Artistes
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Newly formed 5 piece female fronted pop/punk band based in Norwich UK.
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LINE UP
Kobra Paige – Vocals
Jasio Kulakowski – Guitars
Brad Kennedy - Bass
Marcus Lee - DrumsLaunched in 2009, Kobra And The Lotus is the lifeblood and passion of Canadian vocalist Kobra Paige. Eight years into their journey, the band has gone through significant changes in sound and personnel to the point that they were able evolve and create what is easily the strongest album in the Kobra And The Lotus catalogue. In fact, the aptly titled Prevail is such a show of strength that Kobra and her bandmates chose to make a double album to be released in two parts over the next year; a venture very few artists have the backbone to attempt.
Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Kobra And The Lotus garnered immediate attention in Canada and the US with their debut album, Out Of The Pit, in 2010. The release of their self-titled second album in 2012 and High Priestess in 2014 enabled the band to tour worldwide both as a headliner and support act, which included a North American tour with KISS and Def Leppard. Sadly, Kobra was forced to take an eight month break from music due to a battle with Lyme disease, but Kobra And The Lotus regained much needed momentum with their Words Of The Prophets covers EP in 2015. In fact, the EP played was an integral part in the birth of Prevail in that it cemented the working relationship between Kobra and guitarist Jasio Kulakowski, who joined the band in 2012.
The idea of making a double album was introduced by Kobra's father, who suggested they do it because the vast majority of younger generation metal artists don't have the drive. Kobra admits she thought he was insane and that it was a surefire way to commit career suicide.
'A week later, I couldn't get the idea out of my head because I didn't see any reason why we couldn't push ourselves to do it,' says Kobra. 'We could at least try, and in that way make a bold statement that Kobra And The Lotus is still hanging in there.'
When the band signed with Napalm Records, who were 100% supportive of the double album concept, the label opted to split Prevail into two parts because they felt it was too much material all at once that would go over people's heads. Twenty-one songs in all (including a cover), Prevail I and II share outstanding and diverse material due to the fact the songs were all written at the same time. Not only that, they wrote and recorded together in the studio with producer Jacob Hansen. According to Kobra, the band went to Denmark almost completely empty-handed and had very little material prepared. She calls it an 'amazing experience' in that all the writing happened in one place, where the band members could bounce ideas off each other and encourage one other. They also benefitted from Hansen's considerable knowledge and experience.
'I'd say about 85% of Prevail happened in the studio on the spot,' says Kobra. 'Once we saw how much more colour was added to the songs by working that way we started to feel comfortable with the process. There were some unique things that happened because we were all there together. There was a whole new, whole different vision for this album. I didn't know how this was going to turn out; a lot of it came from my intuition. Jasio is my writing partner and he's a creative force. We lock in with one another when we write, it's amazing. I'm really proud and overjoyed with how the album turned out.'
Prevail marks Kobra And The Lotus' debut as members of the Napalm Records roster, but for Kobra the collaboration is a first on many levels for the band.
'It's one of those amazing things that happens and I feel so blessed that Napalm were still interested in us. Every time we were getting ready to release something they were always there looking at us. We always went somewhere else and it was never a good choice (laughs). Okay, it was a good choice in how we needed to grow, but Napalm is the best label we could have hoped for because they're dedicated and they work really hard. There's a lot of young energy at the label and that's a blessing compared to other deals we've had. I don't think we ever knew what it meant to be supported by a label until we signed with Napalm.'
In the months prior to the release of Prevail, fans were treated to three singles: 'Trigger Pulse', 'Gotham' and 'You Don't Know'. It comes as no surprise they are reminiscent of some of the material on High Priestess thanks to Kobra and Jasio's partnership, but they also attest to Kobra And The Lotus' massive growth as songwriters and musicians since the last record. On paper it sounds like lip service to say the band has become heavier, more dynamic and adventurous, but your ears don't lie.
Bottom line... Kobra And The Lotus are fearless as they move forward with Prevail, and with good reason.
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Negative Self is a project that borders thrash metal as well as hardcore punk but always with a strong sense of melody.
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LINE UP
Phil Campbell - guitar, vocal
Paul Sayer - guitar
Nick Fyffe - bass
Matt White - guitar
Simon Lea - drums -
Imagine if Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and Alice Cooper had a grandmother that fronted a rock band...enter Granny 4 Barrel! A Neo-Victorian steampunk shock rock nightmare - she is the Matriarch of Metal! The rocker “Freak Flag” is the first single/video of many to come (released via Mighty Loud Records and produced by Jeff Tomei), a song about being true to yourself. And the band’s singer (who goes by the name Granny) is a true original - “She represents freedom of expression, no limits on a person, and I channel her rage and insanity. In society, there are these stereotypes based on age, sex, race etc. Granny just shatters the mold! Her mantra is unleash your true self...make your own rules, anything is possible.” Be prepared to be shocked and rocked, by Granny 4 Barrel.
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HELLEBORE
Chez (chez Chez, er.satz, the Hip Priests, Fat Digester)
Bod (Fonda 500, Grey Hairs)
Dan (The Kull)3-piece melodic noise combo from Nottingham, UK.
'Athemic Desert Rock'
'Post-Grunge'
'Soft-Core'
'Razor-edged melodies'
'A local super-group'
'Like the Breeders...but more EPIC'We like what we do.. isn't that everything?
https://helleboretheband.bandcamp.com/
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Line up
Jamie Kay-Vocals
Jarrod Curley-Guitars
Lynton Cessford-Guitars
Louis Rando-Drums
Ainsley Watkins-BassDEPRAVITY is a Death Metal band from Perth, Australia.
The various members that make up Depravity have a 20 year history of performing, touring and recording in various bands worldwide. (See below)
The commitment and experience of the members involved gives Depravity an authenticity that is overtly recognizable to diehard ears.
No gimmicks, no romanticized biography, just indomitable Death Metal, thoughtfully crafted and performed from the heart.A three track EP 'Reign of the Depraved' was released in July 2016, this release, coupled with the bands high level live performance, have been met with praise by all who've beheld it.
A full length album is planned for 2017.
The first EP 'Reign of the Depraved' is available direct via www.depravityaustralia.bandcamp.comEnormous hails for the support thus far and spread the fucking word!
Members previously (and currently) performed with Impiety, Malignant Monster, The Furor, Entrails Eradicated, The Ritual Aura, Gallows for Grace, The Alchemont, Necromancer, Nervecell, Iniquitous Monolith, Psychonaut, Inanimacy, Malice Unity, Scourge, Pathogen, Laserbrain, Pagan, Millitant Mass, Mhorgl, Bloodlust, Shrapnel.
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Line up
Anders Strokirk - Vocals
Alexander Friberg - Bass
Sebastian Ramstedt - Guitar
Johan Bergebäck - Guitar
Joakim Sterner - Drums
REAWAKENING… The Necrogram has awakened! Dormant for nearly four years, the sigil—crafted by Swedish death metal legends Necrophobic long ago in a crucible of fire and ice—will spread hate, plague, and disease once more. A five-pointed star carven inverse, bordered by an upside-down pentagon, ensorcelled with a circle is the Necrogram, and its mark is all powerful and immutable. That Necrophobic titled their eighth studio album, Mark of the Necrogram, is significant in two ways: on one left hand, it represents the rejuvenation of Necrophobic; and on the other left hand, the hellish brand reappears after 16 years as a centerpiece to the Kristian Wåhlin cover art. Mark of the Necrogram isn’t just another Necrophobic studio album. It’s impending doom, the war to end all wars, the final fight against the light of this world. Mark of the Necrogram is a new beginning for Necrophobic. On all embattled fronts. After a tumultuous 2013, the Swedes called upon the hot winds of Hell to remake the band anew. Their backwards prayers were answered with the homecoming of The Nocturnal Silence vocalist Anders Strokirk in 2014. The Great Beast awarded Necrophobic more black hope two years later by calling upon former guitarists Sebastian Ramstedt and Johan Bergebäck to join ranks with founding member/drummer Joakim Sterner and bassist Alex Friberg. The spiral of death that was broken after Death to All was now complete. While it required several years for Necrophobic to regain their strength, the lineup on Mark of the Necrogram is the fittest and most combat-ready the Swedes have had since Darkside split the heavens in 1997. “It feels like the band is the band again,” say Necrophobic in thunderous unison. “Full dedication in everything we do. 100% metal people. The live sound and live shows (performances) are back where it should be and it will not stagnate. It will develop. We have always been influenced by bands that did more than just stood on stage and looked at their instruments and played every single note perfectly. We are more into giving something more than the music when we play live. We are not a 100% black metal band. We also have death metal roots, from the years we grew up, when death metal was new, but as you can see, we have nothing in common with many of the death metal bands. While death metal bands seem to dress down for their shows, we feel that attitudes and outfits shall go together, just like our heroes of the 80’s wore studs and leather in the very first wave of black metal. It also fits our music, which is called blackened death metal, because it’s a mix with black metal.” …UNHOLY PROPHECIES Written over many black moons in 2017, Mark of the Necrogram finds Necrophobic lancing the wounds of Womb of Lilithu for a darker, more incisive sound. Sterner likens it a restoration of the Death to All sound with more grotesque twists and monstrous turns. In fact, the long-standing pounder pontificates that it’s Necrophobic’s most dynamic and varied offering to date. Songs like ‘Odium Caecum,’ ‘From the Great Above to the Great Below,’ ‘Requiem for a Dying Sun,’ and ‘Pesta’—a song that introduced the Stockholmites to their new label, Century Media—demonstrate Necrophobic not lost their touch. Rather, the Swedes have widened their spheres of influence. “As always, I am the filter who ensures that the songs will sound like Necrophobic,” affirms Joakim Sterner. “Sebastian is the main songwriter. His ideas come to life as full-blown entities. He seldom puts a bunch of riffs together. He does not ‘sit down to write.’ The whole spirit of the song and sometimes even the lyrics come to life at once. Then, he has to transform [his creations] into the formula of a Necrophobic song. In the old days, death metal bands used to pile on riffs, one after the other. Making great but not logical music. We do the opposite. The recipe of verse—bridge—verse—pre-chorus—chorus—bridge—solo—pre-chorus—double chorus is very effective. The songs are, most of the time, finished in full when the rest of the band hears them for the first time.” To give Necrophobic’s first metal since pope Benedict XVI resigned and Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman passed a bit of occult weight, Sterner and squad excavated deep into the destruction of life (at the very ends of it), re-imagined invocations from Sumerian stone tablets, and explored Nordic mythology. They were also inspired—think the Soviet RDS-220—by their recent invasion of Russia. But the biggest challenge was inserting the lyrical timeline into Death to All’s three segments, chiefly between The Summoning and Triumph of the Horned. To say Necrophobic traveled intensely on their maleficent crusade to rebirth is an understatement. “The lyrical theme on Mark of the Necrogram continues where the album Death to All ended,” the band reveals. “The lyrics for the song ‘Mark of the Necrogram’ can be set on a timeline between ‘Revelation 666’ and ‘Triumph of the Horned‘. We created dark poems that match the ferocity of the songs. But we are not fans of explaining every word or line either. That’s up to the listener.” INTO ARMAGEDDON… Necrophobic recorded the Mark of the Necrogram at Chrome Studios with co-producer and former guitarist Fredrik Folkare (Firespawn, Unleashed) between the months of October and November. While the Swedes had abused Chrome Studios in the past to mix and master Death to All, Womb of Lilithu, and Hrimthursum, they decided to hunker down in Folkare’s Stockholm-based studio to do all the work on Mark of the Necrogram. The result is an album that hums the music of conquest and stomps the hooves of famine. Ramstedt and Bergebäck’s riffs are refined and predatory, as aggressive (‘Sacrosanct’) as they are sorrowful (‘Tsar Bomba’). The rhythm section of Sterner and Friberg is also unmatched in its Luciferian faculty. Songs like ‘Pesta,’ ‘Lamashtu,’ and the title track are proof that age isn’t a barrier but rather a rayless blessing. As for Strokirk, his 24 years away from Necrophobic—the prodigal son actually guested on Bloodhymns track ‘Blood Anthem’—haven’t diminished his deathly roars, haunting bawls, and wicked rasps. “We’ve been doing music that feels honest and true to ourselves,” say Necrophobic. “No matter what’s trendy at the moment. No matter how the winds blow. Our music has stayed the same, more or less, but at the same time we have managed to develop our music. Develop within our region. All bands want to sell more and more albums, so do we, but that is not our goal. If it happens, it happens, but again, we write the music we want to listen to ourselves.” Indeed, Mark of the Necrogram is Necrophobic. And Necrophobic is Mark of the Necrogram. Make no mistake, the Necrogram sees all, warns all. Join Necrophobic now or die by their spiteful swords. -
https://instagram.com/themeanjeans
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Combining elements of prog, shoegaze, metal and atmospheric soundscapes, COLDBONES present a fresh and engaging take on post rock. Intelligent arrangements and atmospheric layers are plentiful and there are many curve-balls to shock and surprise, which are masterfully weaved into eight concise tracks.
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https://instagram.com/fouryearstrong
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Bearings was formed in 2014 by a group of college friends in a music industry program. They wanted to put what they'd learned to use while finding a creative outlet for the many stories they had to tell. Now, with their first two releases 'Higher Ground' and 'Home Is...' under their belt, the group are ready to come out swinging.
Bearings' sound shows clear ties to the titans of punk rock but is aware of its place in time. Listeners can draw clear similarities to classic pop punk acts like Blink 182 and Descendents, but Bearings bring that iconic sound into 2017, but with a modern indie melody and rock dynamic that is all their own.
The follow-up to their first two EPs was the recent release of their single 'North Hansen' and accompanying music video. Both were met with praise from fans and press alike, including a feature in Alternative Press' roundup of the 10 best new songs of the week. With an EP on the way and upcoming tours, Bearings are hitting the ground running in 2017 and show no signs of stopping.
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Up River have written angst ridden hardcore punk since forming in 2011. Over the years their music has only grown more despondent, desperate and dragged down with emotional weight. They offer the soundtrack to their own emotional upheaval and frustrations.
Up River are somewhat of an enigmatic entity. With a string of demos, 7”s and digital releases under their belt on labels such as Italy’s awesome Anchors Aweigh, Up River have thus far cultivated a rabid underground fanbase simply with short stabs of melodic post-hardcore, whilst always threatening and teasing something more.Holy Roar Records has never been a label to rest on predictable laurels and we are forever proud that this is reflected in the bands that we continue to support. How is statement relevant to ‘If There Is A God..’, the new EP by Up River? Quite simply because, bucking a wide-reach trend amongst post-hardcore bands to continually soften their sound, Up River have gone Much. Fucking. Heavier.
…and thank fuck for that, because it sounds awesome. Whilst, initially, opener ‘Shallow’ lulls you into a false sense of security, before you know it the maelstrom has opened up and you aren’t allowed to come for air until this record ends, five tracks later.
‘Deaf Waltz’ pummels with its 100mph, old-school straight-up hardcore. ‘Ghost Particle’ has an assured, almost cocky swagger to its seething aggression. ‘Charnel House’ is so unhinged that it wouldn’t be wise to listen to it on public transport for fear of what you may enact upon your fellow passengers. Get the picture? Forget any preconceptions you may have regarding Up River. The sun has set on everything this band has done to date. Usher in a new darkness.
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