Izraelski death/doom metalci Tomorrow's Rain bodo 19. aprila pri AOP Records izdali nov dolgometražec Ovdan. Album bo zajemal te komade:

Roads (Feat. Andreas Vingback of Dark Funeral and Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus)
Sunrise
Muaka (Feat. Attila Csihar of Mayhem)
Room 124
I Skuggornas Grav (Feat. Mickael Broberg of Unanimated and Anja Huwe of Xmal Deutschland)
Burning times (Feat. Jan Lubitzki of Depressive Age)
Turn Around (Feat Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond)
Convalescence
Rainbow
Intensive Care Unit
Turn Around - Gothic Rock Version (Feat. Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond and Ben Christo of Sisters Of Mercy)

Psihedelični folk rock solo band Iterum Nata in Rob Coffinshaker, ki je prispeval vokale, sta posnela pesem A Darkness Within s prihajajočega albuma From the Infinite Light. Ta bo izšel 15. marca pri Nordvis Produktion.

Predstavljamo mlado slovensko post grunge/stoner/metal zasedbo Dunraven iz Bistrice ob Sotli. Zasedba je nedavno objavila videospot za pesem Rock Bottom, s katero za 19. januar napoveduje svoj samonaslovljen dolgometražni prvenec. Dunraven so:

Gaja Pekošak
Andrej Černelč
Gašper Tominšek

Zasedba na svojem Facebooku o sebi pravi tako:
»Skoraj natančno tri leta nazaj si je Gašper od Andreja sposodil kamero za nek svoj REDHEDII podvig. Ko jo je prinesel nazaj, mu je Andrej povedal, da imata z Gajo band. Omenil je, da rabita basista. Gašper je imel ravno nasproten problem: imel je bas in rabil bend. (!) Nekaj minut kasneje smo prvič igrali skupaj – lahko bi rekli, da smo imeli prve vaje – in že takrat delali na Rock Bottom. Ta komad je v veliki meri definiral zvok našega tria, zato je edino pravilno, da je prvi single naše prve prave plate.«

Compressorhead prihajajo v Slovenijo oziroma roboti bodo zasedli Delavski dom Trbovlje oziroma vodilni svetovni heavy metal in punk rock band, ki ga sestavljajo izključno roboti, ki igrajo na prave instrumente, bo izvedel svoj edini slovenski koncert v petek, 22. septembra, v Delavskem domu Trbovlje.

Robotskemu vokalistu glas posoja John Wright, nekdanji član zasedbe NoMeasNo. Z bratom Robom sta avtorja komadov, ki jih zasedba igra poleg priredb uspešnic svetovno znanih zasedb, kot so Motörhead, AC/DC, Pantera in Ramones.

Doro z novim besedilnim videom predstavlja priredbo Living After Midnight, ki jo je posnela z Robom Halfordom. Z novim singlom napoveduje po vrsti že štirinajsti dolgometražec Conqueress - Forever Strong and Proud, ki izide 27. oktobra pri Nuclear Blast. Album obsega naslednje skladbe:

Children of the Dawn
Fire in the Sky
Living After Midnight (priredba Judas Priest)
All for You
Lean Mean Rock Machine
I Will Prevail
Bond Unending
Time for Justice
Fels in der Brandung
Love Breaks Chains
Drive Me Wild
Rise
Best in Me
Heavenly Creatures
Total Eclipse of the Heart (priredba Bonnie Tyler)

Dolly Parton in metal legenda Rob Halford sta v sodelovanju z Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe) in John 5 posnela skladbo Bygones. Skladba se bo sicer nahajala na Rockstar, prihajajočem albumu od Dolly Parton, ki izide 17. novembra. Album bo vseboval 9 avtorskih skladb in 21 priredb.

Andraj Kralj oziroma alternativni post/prog rock projekt A Day in Venice je razkril podrobnosti prihajajočega albuma z naslovom IV. Ta bo izšel 6. junija v samozaložbi v digitalnem formatu in bo obsegal enajst pesmi:

Twioys
Reins of Freedom
You Will Meet Your Love
Flames of Gold
Ophidian Queen
Counting Steps
Your Thoughts Buried in Darkness
Children of the Night
Drops of Winter
No One Can Stop You
Aghori

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

Konec januarja smo poročali, da bo nemška rock’n’roll/speed/thrash metal zasedba Intöxicated izdala nov album. Zdaj je znano, da bo ta nosil naslov Sadistic Nightmares, da bo izšel 5. maja in da bo vseboval osem komadov. Naslovnico pa tudi lahko preverite na priloženi sliki.

Španska hard'n'heavy metal skupina Invaders je pravkar podpisala pogodbo z založbo Fighter Records za izdajo svojega prvega dolgometražnega albuma z naslovom Beware of the Night, ki bo izšel 8. septembra na CD-ju, vinilu, kaseti in digitalno. Tracklista:

Livin' in the End
Spin the Roulette
Redhead Lady
Crimson Fate
Visions
Standing in the Twilight
Late to Return
Ghost Religion
Into the Fire (Dokken cover) - izide samo digitalno

Nemški melodični heavy metalci Reternity z videospotom za pesem Untamed Hearts najavljajo svoj tretji album, ki bo nosil naslov Cosmic Dreams. Album je produciral Andy Horn (Fight feat. Rob Halford, Rob Rock, Cage, Edenbridge itd.). Tracklista:

Building Better Worlds
Untamed Hearts
Depths Of Nothingness
Cosmic Dreams
Astronaut
Blitzwerfer Blues
Seemingly
Only Scars Remain
Wonderful Life
The Narrow Sleep
My Reternity

Po več letih čakanja bo v Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vključena še ena metal zasedba. Gre za legendarne Judas Priest, ki bodo poleg vkjučitve v Class of 2022 prejeli še Musical Excellence Award. To zveza podeljuje izvajalcem, ki so s svojo originalnostjo in ustvarjanjem močno vplivali na razvoj glasbe. Rob Halford je v nedavnem intervjuju izjavil, da je čakala zasedba na to vključitev že res dolgo in da je izjemno ponosna na nagrado. Bodo pa poleg trenutnih članov banda v Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vključeni tudi nekateri njegovi nekdanji člani, med drugimi K. K. Downing.

In še kratek opomnik: zasedba bo letos nastopila v Ljubljani, in sicer 12. julija v dvorani Stožice. Vstopnice so še na voljo tukaj.

Nemška rockerka Brunhilde je razkrila single Eye for an Eye and Tit for Tat s prihajajočega albuma 27, ki je napovedan za 27. maja. Single lahko preverite spodaj, naslovnico na priloženi fotografiji, seznam pesmi pa tukaj:

Excerpts from Psalm 27
Son of a Gun
The Winner Takes It All
Girl with 1000 Scars
Apartment 213
SNAFU
Cut My Rockin` Brain
Eye for an Eye and Tit for Tat
Friendly Fire
Are the Kids All Right?
The End
The Book of Revelation
House of the Rising Sun

Založba Punk Portala je naredila punk inventuro preteklega leta, ki jo je zapakirala na najnovejši digitalni kompilaciji Punk Rock Val 2021. Da pa ne gre izključno za punkerske zvoke nam med drugim s svojo udeležbo dokazujejo death/grind staroste Dickless Tracy, spevni metalci Inmate, toksični epic crusterji Natt, hardcore veterani Odpisani, metalcore novinci Sakrabolt, legendarna LJXHC zasedba Odpadki Civilizacije in še kdo. Več podrobnosti najdete na uradni strani.

Ustvarjalci še dodajajo: »Peklensko leto 2021 se je končalo in pred nami so novi izzivi. Ob začetku leta 2022 pa je čas, da na plano prikuka sveža kompilacija Punk Rock Val 21. Na njej se je znašlo kar trideset izvajalcev, ki so v preteklem letu pustili pečat z izdajo albuma, vsak pa je prispeval po eno pesem. Kompilacija tako združuje punkerske vrhunce leta 2021 v deželi pod Alpami. Izšla je v digitalni obliki pod okriljem ZPP in je dostopna tukaj. Ob tej priložnosti se zahvaljujemo vsem izvajalcem za sodelovanje, aktivno delovanje in ustvarjalnost na glasbeni grudi. Foto album vseh sodelujočih skupin si lahko ogledate na tej povezavi.«

Švedska psihadelična doom metal/rock zasedba Spiral Skies napoveduje izid najnovejšega celovečerca z naslovom Death Is But A Door, ki je bil posnet v Studio Ryssviken (Lucifer, Dead Lord, Tribulation) in ga je produciral Emil Drougge. Izid albuma je napovedan za 25. marca pri založbi AOP Records in bo obsegal naslednje skladbe:

The Endless Sea
While the Devil Is Asleep
Into the Night
Somewhere in the Dark
Heart of Darkness
Nattmaran
Time
Mirage
Mirror of Illusion