BLACK SWAN, the band featuring vocalist Robin McAuley (MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP), guitarist Reb Beach (WINGER, WHITESNAKE), bassist Jeff Pilson (FOREIGNER, THE END MACHINE, ex-DOKKEN), and drummer Matt Starr (ACE FREHLEY, MR. BIG), will return with a second album, “Generation Mind” on April 8. The official music video for the first single from the album, the title track, was filmed in Los Angeles recently and can be seen below.

Picking up where their stunning, and well-received, debut album “Shake The World” left off, the foursome once again delivers a powerful hard rock statement. With the entirety of the album written and composed by McAuley, Pilson and Beach, “Generation Mind” sees BLACK SWAN an even more cohesive and focused unit from their debut.

Once again produced and recorded by Pilson at Pilsound Studios in Los Angeles, with Starr’s drums being recorded at On Deck Sound Studios, “Generation Mind” is another outstanding showcase for the musical talents of the instrumental players in the band as well as McAuley’s powerful voice, which seems to defy age. BLACK SWAN has again produced something fresh, heavy, intensely melodic and an album that is certainly not a mish-mash of the members other bands, but its own unique sonic entity.

“Generation Mind” is a killer slice of melodic hard rock/metal from seasoned players who defied all expectations on their debut by having gelled musically so cohesively. And now, having established their sonic signature and being more in tune with one another’s songwriting, they have taken the blueprint of “Shake The World” and taken it to the next level on “Generation Mind”.

“Generation Mind” track listing:

01. Before The Light
02. She Hides Behind
03. Generation Mind
04. Eagles Fly
05. See You Cry
06. Killer On The Loose
07. Miracle
08. How Do You Feel
09. Long Way Down
10. Crown
11. Wicked The Day
12. I Will Follow

BLACK SWAN lineup:

Robin McAuley – Lead Vocals, Background Vocals
Reb Beach – Guitars, Background Vocals
Jeff Pilson – Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Keys, Background Vocals
Matt Starr – Drums, Percussion
Casey McAuley – Additional Background Vocals

The genesis of BLACK SWAN was sparked by a conversation between Pilson and Frontiers president and head of A&R, Serafino Perugino, who wanted a project that would not only showcase McAuley’s vocal prowess, but have a mighty musical backbone to stand skyscraper tall behind him. Thus, the initial seeds were planted and Pilson ran with it from there. The four members got BLACK SWAN off the ground by exchanging ideas back and forth and then bringing all the songs together. The final result is something fresh, very heavy, but still intensely melodic and it’s certainly not DOKKEN, nor WINGER, nor MSG, or some combination thereof, but its own unique animal.

Los Angeles groundbreaking pioneers of the rap/hardcore hybrid and outspoken sociopolitical activists DOWNSET have officially joined forces with Nuclear Blast Records and are currently plotting one of the genre’s greatest comebacks. To mark the occasion, the band has partnered with the label to reissue the controversial demos that helped ignite a street led movement around the world, “Anger/Ritual” seven-inch single and “About Ta Blast” seven-inch single, which were initially released 30 years ago.

Commenting on the signing to Nuclear Blast, founding guitarist Rogelio Lozano says: “Being signed to Nuclear Blast is a big honor for me. It’s a great organization/record label and working with the people there has been nothing but pleasant, professional experience. Nuclear Blast is the #1 heavy metal label in the world with so many great bands and amazing album releases. It gives my band and me the feeling of being a part of something special. We feel right at home, excited and look forward into the re-release of the first two original 7” records as a reissued bundle, as well as our forthcoming sixth album!

“Look out for a mix of old-school sound and 12 songs featuring the new era of DOWNSET in 2022. With our new lineup, Bobby Blood Ponte on drums, Phillip Gonzales on bass, myself on guitar and OG Rey Oropeza on vocals, we plan on continuing the legacy with future albums to come. WE ARE BACK!!”

Additionally, DOWNSET has revealed a new music video today for the bonus demo track “Breed The Killer” which features vintage live footage of them performing the song. Watch the video below.

“Anger/Ritual” 7″ track listing:

01. Anger (Demo)
02. Ritual (Spoken Protest) (Demo)

“About Ta Blast” 7″ track listing:

01. About Ta Blast (Demo)
02. Body Cry (Demo)
03. Breed The Killer (Demo)

Monumental progress doesn’t occur overnight. Some of man kind’s most powerful words don’t come from education or privilege, but erupt from the pain and roughness of the streets; they smolder through the cracks in the concrete until eventually grand truths are revealed, and the winds of change slowly emerge. It is with these notions in mind that old-school hardcore kings DOWNSET began to surface in Los Angeles, California in the early 1980s.

The genesis of DOWNSET itself was not one of entitlement or handouts, either. Originally formed with a straight edge mentality under the name of SOCIAL JUSTICE, the members of DOWNSET have been fighting against societal injustice for a long time. Oropeza began using graffiti as its own language for change in about 1982. “I would hit the streets… and when you hit the streets there’s violence, there’s racial injustice; it’s not just violence in the sense of someone pulling out a gun on someone else, there’s a violence that can happen to anybody, you can be rich, poor, male, female… and these things affect people for the rest of their lives,” he explains. The group eventually released demos and shifted from SOCIAL JUSTICE to DOWNSET. “It has multiple meanings,” explains Lozano (CYPRESS HILL, POWERFLO). “Some people are set up in life, some are down with a set, but it also means to start off underprivileged; to have a life full of disadvantages.” All of these notions and inspirations eventually procured a self-titled studio album that was released in 1994 via Mercury Records.

A musical style that was distinctly hardcore combined with Oropeza’s MC abilities allowed DOWNSET to stand out from other metal acts, while still being able to achieve a variety of tours with some of the most prominent bands of the time. After member rearrangements, and the 1996 release of “Do We Speak A Dead Language”, the band went on to join the original “Tattoo The Earth” tour in 2000 with the likes of SLAYER, SEPULTURA, MUDVAYNE and more. This all coincided perfectly with the release of “Check Your People”, and once again the band was on the hustle. With more member changes and the release of “Universal” a few years later in 2004, followed up by self-released “One Blood” in 2014, the band went on hiatus.

DOWNSET is:

Rey Oropeza – Vocals
Rogelio Lozano – Guitar
Phillip Gonzales – Bass
Bobby Blood – Drums

TRIVIUM singer and guitarist Matthew Heafy has shared more details about his long-awaited and much-anticipated IBARAKI project.

The project’s debut album, “Rashomon”, will be released on May 6 via Nuclear Blast.

Today, the band has shared the video for “Akumu”, featuring a guest appearance by BEHEMOTH’s Adam “Nergal” Darski. Watch it below.

“‘Akumu’ translates to ‘nightmare’ — and with this piece, I encourage the listener to work to find their interpretations of what they feel from the lyrics, music, and the haunting visuals of the music video,” says Heafy. “I have always been fascinated by Sagazan’s ‘Transfiguration’ and for years I have wanted to pay homage to his works with a performance art piece. To finally be able to immerse myself in his style was an intense experience.”

He finishes: “Having Nergal guest in this Ihsahn-co-written piece allowed me to combine many of my long-time influences, and when I presented with Nergal of the challenge of translating my lyrics into Polish, it brought the song to another level.”

Last month, IBARAKI offered fans a taste and a tease of the music by sharing the video for “Tamashii No Houkai”, featuring special guest Ihsahn of EMPEROR fame, who is a core contributor and partner in this project.

“Rashomon” track listing:

01. Hakanaki Hitsuzen
02. Kagutsuchi
03. Ibaraki-Dōji
04. Jigoku Dayū
05. Tamashii No Houkai
06. Akumu (Feat. Nergal)
07. Komorebi
08. Rōnin (feat. Gerard Way)
09. Susanoo No Mikoto (feat. Ihsahn)
10. Kaizoku

IBARAKI — the name for a terrifying Japanese demon taken from feudal legend — is more than a solo project. It’s the end-result of a journey of an artist finding his voice. Its inspirations include everything from an adoration for the extremes of black metal to the exuberant storytelling of Gerard Way to the adventuresome worldliness of tragic bon viveur Anthony Bourdain. It’s a reflection of Heafy’s multifaceted interests as well as a profound affirmation of his Japanese-American identity, and one that led him to confront one of his family’s most tragic moments. Like the artist behind it, there is much to the story of IBARAKI and it began with a timid e-mail to one of black metal’s most revered and influential figures.

Heafy, a fan of black metal before he even started TRIVIUM, reached out to label reps for Ihsahn of EMPEROR, and the artist personally responded. He recalls: “It was so cool to get that nod and it inspired me to start checking some of his solo stuff. He’d just released his own solo record and I’d never heard anything like it — saxophones, clean singing, jazz chords. It was incredible to me. He’s this non-stop inventor. So I started writing in a totally different way.”

The exposure to Ihsahn’s solo work that would inspire the gradual craftsmanship that would eventually become IBARAKI. It was also the beginning of a friendship and creative collaboration that would eventually compel Ihsahn to take a leap of his own into a newfound role as producer on the project. While much of the material for IBARAKI was assembled over those months and years — as much a songwriting process as an exchange of ideas between friends — it wasn’t until the pandemic that the space was created and the idea could really flourish.

“It was very loose,” says Ihsahn. “We just had rough demos for a very long time because we’re arguably pretty busy people, but suddenly, everything was canceled and we had time on our hands for the first time, so it was like, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ We never got to work in the same room; he’d track guitars and send them to me, I’d run them through my studio and send them back. It was a new way of working, but it was like he was there on the other side of the glass. Matt is a very, very positive energetic and passionate music fan — we have similar attitudes to music and open mindedness. We hit it off, and it’s been really rewarding to me.”

The creative interactions between the pair are the result of a deep trust borne of a commonality of their experience. “We both started our respective bands when we were 13,” Ihsahn says. “We got signed when we were 16. That’s young, and in essence we both found our path in life at an early age. We’ve talked a lot about that and our different experiences with that, because it’s like we know nothing else.”

While material was primarily written by Heafy, Ihsahn engineered and produced and contributed some song structures, plus TRIVIUM drummer Alex Bent and bassist Paolo Gregoletto and guitarist Corey Beaulieu contributed to various tracks. Ihsahn’s wife Heidi even sampled some natural sounds from the forest near their home and his entire family. Additional guests include the aforementioned Way and Nergal.

Ihsahn also encouraged Heafy to seek out new avenues for lyrical inspiration, namely his Japanese heritage. While an array of stories have been told via the tattoos on his body, such as the specific ancient Japanese story of gods, goddesses, and monsters from the Shinto religion taught to him by his mother, he began pouring the stories into lyrics.

While the rich mythology and folklore of Japan that would give IBARAKI its unique aesthetics and influences, it also provides the artist with the catalyst to contemplate his own identity and to consider how recent tragedies stateside have highlighted the need for better representation in metal.

Former DRAIN STH drummer Martina Axén is featured in the music video for Zinny Zan’s cover version of the DEPECHE MODE classic “It’s No Good”. Axén can be seen playing percussion in the clip, which was filmed on February 5 in a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden.

DRAIN STH split up more than two decades ago, not long after the release of the band’s final album, 1999’s “Freaks Of Nature”. That effort was notable for the inclusion of the track “Black”, co-written by and featuring lead guitar from BLACK SABBATH’s Tony Iommi, who has since married DRAIN STH’s ex-singer Maria Sjöholm.

In a 2008 interview with Autona magazine, Axén stated about DRAIN STH’s decision to call it quits after only two albums: “Well, one of the reasons was that our singer decided to quit the band and the music business overall. We could have continued with somebody else singing, but were stuck in such bad deals with the record label that, basically, it seemed useless to keep on going. To get out of the deals, even after she quit, we had to sign a contract that we could not play together more than two of us at a time in any constellation (within five years) without the label considering it to be ‘DRAIN,’ meaning we would still be signed with them. It was unbelievable, because by then, Flavia [Canel, guitar] had already given up and quit too, and the label still wouldn’t let me and the bass player [Anna Kjellberg] go, saying that they considered us being the main songwriters. So me and the bass player signed the papers, got two tickets to Los Angeles the day after, and never went back.”

In the same interview, Martina talked about DRAIN STH’s influence on the number of female musicians playing hard rock and heavy metal music. She said: “I get a lot of e-mails from people telling me about how it changed them. Things completely changed since we released our first album. You see chicks half naked on music magazine covers now. When we got signed, the first thing the label told us was to cut off our hair. Said it wasn’t ‘credible’ to look the way we did. Sweatpants and sneakers, wow, very sexy! [Laughs] We all refused and ended up releasing the first album without any pictures at all and no press pics either. There was nowhere where you could see a picture of us. The first Ozzfest tour poster we did was taken at night in the dark with knee-long big black coats and the faces painted over in Photoshop so that you couldn’t tell that we were not guys. We had people coming to the shows thinking we were the opening act for DRAIN, not knowing that we were girls in the band. [Laughs] Later when we changed the label it got re-released with pictures.”

She added: “I don’t think DRAIN ever sounded like a girl band. We never intended to. Our heroes were BLACK SABBATH, PANTERA and all the old-school metal.”

Nearly a decade and a half ago, Martina, who also spent time as the lead singer for SUPERFIX (the aborted project also featuring Kjellberg) and SNAKE RIVER CONSPIRACY, released two solo tracks that were made available for download on her then-MySpace profile: “Always” (which featured Kjellberg), and “Ghost Of Me” (which featured former COAL CHAMBER bassist Nadja Peulen).

Zinny Zan’s cover of “It’s No Good” will be included on the former EASY ACTION singer’s upcoming album, “Lullabies For The Masses”, due on May 20.

Different kind of drums for todays video shoot???

Posted by Martina Axen on Saturday, February 5, 2022

Melodic hardcore heavyweights IGNITE have dropped their fourth single and new music video for “This Day” from their upcoming self-titled album. The LP will be released on March 25 via Century Media.

“‘This Day’, a hopeful call for unity, is an unfiltered, disheartened reaction to the teeming racial tensions of the last couple years,” states new lead vocalist Eli Santana.

Santana joined IGNITE as the replacement for longtime vocalist Zoltán “Zoli” Téglás, who exited the group in 2020.

IGNITE bassist Brett Rasmussen previously stated about Santana’s addition to IGNITE: “The energy and positivity that Eli brought to the recording studio was contagious! It was an absolute breath of fresh air for all of us and reminded me of the early days of IGNITE. I really can’t wait to take these songs on tour.”

IGNITE’s new LP will feature the following track listing:

01. Anti-Complicity Anthem
02. The River
03. This Day
04. On The Ropes
05. The Butcher In Me
06. Call Off The Dogs
07. The House Is Burning
08. Enemy
09. State Of Wisconsin
10. Let The Beggars Beg
11. After The Flood (CD bonus)

Rasmussen commented on the new album: “A lot of hard work went into this album and this is the happiest I have felt about an IGNITE album in a long time. It feels incredible to work this hard on a project and see the entire plan come together as anticipated.”

IGNITE is:

Vocals – Eli Santana
Guitar – Nik Hill
Guitar – Kevin Kilkenny
Bass – Brett Rasmussen
Drums – Craig Andersen