VEIL OF MAYA (Sumerian) announce new album on 27 Feb and Euro tour plans

Chicago's VEIL OF MAYA are back to lead the charge of the American progressive-deathcore assault, with the release of their mind-blowing third album, “Eclipse”, out via Sumerian on 27 February.


Produced by djent hero Misha Mansoor of Periphery, ”Eclipse” is a stunningly concise yet diverse metal record, packed full of death-metal chops, tech-metal grooves, progressive arrangements and hardcore rip-yer-throat-out attitude.


The guitar work is as slick is it comes - stunning precision, inventive melodies and tasteful use of technique that will equally impress the muso as much as the metal head. But most importantly, this album is full of so many memorable riffs, rhythms and vocal hooks that you'll be itching to hit play again as soon as it's finished.


Check out the advance album track 'Vicious Circles', which showcases their more brutal side:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBazfB4oaGE


And this killer little teaser:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPjceuNu9M




VEIL OF MAYA are a hard touring band who have racked up some serious mileage worldwide over the last few years, and most recently visited Europe in June 2011 for their second time with label mates Born Of Osiris and The Faceless. Currently tearing it up un the US right now with heavyweights In Flames and Trivium, the band will then head to Japan before hitting Europe in April for their first ever headliner! More news coming soon.

Escarnium- Rex Verminorum Review

Escarnium are a band that brings death metal out of the harsh climates of Scandinavia and the supposed paradise which is Florida and comes from the depths of Brazil, home of the almighty Sepultura. However, just because they aren’t from the original homes of Death Metal, doesn’t mean they haven’t taken the original sound and taken it upon themselves to add their own brand of heaviness onto it.

Rex Verminorum is everything a good old school death metal album should be, brutally heavy, insanely fast and incredibly dark, which Escarnium manage to smash every box wide open. The album takes influences from old school death metal such as Cannibal Corpse and Death and adding their own twist in, which makes this some fairly powerful death metal.

With songs such as Self-proclaimed Messiah and His Final march, the lyrics seem to have a fairly religious overtone, but in stereotypical Death Metal fashion, they take an offensive view on religion, which is slightly disappointing as, because so many bands are doing the attack religion style, it is becoming fairly stale and there aren’t many more variations that can be done without repeating themselves.

Overall this band falls into the box of “slightly stereotypical” death metal, and I would like to see more variation in the future. However this doesn’t mean that this is a bad album,. It is just generically fairly bland. I will be looking for some future work however, as I believe that if they can move away from the blandness, they can become a force to be reckoned with.

6/10

BRITISH PROGRESSIVE METAL LABEL BASICK RECORDS PARTNERS WITH PROSTHETIC RECORDS / RED FOR NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION

BASICK RECORDS, The UK and Europe’s fastest rising Metal label has kicked off 2012 with a bang, by announcing that they are to set up a U.S. presence, partnering directly with legendary Los Angeles based label, PROSTHETIC RECORDS.

The deal, which will see all of BASICK’s forthcoming releases and selected back catalog serviced via SONY’s RED Distribution, was seen as the ideal opportunity for BASICK’s organic growth, as label owner Nathan ‘Barley’ Phillips explains:
“There’s so much synergy and mutual respect between BASICK and PROSTHETIC, that when the opportunity arose to partner up and launch the label fully in the USA, we just knew that we had to make it happen.
This deal enables us to offer our bands and releases a fully dedicated U.S. staff throughout their touring and retail cycles, as well as providing us with the perfect opportunity to sign some more US bands and to also bring some of our European talent to American shores!”
BASICK’s first official release via the new setup will be CHIMP SPANNER’s new record, ‘All Roads Lead Here’ which will hit shelves in the U.S. and Canada on February 14th 2012. The label has also just launched a brand new website, which can be found here: http://basickrecords.com




About BASICK:

Formed in 2005 by Nathan 'Barley' Phillips, BASICK has quickly established itself as one of the most important up and coming Metal labels in the UK & Europe. From releasing Enter Shikari’s first ever material to leading the way with the new wave of progressive Metal, BASICK strives to put out only the best in new, exciting, fresh heavy music. Now a fully fledged international label, BASICK’s roster currently includes: Aliases, Blotted Science, Chimp Spanner, Circles, Ion Dissonance,Skyharbor, The Algorithm, The Arusha Accord, Uneven Structure and 7 Horns 7 Eyes among others. 

Experience the BASICK roster for free, download the new 2012 sampler featuring 12 of the label's hottest artists. Available FREE internationally from Bandcamp and in the UK from Amazon UK.

Female Fronted pop-punkers The Hype Theory announce UK tour in March with Jet Pack

"bubbling with sunshine, melody and above all talent"

Kerrang!

"Glory Days offers a stellar blast of catchy hooks, laden with infectious melodies and fist-in-the-air lyrics" 

Rock Sound

Uplifting female fronted pop-punkers The Hype Theory have added a five date tour in March with fellow punkers Jet Pack to their run of UK shows. After blowing up last year in the Redbull Bedroom Jam playing Download, Sonisphere and many other top festies, the Essex lot released their debut album "Glory Days" on Small Town Records, which received a phenomenal response with the press and fans alike.


check out the latest video 'Kid at Heart' here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VqnjQytP6M


2012 will see the band release another single off Glory Days as well as take their sound far and wide, as the band will soon be announcing some full scale international touring! More news very soon.


Catch the band in the UK one of these dates:

Jan 24th - The Garage, London
Feb 4th - The Ivy, Sheerness
Feb 9th - Classic Grand, Glasgow
Feb 10th - The Jam Jar, Dunfermline
Feb 24th - The Hermit, Brentwood
March 2nd - The Vic Inn, Derby
March 5th - Koopas, Swansea (w/Jet Pack)
March 6th - Central Station, Wrexham (w/Jet Pack)
March 8th - Soundhouse, Leicester (w/Jet Pack)
March 9th - Club Revolution, Peterborough (w/Jet Pack)
March 10th - The Krispin Klub, Kettering (w/Jet Pack & Threads

Shadowside launches official new website

New layout reinforces current moment of the band targetting new and old fans alike

Rising Brazilian Metal band Shadowside has just launched their new official website. Featuring a modern website that allows fast and easy navigation, the page is very interactive.

Completely redone, the website presents a detailed history of Shadowside, photos and videos of the band on tours worldwide, streaming music, news and, in the near future, tourdates. There is also a store where fans can buy music and official merchandise.

The website promises to be a fast and efficient communication mechanism with the fans. Users with accounts on Twitter or Facebook may connect to it and keep a direct integration with social networks. Options such as "like", "tweet", "google +1" are available, as well as version in English and Portuguese.

To be released worldwide in mid 2012, Shadowside's new album Inner Monster Out is already considered as one of the best releases of 2011 in Brazil. This material was produced, mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, Arch Enemy, Hammerfall, Dream Evil, Evergrey and more) at Fredman Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. The album features guest appearances of vocalists Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork) and Niklas Isfeldt (Dream Evil).

Visit the official website at http://www.shadowside.ws.

Links:
http://www.facebook.com/shadowsideband
http://twitter.com/shadowsideband
http://www.youtube.com/ShadowsidePress7
http://www.lastfm.com.br/music/Shadowside
http://www.shadowside.ws
http://www.myspace.com/shadowsideband
Die Hard: http://www.diehard.com.br/lojaweb/detalhes.asp?codprod=25075&codtipo=1

Mortad release Waste of my Rage video 9th Jan

Mortad are releasing their video single Waste of my Rage via Metal Hammer on the 9th January.

This is a precursor to their début album Myth of Reality which will be released later in the year, which is a follow on from their EP released earlier in the year entitled Pandemic Paranoia.

For more about Mortad visit-
https://www.facebook.com/mortadmetal
http://mortad.net