Anti-Flag is kicking off the year hard with a bang and a pretty ambitious album with ‘Lies They Tell Our Children’. They are taking a somewhat different approach than before with a concept album and guest musicians for the majority of the tracks with big names of the scene like Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage), Shane Told (Silverstein), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Brian Baker (Bad Religion) and more. While this is a band whose music translates much better face to face, we can’t help but really looking forward to this record filled with good punk rock, social awareness and activism. Another release to be added to an already extensive list of decent albums and a great live band!

HIM fans around the world are most likely extremely intrigued about the new chapter in Ville Valo‘s musical journey after getting his feet wet again in schlager when reuniting with the Agents for an album and some shows, now returning to his roots in “love metal” and his Gothic side. The already released singles have a very HIM vibe, which isn’t too surprising with his very distinct voice, but maybe not as full on heavy as HIM often got. A full new album of a (metal) music icon like this is nevertheless something to get excited about, and it will be interesting to hear the album in its entirety to see what VV now actually is all about.

The misfit gang of Turmion Kätilöt has been one of the most popular metal bands within their homecountry of Finland for well over a decade. Their dark but infectious style of industrial metal that is lovingly dubbed “disko metal” by themselves stands for a party every single time whether you play their music from a record or catch them live. After being basically a public secret for many years outside of Finland, the signing to Nuclear Blast for their ‘Global Warning‘ album and their recent tour as openers for Nightwish in Europe, has turned quite some heads in their direction, setting them up for hopefully the attention they much deserve. So molding the iron while it’s hot, here is full-length number 10 ‘Omen X’! And like always, there is plenty of wacko stuff, hard beats and even harder metal, and dark vibes.

We came across Dropout Kings a while back when they had a short stint with Napalm Records and ever since, we’ve been intrigued by the collective and the music they put out. If you’re any bit into rap metal or nu metal, you won’t want to miss out on this release! We’re all for good fusion bands and Dropout Kings are simply slammin’, their music rips every time and could easily appeal to rap and rock/metal fans alike, and we’re super excited to hear what kind of bangers will be featured on ‘Riot Music’!

NOTE: Apparently on January 13 it’s only their new single also called ‘Riot Music’ that is being released, we’ll have to wait until April to get the full album banging out of our speakers. But we’re excited about it nevertheless!

Floridian-based death metal heavyweight Obituary seems to capture the real core of the band’s classic sound on the 11th album “Dying of Everything” out via Relapse Records on January 13th, 2023. Obituary made a name for themselves in the death metal genre for being one of the legendary US death metal bands. Since then, they’ve made an impact on fans around the world. Obituary hasn’t changed in the last three decades with each studio album being well received by the fans. But there are many reasons why the 11th album looks like it might be a game changer for John Tardy (vocals), Trevor Peres (rhythm guitar), Donald Tardy (drums), Terry Butler (bass guitar), and Kenny Andrews (lead guitar). “Dying of Everything” is already a strong contender for one of the best albums of the year 2023 and based on what we’ve heard so far without a shadow of doubt this is might very well be the band’s best output in years.

Swedish masters of melancholy Katatonia never seem to really disappoint. During their lengthy career of over 3 decades, they’ve released stellar release after stellar release, pleasing people all over the globe who are looking for a healthy dose of doom and gloom. Their first singles ‘Atrium‘, ‘Austerity‘ and recently released ‘Birds‘ are very promising, delivering some of that old Katatonia magic with vocalist Jonas Renske‘s signature mournful voice on a bed of beautiful music. How could we not be looking forward to the release of ‘Sky Void of Star‘?

Kiberspassk was dropped out of nowhere upon the world a couple of years ago and ever since we’ve been highly intrigued by the output of this project. Blending industrial and dark elektro music with traditional elements from Russian folklore, they are something truly unique. Much of its style and atmosphere comes from frontwoman Baba Yaga, who has a vocal range going from sweet melodies to haunting raspy vocals to her signature throat-singing. And even visually they stand out with outfits that again combine Russian folklore with pure weirdness and creepiness. This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we’re really excited to hit play on the full record that is coming out and bask in the weird beats and sounds of Kiberspassk!

We all like a good serving of some pagan and dark folk, having our “GRIMM picks: pagan folk” playlist on at our Asgaard venue quite regularly, and are a bit in love with popular acts like Heilung, Wardruna and the lot. Back in the beginnings of our venue, we hosted a cool show with Nytt Land and in some regards, Vėlių Namai reminds us somewhat of them. While inherently rooted in traditional music and soundscapes, there is a prominent place for electronic music throughout their output. Done in such a way that they amplify and enhance each other’s trance inducing effect. An absolutely mesmerizing project of which we’re really looking forward to diving into more!

After an initial comeback to the stages, a sudden vocalist change and then finally a proper comeback album back in 2021, the quite legendary Finnish black metal outfit …and Oceans has been taking over the scene without remorse. And while that comeback album ‘Cosmic World Mother‘ was a pretty majestic release, that weirdness and quirkiness that often came with the …and Oceans brand seemed to be somewhat missing. Never really doing anything conform the black metal standards, while still maintaining the respect from the black metal scene was sort of what the band was all about. And with ‘As in Gardens, so in Tombs‘, some of that experimentalism seems to have returned like for instance the stronger electronics in the ‘Cloud Heads‘ single. Based on the pretty epic sound of the already released singles, this is going to be a monumental release for …and Oceans and most likely one of the best black metal releases of the year. Don’t miss out!

As one of the early signings of the new label Atomic Fire Records, the Belgian band Suasion immediately grabbed our attention. The way they sound, blending electronic music with banging metal/rock, is something that is rather unique and is reminiscent of some of the greats in “modern metal”. And that combined with their impressive production value on the cinematic music videos that came with every single they released, comparisons to bands in the vein of the in the USA highly popular Starset are never far off. Every single they released had its own personality and distinct sound while still all sounding like Suasion and were all extremely catchy. We feel that Suasion could get really far, and we’re excited to get to hear the whole album ‘The Infinite’ finally at the end of the month!