One of the highlights of our adventures in the Finnish Autumn/Winter season, was most definitely the 3rd edition of Black Box Mikkeli, with on the 2nd day a celebration of Finnish metal with Lastout, I Am Your God, Balance Breach, Insomnium, the foreign black metal storm that is Gaerea, and of course an amazing set by Bloodred Hourglass, bringing their latest album in full!
Besides starting the new year properly looking to the future, this month we’re also still looking back at all the awesomeness that 2023 brought us. One of those awsome things was the already 3rd edition of the by Bloodred Hourglass curated festival Black Box Mikkeli. They were able to bring a killer line-up again on the 2nd day of their event with besides a fantastic show by themselves, Insomnium, Gaerea, Balance Breach, I Am Your God and Lastout!
From the cold dank fog of Portland, Oregon re-emerges death metal unit Petrification with their highly anticipated sophomore album ‘Sever Sacred Light’, set for release next month via Svart Records! Of which a second single ‘Sepulchral Lesions’ is out now!
Death metal battalion Vitriol unleashed its third new single ‘Shame and Its Afterbirth’, alongside a play through video, which is the opening track from their upcoming album ‘Suffer & Become’, set for release on January 26th via Century Media Records!
Brutal death metal and deathcore machine Desolate Tomb is back with its new album ‘Scorned By Misery’ via Rottweiler Records next month, and shared a lyric video for the track ‘Writhing in the Bowels of Hell’!
Veteran Swedish/US death metal outfit Ribspreader unveiled a lyric video for ‘Further Into Decay’, the second single of their upcoming album ‘Reap Humanity, set for release on January 16th via Xtreem Music!
Symphonic death metal project Thy Shining Curse unleashed a mesmerizing new music video and single ‘Melmoth’, from the band’s upcoming debut album ‘Theurgia’, set for release next month via ViciSolum Productions!
In anticipation of the release via Mighty Music later this month, the Danes of Manticora unleashed a video for the title track of their upcoming album ‘Mycelium’!
Year 2023 is closing out and we at GRIMM have our sights set for next year and all the amazing shows and festivals coming up, but before that, let’s look into this past year in photos once again with a selection of Emerik’s favorite pictures, going from extreme and underground, to legendary bands like Nocturnal Sorcery, Horna, Nunslaughter, Merrimack, Pensées Nocturnes, Sex Messiah, Kalmankantaja, VV, Sick Of It All, Lordi, Michael Monroe, The Hellacopters, Possessed, The Mission, Lorna Shore, Kuvotus, Ingested, Voivod, Sodom, Watain, Burst, Full Of Hell, Demolition 23, and Brujeria!
Our Benelux and France head of accreditation and most active photographer in that region, Tom VM, made his own selection of favorite pictures he took in 2023, including some new stuff that wasn’t shared on our site before with Biohazard, Bleed From Within, Brutal Sphincter, Brutus, Electric Callboy, Michael Schenker Group, Sepultura, Arion, Blackrain, Overdrivers, Avatar, Winery Dogs, Charlotte Wessels, Devin Townsend, Dream Theater, Extreme, Ghost, Michael Angelo Batio, Arch Enemy, Doodseskader, Halestorm, I Prevail, Powerwolf and SKYND!
