MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT – ROADBURN 2014 FURTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Friday 11th April 2014 at Roadburn Festival will be curated by Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt, already announced for the event are Comus, Goblin and Magma. Now, he has personally invited a few more of his favourite bands which can be added to the bill; Candlemass (who will exclusively play their entire ‘Ancient Dreams’ album, celebrating its 25th anniversary), Elephant9, Obliteration, Promise and the Monster and Trettioåriga Kriget.
Here’s what Mikael had to say about the recent additions –
“Wow, just wow! I am friends with Candlemass, and especially boss / bassplayer Leif Edling. He is just a text message away and we meet up frequently to talk music and eat spicy food. Under the influence of… beer. And fine Italian wine. When Opeth started, myself and founder David Isberg agreed that our sounds should be a mix of Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Mefisto and Candlemass.
Elephant9 are quite a new fascination for me, since I generally don’t listen much to new music, but they blew me away! It’s moody music, often laced with sudden flurries of virtuosity, and with a rather strong musical connection to Scandinavian lore. If you want music by the book, this is not for you. If you desire otherworldy musical experiences and explosive dynamics however, your search is over.
I’m tempted to use the words ”old school”, but Obliteration are way bigger than some random retro band. They’ve drawn inspiration heavily from the late 80’s / early 90’s Scandinavian and North American scene. If you’re a fan of Autopsy and early Entombed with a topping of extra grit, you’ll not be disappointed.
I don’t want to use the word ”timeless” just yet, even if there’s a fair chance in 20 years’ time her sounds will be known as some of the ”traditional arrangements” of the 21st century. Promise and the Monster will perform as a trio at Roadburn which I’m rather sure will be the curveball addition to the Roadburn line up for 2014. Don’t miss it!
Trettioåriga Kriget is simply one of the best hard rock / prog bands ever to come out of Sweden. Still very much active and still putting out amazing records to this day, they are as relevant as ever. Some of the nicest blokes ever too. I could rant for ages about this bunch, but I’ll put it plain and simple: If you don’t like this, you’re an asshole!”
There’s just a handful of tickets left, get them here –
www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2014/tickets
Our sister company Omerch have also produced a special t-shirt for the event, available HERE.
- December 11th, 2013
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65DAYSOFSTATIC 2014 TOUR DATES
65daysofstatic begin another set of dates in the new year for their recent album ‘Wild Light’!
TICKETS available here: http://www.65daysofstatic.com/65live/
- December 9th, 2013
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FESTIVAL DATES ANNOUNCED
Opeth & Paradise Lost have been confirmed for Hellfest Open Air 2014, Clisson – France. Other acts performing include Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Soundgarden & Black Sabbath… Among many other great bands. Check out the full line-up below and get your tickets here: www.hellfest.fr.
Paradise Lost are also confirmed for M’era Luna, Hildesheim – Germany, more info: www.meraluna.de.
Opeth have announced they will perform at Hell & Heaven Fest 2014, Mexico City – Mexico in March; as well as Metaldays, Tolmin – Slovenia, in July. More info: www.hellandheavenfest.com & www.metaldays.net. This is in addition to Roadburn Festival, where frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt will curate his own line-up on Friday 11th April; more info: www.roadburn.com.
Katatonia are set to play Karmoygeddon Festival, Haugesund – Norway in May & Rockstadt Extreme Fest, Rasnov – Romania in August, more info: www.karmoygeddon.no & www.rockstadtextremefest.ro.
Devin Townsend will also be returning to Europe next year for Trondheim Metal Fest as part of a mini Scandinavian tour:
Mar 07 Trondheim – Metal Fest, Norway – www.trondheimmetalfest.no
Mar 10 Debaser Medis – Stockholm, Sweden
Mar 11 KB – Malmö, Sweden
Mar 13 Pakkahuone – Tampere, Finland
Mar 14 The Circus – Helsinki, Finland
TICKETS: www.bandsintown.com/devintownsend
- December 4th, 2013
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VALLENFYRE – NEW ALBUM
In 2011, Gregor Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST) announced that he would go back to his death metal roots with his new band, VALLENFYRE. The level of expectation was set high with a line-up consisting of Hamish Glencross (guitar; MY DYING BRIDE), Scoot (bass; DOOM, EXTINCTION OF MANKIND), Adrian Erlandsson (drums; AT THE GATES, PARADISE LOST, THE HAUNTED) local friend Mully (second guitar) – and of course, Gregor on vocals (for the first time in his career!). Their debut, A Fragile King, was a reference to Gregor’s fathers’ (lost) battle with cancer; the harrowing, crusty death-doom found on the album was hailed as “a beast of a record” (Terrorizer UK) and “a sonic force that bites deep and hard” (Decibel). Simply put, A Fragile King is “old school to the bone” (Rock Hard Germany).
Two years and some exclusive live shows later, VALLENFYRE is pleased to announce that they will begin recording the follow-up to A Fragile King in January 2014 at GodCity Studio in Salem, MA. Produced by Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE, BLACK BREATH, NAILS), this currently untitled opus will see the crusty death-doom merchants take their sound to new extremes.
Gregor Mackintosh comments: “We were very pleased with our debut album as a dirty mix of all our earliest death, doom and crust influences. On the follow-up, we want to take this much further and develop our own niche. It will be a stench-ridden, grim, face-melter that will separate the men from the boys.”
VALLENFYRE’s second album is scheduled for a worldwide release in April 2014 via Century Media Records. In case you missed A Fragile King, be sure to check out the music video for “Cathedrals Of Dread”:
VALLENFYRE line-up:
Gregor Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST) – Vocals and Lead Guitars
Hamish Glencross (MY DYING BRIDE) – Rhythm and Lead Guitars
Mully – Rhythm Guitars
Scoot (DOOM, EXTINCTION OF MANKIND) – Bass
Adrian Erlandsson (AT THE GATES, PARADISE LOST, THE HAUNTED) – Drums
- November 27th, 2013
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‘KINGDOM’ TAKEN FROM DEVIN TOWNSEND’S THE RETINAL CIRCUS
If you haven’t already purchased Devin Townsend’s “The Retinal Circus” then here’s another preview to tempt you…
Staged at The Roundhouse in London on October 27, 2012, “The Retinal Circus” was the chance for Devin Townsend to present a performance that summarized his career so far. And he did it with aplomb, style, humour, a sense of blackness and a touch of the bizarre…
Available as:
Die-Hard Deluxe Fan Box incl. 2-DVD/1-Blu Ray/2-CD
Limited Edition 2-DVD/1-Blu Ray/2-CD Box Set
Standard 2-Disc DVD
Standard 1-Disc Blu-Ray
Standard 2-CD Audio
Digital Download
DEVIN TOWNSEND ONLINE:
https://www.facebook.com/dvntownsend/
https://www.twitter.com/dvntownsend/
http://www.omerch.eu/shop/devintownsend/
- November 19th, 2013
- no responses