the cult doom metal band
from sweden is back again
Left Hand Solution just released their first single “First Day Of Winter” on the actual first day of winter and winter solstice: on the 21st of December 2020.
The first out “First Day Of Winter” is taken off the upcoming album to be released in 2021.
Drummer and songwriter Erik Barthold about the song:
”I remember starting to write the song “First Day Of Winter” as the first snow fell in the year of 2002. Little did I
imagine that it would take another 18 years for it to be fully completed! The song was finished this summer in
a hot recording studio, but of course, we had to wait until the winter solstice for this release. Sorry, that we’ve
kept you waiting, but here it finally is in its full winter dress.”
What made Left Hand Solution always special was their combination of hard riffs, dark melodies, and Mariana Frykman’s dark and beautiful voice.
Being one of the early metal band with a female vocalist their influence has been largely overlooked and their cult following has grown quite a lot lately.
And now, it’s time for a new album and a new development for the band.
The new Album “Dead of Winter” is scheduled for April 16th, 2021.
Left Hand Solution formed in 1991, released 3 albums and toured Europe, US and Canada, and made a large impression with their unique take on Doom metal for more than 10 years.
Then the band just faded away.
Until 2019, when they suddenly released – the in secrecy recorded album – “Through The Mourning Woods”.
An updated version of Left Hand Solution’s sweet nightmare that combined sounds from their early doom days and goth elements of their later days and put it all in a new context.
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Line Up:
Mariana Frykman – Vocals
Joakim Mårdstam – Guitar
Peter Selin – Bass
Erik Barthold – Drums & Backing Vocals
the cult doom metal band
from sweden is back again
The band has been resurrected for very successful local gigs several times during the last years, but it was not until Erik and original guitarist Joakim became neighbors that things starting to really happen.
Suddenly they found themselves writing songs
in Erik’s basement and soon Peter and Mariana happily joined in.
new album
'songs from the dark side of heaven'
out at the 28th of mai 2021
The mothership of German industrial/metal crossover strikes again.
Since 1980, Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and their various comrades-in-arms have shaped the
alternative/electronic music scene like no other band, especially through the sophisticated
combination of the two styles “industrial” and “metal” that they created in the 1990s and that
didn’t even exist before.
Countless other acts have since adapted this style, which was invented and launched by this extraordinary band.
Now it’s time for DIE KRUPPS to pay tribute to their own heroes – and to do that, what could
be better than an album filled to the brim with cover versions in typical DIE KRUPPS electro
metal style?
But see and hear for yourself, the men around Jürgen Engler have subjected real gems to their “treatment”...
Tracklisting:
1. The Number One Song In Heaven (originally by Sparks)
2. Chinese Black feat. Jyrki 69 (originally by The Neon Judgement)
3. Whip It (originally by Devo)
4. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper feat. James Williamson (originally by Blue Öyster Cult)
5. To Hell With Poverty! feat. Big Paul Ferguson (originally by Gang Of Four)
6. No More Heroes feat. Ross The Boss (originally by The Stranglers)
7. Another One Bites The Dust (originally by Queen)
8. Marilyn Dreams (originally by B-Movie)
9. Collapsing New People (originally by Fad Gadget)
10. New York (Version 9/11) (originally by MCL)
release new album “Away”
The electronic duo’s sixth album after their most successful year: “AWAY”
Not here.
Dreams of being somewhere else.
A commentary to the contemporary.
To the dread of 2020 and everything breaking down.
Sometimes darker than ever before.
Sometimes ambient driven electropop tunes.
Sampled pile drivers.
Held together with dark wave atmosphere.
All the time outside the frameworks and in perpetual motion.
This is us.
2021.
Hopeful in spite of darkness.
Jan Strandqvist, keyboards and music in Red Mecca, states about the new album:
“One positive thing the unexpected jigsaw puzzle of life last year came to be, was that me and
Susanne slipped into an overwhelming creativity of creating music when the live performances came to a halt, and we found the expression and communication through the music we were looking for. We stepped up and the flow was a lifebuoy.”
And more than well, Red Mecca survives even in times like these – with “Away” the electronic duo
writes another epic chapter after receiving the Manifest Award, being on some of the most central scenes at some of Europe’s biggest festivals in the genre and not least, last year a sync in the awesome BBC series “Killing Eve”.
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RED MECCA is:
Jan Strandqvist – keyboards and music
Susanne Jonsson – vocals, keyboards and lyrics
release new album “Away”
“The album AWAY is our commentary to the harsh reality of 2020.
And it´s in our opinion a diverse canvas we´ve been painting.
It´s been a year of new heights of oppression as well, from world leaders, not just a pandemic roaring throughout the world.
We´re very proud of what we´ve created and we´re very much in constant progression and forward motion.
And I think that we´re just in a startup mode.
There´s so much more to come.
But now, our greatest wish is to be able to come out and play live again, all our new material, throughout Europe.”
And vocalist Susanne Jonsson adds: “Trapped at home, afraid of meeting others I made my own
livestory on an album. Like living the dream in a fantasy. Making up stories, reading history and
making my own future in front of the microphone. Jan’s music makes imagination flow and the music inspired me to build life stories. It could have been me, in another lifetime.”
The album “Away” is released on 30th of April via Massproduktion Sweden.
new single ‘coma’
Following the release of the powerfully cathartic ‘Violent’ and the introduction of new vocalist Oli Duncanson, THECITYISOURS announce their highly anticipated new album with its title-track ‘COMA’ out now.
The album is set for release on 22nd October 2021 via Arising Empire.
There is a palpable sense of loss that ties together the band’s sophomore offering.
TCIO tackles the passing of loved ones, relationships, even personal sovereignty, and self-control head-on.
However, juxtaposed against their vibrant and fresh feeling, pop-centric arrangements, expertly interwoven with infectious hooks and crushing riffs; »COMA« breathes a perfect balance, radiating an underlying sense of positivity and resilience through an otherwise dark concept.
»COMA« will be available as CD and special limited coloured vinyl!
“COMA is an honest account of how I was feeling trying to understand why I was spiraling into a void,” expresses TCIO founding member Mikey Page. “I wrote the song as a method of coping and catharsis. It embodies a period of self-loathing where, the love I had, no matter how strong, was not enough to save an important relationship.”
Page recounts. “I wanted to produce an honest account, showing that it’s okay to be vulnerable, and to encourage others to speak up and take positive action instead of internalising them and struggling alone.”
»COMA« was recorded, engineered, and mixed by long-time collaborator Oz Craggs (FEED THE RHINO, NECK DEEP, MALLORY KNOX) at Hidden Track Studios and mastered by Ermin Hamidovic (ARCHITECTS, PERIPHERY, NORTHLANE) at Systematic Productions.‘
Following the departure of long-standing vocalist Sam Stolliday (full statement HERE), the band unexpectedly found themselves in unknown territory.
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THECITYISOURS are:
Oli Duncanson | Vocals
Mikey Page | Vocals / Guitar
Jamie Deeks | Bass
Stuart Mercer | Guitar
Louis Giannamore | Drums
new single 'coma'
12 months on, they are back with the introduction of new vocalist Oli Duncanson and ready to welcome a brand new era of TCIO.
Oli recounts “I remember being shown some demos of some new songs prior to Sam’s departure and absolutely loving the direction and progression of the band’s sound… so as soon as Mikey told me about the opening in the band, I knew I had to take a chance!”
Page adds “Oli has been a part of our team for a long time. He is a very well respected entity in his own right amongst the music scene. We’d seen snippets of his capabilities over the years, so when he registered an interest in becoming a part of CITY, we knew we had to explore…and we clicked instantly.”
THECITYISOURS is a 5-piece metal band from London who has quickly garnered attention and growing support for peers, industry, and fans alike, with their high-octane live show and the success of their debut album.
»LOW« (2019) smashed into the top 5 iTunes metal charts with several singles appearing in editorial playlists with the likes of Amazon, Deezer, and Spotify (Including 2 covers on New Core and Metal UK) supporting the band.
2019 was a very busy year for TCIO, with appearances at a slew of UK festivals including Camden Rocks, Macmillan Fest, Burn It Down, Holloween, a fly in appearance at High Fives Festival in Sweden, a headline set in the Doghouse Tent at the revered Download Festival to a 4000+ audience of festival-goers, and a sold-out album release show at Boston Music Rooms in London.
Be sure to keep an eye on THECITYISOURS in 2021.
new album ‘hyperactive’
out: 21.may 2021
With their fourth album, the Finnish metalcore act ONE MORNING LEFT ends a five-year-long pause in releasing new material.
On »Hyperactive« the group begins a whole new chapter in their story, drawing inspiration from retro electronic- and video game music, as well as 80’s hard rock, while staying true to their heavier roots.
Changes are happening not only in the musical style, but also in the lineup.
Returning from the cast of 2016’s “Metalcore Superstars” are frontman Mika Lahti, singer-guitarist Leevi Luoto and drummer Niko Hyttinen.
Additional firepower is provided by new faces Tuukka Ojansivu on guitar and Miska Sipiläinen on bass guitar, as well as the return-to-form of keyboard player Touko Keippilä from the band’s original “Panda
Mika Lahti – Lead Vocals
Leevi Luoto – Guitar & Lead Vocals
Touko Keippilä – Keyboards & Backing Vocals
Miska Sipiläinen – Bass & Backing Vocals
Niko Hyttinen – Drums
Tuukka Ojansivu – Guitar & Backing Vocals
new album ‘hyperactive’
out: 21.may 2021
After that everything seemed to just fall into place: the band’s new, now recognizable sound, was found quickly and the process sped up with the album being finished in early 2020.
The album starts off with a bang with “Ruby Dragon”, a song about self-improvement, overcoming depression and becoming the best version of yourself.
“Mika wanted a song about the board game ”Labyrinth” so I adapted that to the themes above and had a great time writing this, even though the inspirations are.. heavy,” Luoto explains.
Keyboardist Touko Keippilä continues: “Ruby Dragon was the culmination point in the album writing process, as it perfectly encapsulates what we aspire our new musical style to be like. Groovy, heavy riffs and clean, glistening synthwork providing a platform for the two vocalists to deliver their lines with a raw and wild energy.”
The following track, “Neon Highway”, is a hyperactive love song full of pure chaos and fury, thoroughly resonating with the album title.
As told by Leevi Luoto: “This is a straight up love song. MAD love. Also functions as the landscape-painter of the album, describing the world we’re singing about.”
Continuing the barrage of fast-paced tracks is party anthem “Sinners Are Winners”, a love letter to 80’s hard rock.
Lyrically the song is a parody of the party hard lifestyle and rock’n’roll clichés.
“I f****ng love the 80’s and wanted to mix those guitar mannerisms with metalcore, creating one of the most fun songs to bang your head to,” Luoto says.
Making a guest appearance with a face-melting guitar solo is producer/guitarist Joonas Parkkonen (SANTA CRUZ, LOST SOCIETY, APOCALYPTICA).
Presenting a heavier and darker side of One Morning Left, “Drowned God” offers a unique take on modern metal music.
As the first song written for the album, with some parts dating as far back as 2008, the lyrics are heavily influenced by singer Leevi Luoto’s childhood.
“I was super bullied as a kid, the feelings and power-fantasies of those days were the inspiration when writing this,” he explains.
Taking a completely different direction is “CREATVRES”, a danceable rock song about unity and empowerment.
Groovy drum beats, heavy guitars, and bright synths create a solid backdrop for the two vocalists to shine over.
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“A gem of modern music,” as remarked by bassist Miska Sipiläinen, “CREATVRES” is definitely the one of poppier tracks in the band’s catalogue.
“Can’t wait to see which ice hockey team adopts this as their theme song!”, Keippilä adds.
Bringing the album back to it’s speedy tracks, “Live, Laugh, Love” takes a stab at the facade of fake smiles on social media.
The breathtakingly aggressive and emotional delivery of Mika Lahti takes center stage, supported by a bombardment of guitar-shredding and drummer Niko Hyttinen’s blast beats.
“Full blast, no chill, just punches you in the face. That’s what I like,” Hyttinen summarizes.
With “Ruthless Resistance” ONE MORNING LEFT takes the listener on an adventure through a landscape of sci-fi and fantasy clichés in an effort to save a crew member from peril.
Starting out with Ojansivu’s thrash metal-inspired guitar riffs, the song builds up to a monumental crescendo with the entire band joining up in a grand chorus.
“We wanted to capture the childlike, adventurous feeling of this song. The lyrics are about friendship and trying to destroy the ”big evil” in a very Star Wars-ey kind of way” Luoto says.
Adding to the wide variety of musical styles heard on the album is “Downfall”, a funk and nu-metal inspired track, full of haunted house-esque keyboards, screeching guitars, Sipiläinen’s groovy basslines, a guest appearance by DJ Massimo and even a verse featuring underground rapper OG Ulla-Maija.
The song, inspired by the graphic novel “The Killing Joke”, describes a person’s struggle coping with constant stress, depression, and anxiety.
“The lyrics on this one hit the closest to home for me. Having suffered from anxiety and depression, screaming along to ”Will I ever be whole again?” sends a shiver down my spine every time,” Touko Keippilä comments.
With “Worry Less, Dance More” the band’s love for fast-paced progressive metal and alt-rock really shines through.
“Probably the most fun song to play on the album. Fast tempo, absolute killer riffs, precise picking, total perfection!” Miska Sipiläinen narrates.
Mika Lahti continues: “This has been one of my favorites since the demo stage. Leevi’s very topical lyrics are a take on today’s influencer culture: everyone considers themselves a “Cyber-Gandhi”, but few are able to live up to their projected standards.”
Acting as the album’s grand finale, the titular “Hyperactive” presents a ferocious amalgamation of hardcore riffing and Keippilä’s synthwave arrangements.
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new album ‘hyperactive’ out: 21.may 2021
The song squeezes out the last drops of energy one has left after listening to the album.
“When creating the track, it became very clear that this will be the last song on the album. “Hyperactive” is fabricating an illusion of closure, while being a powerful and entertaining cliff-hanger for our upcoming material,” guitarist Tuukka Ojansivu illustrates.
Absolutely packed with immense frustration and sadness, the album’s conclusion functions as a yang to “Ruby Dragon”’s yin, summing up the album both musically and lyrically.
The vocalists’ intense delivery grants authority to the song’s message of self-examination and rebellion.
With »Hyperactive« released in May of 2021 by ARISING EMPIRE, ONE MORNING LEFT looks to add to their growing global fan base.
Having gathered extensive live performance experience playing countless shows in Finland, touring mainland Europe, Russia, and the Baltics, and even performing in places such as Iceland and Japan, the group is planning on taking their entertaining and energetic live show on the road in the near future.
'Strangers D’Amour'
We all know that experience is one of the most valuable resources of an artist.
That irreplaceable talent of distinguishing the significant from the insignificant and always
operating with perfect timing rather than being guided by nervous impatience easily balances out youthful enthusiasm and a penchant for experimentation.
Hanover rock act Fargo, comprising founder and bassist ´Fargopedda` Knorn, vocalist/guitarist
Peter Ladwig, who joined the fold a little later, and drummer Nikolas Fritz (Mob
Rules), has that experience and has once again deployed it:
Three years after their comeback album CONSTELLATION (2018), 25 June 2021 will see the arrival of the group’s new (sixth) album STRANGERS D´AMOUR, proving that the band’s name has long become a trademark in its own right.
A trademark with a few innovations, that is:
True to the motto “reduce to the max”, STRANGERS D´AMOUR presents Fargo as a trio.
The essence of Fargo, consisting of Knorn, Ladwig and Fritz, had already featured on CONSTELLATION and has now recorded eleven new songs in spring 2021, composed by Peter Ladwig and – with two exceptions – written by Peter Knorn.
“Compared to CONSTELLATION, STRANGERS D´AMOUR sounds even more mature and rounded, with our typically driving beats and lots of melodious chorus parts, but also with a few little surprises thrown in,” Knorn explains. “‘Gimme That Bone’ and ‘Why Don´t You’ have Ladwig play a Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes, as well as his guitar. And few previous
Fargo recordings match the speed of ‘Rain Of Champagne’!”
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Tracklisting:
Rain Of Champagne 3:17
Gimme That Bone 3:23
Closer To The Sun 4:13
Time 6:04
Mary Says 3:23
Law Of The Jungle 3:19
Homesick 3:59
Dear Miss Donna Vetter 3:35
No Reason To Cry 4:12
Car Expert 3:32
Why Don’t You 3:32
Release date:
June 25th, 2021
Line-Up:
Peter Knorn – bass
Peter Ladwig – guitar, vocals
Nikolas Fritz – drums
'Strangers D’Amour'
Other than that, STRANGERS D´AMOUR consists of Fargo’s familiar laid-back rock music, that characteristic classic rock that Fargo have been known and loved for since 1973.
The six-minute ‘Time’, for example, looks back at the late 1970s and brings to mind other Hanover acts such as Eloy and Jane, albeit stylistically more straightforward.
Knorn: “At the same time, our songs have a common thread that links not only the new numbers but all our records: Ladwig‘s characteristic vocal style and his distinct sense of melody are simply unmistakable.”
Not to forget Knorn‘s intelligent and frequently mocking lyrics, this time about illegal liquor distillers (‘Mary Says’), the fight between two poodles over a bone or sex in a car (‘Car Expert’), but also critical statements about environmental breakdown (‘Closer To The Sun’) and even references to Goethe’s play, ‘Faust’.
STRANGERS D´AMOUR is complemented by its cover artwork featuring the three band members’ faces in a jungle guise, as if they’d just sprung from a primeval forest.
Says Knorn: “The front cover stands for the wild and primal in all of us. Or the animalistic element, perhaps the ability to see into the future. To recognise these elements and to live in harmony with them, that’s what we wanted to convey with the album title.”
The members of Fargo have always been in harmony with each other.
As a predecessor of the globally successful hardrock band Victory, which Knorn founded
in 1984 and disbanded in 2011 following their outstanding success in Europe and the US, Fargo is one of the most distinguished German rock acts of the early 1980s.
Their debut album WISHING WELL was released in 1979, followed by three studio recordings on EMI by 1982.
Fargo have repeatedly toured all over Europe, played with some of the greatest rock bands worldwide, touring with the likes of AC/DC,
Mothers Finest and The Small Faces, among others, and also featured on German TV channel ZDF’s “Rock Pop”.
Even Europe’s biggest teen magazine BRAVO
devoted two full pages to Knorn and his spectacular stage performance in January 1981 (part of his nightly show at that time was a legendary headfirst somersault).
After a hiatus of 34 years, Fargo returned in autumn 2017 and went on to release their comeback album CONSTELLATION one year later. STRANGERS D´AMOUR is the latest of six releases by a band that is once again a force to be reckoned with, in the studio as well as live on stage.
release new Album
“This Alchemy”
The Awakening’s 10th album “This Alchemy” will officially release next week.
The album features 10 new original compositions, along with a powerful rendition of the Alphaville classic “A Victory Of Love.”
Nyte says about the first single from the album:
“Zero Down is about the posthumous exploitation of ‘rockstars’ – something that has been happening since the dawn of rock ’n roll. It’s a song I wrote many years ago, and I am delighted to finally share it with the world, in all of its irreverent reverence.”
Based in the U.S., The Awakening is a musical project born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the late ’90s.
Ashton Nyte has released seven critically acclaimed solo albums and has collaborated on various projects with members of The Cure, The Mission, Bauhaus, and many more.
“This Alchemy” follows less than a year after frontman Ashton Nyte released his solo album and book of poetry and short stories, Waiting For A Voice.
“I think the 36-date European tour I completed with Wayne Hussey in late 2019 re-ignited my drive to create more art and stay connected with those who kindly support my work. This Alchemy is, in many ways, a new creative chapter for The Awakening. It occupies a different space to both “Waiting For A Voice” and “Chasm” which I think satisfies the growth and diversity essential for an artist,” says Nyte of the new release.
new single ‘Devastation’
“The world is on fire!”
Freshly signed modern metal four-piece EYES WIDE OPEN from Sweden have released their brand new single ‘Devastation‘
Devastation spreads through human society with pandemics, misleading information, and corrupted leaders.
Why can’t we change our ways?
“Destroying ourselves and the earth with greed, depression and hate and how we all stand silent doing nothing about it, disconnected by a self-made mask.”
‘Devastation‘ carries the torch from the Swedish melodic death metal scene, mixing it with modern sounds and new influences inspired by metalcore.
Catchy melodies, heavy drumming, pumping rhythms, and versatile vocals are merging into an own style of metal.
EYES WIDE OPEN is a four-piece modern metal band based in Karlstad (Sweden).
With their latest album »The Upside Down« (2019) of four already released in total, they hit like a juggernaut and paved the road to a top tier within the scene.
EYES WIDE OPEN are:
Erik Engstrand | vocals
Kristofer Strandberg | guitar
Jesper Lindgren | bass
Lucas Freise | drums
new album
‘in the eye of death we are all the same’
out 2nd july
With the upcoming release of »In The Eye Of Death We Are All The Same«, DEFOCUS enters the Metal scene with a record full of heavy, low tuned songs, where they dive deep into the progression of the world we are living in and how we are all affected by it.
Founded by Simon Müller, Jeffrey Uhlmann,
Jonas Mahler and Marcel “Bambam” Heberling, DEFOCUS spent time making music together before coming to light in early 2019, instantly proving their worth in the scene with their energetic live shows.
Exceedingly low guitars and driving rhythms, paired with dark and ambient melodies create a melancholic atmosphere that characteristically stands for the thrilling sound represented on their new record.
With songs like ‚Thought Of A Vision‘ or ‚Can You See Me?‘ DEFOCUS shows what they are capable of, combining their very own diverse style and aggressive vocals, to create catchy, yet energizing heavy songs to delight fans of different metal genres.
Faced with the global COVID-19 pandemic, DEFOCUS got to work on their material through countless extensive late-night online sessions, allowing every member to contribute their individual ideas and emotions.
„I remember that when we started to write all these songs, everyone was on the same page from the beginning and we knew exactly which direction we want to go, but at the same time everyone took inspiration from different sources. Seeing all these songs finally come together in the end makes me super happy, because the writing process and everything around it really defined who we are as a band and resulted in a record everyone in the band can 100% identify with.“ – Jeffrey
While the pandemic was still in full swing, all tracks were recorded remotely from home while Christoph Wieczorek from Sawdust Recordings took care of the mix and master, that really matches the crushing and impulsive sound of modern metalcore.
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Line Up:
Simon Müller | Vocals
Jeffrey Uhlmann| Guitar
Marcel „Bambam“ Heberling | Bass
Jonas Mahler | Drums
new album
‘in the eye of death we are all the same’
out 2nd july
„Await hell and heaven to open the gates, bury the masses in a common grave. Regardless of ranks and positions, IN THE EYE OF DEATH WE ARE ALL THE SAME“ from the track ‚Common Grave‘ perfectly represents the overall theme and mood of the album.
„Mankind still tends to be living an egoistic lifestyle and there’s probably a reason why we’re not considered as ‘social’ beings.
With this being said while the world turns upside down and everything seems to get worse and worse, everyone will die alone in the end.“ – Simon
new album ‘a world on fire’
A World On Fire is out on July 30th, 2021 via Long Branch Records
-album concept
As the world closed its frontiers, boarded up their cities, and locked themselves inside, The Five Hundred closed themselves off from the rest of society for 6 months to write their follow up to the hugely successful and critically acclaimed debut, Bleed Red.
The album focuses on a morbid theme of environmental devastation, rising sea levels, climate disaster, and the ensuing loss of entire ecosystems, cities and millions of human lives.
A subject that is particularly close to their hearts, guitarist & lyricist Mark Byrne passionately talks about the band’s inspiration behind the album…
“The environmental catastrophe that is headed our way will cause more deaths than COVID-19 and the solution will be far more complicated than a simple vaccine. We are all lost our shit during this pandemic, but what’s coming next is so fucked up, we won’t know what hit us. We are simply not ready for this.”
“We normally revel in ambiguity, and believe in leaving room for interpretation. Spoon feeding our listeners has never really been our style, but for this record we felt the need to be blunt and direct.”
1 BLACK DOGS
A song about isolation and the plague of mental health, which spreads through society
like a contagion of anxiety, paranoia and suicidal ideations.
Vocalist John Woods-Eley speaks of the personal mental torment that inspired him to write him to write the track…
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A World On Fire is out on July 30th, 2021 via Long Branch Records
-album concept
As the world closed its frontiers, boarded up their cities, and locked themselves inside, The Five Hundred closed themselves off from the rest of society for 6 months to write their follow up to the hugely successful and critically acclaimed debut, Bleed Red.
The album focuses on a morbid theme of environmental devastation, rising sea levels, climate disaster, and the ensuing loss of entire ecosystems, cities and millions of human lives.
A subject that is particularly close to their hearts, guitarist & lyricist Mark Byrne passionately talks about the band’s inspiration behind the album…
“The environmental catastrophe that is headed our way will cause more deaths than COVID-19 and the solution will be far more complicated than a simple vaccine. We are all lost our shit during this pandemic, but what’s coming next is so fucked up, we won’t know what hit us. We are simply not ready for this.”
“We normally revel in ambiguity, and believe in leaving room for interpretation. Spoon feeding our listeners has never really been our style, but for this record we felt the need to be blunt and direct.”
1 BLACK DOGS
A song about isolation and the plague of mental health, which spreads through society
like a contagion of anxiety, paranoia and suicidal ideations.
Vocalist John Woods-Eley speaks of the personal mental torment that inspired him to write him to write the track…
...to continue, please go to the next side...
new album ‘a world on fire’
“When you are suffering from mental health issues, you are completely alone in your head, standing on the edge, descending into the darkness. No one can jump inside you and help you fight your demons… you’re just on your own. We live on a beautiful planet but an ugly world, surrounded by breath-taking beauty, but all we want to do is set it on fire… that depresses, terrifies and angers me in equal measures.
Look around us at what we have created. Plagues, floods, and fires. You can’t make this
shit up, it’s fucking biblical!“
2 THE RISING TIDE
2020 The year people are literally dying to forget.
But as humanity struggles to cope with
the effects of this pandemic, the fact remains that we’re teetering upon the precipice of
something far, far worse.
Never a band to shy away from the inconvenient truth, The Rising Tide is the second single released from The Five Hundred’s upcoming sophomore album, via Long Branch Records.
And as this sonic monster-in-the-making begins its long sweep towards our proverbial ragged shores, guitarist Mark Byrne is ready to drag the
waters – and reveal the inspiration behind the track.
“The environmental catastrophe that is headed our way will cause more deaths than COVID-19 and the solution will be far more complicated than a simple vaccine. We are all losing our shit at this pandemic, but what’s coming next is so fucked up, we won’t know what hit us. We are simply not ready for this. It’s not as bad as you think – it’s much, MUCH worse. Up until now, the scientific, political and even public discourse has focused on increasing temperatures – degrees Celsius. In the next few years, we will talk about it in terms of meters of sea level rise. Life as we know it, will not be the same, and we are just letting it play out in front of our very own eyes. That depresses me beyond belief, so I had to write about it. We are sinking in a deep blue hell. Many of the people and places we know and love, will be dragged out to the sea. Sit back and enjoy the horror show, because it’s your apocalypse, and you fucking paid for it. Hop on for the ride.”
“When you are suffering from mental health issues, you are completely alone in your head, standing on the edge, descending into the darkness. No one can jump inside you and help you fight your demons… you’re just on your own. We live on a beautiful planet but an ugly world, surrounded by breath-taking beauty, but all we want to do is set it on fire… that depresses, terrifies and angers me in equal measures.
Look around us at what we have created. Plagues, floods, and fires. You can’t make this
shit up, it’s fucking biblical!“
2 THE RISING TIDE
2020 The year people are literally dying to forget.
But as humanity struggles to cope with
the effects of this pandemic, the fact remains that we’re teetering upon the precipice of
something far, far worse.
Never a band to shy away from the inconvenient truth, The Rising Tide is the second single released from The Five Hundred’s upcoming sophomore album, via Long Branch Records.
And as this sonic monster-in-the-making begins its long sweep towards our proverbial ragged shores, guitarist Mark Byrne is ready to drag the
waters – and reveal the inspiration behind the track.
“The environmental catastrophe that is headed our way will cause more deaths than COVID-19 and the solution will be far more complicated than a simple vaccine. We are all losing our shit at this pandemic, but what’s coming next is so fucked up, we won’t know what hit us. We are simply not ready for this. It’s not as bad as you think – it’s much, MUCH worse. Up until now, the scientific, political and even public discourse has focused on increasing temperatures – degrees Celsius. In the next few years, we will talk about it in terms of meters of sea level rise. Life as we know it, will not be the same, and we are just letting it play out in front of our very own eyes. That depresses me beyond belief, so I had to write about it. We are sinking in a deep blue hell. Many of the people and places we know and love, will be dragged out to the sea. Sit back and enjoy the horror show, because it’s your apocalypse, and you fucking paid for it. Hop on for the ride.”
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new album ‘a world on fire’
3 OUR DEMISE
I remember reading a paper about how people can pass away simply because they’ve given up.
Life has beaten them and they feel defeat is inescapable.
It was a study by researchers about the “clinical markers” for ‘give-up-itis’, a crude term used to describe what is known medically as psychogenic death.
It usually follows a trauma from which a person thinks there is no escape, making death seem like the only rational outcome.
If not arrested, death usually occurs three weeks after the first stage of withdrawal.
The researcher quoted: “Psychogenic death is real. It isn’t suicide, it isn’t linked to depression, but the act of giving up on life and dying usually within days, is a very real condition often linked to severe trauma.”
It’s a subject matter that triggers thoughts, perhaps analogously, that we are experiencing
a societal or ecological version of this.
We have given up on ourselves, and we have just
accepted that this is the only, inevitable conclusion, to fade away, wide-eyed and hopeless.
As a society we swing from the opposite ends of the pendulum, of environmental activism, which society bizarrely labels as ‘extremism” to the flaccid apathy of “middle-of-the-road Joe Public”, who questions whether any of this is even real.
We don’t need two polar opposites to war with each other, we need the middle ground to get the fuck in the water and learn to swim.
We haven’t decided if this song is about fighting on or giving up… I guess we’ll let the listener decide…
4 THE WARMTH
Humans are a strange species. When we see chaos, we seek to find patterns in the mess.
It’s almost as if we cannot handle the instability, so we need to come up with crackpot ideas about secret societies planning this mess.
This song is about conspiracy theories, and how we prefer to believe in them than in the truth, because we can’t face the cold, hard facts.
5 WALLS OF JERICHO
It’s fair to say that not a single one of us in the band is religious, but the biblical battle of Jericho bears some significance… in that it reminds us that our enemy cannot be defeated with physical weapons, but rather by a crowd of loud voices.
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new album ‘a world on fire’
6 YOUR APOCALYPSE
“A grave to bury all our shame inside”…
sets the tone for this bleak depiction of the hell we are creating for ourselves.
It’s a grim image of what our world is fast becoming.
Oceans on fire… Giant storms colliding…
You paid for the seat, but you’re only going to use the edge of it.
Here is Your Apocalypse, jump on for the ride.
7 WITH SCARS
Why did I feel like writing this song? We talk about the impact of the world’s climate going to shit, extreme natural disasters wiping out entire towns and villages and that is scary enough.
Now imagine that the ones that will feel the impact are disproportionately the people who already live in abject poverty.
Yeah, some rich fuckers in London, Manhattan,
and Miami are gonna be “inconvenienced”, but it’s the people who are already in the slums that will be hit the hardest, ‘cos they’ll have no place to hide.
8 OUR CURSE
By far the angriest song on the album, and if you still don’t know what we are angry about, then you haven’t been paying attention!
Our hatred for you is as pure as it is loud…
9 AGONY
Nothing makes you come to terms with your own mortality more than holding your child in your arms for the first time.
When I first held her, the stark realisation that one day I’ll be gone, and I have to prepare this human for life when I am no longer there to protect her.
That hit me like a brick wall, and it scared the shit out of me.
At a moment when I should have been the happiest man on the planet, I felt the black dogs
walking behind me.
The song deals with the Agony of anxiety and depression, a recurring theme throughout my lyrics, because, guess what?
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new album ‘a world on fire’
It’s been a recurring theme throughout my life.
If you don’t face it and confront it head on, it can swallow you up.
Sometimes it can creep on you because of external factors…
Sometimes it is of my own making.
If I don’t sort my shit out, I can effectively become the architect of my own self destruction.
10 A WORLD ON FIRE
The concept for the title track and for the album itself, was borne out of sheer frustration, at our inability to deal with the crisis.
A global problem needs a global solution, and whilst we watch the apocalypse slowly unravel, we continue to war with each other, weep into the ocean, and breathe in the flames.
In the end we will scream for redemption, and regret the mess we made, but by that point it will be too late.
ARTWORK CONCEPT from Giannis
” I fell for the band’s concept from the very first minute. These lads are touching subjects that are important for ours and our children’s future. These topics should not be ignored and the fact the album is dedicated to them made me happy to be involved with on it. Regarding the art, i wanted a more iconic approach. Less realistic, less detailed and as much personalized as possible. The main idea of the man having his hands around the planet was given by the band so I had the basic image in my head. I tried to deliver an unusual piece in terms of aesthetics going a bit out of my comfort zone. Having the man dissolve and the planet being on fire, pretty much sums up the idea of our suffering world. I hope the album finds its way to lots of ears and open minds and that it works as a gateway to
understanding these important messages. It is in our hands to keep the planet and our future safe.
***
The Five Hundred
Aggressive yet euphoric, empowering yet simultaneously enslaving, The Five Hundred are renowned for overcoming adversities and laying siege to every stage they play.
Their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Bleed Red’ told the story of a band struggling with Tourette’s, OCD, and drug addiction.
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new album ‘a world on fire’
It’s now the band’s time to share with the world how they’ve battled through their vices and come out on top.
After successful tours up & down the country, Eastern Europe / Russia & an appearance at the iconic Download festival in 2019, the quintet are back and angrier than ever with their follow up album.
May 2020, and only a few months into the pandemic, we saw the release of their first single, Black Dogs, a song about isolation and the plague of mental health, which spreads through society like a contagion of anxiety, paranoia and suicidal ideations.
As the world closed its frontiers, boarded up their cities, and locked themselves inside, The Five Hundred closed themselves off from the rest of society for 6 months to write their sophomore album.
The album’s second, The Rising Tide, gave a glimpse into what will become a central theme to the band and their music in this coming cycle: Environmental devastation, rising sea levels, climate disaster, and the ensuing loss of entire ecosystems, cities and millions of human lives.
“The environmental catastrophe that is headed our way will cause more deaths than COVID-19 and the solution will be far more complicated than a simple vaccine. We are all losing our shit at this pandemic, but what’s coming next is so fucked up, we won’t know what hit us. We are simply not ready for this. It’s not as bad as you think – it’s much, MUCH worse. Up until now, the scientific, political and even public discourse has focused on increasing temperatures – degrees Celsius. In the next few years, we will talk about it in terms of meters of sea level rise. Life as we know it, will not be the same, and we are just letting it play out in front of our very own eyes. That depresses me beyond belief, so I had to write about it. We are sinking in a deep blue hell. Many of the people and places we know and love, will be dragged out to the sea. Sit back and enjoy the horror show, because it’s your apocalypse, and you fucking paid for it. Hop on for the ride.”
The album concept weaves through various aspects of a generation-defining crisis, from flood to furnace…
A fitting soundtrack for the coming apocalypse.
new album ‘a world on fire’
