Metal Blade Records and BMG have now released the audio book edition of For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records – written by label founder and CEO Brian Slagel with Mark Eglinton, and featuring a foreword by Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. Read by Brian in his own casual and informal style, this new audio edition of For the Sake of Heaviness is an inside look at how he built Metal Blade from a one-man operation in his mom’s non-air-conditioned garage to the preeminent international home of heavy music that it is today.
Throughout the story, Brian steps aside to present first-person insights and extended guest interviews featuring friends, colleagues, Metal Blade staffers, and a long list of artists, including Metallica’s James Hetfield, Slayer’s Kerry King, King Diamond, and many more. Each of these segments is performed in the audio edition by John Bush of Armored Saint.
To purchase the audio edition of For the Sake of Heaviness, please go HERE
Physical copies can also be purchased here
On April 19th, Allegaeon will release their new album, Apoptosis, via Metal Blade Records.
A near-perfect symbiosis of technical, progressive, and melodic death metal, Apoptosis is a record that is as crushingly heavy as it is inventive, lithe and intelligent, and marks a significant leap forward in the band’s songwriting.
To watch the video for the new single, “Extremophiles (B)” (directed by Vince Edwards), please visit HERE.
ALLEGAEON Will be in Australia this May with Ne Obliviscaris, Caligula’s Horse, Beyond Creation and Rivers Of Nihil!
Thursday, May 9: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide – Lic/AA
Friday, May 10: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Saturday, May 11: Manning Bar, Sydney
Sunday, May 12: The Triffid, Brisbane
After 1 week of letting fans vote on their new album name, Italy’s Destrage has announced the true title of their fifth full-length: The Chosen One – which will be released May 24th via Metal Blade Records.
Watch the video for The Chosen One here
As with all of their previous efforts, Destrage make it impossible to pigeonhole their sound, with numerous labels applicable to the record but no single one able to tell the whole story. Moreover, from start to finish, The Chosen One seethes with an energy that is undeniable. “I strongly believe in the power of the people, and energy came from those who worked on this album, from the band, the producers, through to the mixing and mastering engineer. There was a lot of energy in the whole project, and that’s the most important thing to me,” vocalist Paolo Colavolpe enthuses. The record also sees the band once more experimenting, taking risks and exploring territory they have not previously entered into, demonstrating a fearlessness when it came to chasing ideas – and almost half the songs are in a completely different guitar tuning. A pair of unique tracks also bookend the record, the title track and “The Gifted One”, their relationship obvious as they came together in the writing stage.
After releasing their latest album, The Outer Ones, last year to critical acclaim, Revocation embarked on a headlining world tour in support of it. During their European trek with labelmates Rivers Of Nihil, the band filmed a video for the album track “Vanitas” (directed by Rivers of Nihil’s Jonathan Topore),
Produced by Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Queensryche, Whitechapel, etc.), The Outer Ones sees Revocation pushing both the death metal and progressive elements of their signature sound harder than ever. “I knew that I wanted to go in a darker direction, and this is our most death metal album to date,” states vocalist/guitarist Dave Davidson. “Sometimes when death metal bands go down the prog route they lose some of that edge, but we wanted to keep the aggression at the forefront of what we do while still pushing our boundaries.” Moving away from the societal and historical themes that informed 2016’s Great is Our Sin, this time Davidson has immersed himself in the fantastic, evoking one of the great writers of the sci-fi/horror genre. “The title is my ode to H.P. Lovecraft and the entities of pure cosmic horror that rule that universe he created. Since the new music we were writing was so evil and spacey in sections it seemed to be the right title to fit the overall vibe. But while the lyrical content is largely influenced by such writings, in every allegory there is of course some reflection of the real world, so I enjoy writing in a way that could have one overlaying meaning and then another deeper, symbolic meaning as well.”
To preview and purchase The Outer Ones, please visit: metalblade.com/revocation
On April 5th, AntropomorphiA will release their new album, Merciless Savagery, via Metal Blade Records.
For a preview of Merciless Savagery, a video for the new single, “Womb ov Thorns”, can be viewed at:
https://metalblade.com/antropomorphia/
In the year marking the 30th anniversary, AntropomorphiA has delivered an extreme metal opus that more than maintains the high standards upheld over the course of their storied career. Further building on the monstrous sounds of 2017’s Sermon Ov Wrath, Merciless Savagery lives up to its name, attacking with unrepentant ferocity and holding nothing back. Vocalist/guitarist Ferry Damen comments: “‘Sermon Ov Wrath’ was our most raw and honest statement and an album where we transcended certain genre limitations, capturing the essence of AntropomorphiA, and I would say the new record’s atmosphere is darker, heavier and more punishing, but still has hooky riffs and grooves. I think it’s the logical step forward. It’s a different chapter, even more diverse while being very cohesive, but you can immediately hear it’s AntropomorphiA.”
Recently the Faroe Islands’ Tyr released their eighth full-length, Hel, via Metal Blade Records.
Hel is a collection of ruthlessly melodic and irresistibly compelling progressive folk metal that will immediately resonate with any who have followed the band at any point over the two decades of their storied career.
On April 5th, legendary multinational thrash metallers Exumer will release their fifth full-length, Hostile Defiance, via Metal Blade Records.
Hostile Defiance is exactly what its title suggests. A 42-minute full on attack, the thrash faction hold nothing back as they unleash hell as only they can, yet with more variety and dynamics than ever before. “We wanted to sonically progress, incorporating more melodic elements in the music as well as more rhythmic variety,” states vocalist Mem Von Stein. “We are a lot braver trying to create an up to date and relevant sound that can easily stand alone in today’s thrash landscape without sounding trite or a throwback, and we’re challenging the listener not to get too comfortable with one specific feel, tempo or pace.”
For a preview of the album, the new single, “Raptor”, can be heard HERE.
On April 12th, German extreme metallers Ketzer will release their fourth full-length, Cloud Collider, via Metal Blade Records.
Looking on Ketzer’s musical history, change is what has always defined their sound. From thrashing riffs to atmospheric blackened tunes, Ketzer is a band that has always aimed to defy genres. So what can we expect on Cloud Collider? Nothing more than a ride on a storm cloud, followed by a soft breeze in your face and, finally, a cleansing rainfall. Ketzer’s fourth effort will surprise many as a shift into yet another direction, combining many of the band’s essential trademarks and carrying them one step further: Raging drum beats, harsh and powerfully thrashing riffs, as well as epic melodies that will haunt you long after the last tone has faded away. After years of intense work, Ketzer have created an album that can only be described as a milestone in their career and a clean break from all expectations: this album is a storm.
For three years now, Ketzer has been working on something new, and the result is something new indeed: somehow linking all trademarks essential to the sound of Ketzer, now and then, but taking it all one big step further. These new tunes might well be the strongest Ketzer songs to date. Recorded at Markus Stock’s infamous “Klangschmiede Studio E” as well as Laurent Teubls “Sculpt Sound Studios” in autumn 2018, the suitable visual expression for this new effort has been found by cover artist Adam Burke and illustrator Johannes Stahl.
Ketzer checked in with the following comment about Cloud Collider: “Lately, we have been possessed by storms. First there is a breeze, then the sky darkens: A sense of electric energy starts to fill the air. A sense of sheer power, building up, waiting to erupt. ‘Cloud Collider’ will strike you like a force of nature. When recording an album after months of hard work, blood and sweat, it is always our greatest wish, accompanied by the most terrifying fears, that the recordings will be able to ‘catch’ the songs and their certain, special spark. When we hear the final result for the first time, we have to think: ‘THIS is how the next chapter must sound’. Only then, we can be satisfied. With all the more pride and joy we can now say about ‘Cloud Collider’, that both is the case, and it is without a single doubt! THIS is how Ketzer has to sound in 2019! It is new and it is old and it is everything. It is fast and it is slow and we just can’t wait to bring these songs to the stage. This album is a piece of work that we feel embodies all aspects that stand and stood for the sound of Ketzer now and then. An album that manages to still go one step further to form something new!”
For a preview of Cloud Collider, the album’s new single, “The Wind Brings Them Horses”, can now be checked out here:
On May 10th, Abnormality will release their third full-length, Sociopathic Constructs, via Metal Blade Records.
A video for the first single, “Curb Stomp” (directed by David Brodsky), can be viewed now at: https://metalblade.com/abnormality
The album was tracked primarily at The Brick HitHouse in Hyannis, Massachusetts with producers Peter Rutcho (Revocation, Ravage) and Shane Frisby (Becoming The Archetype, Bury Your Dead) with vocals produced by Zdenek Sikyr at Studio Hostivar (Cult of Fire, Master’s Hammer) in Prague. Having worked with Rutcho since 2010, it was a painless, professional process, the band also bringing in Chaney Crabb of Entheos to add a guest vocal to the devastating “Penance”. “‘Sociopathic Constructs’ is the result of tons of hard work and shows the progress we have made as a band since ‘Mechanisms’ (2016),” asserts Sundaramurthy. “We feel the time is now for such an album, the brutality perfectly reflects the darkness, violence, and harsh reality of our world.”
Sociopathic Constructs serves to further cement Abnormality’s place at the cutting edge of savage ultra-technical death metal. With this release, the quintet have stepped up their game across the board, making for a record that is as violent, complex and thought provoking as any you will hear in 2019, and the band were not afraid to explore and mix things up. “I think this record we felt free enough to just go where we wanted to within a song,” states guitarist Jeremy Henry. “We had no qualms with switching styles and approaches from riff to riff. To have a whole section grinding away and then just switch gears, hit the brakes and drop a slow, old school Morbid Angel warship groove in there. We felt free to follow our instincts, and just let our influences shine through.”
