Hrvaški black metal dvojec Prognan je s komadom Iskonsko Zlo napovedal Sjene nad Balkanom, svoji drugi studijski dolgometražec po vrsti in hkrati že kar tretji letošnji studijski izdelek. Plošček bo izšel 20. novembra in prinesel 12 komadov:

Marseljski atentat
Iskonsko zlo
Tri nacije
Makedonka
Nikad, nikad bolje, nikad biti neće
Samo da rata ne bude
Za one koji su hrabri samo kada ginu
Mrtva vremena
Naši dani
Nekoć braća
Miris baruta i ognja
Početak kraja

Heavy metalci Savage iz Nemčije predstavljajo komad Make My Day s prihajajočega prvenca Glory Riders. Album izide 20. oktobra.

V petek so Dying Fetus pri Relapse Records izdali svoj deveti studijski album Make Them Beg For Death, ki ga ponujajo v posluh na Bandcampu.

Dying Fetus bodo 8. septembra pri Relapse Records izdali studijski album z naslovom Make Them Beg For Death. Včeraj so predstavili videospot za single Feast of Ashes, ki je na voljo za ogled na YouTubu.

Makedonski thrasherji Conspiracy so po štirih letih po prvencu Dehumanized iz leta 2019 posneli svežo glasbo, single z naslovom Gnev, ki ga lahko preverite v spodnjem videospotu.

Nemški progresivni death metalci Alkaloid sporočajo, da so se razšli s kitaristom Dannyjem Tunkerjem. Spodaj lahko preberete celotno izjavo banda:

»We are sad to announce that Danny Tunker left Alkaloid almost 2 years ago. After going through some profound personal tragedies which had little to do with the band, he decided to adjust course and step away to focus on other endeavours. There was no drama and we all support his decision.

After some time for reflection, we decided to make this new album with the four of us. There was plenty of material as always, and we are delighted to have one of Danny's songs on the album at least. It's one of our more insane tracks, and we look forward to sharing it with you all soon!

Danny will be sorely missed. We remain good friends, wish him the best of luck in his new incarnation, and of course hope to work together again in the future in whatever form.«

Thrash metalci Annihilator sporočajo, da so do konca posneli prihajajoči dolgometražec. Snemali so ga v Watersound Studios v Združenem kraljestvu, več informacij pa bo znanih kmalu. Spodaj si lahko preberete še izjavo vodje zasedbe Jeffa Watersa:

»Deep, deep into the lush, tropical forests of Durham, UK, lies a studio that... well, basically makes fkn music! I just finished another record yesterday... man, the last 4 years have seen me make 4 records! Yesss... Can't wait for you to hear the 3 you haven't heard. AND 1 more record to do, as well, making it 5 records in 5 years... on a roll, I must say! Then, time to tour and enjoy my latter years! Haha! Work is fun as heck but I will have done my time in HEAVEN/HELL by the end of 2024!

Btw., Annihilator was started Dec 1984... 2024 would be 40 years since I wrote "Crystal Ann" and John Bates and I wrote the first version of 'Alison Hell'.«

Avtor fotografije: Blaž Grünfeld.

Power metalci Dragonheart napovedujejo izid petega studijskega albuma. Ta bo nosil naslov The Dragonheart's Tale in bo pri založbi Rockshots Records izšel 25. avgusta ter bo zajemal te komade:

The Hangman Willy's Tavern
Dragonheart's Tale
Act 1: Sea, Waves And Gunpowder
Under The Black Flag
Ghost Of The Storm
Barbarian Armada
Act 2: Battle, Honor And Blood
Eric, The Red
Westgate Battlefield
Act 3: Magic, Anvil And Fire
The Devil Is By My Side
Plague Maker
Finale: The Bard
The Ballad Of John Cursed
Early Days

Zaradi slabega zdravstvenega stanja dveh članov banda je julijski nastop Suffocation v Zagrebu odpovedan. V nadaljevanju lahko preberete celotno objavo za javnost:

»It is with deep regret that we have to announce the cancellation of our Summer June/July 2023 tour scheduled within Europe/UK. As you may know we previously toured Europe last month and during this tour a few members of the band suffered extreme physical strain resulting in injuries preventing us from returning back to the area less than a month from our previous tour.

Although it's never our intention to cancel any tour the health of our bandmates is key for continuing forward into the rest of the year and it's required that these members rest accordingly and recover from their injuries sustained during this tour. The physical strain that touring takes on the bodies of musicians manifests itself in many ways that are out of our control.

We have a lot in the works for the remainder of the year including writing and completing our new album and we look forward to returning to one of our favorite territories and fans in the EU/UK bringing you Suffocation at full strength, blazing and cranking alongside you all.

As you all know, Suffocation puts their all into our live show and we want to make sure fans get our all moving forward. Health and safety is our number one priority to ensure that we can bring it for you guys for the remainder of 2023 and beyond.«

Vračilo kart je možno od danes dalje v trgovini Dirty Old Shop.

Ameriški black metalci Uada sporočajo, da so se razšli s kitaristom Jamesom Sloanom. Več lahko preberete v uradni izjavi banda:

»Uada has officially parted ways with guitarist James Sloan. After receiving consecutive accounts and admittance of misconduct, we have decided to let James go. It is of utmost importance that we protect ourselves, the band, and most of all, the fans. After recently learning about years of manipulation, lies, deceit, abuse, and sexual harassment towards many different people, we feel that we have made the absolute best decision in moving forward without him.

Our thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who has come forward and provided proof about this situation. Please know that UADA will never stand for this type of behavior and that our only agenda here is music and the spirit of its creation. Unfortunately, due to these circumstances, we are now forced to cancel our appearances in Tasmania and Australia next month, but we hope to make it up to the fans down under as soon as we possibly can.

Thank you for your understanding and our deepest apologies to anyone who may have been hurt because of these actions.

Sincerely,
Jake, Nate, and Josh.«

Irski thrash/groove/death metalci Unmaker so izdali prvenec Limb From Limb, ki ga lahko poslušate spodaj. Poleg tega je zasedba nedavno posnela videospot za naslovni komad.

Organizatorji legendarnega festivala Bang Your Head sporočajo, da se je ta za vedno poslovil. Več podrobnosti lahko preberete v izjavi organizatorja:

THAT WAS IT! Hello friends, it is with a heavy heart that we are writing these lines. But there is no other way. We really gave and did everything we could to finally catch up with celebrating the big BANG YOU HEAD!!! anniversary in 2023, and eagerly anticipated this summer like no other. But: We alone, unfortunately, did not have control over creating the circumstances needed to set up an event of this caliber with the requirement to quality connected to the name BANG YOUR HEAD!!! and actually make it happen. A lot changed in the past three years and not a lot of it was and is good. All in all, it can and must be said: The whole scene changed, and the preconditions for organizing an open-air event in Balingen are completely different in 2023 than they were in 2019 – also from an economic perspective. All in all, we thus come to the conclusion, even if it is incredibly sad, that there are too many factors and forces working against us, and pushing through to organize an event at any cost would cause more losses for us and others involved than putting an end to it now. And this is how it is now: The BANG YOUR HEAD!!! 2023 can and will NOT take place. Due to the abovementioned reasons which we can’t describe in further detail due to reasons that are hopefully understandable, there is no viable path that we can take responsibility for aside from calling off the big anniversary party in Balingen. We hope for your understanding and thank everybody from the bottom of our hearts that supported us, believed in us, and kept their tickets or even bought new ones. Especially for you we tried everything to finally raise the BANG YOUR HEAD!!! flag again over the Swabian Alb, but it seems like it was not meant to be. And to make sure to avoid any potential misunderstandings: There will be no more BANG YOUR HEAD!!! festivals in the future. This was it. Because we know that many of you waited for the BYH!!! this year with immense anticipation, we intensely tried to come up with a way to marginally make up for the cancellation of the event. So, we had an idea for a ticket exchange to the ROCK OF AGES festival 2023 which you can read up on in the detailed statement on www.bang-your-head.de. Of course, we will also reimburse the purchasing price to everybody who would like to return their tickets – irrespective of which of the past years the tickets for 2023 were purchased. We will inform you about the detailed process shortly through our channels. We want to thank you once again for your support at all 24 festivals and we would be thrilled to greet you as part of the LOYAL ONES in Seebronn on 28th June! Stay heavy! Horst and the BANG YOUR HEAD!!!-Team

Pred časom smo že poročali, da so melodični death metalci The Agonist iz Kanade odpovedali nastop na letošnji ediciji festivala MetalDays. Sedaj pa je iz tabora zasedbe tudi odjeknila vest, da je uradno prenehala z delovanjem. Več si lahko preberete v spodnji izjavi:

Dear friends, it's time to make a very difficult but necessary announcement.
We have decided that The Agonist as a band, has come to an end. Much deliberation and care has been put into making this decision, and unfortunately, given the circumstances, this is the conclusion that makes the most sense for the band and us as individuals.
There are many factors that led to this decision. It is a mix of personal, financial and industry related issues, but in the end the 5 of us are no longer able to agree on a way forward that would benefit The Agonist business as a whole, while respecting each member's personal lives and wishes.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the fans for coming out to the shows, buying our merch, and supporting us over the years. Nothing is more satisfying than connecting with our fellow human beings via the gift of music. It is the number one factor that has always driven us- to make you, the listener, feel something. In the end, we know that we've accomplished this together.
Some members of the band will continue to work on music in various ways, others will focus on personal projects and family. We kindly ask you to respect their privacy on this particular matter and encourage you to follow them on their individual social media accounts to support their future endeavors.
Vicky Psarakis will be carrying on with her band, Sicksense. They have a new EP coming out this summer and she will be playing 2 live shows with them in Montreal, in June.
You can also directly support her by following her on Patreon and Twitch.
Simon McKay is currently looking to join a new band full-time, while offering session work for studio and live gigs. Also, keep an eye out for new music coming soon from his solo project.
Chris Kells will be focusing on his career as a videographer. Since 2015, he has directed all of The Agonist's music videos, as well as many other established bands.
Danny Marino is currently writing music for 2 new projects.
Pascal "Paco" Jobin will be releasing new music with his project Leading the betrayed.
Our US-based merch store with Sound Escape Agency will remain open. We have also put together an EU-based store for our European fans. Inventory is final and there will be no restocks. Proceeds will go directly to the band to help us pay off our remaining debt.
Once again, we thank you and we love you.
»We will survive. At the end of the tunnel there's always a light.« - The Agonist

Po tem, ko so pred kratkim turnejo odpovedali White Ward, je ista usoda doletela blackened death metalce 1914 iz Ukrajine. Upamo, da se stvari umirijo in nas bo zasedba lahko obiskala letos poleti na festivalu Črna Loka. Sledi bandova izjava za medije:

»Many of you could have been noticing a recent wave of European tours cancellations by UA bands. Unfortunately, 1914 is not an exception here. With heavy hearts we must inform you that we cannot play for our fans this April and have to cancel our upcoming tour.

Just to make it clear, it is still a 'wartime' on the territory of our land, and this specific time makes it impossible to leave the borders by the men of a conscript age. How could we travel last year? It was possible to get a special permission from the state authorities for the artists to leave the country and do shows and other activities in order to aid the country and spead the truth about unprovoked and brutal war started by russia. There were some irresponsible people who used such permissions to leave the country and never come back, and after it became public and went through a media - the state authorities stopped granting the special permissions for the artists by artificially overcomplicating the process of getting all the necessary documents, by enlarging the list of the documents and making it impossible for bands to obtain what is needed. This affected a lot of different bands in UA.

Last couple of weeks for us were in a constant fight with that new stupid system trying to show that we had a positive experience of returning back home after foreign tours, trying to display the value of such tours for our country benefit, but no matter how hard we tried - we couldn't break that system and it made impossible for us to go and play this time. We want to apologize to our fans, other bands, promoters, but currently we are powerless here. We will work hard to be able to get to our other shows this year, maybe the ice will melt and we will see some easement in the future, but currently we just did everything we could.

Міністерство культури та інформаційної політики України - Thank you for nothing!«

Blaze Bayley, nekdanji vokalist zasedbe Iron Maiden, je prejšnjo soboto doživel srčni infarkt in bil zaradi tega hospitaliziran. Njegovo stanje je že stabilno, žal pa je zaradi tega moral odpovedati turnejo. Več lahko preberete v uradni izjavi:

»We sincerely regret to announce that Blaze had a heart attack at home yesterday evening & is now in hospital in a stable condition, awaiting news of further surgery/treatment. He is in good spirits in the circumstances but utterly disappointed to have to postpone our imminent shows due in March & April. Ticket refunds will be available at source but we truly hope you will keep your tickets & make it to the new dates which we will be announcing as soon as they are scheduled.

Regarding shows already booked for June-November this year, we understandably have to wait a short while to see how quick Blaze’s recovery will be, so please stay tuned & meanwhile most importantly we're sure you will join us in wishing him a complete & speedy recovery.

Blaze misses you, cannot wait to regain full health & see you all again.

Every Storm Ends… ‘your heart will heal’

Thank you so much everyone for your understanding & support.

Mark Appleton & Christopher Appleton (management / bookings)«