With their fourth full-length album “Demoniac Ethics” having hit the streets in January of this year on Norway’s Duplicate Records, Black Metallers ZIFIR find themselves, as do so many bands, in the “post-release / pre-new album stage”. But, unlike those bands who remain dormant before they begin work on their next opus, ZIFIR have decided to release a series of videos of ambient tracks that the band would not necessarily include on an album, but which, nevertheless, represent an aspect of the band, and the state of mind of its members at any given time.
The first in the series is a piece entitled “Illet”, a dark, malevolent, soundtrack, that reflects the current Pandemic situation in which humanity finds itself.
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Formed in 2006 by Onur Önok and O.S., today’ s lineup is composed on Önok on Vocals and Guitars, Nursuz on Drums and Ilgar on Bass. With lyrical themes based around the subjects of philosophy, anti-religion and nihilism, ZIFIR embodies the spirit of a band whose Black Metal vision is clear and uncompromising.
The title track from “Madness and Magic”, the upcoming album from Prog Rockers ARABS IN ASPIC, is the song that Karisma Records have chosen to release as a single today. Drawing their inspiration for both the title and subject matter from EDGAR BROUGHTON, the band had this to say about the track:
“Madness and Magic” is a description of how helpless one becomes when suffering from serious illness. Putting one’s life in the hands of others is frightening, especially when so heavily medicated that the boundary between reality and fiction is blurred. It gets particularly bad when it turns out the expertise is unable to relate to the human aspect of the situation. The song was written after a meeting with Doctor Death, who clearly was affected by working with people on their last journey.
Based in Trondheim, Norway, ARABS IN ASPIC is a band with a lineup that has both the skill and musical knowledge to perform a variety of styles, ranging from classic rock to funk, pop, prog, heavy rock, bossanova and a capella, all rooted in what is known as the “Golden Era” of rock.
Jostein Smeby on Guitars + vocals, Stig Jørgensen on Organs + vocals, Erik Paulsen on Bass + vocals, Eskil Nyhus on Drums + cymbals and Alessandro G. Elide on Percussion + gongs, are an ensemble who create a distinctive sound that is best described as a sweet mixture of loud, heavy guitars and drums, 12 string acoustics, funky bass and percussion, screaming Hammond organs, soft Rhodes, Mellotrons and 70’s Synths, topped with plentiful vocal harmonies.
“Madness and Magic” will be the seventh full-length album from the Prog Rockers, and recently the band let fans know more about what went into making it, and the subject matter:
“Madness and Magic” is the first Arabs in Aspic album written for two drummers, with more acoustic guitar parts than previous albums. All the music was written and arranged in our studio and carefully put together like a puzzle with 50,000 pieces, to take the listener on a journey through life’s “Madness and Magic”, both musically and lyrically.
The lyrics for “Madness and Magic” reflect on how easily both children and adults are affected in the digital age, but also how helpless we are when we have to put our lives in the hands of specialists. Many ideas came up after a brief meeting with Doctor Death. The message of “Madness and Magic” is up to the listener to decide. For you are capable of thinking for yourself, right?
With ethereal artwork by Julia Proszowska, tracklisting for the “Madness and Magic” is as follows:
I Vow to Thee, My Screen
Lullaby for Modern Kids, Part 1
Lullaby for Modern Kids, Part 2
High-Tech Parent
Madness and Magic
Heaven in Your Eye
“Madness and Magic” will be released on the 12th June and will be available in CD, black vinyl and Limited Edition Green and Yellow Splatter vinyl, and Digital formats, and is now available to pre-order at:
Karisma Records have given fans of AIRBAG another insight into the Prog Rockers long-awaited new album “A Day at the Beach” with the release of the single “Sunsets”, about which the band says:
Sunsets was written during the early stages of making the new album. We spent a lot of time trying different arrangements and just jamming together, which was something we hadn’t done for a while. We brought in Kristian Hultgren from Wobbler on bass and Ole Michael Bjørndal from Oak on guitar and they both contributed to the arrangements. As with the first single, Machines and Men, Sunsets has that contrast between hard edge rock and electronic elements, which is something we’ve tried to achieve throughout this album. The lyrics deal with the destructive forces of our lives and our society, perhaps underlining the overall theme of the album.
“A Day at the Beach” is the fifth full-length from the band that has been hailed as one of the most important bands to emerge from the Norwegian Prog scene since its formation in the mid 2000’s, and whose lineup today includes AIRBAG’s two original founding members Asle Tostrup on vocals and Bjørn Riis on guitars, with Henrik Bergan Fossum on drums.
AIRBAG have always been able to blend diverse musical styles and sounds, something they combine with a strong narrative experience, and, for “A Day at the Beach, the trio’s signature guitar driven progressive rock has been enhanced by ethereal soundscapes, resulting in a stunning selection of songs that reveal a now-mature band building on its already impressive legacy.
With six new songs recorded during the autumn and winter of 2019-20, and inspired by the resurgence of 1980’s electronica, new wave and movie scores, “A Day at the Beach” will be AIRBAG’s first as a trio and the band recently had this to say about the album:
The album is the result of a strong collaboration between all three of us. Having lost two original members since our last album, we were forced to rethink how we write and create new music, but it also allowed us to venture into something new that turned out to be very inspiring.
Lyrically, “A Day at the Beach” is very much a story of us and them, told by a husband, father and brother leaving his family behind into an unknown future. It’s the contrast between the desperate individual struggling to survive and people in power observing at a safe distance.
A Day at the Beach” is mixed by long-time collaborator Vegard Kleftås Sleipnes. Jacob Holm-Lupo has mastered the album, and Asle Tostrup and Bjørn Riis handled the production side. With cover design, as always, by vocalist Tostrup. Track listing for “A Day at the Beach” is as follows:
1. Machines and Men
2. A Day at the Beach (Part 1)
3. Into the Unknown
4. Sunsets
5. A Day at the Beach (Part 2)
6. Megalomaniac
“A Day at the Beach” will hit the streets on the 19th June, and will be available in CD, Digital and both black and coloured vinyls, and is now available to pre-order from:
“This song is a beautiful two-headed beast. It’s a tribute to the initiated and wise, while at the same time filled with utter contempt for the ruling class. “Below Ceremonial” is a venture into the realm of justice” is how Occult Metallers ACÂRASH describe the single that Dark Essence Records have released from the band’s upcoming album.
The track can be streamed or downloaded at the following:
The album itself, titled “Descend to Purity”, will be the band’s second full-length, and is a perfect illustration of ACÂRASH’s mastery at exploring and developing the boundaries of rock. By blending Hard Rock with Black Metal, the band’s lineup of Sølve Sæther on drums, Lukas Paulsen on guitars and Anlov P. Mathiesen on bass and vocals, have come up with a distinctive sound that is wholly ACÂRASH’s own, alternating, as it does, between raw catchiness, dark introspection, and progressive doom.
Founded on the pillars of the 80s and 90s avant-garde rockers THE VOID , the essence of ACÂRASH’s music has, at its core, esoteric poetry and ritualistic contemplation, and is a prime example of how a band can respect and embrace tradition whilst bringing to it something new and fresh.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Ruben Willem at the Caliban Studios in Oslo, track listing for “Descend to Purity” is as follows:
Descend to Purity
Satanic Obsession
Desecrate. Liberate.
Goat, Skull, Ritual Circle
Below Ceremonial
Three Knives
Steel Hunter
Red Stone Betrayal
Commenting on “Descend to Purity”, which the band describe as “A vessel for justice, strength and revenge”, ACÂRASH had this to say:
This album is a potent cocktail of visionary blackened doom and primitive heavy metal. Emerging from dark spiritual clarity and hard work, the music conquers and transforms.
Transformation through suffering. Conquest through purity.
“Descend to Darkness” is set for release on the 29th May on Dark Essence Records, and will be available in CD, Gatefold vinyl and Digital formats. It is now available to pre order from the following:
With the release of their second full-length album “Wide Awake but Still Asleep” on the horizon, Norwegian Prog Rockers SHAMAN ELEPHANT have taken the track “Ease of Mind” and released it as a single, which can be streamed or downloaded at https://karismarecords.fanlink.to/Shaman_Elephant-Ease_Of_Mind
Commenting on the track, SHAMAN ELEPHANT, whose debut album “Crystals” brought them a lot of attention from Prog fans, had this to say:
“Ease of Mind” is possibly one of the songs that has taken us the most time, and attempts, to finish. It started off as a rock song but after some playing it shape-shifted into a kind of West Coast Jazz thing. Still not being completely satisfied we changed it again, into what it is now a kind of rock/folk song with compulsive cactus-prog disorder.
Produced by ENSLAVED’s Iver Sandøy at the Solslottet Studio, and with cover design by Maja Markegård and photography by Tom Wøbbekind, track listing for “Wide Awake but Still Asleep” is as follows:
Wide Awake but Still Asleep
H.M.S. Death, Rattle and Roll
Steely Dan
Ease of Mind
Magnets
Traveller
Strange Illusions
SHAMAN ELEPHANT’s lineup of Eirik Sejersted Vognstølen on vocals and guitar, Jard Hole on drums, Ole-Andreas Sæbø Jensen on bass, and Jonas Særsten on keyboards, demonstrates an uncanny ability to blend 60s and 70s psychedelia with progressive rock. A skill that has impressed Prog fans both with the band’s studio output as well as live on stage.
With “Wide Awake but Still Asleep”, the band has retained that quintessential SHAMAN ELEPHANT charm, whilst demonstrating a new maturity in terms of song writing and musicianship. As their recent comment on the album attests:
With this album we feel like we have found out who we want to be as a band. Whilst the first album was going in all directions, this album feels more focused and mature. “Wide Awake but Still Asleep” is our attempt at making the melodies move like butterflies while the grooves sting like killer bees.
Set for release on Karisma Records on the 29th May, “Wide Awake but Still Asleep” ” will be available in CD, LP (both Black and Transparent Orange vinyl versions) and Digital formats and is now available to pre-order from the following:
Just over a year ago, Karisma Records announced that they would be releasing the entire six-album back catalogue of ’70’s Norwegian Prog legends RUPHUS. And now, with the band’s first three albums “New Born Day”, “Ranshart” and, “Let Your Light Shine” already released, the time has come for the fourth album, “Inner Voice” to be released.
By the time “Inner Voice” was released in 1977, and spurred on the by the massive success its predecessor, “Let Your Light Shine”, had found there, RUPHUS had relocated to Germany, where they stayed for some time, touring extensively around Europe, and releasing a further two albums (Flying Colours” and “Manmade”), which will also be available from Karisma Records in the coming months.
“Inner Voice”, was once again produced by the legendary Terje Rypdal, and, with new members Sylvi Lillegaard (vocals) and Jan Simonsen (keyboards), bringing with them fresh blood and musical influences, the album was a prime example of the Norwegian Proggy Jazz Rock genre of the ’70’s, and cemented the band’s reputation as one of the leading lights on the European Jazz Rock Scene.
As with all the re-releases in the series, “Inner Voice” has been mastered by Jacob Holm-Lupo (White Willow, The Opium Cartel, etc), and with cover design by Jan Ole Norum and cover photo by Kim Hart, track listing for “Inner Voice” is as follows:
Inner Voice
Come Into View
No Deal
Too Late
Within The Walls
Left Behind
“Inner Voice” will be released on the 22nd May and will be available in CD, black vinyl and a 250 copy limited edition in transparent blue vinyl. It is now available to pre-order from https://www.karismarecords.no/artists/ruphus/
A versatile and ground-breaking band, RUPHUS, with their long, melodic, compositions, and multiple, intertwined themes, were regarded as being the Norwegian equivalent of YES, not just in style, but also in skill. The band’s revolving door policy as regards their lineup meant that, as members left and others joined, RUPHUS’ sound changed accordingly, taking them from their early days playing hard progressive rock, to becoming one of the leaders in the field of jazz rock. Only Kjell Larsen (guitar) and Asle Nilsen (bass, flute) would go on to play on all of RUPHUS’ albums.
SELVANS has today released a cover version of the DEATH SS track “The Hanged Ballad” as a stand-alone-single which can be streamed or downloaded at the following:
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The dark artist has also announced that there will be a new EP titled ‘Dark Italian Art’ at the end of the year which will be released on Avantgarde Music. Here’s Selvans statement:
“During the last months, I have been in the studio working on the new EP ‘Dark Italian Art’, which will be released by the end of the year on Avantgarde Music.
I’ve had the possibility to refine the dark progressive vein previously introduced with ‘Faunalia’, and, for the first time, I will be accompanied by a real band on the arrangement sessions of the songs.
At the moment I’m really satisfied of how the work is progressing and I’m looking forward to giving you more details. In the meantime, here’s my interpretation of a classic from the first album of DEATH SS, one of the best Italian bands ever.
Norway’s VULTURE INDUSTRIES have made it their mission to make things “A Little Bit Better” by sending personalised messages to friends and families of music fans in a format of their choice. Multi-media artist and musician COSTIN CHIOREANU has designed the artwork for the message.
As the band explains:
We can’t change the situation but we can make it a little bit better!
At this moment most of us live in the shadow of covid-19. Some are sick, some are isolated, some are losing work, some have lost dear ones and some are sitting on huge stockpiles of pasta and hand sanitiser. Apart from washing our hands, keeping to ourselves and following regulations,
we can’t really fix it. But we can make a small contribution in making someone’s troubled day a little brighter.
In the past people used homing pigeons to carry messages. Now we offer you the use of homing vultures in sending your message. So if you want to send some encouraging words to a friend, or just want to confuse a relative, we can send out a post card, e-mail or Facebook message on your behalf.
Send your instructions to mr.vulture@vulture-industries.net or send us a message on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/vultureindustries. We need to know name of sender, name of recipient, your message and in which way you want it sent. This service will remain completely free until we go bankrupt.
With a career spanning over a decade and with hundreds shows under their belts, Norwegian Progressive Metallers VULTURE INDUSTRIES are well known both for the technical skill of their lineup, which comprises Øyvind Madsen and Eivind Huse on Guitars, Tor Helge Gjengedal on Drums, Kyrre Teigen on Bass and Bjørnar E. Nilsen on Vocals, and the eccentric and somewhat manic antics of frontman Nilsen, whose on-stage weirdness has garnered a multitude of fans for the band over the years.
With the 12th June having been set as the release date for “Madness and Magic”, the seventh full-length album from Prog Rockers ARABS IN ASPIC, Karisma Records have today released the single “I Vow to Thee, My Screen”, which is the opening track from the album.
According to the band, the song ” describes the fascination and fear of our addiction to being entertained. The lyrics are heavily inspired by the British patriotic hymn, “I Vow to Thee, my Country,” written by Cecil Spring-Rice in 1918″.
Based in Trondheim in Norway, ARABS IN ASPIC’s lineup of Jostein Smeby on Guitars + vocals, Stig Jørgensen on Organs + vocals, Erik Paulsen on Bass + vocals, Eskil Nyhus on Drums + cymbals and Alessandro G. Elide on Percussion + gongs, all have an uncanny ability to perform a variety of styles, which include aspects of classic rock, funk, pop, prog, heavy rock, bossanova, a capella.
The resultant sound is a distinctive mix of loud, heavy guitars and drums, 12 string acoustics, funky bass and percussion, screaming Hammond organs, soft Rhodes, Mellotrons and 70’s Synths, topped with plentiful vocal harmonies, which point to ARABS IN ASPIC’s roots in what is known as the “Golden Era” of rock.
With ethereal artwork by Julia Proszowska, tracklisting for the “Madness and Magic” is as follows:
I Vow to Thee, My Screen
Lullaby for Modern Kids, Part 1
Lullaby for Modern Kids, Part 2
High-Tech Parent
Madness and Magic
Heaven in Your Eye
Commenting on “Madness and Magic”, the band had this to say:
“Madness and Magic” is the first Arabs in Aspic album written for two drummers, with more acoustic guitar parts than previous albums. All the music was written and arranged in our studio and carefully put together like a puzzle with 50,000 pieces, to take the listener on a journey through life’s “Madness and Magic”, both musically and lyrically.
The lyrics for “Madness and Magic” reflect on how easily both children and adults are affected in the digital age, but also how helpless we are when we have to put our lives in the hands of specialists. Many ideas came up after a brief meeting with Doctor Death. The message of “Madness and Magic” is up to the listener to decide. For you are capable of thinking for yourself, right?
“Madness and Magic” will be available in CD, black vinyl and Limited Edition Green and Yellow Splatter vinyl, and Digital formats, and is now available to pre-order at:
“A vessel for justice, strength and revenge” is how Occult Hard Rockers ACÂRASH describe their sophomore full-length album “Descend to Purity”, and it’s a clear indication of what fans can expect from the Norwegians, who have mastered the art of forging a sound that blends Hard Rock and Metal together with Black Metal.
Set for release on the 29th May, Dark Essence Records have released a single from the album. Titled “Satanic Obsession”, it can be streamed or downloaded at the following: https://darkessencerecords.fanlink.to/satanicobsession
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Formed in Oslo in the fall of 2016, and founded on the pillars of the 80s and 90s avant-garde rockers THE VOID, ACÂRASH is a band which, whilst embracing tradition, nevertheless manages to forge a sound all of its own. A sound in which esoteric poetry and ritualistic contemplation are central to the music, and whose nuances are mirrored in both sound and musical contrasts.
With “Descend to Purity, Acârash’s lineup of of Sølve Sæther on drums, Lukas Paulsen on guitars and Anlov P. Mathiesen on bass and vocals, have managed to both reinvent and preserve, and in doing so have delivered a record that explores and develops the boundaries of rock and metal, and alternates between raw catchiness, dark introspection, and progressive doom, with consummate ease.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Ruben Willem at the Caliban Studios in Oslo, track listing for “Descend to Purity” is as follows:
Descend to Purity
Satanic Obsession
Desecrate. Liberate.
Goat, Skull, Ritual Fire
Below Ceremonial
Three Knives
Steel Hunter
Red Stone Betrayal
Commenting on the album, ACÂRASH had this to say:
This album is a potent cocktail of visionary blackened doom and primitive heavy metal. Emerging from dark spiritual clarity and hard work, the music conquers and transforms.
Transformation through suffering. Conquest through purity.
“Descend to Darkness” will be available in CD, Gatefold vinyl and Digital formats, and is now available to pre-order from the following:
PATRICIA THOMAS BAND MANAGEMENT 