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B.B. King will be the focus of a new installment in The Montreux Years series featuring previously unreleased live recordings from the blues legend’s appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

B.B. King: The Montreux Years will be released November 20 via BMG. The collection draws from nine of King’s 23 appearances at the festival, with performances recorded between 1982 and 2000.

The CD and digital editions feature recordings from all nine selected appearances, while the vinyl edition includes material from eight shows. The collection will be available on 2LP vinyl with printed inner sleeves, a 2CD digisleeve with booklet, and HD digital formats.

The recordings were restored and newly mastered from the original tapes by Tony Cousins at Metropolis Studios in London. All but one of the recordings are receiving their first official release.

The first single, “Early in the Mornin’,” is out now. Recorded during King’s 2000 Montreux performance, the song pays tribute to one of his musical influences, Louis Jordan. An accompanying video features footage from King’s 2000 festival appearance.

B.B. King: The Montreux Years was created in collaboration with the B.B. King Estate and Montreux Jazz Festival team under license from Montreux Sounds. The release also features rare and previously unseen photographs along with liner notes from B.B. King biographer Daniel de Visé, assisted by King’s longtime bassist Michael Doster.

King, born Riley B. King in Mississippi on September 16, 1925, became one of the most influential blues musicians of the 20th century. With his distinctive guitar style and famed Gibson guitar Lucille, King influenced generations of musicians, including Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

During his career, King won 15 Grammy Awards and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Blues Hall of Fame.

King developed a long relationship with the Montreux Jazz Festival and its founder, Claude Nobs, eventually appearing at the festival 23 times.

The new collection includes “Guess Who” from King’s 1982 appearance, “Rock Me Baby” from 1984, “Caldonia” from 1987 and “The Thrill Is Gone” from 1990. Later performances include “All Over Again,” “Blues Boys Tune” and “Stormy Monday” from 1995, along with “Early in the Mornin’” from 2000.

The 2CD and HD digital editions feature four additional recordings, including a 1991 performance of “Let The Good Times Roll.”

The Montreux Years series launched in 2021 using recordings from the extensive Montreux Jazz Festival archives. Previous editions have featured artists including Nina Simone, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Roberta Flack, John McLaughlin and Chick Corea.

Tracklisting:

2LP

Side A

1. All Over Again (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1993)*
2. Ain’t Nobody Home (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)
3. Blues Boys Tune (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1995)

Side B

1. Blues In A (Live at Casino Montreux 1989)
2. The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)
3. When It All Comes Down (I’ll Still Be Around) (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)

Side C

1. Early In The Mornin’ (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 2000)
2. Caldonia (Live at Casino Montreux 1987)
3. Guess Who (Live at Casino Montreux 1982)

Side D

1. Rock Me Baby (Live at Casino Montreux 1984)
2. Stormy Monday (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1995)

2CD

CD One

1. All Over Again (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1993)*
2. Ain’t Nobody Home (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)
3. Blues Boys Tune (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1995)
4. Blues In A (Live at Casino Montreux 1989)
5. The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)
6. When It All Comes Down (I’ll Still Be Around) (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)
7. You Know I Love You (Live at Casino Montreux 1989)**

CD Two

1. Early In The Mornin’ (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 2000)
2. Caldonia (Live at Casino Montreux 1987)
3. Guess Who (Live at Casino Montreux 1982)
4. Rock Me Baby (Live at Casino Montreux 1984)
5. Stormy Monday (Live at Auditorium Stravinski 1995)
6. Into The Night (Live at Casino Montreux 1991)**
7. Go On (Live at Casino Montreux 1990)**
8. Let The Good Times Roll (Live at Casino Montreux 1991)**

HD Digital: tracklisting as per 2CD

* Previously released ** 2CD and HD digital only

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The band kicked off a string of hometown reunion shows this week.

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Album Review: Gåte – Sigil

Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez

Well, this was unexpected! In the best way possible though. See, upon hearing of the band’s sound as being ‘rooted in the intersection of Nordic folk tradition’, this conjured some anxiety. Surely not another Heilung wannabe or Temu version of Wardruna! Because the market is becoming more and more flooded everyday with bands who attempt to lean into this aesthetic but come up short.

Not Gåte! They’re different. “Sigil” is different.

This is classic contemporary meets tradition and the synergy between the two is remarkable. We see the traditional string instruments such as the mykelharpa and the fiddle to add a bit of Nordic folk spice. Fronted by Gunnhild, she sings in her native tongue and does so with such power and conviction her ancestors would be proud! In songs like ‘Strandvaskar’, we hear the deployment of cavernously deep percussive instruments too to add to this traditional vibe (though check out ‘Nokon’ for a real clinic in Pagan percussion!). Though these elements form a core of their identity, they blend seamlessly with contemporary music and the familiar tried and tested verse-chorus song structures. Staying with ‘Strandvaskar’, the electronic drum beats are hard to ignore. As is the thunderous roar of the distorted electric bass and the tremolo picked riffs on the electric guitar during ‘Oskorsreia’. This number also features one of the more memorable choruses and salient vocal lines on the entire album!

You’d think singing in their native language (Norwegian I’m assuming – feel free to correct me) would prove to be a barrier, instead this provides an infectious range of vocal sounds and inflections seldom heard by English speakers. ‘Bod Fra Djupet’ and ‘Songen’ are 2 more folk spiced numbers with the volume dialed right down and gives Gunnhild all the room her voice needs to truly shine. You’ll find yourself humming along to countless earworms and infuriatingly catchy vocal passages. This gives Gåte something unique for sure.

Whilst listening to this, a thought occurred; wouldn’t this sound amazing at Eurovision? Funnily enough, they have done this, competing in the 2024 edition! Though surely wanting to forget about the last place finish usually reserved for the United Kingdom! Maybe that wasn’t the right stage for them. This autumn, they’ll tour their native Norway on a headline tour where they’ll surely receive a hero’s welcome. “Sigil” is the debut record for their new home Season Of Mist too. With countless other bands with folk elements deep in their DNA – Saor, Nytt Land, and Heilung, to just a few – they seem right at home on this label. Just like anybody who craves something bold and exciting will be right at home with “Sigil” as Gåte breathes invigorating fresh air and impetus into the world that truly needs. Definitely no Heilung or Wardruna rip offs here!

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

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Featuring Bring Me The Horizon, A Day To Remember, Motionless In White, Underoath, Circa Survive and more.

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Album Review: Noctule – Extinguish Thy Flame

Reviewed by Dan Barnes

Ex-Svalbard singer, Serena Cherry, returns with the second album from her video-game-inspired black metal project, Noctule. Coming five years after the Wretched Abyss debut, Extinguish Thy Flame’s gestation has been in the works since before the debut’s release. Originally conceived as a choral black metal album, it eventually came to life as a combination of melodic death metal and symphonic black metal, this time around the subject of Elden Ring.

I’m not about to embarrass myself with making any comment about the game; the last video game I completed was Lego Indiana Jones on the Nintendo Wii and that was many moons since. I will repeat Serena’s opinion that Elden Ring is “one of the greatest and toughest video games of all time” and bow to her greater knowledge on such things.

In that respect, I have no idea as to the success of Extinguish Thy Flame as a representation of the game, so I’ll save my comments to its musical aspect.

As with Wretched Abyss, Serena wrote and recorded all music here, relinquishing the production duties this time around to Keir Campbell, and where the last record was issued by Church Road Records, this one is totally self-released.

Beginning with the brief atmospheric intro that is Welcome to Limgrave, which acts as appetite-wetter through folky acoustics and the sound of vast, ancient plains, before Devour the Gods arrives with Serena’s raw-throated vocals and melodic extremity. Stomping rhythms and galloping guitars give it an almost Arch Enemy feel, yet the darkness is all-too apparent in the sibilant, hissing delivery of the final section.

First single, Lord of Blood blends a jaunty bounce with rasping vocals and blast beat percussion, layering clean guitars over dark riffs; second single, Goddess of Rot, finds Noctule going a little more ambient, echoing vocals sound screamed from the void and sit low in the mix, the measured and endlessly repeating riff has spiralling guitars seemingly trying to escape gloomier, doomier tones.

Gothic piano and classical strings usher in the symphonics of Grafted, the Emperor / Dimmu Borgir blasts and raw vocals at odds with the orchestral outro; Lament of the Omen King has a big, bold power metal intro, and Age of the Stars begins in a traditionally classic metal style and finds Serena in perfect synchronicity with herself in the guitar harmonies.

Ominous gothic piano and crashing waves mark the arrival of the short interlude, O’ Death, which acts as an elongated introduction to Become My Blade Once More’s acceptance of the classical nature of the genre, alongside a Cradle of Filth-style narrative passage. Extinguish Thy Flame concludes on a surprisingly bright and upbeat Hallowhorn Grounds, with an uplifting and triumphant pomp, stirring folk mid-section and heroic conclusion.

Purely due to its creation must Extinguish Thy Flame be applauded. Serena’s vision is staunch and her commitment to the subject matter unwavering. In its execution, the record is forty-minutes of ripping melodic black metal, all from a singular vision.

How closely this aligns to its subject matter I will leave others to discuss, save to say if you’re looking for a rollocking black metal record that won’t see you on the highway to hell, Nocule’s new one could be right up your street.

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

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Adrian Belew has added his distinctive guitar to a diverse and stellar cast including Frank Zappa, King Crimson, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Laurie Anderson, Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, Porcupine Tree, Trent Reznor and even William Shatner. In 2011 – long before he hit the road with Crimson offshoot Beat – he told Prog that musicians’ survival lay in performing live.

In 1977 you joined Frank Zappa’s band. What, if push came to shove, are your favourite Zappa tracks?

Zoot Allures [from Zoot Allures, 1976]. The soaring feedback guitar lines over modal chord changes make this one of his most direct, even accessible musical pieces of Frank’s vast catalogue, and the effect is hauntingly beautiful.

With all the skills Frank had people sometimes overlook his voice. On Po-Jama People [One Size Fits All, 1975] I love the way he sings like a cartoon character might. I’ve sung it to each of my children growing up and they’ve all adored it.

One of the tracks Frank gave me to learn as an audition piece was Andy [One Size Fits All]. Another stunning piece of music which happens to be a song as well – and it certainly gave me pause to wonder what I was getting into!

Peaches en Regalia [Hot Rats, 1969] will always remain dear to me. It was often the first song of our performances together. Frank and I played the guitar parts in unison. What an honour that was.

You clearly love working in your power trio, featuring Julie Slick on bass, and Marco Minnemann on drums. What does it allow you to do that you can’t do in King Crimson?

First of all, it’s my vehicle more than Crimson. Obviously when when it’s you and Robert Fripp, you share ideas, and you can’t play all the time. Secondly, the trio gives me a different platform to work from. When you’re the only guitarist you have to fill in and really shine. I think it makes me a better player and gives me room to move around.

The trio have played all over the world. Any stand-out moments for you?

Chile was truly mind-blowing – all of South America was, but the first show in Chile was absolutely amazing. They turned away hundreds of people. The traffic was stopped and everything! I’d only played there once before with David Bowie in 1990; that’s a long time ago and I wasn’t expecting there to be much of an audience!

The coolest thing was that before we started playing they were pounding on the floor, a thousand people strong – incredible. We came out and we were like, “It can only go downhill now!”

You recently performed your 43-minute composition, e, on guitar with the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands. How did that come about?

I always dreamed of doing it, but I never thought I would because it’s a huge, very expensive undertaking, and I live in the US where they don’t fund these kinds of things! It took three years of writing on and off, and although it was definitely as a showcase for the power trio, in the back of my mind I kept thinking I’d like to have an orchestra play it.

I’d mentioned that in the press when the e album was released in 2009, and it just so happens that the guy who directs the Metropole Orchestra is a big fan. He called me out of the blue and said, ‘We’d love to do your orchestral piece!’

I don’t see myself stopping playing live right now… it’s the one thing left, and I’d like to continue it

“They’re funded partly by the government and partly by the largest broadcasting company in the Netherlands. So, in February 2010, I played guitar by myself, in front of the orchestra; and that was like a dream come true.

Where did your interest in working with an orchestra come from?

I joined the school marching band playing the drums. They’d take us over to Cincinnati Music Hall four times a year to hear great symphony orchestras playing all this really great, heavy duty music.

Before I had a pop ear – and all the things that followed from that – I really liked orchestral music first; it was the thing that really awed me. If you’re 12 years old and you hear a 70-piece orchestra in a perfect acoustic hall, it’ll do that!

In a culture of increasing expectations that music should be free, are you optimistic about being able to survive?

The glass is definitely half-full for me. The story has not been fully written on what’s going to happen with intellectual property; I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. But the thing that I realised is that although they can steal pretty much everything else, they haven’t yet figured out a way of stealing the live experience. If they want to see you play live, they’ve got to come along and see you – and they still have to pay for that!

Your King Crimson ex-colleague Bill Bruford has retired from live work [he changed his mind and returned in 2023]. Do you think you’ll be following him soon?

No! No way. I don’t see myself stopping playing live right now because, as I said, it’s the one thing left, and I’d like to continue it. I don’t know what else I would do if I weren’t doing this.

INTERVIEW WITH PAUL BAAYENS OF ASPHYX The mighty and legendary Asphyx is one of the most highly respected death metal bands, having remained loyal to […]

The post Paul Baayens – Asphyx (also Hail Of Bullets, Thanatos, Cremation) appeared first on Metal-Rules.com.

EP Review: Scorpion Milk – Flesh Masks For Skulls

Reviewed by Rick Eaglestone

Mat McNerney is a perpetual-motion machine, a restless shape-shifter who has spent an entire career refusing to sit still, from the avant-garde black metal of his Kvohst days through the death-rock swoon of Beastmilk and Grave Pleasures to the woodland psychedelia of Hexvessel and now, barely a year on from Scorpion Milk’s debut Slime Of The Times, he is already back with a six-track EP called Flesh Masks For Skulls and is exactly the kind of gleeful, between-albums curio that only a genuine lifer would ever bother to make.

Scorpion Milk is McNerney’s post-punk vehicle, and Flesh Masks For Skulls is less a grand statement than a scrapbook: three new originals, a pair of carefully chosen covers, and a remix, all bound together by that unmistakable apocalyptic-goth sensibility he has been refining for two decades now. On paper it is the sort of stopgap that could so easily feel like label-mandated filler between proper records. In practice it is nothing of the kind. This is a man plainly having the time of his life, and that joy turns out to be infectious enough to paper over any inherent bittiness the format invites.

Dreaming Skulls kicks things off and immediately reassures you that the well has not run dry. It is all taut, angular bass and that trademark McNerney croon it is one part Andrew Eldritch, one part carnival barker at the end of the world, riding a rhythm that struts rather than stomps. There is darkness here, of course, but it is a darkness you can dance to; the sound of a discotheque going up in flames while everyone stubbornly keeps moving. A confident, hooky opener that could sit comfortably on any Grave Pleasures record without anyone batting an eyelid.

Crushed Under the Weight slows the pulse and leans hard into the goth melodrama, all cavernous reverb and doom-laden atmosphere. It is the most metal-adjacent thing on offer, the guitars taking on a genuine heft while McNerney intones his way through what plays like a meditation on modern dread, it is a mood piece, and the mood it conjures: claustrophobic, resigned and oddly beautiful is precisely the point of the exercise.

Guilty By Default is the pick of the originals, for my money, a sharper and punkier cut that snaps with real urgency. There is a paranoid, wired energy running through it, the sound of a man watching the news through his fingers, and the chorus sinks its hooks in on the very first pass, with the efficiency of the very best post-punk. If Scorpion Milk’s next full-length is built from bones like these, then we are in for something special indeed.

Then comes the wild card. All Snakes, No Ladders is lifted from Slime Of The Times and handed over to Norway’s Ulver for a comprehensive reimagining, and it is the EP’s most genuinely radical moment. Ulver dismantle the original and rebuild it as something colder, stranger and far more electronic, the kind of transformation that sends you scurrying back to the source track to hear it anew.

The two covers are where the EP quietly shows its working, laying bare the DNA that runs through everything McNerney touches. What We All Want, the Gang of Four staple – jagged, funk-inflected agit-punk is written all over Scorpion Milk’s own sound, and the version here honours the original’s coiled tension while dragging it somewhere darker and more sepulchral. Gut Feeling then takes Devo’s herky-jerky art-punk and reframes it through the Scorpion Milk lens, trading the nervy paranoia of the original for something more brooding and grand. It really should not work as well as it does. Both function as a kind of family tree, a nod to the pioneers, and both are delivered with enough personality to earn their place rather than lapsing into karaoke.

So, what, in the end, is Flesh Masks For Skulls? It is not the essential Scorpion Milk release that honour still belongs to Slime Of The Times, and this was never trying to compete on those terms. It is a between-courses palate cleanser, a victory lap, a chance for McNerney to indulge his magpie instincts and share a few of the toys he has been playing with. Judged on those modest terms, it is a genuine delight: three strong originals, a genuinely daring remix, and two covers that double as a mission statement. There is a lesson buried in here somewhere, too, that a release does not have to be Important with a capital I to be worth your time, and that a curio made purely for the love of it can outshine a hundred grimly focused “proper” albums. At six tracks it never outstays its welcome, and it leaves you hungry for whatever the next full-length has in store. For a man who never stops moving, standing still for twenty minutes has rarely sounded this good.

A magpie’s scrapbook of a stopgap: inessential, unhurried and an absolute joy from a man who simply refuses to stand still.

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

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