CERESIAN VALOT release a visualiser for the next single ‘Valojuovat’ (‘Tracers’) taken from the forthcoming debut full-length Uumen (Depths). The first album of the Finnish heavy alternative band has been scheduled for release on May 23, 2025.
Wille Naukkarinen writes: “The new advance single ‘Valojuovat’ is one of the most recent songs that I wrote for Uumen and my personal favourite on this album”, the guitarist and main songwriter reveals. “I don’t have much to tell about the composition process, because this was one of those rare cases where the song basically wrote itself. The instrumental version was completed pretty quickly. It’s a mix of prog and melancholia, showcasing both our quieter and heavier side in a very melodic way. I recommend to listen to ‘Valojuovat’ with your eyes closed.”
Panu Perkiömäki adds: “This song has strong dystopic vibes”, the vocalist opines. “The key idea of the song is inspired by the writing of Albert Camus. It’s a song about wars and other manmade disasters. It is also a song about solving problems by changing the channel, if the news get too stressful. ‘Valojuovat’ does even contain some doubts about religions and their infallibility.”
AUSTERE have unveiled the video clip ‘Time Awry’ as the first single taken from the black & dark metal duo’s forthcoming new album The Stillness of Dissolution. The band from Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia will release their fifth full-length on June 6, 2025.
AUSTERE comment: “The first single, ‘Time Awry’ was the second song written for The Stillness of Dissolution, our forthcoming new album”, guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist Mitchell Keepin explains on behalf of the duo. “The first few songs written for the album tend to have a slightly more stripped back ‘rock’ sound than those written later, and that is on display here. Lyrically, it is presented from the viewpoint of a betrayed and solemn soul – a man with a heightened awareness of the inescapable running of time and seeking to accelerate that process.”
Restless Belarus expatriates DYMNA LOTVA release ‘Come and See’ (Ідзі І Глядзі), another lavish music video for the opening track from their current album, The Land under the Black Wings: Blood (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў). This harrowing piece adds an accordion to black metal that is also prominently featured in the clip:
Video by Jancyk Kurcavy
DYMNA LOTVA comment: “We have never treated music videos as just another promotional tool”, enigmatic singer Katsiaryna ‘Nokt Aeon’ Mankevich declares. “We see every clip as a chance to explore the story and emotions behind a track even further through visual means. This video was originally planned for 2023, but due to many reasons, we are only able to reveal it now. Despite the long wait, its topics have become even more relevant as Plague, War, Famine, and Death have not gone away. These Four Horsemen have only moved closer towards all of us. Then again, just maybe these are actually Four Horsewomen.”
IN THE WOODS… reveal the video clip ‘The Things You Shouldn’t Know’ as the next advance single taken from their forthcoming new album Otra. The seventh full-length of the Norwegian avant-garde metal band from the city of Kristiansand has been slated for release on April 11, 2025.
IN THE WOODS… comment on ‘The Things You Shouldn’t Know’: "This single is an 8 minute power display as we take a dive back in time to bring back certain elements of ‘what used to be’; and it also demonstrates how we take our roots seriously", guitarist and keyboard player Kåre André Sletteberg explains. "This track is a hard hitting melodic piece of art with smooth and beautiful vocal melodies blended with black metal elements on guitars. It’s stretching from the darkest corners of the forest into the melodic meadows of our dreams and nightmares. When this piece was completed, we knew that due to the many elements, dynamics, and feelings worked into the song, it was a more than worthy opener for the album. Doom!"
Canadian blackgaze solo-project UNREQVITED unveils the acclaimed new seventh full-length A Pathway to the Moon in full.
UNREQVITED comment: “This album represents the most significant sonic evolution in my journey thus far”, mastermind 鬼 writes. “With A Pathway to the Moon, I have embarked on a daring and novel exploration into a predominantly lyrical realm, diverging from the traditional Unreqvited sound. As we evolve into a touring band, this album was carefully crafted with the live performance in mind. These new compositions further elevate Unreqvited’s expansive soundscape, infusing it with grandiose anthemic refrains and vibrant, expressive lyricism.”
Ahead of the release if their seventh full-length album, A Pathway to the Moon, Unreqvited, the Canadian blackgaze solo-project of 鬼 (Ghost), has unveiled a new lyric visualiser for ‘Void Essence / Frozen Tears’. While it’s a timely taster for the album it’s also a reminder that singles are something of a rarity nowadays. I can’t help but feel that this is a significant loss. Perhaps not so much for acts like Unreqvited, whose singles are unlikely to garner radio play or drive the same kind of album-buying traction singles would in the 80s or 90s. The Internet has certainly changed our habits when it comes to music consumption, and while one may reasonably argue that the old industry model was a massive con on so many levels, we not longer appreciate the single as we once did. Singles were an art, and not only the kind pitched to radio play, and not only the standalone release which bridged spaces between albums and perhaps indicated a transition for an artist.
While it’s true that singles far too long for radio have been around since living memory (The Orb’s ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ and ‘Psychonaut’ by Fields of the Nephilim spring to mind, but let’s not forget the songs radio made exceptions for, like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘American Pie’), it’s really only with the advent of the digital stream that ten-minute singles have become commonplace. It is, of course, much easier when terrestrial radio play isn’t on the cards, and fitting a track onto a side of vinyl isn’t something which requires consideration either.
If the demise of the single as we used to know it has one positive, it’s that artists are no longer constrained or limited by these boundaries. You want to release a single track that’s three hours long with no interruptions? No problem. No physical release and probably no audience, but no problem. Anyway. ‘Void Essence / Frozen’ is a single released as a lyric video, as seems to be popular right now. It may not be especial popular with me, but that’s neither here nor there.
According to the press release, ‘UNREQVITED explain: “The final advance track, ‘Void Essence / Frozen’ reveals the causatum of its antecedent, traversing vehemently into the undistinguished”, mastermind 鬼 comments. “Obstreperous yet endowed in euphony, it emblematizes a juncture in the greater odyssey by which it subsists. Redolent of prior opera, it is an ardent offering to the fervent disciple.”’ ‘Explain’ may be a rather generous overstatement, but it’s a bold counteractive stance against the perpetual dumbing down and overt aversion to anything which could feasibly construed as art in mainstream culture in recent years.
Clocking in at nine minutes, ‘Void Essence / Frozen Tears’ is but a brief interlude following ‘The Antimatter’. It’s also something of a contrast to its full-blooded raging guitar assault, with a graceful, chiming guitar. It takes a while for the rapid kick-drumming to hit and propel the guitar, by now soaring high, into the stratosphere.
There is so much detail, so much texture subtly woven into the fabric of this epic, epic composition, and then, around the mid-point, the vocals finally arrive. The screaming anguish is almost submerged in the mix… and then, suddenly, we’re adrift in space, airless. An ambient calm descends for a time, paving the way for the ultimate theatrical climax.
The album is now set for release on February 7, 2025.
THURNIN present the video clip ‘Arcturus’ as the first single taken from Dutch dream folk pioneer Jurre Timmer’s forthcoming new album Harmr (Old Norse for ‘grief’ or ‘sorrow’), which is slated for release on March 14, 2025.
THURNIN comment: “For the first advance single of this album, I have chosen ‘Arcturus’ the most obvious track,” composer and instrumentralist Jurre Timmer writes. “The track offers a mix of traditional Thurnin songwriting and a glimpse of the atmosphere that defines Harmr. This song celebrates the value of life, for there would be no grief without love.”
THURNIN’s third album Harmr was born out of the deep feeling of grief that only love can bring. The title refers to an old Icelandic word that is probably more literally translated as ‘grief’ while its contemporary meaning rather implies ‘sorrow’. The loss of one or even more loved beings is hard to bear for any person.
It is therefore hardly surprising that the lower key and a reduced tempo are permeating Harmr throughout most of the songs; and much more so than on its predecessor Útiseta (2023), on which THURNIN mastermind Jurre Timmer interpreted this numinous act as a way to commune with nature, and to gain spiritual wisdom in a time of introspection and transcendence.
UNREQVITED drop the new lyric video ‘The Antimatter’ as the second single taken from the forthcoming new album A Pathway to the Moon.
UNREQVITED comment: “The next single track, ‘The Antimatter’, is an exploration of chaotic dissonance that transcends the palisade of precedence within its taxonomy”, mastermind 鬼 writes. “A grave tumult that culminates into a disturbed meridian of bedlam and unrest, thereafter dissipating into an apprehensive tranquility as wistful and haunting as a brooding gaze.”
GRÀB unveil the lyric video ‘Kerkermoasta’ (English ‘dungeon keeper’) as the first single taken from their forthcoming new album Kremess (English: ‘funeral feast’’ German ‘Leichenschmaus’). The sophomore full-length of the Bavarian black metal duo has been scheduled for release on February 21, 2025.
GRÀB comment: “Our first advance single ‘Kerkermoasta’ is probably the most in-your-face track of the album”, vocalist and lyricist Grànt states. “It also shows a wide range of basically everything that makes our sound unique. Some parts remind me of the best days of such bands as the Norwegians Gehenna. There is also a dulcimer that introduces the melody, mid-tempo, blast beats, groove, and a slow ending. On the lyrical side the Bavarian word ‘Kerkermoasta’ literally translates to ‘Dungeon Master’. The dungeon keeper in question is the Grim Reaper himself. In other words: Life creates the doorway, death holds the key.”
AMBER ASYLUM reveal the title track taken from their forthcoming new album Ruby Red. The tenth regular full-length of San Francisco’s neoclassical dark ambient quartet has been slated for release on February 14, 2025.
AMBER ASYLUM comment: “The title track of our new album, Ruby Red, is a poignant dirge that directly addresses the pain and loss inflicted by the pandemic, riots, war, and the looming specter of death”, frontwoman Kris Force writes. “Its haunting melody resonates with the collective sorrow and anguish felt in the aftermath of recent upheavals. Through mournful vocals and evocative instrumentation, the song serves as a solemn elegy, amplifying the echoes of grief caused by these tumultuous events. Each note carries the weight of collective sorrow, inviting listeners to confront the harsh realities of our world and to find solace in shared experience.”
Listen here:
AA
In times of trouble, women have often had to bear an even heavier burden throughout history. On their tenth full-length Ruby Red, San Francisco based all-female quartet AMBER ASYLUM offers a haunting reflection on turbulent eras, and blends instrumental passages with evocative lyrics. Ruby Red combines dirges, introspective laments, and powerful songwriting that evoke both despair and hope. The album transitions between themes of pain, loss, empowerment, and mortality, while creating a sonic landscape that is both raw and introspective. "Ruby Red" features bass, classical strings, percussion and kit, modular synthesis and female voices.
Ruby Red differs from its predecessor in the expansion of focus and depth. While earlier albums centered more on personal emotions, relationships, and journeys, Ruby Red broadens its scope to address global issues such as societal upheaval, war, and human rights. This album navigates both the personal and the global, and aims to illuminate the seen and unseen forces that influence our shared reality.
Musically, AMBER ASYLUM balance driving neoclassical elements with the raw power of pounding bass and drums, adding a potent, rhythmic force that contrasts beautifully with the quieter, brooding strings on Ruby Red. The bass and percussion create a compelling pulse that underpins the tracks, adding both intensity and depth to the album’s darker moments.
AMBER ASYLUM have taken inspiration for the lyrical concepts of Ruby Red from significant global issues such as the pandemic, riots, war, political turmoil, the threat to women’s rights, and empowerment, all while maintaining a deep connection to the extramundane. It reflects on mortality and the inevitability of death as part of a greater cosmic order, intertwining these global crises with metaphysical reflections on the resilience of the human spirit.
AMBER ASYLUM were conceived by composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force in the Californian city of San Francisco in 1990. Throughout their ever-changing musical evolution, the band has shifted throughout a variety of styles and collaborated with a host of musicians such as Steve van Till (NEUROSIS), Sarah Schaffer (WEAKLING), John Cobbet (HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE), Leila Abdul-Rauf (VASTUM), among many others.
With Ruby Red, AMBER ASYLUM perfectly capture the growing dread and horror of many of a new dark age falling in our time. Yet the Californians balance the eerie and unhinged with a fragile beauty and blossoming of hope. Ruby Red is a most fascinating soundtrack of all that is to come. Listen carefully.
Aural Aggravation 