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Orphaned Land Release First Single From ‘All Is One’

Israeli metal band Orphaned Land have released a lyric video for “Our Own Messiah”, the band’s first single from their upcoming album All Is One (out June 25th via Century Media Records). The album was mixed by Jens Bogren (Amon Amarth, Opeth, Devin Townsend Project, James LaBrie) and was recorded in Israeli, Turkey, and Sweden. Over 40 musicians were used on All Is One, including 25 choir singers and eight classical violin, viola and cello players from Turkey.

Head on below to hear the song. READ MORE

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5 Great Cover Songs!

Just like movie remakes, cover songs can be really tricky. Some are fantastic while some are truly god awful that should have never even considered “paying homage” to the original. But when they nail it, oh boy is it something special. Look at the remakes of John Carpenter’s The Thing or Dawn Of The Dead, films that took elements of the original and created something new and exciting. Films like these got me thinking, “What are some of my favorite cover songs? What are songs that payed homage to a classic while creating something original?” So I put together five cover songs that I feel met these requirements for your enjoyment. Head on below for my 5 Great Cover Songs! READ MORE

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The Ocean Launch Landing Page For New Album ‘Pelagial’

German progressive metal band The Ocean have launched a landing page for their upcoming album Peligial, which will be released April 30th via Metal Blade Records. The album was written, recorded and mixed as one single 53-minute take. The album was mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia) at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden.

The album will be released as a double album, including both an instrumental and a vocal version of the album. Instrumental samples are available to listen to on their landing page here. The CD version will be released as a 10-page digipak with artwork by Seldon Hunt.

Below is the band’s video for “The Grand Inquisitor II: Roots & Locusts”, which comes from their Anthropocentric album. READ MORE

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[Album Review] Soilwork ‘The Living Infinite’

When it was announced that Soilwork would be unleashing a double album as their new studio album, the metal world rejoiced. After all, one disc is already a cause for celebration, but two? The Swedish melodic metal master’s ninth studio album The Living Infinite has been one of the most anticipated releases of 2013 by many, even landing on my own list.

One of the things that gave me some trepidation was the loss of guitarist Peter Wichers, who was replaced by David Andersson, who toured with the band in 2006. Also, after the stellar The Panic Broadcast, this album has a great deal to live up to. So now we ask the hard question: does it or have Soilwork fallen short? Find out below! READ MORE

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Soen’s ‘Cognitive’ To See Stateside Release This Summer

Prog-metal group Soen will be releasing their debut album Cognitive in the States this summer. The album was originally released last Winter via Spinefarm Records. The 10-track album features some fantastic songs and is well worth checking out if you’re a fan of Tool or Porcupine Tree.

Soen features Martin Lopez (ex-Opeth, Amon Amarth), bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, Testament, Death, Iced Earth), vocalist Joel Ekelöf (Willowtree), and guitarist Kim Platbarzdis. Cognitive was mixed by David Bottrill (Tool, Coheed and Cambria, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Muse).

Head below to see their video for “Savia”. READ MORE

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Steven Wilson Releases New Song “The Birthday Party”: Creates Visual Ghost Story

Prog-master Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) has unveiled a new song entitled “The Birthday Party”. The video is incredibly interesting as it also includes a short ghost story by the same name that was written by Wilson. The music serves to fit the mood of the tale of a little girl named Victoria who plays a game of hide-and-seek on her birthday only to have it end in a rather unexpected way. It’s a tale that is very reminiscent of something out of Schwartz/Gammell’s The Scary Stories Treasury. You can watch/read/listen below.

“The Birthday Party” comes from the deluxe book edition of Wilson’s upcoming solo album The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories), which comes out Feb. 25th and was produced by the legendary Alan Parsons. The deluxe book edition is now sold out but other copies are available for pre-order here. READ MORE

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Katatonia Release Official Video For “Lethean”

Swedish prog-rockers Katatonia have released an official video for “Lethean”, which comes from their latest album Dead End Kings (review). Shot in star black and white and directed by Lasse Hoile (Porcupine Tree, Opeth), the video features slow motion shots that serve to compliment the melancholic yet heavy beauty of the song. You can watch it below or here.

Dead End Kings landed at #2 on my Top 10 Albums Of 2012 list, which you can view here. READ MORE

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Katatonia Announces Headline Shows During Opeth Tour

Swedish prog metal band Katatonia have announced a few headline shows during their upcoming tour supporting Opeth. Katatonia will be touring in support of Dead End Kings, which landed at #2 on my Top Albums of 2012 list, which you can see here. Opeth will be touring in support of Heritage. The bands will also do a special one-off show with Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson in New York.

Katatonia guitarist Anders Nyström states, “Back in the U.S.A…That’s right Springsteen! We’re looking at round number two as special guests to our brothers in Opeth on their last North American leg of the Heritage World Tour. This time we’ll mainly cover off-territories, so regardless if you caught or missed us last time, consider this a second chance to attend the dead ends of North America with one of the best bills there’ll ever be!

Head on below for the tour dates. READ MORE

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Trivium’s Matt Heafy Performs Acoustic Cover Of Opeth’s “Harvest”

A pro-shot acoustic performance by Matt Heafy (Trivium) covering Opeth‘s “Harvest” has been released and can be seen below. The song comes from Opeth’s fifth studio album Blackwater Park, which was produced by Porcupine Tree‘s Steven Wilson.

Heafy is a longtime fan of the Swedish progressive death metal band having performed acoustic covers before. READ MORE

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New Bands Added To New England Metal And Hardcore Festival XV

Several new acts have been added to the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival XV today, including Allegaon, Alpha & Omega, Born Low, MurderDeathKill, Dark Sermon, Trapped Under Ice, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. You can see the full line up as well as day-by-day schedule and ticke information below. READ MORE

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6 Dream Tour Pairings!!!

How many of you have thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be just awesome if [insert band name here] toured with [insert band name here]?” I know I’ve done it on more than one occasion. Hell, I do it all the damn time. There are some tour pairings that make so much sense that it simply boggles my mind that the’ve never been done. These are tours that would get fans salivating, drool flowing from the mouth like waterfalls.

So I put together six of my most desired tour pairings, ones where the headliner and co-headliner would not only compliment each other but would take things to an entirely new level. Head on below to see my list! READ MORE

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Opeth/Katatonia Tour Gets Special Date With Steven Wilson

Folks in Albany, NY who are going to the April 28th Opeth/Katatonia stop on their N. American tour will be treated to an incredibly special gift as Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) will be performing his solo material there, complete with live band. This show will be the only one during the tour, so make sure to pre-order tickets in advance to ensure a spot. Head on below to see a poster for this event (I would hang that on my wall in a heartbeat). READ MORE

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Dark Tranquillity Announce Title And Release Date For New Album

Swedish melodic metal band Dark Tranquillity have announced that they will be releasing Construct, their 10th studio album, on May 25th in N. America via Century Media Records. This will be the follow up to 2010′s We Are The Void (review).

The band comments: “Greetings, Darklings! After having played over 200 shows in every corner of the world in support of the ‘We Are The Void’ album, it’s time to focus inwards and lock ourselves up in the studio. Months and months of hard songwriting work has paid off, and the recording sessions will start early this year. Further details will be announced in due time, but for now we can reveal that the album will be entitled ‘Construct’ and that we’re very excited to have Jens Bogren (Paradise Lost, Opeth, Katatonia) taking care of the mix. The release date is set for May 28 in North America.READ MORE

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New England Metal And Hardcore Festival Hits 15 Year Anniversary

The New England Metal & Hardcore Festival is celebrating the 15th anniversary of delivering brutal metal to masses. The festivities will be at the historic venue The Palladium in Worcester, MA and will commence with a pre-party on April 18th, 2013 with the three official days of the fest following on the 19th, 20th, and 21st. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 16th.

Commented the festival’s founder Scott Lee, “I am excited with how far we have come and am ecstatic for this to be on our 15th year! It has been a long, interesting journey. We always try to make it a memorable event and we really hope you all enjoy the festival this year.

The festival will be headlined by Hatebreed, Opeth, and Suicidal Tendencies, along with Anthrax performing their entire Among The Living album.

Over 40 acts will be performing across two stages. The full list of bands can be seen below. READ MORE

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Full Schedule For Opeth/Katatonia N. American Tour Released

Two of Sweden’s greatest musical exports, Opeth and Katatonia will be joining forces for a full N. American tour this Spring. The two bands will kick things off in Buffalo, NY on April 18th and wrap things up on May 26th in Santa Cruz, CA. Opeth will be touring in support of their 2011 album Heritage (review) while Katatonia will be supporting their 2012 release Dead End Kings (review), which made #2 on my Top 10 Albums of 2012 list.

Katatonia guitarist Anders Nyström comments, “Back in the U.S.A…That’s right Springsteen! We’re looking at round #2 as special guests to our brothers in Opeth on their last North American leg of the Heritage World Tour. This time we’ll mainly cover off-territories, so regardless if you caught or missed us last time, consider this a second chance to attend the dead ends of North America with one of the best bills there’ll ever be!

You can see the full touring schedule below. READ MORE

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Opeth/Katatonia Team Up For N. American Tour

Two of Sweden’s greatest musical exports, Opeth and Katatonia, will be touring N. America this spring. So far only one release date has been released: May 10th at the Machine Shop in Flint, MI (check out the flyer below). Tickets will be made available this Friday, Jan. 11th at 10am.

Opeth will still be touring in support of their album Heritage (review) while Katatonia will be touring for Dead End Kings (review).

On a personal note, I’m beyond excited for this. I saw Katatonia and Opeth tour together before and it was nothing short of incredible. Another combined tour from the two of them is something that I refuse to miss. READ MORE

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[Best & Worst '12] Jonny Picks His Top 10 Albums Of 2012

And so another year comes to a close. 2012, just like any other year, you had your gems and you had your flops when it came to album releases. For this article, I’d like to give you my Top 10 albums of 2012 as well as several honorable mentions that didn’t exactly make the cut but were too good to leave unmentioned. So, read on to see my Top 10 Albums Of 2012!

Make sure to check out my worst 5 albums here. READ MORE

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Are Opeth Touring N. American In Spring 2013?

Roadrunner Records has uploaded a short clip on their YouTube channel that suggests Swedish progressive metal band Opeth will be touring N. American in Spring of 2013. The clip shows a view of Earth spinning slowly while “The Devil’s Orchard” from the album Heritage (review) plays. The camera begins to pull in and stops when N. America is in the screen. The Opeth ‘O’ logo comes up along with the words ‘Spring 2013′. Based upon that, it’s kind of hard to come up with any other conclusion aside from a tour. Once more details are released, we’ll let you know!

In the meanwhile, check out the video below. READ MORE

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10 Moments In Songs That I Just Love

We all have those moments in songs that just speak to us. You know what I’m talking about, right? It’s that part of the song that you’re blasting in the car with a several of your friends and you make them all shut up so you can share that one special moment with them. Usually, it ends up with everyone staring at you, wondering what the hell you’re so excited about.

You know what? Screw ‘em. You know what’s so special. You know what’s going on. And you’re gonna scroll back to hear that part again, whether they like it or not.

So, join me below as I share 10 Moments In Songs That I Just Love! READ MORE

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Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt Describes Two New Songs For Next Album

In a recent interview with Uppsala Student Radio 98.9, Opeth mainman Mikael Akerfeldt briefly described two new songs that are being written for the followup to 2011′s Heritage (review). He says that the first song is rather miserable yet beautiful. But the real interesting part is that he describes the second track as being heavily influenced by Italian prog rock band Goblin, who scored many of Dario Argento’s films, including the fantastic Suspiria.

Akerfeldt stated, “I have one new song, which I really like, a new song. It’s the most miserable song I ever wrote, and it’s beautiful, I think. And then I have a song that we jammed, actually, on tour. I came up with a little lick and became a bit of a director and just told everyone to play this and that, and we started jamming on something. And it sounded, immediately from the beginning, which was also my idea, it sounded like the band Goblin, if you heard them, the Italian band. So it’s a crazy riff, a GOBLIN rip-off, and the song is called “Goblin”, which is a good title, I think. And we’re gonna record it. I’m not sure if that will be too much of a fucked up song to be on the record, because there will definitely only be one song ever we do that is gonna sound like that. So maybe it’ll just be some extra thing that we have. But it’s really good; I love it. But then again, it’s just because of the closeness to Goblin.

You can watch footage of Akerfeldt describing the music below. READ MORE

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Leprous Commence Recording New Album: Post Studio Footage

Norwegian prog metal band Leprous has commenced the recording of their as-of-yet-untitled follow up to 2011′s Bilateral (which was tied with White Willow‘s Terminal Twilight as my Album of the Year).

Singer/synth-player Einar Solberg gives an update: “As many of you already know, we’ve started recording our new album. The drums are finished, and we’re now focusing on the guitars. Also this time we’re using Vegard ‘Ihsahn‘ Tveitan and Heidi ‘StarOfAsh’ S. Tveitan as our producers / technicians. The drums were recorded in the really cool and old school Juke Joint Studio, and we’re really satisfied with the result.

“As far as the new music, we can only remind you that LEPROUS will never be the kind of band to re-create the mood from previous works, and it’s very important for us that each album has its own strong character. We have great belief in this album and we promise something fresh, challenging and soulful! This album will also be mixed and mastered by Mr. Jens Bogren (Bloodbath, Opeth, Amon Amarth) at Fascination Street Studios.

The band has released a studio update that shows the drums being recorded. You can hear snippets of new songs during the video.

Also, make sure to check out our interview with Einar here. READ MORE

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Soilwork Unveil Album Artwork And Track List For ‘The Living Infinite’

Nuclear Blast Records artist Soilwork have unveiled the album artwork and track list for their upcoming double-album The Living Infinite, which will be released March 5th, 2013. The album was produced by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Bloodbath) and the artwork was designed by Mnemic‘s Mircea Eftemie Gabriel.

Gabriel shares, “Seven years ago, I created the artwork for the Stabbing The Drama album and I can’t believe how time flies! Here we are, with sexy gray hairs, working with my friends in Soilwork again. This time, we built the cover around a maritime concept, aiming for something direct and symbolic. I believe we achieved that quite well. From my creative deck, I salute you and say: ‘Long Live The Living Infinite.’

The bands states, “After commissioning some pretty elaborate covers for the last couple of records, we decided to try something more sober and design-oriented for The Living Infinite. Who better to call than the man who created the iconic Stabbing The Drama cover? Mircea Gabriel Eftemie is not only a close friend but also an incredible graphic designer. We’re all stoked about his work which is different from anything Soilwork has ever done and perfectly suits the elegant oceanic concept of The Living Infinite. Enjoy folks!

Read on to check out the album cover and track list! Also, make sure to check here for Soilwork’s 2013 N. American headlining dates. READ MORE

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Riverside Unveil “Shrine Of New Generation Slaves” Cover Art And Track Listing

Polish progressive rock group Riverside has unveiled the album artwork and track list for their upcoming fifth studio album Shrine Of New Generation Slaves, which will be released Jan. 21st, 2013 via Century Media/InsideOut Music. You can see both below.

The artwork was designed by Travis Smith, who has done most of the album artwork for bands such as Opeth and Katatonia as well as the Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare cover, which many regarded as the best hard rock album cover of 2011. READ MORE

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Opeth Performs Acoustic Set In London: Fan-Filmed Footage Available

Swedish progressive metal band Opeth performed an acoustic set (their first ever) at the Union Chapel in London this past Friday, Nov. 16th. Below is fan-filmed footage of many of the songs as well as the full track list of the show.

According to Blabbermouth, singer/guitar Mikael Akerledt stated in a recent interview, “We’re constantly looking for new ways to push things forward with the live set. We’ve done so many, so to speak, run-of-the-mill type of tours, meat-and-potatoes type of tours where we just go up and play our songs. So this is a little bit of an odd thing, which both makes me excited and a bit nervous; I kind of wanna run away and hide. We’ve never done unplugged shows. I’m not sure if it’s gonna be ‘unplugged’ unplugged; it’s just gonna be laid back…And our discography is quite diverse and we can do things like that, so we figure, why not?

Opeth’s last album is Heritage (review), which was mixed by Porcupine Tree‘s Steven Wilson. READ MORE