Metal Blade News: New albums from Nova Collective and Evocation

NOVA COLLECTIVE
(featuring members of Between the Buried and Me, Haken, Trioscapes, Cynic)

Reveal Details For Debut Album, The Further Side; launches first single, Dancing Machines

On March 10th, Nova Collective (featuring members of Between the Buried and Me, Haken, Trioscapes, Cynic) will release their debut album, The Further Side, via Metal Blade Records/Rocket.

Nova Collective‘s music can be described as fusion, weaving progressive rock influences with world music, jazz and classical, to create something entirely new that is pure aural candy for prog/jazz fans.

For a preview of The Further Side, a live performance of the first single, “Dancing Machines”, can be viewed here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwPe5jVYKe4

Nova Collective began in 2014 when bassist Dan Briggs (Between the Buried and Me, Trioscapes) and guitarist Richard Henshall (Haken) began exchanging emails about music; before long, a few demos were fleshed out into full arrangements. Drummer Matt Lynch (Trioscapes, Cynic) and keyboardist Pete Jones (ex-Haken) came on board shortly after to finish writing the album. The Further Side was written on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with Briggs and Lynch in America and Henshall and Jones in England, sharing session files until the group could get together at the beginning of 2015 to record with engineer Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist). Mixed by Rich Mouser (Neal Morse, Transatlantic), it is immediately clear that The Further Side is a labor of love for all involved, and that enthusiasm shines throughout.

Nova Collective line-up:

Dan Briggs – Bass
Matt Lynch – Drums
Pete Jones – Keyboards
Richard Henshall – Guitar

Pre orders for The Further Side are available now

www.nervegas.com.au/novacollective

EVOCATION
Reveal Details For New Album, The Shadow Archetype; Launch First Single, Children Of Stone

On March 10th, Evocation will celebrate their return to death metal with the stunning new album, The Shadow Archetype!
While honoring their Swedish death metal roots, The Shadow Archetype also adds thrash metal elements to their addictive, heavy sound.

For a first preview of the album, the single “Children of Stone” can be heard at: metalblade.com/evocation

Evocation guitarist Marko Palmen comments: “In my opinion, the new album is a step towards the roots of the band, although it also has a footing in the future. I think the sound of the new album in many ways reflect the dynamic of me and Simon, who wrote the music for the album. I’m more of an old-school death metal kind of guy and Simon comes from the younger generation of death metal freaks who enjoy technicality and brutality. Somehow, we just merged those two sides of death metal into the creation that will be known as ‘The Shadow Archetype’. But I also have to point out that the album is a creation made by all the members of Evocation and I think we all pushed ourselves to the very limit of what is achievable. I’m certain that we all can stand proud of the album in the future.”

Featuring a cover and layout by Xaay (Behemoth, Nile, etc.), The Shadow Archetype was recorded at three different studios. Backing vocals, mixing and mastering were done at Dugout Productions. Daniel Bergstrand handled the recording of backing vocals and mixing. George Nerantzis handled the mastering. Drums were recorded at Crehate Studios together with studio engineer Oscar Nilsson. The Shadow Archetype also features veteran drummer Per Moller Jensen (ex-The Haunted, ex-Invocator) on session drums. Per sets a new death metal standard on the new Evocation album with his complex, yet groovy drumming, which we know well from his time in The Haunted. Guitars, bass, and lead vocals were recorded by the band in their own studio, Acacia Avenue Recordings. “We started recording the drums in late June 2015 and did the last recordings with vocals in June 2016. So, we spent roughly a year in the studio with ‘The Shadow Archetype’,” explains Palmen. “In my opinion, the production is our strongest so far. It has all the elements I want in a production; raw brutality with a distinctive punch!”

The Shadow Archetype track-listing: