Welsh post-hardcore legends Casey return with new single, 'Great Grief'

Photo Credit: Martyna Bannister

Welsh post-hardcore legends Casey return, four years after announcing their hiatus, with their stunning new single 'Great Grief' out now via Hassle Records.

Stream 'Great Grief' here: https://casey.ffm.to/great_grief

The quintet will be making their joyous live return at the following dates:

Jan 12: UK The Fleece Bristol
Jan 13: UK Rebellion Manchester
Jan 14: UK The Garage London
Jan 19: DE Kulttempel Oberhausen
Jan 20: DE Conne Island Leipzig

Presale tickets for the shows sold out in a matter of hours. General sale tickets are available here, with very limited numbers remaining: http://www.abandcalledcasey.com

Of the single, vocalist Tom Weaver comments:

"'Great Grief' is really special to the five of us. It was the first piece of music we wrote collectively after deciding that we wanted to do this again, and it felt like an organic progression when it came together.

"Musically we wanted to maintain an anchor in the familiar, but challenge ourselves to produce a more mature and expansive sound. We put a lot of thought into the sound design, adding layers and harmonies - all things we'd not really put much effort into previously.

"Lyrically, the song talks about the realisation I came to after reflecting on our time as a band following our breakup. When we announced we were drawing Casey to a close, I'd tunneled on the immediate personal impact of my writing, and how it felt like I was proliferating my pain by repeating it each night. But I'm in a much better place now, and I've grown a lot over the last few years. So now, if I look beyond myself at how the music Casey made has been interpreted and applied in our fans, my own discomfort feels like a small price to pay for the collective joy and catharsis we felt from our community."


Casey, at its core, was grounded in the notion that music is a labour of love. Without expectation of success, without desire to attain stardom, just a shared yearning to create music - and when this no longer rang true Casey stayed true to themselves, and stepped away.

In late 2018, when Casey announced they were bringing the band to a close, it felt like a premature demise. Their first two LPs - 2016 Love Is Not Enough and 2018’s Where I Go When I Am Sleeping – had firmly established the Welsh five-piece as one of the most exciting bands in Britain’s alternative scene.

Now, four long years later, the band have returned.

‘Great Grief’ is the first song to emerge from Casey's resurrection, a gorgeously gloomy track that sees the band expand on the layered soundscapes that underpinned the songs of Where I Go When I Am Sleeping. Broken, bruised and bloody, and yet shimmering with beautiful defiance.

Quintessential Casey, the band's open hearts dripping with the same kind of pain and trauma that had defined them from the start. Casey don't just replicate the feelings that inspire them - they embody them.

For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/Caseytheband
https://www.instagram.com/caseytheband
https://twitter.com/bandcalledcasey


Casey are:

Tom Weaver
Liam Torrance
Toby Evans
Adam Smith
Max Nicolai

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Prognosis festival UK announces pg.lost, Einar Solberg (Leprous) day splits and more for debut edition

Prognosis festival UK has announced a raft of stellar new acts for its debut event, held at the stunning indigo at The O2 22-23rd April 2023.

Launching off the back of the highly successful Prognosis festival in the Netherlands, this unique event will be a huge celebration of the most exciting, innovative rock and metal music today. With early bird weekend tickets starting from £47.40 Prognosis also promises to be one of the UK's best value premier music events next year.

Early bird tickets are on sale until Sunday 11th December here.

The newly announced acts include Swedish post-rockers pg.lost, unique American post-metal troupe Astronoid and Einar Solberg, frontman of Norwegian progressive heavyweights Leprous, performing a not-to-be-missed solo set. Alongside them are Exist Immortal, Fixation, and Sylvaine.

They join the previously announced prog-metal legends Voivod, Sunday headliners Riverside, UK hot prospects Ithaca, Russian chamber-prog duo Iamthemorning and many more.

Full line-up as follows:

Saturday 22nd April:
Headliner TBA
Einar Solberg
Voivod
pg.lost
Astronoid
Iamthemorning
Fixation
Exist Immortal
Core of IO

Sunday 23rd April:
Riverside
Soen
Rosalie Cunningham
Sylvaine
Ithaca
O.R.k.
Lizzard
Cobra The Impaler

2023 marks the first edition of Prognosis festival held in the UK at the prestigious indigo at The O2. A familiar name, Prognosis was launched in 2019 in Eindhoven, Netherlands and has featured over the years TesseracT, Devin Townsend, Haken among many other luminaries.

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/prognosisfestival

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Gideon announce new album and release video for new single 'Too Much Is Never Enough'

Photo Credit: Ana Massard

Alabama hardcore warriors Gideon have announced their new album MORE POWER. MORE PAIN., due for release on 17th March 2023 via Rude Records (UK/EU) / Equal Vision Records (ROW).

The band have also released a video for their brand new single 'Too Much Is Never Enough'.

Check out the video for 'Too Much Is Never Enough' here: https://youtu.be/lN_P50SmAzw

Pre-order MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. here: https://gideonal.com/

'Too Much Is Never Enough' is a Southern-fried beatdown destined to ignite mosh pits from coast-to-coast, thanks to the thunderously chunky breakdowns with extra grit and girth. Overall, the song is a pummelling blast of vicious, metal-tinged hardcore, all acerbic guitars and chugging riffs over which vocalist Daniel McWhorter viciously spits, "Nothing was given to me, that sh*t was earned. The hard way." It's a line that sums up not just the song, but also much of the album as well - and the underlying positivity that underpins all of it.

"We're done holding our tongues," says guitarist/vocalist Tyler Riley about the track.

Bassist Caleb DeRusha weighs in about the album as a whole, saying, "This record is every side of Gideon forged into one. The title says it all - MORE POWER. MORE PAIN."

Indeed, 'Too Much Is Never Enough' is just the start of Gideon's next chapter. A self-empowering call to arms, it continues - much like the rest of the record - to redefine who, what and why Gideon are. The result is the most uncompromising reason for their existence to date.

Gideon will return to the UK and Europe in 2023, supporting The Amity Affliction alongside Fit For A King and SeeYouSpaceCowboy.

UK dates:

Jan 15: London Electric Ballroom
Jan 16: Manchester O2 Ritz
Jan 17: Birmingham O2 Institute
Jan 18: Bristol SWX

Since forming in 2008 in Tuscaloosa, AL, Gideon have been making a name for themselves by defying convention, creating their own distinct sound and never settling for anything that was just run of the mill or ordinary. Rather, the band have stretched the boundaries of their sound to great acclaim and to increasing commercial success. 2011's debut album, Costs, established them as powerhouse of the metalcore scene, but that's something Gideon simultaneously pushed away from it, incorporating elements of melodic hardcore and hardcore punk into the fold of their songs, but always with an underlying sense of positivity and defiance. Impressively prolific, the band released their next two full-lengths, Milestone and Calloused, on Facedown Records in 2012 and 2014 respectively, before signing to Equal Vision Records.

Their first album for EVR was 2017's Cold, followed by Out Of Control in 2019, a record that deservedly saw the band's profile rising steadily. And then, of course, the pandemic hit. All that hard work and dedication, the progress they'd made vanished in an instant. In fact, Gideon were mid-tour on that album cycle when touring came grinding to a halt and forced the band to return home to Alabama, frustrated and disillusioned with a situation that - like most touring bands - thought might mean the end of what they do. Thankfully, it didn't, which brings us to Gideon's sixth studio album.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Randy Lebouef at Graphic Nature Audio, MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. is a brutally intense burst of violent noise that both nods to the band's past, musically and thematically, but also establishes itself in its own context.

"We had to walk through fire and break down walls to get to this chapter," says Smelley. "We're done explaining why we are the way we are. This album is for the misunderstood, the dreamers, the broken, the damned, the ones that refuse to fall in line. When everything and everyone tells you to give up, your mind can take you to dark places. We came to realize that there was strength in that. Instead of letting it consume us, we fought like hell."

Gideon are:

Daniel McWhorter - vocals
Tyler Riley - guitar/vocals
Caleb DeRusha - bass
Jake Smelley - drums

For more information:
https://gideonal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GideonAL/
https://twitter.com/gideonal/
https://www.instagram.com/GideonAL/

MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. tracklisting:

1. Hell for a Man
2. Locked Out of Heaven
3. Push It Back
4. Too Much Is Never Enough
5. MORE POWER. MORE PAIN.
6. Take Off
7. Damned If I Do (Damned If I Don't)
8. If You Love Me, Let Me Go
9. Off the Rails
10. The Final Nail
11. Midnight Blue
12. I Will Carry You
13. Back 2 Basics
14. Let 'Er Fly

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Kataklysm frontman Maurizio lacono's solo project INVICTUS streams new video

Invictus, the new solo project led by Maurizio Iacono (Kataklysm), today unveils a new video for 'Eagles', taken from the new full-length release, Unstoppable, out now via MNRK Heavy.

Watch the video to 'Eagles' here: https://youtu.be/GITWcsCq4JU

Stream here: invictus-unstoppable.com

Iacono comments on the video: “‘Eagles’ is one of the first songs that me and Chris Clancy wrote. It was put together during the baby stages of this band’s life, so it's an important track. The theme around it is about the military doing their duty for our country and our mistakes of not taking good care of these heroes when they get back home. Most of them need help and we just don't do enough to deliver proper care.”

Purchase Unstoppablehere: https://ffm.to/invictus-unstoppable

Watch previous videos 'Get Up' and 'Exiled' on the band's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRksPgBhLGcXzZWXiWF1Q1w

The sound of Invictus resonates deeply with all those who forged themselves in the fire of life’s obstacles. Conceived as an unflinching examination of fury and determination, Invictus explore the depths of struggle, frustration, and perseverance that shaped Iacono into the man he is today.
 
Well-respected as the singer of Kataklysm and Ex Deo, head of Hard Impact Artist Management, founder of Distortion Music Group, and co-owner of hard-and-heavy booking agency Continental Touring, Iacono delivers dynamic new layers of heaviness and melody with his latest creative vehicle. A Latin epithet for various Roman deities, “Invictus” translates to “unconquered” or “invincible,” a theme put forward throughout Iacono’s latest output. The eleven songs that comprise Unstoppable offer an unflinching view of an unbreakable spirit, examined through the lens of ambitious, unapologetic heavy music. Iacono executed his vision alongside longtime collaborator J-F Dagenais (guitarist for Kataklysm and Ex Deo) and producer/main songwriter Chris Clancy (Mutiny Within). Powerhouse drummer Jeramie Kling (Venom Inc., Inhuman Condition) rounded out the record with a blistering performance. Iacono got to know Clancy, who often works alongside Colin Richardson and Andy Sneap, while making Kataklysm’s fourteenth album, 2020’s Unconquered.
 
Lyrically, the self-made, free-thinking singer reached further inward for Invictus, summoning a fearless power destined to provoke and inspire those disenfranchised by modern times. Invictus acts as armor against manipulation and disinformation from a stance more personal than political.
 
“It’s a record about everyday struggle because I’ve always been a fighter,” Iacono reasons. “It’s about the emotional impact of everything happening in our world, which inspired this anger in me and a need to express the importance of standing for what we know is true in our hearts. It’s a hybrid between that and revisiting things from my childhood that built me as a person.”

Invictus online:
http://www.iaminvictus.net
http://www.facebook.com/Maurizioiaconoofficial
http://www.instagram.com/maurizioiacono.official

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Irish sextet THUMPER release brand new single 'Summer Assault'

Irish noise-pop sextet THUMPER have released a video for their latest single 'Summer Assault', out now via Reckless Records.

Check out the video for 'Summer Assault' here: https://youtu.be/9dbEm9hWjUo

Stream/purchase 'Summer Assault' here: https://linktr.ee/hellothumper

Complementing THUMPER’s idiosyncratic style of noise-driven rock, the video was directed by visual artist Julie Weber (Æ MAK, Holly Hudson Taylor, Fears, ANDI), and sees two concurrent yet wholly different lifestyles played out side-by-side. Weber explains:

“The music video for 'Summer Assault' is an observation of human dualities, dichotomies and synchronicities. I was interested in the layered perspectives of seeing and being - is there such a thing as having a superior lifestyle? Does that mean being a social spider that attends parties, or is it being a health demon who eats beetroot for breakfast? One or the other? Neither or both?”

THUMPER have also announced a New Year's Eve co-headline show with Sprints at Whelan's in Dublin. Tickets are on sale here: https://www.whelanslive.com/ticket/nye-w-sprints-thumper/

'Summer Assault' sees the band venture into new territory and marks their first new music since their debut album Delusions Of Grandeur, released earlier this year. The track comes off the back of THUMPER's extensive European, UK and Irish tour, including sell-out shows in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Dublin. The bombastic Dublin outfit have also played at Sŵn Festival in Cardiff and are gearing up for a set at RTE 2FM’s Rising on the Road.

‘Summer Assault’ is a vignette of self-sabotage, an anthem of small failure. It’s about a doomed relationship that carries on regardless - a narrator banging on the glass trying to warn the song’s inhabitants. Each melody and hook competes for space over an ever expanding wall of guitars, bass and THUMPER's signature double drums. In just over three minutes, ‘Summer Assault’ sees THUMPER boil their trademark noise wall into an earworm of a pop song.

THUMPER's previous single '25' came thundering into the ESNS Radio Charts, with support BBC Radio 1's Future Artists with Jack Saunders and Future Alternative with Nels Hylton, as well as Kink, KEXP and more. They featured as the face of Spotify's ‘All New Punk’ playlist and gained editorial support from Amazon Music. Championed heavily by BBC Radio 1 DJ Gemma Bradley and many more, ‘Summer Assault’ is sure to be THUMPER's biggest single yet.

Stream/purchase the band's debut album Delusions of Grandeur here: https://orcd.co/j4a8pjo

THUMPER are:

Oisín Leahy Furlong - Vocals, Guitar
Alan Dooley - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Alex Harvey - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Dav Campbell - Bass, Backing Vocals
Stevie D’Arcy - Drums
Benedict Warner-Clayton - Drums

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

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UK rock quartet InTechnicolour announce tour with El Moono and stream live video for 'San Francisco'

Photo Credit: Martin Ruffin

UK rock quartet InTechnicolour have announced a run of dates with alternative act El Moono in March 2023. The band have also released a live version of the track 'San Francisco', taken from their new album Midnight Heavyweight.

Filmed at Bad Pond Festival last year, watch the video to 'San Francisco live' here: https://youtu.be/NjRQUdV_xy8

Catch the bands on the follow dates:

Mar 09th - UK Sheffield - Tickets
Mar 10th - UK Nottingham - Tickets
Mar 11th - UK Liverpool - Tickets
Mar 17th - UK St Albans - Tickets
Mar 18th - UK Luton - Tickets
Mar 19th - UK Guildford - Tickets

Check out previous singles:
'Tokyo Dream': https://youtu.be/A3UVdu-b4HY
'The Wave': https://youtu.be/-0V4D7cxnno

More info on Intechnicolour:

Hailing from Brighton, InTechnicolour are a riffy, groovy, rock band with a knack for creating a colourful song or two. Formed in 2015 through a want to play loud music through slightly broken amps, the basis of the band was created.

InTechnicolour are an inventive four-piece comprised of technically gifted musicians, cutting loose and playing music that’s about as far removed from their day jobs as it’s possible to get – and they are doing it better than a good portion of their contemporaries. Landing somewhere between the slack desert-groove of Kyuss and Karma To Burn, the band combine deeply satisfying riffs with a dynamic vocal style, which calls to mind the sounds of Baroness, Gojira and Mastodon.

InTechnicolour have previously toured across the UK and Europe with the likes of Physics House Band, Black Peaks, Town Portal, Bitch Falcon and Haggard Cat, and are gearing up to hit the road this autumn with dates to be announced very soon.

InTechnicolour online:
https://www.facebook.com/Intechnicolourband/
https://twitter.com/intechnicolour_
https://www.instagram.com/intechnicolour/

More info on El Moono:

Influences of rock, hardcore, post-hardcore, sludge, grunge and metal, El Moono's off-kilter and oftentimes mind-bending riffs, emotive songs and expressive lyricism combine to create a sound that’s difficult to pigeonhole.

Touring in support of their Temple Corrupted EP, check out recent single 'Requiem' here: https://youtu.be/jcjMS4PPr3Q

El Moono online:
https://www.elmoono.com
https://www.facebook.com/elmoono
https://www.instagram.com/el.moono
https://twitter.com/elmoono4

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Death metal legends OBITUARY release title-track from new album

Legendary Florida death metal icons OBITUARY return with their highly anticipated new album, Dying of Everything, out 13th January via Relapse Records. Today the band share the official audio for the album title-track 'Dying of Everything'.

Watch the visualiser for 'Dying of Everything' here: https://youtu.be/1EhlsxrkzmM

OBITUARY comment: "We picked the title-track for the second single to give fans a taste of something a bit different than that typical OBITUARY style. We are excited to showcase Ken’s writing ability when he and Donald put their heads together, and feel it just adds some extra flavor & spice to 'Dying of Everything'. Can’t wait for the fans to hear it!!"

Physical Dying of Everything pre-orders are available here: https://store.relapse.com/obituary-dying-of-everything

Currently on their North America Great Heathen Tour with Amon Amarth, Carcass & Cattle Decapitation, OBITUARY return to Europe in January/February 2023 with Trivium & Heaven Shall Burn. They conclude their European run with a one-off headline show in London at The Electric Ballroom on 23rd February.

Dying Of Everything destroys in the time-honoured tradition of early OBITUARY classics Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death while maintaining the killer studio sound that the band has been perfecting in their own studio since 2007’s monstrous Xecutioner’s Return.

Like just about every album in OBITUARY’s vast catalogue, Dying Of Everything is instantly memorable; it’s a skill that OBITUARY have only improved upon over the years. It’s unusual for a band that’s been around since the ’80s to be doing some of their best work in the 2020s, but that’s exactly what OBITUARY have accomplished through their do-it-yourself attitude and relentless touring on a worldwide level. “I think it comes down to passion,” vocalist John Tardy offers. “I say this all the time, but if something’s not fun, I’m not gonna do it. And we’re having more fun than ever.”

Watch previous video 'The Wrong Time' video (directed by Odd Life Studios) here: https://youtu.be/AoKRsHSPfw4

OBITUARY are:
John Tardy - Vocals
Donald Tardy - Drums
Trevor Peres - Rhythm Guitar
Terry Butler - Bass Guitar
Ken Andrews - Lead Guitar

For more information:
OBITUARY Website
OBITUARY on Facebook
OBITUARY on Instagram
OBITUARY on Twitter
OBITUARY on Bandcamp
OBITUARY YouTube Channel

Track listing:

1. Barely Alive
2. The Wrong Time
3. Without a Conscience
4. War
5. Dying of Everything
6. My Will To Live
7. By the Dawn
8. Weaponize the Hate
9. Torn Apart
10. Be Warned

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Polar release video for new single 'Rush'

Photo Credit: Tom Green

Polar have released a video for their new single 'Rush'. The track is another glimpse into their upcoming album Everywhere, Everything, due for release on 13th January 2023 via Arising Empire.

Check out the video for 'Rush' here: https://youtu.be/kbOIqq-tuKw

Pre-order Everywhere, Everything here: https://arisingempire.com/everywhereeverything

Vocalist Adam Woodford comments on the single:

"While writing the lyrics for 'Rush' it really reminded me that I have a lot of caring people around me, and although the pandemic has created a divide and disconnection, as soon as you are back in the company of the ones you love it’s like you have never been apart. The lyrics are a call out to those people, to say whatever we go through we will always have each other to lift each other up.”

At the beginning of 2020, the music world came to an abrupt stop. For Polar, that meant a conclusive end to their unfinished tour alongside After The Burial, Spiritbox and Make Them Suffer, following their acclaimed 2019 album Nova.

Filled with a sense of uncertainty in a world turned upside down, Polar (Adam Woodford, Fabian Lomas, Gav Thane and Noah See) took to work on brand new material, with lyrics that delve deep within the self and a sound that treads new, experimental grounds.

Now armed with their hard-hitting new album, Polar are raring to take to the stage, after years of musical and personal growth behind the scenes.

Polar are:

Adam Woodford | vocals
Fabian Lomas | guitar
Gav Thane | bass
Noah See | drums

For more information:

https://www.instagram.com/polaruk
https://www.facebook.com/polaruk
https://www.tiktok.com/@polaruk
https://twitter.com/polaruk
https://www.polaruk.co

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German metal newcomers Half Me announce debut album and release video for new single 'Blacklight'

Photo Credit: Lisa-Marie Tanck

German metal quintet Half Me have announced their debut album SOMA, due for release on 17th February 2023 via Arising Empire. Formed in Hamburg Germany in 2018, the band - guitarists Chris and Julius, vocalist Chris, drummer Max and bassist Tobias - are one of the latest additions to the Arising Empire roster.

The band have also released a video for their new single 'Blacklight'.

Check out the video for 'Blacklight' here: https://youtu.be/U043y8JwgkA

Pre-order SOMA here: https://arisingempire.com/soma

Half Me comment on their debut album:

"We’re proudly announcing our debut LP SOMA. SOMA tells a twisted story about paranoid schizophrenia and the symptoms that come along with it. Conceptually starting with 'Wraith' as the trigger and ending in acceptance with 'Half Me', it follows a straight path of mental decay. The inner dialogue alters throughout the album and each song is an excursion into the depths of the human mind and its perception."

In the space of just two years, the band have made an impact in the music scene by self-producing their music and videos, displaying their intensive and energetic demeanour. Debuting with four singles initially, it was their their single 'Exitwound' (featuring Jack Bergin of Void of Vision) that gave the group a breakthrough and landed the band in the spotlight of Knotfest’s Countdown to Oblivion.

Musically, Half Me blend a modern rendition of metal and hardcore with highlights of 90s nu-metal. Pounding riffs and breakdowns are accompanied by brutal, yet sometimes elegant, vocals that all balance together to formulate the band’s own distinctive sound. Riding the high of their recent success, Half Me have their sights set on releasing their highly anticipated debut album in 2023, and are sure to make it worth the wait.

Check out Half Me's recent singles:

'Half Me': https://youtu.be/LSOGsadBt3g
'Wraith': https://youtu.be/3tPGtDtItJs

Half Me are:

Christopher Zühlke | vocals
Christopher Hesse | guitar
Julius Jansen | guitar
Tobias Max Sajons | bass
Maximilian Eisersdorff | drums

Half Me online:
Facebook || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

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