French atmospheric metal pioneers Alcest have officially announced the release of their long-awaited first live album, Live at Hellfest 2022, set for release on December 4th, 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Captured during a spellbinding appearance at one of heavy music’s most revered gatherings, Live at Hellfest 2022 stands as a monument to the group’s transcendent live presence. The performance seamlessly weaves together evocative fan favorites spanning their entire career prior to 2022, tracing an emotional trajectory from their groundbreaking 2007 debut Souvenirsd’un autre monde through to 2019’s acclaimed Spiritual Instinct.
To mark the announcement, Alcest have unveiled the album’s first single, “Protection (Live At Hellfest 2022)”. Listeners can stream the audio track now or experience the intense live performance video below.
Alcest are currently finishing their Fall 2026 North American tour as special guests on Mastodon’s The Poisonous Weapons Tour, which also features Deafheaven.
Live at Hellfest 2022 arrives on all major streaming platforms on December 4th. Physical collectors can pre-order the exclusive, limited-edition 2LP Vinyl (Natural w/ Black Smoke finish) starting today.
For principal songwriter and frontman Neige, Alcest has always been a gateway to the otherworldly, a means of exploring his spirituality. An elemental two-piece, completed by long-serving drummer and creative confidante Winterhalter, Alcest seem to dip their toes in a multitude of musical genres without ever quite fitting in. “In the metal scene Alcest is a weird band, in the indie/post-rock scene Alcest is a weird band- we never quite fit in,” Neige reflects. “This is how I feel in life, always an outsider; It’s not a problem, it’s just the way it is.”
Frank Zappa's "Zoot Allures" gets the full remaster treatment this December with a massive box set that goes way beyond the original. Continue reading…
Alter Bridge has released the official video for “Tested And Able,” a song from its self-titled eighth studio album, just ahead of the last U.S. leg of the What Lies Within tour. The clip is built around the band’s live show and aims to drop viewers into the same wall of energy that Myles Kennedy (vocals, guitar), Mark Tremonti (guitar, vocals), Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips (drums) have been delivering on stages for more than 20 years.
The final run of U.S. dates, with support from Big Wreck and Tim Montana, starts Nov. 5 in Philadelphia and ends Dec. 5 in Reno, Nev. Stops in between include Cleveland, San Antonio, Anaheim, Calif., and Denver. The setlist mixes material from across the catalog with songs from the new album, and it is the band’s last chance to play U.S. stages this year.
Tour dates:
11/05 – Philadelphia – Franklin Music Hall 11/10 – Cleveland 11/19 – San Antonio 11/22 – Anaheim, Calif. 11/30 – Denver 12/05 – Reno, Nev. – Silver Legacy Grande Exposition Hall
Alter Bridge formed in Florida in 2004 around four players with a shared history, and the band has since become one of modern hard rock’s most durable acts. Kennedy, Tremonti, Marshall and Phillips have spent two decades building a catalog known for smart songwriting and serious chops, backed by a loyal worldwide fan base. The debut, One Day Remains, landed in the Billboard 200 Top 5, went gold and started a streak of six straight Top 20 debuts.
The résumé is long. Alter Bridge has sold out London’s O2 Arena and Royal Albert Hall and piled up nearly one billion streams. Guitarist named the “Blackbird” solo the “Greatest Guitar Solo Of All Time,” and “Isolation,” from AB III, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The 2013 album Fortress earned rare perfect scores from Kerrang! and Total Guitar, and Walk The Sky topped the Top Rock Albums chart. In 2022, Pawns & Kings got 4.5 stars out of five from Classic Rock, which called it “the Rolls-Royce of Alter Bridge records,” and picked up praise from American Songwriter, Guitar World and Loudwire. Billboard has called the band “one of America’s premiere hard rock quartets.”
We last heard from Joe Stevens’ oft-morphing musical project Peel Dream Magazine about a year ago with the release of the mini-album Taurus. Today he’s announced an expanded edition, which I guess brings it to regular album size. This will mark the first time Taurus is released on vinyl. Along with the announcement comes “Blind Faith,” a skittering electronic pop track that once again reframes my understanding of Peel Dream Magazine.
If you caught Dazy’s opening set on Militarie Gun’s recent tour, then you probably got a good look at Andrew Madore, the guy who plays guitar for James Goodson on tour. He’s hard to miss. I met Madore at the Charlottesville show on that tour a couple of weeks ago. Nice guy. Really tall — like 6’7″ — but not quite as tall as me. Whenever I meet someone just a tiny bit shorter than me, I feel like I’m fucking their whole day up. When you think of yourself as “the tall guy” and you meet someone even taller, it scrambles your brain a little bit. This doesn’t happen to me very often, but it’s always a real headfuck.
Where they from?
Dallas, Texas. The New York Jets have lost three in a row but the New York Rangers are 3-1, you gotta take what you can get. New York’s goaltender, the legendary Igor Shesterkin, even scored a goal! That surely makes up for the fact that Aaron Glenn has no idea what he’s doing, right? RIGHT?!
Why the hype?
The state of Texas right now is home to a thriving mince/grindcore scene that rivals anywhere else in the world currently, and Bladda remain at the heart of the movement. The band churns out a putrid whirlwind of slimy west coast-influenced crusty grindcore that knows when to stop and take a moment to pound you into submission with some seriously tasty OOMPA-OOMPA beats. Combine that with some off-putting samples and a delightfully absurdist name and WA LA, we have a winner.
Latest release? Heinous Methods of Cranial Disposal, self-released. This is low IQ-music in the best way possible: just all blasts and then lumbering crust breakdowns, all mixed together in a putrid stew of down-shifted vocals. This is the sort of stuff cavemen would bash each other’s skulls into after killing a whale. Were they alive at the same time? IDK, DOESN’T MATTER!
I am always a sucker for live music, and live music recordings just seem to make my heart and ears smile. They are raw and provide listeners with a realistic and honest way to enjoy what an artist or band is all about and how much talent that artist or band actually possesses.
That being the case, I can honestly attest that Dan Patlansky is killing it on his brand-new live album release, Live at the Daisy Jones. There’s no “white out” used on this recording. It’s just like it was played live.
One thing is obvious from the outset: Dan Patlansky can play. In a world full of exceptional guitarists, he stands out among the very best. His three-piece band includes Andy Maritz on drums and Greg van Kerkhof on bass, and this backing band is just as great as Patlansky.
For curiosity’s sake, The Daisy Jones Bar is a live music and entertainment venue in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and typically can accommodate 150 to 200 people. So, The Daisy Jones Bar is an intimate setting, which is another thing that I love about this recording.
Patlansky is a South African native who was born in Johannesburg. He grew up being exposed to all kinds of music through his parents’ record collection and was a fan of Pink Floyd before gaining an appreciation for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music. He was in his first band at around age sixteen and released his first album at age nineteen. Ten other albums followed.
Along the way, he has shared stages with the likes of Joe Satriani, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Walter Trout, and others. He has been nominated for many awards for his music and guitar skills and has also been the recipient of awards such as #1 album of the year in 2014 and 2016 from Blues Rock Review.
This live recording is the latest step in Dan Patlansky’s already amazing career, and it’s a step that he has wanted to take for a long time.
If grabbing a listening audience’s attention with the first few notes played is important so that they’ll be tuned in throughout a concert, Dan Patlansky and the band can check the block that reads “mission accomplished.”
“Red Velvet Suit” is a rocking little number that just had to have gotten the Daisy Jones crowd up, moving and grooving. There’s some really great guitar work on this one and a funky little break about midway through the song before returning to the musical theme of the song.
This song is a tribute to Patlansky’s greatest influence, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and you can hear a lot of “SRV” in this song. The actual title of the song is about an outfit that Vaughan wore to his 30th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall. I can just about guarantee that he would be pleased with this opening number and smiling at the band’s performance here.
Cut number three of Live at the Daisy Jones is “Baby’s Packin’ Heat,” and it’s firing away right out of the gate with some searing six-string heat of its own. “Love how you make me croon. Set me on fire girl. Let’s make all your petals bloom.” Whew, it’s getting a little warm in this one.
Then, a little more than halfway through, this song takes a little jazzy-sounding detour before returning to its blues roots. Patlansky sings, “Got a deadly weapon, baby you’re packing heat.”
“Born Under a Bad Sign” pays tribute to the great Albert King, and I’ll make this risky statement as honestly as I can: Dan Patlansky could stand right beside Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan on this one, and they’d create one of the greatest blues trios ever created in the blues music world. Dan Patlansky’s playing is really that skilled and expressive.
Please allow me to just mention here that you should check out “At the Roof of the Boat” (track five) just so you can understand what a skilled guitarist Patlansky really is.
The last song on Live at the Daisy Jones is “Movin’ On,” and this one seems to be about past mistakes and dealing with them. Patlansky sings, “Looking for answers; searching for truth; in all the wrong places, wasted my youth.”
This cut offers a look and listen to a softer side of Patlansky as he sings, “Tears might fall, bones might crack. Got to carry on, past is gone. Wounds won’t scar. You keep movin’ on. Gotta keep movin’ on.” What a perfect way to end this live recording.
If you want the true measurement of an artist or band, listen to them live. While many of us may struggle with catching our favorites at a concert venue, many times because of our personal logistics, it is rewarding to discover well-done live albums. This is one of those albums.
Patlansky and his band will be playing dates in October through November in Europe. After that, make sure to check social media for upcoming concert opportunities. And, in the meantime, grab this new album, Live at the Daisy Jones, and remember to crank that volume up.
The Review: 9.5/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Red Velvet Suit – Baby’s Packin’ Heat – Born Under a Bad Sign – Movin’ On
(written by Islander) Earlier today my friend and NCS comrade DGR made an observation about certain kinds of brutal death metal that coincidentally turns out to be quite relevant to the song from Australia’s Caution that we’re about to premiere. In the context of reviewing an album by New York’s Thaetas, he pointed to “a […]