Swedish heavy metal veterans, OZ, return with two previously unreleased tracks: "Undercover" and "Wicked Vices"! Set to be released as a ltd. 7" single and digital formats on November 24, 2023 via Massacre Records, the pre-sale is now available at THIS LOCATION!
These two OZ songs ooze the energy, rhythm and atmosphere, the Scandinavians are best known for since 1977! The lyrics are a combination of reality and science fiction. Get ready for classic heavy metal with a modern sound, a lyric video clip for "Undercover" is now streaming.
"This song contains both beliefs and truth," the band reveals.
"We are afraid to show who we really are and what we really think, because different people, systems and groups spy on us and what we do. So, we hide from each other behind masks. We all have to play this game and at the moment the reality is quite similar to various spy movies. So we all live undercovered in different ways.
The inspiration for this song comes from both real life and various spy movies."
The tracks were mixed and mastered by Lars Chriss & Mike Lind at Masterplant Studio. The cover artwork was designed by André at Blekkmark Design Studio.
Toronto-NYC indie rock power trio ON has unveiled the video for their latest single 'Gator'. This infectious 6/8 groove is a hook-laden rock waltz, released via Toronto imprint Indiestructable Records.
ON is a power trio led by Lucy Di Santo (vocals, bass) with Dan Cornelius on drums and Steve Fall on guitars. Their latest music output sees the trio carry on the legacy of the band from which they were formed - 90's Sire Records band Acid Test. its members have also been in other popular Toronto bands Danko Jones and Deliuss.
Filmed by legendary producer Martin Bisi at BC Studio Brooklyn and Steve Fall in Toronto and Naples, Florida, this video was edited by Michael Gucciardi. Frontwoman Lucy Di Santo invites, "Come on down - live in our oh-so safe Gated Community - you'll live stronger for longer", adding "Who is really living free here? I think it's the gators in the pond."
In the video, Di Santo plays a shady real estate agent, doing her sleazy best to sell the viewer on the idea of buying into a gated community, where you can feel safe. Meanwhile, behind pink homes and walls, alligators roam freely sunning themselves at will on gated golf greens. So who is really free?
The band has recently been recording their next album atBC Studio in Brooklyn, working with Martin Bisi, famed for his groundbreaking work with Sonic Youth, Swans, Brian Eno, John Zorn, Herbie Hancock, Iggy Pop, Helmet, Africa Bambaataa, Dresden Dolls, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop and many other notable artists.
Dishing out infectious guitar riffs with a dash of groove, their adrenaline-laden music is a invigorating, the band paying homage to their post-punk, grunge, old-school funk and 90s college rock roots. 'Gator' follows up the band's latest single 'Make Me', a song of frustration and wanting to recapture that euphoria.
“We had a cool riff and Lucy had a great melody but we didn't have an intro to the song. We were working this up demoing it in Drew's 'Starsound Studios' in Cape Coral , Fla. Lucy took a break, went into the truck we rented and hummed a melody. I copied it on my guitar through my cheap Blackstar practice amp w/the delay feature and we put it down as a track. The vibe just worked so we kept that original track in the main verse and as a hook throughout the song. And that original track stayed even as we added more layers and mixed," says Steve Fall.
Dan Cornelius adds, “The song has a strong guitar hook and melody - and the drums are tailored to support and enhance those elements. So I thought the drums should be a drum pattern that anyone could tap along to ON their steering wheel while waiting for traffic. Simple drum groove. Simple drum fills.”
ON recently completed an extensive US tour in support of their critically-acclaimed 'ON' album, co-produced by Darius Szczepaniak (Sum 41, Black Crowes, Big Sugar, Bare Naked Ladies, Jann Arden) at Phase One Studios in Toronto. The album received extensive press and radio attention, not to mention charting in the Radio Indie Alliance charts consecutively for nearly a year.
'Gator' is out now and available from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The band will be playing select New York and Ontario tour dates throughout October.
Sonata Arctica return with rapid new digital single 'First In Line'. "Nordic Power Metal Titans" European tour wih STRATOVARIUS and INDUCTION kicks off today (14 October 2023).
One of the mostly anticipated tours of the year is about to start: The »Nordic Power Metal Titans 2023« European run featuring SONATA ARCTICA who recently warmed-up with their enormously successful, partly even sold out »Arctic Storm Finland Tour.« At the forthcoming 24 shows, the melodic metal icons will be performing alongside Finnish countrymen STRATOVARIUS as well as rising international power metallers and labelmates INDUCTION. After two acoustic albums, SONATA ARCTICA have also secretly worked on a new album going back to electric soundscapes, and today, they are pleased to unveil a first taste of what's to come in spring 2024 via Atomic Fire: Nothing but a return to their golden power metal roots is what awaits fans on the group's forthcoming opus. More details will be announced soon, but for now convince yourselves that the aforementioned promise isn't only warm words and check out their new track 'First In Line'!
Front-man Tony Kakko explains: "This is the first power metal song I wrote for the forthcoming album which is laden with them. Its demo title was 'First In Line' and I managed to stick with it. The song handles the worry about raising a new generation of people with or rather letting an electronic screen - namely tv, pad or some such - do a big part of raising this generation of human beings. We think that we buy ourselves time with these gadgets, but are these devices the right "nanny" for our kids or should we maybe slow down a bit, read books, teach that happiness can be and often is something we reach by stopping and letting go of constant stimulation of all our audiovisual senses? In ways, we are flying blindly with these things. Things are advancing too fast in many ways...".
14.10.2023 SE Umeå - Northern Rockfest @ Energi Arena 15.10.2023 SE Borlänge - Cozmoz Arena 16.10.2023 NO Oslo - Vulkan Arena 17.10.2023 SE Gothenburg - Trädgår'n 19.10.2023 SE Stockholm - Slaktkyrkan 20.10.2023 DK Roskilde - Gimle 21.10.2023 DE Hamburg - Kulturpalast 22.10.2023 DE Leipzig - Hellraiser 24.10.2023 NL Utrecht - TivoliVredenburg (Ronda) 25.10.2023 DE Saarbrücken - Garage 26.10.2023 FR Paris - Bataclan* 27.10.2023 CH Pratteln - Konzertfabrik Z7 28.10.2023 IT Milan - Alcatraz 30.10.2023 DE Munich - Backstage 31.10.2023 AT Vienna - Szene 01.11.2023 HU Budapest - Barba Negra 03.11.2023 GR Athens - Fuzz Club 04.11.2023 GR Thessaloniki - Principal Club Theater 06.11.2023 RO Cluj-Napoca - FORM Space 07.11.2023 RO Bucharest - Quantic 09.11.2023 CZ Brno - Sono Centrum *NEW* 10.11.2023 DE Aschaffenburg - Colos-Saal 11.11.2023 BE Kortrijk - Hell's Balls Belgium @ Xpo**NEW* 12.11.2023 DE Bochum - Matrix *no INDUCTION
31.07. - 03.08.2024 DE Wacken - Wacken Open Air *SOLD OUT*
Don Dokken made comments about Chris Cornell's passing on the "Battleline" podcast.
He said : "Chris Cornell was one of my favorite singers. I mean, God, he had some just amazing vocals, and he had a great sound. And when I saw that video where he played Detroit [the night before he died], and said, 'I'll see you on tour.' He's got a wife and kids. He goes back to his hotel room and hangs himself. I don't relate". He continued: "We're not born with a certificate that says, 'You have now been born and we promise you'll have a wonderful life.' It doesn't work that way, man. You've gotta fight for success, you've gotta fight for what you wanna do, you've gotta fight to be a musician, you've gotta fight to keep going. But a lot of these guys just get depression. It's genetic, and they commit suicide. It broke my heart when Chris did that. And Layne [Staley] and ALICE IN CHAINS and all those other bands, I just didn't get it". And Dokken concluded: "I have depression. I'm bipolar. I'm up; I'm down. Some days I wanna write a rock song — uptempo, kickin' ass, just rockin'. That's the mood I'm in. Then the next day, I'm feelin' mopey, and I might write a song like 'Heaven Sent'. It just depends on whatever the universe gives me. But I would never kill myself. I've got children, and I've got my family, and I just don't relate to that. But that's another story".
DOKKEN will release its 13th studio album, "Heaven Comes Down", on October 27 via Silver Lining Music. The LP was produced by Bill Palmer and Don Dokken and was mixed by Kevin Shirley (AEROSMITH, IRON MAIDEN).
