NEWS: Anthrax, Gojira and Satyricon join burgeoning Bloodstock bill

AS the festive season looms, Bloodstock comes bearing early gifts with hree more bands for 2016!

French heavyweights GOJIRA are set to bring their whale-sized riffs to Catton Park as Saturday’s special guests!  A crowd favourite every time they play, and with a brand new album on the way, being recorded in their own studio, their Bloodstock set is sure to be a sight to behold.

Frontman Joe Duplantier said: “Bloodstock is one of our favourite festivals in the UK!  The quality of the bands playing is always a high standard and we love the passion of the people who come to rock out!  It’s an honour to be a part of it again.” Look out for updates from the studio at www.facebook.com/GojiraMusic.

Axe legend Scott Ian said: “On the most metal of days we will once again have the privilege to rage with you crazy fuckers!  Bloodstock !!!  A festival fit for all kings!!!  See what I did there?  See ya soon, my friends.”  Get excited by checking out their latest single ‘Evil Twin’, released last month, at: http://youtu.be/xPmLkF3e6Fc.

Playing their only UK show for 2016 are Norwegian trailblazers SATYRICON, performing their classic ‘Nemesis Devina’ album in full on Sunday.

“Next year it’s 20 years since Satyricon made its live debut as a band, and 20 years since we released Nemesis Divina,” frontman and visionary Satyr said.

“There's a nemesis walking through life, for all to face.  And there's a Divine Nemesis, for all to face that come to see Satyricon at BLOODSTOCK 2016.  Let us celebrate the 20th anniversary of a milestone album like only Norsemen and Brits can!"  Learn more at www.facebook.com/SatyriconOfficial.

They will be joining the acts already announced: Mastodon, Twisted Sister, Behemoth, Venom, Dragonforce, Paradise Lost and Rotting Christ.

A further headliner is yet to be announced

Early bird weekend tickets with camping are available now, priced £120 (+ booking fee) from http://bloodstock.seetickets.com/event/bloodstock-2016/catton-park/902838.  BLOODSTOCK is family-friendly and welcomes rockers of all ages!  A weekend ticket with camping for kids aged 4 - 11 is just £35 (+booking fee) and if your little mosher is under 4, they can join you for free (Note: all children must be accompanied by a parent/guardian over the age of 18)!  Campervan pitches are already on sale and these move very quickly, so pick yours up ASAP to avoid disappointment. Rock Society passes are already sold out.

NEWS: Reinventing Scorps, when free album isn't free, Satyr on the opera, and Coal Chamber album

NEWS: Roth goes back to Scorpions roots

ULI Jon Roth, mystic, guitar guru, and former member of the Scorpions has taken songs from four Scorpions albums and not just re-recorded them, but reinvented them for a double CD release on UDR on March 9th.

 

"The material for this double CD was recorded last year in the same hall in Hanover that we used for the Scorpions rehearsals 1973-1978,” explained Roth.

 

“Together with an amazing bunch of very talented young musicians, I revisited my personal favourites from the early Scorpions period, some of which were written in that same hall. It was an emotional few days and I am very pleased with the results in more ways than one.

 

"The idea was to stay truthful to the original spirit of the music, while also putting a new slant on it whenever it felt like the right thing to do. I feel we really succeeded in this and I’m very excited about this project. It was a intense journey into the past and I think we really managed to bring the songs back to life with a vengeance."

NEWS: Free album...not for NI

 

BRIT 'Alt-Rockers' Never A Hero are giving away free copies of their new album to everyone attending their UK tour. But it's a UK tour that leaves out us here in Northern Ireland - which is still part of the UK...

 

If you want to get a hold of it without travelling to England or Wales you'll have to wait to March 30th to hear 'UnEvolution'.

NEWS: Satryicon go operatic

 

Norwegian Black Metal legends SATYRICON have signed a worldwide deal with Austrian metal label Napalm Records for release of their upcoming DVD 'Live At The Opera!'

 Mastermind Satyr about the story behind 'Live At The Opera'.

“The whole thing started with us doing one song, “To The Mountains” a year and a half before the actual show," said Satyr.

"We performed at a closed event in the main hall of the opera with the Royal Norwegian Opera Chorus. It was very inspirational. I then said to the conductor that I would love to do a whole show like this. He loved the idea, I was serious about it, and he was serious about it."

 

 

NEWS: Dez and Coal Chamber back with new album

 

Reactivated Los Angeles, California’s Coal Chamber have confirmed a May 19^th North America release date for their new album 'Rivals'. This is the band’s first new album in over thirteen years.

 

With producer Mark Lewis at the helm, Rivals makes it seem as if the band never took a break at all. They picked up right where they left off and have delivered what some may consider their best work to date. The artwork (pictured above) and track listing for Rivals have now been revealed.

Frontman Dez Fafara - familiar to us all as singer of Devil Driver, said:
“This record was over 13 years in the Making and I promise this record won't disappoint and will be worth the wait! 

 

"Rivals is solid through and through, there's maturity and growth in the music while still maintaining the true Coal Chamber sound and delivering track after track of killer tunes! We had a great time working together on this record and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!”

 

Here's the tracklist:

1. I.O.U. Nothing
2. Bad Blood Between Us
3. Light in the Shadows
4. Suffer in Silence
5. The Bridges You Burn
6. Orion
7. Another Nail in the Coffin
8. Rivals
9. Wait
10. Dumpster Dive
11. Over My Head
12. Fade Away (Karma Never Forgets)
13. Empty Handed
14. Worst Enemy

No poseurs required as Chtonic and Satyricon prove that black is not a one dimensional colour

The Distortion Project delivers a double headed black metal treat to Belfast with Chtonic and Satryicon

MAKING their first appearances on a Belfast stage two bands, who are literally from the opposite sides of the world brought new dimensions to the often hackneyed field of black metal; silencing the doubters and opening up new, interesting pathways on the metal journey.

While most of the crowd in the Limelight2 on Monday (11th November) were there for Satyricon's Belfast début, all concerned received a pleasant shock as Taiwanese metallers Chtonic hit the stage to deliver a tight, focused and engaging performance.

Singer Freddy Lim, bearing the mark of the Eight Generals of Hell on his forehead, offered new textures to the black/death metal vocal style and occasionally added flourishes with the traditional Taiwanese erhu.

With the masked CJ Kao bearing what appeared to be a mask for summoning vampires, and the semi-masked drummer Dani Wang, their preferred references to aboriginal Taiwanese were present, allowing Jesse Liu to give a masterclass in guitar histrionics - whatever they are feeding their guitar players in Taiwan is working!

Many there will not be aware that Chtonic are a highly politicized band; they are prominent figures in campaigning for full Taiwanese independence; Lim is a member of Amnesty International and is a previous President of the Taiwanese Chapter. However, many eyes were focused on the attractive female bassist and band spokesperson Doris Yeh.

Her beauty prompted the usual round of misogynist comments from the less evolved, but they would do well to remember that Yeh uses her looks as a tool to raise awareness of women's rights and is an active rights campaigner on many issues. And, she is a hell of a good bassist!

Such is the activism of Chtonic that they are banned in several parts of China for their political views - but on Monday, what Chtonic proved that they are a healthy and vibrant set musicians who have adapted and adopted western black and death metal to deliver a set that can literally leave an audience gasping for more.

With the stage set for Satyricon, Frost's monumental drum kit towered over all present- a testimony to black metal tradition, and the template he used to anchor everything down, plus add the percussive shades and splashes that are essential to the band's sound.

Of course, the band really is the bastard black metal baby of Satyr and Frost. It is their vision of an evolving, changing black metal sensibility that has seen the band tweak at their traditional sound, adding rock elements.

There are stuck up poseurs who want everything to stay the same. They can f**k away off! Satyricon's recorded output of recent years on stage lives, breathes and spits like a snarling feral beast.

Satyr commands the stage, rocking on his trident mike stand, staring all around as he delivers invective and bile. Where Chtonic work towards a free Taiwan, Satyricon paint upon the bleak landscapes of Norse winters and Nordic traditions with dystopian paints to create a canvas of hellish visions and slim hopes of defiance and victory - all with a healthy dash of references to Satan of course!

Mother North, The Pentagram Burns, Fuel for Hatred were outstanding delivered live - the touring band coalescing, and tight as the bonds on a human sacrifice at the feet of ancient, vengeful Norse gods.

However, while songs like Now, Diabolical and K.I.N.G. have become stage favourites the newer tracks Our World It Rumbles Tonight and The Infinity of Time and Space show a way forward more complicated and layered than the doubters can ever see; Satyr telling Belfast that the latter song encapsulates everything about the band.

If this is the future of Satyricon it is bright light on the shadowed world they deliver their art upon.

And, while we are normally averse to referring to any band rock or metal band as producing 'art' it is clear that to Chtonic and Satyricon that they are artists in a dark world of shadows where mere mortals fear to tread.

Satyricon six or seven years ago where on the cusp of emerging from the black metal clichés. They have shrugged off the shackles of 'scene' conformity and developed into an immense live machine.

As Satyr hinted that he'd like to return to the city we can only hope that Satyricon and Chtonic do not just notch up Belfast as one more city to play, but do ensure Belfast is penciled in next time they tour Europe. Both are guaranteed the warmest of black welcomes!