After a hiatus year, Rockfest is back! New location, but also a rather action packed first batch of confirmed names for the 2025 edition with names like Muse, Judas Priest and Till Lindemann topping the bill!
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News Posts
Gothic metal outfit The Eternal revealed the new standalone single ‘Everlasting – MMXXIV’, an upgraded re-recording of their classic song ‘Everlasting’, out via Reigning Phoenix Music!
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Perfectly timed for the Halloween days, Gothminister released a new EP and a music video for the title track ‘Tonight’ via AFM Records! Catch them on their “We Come Alive” tour in 2025!
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Dawn Of Solace announces new album ‘Affliction Vortex’ to be released in February 2025 via Noble Demon and shared the first single and video with ‘Murder’!
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Swedish goth metal maestros Tribulation revealed more info about the upcoming album ‘Sub Rosa in Æternum’, set for release in November via Century Media Records, and unveiled the third single ‘Hungry Waters’!
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We are still remembering the goth darkness we got to enjoy for a moment in the Helldorado stage tent at Alcatraz earlier this summer with Unto Others, and in a couple of weeks we’ll get to enjoy more of this new era of the band with their new album ‘Never, Neverland’ out via Century Media Records! Another single with ‘Momma Likes the Door Closed’ was released about a week ago, and it’s all we’ve ever wanted with heavy riffing and goth vibes!
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Italian symphonic metal band Rossometile shared their new single and video ‘Gehenna’, the title track of their upcoming seventh album, set for release in May!
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Finnish/Australian collective The Eternal are back with the video single ‘Deathlike Silence’, a track from their upcoming album ‘Skinwalker’ set for release in June via Reigning Phoenix Music!
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For those who somehow have missed the news, and are looking for some gloomy music, a new supergroup arose recently with Cemetery Skyline, featuring members of bands like Dark Tranquillity, Insomnium, Amorphis, The Abbey and more! Their first single ‘Violent Storm’ is out via Century Media Records, and catch their very first show at John Smith Rock Festival this summer!
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Otherworldly alt duo Zetra emerged from the shadows once more with the new track ‘Starfall’, featuring Svalbard’s Serena Cherry, and announced their self-titled debut album to be released in September via Nuclear Blast Records!
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Photo Reports
We checked out the first day of the second edition of Hell’s Balls Belgium festival… With banging names like Triptykon, Primordial, Vltimas, the unofficial inclusion of the “Night Eternal tour” with Dark Tranquillity, Wolfheart and Moonspell, Carpathian Forest, Hellripper, Dead Head and The Monolith Deathcult, it was a true fest for any extreme metal fan!
Kamelot’s “Awaken the World Tour 2024” stopped by the Trix venue in Antwerp, Belgium. And together with supporting acts Frozen Crown, Blackbriar and Ad Infinitum, they made the event a complete package of symphonic and power metal brilliance!
Pictures of the first day of Alcatraz 2024, with on the Swamp Stage a serving of extreme metal with Fleshgod Apocalypse, Benediction, Lord of the Lost and Watain!
Pictures of the first day of Alcatraz 2024, with on the Swamp Stage a serving of extreme metal with Sadus, Paradise Lost and Cradle of Filth!
Cradle of Filth came by for a couple of sold out shows in Finland on their massive Europe tour with Wednesday 13 and Sick N’ Beautiful and we caught this spectacle at Tampere’s Pakkahuone a couple of weeks back!
Poisonblack reunited for a couple of show in honour of the 20th anniversary of their Escapexstacyn album and Fullsteam Agency did a great job with the sold out show at Klubi, Tampere.
Pictures of Samael, Before The Dawn and Bury Tomorrow on the second outside stage at Hellsinki Metal Festival!
Pictures of the second day of Hellsinki Industrial Festival 2022 with Ruoska, Antibody, Agonoize, Nestruction, Gothminister, Moris Blak and Centhron!
Ultima Ratio Fest has been bringing a proper collection of metal bands around Europe with Moonspell, Insomnium, Borknagar, Wolfheart and Hinayana. Sadly it seemed the crowd was mostly asleep at this stop at Backstage Munich, regardless some great metal music was played this night!
Album Reviews
Tribulation’s sixth studio album “Sub Rosa in Æternum” is memorably catchy and equally haunting and perfectly fits in the gothic metal canon. Out via Century Media Records since November 1st, and comes recommended to fans of Moonspell and Type O Negative, or even more gothic rock/electro affiliated acts like Sisters of Mercy or Depeche Mode!
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Norwegian gothic/doom sextet Funeral conveys a sonic requiem on their seventh studio album “Gospel of Bones” out via Season of Mist since October 18th.
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Swallow The Sun’s ninth studio album “Shining” mixes all the elements and ingredients of their recent works together, displaying the shifting tides of heaviness and a melodramatic style of gothic doom into again a milestone of excellence for the Finns, out tomorrow via Century Media Records.
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The third full length album “Never, Neverland” from Portland, Oregon based gothic metal Unto Others packs sixteen powerful tracks, showing that they’re back at full force and ready to take on the world, out today via Century Media Records!
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Zetra ignites a sensational and haunting journey, taking the listener on a dark musical adventure on its debut self-titled full-length album. Out now via Nuclear Blast.
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“Hamartia” showcases the band’s memorable songwriting and wittingly transitioning into an era of prosperity, Tribulation has created its own sub-genre of dark gothic music and continue to expand their trademark palette. Released via Century Media Records.
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4 years after ‘1755’, MOONSPELL releases ‘Hermitage’. The 13th release in the nearly 30 year long run of this iconic Dark metal/ Goth metal band.
Idle Hands’ ‘Mana’ is a goth rroch/heavy metal masterpiece that strikes more than one emotional chord.
Through the medium of metal Rotting Christ have achieved their musical art and this time they have nailed with perfection!!!
Letzte Instanz Germans do some storytelling with a warm voice and a tasteful musical environment.
Lists
In 10 days, Kortrijk in Belgium, will turn the heavy up again with Hell’s Balls Belgium, just like they do every summer with Alcatraz festival. In case you weren’t sure yet why you should go, here are what we think are valid reasons for you to be there…
What are you the most excited about of this year’s editions of the festival? Let us know in the comments!
While it’s a given that as a metalfan you’ll want to catch shows of Dimmu Borgir and Kerry King today at the first day of Tuska, we think that there are a couple more bands that deserve some of your attention, or that we think will be even more epic to see live than you might suspect with editorial picks Lord of the Lost’s festival opening show, I Am The Night, Infected Rain, Krypta, Suburban Tribe, Assemble The Chariots, Zeal & Ardor and Pendulum!
After the team sent in their top lists at the end of last year, and calculating the results, we got to an interesting “albums of the year 2023” list featuring releases from Marduk, Kludde, Blink-182, Blackbraid, Orbit Culture, Gloryhammer, Ne Obliviscaris, Hypno5e, Periphery, Dying Fetus, Obituary, Avatar, Svalbard, VV and Sleep Token! Do you agree with any of these? What did you have in your top list?
2023 starts off with quite the bang with new releases from VV, Anti-Flag, Imperium Dekadenz, Turmion Kätilöt, Katatonia, Kiberspassk, …and Oceans, Obituary, Suasion, Dropout Kings and Vėlių Namai!
An AOTY list with the usual thrash, power and heavy metal suspects, but also a couple of surprises!
If Gothic is your thing, you might want to check these releases out if you haven’t yet. If you’re not a fan of the style, still check them cause these are good ones!
