Category: news

Appalachian Mountains rock artist The Follower of Christ has just released their newest single "Betrayed with a Kiss". The project is completely self-produced, with all writing, mixing, and mastering being done independently. The song explores Christian ideologies within the story of Judas, alongside betrayal and spiritual compromise.

The band states on the song:

“How much will people sacrifice for power? For status? For acceptance? For material gain? How much truth will be exchanged for the temporary rewards of this world?”

Review:

The song introduces itself with powerful guitar chugs and a funky synth bass, as impactful drums and singing show one musician playing all instruments and performing vocals by himself. A dramatic, hard rock / heavy metal sound is quickly built as dark guitar builds a powerful sound. Clean guitar layers over the heavy guitar and vocals in a way that, at first listen, felt almost dissonant but after a few spins started to feel more natural. Singing vocals are contrasted by occasional distant screams to add a sense of edge.

In the song's bridge, modulated synths add a unique sound as clean guitar solos are matched by distorted heavy guitar chugging before full-intensity screaming is introduced for the first time in the song. The heavy vocals were a nice surprise that was unexpected at the end of the track.

Overall, I think The Follower of Christ creates a well-done song, with impressive production for a one-man band. My biggest critique would be that the song can feel a little one-dimensional, as the same two guitar tones and synth tones are used throughout the whole song, and the vocals remain mostly the same throughout the song until the very end. I think the music could benefit from an increased sense of dynamics with more intense changes between sections, and I'd love to see the screaming vocals foreshadowed earlier in the song rather than only featured once at the very end. The sound feels unique but doesn't feel like it grows or evolves significantly in it's runtime, which a longer than average song (4+ minutes) should try to do. Besides that, "Betrayed with a Kiss" is a well-executed track and I enjoyed the interesting synth modulation in the bridge and the studio-style music video.

Fans of Christian music, heavy metal, and rock should check out The Follower of Christ's music and official video below!

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Find Them Here: Spotify | Instagram |

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Album Review: Tabernakel – Scheintaufe

Reviewed by Eric Clifford

Tabernakel put me in an awkward spot. Their flensed-to-the-viscera approach takes such obvious joy in delivering nasty, stripped down early 90’s black metal that it’s hard not to appreciate. But on the other hand, Christ if it doesn’t sound a lot like Darkthrone, uprooted and planted in Germanic soil. It’s the trve Norwegian vintage served in a beerstein, and that much is hinted at simply by a glance at the obviously Darkthrone-inspired logo that Tabernakel roll with. Maybe that’s unfair – on it’s own merits “Scheintaufe” (“Mock Baptism” in English) contains enough Teutonic sacrilege to satisfy the even the most grim and frostbitten of us. Still. It would be nice to hear a bit more of Tabernakel’s own personality sneaking between the charred timbers of the churches it puts to the torch.

Predictable as it may be, there’s a reason why raw, buzzing guitars, booming drums and raspy shrieks became tropes in the first place – it’s because they sound fucking awesome. As such, when “Sanguis” hammers into it’s blastbeats over a classic black thrash riff at 1.12 there’s no sense in pretending that I wasn’t loving life. Propulsive percussion whips the cascade of “Blood, Fire, Death” doppelganger strummed riffs to a march ahead of it, and high string tremolo lines like starving barracudas slip ravenous through the murk of the production job. At it’s strongest, Tabernakel’s clandestine séance summons in that same evil magic that suffused those same 2nd wave classics. Grimy and atavistic, it prioritises mood and atmosphere with salvos of simple but malfeasant power chord progressions and augmentations, slithering minor key melodies and a harsh, confrontational production. It’s quite spartan in some ways – a man, some drums, a bass, a guitar, and some serious emotional difficulties, and out pops “Im Nebel” – a snapping, deceptively melodic slice of treble-forward Prussian profanity built around tremolo-picked arpeggios and kick-snare beats that fire off like counterpunches. It is, in a nutshell, old school black metal as fuck.

Besides it’s growth-limiting adherence to the fundamental tenets of the genre, the other main flaw comes as much as a product of it being a one man project as anything else – an occasional struggle to self edit. This album is on the whole good stuff for sure, but even so the longer songs can feel a bit adrift in search of a destination sometimes. If comparatively brief tracks like “Wie Die Gischt” impress with cruel harmonies and devilish swaps between fast and slow sections, then longer tracks like “Schlussel zum Sanktum” dull their edge with lengthy acoustic sections or decent but derivative mid-paced strumming. The album is long enough that being a bit more severe about what wound up on the cutting room floor wouldn’t have been a crime. The synth interlude “Trugbild des Selbst” isn’t unendurable, but nor is it enthralling, relying on basic textures and progressions for four minutes at somnolent pace. Perhaps an interlude was in order but this one is far too average to deserve being stapled into the tracklist.

The crux of it is that A Blaze in the German Sky can be very enjoyable, but it’s also incapable of surprising you and comes with a little basket of compositional foibles to boot. It evokes a nostalgic vibe and mostly does justice to it, but a harsher stance on the editing process and a bit more imagination would’ve done it the world of good. This being Tabernakel’s second album within the space of a year the project seems to have a fair bit of creative vim to it, so hopefully for round 3 we see this same magnificent old school black metal taken to more uncharted waters.

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

The post Album Review: Tabernakel – Scheintaufe appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

It was definitely time.

The post Watch DRAIN Pay Tribute To Lou Koller With A Sick Of It All Cover At Long Beach ‘Vans Warped Tour’ Show appeared first on Theprp.com.

To sign to Exploding In Sound, you need to have a memorable one-word band name, like Jobber or Ovlov or Stuck. The great indie label’s newest signees, Bimbo, fit the bill. Hailing from Marquette, MI, Bimbo describe themselves as “if the White Stripes were evil, couldn’t write a song in 4/4, and were actually bother and sister.” Today they’re announcing their debut album The Bimbonacci Sequence.

The post Bimbo Announce Debut Album <em>The Bimbonacci Sequence</em>: Hear “Chewing Glass” appeared first on Stereogum.

Many is the time I’ve had a lead on a band that is obscure to me, which then gets forgotten in the avalanche of emails and comments I received from this site over time. I apologize for not following up in a timely manner.

Steven S. wrote to me a long time ago, 2008, about the Wild Kingdom, and though I corresponded with him, I neglected to post about the band, probably because they didn’t have any records to their name. Only recently have I noticed the connections to other bands such as the Mustangs and the Back Door, so I’ll add the photo and info he sent to me so long ago.

The Wild Kingdom were from the Peninsula (Hampton, Newport News) and used to play on the Southside at all the usual teen clubs.

The band personnel were: John Etheridge (drums), Glen (Robbie) Robertson (bass), Bruce West (vocals), and Mike Johnstone (guitar). Johnstone was an extremely gifted player who enjoyed considerable acclaim among area musicians.  Etheridge and Robertson wove a tightly solid sound, more like an R&B rhythm section than one might have expected from a hippie band in those days.  West was a versatile singer and quite the showman. 

At one point, they hooked up with Keith (of “98.6” fame) and toured as his backup band for awhile.  They later morphed into “The Back Door” and continued playing at local clubs until they scattered to join various other local groups.  They were the great unknowns in those days, being somewhat eclipsed by Swingin’ Machine. However, they were outstanding players and didn’t pay lip service at all to the “blue-eyed soul” genre that ruled the area back then. Their manager, Jim Tatum, also handled Bill Deal & the Rhondells – go figure!

Wild Kingdom and Back Door were a huge influence on many of us Southside garage punks.  We ranked them above Swingin’ Machine, partly because they didn’t cover any radio hits, but mostly because they were the better band.

I don’t remember Wild Kingdom/Back Door surviving beyond 1969. At that time, Bruce West injured his leg in a motorcycle mishap and “retired” from the music scene. Robbie Robertson likewise dropped off the radar about then.  Mike Johnstone & John Etheridge continued performing with various other area groups until at least the mid 1970’s. Some of the bands I recall were “Headstone Circus”, “Rooth”, “The Dubonettes”, and “Hot Cakes”.

To my knowledge, there are no recordings of the Wild Kingdom.

Jerry Harden published a brief memoir about Barnie’s in Buckroe Beach, VA that mentioned some of the bands I’ve covered, including Adrian & the Sinsations and Danny and the Delnotes. About the Wild Kingdom, he lists an additional member, Ray Witham, and writes that Robby Robinson [sic]: “was arrested on stage for wearing a sword as part of his costume”!

For enthusiasts of both crunchy and smooth, we offer up the talents of new Swedish atmospheric black metal duo Grey Shores and their debut single, “The Withering Tree.” Formed by Martin Andersson and Vilhelm Andersson (we’re not sure if they’re related), Grey Shores juxtapose harsh black metal sounds with post-metal ambient soundscapes, clean singing and ample melody on the track. “The Withering Tree” will appear on the outfit’s self-released seven-song debut, Dark Waters of Night, which further explores contrasting themes of melancholy melodies and abrasive harshness.

Dark Waters of Night was mixed and mastered by Jari Lindholm (Enshine, Exgenesis, Seas of Years). It’s set for release on CD and digitally on September 4. Place your preorder here.

Martin Andersson described the construction of the track:

”As with several songs on this album, this one started with Vilhelm sending me an acoustic passage he had been working on at home. I picked up on his initial idea and started adding black metal elements to it, building on the original harmonies. We then continued working on it together, exploring the dynamics between the harsher parts and the atmospheric and ambient sections. The lyrics deal with grief and personal loss, trying to put words on the sensation of the world suddenly disappearing from under your feet.”

The post Track Premiere: Grey Shores – “The Withering Tree” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Bulgarian mythology-inspired pagan black/folk metal band Tsar Stangra have announced a major lineup overhaul as they enter a new chapter in their career. Following a decade of perseverance and the release of their second full-length album, the band have decided to continue with a renewed lineup and a fresh musical direction. The changes came after […]

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Today, Swedish heavy metallers Watcher premiere the new track “Chalice of Light” at heavily trafficked web-portal Metal.de. The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Mistress of Our Time, set for international release on September 25th via Dying Victims Productions. Hear Watcher’s “Chalice of Light” in its entirety exclusively HERE. Hailing from Sweden, Watcher was formed in 2023 by singer Viktor Gustafsson, initially as a […]

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From July 26 to August 2, a small village in northern Germany is once again transformed into the loudest town in the world as 85.000 metalheads come together to celebrate Wacken Open Air. As in previous years, fans were able to begin arriving on Sunday. Thanks to the well-established traffic routing concept, arrivals proceeded smoothly and continued to do so on Monday, […]

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Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is preparing to give fans their first substantial update on his long-awaited solo album.

The legendary guitarist is scheduled to discuss the project during a YouTube livestream on Wednesday, July 29. The broadcast will begin at 7:30 a.m. PDT, 10:30 a.m. EDT and 3:30 p.m. BST.

While details about the record have remained under wraps, the upcoming livestream is expected to provide the first official information about the album, which has been in development for an extended period.

Ahead of the announcement, a brief teaser for Tony Iommi‘s upcoming music video has also been released, offering fans an early glimpse of what is on the way.

For followers of Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi‘s solo work, the July 29 livestream should provide the first real look at the guitarist’s next studio release after years of anticipation.

The post TONY IOMMI Set to Unveil First Details of New Solo Album This Week appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.