Norwegian progressive rock/metal group AVKRVST are pleased to announce their debut single “The Pale Moon”, the first release of the band since its formation.
“The Pale Moon” is the first single of AVKRVST’s upcoming debut album, which will be out this year via InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. More information will be revealed on March 31st.
The first single from the album “The Pale Moon” is now available on all digital platforms.
Vocalist Simon Bergseth had this to say about the track: “Besides being the opening track of our forthcoming debut album, it is a piece of music that contains some of the albums sonics in general. ‘The Pale Moon’ is the beginning of something greater and gives the listener a glimpse of what’s to come.”
The cover artwork for “The Pale Moon” was created by Berlin-based artist and illustrator Eliran Kantor, who is well-known for his intriguing cover creations for metal bands.
Earlier this year the band shared a teaser video of them working in the studio which you can see here:
At the young age of 7 years old, Martin Utby and Simon Bergseth made a pact that they would form a band when they got older. Now, 22 years later they’ve done just that. An album is ready – 55 minutes of music inspired by everything they grew up listening to – everything from Mew, Anekdoten and Porcupine Tree to Opeth, Neal Morse and King Crimson.
All the music has been written at a small cabin, deep into the Norwegian forests (Alvdal,Norway). Simon (composer, guitars, bass and vocals) and Martin (composer, drummer and synths) have later been joined by Øystein Aadland on bass/keys, Edvard Seim on guitars and Auver Gaaren on keys.
Jethro Tull recently announced the release of their 23rd studio album, ‘RökFlöte’, on the 21st April 2023 via InsideOutMusic. Following 2022’s ‘The Zealot Gene’, the band’s first album in two decades, Ian Anderson and the band are returning with a 12-track record based on the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism, and at the same time exploring the ‘RökFlöte’ – rock flute – which Jethro Tull has made iconic.
Today the band are pleased to launch the second single from the album, ‘The Navigators’. Appearing as a special single edit version, mixed by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief), you can watch the video (created by Christian Rios) here:
The lyrics for this track explored the Norse god Njord, who was the god of wealth, fertility, the sea and seafaring.
Watch the previously released video for single ‘Ginnungagap’ here:
‘RökFlöte’ will be available on several different formats, including two limited deluxe formats that include bonus demo material, extensive liner notes & a blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound, alternative stereo mixes by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief), as well as a bonus track and in-depth interview with Ian Anderson. The album will also be available digitally in the spatial audio formats Dolby Atmos & Sony 360 RA. The full list of formats are below:
Ltd Deluxe Dark Red 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook incl. 2 x art-prints
Ian explains the album’s title & theme in more detail: “The title of this offering went through a little change or two along the way. I started with the idea of a predominantly instrumental album for rock flute – as in rock music. When the subject material of the album presented itself, I was drawn to the term Ragnarök from Norse mythology – their version of apocalyptic end times or Biblical Armageddon. The “final showdown” scenario is ubiquitous and inherent in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, for example. Ragnarök translates as “destiny of the Gods”, the rök part meaning destiny, course, direction. With umlaut firmly in place, courtesy of the Germanic origins of Old Norse, Flute became Flöte in keeping with the spelling. With me so far? I just can’t miss the glorious opportunity for a good and legitimate umlaut.”
Jethro Tull continue live dates this year, with shows in mainland Europe, as well as a newly announced headline date in London on the 23rd May to celebrate the new album release. They will also return to North America later this year, with the first show in Wolf Trap confirmed and more to be announced in the coming weeks. Find the full list of shows here: https://jethrotull.com/tour-dates/
‘The Zealot Gene’, released in January 2022, was Jethro Tull’s 22nd studio album and it garnered critical acclaim across the board. Reaching #9 in the UK album charts, a feat the band hadn’t reached since 1972, it also debuted at #4 in Germany, #3 in Switzerland, #5 in Austria, #8 in Finland, as well as top 10 in the US Album Charts, Current Album Charts and Rock Album Charts.
With more than 30 albums to their credit and sales totalling more than 60 million, Jethro Tull are one of the most successful rock bands of all-time with a catalogue that contains classics that still resonate today. Led by Ian Anderson, Tull still continue to tour throughout the world, entertaining audiences of all ages.
The band consists of:
Ian Anderson – Concert and Alto flutes, Flute d’Amour,
Irish whistle and vocals
David Goodier – Bass guitar
John O’Hara – Piano, keyboards and Hammond Organ
Scott Hammond – Drums.
Joe Parrish-James – Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin
French prog rock band Nine Skies release the first single from their forthcoming album (with Riccardo Romano on vocals) and launched preorders via a crowdfunding campaign.
The album ‘The Lightmaker’ is due to be released in September 2023. So far, Marco Minnemann and Riccardo Romano have been announced as guests on the album. If you follow the band, you are used to their way to announce guests and news during the recording process and we can imagine more various announcements will follow.
You can preorder the album here, and benefit from exclusive rewards and options only available before the release:
The Lightmaker tells the story of Rudy, who is now living in 1001st and final life.
The album retraces some of his existences through the view of several characters and the introspection of these various incarnations which undoubtedly encourage reflection on the human condition.
Progressive rockers HAKEN are set to release their seventh studio album ‘Fauna’ on the 3rd March 2023, the group’s most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date.
Today, the band celebrate Valentine’s Day with the launch of their latest single ‘Lovebite’.
Watch the video now here:
Pre-order the album or stream the track here:
https://haken.lnk.to/Fauna
Ross Jennings says this about the track:
“What better song to put out on this fine valentine’s day than one about the Black Widow Spider mating ritual… This is the Phil Collins inspired upbeat love song in 11/8 with Cannibal Corpse inspired lyrics that you never knew you needed!”
Watch the previously released videos below.
‘Taurus’:
‘The Alphabet of Me’:
‘Nightingale’:
The tracklisting is as follows:
1. Taurus 04:49
2. Nightingale 07:24
3. The Alphabet of Me 05:33
4. Sempiternal Beings 08:23
5. Beneath The White Rainbow 06:45
6. Island In The Clouds 05:45
7. Lovebite 03:49
8. Elephants Never Forget 11:07
9. Eyes Of Ebony 08:32
‘Fauna’ will be available on several formats, including Ltd 2CD (incl. instrumentals), Standard CD, Gatefold 2LP & as Digital Album. The albums stunningly detailed artwork was created by Dan Goldsworthy (Charlie Griffiths, Sylosis)
‘Fauna’ sees the band exploring new ideas conceptually as Ross continues. “The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”
“It reminds me of The Mountain,” adds guitarist and fellow founder Richard Henshall. “There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna’s animals relate to us, personally.”
‘Fauna’ also marks the return of keyboard player Peter Jones, whose sounds can be heard permeating the entire album. “What Pete’s brought sonically to the band has played a massive role in why we do have a lot of new sounds on this record,” says Ross. “It’s always a new dynamic when there’s a change in personnel, and this is a fresh and reviving one. It’s certainly helped proximity-wise, with Pete being in the country: Pete and Ray [Hearne, Haken’s drummer] would be at Rich’s place and they’d just start jamming. That’s really key to how the songs start.”
The band have announced tour dates for North America and Europe.
EINAR SOLBERG – frontman of Norwegian rock mavericks Leprous – is pleased to announce the release of his debut solo album ‘16’ on the 2nd June 2023 (InsideOutMusic). Wildly diverse, but spiritually rooted in Einar’s well-established musical world, ‘16’ is an album that brims with surprises and spinning curveballs and features a collection of intimate but extravagant collaborations.
Today sees the release of ‘Grotto’, the first single to be taken from the album, a track written alongside Magnus Børmark, best known as a member of Norwegian alt-folk troupe Gåte. It also features Keli Guðjónsson (Agent Fresco) on drums, Tor Egil Kreken on bass, Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous touring member) on cello & Chris Baum (Bent Knee) on violin.
Einar Solberg is as renowned for the tender honesty of his lyrics as he is for the eccentric majesty of Leprous’ music. But even by his usual standards, ‘16’ is an extremely emotional and dynamic piece of work. Einar describes the record as “the closest I’ve ever come to writing a concept album” and explains that the new songs are about a very specific and transformational period in the musician’s life. This is the sound of a restless spirit in his absolute element.
“It’s called 16 because that’s when the first really, really bad things started happening to me in life. From 16 to 19, there were a lot of very life-defining moments that happened to me, and that changed me,” he says. “That’s when I kind of lost my innocence and I started realising that life is serious and bad shit can happen. A lot of pretty drastic things happened within those three years. But this album is not only about the bad things. It’s also about some of the career-defining moments, like the moment I started playing with the band and began to find a community to belong to. Emotionally, I’m a bit of everything, so it covers the entire emotional spectrum!”
’16’ finds Einar collaborating with everyone from modern prog contemporaries like Bent Knee’s Ben Levin and Agent Fresco’s Toti Gudnason, to experimental cellist (and regular Leprous live musician) Raphael Weinroth-Browne and Magnus Børmark, best known as a member of Norwegian alt-folk troupe Gåte. He also once again collaborates with Ihsahn and Star Of Ash amongst many others. The record was mixed by mixed by Adam Noble (Placebo, Biffy Clyro, Nothing But Thieves) and mastered by Robin Schmidt (The 1975, Placebo, The Gaslight Anthem, etc.).
The full track-listing is as follows:
1. 16 (feat. Raphael Weinroth-Browne)
2. Remember Me
3. A Beautiful Life
4. Where All The Twigs Broke (feat. Star Of Ash)
5. Metacognitive (feat. Raphael Weinroth-Browne)
6. Home (feat. Ben Levin)
7. Blue Light (feat. Asger Mygind)
8. Grotto (feat. Magnus Børmark)
9. Splitting The Soul (feat. Ihsahn)
10. Over The Top
11. The Glass Is Empty (feat. Tóti Guðnason)
Einar will debut his solo material live with two exclusive shows at the Eindhoven & London editions of Prognosis Festival (15th & 22nd April respectively). You can find more details here: https://www.prognosis-festival.nl/
Writer, producer, raconteur, comedian, singer-songwriter, fashion icon and renown hand-model Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra has returned once again with Postcards From The Asylum, the follow up to 2021’s critically acclaimed Songs For The Apocalypse.
The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra’s music has been described as Nordic Ambient Post-Classical Satanic Love Songs for Nomadic Peoples Living Above the Arctic Circle catering specifically for those who staff Musk Oxen Rescues and wear hemp based sweaters.When aggressively prodded for comment The Baron says…“Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.”
Postcards From The Asylum features a guest appearances by: •Andee Blacksugar: Blondie, KMFDM, Peter Murphy •Marco Minnemann: The Aristocrats •Todd “Dammit” Kerns: Slash & The Conspirators, Toque •Edu Cominato: Geoff Tate, Soto •Ryo Okumoto: Spock’s Beard, Progject and more
Tracklisting: 1. Bombay 2. Numb 3. Heathens 4. Mexico 5. Birds Of Prey 6. Flying Monkeys 7. Sic Riff 8. The Depths 9. Beneath The Waves 10. Sweet Eliza 11. 9981 Dark 12. Feels Just Like Love 13. Bear Sedatives 14. Deep Blue 15. Human Head
The solo album by Michal Wojtas, frontman of the band Amarok, opens the door to the musical world created from remarkable sounds coming from both the heart and nature. “Lore” is inspired by Celtic, Old Slavic and Nordic motifs, so there will be no shortage of discreet, relaxing sounds, as well as slightly stronger electronics and ambient on this journey.
Wojtas himself describes working on the album as an extraordinary, passionate experience:
„Lore’s music was created for a performance by British choreographer James Wilton under the same title. I am grateful to him for the musical challenge, which allowed me to dive into an interesting aesthetic from the old days and combine it with new sounds. Working on the material was really enthralling for me. When composing music for a show, film, or games, you can never really know what direction it will take you. During the creation process, the various song themes I’ve sent to James influenced the different parts of the choreography.
I invite you to join me on a journey to a musical world filled with Celtic, Viking and Old Slavic sounds in a contemporary interpretation.”
“Lore” will be released on CD by OSKAR Records at the end of February 2023 containing 9 tracks representing a combination of folklore and electronica.
The CD is already available for pre–order at IndependentMusicMarket.com Single „Lore on the streaming platforms: https://michalwojtas.fanlink.to/singlelore
Jethro Tull are pleased to announce their 23rd studio album, ‘RökFlöte’, which is set for release on the 21st April 2023 via InsideOutMusic. Following 2022’s ‘The Zealot Gene’, the band’s first album in two decades, Ian Anderson and the band are returning with a 12-track record based on the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism, and at the same time exploring the ‘RökFlöte’ – rock flute – which Jethro Tull has made iconic.
Today also sees the launch of the first single from the album, and you can watch the stunning animated video for ‘Ginnungagap’ (created by Costin Chioreanu) here:
The track takes inspiration from the god Ymir, the proto-being, a primeval being, who was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar, and lived in the grassless void of Ginnungagap.
‘RökFlöte’ will be available on several different formats, including two limited deluxe formats that include bonus demo material, extensive liner notes & a blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound, alternative stereo mixes by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief), as well as a bonus track and in-depth interview with Ian Anderson. The album will also be available digitally in the spatial audio formats Dolby Atmos & Sony 360 RA. The full list of formats are below:
Ltd Deluxe Dark Red 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook incl. 2 x art-prints
Ian explains the album’s title & theme in more detail: “The title of this offering went through a little change or two along the way. I started with the idea of a predominantly instrumental album for rock flute – as in rock music. When the subject material of the album presented itself, I was drawn to the term Ragnarök from Norse mythology – their version of apocalyptic end times or Biblical Armageddon. The “final showdown” scenario is ubiquitous and inherent in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, for example. Ragnarök translates as “destiny of the Gods”, the rök part meaning destiny, course, direction. With umlaut firmly in place, courtesy of the Germanic origins of Old Norse, Flute became Flöte in keeping with the spelling. With me so far? I just can’t miss the glorious opportunity for a good and legitimate umlaut.”
Jethro Tull continue live dates this year, with shows in mainland Europe. Find the full list of shows here: https://jethrotull.com/tour-dates/
‘The Zealot Gene’, released in January 2022, was Jethro Tull’s 22nd studio album and it garnered critical acclaim across the board. Reaching #9 in the UK album charts, a feat the band hadn’t reached since 1972, it also debuted at #4 in Germany, #3 in Switzerland, #5 in Austria, #8 in Finland, as well as top 10 in the US Album Charts, Current Album Charts and Rock Album Charts.
With more than 30 albums to their credit and sales totalling more than 50 million, Jethro Tull are one of the most successful rock bands of all-time with a catalogue that contains classics that still resonate today. Led by Ian Anderson, Tull continue to tour throughout the world, entertaining audiences of all ages.
The band consists of:
Ian Anderson – Concert and Alto flutes, Flute d’Amour,
Irish whistle and vocals
David Goodier – Bass guitar
John O’Hara – Piano, keyboards and Hammond Organ
Scott Hammond – Drums.
Joe Parrish-James – Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin
Progressive rockers HAKEN recently announced their seventh studio album ‘Fauna’, the group’s most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date, will be released on the 3rd March 2023.
Today, the band are pleased to release “Taurus” the 3rd single from the album.
You can watch the video, produced by Crystal Spotlight, here:
Pre-order the album or stream the track here:
https://haken.lnk.to/Fauna
Ross Jennings says this about the track:
“With such a diverse and eclectic array of material on ‘Fauna’, it was important for us to include a piece of music that represented the metallic edge of our sound which was exploited predominantly on ‘Vector’ & ‘Virus’, with our focus being on hard hitting riffs in odd time signatures.”
“The song’s lyrics were written roughly at the same time we all started hearing about the devastation and crisis happening in Ukraine. I was already writing the piece based on the annual migration of the wildebeests with strong references to people travelling in herds and strength in numbers. Suddenly I realised I had an anchor for what the song could be about and knowing this gives it all the more emotional weight; We’re all on some sort of journey towards salvation or enlightenment. Sometimes out of choice or not, we need to leave the past behind us and make new beginnings. We only have each other, and belief and hope are our strongest allies.”
Watch the video for the previously single ‘The Alphabet of Me’ here:
Watch “Nightingale” here:
The tracklisting is as follows:
1. Taurus 04:49
2. Nightingale 07:24
3. The Alphabet of Me 05:33
4. Sempiternal Beings 08:23
5. Beneath The White Rainbow 06:45
6. Island In The Clouds 05:45
7. Lovebite 03:49
8. Elephants Never Forget 11:07
9. Eyes Of Ebony 08:32
‘Fauna’ will be available on several formats, including Ltd 2CD (incl. instrumentals), Standard CD, Gatefold 2LP & as Digital Album. The albums stunningly detailed artwork was created by Dan Goldsworthy (Charlie Griffiths, Sylosis)
‘Fauna’ sees the band exploring new ideas conceptually as Ross continues. “The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”
“It reminds me of The Mountain,” adds guitarist and fellow founder Richard Henshall. “There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna’s animals relate to us, personally.”
‘Fauna’ also marks the return of keyboard player Peter Jones, whose sounds can be heard permeating the entire album. “What Pete’s brought sonically to the band has played a massive role in why we do have a lot of new sounds on this record,” says Ross. “It’s always a new dynamic when there’s a change in personnel, and this is a fresh and reviving one. It’s certainly helped proximity-wise, with Pete being in the country: Pete and Ray [Hearne, Haken’s drummer] would be at Rich’s place and they’d just start jamming. That’s really key to how the songs start.”
The band have announced tour dates for North America and Europe.
The Tangent recently announced the release of ‘Pyramids, Stars & Other Stories: The Tangent Live Recordings 2004-2017’ on the 27th January 2023 via InsideOutMusic. Collecting together tracks from 3 line-ups of The Tangent, this 2CD & 3LP album collects together show recordings from 2004, 2011 & 2017. Band leader Andy Tillison comments: “A Triple Live LP is the stuff of Bucket Lists, dreamed of doing one of these since I was a kid”.
Listen to the band performing ‘A Crisis In Mid Life’ live in the UK in 2012, featuring the line-up of Andy Tillison, Luke Machin, Dan Mash & Tony ‘Funkytoe’ Latham, here:
Included in its entirety is the 2004 ‘Pyramids And Stars’ concert in Germany featuring the “Roine Stolt” lineup of The Tangent playing its way through the majority of the debut ‘Music That Died Alone’ album along with (then) new material from their second album ‘The World That We Drive Through’.
Added to that, there are tracks from the COMM era line-up of the band at a concert in the UK – plus music recorded in the USA in 2017 by the band’s current line-up. These originally appeared on the ‘Southend On Sea’ and ‘Hotel Cantaffordit’ fan releases respectively.
All is presented inside a re-imagined Ed Unitsky sleeve, to create a package that fans are sure to love.
“This is a real, proper, live album” says Tillison. “It’s candid, it’s spontaneous, it has mistakes and things that are a bit too loud and things that are a bit too quiet. It’s what happened on stage at three gigs at which “making a live album” never crossed our minds.”
The full tracklisting is below:
Side One
1. The World We Drive Though
Side Two
3. The Canterbury Sequence
4. The Winning Game
Side Three
5. In Darkest Dreams
Side Four
6. The Music That Died Alone
7. Lucky Man
Side Five
8. A Spark In The Aether
9. A Sale Of Two Souls
10. Perdu Dans Paris
Side Six
11. A Crisis In Mid Life
12. Doctor Livingstone (I Presume)
The CD’s (included with the vinyl edition) also include all of the above with the addition of:
13. Titanic Calls Carpathia
14. Two Rope Swings
Andy Tillison – Keyboards & Vocals (all tracks)
Jonas Reingold – Bass Guitar (all tracks except 9,10,11,13)
