SÓLSTAFIR new track from the upcoming album and European tour

SOM331D-preview-eshop

With every new release Solstafir fans don’t really know what to expect: in their fifth full-length is a banjo sound that gets immediately impregnated in your brain. “Ótta” will be release via Season of Mist on the 29th of August and is available for pre-order via the label’s online shop.

 

The new album will be promoted in an upcoming European tour this autumn:

10 Nov 14 Antwerp (BE) Trix
11 Nov 14 Rotterdam (NL) Baroeg
12 Nov 14 Nijmegen (NL) Doornroosje
13 Nov 14 Bielefeld (DE) Forum
14 Nov 14 Berlin (DE) K17
15 Nov 14 Wangels (DE) Weißenhäuser Strand (Metal Hammer Paradise)
17 Nov 14 Warszawa (PL) Hydrozagadka
18 Nov 14 Wien (AT) Viper Room
19 Nov 14 Budapest (HU) Dürer Kert
21 Nov 14 Graz (AT) Explosiv
22 Nov 14 Innsbruck (AT) Weekender Club
SÓLSTAFIR have furthermore confirmed additional festival shows:
09 Jul 14 Neskaupsstaður (IS) Eistnaflug (Special pre-festival show)
10 Jul 14 Neskaupsstaður (IS) Eistnaflug
07 Aug 14 Schlotheim (DE) Party.San Open Air
09 Aug 14 Leeuwarden (NL) Into the Grave
SÓLSTAFIR have furthermore confirmed additional festival shows:

07 Aug 14 Schlotheim (DE) Party.San Open Air
08 Aug 14 Gävle (SE) Getaway Rock Festival
09 Aug 14 Leeuwarden (NL) Into the Grave
20 Sep 14 Helsinki (FI) UNIONI FESTIVAALI

Biography

solstafir

SÓLSTAFIR have come a long way. Their musical journey started in sounds as pitch black as the volcanic ashes of their Icelandic home in the year 1994 and continuously meandered into something ‘different’. The band’s latest releases “Masterpiece of Bitterness” (2005) and “Köld” (2009) already gained high acclaim from critics and fans alike for their unique mixture of dark Metal, psychedelic phases and eerily rocking groove. Now the quartets burgeoning creativity has been bubbling up like a hot geyser unleashing their breathtaking double album “Svartir Sandar”, which takes the metamorphosis of these individualists close to perfection.

This masterpiece comes with a red hot passion like glowing magma and emotionality as stormy as the wild Northern Atlantic. Aðalbjörn Tryggvason’s gritty vocals grind the soul like an Icelandic gravel field and still carry the dark melancholy of a Nordic winter night. One moment the strings soar like raging flames, the next they spiral with hypnotic force to the capturing pounding of drum and bass. Although there is a tendency of the first part “Andvari” to tend towards the psychedelic, while the second half “Gola” reveals a more rocking outlook, both belong together and never fail to amaze, astonish and surprise. What began with SÓLSTAFIR’s promising 1996 EP “Til Valhallar” and their album debut “I Blodi Og Anda” (2002) now explodes into a mind blowing climax. Ride this volcano with Iceland’s gnarled and twisted cowboys of Rock and Metal!

Enjoy one of the band’s most famous tracks!

EXODUS – more details on the new line-up with the return of frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza

Photo: Wacken 2008

After announcing in a press release earlier this month a new line-up for Exodus with not many comments the band’s guitarist Gary Holt left room for many interpretations and Internet rumors:

  • EXODUS – the originators of the thrash metal genre – return to their roots. As announced yesterday via Loudwire, EXODUS proudly welcomes the return of frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza in the wake of former vocalist Rob Dukes’ amicable departure. Souza originally fronted EXODUS from 1986-1993, and again from 2002-2004, donning the mic on classic records like Pleasures of the Flesh, Fabulous Disaster, Impact is Imminent, Good Friendly Violent Fun, and Force of Habit. Souza also appeared on 2004’s Tempo of the Damned.

    In a statement, guitarist Gary Holt says, “As a band, we all had to make a very difficult choice to part ways with Rob Dukes. We have nothing but love and admiration for him and the deepest gratitude for the hard work he has put in and the great work on some killer records. But at this time, Tom, Lee, Jack and myself thought a change was necessary and the unanimous choice going forward was to welcome back Steve Souza to the fold!”

    Returning vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza adds, “I spent a great part of my life with EXODUS, that blood flows through me, even not being in the band for the past 10 years, you can’t erase that chemistry. I’m very excited!”Exodus Webpage

 

Exodus_Wacken_2008

Photo: Wacken 2008

Rob Dukes, Exodus’ vocalist since 2005 gives and exclusive interview  to the Australian – Blood Sweat and Metal and sheds a bit more light on how the change in the band came about.

According to Blabbermouth Holt declared that the sudden change in line-up 

  • “isn’t for the money [and] Chuck did not orchestrate this”. “There were issues behind the scenes and we came to a conclusion.” The guitarist, however, refused to go into the details of EXODUS’ decision to part ways with Dukes, explaining: “All will remain internal, I see no need to air the laundry for anyone.”Blabbermouth

Read more on  Blabbermouth.

Wardruna wins the Best Underground Band

Wardruna

Wardruna – Blastfest 2014

Wardruna wins the Best Underground Band, sponsored by World Of Tanks

Kvitrafn and Gaahl’s dark folk side-project has picked up the Best Underground Band award at the Orange Amplification Presents The Metal Hammer Golden Gods In Association With World Of Tanks.

Also nominated were Scorpion Child, Deafheaven, Alcest and Beastmilk.

Source Metal Hammer 

Check out the gallery from Wardruna’s gig at Blastfest 2014

 

 


 

Accept at W:O:A 2014 – „Restless and Wild / Best of“ Show

Accept Getaway 2012

 

 

After 10 years of absence the band from Germany returns to the Holy Wacken Ground. 

Founded in 1971 Accept are pioneers in terms of metal music and have gained cult status by now. 

The band will be playing their special Restless and Wild / Best Of set. Restless and Wild was their fourth studio album which has had a great impact on the world of metal not only because Fast as a Shark is considered to be the very first speed metal song at all. We are thrilled to see them play their epic show. This will definitely be a night to remember!

 

Source: Wacken Open Air

Behemoth detained and forced out of Russia

Behemoth_Getaway_2012

The frontman of the acclaimed Polish metal band Behemoth posted the following message on the band’s Facebook page:

  • We’ve been stopped by the immigration services for ‘wrong visas’. When I said that we will not move an inch from the club without someone from the polish embassy, they threatened to force us out. They took us in a bus, accompanied by 10 officers, to the building of Federal Migration Service. We tried to reach polish embassy in Jekaterinburg but no one is answering the phone. If possible – please copy this message and pass it everywhere you can. We may expect a multihour hearing. The concert is off for sure. The only thing we want is to get back to the hotel safely and then – to Poland. No matter how hard we try – we cannot pass it all. Regards.Nergal

Soon after, not only all the metal media but also some of the international media (e.g. the Guardian) reacted swiftly and made the story public in an attempt to raise awareness on how the Russian authorities considered to treat this so called “group of occult-loving metalheads from Poland” (source:the Moscow Times). In the past years it has been made clear that certain religious, sexual orientations and free minded opinions are not welcomed in Russian. As a result bands and in general performers have been targeted in an attempt to censure all  “unaccepted” behaviour.

After their incarceration motivated by them having “bad visas” Behemoth were fined and forced to leave the country immediately. They could only perform four out of their thirteen gigs.