Somehow, despite being in the business almost literally forever, and having played live and supported artists such as The Beautiful South, Scouting For Girls, Luka Bloom and Dr and The Medics, MuddiBrooke has bypassed me. Perhaps it’s because of playing with the aforementioned artists.
Anyway: ‘You Don’t Own Me’, written by Philadelphia songwriters John Madara and David White and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, has become established as something of a classic, and it’s a good fit for Derby’s all-female alternative rockers, who know how to use a distortion pedal to optimal effect.
It’s a thumping riff-driven blast that explodes in under two and a half minutes and it perfect. To be fair, some songs are pretty much impossible to fail with – you simply can’t go wrong with some songs, and this is one of them. It’s a strong signature of female empowerment, and MuddiBrooke absolutely run with the sentiment and crank the amps up full-tilt to slam the point home in a fuck-you, taking-no-shit fashion that’s on a par with L7, Hole, and The Nymphs. Big lungs, big sass, big guitars… Yes.
Brooke, Anna and Mary may all be in their mid-twenties, but know how to channel that grunge vibe, and how not to take any shit. It may be a cover, but it feels like a manifesto.
Experimental metal group Imperial Triumphant release their new song and music video for ‘Merkurius Gilded’ (ft. Kenny G and Max Gorelick) via Century Media Records.
Yes, you read that right: Kenny G. I shit you not.
‘Merkurius Gilded’ follows the release of the band’s debut track, ‘Maximalist Scream (feat. Snake/Voivod)’, taken from Imperial Triumphant’s forthcoming full-length album Spirit of Ecstasy out on July 22nd. The album will be released as Ltd. CD Edition (Mini-Gatefold), Gatefold 2LP & LP-Booklet and on all digital platforms.
Spirit of Ecstasy follows the band’s previous LPs 2020’s Alphaville, 2018’s Vile Luxury and most recently their 2021 live record, An Evening With Imperial Triumphant, which was recorded at the infamous Slipper Room in New York City. Just like its predecessors, the album features a handful of special guests including Kenny G on soprano saxophone, Max Gorelick on lead guitar, Snake on vocals, Alex Skolnick on lead guitar, Trey Spruance on lead guitar, Andromeda Anarchia with choirs, Sarai Woods with choirs, Yoshiko Ohara on vocals, J. Walter Hawkes on the trombone, Ben Hankle on the trumpet, Percy Jones on bass, SEVEN)SUNS on strings, Colin Marston on Simmons drums and Youtube, and Jonas Rolef on vocals.
Watch ‘Merkurius Gilded’ here:
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IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT ON TOUR:
w/Nero Di Marte:
June 14 – Zagreb, Croatia – Klub Mocvara
June 15 – Ljubljana, Slovenia – Klub Gromka
June 16 – Vienna, Austria – Viper Room Vienna
U.S. Headline Shows:
July 29 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
July 30 – Youngstown, OH – Into the Darkness Fest
July 31 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall
European Headline Dates/Festivals:
August 10 – Jaroměř, Czechia – Brutal Assault
August 12 – Oxfordshire, England – SUPERNORMAL FEST
August 13 – Manchester, England – The White Hotel
August 14 – Glasgow, Scotland – Stereo
August 15 – Belfast, England – Voodoo
August 16 – Dublin, Ireland – The Grand Social
August 18 – Somerset, England – ArcTanGent Festival
Based in Toronto ON, Alt-Punk four-piece Napoleon has been attracting attention from fans and media alike within their local Toronto scene since they formed in early 2018. The band has managed to develop an impressive resume in the short period of time they have been active, performing alongside bands such as Like Pacific and Single Mothers just to name a couple, and collaborating with members of fellow Canadian bands such as Silverstein, The Dirty Nil and Rarity.
In a world where most bands are choosing to go a more safe and radio-friendly route, on their new single and MGW Records debut, ‘Fullsize Problem’ (out now), Napoleon is at their angriest and heaviest yet, without losing any of the trademark pop-sensibility that fans have now grown accustomed to. This single only further proves that Napoleon is a band that requires your attention, and as Alt Press said, “Toronto should be proud of these up-and-comers.”
French experimental punk / hardcore trio, Birds In Row have been at the forefront of their genre for a decade. Their lauded 2012 debut You, Me & the Violence released on Deathwish Inc. rocketed them from Laval-based unknowns to the world’s stage. Their exceptional 2018 follow up We Already Lost the World was an unyielding inferno of brazen ideas. It screamed for mutual respect in a world of increasingly extreme political divides, and used the vehicles of punk, post-hardcore and post-metal to carry its cries.
Sonically, they’re fearless. Lyrically, they’re as poetic as they are recusant. And live, they’re a ruthless force, matching the power of their music with boundless, must-see energy.
Today they return with an immediate and genre-bending epic, ‘Water Wings’. Its scraping guitar strums a ticking clock, counting down to the inevitable barrage of hardcore to follow. Of the single, Birds In Row tell, “The dreams that are imposed on us – of social success, accomplishment or, even, the vision of what happiness is – does not consider who we are or where we’re from. Those dreams aren’t ours, but are inherently ours. Being ourselves means struggling against these dreams that have been forced onto us.”
Check the visualiser vid here:
“Water Wings” comes alongside the news that the band have signed with Red Creek Recordings (founded by Johannes Persson of Cult of Luna and Alexis Sevenier from ORA Management) to release their third studio album later this Fall. Birds In Row have also announced a full October/November European tour. See below for a full list of dates. For more info go here… stay tuned for more.
Birds In Row Live Dates:
* w/ Cult of Luna
Sep 30 – Vitry-sur-Seine (FR) – Festi’Val de Marne
“The Earth moves whilst the Giant slumbers. The Wind will turn, and he will awaken from his Crypt of rebirth. With every breath he takes, humanity’s fate falls deeper into decaying light. WE ARE GOZER.”
Are they gods? Probably not. An unholy trinity perhaps…. and their new single is good…
GOZER is formed from the ashes of post-Metal project ARCHELON. Craig & TJ founded the band in 2013, which shifted and changed in lineup many times until Kieran of Bruxism joined on Bass. After many years of venturing through the vast scope of heavy music and experimental sound, they have come together and changed face to take their art to new horizons, but with same unerring drive and passion. Settling back into their origins as a Triad, they move forward renewed and unchained.
Their approach to sound is grounded in a uniquely hypnotic aggression. Slow grinding riffs and experimental sound moving through a nightmare-scape of tribal drums and claustrophobic density that mirrors the darkest corners of our minds, as demonstrated on new single ‘Augur’. Guitarist/vocalist Craig Paul states, “’Augur’ is a track that came very naturally in the writing process. It grew almost as its own entity. The addition of Viola, played by Richard Spencer (Ba’al), brought out the hidden melodies that exist within its droning chord structures beautifully. I’m particularly proud of how this one came together. Lyrically it is about our hopes and fears of the future. We are constantly bombarded with the idea that life will be better, and that our desires will be fulfilled if we just hold hope, meanwhile being told what it is we should desire and hope for."
Watch the video for ‘Augur’ here:
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New album An Endless Static was written and produced in the final hours of ARCHELON’s existence. Recording took place during the turbulent and challenging times brought on by the Corona Virus Pandemic, which had its hand in shifting the sounds of the album and solidified the desire for change felt by the members of what would become GOZER. It tells the story of our struggles with mental health as we are haunted by our own thoughts. It is an expression rooted in the war with suppression and inequality at the hands of the self-appointed ‘elite’. An exercise in exploration with the desire that the listener may find their own catharsis buried within the noise.
GOZER has teamed up with Trepanation Recordings for the release of CD, Tape and Digital Download versions of the album. An Endless Static will be released on 17th June.
“As individuals we are touched by different struggles in our mental wellbeing, but one thing we agree on is that it’s like never ending noise that forms a constant sense of dread and discomfort. For us, coming together and creating art and music offers a respite from the daily trials and tribulations, drowning it out with our own expression and the expenditure of creative energies. The world we live in is designed to suppress those who don’t fit in the views of those who claim themselves in power, and the more power they gain, the louder the noise becomes. We align ourselves with those who deserve to have their voices heard and have been silenced for too long, and within all the internal disparity and discourse felt by those who are different, we hope they would find the same respite we feel in the music we have created.”
After being involved with Heilung for two years, and more recently with the worldwide-acclaimed movie The Northman as songwriter and actor, Jonas Lorentzen decided to focus on his own musical expression, based on a reimagination of Nordic Folk and spiritually driven music. The result is Nebala, spearheaded by Jonas Lorentzen, but assisted and graced by powerful talents such as Sebastian Gainsbourough (Vessel, The Northman, Manchester Collective), Kjell Braaten (Wardruna, Origami Galaktika) as well as non-musician minds assisting in the conceptual development, Doctor Mathias Nordvig (Professor of Pre-Christian Religion at CU Boulder) and Philosopher Naina Gupta (University of Kingston).
Nebala unveils today the new single ‘Ant Mér Sjalfri Þér’, a song about unfulfilled love, desire and longing consuming us. It refers to the myth in which Wōdan sought the Billingas magwia, the Maiden of the Fleeting Moment. In this myth, love and desire are ripped away from the ones who have let themselves be consumed. The artist also releases a new video, a short film in which the songs ‘Ant Mér Sjalfri Þér’ and ‘Laþu’ merge to create ‘The Eternal Child’.
Jonas Lorentzen comments: "This is the entire art film as we originally intended. A story about a man trying to come to grips with his own demons and desires. Inspired by mythology and Jungian archetypes."
Watch the video here:
Using traditional frame drums, lyre, tagelharpa, Tibetan singing bowls, and throat singing, Jonas Lorentzen has developed a unique Indo-Nordic sound for Nebala that toys with timescapes, soundscapes, and cultural boundaries to bring you back to the primordial experience of music itself.
He comments on the album: “When you let yourself be taken by desire and lust, you will be consumed by what the ancient Germanic peoples called Laþu. The ancestor of our modern word “to let,” laþu suggests giving into natural desire and emotion. When Wōdan sought the deepest knowledge of the cosmos he had to brave the dangers of the deep caves in Hnitbjörg and let himself be taken by the desire of Gunlaþu, the forceful goddess of the underworld.”
Norwegian acclaimed punk rockers The Good, The Bad And The Zugly, have just dropped a music video for a new song off the band’s sixth full-length album Research and Destroy, which was released on April 8 through Fysisk Format. Directed by Anders Bergh, the video for this new track titled ‘Diet 1-2-3’ is now playing here:
The music of Psyclon Nine is not for the faint-hearted. The brainchild of Nero Bellum, the dark, aggressive electronic assault of his group’s 2003 debut album Divine Infekt immediately earned them popularity and notoriety worldwide. Its follow-up, INRI (2005), displayed a marked evolution with a lyrical focus on religious themes. In the ensuing years, Bellum’s music has taken him down an even darker path, his distinctive whispered-scream vocals guiding us through an idiosyncratic take on modern underground music that has implemented elements of black metal and post-punk influences that, although often featuring haunting melodies, has often had an undercurrent of unbridled menace.
The forthcoming new album, Less To Heaven, is a complex and immersive work that sees Psyclon Nine at a creative peak, with concussive, machine-precise drums, hammering guitars, scathing vocals and evil electronics all interplaying seamlessly. It also sees the group charting undefined musical territory that bridges elements of metalcore with doom electronics, trip-techno with black metal, and experimental cinematic soundscapes with alternative rock.
While many acts have a constant faster-louder approach to industrial-black metal, Bellum is unafraid to use all manner of tempos to build atmosphere. This is evident in the record’s first single, the seething ‘Money And Sex And Death’, which builds with writhing tension, like a snake preparing to strike its victim, before exploding into an all out audio assault.
Watch the video here:
Bellum states of the song that “it was inspired by the excitement we feel when we see the world burning around us and the abhorrent personal truths that we hold as sacred. The misery of others has never been viewed by so many angles, and strictly for our entertainment. With ‘Money And Sex And Death’ I am presenting your reflection to yourself.”
Australia’s unstoppable metallic hardcore act Outright have dropped a music video for ‘Burn’, the second single to be revealed from their long-awaited second LP, Keep You Warm, due out on 15 July via their long-running band-owned label, Rage and Reason Records.
It’ll make your eyes and ears bleed, and I kept worrying the amps were going to fall over – possibly as much an effect of my vertigo as the crazy visuals – and it’s all over in a blisteringly intense minute and a half. And it is intense.
It all happens so fast and so hard, you’re likely to miss the relatable content:
“’Burn’ is an intense expression of the burnout that can happen when we don’t set boundaries or hold compassion for ourselves,” says Outright lyricist and vocalist Jelena Goluza. “When we normalise self-sacrifice we teach people that we don’t matter and that can be weaponised against us – but nothing gets done when you have nothing left… It’s dedicated to anyone else who feels this in their professional and personal lives, activism or everyday pressures,” she adds. “I won’t set myself on fire, just to keep you warm”.
There are no medals for death in service to others, and self-care is not selfish. So listen up, and listen good. And listen to this.
It shouldn’t be a deal, really, but it is: Glytsh are a rare thing, namely an all-female industrial duo, comprising French singer Jennifer Diehl (aka Luna Blake) and Swiss guitarist Claire Genoud (aka Hella Sin). Like so many ‘rock’ and metal-orientated genres, industrial of all shades, from the electro to the metal end of the spectrum is depressingly the domain of the white male.
In this predictable, recycle-heavy world of white male angst, Glytsh are a breath of fresh air. But Glytsh aren’t a breath of fresh air because they’re women: they’re a breath of fresh air because they’re fucking exciting. While ‘(Hard)core memory’ still works with established tropes, their debut single, a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’ set out their stall and managed to draw a fair bit of positive attention in the process. On the one hand, it was a pretty faithful cover, but also had enough of a slant to it to show that they’ve got game. And now, with the arrival of ‘(Hard)core memory’, Glytsh prove that they’ve got both style and substance, meshing together both electro and metal elements in an explosive three and a half minutes.
From a low, bass-heavy electronic intro, ‘(Hard)core Memory’ starts slow-grinding and sultry before tearing into a lumbering rock riff with screaming metal vocals, a collision between Rage Against The Machine and Marilyn Manson. It’s pretty full-on, and that’s before the Slash-style guitar solo blasts in near the end.
‘(Hard)core Memory’ has got the lot, and yet I somehow suspect that Glytsh have got a lot more to offer yet.
Aural Aggravation 