A quick rundown of recent news items from up and down the rock/metal spectrum…
Venom Inc.
Black metal originators Venom Inc. will unleash their full-length opus, Avé, out August 11, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. Today, you can watch the fourth instalment of the band’s one-on-one video interview series describing behind-the-scenes details on Avé. This video discusses the album’s recording process.
Damnation Festival
English death metal supergroup Vallenfyre, Finnish gothic rockers Grave Pleasures and Belgian grind purveyors Leng Tch’e will this year’s outrageous Damnation Festival bill.
The trio have been added to the soon-to-be-sold out line-up which already boasts the likes of Bloodbath, Paradise Lost, Sodom and Dying Fetus at Leeds University Union on Saturday, November 4.
Vallenfyre said:
We look forward to playing our home county at Damnation in November. That said, we will be destroying it. The path of destruction will feature many familiar faces I’m sure!
Grave Pleasures added:
We’re looking forward to spilling the Motherblood of our new album all over Damnation Festival this year. Raise the banners, paint the placards and pull on your gas mask as we bring the sound of the dancing apocalypse to Yorkshire’s damned children.
And Leng Tche said:
We’re honoured and super excited to have been invited to Damnation Festival and share the stage with our buddies in Dying Fetus, Nails, Psycroptic, Agoraphobic Nosebleed and so many more. The UK has always been very good to us so it is with extreme pleasure that we will present our new material from the album ‘Razorgrind’ to our fans across the Channel.
Tickets are on sale now, priced £40 plus booking fee, from: www.damnationfestival.co.uk/tickets and www.leedstickets.com
Alice Cooper
On 8 September 2017, Eagle Rock Entertainment release Welcome To My Nightmare Special Edition from Alice Cooper [EREDV1283]. This great value special edition DVD from Alice Cooper features, on DVD for the first time, the 1975 TV special Alice Cooper: The Nightmare as well as the 1976 concert film Welcome To My Nightmare. Welcome To My Nightmare is the classic Alice Cooper live show from the seventies and includes: “School’s Out”, “Only Women Bleed”, “Billion Dollar Babies”, “Welcome To My Nightmare”, “No More Mr Nice Guy”, “I’m Eighteen”, “Department Of Youth” and more!
Alice Cooper: The Nightmare is the rarely seen 1975 TV special that aired on ABC in the USA, in conjunction with the release of the legendary Welcome To My Nightmare album. The TV special stars Alice Cooper as Steven and Vincent Price as The Spirit of the Nightmare, and showcases every song from the Welcome To My Nightmare album, including “Only Women Bleed”, “Department of Youth”, “Cold Ethyl” and the title track.
Welcome To My Nightmare features a slew of Alice Cooper’s hits and classic songs. The nightmare vividly comes to life on the rock stage, bringing forth a plethora of skeletons, giant spiders, a cyclops, the “magic” movie screen and the voice of horrormeister Vincent Price, all designed to thrill you and keep you uneasy in your sleep.
Contrive
Renowned for their attention to detail when laying down new musical compositions, twin brothers Paul and Andrew Haug are set to return with the brand new Contrive album, Slow Dissolve on September 1st. However, this record hasn’t been without tragedy, with the sudden ing of their beloved father, Paul and Andrew were at a loss with their purpose. Retreating from the world, Contrive was the furthest thought in their minds.
Eventually emerging from the fog, their purpose became clear. To finish writing their new album and take it to the world. It was the best way to honour their best friend, their father.
Andrew Haug comments:
We were halfway through the writing / recording process of this album back in 2015 when tragedy struck. Paul & I didn’t even think we’d continue doing this, it was a very trying time for us both!
But as most families do, we stuck together & dug deep using Dad’s encouraging words over the years of finding your ion and taking it to its very limits. We believe that emotion & ion has been captured on this record, no doubt!
Re-energised, re-invigorated, re-born; Contrive has been honed into a razor sharp two-piece metal machine.
The twin brothers are two parts of the one whole, finishing each other’s musical thoughts like no one else can. The result is a potent collection of intuitive, progressive, heavy metal; modern production and a liberal dose of electronic effects meet some old school metal crunch via surging riffs and punishing drums. Lyrically, the album is a loose concept about the varying options we all now have to communicate with each other but also creating a catch 22 that the digital age is also turning many people away from real connection or creating a fear anxiety of it.
Listen to the first single from the album, “Connect-Dead”, below.
Destructor
Destructor released Decibel Casualties back in June, but they’re following it up with a limited edition on vinyl – both as a simple disc and as a boxed set.
The standalone vinyl is limited to 300 pieces (on black vinyl) and features a bonus track and insert. The vinyl box set includes the record, obviously, this time on yellow vinyl, as well as a CD copy of the album, a signed photocard and a t-shirt. Only 100 box sets are available.
Both can be bought right now from the Pure Steel online shop.
