Category: EPKs

0 EPK – VORAATH (2023)

June 11, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Voraath

EPK – VORAATH (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

Management: Joel Spielman (EMG) – emg.joel.spielman[@]gmail[.]com

Booking: Continental – Michelle Messina – michelle[@]continentaltouring[.]us

Featuring members from Xael, Rapheumets Well, Implosive Disgorgence, Sweet Blood, and Visitant

“This was the first song we wrote as a band, it was a fun song inspired by our children who were fans of the horror creature “siren head,” which is a creature developed by Trevor Henderson. So for us, this was a bonding song for us and our kids. Our lore features interdimensional deities anyways so it was not out of our conceptual scope to write a song about Siren Head. With our new vocalist bringing so much to the table and revitalizing the project, we wanted to remake the song to introduce her sound and stylistic approach to our music, setting the pace for what’s to come with the full album.” – Joshua Nassaru Ward – Drummer/ Band Founder

For fans of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Cattle Decapitation, Dimmu Borgir, Acid Bath, Septic Flesh, Gojira

Exsrmusic.com | Facebook.com/ExSRecords | Instagram.com/exsrmusic | Twitter.com/ExsrM

Voraath.com | Facebook.com/Voraath | Instagram.com/voraath | YouTube | Tiktok.com/@voraath

Voraath.bandcamp.com

Digital – https://hypeddit.com/voraath/sirenhead

“Crushing Sci-Fi Death Metal” – Metal Injection

“The music (The Barrens) reaches new heights of fire-storming intensity, burning with feverish desperation, and then suddenly shifts into a classically influenced acoustic guitar and bass instrumental that’s sublime. That proves to be a segue into yet another phase of the musical narrative, one that’s glorious. The drums continue their blistering assault, but the music soars on the wings of solos of riveting splendor, heroic singing that goes sky-high, and the vast sweep of cinematic synths, which collectively end the track in a panoramic finale of stunning magnificence.” – No Clean Singing

“they are a band who’ve combined their musical and visual sides into a silver screen-worthy, sci-fi based, death metal odyssey centered around alien contact, the devastation and degradation of the environment and humanity, rule by corporate overlords and henchmen, Primitivism vs. Futurism and, of course, lots of blood, guts and killing.”- Decibel Mag

Single Title: Siren Head (4:54)
Release Date: June 27, 2023
Label: Exitus Strategem Records

Single Credit
• All songs performed by: Voraath
• All songs written by: Voraath
• Produced by: Joshua Ward
• Mixed by: Joshua Ward
• Mastered by: Mike Low
• Album Artwork by: Joshua Ward

Band Lineup:
Chelsea Marrow – Vocals
Tylor Kohl – Guitar
Paul McBride – Bass
Joshua Ward – Drums, Keys, Vocals, studio Guitars

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Into Perdition

The old roads of the Appalachian, barren and soulless lay ahead. Each step reminding us of our failures and a foreshadowing of the unfavorable journey that lies ahead. This song captures the native folk tones on the Appalachian mountains, reworked to resemble the feeling of being lost and broken.

The Road to Samm Hill

We have received coordinates to the location of the relay, an alien mechanism that can bend space-time. Employed by EOS Corp, our mission is to retrieve the relay at all cost. As we approach the area of operation, we are confronted by a creature frail and decaying stumbling along the old road. As it approaches us it reaches out its hand, revealing a sort of otherworldly controller. The creature shortly after petrifies and dies. Resuming our journey we come across a barren village, with dead bodies scattered. Further investigating we discover that Ostromek Corp had been conducting experiments on what seems to be an otherworldly entity. The scientist and security officers of Ostromek had seemingly lost control of the creature which had led to the massacre of the local village. This song outlines our battle with the otherworldly entity as well as discovering a traitor in our own ranks.

Waypoint Orion

The mission to Samm Hill was a failure. We resumed our pursuit of the relay (The Nexus key) deep into the Appalachian forest where we would discover a mound of bodies, the corpses of the lost villagers. Creatures from beyond our dimension stood guard and at the apex of the mound was a vile creature with authority over the lesser sentinels. The relay had been activated and was shimmering red particles when we noticed the screams of a little girl laying at the base of the corpses.To recover the little girl we would have to eliminate the corpse guardian. After killing a few of the creatures the relay began to resonate louder and louder. As we shot the third creature the very land around us changed. The sky became red and the landscape was foreign. We shot the fourth creature and reality itself transformed around us. With each kill the relay activated, altering the world around us. As we eliminated the final guardian and rescued the little girl, we found ourselves trapped in a different dimension.

The Terminus Rift

Stuck in an alternate dimension, a dark world of obsidian spires and tattered geometric architectures, we had to find a way to return home. We are confronted by otherworldly zealots. Our primary mission is to survive while we try to figure out how to operate the relay. While making our way through the chasms of this dark stone city, we awoke a nefarious entity, a vicious titan whom the zealots praised as a god. While attempting to repair the relay, the hunters must survive the onslaught on the titan and its servants.

Dreadborn

This song is a flashback to how Marrow came to join the hunters. During a mission to retrieve a key component for the relay, a mechanism called the Navigators Key, the hunters had to infiltrate a military compound controlled by Ostromek Corp. The hunters would arrive to a facility of dead soldiers and a rogue seer with telepathic abilities on a murder spree. While on a mission of vengeance, Marrow (seer) targeted the hunters not knowing that they were not affiliated with Ostromek Corp. After a vicious battle, the hunters were able to subdue the seer, recruiting her into their ranks and acquiring the Navigators Key.

The Barrens

This was our first song as a band, a song that encapsulated the brutal and melancholic nature of post traumatic stress (ptsd). The video is a series of flashbacks for the point of view of two of the hunters. One is experiencing loss and betrayal; meanwhile being pursued by a savage otherworldly entity (which shows the layers of coping with one tragedy while fighting to simply exist). The other is the feeling of hopelessness that turns to hate and that hate consumes those around her. The music itself carries out like a metal movie soundtrack, with aggressive peaks and demented valleys, all culminating into the grand apex of the final segway, an epiphany of taking back control (live to fight another day). We hope this brings awareness to the struggles and trauma we all are dealing with, awareness for those coping with PTSD.

Judas Blood and Vultures

Mission: 3116 The Red Village incident: The Valewalkers are contacted by an old friend, Tobias to investigate a series of strange disappearances in a neighboring village. It is believed that a vile creature from beyond the Nexus Rift, known by the locals as Lumia is responsible for the missing villagers, among them, Tobias’ new bride and infant child. As the hunters and their forlorn guide begin their pursuit of the creature and its cultist minions, they soon discover that not all is as it seems in the ruins of the red village.

The Leviathans Keep

This song is actually a prequel to our main story line. In our musical lore, we are mercenaries who take odd jobs in a dystopian society for resources for our village. We took a contract to escort a EOS Corporation scientist to a classified location in the mountains to recover data on a deceased entity. Our mission is to activate the IC-B18 energy barrier that isolates the area of operation and protect the scientist at all cost. Due to an intense GRS (Gamma Ray Storm), the relay drone used to communicate and initiate the barrier was destroyed which prompted an emergency evacuation, unfortunately the extraction point is occupied by savage mutant cannibals. The song follows our failed mission as we fight to survive the treacheries of the mountain. The end of the song has a unique twist. As our curiosity gets the better of us and we discover what EOS corp was researching; the corpse of a cosmic entity that will change our lives forever. The music is the culmination of primitive brutal rhythmic patterns and the epic soundscapes of survival. We are excited to share what we feel is something very unique in the metal and music community.

Dirge Colony

We have been given our final orders, to hunt down and eliminate the vile entity own as UA -33, the ender. While en route, the hunters came across the scattered remains of their friends from a neighboring colony. They dismally traversed the ravaged village. The hunter known as Ward, came across an old house with sounds of men celebrating. Ward began quietly investigating the dilapidated house, coming across a battered and wounded young woman. Bloodied, she fearfully signaled Ward to keep quiet. Realizing that she was a captive of soldiers, celebrating the pillaging of the colony, Ward along with the other hunters would murder the heartless mercenaries and mourn the loss of the young woman. This song was actually a dream that we wove into the music, a song about mourning loss and coping with nefarious circumstances.

The God-killer Saga

This song is the apex of our journey, from locating and retrieving the nexus key (relay) and the Navigators key, to grand standoffs with interdimensional entities, their mission would lead them to the very source of the apocalypse, to the entity UA-33 or the “ender.” deep in a gorge in the Appalachian mountains, the hunters approach a rift in the stone, a divot between dimensions. After defeating the creatures guarding the rift, the hunters would finally confront the seemingly iniquitous god; but nothing is what it seems and a secret with unfathomable repercussions will be revealed. Here is where the hunter’s journey ends and the sentinels of Voraath begins.

Sirenhead

Though most of the concept of our debut album follows a group of “survivors” who are tasked with hunting down an inter-dimensional deity who has ravaged the earth, for this song (Siren Head) we wanted to do something “less” otherworldly and a bit more of a horror. Our children love watching scary stories about this creature called “Siren Head.” Come to find out that so many kids his age are infatuated by the monster, so we wanted to write our interpretation of Siren Head based on the artist Trevor Henderson. This also allowed for us some family metal/horror time!”

Pyrrhic

After learning the truth of our journey, we must cope with the traumas and loss of our endeavors. This song is very bleak, capturing the sound of emptiness. Feeling as if there is no hope, no end, and the endless pain of enduring existence.

===============================================

Story Angles – Fun Facts:
1 Our music is set on a dystopian earth about a hundred and thirty years in the future. Eighty percent of the population has disappeared after the arrival of three interdimensional entities and the world is governed by corporations. The music and lore are told from the standpoint of a group of contracted hunters who inadvertently becomes part of a much more insidious plot with cosmic implications.

2 – Our outfits are handcrafted by the wife of our guitarist (Frank Kohl). The armor and cuirass that our vocalist wears were handcrafted by leather crafter/armorer Joshua Niemeyer who is the owner of the crafting company “The Grim Ringer.” Our masks are altered mesh masks crafted by Tylor Kohl and Joshua Ward.

3 – Our drummer Joshua Ward also does drum tech work, working for renowned drummers such as George Kollias and Pete Sandoval.

4- The lore of the music is inspired by 80’s sci-fi movies, game lore, and folk tales of the Appalachian mountains.

5- Both band rooms and studios exist on farmland in the mountains of N.C. and S.C. where members of Voraath go on group camping, kayaking, and tactical training adventures which inspire the vibe which the band portrays.

L-R – Paul McBride – Bass, Joshua Ward – Drums, Chelsea Marrow – Vocals, Tylor Kohl – Guitar

Photo Credit – Picture by Jamie Leblanc, Art by Joshua Ward

Voraath is a Sci-fi horror-inspired extreme metal band featuring members from Xael, Visitant, Rapheumets Well, Implosive Disgorgence, and Sweet Blood. Crafting their own musical, the music serves to take you on an auditory odyssey.

An otherworldly and experimental metal act based out of the Carolinas, Voraath unifies epic soundscapes with bone-crushing brutal riffs. In September 2021, Voraath began as an experimental project with Joshua Nassaru Ward (Xael, Rapheumets Well), Tylor Kohl, and Paul McBride. In April of 2023, Chelsea Marrow joined the team as the lead vocalist. The word Voraath itself refers to an act of vengeance as well as the deity of wrath.

Shared Stage with Rings of Saturn, Extortionist, Volcandra

Tours and Festivals:
2022 -Cyber Shed U.S. tour with Rings of Saturn
2023 – Dimensional Destruction tour with Volcandra
2023 – Headling the Blast Beats and Brews festival in Atlanta GA.
August 2023 – Michigan Metal Fest (with Born of Osiris)

Artist Endorsements:
Ddrum, Saluda Cymbals, Los Cabos Drumsticks, Foot Blaster, Volta Innovations, Cad Audio, GHS Strings

0 EPK – HardBall – Self-Titled (2023)

June 6, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Hardball

EPK – HardBall – Self-Titled (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

“We are really excited to finally get this album in people’s hands. There have been terrible periods of development hell and sessions of re-tracking the same parts over and over trying to get the vibe just right. It’s been a long, and at times aggravating process to get it to where we’re truly happy with it. We’re all perfectionists, especially Jeremy, who acted like the in-band producer throughout most of the process.

I feel as though we created something innovative and contemporary while still honoring our heroes from the ‘90s alternative rock and ‘80s punk scenes. We’re having our cake and eating it too.” – Hardball

For fans of Nirvana, Wipers, Hüsker Dü, Flipper, The Melvins

Band Name: Hardball
Album Title: Self-Titled
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

Linktr.ee/hardballbc | Facebook.com/hardballmusic | Instagram.com/hardballbc | Hardball.bandcamp.com

“Hardball is a Vancouver-based trio who certainly studied up on grunge music in all of its grimy detail. But the band brings something more than template Seattle sound ditties to its full-length, self-titled debut. They’ve got a good sense of humour…. Songs such as the single Worried As S—t feature little lyrical jabs thrown in that turn the self-importance of bands such as Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam inside-out. Like, seriously, what is up with the lead singer’s hats? The tune won’t tell you. But the band might offer an explanation from the stage that night.” – Vancouver Sun

“Punishingly heavy and powerful, the band members go absolutely musically berserk on this one, throwing everything they’ve got against the wall, with the song’s intensity matching the weight of its message. Gun control is an issue we hear about in the news virtually every day. HARDBALL have stepped up to the plate here with a representation of the anger many of us feel about these societal challenges.” – V13

“Vancouver’s Hardball are sharing their self-titled full-length, which will take you through the grunge journey of dirty riffs and speedy shredding.” – New Noise Magzine

“The more I listen to this album the more I fall in love with it. I was a huge Nirvana fan in my youth and this scratches that itch and then some. It has elements of all three of their albums whole also bringing plenty of their own sound and creativity to things. There isn’t a bad track on the album and I’d recommend it to anyone! 9.5/10” – Overtone Magazine

“You can’t accuse Hardball of not taking things seriously. Their self-titled debut album, as reckoned by lead singer Scott Budgie, is a testament to a labour of love, sweat, and tears. The journey to its creation involved scrapping and re-doing, and the results that emerge from this dedication are undeniably palpable… The hard work invested in Hardball’s self-titled debut album is evident in every track. This is not a mere grunge revival; it’s a reboot that captures the genre’s spirit while infusing it with their own artistic vision. This album marks the starting point of a new chapter in the grunge movement, and it’s clear that Hardball is here to make their own mark. 8/10” – Maximum Volume music

“if you do like Nirvana – then you might have a new CD to purchase!… the opener ”Just A Tree” in true grunge mode. If you on the other hand take ”Me And you” we’re in for more of a party hard rocker with a slight punk vibe. Still some grunge in it, maybe mainly for the lead vocal of Scott Budgie who sounds very much like Kurt Cobain at times. This band is furthermore more interesting to listen to, musically, compared to Nirvana. Hear the hard-working guitar playing in ”Worried As Shit” for example. Same in the quite grungy ”Talk To Me” with good variation between intense and softer parts, plus nice riffing guitars. All in all, yes: quite grunge oriented but still more than that. Well worth checking out if you’re into this type of music.” – Melodic.net

“HARDBALL is a trio from Vancouver that tries to revive this period through realistic, harsh songs and a thick and hard sound. Their first album is without doubt the most beautiful tribute to the nineties scene that we have been able to listen to for a very long time” – Metal News Fr

“HARDBALL brings to their music, a claw, a rather distressed and tortured atmosphere. And then around the compositions, something struck me: the emotion. It is palpable all the way, feels right away, because it feels like Scott is literally living this music. Any grunge or nostalgic fan of this era should have an ear, because this album is inspired.” – Olivier No Limit – Soil Chronicles

“The riffs are sharp, the bass pumps the blood to the most inaccessible parts of the body and the drumming is truly outstanding. Above all, Hardball brings a sound that sounds quite melancholic and – typically grunge – is an indictment for a lot of things in the world that are firmly out of whack. Whether there is still an audience waiting for a grunge band, we cannot say for sure, although we assume that good music always finds a way. And to be honest, we are pleasantly surprised by this debut album.” – Musika

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Band Name: Hardball
Album Title: Self-Titled
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

Track Listing:
1. Just A Tree (3:55)
2. Worried As Shit (2:21)
3. NRA (2:33)
4. In The Mail (4:16)
5. Me And You (2:47)
6. Chili (5:55)
7. Talk To Me (5:25)
8. Ian’s Song (2:36)
9. I/O (3:18)
10. Open Air (9:47)
Album Length: 42:57

Album Credits:
All songs performed by Hardball All songs written by Hardball
All songs produced by Hardball
Every Song was mixed by Felix Fung at Little Red Sounds, except for track 9 I/O, which was mixed by Jeff Black at Black Note Productions
Mastered by Greg Mindorff at Suite Sound Labs
Album Artwork by Scott Budgie and Sara Colliss
Canadian content MAPL

Album Recording and Live Bband Lineup:
Scott Budgie – Vocals, guitars
Jeremy Head – Drums, guitars, synth, backing vocals
Jamie Black – Bass, backing vocals

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The Album as a whole is explained by Scott Budgie (Guitar/Vocals)

To us, the album is a huge deal, because it’s something we worked on for MANY years. It is not something we slapped together on a weekend. At one point the album was about 70% done and we made the tough decision to basically scrap it and re-track the drums for 8 of the 10 songs. It was worth it in the end. It finally sounds the way we wanted. Every line of vocals on the album was recorded dozens, if not hundreds of times over multiple sessions.

The seemingly endless periods of delays and problems that plagued the production of the album were beginning to cause me distress. Finally, seeing the release of this album on the horizon has been very therapeutic for me.

Artistically the album covers a lot of different, but related themes. In my mind, it’s a concept album, but it’s admittedly the most incoherent concept album of all time. It’s a deep dive into my own psyche, unturning all the different stones that maybe should have been left alone, all the while worrying about being too self-indulgent in the process.

I like unusual delivery of lines and run-on sentences in my lyrics, as well as a mixture of absurd and dead serious subject matter. It makes it feel chaotic and unpredictable.

In some ways the album is like a collection of ideas that we’re excited to finally document and move on from, that’s the main reason why there is a cross on the album cover. Not because it’s the end of HARDBALL, but because it’s the end of HARDBALL as we know it. We have a lot more to do in the future and we feel that this album is an awesome starting point. We’re really proud of it.

Track By Track:
1.) Just A Tree
I was reluctant to open the album with this song because of the jangly open chord parts that, to me sound almost Nashville-like. I didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression right off the bat (no pun intended). But I also like the scope of the song: covering major and minor chord progressions, dissonant guitar parts, quiet to heavy dynamics (a grunge staple), the wild layered synthesizer breakdown during the bridge, and finally the lovelorn vocals at the ending.

Lyrically, the song describes unrequited love and uses being a tree as an allegory for remaining loyal, reliable, and unbothered. (it’s music for the incels, just kidding, but basically)

2.) Worried As Shit
This track’s self-disparaging lyrics are pretty par for the course with HARDBALL. Mainly focusing on my own flaws including socially awkward behavior, and an inability to maintain healthy relationships. Mostly tongue-in-cheek but also not.

3.) NRA
Musically this song is just supposed to sound completely bonkers. Drums going completely ape all over the place, obnoxious riffing and big low-tuned power chords, the heavily distorted bass guitar holds down the main riff. NRA is an anthem about gun control. Not really even with a coherent position on the matter. Calling it NRA despite not directly having anything to do with the NRA just seemed funny to us. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the US has major social problems that have led to regular shootings. I don’t like it, and I can’t do anything about it.

But, I’m going to shout about it the way a scared, confused child might.

4.) In The Mail
(My favorite track by far)
HARDBALL’s answer to dynamically epic songs like The Smashing Pumpkin’s “Soma”. I think we succeeded in creating a really vibey song that builds in tension and then just blasts off at the halfway point and goes hard until the end.

Using postal mail as an analogy, the lyrics describe a relationship beginning with the excitement and anticipation of meeting someone new, and slowly falling into complacency and boredom.

5.) Me And You
Me And You is a short burst of high-energy verses and riffs held together by a recurring harmony. Lyrically Me And You is basically a cynical version of Neil Young’s “Old Man”, making (sometimes nonsensical) comparisons to things I have in common with my old man.

6.) Chili lulls you in sounding like a simple
verse-chorus-verse structure before going full prog-stoner metal on you. The lyrics come from agonizing sleepless nights brought on by guilt and self-loathing.

7.) Talk To Me
Originally it seemed we didn’t have much for this piece other than the heavy floor tom hits combined with the palm muting which we thought was really cool. It took a couple of years for the overall direction to come together. Looking back, that palm mute/floor tom thing was a pretty boneheaded idea to pursue, but it ended up being worth it for the heavy riffs that came along.

8.) Ian’s Song
This song was the closest to being thrown out, but we all think it’s funny so it just made the cut. It’s definitely the oldest song on the album. It’s a true story about an old Scottish man who lived in our former bandmate’s basement. He would sometimes terrorize us while we were jamming in the garage. He frequently drank our beer and stole our food from the fridge upstairs. Eventually, he moved to a different city. I often wonder what became of that guy.

9.) I/O
Known internally as ‘Inside Out’, this is a classic HARDBALL song with sudden changes in dynamics. It begins with solo vocals and guitar before the entire band comes in dialed up to 10 for the hardcore-inspired verses and choruses. It ends with an abrupt change to a mellow arpeggio instrumental outro that serves as a fake-out ending to the album.

The lyrics are a satire of macho hardcore punk, which I love, but I don’t fully understand the tough guy culture behind it.

10.) Open Air
HARDBALL’s 10-minute epic. Beginning with clean guitar, soft vocals, and a tom beat that carries the intensity up and down, eventually.

Open Air goes completely off the rails and ditches its verse/chorus structure in favor of 4 minutes of bone-crushing riffs to close out the album. Lyrically the song describes trying to hang in there in a relationship that’s not working for either side. It also includes an homage to Danzig’s ‘Until You Call on The Dark’ with the line ‘until you start to call on the dark/I’ll hold on, I’ll hold on’.

==================================================================

Fun Facts – Story Angles
1. Despite the name no members of HARDBALL have ever taken part in team sports, and in fact, despise them.

2. HARDBALL once opened for DOA when they were coming through Penticton. Here’s a quote from Joey Shithead (or Joey Keithley? I don’t know what he goes by these days) regarding HARDBALL’s set to the best of my memory “You guys said you were punk. I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t punk.” Obviously, we’re punk and it’s the old guy who’s wrong. After the show, we tried to shake him down for a bigger cut of the door money.

3. Fun Fact: We make regular use of extended-range instruments, including baritone guitars and 7 strings, but keep it somewhat restrained so as not to seem forced.

4. We have a tendency to meticulously plan every aspect of our tours except where we’re going to sleep. We’ve definitely pitched the odd tent in the middle of the night at the end of a cul-de-sac in Red Deer.

5. Scott used to own the Mystery Machine from one of the live-action Scooby-Doo movies but crashed it and it was a total write-off and there are no pictures to prove it but it’s true.

L-R: Scott Budgie (Guitar/Vocals), Jamie Black (Bass), Jeremy Head (Drums)
Photo by Kaila Hald

Emerging Vancouver, BC, Canada punk/grunge trio HARDBALL is set to release its debut self-titled album on July 21, 2023 on all major streaming platforms via Distrokid, as a digital download through Bandcamp, and directly from the band on 12” LP, and compact disc.

In support of the album, HARDBALL are setting out on tour this August with appearances throughout Western Canada.

HARDBALL is comprised of former Poles frontman and Vancouver local Scott Budgie, as well as Okanagan residents, drummer Jeremy Head also of The Motion Picture, and bassist Jamie Black.HARDBALL’s self-titled album is a joint production between recording engineer Matt Roach of Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC (Baptists, Misery Signals, Comeback Kid) and mix engineer Felix Fung of Little Red Sounds in New Westminster, BC (Needles//Pins, Girlfriends and Boyfriends, Mode Moderne).

Shared Stage with: DOA, Pharm, Rad Dog, Hippiecritz, Carpenter, Molten Lava, Ninjaspy, We the Undersigned, Sparky

Tours and Festivals, 2023 – Ignite The Arts – Penticton, BC

0 EPK – Our Dying World – The Egregious Sins Of Humanity (single) (2023)

May 30, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Our Dying World

EPK – Our Dying World – The Egregious Sins Of Humanity (single) (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

“The Egregious Sins Of Humanity marks the next phase in the band’s development. It shows another level of musical maturity and has pushed us all into a level of figuring out how to play more sophisticated parts and make them work together. We all had to make huge strides on playing some of these parts and we’re looking forward to the next ones and how we’ll have improved individually as well as musically.” – Our Dying World

For fans of Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Lamb Of God, Abigail Williams

Facebook.com/ourdyingworldofficial | Instagram.com/ourdyingworld | Youtube | Twitter.com/ourdyingworld11

Spotify | Apple Music | Ourdyingworld.bandcamp.com

“We’ll make you a solemn promise: Whatever condition you happen to be in now (unless you’re in a coma), the song and video we’re about to present will make you feel orders of magnitude more alive, accelerating your heart-rate, igniting your fast-twitch muscles, and spinning your head like a glorious top. And for those of you who want your music to attack like a pack of rabid dogs, it fills that need, too. The song is “Veil of the Reaper“, and it comes from Hymns Of Blinding Darkness, the forthcoming album by the Los Angeles band Our Dying World. The new album marks a significant departure from the music on their debut, Expedition, moving in directions that may spawn memories of such bands as Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, and Dimmu Borgir, and you’ll get a vivid understanding of that when you hear “Veil of the Reaper“.” – No Clean Singing – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“Hymns of Blinding Darkness is an intricate album with lofty pursuits featuring a stunning band makeover.” – Decibel Mag – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“As with many great evolutions, Our Dying World took all their best parts and made it huge. This album paces brilliantly and delivers in spades. An overall epic release of their own brand of hard rocking hymns.” – Heavy Mag – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“Closing with the excellent Melodic Death Metal-esque piece “Veil of the Reaper”, Our Dying World manages to keep the listener’s attention with soaring guitar melodies, engaging keyboards, and overall solid songs that are well crafted but need more of a personal identity. There are definitely plenty of excellent things about this release that fans of the genre will greatly appreciate, so don’t be afraid and check out this band.” – Infernal Masquerade – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“Fans who appreciate equal doses of orchestra and mosh pit will likely dig this passionate full-length debut.” – Angry Metal Guy – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“One thing is clear from the young band as they prepare for the release of their second release; they’ve come to stir the standards that hold the metal scene and redefine them.” – Metal Temple – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

“this first effort is every heavy metal enthusiast’s lottery win and is assured to gain a growing fanbase for the band” – Powerplay Magazine – 2019 – Expedition

“The band does a great job with mixing several different metal styles. Primarily, they channel Groove Metal, Thrash Metal, and Melodic Death Metal. They take all these approaches and blend them damn near seamlessly with enough intensity to level your ears.” – The Circle Pit – 2019 – Expedition

“The last 9 months working with Our Dying World on their release EP has been a wonderful journey that has had about every twist and turn you could imagine while making a record. Some were typical to the actual recording process, and some were a part of the personal journey that one finds themself in when baring their soul to the world.” – Ultimate Studios Inc. – 2019 – Expedition

“Some metal bands in this era just tackle the genre just for the sake of it. Because the “scene kids” are into it and screaming is all the hype. But then, you run into a band like Our Dying World, proving one record at a time that true metal is a genre that isn’t going to die anytime soon, thanks to bands like them and others of their caliber.” – Artist Reach Official

“this first effort is every heavy metal enthusiast’s lottery win and is assured to gain a growing fanbase for the band” – Powerplay Magazine

[Download Single Lyrics | Download Single Cover]

The Egregious Sins Of Humanity
Release Date: TBD
Label: Self-Release

– The Egregious Sins Of Humanity – 6:00

Single Recording Credits:
• Song performed by: Our Dying World
• Song written by: Thomas Tierney, Austin Mitrofanis, Graham Southern
• Produced by: Alex Nasla
• Mixed by: Alex Nasla
• Mastered by: Alex Nasla
• Single Artwork by: Paul Allender
• Tom Tierney Music and Publishing is registered with ASCAP

Band Line Up:
David Ainsworth – Vocals
Graham Southern – Keyboards, Orchestration, and Backing Vocals
Raymond Sanchez – Guitars
Austin Mitrofanis – Guitars
Nick Laux – Bass
Tom Tierney – Drums

– The Egregious Sins Of Humanity (Orchestral Version) 6:00

Single Recording Credits:
• Songs performed and written by: Graham Southern
• Produced by: Graham Southern
• Mixed by: Alex Nasla
• Mastered by: Alex Nasla
• Single Artwork by: Paul Allender

Discography:
2023 – The Egregious Sins Of Humanity – Single
2022 – Hymns Of Blinding Darkness – LP
2019 – Expedition – EP

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About The Track: The song opens up on a flurry of strings and a descending scale from an orchestra that makes a brief appearance before blast beats and double bass erupt across the listener’s ears. Choirs sing in a chant across the chaos before it all dies down as quickly as it came. Austin’s guitars pave the way for the verse to come in. David starts in with the lyrics, “I hear a voice; a whisper from the pits of darkness”, almost relaying a message sent from beyond. The drums slam the listener through the song as the orchestration becomes more and more apparent.

A deeper voice, almost as if it’s the whisper mention before suddenly comes out “I am nothing, I am all” called back by “I am shadows on your wall” almost telling the listener I am everything and I am nothing. The song dives back into the verse and we hear the full impact of the strings lifting the brutal guitars and drums into a new place.

The song takes a twist as something out of a Danny Elfman or Tim Burton film swings around. Sounding almost like a creepy xylophone and chimes, it’s almost as if you’re walking around blindly waiting for a big reveal in the song, and reveal it does.

The chorus comes swinging in with double bass, heavy chords, and low strings that match the lyrics, “Lost to the blackness I find myself in great demise; all hope is lost, no chance to be at one with life”. The subject of the lyrics has given up and we hear his solemn vow, “This endless void will soon find me, a lifeless corpse, who found salvation on a rope”.

Everything cuts out except a guitar, and it builds. We hear the subject utter his last words: “ And so it ends; this artificial claim of a blessed life. Sewn with seeds of failure and desperation, I take my leave with this note of abandonment”. And we hear a huge 808 drop.

Austin and Graham come in with a harmonized lead on keyboards and guitar, sweeping arpeggios across their instruments. Ray takes his solo next, a slightly different vibe to the song, but echoing eerily through his part with squeals and taps across the fretboard.

The band dives into the massive chorus a final time before the clean and calm guitars float out of the song with the sound of the wind at the bands back…

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Fun Facts – Story Angles:

The drums on this song are Tom’s fastest drums to date – previously he had topped out at 215 BPM and this song would end up coming in at 225. Tom had to completely change his style of playing and relearn his double bass technique to make the speeds in this song happen consistently. Needless to say, it ended up being a permanent way of playing after he figured it out.

Everything was recorded by Alex Nasla in his house or with Dave Valez for drums. We were able to do everything in extremely controlled environments that eliminated the need for a full production studio. It was a fun experience and definitely got experimental at some points.

Austin’s first writing with Our Dying World turned out to be his guitars for Egregious Sins. Needless to say, the guitars have gotten much faster and darker since Hymns Of Blinding Darkness; a change that everyone was incredibly enthusiastic about. He’s already written another single that’s coming soon…

The high-pitched bell noise in the creepy section of Sins is actually a typewriter sample. Graham has been known to sneak cool effects into sections to make them a bit more subtly dramatic.

L to R – Nick Laux – Bass, Graham Southern – Keyboards and Orchestration, Austin Mitrofanis – Guitar, Tom Tierney – Drums, David Ainsworth – Vocals, Ray Sanchez – Guitar
Credit – Jamie Kaufman Photography

Over the last few years, Los Angeles’s Our Dying World has gone through a tremendous evolution of sound from the thrashy death metal of their debut EP Expedition to the symphonic and melodic keyboard-oriented stylings of bands like Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, and Dimmu Borgir.

Formed in 2018 by drummer/guitarist Tom Tierney (ex-Whiplash), the group has played shows all over the USA in their short time together, bringing their sound from the fabled Sunset Strip in Hollywood to the New Jersey Metalfest where they opened for Metal Mike of Halford.

One thing is clear from the young band as they prepare for the release of their new 2023 single “The Egregious Sins Of Humanity” to follow their highly praised sophomore album “Hymns Of Blinding Darkness ” they’ve come to stir the standards that hold the metal scene and redefine them.

Shared Stage with: Abysmal Dawn, Abigail Williams, Swallow The Sun, Thrown Into Exile, Metal Mike of Halford

0 EPK – Gamerra – Tedium (2023)

May 26, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Gamerra

EPK – Gamerra – Tedium (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

Release Date – May 26, 2023

Label – Self Release

For fans of Exodus, Death, Revocation, Warbringer, Havok

Facebook.com/GAMERRAThrash | Instagram.com/gamerra_thrash_metal

Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon

Digital- https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/gamerra/tedium

CD – https://gamerra.bigcartel.com

“Born from friendship and a love of commenting on the world around them, thrash metal band Gamerra is making a name for itself around Acadiana”… “Detached from Reality- available on iTunes- relies on observation of sociopolitical happenings and even touches on past events such as the Vietnam War.” – Miranda Davis from 008 Magazine (In February/March issue on page 81).

“Where does one start when talking about the mighty Gamerra? These Lafayette, Louisiana thrash metal inspired gents are young and they are dead set on blowing-I mean killing the Lafayette Metal Scene. Jacob Broussard, Reece Benoit, and [Jake] Meche are three highly talented musicians who have created a sound all their own.” – Moe Solet of Tales From the Riff

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Track Listing:
1. Tedium (4:15)
2. Cryogenesis (6:34)
3. Vicariously Experienced (6:18)
4. Suspended Animation (3:23)
5. Obsessively Aware (10:29)
6. Nefarious Entities (6:58)
Album Length: (37:57)

Album Credits:
-All songs performed by Gamerra.
-All Rhythm Guitar recording by Broussard
-Drum Programming and bass tracking by Broussard
-1st guitar solo on the song Tedium, 2nd guitar solo on the song Cryogenesis, and 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, & 10th guitar solos on the song Nefarious Entities tracked by Benoit
-All other guitar solos by Broussard
-All main vocal parts tracked by Meche, with occasional lead vocal parts by Broussard.
-Backing vocals by Benoit, Broussard, & Meche.
-All songs written by Gamerra
-Lyrics mostly written by Broussard. Most lyrics on Vicariously Experienced by Meche with one line by Broussard
-All music written by Broussard except for the bulk of Nefarious Entities and solos performed by Benoit

Band Lineup:
Jake Meche- Lead Vocals
Jacob Broussard- Lead Guitar/Vocals,
Reece Benoit- Rhythm Guitar

=================================================================

The EP as a whole:

Tedium: The result of a very quick burst of inspiration. Dark moments in our own lives brought out the music and lyrics present in this EP.

Track By Track:
-Tedium: The Title track of the EP. A fast, short, easily consumable Thrash song with interesting twists. The lyrics reflect my mindset at the time that I wrote it. I hated my job, I felt lost, and I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere. The song is about the repetitive and grinding nature of everyday life. Life in itself felt tedious, hence the name “Tedium.”

-Cryogenesis: Home to some of the most dissonant and cold riffs I have ever written. Super fast and intense at most parts, but long and spacy at some parts. Varied sounds across the whole track. My favorite lyrics on the EP are on this song. The song is based on the concept that on this planet, there is ice that has remained frozen for eons. Some of it has remained frozen for a couple million years. Within that ice are microbes that haven’t been released since they were frozen. So basically, there are bacteria and various pathogens that no current living creature on this planet has immunity to. So, if these ices were to melt completely like the current melting rate would suggest, these pathogens would undoubtedly get out and do untold damage to Earth’s current ecology. So this song is kind of science fiction in that it slightly exaggerates the effects, but it is completely rooted in reality.

Scientists would go into the melt sights and accidentally release these pathogens into the world’s population, at least according to the song.

-Vicariously Experienced: Probably, objectively the best song on the EP. It came out better than we expected. A good mix of chunky groove, and the melodic, progressive elements we’ve folded into our sound over the years. I even added a little bit of Goatwhore influence a little before the solo. The song is about watching people you care about make bad decisions and ruin their lives in the process, then using those observations to craft yourself into a better individual as you grow up. This is a concept the three of us in the band are very familiar with.

-Suspended Animation: The only instrumental track on the EP. Very inspired by the melodic side of Revocation. Short and Sweet.

-Obsessively Aware: The long, epic song of this release. I wanted to really bring out my prog side with this one. Much of the beginning of the song is very much an ode to old-school Meshuggah. Think Contradictions Collapse, None, and Destroy Erase Improve. The majority of the rest of it is a serious nod to our love of Revocation and Death. A lot of dissonant, weird timing bits for all the Progressive Death Metal nerds to sink their teeth into. At 10 and a half minutes, this song is a wild ride. Lyrically the song is about my mind when I’m put into stressful situations like meeting band deadlines or being the only manager on duty on a Sunday with a crap load of people in the store and things are going wrong left and right. I’m a pretty high-strung person, so it kinda feels like I’m losing my mind when situations like that arise, despite my external demeanor seeming to not show it.

-Nefarious Entities: The only collaborative musical effort on the EP. Reece wrote the majority of this one and I brought in a handful of riffs to round out the structure. A lot of crazy stuff on this one. A true culmination of our influences. There are Exodus sounding parts, Revocation sounding parts, Death sounding parts. There’s even a Suffocation part Reece threw in at the end. Lyrically, most people would mistakenly label it as political. While there are political jabs thrown in, the song has more to do with the structure of rule in the world. What most people don’t understand is that most of what we’re told is a lie and the people we’ve been led to believe control the country are actually just puppets. Most people say it’s the politicians holding us down. A fewer, more accurate group say it’s the corporations. In reality, these sentiments are both simultaneously true and untrue. The people who really control the world as we know it use these two entities as attack pieces on a chess board. It’s the world’s royal families, the Vatican, and the dynasties left over from the monopoly holders back in the early 1900s that really pull the strings and put us in this position. They hold the corporations in their hands, the corporations hold the governments of the world in their hands, the governments hold the militaries and police, so on and so forth. Most bands would use this as a rallying cry for a government overthrow. Not us. We take a more realistic view. This will likely never change, so we might as well stop watching the news and keep to ourselves, writing music about it instead. That’s what the final track on Tedium is really about.

=========================================================

STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BAND

1. I had to play drums for a couple shows because our drummer quit after we booked the shows, and we don’t like to cancel. This included when we opened for Insomnium.

2. Jake’s first show ever was when we opened for Goatwhore.

3. Jake’s second show ever was when we opened for Warbringer.

4. My dad once did a backflip in the mosh pit of one of our shows from the impact.

5. Reece jumped off the stage on the last show of our Southeast Louisiana Mini Tour and messed his knee up pretty badly and he finished the set laying down on the stage. I was concerned, but he said keep going.

L-R – Reece Benoit (Rhythm Guitar), Jacob Broussard (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Jake Meche (Lead Vocals)
Photo Credit: Tyson Pate of CobraTai Photography

A good-time thrash band seeking the ultimate jam. Mixing in spicy doses of death metal and progressive metal, producing a sound akin to a fusion of Exodus and Death with the intense vocal patterns and delivery of Warbringer, the aggressive and experimental leanings of Revocation, the ferocious rhythm guitar tone of early Meshuggah, and the attitude and fun-loving vibes of Havok, all played in the spirit of old school Sepultura. Through many lineup changes, Gamerra survives in the new decade. Despite consistently not having a drummer, and still lacking a bassist, Jacob Broussard, Jake Meche, and Reece Benoit persist on and will continue to write, record, and release music in the hopes of catching the ears of musicians that might be interested in playing for them.

Band Lineup:
Jake Meche- Lead Vocals
Jacob Broussard- Lead Guitar/Vocals,
Reece Benoit- Rhythm Guitar

Discography:
May 26th, 2023- Tedium-EP
December 23rd, 2022- The Cover Up- Cover EP
October 28th, 2022- Couillon Death Squad- EP
May 20th, 2022- REDO- EP
June 20th, 2021- Demo 2021- Demo
December 13th, 2019- Detached from Reality- LP
September 18th, 2017- Gnarlymetalextreme- Demo

0 EPK – Rockin’ Engine – Altered By Evil (2023)

May 25, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Rockin' Engine

EPK – Rockin’ Engine – Altered By Evil (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

For fans of Gojira, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Lamb Of God

EP Title: Altered By Evil
Release Date: July 7, 2023
Label: Self-Release

“People who already follow us will notice a huge musical growth since our last EP in 2020. Our sound has evolved quite a bit, technical and more refined, but still punchy and heavy as Hell! After “The Wretched And The Damned”, we knew exactly where we were heading with our next record, and we can proudly say that we achieved our goal. It’s horror, it’s creepy, it’s dark, yet it’s also creative, fun and theatrical at times. Anyone who listens to this album will be brought into a psycho-horror fantasy, where Wes Craven meets Stanley Kubrick, where Ramirez meets Bundy, where “Tubular Bells” meets “Dies Irae”. The various subtle influences and nuances gathered in this work will please any hardcore horror movie fanatic, but also anyone who can plunge themselves into an imaginary world of monsters and evil spirits. We are certain that our new EP ‘Altered By Evil’ will define the future of Rockin’ Engine and that fans will receive this as our best work yet!” – Rockin’ Engine

Facebook.com/rockinengineofficial | Instagram.com/rockinengine | Twitter.com/Rockin_Engine | Youtube.com/c/RockinEngine

Rockinengine.bandcamp.com | Spotify | Apple Music

“It’s a six-song, high-energy EP that’s just as succinct in purpose and impact as it is intricately composed.” – Metal Underground

“There’s a scathing, contemporary thrash quality throughout the song “Libre Ex-Mortis” that brings to mind Lamb Of God musically while juxtaposed against melodic vocals that are almost pop-like in the vein of Night Demon. This contrast is interesting and most notable on “Monsters Under Your Bed” because of the interplay between the beaming vocals and the slick, pseudo-death metal barrage. Considering the accessible sounds, it’s obvious that the Canucks seek commercial success should that path become available to them. However the cookie may crumble in time, “Altered By Evil” is an enjoyable release for those who don’t mind aspects of the popular side of modern metal.” – Metal Underground

“Altered by Evil is a powerful and adrenaline-fueled ride through the realms of Heavy Metal. With their impressive musicianship, strong songwriting, and commanding vocals, Rockin’ Engine delivers an album that will leave fans of the genre craving more.” – Metal Express Radio

“The fusion of hard rock, thrash, and modern groove metal gives Rockin’ Engine potential to appeal to numerous audiences based on the material present with Altered by Evil. Standing on the precipice of glory, this quartet could be valuable to most label rosters based on the talent and quality songwriting delivered here. 8/10” – Dead Rhetoric

“The Shining inspired “Room 185” finds the band joined by Steph Jomphe of Insurrection fame for a cut that brings the blood stained curtain down in style. The riffs hit like tidal waves, the percussion from Joel Bilodeau absolutely huge and the mix from Dark Moon Productions absolutely nailed to perfection [8.5/10]” – Metal Noise

“Unlike others who choose to combine their love of horror and metal, what makes Rockin’ Engine stand out is they’re not winking at us here. These are tracks inspired by horror, both fiction and non-fiction, and moulded around Rockin’ Engine’s thrash sound. They’ve not adapted their music to fit the horror, it’s the other way around. 8/10” – Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life

“Vocalist/guitarist Steve O Leff is the ceremonial leader to this dramatic mayhem, whether from the perspective of a murderer on “Psycho Path” or the literal ringleader to a psychopathic band of killers on “Carnival Of Evil.” For those with knowledge of all things horror, half of the enjoyment to Altered By Evil is figuring out what each song is about.” – Heavy Music Headquarters

““Altered By Evil” has an enormously powerful and balanced sound for a disc that was created entirely on its own. Respect gentlemen! Mandatory listening!” – My Revelations

“Heavy, powerful and charismatic, “Altered By Evil” is by far their best work. Look forward to the hell Rockin’ Engine will ignite wherever they perform. If Gojira, Lamb Of God and Rob Zombie had a child, Rockin’ Engine would be their bastard son. Their fusion of hard rock and thrash metal will set any stage ablaze and leave everyone with bad whiplash.” – Amplified Mag

“Another skull battering of technical riffs with a killer guitar tone “Monsters Under Your Bed” is a huge arena filling sing-a-long anthem with a *ahem* monstrous chorus but doesn’t lose any of the bands trademark guitar punch in its creation. The balance they have found on this one is on a knife edge and if it didn’t happen to be the bands tribute to Wes Craven and the Nightmare on Elm Street saga then Steve O Leff has actually done a fantastic job at giving us something lyrically to which we can all relate. Who hasn’t had a sleepless night running from the demons of their past mistakes?” – Metal Noise

“This is obviously a band that knows how to play to their strengths. As the subject matter changes for each song, The Exorcist, The Evil Dead, The Shining, etc.. so does the music. Not drastically, you can still tell it’s the same band, but it keeps everything nice and fresh through the release. Six tracks over a 30-minute period is about right… other bands take note… Quality over quantity wins it for me every time. This is as good as anything I hear from mid-sized labels over here in Europe. The fact that this is a self-release tells you how fucked our industry is as this really deserves a bigger and more widespread audience that’ll probably get. Puck this up on July 7th.” – Smorg Mag

“Although the band is often labeled a Heavy Metal band on the album’s opening notes, we clearly feel more violent influences than heavy, we could almost put them on the border of Thrash. So the band proposes an album having an identity that is its own while trying to renew the style, the prod while being modern does not fall into the cliché of the over-auction and the crossing of different styles gives an excellent result so you can be tight be surprised to hear a riff or beat that could very well have been in the middle of a death album to which the band add a brilliant voice for a very convincing result. We’ll wait to see the sequel to know if the group will want to lead, even if we don’t really know where the group wants to go, it’s a refreshing approach to them.” – Metal In Veins

“If you like it a bit spooky and love rock at the same time, this is the place for you. Let’s go” – Metal-Heads.de

“This is a seriously interesting half hour of entertainment, both music and story wise.” – Wings of Death

“Speed, brutal, so good !!” FRÉQUENCE METAL

“this ENGINE is runnin’ and rockin’ on all cylinders with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.” – KNAC

“Anyone who likes groovy and modern Heavy Metal should definitely risk an ear here and get an idea of the morbid goings-on.” – PowerMetalde

“Followers of PANTERA, MEGADETH, FIFE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GOJIRA, LAMB OF GOD and PRONG should feel addressed by this motley horror metal cocktail mix. Interested people should risk an ear and listen to be on the safe side.” – FFM-Rock

“I have the feeling that as the EP progresses the music gets darker and darker, and I like that. Of course horror is an interesting source of inspiration for dark (metal) music, I think Rockin’ Engine has handled that very well here. This is a seriously interesting half hour of entertainment, both music and story wise.” – Wings of Death

“Midnight Road Rage” has great instrumental ideas. It’s an album that makes us proud. Love at first sound. It’s such a pity that it is only of eight tracks. Believe me. You won’t regret.” – Metal Addicts (2019 – Midnight Road Rage)

“a bombastic and heavy hitting forty minutes of metal and rock, full of swagger and sass.” – Metal Gods TV (2019 – Midnight Road Rage)

Matzes Gitarrenbude Radio Station: Album Of The Year – 2019 – Midnight Road Rage

[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]

EP Title: Altered By Evil
Release Date: July 7, 2023
Label: Self-Release

Track Listing:
1. Carnival Of Evil – 5:45
2. Day Of Wrath – 4:22
3. Liber Ex-Mortis – 4:59
4. Monsters Under Your Bed – 5:11
5. Psycho Path – 5:23
6. Room 185 – 4:13 ft. guest vocals Steph Jomphe (Insurrection)
EP Length: 29:55

EP Credits:
All songs performed by: Rockin’ Engine (Guest feature of Steph Jomphe “INSURRECTION” in Room 185)
• All songs written by: Rockin’ Engine
Produced by: Dark Moon Productions
Mixed by: Dark Moon Productions
Mastered by: Dark Moon Productions
Album Artwork by: Steve O Leff (Image reference from Adobe Stock and Shutterstock)
Member of SOCAN

EP Recording and Live Band Lineup:
Steve O Leff – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Ste Vy Leff – Lead Guitar
JP Buzzard – Bass
Joel Bilodeau – Drums/Vocals

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The EP as a whole

“Altered By Evil” is a tribute to everything we love about horror movies and serial killer documentaries. There’s a fascination behind the love of the macabre and the grotesque that we wanted to explore with our lyrics and expose different nuances of some classic works of art. With this album, we’re bringing the audience into a fantasy world of monsters and evil spirits, with a dash of historical elements that makes the listening experience even more interesting.

Track by Track explained:

Carnival Of Evil:

Inspired by the works of Rob Zombie, more specifically Sid Haig’s fictional character Captain Spaulding, the Carnival Of Evil is a group of creepy gypsy-looking psychopathic killers moving from town to town, not only to amuse the audiences but also to terrorize them as their spectacles take place. They are ruthless yet charismatic, and they will stop at nothing to deliver a performance to die for!

Day Of Wrath:

This dramatic piece was originally inspired by one of my favourite horror movies, The Exorcist. However, it was only when I did some research on the origins of its musical score that I discovered the amazing historical value behind this masterpiece. Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, is probably one of the best horror movie songs ever written, but there were certain parts in the movie where I had the feeling I’ve heard similar music before and it got me curious. In fact, Dies Irae (Day Of Wrath) was originally a poem written by Christian monks in the thirteenth century describing the day that God would descend on earth and unleash his final judgment on us all. This poem was later compiled amongst other literature pieces in a manuscript named Carmina Burana. The manuscript, which is thought to have been written in the fifteenth century, was only found in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern, in Bavaria. This collection later inspired many orchestral virtuosos, including Verdi and Carl Orff, to compose what I think are the best classical works of all time.

Liber Ex-Mortis:

Inspired by the amazing Evil Dead saga, more specifically Army Of Darkness, Liber Ex-Mortis (Book Of The Dead) is the story of a man who was sent into the Middle Ages through an evil spirit wormhole and is forced to battle the undead in his quest to return to the present. He forms an alliance with two rival armies, and together, they vanquish the forces of evil to send them back into the Book Of The Dead, the spirit world.

Monsters Under Your Bed:

This is the story of a young woman haunted by her past, her imaginary monster. Being sleep deprived for a long time, she fears falling asleep as she constantly feels her monster’s presence around her. The monster, however, can only harm her in her dreams, her nightmares… or so she thinks! Inspired by the genius work of Wes Craven, Monsters Under Your Bed is our version of the infamous Nightmare On Elm Street. This piece is heavy, punchy, and catchy, and will satisfy the eyes and ears of any horror movie fanatic!

Psycho Path:

I’ve always been fascinated and intrigued by human behaviour, especially the deviant nature of humans. I’m a huge fan of serial killer documentaries, not because I support their actions, but mostly to try to understand the origin and the nature of Evil. Actor Christian Bale in his role in American Psycho is actually the main reason why I started learning more about actual historical psychopathic characters such as Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez. During the writing process of this song, I wanted to take a different approach to their stories and tell them according to their point of view, like an actual psychopath. It’s the most evil and disturbing song we’ve ever written!

Room 185:

Jack Torrance, the character played by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, has to be my favourite horror movie character of all time. That performance is what made me addicted to horror movies. I wanted to write a song about this movie as an homage to this masterpiece. When we started to work together on this song, we soon realized that this would be our heaviest composition to date, and we needed someone to help us express this emotion in order to be satisfied with our work. After doing some research, we approached Insurrection’s lead vocalist Stef Jomphe in an attempt to have his voice on the track, just to make it that much better! We were absolutely honoured and excited when he accepted the project and headed straight to the studio. This song hits you in a way that you have no choice but to headbang!

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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS

1. Being huge fans of the 80’s rock era, Joel and Ste Vy once decided to kidnap me (Steve O Leff) to go see Steel Panther live in Quebec City, which was a 5-hour drive from where we live. We unfortunately missed the show since the place was sold out and we couldn’t get in. We ended up in a bar to see our friends from The Agonist perform and spend the night. Surprisingly, the guys from Steel Panther end up in the same bar and we told them about our little misfortune. We ended up partying with them all night, singing karaoke, and drinking tequila shots. One thing’s for sure, they certainly live up to their image!

2. All our music videos have references to popular movies. We also do all our special effects, costumes, and makeup for the video shoots. I also like to write a script beforehand to help everyone grasp the ideas behind every scene, that way we can really capture the emotions we’re trying to expose in the videos.

3. When we shot the video with Dark Moon Productions for our song “The State Of Nature”, we rented a Victorian-style reception space, located in a church basement in Ottawa. Everyone was dressed in Victorian gothic fashion, with vampire fangs, pale skin, and some blood. Joel built a super nice table for the human sacrifice scene, which was very bloody of course. Little did we know, a mass was taking place in the church above us and two priests came downstairs to ask us to lower the music. Let’s just say that when they came on set and saw all the blood and vampires everywhere, their faces were priceless!!!

4. As we did in our previous music videos, we always build our own props and video sets ourselves. Only, with the videos for this album, we decided to go big and build our own mechanical effects as well. After posting a few of our projects on social media, we started receiving demands to build props and special effects for other bands, which made us realize that we had something special to offer. We are now working on commercializing our creations to help out music video and even movie producers, while creating amazing professional relationships and perhaps making a living out of it.

5. JP Buzzard is quite the animal on stage! He really brings the spirit with his wicked long hair, leather pants, and signature moves. One of his moves is to throw his bass toward the crowd at the very end of our show but quickly grabs it back with his bass strap before it hits someone. But since not all stages are made for this beast, he once threw his bass right on a sprinkler head and everyone was going nuts… until we realized the sprinklers were deactivated. Talk about being lucky!

L-R – Ste Vy Leff (Lead Guitar), Steve O Leff (Vocals, Guitar), Joel Bilodeau (Drums), Jean-Pierre Proulx (Bass).

Photo Credits: Lisa Thompson of Dark Moon Productions

PEDAL TO THE FLOOR, MOTOR RUNNING HIGH

That’s how Rockin’ Engine rolls, full throttle, no compromise. Officially formed in 2018, they released their first self-produced album “Midnight Road Rage” which caught the attention of many hard rock and heavy metal enthusiasts throughout Europe and America. After joining forces with Dark Moon Productions to produce their first professional music videos, it was clear that this quartet’s path toward heavy metal eminence was only beginning. They later released a post-apocalypse concept EP, “The Wretched And The Damned”, that truly reflected the direction in which the band was heading. Their creativity, high-octane energy, and will to succeed, granted them a few honourable opening performing spots with Tony MacAlpine, Ross The Boss, Death Angel, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Switching things into high gear for 2023, Rockin’ Engine produced their very anticipated new EP “Altered By Evil” inspired by 80’s psycho horror, ready to be released this summer. They claim it is by far their best work yet and look forward to raising Hell wherever they set foot. If Gojira, Lamb Of God, and Rob Zombie made a baby, Rockin’ Engine would be their bastard son. Their fusion of Hard Rock and Thrash Metal will set fire to any stage and leave everyone with a bad case of whiplash.

Rockin’ Engine is:
Steve O Leff – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Ste Vy Leff – Lead Guitar
JP Buzzard – Bass
Joel Bilodeau – Drums/Vocals

Discography:
2023 – Altered By Evil
2020 – The Wretched And The Damned
2019 – Midnight Road Rage

Shared Stage with: Angelus Apatrida, Yngwie Malmsteen, Anvil, Death Angel, Exmortus, Hell Fire, Ross The Boss, Tony MacAlpine, Warrior Soul, Ghoulunatics, Fractures & Outlines, Cevilain, Colorsfade, Scepter, Lycanthro, Cynical Sons.

Tours and Festivals:
2019 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2018 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2017 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2016 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.

0 EPK – All Else Fails – The Incident at Black Lake (2022)

May 24, 2023
by Asher
· All Else Fails · EPKs

EPK – All Else Fails – The Incident at Black Lake (2022)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations.com

“This EP is an evolution of All Else Fails in every aspect of its musicality, its songs are heavier, more complex, and deeper than ever. Employing elements of other genres like industrial noise, moody electronics, or ambient sampling has always been a hallmark of the band, but “The Incident at Black Lake” takes a new approach. It is a fusion of these core elements with a new level of technical metal prowess and a dramatically more dynamic vocal style. The three original songs and one cover explore themes of devastating mental illness, dystopic mass existential nihilism, and ideological fascism. “It took over 2 full years to write and produce this EP, we took our time with every part, every note, every modulated warble. Every musical element has a place and purpose. We are telling a horrifically personal, furiously aggressive, and unnervingly beautiful musical story of mental terror and surviving despair. With a dark heart, we present The Incident at Black Lake”.” – Barrett Kelsko – All Else Fails

For fans of Chimaira, Killswitch Engage, Revocation, Soilwork, Fleshgod Apocalypse

Band: All Else Fails
EP Title: The Incident at Black Lake
Release Date: Sept 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: CD Baby

Facebook.com/AllElseFailsCanada | Instagram.com/allelsefailscanada | YouTube.com/user/allelsefailscanada

Allelsefails.bandcamp.com | Spotify | Apple Music

“The Incident at Black Lake might be “just” a four-track EP by All Else Fails, but its 25 minutes of music are absolutely intense and electrifying, proving why they’re undoubtedly one of the most important names of the Canadian Metalcore scene.” – The Headbanging Moose

“The third theme is my favorite without a doubt. “Flesh/Excess/Wealth” has one of the most vibrant riffs starting at minute 2`40« and they make up for it with a percussion chorus that had previously been heard on the vocals. Finally, when I couldn’t like it more, ALL ELSE FAILS decides to end with a tribute to my beloved DEATH. The cover that they do with “Crystal Mountain”, uniting the trail that Chuck Schuldiner left us while leaving his personal mark, to take off his hat. I love these Canadians and look forward to their next album.” – 9.5/10 – Necromance Magazine

“The EP itself is a cyclone of melodic metalcore fire, death metal toxicity and progressive imagination revealing ALL ELSE FAILS at their most open, intense and thrilling.” – The Ringmaster Review

“Being dark in nature, it tells the suffering that Klesko was facing and what he was seeing in his head. While very dark at times, it’s mind-bendingly beautiful to see it from this perspective. And I can’t wait to hear what else the band has to offer.” 4/5 – Metal Epidemic

““Flesh/Excess/Wealth” is a close second for my favorite song, however. Klesko says he wrote it about losing his sense of humanity. It’s a really aggressive song, but also contains some really beautiful clean singing and a wicked guitar solo. The final song on the EP is a cover of “Crystal Mountain” by the band DEATH, a song much loved by the band. Lyrically, the song fits the dark tone the band set for the previous songs on the EP. I think the band did a good job with the cover and putting their own sound to it. Overall, I thought this was a great EP where I could really feel the emotions that went into writing it.” – Metal-Temple

“”The Incident At Black Lake” is a solid EP” – Powermetal.de

“Canadian band All Else Fails are out with the EP “The Incident at Black Lake”, and this is a production that probably will be of interest to some fans of progressive metal. While a variety of a core based style of metal is at the heart of the proceedings here, the different vocal tones, the changes and alterations over to atmospheric laden and melodic metal, what might be described as thrash metal as well as some quirky instrument movements and expressive arrangement choices does add what I’d describe as a progressive spirit to the proceedings here… If metalcore with an expressive orientation and progressive aspirations sounds interesting to you, this is an EP you might consider becoming a bit more familiar with.” – Progressor

“A Monster of a Metal Opus” – The Edmonton Journal (The False Sanctuary 2018)

“All Else Fails has a striking level of detail, constant melodic bloodshed and unremitting rhythms that push through your throat leaving you with no choice but to bang your head.” – Boston Rock Radio (The False Sanctuary 2018)

“They are by turns pissed and melodic, speedy and anthemic – but always organic sounding….their song “The Sons Of Plenty”, a tune that encompasses all those things and demonstrates what the band is capable of.” – Gear Gods (The Forever Lie 2017)

“Guttural heaviness + impacting music = You’ll like it!” – CFMU 93.3 FM – Master Radio (Hamilton, ON) ( The Forever Lie 2017)

“From song to song you are greeted by pummeling riffs, heavy blasting drums, thick bass lines and vocals that transition between menacing and deadly growls to soaring and highly intoxicating cleans. Before you know it All Else Fails has you headbanging and singing along to each of their songs.” – Cadaver Garden (The Forever Lie 2017)

“this six track EP sees this quartet expand their mutant thrash blueprint with doses of melodic crooning and bursts of dizzying orchestral strings on Obedience At The Altar Of Sacrifice.” – Metal Hammer Mag UK (Fucktropolis – 2013)
““Fucktropolis”. What an awesome name for an EP. And what an awesome EP it is.” – Metal Temple (Fucktropolis – 2013)

“They have a very ominous sound, if you will, with quick, intricate and skillful instrumentals – especially the drumming. Their talent really shows through in their final product.” – Spill Magazine (Fucktropolis – 2013)

[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]

Band: All Else Fails
EP Title: The Incident at Black Lake
Release Date: Sept 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: CD Baby

Track Listing:
1. I, Defiler (5:48)
2. Devour the Sun (8:24)
3. Flesh /Excess /Wealth (5:36)
4. Crystal Mountain (5:19)
EP Length: 25:09

EP Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: All Else Fails (Barrett Klesko, John Saturley, Coco Lee, Nelson Collins-Lee)
• All songs written by: All Else Fails (Barrett Klesko, John Saturley, Coco Lee, Nelson Collins-Lee)
• Produced by: All Else Fails (Barrett Klesko, John Saturley, Coco Lee, Nelson Collins-Lee)
• Mixed by: Bevin Booth
• Mastered by: Bevin Booth
• Album Artwork by: Zulmi_m (https://www.fiverr.com/zulmi_m)
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
EP Recording and Live Band Line Up:
Barrett Klesko – Vocals, Guitar
John Saturley – Guitar
Coco Lee – Bass, Vocals
Nelson Collins-Lee – Drums

==============================================

The EP as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

This EP is fucking dark, musically and lyrically. I wrote my parts in the darkest, most distressed headspace I have ever been in. Most of the time during the writing of this EP, I was convinced that I had been unglued from time, I was barely functioning. Through the fog and sensation of reality warping around me, I somehow found clarity in my writing. Weirdly, at first, I didn’t know that I was writing about myself, I was just kind of writing. I remember there was a day when we got our first mix back, and I hadn’t heard the songs in a few weeks, 30 seconds into the first verse, I collapsed in this park I was walking in, and I realized that the songs were me, describing the suffering I had been experiencing so that I could understand what was happening in my own head, it was completely overwhelming. I had created something so direct, with zero awareness that I was doing so. It was a mind-bending experience as if a past version of myself had reached out through time to help me understand what was happening to me, an absolute headfuck. For my contributions musically I created tones and sounds that conveyed how distorted the world around me felt, I was attempting to use the music to level out the turmoil I was experiencing internally. I was experiencing reality in waves of vertigo, time-loss, and visual blackouts, I was trying to push back on these sensations with music. I think this EP is beautiful, there is elegance in darkness. I think it’s sad because I know the turmoil and pain it took to write it, and I think it’s powerful because it’s the first time I have truly been honest in my music.

Track by Track explained (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

I, Defiler: The first song I wrote lyrically for the EP. In the early days of my spiral, when confusion about my own state was at its highest. I was doing everything I could to understand the suffering I was experiencing. I tried using Acid in an attempt to explore my own mind. Informally guided trips allowed me to see aspects of myself that I hadn’t considered, and I was desperately searching for clarity I couldn’t find in the real world. Primarily this song is about those explorations of self, both the positives and the futility. The song opens with the line “We are the Watcher” which is the experience of standing outside my own body and judging myself as lacking. During one of these trips my mind disconnected from the flow of time for the first time, I describe it as being able to “slide the scale” into different times in my own life, often which had points anchored in trauma, but occasionally were sitting in places of peace and beauty. The lyrics attempt to put to music these sensations, and the following experiences of both déjà vu and Jamais vu, sometimes simultaneously. Musically the song is erratic, kinetic, and industrial. It is heavy, both in guitars but in electronics and noise as well, and carries a time change into its bridge that furthers the disconnect between perception and reality.

Devour the Sun: This song is an allegory. A child from a beautiful nameless place travels across existence. It was born in warmth and life, from an engine of creation, and its only need is to share who it is with whatever it comes in contact with. As it travels, it leaves a piece of its radiance behind as a gift, a tiny slice of its essence that it shares with exuberance. It travels for years, shining it’s light on whatever it encounters, however, over the long years, it eventually forgets who it is, and with that, where it came from. The child drifts, older now, and comfortable at first to be pulled along by the forces around it, buffeted across the ether, fulfilled by the simple act of experience. Over time, however, discontent begins to grow. Who was it? There must be a purpose beyond drifting endlessly in the black. Its questions turn to screams and cries in the heavens, but the black has no answers. Eventually, devoid of solace, its voice becomes quiet and its mind despondent. It slowly diminishes, becoming a faded husk, lost inside its own ruminations, until one day it enters the atmosphere of a nameless biome. For the first time in years, it sees its own reflection. Cast back unto itself by the starry eyes of a young girl, undistorted by expectation, its fragmented and damaged memories return. It knows once again that long ago it was a star, a sun, burning bright in the deepest reaches of the universe. In this child’s eye, the light that was once a star becomes an experience; bright, beautiful, and warm, and then a memory; comforting and soft. For a moment, the light knows peace in the surety of itself, but the child sleeps, the memory fades, and the light from the long-dead star is lost forever in nothingness. Musically this song follows an unconventional narrative. It ebbs and flows, thrash riffs turn to piano-esq clean parts. Soaring melodies devolve into full-bodied guttural torment before becoming aethereal whispers.

Flesh /Excess /Wealth: This song explores the horror of having the sense of my own humanity removed from my conscious existence. I live in a time where I am taught to ignore my strongest human instincts, to follow systems put in place to hurt me, and to ignore what I perceive with my senses. I put progress and individualism over kindness and community, I have forgotten that I am part of a greater universe to which humanity has barely opened our eyes to. I hurt myself in the name of our god; currency, I humiliate myself at the altar of ego. I place the needs of the unknown few above the wanting many and am often not aware of doing so. This song is about disconnection. Musically it is oppressive, militant, violent, and aggressive.

Crystal Mountain: This is a song we love, and felt that we could cover faithfully at its core, while adding our own twists to its soundscape, to justify its existence. Lyrically it speaks to religious oppression on a personal and community level.

=======================================================

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. During a festival performance in India, Barrett was stage diving in the crowd. When he tried to return over the barricade, he was mistaken for a fan rushing the stage, and beaten with what he describes as “whapping sticks”. Post-show, the security team asked for selfies which Barrett agreed to on the condition that he got to hold one of the sticks.

2. During the recording of this album the band founded a “Bourbon Club”, in which they sampled (consumed) and reviewed over 60 bottles of Bourbon. The group favorite for both quality and price point: Four Roses.

3. The band initially intended to release this album as one 25-minute song due to the flow between songs and old-school story telling vibe that it evoked, but scrapped the idea in favour of a more fan friendly, standardized experience. The album is still recommended by the band to be consumed as a whole.

4. John and Barrett miscalculated the strength of some weed edibles once on tour, leading to an incident called “The Brain-Lasering”.

5. The programming / keyboards / noise were originally started as an afterthought to a very guitar forward album, but as the band began work on writing these parts, the songs took on a whole new dimension, fundamentally changing their sound. The intensity of the work and the level that these layers affected the songs have led us to described the process as “scoring the soundtrack to our own album”.

About:

Over the last 15 years, Edmonton, Alberta based award-winning metal band All Else Fails has become a cornerstone of the melodic heavy metal community in Canada. Combining intense riffs, intricate rhythm sections, brutal guttural screams, and melodic yet unusual vocal lines paired with relevant and relatable lyrics, All Else Fails’ message resonates with us all.

Formed in 2006 with the release of their self-titled EP, All Else Fails has gone on to release 9 studio albums, many of which have garnered awards and nominations from across the Canadian music industry and have propelled the band into live performances all over the world, including their massively successful tour of India in 2017.

For the past two years, the band has been hard at work writing their new album “The Incident at Black Lake.” A deeply personal, brutally honest, and staggeringly complex take on the reality-bending mental struggles of vocalist and founder, Barrett Klesko (The Misfires, The Order of Chaos). The band is filled out by guitarist John Saturley (The Order of Chaos, Skepsis), bassist and vocalist Coco Lee (Eternal Prophecy), and drummer Nelson Collins-Lee (The 21st Agenda, Skepsis). The album is produced by Bevin Booth of In the Booth Recordings and engineered at The Electric Treehouse in Edmonton, Alberta.

In 2022, the band is returning to their DIY roots by mindfully abandoning their social media and redirecting their energy to contributing to their local metal scene by building a direct personal connection to their fans and followers, living in line with a humanist philosophy and encouraging a culture of support between artists. All Else Fails’ new single “Flesh /Excess /Wealth” drops in early September with the full EP “The Incident at Black Lake” releasing September 30th. Fans can experience their explosive new live show this fall in Western Canada.

All Else Fails is:
Barrett Klesko – Vocals, Guitar
John Saturley – Guitar
Coco Lee – Bass, Vocals
Nelson Collins-Lee – Drums

Discography:
2022 – The Incident at Black Lake (EP)
2018 – The False Sanctuary (EP)
2017 – The Forever Lie (EP)
2013 – Fucktropolis (EP)
2012 – Ruins Punk for Everyone – LP
2011 – The Oracle: What Was, Is, and Could Have Been Special Edition Re – Release (full length)
2010 – The Oracle: What Was, Is, and Could Have Been EP
2008 – Against the Darkening Sky – LP
2007 – Of Ashes and Accusations Live DVD / CD
2006 – Self-Titled EP

0 EPK – Dorea

May 23, 2023
by Asher
· Dorea · EPKs

EPK – Dorea

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

Band: Dorea
Single Title: Hypnotic:
Release Date: May 22, 2023
Label: Self-Release

“We hope the fans perceive the sound as something fresh & unique. We continue to write music because it is our passion and we want to leave behind a legacy and repertoire of timeless music. We are really devoted to making the songs as groovy, heavy, melodic, and catchy as possible while at the same time adding elements of virtuosity. In other words, the goal is for the listeners to sing along to the hooks but at the same time appreciate the musicianship and technical aspects of each member’s individual performance.” – Dorea

Doreaband.com | Facebook.com/Doreaband | Instagram.com/doreaband

Digital – https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dorea/hypnotic

L-R – Manuel Iradian – All Guitars/ Bass/ Vsts, Hugo McSween – Vocals, Kevin Alexander – Drums

Montreal, Canada’s Dorea is a fresh metal band on the scene that features high energy, tightness, and precision, a clear, modern sound with both clean and harsh vocals, insane guitar solos, and crushing drums. They are eager to introduce themselves to the world with their debut single along with many others they have recorded since their inception. They have carefully chosen their forthcoming music to show listeners what they’re capable of and they deliver nothing less than catchy hooks, moving lyrics, and melodies that give way to bone-shaking riffs. The band’s first introduction “Hypnotic” is presented with a dark and gloomy music video, which complements the dark theme of the lyrics. The band shares their thoughts:

“This song speaks about a man that loses everything he has, reminiscing about his past life and searching for truth in answers he never found. The song has everything from ballads to ripping guitar solos and complex riffing. It’s a melting pot of styles. We hope the fans perceive the sound as something fresh & unique. We continue to write music because it is our passion and we want to leave behind a legacy and repertoire of timeless music.”

Devoted to making the songs as groovy, heavy, melodic, and catchy as possible while at the same time adding elements of virtuosity, Dorea’s goal is to entice listeners to sing along to the hooks and at the same time, appreciate the musicianship and technical aspects of each member’s individual performance.

Their music is colorful, rich in its diversity of styles, with even some pop elements that can be heard from time to time. “Hypnotic” was chosen as the debut single as it is the most accessible in terms of its diversity of listening ability. It takes the audience on a journey by creating complex structures with fluid transitions, but unexpected heaviness hits you right in the face.

There is no fluff with Dorea, and they are devoid of any theatricals, they are simply three metal dudes writing and performing some of the best material they can. Edgy, and familiar, Dorea is recommended for fans of Avenged Sevenfold, Pantera, Symphony X, and Opeth.

Band: Dorea
Single Title: Hypnotic:
Release Date: May 22, 2023
Label: Self-Release

Single Credits:
• All songs performed by: Manuel Iradian, Kevin Alexander, Hugo McSween
• All songs written by: Manuel Iradian, Kevin Alexander & Vocals/Lyrics by: Hugo McSween
• Produced by: Manuel Iradian & Kevin Alexander
• Mixed by: Chris Donaldson
• Mastered by: Chris Donaldson
• Single Artwork by: AI

Dorea is:
Hugo McSween – Vocals
Manuel Iradian – All Guitars/ Bass/ Vsts
Kevin Alexander – Drums

0 EPK – Hooker Spit – Krötch Splitter (2023)

May 17, 2023
by Asher
· EPKs · Hooker Spit

EPK – Hooker Spit – Krötch Splitter (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

For fans of At The Gates, Lamb of God, The Black Dahlia Murder, Blood Bath, Carcass

“We are trying to paint a dark picture with our music and lyrical content while touching on the raw emotion, desperation, and depths of depravity contained within the human experience. We put our hearts and souls into this record and we truly hope that people will enjoy listening to this album as much as we enjoyed making it.” – Daniel White – Vocals – Hooker Spit

Hookerspitofficial.com | Facebook.com/hookerspitofficial | Instagram.com/hookerspit.official | Youtube.com/@hookerspitofficial

Hookerspitofficial.bandcamp.com | Spotify

“Over the top musically and influenced horror and the horrors of life, the band just dropped their new single “White Lighter!” Check out the track now!” – Ghost Cult Mag

“Prepare for an intense metal experience with Hooker Spit’s debut album Krötch Splitter, showcasing a fusion of metal styles while maintaining a unique brand and name. The band’s seven meticulously selected tracks deliver a relentless barrage of fast riffs, thunderous drums, and intense guttural vocals. The raw, emotionally charged lyrics delve into the depths of human experience. With grand ambitions and abundant energy, Hooker Spit aims to take their aggressive death metal to new heights, shocking everyone in their path.” – Metal Insider

“No surprise that a Red Deer band with the name Hooker Spit and a new album called Krötch Splitter, plays ear-piercing, dystopian death metal.” – Red Deer Advocate

“”Krötch Splitter” boasts some impressive moments and the band undoubtedly has potential… it’s a promising debut for Hooker Spit…” – Amplified-Mag

“Brutal groovin’ thrashy death metal. Cool stuff!” – The Moshpit – WORT 89.9 FM (Madison, WI)

“an up and coming (melodic) death metal band with a penchant for writing songs with heavy yet catchy riffs, low grunts and destructive drum grooves.’ Wings of Death

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Band: Hooker Spit
Album Title: Krötch Splitter
Release Date: July 28, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

Track Listing:
1. Call of the Void – 3:13
2. Corpse Grinder – 3:18
3. The Huntsmen – 4:06
4. Krötch Splitter – 3:48
5. Flesh Feast – 3:55
6. Dry Fisted – 3:34
7. White Lighter – 2:54
Album Length: 24:02

Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Vlad Gligor, Dan White, Jose Garza, Devin Link, Scott Gooding
• All songs written by: Vlad Gligor, Dan White, Jose Garza, Devin Link, Scott Gooding
• Produced and Engineered by: Vlad Gligor, Levi Jones, Brad Choquette
• Mixed by: Develop Device Studios
• Mastered by: Develop Device Studios
• Album Artwork by: PaleaRaptor
• Member of SOCAN
• MAPL (Canadian Content)

Album Band Lineup:
Daniel White – Vocals
Vlad Gligor – Guitar
Devin Link – Guitar
José Garza – Bass
Scott Gooding – Drums

==============================================================

The album as whole is explained by Hooker Spit vocalist Daniel White:

The album combines dark, heavy, high-energy music intertwining with lyrical themes that convey the abject cosmic horror of what it means to be human.

Track by Track explained by vocalist Daniel White and guitarist Vlad Gligor:

1. Call of the Void: This is the first song we wrote. It contains all of the elements you could expect in a Hooker Spit song. Lyrically the song deals with the subject of self-harm and the pendulum-like experience of someone who is trying to process those thoughts. The lyrics are intrusive thoughts personified.

2. Corpse Grinder: The intention musically was to write a love letter to Cannibal Corpse. Vlad pitched the name and Dan decided to write it from the perspective of a cannibal meditating on their next feast.

3. Huntsmen: We really wanted to write a song with a clean intro and it evolved into an upbeat and melodic death metal song. The song discusses the struggle of life and having the strength to move through to reach the truest expression of self.

4: Krötch Splitter: This song is a macabre tale of a necrophiliac receiving their “just deserts” from a recently exhumed corpse. This song marries death and symphonic black metal to create a terrifying revenge story.

5. Flesh Feast: This track is a combination of old-school and modern death metal. The song contains a thrashy feel while bringing you to unexpected harmonies and breakdowns. Lyrically the song describes a dystopian society at the edge of extinction. Prior to systemized genocide, the populace revolts and devours their overlords.

6. Dry-fisted: It was composed when Vlad was going through some tough times. Dan was also experiencing something similar during the writing process leading to a metalcore epic about abandonment and betrayal.

7. White Lighter: This is by far our most chaotic song. White lighter embodies American death metal such as Lamb of God and Dethklok. It expresses the contrast between the rhetoric and the reality of organized religion.

==========================================================

Fun Facts – Story Angles

1. Devin is known as Father Quack. At first, he was referred to as Daddy Ducky but that name has since evolved. During a show we played with Ravenous E.H. he wore a complete rubber duck print outfit and threw rubber ducks out to the crowd. Instead of applauding, the crowd then proceeded to squeak the ducks. There are still people coming out of the woodwork messaging us about how much they love their ducks.

2. Our artwork is created by a close friend and Canadian artist who goes by PaleaRaptor. We plan to keep our look consistent but add new characters as we go. Eventually, we would love to have a whole roster of Hooker Spit girls. We plan to introduce new characters as we release more content.

3. When we played a black metal event we thought it would be really funny to paint our faces like Kiss. While being surrounded by people who looked like Abbath we looked like sell-out 70s rockers.

4. The beginning of Flesh Feast came about from Dan being drunk twice in one day. Things got a little silly and he was doing an impression of a Southern Baptist while recording. Vlad loved the idea but said it needed more “rosemary”. We refined it and the intro to Flesh Feast was born.

5. Our album as well as the initial mix was recorded and done in Vlad’s home studio. Final mix and mastering were completed by Develop Device Studios who has worked with the likes of Jeff Loomis and Aborted in the past. We were excited to work with Jaroslav and we are happy with the results.

Left to Right and Center: Vlad Gligor (Lead Guitar), José Garza (Bass Guitar), Scott Gooding, (Drums), Devin Link (Rhythm Guitar), Center: Daniel White (Vocals)

Emanating from Red Deer, Canada, Hooker Spit is an up-and-coming Death Metal band with a penchant for writing infectious riffs. Comprising Vlad Gligor (Lead Guitar), Devin Link (Rhythm Guitar), José Garza (Bass), Daniel White (Vocals), and Scott Gooding (Drums), the Quintet is inspired by internationally acclaimed bands like At The Gates, Bloodbath, Carcass, and The Black Dahlia Murder.

Filled with heavy chunky riffs, guttural vocals, and destructive drum grooves, Hooker Spit has developed a sonic quality and episodic visual concept that is so unique to them, it can be immediately recognized as their own. The band has a unique innate competency to ingeniously present music in multiple styles of metal, all while maintaining a consistent brand, one of the factors that make this band one to keep an eye out for. With big dreams and plenty of energy to spare, Hooker Spit hopes to tour the world, bringing their music to people from all walks of life.

Shared Stage with: Paramnesia, Omniarch, Atavistia, Ravenous E.H., Black Pestilence, Tymo, Narcissistic Necrosis, Fall of Earth, Wraith Risen, Netheriel, Divide the Dead, Pridelands, Omniarch, Decrepitation

Tours and Festivals:
2023 – Loud As Hell – Drumheller, AB – w/ Jungle Rot, Incite, Necronomicon, The Convalescence

0 EPK – Circana Arcana – F.U.C.K.Y.O.U. (2023)

May 17, 2023
by Asher
· Circa Arcana · EPKs

EPK – Circana Arcana – F.U.C.K.Y.O.U. (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

“We want the listener to really express their rage for modern-day society.” – Circa Arcana

For fans of Wage War, We Came As Romans, Attila, Underoath, A Day To Remember

Band: Circa Arcana
EP Title: F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.
EP Release Date: September 1, 2023

Facebook.com/circa.arcana | Instagram.com/circa.arcana | YouTube

Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon | Circaarcana.bandcamp.com

https://linktr.ee/circaarcana

“this EP swept me up in a wave of nostalgic feelings with its mixture of heavy guitar riffs, melodic choruses, crushing vocals, and the occasional somber and more emotional moments. The tracks on this EP showcase everything that got me into this style of music” – Mike Leighton, Metal Epidemic (EP Review)

“Since 2021, Circa Arcana has been working the grind: they opened up for Limp Bizkit at Rebel Rock & went back to perform in Florida this year, April 23rd, to perform at the Earthday Birthday 2022 festival. That was the same festival that groups such as Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Black Veil Brides, Ice Nine Kills & Jelly Roll performed.” – Daniel Paulus, KLAQ

“Needless to say, Circa Arcana hit all the right notes here, so if you’re looking for something familiar yet fresh, this might be the one for you.” – New Fury Media

“Circa Arcana’s debut EP was released on February 18 for the world to hear. With a cacophony of breakdowns juxtaposed with infectious choruses that are easy to sing along to, the EP is a fast-paced rollercoaster to the face with the songs flowing together and showing a strong diversity in their music styles.” – HEAVY Magazine

“Circa Arcana presents a solid first effort and is recommended for fans of Wage War, Like Moths To Flames and We Came As Romans.” Keith Clement, – Metalheads Forever Magazine

“a nice melding of the emo and hardcore styles. The 5 song EP shows Circa Arcana performing at the top of their abilities. Bridget Viginti is a nice showcase of some hardcore influenced tracks that are given an injection of melody… There are sing-along moments to be found here and they blend in nicely. There is catchiness and it leads to memorability.” – Heavy Music Headquarters

“A short and sweet explosion of American Metalcore, ranging from personal struggles with addiction and personal demons to stories of occult legends and disassociated dreams.” – The Headbanging Moose

“Drawing very much on the spirit of metalcore pioneers such as Killswitch and 36 Crazyfists, while also strongly referencing latter day proponents such as BMTH and We Came As Romans, Circa Arcana could well prove to be one of those bands that make you re-evaluate your assessment of what you believed to be a dying sub-genre by bringing a whole new level of excitement and re-invigoration to it. Fuck, they even throw anthemic power punk into the eclectic recipe, with obtuse sidebar of ‘Luna’.” – Uber Rock

Band: Circa Arcana
EP Title: F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.
EP Release Date: September 1, 2023

Track Listing:
1. 500 Likes – 2:53
2. King’s Wench – 3:06
3. Dybuk – 5:01
4. No Fucks Left – 3:40
5. Switchblades and Fistfights – 3:38
EP Length: 18:10

EP Credits:
Performed By: Circa Arcana
Songs Written By: Johny Serna, Kevin Cangas, Federico Corral, Jonny Garcia, Frankie Loya
Produced By: Federico Corral
Mixed By: Federico Corral
Mastered By: Legazpy Mastering, Cesar Legazpy
EP Artwork By: Circa Arcana

=======================================================

The EP as a whole:

The most unforgiving fucking album of 2023. It’s pretty aggressive, pretty fucking mean.

Track By Track:

500 Likes
It’s more of just modern-day stuff, not like an alpha male thing or anything like that, just be a fucking man bro. It’s pretty much about standing out there and doing whatever the fuck you want.

King’s Wench
This song is about a dude who hates his fucking girlfriend but when she dies, he goes and digs her up and starts fucking her body.

Dybuk
It’s about the band talking to our fans and telling them to stand the fuck up and not let someone put them down. Like man the fuck up and go do something about it. You know, fuck everybody.

No Fucks Left
Yeah, that song’s literally about telling all the whiny ass bitches of today’s modern lifestyle to go suck a dick because we don’t care what they think. It’s a big fuck you to the cancel culture.

Switchblades and Fistfights
It’s straight-up a fighting song. This song was made for people to hit each other too, the perfect song to be in the mosh pit for.

Encompassing a blend of influences from metalcore, post-hardcore, and nu-metal acts, American four-piece Circa Arcana, from El Paso, Texas have defined their sound to give listeners a nostalgic yet new variation of sound so often repeated in the metal music scene. They released their first single “Esoteric” in 2021 and an EP “Bridget Vīgintī” in 2022. This year they are following it up with “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.”, which they declare is the most unforgiving, aggressive, and meanest recording of the year.

According to the band, the first EP “Bridget Vīgintī” (released February 2022) was very emo, more of a heartfelt fan-to-fan moment, and with this new record, after touring and seeing how shitty people are, they wrote this one in a dark place. Music runs in their veins, and they bring a mixture of melodic, aggressive vocals, and hard-hitting riffs.

Fans who like to can get their adrenaline fix by bands such as Wage War, We Came As Romans and Attila are sure to get their fists pumping for Circa Arcana’s next offering “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.” due out on September 1, 2023.

Circa Arcana is:
Johny Serna (Guitar)
Jonny Garcia (Drums)
Federico Corral (Bass)
Kevin Cangas (Vocals)

Shared Stage with:
Memphis May Fire (Direct Support), Ice Nine Kills, Motionless In White, Jelly Roll, Matriarchs, The Convalescence, Living Dead Girl, Farewell To Fear, Steellake, Glorious

List of Tours and Festivals:
Mosh In The Deep End Tour – August 2022
Earthday Birthday Festival – April 2022
The Whisky A Go-Go (Special Guest Performance) – May 2023

0 EPK – Chronic Trigger – Word of Hate (single) (2023)

May 16, 2023
by Asher
· Chronic Trigger · EPKs

EPK – Chronic Trigger – Word of Hate (single) (2023)

Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

For fans of Tony Danza TapDance Extravaganza, Dr. Acula, Fit for an Autopsy, Signs of the Swarm, Kublai Khan

“This album is an audio conglomeration of all the challenges and adventures that helped us evolve into the band we are today. Every song on this album we wrote to excite our own inner musical goblins. If it excites the goblins, we feel it will excite the masses. The album was recorded over a period of one year with Flip Two Good at Aggressive Audio in SLC, UT and mastered in Germany by Manuel Renner at Uberlarm Studios. Several of the tracks from the album have been released as singles with associated music videos, all written and directed by us, in-house. Including a claymation video that took two years to create and film, all on our kitchen table.” – Chronic Trigger

Word of Hate (5:43) – Single off upcoming album “You Can’t Dance To This”
Single Release Date: May 16, 2023
Label: TBD
Distribution: TBD

All Links: Linktr.ee/ChronicTrigger

Facebook.com/ChronicTrigger | @billsabus_CT | Youtube.com/ChronicTriggerOfficial | Instagram.com/ChronicTriggerOfficial | Tiktok.com/@ChronicTrigger

Bandcamp.com/ChronicTriggerOfficial | Spotify.com/ChronicTrigger | Music.Apple.com/ChronicTrigger | Etsy.com/ChronicTrigger

“A blistering new thrash and death metal single from Chronic Trigger absolutely melts your face with endless changes and trudging masterfully performed riffs, screaming and melodic edgy vocals to go along with a vast and closed fisted set of riffs and drumming that destroys all the way through. The track is delightfully called “Plucking Pustule Peter’s Poisoned Porky Porpoise Punchbowl Party” and if you think that’s a mouthful, dive into this track because it’ll feel like an earthquake under your feet.” – BuzzSlayers (Aug 1, 2022)

“Progressive extreme metal band Chronic Trigger releases a monstrous music video visualization for the group’s new, ominous single “Black Mental Epilepsy”! (…)This track proves that Chronic Trigger is a formation known for the dynamism in the distinguishable mixture of music that the members’ talents are generating, simultaneously mixing classic elements of hardcore with technical and progressive death metal to create an unique heavy sound landscape.” – Kronos Mortus News (Nov 02, 2021

“Blending melody and brutality into one frantic unit, Chronic Trigger balance the line of technical hardcore and progressive metal with precision. The band showcases the uncanny ability to display technical chops while not skimping on the heavy and brutal metal style.” – Wail Music Magazine (Sept 01, 2018)

Word of Hate (5:43) – Single off upcoming album “You Can’t Dance To This”
Single Release Date: May 16, 2023
Label: TBD
Distribution: TBDSingle Credits:
All songs performed by: Chronic Trigger
All songs written by: Chronic Trigger
Produced by: Flip Twogood | Aggressive Audio | SLC, UT
Mixed & Mastered by: Manuel Renner | Ueberlaerm Studios | Germany
Album Artwork by: Adam SmithSingle Band Line Up:
Ryan Pigott (Vocals) | Adam Smith (Bass) | Rob Whittle (Drums) | Marshall Rock (Guitar)Live Band Line Up:
Ryan Pigott (Vocals) | Adam Smith (Bass) | Rob Whittle (Drums) | Marshall Rock (Guitar) | Landon Colledge (Guitar)

L-R: Chronic Trigger – Ryan Pigott (Vocals) | Marshall Rock (Guitar) | Adam Smith (Bass) | Landon Colledge (Guitar) | Rob Whittle (Drums)

Chronic Trigger is a metal band formed in 2016. Showcasing the uncanny ability to blend melody and brutality into one frantic unit of technical hardcore and progressive metal precision. Through several independent, tumultuous tours we have perfected our professional performance and established ourselves as a highly driven, unique brand. Chronic Trigger is known for its exuberant live shows and ridiculously entertaining and engaging content. We’re from Utah by the way…

Discography:
2023 – You Can’t Dance to This – Album
2023 – Word of Hate – Single
2022 – Plucking Pustule Peter’s Poisoned Porky Porpoise Punch Bowl Party – Single
2021 – Child Predator Dogs – Single
2021 – Black Mental Epilepsy – Single
2019 – Cats on Cocaine – Single
2017 – Psycles – Single
2017 – Psycles – EP

Shared Stage with:
AlterBeast
Angra
Bodysnatcher
Depths of Hatred
Ektomorph
Enterprise Earth
Green Jelly
Hemlock
Ingested
Jungle Rot
Psychostick
And MANY more!

Tours and Festivals:
2018 – Strangulation Nation Tour – NM, TX, GA, TN, MO, KS, CO
2018 – Hemlock 25 Year Anniversary Tour – Mt. Pleasant, UT
2018 – Feast Winter Tour (AlterBeast) – SLC, UT
2017-2018 – Word of Hate Tour – NV, AZ, CA, WA, OR, CO, OK, TX, NM, UT
2017 – San Carlos Metal Fest – Peridot, AZ
2017 – The VelociTurkeySaurus Rex Tour (PsychoStick) – SLC, UT
2017 – North American Tour (Arkaik) – SLC, UT
2017 – 2017 Summer Annihilation Tour (Product of Hate) – SLC, UT

Page 28 of 74

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