METAL INJECTION FEATURES DIAMOND RAIN, BONEYARD AND ABSOLUTE DARKNESS IN WEEKLY INJECTION OF NEW RELEASES
Metal Devastation PR clients DIAMOND RAIN, BONEYARD and ABSOLUTE DARKNESS earn recognition in Metal Injection’s latest Weekly Injection roundup, spotlighting three distinct releases spanning melodic rock, hard rock and death/thrash metal.
Metal Devastation PR is proud to celebrate three of its clients featured in this week’s Weekly Injection of New Releases from Metal Injection. DIAMOND RAIN, BONEYARD and ABSOLUTE DARKNESS each bring something different to the table, showcasing the diversity and creative force of today’s independent rock and metal scene.
With all three releases available now, this latest recognition puts the spotlight on three bands pushing their respective sounds forward while delivering records worth checking out.
DIAMOND RAIN – CHAPTER ONE
Blending classic melodic rock, theatrical atmosphere and infectious hooks, DIAMOND RAIN launches its musical saga with Chapter One, released through Pride & Joy Music.
Drawing inspiration from legendary acts including Blue Öyster Cult, Roxette and KISS, DIAMOND RAIN combines the swagger of ’70s arena rock with the shimmering melodies and larger-than-life choruses of ’80s rock. Led by the mysterious figure known as The High Priest, alongside the Arch Lector and The Faithful Disciples, the project embraces a distinctive theatrical identity that extends beyond the music itself.
Tracks like “Naked City” deliver massive choruses and high-energy rock, while “I Need Love” channels an authentic ’80s groove. “Rosalie” brings together vintage rock attitude and irresistible pop melodies, demonstrating the project’s ability to balance nostalgia with a fresh, adventurous approach.
With Chapter One, DIAMOND RAIN offers melodic rock fans a colorful, ambitious new world of sound.
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BONEYARD – BLACK STATIC
Edmonton’s BONEYARD continues carving out its own territory with Black Static, a hard-hitting release that combines hard rock power, melodic metal hooks, gritty attitude and a willingness to step outside traditional genre boundaries.
Formed in 2015, BONEYARD has built its identity around heavy riffs, strong melodies and a personality that refuses to take itself too seriously. The band’s sound embraces unexpected contrasts, bringing together diverse influences and a distinctive sense of humor while maintaining the raw energy that defines its music.
The album follows the band’s debut, Oathbreaker, and continues its collaboration with acclaimed mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum. The result preserves BONEYARD’s live intensity while expanding its sonic palette and cinematic atmosphere.
One of the standout tracks, “Hanging Tree,” blends hard rock and melodic metal with a western-inspired aesthetic, delivering a groove-driven, cinematic experience packed with grit and character. The band also recently received coverage in Metal Hammer, further highlighting its growing presence in the rock and metal community.
With Black Static, BONEYARD delivers a record rooted in authenticity, individuality and the freedom to color outside the lines.
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ABSOLUTE DARKNESS – WITNESS TO A DYING WORLD
ABSOLUTE DARKNESS brings the aggression with Witness To A Dying World, a death/thrash metal release that builds on the foundation established by the band’s previous album, Failure Of State.
While retaining the speed and intensity expected from the genre, the band places greater emphasis on songwriting, collaborative arrangements, memorable guitar harmonies and standout solos. The goal is not simply to play faster or heavier, but to give every track its own identity while maintaining the album’s relentless energy.
Lyrically, Witness To A Dying World explores the consequences of unchecked power through themes of corruption, propaganda, authoritarianism, war, exploitation, addiction and social decay. Rather than relying solely on direct commentary, the album approaches these subjects through individual stories designed to engage listeners and encourage reflection.
The result is an aggressive, thought-provoking record that balances the raw force of death/thrash with a stronger focus on musical detail and songwriting.
With Witness To A Dying World, ABSOLUTE DARKNESS delivers an uncompromising statement for listeners who want their metal heavy, intense and driven by substance.
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THREE RELEASES. THREE DISTINCT SOUNDS. ONE HELL OF A WEEK.
Metal Injection’s latest Weekly Injection of New Releases shines a spotlight on the range of talent moving through the independent metal and rock underground.
From DIAMOND RAIN’s theatrical melodic rock to BONEYARD’s genre-bending hard rock and ABSOLUTE DARKNESS’s uncompromising death/thrash, these three Metal Devastation PR clients demonstrate that heavy music continues to thrive through individuality, strong songwriting and a refusal to follow the crowd.
All three releases are available now.
Metal Devastation PR extends a massive thank-you to the team at Metal Injection for including DIAMOND RAIN, BONEYARD and ABSOLUTE DARKNESS in this week’s roundup and continuing to spotlight new music from across the rock and metal spectrum.
Check it out here: https://metalinjection.net/upcoming-releases/heavy-new-releases/the-weekly-injection-new-releases-from-tony-iommi-entheos-and-more-out-this-week-10-23
ABOUT METAL DEVASTATION PR
Metal Devastation PR is an independent metal promotion and media company powered by Metal Devastation Radio. Since 2013, the family-owned operation has worked to connect rock and metal artists with media outlets, radio exposure and promotional opportunities worldwide.
For more information, visit the Metal Devastation PR https://metal-devastation-radio-store.myshopify.com/collections/metal-devastation-pr-packages
Whenever she’s anxious or stressed, Katrine Stenbekk has the same dream. The Norwegian vocalist is paralysed as she feels her bedsheets being pulled away from her; she then floats out the window and hears the voices of female relatives both living and dead, urging her to join them somewhere she can’t see. “I’ve started to call out my own name in my sleep, to pull me back,” she says, “because I’m not ready to know where this dream is going [to take me].”
Her recurring vision was the inspiration for Descend The Stars, a standout moment on her folk-prog band Kalandra’s magnificent new third album, The Other Side. ‘As daylight sings its final song… the tide of sleep is calling me,’ Stenbekk unloads over classical swells from the track’s guest performers, chamber-poppers Árstíðir. ‘It’s whispering my name.’
“I feel like it’s a nightmare more than a dream,” she continues, talking to Hammer by video-call on a dreary October afternoon. “I tell myself ‘this doesn’t have to be a bad thing’ and then I’m off flying, but deep down, I am scared. I also have mimics that often show up between 4 and 6am: voices that say my name. You know it’s happening in your head, but sometimes you wonder, ‘Is this in my head? What if someone is calling me?’”
It’s no surprise, then, that Stenbekk walked into a band meeting in 2024 and said that whatever they make next should be centred around sleep and the subconscious. Two years later, The Other Side is their first conceptual work: single Let Me Be Open is about overcoming deeply latent fears, while the shamanic yet catchy Animal asks whether generative AI technologies are able to dream. But the album also expands upon the quartet’s blend of folk tradition and modern rock, which has made them one of the most promising newcomers in alternative music.
Although Kalandra started in 2011, their career didn’t truly kick off until eight years later, when they inked a deal with By Norse: the label co-founded by Einar Selvik of Nordic resurrectionists Wardruna. On their 2020 debut, The Line, Stenbekk howled like a priestess over tunes which packed the awe of ancient forest rituals into contemporary song structures.
Where 2024 successor A Frame Of Mind realised the band’s anthemic potential, The Other Side is blurrier: less immediate but ultimately more rewarding as it coalesces sounds from across the continents. Midpoint A Ship Has Left The Shore rises from Western singer/songwriter-style intimacy to a cleansing, choral chant.
“The genesis of the band was us being this folky thing, but none of us are folk musicians,” explains guitarist Jogeir Daae Mæland. “It’s us doing a pastiche of all these different genres where we kind of know what we’re doing.”
“There are influences of folk from the Nordic countries, but also from all over the world,” adds Stenbekk. “I have hints of Indian and Middle Eastern things that I do with my voice.”
The lineup seem like opposites: Stenbekk is the chatty, elfin dreamer, whereas Mæland, co-guitarist Florian Winter and drummer Oskar Johnsen Rydh (all also on today’s call) are stoic, sometimes deadpan. Rydh barely says a word. But what brought them together was a shared desire to push limits. The singer and guitarists met while studying at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts (LIPA), the university co-founded by local hero Paul McCartney.
“I remember the day I did the auditions,” says Winter. “I had never heard of LIPA and wasn’t particularly a fan of the Beatles, but going into that audition, I said, ‘This has been my dream forever! I’m such a Beatles fan!’ It was all BS.”
The trio only met McCartney once, at their graduation ceremony, where he gave out the diplomas. “Time stops in that moment,” Stenbekk recalls. “It literally takes five seconds: you go out, you hold the paper and you smile at the camera. He said, ‘Take the pin badge.’ ‘What?’ ‘Take the pin badge, love – in my hand. Now look at the camera!’ I just glided off the stage and was like, ‘Oh!’ My heart was racing a lot faster than I thought it would.”
“When you go to LIPA, you sign away all the rights you have to them taking pictures of you,” adds Winter. “If they take a photo of you at the university, they can use that in all of their promotional materials, forever. I saw this in Oslo: they were having tryouts, and there was a life-sized cardboard cutout of me outside the building, in the middle of the street.”
From there, Stenbekk jokes, much of Kalandra’s career progression has come down to “stalking” their idols. The singer sent By Norse’s Selvik demos and music videos for four years, then it was another two before his label actually reached out with an offer.
Similarly, she once outright told composer Bear McCreary (The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, God Of War, Percy Jackson And The Olympians) at a festival that she thought she’d be perfect for one of his projects. She’s now lined up to sing on his soundtrack for AAA title God Of War Laufey next year.
“It’s just about telling people in your genre that you exist,” she explains. “None of us have musician parents: we can’t leap off of someone else’s career. We really had to start from scratch, so we can’t have any shame about this. I’m quite introverted, but I know for a fact that if I don’t do anything, nothing is going to happen. So I need to dare to be social.”
That self-determination is paying off. As well as being signed to By Norse and their frontwoman having God Of War Laufey on the horizon, the band composed music for strategy game Kingdom Two Crowns in 2022 and have toured extensively. Songs from The Line alone have been streamed more than 50 million times combined.
But, when Hammer asks about the members’ hopes for the future, more of this kind of thing isn’t what they talk about. They want to carry on doing what brought them together: smashing different cultures together, and smashing genre conventions over their knees. “There are a lot of things that we didn’t get to do on the last two albums: we never got to work with an orchestra,” Winter hints.
On a more personal level, Stenbekk wants to work on keeping the bad dreams at bay, to control how stress infects her subconscious. “It’s like a black tar that seeps into my soul,” she states, “and I don’t know how to relax. I still feel like I can’t get it out unless I allow myself to cry, or I go for a run. Maybe I should start boxing or punching something – I really feel like I should handle stress better.”
The Other Side is out on November 13 via By Norse. Kalandra tour Europe and the UK from February to March. Get tickets.