SONS OF BUTCHER Release “Quaranteen”

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We’ve all been pent up stuck in our own little quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic and Canada’s most formidable “mock rock” band Sons of Butcher know exactly how you feel. That’s why they’ve created a new collection of tunes, aptly named Lockdown In Steeltown. 

Today, SOB shares some visual comedic relief and empathy on how we are all raging inside from this present-day way of life. Today, they present their new music video “Quaranteen”, featuring vocalist/guitarist Ricky Butcher’s loss to insanity while living in his hilarious superficial prison.

Sons of Butcher‘s Ricky Butcher adds: “It’s summer in Steeltown, but a quarantine order has changed all of Ricky Butcher‘s plans. This was the first song written for the Lockdown In Steeltown EP. It was four days into the quarantine in March, during Earth Hour, I wrote this song on an acoustic by candlelight as a joke. I recorded it the next day and showed the boys. Little did I know this one song would spark the creation of an entire Sons of Butcher EP!”

Watch “Quaranteen”HERE.

Sons of Butcher‘s new EP Lockdown In Steeltown is the first release from the band in four years and comes right after the announcing that they will be creating a third season of their TV show with the entire original team that was previously aired on Teletoon in Canada. 

Sons of Butcher wrote the EP in the spring right when quarantine measures were enforced around the world and it goes through some of the experiences that SOB would likely be facing during that time. Meant to be a distraction from all the craziness, Sons of Butcher explains the EP:

“This EP is a look into the lives of these cartoon rockers as they’re forced to lockdown in place in their hometown of Steeltown. Each character is coping in their own way and has their own song to express it.”

Singing about meat, sex, and everything in between, SOB are a mixed bag of rude unapologetic party rock from the bowels of Steeltown. Fans can expect much more from them as they are just ramping up and will be starting the new season of the show as soon as they complete the pilot.

Recommended for fans of Tenacious D, Spinal Tap, and Van Halen, Sons of Butcher‘s new EP Lockdown In Steeltown is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Lockdown In Steeltown Track Listing:
1. Lockdown Phase One 
2. Quaranteen 
3. Fuckin’ Confused 
4. Speaking Moistly 
5. Lockdown in Steeltown

Sons of Butcher is a Canadian rock band consisting of four members, Ricky Butcher (vocals/guitar), Doug Borski (vocals, bass), Sol Butcher (vocals), Colin Van Ham Steak (lead guitar), and Sausage Ralph (drums).

Their music fuses vulgar absurdist comedy with rock music in a style that is described as “mock rock”.

Their band alter-egos are the focus of an animated television series developed by S&S Productions and aired on Canadian animation network Teletoon which follows the lives of two brothers who run a butcher shop. Butchers by day, rockers by night, the name ‘Sons of Butcher’ can also be taken literally as Ricky and Sol’s father was a butcher.

Admiring the comedy and rock fusion of bands like Tenacious D and Spinal Tap, the brothers came up with this idea in college around the year 2000. Passing a script off to one of the producers of the classic Canadian sitcom Red Green led to the show becoming a reality. After the first season aired, it became clear the fictitious band needed to come to life. Soon they were playing live shows and releasing albums.

Sons of Butcher has released 5 full lengths, Self-Titled (2005), Meatlantis (2007), Rise of the Steaks (2010), Fall of the Steaks (2010), and C Sections (2016).

Clad in spandex outfit, straight from the cartoon series, Sons of Butcher compliments their raunchy lyrics with onstage antics and sketchy and of course, their ferociously heavy tunes. There are even pepperette throwing and the signature meat tray that is paraded around the room for all to sample.

The comedic rock party has no plans of slowing down, in 2020 they released an aptly timed EP Lockdown In Steeltown on June 19th via Infamous Butcher Records.

Vancouver’s Hyperspace Metal Festival III Postponed To 2021

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It comes with saddening news today, the 2020 edition of Vancouver’s Hyperspace Metal Festival, organized by Journeyman Productions will be postponed to 2021. Slated to be held on the rescheduled dates of September 4th to 6th from its original date on April 17th to 19th, the premier Canadian melodic and power metal festival has decided to push the third edition to 2021 due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 pandemic provincial rules for event gatherings. 

Journeyman Productions‘ Joey Hockin explains:

“Well, the time has come to make the difficult decision that we all knew was coming. Hyperspace Metal Festival III will be postponed again to 2021. The exact dates and lineup will be announced once we have confirmation from the government that it is safe to proceed with a gathering of this size. Given the uncertain nature of COVID-19, we feel it is best to not reveal anything else until we know that the festival can happen. All ticket sales will be honoured at the new dates and the lineup will be mostly bands that have already been booked for the festival with probably a few new surprises. If you would like a refund, please send an email to info@rickshawtheatre.com. Thank you for your understanding and we hope you are staying safe!”

Over the two years that Hyperspace Metal Festival has been running, bands from all over the world have come to play power, prog, and speed metal on the west coast of Canada. The festival has presented line ups that have included performances by Crimson Shadows, West of Hell, Judicator, Odinfist, Ravenous, Helion Prime, Iron Kingdom, Apprentice, Tanagra, Scythia and many more.

Those interested in processing their ticket reimbursement for HFM III can email their request to info@rickshawtheatre.com.

ISENMOR Reveals Lyric Video for “Battle Scarred”

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Dual-violin folk metal band ISENMOR is offering fans a taste of their upcoming full-length debut, Shieldbrother, today in the form of a lyric video for the record’s “Battle Scarred.”


“‘Battle Scarred’ is the song that almost wasn’t,” bassist/vocalist Mike Wilson says. “Written fairly early on in the album’s life cycle, it went through dozens of iterations before settling into its current form. Originally intended to be a ‘fast, simple ISENMOR song,’ over time it grew into something more. The frantic pace of the verses and the catharsis of the choruses compliment the lyrical concept of a traumatized, battle-worn warrior trying to come to grips with his shattered psyche. It’s one of my favorites, and I think it’s a great introductory statement for the album: fast, brutal, intricate, and epic.”


Watch the video at this location.


Last week, ISENMOR launched a Kickstarter campaign as epic as the band itself, offering numerous levels of contributions with amazing rewards, from a download of the album and exclusive band t-shirt to an ISENMOR engraved drinking horn tankard and even a full-size shield, handmade by lead violinist/vocalist Nicholas Schneider, who is active in historical fencing and reenactment. In just one short week, the band has already far surpassed its original goal and is now looking into additional rewards for contributors. Join the campaign.


“Our ‘Shieldbrother’ Kickstarter allows us to have some really unique rewards that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to provide, while also letting us engage with our fans during this time where we can’t play shows,” says violinist Mark Williams. “On the digital side, we’ve got exclusive instrumental bonus tracks and my personal favorite reward, the entire album re-imagined in 16-bit styling.”


The Maryland-based ISENMOR sings tales of harrowing battlescapes and historic foes in their “gewyrdelic folk metal” style: a blend of metal, orchestral, and folk music, combining intricate violin leads and rich vocal harmonies with a strong guitar-driven folk metal base inspired by the stalwarts of the genre including Týr, Ensiferum, and Eluveitie. “Gewyrdelic” is an Old English word that roughly translates to “historical.” The meaning of the term, as well as its etymology, describe ISENMOR’s lyrical and thematic focus on the history and legends of the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic peoples. 


Shieldbrother delivers tales of glory with the triumphant title track “Shieldbrother” and the furious “Furor Teutonicus,” sorrowful tales of woe such as the mournful “Battle Scarred” and the dirge-like “Mount Badon,” a 17-minute epic entitled “Sigurd’s Song,” the obligatory folk metal drinking song (with an ISENMOR twist), “Drink to Glory,” and more tales steeped in the myth and history of the dark ages.


Shieldbrother was self-recorded and mixed, then mastered by the legendary Dan Swanö of Unisound. The album is scheduled for release on October 9.


ISENMOR previously released the 2015 Land of the Setting Sun EP and 2016 “Saxon Shore” single. Together since 2014, the band has shared the stage with numerous international metal acts, and has had repeat performances at the Maryland Folk Metal Festival and Pocono Folk, Pagan and Viking Metal Fest.


FROM THE DEPTH Drop New Single “Immortal”

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Italian power metallers From The Depth are sharing their second single “Immortal” off their second full-length album “Moments” set for release on August 28, 2020 via Rockshots Records. The track features guest keyboards by Dave Castro and Oreste Giacomini along with the ending choir vocal line by Alessandro Karabelas.

The band adds: “This is the song that was the most ”anticipated” by fans during our latest live shows and then became a must in every setlist. It’s a real hymn with its solid main riff and keyboard melodies. During the last stages of production, we finalized everything with the choir, recorded with all our vocalist friends, and we got exactly what we were looking for… a majestic arrangement for a solid metal riffing.”

Listen to “Immortal” here.

Punchy and aggressive, fans who have been waiting since 2014’s EP “Perseverance”, are now rewarded with From The Depth‘s new 10 track album. Entitled Moments, the full length is a series of personal occasions in the band members’ lives that they are reliving through their music, from hard times to the anniversary of the group forming. In the band’s own words: “’Moments’ is a way to celebrate relevant memories and episodes of everyday life while time passes by. Each aspect of the production has been taken care of with extreme attention to detail from song structure to the final master; nothing has been left to chance and we did our best to get out the most from each session during songwriting.”

After years of hard times, they are now fully operational with a killer stable lineup, and with the new partnership with Rockshots Records, From the Depth is ready to show fans what they have been working on. Starting as a power metal cover band with a distinct “melodic mindset”, From The Depth has come a long way since 2008, and the maturity and refinement really show in this new chapter.

Fans of Firewind, Kamelot, and Labyrinth, pre-order for Moments HERE.

First single “Spread You Fire” at this location.

Moments Track List:
1. Immortal (4:55)
2. Spread Your Fire (4:55)
3. Ten Years (5:09)
4. Streets of Memory (4:20)
5. Hypnos (1:51)
6. Forget and Survive (4:48)
7. Just Ice (7:46)
8. Missed (4:51)
9. A Matter of Time (5:47)
10. Somewhere (4:22)

From The Depth was formed officially at the end of 2008. In 2010, with their first solid line-up, they released the demo The Will To Be The Flame, which quickly sold out.

In 2011 the band signed with Rising Records for the release of their first studio album Back To Life, published and released worldwide in November of the same year. Meanwhile, they attended many European festivals playing alongside bands such as Megadeth, Sonata Arctica, Overkill, King Diamond, Iced Earth, Moonspell, Lordi, Sabaton, Rhapsody Of Fire, Dragonforce and more.

Between 2013 and 2015 the band went through some line-up changes, but slowly, during live shows, they started the writing process for the Back To Life successor. By the end of 2016, a new limited edition EP was published with the name of Perseverance.

From 2018 the actual stable line-up is in place and after some live gigs the band focused on studio material to finalize Moments. The album was mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni at Domination Studio in January 2020 and features, among others, musicians like Roberto Tiranti and Giacomo Voli. While working on new material, the band leveraged new members’ ideas to write even more songs, and a new album is already written and in the early stage of production.

Lately, the band is also remixing and remastering Back To Life which is waiting for a new release, scheduled for the 10-year anniversary of the album in 2021.

ONSLAUGHT Shred Through “Religiousuicide” in New Guitar Playthrough

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UK thrash metal innovators ONSLAUGHT have presented a new guitar playthrough video for “Religiousuicide,” the first single from the band’s upcoming Generation Antichrist album, set for the release on August 7 via AFM Records.


Watch the video now via Guitar World at this location.


“Probably the most intense track from the Generation Antichrist album, it’s a full-on relentless MF from start to finish,” says guitarist Wayne Dorman. “We used a cool Chromatic pattern for the main riff before the fireworks kick in on the verses. It’s a hard workout to nail it super tight and I really had to get my shit together. Dave Garnett, our vocalist, shared the solo duties with me on this one. I really dig the contrast between the two styles, it’s definitely a scorcher. I’m gonna be tabbing this one out sometime soon for this who are interested.”


“Religiousuicide” was recorded using Caparison C2 and Solar A Series guitars with the Neural DSP Fortin Cali Suite plugin for the guitar tones.


Guitarist and founding member Nige Rockett previously noted that “Religiousuicide” “is one of the most intense, hate filled songs that ONSLAUGHT has ever written and it’s definitely one for the pit!” Watch the official lyric video.


ONSLAUGHT also recently revealed the second single from Generation Antichrist, “Bow Down to the Clowns,” along with its menacing travelling circus-inspired video. Check out the video.


ONSLAUGHT’s long-awaited new album was recorded at Dugout Studios in Uppsala, Sweden, with Grammy Award winning Daniel Bergstrand (Behemoth, In Flames, and Meshuggah) at the helm, capturing the innovative band’s classic sound with a pristine modern production. On first listen, tracks such as the vicious album opener, “Strike Fast Strike Hard,” “Bow Down To The Clowns,” and “Religiousuicide” pin ears to the speakers and prove that a move to involve Bergstrand has given ONSLAUGHT an edge that even their definitive ‘80s years couldn’t quite capture. Generation Antichrist is the first album to feature new vocalist Dave Garnett, who has stepped in on occasion to perform live with ONSLAUGHT.


ONSLAUGHT was formed in Bristol, England, in 1983 by Rockett and bassist Paul Hill. Influenced by second-generation hardcore punk bands, the group was also shaped by a desire to incorporate a more metallic sound, quickly developing ONSLAUGHT’s own defined and original style. The band went on to release Power From Hell (1985), The Force (1986), In Search Of Sanity (1989), and after a long hiatus, Killing Peace (2007), Sounds Of Violence (2011) and VI (2013). By 2019, ONSLAUGHT had been touring for an amazing five years in support of VI and the 30th anniversary of The Force.


Pre-orders for Generation Antichrist are available at this location.


LATE NIGHT SAVIOR Sign with ROCK SHOP RECORDS

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After managing to garner over 7.5 million streams worldwide independently, Utah based hard rock band LATE NIGHT SAVIOR recently signed a deal with NEW LABEL ROCK SHOP RECORDS. Their first single, “MONSTER,” was produced by CRISPIN EARL (THE VEER UNION / ROCK SHOP RECORDS) and the video premiered this week on METAL INSIDER. LATE NIGHT SAVIOR will be kicking off their rock radio campaign in America on July 28 and is also slated to be on tour as a supporting artist on the Rock Shop Records International Tour scheduled for the spring/summer of 2021.

“The song ‘Monster,’ for me is, more about selfishness than anything. I was told that chasing something I wanted wasn’t what I should be doing and it got in my head like a bad dream. The ones I cared about left me alone and I became a monster in their eyes. But I came to the realization that the healthiest thing for me was to kill that thought and be selfish, do this for me and no one else. I’m okay being the villain in someone else’s story as long as I’m not the villain of mine. Every time I heard someone say i wasn’t following what I should be doing, the “prescription” if you will, it just became my motivation to prove them wrong” says BRANDON JOHNSON.

In 2016, LNS released their first album, Among the Forgotten. The second album, Into the Aftermath, was released in 2017 and not only did the group vastly begin building their online presence and catching the eyes of regional promoters. The Band was awarded opening slots for National and International acts such as Drowning Pool, Red, Saliva, Thousand Foot Crutch, Adelitas Way, The Veer Union, Royal Bliss, Flaw, Bobaflex, Cage 9, Shamans Harvest, and so many others!

In 2018, continuing a busy regional touring regiment, LNS was named best rock band of Utah and were chosen as 1 of 5 National Finalists for the Cumulus Media “Next2Rock” Battle, a National Competition in Los Angeles. They flew to Los Angeles to participate in the competition and even though they didn’t place first, the experience was eye opening.

In 2019-2020, LNS has seen their Spotify monthly listeners double to over 55,000 and the track, “Angel” has over 1M spins on Spotify and 1.5M veiws on Youtube. LNS travelled to Vancouver, Canada to hit the studio with Singer/Songwriter/Producer/The Veer Union Frontman, Crispin Earl to record their 3rd album with goals of refining their sound and bringing the band to a National/International level. Shortly after, LNS announced they signed a deal with Rock Shop Records (RSR) and released their first new track, “Monster”.

The band is set to release a new album in the spring of 2021 that will be accompanied by a National Tour.

WACKEN WORLD WIDE Digital Festival Launches Tomorrow

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This week, the biggest ever virtual metal festival will take place – WACKEN WORLD WIDE! From July 29th to August 1st (the original W:O:A 2020 festival dates) – fans can enjoy the experience of Wacken World Wide directly from home. The unique event is available live and for free at www.wacken-world-wide.com, and also via the app MagentaMusik 360, MagentaTV and in the program #DABEI!

The line-up features bands such as SABATON, BLIND GUARDIAN, and KREATOR, amongst many others, who will all be playing exclusive shows on innovative and extraordinary digital stages. In addition, the live streams will be accompanied by legendary past W:O:A shows from bands like IN FLAMES, IRON MAIDEN and ARCH ENEMY.

The complete festival line-up can be viewed online now, with tomorrow’s schedule including artists such as metal queen DORO and world-famous thrashers ANTHRAX. There will be shows streamed from all kinds of places: from special underground stages, spectacular drive-in cinema shows to venues all over the world. 

The running order can be found here.

DORO is already looking forward to the event: “W:O:A is obviously one of my absolute favorite festivals. It’s extremely sad that it cannot take place this year for the first time. There is nothing more awesome than standing on one of the big Wacken stages and rocking out with the 75.000 metalheads in front of it.“, the metal queen comments. “But luckily, Wacken World Wide gives artists and fans a great chance to celebrate metal together this weekend. At our show, we will of course play our Wacken Hymn ‘We Are The Metalheads’ and really give it full power, including fireworks on stage. I’m looking forward to it! All We Are! Für Immer!“
 
About Wacken World Wide: The organizers of Wacken Open Air have teamed up with their partner Telekom to announce the biggest ever Wacken digital festival. Wacken World Wide connects artists and their audience all over the world with immense technology and innovation. Fans won’t merely be spectators, but instead a part of this authentic live experience: Various programs allow fans to participate, interact and experience the artists from up-close and actively put them at the center of the action and right in front of the digital stage. 

Wacken World Wide – the biggest ever Wacken will start on July 29th, 2020 at www.wacken-worldwide.com, MagentaMusik 360, MagentaTV, and via the program #DABEI!

PUPPY Release Lyric Video For Fan-Favorite “Serotonin”

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Following the release of Puppy‘s third EP, iii, drummer Billy Howard Price has created a video clip for current single “Serotonin.”


Watch it here.


iii was recorded with producer Misha Hering in Hackney’s (largely analog) Holy Mountain Studios around the corner from the rehearsal space where Puppy first started making music together.


Upon the EP’s surprise digital release towards the end of 2019, “Serotonin” quickly established itself as a fan-favorite.


“We’ve always liked the concept of lyric videos,” Price says. “They’re essentially karaoke tapes to which nobody is expected to sing along. Also, like a public service announcement, Ceefax or LED street signs, there’s a kind of clunky outdated-ness to the sight of words slowly panning across a surface to convey a simple message.”


He continues. “In this spirit, we thought it would be cool to take the idea of a lyric video and stretch it to breaking point, cramming in so many textual and visual interpretations of the song that it becomes almost uninterpretable. This felt all the more relevant at a time when social interactions, work obligations, and even live music itself are conducted from behind the flat faces of computer or telephone screens, mediated by confusing interfaces and dependent on the arbitrary whims of WiFi connections. We have never been more easily interconnected, and yet communication has never felt this hard. In a sense, this is what the song ‘Serotonin‘ is about.


 
Built up indecipherably on top of one another, the languages, ciphers, fonts, codes, and texts we use in our video are less a textual translation of our lyrics than a rhythmic component of the song itself. Rather than simply offering a transcription of the words, they instead adopt a more aesthetic, melodic role, optically enacting parts of the music like a computer visualiser or light show. On one hand, if you’re familiar with, say, British Sign Language or basic Arabic, our video could open the song to you in a way that might otherwise have remained closed. On the other hand, you could instead be confronted with a confusing collage of disparate symbolic elements, emotive jargon and an abundance of useless visual stimuli. 


 
We hope that the accumulative effect of this process creates something akin to a nightmare Zoom conference or the most confusing karaoke tape of all time!”  


 
Fans can now purchase iii pressed onto translucent green vinyl, picked to perfectly complement the official artwork, here.  



iii Track List:
Agatha
_fig.1
Serotonin
Charms
_fig.2
Star Of The Sea
Letterbomb


 
Puppy‘s critically acclaimed debut album, The Goat, is also available via Spinefarm Records. 

SPACE OF VARIATIONS to Stream Online Show this Saturday

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Ukrainian powerhouse SPACE OF VARIATIONS announced their own online gig on Saturday July 4, at 8:00pm Kyiv time/7:00pm CET/1:00pm EST. The band will play the main songs from the MIND DARKNET album and from the latest EP XXXXX. During the stream, the guys will answer audience questions. Also, the musicians are going to create a custom t-shirt online in collaboration with their fans, which they will give away at the end of the performance. Any person from any part of the world can join the show and check them out. Don’t miss it! 


 


Commented the band: “Since March, we’ve literally been sitting on our asses waiting for the world to correct itself and it looks like we have to wait longer … so we decided to do a live show stream to get that “tour“ feeling back again. We can‘t tell you how excited we are to do this! We‘ve put together a slammer of a setlist together of new and older material and will raffle off a one of kind T-Shirt design as well! Tune in!!”


Order XXXXX HERE!


SPACE OF VARIATIONS explores vast sonic landscapes and emotions, captivating each listener with all-encompassing and everchanging moods – musically as well as lyrically – whether they be brutal and uncompromising or emotive and comforting. Their recent EP, XXXXX, out now, as well as the live video for “Slowmo”, only confirm the group’s position in the modern metal scene, convincingly framing the level of texts with technical instrumentals and skillfully incorporated electronic details.


SEPULTURA Welcome Roy Mayorga In This Week’s SEPULQUARTA

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On this week’s ‘Sepulquarta’ session SEPULTURA welcomes Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR, HELLYEAH, SOULFLY and SEPULTURA) who will take part in the Q&A session, together with his longtime friend Derrick Green.
 
Derrick comments: “It will be a great pleasure to be doing a Q&A with our brother and old friend Roy Mayorga. I’ve known Roy from back in the day from living in the LES ( Lower East Side) N.Y.C. 
We share many mutual friends from the scene and we have had the pleasure of jamming together live on stage numerous times. We will have plenty to talk about and to reminisce about the incredible times we’ve shared. Definitely tune in, you won’t want to miss this!”
 
Next to that the band welcomes Filipe Roa (SHADOWS FALL) and Jason Bittner (OVERKILL) for a quarantine performance of “Desperate Cry”.

Join the band this Wednesday at 4PM Brazilian official time (Noon PST and 9PM CET) here.

Andreas Kisser about the idea of the SepulQuarta sessions, earlier: “SepulQuarta was born out of the necessity to express ourselves in a different way since we’re all facing a new situation. We came with this idea still influenced by the concept of our last album ‘Quadra‘, using geometry, numerology and numbers. Wednesday, which is the fourth day of the week, was chosen for an event.”

The band released their latest album Quadra through Nuclear Blast on February, 7th, 2020. The band was scheduled to tour North America past March with SACRED REICH, CROWBAR and ART OF SHOCK. This tour is being rescheduled for Spring 2021.

Order Quadra now in various formats here.