PLUSH - self-titled album out now

Below are a couple of songs from the self-titled debut album from U.S. rockers PLUSH. Some of the members of the band have been YouTube views for quite a while before the official formation of PLUSH. The band has already been touring in the U.S. ahead of the release of the album.

PLUSH

PLUSH

Pavement Entertainment

29 October 2021

ABOUT: "Moriah skyrocketed to national recognition when she auditioned for NBC’s 'The Voice' at 16. She became one of the youngest competitors in the show’s history to turn all four judge’s chairs and the only NBC’s The Voice contestant to get all four chairs performing a rock-based song. Her performance of Heart’s 'Crazy on You' garnered viral fame and lauded the 4’11' star as a 'pint-sized powerhouse' by judge and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. Miley Cyrus referred to her as a 'Rock Goddess'. Brooke Colucci, known by her moniker Rock Angel, has several viral videos of her own as well, generating over 14 million views. Lead guitarist Bella Perron is a freshman at Berklee College of Music and a guitar virtuoso. Bella adds to the band’s ferocious melodies with amazing backing vocals and a no holds barred brand of uncompromising rock. Bassist Ashley Suppa, hailed as the 'female version of Cliff Burton', adds an undeniable bass undertow that must be seen as well as heard to be believed.

Plush - Hate

Athena

https://www.facebook.com/PLUSHOFFICIAL

Sulphurous - classic-stye death metal from Denmark

Sulphurous

The Black Mouth of Sepulchre

Dark Descent Records / Me Saco Un Ojo Records / Desiccated Productions

22 October 2021

The first demo is from 2012, according to Metal Archives, but it is possible that they were other demos since they began in 2008. Two more demos followed and in 2017 their did their first EP, and the full-length in 2018. This is their second album. Sulphurous is a Danish trio with its sights set on the idea of ominous death metal as an art form. Their interpretation of death metal is based classic on death metal itself as it was practiced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a style of metal could harness the feeling sinister sounds of heaviness, skilled playing and showcase songwriting. What is contemporary classic-style ominous death metal that emphasis quality? It is Sulphurous. Fans of classic Immolation and early Incantation, and classic Morbid Angel and those type of sounds would understand what Sulphurous is doing.

The Black Mouth of Sepulchre by Sulphurous

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100048470091245

Venus Syndrome - melodic prog from France

Venus Syndrome

Cannibal Star

Rockshots Records

22 October 2021

Venus Syndrome has their second album Cannibal Star out in October. They apparently began as MetroTheater, a tribute to the long-running melodic prog band Dream Theater. Drummer Thibaud Pontet (Eternal Flight), guitarist Ayman Mokdad (Alien Encounters), keyboardist Rodolfo Lima Sproesser (Goiana, Tahra, Heretic, Floyd Rose cover Pink Floyd), bassist Florian Guidat and vocalist Emmanuelson (Ellipsis, Rising Steel, Hydroflame) then decided to find their own personality in the prog world. By the way, Venus Syndrome does not sound like Dream Theater, and if anything, they are kind of in the sound family of Symphony X in terms of grooving and chunkiness. Here in the U.S. fans of traditional, melodic prog, whether Symphony X, Queensrÿche, Fates Warning or Dream Theater may get a kick of out this album. Of course, fans of Evergrey might also want to check this album because of the Symphony X-Evergrey spectrum of chunky/grooving guitar prog. Finally, fans of melodic singing may want to hear this male, dramatic singing. You never know with studio magic, but on the album this singing sounds rather strong and with lots of personality.

VENUS SYNDROME - Sun Inside Me (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

VENUS SYNDROME - Dark Side Of The Sun (VISUALIZER)

https://www.facebook.com/thevenussyndrome/

the melancholic romanticism of Synaxaria (Belarus)

Greetings to friends from Belarus!

Very recently Synaxaria told us about their new album Deep Dark Waters (2021). It is their third album, but they also have done some three EPs and demos too. We would say that Synaxaria's latest work is for audiences interested in elegant, graceful songwriting. It is romanticist, gothic, melancholic music with melodic singing and growling, for that beauty and the beast combination. The band, above all, in our opinion, seeks to create a beautiful work that you, the intelligent and discerning listener, will appreciate because you also seek beauty in your life. There is heaviness here, but that's not really what Synaxaria is about.

Below is what they say on Bandcamp about their new album. In addition, below you will find a few quotes from the band from an interview that they did with a different publication, but the band has posted the interview on Facebook, and we thought that you would enjoy a couple of quotes that provide insight into the thinking of the band and their labor of love in their land of Belarus. As you can tell, they are searching for thoughtful listeners like yourself that has the intelligence and maturity to dive into music as art, not so much as a commercial business enterprise of selling products to customers.

ABOUT: The land on the Nioman river... The cradle of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the source of inspiration for the best of our artists, writers and poets, endless colorful landscapes' beauty treasury. Majestic age-old pines and oaks blow their twisting calloused branches with the wind above glassy surface of Kroman' and Switiaz' lakes. The ghost shadows of past centuries' princes are reflected on the stones of Mir, Navahrudak and Liubcha castles. And under the curtain of park trees abandoned ruins of old manors are hidden. Once the best cultural treasures of our land were created and cherished there. And among all this places the Nioman with its dark waters runs over the centuries. Maybe somewhere in muddy sand on the bottom the treasures of history that once flourished on its banks are still laying. That was translated into hundreds of monuments, stories, legends which relate to every path in this ancient land... We dedicate our upcoming album to this great river and to all old Nioman boroughs and lores.

"... the line-up is always the same - me and Natallia. As it turns out, no one can handle for a long time with music such an unpopular in this country. Our guitarist Illya stays with us now but who knows how long that's gonna last... Our drummer who performed live with us, left band very recently. And we couldn't find a bass player for nearly 1.5 years after our former bassist has emigrated."

"...The thing is, when I was younger, the greatest art was not to be tied to any style, not to put yourself in a box, and to use very different stylistic tools free for self-expression. Now I understand, it's a big mistake in the view of popularity of the band, but it's too late. As a result I can't describe Synaxaria's style because there're completely not those thoughts which I have while composing. I can only tell such general artistic words as melodic and romantic heavy music. I even don't insist on 'metal' because there always might appear a person who say something like: 'Only Slaughter to Prevail/Anaal Nathrakh/Marduk is true metal, but not your touchy-feely stuff!')) That's why we don't mind being rockers)) For me and Natallia this style is a musical reflection of contemplation and exploring of our land, its historical, cultural and natural heritage. For example, this music sounds within us when we walk through ancient cemetery to the ruins of old-world noble manor that no one remembers about."

Deep Dark Waters by Synaxaria

https://www.facebook.com/synaxaria

Blessings Chisama - melodic shred from Malawi

Blessings Chisama

Universe

October 5th, 2021

This recording is a solo project by a guitarist from Malawi, a small, landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. Malawi is a bit smaller than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the country’s population is under 20 million people. Blessings Chisama is rather ear-friendly and easy to enjoy, despite the fact that it is an instrumental guitar recording. It is remarkably melodic, making it easy for us non-musician listeners to understand and enjoy. The balanced style of melodies and shredding makes the recording more song-oriented that usually expected in this genre. The guitarist seems to be young and this appears to be his debut recording, yet the sound quality is good, as a DIY project with programmed drumming. The Blessings Chisama recording team has put together a promising work. Let’s underline it: even though the guitarist is young, the music leans towards classic-style heavy metal shred guitar in which melodies and riffs are important, as opposed to chugging, low-string plucking, no-riff, groove guitar. The guitar finger work on these compositions is fun to hear (sometimes the speed gets crazy, of course), and the melodies help a lot too. A simplistic, quick way to describe the music is that the guitar playing is similar in spirit to the melodic shredding of Eddie Van Halen, and the shredders that followed.

Universe by Blessings Chisama

https://www.facebook.com/blessings.chisama

Cognos - debut album out this Friday

Cognos

Cognos

Willowtip Records

22 October 2021

Cognos juggles various objectives, surprising or confusing some audiences. Cognos is all about variety, and it shows. Growling, singing, soft, harsh, slow, fast, midtempo, intense, mellow, it's all part of the plan. The growling is a deep, gruff traditional death growl, while the singing can belt it out. Some segments are total blasting extreme but overall there is a feeling of variety and prog. Sometimes it is headbanging, the next moment it is spacey, then very proggy, then technical, and it's a trip. Interestingly, the guitar sound is rather traditional in the sense that it is not percussive, not groovy, not djenty. It is riff-based, and you can hear very clearly what the guitars are doing. It is one of the major attractions of the music. The riffs are upfront and easy to hear without any difficulty. Cognos wants the listener to hear and feel the guitar riffs and melodies. The musicians seem skilled, serious and very competent. It is true that the jumping between genres can at first be a bit much, but after a while it becomes normal, like "This is what Cognos does. It's just Cognos being Cognos." If you like thrash/heavy-based guitar riffs in prog, and both growling and singing, then this album may end up entertaining you a whole lot. For the clarity in the guitar sound that allows us to hear the riffs, for that, we thank them. Such a strong, quality debut album.

COGNOS by · C O G N O S ·

out now: Lutharö - melodic extreme metal from Canada

Lutharö

Hiraeth

15 October 2021

With three EPs beginning in 2015, the Canadians have been heading towards the full-length (ten tracks in about 47 minutes) for a while, and 2021 is the year. You can understand the music in a couple of ways: Lutharö is melodic death metal with growling and melodic singing, or Lutharö is thrash/power with melodic death metal tendencies. The guitar is a fast, smooth, polished thrashy style with some death and black riffing, soloing, and shredding. The speed generally goes from fast to very fast, from rocking to headbanging. The singing is predominant, and the growling is secondary but an indispensable, constant part of the sound. Lutharö is something like a parallel version of melodic death metal, if you can imagine a whole lot more melodic traditional singing, and while we are at it, imagine a more energetic, faster, tighter sound in a thrashing shredding execution. The album is a lot of fun, and it is safe to say that it leans more towards the thrash/power/heavy direction while incorporating important aspects of death metal. It is a proud headbanging album with catchy songwriting. Easy to like, easy to listen to again.

Hiraeth by Lutharo

out now: Endure The Affliction - U.S. metalcore

The second EP by Louisiana, USA metalcore band Endure The Affliction features the sing/scream combination of vocals and catchy guitar melodies with some heavy grooves. Bandcamp shows a previous EP from 2020. With these two EPs fans will get a pretty good idea of the band's interpretation of the metalcore sound.

ABOUT: "Formed in late 2018, members Tim Keith (Lead Vocals), Deion Lanthier (Co-Lead Vocals/Guitar), Brett Dronet (Guitar), Byron Vollmer (Backup Vocals/Bass), Kyle Roberts (Drums) exploded onto their local Louisiana scene with the powerful, yet subtly emotional riffs and soaring vocals that define their sound. Overcoming hardship being their music's driving message, listeners find themselves relating to these musicians on a range of sensitive, but very real topics that many people struggle with daily."

Evolve EP by Endure The Affliction

Origins EP by Endure The Affliction

https://www.facebook.com/enduretheaffliction.la

out now: Hate - extreme metal from Poland

Going back to 1990 the long-running Polish band Hate has been delivering death metal and in 2021 the time for their 12th album is here. The new album features some background sounds for a more symphonic death/black sound, with fast and melodic soloing, and straightforward headbanging extreme metal, often operating on blasting mode. Gruff vocals like death metal but quite a bit of black metal in the guitar, done in a death metal production, Hate aims to please fans of extreme metal in general.

ABOUT: "The band elected to once again track the album in the Hertz Recording Studio in Poland, and it was recorded, mixed and mastered by the Wiesłaski Brothers (Behemoth, Decapitated). Everything was laid down over about two to three weeks, with longtime collaborator Michał Staczkun providing the ambient elements of the band’s sound. The only struggle came about at the mixing stage, where the final character of the record emerges. 'Here we encountered many problems, contradictory visions too. The producers had their own idea for the overall sound, which differed from what I had in mind, so we were trying to find a good compromise and it took us a few months.' Given how strongly the personality of the record shines through it is safe to say that the compromise reached was definitely in its best interest, standing as perhaps the best sounding record in the band’s long career. Hate is also celebrating thirty years of activity with Rugia, Sinner affirming he is as driven as ever. 'Well, the fire is still burning! I'm proud that I have built a band with such strong energy, that’s lasted for a long time in spite of numerous lineup changes and obstacles in our way. We are still here and we create with ever growing consciousness and dedication. The energy speaks through us. Honestly, I think of the band as something much bigger and more profound than the individual people involved in it over any given period of time. I believe we create a channel for energies that surpass us.'"

Rugia by Hate

out now: SkeleToon - power metal from Italy

The fifth album by Italian power metal band SkeleToon is out now. Big, sugary melodies and speedy songs characterize the sound of the band. They say that their new work is a concept album based on the "Back to the Future" movies from the 1980s. They began in 2011 as a Helloween tribute band before finding their way to SkeleToon as we know it today.

The 1​.​21 Gigawatts Club by Skeletoon

https://www.facebook.com/Skeletoonband/

out now: Rage In My Eyes - power metal from Brazil

Check out the new EP by power metal band Rage In My Eyes. They have quite a history, as you will see below.

ABOUT: "For 16 years the band went under the name Scelerata, which had a huge history in the Brazilian heavy metal scene. The band had three albums released worldwide, including the internationally acclaimed album The Sniper – partially recorded in Germany, at the Blind Guardian studio – that featured guest appearances from Paul DiAnno (former Iron Maiden) and Andi Deris (Helloween). Scelerata was also Paul DiAnno’s official Brazilian backing band from 2009 to 2014, playing 50+ shows with this heavy metal icon. With this huge background, the musicians are now aiming for the future. RAGE IN MY EYES have teamed up with some of the best professionals in the heavy metal business to deliver a head-turning EP in 2021 entitled 'Spiral' to follow the success of their 2019 full-length “Ice Cell”. The new EP will feature plenty of material for all different types of metal lovers. It has great guitar riffs, fast drum parts, intricate instrumental parts plus powerful yet melodic vocals."

SPIRAL by Rage In My Eyes

RAGE IN MY EYES - And Then Came The Storm (Official Video)

Necromantia - Greek black metal

Necromantia

To The Depths We Descend...

The Circle Music / Hell's Fire Records / Rabauw Records

15 October 2021

Necromantia was there in the early days of black metal in Greece in the late 1980s, behind Rotting Christ whose origins reach back into 1984. Along with Varathron, Necromantia were names that people outside Greece associated with Greek black metal on the trail after Rotting Christ. Necromantia was in some ways a great illustration of the country's sound in the genre, which is to say, obscurantist, horror-based, synth-friendly, somewhat weird, a bit experimental, heavy and ominously melodic, and raw, with Varathron pushing things a bit towards the weirdness more than Necromantia and Rotting Christ. Necromantia was not narrow blasting, minimalist black metal, although there was no shortage of raw black metal energy, and they have come to be known for their bass-friendly sound of something like thunderbass obscurantist black metal due to their eight-string bassist being prominently featured in the music. Then, the bad news happened when in 2019 their beloved eight-string bassist Baron Blood died. Necromantia is now saying that this is their last album and it is a dedication to the bassist, but the album does not feature the eight-string because that's Baron Blood's trait. Here the music is black metal with shrieked vocals, and certainly a lot more streamlined, compact than their foundational albums. The guitar playing is tight and also melodic, the bass guitar is very present but in a more traditional way (less rumbling, less thunderbass, so to speak). For the most part, fans of melodic black metal in general would be interested in hearing what appears to be lots of hard work put into giving the songs an abundance of melody throughout. The aspects associated with early Greek black metal and with Necromantia are to be found in the use of keyboards, and in the sense of obscurantist stylings. In addition, the patented weirdness of Necromantia appears in instrumentals in tracks three and six as ambient pieces, with six showing some saxophone/flute(?) (sampling?). The result is some fast, blasting songs; some midtempo anthemic numbers; some instrumentals. All in all, it is a contemporary melodic black metal album (eight tracks in some 52 minutes), with some prototypical old Greek components.

https://www.facebook.com/necromantiaband

To the Depths we descend by NECROMANTIA

out now: Black 7 - instrumental melodic guitar from Germany

Black 7 is an instrumental melodic solo project featuring some shredding and lots of hooks for fans of skilled, catchy guitar work. It is mostly traditional or melodic music in the sense of melodic and riff-centered playing, as opposed to percussive guitar playing. If you are a fan of big melodies on the guitar, and would like a break from having to hear some vocalist get all the attention, then this album offers a nice break from the routine. Expect rocking, some prog vibes but also some mellower moments, too. Given that there are no vocals (except some minimal vocalizing in a few spots), there is nothing to distract you. You can listen in peace and enjoy into the guitar playing.

Black 7

Look Inside

October 8, 2021

Look Inside by Black 7

out now: Siren's Rain - folk metal in Washington state

Check out the third recording (their first full-length) by Washington state wandering folksters Siren's Rain, an eclectic potion of various extreme and melodic styles for a permanent Oktoberfest vacation. Growling and melodic singing, songs for good times and for sad times, and medieval times, Siren's Rain has been entertaining the taverns, pubs and bars in the villages of western Washington state. The villages of Tacoma and Seattle are two of the main locations where they have been entertaining pub customers for years. Come hear and know what Washington state already knows, the folk metal of Siren's Rain.

Rise Forth by Siren's Rain

SIREN'S RAIN

Rise Forth

8 October 2021

https://www.facebook.com/sirensrainmusic/