Darko, the project featuring Tom Barber (Chelsea Grin) and Josh Miller (Emmure), have confirmed that their new self-titled album will be released on May 7. Pre-orders are available HERE.
“Darko” Track Listing:
01. “Splinter Cell”
02. “Fiend Dream”
03. “Donna”
04. “Pretenders” (feat. Shadow Of Intent’s Ben Duerr)
05. “Praise The Sun”
06. “The Last Of Us”
07. “Daniel” (feat. Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante & Kingdom Of Giants’ Johnny Reeves)
08. “Mars Attacks”
09. “Pale Tongue”
10. “Insects”
11. “If This Is Forever”
12. “Darko” (feat. Molotov Solution’s Nick Arthur)
The Agonist’s Vicky Psarakis has teamed up with Quentin Cornet and Nils Courbaron for a cover of Children Of Bodom’s “Hate Me.” You can check that out below:
Mercury Circle (Swallow The Sun, ex-Children Of Bodom, etc.) have premiered a new video for their new song “You Open Up The Earth.” This track is from the band’s new album, which is expected to be released in September.
The group commented:
“This song is a reflection of how things take seat in our lives uninvitedly and change our fate forever. Especially during these times of incredible adversity, we hope to give a voice to the feelings those situations elicit while they oftentimes leave us speechless.”
Jaani Peuhu added:
“At a pretty early stage in the writing process, I started feeling that ‘You Open Up The Earth’ had to be the opening single of the album. Not only made the message of the song sense considering the state the world has been in for more than a year now, but it also seemed like a good introduction to the record: combining heavy, dark and melodic elements with a little piece of our unearthly atmosphere and a big chorus. We had more than 20 songs to choose from for the album and most of the tracks were about to be dropped from the record at some point, but this one felt like an important piece of our debut the whole time since I wrote it.”
“There was a funny situation during the recordings of ‘You Open Up The Earth’ when I was working on the string arrangements and realized that we need violins to compliment Teemu Mastovaara’s super-cool cellos. I mentioned it in our band chat, and then our guitar player Jussi casually answered that he could play them… Although he hadn’t played in years, he recorded the most beautiful violin tracks for this special song. My bandmates keep on surprising me with their talent. We have this mentality that everybody can do everything and there are no bad ideas. We try out every idea, and even if it doesn’t work, it might lead us to something that actually does and sounds amazing. We don’t want to play safe. Been there, done that. Never again. Not with this band.”
Fit For A King and Silent Planet have released new versions of their songs featuring each other’s vocalists. Fit For A King’s Ryan Kirby took on Silent Planet‘s “Trilogy,“ while Silent Planet’s Garrett Russell took on Fit For A King‘s “Stockholm.“ The two groups have also released some collaborative merch with proceeds set to go towards Ryan’s wife Crystal Kirby. The following was said about that:
“…Crystal Kirby (Ryan‘s wife) has been in and out of the hospital over the last few months being treated for bloodclots in her brain. So our bands decided that the money from this sale, up to $5000, will go directly to the Kirby family to help covered what is not being covered by her insurance. We are a family. We are One. Love you all!”
Core 10 have officially recruited guitarist/backing vocalist Mark Richey (Red Line Tragedy). The band commented:
“Hey all, We are proud to announce. Mark Richey from Red line tragedy. Is now the newest member/working with C10. On guitars/ and backing vocals. His experience as a singer/songwriter/guitar player. Stand alone. Check out his music, beyond us.
Sumo Cyco have premiered a new video for their new song “Vertigo.” This track is from the band’s new album “Initiation,” which will be released on May 7.
Skye “Sever” Sweetnam commented:
“‘Vertigo‘ was written pre-pandemic, but it’s crazy how we have been living through some of the most disorienting times in our lives. ‘Vertigo’ is all about trying to hold onto your sanity and self against any outside force.
Having Kane Churko produce and co-write with us on this track was a great experience. We typically do everything at our home studio, so hanging in Vegas at the amazing Hideout Recording studio put us in a fresh new mindset to create.
The music video contains one of the most elaborate sets we’ve worked on. I guess collecting so much junk over the years has paid off! Come choose your poison and start the INITIATION!”
In January, Cave In and Every Time I Die covered each other’s songs as part of a new “Two Minutes To Late Night” livestream series called “Splitsville.” At the time, an interview was also conducted with Cave In’s Adam McGrath and Every Time I Die’s Andy Williams, who touched on a number of topics including the possibility of a collaborative tour featuring both bands.
Williams said the following while discussing the “Splitsville” livestream:
“Me and Nate [Newton, Cave In, etc. bassist] were texting after the show, like ‘Yo, after this there has to be an Every Time I Die/Cave In tour, where like we’re all on-stage with two drums and everything and play both songs’, it would just be the best.”
McGrath added:
“That would be the best, it really would. It would be cool, full circle, doing all these things later together, it really would.”
In other news, McGrath also offered an update on the new Cave In album:
“We are writing a record. We did a session with Kurt [Ballou, producer/Converge guitarist], we have five songs recorded right now. We hope to have an hour and a half of music recorded by the spring, we’ve been truckin’ away with that. I see Steve [Brodsky, Cave In, etc. vocalist/guitarist] every two weeks, we do three-day hauls, then he goes back to New York. So we practice like three days in a row and then he goes back.
So we have another session Valentine’s Day weekend for three days and then we have another session scheduled in March, so we’re chipping away at a new record. I feel locked in with Cave In, more than since “Perfect Pitch Black“—that’s how locked in we are right now as far as like doing the band again, 100% locked in and focused, the most we’ve been in years. And it feels really good.”
The new Netflix film “Thunder Force” and its soundtrack were officially released today (April 9). Composer Fil Eisler worked on the soundtrack with Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer) and its title track features several guests including Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), and electric cellist Tina Guo.
“Thunder Force” Soundtrack Track Listing:
01. “Thunder Force” (feat. Corey Taylor, Lzzy Hale, Scott Ian, Dave Lombardo & Tina Guo)
02. “Thunder Force Suite” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
03. “This Town’s Gonna Get What It Deserves” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
04. “Angel Wings”
05. “History Of The Miscreants” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
06. “Lydia Goes Apeshit” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
07. “What Does This Button Do” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
08. “Enter Laser ” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
09. “Super Person”
10. “The Stanton Building”
11. “Training Begins” (feat. Scott Ian)
12. “Seems Like Overkill” (feat. Scott Ian)
13. “Social Visit”
14. “6am Day Two” (feat. Scott Ian)
15. “Cooked”
16. “Go Time”
17. “Super Suits” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
18. “Purple Lambo”
19. “The Diner Attack” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
20. “The Special One”
21. “Training Complete” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
22. “Like Thunder”
23. “I Like ‘Em Thick”
24. “Hold It Calamari” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
25. “Boom”
26. “In The Public Eye” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
27. “It Feels Like I Need To Kill Them”
28. “Dumpster Fight” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
29. “What Brings You By”
30. “The Crab”
31. “Boss Battle” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
32. “Thought This One Through”
33. “Thunder Force Out” (feat. Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo)
Eisler commented:
“When Ben and I first talked about what the score should be, it was more of a conversation about how much Ben didn’t want it to be a comedy score and how it had to feel like a legitimate superhero movie. The comedy had to work so there’s always this fine line between writing something that’s going to elevate the story but also have fun and not take itself too seriously.
So when I saw that Melissa’s character was a metal fan and even mentioned Slayer in the film, I just thought ‘This is it. This is how we can make a kick arse score and have some fun at the same time.’ After that, there was no question – if you’re going to work in a genre, especially metal, you can’t dabble. You have to have the real thing. Choosing the right musicians for a score is no different to casting actors in a movie really. I was just lucky enough to be able to cast Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo, both metal legends who brought more to the project than I could have ever hoped for.”
It looks like Metallica’s Kirk Hammett is continuing to work on new material. The guitarist simply said the following on Twitter: “working on new riffs…” This news comes after drummer Lars Ulrich previously said that the band are making “glacial” progress on their new album.
Sabaton have released an English version of their latest single “Livgardet.” This version of the track is titled “The Royal Guard” and an official video for it can be found below:
Bassist Pär Sundström commented:
“Since 2012 and ‘Carolus Rex’, we felt that we were not done with the history of our fatherland. Over the past years, we have been discussing around topics until something obvious came up. One of the oldest military regiments in the world, the Swedish Royal Guard (Livgardet), was formed in the SABATON home region in Sweden, Dalecarlia, in 1521 by the legendary Swedish king Gustav Vasa. For the past 500 years, they have evolved with the times and served under various kings and queens around the world and are still active today. We felt that such an anniversary would be worth a song, and we aimed at writing a respectful tribute, an anthem for this Swedish regiment and its legacy. The rich 500 years of history is, needless to say, extremely hard to fit into one song, and that is why we mainly focused on the parts and battles that happened during the age of the Swedish Empire. We aimed to write a respectful tribute, a powerful anthem, for this Swedish regiment and its remarkable legacy.”
