A roundup of the latest news from Nuclear Blast artists including updates from Avatarium, My Dying Bride, Pallbearer and The Night Flight Orchestra.
Avatarium unveil cover and track list of ‘Hurricanes And Halos’
Sweden’s doom darlings AVATARIUM are back with their third studio album and once again, singer Jennie-Ann Smith and her gentlemen cast a spell over you with a truly magical sound experience – the new full-length release entitled »Hurricanes And Halos« will take the world by storm on May 26th and today, the band unveils the album cover. The artwork was once again created by Erik Rovanpera, who already designed the cover art of the band’s debut album, and shows a mystical creature inspired by the epic track ‘Medusa Child’.
“To be asked to do the artwork for the new AVATARIUM album was an honor,” states artist Erik Rovanpera. “And without knowing the lyrics to the title song ‘Hurricanes and Halos’ this is my interpretation of the title. Inspired by art nouveau, comic books and many other things in the current art movement this is my take on the good, the bad, the beauty and the beast. And using a broader color palette than usual and thereby pushing my own borders was great fun to do”.
AVATARIUM‘s »Hurricanes And Halos« will consist of eight long tracks:
1. Into The Fire / Into The Storm (4:14)
2. The Starless Sleep (4:47)
3. Road To Jerusalem (5:48)
4. Medusa Child (9:00)
5. The Sky At The Bottom Of The Sea (5:25)
6. When Breath Turns To Air (4:46)
7. A Kiss (From The End Of The World) (7:14)
8. Hurricanes And Halos (3:32)
My Dying Bride sign to Nuclear Blast
For 27 years, MY DYING BRIDE from West Yorkshire have been the voice of the hopeless and broken, combining haunting sounds with crushing misery and melancholy. With their signature sound they’ve shaped the doom metal scene like barely any other act and integrated both soft violin melodies and violent death metal growls into their music, whilst always staying strictly loyal to themselves. And since the early Nineties, the band’s masterminds and founding members Andrew Craighan and Aaron Stainthorpe forged beautiful grief into twelve studio albums with songs of epic length.
However for their 13th release, the band is now bound for new horizons and proudly announces their signing to Nuclear Blast Records!
Singer and lyricist Aaron Stainthorpe comments:
“It is with great pleasure that MY DYING BRIDE can announce they will be joining forces with the formidable Nuclear Blast Records in early 2017 and have already begun working on material for the next LP and singles. It is no secret that Nuclear Blast have continued to expand greatly over the years, signing epic bands from all corners of the world and giving them the chance they deserve to make something of themselves in the ever expanding metal scene. And it’s time that MY DYING BRIDE came along for the ride. We are hoping that this wedding between a very solid label and a well established act will bear fruit of mighty proportions in the exciting years to come.
Cheers!”
Pallbearer release video and single for ‘I Saw The End’
Little Rock, Arkansas-based ruminant progressive doom quartet, PALLBEARER, have today released a brand new video for single ‘I Saw The End’. The video was directed and produced by the acclaimed Zev Deans of Panorama Programming.
‘I Saw The End‘ is the imposing opening track for upcoming record »Heartless«, a wistful and serious plea for us all to take heed of the warning signs around us, else our dismal fate be sealed.
PALLBEARER stated:
“Both song and video present a telescopic view on an eternity of corruption. The path of greed leads to misery. When higher awareness allowed us to claw our way out of the mud, we found new ways to exploit one another, abusing the gift that could bring us to new heights. In the end, we pay for our selfishness. Join us for this elegy for what might have been.”
You can watch the video for ‘I Saw The End’ here:
The Night Flight Orchestra announce new studio album’s title and release date
Swedish classic/progressive rock supergroup THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA (featuring members of SOILWORK and ARCH ENEMY) have announced the title of their upcoming record.
The band’s third studio album will be entitled »Amber Galactic« and is scheduled to be released on May 19, 2017 via Nuclear Blast.
Commented singer Björn Strid: “»Amber Galactic« was made during late nights and way too early mornings, when sometimes, in the corner of your eye, you can catch a glimpse of another dimension, where all the women are heartbroken space commanders in evening gowns, the champagne is always free and the drugs won’t hurt you. We wanted to create more than just a listening experience, instead we want it to be an alternative reality. We hope that after listening to »Amber Galactic«, you’ll be wide-eyed, horny and slightly drunk.”
Guitarist David Andersson adds: “Musicianship in itself is not interesting, neither are the technical aspects of creating music. The ideas and visions behind the music are the only things really worthy of in-depth discussions. We’ve all reached a point where we can all pretty much play and sing whatever we want. We didn’t talk much about chord changes or amplifiers during the recording sessions. But we spent a lot of time discussing Kierkegaard’s concept of anxiety, different vintages of sparkling wine, the psychoacoustic aspects of modulation, the innate superiority of women and why a pearl necklace always look better when whoever wears it has a bored expression on her face.”
When asked about the direction of NFO within the realm of classic rock, Strid explains with a chuckle: “Most other classic rock bands sound like weed or LSD – we sound like cocaine.”
»Amber Galactic« was recorded at Handsome Hard Studio in Lund, Sweden. The album follows THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA‘s two previous releases, 2012’s »Internal Affairs« and 2015’s »Skyline Whispers«.
Stay tuned for more coming soon in the world of THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA!
