Domači progresivni death metalci Morost sporočajo, da so podpisali z založbo TeufelsZeug Records. Spodaj lahko v celoti preberete uradno sporočilo banda:

»It is with great honor and joy that I inform you that Morost has signed a contract with the German metal label TeufelsZeug Records.

We first met at Kaltenbach Open Air 2022, where a windy storm got us all in a bit of trouble. Seeing T-shirts flying around the merch stand, we helped each other out and a few hours later we were already talking over beer. Some meetings and calls later, we can finally announce the signing of a contract.«

Nemški melodični death metalci Kambrium so se razšli s kitaristom Maximilianom Wernerjem. Zasedba je trenutno v fazi snemanja novega albuma. Spodaj lahko preberete izjavo banda v celoti:

»Dear Kambrium fans, today we would like to contact you with an important announcement. Maxi and Kambrium will now go their separate ways. It was a difficult decision for all of us, but we strongly believe that this is the right step for us to continue to grow and explore new musical paths.

Maxi was a constant part of Kambrium. His talent, commitment, and energy have shaped our music and shows in a significant way and accompanied us on many memorable journeys. We are grateful for the years we spent together and will carry the memories we made together forever in our hearts.

Although Maxi will no longer be part of the band, we want to emphasize that our friendship remains and remains strong. We've been through so much together and been through so many highs and lows together that we're sure our connection goes beyond music. We will continue to stay in touch, support each other and look for new adventures in our respective musical projects. Maybe you'll even see Maxi at our merch stand.

For Kambrium, this change is also a chance to reinvent ourselves. We are already working on the next album and are looking forward to enthralling you with our music in the near future. We are very grateful for your support and hope you’ll join us on this new chapter of our journey.

At this point we would like to thank Maxi again from the bottom of our hearts. You'll always be a part of the Kambrium family and we wish you all the best on your journey ahead.«

Zaradi slabega zdravstvenega stanja dveh članov banda je julijski nastop Suffocation v Zagrebu odpovedan. V nadaljevanju lahko preberete celotno objavo za javnost:

»It is with deep regret that we have to announce the cancellation of our Summer June/July 2023 tour scheduled within Europe/UK. As you may know we previously toured Europe last month and during this tour a few members of the band suffered extreme physical strain resulting in injuries preventing us from returning back to the area less than a month from our previous tour.

Although it's never our intention to cancel any tour the health of our bandmates is key for continuing forward into the rest of the year and it's required that these members rest accordingly and recover from their injuries sustained during this tour. The physical strain that touring takes on the bodies of musicians manifests itself in many ways that are out of our control.

We have a lot in the works for the remainder of the year including writing and completing our new album and we look forward to returning to one of our favorite territories and fans in the EU/UK bringing you Suffocation at full strength, blazing and cranking alongside you all.

As you all know, Suffocation puts their all into our live show and we want to make sure fans get our all moving forward. Health and safety is our number one priority to ensure that we can bring it for you guys for the remainder of 2023 and beyond.«

Vračilo kart je možno od danes dalje v trgovini Dirty Old Shop.

Ameriški sludge/doom/stoner veterani Bongzilla bodo 2. junija pri Heavy Psych Sounds izdali svoj šesti studijski celovečerec. Tega trenutno napovedujejo z že drugim singlom King Of Weed, sicer pa bo na ploščku vsega skupaj sedem komadov:

Dab City         
King of Weed
Cannonbongs (The Ballad of Burnt Reynolds as Lamented by Gentleman Dixie Dave Collins)
C.A.R.T.S
Hippie Stick
Diamonds and Flower
American Pot

Pred časom smo že poročali, da so melodični death metalci The Agonist iz Kanade odpovedali nastop na letošnji ediciji festivala MetalDays. Sedaj pa je iz tabora zasedbe tudi odjeknila vest, da je uradno prenehala z delovanjem. Več si lahko preberete v spodnji izjavi:

Dear friends, it's time to make a very difficult but necessary announcement.
We have decided that The Agonist as a band, has come to an end. Much deliberation and care has been put into making this decision, and unfortunately, given the circumstances, this is the conclusion that makes the most sense for the band and us as individuals.
There are many factors that led to this decision. It is a mix of personal, financial and industry related issues, but in the end the 5 of us are no longer able to agree on a way forward that would benefit The Agonist business as a whole, while respecting each member's personal lives and wishes.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the fans for coming out to the shows, buying our merch, and supporting us over the years. Nothing is more satisfying than connecting with our fellow human beings via the gift of music. It is the number one factor that has always driven us- to make you, the listener, feel something. In the end, we know that we've accomplished this together.
Some members of the band will continue to work on music in various ways, others will focus on personal projects and family. We kindly ask you to respect their privacy on this particular matter and encourage you to follow them on their individual social media accounts to support their future endeavors.
Vicky Psarakis will be carrying on with her band, Sicksense. They have a new EP coming out this summer and she will be playing 2 live shows with them in Montreal, in June.
You can also directly support her by following her on Patreon and Twitch.
Simon McKay is currently looking to join a new band full-time, while offering session work for studio and live gigs. Also, keep an eye out for new music coming soon from his solo project.
Chris Kells will be focusing on his career as a videographer. Since 2015, he has directed all of The Agonist's music videos, as well as many other established bands.
Danny Marino is currently writing music for 2 new projects.
Pascal "Paco" Jobin will be releasing new music with his project Leading the betrayed.
Our US-based merch store with Sound Escape Agency will remain open. We have also put together an EU-based store for our European fans. Inventory is final and there will be no restocks. Proceeds will go directly to the band to help us pay off our remaining debt.
Once again, we thank you and we love you.
»We will survive. At the end of the tunnel there's always a light.« - The Agonist

Francoski black metalci Hyrgal so izdali EP z naslovom Session fun​é​raire anno MMXXIII.

Koncert Toxik in Eruption, ki bi se moral zgoditi 17. maja v Menzi pri Koritu, je odpovedan. Sledi organizatorjeva celotna objava za javnost:

»Žal, koncert odpade. Kupnino vstopnic dobite nazaj pri prodajnem mestu.

'To all the amazing Toxik fans,

It is with sincere regret that we to have to announce the postponement of this May’s “Dis Morta Over Europe” Tour. Our Captain and founder, Josh Christian, is unable to perform due to a setback in his recovery from hand surgery in January. We are hopeful that his recovery continues to progress so we can get back out on the road and bring only the best Toxik show for our fans. All ticket purchases will be refunded at point of sale. We are absolutely devastated, and appreciate all of your support. See you all soon!'«

Znanih je pet novih bandov, ki bodo nastopili na hrvaškem festivalu Pannonian Rock Festival 2023. To so:

Armada (Mehika)
Prey For Nothing (Izrael)
Meteora (Madžarska)
Hand Of Hate (Grčija)
Unredeemer (Finska)

Tridnevni festival se bo po lanski odpovedi letos prvič odvijal v kraju Rajevo Selo, in sicer od 11. do 13. avgusta. Vstopnice so na voljo že od lani, zanje boste do konca meseca odšteli 74 EUR.

Po tem, ko so pred kratkim turnejo odpovedali White Ward, je ista usoda doletela blackened death metalce 1914 iz Ukrajine. Upamo, da se stvari umirijo in nas bo zasedba lahko obiskala letos poleti na festivalu Črna Loka. Sledi bandova izjava za medije:

»Many of you could have been noticing a recent wave of European tours cancellations by UA bands. Unfortunately, 1914 is not an exception here. With heavy hearts we must inform you that we cannot play for our fans this April and have to cancel our upcoming tour.

Just to make it clear, it is still a 'wartime' on the territory of our land, and this specific time makes it impossible to leave the borders by the men of a conscript age. How could we travel last year? It was possible to get a special permission from the state authorities for the artists to leave the country and do shows and other activities in order to aid the country and spead the truth about unprovoked and brutal war started by russia. There were some irresponsible people who used such permissions to leave the country and never come back, and after it became public and went through a media - the state authorities stopped granting the special permissions for the artists by artificially overcomplicating the process of getting all the necessary documents, by enlarging the list of the documents and making it impossible for bands to obtain what is needed. This affected a lot of different bands in UA.

Last couple of weeks for us were in a constant fight with that new stupid system trying to show that we had a positive experience of returning back home after foreign tours, trying to display the value of such tours for our country benefit, but no matter how hard we tried - we couldn't break that system and it made impossible for us to go and play this time. We want to apologize to our fans, other bands, promoters, but currently we are powerless here. We will work hard to be able to get to our other shows this year, maybe the ice will melt and we will see some easement in the future, but currently we just did everything we could.

Міністерство культури та інформаційної політики України - Thank you for nothing!«

Blaze Bayley, nekdanji vokalist zasedbe Iron Maiden, je prejšnjo soboto doživel srčni infarkt in bil zaradi tega hospitaliziran. Njegovo stanje je že stabilno, žal pa je zaradi tega moral odpovedati turnejo. Več lahko preberete v uradni izjavi:

»We sincerely regret to announce that Blaze had a heart attack at home yesterday evening & is now in hospital in a stable condition, awaiting news of further surgery/treatment. He is in good spirits in the circumstances but utterly disappointed to have to postpone our imminent shows due in March & April. Ticket refunds will be available at source but we truly hope you will keep your tickets & make it to the new dates which we will be announcing as soon as they are scheduled.

Regarding shows already booked for June-November this year, we understandably have to wait a short while to see how quick Blaze’s recovery will be, so please stay tuned & meanwhile most importantly we're sure you will join us in wishing him a complete & speedy recovery.

Blaze misses you, cannot wait to regain full health & see you all again.

Every Storm Ends… ‘your heart will heal’

Thank you so much everyone for your understanding & support.

Mark Appleton & Christopher Appleton (management / bookings)«

Koncert zasedb Loudness, Grey Attack in Thola, ki bi se moral zgoditi 15. aprila v ljubljanskem Orto Baru, je odpovedan. Dejansko je odpovedana celotna evropska turneja. Tukaj pojasnilo banda:

»We are very sorry that we must announce, the European Tour of Loudness is cancelled. We discussed multiple options back and forth in order to find a solution.

However, we can’t perform the tour under the circumstances given.

We are very sorry for everyone, who looked forward to these shows and hope to be back as soon as possible.«

Organizator koncerta pa še dodaja: »Kupnina vstopnic bo povrnjena na mestu nakupa.«

Ukrajinska post/black metal zasedba White Ward je bila zaradi situacije v Ukrajini žal primorana odpovedati vse načrtovane nastope in turneje. Spodaj lahko preberete izjavo banda:

»Dear friends,

With a heavy heart, we need to inform you that our April tour is canceled. Last 2 weeks we fought for the fate of the tour. We tried all the possible ways, but the system proved to be stronger.

So, let's make it clear about what happened and about the reasons for the cancellation.

Right now “wartime” restrictions are applied in Ukraine, and they include limitations for men in ages 18-60 to cross the border, because it is a range when men are available for military service. So, there is a need to get special permission from state authorities to travel out of Ukraine. During the year 2022 the Ministry Of Culture helped Ukrainian musicians and different artists and assisted in acquiring such permits (for a limited time) and that is why we, and many other bands, were able to play in Europe last year.

But a working algorithm that allows to control the “way back” was not created and responsibilities related to the violations of the permission terms - were nowhere written. And that is why some impudent people just used this opportunity to run out of Ukraine and decided not to come back. Very few cases are known, but after the last one, which raised a lot of noise and dissatisfaction in the media, the Ministry Of Culture decided to implement immediate changes and new rules, even for artists who have already sent a request for permit weeks before an accident - we have sent such request on February, 20th. That is the reason why many Ukrainian bands like Schizogen, Bezlad, The Hypnotunez, Kazka, and many more have already canceled or almost canceled their tours. Some bands were affected when they were already at the border and shows should take place the next day, but due to new rules, they were not allowed to leave Ukraine!

The new rules suppose some additional documents to a request. In our case, every member of the band has his own difficulties in acquiring that, even with an immediate start - there is no guarantee that the process will be successful and accomplished in time. Also, that is anyway not a guarantee that the request will be approved - our colleagues` request was refused even with all the requested documents. So, we just can't get this permission and it is over.

We have tried everything, and the media noise was our last hope. But it hasn’t worked, unfortunately. Months of work, preparations, money - all this is now in vain.
We sincerely apologize to our fans, promoters, and everyone who helped us with this tour. We hope that one day we will make this tour real, and you will wait for us. We will still try to figure something out before Hellfest and August festivals, but no new tour announcements till the end of the war will be made.

But, the one and only responsible for this is russia. They broke everything by invading our country, killing our children, bombing our cities, destroying our culture, and applying all fascist methods to destroy us and we will never forget what they DID and are still DOING!«

Finski melodični death metalci Insomnium so pri Century Media Records izdali svoj deveti studijski album, ki nosi naslov Anno 1696. Hkrati predstavljajo nov video, in sicer za komad Godforsaken, kjer je kot gostja na vokalih nastopila znana finska pevka Johanna Kurkela.

Španski doom/postmetalci Ikarie so razkrili skladbo Santa Sangre kot prvi single s prihajajočega albuma Arde, ki bo 17. marca izšel pri založbi Avantgarde Music. Bandov drugi dolgometražec prinaša naslednje komade:

Sacrificio
Santa sangre
La sed
40 días
Surcos (Ciutat morta)
Kanno Sugako
Tomie
Arde
Titane II
Flores en el asfalto

Finski melodični power metalci Excalion so posneli videospot za pesem Soulbound, ki je del njihovega prihajajočega šestega albuma Once Upon a Time. Plošček izide 24. marca pri Scarlet Records. Tracklista:

Keitele
Resolution
Soulbound
Words Cannot Heal
Amuse Me
Once Upon a Time
I Am I
When a Moment Turns into a Lifetime
Radiant Halo
Eternals
Band of Brothers