Orden Ogan unleashed a music video for the title track of their upcoming album ‘The Order Of Fear’, set for release in July via Reigning Phoenix Music, and launched the pre-orders!
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News Posts
All For Metal announced their sophomore album ‘Gods Of Metal’ to be released in August via Reigning Phoenix Music, officially opened the pre-orders and shared a music video for the title track!
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Brazilian progressive power metal legends Angra are celebrating kicking off their European “Cycles Of Pain” tour by releasing a new music video for the track ‘Here In The Now’!
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Female-fronted power metallers Fatal Fire unleashed a fiery new video for the single ‘Kingslayer’, a track from their upcoming debut album ‘Arson’ set for release on March 28th on MDD Records!
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Power metal legends Rhapsody of Fire announced their upcoming new album ‘Challenge the Wind’ to be released in May via AFM Records and shared the new single and title track with a fiery video!
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Power metal titans Firewind celebrate the release of their record ‘Stand United’ via AFM Records with a new video for the title track!
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German heavy metallers Stormhunter unleashed their ‘Vagabond’ single, a track from their upcoming much-anticipated album ‘Best Before: Death’, set for release on March 21st via MDD Records!
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Mighty German heavy metal/power metal unit Hammer King are striking again with their new single ‘The Devil Will I Do’, a track from their upcoming new album ‘König und Kaiser’, set for release via Napalm Records on March 22nd!
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German dark power metal act Orden Ogan unveiled the music video for sensitising new single ‘My Worst Enemy’, a track from their upcoming album ‘The Order Of Fear’, set for release this summer via Reigning Phoenix Music!
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Swedish power metal outfit Bloodbound announced their anniversary live album & Blue-ray ‘The Tales of Nosferatu – Two Decades of Blood (2004 – 2024)’, to be released via AFM Records in April and shared a live video for the track ‘The Warlock’s Trail’!
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Photo Reports
We caught Amaranthe and Dragonforce on their co-headline European tour at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Belgium, with special guest Infected Rain for a night of high energy metal music!
At the beginning of March, Amaranthe, Dragonforce and Infected Rain brought quite the spectacle to thousands of fans gathered in Helsinki’s Black Box Jäähalli venue!
On Friday 15.03.2024 Sonata Arctica started off their “Clear Cold Beyond” tour at Pakkahuone in Tampere together with Temple Balls as support. The show was organized by Grey Beard and TuskaLive.
The Nordic weeks in Rock over Germany have been going on. Just a week after a fabulous BEAST IN BLACK tour stop in Stuttgart, another headliner from Finland’s power-metal top-notch acts conquered another concert venue in town with a show deluxe: BATTLE BEAST on their ‘Circus Of Doom Over Europe Tour 2024’. Support was given by INDUCTION and SAINT DEAMON.
Whenever Finnish bands travel around in other parts of the world, we tend to try catch them live at least once. The “Glory and the Beast” tour brought together three of the most exciting bands in the European power metal scene: Brothers Of Metal, Gloryhammer and our Finnish friends of Beast in Black. The tour enthralled fans throughout Germany with a spectacular blend of epic melodies and high-energy performances. See and feel the power of this night of their stop-over in Stuttgart, Germany!
At the end of January, Battle Beast and Merta came through Tampere’s Pakkahuone for a powerful sold out show presented by Tuhdimmat Tahdit and Master Events.
A selection of 30 photos that Helder likes a lot from one of his most productive year considering covering concerts, including captures of Fear Factory, Atreyu, Jinjer, Rolo Tomassi, Stone, The Kooks, Pixies, Wunderhorse, Yours Truly, You Me at Six, Lake Malice, Bloodywood, Epica, Avatar, The 69 Eyes, Nova Twins, Cam Cole, Sabaton, The Lumineers, Grailknights, All For Metal, The Baboon Show, Combichrist, Megaherz, The BossHoss, Cancer Bats, Kvelertak, Fixation, Ignea, and Butcher Babies.
Our Benelux and France head of accreditation and most active photographer in that region, Tom VM, made his own selection of favorite pictures he took in 2023, including some new stuff that wasn’t shared on our site before with Biohazard, Bleed From Within, Brutal Sphincter, Brutus, Electric Callboy, Michael Schenker Group, Sepultura, Arion, Blackrain, Overdrivers, Avatar, Winery Dogs, Charlotte Wessels, Devin Townsend, Dream Theater, Extreme, Ghost, Michael Angelo Batio, Arch Enemy, Doodseskader, Halestorm, I Prevail, Powerwolf and SKYND!
The year wrapping up means that we’ll be looking back at the amazing things we’ve experienced, and “album of the year” lists. We’d also like to give some attention to our talented concert photographers who go out and cover shows for us. So here is a first in a series of articles where our artists pick their favorite pictures of 2023 with Anna/ScarletMemory Photography who mostly roams around in Tampere, Finland and pictures from bands like Pain, Sólstafir, Eleine, Myrath, Battle Beast, Brymir, Sabaton, Mors Subita, Lordi, Metalite, Shereign, Diablo, Before The Dawn, Wolfheart, Sonata Arctica, Deathstars, Brother Firetribe, Psychework, Apocalyptica, Voidfallen, Poets of the Fall, Amorphis, Lost Society, and Everwave!
The second night of John Smith Rock Frozen 2023 was pretty epic with some of the best of the Finnish scene with Red Eleven, Kiuas, Finntroll, Turmion Kätilöt and headliners Amorphis! Throw on top of that the Swedish up-and-comers of Orbit Culture, and you know it was good!
Gig Reports
With 3 bands being shining lights for (the future of) metal, and all 3 of them having a brand-new album in their pocket, Amaranthe, Dragonforce and Infected Rain turned Black Box Helsinki into a true celebration of heavy music about a month ago!
One of our reporters got to fulfill her dream to see a show at the legendary Palladium on Time Square while she was in New York City and caught great shows from Dragonforce, Amaranthe, Nanowar of Steel and Edge of Paradise ripping it up, turning the night into a celebration of heavy metal!
After a long wait we finally got a regular Sonata Arctica gig again in Finland as they kicked off their “Arctic Storm Finland tour 2023”. At the end of September, they hit the stage in Tampere’s Pakkahuone, together with Reckless Love and Luna Kills. A great night organised by TuskaLive and Grey Beard Concerts and Management.
Sabaton’s “The Tour To End All Tours” is hitting Europe right now, bringing their biggest show yet to fans all over the continent with support from BABYMETAL and Lordi! And we simply could not miss out on that. Not only did we had a chance to interview Tommy Johansson but also to witness this show in Amsterdam before it’s hitting the Antwerp Sportpaleis this Saturday.
Kamelot struck down in Helsinki to give us a proper “awakening” on their European tour, and brought with them some excellent support through Myrath, Eleine and League of Distortion! A night of absolutely excellent music that left a positive feeling with anyone who attended the show at Vanha Ylioppilastalo at the end of March!
This night was one big party! All the bands came to deliver their part of the party and the crowd was in for a good time too. If you missed this night, Alestorm, Gloryhammer and Wind Rose are coming to Alcatraz festival in Kortrijk this summer. Rumahoy sadly won’t be seen there.
Battle Beast proved with their Jäähalli show in Helsinki that they are one of Finland’s up-and-coming heavy metal greats and can put down one hell of a show, with the support from Ensiferum and Kiuas. A production by Master Events.
Nightwish finally get to embark on their ‘Human. :||: Nature.’ World Tour and we were there for the Helsinki show!
Finally, the power metal masters of Beast In Black found a moment and stage to play their new ‘Dark Connection’ music live!
A glorious return to Tavastia for the first time in 2021 for us! Couldn’t be better kick-off with the epic metallers of Arion and popular alt-rockers of Cyan Kicks!
Album Reviews
As to be expected of a new Dragonforce album, ‘Warp Speed Warriors’ is fun and fast! The typical elements they are known for are present, but at the same time they infused it with a bunch of new things, making this album really exciting! Out via Napalm Records!
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With ‘Clear Cold Beyond’ Sonata Arctica are re-visiting their faster and heavier roots and will delight older fans, while possibly surprising some of their more new fans. Out via Atomic Fire Records (Reigning Phoenix Music) since last Friday!
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‘A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)’ proves that even after 25 years of existence, Evergrey still has the ability to impress.
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Get ready to go on a magical journey with Power Paladin’s debut album!
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Crusade of Bards create this mix of power metal, symphonic metal, folk touches, and even gothic and pagan touches. It’s all there, and it all blends in beautifully together.
Finnish heavy metal band Battle Beast just released their new album »Circus of Doom«, on which they perfected their usual sound while still adding a lot of new flavours into the mix. Definitely recommended.
The excellent 9th album from Swedish power metal band Bloodbound quickly became one of my favorite ones of 2021!
The fourth album from Belgium’s combat metal unit FireForce is a really tasty slab of heavy metal!
With their second album ‘When Good Men Go To War’ Vexillum takes us on an epic and heroic adventure. Are you ready to set sails and join them?
Adamantis brings us a power metal release that doesn’t surprise but heralds the great bands of the genre!
Interviews
A chat with Alicia Vigil, bassist for Dragonforce, about the massive European tour they’re on right now and the new album ‘Warp Speed Warriors’, which is being released tomorrow via Napalm Records!
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We sat down with Esa from Metal De Facto to talk about how things have been going for the band since their first album, their new album ‘Land of the Rising Sun part 1’ (out since today via Rockshots Records), why they went for the Japanese culture as the theme and their hopes and plans for the future of the band!
They’re playing a release show tonight in Tampere and tomorrow in Helsinki, be there and contribute in making power metal great again!
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A chat with Tuomas Seppälä from Amberian Dawn about their ABBA cover album ‘Take A Chance’ and their process to get to selecting the to be covered songs and establishing a sound that is Amberian Dawn while staying as close as possible to the originals.
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Watch the chat we had with Anton Kabanen about the upcoming new album ‘Dark Connection’ and his cyberpunk inspirations!
HammerFall: the past, the new record and the future.
We caught up with the Viking from Warkings to talk about battles, ancient stories and being send by the gods on a mission!
We caught up with the Viking from Warkings to talk about battles, ancient stories and being send by the gods on a mission!
In the last part, we grilled Pär about the Sabaton live shows, History Channel and a couple of other things…
In the last part, we grilled Pär about the Sabaton live shows, History Channel and a couple of other things…
We had the honor to interview Pär Sundström from Sabaton about the upcoming release The Great War.
