News Posts

Finnish melodic death metal heavyweights Voidfallen have announced their highly anticipated sophomore album ‘The Rituals of Resilience’ to be out early 2025 via Noble Demon, and shared the single ‘Pyre of Vengeance’ with a video!

Finnish melodic death metal rising stars Horizon Ignited presented another spectacular song from their upcoming album with ‘Welcome To This House Of Hate’, out via Reaper Entertainment with a scorching video!

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’!

In anticipation of their upcoming extensive Europe tour, Finnish winter metallers Wolfheart unveiled the official video for ‘The Gale’, the captivating closing track of their latest album ‘Draconian Darkness’ released via Reigning Phoenix Music. Make sure you catch them when they come close to you, like at Hell’s Balls festival in Belgium!

Swedish metal legends Arch Enemy unveiled their latest single ‘Liars & Thieves’, another track from their upcoming album ‘Blood Dynasty’, set for release in 2025 via Century Media Records. Catch them on their current “Rising from the North” Europe tour with In Flames and Soilwork!

Finnish metal outfit Dead End Finland released their new single ‘Adrenaline’, another single from their upcoming sixth studio album, set to be released with Inverse Records!

Finnish melodeath revelation Horizon Ignited are taking things to the next level and released their new single and music video ‘Beneath The Dark Waters’, out via Reaper Entertainment!

Finnish melodic death metal project Crowen shared ‘Dark Forever’, the first single and music video of their upcoming EP ‘Where The Darkness Falls’, set for release later this year via Inverse Records!

Danish melodic death metal leaders LIVLØS unleashed their latest single ‘Orbit Weaver’, a third track revealed from their upcoming album ‘The Crescent King’, set for release via Noctum Productions next month!

While the summer is about to be wrapping up, we can already look ahead towards the summer of 2025, especially after Tuska just announced the first 16 confirmed acts for next year’s edition with Electric Callboy, Powerwolf, Nothing More, Orbit Culture, Kim Dracula, Korpiklaani, Marko Hietala, Tarja, Charlotte Wessels, thrown, Eihwar, Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus, Blood Command, Arion and Tyrantti and the first announced headliner with Lorna Shore!

What do you think? What bands are you still hoping for?

Photo Reports

Tuhdimmat Tahdit brought Brymir’s glorious fish-metal to Hönö Baari in Tampere, Finland to make our weekend good!

Avatar dropped by the legendary Helsinki venue Tavastia on their “The Great Metal Circus 2024” tour, bringing their visual spectacle and theatrics properly to Finland. With them they brought the US metallers of Æther Realm, really blowing up the night!

A selection of Rachel’s best captures of 2023, with pictures from bands like Mudvayne, Nonpoint, Drowning Pool, From Ashes To New, Shinedown, Fozzy, Butcher Babies, Sumy Cyco, Black Stone Cherry and Saliva!

A selection of Jonna’s best captures of 2023, with pictures from bands Butcher Babies, Electric Callboy, Ghost, Glenn Hughes, Gojira, In Flames, Lorna Shore, The Hu, Ville Valo, Chamber of Unlight, Asagraum, Monuments, Sodom, Batushka, Blind Guardian, and Apocalyptica!

A selection of Vaim’s best captures of 2023, after a long and grueling process of elimination, with pictures from bands like Battle Beast, Gaerea, Trollheim’s Grott, Avslut, Der Weg einer Freiheit, Amenra, Igorrr, Aesthetic Perfection, HIDE, SKYND, Ice Nine Kills, Utuk Xul, Rancid, Sick Of It All, Stratovarius, Testament, Michael Monroe, Volbeat, Hellacopters, Pensées Nocturnes, Amorphis, Biohazard, Killswitch Engage, Converge, Agnostic Front, Taake, Public Image Ltd, A.A. Williams, Butcher Babies, Clutch, Finntroll, Electric Callboy, Ghost, Gojira, Imperial Triumphant, Lorna shore, The Hu and Urne!

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!

Best Of 2023 Tom VM

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!

Pictures of yet another excellent show by the legendary Finnish metal band Amorphis at the gorgeous Kulttuuritalo venue in Helsinki!

Lists

The summer festival season is over, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of exciting fests happening over the next couple of months this autumn/winter in Finland with Helsinki Techfest and Kaamos Metal Cruise already this weekend, HKI SKEPU FEST V, Lost In Music, Steelchaos, Hellsinki Industrial Festival 2023, Fall Fest 2023, Black Box Mikkeli, Melancholy Mass Festival 2023 and Unholy Winter Fest!

The first Tuska 2023 day is here! In a handful of hours the gates will open and 3 days of heavy music will begin! Besides the headliners and some big names, we’ve picked out about 10 bands and artists we believe you should give a shot while you’re at Tuska this weekend with Vended, Kouta, Foreseen and Miseria Ultima today, A.A. Williams, Orbit Culture, Dirt and Nakkeknækker tomorrow, and Vermilia and URNE on Sunday!

Steelfest manages to impress with their line-up and organization every single year, and this year is no different, even after some recent setbacks! We’re amazed with the line-up that celebrates everything that is underground and extreme yet again, and that’s only a part of the reasons why you should still try to make it to the fest this weekend!

As the festival summer is quickly approaching, May sees many great releases yet again. Our team of writers put together a nice selection of those they are looking forward to the most this month with Deathstars, Cattle Decapitation, Veil Of Maya, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Ghost, Thulcandra, Frozen Soul, Sleep Token, Henget, Vomitory, Immortal, Kalmah and Legion Of The Damned!

February has some great releases again, and we’re looking forward to albums from artists like Memoriam, In Flames, Paramore, dEUS, Mordkaul, Ulthar, Avatar, The Abbey, Insomnium, Host, Gorillaz and Heidevolk!

7 epic singles again selected by us of last week with Psychonaut, Before The Dawn, Black Mirrors, Wednesday 13, Sowulo, Ciemra and Skyforger! Highly recommended to check them out if you haven’t yet!

Album Reviews

On ‘Torn Arteries’ Carcass takes us on a tour de force cycle of their musical evolution from old school death metal grindcore to technical melodeath.

“Deconsecrate” is a kind of album that will make you remember the good old days from the early nineties when there were abundant bands that played the aggressive style of melodic death metal.

Marianas Rest seeks to expand and critique melancholic melodic death metal on their sophomore album.

With just under 20 minutes of music on this EP, I’m sad it’s already over. This is just the first EP that Aeon of Awareness is releasing, so keep an eye out for their releases in the future.

3 songs which gives a sense of what has been and what could have been with Bodom After Midnight. A worthy addition to Alexi Laiho’s repertoire and career. May the Wildchild rest/shred in peace.

A beautiful short EP that numbs the pain of waiting for Wolfheart’s sixth full-length album.

The debut album of promising and up-and-coming Finnish melodeath outfit I Am Your God shows us what the future of Finnish metal could look like!

Finnish melodic death metal new comers Slow Fall deliver an impressive and diverse slab of melodeath on their debut full-length!

Melodeath outfit Mors Subita is back with another release, showing off their songwriting skills on a whole new level!

Finnish melodeath outfit myGRAIN comes back with a renewed and rejuvenated sound and energy on their new release ‘V’!

Interviews

A chat with Björn Gelotte about In Flames’ amazing year in 2022, their new album ‘Foregone’ and how everyone seem to link it to a different stage of their sound with the way they put the mixing and production together this time around. We also touch on his personal writing process and how incredible it is to him to be able to have their music transcend into other forms of art like the upcoming graphic novel!

Watch the chat we had with vocalist Jarkko from the Finnish melodeath outfit Bloodred Hourglass about their upcoming new album ‘Your Highness’!

Watch the chat we had with Markus Vanhala about the new Insomnium EP ‘Argent Moon’, the upcoming new work of Omnium Gatherum and his new black metal project I Am The Night!

Watch the interview with Lukas Kerk from the new German melodeath band Hiraes about their debut album ‘Solitary’, the dangers of pyrotechnics and their excitement for the future of the band.

A chat with the remaining members of Bodom After Midnight about their EP ‘Paint the Sky with Blood’, working with Alexi Laiho and the possible future.

A chat with the Finnish melodic metal outfit Evil Drive about their new album ‘Demons Within’ and working on new material!

Watch the chat we had with Mors Subita about their new album “Extinction Era” and what they did different this time around.

Watch the interview with the guys of myGRAIN in which we dive deeper into some of the tracks of their new album ‘V’ and how recording without a keyboardist was like.

We caught up with the guys of myGRAIN at SaariHelvetti to have a relaxed chat about their comeback and upcoming album “V”. Check it out!

‘Zoom’ into our online video interview with Avatar’s Johannes Eckerström where we look back at Avatar Country and glimpse into Hunter Gatherer