Category: news

The campaign to rehabilitate Korn’s divisive fourth album Issues album starts here

GIDE‘s Kaikuja is a mesmerizing instrumental journey that blends melodic techno sensibilities with atmospheric textures and a deep sense of nostalgia. Built around evolving synth layers, subtle rhythmic momentum, and cinematic sound design, the track unfolds patiently, inviting listeners into a contemplative and immersive sonic landscape. Balancing emotional depth with dancefloor-ready finesse, Kaikuja captures that rare feeling of motion and reflection coexisting in perfect harmony. Elegant, expansive, and quietly captivating, it is a track that lingers long after its final echoes fade away.

Connect:

Facebook

This is the third album from UK solo artist AA Williams. Playing an engaging form of dark alternative rock tastefully laced with post-rock flavours, (and a touch of post-metal influences here and there), Solstice contains 58 minutes of charismatic material. A.A. Williams has crafted a record that’s immersive and engaging. Solstice is filled with songs … Continue reading “A.A. Williams – Solstice (Review)”

I’ll be honest: when I first heard that Voivod had recorded a live album with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, my expectations weren’t particularly high.

Not because of Voivod. More because these kinds of projects usually end up feeling unnecessary. Too often, the orchestra is reduced to expensive background decoration while the band carries on as normal.

Symphonique turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

What struck me almost immediately was that the orchestra actually sounds involved. The arrangements don’t feel like an afterthought, and there were several moments where I found myself paying more attention to the strings and brass than to the guitars. That’s not something I expected going in.

The other thing that became obvious fairly quickly is how naturally Voivod‘s music lends itself to this sort of treatment. Thinking about it now, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. Their songs have always had an odd sense of space and movement to them. Even on the older records, there was often something cinematic lurking beneath all the noise and dissonance. Symphonique simply brings more of that to the surface.

The setlist helps. Rather than relying entirely on obvious crowd-pleasers, the band pulls material from different eras of its career, and some choices benefit from the orchestral setting more than others. A few songs suddenly sound much larger than I remembered them. Others take on a slightly different character altogether.

One thing I kept coming back to was Snake’s voice. Before hearing this, I honestly wondered whether all the orchestral stuff would end up swallowing it. It never really does. If anything, I noticed the vocals more than usual on a few tracks. Maybe it’s because the arrangements leave more space than I expected. Whatever the reason, it works.

The live aspect comes through, too. That’s another thing I wasn’t entirely convinced about beforehand. A lot of modern live releases sound so cleaned up that you stop thinking of them as live albums after ten minutes. Here I never completely lost that feeling that there was an actual room full of people listening to this happen.

A couple of songs left me less convinced. Not because they’re bad, but because I occasionally missed some of the roughness from the studio versions. Voivod have always had this slightly scrappy, unpredictable quality, and every now and then the orchestra smooths over some of those edges.

Then again, a few minutes later another arrangement would come along and I’d forget about that complaint.

By the end of the album I wasn’t really thinking about whether the orchestra was a good idea anymore. I was mostly thinking about the songs themselves, which is probably a good sign. The novelty wears off pretty quickly. What’s left is a bunch of Voivod material viewed from a different angle.

Some experiments spend their entire runtime trying to justify their existence. This one stopped feeling like an experiment somewhere around the middle of the set.

https://www.voivod.com/en/store

We go inside Scotland’s biggest prison, Barlinnie, for a gig by time-served and rehabilitated post-punks the Skids

Some bands mellow with age – but not thrash icons Slayer

Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” brings warmth, nostalgia, and country charm to the “Toy Story 5” soundtrack in a heartfelt new song.

The post Taylor Swift Finds the Heart of ‘Toy Story’ in ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ — Song Review appeared first on Audio Ink Radio.

REVIEW BY ALI WILLIAMS Opening night is where a tour discovers whether months of planning have produced a finely tuned live show or merely several adults standing beneath expensive lights, hoping everybody remembers the same arrangements. The Superjesus chose Brisbane’s The Triffid to open their national Jet Age 25th Anniversary Tour, performing the album in […]

Watch “Poison” HERE! https://youtu.be/Of3zuRnXivo

ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD has unleashed an epic and cinematic reimagining of ALICE COOPER‘s iconic track “Poison“. This release sees the symphonic progressive metal ensemble join forces with Los Angeles based symphonic/melodic metal band, ANTHEA. 

The alluring gothic mood of “Poison” is enhanced through ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD’s immersive musical arrangement. Intensity arises from the ferocious heaviness of the metal instrumentation while orchestral and synth layers sculpt an enveloping atmosphere. Haunting harmonies and technical prowess on display from ANTHEA’s vocalists Diego Valadez, Juna Pina, Astrid Anaya, and Mel Del Real elevate the track with a touch of the ethereal. 

ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD honor the character and impact of the original song while infusing the arrangement their own distinctive compositional qualities. Produced by ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD, “Poison” was recorded at Counter Communications with engineering, mixing and mastering by Chris Wirsig. The track’s cover art was created by JD McGibney.

About ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD:

Based out of Los Angeles, CA, ANGELSON THE BATTLEFIELD began as a side project for guitarist JD McGibney (ex-VOODOO KUNGFU) before augmenting to a full line-up in 2021. Alongside McGibney, the instrumental symphonic progressive metal band is now comprised of Jason Klein on bass (ex-BUTCHER BABIES), Eddie Trager on drums (ex-NEKROGOBLIKON) and Chris Wirsig on keyboards (award winning TV and film composer).

The ethos of the band is to empower listeners through music, to assist individuals who are fighting on their own battlefields and to help them find courage. ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD strive to improve awareness of and discourse around mental illness through the power of heavy metal.

The band made their live debut at the 2022 “This Is My Brave” mental health fundraiser, where the band helped to raise around $30,000 to donate to local Los Angeles mental health charities.

2024 saw ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD open for Taiwanese folk metal artist NiNi at her debut USA headline show in November of 2024. In the following year, the quartet embarked on their debut headline West Coast tour across October/November of 2025.

In 2025, ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD’s 2024 single release “Modern Prometheus” was long listed in the 2025 GRAMMY Awards in three categories: Best Metal Performance, Best Instrumental Composition and Best Arrangement – Instrumental or A Capella. Additionally, “Modern Prometheus” was nominated in the Hollywood Independent Music Awards in 2025.

Following the band’s haunting interpretation of “Phantom of the Opera” featuring guitarist Eli Santana (IGNITE, ex-HUNTRESS, ex-HOLY GRAIL), ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD deliver untamable power in the new single “Poison” featuring ANTHEA. 

Official Website: https://onthewingsofdragons.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelsOnTheBattlefieldBand/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angels_on_the_battlefield/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@angelsonthebattlefield 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aotbband

Source: C Squared Music

I first listened closely to Jared James Nichols‘s music back in 2018. He was the special guest on the L.A. Guns tour, which brought them to Leiden in The Netherlands. Back then, it was already impressive what the singer/guitarist brought to the stage, and the audience’s enthusiastic reaction spoke volumes. Eight years later, Nichols is… Continue Reading →