Worcester-based dungeon synth magi Sombre Arcane offer a chilling glimpse into their subterranean rituals with this video for their song from the Wrought Records Halloween compilation, The Reliquary of Terror.
The post Video Premiere: Sombre Arcane – “The Ancestral Seat of the Barovian Scourge” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

DREAM THEATER’s John Petrucci has reflected on the passing of Eddie Van Halen, saying the VAN HALEN axeman’s influence “on the guitar community” was “just unfathomable.”

Petrucci discussed his appreciation for the groundbreaking musician, who died from cancer on October 6 at age 65, in a recent interview with Holland’s FaceCulture.

He said (see video below): “It’s interesting. As far as [Eddie’s] influence and his impact on the guitar world, you kind of can’t comprehend how big it was. Because when you think about all the guitar players that there are — electric guitar players — you can only name, like, a couple… Most people will probably to two that were game-changing, paradigm-shifting moments — [Jimi] Hendrix and Van Halen. And people can argue that there’s other people; I get it. But there’ll never be somebody like that again. So his influence globally on the guitar community is just unfathomable. The guitar was never the same.

“It saddens me to know that I’ll never get to see him play again, that he died young,” he continued. “We have his music to remember him by, but watching him play was really an incredible experience.

‘For me, as a guitar player, I’ll never forget when I heard ‘Eruption’ for the first time. I wasn’t experienced enough as a guitarist, [and] I couldn’t wrap my head around that being a guitar. It didn’t sound like a guitar to me. I was, like, ‘How is anybody doing that?’ It sounded like a keyboard or something. And there was no YouTube or… I was too young to go to a concert, so I couldn’t see what he was doing. I was just hearing all these notes flying by. Again, I didn’t have the experience, so I didn’t know there was a phaser on the sound and a tape delay. All I heard was a cascading flurry of notes, and it was just mindblowing — I’d never heard anything like that before. So, to me, creatively, as a guitar player, it sucked me in. I was, like, ‘How do you do that? How in the world is somebody doing that?’ And then you begin to explore. So he was a big, big influence on me, for sure.”

Petrucci added: “I’ve seen interviews with him, and you really can see what an innovative mind he had, and how the things that he came up with, with amplifiers and technique, were all out of curiosity and asking questions: ‘Hey, how come nobody ever did this before?’ Or, ‘I have this idea. I wanna be able to do this. I wonder how you can do it.’ So he was this scientist at the same time. And that’s a really cool side to see. If you’ve ever seen interviews with him, it’s really interesting to watch.”

Eddie died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his son, Wolfgang, and Alex, Eddie’s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.

The iconic VAN HALEN axeman died from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

Get ready to swoon. Get ready to shed a tear. DRACONIAN have created a gorgeous, mournful masterpiece here. A band that have long deserved greater recognition for their consistent and immersive catalogue of albums, the Swedes may share some obvious traits with other gothic (and maybe even funeral) doom bands, but “Under A Godless Veil” eschews many contemporary amendments to the blueprint, homing in on this music’s ageless, haunting power and the visceral magic of melody. As ever, clean vocalist Heike Langhans provides the album’s tender, human heart, while Anders Jacobsson’s scabrous growls tether everything to hell’s gates, but where previous albums had occasionally drifted into gothic cliché, every one of these lumbering mini-epics fizzes with newfound focus. DRACONIAN’s seventh album truly does sound definitive; it’s as if the band have perfected the formula they’ve been working on since 2003’s “Where Lovers Mourn” and surfed through the subsequent songwriting process on waves of confidence.

It’s obvious from the start: “Sorrow Of Sophia” is simply spellbinding, with handfuls of killer melodies and a sense of crestfallen grandeur that is more than backed up by an opulent but nuanced production. Slow and ominous, “The Sacrificial Flame” showcases DRACONIAN’s grim, despondent side, but Langhans’s voice still cuts through the fog of gloom to offer moments of beatific respite. The album’s most instant anthem, “Sleepwalkers”, fulfills its title’s somnambulant promise with a ghostly drift through swathes of sweeping strings, leading to a beastly but weirdly uplifting chorus and some neat post-everything dynamics. Shrewdly saving the biggest payoff until the end, DRACONIAN conclude their new record with the widescreen woe of “Ascend Into Darkness”; nine minutes of heart-rending elegance and grotesque pomp, it could well be the band’s finest moment yet.

The most curious thing about “Under A Godless Veil” is that while it seldom strays from a well-trodden musical path, it sounds imperious and genre-defining. There is diversity on offer: the epic doom plod of “Moon Over Sabaoth” evokes an entirely different atmosphere from the glacial shoegaze of “Buried Fields” or the rumbling, post-punk barrage of “The Sethian”. But a red line of inspiration and class runs through every last note, gluing the songs together and forming a wonderfully cohesive and coherent whole. It’s undeniable that there are plenty of bands doing more progressive and peculiar things with the melodic doom template, but what DRACONIAN achieve here is a near-definitive and yet thrillingly timeless take on the morbid basics. At a time when many of us are haunted by one unpleasant thing or another, this feels like a suitably cathartic and emotionally rich dive into sorrow’s swimming pool. Bring a big black towel.

WEDNESDAY 13 is celebrating All Hallows Eve with the release of a wicked new cover of INXS’s hit song “Devil Inside”, now available on all streaming services. A video for the creeptastic single, filmed and directed by Vicente Cordero (3TEETH, SEPTEMBER MOURNING), will air during the band’s highly anticipated “Halloween Spooktacular!” event on Saturday, October 31 live from Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.

WEDNESDAY 13’s namesake frontman comments: “Just in time for Halloween, we’ve been saving this track for something special, and what better way than with a music video for Halloween. The INXS cover of ‘Devil Inside’ was recorded during the ‘Necrophaze’ sessions with producer Michael Spreitzer.

“I have a great memory of this song as a kid in the late ’80s. I actually witnessed this song scare a family member to the point that they screamed at the radio, TURN IT OFF!!”

Hosted by Wednesday 13, the “Halloween Spooktacular!” pay-per-view variety show will feature special surprise guest appearances, skits, videos and a headline musical performance by the band. The event will air live on October 31 and will be available to stream until November 2.

Wednesday 13 states: “I’m beyond excited about this Halloween special. This is inspired by all of the Halloween specials from ’70s and ’80s that I grew up on. Doing just a normal concert is boring to me. This is a full-on variety show, with enough Soook to make you puke. Don’t miss the sickest Halloween show of 2020 at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go.”

WEDNESDAY 13’s latest album, “Necrophaze”, was released in September 2019. Heavily influenced by the real-life night terror occurrences of Wednesday himself, historical serial killers, and a slew of ’80s horror films, the ideas behind the LP are bizarrely familiar, frightening, and a hell of a lot of fun. Being a collector of both media and toys, Wednesday 13 was inspired by a craving for variety to create dual album artwork for this release. The covers showcase either end of the horror spectrum with a “Creepshow” comic book vibe for the LP artwork, and the eeriness of something akin to John Carpenter’s “The Fog” adorning the CD.

“Necrophaze” was recorded by Michael Spreitzer, who is the producer, recording engineer and longtime guitarist of DEVILDRIVER, and is the first WEDNESDAY 13 record to feature guest spots, which include performances by Alice Cooper, Roy Mayorga of STONE SOUR (who provides an eerie, authentic, ’80s-inspired synth soundtrack-score to the album), Alexi Laiho of CHILDREN OF BODOM, and Cristina Scabbia of LACUNA COIL. Also making an appearance on the album is Jeff Clayton, member of legendary punk bands ANTISEEN and GG Allin’s MURDER JUNKIES.

Photo credit: Jeremy Saffer

Vital, venerated, and vintage, when DIAMOND HEAD first released “Lightning To The Nations” forty years ago in 1980, few could have predicted the importance it would carry — and establish — with regards to heavy metal’s new wave and sound. Stacked and packed with riffs, “Lightning To The Nations” would be one of the prime catalysts for a movement known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). It would also prove the premier template for a band who would become the biggest rock band on the planet, METALLICA. But back then, in their humble Stourbridge, U.K. home, DIAMOND HEAD had no real idea that the seven songs they had recorded for that debut album would have such a reverberation.

“Am I Evil?” is the second single to be released from the album. Founding member Brian Tatler reminisces: “‘Am I Evil?’ is one of the songs that METALLICA covered. I got a call from Lars Ulrich on September 20th, 1986 to say that METALLICA were playing that evening as part of the ‘Master Of Puppets’ tour at the Birmingham Odeon which was the best venue in the Midlands to see bands. Lars invited me along, so I caught the number nine bus, picked up my backstage pass, and was shown into METALLICA’s dressing room. I was then introduced to James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton. Lars suggested that I get up and play ‘Am I Evil?’ on stage with them in the encore. I, of course, agreed and, after watching their amazing set for an hour, I went backstage again where the guitar techs strapped James’s white Flying V onto me. Then Lars ran to the center vocal mic and introduced me as ‘the guy who wrote this next song!’ The five of us played ‘Am I Evil?’ up to the fast section then METALLICA went into ‘Damage, Inc.’ and I scarpered off stage. It was a brilliant experience!”

Tatler continues: “It’s been a really great experience to revisit and re-record ‘Am I Evil?’ and the ‘Lightning To The Nations’ album for 2020. It’s also about time that DIAMOND HEAD’s biggest song finally has a video. Thank you to Andy Pilkington [Very Metal Art] for this mini epic.”

“Lightning To The Nations 2020” will be released on November 20 via Silver Lining Music in CD digipak, double gatefold vinyl, and digital formats as well as special D2C bundles.

As the fortieth anniversary loomed, “Lightning To The Nations”‘ resonance and importance are since long-established, which meant a celebration was in order and Tatler, alongside vocalist and producer Rasmus Bom Andersen, knew exactly what they wanted to do. “We thought it’d be great to re-record the debut album with this lineup and the modern technology available,” says Tatler. “The original album was recorded and mixed in a week, and we were very young; still 19-20 years old when it was recorded, so there’s a lot of that youthful energy. But we didn’t have the technique, time, or craftsmanship to record it with the sort of power that we could now. So that was a real thing to savor: the opportunity to go in the studio and record these songs fresh and vibrant.”

“Lightning To The Nations 2020” is an achievement along those lines and then some. It is, quite simply, a scintillating shot of fresh metal energy, with DIAMOND HEAD utilizing all their skill, experience, and revitalized energy to breathe so much new life into these freshly recorded takes that it feels like experiencing the earth shaking all over again.

Recorded over several sessions between various locations from France to band member home studios, “Lightning To The Nations 2020″‘s central hub was Andersen’s Raw Sound Studios in London. It’s where Tatler and Andrew “Abbz” Abberley did the guitars in February and March of this year. With the COVID-19 chaos striking, Andersen worked on the album between April and July, with Tatler’s watchful ear inspecting final mixes and tweaks in early August before sending off to mastering at Metropolis Studios. It is, however, fair to say that the crunch, scream, and crackle of the production is yet another feather in Andersen’s producer hat.

As if these carefully shaped recordings weren’t enough, there are four supreme cover versions rounding out the release, with DIAMOND HEAD spreading their wings and creating the heaviest of homages to LED ZEPPELIN, JUDAS PRIEST, DEEP PURPLE, and… METALLICA. With DIAMOND HEAD having featured so heavily in METALLICA’s early career, the cover of “No Remorse” seems especially appropriate.

Concludes Tatler: “‘Lightning To The Nations 2020’ is packed with ideas and riffs, but there is some thought gone into it all, and maybe that’s why it still sounds really good now and we’re still having conversations about it.”

“Lightning To The Nations” 2020 track listing:

01. Lightning To The Nations
02. The Prince
03. Sucking My Love
04. Am I Evil?
05. Sweet And Innocent
06. It’s Electric
07. Helpless
08. No Remorse
09. Immigrant Song
10. Sinner
11. Rat Bat Blue

DIAMOND HEAD is:

Brian Tatler – lead, rhythm guitars
Rasmus Bom Andersen – vocals, orchestration, additional guitars
Karl Wilcox – drums
Andrew “Abbz” Abberley – rhythm, lead guitars
Dean Ashton – bass, organ

Photo credit: Nic Gaunt

STITCHED UP HEART has dropped an Alison Roberto-directed music video for “My Demon”. The song is taken from the band’s latest album, “Darkness”, which was released in March via Another Century. The LP was produced by FROM FIRST TO LAST singer/guitarist Matt Good (producer of ASKING ALEXANDRIA and HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD).

STITCHED UP HEART frontwoman Alecia “Mixi” Demner told Consequence Of Sound about the “Darkness” album title: A lot of the lyrical content on this album ties into one of the songs on the album that’s called ‘Darkness’, and it’s about going through dark times over and over again and not being afraid anymore, because you know you’ve made it out before. Lyrically, it isn’t a sad album, but it’s not like everything is okay and there’s sunshine and rainbows. There’s stuff you have to go through to get to this place and be strong.”

Asked how the initial vision for “Darkness” evolved throughout the recording process, Mixi said: “It completely changed. Originally, I wanted to go into this album with the strength that you can do anything and nothing can stop you, but the songs I was writing were not coming out authentic. I can be strong sometimes, but it takes a lot of dark stuff to get to that strength and know you can overcome it. So, the vision changed to pulling from those things that made us strong.”

“Darkness” includes the song “Lost”, which features a guest appearance by Sully Erna of GODSMACK.

SCOUR, the extreme metal supergroup featuring Philip H. Anselmo (PANTERA, DOWN, EN MINOR), John Jarvis (AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED), Derek Engemann (PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS), Mark Kloeppel (MISERY INDEX) and Adam Jarvis (PIG DESTROYER, LOCK UP) will release its long-anticipated record “The Black EP” on Black Friday, November 27.

Forged in 2015, SCOUR made its debut with the ferocious single “Dispatched”. “The Grey EP”, released via Anselmo’s Housecore label, dropped in 2016, followed by “The Red EP” in 2017. Faster and tighter than ever, this year’s “The Black EP” serves as the final release of the EP trilogy and is inarguably the band’s most ferocious effort to date. Mixed and mastered by Ryan Vincent at Apollo Audio Alternative with vocals and drums engineered by Stephen “Big Fella” Berrigan (DOWN, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, EYEHATEGOD), “The Black EP” includes guest appearances from Erik Rutan of HATE ETERNAL, Pat O’Brien of CANNIBAL CORPSE, and actor Jason Momoa (“Dune”, “Game Of Thrones”, “Aquaman”).

“The latest SCOUR is the best SCOUR,” proclaims Anselmo. Engemann adds: “This is our most fierce and ripping album to date. Completing the EP trilogy, ‘The Black EP’ brings a more mature musical approach without compromising the utter relentless brutality. We’ve got a few special gems as well that I’m stoked for people to hear.”

Today the band is pleased to offer up the opening track, the crushing “Doom”. It includes guest vocals from Jason Momoa and a guest guitar solo by Erik Rutan. The “Doom” video, created by Paul McGuire of Obscenery Films, can be seen below.

“The Black EP” will be released via CD, LP and digital formats via Housecore Records (North America) and Nuclear Blast (internationally).

“The Black EP” track listing:

01. Doom
02. Nail
03. Propaganda
04. Flames
05. Microbes
06. Subprime

The sound of SCOUR can best be described as a modern reimagining of what primarily became known as black metal mixed with elements of grindcore and bits of punk and thrash. Without getting too caught up in genre classification, the result is a brand of ominously-hued, punishing minimalism that pays proper homage the the originators, without the trappings of being a “throwback,” reimagining the lineage from primitive punk darkness into modernity. This nuanced approach was, perhaps, made crystal clear with the 2019 release of their cover of BATHORY’s “Massacre”.

In its short existence, the band has graced the stages of many of the major players in both the mainstream and metal-oriented music festival circuits including Roskilde, Hellfest, Tecate Metal Festival, Maryland Deathfest, and more. As the lineage of its membership suggests, SCOUR continues to be a proverbial force with which to be reckoned both on the stage and in the studio.

SCOUR is:

Philip H. Anselmo – vocals
Derek Engemann – guitar, backing vocals
John Jarvis – bass, backing vocals
Mark Kloeppel – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Jarvis – drums

The official visualizer video for “Slaughtered In Soho”, a new song from British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS, can be seen below. The track is taken from the band’s latest EP, “Despicable”, which is being released today (October 30) via Nuclear Blast.

Commented CARCASS bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker: “Here’s the final track from the offcuts of the new album recording session that we decided to make available as an EP in order to tide people over. David Castillo, who recorded and mixed the album, was surprised this never made the cut… we, the band, were NOT! Anyhow, grit your teeth and ‘enjoy’!”

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue
02. The Long And Winding Bier Road
03. Under The Scalpel Blade (album version)
04. Slaughtered In Soho

CARCASS’s new album, “Torn Arteries”, was originally scheduled for release in August but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.

The name of the follow-up to 2013’s “Surgical Steel” was revealed by guitarist Bill Steer in an interview with Australia’s Heavy.

According to Steer, the title of the new CARCASS LP stems from a demo tape that the band’s founding drummer Ken Owen recorded when he was still a teenager. “He had a fictitious band called TORN ARTERIES and he recorded everything himself in his bedroom — guitar, and he’d actually bang on boxes and kind of scream into the mic,” Bill explained. “And the whole thing was so distorted, it kind of sounded super heavy, even though essentially you were listening to a guy with a Spanish guitar and a couple of boxes. I think Jeff [Walker, CARCASS bassist/vocalist] appreciates the connection to the past and the fact that it was another Ken Owen classic. So that was his choice, really, and it stuck.”

Steer went on to say that the “Torn Arteries” title is an homage of sorts to Owen, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1999 and hasn’t actively played with CARCASS for more than two decades.

“I can’t remember when this came up, but we were doing some press conference at a festival, and I think we all kind of agreed that even though Ken isn’t playing in the band as such right now, he’s kind of involved in everything we do, stylistically, because when he was so unique — when he was playing drums, his approach was just totally different,” Steer said. “Also, the riffs he came up with, they were just really far out there. They were loads of fun to learn. I still think, as a guitar player, some of the stuff was very unorthodox and it was quite a challenge. That kind of influence still runs through what we do today. Just as a friendship thing, we’re all still in touch regularly, and it’s just been great to see Ken’s life stabilizing. Basically, he has a good standard of living and he’s a happy guy.”

Asked how long it took to record the new CARCASS album, Bill said: “I couldn’t really tell you, because it was done in several chunks, and it was the first time we’ve really done this. In the past, there’d be one session, or maybe a couple of long sessions, whereas this was a week here and a week there. So it did feel like a long time. I [couldn’t tell you] exactly how many days or weeks that was. Obviously, quality control is a huge factor with us, ’cause you want the thing to be as good as it can be. And the fact that we don’t record with a click track, the whole thing is not on a grid, so you can’t copy and paste a verse or a chorus, like some bands might do. And that’s a good thing, but it also means you’ve gotta spend longer [recording everything].”

Steer also confirmed that the new CARCASS song “Under The Scalpel Blade”, which was released last December as a digital single, will appear on the group’s upcoming seventh LP.

“I think it’s one of the more conservative tunes off the album,” the guitarist said. “There aren’t really many elements in that song that are brand new to CARCASS. If you’re gonna pick it apart and analyze it, there’s definitely things that remind the listener of things we might have done in the past. For various reasons, it appeared to be the best song to put out there first. It’s also one of the safer numbers on the album, I would say.”

Steer also talked about the addition of second guitarist Tom Draper (POUNDER, ex-ANGEL WITCH, PRIMITAI), who made his live debut with CARCASS in March 2018 at the Netherlands Deathfest at 013 in Tilburg.

“[Tom] is from Southern England, but for the last few years, he’s been living in California,” Bill said. “Yeah, he’s just been a really great addition to the group. He’s incredibly organized and methodical. His attention to detail is very impressive, because it takes a lot of patience and a long attention span to learn this type of stuff and really nail the nuances. But, yeah, that’s totally his bag — he’s been into that kind of thing. He’s just great to have onboard.”

Asked if Tom has contributed at all to the songwriting on “Torn Arteries”, Bill said: “Nah. To be honest, the bulk of the material was written a very long time ago. Once we were up and running, we added to that. Given the history of the band, the fact that it goes back so far, to the ’80s, it’s kind of a difficult thing to bring in a new guitar player and expect him to be a contributor. ‘Cause live is one thing, but the studio is like a microscope kind of situation where everything, stylistically, becomes very, very noticeable. That was the same thing that happened with ‘Surgical’. Some people perhaps didn’t see the sleeve notes or read the sleeve notes, but they had the impression that there were two guitarists on the record, but there weren’t. It’s such a lengthy process recording this type of music, or at least with this band — I assume it’s probably the same for other bands in our genre — but it’s just one thing that makes things move a little bit quicker, if you’ve got one guitar player doing as much as possible.”

“Surgical Steel” sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart.

This year, Mascot Records will release “Christmas Rocks”, a collection of Christmas tunes from many of its bands, including a new, original song from P.O.D., “Christmas Lullaby”. Other participating artists include 10 YEARS, BLACK STONE CHERRY, CROBOT, DRAGGED UNDER, OTHERWISE and AYREON.

Look for one new track to be released each week.

P.O.D. singer Sonny Sandoval stated about “Christmas Lullaby”: “With limited time, we went into the studio under the impression we were supposed to record a rock and roll, novelty, holiday jingle. To our surprise, we came out with a Christmas lullaby that will prove, in time, to be a classic, timeless holiday song that will always be a part of your special Christmas memories from now on.”

Added guitarist Marcos Curiel: “‘Christmas Lullaby’ inspires me, gives me hope during these uncertain times. It’s a positive, beautiful Christmas vibration. Thought-provoking and heartfelt. It resonates from Southtown, San Diego, all the way to the North Pole.”

P.O.D.’s latest album, “Circles”, was released in November 2018 via Mascot Label Group. The disc saw the band collaborating with the Los Angeles-based production duo called the Heavy (Jason Bell and Jordan Miller), who ensured the album is contemporary sounding without losing any of the band’s core sonic signifiers.

Sandoval told the “Mike James Rock Show” about the musical direction of “Circles”: “I don’t think it’s a shock — like, a completely different direction — but we have so many different elements in our music, and I think with this record, it might be heavy-stacked on certain elements. We weren’t trying to make this ‘heavy’ record. Sometimes, you’re, like, ‘I just want to make a heavy song,’ or sometimes, ‘I want to do something more reggae.’ It’s part of the writing process, but for us this time, after coming off the last record and just being so jaded by the music industry, it was, like, ‘You know what? What do we have to lose?’ If anything, we know that is true is that our loyal fan base has been there and will be there. [They’ve] been there so long, that’s the only reason why we get to keep doing this. It’s like, ‘You know what? They’re going to appreciate or understand whatever we put out,’ so we kind of had this ‘we-don’t-have-nothing-to-lose’ [sic] mentality. It wasn’t trying to overthink it… [We] didn’t really stick to a plan, [but] just had fun doing it.”