French melodic metallers Alwaid have confirmed the new run of UK dates with London-based goths Orpheum and Spanish tragic metallers Suddenlash, following a series of set backs. The tour is still set to take place in April and will begin in Birmingham and end in Oxford, with Northern Symphony Festival still part of the tour. The dates are as follow:
14th April - Birmingham - Scurffy Murphy's 15th April - Manchester - Rebellion 16th April - Selby - Northern Symphony Festival 17th April - Oxford - The Cellar
Following the release for their second full-length album, A New Dawn, Birmingham pro-power metallers Dakesis have announced dates for their upcoming UK tour in support of the new album. Tour dates are as follow:
27th March - Birmingham - Quinphonic Festival 1st April - Camden - The Black Heart 21st April - Wakefield - The Snooty Fox* 22nd April - Bridlington - The Londesborough* 23rd April - Newcastle - Head Of Steam* 24th April - Sheffield - South Sea Live* 28th April – Leicester - Victoria Biker’s Pub 29th April – Cardiff - Fuel 30th April – Grantham - Grantham College 7th May – Keele - Muses of Metal Festival
*With Sellsword
Dakesis will also be embarking on additional three UK dates at the end of May with Finnish metal lords Thunderstone. Dates are as follow:
26th May – Camden - The Black Heart 27th May – Brimingham - The Asylum 2 28th May – Sheffield - The Corporation
Theatres Des Vampires - Italy's leading metal band for all things vampyric - are set to return to the UK in April 2016 for their first UK show in five years. The vampire metal coven, fronted by Sonya Scarlett, have been announced to headline the Midnight Waltz at the Northern Symphony Festival, where they will join the likes of Alwaid, Suddenlash and Orpheum plus a whole range of bands that are still to be announced.
Formed in 1994 by former vocalist Lord Vampyr, Theatres Des Vampires have rose through the ranks of Europe's metal scene and have gone onto release several studio albums with another currently in the works.
The line-up for Northern Symphony Festival is currently as follows:
Midnight Waltz Stage: Theatres Des Vampires Alwaid (Special guest appearance) Orpheum Suddenlash (UK festival debut)
Infernal Orchestra Stage:
TBA
Further bands are still to be announced.
A limited number of early bird tickets are still available for £10 from this location. Tickets will be priced at the full price of £15 at midnight 15th November or when all early bird tickets sell out.
Northern Symphony Festival is the UK's only symphonic metal festival and will take place on Saturday 16th April 2016 at The Venue and The Riverside in Selby, North Yorkshire.
The event is 14+. Further details can be found at the festivals Facebook page.
Dutch metal band Delain have announced that Merel Bechtold is now a permanent and additional member of the band. In their announcement, the band stated that they decided to adopt Merel into the family and use double guitar power. This will no doubt add a heavier dynamic to Delain's sound.
Merel commented, saying:
I'm excited to become a permanent Delain member and hugely looking forward to the upcoming tours and albums. See you on the road!
Delain start their European tour later this month. Further details at this location.
Leaves' Eyes have been a power house on the global symphonic metal scene for more than a decade now. The majority of their discography takes its influence - at least lyrically - from the old stories and history of the Nordic nations, with Symphonies of the Night being an exception to that. To any Leaves' Eyes fan, it will come at no surprise that King of Kings is based around the history of Harald Fairhair, the first King of Norway, though my thoughts on the album will be reserved for another day. For now, I'm focusing on the band's latest single from the album, Halvdan The Black - who is best known as the father of the good king Harald Fairhair.
The song begins with the haunting sound of ritualistic tribal drums and chanting before the two shieldwalls of metal instrumentation and choir vocals clash on the proverbial battleground. Liv's vocals soar majestically throughout the song, like valkyries riding towards Valhalla whilst Alex's voice provides that thunderous savagery one would imagine a Norseman's voice to be like when screaming awe-inspiring battle cries. The guitar passages are memorable and lay down the backbone of this song alongside the drums. The orchestration and choirs weave a cold atmosphere of northern tragedy into the song, adding emphasis to the emotions in the music and Liv's voice.
From the sounds of this one track, Leaves' Eyes are still travelling forth with their new sound but are conjuring up spirits of their old sound in their everlasting journey to new musical horizons. Hopefully the album lives upto the expectations that have been made by this one single.
If you've never had the pleasure of listening to Powerwolf, then you are missing out. The band stray from the standard norms of power metal, focusing on darker lyrical subjects and painting their faces with corpsepaint. Blessed & Possessed is their sixth studio album.
The album opens up with the gothically tragic sounding title track, mixing a flurry of guitars, haunting organs and soaring vocals into song. The chorus hooks you, leaving you wanting to hear more of the song. Dead Until Dark greets you with an assault of melodic passages and poignant vocal melodies though the lyrics are predictably Powerwolf's. The varying instrumentation in Army of the Night make for perfect dance partners, as if the song itself were a grand-yet-crepuscular ball with music all of its own.
Armata Strigoi (allegedly Romanian for Undead Army) weaves together a tale of vampires as the instruments parallel one another following its grandiose opening. We Are The Wild comes across as a reworking of Sacred & Wild in places and in other sections, as a completely different song all together. The vocals and music travel at different paces but this works out well as both reach their intended destination. The highlight of the song is the august guitar solo that is followed by emotive orchestration.
Higher Than Heaven races forth with galloping organ steps and jumping guitars, both of which are backed up by the hefty sounding drums. Where as Christ & Combat is a well-planned battle strategy, commandeered by the authoritative vocals that lead the guitars and organs into a bloody foray with reinforcements provided by the drums and bass. Sanctus Dominus (Latin for Holy Lord) is very much like a hymn in the chorus but ignoring that one flaw with the track, the guitar flesh out a very NWOBHMesque approach to their sound and the vocals display a dynamic range.
Sacramental Sister begins like a guitar passage from Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name and provides some energetic moments and really demonstrates the talents of each member. All You Can Bleed is a very poetic track, offering little nibbles of darkness before the dusk-tinted sobriety of Let There Be Night closes the album with atmospheric orchestration and twilit vocals.
Blessed & Possessed is just the latest chapter in Powerwolf's ever-darkening saga and it shows that they have no intention of slowing down and letting a younger pack take their place just yet. With a combination of old and new influences alike, this is one of the best power metal albums of the decade.
Midlands gothic power band Aonia have been confirmed to support Red Rum at Valkyrian Festival in November. The news comes following the recent announcement of Aonia postponing their European dates which were originally scheduled for later this month.
Valkyrian Festival will take place on Saturday 21st November at The Venue and The Riverside in Selby, North Yorkshire. Tickets are £10 and are available from this location.
Northern Symphony Festival has announced the first two bands for the 2016 edition of the festival.
Spanish theatrical metallers Suddenlash have been confirmed to their UK festival debut at Northern Symphony Festival. With a sense of tragedy that laments through their music and a strong sense of talent, Suddenlash are one band that must be seen live.
You can read my thoughts on their latest single at this location.
Joining the line-up as special guests are none other than the mystifying French melodic metal band Alwaid. Already with two UK tours under their belts and an appearance at Valkyrian Festival 2014, Alwaid are becoming recognised as one of France's finest musicial exports! The band comments:
It's both an honour and a great pleasure for Alwaid to be part of the next Northern Symphony Fest edition! The projet is young but has gained an immediate success showing that symphonic metal (in the widest sense of the genre!) has not overstayed its welcome yet. We know we'll get to share the stage with amazingly talented bands and meet with a madly enthusiastic audience, can't wait!
Midlands-based metal septet Aonia have announced that they're postponing their upcoming European dates with Alwaid following the recent development of illness with one of the members' partners. Alwaid will still be playing the advertised dates, which can be found below. In their announcement, Aonia said:
With heavy hearts, we must announce that we have to postpone the planned European tour this July with our good friends Alwaid. Sadly, the partner of one of our members has been diagnosed with a cancerous lymphoma. The doctors have begun treatment, and - as anyone who has undergone chemotherapy can attest - the side effects have left them extremely weak and ill. Our member feels unable to leave the country while their partner is so ill, a decision which we all agree with 100%. We also feel that embarking on our first foray into Europe with one member missing would be the wrong thing to do – and so, the only right thing to do in this circumstance is to withdraw. Alwaid and their support acts will still be appearing at the shows as planned, and we are extremely grateful to Alwaid for the support and understanding that they have shown. We thank you in advance, our friends and fans – the Aonia family – for your support while we help our bandmate through this horrible time.
As stated above, Alwaid will still be playing the European shows. Dates are as follow:
24th July - Rock Classic, Brussels (B) 25th July - De Verlichte Geest, Roselare (B) 26th July - The Pit, Antwerp (B) 27th July - The Sound Dog, Breda (NL) 28th July - Le Midland, Lille (F)
Dutch metal sextet Seventh Sin have decided to call it a day after 12 years. The announcement was made via Facebook only moments ago. The announcement reads as follow:
After 12 years Seventh Sin have decided to call it a day. The band will split up after doing another 4 shows in The Netherlands and Belgium in July and September. After that, all band members will go their own way.
We feel sad about splitting up, but we are looking back on great times and awesome memories, things we will be talking to our grandchildren about. About having the nerve to talk to a promotor about wanting to get on stage and ending up with a support show for Kamelot, about sharing stage with awesome bands like Epica, Delain, Leaves' Eyes, ReVamp, Xandria and Stream of Passion, about touring the UK with Edenbridge, about meeting people, making new friends, sharing a passion, enjoying every single minute of a gig….. Etc.
We want to thank all fans, promotors, DJ's, reviewers, editors of magazines, sound and light crews, all bands we had the privilege to share the stage with, all stagehands and everyone else who made it possible for us to live our dream.
We will be thankful forever.
Please know that we are saying goodbye with pain in our hearts and we will not leave you without a proper farewell show. We will keep you posted on everything that is to come.
The band's final shows are as follow:
18th July - Babes of Metal - Jan Hertog - Eisden - Maasmechelen (B) with Nightqueen and Valkyre
25th July – Chopperclub Run – Maaseik (B) (Private gig)
5th September – Uitmarkt – Tuchthuis – Eindhoven (NL)
- T.B.A. - Seventh Sin farewell show – NL
