless transitions from ghostly melody to barbarous roar are more effective than ever on sprawling epics like “Woven into Sorrow” and the rugged shapeshifting of “Keep Your Heart Safe from Me”. He has also discovered the perfect foil: on the dynamic shadow play of “All Hallows’ Grieve”, OCEANS OF SLUMBER’s Cammie Gilbert creates her own serene space amid the bereft melee, to deliver a truly mesmerizing cameo, as if she had always been there.

The final three songs are among the finest SWALLOW THE SUN have committed to tape, and yet the gently oppressive weight of Juha Raivio’s gloom persists. The result is simultaneously devastating and irresistible. “The Void” is a magnificently glacial thing, with dreamy, goth rock ambience and several visceral, overdriven crescendos; “The Fight of Your Life” is the band at their most fervently progressive, as acoustic reverie gives way to murderous doom metal colossus and back again; “This House Has No Name” erupts with seething black metal intensity, delivering a final kick to the kidneys before all hope is abandoned and the post-mortem on this mortal realm begins. Again, this is fantastic, evocative and richly conceived music, but its broken and battered heart tells a story that not everyone will want to spend too much time with. But if you’ve stuck with SWALLOW THE SUN up until this point, you may consider yourselves forewarned and possibly even forearmed. Just don’t be surprised if “Moonflowers” actually fucking breaks you.

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford has confirmed to the “SpeedFreaks” radio show that he was one of several people who received a bullet from late MOTÖRHEAD frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister as a personal gift. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When Lemmy passed away, I had this beautiful opportunity to speak at his memorial. We had a great get-together; all of us musicians from all over the world, we met in Hollywood and we talked about Lemmy and his great life and the things that he’s left us. And then, not too far back, I get something in the mail from the Lemmy people; Lemmy’s office, his manager and everybody still work tirelessly to keep his name with us, as he always will be. They sent me — it’s a bullet [laughs], it’s a bullet with some of Lemmy’s ashes inside of it.”

He continued: “This is nuts. This is the kind of thing that Lemmy would have loved to have done. However you choose to interpret what I’ve just said, that’s entirely up to you. But to be thought of, to be brought into this small circle of friends where you actually own a little bit of Lemmy’s ashes and you wear it around your neck on a pendant and he’s close to your heart in the truest sense in terms of his mortal remains, that’s just mind-blowingly powerful. To use an object like that to carry his remains is just so Lemmy — it’s provocative, it makes you think, it makes you talk. But as far as having a beautiful part of Lemmy physically with me right now in my house, that’s just magical.”

Halford’s bullet is not the only one whose existence has been publicly revealed. Six months ago, German metal queen Doro Pesch confirmed she also got a bullet, saying she “almost dropped dead” after opening the package and realizing what it was. “It was, like, ‘Wow,'” she said. “And then I heard that somebody said Lemmy wrote a list and he wanted his closest friends or family to have his ashes. And I’ve got this bullet right here. I had no words for it. It’s pretty moving and touching. But in the letter, it said, ‘He liked you a lot’ or ‘he loved you a lot,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, man. That feels so good.’ That makes you feel like… Now I’m motivated for the next hundred years to do good and to rock the fans. That gave me so much love and so much energy.”

Back in March, former “Headbangers Ball” host Riki Rachtman said that he was also mailed a bullet, calling it “the greatest gift I’ve ever received in my life.” He added that he was “getting it made into a necklace so I can keep it on me everywhere I go.” Last year, tennis player Pat Cash shared a photo of another Lemmy bullet, saying it had been gifted to UGLY KID JOE singer Whitfield Crane.

“#Lemmy (RIP) from #Motörhead asked that his ashes be put in some bullet and given out to his closest friends, last night one was presented to my mate #whitefieldCrane whilst we were having dinner at ‘Lemmys bar’ in ‘The Rainbow’,” Cash wrote on Instagram in February 2020.

Lemmy died in December 2015 at the age of 70 shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer.

He had dealt with several health issues over the last few years of his life, including heart trouble, forcing him to cut back on his famous smoking habits.

MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy’s poor health, although the band did manage to complete one final European tour a couple of weeks before his death.

In June 2020, it was announced that Lemmy will get the biopic treatment. The upcoming film, “Lemmy”, will be directed by Greg Olliver, who previously helmed the 2010 documentary of the same name, “Lemmy”.

“Lemmy” will follow Kilmister’s life growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, becoming a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and a member of seminal psychedelic rock band HAWKWIND before forming MOTÖRHEAD.

A custom-made urn containing Lemmy’s ashes is on permanent display in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends Today I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears Thank you @myMotorhead pic.twitter.com/gnI9aWe4iU
— Rev. Riki Rachtman (@RikiRachtman) March 22, 2021

Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s ashes were placed into bullet casings and distributed to his closest friends. pic.twitter.com/vlsqYYCZWY
— Eric Alper ? (@ThatEricAlper) March 25, 2021

Calgary heavy crew Trench sense “Imminent Power Looming.”
The post Video Premiere: Trench – ‘Imminent Power Looming’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Charlie Benante says that he cried while watching GENESIS perform on the band’s current tour, “The Last Domino?”

The ANTHRAX drummer went to see the English progressive rockers play on Tuesday, November 16 at the United Center in his adopted hometown of Chicago. GENESIS kicked off its first U.S. tour since 2007 the previous night at the same venue, with 70-year-old frontman Phil Collins performing seated on stage, the result of debilitating nerve damage that affects his hands and back. He is being backed by his 20-year-old son Nicholas, who is replacing his dad behind the drums, along with keyboardist Tony Banks and bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, both 71, and longtime touring guitarist Daryl Stuermer.

Earlier today (Wednesday, November 17), Benante shared a video of GENESIS’s concert, and he included the following message: “I went to see @genesis_band last night and had no idea it was going to be such an emotional experience for me.

“#philcollins is and will always be an amazing drummer/artist. I think he has created some of the best grooves, fills, etc. When I saw him come out last night… I started to cry. I’m writing this now feeling that way too. Time had taken a toll And I realized that time really does fly. The band kicked in and Bam! The water dried up and I was happy again. something came over me and I just got all emotional.

“I used to play GENESIS songs in a cover band when I was young , I knew a lot of the parts like the back of my hand. I guess seeing Phil sitting and not being Phil was hard for me to watch . As the show went on Phil got better and better and I actually cried a bit more later on when they did #carpetcrawlers . The band were outstanding #tonybanks #mikerutherford #darylstuermer and Phils son @nic_collins #niccollins killed it on the drums ( like father like son). Go see them if you have a chance. #inspiring #philcollinsrules”.

GENESIS has confirmed that “The Last Domino?” is the band’s final tour. The trek is scheduled to take in more than a dozen North American shows, including Washington, D.C., Toronto, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York.

GENESIS will premanently retire from touring after completing its March 2022 European concerts, including three makeup dates in London.

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A post shared by Charlie Benante (@charbenante)

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski has received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot and has urged others to do the same.

Earlier today (Wednesday, November 17), Nergal shared a photo of him getting the additional dose of a vaccine after the protection provided by his original shots had begun to decrease over time. He wrote in an accompanying message: “3rd jab done!

“Not even religious topics are as polarizing as vaccinations these days. But both have soooo much in common. You can either put your trust in proven science or you can continue to live with outdated pseudo beliefs. But god forbid you become seriously ill…”

The 44-year-old Polish native, who was diagnosed with a severe case of leukemia over a decade ago, added: “Consider your people! DO NOT BE COVIDIOT, be kind to each other.” (A “covidiot” has been defined as “a person who acts like an irresponsible idiot during the COVID-19 pandemic, ignoring common sense, decency, science, and professional advice leading to the further spread of the virus and needless deaths of thousands.”)

Booster shots are recommended by federal agencies for anyone over the age of 18 who has received the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine, six months after receiving their second dose, if they are over the age of 65, have an underlying medical condition or are at high risk for exposure.

More than 59% of the nation’s population are currently fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, while more than 68% have received at least one shot, according to data from the CDC.

More than 760,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S.

According to the nonpartisan, nonprofit web site Fact Check, while vaccines reduce the probability of getting infected, they are not 100% effective, so there is a chance that an unvaccinated person could infect a vaccinated person — particularly the vulnerable, such as elderly and immunocompromised individuals. And, despite vaccination providing excellent protection against severe disease, a small proportion of vaccinated people still require ICU care.

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A post shared by Adam Nergal Darski (@nergal69)

SKID ROW has partnered with the team at Dead Sled Coffee to bring their fans the officially licensed “Slave To The Grind”. The coffee is a perfect blend of beans from both Costa Rica and Brazil. The blend of high-quality coffee is a rich and bold French roast that creates a smooth sipping coffee without the bitter aftertaste.

The pre-orders include a 12 oz. bag of “Slave To The Grind” coffee and a guitar pick featuring the SKID ROW logo.

Diana Whittles, founder, co-owner and CEO at Dead Sled Coffee, said: “Here at Dead Sled Coffee, we’re known for creating distinguished coffee for the exceptional and unconventional. This time around we are blending our passion for music into our new coffee line, ‘Slave To The Grind’, a partnership with rock legends SKID ROW.

“The first time I heard SKID ROW, I thought, ‘These guys are amazing.’ Each song felt like a fist-in-the-air rock and roll battle cry. They quickly became part of my heavy rotation, and with every mixtape, I made there were at least two or three of their songs that got rewound and listened to multiple times in a row.

“It is my honor and pleasure to welcome the powerhouse that is SKID ROW to the Dead Sled Coffee family. I am excited to be working with a band that I have so much love and respect for, and who set the soundtrack to a huge portion of my teen years. My inner 15-year-old is completely freaking out.”

This Friday, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss celebrate the historic release of “Raise The Roof” (Rounder Records), their first new album together in more than 14 years. To mark the momentous occasion, the two artists will come together to deliver a series of key live performances to fans across the world.

Beginning at 12 p.m. CST / 1 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. GMT on November 19, the indomitable duo join forces with YouTube to present a global livestream. Backed by an all-star band in Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios, they will debut a selection of songs from “Raise The Roof” exclusively for audiences on the platform. The special event will be hosted simultaneously on the official Plant and Krauss YouTube channels.

On November 19, Plant and Krauss will also appear alongside CBS News senior culture correspondent Anthony Mason for an interview. Later that night they will perform on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” before bringing more music to “CBS Saturday Morning” just a handful of hours later.

Following the YouTube livestream on Friday, viewers can head to NPR Music’s YouTube channel for a virtual listening party at 1 p.m. CST / 2 p.m. EST. In addition to a full playback of “Raise The Roof”, Plant and Krauss will join critic Ann Powers for a discussion of the album.

In the runup to “Raise The Roof”, Plant and Krauss have continued to surprise listeners on pre-release previews like “Can’t Let Go”, “It Don’t Bother Me” and the original song “High And Lonesome”, written by Plant and the album’s producer, T Bone Burnett. At 11 a.m. CST / 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 18, they will share their rendition of Brenda Burns’s “Somebody Was Watching Over Me”, offering one last look into the record before the full collection is finally unveiled.

Building on the Grammy-sweeping, millions-selling success of 2007’s “Raising Sand”, “‘Raise The Roof’ almost magically reclaims the spectral tone of ‘Raising Sand’, then finds ways to expand on it, delving further into both quiet subtleties and wailing intensity,” says The New York Times, in an expansive profile of Plant and Krauss’s long-awaited reunion.

Following the monumental debut of “Raising Sand”, which won all six Grammy Awards for which it was nominated (including “Album” and “Record Of The Year”), Plant and Krauss “are still proof that sometimes the best things come from unlikely collaborators” (Entertainment Weekly). Across “Raise The Roof”, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and 27-time Grammy-winning Bluegrass Hall Of Famer step further outside their comfort zone, expanding their unexpected, unparalleled partnership in remarkable new directions.

While sessions for the album began in Nashville in November 2019, wrapping just weeks before the world went into lockdown, Krauss remembers sending Plant the Randy Weeks/Lucinda Williams classic “Can’t Let Go” at least 10 years ago — and “it seems like time hasn’t passed at all” (NPR Music). Elsewhere on “Raise The Roof”, Plant and Krauss reimagine songs from Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, THE EVERLY BROTHERS, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Ola Belle Reed, Brenda Burns and more, with arrangements even more evocative and hypnotic than those on “Raising Sand”.

“It’s such a far cry from everything I’ve done before,” says Plant. “I love the whole kaleidoscope of music that I’ve explored, but this is a place where you can think within the song, you can decide how to bring home an emotion. It’s another blend that we’ve got, and long may we have more of them.”

“Raise The Roof” track listing:

01. Quattro (World Drifts In)
02. The Price Of Love
03. Go Your Way
04. Trouble With My Lover
05. Searching for My Love
06. Can’t Let Go
07. It Don’t Bother Me
08. You Led Me To The Wrong
09. Last Kind Words Blues
10. High And Lonesome
11. Going Where the Lonely Go
12. Somebody Was Watching Over Me

Photo by David McClister

A side project with legs, ME AND THAT MAN has plainly been a godsend (devilsend?) for Nergal: a self-evident workaholic who only ever sits down long enough to plot another artistic assault on the status quo. The BEHEMOTH mastermind’s restless spirit must have been in danger of going stir crazy during the last two years, but there was always the piecing together of his third foray into dark folk, twisted Americana and semi-acoustic occultism to keep him occupied. Another generous dose of stripped down Nergal menace, with a frankly mind-bending roll call of underground luminaries and metal icons, “New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.2” delivers on its titular promise. It also improves considerably upon its enjoyably flawed predecessor, “New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1”; which had plenty of great moments, but noticeably less hellish grit than 2017’s “Songs of Love And Death” debut.

Darkness descends immediately this time around. “Black Hearse Cadillac” is a pitch-black, campfire mantra led by Hank Von Hell and featuring warped blues guitar from CADAVER’s Anders Odden; it’s grimly atmospheric and quietly magical. “Under The Spell” is a hell-for-leather “Rawhide”-from-Hell, with Mary Goore (a.k.a. GHOST’s Tobias Forge) delivering an insouciant, mellifluous vocal that is all the more sinister for its restraint. Even more startling is “All Hope Has Gone”, wherein three heavy metal legends (Blaze Bayley, EXODUS’s Gary Holt and actual Mantas) conspire to (a) make Nergal very happy, and (b) wring an ocean of glowering blues melodrama from the simplest of musical ideas. It’s a barnstorming performance from all involved, but Bayley’s vocal is a genuine masterclass. Likewise, ULVER’s Kristoffer Rygg sounds utterly at home amid the scorched-plains strumming and acid-folk undertones of “Witches Don’t Fall in Love”: a macabre cautionary tale with sharp teeth.

If there is a downside to “New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.2”, it’s the questionable presence of self-proclaimed “proud boy” Michale Graves. The song he sings, “Blues & Cocaine”, is genuinely great and brilliantly wonky, but the specter of his stupid opinions does loom in the background, presumably whispering something idiotic about vaccines or the democratic process.

Ultimately, this is an album full of little revelations, as familiar figures find themselves in a new and inspiring context. Some of the ideas coming to fruition here are truly inspired: who hasn’t always wanted to hear Abbath singing some fucked up country music, as he does here on the rowdy “Losing My Blues”, alongside FRANK THE BAPTIST’s Frank Vollmann and bona fide heavy metal legend Chris Holmes. If you think you can hear Nergal grinning in the background, you are probably correct. Elsewhere, David Vincent and Nergal duet on the wistful and weird “Year of the Snake”, with both sounding in their dust-battered element. On a similar tip, Randy Blythe sings the buffalo shit out of “Silver Halide Echoes”, a gnarly, swamp blues stomp with a bad attitude. Most impressive of all, ARCH ENEMY’s Alissa White-Gluz transforms into a delta blues voodoo diva on the somnambulant dub-country of “Goodbye”, almost overshadowing the fact that Devin Townsend is also playing on the track. “Angel of Light”, featuring Myrkur, keeps the otherworldly flag flying; a swaggering, night-sky waltz, awash with reverb and almost PINK FLOYD-like in its grandeur.

Another exuberant feast of devilry with an all-star cast, “New Songs, Same Man, Same Shit, Vol.2” is both more of the same and the best one yet. It also sounds like it was an enormous amount of fun to make. Even the devil needs to kick back and bash an acoustic every now and then, after all.

In part two of an exclusive new video interview, At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg talks literature, philosophy, & The Nightmare of Being.
The post At the (Lyrical) Gates: Tomas Lindberg on Nihilism, Evolution & “The Nightmare of Being” (Part 2) appeared first on Decibel Magazine.