RIVERSIDE – Important Line-Up Announcement; European Tour starting this Month!

Polish progressive Rock masters RIVERSIDE are happy to share line-up news with all of you:

Riverside are a quartet again!

Dear friends, this is an incredibly important moment in the history of our band.
 From the beginning of February 2020, Riverside are officially not a trio any more, we are a quartet! It is with incredible joy that we would like to announce that the fourth official member of the band is…

Well, you can’t have expected anyone else? 🙂 

He’s been with us for over three years. He let us recover from the tragic loss we have all experienced, he helped us survive and become, from year to year, a better and better live band. He has been our friend and our brother. We are welcoming him in our midst with great joy, in which we hope you will also share! 

Ladies and gentlemen, on the guitars in Riverside: Maciej Meller!

Being a good guitarist and loving music is one thing, but being able to fit in with your personality, incredible modesty and humility, that’s an incredibly important thing in our band. Maciej meets all the criteria and we are truly happy that he wants to continue our journey with us.

***

We still remember. And we still go back to the moment when, after we lost Piotr, in 2016, the massive amount of your support made us continue as Riverside. We were not ready to invite anyone to our family at that time. “Wasteland” had to be recorded as a trio. We simply had to cope with the loss on our own.

Now, it’s high time for Riverside to have a guitarist in the line-up again, not only during live shows but also in the studio, when working on new material. So we are really pleased to let you know that after coming back from the final, spring edition of the Wasteland Tour 2020, together with Maciek, in the new line-up, we will start working on the eighth album. 

The upcoming spring concerts will have a different character, a different tone, and Riverside will sound mightier than ever before. We would really like to see you there!

Last but not least – Piotr Grudziński will always be in our hearts, we all still love him and we will never forget him. But we have to move on. We are on a journey, they are waiting for us. There is more to create in this life, more to see, more to know, more to save. We hope that you will decide to stay with us again and that you will let us help one another through all of this. 

We are here with you and for you.

Riverside

***

RIVERSIDE’s next touring run starts later this month and includes dates across Europe as well as an appearance at the Cruise To The Edge and shows in Latin America as follows:

RIVERSIDE – Wasteland Tour 2020
26.02. Madrid (Spain) – MON Live
27.02. Barcelona (Spain) – Salamandra 1
29.02. Milano (Italy) – Legend Club
01.03. Treviso (Italy) – New Age Club
03.03. Lubljana (Slovenia) – Kino Šiška
05.03. Zagreb (Croatia) – Tvornica Kulture
06.03. Novi Sad (Serbia) – Pozorište Mladih
07.03. Thessaloniki (Greece) – Principal Club Theater
08.03. Athens (Greece) – Gagarin 205 Live Music Space
10.03. Istanbul (Turkey) – Zorlu PAC
11.03. Sofia (Bulgaria) – Music Jam Club
12.03. Bucharest (Romania) – Quantic Club
13.03. Cluj-Napoca (Romania) – /FORM SPACE
15.03. Budapest (Hungary) – Barba Negra
27.03.-01.04. Miami (USA) to Belize & Honduras – Cruise To The Edge 2020

02.04. Mexico City (Mexico) – Auditorio Blackberry 
04.04. Guadalajara (Mexico) – C3 Stage 
07.04. Santiago (Chile) – Teatro Nescafe
09.04. Sao Paulo (Brazil) – Carioca Club

16.04. Wrocław (Poland) – A2

17.04. Gliwice (Poland) – Arena Gliwice

18.04. Kraków (Poland) – Studio

19.04. Warszawa (Poland) – Progresja / Sold Out!

25.04. Gdańsk (Poland) – Stary Maneż / Sold Out!

26.04. Poznań (Poland) – Sala Ziemi / Sold Out!

Ticket links: 

https://riversideband.pl/en/gigs

RIVERSIDE most recently released a special edition 2CD+DVD version of their current and highly successful studio-album “Wasteland” via InsideOutMusic. The ”Wasteland – Hi-Res Stereo and Surround Mix” 2CD+DVD comes as Digipak format with an additional Slipcase and includes a DVD bonus disc of “Wasteland” as Hi-Res Stereo 24bit version and as Surround Mix (4.1), plus 3 video clips. This edition also contains 5 previously unreleased acoustic tracks/versions on a separate CD. 

Order RIVERSIDE’s ”Wasteland – Hi-Res Stereo and Surround Mix” 2CD+DVD here: 
https://Riverside.lnk.to/WastelandHi-ResStereoAndSurroundMix

The acoustic tracks/versions of the “Acoustic Session” are also available as separate Digital EP here:

https://Riverside.lnk.to/AcousticSessionEP

RIVERSIDE line-up 2020:
(From left to right on photo by Radak Zawadzki)

Piotr Kozieradzki – drums
Mariusz Duda – vocals & bass
Maciej Meller – guitar
Michał Łapaj – keyboards

Pure Reason Revolution launch ‘Silent Genesis’ – First track taken from their forthcoming new album ‘Eupnea’

Pure Reason Revolution recently announced the release of ‘Eupnea’, their first new studio album in nearly 10 years, for the 3rd of April 2020. Today they are excited to reveal the first piece of new music taken from the record, in the form of the epic 10-minute ‘Silent Genesis’, a track which Jon Courtney co-wrote alongside original PRR member Greg Jong.

The band comments: “With some tracks it’s blood sweat & tears to get them nailed, but “Silent Genesis” came together really quickly. While Greg & I worked on the music, Chloe was blasting out vocals in London. We had a lot of fun making this track; mangling synths, riffing & unexpectedly outroing with funk!”

‘Eupnea’ features the work of artist Jill Doherty on its front cover, and will be available as a Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP + CD (with etching on Side D) and as a digital album. Pre-orders are now available for both physical and digital here: https://PureReasonRevolution.lnk.to/Eupnea 

The full track-listing is as follows:

1.     New Obsession 05:09

2.     Silent Genesis 10:20

3.     Maelstrom 05:44

4.    Ghosts & Typhoons 08:45

5.     Beyond Our Bodies 04:28

6.     Eupnea 13:23 

Of the new album the band commented:

“We stuck to our manifesto of no musical boundaries and the result was ‘Eupnea’. We return to a more progressive sound with ferocious guitars, thunderous drums and the stacked harmonies that give us our signature sound. We’re excited to begin playing it live.” 

You can watch an interview clip where Jon Courtney and Chloë Alper discuss the process of getting back together last year, and playing Midsummer Prog, here: https://youtu.be/sLlKj5u_SJ8 

‘Eupnea’, the long-awaited return from the band, sees them harking back to their earliest days, while rolling in all of the musical experiments and experience they’ve gathered in the intervening years.

The cinematic soundscapes of Hammer and Anvil? Check. The dark atmosphere and synths of Amor Vincit Omnia? Check. The gauzy psych-prog of their debut? Ch-check.

It’s sprawling, with three tracks hitting the 10 minute mark and one notching up against 15 minutes. Sure, track length does not equal ambition, but still, it’s quite the statement of intent.

The band currently have two confirmed Summer festival dates, performing at Night Of The Prog Festival in Germany on the 17th of July, and Ramblin Man Fair in the UK on the 18th of July. 

Pure Reason Revolution originally parted ways in November 2011 following touring in support of their 2010 album ‘Hammer and Anvil’. Since then, Jon Courtney started Bullet Height and released their debut album ‘No Atonement’ in 2017, while Chloë Alper began a new band called Tiny Giant as well as playing live with the likes of Charli XCX and James. 

The band originally formed back in 2003, releasing their much-loved debut album ‘The Dark Third’ in 2006 via Sony BMG. They went on to release the albums ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ in 2009 and ‘Hammer and Anvil’ in 2010. 

KATATONIA RELEASE DETAILS OF “CITY BURIALS” & PREMIERE DEBUT TRACK “LACQUER”

THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM, AN OPUS OF ABSORBING, SOARING PROGRESSIVE ROCK & METICULOUSLY CRAFTED DOSES OF MELANCHOLY – RELEASED ON PEACEVILLE ON 24TH APRIL 

“In days and nights of black and silver, the dead end king will come. From pieces of broken mirrors there will be a crown bestowed upon his head. In reflections of shattered glass not only the seasons will turn, but also the change disguised by the lapse of time. His mind will have to come to bear the weight of everything that was left behind and forgotten. Archiving the inaccessible. Celebrating the abandoned and mourning the destroyed. The city burials.” Anders Nyström 

Katatonia, formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders Nyström, and transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/doom movement, to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre. Surprising their legions of admirers by taking an unexpected break, following the conclusion of their 2016 haunting The Fall Of Hearts albumtour cycle. Joyously, 2020 brings the news that they are not only back, but newly armed with arguably their finest album to date, the enormously vivid and powerful City Burials.

With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, City Burials stands as Katatonia’s new triumph of deep & enigmatic progressive rock – the fruits of a rejuvenating and profound chapter in the band’s legacy; a catalyst for its creators, with a collection of moments constructed out of the fragments of an ever-evolving life. Compiled into one of their most important modern works and statements to date, the finely-honed instrumentation provides a multi-textured backdrop with the voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss and ruin. 

The proof of Jonas and Anders’ enduring artistic bond is displayed throughout City Burials absorbing 58 minutes of meticulously crafted melodies and inspired, idiosyncratic arrangements.  From the spine-tingling dynamics of opener “Heart Set To Divide” through and the simmering menace of “Lacquer to the wildly evocative sorrow-scapes of “City Glaciers” and the exquisitely delicate “Vanishers” (featuring a guest vocal from Anni Bernhard, of Stockholm art rockers Full Of Keys) Katatonia’s eleventh studio album is a showcase for a partnership that was magical from the very start.

Inspired by an injection of fresh blood into Katatonia’s creative brew, with their most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson, whose contributions have been extremely significant, City Burials is an album that sees the band reclaim part of their heavy metal roots, via several moments of exuberant, old school classicism, deftly woven into these new songs’ kaleidoscopic fabric. Although songs like “Behind The Blood” and “Rein” are as heart-rending and immersive as any in Katatonia’s illustrious catalogue.

The result is an album that looks certain to push the band ever further into the spotlight. With grand plans for extensive touring around the world in support of their latest and perhaps greatest album, Katatonia are wringing fresh hope from life’s gloom-sodden tapestry.

City Burialswas produced by Nyström/Renkse and recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios & The City Of Glass, throughout October & November 2019, with engineering work handled by Karl Daniel Lidén and mixing and mastering from Jacob Hansen, who states “Once in a while you end up working with artists that are special, and that particular session being something you’ll remember forever. This session is one of them, and only for good things! Proud to say I mixed and mastered the new Katatonia album”.

City Burials also sees the return to the Katatonia fold ofAnders Eriksson (Frank Default) beloved for his keyboard contributions to Night Is The New DayDead End Kings and various remixes.

Artwork appears courtesy of Lasse Hoile, the image itself representing the ongoing era of the Dead End King.

City Burials Tracklisting  

1 Heart Set To Divide [05:29] 

2 Behind The Blood [04:37] 

3 Lacquer [04:42] 

4 Rein [04:21] 

5 The Winter Of Our Passing [03:18] 

6 Vanishers [04:56] 

7 City Glaciers [05:30] 

8 Flicker [04:45]

9 Lachesis [01:54] 

10 Neon Epitaph [04:32] 

11 Untrodden [04:29] 

Bonus Tracks available on various formats 

12 Closing Of The Sky [05:26] 

13 Fighters [03:37]

City Burials will be released on CD, deluxe mediabook CD with bonus tracks, black and coloured vinyl LPs with bonus track and digitally (Digital pre-orders receive “Lacquer” as an instant download) . Pre-orders available HERE  

Look out for news on exclusive European ‘City Burials’ launch show and album bundle coming soon!

KATATONIA LIVE

Katatonia will be appearing at various festivals in 2020 with details of headline tours coming soon.

Jan 31– Turkey Izmir, Arena

Feb 01 – Turkey – Ankara, Milyon Performance Hall 

Feb 02 – Turkey – Istanbul, IF Performance Hall

Feb 28 – Greece – Gagarin 205, Athens (NITND show)

Mar 14 – MEX – Heaven & Hell Festival (https://hellandheavenfest.com/lineup/)

Mar 20-21 – NL – Prognosis Festival, Eindhoven ****

Apr 11- DE – Munich, Backstage – Dark Easter Metal Meeting (http://mrw-concerts.de/dark-easter-metal-meeting/)

May 16 – Austria – Vienna Metal Meeting 2020 (https://www.viennametalmeeting.com/?lang=en)

Jun 10 -11 – Poland – Mystic Festival, Krakow (https://www.mysticfestival.pl/en)

Jun 13 -14 – Romania, Bucharest, Maximum Rock Festival (https://www.facebook.com/Maximum-Rock-Festival-132903160204572/)

July 16-18 – Finland, John Smith Festival, Peurunka, Laukkaa (https://johnsmith.fi/esiintyjat/)

Aug 5-8 – CZ – Brutal Assault Festival, Fortress Josefov (https://brutalassault.cz/en)

Aug -5-8 – DE – Party San (https://www.party-san.de/en/bands-2020)

Aug 7-9 – BE, Alcatraz Festival, Kortrijk (https://www.alcatraz.be/en/index)

Aug 14-16 – US, Las Vegas – Psycho Fest (https://www.vivapsycho.com/)

**** Prognosis Festival – will be a Katatonia by request set – vote for your favourite song to be included here (voting closes 21st February)

Katatonia are:

Jonas Renkse – vocals

Anders Nyström – guitar

Niklas Sandin – bass

Daniel Moilanen – drums

Roger Öjersson – guitar

Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly announce UK co-headline live dates with Cosmograf

Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly are pleased to announce they will come to the UK for 3 select live dates in October 2020. The band will play London & Manchester, co-headlining alongside the Robin Armstrong-led Cosmograf, before continuing on to Summer’s End Festival.

Rikard comments: “When I think on how much I’ve played in England over the years, it’s really strange that Gungfly as a band haven’t been over yet! So to say that we’re ready and willin’ is kind of an understatement! We’ll probably even bring some new tunes for you. Robin Armstrong and I of course know each other from our time in Big Big Train together and we thought this would be a nice mix to do a few dates with – don’t miss it!”

The dates are as follows and are on sale now:

Friday 2nd October – Dingwalls, London

Saturday 3rd October – Academy 3, Manchester

Sunday 4th October – Summer’s End Festival, Chepstow

Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly released their most recent album ‘Friendship’ in 2018, and was last seen supporting The Flower Kings on their December 2019 European tour.

Watch the video for the Prog Award-nominated ‘They Fade’ here:

The album is available as a limited CD Digipak & gatefold 2LP + CD (both including 3 bonus tracks) as well as digital download. Order now here: https://Gungfly.lnk.to/Friendship

Rikard comments: “The idea for ‘Friendship’ came to me because of an old photo of me as a child. I found this old photo at my parents’ house, depicting me standing on top of this really tall treehouse in a glade near our house. Although I of course remembered it as being really high up in the tree tops as a child, this picture proved that it really was! As I reminisced about the treehouse I started thinking about my childhood friends with whom I built it. We were the best of friends and we spent so much time together in this little village where I used to live. This of course made me think about all the friends I used to have, these relationships where you hung out all the time, went through childhood together, grew up and knew everything about each other and then all of a sudden, for some reason, disappeared from each other’s lives. This phenomenon of falling out with someone is still a mystery to me, but I’ve learned to accept it, much like the separation of death it’s just a part of life and the nature of our course of life, I guess. So this is a collection of songs about and for all of my friends, dead or alive, past and present. I chose to base the stories around the treehouse in the glade, not because all of my memories are from there, but rather that it’s the place that made me think back on all of this.”

Rikard comments of the musical direction: “Musically, what can I say? This is prog rock, but I want to be free to move in whatever direction the music wants to go and I happily go exploring where it wants to take me. Even though there are a few softer songs and sections, most of the album turned out to be a rocker; a collection of hard rock songs with lots of tricky parts, some heavier moments and some downright jazzy elements too!”

Rikard Sjöblom is perhaps best known as the multi-instrumentalist frontman of Beardfish, who established themselves as one of the most consistently brilliant modern-day progressive rock bands over the course of eight studio albums. In recent years, he has also become known for his work with English progressive collective Big Big Train, playing live with them as well as performing on their recent studio albums. 

Rise Twain launch video for “Prayers”

Philadelphia- duo Rise Twain released their debut self-titled album last year on InsideOutMusic. The union of Brett William Kull (producer, audio engineer, and member of Echolyn, Grey Eye Glances, and Francis Dunnery’s New Progressives) and J.D. Beck (The Scenic RouteBeck-Fields, author & playwright) bring their collective years of direct and varied experience in writing, performing and recording music together for their impressive first album.

Today, the band have launched their first ever official video for the beautiful ‘Prayers’.

The band comments: “Prayers is an elegy for love to come down from a forbidden height, to call from the night, to remember, wake, and live again. It sings a desperate melody to the lost so that they may find their way home.”

The album is available to order on Limited CD Digipak, 180g Black Vinyl LP + CD & as digital album here: https://risetwain.lnk.to/RiseTwain

Listen to some previously released tracks below:

‘Oh This Life’: https://youtu.be/XUWr1Vyg180

‘Golden’: https://youtu.be/15NnJ32GKfs

‘Everspring’: https://youtu.be/bsZu4GCRnrw

The track-listing is as follows:

1.     Everspring
2.     Golden
3.     The Range
4.     Lit Up
5.     Death of Summer
6.     Oh This Life
7.     Prayers
8.     Falling Skies
9.     Into A Dream
10.  That Is Love

Talking of how the duo came together: “I produced an album for J.D.’s original band, The Scenic Route”, says Kull, describing his first meeting with Beck in 2007. “They were a rocky, progressive kind of band, like a Jeff Buckley kind of thing. I was immediately drawn to his vocals. He’s such a strong singer.” Kull says he and Beck immediately hit it off, what he describes as an “inevitable connection.”

Adds Beck, “I just knew I had to work with Brett on a higher level. When I came in to cut the vocals on the Scenic Route album, the way we worked together…some people you just gel with, and then some people you have a barrier with. Brett and I gelled.” They spoke of one day collaborating on their own project, which finally surfaces as Rise Twain.

Discussing the album’s musical direction, Beck notes, “There’s not a typical structural theme that we use over and over and over. ‘Organic’ is a word that comes to mind. Seeking openness through simplicity and allowing the complexity of music to exist without the necessity of overly packing it or overly processing it. With that we were able to achieve such a broad spectrum of sound, and a colossal sense of its existence, without having to have a billion guitars and a billion things put over top. There’s some colouring with strings and other embellishments, but it really is something very simple and stripped down, and it’s awesome.”

Kull adds, “There’s a lot of complexity in this, but it’s not overt in the least bit. But yet, when you get into it, there’s all this really rich harmonic and dynamic stuff going on.”

RISE TWAIN are:
J.D. Beck: Piano, lead and backing vocals
Brett William Kull: Guitars, bass, keys, percussion, lead and backing vocals

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ – Launch new song “Devils And Angels”

Pre-order for upcoming studio album ‘The God-Shaped Void’ now open!

US Progressive Metal pioneers and innovators PSYCHOTIC WALTZ return with their original line-up for their highly anticipated 5th studio album and first new music in 23 years. Entitled “The God-Shaped Void”, the upcoming new album and InsideOutMusic debut will be released on 14th February, 2020. 

The first new track taken off “The God-Shaped Void” is being shared today. Check out the album’s opening track “Devils And Angels” in a lyric video by Cloud Music Typography:

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ commented about “Devils And Angels” as follows:
“This was the second song we finished writing for the album, right after “The Fallen”.  Brian had some chunky riffs to start with, then we all kind of added our own flavor of spices to it, some of which you can really pick up on headphones. It wound up being a lot more epic than we expected!”

The basic tracks for “The God-Shaped Void” were recorded with engineer Ulrich Wild in the band’s hometown of San Diego, then the rest of the recordings at Studio D in Austria and finally the material was mixed/mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend, Fates Warning) at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden. Artwork (as also presented throughout the lyric-video) was created by longtime visual partner Travis Smith (Katatonia, Riverside, Nevermore).

Here is the tracklisting for “The God-Shaped Void”: 

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ – “The God-Shaped Void”
1. Devils And Angels (06:29)

2. Stranded (04:49)

3. Back To Black (03:52)

4. All The Bad Men (03:59)

5. The Fallen (05:49)

6. While The Spiders Spin (05:49)

7. Pull The String (04:54)

8. Demystified (05:12)

9. Season Of The Swarm (05:57) *** Bonus Track

10. Sisters Of The Dawn (06:41)

11. In The Silence (05:16)

The album’s bonus-track “Season Of The Swarm” will be available on the limited Mediabook CD (which comes with expanded booklet and an exclusive logo patch), on the vinyl edition as well as on the Digital versions. A standard Jewelcase CD edition is available as well.

The vinyl edition of “The God-Shaped Void” comes as 2LP on 180gr. vinyl with gatefold packaging and with the entire album on CD as bonus in the following versions:

–  vinyl, there will also be the following strictly limited coloured editions available: 

– Black 2LP + CD: Unlimited

– Lilac 2LP + CD: 200x copies from IOM Webshop

– Transparent Blue 2LP + CD: 200x copies from Nuclear Blast

– Dark Green 2LP + CD: 300x copies from CM Distro

All formats are available for pre-order starting today here: 

https://psychoticwaltz.lnk.to/TheGodShapedVoid

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ line-up:

(Left to right on featured image by Axel Jusseit)

Dan Rock – guitars & keys

Devon Graves – vocals

Ward Evans – bass

Norman Leggio – drums

Brian McAlpin – guitars

IAMTHEMORNING SINGER-SONGWRITER – MARJANA SEMKINA PREMIERES NEW TRACK & VIDEO FOR “EVERYTHING BURNS”

TAKEN FROM HER DEBUT SOLO ALBUM – SLEEPWALKING  
(KSCOPE – 14TH FEBRUARY 2020)

With Marjana Semkina,Iamthemorning’s lyricist, singer and co-songwriter, set to release her spellbinding debut solo album, Sleepwalking on 14th February 2020 through Kscope, she has premiered the video for the track “Everything Burns”.

“The song ‘Everything Burns’ focuses on the demons that you take with you no matter how far you try to go; the fact is you just can’t run away from them. No matter how hard you try to change everything around you, they will stay with you unless you realise that the most important change, the one that is by far the hardest to achieve – the one that happens inside of you” Semkina explains the meaning behind the song. 

She continues by reflecting on how the clip, produced together with the long term collaborator of iamthemorning Eggor Kree, refences this side of the struggle “these toxic situations that we find ourselves trapped in seemingly, with no escape, you just have to find strength within yourself to put an end to it, even if this means you have to destroy something familiar & precious that you’ve been building for a while . Stepping into the unknown can be scary, but sometimes it’s (metaphorically) necessary to burn everything to the ground and start anew and work very hard to not fall into the same old patterns in this new life of yours.”

Sleepwalkingis available to PRE-ORDER HEREon CD / LP and digitally (with “Everything Burns” available as an instant download on digital pre-orders). Note to fans – Sleepwalking will be released under an alternative spelling – Mariana Semkina.

Sleepwalking will be available on CD / LP and digitally and is available to PRE-ORDER HERE

Sleepwalking tracklisting 

1. Dark Matter [03:12] 

2. Am I Sleeping Or Am I Dead [04:27] 

3. Turn Back Time [04:06] 

4. Ars Longa Vita Brevis [03:03] 

5. Invisible [03:07] 

6. Lost At Sea [04:59] 

7. Skin [04:52] 

8. How To Be Alone [02:50] 

9. Everything Burns [03:14] 

10. Mermaid Song [04:32] 

11. Still Life [04:08] 

Marjana Semkina is currently performing as Iamthemorning in support to The Flower Kings, in promotion of the band’s recent album The Bell.
10/12 – Columbia Theater, Berlin, Germany11/12 – Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark12/12 – Brewhouse, Gothenburg, Sweden14/12 –  Kraken, Stockholm, Sweden