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Swedish traditional heavy metal band Wolf will release their tenth studio album, Hour Of The Wolf, on Nov. 20 via Fireflash Records. The official music video for the LP’s first single, “Death Satellite,” is available now. Formed in Sweden in 1995, Wolf was among the first bands to resurrect the traditional heavy metal sound in the ’90s, and has been credited by many as an originator of the new wave of traditional heavy metal.

On the album’s concept, vocalist and guitarist Niklas Stålvind says: “We wanted to make an album that could fit on one side of a 90-minute cassette tape, just like the albums used to back in the day. Our goal was to create an album that you would want to listen to from start to finish and then play again. I think we accomplished that. It’s diverse enough without losing the classic Wolf sound.”

On the lead single, Stålvind adds: “This one is a straight-up banger, with all the elements that make up the classic Wolf sound. If you heard us before, you will instantly recognize the sound within seconds. While our A.I. overlords have their algorithms planting thoughts in our brains, we offer some old-school, manmade metal so we won’t go insane.” The music video was directed by Cannes Film award winner Snovonne “Sno” Drake.

The album’s artwork was created by Thomas Holm, who designed the iconic covers for Mercyful Fate’s Don’t Break The Oath and Melissa and King Diamond’s Abigail and Them. “His work is the antidote to the increasingly common A.I. ‘art,’” says Stålvind. “We are the real deal, and we want the real deal.”

Hour Of The Wolf was recorded at Wolf’s own studios, with bassist Pontus Egberg — also a member of King Diamond — taking on the role of producer. “Throughout the whole production process, Niklas and I had a very close collaboration, blurting ideas back and forth that I then tried to realize in the mix,” Egberg says. “The stellar performances from Johan, Simon and Niklas made the production flow very smoothly.”

On the album’s lyrical range, Stålvind explains: “I want to write entertaining songs. Often, I see images in my mind from the music and lyrics. I try not to get in the way of the music and let the songs take me for a ride.” He describes the title track as inspired by a walk through the Scandinavian forest near his countryside home: “Pontus sent me a demo with most of the music for ‘Hour Of The Wolf,’ and I instantly got images in my head. There’s a certain feeling on a starlit winter night or an early autumn morning, with the fog rolling in over the fields. I think that inspired me the most for that song.”

Hour Of The Wolf is available to pre-order here.

Wolf is:

Niklas Stålvind / Lead vocals and Guitar
Simon Johansson / Guitar
Pontus Egberg / Bass and Backing Vocals
Johan Koleberg / Drums

The post WOLF Announces New Album “Hour Of The Wolf ” & Shares Music Video For “Death Satellite” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Rival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday has announced a solo project under the name HOL1D4Y and a debut album, Topology, due Sept. 25 on Rival Sons’ label Sacred Tongue Recordings, distributed worldwide via Thirty Tigers. The official music video for the LP’s second single, “Autonomatic,” is available now.

“Autonomatic: It’s a word I came up with by combining the words: autonomy and automatic,” Holiday explains. “Autonomatic: The built-in or intrinsic desire for autonomy.

“Autonomatic talks about our changing relationships with machines — how we might, at this point in history, use them to complete tasks and assist us with creativity. Maybe even help us socially, but especially with A.I., technology is progressing so rapidly it is so much more than a tool to finish an essay for us. If machines truly start to make decisions and ‘think’ for themselves…

“The natural progression could be that it will want to be like us in the deepest ways it can understand. We are free. We are autonomous. I think that this will be a natural evolution for a free-thinking, hyper-intelligent entity. Autonomy. Built-in autonomy. Hence the idea: they are Autonomatic.”

The foundation of Topology began with a daily discipline: wake up, get in the studio, pick up a guitar, and write something — not necessarily a finished song, sometimes just a 45-second fragment, set aside and revisited the next day. As the sketches accumulated, Holiday noticed they shared a language, leaning toward atmosphere, psychedelic experimentation and textures outside his previous work with Rival Sons. Those early sketches were built around improvised drum recordings from Rival Sons drummer Michael Miley, sent from his home studio; Miley ultimately plays drums throughout the album. Keyboardist Jesse Nason was later brought in to layer vintage Moog, Mellotron, Oberheim and Prophet synthesizers across the tracks.

Recording came to a halt when Holiday was struck by a car while riding his bicycle home after an evening with friends. He has no memory of the collision. The accident left him with six broken ribs, a shoulder injury, a head injury and months of recovery. Unable to move but still thinking creatively, Holiday continued developing unfinished pieces in his mind.

Several compositions had been conceived as instrumentals, but during recovery they began asking for lyrics. “What surprised me was that they stopped feeling like instrumental pieces,” Holiday says. “They seemed prepped for a story. Once I realized that, the words came quickly. That’s when I knew it was time to step into this new role — I needed to be the one to tell these stories.” It marks the first time in his career that Holiday has sung lead on his own recordings.

Topology centers on perception, awareness, consciousness and the patterns that shape how we experience the world — track titles including “Metacognition,” “Panoptic,” “Holotropic” and “Equanimity” speak to a single underlying question: how does a shift in perspective change the way we experience ourselves in the world? Sonically, the album sits at the intersection of psychedelic atmosphere, alternative music, progressive exploration, and experimental pop, with fuzz-soaked guitars, vintage synthesizers, and deeply pocketed drum grooves beneath shifting arrangements. It was produced by Holiday at his home studio without outside creative direction.

Topology is available to pre-order here.

The post RIVAL SONS Guitarist SCOTT HOLIDAY Announces Solo Project “HOL1D4Y” & Shares Music Video For “Autonomatic” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Swedish symphonic metal band ZORNHEYM have released “The Funeral March,” the third single from their forthcoming studio album, Descending Into Madness. The record will arrive on October 2 through Noble Demon. Inspired by Frédéric Chopin’s legendary “Funeral March,” the new track combines crushing metal riffs with cinematic orchestration and subtle Scandinavian folk influences. The result […]

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French extreme metal band PROFANATION will release their debut album, Ultra-Noise Warfare, on September 25 through Iron Bonehead Productions. The nine-track, 27-minute record will be available on CD and vinyl. The band introduce the album with its title track, a concentrated collision of death metal, grindcore, blackened aggression and crust-punk physicality. Listen to “Ultra-Noise Warfare” […]

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Jefferson Starship has released a new single, “Jetpack,” accompanied by an official lyric video. The band is currently on tour with Deep Purple, and the track captures the energy and adventurous spirit that have defined Jefferson Starship for more than five decades.

Adding a direct connection to the band’s history, “Jetpack” was recorded at 2200 Studios in San Francisco — formerly the legendary Record Plant, where Jefferson Starship recorded some of the landmark music from its storied catalog. Longtime bassist Pete Sears plays on the track, bringing another link between the band’s celebrated past and its music today.

Jefferson Starship singer and guitarist Cathy Richardson explains the song’s origin: “[Jefferson Starship guitarist] Jude [Gold] had written a song around the chorus that was kind of a love song about wanting to disappear with someone into the cosmos. He asked me to take a stab at some different lyrics. I loved the music and the ‘Jetpack’ hook was really strong. I thought about why I would want to strap on a rocket and blast off the planet, and the words just came spilling out.”

Gold frames the single in the context of the band’s long creative lineage: “To me, that ‘Paul Kantner thing’ — getting on a rocket ship and blasting off into the unknown — is the very essence of Jefferson Starship. And that spirit is very much alive in the band today.” Kantner, who founded the band in the 1970s, passed away in 2016.

Jefferson Starship is one of the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and ’80s, earning three platinum and eight gold records and numerous Top 40 Billboard singles. The band’s current lineup — founding member David Freiberg, drummer Donny Baldwin, keyboardist Chris Smith, guitarist Jude Gold and singer/guitarist Cathy Richardson — has performed in all 50 U.S. states and across five continents. Following the current Deep Purple dates, the band returns to its own “Runaway Again” tour.

The post JEFFERSON STARSHIP Releases Official Lyric Video For New Single “Jetpack” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

(written by Islander) My short vacation which spanned last weekend prevented me from writing both this Saturday column and the usual one on Sunday. So for today I had two weeks’ worth of possibilities to choose among, along with many more on my list from previous weeks. Deciding what to recommend is always difficult, but […]

The post SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: BLACK ROYAL, MOTHER OF GRAVES, ANAGNORISIS, OFFERNAT, STATIC ABYSS, LACONIST appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

Spanish death metal veterans AVULSED have released their interpretation of “Heroes in Godly Blaze,” originally recorded by Finnish cult band Adramelech. The song is the ninth piece unveiled from the forthcoming Scandinavian death metal tribute album, Nordic Embryogenesis. “Heroes in Godly Blaze” first appeared on Adramelech’s 1995 demo The Fall and was subsequently included on […]

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Deploying in mid-October.

The post Ghoul & Dry Socket Set For West Coast ‘Weapons Of Mosh Destruction Tour’ appeared first on Theprp.com.

Eddie Vedder has released the official music video for “Better Believe,” offering a behind-the-scenes look at how Vedder, The Obama Foundation and artists and students from Chicago-based nonprofit Guitars Over Guns came together to create the song and its live debut at the Obama Presidential Center dedication on June 18.

Brought together by The Obama Foundation, the collaboration connected established artists with the next generation of musicians. The track was recorded at Columbia College Chicago, where Audio Arts students and alumni joined young musicians from Guitars Over Guns in the studio, with the collaboration facilitated by Andre “Add-2” Daniels, Columbia adjunct professor of instruction and Guitars Over Guns’ Chicago regional director. All royalties earned by Vedder and the song’s co-writers will benefit Guitars Over Guns, an arts-based youth development organization that uses music, mentorship and the arts to empower young people and expand their opportunities.

“Better Believe” was co-written by Eddie Vedder, Giselle Castro, Andre “Add-2” Daniels, Jeremiah Fristoe, Mason Harris, Michael “Myskie” Hightower, Naomi Owens, Joy Viltz and Iya Waters. The track was produced by Andrew Watt, Andre “Add-2” Daniels, Paul LaMalfa and Eddie Vedder, and mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound.

Performers on the track include Vedder (vocals, guitar), Joy Viltz, Giselle Castro, Naomi Owens and Michael “Myskie” Hightower (vocals), Isabella Santillan (guitar), Ayden Smith (bass), Cassidy Lee (drums) and Josh Klinghoffer — former guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers and longtime Vedder collaborator — on keyboard.

The post All Royalties From EDDIE VEDDER’s “Better Believe” Benefit GUITARS OVER GUNS, Chicago-Based Arts-Based Youth Development Organization appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Los Angeles hardcore metal band CUTTHROAT have released their new EP, The Purge, through M-Theory Audio. Returning home after a month of European concerts with Vio-lence, the band are introducing the five-track release with an official video for its resilience-driven song “Hard Times.” The recent tour placed CUTTHROAT in front of new metal audiences across […]

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