British rock band BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE share their brand new single / video 'Evergreen', the first single taken from the new studio album Semaphore, out 12th June via Long Branch Records. 

Semaphore is available for pre-order here: blackorchidempire.lnk.to/semaphore

Watch the video for 'Evergreen' here: youtu.be/J_3PB1qpsFM

Black Orchid Empire guitarist and singer Paul Visser commented: "Evergreen is one of our favourite tracks on Semaphore. It's full of really interesting chord progressions, riffs and melodies that somehow come together and make perfect sense. It came from a guitar riff that I had knocking around for a while that Dave and Billy found a home for. The middle instrumental section is something we haven't done for a while – it just felt right to take the song on a journey from quite empty and sparse to full-on insanity.

"Lyrically, as with all the tracks on Semaphore, it's a sci-fi story. All of the thematic concepts for the songs came about organically while we were writing – Evergreen is about the idea of a slowly receding island of lush greenery in an otherwise barren wasteland. The last habitable place on a planet, run by the elite, with a band of exiled scavengers living on scraps in the outskirts.

"Our good friend Alina Gordienco came up with the video treatment, which portrays an artistic interpretation of the lyric, and shot an incredible narrative sequence in the Ukraine. We were floored with what she put together – it perfectly complements the music and conjures the same visuals we had in our heads for the song. It blew us away!

Although not a traditional single format, Evergreen serves as a great introduction to the wider ideas and musical exploration of the new album.”

Catch the band on tour:

13.02 - Derby, The Hairy Dog
14.02 - Torquay, Apple And Parrot
15.02 - Southampton, Suburbia
16.02 - Tunbridge Wells, The Forum 
12.07 - 7 Fest, East Coast Showground

BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE are:

Paul Visser - Vocals, Guitar
David Ferguson - Bass, Vocals
Billy Freedom - Drums 

Progressive alt-pop artist Julia Marcell shares new single / video 'The Odds', taken from the new studio album Skull Echo coming 27th March 2020 via Long Branch Records.

Skull Echo is available for pre-order here: juliamarcell.lnk.to/skullecho

Watch the video for The Odds here: youtu.be/a_HeJ9zvOJ8

Julia commented on the single: "This song ponders the incredible randomness of life, finding ourselves thrown into this world at this particular moment in time and/or at all. It asks the listener to get a little easier on themselves and others, because why not? I wrote it with someone dear in mind, who once told me they've had little logical argument to go on living and every day they wonder if they should. Writing the song I hoped to lift their mood a little."

Julia Marcell’s upcoming album Skull Echo was recorded in Berlin with producer Michael Haves, drummer Thomas Fietz and bassist Thomsen Slowey Merkel. Mostly electronic, the record features a huge, cinematic sound, sweeping pop melodies and futuristic production, but the subject matter is very intimate and emotional. 

Julia about the project: "Skull Echo is a story about time, perception and loneliness. About heads in which we are trapped, building our image of the world through our senses - full of uncertain information, selectively remembered and freely transformed. It is a story of longing for another person."

Along with music came an idea for a film. The topics discussed on the album inspired Julia to write a screenplay for a feature with the same title, which she is currently developing with film producer Natalia Grzegorzek from Koskino.

JULIA MARCELL is a singer-songwriter and a writer/director living between Berlin and Warsaw. Her work has been released in Poland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and appreciated by the audiences, colleagues and tastemakers around the world. She's won Fryderyk (Polish Grammy) for Best Alternative Album, with seven other nominations in different categories. JULIA MARCELL has also received the prestigious Paszport Polityki Award in popular music and Grzegorz Ciechowski Award. 

Her last short film Night Herald premiered at 2018's Achtung Berlin and won Best Editing at 2nd Great Message International Film Festival in India. Currently MARCELL is developing her feature length directorial debut Skull Echo with producer Natalia Grzegorzek from Koskino.

JULIA MARCELL and her band have toured extensively across Poland and Germany, but they've also visited Japan, Finland, Holland, Portugal, UK and USA among other places. They've played SXSW, Reeperbahn Festival, CO-POP, Open’er Festival, Męskie Granie, and other festivals around the world.

AUGUST BURNS RED are pleased to announce their eighth full length, Guardians, out 3rd April on Fearless Records.

The two-time GRAMMY Award-nominated Pennsylvania quintet have been upholding the artistic pillars of technical proficiency, airtight grooves, and thoughtful lyricism in the hard rock world for 17 years now, and return with their most cohesive and collaborative album to date.

Pre-order Guardians here: http://found.ee/guardians

AUGUST BURNS RED have also shared the video for their new song 'Defender', the first glimpse of the forthcoming record: http://found.ee/defendervideo

In the words of the band: "The song 'Defender' is about having that person who can come in and take some punches for you, and be in your corner during hard times," says Brent Rambler, rhythm guitar. "I am quite the comic book fan and I thought the lyrics could easily turn into an awesome animated short story — kind of like if the pages of a comic were to come to life. Luckily, everyone else agreed and we have this sick video to go along with the song."

The band also revealed that the album is their most truly collaborative effort to date.

"Guardians is the culmination of a complete and total team effort," says JB Brubaker, lead guitar. "Dustin and I collaborated musically more than we ever have before. Jake and Brent collaborated vocally more than they ever have before. Matt bounced more drum ideas off of us than we could even comprehend. It was the most time we've ever spent in the studio on one album. We're all so proud of this record, and we can't wait to share it with the world."

AUGUST BURNS RED will embark on a North America tour with Killswitch Engage and Light the Torch this spring in support of Guardians.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Website

Pioneering brutal band AFTERBIRTH have unveiled the second single from their forthcoming sophomore album Four Dimensional Flesh. The track, entitled 'Never Ending Teeth', showcases the album's crushing progressive dissonance and unrelenting extremity. 

Listen / watch here: https://youtu.be/KacRUyLH0zc

Four Dimensional Flesh will see a 13th March release date via Unique Leader. 

The 11 track album finds the venerable Long Island group - which features members of Helmet and Artificial Brain - continuing to push their complex, progressive, and devastatingly heavy take on extreme metal forward into new realms of musical nuance and songwriting prowess. The effort was recorded by Colin Marston (Gorguts, Artificial Brain, Imperial Triumphant) with artwork by Kishor Haulenbeek. 

Born from a gruelling three year writing process, Four Dimensional Flesh shows AFTERBIRTH at the height of their powers and further cements their place in the pantheon of underground death metal, which they have held since their formation in 1993. 

The group commented, “The material on our second album, Four Dimensional Flesh, is the end result of a creative process that started in late 2016 and concluded in the summer of 2019. It is a body of work that is loosely conceptual in nature and continues to expand upon ideas put forth on the debut while also introducing some new elements for the listener.

This album, not unlike the rigorous process the band members engaged in while creating it, will be what we hope is a profound musical journey undertaken by any and all who venture to listen. 

The members of AFTERBIRTH believe, with every confidence, that Four Dimensional Flesh is the next logical step in the band’s evolution. They state: "It is an album that most certainly contains some of our most brutal, intense and heavy music to date, but it also embodies some of our most impassioned, nuanced and forward-thinking material as well.” 

Physical pre-order bundles for Four Dimensional Flesh are available here: https://www.indiemerch.com/uniqueleader/b/afterbirth
Digital bundles here: https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/four-dimensional-flesh

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/AfterbirthNYDeathMetal/
https://www.instagram.com/afterbirthnydm
https://www.facebook.com/UniqueLeaderRecords/
https://uniqueleader.com

Fresh from their support of Insomnium, CONJURER will support Car Bomb on their UK and EU tour in March.

Dates are as follows:

08/03 Cologne, DE MTC
09/03 Hamburg, DE headCRASH
10/03 Berlin DE Cassiopeia
11/03 Leipzig DE Naumanns
13/03 Prague CZ Modra Vopice
14/03 Vienna AT Chelsea
15/03 Budapest HU Dürer Kert
16/03 Munich DE Feierwerk
18/03 Milan IT HT Factory
19/03 Zurich CH Dynamo
20/03 Lyon FR Rock N Eat
21/03 Barcelona ES Bóveda
22/03 Madrid ES Caracol
23/03 Montpellier FR Secret Place
25/03 Paris FR Backstage
26/03 Manchester UK Rebellion
27/03 Glasgow UK Classic Grand
28/03 London UK Dingwalls

The band comment: "Heading back out on the road immediately after supporting Insomnium, we're chuffed to be playing alongside labelmates in Car Bomb. The tour includes some of our favourite venues and some countries we're hitting for the first time, so be prepared."

Watch CONJURER's most recent video, 'Thankless' here: https://youtu.be/Ogjc5DzIRHE

Purchase their debut LP Mire: http://www.holyroarrecords.com/products/605967-conjurer-mire

2020 looks set to continue CONJURER's rise as the UK's most exciting new metal band, following their relentless 2019. Two tours of North America, with Rivers of Nihil and then Revocation and Voivod, bookended CONJURER's Download Festival debut and triumphant collaborative Curse These Metal Hands release with Pijn.

CONJURER also released a stellar split covers EP with PALM READER toward the end of 2019 via Holy Roar Records.

Boasting four tracks with two covers each, both bands pay tribute to the acts that have influenced and inspired them: CONJURER cover Mastodon and Slipknot, while PALM READER cover Rage Against The Machine and Thrice. 

CONJURER's debut LP Mire (March 2018, Holy Roar Records) was critically acclaimed globally, landed multiple 'album of the year' lists and garnered awards nominations from the likes of Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and the Heavy Music Awards.

Championed by Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, BBC R1, AV Club, Upset, MetalSucks, Metal Hammer DE, Fuze (DE), Rock Tribune (BE) and more, CONJURER fast became the young metal band from the UK in 2018. CONJURER's 2018 included their first ever EU tour, subsequent dates with Will Haven and Conan; and sets at UK Tech-Fest, 2000trees, Bloodstock Open Air, ArcTanGent Festival (two sets), and Euroblast Festival.

Watch CONJURER's previous videos:

The Mire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYK2DsL_4o
Retch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLyTcuQYT9I 
Choke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDK56BamkxM
  
For more information:

http://www.facebook.com/conjureruk
http://www.twitter.com/conjureruk
http://www.instagram.com/conjureruk

http://www.holyroarrecords.com/

HIGH ON FIRE have announced a UK headline run as part of their festival tour this summer; the band's first UK dates since winning the Best Metal Performance Grammy in 2019. 

Touring in support of their Electric Messiah album, check out the single 'Spewn From The Earth' here: https://youtu.be/ZOdZZ-hnToE

Dates:

19/06 - Dessel, BE - Graspop Metal Meeting
20/06 - Clisson, FR - Clisson - Hellfest
22/06 - Brighton, UK - Chalk Venue Brighton
23/06 - Bristol, UK - The Fleece Bristol
24/06 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
25/06 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
26/06 - London, UK - The Garage
28/06 - Helsinki, FL - Tuska Open Air Metal Festival
30/06 - Stockholm, SE - Nalen
01/07 - Oslo, NO - Parkteatret
02/07 - Roskilde, DK - Roskilde Festival
04/07 - Dokkum, NL - Dokk'em Open Air
05/07 - Essen, DE - Turock
06/07 - Hamburg, DE - Bahnhof Pauli
08/07 - Wiesbaden, DE - Kesselhaus
09/07 - Munich, DE - Backstage Club München
10/07 - Erfurt, DE - Stoned from the Underground - Festival
11/07 - Vizovice, CZ - Masters of Rock
 
HIGH ON FIRE released Electric Messiah last year to some serious critical acclaim. The A.V. Club stated that "The bar for metal album of the year has been raised" and they couldn't be more correct. Electric Messiah has landed on a myriad of 2018 year-end lists including Metal Hammer, Kerrang!, A.V. Club, Revolver, Loudwire and Consequence of Sound. 
 
Consequence of sound said the new LP “successfully construct Sabbath-ian, earth-moving riffs as their blueprint." Pitchfork said boldly, “When High On Fire rip, it’s like they're tearing through the whole universe.” 
 
“I had a dream about Lemmy,” says Pike, explaining the inspiration behind the title of HIGH ON FIRE’s title track, "Electric Messiah." “When Lemmy was still alive I always got compared to Lemmy,” the gravelly-voiced guitarist elaborates, “so I had this dream where he got pissed at me."
 
"He gave me a bunch of shit, basically, and was hazing me. Not that he didn’t approve of me, but like I was being hazed. The song is me telling the world that I could never fill Lemmy’s shoes because Lemmy’s Lemmy. I wanted to pay homage to him in a great way. And it turned out to be such a good title that the guys said we should call the album 'Electric Messiah.'"

Purchase Electric Messiah here: http://smarturl.it/ElectricMessiah

More about the band: 
Website || Facebook || Twitter || Spotify 

Psych masters ELDER are back with their new LP Omens (released April 24, Stickman Records), their first LP since the globally-acclaimed Reflections of a Floating World.

Omens is perhaps the band's most ambitious album yet - delving into deeper, more expansive, genre-pushing territories with five tracks of progressive, heavy, psychedelically evocative glory. Elements of OM, Pink Floyd, even Mastodon and Hawkwind combine to create a truly special record.

Formed in a small coastal town in Massachusetts in the mid noughties, ELDER have reinvented their sound over the course of five albums to grow from a stalwart of the stoner/doom scene into one of the most unique voices in the rock underground. Their long-scale compositions unfold as journeys, running the gamut of styles from the 70s to the present within a single song, with a penchant for “sheer gatefold-era grandeur” as described by Rolling Stone. After thirteen years, this is the first full-length recorded with a new lineup including guitarist Michael Risberg and new drummer Georg Edert, along with guest performances by Fabio Cuomo on Rhodes piano and synthesizers.

ELDER’s new album Omens answers any speculation about their new direction with an emphatic statement: evolution or extinction. Lush, intricately interwoven melodies grow and dissolve into spaced-out jams; massive riffs thunder down into a churning sea of psychedelic sounds and unpredictable grooves carry away the listener. ELDER paint pictures with their music, and Omens shows the band experimenting with an even more colourful palette – with good reason.

By continuing to incorporate new elements to their sound, ELDER’s output has repeatedly set benchmarks for their peers. Beginning with 2008’s Elder and 2010’s Dead Roots Stirring, ELDER made ripples in the stoner rock scene with their uniquely melodic approach to the genre. In 2015 they surprised again with Lore, a watershed moment in the band’s career (recently crowned “Album of the Decade” by The Obelisk) which brought in elements of post-, prog- and space rock into the ELDER sound. Despite several years of heavy touring surrounding the album, Reflections of a Floating World was released just two years later, earning a spot at the top of many best-of lists including Rolling Stone (#5, 20 Best Metal Albums Of 2017), Stereogum, acclaim from Metal Hammer, and more.

ELDER will be touring USA in May. Dates below.

For more information:
Facebook || Website || Twitter || Instagram || Bandcamp ||

Portland-based progressive sludge metal unit LORD DYING have unveiled their captivating new video for 'Freed From The Pressures Of Time'. The powerful track comes off the band’s Mysterium Tremendum full-length, released last spring via Entertainment One (eOne).

Premiered via Metal Injection, watch/listen here: https://youtu.be/KnR_zJ_Il7Q

Comments guitarist/vocalist Erik Olson of the Brett Roberts-directed clip: “The video was filmed on location in the countries that made up former Yugoslavia. It highlights both the beauty and strangeness of Spomenik (WW2) monuments, some of which have been forgotten by the sands of time. Enjoy!”

LORD DYING’s critically-lauded Mysterium Tremendum was recorded at Los Angeles’ West Valley Recording Studios in August of 2018 with producer Mike Plotnikoff (Fear Factory, In Flames), mastered by Howie Weinberg (Slayer, Nirvana, Pantera, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and comes enveloped in the planetary landscape-inspired cover art of Steve R. Dodd. A massive, riff-heavy concept album borne out of personal sorrow, Mysterium Tremendum delivers eleven lead-footed tracks that explore death and what may or may not lie beyond.

LORD DYING will return to stages next month on a North American tour supporting label mates Black Label Society and Obituary. 

More info:

http://www.facebook.com/LordDying
http://twitter.com/Lorddying
http://instagram.com/lorddying
http://www.entertainmentone.com
http://www.facebook.com/eOneMusicUS
http://twitter.com/eonemusicus

Instrumental post-metal sludge quartet TELEPATHY have streamed their first single from their anticipated third full-length record, Burn Embrace, due 27th March via Svart Records.

Stream 'Pariah' here: https://orcd.co/telepathy-pariah

TELEPATHY formed in 2012, the product of three Polish brothers (Piotr, Albert, and Krystian Turek) and one English guitarist (Richard Powley), later joined by bassist Teddy James Driscoll. The quintet's second and most recent LP, Tempest (Spring 2017) was released to rave reviews globally, including Metal Hammer, Kerrang!, The Quietus, Visions, Metal Hammer DE, and more.

TELEPATHY played over 125 shows in support of Tempest over eight tours, and performed at acclaimed festivals, including Roadburn, ArcTanGent, Desertfest London, and more. Support tours with Solstafir and Saint Vitus have the newer quintet marked as one of the most revered and talked-about groups in the instrumental post-metal scene.

Burn Embrace will look to carry this legacy and then some - a scintillating mix of sludge, post-black, doom, and blackened metal from a band fully worthy of their praise.

Watch the band live:

22.03 Colchester, Arts Centre 
26.03 London, The Black Heart  
27.03 Coventry, The Arches
28.03 Manchester, Riffolution Festival 
29.03 Bristol, The Lanes 

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/telepathyband/
https://twitter.com/telepathyband
https://svartrecords.com/