Metal Mix Tape Volume 9
Let there be metal! Have a look to see who made Metal Mix Tape Volume Nine:
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA have shared the new version of their single Salt, which appears on 2022’s Color Decay. This reimagined version features Dayseeker vocalist Rory Rodriguez.
“After playing Salt around the world for the last year, it became obvious that something was happening with the connection of this song and we wanted to do something special with it,” the band offers. “We reached out to our good friend Rory from Dayseeker to see if he would want to feature on a new version of the song, and he absolutely smashed it. Rory totally helps capture the emotional weight and energy that we put into Salt, and we’re so excited to put out one of our favorite songs in a whole new light.”
Following their earth-shattering return with an announcement of a world tour, new single and epic 11 minute cinematic video for title track War Of Being, TesseracT continue their journey into The Strangeland in the form of new single The Grey. The Grey builds on signature grooves that undulate in TesseracT’s sound flanked by polyrhythmic rhythms tied together by the band’s iconic melodies. It’s yet another example of the multi-faceted appeal of their sound and proves that they can craft immediate and affecting tracks just as masterfully as their epic 11 minutes opuses.
Regarding the track, Amos Williams had the following to say:
The Grey explores the story and character within the Strangeland of the same name. A character who has suppressed their own voice to the point that they have blended into the shadows, their story lost amongst the white noise of the world. Through the song we experience their journey as they wrestle with their frustration and sorrow at how they have ended up this way. It’s a powerful, energetic piece that pushes each member of TesseracT to a next level of musicianship and expression. And continues to shine a light upon the diversity that can be expected from War Of Being.
Connecticut hardcore band WITH HONOR have released new single Open Hands. The single is taken off the band’s upcoming album Boundless, out on September 8 via Pure Noise Records. Singer Todd Mackey spoke about the new single saying “Open Hands aims to open space for the embrace of the new self every day – encouraging us to let go of the past, forgive ourselves, open our hands, and lift new names.”
Kill The Lights, which features former members of Bullet for My Valentine, Throw the Fight, Threat Signal, and Still Remains, released their debut album The Sinner, in 2020 via Fearless Records. Earlier this year, they dropped the new single Broken Bones. They are hurling another banger at metal fans in the form of Hear You Scream.
The track is a flawless marriage of classic, shreddy, and finger-slicing metal riffs, galloping solos, modern, layered, and soaring vocal harmonies. It also factors in screams that sound as though they have ascended the bowls of hell and two utterly seismic breakdowns. The band keeps one foot in the past, honoring the genre’s rich tradition, all the while marching forward to keep the genre as vital as ever. “Hear You Scream is about being trapped in a toxic relationship and not knowing how to escape,” says singer James Clark. “You convince yourself over and over that things will get better, but all along, you are being used. When the mask of ‘fake love’ is peeled back, the web of lies and deceit are unveiled. You slowly and strategically bide your time and exact your revenge.”
Australia’s extreme metal titans Thy Art Is Murder have revealed turbulent third single Blood Throne, taken from the band’s forthcoming album, Godlike, out September 15 via Human Warfare.“AND SO THEY ROT!!” growls a menacing CJ McMahon as he ushers in Blood Throne with a maniacal glint in his eye. From here, Thy Art Is Murder blast open the ninth circle of hell with a potent mix of mayhem and force designed to galvanize us into overthrowing the evil that reigns on the Blood Throne.
Guitarist Andy Marsh offers: “as we started work on Blood Throne we aimed to harness the same visceral energy that drove Death Squad Anthem while pushing our boundaries to craft something unique. Kicking things off with a break beat groove, we wanted to set the tone with a jolt to the system preparing everyone for the chaos ahead. Blood Throne embodies our attempt at creative anthemic power and groove spiraling into a reflection of oppressive organizations and regimes that profit and thrive on the toil and pain of the marginalized. Throughout our career we have confronted these themes head on with the aim of igniting a fire within each listener and inspiring the collective strength to challenge the dominion of those who perpetuate suffering.”
Gold-selling hard rockers Of Mice & Men — Aaron Pauley (bass + vocals ), Valentino Arteaga (drums), Alan Ashby (guitar), and Phil Manansala (guitar) — will release their new album Tether on October 6 via SharpTone. The band kicks off the new album cycle by releasing the video for the new single Warpaint.
“We’re excited to share Warpaint as the first single,” says Pauley. “We feel like it bridges the gap between the OM&M you’ve heard and known, and what’s to come. Warpaint is a heavy and anthemic song about resilience, and rallying the courage to face your fears head on.”
Mexican death grind band BRUJERIA put the world of cartels and ritualistic murder on wax with a brutal power equivalent to when Compton arrived in pop culture via NWA. On September 15th, the band will unleash their fifth full-length album Esto Es Brujeria onto the world via Nuclear Blast Records. Bruja Encabronada is the second single to be released from the upcoming album. Watch the music video which includes live footage taken by Roel Verscheure (GRIMM Gent) and Emerik Siimessalmi.
Masters of extreme metal RINGWORM have made their long-awaited return with the release of their 9th full-length album, Seeing Through Fire, out now from Nuclear Blast Records. An auditory wrecking ball of filth, chaos and reckless abandon, RINGWORM sinks their teeth into listeners with pummeling tracks like Thought Crimes, No Solace, No Quarter, No Mercy and the devastating track House of Flies.
Founding vocalist Human Furnace stated on the album: “We’re pretty pumped on ‘Seeing Through Fire.’ It’s a total burner. It’s a straight forward, “smash your face and leave you layin’ there wondering what you got hit with” type record. We’ve never felt the need to “re-invent our own wheel” but going into this one we tried some different things sonically, and we’re very happy with the results. Of course, it’s the intention, every time we record a new record, but we feel like the over-all sound, feel and aggression of ‘Seeing Through Fire,’ one ups many of our past records. Which, for anyone that knows our catalog, is not always an easy task. With every new record, you have to dig deeper.”
In hand with the album release, RINGWORM has debuted a new video today for the crushing track House of Flies. Commenting on the song, HF says: ‘‘House of Flies,’ speaks to lingering secrets we all keep and how they can make you feel dead inside. As they fester and multiply, eventually they will make their way to the surface, and the fly is a universal harbinger that death and decomposition that one could feel.”
Arizona death-crusters GO AHEAD AND DIE will deliver their caustic sophomore album Unhealthy Mechanisms on October 20th via Nuclear Blast Records. A torrential whirlwind born from the livid minds of Igor Amadeus Cavalera (HEALING MAGIC) and Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY). This new instalment to the band’s dystopian catalogue is a fresh dive into the madness of society and the pollution that ravages our minds.
The first taste of the album comes in the form of the single Tumors. The headbang-inducing track is a call out to the backstabbers who are toxic and are the “tumors” of life that if left to spread can become cancer. Check out the animated video created by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu. Max Cavalera comments, “The new G.A.A.D. is on its way! More brutal, feral, extreme, and intense than ever before! The album goes in a deep dive into the mental health subject and it’s produced by Igor A! It’s by far the most anarchist record I’ve ever been a part of in my entire career!”
Igor Amadeus Cavalera states, “I’m so excited to release this monster of a record! This album will take you through the darkened madness of declining mental health. It is definitely the heaviest record I’ve ever created, and I can’t wait to unleash it on the masses! G.A.A.D.!”
The festival season is almost done and international powerhouse BEAST IN BLACK are already gearing up for their next round of live dates, which will take them across USA and Canada for 31 shows. They present their fans with a captivating music video of the track To The Last Drop Of Blood, taken from their latest album Dark Connection.
Witness the raw talent and unparalleled chemistry of each band member as they come together to create an unforgettable concert experience. From dynamic solos to breathtaking vocal performances, this live video showcases BEAST IN BLACK at the peak of their musical prowess. The video was shot during their European tour between November 30 and December 5, 2022, directed by Damien Dausch from Psyrus Studio.
The band comments: “As we hit bigger and bigger stages in front of tens of thousands of fans, the power of the Beast continues to break loose! We also want to show this madness to those people who have never had the chance to see us live. For that, we chose a powerful song from our latest album, Dark Connection, and we asked Damien Dausch to film it on some shows of the tour. Now, we can proudly present you the music video for ´To The Last Drop Of Blood´! We hope it brings the big arena feeling into your home.”
OCEANS are back with their first new music since the release of their second studio album Hell Is Where The Heart Is last November! The German nu-metal band proudly presents their latest single Chop Suey, a cover of the SYSTEM OF A DOWN classic. As you would expect, the Germans have put their own stamp on the song, creating a darker version of the legendary track as they pay tribute to their roots.
Along with the release of their new single, OCEANS also deliver a new behind the scenes video, which you can witness here: Timo Rotten comments: “Toxicity was one of my favorite albums when it came out, but I hadn’t heard it in a while. Then Thomas dug it up again a few weeks ago and the question immediately came to my mind: How would this sound with growls? And whether I could do it at all. We just had to try it out. Did I get it right? I think you have to decide for yourselves.”
Prolific metalcore progressives ERRA return with their first new material in a year, and have shared the official video for their brand new single Pale Iris. The song opens with an explosive roar from singer J.T. Cavey and takes listeners on a sonic thrill ride, thanks to its dynamics, guitar twists and turns, and urgent tone.
“The first half of the song is a long crescendo to get us into the bridge where the song takes a darker turn and remains there until the end,” explains guitarist/vocalist Jesse Cash, offering a deeper look into the songwriting process. “Everything before is meant to create tension to serve that big release and make it as impactful as possible. The tuning drops five semitones in the bridge to further lend to the impact and shift of energy. It is essentially a song written for an 8-string guitar, but executed on 7-string thanks to the convenience of modern pitch-shifting.”
He continues, sharing what else inspired the song, saying, “I watched a 2017 Lovecraftian film called The Endless that had this scene where the protagonist realizes a second moon has appeared in the sky. That scene always stuck with me. I can’t recall whether it was implied that the moons were the eyes of Cthulhu or directly suggested, but that concept was so fun to me, to imagine there were two giant eyes looking down at us malevolently. From that, I imagined the idea of two coins over the eyes of a corpse resembling two moons over a lifeless earth staring into space.”
Having completed a hugely successful debut American tour earlier this year with August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada, Bleed From Within are now currently in the midst of a colossal summer tour, taking in both headline shows, some performances with Heaven Shall Burn and festival appearances at the likes of Brutal Assault (Czech Republic), Summer Breeze (Germany) and Alcatraz (Belgium). This run is due to be topped off by a 13-date tour supporting Trivium across the UK and a visit to the USA for Blue Ridge Rock Fest. To mark this energetic period of live shows, Bleed From Within have released a new single titled The Will To Resist, taken from their Shrine Deluxe Edition which will be released on November 10th 2023. Their stunning latest studio album Shrine was released in summer 2022, marking the band’s most groundbreaking work to-date and staking out Bleed From Within’s bold intent. The Scottish 5-piece claiming their position as the most exciting prospect in modern metal.
Ali Richardson stated, “It’s been an amazing year for us since the release of Shrine! As the touring schedule started to fill up, we truly began to appreciate the effect the album was having on our career so we put this idea in motion of releasing a Deluxe Edition for our fans. The 3 new songs that can be found here were very nearly a part of the initial release. They’re all very different in their composition and many arguments were had whilst settling on our final tracklisting. “The Will To Resist” takes the lead single here as a band favourite. I’m sure its intensity will resonate with our audience. You can visit our website to pre-order your copy of the limited-edition vinyl and check out the merchandise we’ve put together alongside it. Thanks for the support!”
The holy ground for heavy music, the sacred space for metal heads saw the beginning of another glorious chapter for one of the brightest modern metal stars to date. Swedish six-piece AMARANTHE announced the release of their upcoming album The Catalyst live on stage after their bedazzling performance on Wacken’s main stage.
“So at last it is official! This has been a long time in the making, and more effort went into this album than any previous AMARANTHE record. You have already gotten a taste of what’s to come on Damnation Flame, but as the most varied and eclectic AMARANTHE album to date, expect the unexpected! We cover a lot of musical ground on “The Catalyst”, but the core of what we are about creatively is completely intact. It will be immediately obvious that you are listening to AMARANTHE, as much as it will be immediately obvious that this is both a leap forward as well as a step up. Can’t wait for all of you to hear what we have been cooking, as well as seeing us perform these pristine new songs on the road SOON!”, guitar player Olof Mörck states about this moment.
Progressive heavy metal vehicle, INTERLOPER is proud to reveal their newest offering in the form of the single, Sanctum. The 6-minute banger is a mix of the band’s more technical elements and its very melodic guitar approach. Sanctum is a glimpse into a new era of INTERLOPER.
Andrew Virrueta comments:
“We present to you our newest song, ‘Sanctum’! We’re extremely excited about having this song finally out. It is a step in a heavier direction, as well as a more progressive direction. We hope you love it! Thanks so much for sticking around with our ever-evolving music. We are always trying to push the boundaries with what is conventional, and we feel this song really showcases the full spectrum of what we are capable of.”
DORO´s new masterpiece – Conqueress – Forever Strong and Proud – will be released worldwide on October 27th via Nuclear Blast. For this special anniversary album, celebrating her 40th year in music, it would be unthinkable not having some guests of honour involved. So, the Metal God himself, Rob Halford of Judas Priest personally did DORO the honour of recording the immortal Judas Priest classic Living After Midnight as a duet with her. Rob Halford is one of DORO’s all-time favourite vocalists, so this moment finally fulfils a dream that Doro has had since her very first tour with Judas Priest in 1986. DORO and Rob Halford have breathed new life into this timeless classic, paying tribute to the roots of heavy metal.
DORO comments: “Judas Priest and Rob Halford have always been one of my biggest inspirations and continue to be my heroes. It was so great working with Rob. ‘Living After Midnight’ has always been one of my favourite songs and I’m so proud of our duet!”
After the release of their very successful self-titled album Beyond The Black, which was released in January 2023 the band now share the brand new single ‘Call My Name’ with their fans. Beside that BEYOND THE BLACK also announce their Dancing In The Dark tour for 2024.
Jennifer Haben comments:
“With Call My Name we wanted to create a song with whom you cannot help but bang your head real hard. It’s organic, honest and in your face. Inspired by the story of Stephen Kings The Dark Tower we’ve formed a symbiosis of its elements and our own to tell a whole new tale about yearning, persistence and these wounds of human life that feel as if they will never heal completely.”
Right in the middle of their festival season, symphonic metal titans EPICA return with another live single off their upcoming digital EP Live At The AFAS Live. Originally the title track of their second studio album, and one of EPICA’s heaviest tracks, Consign To Oblivion has not only become a real classic, but also the ultimate final song of most EPICA shows, always starting with an obligatory wall of death right after the intro. “Over the years Consign to Oblivion became our favorite track to conclude our shows with”, Mark Jansen comments. “Every time we tried another track it never had the same impact as Consign to Oblivion. I’m happy everyone can now witness the live version that we played in Amsterdam to a fantastic home-country-crowd!”
After their volcanic introduction last month, extreme metal band TILL THE DIRT return with their follow-up single Starring Role. The catastrophic track is found on the band’s Scott Burns produced, debut record, Outside The Spiral, due out August 25th via Nuclear Blast Records. Influential death metal legend, ATHEIST vocalist and TILL THE DIRT mastermind Kelly Shaefer comments on the new song: “‘Starring Role’ is the first track on the album. It’s a song that ranks among my favourites on the record, and also a favourite of producer Scott Burns. It’s a straight up ripper! It encompasses all of the unique hybrid qualities of this whole album. Lyrically it is a song about the oddness of dreams and the role we sometimes do not seem to play or understand as we awake from them. This is a perfect banger for cranking loud and driving at high speeds!”
Portland’s own DYING WISH have announced their new album Symptoms of Survival. It arrives on November 3 via SharpTone Records. To accompany this exciting news, the quartet has shared the video for Watch My Promise Die.
“Watch My Promise Die is written about the overwhelming anxiety of pre-destined failure,” says singer Emma. “When you commit everything you have to one area of your life, the idea of it falling apart looms with such heavy importance. The song is written from the perspective of toying with that fear, allowing your weakness to overcome before you lose everything in a means outside of your control.” As for the album as a whole, she continues, “Symptoms of Survival is an eleven-part piece covering the complexity of human suffering in all forms. From the honest and personal perspective of heartbreak, painful trauma, loss, rage, and regret — to the more objective perspective of war, greed, and ultimate survival.”
PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS have released a video for their new single Hammer and Dance. The new track is the second song to be taken from their upcoming third album, Kings Of The Asylum, which will be released on 1st September via Nuclear Blast Records. Phil Campbell comments “Put on your dancing shoes and get ready for hammer and dance”
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based metalcore slingers HOLLOW FRONT have shared the visualizer for the brand new single Letting Go.
The song’s origin story is incredibly interesting. Here’s how it started… “Originally, Letting Go was more written more towards the idea of letting go of a past romantic relationship,” says vocalist Tyler Tate. “A person figuring out how to move on from someone they loved, because there was nothing left there to hold onto…” …and here’s how it ended up… “But after [singer/guitarist] Dakota [Alvaraez] left the band, the song took on a whole new meaning for me,”
Tate finishes. “When it was time for me to write my parts, I started to see the song in a new perspective. It became a song about Dakota needing to let go of Hollow Front and go out on his own.” Tate continues, “He might have been talking about an ex, when he wrote the lyrics, but when I heard the words ‘We let our guard down / The passion’s gone now,’ I immediately connected with it, only in a different way than he had intended. All the pain of his departure came out. My lyrics became directed towards Dakota. Telling him how I was so sorry about him leaving, sorry that it had become too much for him to handle, because I never thought I’d have to lose him too. I truly thought Dakota and I were in this for the long haul together, that 10-20 years from now, we’d still be making music together. But sometimes life doesn’t work out how you planned. And that’s okay. You pick up the pieces and move on. You let go of that pain and keep going.”
Letting Go is a swan song and a Hollow Front victory lap for Alvarez, and that bittersweetness is captured in every note, every riff, every syllable, and every scream. “My time with Hollow Front has been a roller coaster ride of emotions,” Alvarez shares. “I’ve traveled the country with my brothers a few times over, and got to share the stage with so many other talented musicians that I had dreamed of meeting, and made friends with people across the industry I grew up with. While the last year in HF had its tragedies and tribulations, I only have love and support for the band and community we cultivated. HF fans are the most beautiful, emotional, and invigorated Community of people, and this single is for everyone who loved the soundscape we created! Whatever they release after this will be a testament to how talented and headstrong my boys are.”
Letting Go is a satisfying and brutally heavy send off to Hollow Front’s bandmate. It achieves closure. But Letting Go also kicks off the next chapter for Hollow Front… and it’s only going to get heavier.
SCAR SYMMETRY have revealed the video for Xenotaph, taken from their latest album, The Singularity (Phase II – Xenotaph). For Xenotaph, SCAR SYMMETRY enlisted the help of The Ultraterrestrial Choir – a 233 voice strong ensemble consisting of fans, friends and family from all over the world; with each choir member multitracked the resulting recording consists of literally thousands of vocal tracks!
Guitarist Per Nilsson comments: “Xenotaph concludes Phase II in an open-ended way, leaving the listener on a bit of a cliffhanger musically as well as lyrically. We felt strongly that Xenotaph deserved its own music video, to bring closure to this second part of our Singularity saga and to showcase the song to the fullest, and to put the spotlight on our amazing, crowd-sourced choir – it is definitely not the last time we will call upon our fans to sing with us!”
California metal band SILENT PLANET have shared the brand new song Antimatter. It follows last summer’s one-off single :Signal:, which was the first taste of new music since 2020’s full-length release Iridescent.
Antimatter documents the harrowing van accident the band was involved in last fall. It was a terrifying experience that had a lasting mental and physical impact on the band members. “At approximately 5am on November 3, we were westbound on the I-80 through Wyoming when our driver hit a patch of black ice, causing him to lose control of our vehicle,” singer Garrett Russell recounts. “Asleep in our bunks, we woke to the sound of our friend screaming as we felt the van start to tilt. We braced together as we spun off the road, van falling on its side, then sliding down a nearby embankment until we eventually flipped onto the roof. I was thrown across the vehicle and briefly knocked out, and remember waking to find my bandmates all miraculously safe inside their bunks.”
He continues, “This song is an extension of this experience we shared while huddled in the wreckage together, my friends helping me to stem the bleeding of my head wound. Temporarily under the effects of a concussion, strange visual distortions began to form, inspiring many of the themes in this song: The fragility of life, the way we make sense of it all, and wondering what awaits us on the other side. While this track is part of a larger story of our upcoming concept album, this one was specifically inspired by this moment… and the moments inside of that moment when I entered that timeless space. This song is our response to the greater Silent Planet community, who donated to help us stay on the road and continues to believe in this project.”
He furthers, “I went back to visit my family for the holidays and had a sobering conversation with my dad. I was telling him about the (likely) permanent hearing damage that causes a constant, inescapable, constant high-ringing in my ears. And I was scheduling an appointment to get an MRI of what turned out to be a small fracture in my frame. And my dad told me, “‘Maybe you should do a cost-benefit analysis of this whole music thing,’ and I think any good parent would say the same after seeing images of a wreck that could have easily taken the life of their child. My dad has this quiet intensity, and that conversation made me face a greater truth. “The risk has always been there. So many of the 40+ tours we’ve embarked upon have had those ‘close call’ moments where you breathe a silent prayer of relief, and then another pray to forget. Because we love to do this. Because we feel that this is a dream beyond our wildest and we are so grateful. Grateful enough to allow for the risk. But in that moment where we felt the full weight and force of our lives hurdling off the I-80… there wasn’t time for fear and there was no space left in our van for regret. We figured that maybe the other side of this dream had pulled into the station. It wouldn’t be until we were wreckage that the guilt would set in. Unable to find one of our family… I started to feel the weight of consequence. Guilt. Terror at the thought of loss. And that’s the other side of this song… knowing that things can break and accepting that it’s part of the beautiful whole. I was recently asked what part of my back I fractured. ‘Pars Interarticularis,’ I answered. ‘Hmm… never heard of that,’ they remarked. And that’s when it occurred to me. We usually don’t notice something is there until it breaks. “So to sum it up, I suppose this is a song about revelation as an aftermath.”
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