Wolfheart stay out in the cold, Moanhand sheds his skin, Myronath say words I can’t pronounce, 7days offer a new kind of redemption, Chris Wenner has itchy feet — and that will do it for another Monday Roundup. If only the rest of the week could be so tolerable.
13 | Wolfheart | Aeon Of Cold
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Exactly one entire year after the release of their latest full-length Wolves of Karelia, Finnish melodic death metal mainstays Wolfheart have a video for the chilling acoustic version of Aeon Of Cold, featuring the airy vocals of bassist Lauri Silvonen. The original version of Aeon Of Cold can be heard on the band’s 2015 album Shadow World. Frontman Tuomas Saukkonen says: “It was really inspiring to dismantle a song full of blast beats, double bass drum, growling vocals and heavy guitars into a two acoustic guitar arrangement, leaving only the core of the song left and letting our bass player Lauri take the spotlight with clean vocals. Despite the contrast with the arrangements, the coldness and the somber mood of the original version is still there. We wanted to underline that with the video, so we shot the footage in the middle of the forest in -17 Celsius temperature.”
14 | Moanhand | Serpent Soul (A Tale Of Angels’ Slaughter)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hailing from Moscow, musician/songwriter Roman Filatov is the one-man intermediary of rising metal behemoth Moanhand. Created in 2016 as a vehicle for Filatov to flex his musical muscle and classically tempered mind, he has since gone on to produce an imposing catalogue in recent years. Always under the radar and autonomous-in-action, his talents have culminated most recently in the release of Plague Sessions EP in 2019. 2021 will see the arrival of his biggest project yet. “I’ve always tried to avoid putting myself into boxes when making music,” explains Filatov. “Present Serpent is definitely a hybrid of genres. It’s not just a doom, sludge or stoner album. There are a lot of different influences from black/death metal, post-metal, classical and even pop music. It’s as melodic as it is brutal.”
15 | Myronath | Evigt Mörker
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sweden black metallers Myronath just released their second single Evigt Mörker, taken off their upcoming album Djevelkraft. The album will be released on June 4.”
16 | 7days | Redeemer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish melodic metal project 7days just released a video for Redeemer, the first single from their upcoming remixed and remastered debut The Weight of the World. It was originally released in 2006, and the second album Into Forever in 2010. Remixed and remastered versions of both albums will be released on May 28. 7days was founded by guitar player Markus Sigfridsson and also features Thomas Vikström on vocals, Andreas Passmark on bass and Daniel Flores on drums.”
17 | Chris Wenner | Back On The Road
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Back on the road to anywhere! With warm acoustic sounds, Chris Wenner traces the paths of life that all lead purposefully in one direction: To anywhere! These are the musical short stories that characterize the narrative element of this singer-songwriter. Authentically, he packages his life experience for the listener: dissecting life situations, pouring difficult, profound insights about existence into light sounding form. Even the genesis of the song leads along such winding paths: When Wenner had just finished writing it, Anne Haigis — the veteran of the German singer-songwriter scene — was so moved by it that she immediately recorded it and released it on the album 15 Companions, with Chris playing the acoustic guitar. Wenner now presents this composition in his personal interpretation, delivering it in a gentle, warm acoustic way, with a moving message.”
18 | Ereb Altor | The Twilight Ship
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ereb Altor always promises one thing with each release: Epic, folk-blended metal inspired by the Norse legends. Eldens Boning keeps any fan satisfied with a true and sincere Pagan theme in its lyrics and art. Each song delivers in full and features some of the best work from the band yet. Opening track The Twilight Ship builds the atmosphere before exploding into a classic Ereb Altor, a True Heavy Pagan Metal song focused on epicness. Sharp heavy metal riffs, Nordic melodies, catchy choruses and pounding drums, an enrichement to the bands future live set.”
19 | Okey Dokey | Where Have All The Average People Gone
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With Okey Dokey’s latest album Once Upon One Time having been released in October, the Nashville trio are back with a refreshing EP entitled Leaky Sealing: A collection of B-sides, covers and new interpretations of songs from the album. This week the band share their breezy, stripped-down cover of Roger Miller’s Where Have All The Average People Gone. We wanted to go for a sort of Sung Tongs sloppy live feel,” explains Jeremy Clark. “So I just set up a couple of my favorite mics and turned all the instruments on. We basically just walked around finding sounds and tracked the first thing that came to mind and put it to tape. Usually the first take.”
20 | James Parm | Doing Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “James Parm is a Montreal indie/alternative artist specializing in elaborate soundscapes and introspective, contemplative lyrics. His music mixes the familiar with something entirely not, blending a wide range of styles into something new yet relatable. James’ new album The Art of Waiting explores our relationship to time, the past, the future, our regrets and aspirations, and our resistance to what is, all while supplying a musical exploration that takes you from the close and intimate to the far and obscure parts of himself. The album’s focus track Doing Time is pensive and melancholic with airy layered harmonies and added strings and saxophone.”
21 | The Mono LPs | Think About It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Mono LPs announce their forthcoming second album Shuffle/Play. Set for release on April 23, it’s a record that finds the Liverpool band getting playful with our listening habits. In anticipation of the new album, the band also present its incendiary opening track Think About It, a jet-propelled piece of indie electronica that salutes the synth-skewered pop of the 1980s. “Think About It is our love letter to the ’80s,” they say. “It came about through watching Stranger Things and loving that Juno 6 synth sound. We loved the arpeggiator on the TV theme and started experimenting with bringing synths into our sound with this song. It was the first song we really got into on the album and started experimenting with.”
22 | Shima | Don’t Wanna Die Young
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Don’t Wanna Die Young is a the luminous and animated all-female pop creation from Japanese-American singer, songwriter, and producer Shima. Residing in Tokyo, Shima and her co-writer Calica studied music together in college, and were inspired to write this song based on similar toxic relationships they had. For Calica, it was a boyfriend and for Shima, it was a roommate. The song is a commentary on the “life fast die young” mentality that plagues the music industry, and how easily you can get sucked into it via fun and wild yet careless and toxic people. Despite the heavy subject, the track is upbeat and hopeful, as leaving people can be seen as a new beginning rather than an end.”
23 | Smashed Gladys | Bump In The Night
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Born from the embers of the vibrant Toronto punk scene, Smashed Gladys formed in 1984 and then headed to New York City. Headed by vocalist Sally Cato, they became part of the legendary glam / hair metal scene. Cato sadly passed away in 2020 and the band want to honour her by bringing you demos for their third album, newly remixed and remastered. First up is Bump In The Night, a classic 12-bar boogie rock ‘n’ roll song and a twist on horror movie tropes.”
24 | Dres_ | Darling
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “We are a five-piece indie-rock/pop band from Houston. We write and perform our own original music in the Houston and occasionally Austin areas. We are super stoked to share the music we will be releasing over the coming year, beginning with our first new single for 2021 Darling.”
25 | AshenMoon | Ashen Moon
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ashen Moon is the first new music from AshenMoon since last year’s EP Umbra 1. Ashen Moon describes the moment the band witnessed a full moon reflected off the San Fernando Valley bushfires as they ravaged Los Angeles. AshenMoon have produced an absolute stormer of a rock track, blending ’70s sensibilities with a modern polish. When they first began writing their debut album, INXS bassist Garry Beers, singer Toby Rand and guitarist Jimmy Khoury unravelled their personal songwriting and began collaborating a passion project in Beers’ garage studio.”
