NORTH SEA ECHOES
"REALLY GOOD TERRIBLE THINGS"
Progressive Metal/ Rock
Year:23.02.2024
(METAL BLADE RECORDS)

Ray Alder and Jim Matheos' musical legacy is vast and lauded, both as collaborators and individuals. Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for the past 35 years. With them, he has recorded 10 albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Further rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo albums, and the band A-Z with Mark Zonder, which debuted in 2022.Prolific and pioneering guitarist/producer Matheos is a co-founder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984's Night on Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to 13 albums with Fates, Matheos' myriad other work includes several solo albums, four albums alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore, under the name OSI, and ...

JOB FOR A COWBOY
"MOON HEALER"
Death Metal
Year:23.02.2024
(METAL BLADE RECORDS)

Moon Healer is a vivid illustration of what happens when creativity, aggression, and volatility tangle for the first time in years. Like the band’s critically adored, 2014-released Sun Eater full-length, Moon Healer is musically multifaceted, unabashedly brutal, and compellingly conceptual. Featuring a newly refreshed and reinspired lineup of frontman and co-founder Jonny Davy, guitarists Tony Sannicandro and Al Glassman, bassist Nick Schendzielos, and drummer (since 2020) Navene Koperweis, the band seamlessly picks up the mantle where Sun Eater left off.Compared to past offerings, Moon Healer is as bone-crushing as JOB FOR A COWBOY has ever been. But it’s more consistent and conceptual, composed with the utmost enthusiasm and confidence.Moon Healer is also the first JOB FOR A ...

SLAYER
"SHOW NO MERCY 40TH ANNIVERS. EDIT."
Thrash Metal
Year:16.02.2024
(METAL BLADE RECORDS)

 - Slipcase with gold hot-foil embossing, Gold Blackdust colored Vinyl, - 12” LP booklet, Slipmat, Poster, Flyers, Signing card, - LP - Mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Patrick W. Engel.Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Show No Mercy is the debut studio album by American thrash metal masters, Slayer. The album was initially released on December 3, 1983, by Metal Blade Records, who, in honor of Show No Mercy’s 40th anniversary, will be unleashing a unique piece of vinyl for fans: A limited edition Show No Mercy (40th Anniversary Edition) vinyl set that includes a Gold Black Dust LP mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY, a slipmat, poster, show flyers, signing card, and an LP b...

LORD OF THE LOST
"WEAPONS OF MASS SEDUCTTION"
Dark/ Industrial Metal
Year:29.12.2023
(NAPALM RECORDS)

"A year after the release of their successful #1 charting album, Blood & Glitter (Official German Album Charts), LORD OF THE LOST are back with a covers album, Weapons Of Mass Seduction, set to be released on December 29, 2023 via Napalm Records. The exciting new offering features plenty of genre-crossing tracks and wraps up the busiest year in the band’s history so far. In addition to storming the charts with their latest studio album, huge highlights include representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in May, providing direct tour support for Iron Maiden (again!), winning over mainstream media internationally, several sold out headline shows and a summer full of big festival appearances.Kicking off with an electrifying cover of Billy Idol’s “Sho...

INFECTED RAIN
"TIME"
Female Heavy Metal/ Metalcore
Year:09.02.2024
(NAPALM RECORDS)

On February 9, 2024, the band will climb even higher with their multifaceted sixth album, TIME. Described by the multinational band as “an homage to every fleeting second, every heartbeat, and every breath that has led us to this moment,” TIME was once again produced, mixed and mastered by Valentin Voluta, and combines the deft talents of returning members Vidick (guitars, cover artist), Eugene Voluta (drums) and famed frontwoman Lena Scissorhands (vocals), plus introduces new member Alice Lane (bass) to the fold.INFECTED RAIN exercises their trademarks with TIME, tastefully accenting the introspective musical journey with effectively-placed progressive, electronic and even nu-metal features amid ethereal passages. First track “BECAUSE I LET YOU” bursts in with unde...

MORBID SAINT
"SWALLOWED BY HELL"
Thrash/ Death Metal
Year:09.02.2024
(High Roller Records)

It's quite a sensation that another MORBID SAINT album is being released these days, more than 30 years after their second LP "Destruction System" was recorded but not finished until its official release recently. However, the prospect of writing new music in their unique death/thrash metal style was one of the main reasons why the core members reunited in 2010 in the first place. During their first active phase from 1984 to '94, the band was far from realizing their potential, especially with regard to their groundbreaking first record "Spectrum of Death" (1990). The new work was the result of a long-distance creative exchange, with all members bouncing ideas off each other to fire off a barrage of ten extreme metal tracks the likes of which are rarely heard today - a...

OMEN
"ESCAPE TO NOWHERE 35TH ANNIVERS. EDIT."
True Heavy Metal
Year:26.01.2024
(METAL BLADE RECORDS)

Escape to Nowhere" by Omen was released in 1988 under the Metal Blade Records banner and was the band's fourth studio album.The album features Omen's signature heavy metal sound, blending elements of hard rock into a distinctive musical experience. Widely recognized for its musicianship, "Escape to Nowhere" received positive reviews and solidified Omen's presence in the thriving metal scene of the 1980s. "Escape to Nowhere" remains a central landmark in Omen's discography and contributes to the band's lasting influence on the landscape of 1980s heavy metal.To mark the album's 35th anniversary, it is being re-released in a variety of formats, including CD with 2 bonus tracks and limited edition colored vinyl, so that fans can continue to enjoy Omen's contr...

MONKEY3
"WELCOME TO THE MACHINE"
Instrumental Psych Rock
Year:23.02.2024
(NAPALM RECORDS)

Instrumental psych rock frontrunners MONKEY3 herald 2024 with a true album highlight of the new year. Following Live at Freak Valley (2017) and their latest album, Sphere (2019), February 23, 2024 will see the Lausanne-based four-piece return with their cosmic new studio offering, entitled Welcome To The Machine, via Napalm Records.Welcome To The Machine’s musical themes are inspired by movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Sunshine, Solaris and 1984, while unveiling an intense mankind vs. machines story that instantly launches the listener into deep space. Right from its first tones, the album immediately emerges as a perfect soundtrack to a journey into the unknown. Tracks such as the official album single ""Rackman"" perfectly showcase how MONKEY3, who forme...

LUCIFER
"V"
Doom Heavy Metal
Year:26.01.2024
(NUCLEAR BLAST)

Sweden based heavy rockers LUCIFER return with their magnificent fifth album "Lucifer V" which blends influences from Blue Öyster Cult and Black Sabbath with the melodic and enticing voice of singer Johanna Sadonis. After hundreds of shows, including select dates with Ghost in '23, here comes one of 2024's finest pieces of hard rock!

CD/ LP:

1. Fallen Angel
2. At The Mortuary
3. Riding Reaper
4. Slow Dance In A Crypt

5. A Coffin Has No Silver Lining
6. Maculate Heart
7. The Dead Don't Speak
8. Strange Sister
9. Nothing Left To Lose But My Life

SAXON
"HELL, FIRE AND DAMNATION"
Heavy Metal
Year:19.01.2024
(SILVER LINING)

SAXON UNLEASH HELL, FIRE AND DAMNATION Saxon proudly release their latest album Hell, Fire And Damnation on January 19th 2024, and when internationally-renowned actor Brian Blessed OBE delivers a proclamation for opening track, “The Prophecy”, expectations are automatically high. Have no fear and make no mistake, Saxon meet and exceed them on their 24th studio release, creating a superlative British Heavy Metal classic which strides the perfect line between confident, current power, and gloriously irreverent flexing of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal muscle which Saxon co-created. There is supreme confidence in every performance. Biff Byford delivers his richest vocals in years, Nigel Glockler and Nibbs Carter on drums and bass respectively lay down the rhythmic law with th...

ROBBY KRIEGER
"ROBBY KRIEGER AND THE SOUL SAVAGES"
Blues/ Jazz
Year:19.01.2024
(MASCOT LABEL GROUP)

    Robby Krieger is the legendary guitarist and songwriter of The Doors and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.    Since the 1970s, Robby has emerged a successful jazz-fusion guitarist with a well-received catalog of solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated record, Singularity and this first with his new band Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages!Robby Krieger knows that when you assemble the right bunch of musicians, and trust in the creative process, magic happens. As a founding member of The Doors, the guitarist intuitively understands the beauty of free-flowing collaboration and telepathic group interplay. This is evident on Robby’s self-titled debut release from his new band, Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages, out January 19th through The Players Club/ Ma...

METALITE
"EXPEDITION ONE"
Female Heavy Metal
Year:19.01.2024
(AFM RECORDS)

The Swedish melodic power metal act Metalite is back with their fourth album ‘Expedition One’ which is the theme of a fictitious story about life on our planet in the year 2055. The ‘transparent citizen’ has become a bitter reality, with physical and mental health conditions increasingly determining our lives. Headed by five ‘commanders’, a renegade team consisting of former intelligence service and military personnel plus breakaway tech company executives is planning a survival expedition to distant planets. Their mission: to transport mankind from our ruined planet to a new world, in the hope that new life will develop. 'Expedition One' will be released on Jan. 19, 2024 as an elegantly colored Ltd. double vinyl, as CD-digipak as well as digit...

THE RODS
"RATTLE THE CAGE"
Heavy Metal
Year:19.01.2024
(MASSACRE RECORDS)

Heavy, dark, deep, insightful, and maybe even a bit more "inciteful" than ever before: "Rattle The Cage" is THE RODS at their incendiary best!Lyrically, they've taken a cue from David "Rock" Feinstein's cousin, Ronnie James Dio, with songs like "Now And Forever", "Cry Out Loud", "Play It Loud" as well as the title track, providing the listener with a similar sense of hope and resiliency in the face of an ever-changing world. Musically, the band is tighter than ever!Founding members David "Rock" Feinstein (vocals, guitars) and Carl Canedy (drums) are joined by new bassist Freddy Villano (Quiet Riot, Widowmaker), and the results are simply sublime. The songs are rhythmically tighter, yet more musically unbound, the grooves heavier, and the melodies more dynamic.Mixed and mastered b...

SCANNER
"THE COSMIC RACE"
Thrash/ Speed Metal
Year:12.01.2024
(SOULFOOD MUSIC)

The time has come for a new Scanner album after almost a decade. As the previous dictography almost imperatively demands, "The Cosmic Race" has become a concept album: survival on Earth has become increasingly difficult, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and military conflicts have reached their peak, large parts of the continents are nuclear-contaminated. Life is concentrated in a few large cities, and the confinement and heat in them has become unbearable. The Scanner (a mix of human and android) fetches some of the humans to take them to a habitable planet called Terrion in another galaxy. The long journey ends successfully. But even in the new world, humans have to defend themselves against aliens and invaders from other planets and start all over again. They want...

CIRITH UNGOL
"DARK PARADE"
Heavy Metal
Year:20.10.2023
(METAL BLADE RECORDS)

- “Cirith Ungol stand for heavy metal with soul and depth, its class is unique, and they are considered as pioneers of the scene and inspiration for armies of bands.” – BRAVEWORDS- “The vocals of Tim Baker are right up there with Dickinson and Halford..." - PURE GRAIN AUDIOFew bands in the history of the heavy metal underground have a story as remarkable, improbable, or uplifting as that of CIRITH UNGOL. Formed in Ventura, California in the early 1970s, CIRITH UNGOL created a sound the world had never experienced before. Rather than passively channelling their influences, the band was driven to forge an altogether heavier, darker, more apocalyptic sound. It was obscure and arcane, mysterious and eccentric, epic and expansive, but most of all, unfailingly, bone-crush...