Metal Mix Tape Volume 8
Let there be metal! Have a look to see who made Metal Mix Tape Volume Eight:
Last year, Bay Area metal icons MACHINE HEAD unleashed their incendiary 10th studio album, ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN. The band releases the music video for the track ARRØWS IN WØRDS FRØM THE SKY. Directed by Jon (Jern) Watson and edited by Mike Sloat, the mobile-friendly video features live footage from the band’s 2022 U.S. and European tours.
MACHINE HEAD’s Robb Flynn comments: “The last few videos have been very artistic and thematic continuing the black & white scope of the concept record. For this we just wanted to have an old school, 90’s style live video, that is more or less a tribute to our absolutely insane fans (the Head Cases) going bat shit crazy, mixed with some good ol’ life-on-the-road-getting-hammered-backstage-vibe. Enjoy!”
Metal titans KREATOR have released a video for the song Conquer And Destroy from their highly acclaimed latest album, Hate Über Alles. The live footage was filmed on March 4th, 2023 in front of 6000 of the band’s mighty Hordes in their spiritual home of Essen. This very special show at Grugahalle not only featured a career-spanning KREATOR set list full of neck-breakers and beloved anthems, but also visually stunning high-end production solidifying the event as an unforgettable night for everyone in attendance. From opener Hate Über Alles all the way through to the final encore of Pleasure To Kill, the performance was a maelstrom of mosh pits and raised fists.
TYPE O NEGATIVE is unveiling a darkly captivating treat for World Goth Day! Immerse yourself in the ethereal realm of Halloween in Heaven as A.I. breathes new life into the track. Written by the band for their friend Dimebag Darrell, the video features Dimebag alongside John Bonham, John Entwistle, Bon Scott, Randy Rhoads, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jim Morrison, Elvis and the Green Man himself, Peter Steele. Fans of the band will also spot a cameo from collaborator and friend of the band, Tara VanFlower (LYCIA).
TYPE O NEGATIVE’s Johnny Kenny comments:
“An artificial intelligence video for an artificially intelligent band!”.
Corinne Larre (Twisted Hooves Studio) who used A.I. and created the animated music video shared the following:
“When Nuclear Blast asked me to make this video using artificial intelligence, I was eager to explore the thousand possibilities offered by this new technology. I ended up using a combination of two platforms: one that generated images and the other transforming said images into video.
The lyrics left the field open to a lot of experimentation, leading to this universe both eerie and kitsch, which I hope pays homage to the band. The real challenge was the integration of legendary artists into this imagery. It’s hard to explain to the A.I. the small details that make them unique as humans. In the end, hundreds, even thousands of iterations must have been made for this video! As an artist, I think it is necessary to remain humble when using artificial intelligence as the topic has quite rightly caused some ethical debate in the creative world. In my opinion, these creations should not be seen as artistic works in their own right, but as the first steps of a technology that will revolutionize audio-visual creation in the coming years.”
US metal legends FIFTH ANGEL have released a new single from their upcoming new studio album, When Angels Kill, which will be out on June 16th via Nuclear Blast Records.
The song Resist The Tyrant which is being carried by infectious guitar leads and a captivating chorus is a prime example of those powerful and hard-hitting heavy metal anthems that can only be written and performed by the absolute masters of the genre.
In this day and age, tyranny is not fiction, it never was. While not a political song and rather woven into the album concept of When Angels Kill, Resist The Tyrant bears a powerful message that will resonante with those oppressed or fighting oppression today. Its rebellious spirit has been remarkably captured in a new FIFTH ANGEL music video also premiering today.
The video introduces the four main characters in the story of this epic concept album. The four main characters of the story are: the protagonist Phoenix, a young man, and his best friend in the resistance, Dylan, Phoenix’s love interest Lana, also a member of the rebellion, and the global Tyrant Dionne Profontis.
Purveyors of the legendary Gothenburg sound THE HALO EFFECT have presented us with a visualizer for the song Path Of Fierce Resistance, which was previously released as a Japanese exclusive on the band’s globally acclaimed debut album Days Of The Lost, that was released in August 2022. Now, the ferocious track is finally being released to the rest of the world, before the band embarks on their first US headline run in May and gets back to the studio to work on their next full-length album.
Frontman Mikael Stanne comments: “Path Of Fierce Resistance” is a song we wrote for the Days of the Lost album but it only surfaced on the limited Japanese edition and it has been very close to us and having it here now for all to hear feels fantastic. The new album is in the works and we are incredibly excited about it, so consider this as something to keep you guys going until we unveil what is coming next.
The song is another Jesper and Niclas classic that features everything that we love doing together in this band. Lyrically it deals with unrealistic expectations and about how important it is to follow one’s own path and be adamant about it no matter what. We start our tour in the US on the 20th of May and we are beyond stoked to bring this band to America for the first time. Do not miss this!”
For almost 3 decades, the US/French Canadian-based melodic death metal syndicate KATAKLYSM has delivered unapologetic waves of powerful sound across the entire globe. On August 11th, 2023 the band’s 15th full-length studio album Goliath will be unleashed unto the masses via Nuclear Blast Records.
Bringer Of Vengeance is the first single from the album. The song opens with drop-tune guitars and takes the listener on a journey mashing together modern Metal and Djent components that are layered over the traditional KATAKLYSM sound.
Maurizio Iacono comments, “Our new album Goliath comes at a time in our society where division and hate are growing and spreading on a worldwide basis, where ideologies on how the future should be for humanity is colliding, This is also a time of unprecedented power structures fighting for the control of our lives, the story of David vs Goliath has never been more important than these modern times, Metal has always been a voice of rebellion against oppression and for the protection of our freedoms, the album also touches on inner conflict and doing what needs to be done to confront your inner demons.
“The ‘Bringer of Vengeance’ single’s main idea is about a carefully and patiently plotted revenge. The song is inspired by the events surrounding the assassination of King Richard I ‘The Lionheart’ and the idea that it might take time but, one day justice will always be served”.
Last month, metal legends CAVALERA announced they re-recorded SEPULTURA’s first EP Bestial Devastation and first full-length album Morbid Visions.
CAVALERA reveal the albums will be released on July 14th via Nuclear Blast Records. They also offer fans the first single Morbid Visions.
Swedish Deathglam kings DEATHSTARS released their fifth studio album Everything Destroys You last week, which was eagerly awaited from their loyal fans.
The band presents the video for the album’s title track Everything Destroys You, which is directed by Damon Zurawski, who also did the video for Midnight Party.
The video was filmed in the cold, hard surroundings of an old, abandoned slaughterhouse in Stockholm.
Whiplasher tells about the video: ‘Everything Destroys You’ is a video that literally destroys the band. We have killed the band in quite a few of our videos, and for those who want to see us dead once again this is another excellent opportunity to see that happen. On one hand you could see Nightmare busy behind swaying chains in the cellar, while Skinny is working on a double bass at the same time as I got electric shocks from a depraved nurse.”
French underground avant-gardists CELESTE have released a new live video for their song Nonchalantes De Beauté, taken from their most recent album, Assassine(s) (2022). The high quality footage was shot by French rock & metal streaming platform The-Pit.com at Paris Trabedo in 2022, and it showcases why CELESTE are being regarded as one of the most unique and intense live bands in this day and age.
Industrial metal pioneers FEAR FACTORY have solidified their importance and have become champions of the Metal community. On June 23rd, the band’s albums Re-Industrialized and Mechanize will be available as re-issues via Nuclear Blast Records.
FEAR FACTORY offers fans the single, Deprived Mind Murder, from Re-Industrialized.
After recently performing as direct support to Metallica for two spectacular shows in Paris and Hamburg, Symphonic metallers EPICA return with a another new live single from their European headline tour. The bombastic Unleashed was recorded at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live in January 2023. Ahead of the band’s performance at Download Festival this weekend, they have released the live video for Unleashed (Live at the AFAS Live).
“Unleashed has been a band and fan favourite live song ever since its release on Design Your Universe”, comments Coen Janssen. “There was no question about playing it on our biggest indoor show to date, and with the amazing images on the big LED wall, the song got lifted to an even higher experience.”
Forged deep in the fiery pits of the underworld, the Battlesnake rises up to take the earth by storm….
The lovechild of Queen, Tenacious D, Judas Priest and Gwar, Battlesnake are a unique beast within the Australian music scene. The cult metallers are knocking at the door of what all underdogs dream of but few ever experience.
And they just released a video for the track Nazarene Extreme featuring some insane footage from said Pumpkins tour,:
The band comment:
“Nazarene Extreme’ and its accompanying music video are the result of a band with no money on tour with one of the biggest alternative rock bands in the world. The footage was recorded on a 2001 family-holiday handycam and features NWA professional wrestler Silas ‘Thrill Billy’ Mason slowly but surely ending the lives of each member of Battlesnake. Edited and recorded by our own Ben King.”
They continue
“This is a typical day in the life of Battlesnake, nothing out of the ordinary. We travel with our own entourage of professional wrestlers that we use for personal protection, we have one each. Although on this particular occasion, Thrill Billy, the ring leader and mightiest of all the wrestlers turned on us. He had had enough of our unreasonable demands so he beat the living daylights out of each and every one of us and broke us like twigs. Luckily our resident videographer Ben King was there to capture every moment.”
The mighty Bring Me The Horizon surprise fans with a new track AmEN! featuring acclaimed rapper Lil Uzi Vert and hardcore legend Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw, out now via RCA/Sony Music Australia.
Platinum-certified and twice GRAMMY-nominated Michigan rock powerhouse I Prevail — Brian Burkheiser (vocals), Eric Vanlerberghe (vocals), Steve Menoian (guitars/bass), Dylan Bowman (guitars), and Gabe Helguera (drums) — released their monumental new record TRUE POWER via Fearless Records last year. It was followed by a sold out, two-leg tour across the U.S. and Canada.
The band has now shared the video for the gorgeous, stripped version of their latest single Deep End. The version of the song is laced with a haunting piano melody.
Deep End showcases I Prevail’s deftness with dynamics, vacillating between tempos and emotions before the final fadeout. The song’s message is as powerful as its melody, and that’s precisely why the song takes hold from start to finish.
“Deep End felt special from the day we wrote it,” the band says. “Being one of the most introspective tracks on the record, it became a reflection on an attempt to stop battling certain things about yourself and instead learning to accept them as a part of who you are. There’s a peace to be found in that. Overall, this track allowed us to evolve the softer side of our band and we’re incredibly proud of it.”
A new chapter in the thrillingly theatrical story of Creeper gets underway as the acclaimed UK band share their brand new single Cry To Heaven and announce the Friday, October 13th release of their third album Sanguivore.
Creeper’s previous albums, Eternity, In Your Arms and Sex, Death & the Infinite Void, have seen the band enamour an army of devotees, a highly committed following that propelled their second album to a Top 5 chart position.
Vocalist William Von Ghould says, “Keeping in line with the band’s ethos of aggressive musical progression, the song is once again an ambitious departure from previous works. ‘Cry To Heaven’ turns the key and unlocks a door to a new world of decadent excess. The introduction to a new tragic story of love, loss and vampires. This is Creeper at their most outrageous, harking back to a time where Jim Steinman ruled the airwaves in leather gloves and Aviators.”
L.S. Dunes: vocalist Anthony Green, guitarist Frank Iero, bassist Tim Payne, drummer Tucker Rule, and guitarist Travis Stever shared a brand-new video for Grey Veins, a blistering anthem off the band’s highly acclaimed debut album released last year, Past Lives. An ingenious send-up of 70’s Japanese Sci-Fi horror flicks, the Grey Veins video features the band as soldiers battling forces greater than themselves while orchestrating a miniature war for Earth’s survival.
The fantastical trip was helmed by noted directed David Brodsky, (August Burns Red, Helmet, Cannibal Corpse), who previously worked with L.S. Dunes on the video for their first single, Permanent Rebellion.
Frank Iero on the Grey Veins video: “I’ve always said that if I couldn’t be in a band the only other thing I would want to do is to make monster movies. It’s been my dream ever since I was a little, and it was the thing my dad and I bonded over. From an early age music and monsters is just something that went hand in hand for me. (Japanese film genre) Kaiju is something I have been fascinated by ever since I was a kid and I have always wanted to do an homage to that art form in a music video. I love that L.S. Dunes is such an open minded and inspiring collective of artists that allowed me to chase that idea and make that dream a reality. Grey Veins felt like the perfect song to pair with this concept and so when the time came I knew David and Allie at My Good Eye, our frequent collaborators, were the perfect match to bring this to fruition.”
Southampton hardcore/thrash quintet, GROVE STREET, have announced the release of their debut album, The Path To Righteousness, on September 29 through UNFD, with the release of the album’s title track.
“The Path to Righteousness represents and explores escapism & the importance of having outlets or vices to help forget about the struggles of life, and the paradoxical irony of how escaping every day life improves every day life,” says guitarist Sandy.
While drummer, Josh, adds, “the track itself came together pretty organically in the practice room. I remember listening to Suicidal Tendencies and Power Trip at the time and wanted to capture a hybrid of groove and fast thrashy vibes. We wanted the last section to build and then finish strong and heavy. The repetitive vocal hook was added last minute in the studio, but it fast became my favourite part!”
On November 26th 2021, HYPOCRISY released their critically acclaimed latest album Worship, which saw the best global chart results in the band´s history so far.
And yet, the band has another ace up their sleeve.
The fierce banger They Will Arrive, taken from their latest album Worship, provides the perfect soundtrack to the video, which was filmed across three different concerts during their last European tour in autumn/winter 2022.
Peter Tägtgren comments: “We’ve got a chance to make another video with Damien Dausch and it feels like it completes the Worship tour. Enjoy!”
Norwegian death metallers, CADAVER are proud to reveal The Age Of The Offended will be unleashed on July 21, 2023 via Nuclear Blast Records. True to the band’s primitive roots and an audacious, ground-breaking, psychedelic horror-show, the album is an angry, fu*ked up album for angry, fucked up times, defiantly created against the odds. The band offers fans the first taste of the album with the title track.
Anders Odden comments:
“We began working on The Age of the Offended during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. We aimed to push the boundaries of our music adding all the flavors we like in the mix. We rejoined forces with Eilert Solstad, the bass player from …In Pains as well as guitar wizard, Ronni Le Tekrø. This collaboration led to an album that sounds out of this world and sends our music into the stratosphere. The theme, The Age Of The Offended, is a node to the times we live in. The chaos, conflicts, and turmoil of the human condition will never stop inspiring us. The title track reflects this vision by pointing to the zeitgeist and works as the perfect soundtrack to the current post-apocalyptic world.”
Better Lovers, a newly formed band featuring Greg Puciato, Jordan Buckley, Clayton “Goose” Holyoak, Stephen Micciche, and Will Putney, have released their debut single: 30 Under 13 via SharpTone Records.
The blistering, four-minute track, and accompanying Eric Richter directed video, serve as the perfect introduction to Better Lovers, a band whose music is as uncompromising, unapologetic, and undeniable as anything they’ve individually done.
“Looking back, I’m so happy everything got me to where I am,” explains Buckley. “The pandemic and the last few years made me hungrier and more grateful. This isn’t a hobby. This isn’t temporary. This is the next evolution for each of us. Greg and Will rejuvenated me and made me even more confident. Now, everybody needs to know we’re a wild animal that just broke out of the zoo—there’s no trying to put it back in the cage.”
“Jordan sent me some already finished instrumental tracks, and they hit me at just the right time,” adds Puciato. “Those tracks woke up a side of me that I thought was fully extinct but was merely evolving and changing. To my complete surprise there was still something left in that area to dig at, and the vessel for it made sense.”
On the same day that the all-star metal collaboration ELEGANT WEAPONS dropped their debut album, Horns for a Halo – fans will also be able to view their latest music video, for its title track. Comprised of RAINBOW singer Ronnie Romero, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner, URIAH HEEP bassist Dave Rimmer, and ACCEPT drummer Christopher Williams.
“Unmistakably dark and brooding, light and dark, good and evil. A mid-paced blend of Birmingham and Seattle with a slice of thrash thrown in” explains Richie Faulkner. “The title track “Horns For A Halo” is like Tony Iommi crossed with Alice In Chains. It’s about the way we justify the bad things we do. When we turn up on Judgement Day, will the angels kind of confuse our horns for halos, if you know what I mean.”
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