 Hertfordshire-based alternative metal band Defences release their brutal and confrontational new single ‘IN THE BLACK’. The track is taken from their new album ‘In The Balance’ which is set for release on 15th October 2021. Fans can pre-order / pre-save the album HERE. Defences latest offering sees the band looking inwards, tackling loss and grief head-on. Vocalist Cherry Duesbury comments: "In The Black dives into the darker side of loss and the effects it can have on us. Unexpectedly losing important people can feel like the end of your world, or like a part of or all of you has been taken with them. This song explores the thoughts and feelings that can come while grieving. Even when at our lowest points, there is something that drives us forward, wakes us up every day and keeps us breathing... There's still sunlight, even behind the darkest of clouds." ‘In The Balance’ arrives as a snapshot of primary lyricist and vocalist Cherry Duesbury’s experiences over the last few years; glancing over the inevitable difficulties of a global pandemic as well as several pivotal cultural events. "We wrote this because we need to" exclaims Cherry. ‘In The Balance’ is the result of Defences looking for hope in the stark realities of life, facing them head-on to find positivity. “A lot of the lyrics are based on internal struggles,” notes co-vocalist William Alex Young. It’s a snapshot in time, looking at humanity in both its glory and its struggles. “It’s incredibly honest”, Cherry adds. “It’s the most honest I have ever been in terms of lyrics.” There’s a universality to this honesty with the band's recent single ‘False Gods.’ Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Cherry used her personal reaction to comment on all humanity. Hope bubbles under the surface of ‘In The Balance’ and underpins Defences’ attitude as a band. The songs emerge as a celebration of how humans deal with things that happen in their lives, how they understand and acknowledge those experiences, and what ultimately can be learned from them. And they do so with a powerful energy that perfectly blends the dual vocals with down-tuned instrumentation. Joining several strong contemporaries, it continues their evolution from any norms in alternative metal. The guitars are heavier, the screams louder, but there’s still space for the melody to drive it forward. The album revels on both its energy and passion, yet lands on genuine positivity. Cherry looks back at the hourglass, the heart, and the scales of justice emblazoned on the album's artwork commenting “It’s a time capsule of this moment in our lives, in any life. It’s about the experiences, the difficulties, the struggles that we all go through, and the eventual hope that we find.” Defences are:
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 Evanescence's video for "Use My Voice" from the band’s highly-praised album, The Bitter Truth, has been nominated in the Best Rock category at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. The track which was released around the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage was used as a voter-registration anthem by non-partisan voter information service, HeadCount ahead of last year’s election. You can watch singer Amy Lee talking about their involvement on CBS This Morning. Watch “Use My Voice” HERE. The video was directed by film-maker Eric D. Howell, for whose 2017 film, Voice From The Stone (Emilia Clarke) Amy Lee wrote the end title. Howell also directed the music video for Evanescence’s current Top 10 Rock Radio hit, “Better Without You”. Lee said of "Use My Voice:" This is an era of awakening, and full of powerful beauty. I hope to inspire others to seek truth, find their own voices, and use them as I step up to use mine. Don’t let anybody speak for you. Only you can do that”. Vote for Evanescence HERE ahead of the September 12th awards show. This marks the second consecutive year that Evanescence has been nominated in Best Rock when “Wasted On You,” self-shot by the band during last year’s COVID quarantine, also notched up a nomination. For both nominations, Evanescence has been the only female-fronted band in the category. Russian goth metallers The End Of Melancholy unveil video for stirring cover of “The Immigrant Song”17/7/2021  Russian alternative / goth metal band The End Of Melancholy has revealed a new video for their take on the Led Zeppelin classic “The Immigrant Song” from their latest album, Nature Unleashed. The band share their thoughts:- “We always loved this great band and in honour of their huge contribution to music, we decided to do a cover. There’s a line in lyrics, ‘We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.’ Our band is from cold Russia, so we know what we’re singing about!” Watch The End Of Melancholy’s video for “The Immigrant Song” now at https://youtu.be/9apZAjuDTd0. Nature Unleashed is available now digitally on Spotify and Bandcamp, and as a limited-edition CD including a jewel box, slipcase and 16-page booklet at https://theendofmelancholy.bandcamp.com/album/nature-unleashed. The End Of Melancholy was founded in 2014 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and was quickly recruited to perform with such bands as Motionless in White, Theatres Des Vampires and Hanzel und Gretyl. Their 2019 album Paradox Intention was supported with two European tours, making stops in Poland, Lithuania, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Switzerland and Estonia. Later that year, The End Of Melancholy was chosen by Motionless in White to support the American band at their first Russian show. The following year, the band signed on with Massive Music, one of the largest European booking agencies. In addition to Paradox Intention, The End Of Melancholy has released numerous videos, including a cover of Lord of the Lost’s “Black Halo” and the originals “Monster’s Feeling,” “Genesis,” “Peaceful Warrior,” “The Demon” and “Dolphins.”  Rapidly rising Scandinavian alt-rock / metal band Smash Into Pieces have announced their brand new album A New Horizon, out August 27th. Their sixth full length album, it explores, expands and concludes the immersive journey they began on previous album ARCADIA both aurally and visually. Pre-order the album here. A New Horizon continues to detail the band's Arcadia World narrative, delving deeper into their story. A futuristic world riddled with political corruption and driven by fear and misinformation, their story follows Apoc, their protagonist, as he vows to put an end to the dark times and encourage society to seek the truth and live freely. Together with the weaving electronic textures, biting guitars, pounding drums and anthemic vocals, it leaves a lasting impression as a powerful, gripping and thought-provoking album. Arcadia is a mirror image of reality; the setting may be futuristic and different, but the issues that are buried within the album couldn’t be more real. As the roles of social media and technology grow, we become numb to life beyond our screens, and Smash Into Pieces are encouraging you to look up and see the world around you. We are faced with obstacles, challenges and difficult choices every day, but with positivity and a clear mind we can overcome them and find happiness. PRE-ORDER HERE
The announcement of A New Horizon follows the release of four adrenaline-fuelled instalments, ‘Rise Up’, ‘Real One’, double single ‘VR’ and the recent thunderous anthem ‘Broken Parts’, each of which is accompanied by a lavish music video that further enhances the Arcadia World narrative. With a massive track record consisting of five albums, 23 singles, and over 375 million streams and views across platforms, Smash Into Pieces have evolved into one of the fastest rising Scandinavian alternative rock bands to date. Formed in 2009 and comprised of vocalist Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, guitarist Benjamin Jennebo, guitarist Per Bergquist and drummer / DJ The Apocalypse DJ, they released their fifth studio album last year which, together with the lyrics accompanying music videos, began to tell the story of a digital world – ARCADIA. In 2021 that story continues; the story of the resistance and the artificial. This is A New Horizon. Stay tuned for more exciting news and announcements in the near future.  Scandinavian rockers / metallers Smash Into Pieces have released their brand new single ‘Broken Parts’. The song is taken from their upcoming sixth studio album, exploring and expanding the world they created on last year's album "Arcadia" both aurally and visually. Listen here. Continuing their episodic storytelling after three adrenaline-fuelled instalments, ‘Rise Up’, ‘Real One’ and recent double instalment ‘VR’ featuring the tracks 'My Wildest Dream' and 'Bangarang', ‘Broken Parts’ is the fourth episode of their hi-tech second season of Arcadia World. Velvety melodies and dream-like electronics collide with a thunderous soaring chorus that sees their protagonist face a difficult choice at a fork in the road. Watch the futuristic video here. With a massive track record consisting of five albums, 27 singles, 250 million streams across platforms with over 170 million of those on Spotify alone, and with more than 65 million views on YouTube, Smash Into Pieces have evolved into one of the fastest rising Scandinavian alternative rock bands to date. Formed in 2009 and comprised of vocalist Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, guitarist Benjamin Jennebo, guitarist Per Bergquist and drummer/DJ The Apocalypse DJ, they released their fifth studio album last year which, together with the lyrics accompanying music videos, began to tell the story of a digital world – ARCADIA. In 2021 that story continues, and these new songs are just the beginning. Stay tuned for more new music and exciting announcements in the very near future. CONNECT WITH SMASH INTO PIECES WEBSITE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER / TIKTOK / TWITCH  Finland are looking to repeat history as they eye up their second Eurovision Song Contest victory. Their entrant this year is Blind Channel, a band that have been sprinting past milestones and crushing their rival’s records with their enormous anthemic entry ‘Dark Side’. ‘Dark Side’ has become a #1 smash hit on the Finnish singles chart and has remained in the top 10 airplay charts for over 10 weeks, with the song now reaching platinum. Is metal going to bring Finland the gold yet again? Listen to the song here and watch the official lyric video here. It was written as a reaction to the global pandemic that forced the music industry to a grinding halt, synonymously crushing all the band’s 2020 touring plans. Frustration, isolation and depression gave birth to an anthem for the people, and the Eurovision Song Contest has proved to be the perfect vessel to spread their message. Niko Vilheim, one of the band's two vocalists shares his thoughts:- “What we really needed at that low point was an anthem for ourselves, a song that gives the finger to life itself. That’s how ‘Dark Side’ came into life. It really was an instant anthem. ’Dark Side’ is a song that’s meant to be performed together with an audience, as a kind of communal experience. Now we needed to find that audience, and we knew that there were lots of people out there who felt exactly like we did.”  After entering the track into the UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu = New Music Competition), the Finnish qualifying round for the Eurovision Song Contest itself, the sextet came away annihilating all their fellow competitors by achieving the highest score in the competition’s history and becoming the first UMK entry to hit the top of the charts. Now with their sights firmly set on the finish line, the band will be the 14th act to perform at the second semi-final on May 20th, and if successful on the night, will perform again at the finals on May 22nd. The competition finale will also feature performances from past winners of the competition, including Finland’s previous winning act and hard rock heroes Lordi who dominated the 2006 event with ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’. Finland has long been known for its love of heavy music, with international superstar acts such as Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Nightwish, Children of Bodum, Apocalyptica and The Rasmus all enjoying major global success. Now the world will be adding Blind Channel to that list. Blind Channel were formed in 2013 in the city of Oulu, way up in the North of Finland, by a group of five talented, determined and ambitious friends – vocalists Joel Hokka and Niko Vilhelm, drummer Tommi Lalli, guitarist Joonas Porko and bass player Olli Matela. This fivesome has stuck together to this day, in the spirit of the 2018 sophomore album Blood Brothers, each of them collectively responsible for the songwriting. Last year saw the addition of a new member, as long time friend Alex Mattson joined to play keyboard, samples and percussion and completes the current line up. Following the release of their 2020 album Violent Pop, ‘Dark Side’ is the band’s first taste of music from an upcoming album due for release early next year, working with renowned UK producer Dan Lancaster (Blink 182, Bring Me The Horizon, Don Broco). CONNECT WITH BLIND CHANNEL WEBSITE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER 
French alternative metal band ODC present their newest track 'I Love The Way You Fall'. The single is now available across all platforms. 'I Love The Way You Fall' twists the codes of mainstream love songs to display the image of today's woman: free to choose and free to act. This track is very typical of ODC's sound as it results from a great mix of influences: alternative metal, electronic sounds, strong 8 strings guitar riffs and melodic vocals with touches of saturation. The release is supported by a modern music video shot in the streets of Paris, we want rock / metal to be part of today's urban culture. The 'I Love The Way You Fall' music video is also now available on YouTube and IGTV. ODC line-up:
ODC is an alternative metal band founded by vocalist Celia Do in 2017 in Paris, France. ODC's sound is a fusion of different influences: alternative rock, metal and punk. Modernising rock / metal is the ODC credo. ODC's first EP was released in 2019 followed by a series of single.  Evanescence’s new album, The Bitter Truth (Sony Germany/RCA), has charted at No 4 in the UK making it their fourth Top Five album. The band’s first full-length release of all-new material in a decade, The Bitter Truth has also debuted as the top-selling Rock & Alternative album in the US, according to Nielsen Music Connect. Shortly after its release on March 26th, The Bitter Truth rose to the top of the iTunes Album Charts in 22 countries. Recorded during the pandemic, it confronts the dark realities of the world head-on. Yet its resounding message is one of light, and that pushing through is better than giving up. Check out the band performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! HERE, and pre-order a special graphic anthology series “Echoes From The Void,” a collaboration with Heavy Metal Entertainment inspired by The Bitter Truth cuts “Better Without You” and “Wasted on You,” HERE. Watch this space for a new music video and more exciting Evanescence news to be revealed in the coming weeks. Praise for The Bitter Truth and Evanescence:
 Evanescence will release "Better Without You" this Friday 5th March. This is the next single to be taken from their forthcoming album 'The Bitter Truth,' out on 26th March via Sony. Yesterday, they released a digital puzzle for fans to solve in order to hear a snippet of the new song - check it out HERE. Everyone who solves the puzzle will receive a free “Better Without You” ringtone and will be entered for a chance to be the first fan in the world (along with a guest) to hear the full song along with a private Q&A with singer Amy Lee.  'The Bitter Truth' is Evanescence's first album of original music in ten years, and its songs have already earned accolades from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Elle, Billboard, and many more. Watch the band perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! HERE, and watch this space for more news about "Better Without You" on Friday March 5th! Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube  [Photo Credit: Francesca Ludikar] Canadian alternative metal crossover stars Sumo Cyco are about to transcend into an explosive new era with their upcoming full-length, Initiation, scheduled for release on May 7, 2021 via Napalm Records! Interlaced with infectious heavy metal grooves, pop-perfected hooks, electronic undertones and a dose of punk flavour, Initiation breaks all the rules while delivering a cohesive yet purely unbridled sonic adventure. Sumo Cyco has cemented their name by garnering an impressive legion of fans with their hard-working attitude and story-building prowess. With Initiation, Sumo Cyco takes it to a whole new level – demonstrated by their new single, “Bystander”! Crowned by expert, airtight vocal domination from Juno-nominated pop star-turned-rock frontwoman Skye “Sever” Sweetnam, the track features an aggressive, fast-paced attack of low, grooving metal riffage, relentless drums and slinking electronic accents. Its accompanying music video reflects the track’s energetic, chaotic vibe with sharp, vivid visuals. Don’t just be a bystander, check it out now! Frontwoman Skye “Sever” Sweetnam says about “Bystander” and its video: “‘Bystander’ was inspired by the frustration of our lives turning upside down in this pandemic. I felt like instead of living my life, I was now a slave to a screen, watching the world fall apart right before my eyes, totally helpless. The music video depicts my character trapped in a floating house watching news events taking place on TV, and at the same time, right outside my window. This entire video was produced, filmed and edited by Matt and I in our home studio!” Watch the brand new music video for “Bystander” HERE
Initiation invites a mass of new followers into their warped, dystopian-like world of “Cyco City”! As with its predecessors Lost In Cyco City (2014), Opus Mar (2017) and countless singles, Initiation is based in the imaginative conceptual location of “Cyco City”. But unlike most concept albums, the lyrical content is inspired by the band’s real-time environment – featuring timely, personal themes of love, sacrifice, anxiety, empowerment and more that all listeners can relate to. Sweetnam adds about the album: "The album’s title, Initiation, stems from wanting to invite the audience to be “initiated” into our world. There are usually two congruent themes to each of our albums – one is real-world inspiration, and the other is “Cyco City”, a comic book-esque alternate universe where all our music videos take place. With Initiation, we introduce four gangs or clubs. Our music videos for Initiation all include a theme of these clubs – whether it’s gang vs. gang, a forbidden love between opposing sides, or the idea of having to choose where you belong. Outside of the story, the lyrics relate to the polarization of the world we live in now. We all have a longing to belong, but what makes one feel accepted or ostracized from a group? To be INITIATED, would you be willing to try to understand another point of view? I have always written lyrics about internal struggle, the war within oneself. Throughout the album, we bounce back and forth between struggle and overcoming. It reflects the times, and there are moments that seem a bit dark.” Pre-order Initiation HERE *Various new tracks, such as “New Jive” and “We Are The Nation” are available in different groupings on various formats of Initiation (i.e. Die Hard Limited Edition). Initiation will be available in the following formats:
SUMO CYCO is: Skye “Sever” Sweetnam – vocals Matt “MD13” Drake – lead guitar Matt "Trozzi" – drums Oscar Anesetti – bass SUMO CYCO online: WEBSITE NAPALM RECORDS |
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Global Metal Apocalypse Archives
August 2021
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