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Category: EPKs

0 EPK – Inhale Existence – Facade Breaker (single) (2022)

  • August 19, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Inhale Existence

EPK – Inhale Existence – Facade Breaker (single) (2022)

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

For fans of Meshuggah, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Periphery, The Contortionist

Album / Single Title: Facade Breaker
Release Date: August 19, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Inhaleexistence.com | Facebook.com/InhaleExistence | Instagram.com/inhaleexistence

Inhaleexistence.bandcamp.com | Apple Music | Spotify

“Facade Breaker (single) is our tech song. We liked the idea of including a technically aggressive song on the record, and since Sam had a few Necrophagist-inspired songs lying around, he ran with it. Musically, the song feels something like a mashup of Necrophagist, Archspire, and Revocation – vocally, however, things are very different, drawing from bands like Periphery and The Dillinger Escape Plan.” – Inhale Existence

[Download Single Cover | Download Single Lyrics]

Album / Single Title: Facade Breaker
Release Date: August 19, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Track Listing:
Facade Breaker (6:07)

Single Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Inhale Existence (Sam Mooradian, Nikhil Rao, Brian Krahe, James Knoerl)
• All songs written by: Sam Mooradian and Nikhil Rao
• Produced by: Sam Mooradian
• Mixed by: Jamie King
• Mastered by: Jamie King
• Album Artwork by: Moodmeth

Band Line Up:
Nikhil Rao – Vocals
Sam Mooradian – Guitar
Brian Krahe – Bass
James Knoerl – Drums

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

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. Our first album “The Spiral” plays like a concept album, but only musically. The lyrics are all thematically linked and exist in the same sort of universe, but there’s no single story being told. The music, on the other hand, has a bunch of recurring motifs and callbacks, the most obvious being found in the first and last tracks on the record.

2. Nikhil still listens to music on an iPod classic and buys music on iTunes. You’ll have to ask him why, because I definitely don’t know.

3. All of our songs were written and worked on remotely during the pandemic. We founded the band when Covid had made it to the US, but before the pandemic was officially declared – by a matter of days. Being home for those months to come, the majority of our first record was written, and that definitely shaped the music.

4. We have a 17-minute epic on our first album, written by Sam in just under a week.

5.  The band was formed as a 4-piece instead of as a more traditional 5-piece. Everything was tracked by the four members at Jamie King’s studio in North Carolina, with Jamie King.

Inhale Existence strives to be the most unabashedly heavy band they can be. Born of a combination of Nikhil Rao’s catchy vocals and Sam Mooradian’s crushing guitar riffs, and paired with Brian Krahe’s nasty bass tone and James Knoerl’s improvised grooves, Inhale creates something wholly unique in a saturated modern progressive metal scene. The band brings substantial experience with them, with all members having done major US tours with bands such as Fallujah (Sam), The Faceless (James), Krosis (Brian), and A War Within (Nikhil). With their sound inspired by bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Meshuggah – and colored with synthesizers – when Inhale Existence comes together, brace yourself.

In the summer of 2021, Inhale Existence entered the studio with renowned producer Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist) to record their debut album. The resulting record traverses a vast sonic landscape packaged in irreverent and interesting song structures. Its expected release in late 2022 promises to be both memorable and upsetting to the prog metal scene.

Band Line Up:
Nikhil Rao – Vocals
Sam Mooradian – Guitar
Brian Krahe – Bass
James Knoerl – Drums

Discography:
2011 – Facade Breaker (single)
2022 – Absolve (Single) – Music Video – https://youtu.be/kZ1h6zep9gw
2022 – The Spiral (Single) – Music Video – https://youtu.be/wVs2Nd64WQ4

0 EPK – Narcotic Wasteland

  • August 16, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Narcotic Wasteland

EPK – Narcotic Wasteland (Megaforce Records)

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

Booking Agent – Ashley Talent International, LLC – Andrea Roberts – ATI.AndreaR[@]Gmail[.]com

For fans of Vader, The Crown, Nile, Exodus, Marduk

Narcoticwasteland.com | Facebook.com/narcoticwasteland | Twitter.com/Narco_Wasteland

Youtube.com/user/narcoticwasteland | Instagram.com/narcoticwastelandofficial | Tiktok.com/@narcoticwasteland

Apple Music | Spotify | Amazon

New Single – Sex, Lies & DNA – Out July 28, 2023

“This song lyrically shows my ever-growing fascination with true crime. As I was working on this song I asked myself a question. I asked myself what’s worse? A serial killer that has to ritual kill for power and control over the victim, or the husband or wife that kills their partner for a life insurance payout? It’s all equally bad of course. The difference for me is I am fascinated with serial killers, but these other petty selfish murders like for money disgust me. While there are different reasons people kill it all seems to stem from being a sociopath. The level of detachment and selfishness is astounding. And many of these murders whether it be from a serial killer or more on the domestic side of things, drugs and alcohol often play a role.

Musically the song has a sort of frantic tri-tonal riffing you would expect from us but also has an old-school speed metal/ punk vibe. Particularly the chorus chant of the song. This song is one of the most challenging songs to sing and play at the same time I have ever written. I am extremely happy with the guitar solo Brett put into the song. It goes from there into my solo. For the chorus, we recorded multiple tracks for the chant!! Even our booking agent recorded a track!!!” – Dallas Toler-Wade

[Download Single Cover Artwork | Download Single Lyrics]

Single Credits:
Music by Dallas Toler-Wade
Lyrics by Dallas Toler-Wade  
Audio engineered and produced by Erik Schultek and Dallas Toler- Wade at Level 3 StudiosBand Lineup:
Dallas Toler-Wade – Guitar/ Vocals
Brett Lee – Lead Guitar
Erik Schultek -Drums
Kenji Tsunami – Bass
Joseph Howard – Vocals
Andrea_N_Black – Special Guest Vocals

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

“Narcotic Wasteland, the now-full-time project of ex-Nile guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade, is just stupid heavy. Toler-Wade and company dropped a self-titled debut album in 2014, and now they’re back with a face-melting new song called “Faces Of Meth.” It’s literally face melting in that it’s about fucking your face up with methamphetamines, and metaphorically face-melting in that Narcotic Wasteland knows nothing other than playing fast, loud, and undeniably brutal music.” – Metal Injection (2017)

“chock full of intensity, technicality, and speed” (Delirium Tremens) – Bravewords (2017)

“It is not easy to thrust the listener consistently into an aural landscape orchestrated by the band and make them stay put for the entire length of the album. Narcotic Wasteland does it brilliantly as they take you through the nightmarish journey of Delirium Tremens.” – Metal Wani (2017)

“More often than not, death metal bands have a tendency to stick to the familiar topics. Death, gore, killing – that sort of thing. There’s always exceptions, or bands that have a different take on the subject, but as they say, dark music demands dark themes. Narcotic Wasteland does, for one of its lyical slants, face a slightly different (yet still suiting) take – that of addiction. Plenty of grim to still go around with such a concept, and Narcotic Wasteland hits just as hard sonically as any other death metal act to come through the pipeline. Founded by Dallas Toler-Wade (he now formerly of Nile), Narcotic Wasteland released their first, self-titled album, back in 2014. Those yearning for something relentless surely found it with said release, and the band is now on the verge of releasing their second album, Delirium Tremens. A focused, tight-knit, and balls-to-the-wall effort that death metal fans should find some visceral comfort in.” – Dead Rhetoric (2017)

Photo Credit – Kenji Tsunami of Tsunami Films

Fourteen years into his two-decade tenure with acclaimed Greenville, South Carolina technical death metal band Nile, guitarist and vocalist Dallas Toler-Wade was itching to explore new musical and lyrical frontiers. So he hooked up with some old buddies from his hometown Fayetteville, North Carolina and started writing old-school death metal inspired by some of their favorite bands, including Gorguts, Immolation, Incantation and Suffocation.

“There was something really powerful about those bands, especially Gorguts,” Toler-Wade says. “They had these twin guitar compositions that felt different than the kind of death metal other bands were doing. So, Narcotic Wasteland is partially my way of rediscovering what I first loved about death metal.”

Narcotic Wasteland self-released their self-titled debut in 2014. Then in October 2016, Toler-Wade left Nile and Narcotic Wasteland became his main priority. “It was just time for me to do something different,” he says.

After talking to several companies, Narcotic Wasteland signed with Megaforce, which historically has launched the careers of Metallica, Anthrax, Testament, Overkill and others. Narcotic Wasteland’s second album, Delirium Tremens is a dramatic musical evolution from the band’s first release. Not only is the production better, the chemistry between Rhone and Toler-Wade is impeccable, each feeling out and feeding off of the other’s playing. And bassist Chris Dupre and drummer Phil Cancilla form a whirlwind rhythm section that’s tighter than a locked door. Coupled with trenchant grooves and impacting vocals, Delirium Tremens is more than an homage to the band’s favorite musicians, it’s a new style wrought from some of the best pages of the past.

“Maybe knowing that this was going to be my main band made me think about it a little more carefully about the songs,” Toler-Wade says. “I had a bit more direction and the stuff I was writing seemed more focused. The first record established a sound and this one definitely took it to the next level.”

On Delirium Tremens, Narcotic Wasteland exit the starting gate with guns blazing on “Introspective Nightmares,” a brutal feast of angular riffs, enticing licks, blast beats and scathing vocals. “Life Revolted” is slower, but impacts just as hard, juxtaposing staccato riffs and melodic guitar lines with double-bass drumming. Then there’s “Self Immolation,” one of two atmospheric instrumentals on the album; it consists of haunting organ, synth, piano and strings and would perfectly compliment the next Evil Dead sequel. Bassist LutaChrist Dupre wrote “Husk,” a death metal stormer that features acrobatic guitar lines and contrasts infectious chugging riffs with amphetamine-fueled blast beats; Dupre also collaborated with Toler-Wade on the lyrics to “Pharma Culture.”

Narcotic Wasteland named their new album after the title track, which is about delirium tremens, the medical term for symptoms an alcoholic suffers after about three days without a drink. These include uncontrollable shaking, shivering, sweating, heart palpitations, confusion and hallucinations.

“All these things are going through your brain and there are voices in your head,” says Toler-Wade, who admits having had problems with alcohol in the past. “It feels like you’re going crazy. It can happen with opioids, too, but most of the time it’s from severe alcoholism.”

Over the years, many of Toler-Wade’s friends and family have fallen into the abyss of addiction. And some never returned. It’s a tragic byproduct of growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a military town where male residents have a PTSD rate as high as 75% and there are the most reported incidents of shaken baby syndrome in the country. Lots of Fayetteville’s disenchanted population chooses to escape misery through street drugs, prescription medication and alcohol. Instead of remaining silent about the scourge that has surrounded him, Toler-Wade addresses it throughout Delirium Tremens.

“You waste your life trying to forget reality with booze, pills and cocaine/ I will not remain silent while you piss your life away,” he screams in the meaty, riff-saturated “Bleed and Swell.” And in the torrential, hyper-speed guitar-fest “Faces of Meth,” he growls about amphetamines “slowly killing you while robbing your youth and beauty” and laments those who “never had a chance at a normal life” and are “raised from generations of total ignorance.”

“I’m addressing all the bad stuff that goes on with addiction and making statements about what I see,” he says. “There have been a couple of people that have said we’re an anti-party band, but that’s not true at all. I don’t give a shit what people do with themselves. And, you know, if they can handle it, that’s fine. I’m really just interested in talking about addiction and some of the toxic human behavior that comes along with it.”

Unlike Nile, which wrote album after album about Egyptian history, theology and the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Narcotic Wasteland isn’t purely a concept band. The  unrelenting, blast-beat powered and rhythmically eclectic “We Agnostics” questions the existence of a higher power, the triumphant “Return to the Underground” is a statement of dedication to the pure strength of metal and “In Memoriam” is an acoustic instrumental that serves as a touching dedication to anyone who has passed away.

“I couldn’t write every song about the same thing,” Toler-Wade says. “But I didn’t want to have a bunch of vague stories and songs that don’t mean anything as a whole, even if they might sound good together. I prefer to be very straightforward and blunt, almost in a punk rock fashion. And I’ve had people actually message me saying, ‘Man, this song you wrote really hits home with me. I’ve had similar issues myself or with a friend of mine.’ Having someone connect with what we’re doing like that is a really powerful thing.”

The most political song on Delirium Tremens is the closing cut “Pharma Culture” a slower thrash/death metal number that blends lethal chugs with sharp, melodic guitar lines and addresses how the medical industry is more intent on producing pills to ease symptoms than it is in curing diseases. “It’s talking about how we’re being enslaved because there’s such a high addiction rate,” he says. “Everyone’s hooked on their pharmaceutical drugs, and it would cut into their money if there weren’t so many people that were dependent on their product.”

Toler-Wade wrote four songs for Delirium Tremens before he left Nile, then, with new motivation and more time to work, he powered through the rest of the tracks in early 2017, finishing all 12 songs by March. Joining him in the writing process was lead guitarist Edwin Rhone, who engaged in a friendly competition with Toler-Wade to see who could come up with the coolest parts. Then the two had a blast creating the best songs out of what they had. The main reason for the strong chemistry between Toler-Wade and Rhone is they’ve known each other since 1991.

“I was playing in another band at the time called Dukallian and some of my friends were like, ‘You gotta check this guy out,’” Toler-Wade says. “He was one of a group of guitarists I knew of. So we started jamming and trading licks. We became good friends and then our bands started playing shows together. When my band fizzled, I joined him in Teratosis. We did a couple of demos, but couldn’t really get anything going. I realized it was going to be really hard to have a career in North Carolina, so I moved to Greenville, South Carolina to join Nile. But at the end of the day, the chemistry I have with Ed is really special. It’s not something you can just have with any musician. We really connect on the same level.”

In 2011, Rhone introduced Toler-Wade to bassist Chris “LutaChrist” Dupre, who played on the band’s 2014 self-titled debut. The only lineup shift to take place between the two Narcotic Wasteland’s albums is drummer Erik Schultek, who quit in 2014 to focus on a studio career. The split with Schultek was amicable and the drum stool didn’t stay vacant for long. A Facebook friend of his, Phil Cancilla, earned an audition after Toler-Wade, a gaming junky, saw a clip of him frantically playing along to the music in the final stage of the video game Contra. Toler-Wade could immediately tell their personalities were compatible and Cancilla’s speed, skill and style fit perfectly with Narcotic Wasteland’s passion and energy. “He just nailed it, man,” Toler-Wade says. “He played his heart out and really got the vibe of what we were doing right away.”

Narcotic Wasteland self-produced and mixed Delirium Tremens at Vegas View Recording and at Dallas’ home studio. Grammy award winning producer Neil Kernon mixed the album at Auslander and Alan Douches mastered at West Side Music.

With two albums of material to draw from, Narcotic Wasteland are looking forward to playing shows again in 2022 and beyond.

“We’ll play anywhere,” he says. “We don’t mind doing shows at small bars. We just want to get as many shows as we can and to take this around the world if we can. I’m just excited to get out there and see what happens.”

Narcotic Wasteland’s is currently in the studio working on their third album with its release date to be determined.

Discography:
2014 Self-titled LP
2017 Delirium Tremens
2022 – Morality and the Wasp (single)
2022 – The Best Times Have Passed (single)
2022 – Victims of The Algorithm (single)

0 EPK – Hell Diablo – Push Comes To Shove (2022)

  • August 12, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Hell Diablo

EPK – Hell Diablo – Push Comes To Shove (2022)

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

“This is the first single to be released of our upcoming second album, ‘Bad News Travels Fast’, and it encompassed all the fury that the full-length provides! It is raw, yet full of the Hell Diablo sound, all contained in 2 minutes and 5 seconds! The lyrics are dark and tell a bit of a sadistic story.” – Tyler Brownfield – Vocals/Guitar – Hell Diablo

For fans Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy, The Lords of Altamont, The Hangmen, The Nomads

Band: Hell Diablo
Single Title: Push Comes To Shove
Release Date: August 12, 2022

Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon | Hell Diablo Online Store

“Hell Diablo brings back menacing rock and roll” – L.A. Beat

“Everything about this one is over-the-top, a real trailer-park tornado of unhinged riffery and pure motor-metal mayhem. It’s also a country record in spots, but even then it still sounds like an anvil dropping on your head, albeit a honky-tonk anvil. It’s like if 1986 Black Lawless discovered rockabilly and really went nuts with it.” – Sleazegrinder – Classic Rock Mag (2021)

[Download Single Cover | Download Single Lyrics]

Band: Hell Diablo
Single Title: Push Comes To Shove
Release Date: August 12, 2022

Single Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Hell Diablo
• All songs written by: Tyler Brownfield

Recordign and Live Band Line Up:
Tyler Brownfield – Vocals/Guitar
Taylor Ackerman – Lead Guitar/Keyboards/Backing Vocals
Eric Hamilton – Drums/Backing Vocals
Shawn Worden – Bass

Hell Diablo is a greasy, dirty blues-infused Garage Rock Machine, hailing from the wind-swept prairies of Southern Alberta, Canada. Rising from the ashes of the Canadian Psychobilly group, The Phantom Creeps, singer/songwriter Tyler Brownfield found himself at the crossroads once again and searching his Rock and Roll roots for new inspiration. Having many influences in Rock &  Roll, Punk, Rockabilly, Outlaw Country, and Stoner Rock, it was time to blend them together. In early 2021, Taylor Ackerman (Global Acid Rest, Shaela Miller) joined in the role of Guitarist, as well as recording the first album, ‘Blood is the New Black’. Since then, Shawn Worden (Bass) and Eric Hamilton (Drums) have rounded out the lineup.

Band Line Up:
Tyler Brownfield – Vocals/Guitar
Taylor Ackerman – Lead Guitar/Keyboards/Backing Vocals
Eric Hamilton – Drums/Backing Vocals
Shawn Worden – Bass

Discography:
2022 – Push Comes To Shove (single)
2021 – Blood is the New Black

Shared Stage with:
Rebel Priest, Deadwolff, Syrn, Finny McConnell (Mahones), 21st Ave, Queen of the Worms, Berserker

0 EPK – Aquila – The Great Fire (2022)

  • August 11, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · Aquila · EPKs

EPK – Aquila – The Great Fire (2022)

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

“This is our best material to date. It’s brutal, heavy and catchy and it’s a rollercoaster ride. It has the Aquila sound still with some added influences to it. We have matured as people and as songwriters during this time of the pandemic. To be honest, this EP saved us from going crazy during these troubled times. It helped us stay focused and motivated through it all. I hope people give it a listen, we are metal fans and metal lovers. I’ve been in metal bands since 1999 and I’m, I mean, WE are so proud of this EP.” – Mark Arruda – Vocals – Aquila

For fans of Kataklysm, God Forbid, Gojira

Band: Aquila
EP Title: The Great Fire
Release Date: June 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Facebook.com/AquilaMetal | Instagram.com/aquila_metal | YouTube.com/c/AquilaMetal

Spotify | Aquilametal.bandcamp.com | Apple Music 

“Aquila strikes that excellent balance between aggression, heaviness, and constructing memorable earworms that keeps up listener engagement. The Great Fire embodies an ideal melodeath metalcore product – ready to take the band up from the underground into making worldwide impressions with their music.” – Dead Rhetoric (2022)

“There are plenty of great guitar solos and fills on this album, with the ones in ‘Bound For Glory’ and ‘Within These Flames’ especially standing out…. Aquila’s “Imperium” brings the fury back to metalcore, creating an album full of aggressive vocals and face-melting riffs and solos. “Imperium” is a mostly great debut from a band that’s hopefully on its way to even greater heights.” – Metal Underground (2010)

“A notable difference between Aquila and other Southern Ontario bands is that they thrash throughout their songs, have great guitar leads and refrain from plastering breakdowns throughout their music. They keep it raw and interesting…. Everyone should pick up a copy of Imperium next time Aquila comes to your town. Fans of Assassinate The Following, Unearth, Bloodshoteye and Odium will headbang to Aquila. This band will be legend… Wait for it…. dary.” – V13 (2011)

[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]

Band: Aquila
EP Title: The Great Fire
Release Date: June 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Track Listing:
1. The Great Fire – 5:11
2. Emperor’s Curse – 8:15
3. A City Risen – 4:16
4. The Plague of Galen – 6:16
EP Length: 24:00

EP Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Aquila
• All songs written by: Aquila
• Produced by: Aquila
• Mixed by: Aquila
• Mastered by: Aquila
• EP Artwork by: Silent Q Design
• EP and Live Band Line Up:
– Mark Arruda – Vocals
– Matt McGuire – Drums
– Anthony Rimac – Guitar
– Tony Medina – Guitar
– Colin Wakil – Bass

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

The EP as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Musically and lryicially this is the most brutal and progressive material we have ever written. I can honestly say we brought the METAL into METALcore again with this EP. The whole concept of the EP is about Roaman Emperor Nero who is famous for killing Christians and The Great Fire of Rome. This is my view of what happened at that time. I performed from my perspective of being Nero for these songs and how I felt doing these evil things to the people of Rome. It caused some arguments within the band.  

Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Track 1 – The Great Fire

The Great Fire starts off slow and then it explodes.  It is our traditional straightforward in-your-face track with a Power Trip style breakdown in the middle of the song. The lyrics are about Nero causing the fire and that he wanted it to happen. There is artwork of Nero playing the flute while the fire was happening.  

Track 2 – Emperor’s Curse

This song starts off brutal and it is a rollercoaster of a track.  It starts off brutal and in the middle you travel into this Tool like drumming and guitars with a catchy hook at the end of the song. Lyrics are very brutal from beheading and crucifying Christian to Nero taking his own life.  This song is the most progressive song we have ever written, it was inspired by our own song, Bound For Glory, from our debut album Imperium.

Track 3 – A City Risen

The lyrics for this are about what Nero is thinking before he takes his life or even after his death.  He had some great ideas and he had a vision, but he was also a sick man. The songs through a slower but heavier pace with many hooks.  I think it’s my best vocal performance ever.  I used my singing range for this one, not just straight death metal vocals for this one.  

Track 4 – The Plague of Galen

Back in late 2019, McGuire and I started talking and we asked ourselves, wouldn’t it be cool to jam together again?  So we did.  With the pandemic happening in 2020, we were in the middle of writing a song which is now The Plague of Galen.  A plague that happened in Rome many years ago. We thought it was fitting.  The song has a melodic death metal feel to it that you can headbang to.  The breakdown in the middle is crushing, ending with Iron Maiden-type guitar playing.  

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

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. Mark Arruda and Matt McGuire played in Bloodshoteye. But not at the same time. Arruda was the vocalist in the early days and McGuire played drums in 2004.

2. Chase Bryant played bass on Imperium and is now the bassist for Warbringer

3. Glenn Fricker recorded, mixed and mastered our debut album Imperium.

4. Anthony Rimac, Matt McGuire and Mark Arruda are still the original members from 2006

Aquila is a Canadian metalcore band from Hamilton Ontario.  The roots of their sound are from the early 2000s metal scene.

They started in 2006 with Matt McGuire (drums) and Anthony Rimac (guitarist) in Windsor Ontario. In 2009, Aquila entered the studio with Chase Bryant (current bassist for Warbringer), Matt Shelson (guitarist), and Mark Arruda (vocalist) and began working on their debut album, Imperium, with Glenn Fricker in Windsor, Ontario. From 2009 to 2013, they toured for their album across Canada, including a lengthy east and west coast tour, and multiple weekly shows in Ontario. Sharing the stage with the likes of Cryptopsy, The Agonist, Misery Index, Threat Signal, and many more, Aquila with their aggressive stage attitude can sure entertain and work the crowd.

In 2020, Aquila released 2 Eps, Valle Mortalitatis and Jewel of the Empire’s Crown. The 7 songs were recorded back in 2013 with Glenn Fricker, but were never released at that time.

Now with new guitarist Tony Medina and bassist Colin Wakil, Aquila worked hard to release a new EP called The Great Fire in 2022. The 4 songs were written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Aquila.  A video for the title track, The Great Fire, was recorded by the band as well.

“We started writing for this EP in 2020.  The pandemic made it very difficult to get together. We also had to find a new guitarist. Once Tony joined the band he quickly learned the songs and started helping us record and mix ourselves. No pressure, just us in our element. I think the growth and maturity in our sound on this Ep. is obvious. This Ep is us, brutal and in your face.” – Mark Arruda – Aquila

Aquila’s latest EP “The Great Fire” was released on June 30th, 2022, and is available on all digital platforms.

Band Line Up:
– Mark Arruda – Vocals
– Matt McGuire – Drums
– Anthony Rimac – Guitar
– Tony Medina – Guitar
– Colin Wakil – Bass

Discography:
2009 – Imperium LP
2020 – Valle Mortalitatis EP
2020 – Jewel of the Empire’s Crown EP
2022 – The Great Fire EP

Shared Stage with:
Cryptopsy, A Life Once Lost, Misery Index, Endast, Threat Signal, Fuck The Facts, The Agonist

Tours and Festivals:
2008 – Harvest Fest in Windsor, ON
2008 – Funnel Fest in Windsor, ON
2009 – Knoniknoise Fest in Norfolk, ON
2009 – Canada Tour
2010 – Canada Tour

0 EPK – Nameless King – Order of The Black Flame (2022)

  • August 2, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Nameless King

EPK – Nameless King – Order of The Black Flame (2022)

Jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com

“With this EP we really wanted to set the best first impression possible with quality production and songwriting that wouldn’t feel out of place in a playlist with staple bands of the genre. We feel that even though it’s still early in the band’s life, we’ve already managed to carve out a sound that perfectly describes our identity and what we want to get out of creating music. It’s a perfect sum of all our different influences and the direction we want the band to keep going in. The response from people so far has been far beyond what we expected, and we don’t intend to ever stop that momentum.” – Nameless King

For fans of At The Gates, Mors Principium Est, The Black Dahlia Murder, Heaven Shall Burn, Carcass

Band: Nameless King
Album Title: Order of The Black Flame
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Facebook.com/NamelessKingBand | Instagram.com/namelesskingmetal/

Namelesskingmetal.bandcamp.com | Spotify

[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]

Band: Nameless King
Album Title: Order of The Black Flame
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Track Listing:
1. Amalgamated Kin – 5:06
2. Imprisonment – 4:21
3. Order of the Black Flame – 5:41
4. Grand Executioner – 6:53 ft. guest guitar solo Joey Hockin (Apprentice)
EP Length: 22:02

EP Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Nameless King
• All songs written by: Colton Hession
• Produced by: Jeff Black
• Mixed by: Jeff Black
• Mastered by: Jeff Black
• Album Artwork by: aleh_z
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
EP Recording Band Line Up:
Colton Hession – Guitar & Bass
Kurt Steigleder – Guitar
JR Painter – Vocals
Andrew Fox – Drums

Live Band Line Up:
Colton Hession – Guitar
Kurt Steigleder – Guitar
JR Painter – Vocals
Steve Cuddington – Drums

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

The EP as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)

A fast, in-your-face collection of four songs with songs that are very dynamic with many tempo changes and many elements from different metal subgenres from melodic death metal, thrash metal, and even hints of prog, black, and deathcore.

Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)

Track 1 – Amalgamated Kin

Lyrically the song tells the story of the boss character Oceiros, the Consumed King from Dark Souls 3. Musically it’s mostly pure melodic death metal, with a very black metal chorus along with a hardcore two-step feel to the solo section.

Track 2 – Imprisonment

This song is the outlier on the EP lyrics-wise and is the only song not about a character from Dark Souls, but instead about the game Super Monkey Ball. The lyrics were written in a way that unless you analyzed them extremely closely, you wouldn’t be able to tell they were about Super Monkey Ball. Musically it was written as a shorter, more standardly structured song with a high-energy power metal-ish solo section.

Track 3 – Order of the Black Flame

This track tells the story of the boss character Sister Friede from Dark Souls 3. It’s a very groove/thrash heavy song with the first full-on breakdown of the EP. We purposely had it appear later into the EP to make the breakdown section hit that much harder, hoping to have people not expect it.

Track 4 – Grand Executioner

This track is about the boss character Executioner Smough from the first Dark Souls. Musically it was designed to be very frantic with lots of sudden tempo and time signature changes, with every new section feeling different from the last, with a prog intro, hardcore breakdown, and pure thrash verses/solo section.Top – L- R – JP Sauve – Bass, JR Painter – Vocals, Kurt Steigleder – Guitar
Bottom – L- R – Colton Hession – Guitar, Steve Cuddington – Drums
Photo Credit – Jade Weekes

Riffy melodic death metal from Vancouver, BC lyrically inspired by Soulsbourne and other fantasy video games

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. Every one of the band’s songs are about Dark Souls, with a small handful of songs about other video games.

2. We weren’t exactly sure when we wanted to start recording the EP until Jeff Black of Gatekeeper announced he wanted to start doing engineering for other bands aside from his own. We were the first ones to reach out to him so we get to have the honour of the first project he worked on! We’re so happy with how it turned out and how easy he is to work with that so long as he’s doing music engineering, we want him to be our guy.

3. As we were jamming and getting ready for our first show, Colton started playing Dammit by Blink 182 out of nowhere and the whole band joined in. That’s when we decided to end off our set by building up to what seemed like was going to be a huge and heavy breakdown, but kicked into a faster version of Dammit. The look on the crowd’s faces is something we’ll never forget, and it was incredible how wild they moshed for it.

4. At one point one of the lines in Imprisonment was “these bananas are a life risk” and we haven’t stopped laughing about it since. At some point down the road, we want to print that on the back of a shirt as an inside joke that literally only the band members will understand.

5. Despite being named after the Dark Souls 3 boss “Nameless King”, we have yet to write a song about him. One day we might get to it.

0 EPK – Deformatory – Harbinger (EP) (2022)

  • August 2, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · Deformatory · EPKs

EPK – Deformatory – Harbinger (EP) (2022)

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

For fans of Hate Eternal, Angelcorpse, Vitriol, old Cryptopsy, Origin

“For us, the artwork and concept of the EP were just as important as the music and songwriting. It’s a heavy and jam-packed EP that has a little bit of every genre wrapped in brutal death metal packaging. Our hope is that every audio and visual release that is connected to this album helps the listener dive deeper into the totality of our creation.” – Deformatory

EP Title: Harbinger
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Label: Independent
Distribution: Independent

Deformatory.ca | Facebook.com/deformatory | Instagram.com/deformatory | Youtube.com/deformatory | Deformatory.bandcamp.com

“It’s been a hot minute since we last checked in on the Deformatory camp, but it seems they’ve still got it. Harbinger is a short and violent little EP, a perfect bite-sized helping of chaotic technical death metal in the vein of Origin (but with better production). It’s about exactly as much material as you want from this type of music: nothing overstays its welcome, there’s absolutely no fat whatsoever, and it never gets samey or starts to drag. Perfect in its savagery and delivery.” – Toilet ov Hell

“even though Deformatory sound like a demonic battalion, there’s only two of them responsible for all the destruction. It’s also a thoroughly convincing sign that those two put on a hell of a live show.” – No Clean Singing

“Bandcamp New & Notable: Mind-flaying brutal technical death metal that will pulverize you to smithereens while its complex structures stun your cerebral cortex.”

“Guitar player and vocalist Charlie Leduc, creates a series of tracks which are both brimming with utter fury and at times dashes of a haunting melody. The EP’s final track ‘Dustcult’ sees a combination of the two with the melody being used alongside that fury with great results. Another massive improvement from past releases is the overall sound on the release, it’s a clean and potent sounding EP. All the notes come through crisp and clear to the ear and have real punch. The drum sound is also excellent as drummer Neil Grandy offers an excellent display of sonic battery behind the kit. ” – The Razor’s Edge

“A highly intelligent villainy possesses every moment and movement made by Ottawa, Ontario-based technical death metal duo Deformatory, not only on this latest mLP but throughout their twelve year reign as one of the more underappreciated Canadian death metal entities around. ‘Harbinger‘ reinforces the impossible extremity their core songwriters have long written into a cryptic cyclone of violent brutal death metal. In the midst of this destruction they now achieve a most readable brand of cunning riff and rhythm beyond their usual stabbing at the limits of actionable notes within a composition. Theirs is a craft ambitious enough to push the body to a point of physical pain, mercifully limiting their inhumane acts to three to five minute bursts as they further detail the sinister cosmology of the bespoke sci-fi universe threaded throughout their discography.” – Grizzly Butts

“It’d left me looking forward to what they’re working on next and impressed by the amount of work that’d gone into the densely populated and vivifying brevity of this release. A high recommendation.” – Grizzly Butts

“This band manages to sound like a maniacally possessed total frenzy, but it is also intelligible. That’s probably due to the fact that the guitar work comes from metal music, as opposed to being inspired by free-form jazz, prog or groove/core. The most basic way to explain it is to say that even though this is totally blasting insanity, the listener that pays attention will notice that there is a thrash heritage that is sped up but still tangible.” – The Metal Bulletin

“Intensely relentless & destructively intelligent; Harbinger checks all items off the death metal list with ease. Deformatory perfectly channels musical violence in all its unholy glory with this EP.” – TRVE North Reviews

“Uh, la la. What a piece of brutality. Yes. Only 4 songs, true that, short release, but very good. Technical Death Metal or should I say Brutal Death Metal… Hmmm… Anyway, this ep, is very good, very well constructed, very good riffs passages, some groove in the middle of the songs, but never losing the “weight” of the songs, and… Real brutality from the first second till the last second. Give them a try.” – Blessed Altar Zine

“Deformatory attack with lethal precision and serrated claws. Their technical brutality is very moreish, and these new songs are easy to digest if you like a stomach full of spikes. Well-written and delivered with passionate expertise, Harbinger doesn’t mess around. The songs are savagely energetic and imbued with the desire to kill. A storm of violent drumming, merciless riffs, and bloodthirsty growls erupt with barely any restraint, hunting and lashing out with a frenzied fury. The short release hurtles by in a tempest of bladed wrath and potent hostility.” – Wonderbox Metal

“Crafted with the utmost care, the band keep things both simple and traditional, organically writing in the rehearsal space, jamming and experimenting until something lethal reveals itself. ” – Metal Noise

“Ferocious would be a word instantly popping to mind when you begin listening to Deformatory. The music is excellently composed and played to a high standard with a non-stop barrage of guitars and drums incinerating your very ear drums. The good thing about Harbinger are the vocals, which also complement the instruments. Its not a case where they are drowned out by the music or become a little quieter, which can happen with some bands. Charlie Leduc’s voice functions as another instrument, which is the way it should be, so everything can be brought tightly together.” – Fed Up!

“Harbringer is  four songs  of heavy and ferocious death metal at it’s  finest. ” – Winter Torment Webzine

“A maniacal riff-fest colliding with pulverizing drumming and grotesquely executed vocals, Impaled Upon The Carrionspire is a memorable journey into a modern death metal portal of chaos. This is beyond a brutal wall of sound; it’s an experience that hooks you in, and guides you through everything you can expect to hear on the new album.” – Metal Injection

“Taking cues from the tech-est and brutal-est of brutal technical death metal, the duo from Canada’s capital have offered up a shining gut punch that sings, screams, wallops, growls and races in the same vein as genre masterclass mainstays as Immolation, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal and Origin. Plus, their name fucking rules!” – Decibel Magazine

“Brutally punchy and laced with annihilating streaks of black metal, cosmic machinations are put into bone-snapping focus through the band’s unrelenting technical death metal.” – Invisible Oranges

“Let’s cut to the chase: Imagine filling a syringe with unadulterated adrenaline, sticking it straight into your carotid artery, and jamming the plunger down with as much force as you can muster. That’s the effect of listening to DEFORMATORY… The whole thing is breathtaking in its careening and cavorting violence.” – No Clean Singing

“This is exquisite Tech Death which manages to avoid wading in wizardry over the top realms preferring instead to delicately balance both brutal and intricate arrangements for great effect. These guys aren’t fucking around.” – Cult Metal Flix

“DEFORMATORY play technical death metal with lashings of brutality. The songs are precise and merciless. It’s a controlled form of frenzied mayhem that the band unleash, one which is augmented by surprisingly potent streaks of melody, dark moments of atmosphere, infectious rhythmic devastation, and straightforward death metal brutality. DEFORMATORY know what they are doing with this style.” – Wonderbox Metal  

“…a manipulated frenzy of technical mayhem… DEFORMATORY just demolishes many bands that are signed!” – Metal Nation

“Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon consolidates DEFORMATORY’s position as one of the finest acts in the Canadian metal scene” – Heavy Music HQ

“…for those seeking the most brutal and battery ram-like extremity, DEFORMATORY checks off all of the boxes that you’d like it to: strong musicianship and soloing, intense riffs and vocals, and just enough melody to keep it from going completely unhinged” – Dead Rhetoric

“[DEFORMATORY is] a band that takes both the “tech” and the “death” parts to heart in their songwriting.  Their blend of crushing brutality and technical aptitude is a force to be reckoned with.” – Toilet Ov Hell

L-R – Neil Grandy – Drums | Charlie Leduc – Guitars & Vocals
Photo Credit – Savael © 2022

From their destructive 2013 debut “In The Wake of Pestilence”, on through their crushing 2016 follow-up “Malediction” and into the vortex of insanity from their 2021 masterpiece “Inversion of the Unseen Horizon”, DEFORMATORY unrelentingly summon their creative darkness to deliver another slab of ferocious Canadian death metal.

Without acquiescing to the weakness of modern metal, they reach deep into the abyss of infernal intensity to deliver a new offering of blistering madness entitled “Harbinger”.

Every song, every riff, and every beat writhes through its own iterations to devour the listener beyond this EP’s 15-minute runtime. Make no mistake: these are 15-minutes you will never get back and you will never recover from.  The sheer energy your soul requires to withstand this offering of musical violence will render your very core into a depleted version of itself.

The phenomenal production of this album is the work of Topon Das (Fuck The Facts, Apartment 2 Recording), who impeccably captured the essence and intensity of DEFORMATORY’s vision. Every nuance has been brought to light, mixed, and mastered without sacrificing integrity in order to fit into the modern standards of extreme music. All instruments are real fucking instruments and each can be discerned without the overproduced wall of plugins & tone packs we have unfortunately grown accustomed to hearing today. There is an eerie atmosphere that lurks throughout this album and it can be heard clearly through every string, growl, and cymbal.

To visually encapsulate the onslaught of Harbinger’s music, the artwork was masterfully created by the one and only Paolo Girardi. He has, without any doubt, unveiled one of his best paintings to date for this album cover. Additional haunting artistic creations were devilishly assembled by UK’s Adrian Baxter to further highlight the darkness that binds the death metal onslaught of DEFORMATORY’s new EP.

This is unequivocal vitriolic rage. This is uncompromising animosity.
This is not trendy. This is not a safe place.
This is a maelstrom of maniacal death metal.
This is DEFORMATORY.

You have been warned.
Heed the Harbinger’s call.

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Charlie Leduc – Guitars & Vocals
Neil Grandy – Drums

Shared Stage with:
Cryptopsy, Obscura, Napalm Death, Nader Sadek, Archspire, First Fragment, Beyond Creation, Fuck The Facts, Gorod, Unhuman, Unbreakable Hatred, Killitorous, Unleash The Archers, Deamon,

Discography:
2022 – Harbinger (EP) – Independent
2021 – Inversion of the Unseen Horizon (LP) – Independent
2018 – Once Upon The Cross Cover (Single) – CDN Records
2018 – Bilateral Carnage (7” Split with Blood of Christ) – CDN Records
2016 – Malediction (LP) – CDN Records
2013 – In The Wake of Pestilence (LP) – Independent
2011 – Believe The Lie (Single) – Independent
2011 – A Prelude To… (EP) – Independent

[EP Download Cover | EP Download Lyrics]

EP Title: Harbinger
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Label: Independent
Distribution: Independent

Track Listing:
1. PLAGUEWORM (2:56)
2. CORPSEBORN (4:02)
3. SUNROT (3:54)
4. DUSTCULT (5:05)
Total Runtime: 15:17

EP Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: DEFORMATORY
• All songs written by: DEFORMATORY
• Produced by: DEFORMATORY & Topon Das
• Mixed by: Topon Das (Apartment 2 Recording)
• Mastered by: Topon Das (Apartment 2 Recording)
• Album Cover Artwork by: Paolo Girardi | Additional Artwork by: Adrian Baxter
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Charlie Leduc – Guitars & Vocals
Neil Grandy – Drums

0 EPK – Hunting Giants – Mythos (2022)

  • July 28, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Hunting Giants

EPK – Hunting Giants – Mythos (2022)

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

For fans of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Audioslave, Muse

“We are confident that new listeners, as well as those familiar with us through our previous release Skyward Eyes, will find a high caliber of intensity and listenability in Mythos that represents the musical growth and evolution of Hunting Giants. It’s a unique album expressed with a great diversity of energetic auditory texture. Each song hits hard with novel approaches and fresh ideas that will induce a comforting nostalgia in modern rock fans looking for something new and awesome.”

Album Title: Mythos
Release Date: September 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

HuntingGiants.com | Facebook.com/huntinggiantsband | Instagram.com/huntinggiantsband | Twitter.com/huntinggiants | Youtube 

Huntinggiants.bandcamp.com | Apple Music | Spotify

“A glorious adventure is about to begin, starting right here today! Heavy metallers Hunting Giants are debuting their brand new music video for “Rituals,” the first single from their upcoming album Mythos. The song indicates the zeal and the ambition that the band is bringing towards this new record, due for release on September 30th.  The “Rituals” video matches the flat-out intensity of the song, one that discusses necromancy and the harshness of hatred and shame.” – V13

“It’s not often that a band is described as ‘a blend of modern hard rock, progressive rock/metal and grunge influences,’ but that is indeed a fitting description of Vancouver’s Hunting Giants” – Bravewords

“If you’re tired of reading about the same old bands over and over again look no further. Its time to get excited about music again! Hunting Giants is a breath of fresh air! They are keeping the metal alive with their euphonious new sound. They hail from Canada where a lot hot new bands are burgeoning onto the music scene. Every song off their new album, Mythos is incendiary and their new album is a must have in your music collection.” – Metal Lair

“There are some fine songs on here like ‘Ancient Text’, ‘Too Big Too Kill’ and ‘Vanguard’… Guitarist Bradley Trivett has a neat line in big crunchy riffs and singer Stephen Atkey has a great voice. This will appeal to those who like Muse or Alice in Chains…” – Powerplay Mag UK

“Let me say this first, HUNTING GIANTS from Vancouver are REALLY freaking good. These guys are relatively new but they are tighter and more accomplished man many veteran bands.” – Rock You Show

“This is an album (Mythos) that you’ll want to wander through thanks to their technical proficiency and the production value.” – Metal Roos

“a solid listen, and a fairly unique combination of a few different styles. It’s mostly heavy enough for Metal fans, and mostly melodic enough for fans like myself who appreciate a good hook.” – Metal Temple

“Mythos’ features a very 1990s vibe, offering elements of nostalgia as well as a contemporary feel. They can go hard or ease back, adding theatre and energy in a single song (‘Vanguard’), and then draw deep on emotions (‘Mantle’). It’s a heady mix that runs alongside the overall story line in the album. ‘Mythos’ isn’t an album that will appeal to all. Certainly, those whose tastes veer towards the heavier end of the metal spectrum may baulk at it. It should however, appeal to a wide range of fans, who will be able to appreciate the textured and layered songs and the ambition of a band who have delivered a fine release.” – The Razor’s Edge

“a sonically pleasing experience that had a few unusual stylistic fusions. Most of the time, it’s strong enough for Metal enthusiasts as well as being melodic enough for people like myself who adore theatricality. Additionally, they demonstrated some excellent playing.” – Ever Metal UK

“Hunting Giants: Will grab listeners and amaze them.” – Permafrost Today

“There is a lot to discover here. The sound of the varied album is also well controlled and the rhythm section really bangs.” – Saitenkult

“Hunting Giants stake their claim as a powerful new force in the Pacific Northwest metal scene…this band is absolutely one you’ll want to keep an eye on.” – Wail Magazine

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Album Title: Mythos
Release Date: September 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

Track Listing:
1. Mythos – 3:28
2. Ancient Text – 3:18
3. Too Big To Kill – 3:06
4. Rituals – 3:57
5. Among Thieves – 5:28
6. Whispers – 2:16
7. Vanguard – 2:54
8. Mantle – 3:19
9. Kindred – 4:05
10. Epitaph – 1:09
11. Into Stone – 4:55
12. Remnant – 4:00
13. King of Ashes – 2:52
Album Length: 44:49

Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Hunting Giants
• Vanguard ft. Kirby J. Kaye
• All songs written by: Hunting Giants
• Produced by: Kirby J. Kaye for Aztech Productions
• Mixed by: John Webster
• Mastered by: Richard Addison at Trillium Mastering
• Album Artwork by: Kacper Gilka @kacpergilkaart
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Corey Wharton – Bass Guitar
Stephen Atkey – Vocals
Bradley Trivett – Guitar
Daniel Beavington – Drums

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

The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

This album is musically very diverse as it ranges from intense white-knuckled metal tracks, down to gentle instrumental tracks peppered with melodic piano and haunting cello, all the way to epic ballads tastefully complimented by choirs, strings, and bells. Mythos lyrically explores archetypes, both heroic and villainous, that affect the world around us, as well as the inevitable fates which arise when these values are heinously held and expressed.

Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Mythos – The Call to Adventure.
We start the album off with the beginning of the hero’s journey, the call to adventure.  The guitar intro slowly gains momentum until all of the instruments join in with the toll of a bell. The vocals are low and the instruments hushed as if the beginning of a story is being told in front of a fire.  Our protagonist is introduced as a commoner who has witnessed the destruction of his homeland and can no longer idly stand by.  We follow him as he crests mountains and is swallowed by rich ravines until he runs face to face with the hanging dead, a symbol of the reality which he is walking into. The instruments and vocals both rise to a climax where our protagonist reaches the conclusion that this task may take his life, yet he believes that a life without freedom is one that is not worth living. He will not back down.  At the end of the track, we are reminded that he is good-natured but naive by the hanging corpses who warn him to not follow the path they did as the instrumentation fades with a final note of vocal harmony.

Ancient Text – The Prophecy
Starting out with a metal riff that weaves an auditory puzzle in the ear of the listener, Ancient Text is a story about a doomsday prophecy from a long-forgotten culture. While lyrically referencing both archaeological discoveries as well as age-old myths, we get to experience how a shaman from the distant past might interpret a meteor shower that destroys his tribe. The tension built by these raging riffs is eased by a sensual breakdown, this is where our hero is taken on a spiritual journey to see what disaster is coming for his people.  The peace is quickly shattered by a blood-curdling screech as he watches a comet slam into the ocean and pulls those he loves far out into the sea. We end the song with a rhythmic labyrinth of guitar, bass, and percussion framing the climax of our tale as he carves the vision of death he had been shown onto the temple walls to be interpreted by a future civilization.

Too Big To Kill – Domination and Avarice
The riff which begins this track immediately brings to mind the thrill of the hunt which is encapsulated by the lyrical repetition of ‘Row’ as our anti-hero cuts through the waves, hot on the trail of his next quarry.  As the instruments are hushed, the lyrics speak from the perspective of a man who desires only domination and finds satisfaction in ending the lives of those he hunts. This unending momentum builds throughout the song revealing how remorseless yet effective he is at killing until we arrive at the bridge, where the tables are turned and he finds himself fleeing from the beast which he sought to trap. Cornered and without option, our protagonist lets out one last “Come What May” as he charges toward his prey in one final effort.  This song is an exploration of those who love violence and the inevitable bloody end that they attract towards themselves.

Rituals – Necromancy, Hatred and Shame
A bass slide introduces us to a seductive salsa that peaks suspense until it explodes with a punk-inspired bounce.  This song follows a man who sees morality as a vain illusion that people create for themselves and that the maxim “Do what though will shall be the way of the law” reigns supreme. He is robbing a grave when we encounter him and we watch as he dismembers a corpse and grafts its limbs onto a different body. The chorus opens up with complex guitar and percussion work complimented by a simple call-and-answer vocal melody as the body is then reanimated by the grave-robber. In sudden contrast we are greeted by a soft and sensual vocal line with sparse instrumental work which speaks of the freedom moral relativism can grant you. This leads to a frantic Mastodon-inspired bridge where we explore how hatred can fester in a person if they isolate themselves away from the world and blame others for the fruit of their own actions.

Among Thieves – The Addict
The slow sensual riff of the verse comments on the seductive nature of destructive things which we can use to temporarily ease our emotional or psychological pain. We move on to see how they slowly alter you into someone you weren’t before. Under the racing gallops of percussion, we explore how violence can seem to be the most effective and immediate solution to solve disagreements and needs. The guitar, bass, and percussion all ring out as the progressive rock elements of the song are featured in a vocal chant expressing fear, pain, and hope. As the drums drop into halftime, we encounter a gritty taste of the life of those who live in addiction. A swell of guitar and stringed instruments signals the moment of self-realization and the protagonist has taken ownership of who they have become. We are greeted warmly by a swirling choir of vocals, guitar, and strings which are broken by the toll of bells as our hero embraces his faults and opens his heart to the world.

Whispers – The Voice of the Dead
A haunting instrumental track with a grand piano in place of the vocals as the main melody.

Vanguard – The Love Song
This non-stop rocking love song starts with an intricate bass line, a crunchy guitar riff, and a busy drum line peppered with ghost snare hits.  We follow a soldier on the front lines of a battle as he thinks of his love and what he would sacrifice to be with her once more. An incredibly catchy chorus blends back into the verse where his thoughts of his love is ripped away by the reality of the battlefield on which he is.  As the captain screams “Hold The Line!”, we get a ripping solo recorded by our producer Kirby Kaye as we flow by into the chorus. In the outro, we are treated to a key change and the soprano-esque wail of a dying man as he keeps his thoughts on the one he loves.

Mantle – Undeserved Worship
Right off the bat, we know that this song is a beastly one as all instruments and vocals come in on the same first beat. As an allusion to a toxic relationship, we follow the story of a man who makes a pact with an unknown force who claims to be subservient to him. While the vocals and instruments roar with aggressive verses and a theatrically inspired chorus, the deity demands to be re-payed for the boons she has bestowed upon her subject.  As the track breaks down into the bridge, he dismembered himself to feed her.  This is a mirror to those who sacrifice pieces of themselves for another who only seeks to use them. The song comes to a conclusion with the instruments playing the intro riff while it is accented by a feral vocal roar.

Kindred – A Tempting Offer
Opening up with the flight of guitars as they soar over a pounding bass riff, this song is about casting away the pain and trauma of the past and coming together as allies with those whom we once saw as enemies. The open chords of the chorus leave room for the bass and percussion to accent the coming riff as the vocals sing about the power of unification. The bridge drops into a monologue where our protagonist is faced with one final challenge.  This gives way to the last verse where we as the listener are given the choice to decide what happens in our futures. The triumphant outro hints at Queens of the Stone Age as the vocal harmonies ease into a final harmonized note.

Epitaph – Grief in Glory
A snare roll reminiscent of the drums of war synchronizes with guitars as they sail over the spine of the bass. The vocals speak of honor and the dreams of the future as a tyrannical figure manipulates the populace into furthering their corrupted agenda.

Into Stone – To Fight Again
The gallop of the drums sets an almost power metal vibe as the vocals set the stage for war and speak of the victory which is to come. Double kicks and blazing bass frame the Iron Maiden-inspired chorus while the vocals incite the need to fight for what you believe as tomorrow may be too late. A vocal chant erupts in the bridge which heralds those who have fought for valor as hints of the cello can be heard underneath the instrumentation.

Remnants – Victory in Death
Bass sets this frantic yet forlorn mood as the endless rhythm pounds out over vocals conveying the hopelessness of a hero who has been cornered by the demons he battled. A ghost-like wail recites the melody which the guitar previously squealed, leading to a triumphant chorus that speaks of the accomplishments our hero made in his life which brought him to this moment. As the guitar sails out into the bridge, we are met with polyrhythmic percussion and persistent bass. Following the final chorus, our hero is supported by a choir of harmonies as he sacrifices his own life for those he loves. He is destroyed and devoured by the darkness he held at bay as a demonic screech splits the air and a bass outro which hints at a positive finale with a major note.

King of Ashes – At What Cost
This epic industrial ballad is reminiscent of both Nine-Inch-Nails and King Crimson. The vocals ponder on the futility of victory at all costs as the percussion and instruments chase each other in polyrhythmic complementation. A constant yet subtle feedback loop heightens the vocals until they crescendo in a final lament, “Oh, to be the King of Ashes.” In finality, the album comes to a close and fades out with the ringing of a gong.

L-R – Corey Wharton (Bass), Bradley Trivett (Guitar), Daniel Beavington (Drums), Stephen Atkey (Vocals)
Photographer Credit – Bradley Trivett

Hunting Giants is a four-piece heavy rock band from Vancouver, BC, Canada.

This unique group of musicians offers a spectacular visuals-driven live performance that exceeds both the precise ferocity of their recordings, and the highest expectations of an energized audience looking for something recognizably different. Their music is both refreshing and familiar, serving well as the musical backdrop for one’s ongoing discovery of meaning in life and self.

Hunting Giants was started in 2017 with Bradley Trivett assembling the first musical themes and combining the percussive expertise of Daniel Beavington with the explosive rhythmic prowess of Corey J. Wharton into the foundation of a team set to discover and dominate the most enormous sounds and daunting massive ideas they could find. Led by the visionary passion and styling of frontman Stephen Atkey, Hunting Giants is poised to deliver to the highest expectations of an energized listening audience looking for something recognizably awesome.

Discography:
2022 – Mythos – LP
2018 – Skyward Eyes – EP

Shared Stage with:
Unleash the Archers, Wednesday 13, Ophelia Falling, Kayas, Vessel, Sick Logic, Dark Stone

Tours and Festivals:
2019 – HempFest – Seattle, WA
2019 – Metal battle 2019 – Vancouver, BC

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

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS

1. How the band formed, aka Steve pirating their recordings and sending a finished track as an application.

Hunting Giants began in Vancouver, British Columbia when Bradley Trivett digitally composed and assembled a group of songs unlike any he had created before, including some material co-written with long-time friend and former band-mate Corey Wharton. The new songs were fast, concise, and particularly short in duration when compared to the music from his two former bands, Oddchild and One Tree Forest, both known for long progressions and exploratory soundscapes. The new material did away with the complicated structures and massive arrangements in favour of dense, rich music that gets straight to the point.

Looking to give life to this fascinating new material, Brad enlisted the help of another long-time friend and former band-mate Daniel Beavington to add his unique and powerful drumming flair. After working for several weeks to nail down the structure and challenges the new material posed, the two were ready to bring in the earth-shattering talents of bass player and close friend Corey Wharton. Daniel and Corey had both worked previously with Brad in Oddchild, and were excited to reclaim the passion and start a new group.

The three of them worked smoothly together as they were quite familiar with one another’s playing style, quickly rekindling the chemistry they had developed over their 15 years of experience playing together. They transcribed the riffs from their original digital format and sculpted them further by adding the depth and dimension found only in live performance.

After a few months of intense rehearsal, the group felt that the time was right to take the next step toward completing the group with a powerful vocalist that understood the music and themes, but they somewhat disagreed on how to go about it. Brad was focused on lining up the professional recording of the music, believing that the right singer would be attracted by exhibiting their ability to succinctly perform all the work they had done. Daniel was more enthused with canvassing the need and scheduling auditions to see what the world around them could offer.

Brad called upon another former band-mate and family friend Kirby Kaye, enlisting his cooperation to produce for them a good-sounding instrumental album to attract the singer that was needed to finish their music. Kirby quickly contacted his good friend and sound engineer John Webster, and together with Brad, Corey, and Daniel, booked studio time and recorded the drum lines for the new music in one intense day. From there, the group began recording the matching bass lines.

Meanwhile, in response to the push for auditions from Daniel in a Craigslist ad, the group received an email from singer-hopeful Stephen Atkey. Stephen had recently quit his job in Edmonton, said farewell to his friends and family, and moved to the west coast, following a dream that he would there find a promising musical partnership. A dream that had so far floundered in the province he was born.

The email that Stephen sent included a pirated live recording of one of their songs, to which Stephen had used Pro-Tools to assemble a layered vocal line that immediately got their attention. The work done and the artistry displayed was more than enough to hastily arrange a meeting and jump on the opportunity. The meeting went very well, and they decided to meet up for the next rehearsal.

After the first jam, it was clear that the four musicians had unique chemistry and with that, the group took their first lumbering steps towards significance by officiating the roster of the four-piece band.

By that time, guitars and bass were fully recorded and the team was ready to lay down the vocal tracks, despite Stephen having only been involved in the project for a few weeks. Still, Stephen was able to quickly craft and record vocals that enhanced the music beautifully and elevated it to a level nobody thought possible.

Two months from that meeting, the group had finished and mastered the album to be known as Skyward Eyes, and were ready to grow the group further, but were unable to without first discovering a name that would fit the grandiosity of the music and the aggressive drive they all had toward the project. After some time, the group finally emerged as Hunting Giants.

2. Stephen getting bottled at a Periphery Show:

After the first day of recording vocals for our first EP, Skyward Eyes, the band decided to take a night off to celebrate their success and be inspired by a successful touring act.  The opening band, Animals as Leaders, were absolutely amazing and had brought Steve to the pit. After the first few songs of Periphery, Steve needed some fresh air and went to leave the pit but was blocked by a line of metal heads refusing his access.  Steve pushed past them to get through and in response one of them through a bottle point-blank into Steve’s head.  The bottle smashed into Steve’s forehead and the blood started pouring onto the floor of the pit.  The security guards gathered up Brad and Corey and told them that their friend was in critical condition.  Corey helped clear the blood from Steve’s face as Brad called for a Taxi to take them to the hospital.  Steve, while fainting from blood loss, hid his weed under the garbage can in the hospital while the doctors operated on his skull.  They were able to stop the bleeding, stitch up the wound and in a couple of hours let them go. Steve then slinked back in to grab his weed undetected.  Later that day Steve wrote the lyrics to the song ‘Extinction’ while still covered in his own blood and the very next day was back in the studio recording the last two tracks.

3. Getting all of our gear stolen

Hunting Giants had practiced for months for an incredibly important show, an annual BC-wide battle of the bands. They were confident in their performance but had stiff competition and several of the members had work early in the morning so they packed up their gear in the truck parked behind the downtown venue.  The winners were about to be announced so the members decided to wait a couple of minutes before they took off the night. They did not expect to win the battle of the bands, but lo and behold, they did.  In the pounding of adrenaline, they forgot about the vehicle parked behind the venue and were brought onstage for an acceptance speech.  During the speech, their vehicle was broken into and almost ten thousand dollars of musical equipment was stolen.  Only ten minutes later, they went back to their vehicle to find the windows smashed and all of their gear missing. A night of soaring highs turned into that of extreme lows as the realization of what had just happened dawned upon them.  

0 EPK – Syryn – Heads or Tails (2022)

  • July 25, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · SYRYN

EPK – Syryn – Heads or Tails (2022)

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

“This album was a blast to write! We’ve been holding on to these riffs for a long while, and hopefully, the anticipation is exactly what our fans were waiting for. We’ve got a mix of thrash, rock, metal, and ballads on this one. We are extremely proud of this album from all angles. The songwriting, lyrics, art, and production quality show the effort we put in. It’s something we know we’ll be proud of in the years to come.” – Syryn

Album Title: Heads or Tails
Release Date: August 26, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

For fans of Iron Maiden, Unleash the Archers, Battle Beast, Megadeth, Helloween

Syrynmetal.wixsite.com/syrynofficial | Facebook.com/syrynofficial

Twitter.com/syrynofficial | Instagram.com/syrynofficial | YouTube

Syryn.bandcamp.com | Spotify | Apple Music

“Thoroughly enjoyed this – there’s loads going on and as I mentioned before they go through loads of metal genres sometimes in one song… Both Rage and Gorieu can riff and shred with the best of them, the rhythm section drive the songs and the icing on the cake is Voxx’s vox! If you like ANY sort of metal, then this will appeal. C’mon give these crazy Canucks a go.” – My Global Mind (Heads or Tails 2022)

“In Heads or Tails, Syryn have upped the ante on all of their power-thrash antics, further developing and cementing their twisted nautical world and their epic riff-fueled power metal sonics.” – Metal Observer

“Calgary’s Syryn continues exploring the realms of pirate metal on “Heads or Tails” “- LA Beat

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Album Title: Heads or Tails
Release Date: August 26, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: Distrokid

Track Listing
1. Surrender – 6:54
2. ‘Til We Drown – 5:12
3. Walk The Plank – 4:38
4. Sink Or Swim – 3:34
5. Madness Becomes Me – 5:32
6. Fist Full Of Daggers – 5:06 ft. guest vocals Craig Carswell (Producer, Singer /Songwriter, Dorians Mirror, Court of Cardinals)
7. Heads Or Tails – 6:18
8. Succubus Queen – 4:50 ft. guest vocals Amanda Kiernan (ex-The Order of Chaos, ex-Into Eternity)
Album Length: 42:08

Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: SYRYN
• All songs written by: SYRYN, (Craig Carswell – co-writer on Fist Full of Daggers and Amanda Kiernan on Succubus Queen)
• Produced by: Craig Carswell at Redblack Recording & SYRYN
• Mixed by: Craig Carswell at Redblack Recording
• Mastered by: Craig Carswell at Redblack Recording
• Album Artwork by: Bo Bradshaw
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Sloan Voxx (Vocals)
Paulo Rage (Guitar)
Lyxx Rose (Bass)
Bryan Campbell (Drums)
Byron Gorieu (Guitar)

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

The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Sloan – This album is part of my soul. Not only is it melodic, but it is also menacing and malicious. It’s happy and fun, yet heartwrenching. Every piece of music written includes a piece of myself. How could it not, really. We write from experience, we write from knowledge, or dreams, or desires. I write from all of the above, and more. The beauty of this album as a whole is that we all get it. We all feel those things and want to represent them as best we can. Be it to cheer someone up, provide an awesome drinking song, be pissed off at something or someone, dig a bit deeper, stand up for ourselves, give a musical hug, or whatever the hell else we feel like. This album encompasses all of that and more. Music is a voice, and we are choosing to use it.

Lyxx – Lyrically it is intense and captivating, musically it is energetic and also pulls you in. It’s more focused on the experience of the sailors/pirates and how they handle encounters with the Siren. She still has her voice on the album, but now the sailors get a turn. There are lots of upbeat rhythms and slow but passionate riffs to keep you encapsulated by the ebb and flow of the musical waves.

Paul – This album is the first music released from our current line-up. It is a natural progression from the first album and I’m excited to share what we have made with others.
More told on the sailors/pirates side instead of the sirens this time… well until it gets more towards the end.

Byron – A different perspective of the same concept of the first album. Musically it continues to build as you listen and adds new surprises.

Track by track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
 
1. Surrender –
Sloan – This song is about never giving up. It’s about standing up for ourselves, and for all of those before us… persevering no matter what and fighting with everything we have in us not to give in or give up. From the aspect of the Sailor, he knows the Siren is trying to break him. She’s got a plan, and she’s about to execute it. He doesn’t let her. He has to fight back, no matter what it takes. Hold your head high, and FIGHT!
Lyxx – This one is about fighting back against everything or anyone that’s trying to put you down. You chant “Fight” at the end to signify that you have an army to back you and you feel unstoppable.
Paul – The album opener has some moody and intricate passages and moves through some different melodies. This song builds up to a triumphant and thrashy rebellious gang vocal of “Fight”.
Byron – A fun start to the album, both musically and lyrically.

2. ‘Til We Drown –
Sloan – This song talks about the life of a Pirate. Rigging the ship and returning from a pillage with a generous amount of treasure. OBVIOUSLY you’re ready to celebrate. Best way to do it? Have a drink and party! Reminiscing about your journey, your battles, your accomplishments. Raising a glass to your comrades, drinkin’ it down ‘til you drown and chanting through the night!
Lyxx – This is a fun one about drinking! Or drinking water if you don’t like mead! When you’re out at sea and have spent many weeks pillaging and plundering, you reward yourself with a drink, and it is law that you drink it down, til you drown!
Paul – Set out on a pirate adventure! Let’s get drunk and stumble around on a ship until we cause our own demise. Mid tempo and has a constant spirited groove.
Byron – The drinking song of album #2. A song with the same level of seriousness and drunkness as “ Three Sheets To The Wind ”

3. Walk The Plank –
Sloan – You’ve been captured. You’re terrified. What can you do? Beg? Plead? Ask for forgiveness? Anything to keep you alive! Sorry, not happening. Pirates are pirates. They have no soul and they cannot be reasoned with. Looks like you’re on a salty trip to the bottom of the ocean, me hearty. Sorry, not sorry.
Lyxx – In this one, you are caught and have to beg for your life to stay on the ship. You’ve been captured and ordered to Walk the Plank. Will you survive?
Paul – Fastest and most energetic track on the album. You’re about to meet your doom matey.
Byron – Fast, thrashy song that shows the panic and fear of walking the plank.

4. Sink Or Swim –
Sloan – Aside from the evident sinking or swimming, this song is about endurance. It’s about trials and tribulations and how we handle them. The uncertainties of life and how we navigate them. We internally fight with ourselves, our past and our consciences daily. This is a prime example of processes we go through when we are scared or in the dark not knowing what lies ahead. We can’t go back, only forward. Will we sink, or will we swim?
Lyxx – You still got kicked off the ship. Hope you know how to swim!
Paul – Still has some vigorous speed carried over from the last song and now you’re in the water, you’re screwed if you can’t swim… and watch out for the sharks!!!
Byron – Great riffs and gang vocals on this song, swim to live another day or sink and meet your doom!!!!

5. Madness Becomes Me –
Sloan – This song represents uncertainty and confusion. Am I hearing this? Am I seeing this? Is it real, in my mind or is someone or something placing these thoughts there? An internal battle of disorientation eventually rendering us mad. We are tortured and we are blind. It’s got a hold of me and it’s overwhelming. We crave peace and solace. Whatever this is… whoever you are… please let go of me.
Lyxx – The Siren is starting to feel some conflict about her troubles at sea. Maybe this life is no longer fulfilling.
Paul – Power Ballad-ish type of feel.  Entices the listener in to bring some insight of the siren’s own conscience.
Byron – the Sirens debut of the album. Enticing the drunk sailors who had won the fight depicted earlier in album.

6. Fist Full Of Daggers –
Sloan – You’ve been driven to madness, and now you’re full of hate. You were pushed to your limits. You were lied to, misled and made to look a fool. You don’t trust anyone and you can see true colors shown. Backed against a wall, all you can do is fight your way out. You find yourself with a fist full of daggers and nothing will stand in your way.
Lyxx – Sometimes, people just get on your nerves and you want to give them a fist full of daggers.
Paul – Slow grooving and powerful tempos with some almost blast beats. When you’ve been pushed to your breaking point and someone is gonna feel the jab of your dagger, metaphorically.

7. Heads Or Tails –
Sloan – This song speaks to perspective. It speaks to choices and the various paths we can take in life. We never know which to take. Sometimes it’s the right one, sometimes it’s the wrong one. How do we know which one to choose? The last one we took maybe didn’t lead us where we wanted it to. Maybe it’s got hurtful memories, but we must still move forward. We must find our place in life within ourselves even though we are unsure of where it may lead. In times of peril and ambivalence, we let the coin decide.
Lyxx – In this one, the Siren is struggling with all the chaos and calamity around her. She is confused by her need to kill and feed, but transfixed on the guilt afterward. Why is she conflicted if this is her purpose. Could she choose a different path?
Byron – POWER BALLAD!!!!

8. Succubus Queen –
Sloan – You are cordially invited to the celebration…. Here, we introduce one powerful and feared, bad-ass bitch, The Succubus Queen. She’s gorgeous, she’s enticing, she’s terrifying and you’re being brought to grovel at her feet. She’s got plans for you and you’re not going to like it… or will you? Drain your soul in the depths of infatuation and find out.
Lyxx – She chose a different path for sure! lol
Paul – Intricate intensity and mighty shifts musically. Has the Siren lost her mind and gone even more evil?
Byron – Intense end to the album with lots of cool twist and turns to show the true evil mind of the Siren.

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

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1.  Sloan writing on the way to shows to perform the song for the first time that night (Be sure to mention Bry being so pushy, and Paul being so fuckin quick!)

2. Lyxx – Our singer Sloan, not once, but twice finished writing a song on the way to a show. Once on the drive to Edmonton, and another time on the way to Lethbridge. We performed these songs only an hour after they were finished, and the crowds loved it!

3. The first show we played was in the evening after I had to speak at my father’s memorial service. My parents were always supportive of music in my life but never got to see Syryn play. That first live show with Syryn was difficult because I know my father would have been there if he were able. – Bryan

4. The next album/E.P. story is already created and I’ve already started 4 songs towards it. I’m always writing new music and presenting ideas to the band. But only because Bryan makes me and wants the next album written by next week – Paul

5. Sloan – Amanda and Sloan’s writing and recording experience “Sharp Serpentine Tail”.

6. I was initially lured into Syryn by Sloan asking for help recording drums for a single (unbreakable) that she wanted to let others hear in order to start a new band. I was playing in two other bands at the time so wasn’t really looking for another group. This quickly turned into recording the first album and playing the initial shows so people could hear it and…yes, joining the band. I have enjoyed this group so much that it only made sense by that point. Today, it has become my primary music focus and the only group I’m playing in. – Bryan

7. I turned down playing in Syryn a year prior to joining, but once I heard Sloan’s vocals and jammed with the group, they lured me in and they now have my soul! – Paul (Ass! – Sloan)

L-R – Paulo Rage (Guitar), Byron Gorieu (Guitar), Sloan Voxx (Vocals), Lyxx Rose (Bass), Bryan Campbell (Drums)
Photo Credit – Dana Zuk (Dana Zuk Photography)

SYRYN (pronounced Siren) is a Calgary-based metal band combining the roots of Power Metal, Thrash, Traditional Heavy Metal, and Opera.

SYRYN will seduce and entice you with mysterious and menacing melodies, fierce guitar shreds, captivating vocals, and swift drum attacks.

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

SYRYN have come a long way since its inception and the finalizing of its lineup. They released their debut album “From the Depths” in January of 2020. The release of their first album heeded consciousness to the world about the group, resulting in major growth of their fan base and the international distribution of their music and merchandise. They have had the honor and pleasure of participating in Loud as Hell Festival, Decimate Metalfest, and Metalocalypstick Festival and hope to continue on their festival journey by playing various other events and festivals worldwide. Additionally, in 2019, SYRYN proudly wore the title of one of Wacken Metal Battle’s Canadian Semi-Finalists! In 2021, Beyond the Depths was nominated for and awarded “Metal Recording of the Year ” by the YYCMA’s. In 2022, they were nominated again by the YYCMA’s for their latest single “Madness Becomes Me” under “Metal Recording of the Year”, and as artists for “Group of the Year”.

2022 will also see the group release their sophomore album “Heads or Tails”, a record full of growth, diversity, and a much more collaborative effort as a whole compared to their debut full-length along with co-writing with guest vocalists Amanda Kiernan (ex-The Order of Chaos, ex-Into Eternity) and Craig Carswell (Producer, Singer /Songwriter, Dorians Mirror, Court of Cardinals). “Head or Tails” is more a themed album branching out into the Pirate/Sailor’s perspective and beyond. The band wanted to continue on the storytelling of a Siren’s journey, touching on as many aspects of it as they could fit onto the record (including the many emotions we go through in everyday life: Love, fear, anger, happiness, sadness, regret, etc.). Syryn also wanted to shake things up and create something a bit out of their regular musical realm, no two songs are alike and that makes the band more difficult to categorize. They try to incorporate all their influences into their own sound with a wide array of styles to adhere to many people’s tastes.

To truly capture the magic of this band, you will want to experience one of their fun and interactive live performances. Young fans (Syrynites) are always encouraged to join them on stage and they plan to do more local and international touring, and all-ages events in the future in hopes of expanding their fan base, and the awareness of their music and group. They hope to be in an area near you soon, and can’t wait to meet you all!

“We would like to express our eternal gratitude to each and every being who has listened to our music, who has attended our live shows, who have purchased and worn our merchandise, who has offered kind words and encouragement. Most of all, thank you for being you and letting us be a part of your lives. From the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate you and your support!”

SYRYN is:
Sloan Voxx (Vocals)
Lyxx Rose (Bass)
Byron Gorieu (Guitar)
Paulo Rage (Guitar)
Bryan Campbell (Drums)

Artist Endorsements:
Paulo Rage – WB Gear (Revv Amplification & S.I.T. Strings)
Bryan Campbell – Scorpion Percussion, WB Gear

Discography:
2022 – Heads or Tails – LP
2020 – Beyond the Depths – LP

Shared Stage with:
Into Eternity, Planet Eater, Goatwhore, Neck of the Woods, Anciients, Hammerdrone, All Else Fails, The Order Of Chaos, Iron Kingdom, The Convalescence

Tours and Festivals:
2022 – Loud as Hell Festival – Drumheller
2022 – Decimate Metal Fest Fundraiser – Calgary/High River
2022 – Decrepit Metal Fest II – Edmonton
2022 – Serenade Metal Fest – Edmonton
2021 – Decimate Metal Fest – Calgary/High River
2020 – Decimate Metal Fest – Calgary
2019 – Loud As Hell Metal Fest – Drumheller
2019 – Wacken Metal Battle – Calgary
2019 – Decimate Metal Fest – Calgary
2018 – Metalocalypstic Fest – Lone Butte, BC
2018 – Decimate Metal Fest – Calgary  

 

0 EPK – Tyrants of Chaos – Relentless Thirst for Power (2022)

  • July 21, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Tyrants of Chaos

EPK – Tyrants of Chaos – Relentless Thirst for Power (2022)

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

For fans of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Megadeth

TyrantsofChaosBand.com | Facebook.com/tyrantsofchaos | Instagram.com/tyrants.of.chaos_official | YouTube

Spotify | Tyrantsofchaos1.bandcamp.com

#86 Sentinel Daily’s Top 100 Albums of 2022 – Tyrants Of Chaos – Relentless Thirst For Power 

“they release a sound that could rattle the very bowels of hell. Which is a pretty good noise to make!… If traditional, thrash-tinged heavy metal is your thing, you should probably get to know Tyrants of Chaos pretty soon! ” – Sentinel Daily

“a thunderous ten-song onslaught featuring the classic sound of traditional heavy metal.” – Metal Roos

“it’s full of chugging traditional metal… if bands like Striker, White Wizzard, Night Demon, Midnight Priest, etc. are in your playlist, you might find something like from Tyrants of Chaos.” – The Metal Crypt

“The band showing diversity from the off – ‘Skull Crusher’ picking up pace to become the fastest song heard so far. And the most melodious too! And with the famous ‘Maiden-esque gallop, ‘Skull Crusher’ plants feet firmly on the monitor. Old school traditional heavy metal at its best.” – Metal Gods TV

“I hereby recommend the third, current long-distance album “Relentless Thirst For Power” by the band from Alberta to every traditional headbanger with a clear conscience.” – Obliveon

“very memorable, powerful pillar riffs that remind you of songs like Mercyful Fate’s “Evil” or Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law”, the sort of riffs that have a classic feeling.” – Eternal Terror

“Tyrants of Chaos live up to their moniker, making Relentless Thirst for Power a record that most heavy and old school North American power followers could easily get into.” – Dead Rhetoric

“when it comes to hooks, TYRANTS OF CHAOS have delivered a convincing album… fans of classic stainless steel should definitely give it a chance.” – Hellfire Magazin

“On “Relentless Thirst For Power” the band delivers catchy refrains, rich riffs and nice solos almost continuously.” – Powermetal.de

“When it comes to piercing leather lungs, high note ascension, and fierce main melodies, Tyrants of Chaos have the ideal frontman in Phil Sirias – his conviction and delivery during “Slay the Hostages” rivalling the Halford/Dickinson 80’s heydays, yet also showcasing a smoother register in the low range verses of a semi-marching, doom-oriented “No Lives Matter”.” – Dead Rhetoric

“Listeners can expect a strong, engaging twin-guitar foundation that lays down addictive, headbanging rhythms that move through mid-tempo to slightly faster/heavier moments, plus bass/drum rhythm section work which maintains that solid backbone to drive the main swinging hooks home. It’s evident that these gentlemen have studied, enjoyed, and worship at the feet of artists like Megadeth, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, and much missed domestic act 3 Inches of Blood when you take in specific key riffs or soaring screams/ high note escapades during “Skull Crusher” plus “T.O.C.”.” – Dead Rhetoric

““T.O.C.” is the first track off of TYRANTS OF CHAOS’ ‘Relentless Thirst for Power.’ The track is an immediate, fist-pumping, head-banging power metal classic. The next track, “The Black Gap,” will have fans reaching for their air guitars and grooving out.” – Infrared Mag

[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]

Album Title: Relentless Thirst for Power
Release Date: August 19, 2022
Label: TOC Recordings

Track Listing:
1. T.O.C 4:35
2. The Black Gap 5:01
3. Mourning Sickness 5:12
4. Skull Crusher 5:05
5. Slay the Hostages 5:12
6. Red Rage 4:17
7. Nightmare Machine 5:04
8. Indocri-Nation 3:59
9. No Lives Matter 3:49
10. Lucky Dog 4:36
Album Length: 46:55

Abum Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: TOC
• All songs written by: TOC
• Produced by: Arik Wagner
• Mixed by:
• Mastered by:  MCC Recording Studio Calgary (Johnny Gasparic)
• Album Artwork by:  Pierre-Alain D. 3mmi Design (www.3mmi.org)
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Phil Sirias – Vocals
Curtiss Vaselenak – Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Arik Wagner – Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Sean Simpson – Bass
Ryan Dyck – Drums

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

The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Lyrically it covers a range of topics. Musically it’s pure heavy metal from beginning to end. No filler.

Track by track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
1. T.O.C.
Musically- Straight forward, neck-wrecking heavy metal
Lyrically- While under the guise of sounding like preparing for battle, T.O.C. is simply about playing metal shows and entertaining the crowd.

2. THE BLACK GAP
Musically- It is another heavy-hitting metal banger that the audience can really mosh to.
Lyrically- The Black Gap depicts a time in World War Two history where German U-Boats were sinking large numbers of ships in the unprotected area of the North Atlantic called “The Black Gap”

3. MOURNING SICKNESS (Tyrants Greed part 2)
Musically- A mosh-worthy banger with a darker, sludgier tone.
Lyrically- The lyrics were actually written over 10 years ago. They cover topics such as corruption, greed, ignorance, and turning a blind eye.

4. SKULL CRUSHER
Musically- A fast-paced face-melter filled with intense vocals, shredding guitars, and a thunderous rhythm section.
Lyrically- The lyrics can be interpreted in one of two ways. On the surface, it’s a song about oppression, control, and fear. Below the surface, it is about toxic relationships.

5. SLAY THE HOSTAGES
Musically- A “Priest” style, ear piercing, balls-out metal assault.
Lyrically- Similar to T.O.C. Slay the Hostages sounds like a song about committing crimes and sacrifices but it is simply about playing metal shows and entertaining the crowd.

6. RED RAGE
Musically- a “Maiden” style metal “Scottish jig” if you will.
Lyrically- Red Rage is a historically accurate depiction of the Battle Of Bannockburn.

7. NIGHTMARE MACHINE
Musically- Nightmare Machine is a slightly more progressive and melodic metal song with multiple breakdowns and emotional vocals.
Lyrically- The basic theme for this song in a word is revolution. This song promotes standing up to government overreach and oppression, brothers and sisters joining together as one, and keeping pushing forward no matter the struggle.

8. INDOCTRI-NATION
Musically- A classic Teutonic power metal song with melodic tones.
Lyrically- The lyrics are a story about someone suffering from mental health issues. The story highlights mental fears and follows an unknown individual’s journey through the hardships of life as they contemplate suicide, only to realize the power to overcome their fears is in their own hands.

9. NO LIVES MATTER
Musically- It is a slower ballad-style metal song.
Lyrically- No Lives Matter is about our short existence on this planet, and ultimately our death. It drives home the message that in the end, we all die, so don’t live your life in fear.

10. LUCKY DOG
Musically- a classic, 80’s style, fun, and entertaining heavy rocker.
Lyrically- The lyrics are specifically about NASCAR and racing. The lyrics contain NASCAR slang.

L-R – Sean Simpson – Bass, Curtiss Vaselenak – Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Phil Sirias – Vocals, Arik Wagner – Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Ryan Dyck – Drums

TYRANTS OF CHAOS are an original traditional metal band from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Founding member Curtiss Vaselenak formed the band in 2013. After going through several member changes the TYRANTS are now solid and at the height of their musical career. Phil (air raid siren) Sirias, drummer Ryan Dyck, ax-slinger Arik Wagner, and Sean ‘the Slayer’ Simpson round out this hard‐driving, in-your-face metal band. Their live show is something every metalhead needs to experience.  

Since forming TYRANTS OF CHAOS, the band has released two albums 2016’s debut and “THE CALM BEFORE the STORM,” and 2019’s “Into Oblivion” and have played and headlined numerous shows and festivals in support of their album. There is no slowing down in the TYRANT camp as third and newest album “Relentless Thirst for Power” is set for released during summer 2022. All genres have influenced their sound, but none so much as the NWOBHM. If you appreciate Saxon, Maiden, or Priest, you will love TYRANTS OF CHAOS!

Album and Live Band Line Up:
Phil Sirias – Vocals
Curtiss Vaselenak – Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Arik Wagner – Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Sean Simpson – Bass
Ryan Dyck – Drums

Discography:
2022 – Relentless Thirst for Power
2019 – Into Oblivion
2016 – The Calm Before the Storm

Shared Stage with:
Monster Truck, Rik Emmett, Streetheart, Honeymoon Suite, Quiet Riot, Tom Cochrane, Glass Tiger

Tours and Festivals:
2018 – Loud As Hell Fest – Drumheller, AB

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

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. The entire band are a bunch of crazy cat people.
2. While playing a sold-out show at a private hall, tensions were high when the Hells Angels walked in. Intimidating? Yes, but they were there, like any other paying patron, to enjoy a rock concert.
3. Curtiss is a huge NASCAR fan so we wrote the song “Lucky Dog” as a shout-out to all the NASCAR and racing fans out there.
4. Phil is a war history nerd. Many songs in our catalog depict historically accurate events that occurred during various battles and times of war.
5. The entire band has an absolutely crazy sense of humor. During band practice, it seems like we’re cracking jokes more than playing. Humor makes us all take ourselves less seriously and keeps us grounded. Humor plays a significant role in keeping the band together as one solid unit.

0 EPK – Tonic Breed – Fuel The Fire (2022)

  • July 19, 2022
  • by Asher
  • · EPKs · Tonic Breed

EPK – Tonic Breed – Fuel The Fire (2022)

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

“Being a full-pieced band for 13 years, Tonic Breed has gained tons of experience in the music scene. After the third and last split up in 2019, Patrik K. Svendsen decided to reinvent the band. He now operates alone as a songwriter but with great company on his songs. With guest appearances from bands such as Megadeth, Soilwork, and Kamelot, Tonic Breed is now awaiting its first release in this new format. Expect hard-hitting thrash, with melodic and groovy elements, in this new EP from the Norwegian metal act.” – Patrik K. Svendsen

For fans of Pantera, Slayer, Metallica, Testament

EP Title: Fuel the Fire
Release Date: July 22, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Tonicbreed.com | Facebook.com/tonicbreed | YouTube | Instagram.com/tonicbreed 

Spotify | Apple Music 

“Tonic Breed reinforces my growing belief that music, and particularly metal, can one day survive and even thrive without need of the corporate machine.” –  Metal Disciple (Outsold – LP)

“For an unsigned act Outsold has one of the best productions I have heard in a long time. Simply put it’s a fantastic album.” –  Teeth of the Divine (Outsold – LP)

“TONIC BREED could easily advance up the ranks thanks to this impressive release.” –  Metal Temple (Outsold – LP)

“10/10. Album of the year 2014.” – The Metal Review (Outsold – LP)

[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]

EP Title: Fuel the Fire
Release Date: July 22, 2022
Label: Self-Release

Track Listing:
1. Fuel the Fire (4:56) ft. Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth), Bernt Jansen (Artch/Wig Wam)
2. No Rocks on the Scotch (4:11) ft. Björn Strid (Soilwork), Martin Skriubakken (Endezzma)
3. H.E. Antagonist (3:43) ft. Oliver Palotai (Kamelot) (guitar solo)
4. Blood Moon (4:07)
EP Length: 16:57

EP Recording Credits:
All songs performed by: Patrik K. Svendsen
All songs written by: Patrik K. Svendsen
All songs produced by: Patrik K. Svendsen
Track 1 and 2 Mixed by Patrik Svendsen and Viktor Gullichsen
Track 1 and 2 Engineered and mastered by Viktor Gullichsen
Track 3 Mixed by Patrik Svendsen and Oliver Palotai
Track 3 Engineered and mastered by Oliver Palotai
Track 4 Mixed by Patrik Svendsen and Juhis Kauppinen
Track 4 Engineered and mastered by Juhis Kauppinen

EP Band Line Up:
Patrik K. Svendsen
Also guests:
Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth)
Bernt Jansen (Artch/Wig Wam)
Björn Strid (Soilwork)
Martin Skriubakken (Endezzma)
Oliver Palotai (Kamelot)

Fuel the Fire is the latest release by Tonic Breed. The EP includes four songs, each with its unique touch and sound. The songs are recorded over a more extended period with multiple sound engineers from different countries, with various musicians as guest appearances. The genre has similarities to the old bay era thrash style, integrated with groove, melodic and heavy elements. 

Until 2019, Tonic Breed was a full-pieced metal band, but Patrik K. Svendsen re-branded Tonic Breed to become a one-piece metal project with its first release in early 2021. Patrik is the composer of all songs, but he is not alone. Great company in the form of guest appearances is featured on the EP. Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth), Björn Strid (Soilwork), and Oliver Palotai (Kamelot) are some of the names that can be heard across the EP.

Discography:
2022 – Fuel the Fire – EP
2018 – Install Memory – LP
2014 – Outsold – LP

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. The music video for Blood Moon was recorded a year before it was publically released.

2. When Patrik first contacted Dirk Verbeuren, he had problems with his recording equipment. Instead of sending a proper demo recording, he sent a MIDI file that was programmed on a computer. The song reminded Dirk of old-school retro gaming music, which he actually liked very much. At least he heard the potential.

3. Bernt Jansen and Patrik know eachother from way back. Being from the same city, Sarpsborg in Norway, Bernt was a music teacher in one of Patrik’s classes. This year marks exactly 20 years since then.

4. Just days after Patrik and Bernt agreed on cooperating on Fuel the Fire, Wig Wam (where Bernt plays bass) reached a worldwide hit song with “Do ya wanna taste it” after it was featured on the Netflix show Peacemaker.

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