Nekromant - Blood For Walpurgis

NEKROMANT is a 3-man-piece hailing from the Swedish city of Vänersborg, the band – formerly known as SERPENT – are renowned for delivering a raw, gritty and direct assault, cast in the fires and a dedicated melting pot of metallic inspirations which include BLACK SABBATH, PENTAGRAM and Texan rockers, THE SWORD.

Following the release of their self-titled album in late 2015 on Transubstans Records, the band played extensively both home and abroad at large shows such as Sweden Rock Festival and toured with fellow Swedes, Cities of Mars. Their album NEKROMANT (released under the band’s original name) received unanimous praise by critics and fans alike and led to a very successful start in 2016 for the trio. Having caught the attention of American underground giants Ripple Music, who immediately fell in love with the way the band wore their influences proudly on their sleeves, with the dark and heavy majesty of "Snakes & Liars" (2017) NEKROMANT undoubtedly carried a torch for old-school metal.

NEKROMANT:

Adam Lundqvist – Guitars
Mattias Ottosson – Bass, Vocals
Joakim Olsson – Drums

NEKROMANTs song holds less fascination with Walpurga than the whole underbelly of Walpurgis Night itself. Something is about to rise from the dead and torment the living and we get to hear the excitement of Sankt Walpurgisnacht from the perspective of one of its celebrants, with the hint that this necromancer, however malevolent, is desperately seeking to be reunited with a long lost lover. I have to say that the guitar play is an absolute delight to behold. It’s crisp, vibrant, on-point, and harmonizes splendidly with the rhythm section, which bears the marks of seasoned musicianship. Look for "The Nekromant Lives" to emerge on vinyl and CD formats via Ripple Music, released on October 19th, 2018.

Today's tune "Blood For Walpurgis" is the first single from their new album "The Nekromant Lives". The tune is a tight, twisted number about Walpurgis Night, named for the man held up by German believers as their emissary in battle against the wiles of the Devil and all them witches, in particular, which would come out to play on Hexennacht. To this day, Christians set bonfires ablaze in Saint Walpurga’s name on the eve of April 30th, with hopes of chasing away demons of all kinds.


More info @

Official Nekromant Bandcamp

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Opeth - Sorceress

Monday and a new week, time to introduce "Record Of The Week".

"Sorceress" is the twelfth studio album by the Swedish band OPETH. The album was released on 30 September 2016 via record label Nuclear Blast and the band's own imprint Moderbolaget. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Following the album's release, the band will embark on a world tour with American band THE SWORD as support, see tour dates below.

2016 marks the monumental return of one of heavy rock’s most unique, revered and fearless bands of the last three decades, OPETH. Over the years, the experimental, prog veterans have continuously reinvented themselves, pushing the boundaries of their craft and expectations of fans and critics alike.

"Sorceress" is the 3:rd album that follows the new path of progressive folk rock and is album with great material and with more creative control from a band that dares to take new steps. "Sorceress" is even wider than "Heritage" and "Pale Communion".

The album have many excellent tunes like the gorgeous folksy "Will O the Wisp" to the RUSH alike "Era" or the more traditional outfit in "The Wilde Flowers". The title track "Sorceress" could have been on "Pale Communion", great piece. There is a few real highlights, like "The Seventh Sojourn" where some world music slips in with some grandiose sitar and strings, very beautiful. The duelling organ and guitars of "Chrysalis" and with Åkerfeldt’s confidence singing with a embraced control. "Strange Brew" could be the albums strongest tune with it's spacey masterclass of riff-centric hard prog glory. "Sorceress" is a really good album!

”The new album "Sorceress" is our 12th studio album since our beginnings in 1990,” says Åkerfeldt. “I find it difficult to understand that we’ve been going on for 26 years, let alone that we’ve made 12 records now, all of which I am very proud of. ”Sorceress” is no exception. I love this album, as does the whole band. I wrote the music during 5-6 months and we spent only 12 days recording it at Rockfield studios in Wales. I find that once again we’ve taken a step forward. Or sideways, Or backwards. Somewhere!? It’s different! It’s extremely diverse. And if I may say so myself, extremely good. I feel the right to say that since I like to think I know this band better than anyone on the planet. Also, I always manage to detach myself from the record and listen as a fan. It’s a fine little record. My favorite in our discography right now. Of course. That’s how it should be, right? It’s both fresh and old, both progressive and rehashed. Heavy and calm. Just the way we like it. Hopefully there’ll be others around the globe sharing this opinion. It was a joy to make it. A fucking joy to record it, and a sheer joy listening to it. So there you have it!” 

Sum: The 2016 OPETH is heavier than ever and that needs to fit in your record shelf!

Today's tune is the title track from "Sorceress", enjoy!


Upcoming Tour Dates:

Oct 15 Gas Monkey Live! w/ The Sword Dallas, TX Sold Out
Oct 16 KNOTFEST MÉXICO Toluca, Mexico
Oct 18 Brooklyn Bowl w/ The Sword Las Vegas, NV
Oct 19 Marquee Theater w/ The Sword Tempe, AZ
Oct 20 The Belasco w/ The Sword Los Angeles, CA
Oct 21 Ace of Spades w/ The Sword Sacramento, CA
Oct 22 Warfield w/ The Sword San Francisco, CA
Oct 24 Roseland Theater w/ The Sword Portland, OR
Oct 25 Moore Theater w/ The Sword Seattle, WA
Oct 26 Orpheum w/ The Sword Vancouver, Canada
Nov 05 Annexet Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 06 Konserthus Oslo, Norway
Nov 07 DR Konserthuset Copenhagen, Denmark Sold Out
Nov 08 Docks Hamburg, Germany
Nov 10 Arena Vienna, Austria
Nov 11 LKA Longhorn Stuttgart, Germany
Nov 12 Theaterfabrik Munich, Germany
Nov 13 Volkshaus Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 14 Alcatraz Milan, Italy
Nov 16 E-werk Cologne, Germany
Nov 17 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium
Nov 18 013 Tilburg, Netherlands
Nov 19 SSE Arena Wembley Wembley, United Kingdom
Nov 21 Le Trianon Paris, France Sold Out
Nov 22 Le Trianon Paris, France
Nov 23 Den Atelier Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Nov 24 Astra Kulturhaus Berlin, Germany
Feb 02 Powerstation w/ Caligula's Horse Auckland, New Zealand
Feb 04 Tivoli Theatre w/ Caligula's Horse Fortitude Valley Qld, Australia
Feb 06 Sydney Opera House Sydney, Australia Sold Out
Feb 07 170 Russell, MELBOURNE w/ Caligula's Horse Melbourne, Australia Sold Out
Feb 08 170 Russell, MELBOURNE w/ Caligula's Horse Melbourne, Australia
Feb 10 Thebarton Theatre w/ Caligula's Horse Adelaide, Australia
Feb 11 Metro City w/ Caligula's Horse Northbridge, Australia

More info @

Official Opeth Web

Listen to ”Opeth - Sorceress" on Spotify!



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Behemoth - Slaves Shall Serve

 

Do you have kids?
One or more little rascals that you love sometimes and that can drive you completely insane other times?
I do.
And as we are going to discuss something very important today, you'll have to either imagine that you have kids, or take everything that is written from now on in this post with a bit of patience (obviously depending on the answer you gave to the initial question).
Yes, we are going to discuss the musical education of the kids.
Or, as I've called it in a column at my own blog, "The Highway To Hell".
It is a long post that stakes the way from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to the extremest of metal, and I actually once posted it on Facebook.
Big mistake.
Should not have done that.
Swedes - or, at least, the acquaintances I have on Facebook - seemed to take everything deadly serious, and have had comments regarding my unwillingness to let my children choose their own path.
Come on - I love my kids, and even though it sometimes feels that the worst things they could put me through is join the church and become politically active, I would support them no matter what!

However.
I would like them to become rockers, and I'll admit straight away: I try to influence them, and make it so.
I even have a plan. A 6 step way to drag them with me to hell (by the way, don't you just love the first picture, the top one? It's by Soul on Deviant Art, a great place to find everything art related you need!).
I'll not go into them in depth, but the steps are, in short:

1) Basic rytm and singing. This is the baby months, and include all the known children tunes like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
2) Rock'n'Roll and Metal basics. Easy classics that can make any child dance and want to sing along. AC/DC, IRON MAIDEN and the likes. 
3) Faster, Dirtier. The next phase of metal, introducing METALLICA and their brethren...
4) Growl. Learning how to enjoy metal with vocals that are not clean is a big step, and to help me with that I will call upon the likes of IN FLAMES and AMORPHIS.
5) ...The madness is spreading. Once accepting growl, a landscape of more extreme metal opens up. this landscape is inhabited by BEHEMOTH, BOLT THROWER and black metal acts like WATAIN and MARDUK.
6) Beyond the realms of sanity. After realising that the acts mentioned in step 5 are really not the most extreme metal there is, you'll want to look further, and into the eyes of acts like NASUM, FUNERAL MIST and others.

So.
A crash-course in how to became a metal head.
I have two boys. One is turning 5 soon enough, and the other is 2.
Even though they were both headbanging to THE SWORD the other day, I'd say that they are really at stage one and two.
This is the most popular rockalbum/son so far:

They are officially called VAN HALEN, but the housename from my kids are "THE BABIES", obviously due to the brilliant cover.
The song, of course, is "Jump".
Yes, it has been played over and over. In the radio, on parties, karaoke nights and dance floors, and it is a song that you might be a bit fed up with...but there is no denying that this song has that quality that makes it a classic that can really lure kids into rock'n'roll.
So, todays tune is something completelly different.
It is a song from the level were I feel comfortable myself - after all, the path takes a lifetime to walk...



This is BEHEMOTH, with the tune "Slaves Shall Serve". It is taken from the album "Demigod", a small master-piece if you ask me. Nowadays, the band has fought off religious madness in their homeland Poland, frontman Nergals leukemia and turned into one the bands with the fanciest video productions of all metal bands (surch YouTube for videos to "Ov Fire And The Void" or "Alas, The Lord Is Upon Me" and ypu'll see what I mean).
This is also a kind of music were I am at comfortable.
I listen to more aggressive, challenging and extreme metal as well, but that still takes a toll on me and I have to focus to appriciate a band like NAPALM DEATH in their grindy moments.

So.
I am evil, devious and a parent with a plan.
I want to share rock'n'roll concerts with my kids, and be able to give them an education within the records of rock'n'roll and metal.
Don't try and say that you are so different, even though your hopes might not be for them to become full-blown metal heads with their ears filled with semi-satanic music....

More info @

The Rebel Angel Ramblings Blog
Official Behemoth Web

Listen to ”Behemoth - Slaves Shall Serve" on Spotify here!

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The Sword - Cloak of Feathers

The American Stoner/Heavy Metal band The Sword all the way from Austin, Texas. Have released a new video taken from the latest album "Apocryphon", the tune it self is a real crusher.

Some history: the band formed in 2003, the band is composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie, and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III. Originally signed to New York-based independent label Kemado Records, the group released its debut album Age of Winters, which was largely written by Cronise before the band's formation, in 2006. The follow-up, Gods of the Earth, was released two years later, and gave the group its first entry on the US Billboard 200 chart. 

In 2010 the band released Warp Riders, a concept album centered on an original science fiction narrative, which marked the first time the band had enlisted an external producer (Matt Bayles). Original drummer Trivett Wingo left the group later in the year, and was replaced briefly by Kevin Fender before Vela joined in 2011. After leaving Kemado and signing with Razor & Tie in early 2012, the group released its fourth album Apocryphon in October, which was promoted on the Apocryphon Tour throughout 2012 and 2013.

The Sword is commonly categorized as a doom metal or stoner metal band, and is heavily influenced by such groups as Black Sabbath and Sleep. The group has toured with a wide range of fellow metal artists, including local band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and stoner group Year Long Disaster, and has also been chosen to support Metallica on a number of recent tours. Their first album Age of Winters failed to chart, but their subsequent releases have all gained increasing commercial success, with Apocryphon charting in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 chart.

Todays tune "Cloak of Feathers" taken from the fourth studio album "Apocryphon"



More info @

Official The Sword Web

Listen to ”The Sword - Cloak of Feathers" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

Lonely Kamel - A Tale Of A Madman

Norwegian Lonely Kamel gig on Saturday, at Debaser Slussen was actually a nice impression on me live. A band that I actually looked forward to see live, their latest album "Dust Devil" is a nice history of classic hard rock with heavy blues riffs. After some problems with the curtain that did not really wanted to open up the band took off. Damn what good this was live, what a great lifting the songs got live, great blues swing, tight, heavy and like that moderately of mossy psychedelia, me like.

Lonely Kamel is a hard hitting band from Oslo, Norway is playing classic hard rock, stonerrock with built on a foundation of blues. Mix it up with 2 spoonfuls of doom and psychedelia and you got Lonely Kamel. The band has released 3 albums, and is now working on new songs.

Lonely Kamel consists of:

Thomas Brenna – Guitar, Vocals
Lukas Paulsen - Guitar
Espen Nesset - Drums
Stian Helle - Bass

Here is some pictures from the Debaser Show!

Rock behind the curtain :)

 

Todays tune "A tale of a Madman" taken from second album "Blues For The Dead", the video clip is filmed @ John Dee, Oslo 30.05.12 and includes also the tune "Whorehouse Groove"


Tour Dates on the Roadtrip With Lucifer 2013 (Lonely Kamel On tour with the Sword from January 06 - 27)

22.01.13 TAMPERE, FI, KLUBI
24.01.13 OSLO, NOR, JOHN DEE
25.01.13 KARLSTAD. SE, ROCKBAREN
26.01.13 MALMÖ. SE, DEBASER
27.01.13 COPENHAGEN, DK, LITTLE VEGA


More info @

Official Lonely Kamel Facebook
Official Lonely Kamel MySpace

Listen to "Lonely Kamel- A Tale Of A Madman" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

The Sword - Lawless Lands

Finally got the Yanks in The Sword the time with a visit to Stockholm, last time they were required to cancell the show. This chilly Saturday coiled the queue extremely far, everyone wanted to witness The Sword live. Support during this tour is Norwegian Lonely Kamel and Swedish Bombus.

I arrive a little late, hangs in the jacket when the song Biblical with Bombus starts and directly senses that this will to become a top night. Bombus delivers its Bombusrock in a brilliant way, it is bearded, heavy and groovy. Bit of a shame that I missed most of their gig, had wanted to see more. Lonely Kamel was the band number two to play, but I will return about it tomorrow.

The intro to the Apocryphon launches The Swords set, a little longer than expected because the curtain stuck once again, stuck already at Lonely camel set. But once it is turned up the guys on the stage and the cheering is enormous inside at Debaser. When Tres Brujas played as song number two are my smiling up in splits and misses to take photos completely for about 5 minutes, what a overrun.

The new tracks do really well live and find a nice balance between the band's older albums and their more technical direction on Warp Riders. However, it was the older songs that are the band's classics, not surprisingly, they got the biggest reaction from the audience. I'm thinking of songs like Freya, Tres Brujas, and the Maiden, Mother & Crone, where fans sang, danced and waved extra with their fists. Overall, the evening and the show was completely up to my expectations of a fun and rocked evening which one had longed for a long time, you can read my review on WeRock.

Setlist:

Apocryphon
Tres Brujas
How Heavy This Axe
Cloak of Feathers
The Hidden Masters
Dying Earth
Maiden, Mother & Crone
To Take the Black
Freya
Eyes of the Stormwitch
Seven Sisters
Lawless Lands
Ebethron
Veil of Isis

Encore:
Cheap Sunglasses (ZZ Top cover)
Arrows in the Dark

Here is some pictures from the show:

 

The Sword is an American heavy metal band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2003, the band is composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie, and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III. Originally signed to New York-based independent label Kemado Records, the group released its debut album Age of Winters, which was largely written by Cronise before the band's formation, in 2006. The follow-up, Gods of the Earth, was released two years later.

In 2010 the band released Warp Riders, a concept album centered on an original science fiction narrative, which marked the first time the band had enlisted an external producer (Matt Bayles). Original drummer Trivett Wingo left the group later in the year, and was replaced briefly by Kevin Fender before Vela joined in 2011. After leaving Kemado and signing with Razor & Tie in early 2012, the group released its fourth album Apocryphon in October, which will be promoted on the Apocryphon Tour throughout 2012 and 2013.

The Sword is commonly categorized as a doom metal or stoner metal band, and is heavily influenced by such groups as Black Sabbath and Sleep. The group has toured with a wide range of fellow metal artists, including local band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and stoner group Year Long Disaster, and has also been chosen to support Metallica on a number of recent tours.

Todays tune "Lawless Lands" is taken from the third studio album "Warp Riders", it was released by Kemado Records in August 2010. Warp Riders was written and recorded as a concept album centred on an original science fiction narrative written by vocalist and guitarist John Cronise, and marks a conscious change in style from doom metal to a more hard rock-influenced sound.



More info @

Official The Sword Web
Official The Sword Facebook

Listen to "The Sword- Lawless Lands" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

Converge - Trespasses

Now we almost reached the end of this year and as usual, it is time to sum it all up with this year's best albums and give thumbs up for nice concerts and other events. First up we present this year's top 20 albums. Where you get the first 10 at once.

Since we can not quite agree on a common list for this year's top 10 albums, we will do as we did last year, but Thetania will only do a top five since she is pretty busy with work. This mean that it will be a list from each one of us on the same day, one list position in the morning and same in the evening, it will generate a lot of music here at the Tune Of The Day during these days. This year's list has been super difficult to tie together, started with a Top 50 and was freaking hard to remove tunes, ended up that I had to go on the most listening records and many that, in the beginning was obvious was removed. Right or wrong, judge yourself, hard as hell, I must say. However, I miss some records which I unfortunately did not had time to listen to and whereby they are not included. I think this year has been absolutely crazy on the album releases, has broken my purchasing budget by horse lengths. Really hope next year will be calmer, so one have time to catch up a bit.

We start by presenting the positions outside the Top 10 that I, Stones have, that is 11-20 just like last year.

Top 11 - 20 on Tune Of The Day

11. Beardfish - The Void

12. The Sword - Apocryphon

13. Meshuggah - Koloss

14. Black Country Communion - Afterglow

15. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

16. Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth

16. Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

17. Mando Diao - Infruset

18. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I

20. Horisont - Second Assault

Today I pick a song from an album that has grown a lot recently, but unfortunately it has got too little playing time in order to stretch higher and pinch a position in the Top 10. Converge "All We Love We Leave Behind" is a record that invites you to dance in a little more violent way than usual. This record is actually really good and I recommended this highly. Converge is an American progressive hardcore band from Salem, Massachusetts formed in 1990. The group comprises vocalist Jacob Bannon, guitarist Kurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. Playing a blend of hardcore punk and heavy metal, Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre. According to Allmusic, Converge are "regarded as one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground".

Todays tune "Trespasses" is taken from the eighth studio album "All We Love We Leave Behind". The album was released on October 9, 2012 through Epitaph Records.



More info @

Official Converge Web

Listen to "Converge - Trespasses" on Spotify here!

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