Finnish art rock group Naryan releases a cover of a Mike Oldfield classic “Nuclear” on Friday, December 8th. The track will be included in Naryan’s upcoming fourth album, due to be released in 2024.
“We wanted to craft a version of this great song with a fresh vision while maintaining the spirit of the original. The fact that the track celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2024 is just the cherry on top“,states vocalist Tommi Niemi.
“The song is also frighteningly topical in the current political climate“, adds guitarist Raino Ketola.
Naryan’s own production is melancholic rock with touches of cinematic, progressive and classical music. On Nuclear, the violin brings a new haunting layer to the track, keeping the band’s trademark sound intact.
Video game references
The original Nuclear is a part of Oldfield’s Man on the Rocks album, but many a fan recognizes the track also from Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trailer.
“Our own back catalogue features plenty of tracks suitable for cinematic and game productions. It would be great if our version of Nuclear led people to discover our work in more depth“, reflects pianist Linda Kuoppala.
A combination of beauty and darkness
Naryan’s active presence in social media TikTok has brought swathes of new listeners to the band during recent months.
“Feedback from new listeners has pushed us to develop our new material even further. Our fourth album is shaping up to be our best to date“, states guitarist and founding member Lauri Kovero.
Naryan’s next original single is set to be released early 2024. More live dates including domestic and a select few European shows will be released shortly.
About Naryan
Naryan is a Finnish band, founded in 2005, playing melancholic rock. In addition to their homeland, they’ve played in the Netherlands and Belgium. The band has released 3 full length albums so far and the fourth is currently under construction. Naryan’s music is a combination of beauty, darkness and melancholy.
Line-up:
Tommi Niemi -Vocals Lauri Kovero -Guitar Raino Ketola -Guitar Tommi Tanhuanpää -Drums Linda Kuoppala -Piano Jarno Forsman -Bass Henriina Marin -Violin
Emerald City Council just released Ice Thinning the band’s 1st single from the upcoming debut album Motion Carries due out in early 2024.
This challenging composition demonstrates the ability level and versatility of the group, while still providing strong melodic hooks that will make you want to sing along. The harmony and interplay of the guitar and soprano saxophone create a unique texture that is a prominent feature of the ECC sound. It blends a variety of musical styles, including a tribute to Jake’s uncle, the great Kerry Livgren, and lyrically, it is a call to set aside differences and hatred to find common ground. For fans of prog or people who just enjoy great rock music, this is the song for you!
Emerald City Council are: Jake Livgren-lead and backing vocals, keyboard Noah Hungate-drums Jeremy Nichols-bass Seth Hankerson-guitar Brent Bristow-saxophones, keyboards, recorder, guitar, vocals Music and Lyrics by Brent Bristow Produced by Brent Bristow
About Emerald City Council: The band features vocalist Jake Livgren (Proto-Kaw, Kerry Livgren), drummer Noah Hungate (The Band Perry, son of Toto’s David Hungate), Jeremy Nichols (Erin Coburn) on bass, up-and-coming guitarist Seth Hankerson, and saxophonist/keyboardist Brent Bristow (Professor of Music at Arkansas State University-Beebe). Brandon Goff, Associate Professor of Music Industry at Francis Marion University, has also contributed significant guitar work as a special collaborator to the band.
The album includes several guest appearances, including guitar solos from Paul Bielatowicz (Carl Palmer, Neal Morse), and Mike Thompson (The Sons of Kirk), plus contributions from actors Jeffery Combs (Star Trek, Re-Animator) and Steve Rankin (Star Trek, X-Files).
Multi-Grammy/Emmy-winning engineer and producer Jamie Tate, an important member of the ECC team, mixed and mastered the material at the Rukkus Room Studio in Nashville. Artist Thomas Ewerhard provided the cover artwork that perfectly captures the spirit of the music.
Leading symphonic metal band, XANDRIA, have released a new official video for fan favorite “Your Stories I’ll Remember”. The track is taken from XANDRIA’s latest and most successful album to date, ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’, which peaked at #9 on the official German album charts.
XANDRIA returned with an impressive new lineup, enchanting their fans with new songs during this year’s ongoing European tour with label mates DELAIN. The two symphonic metal frontrunners will play three more shows in the Netherlands and Belgium from November 17-19. XANDRIA is also looking forward to their headline tour through the UK, Germany and Switzerland with Phantom Elite and Skarlett Riot, kicking off on November 25th.
Watch the Official Video for “Your Stories I’ll Remember”
XANDRIA opens an exciting chapter with the eighth studio album, ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’. Mastermind Marco Heubaum returns with a new lineup and leads the band once again into wonderful spheres, without renouncing their characteristic trademarks. The impressive vocal wealth of Ambre Vourvahis – ranging from rock grit, operatic highs and even death metal growls – opens the unit’s sound to a wider palette of colors. Songs like the opening epic “Two Worlds”, “The Wonders Still Awaiting” and “Ghosts” manifest the thematic mood of the album while constructing incredible soundscapes of pure symphonic metal. XANDRIA addresses issues of social inequality and the quest for a just world. “Paradise” showcases some of the album’s strongest hooks, captivating with great metallic pop melodies. The veil of various influences is lifted once more in “Illusion Is Their Name”, dashing all deception with heavy power metal vibes. Tracks like “Your Stories I’ll Remember” and “Scars” show the intimate side of XANDRIA on one hand, while combining rhythmic heaviness on the other. The latter is reminiscent of a James Bond theme, dressed in a heavy musical soundscape. The epic nine minute album closer “Astéria”, featuring Greek lyrics written by Ambre Vourvahis, lands as the album’s exclamation point, proving with a grand finish that the five-piece has fearlessly started a revolution in the symphonic metal genre – commencing an impressive new era of XANDRIA with ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’.
“Peace A Dream” is the first single and music video from the 8th and upcoming solo record from Robert Schindler (Robeone). Robert is signed to Transglobal Records (The Orchard/Sony).
Robeone’s goal with his composition, “Peace A Dream” is to bring peace of mind in these troubling times. The Video and music are meant to carry you away to a peaceful place even just for a few minutes.”
Paul Miritello praises “Peace A Dream” on YouTube, “What a wonderful piece of music, puts me in a tranquil mood but with a bit of excitement thrown in for good measure!! The landscape images and music meld together perfectly like a beautiful little song book, fantastic work indeed Robert!!!”
Watch the video at
Recently Robert performed at the ProgStock music festival to support The Bob Moog Foundation. Robert’s last video, “Hollow,” from his most recent album, “Dream Suite,” won first Prog UK Magazine’s Video of The Week.
Robert’s also been busy as a member of Red32 on Melodic Revolution Records and Tony Romero’s Vortex Zen, plus Joe Mac’s American Garage. (MRR Records). As a keyboardist, Robert’s played live with artists and bands including States, Mayson, Blue Angel, Ruth Copeland, Ronnie Spector, Rhett Tyler. His studio work has included working with Johnny Nash, Star Cruiser, Rian Adkinson. Robert wrote and composed “The Fiery Narrows-Following The Path of John Charles Fremont,” which received “The Filmmaker’s Choice Award” in Wyoming Short Film contest. (View it at youtube.com/watch?v=-Ap5vZikS6s
Joe says, the song always spoke to him with its simple lyrics and dramatic theme. Co-written by Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin, and Adrian Belew, whose voice, Joe says, “is right in my range and we’ve been playing this live a lot. I also thought I’d inject it with a lot of staccato violins to give it more of an edge and put my own spin on it.”
A studio version will appear on Joe’s upcoming album, “Imposter,” slated for late spring 2024 on Melodic Revolution Records.
“Frame by Frame” appears on the boxset (2 CDs/DVD/Blu-Ray) “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” on Melodic Revolution Records/Amplified Distribution. The box set is three years in the making; the collection is made up of Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius’ 2019 and 2021 live performances at the ultimate Northeast progressive rock festival, ProgStock.
“Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” final song titles Disc 1 (2019) 01-Behind the Curtain-Live at ProgStock 02-Release-Live at ProgStock 03-Impostor!-Live at ProgStock 04-Frame by Frame-Live at ProgStock 05-Climbing-Live at ProgStock 06-The Missing Link-Live at ProgStock 07-Gods-Live at ProgStock 08-Game of Chicken-Live at ProgStock 09-The Prism-Live at ProgStock
Disc 2 (2021) 01-Take Your Medicine-Live at ProgStock 02-Cognitive Dissonance-Live at ProgStock 03-Storm Surge-Live at ProgStock (feat. Rachel Flowers) 04-Spain-Live at ProgStock (feat. Rachel Flowers and Alex Skolnick) 05-Hysteria-Live at ProgStock 06-Heavy Shtettle-Live at ProgStock (feat. Alex Skolnick) 07-One Foot in the Next World Live at ProgStock
Joe is the new violinist with legendary rockers Kansas, now on tour celebrating their 50th anniversary. He has played violin for the Who, Bruce Springsteen, 50Cent, Sheryl Crow, and as the concertmaster for Renaissance. The other Stratospheerius bandmembers have a great heritage, as well: Jason Gianni-drums (The Ultimate Queen Celebration, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rock of Ages, Neal Morse Band), Michelangelo Quirinale-guitar (Thrilldriver), and Paul Ranieri-bass (Mark Wood, Riot Act).
Pattern-Seeking Animals (PS-A) share another musical glimpse of their upcoming album, Spooky Action at a Distance, out on InsideOutMusic on October 27th.
With their new single “Somewhere North of Nowhere”, the US-based group delivers yet another catchy track with an animated and AI generated music video. “Somewhere North of Nowhere is a cheery little story of a guy on a spiritual journey who soon realizes he’s being followed. Might be preternatural forces, might be aliens, but he soon discovers something very, very bad is happening right over the horizon. It’s too late to turn around as the dire situation is only getting worse. Or, he could be hallucinating all of this…”
Watch the video to “Somewhere North Of Nowhere” here:
The album’s first single, “Window to the World”, that came out in August, immediately captivates with its high-energy, up-tempo art-rock infused with elements of ska and reggae. Demonstrating the band’s fearless approach to experimentation, the single introduces listeners to a sonic universe that is both innovative and nostalgic.
(CD 1) The Man Made of Stone Window to the World What Awaits Me He Once Was Underneath the Orphan Moon Clouds That Never Rain Bulletproof Somewhere North of Nowhere Summoned from Afar Love Is Still the Light
(CD 2) There Goes My Baby Orphans of the Universe (Live at ProgStock 2022) Elegant Vampires (Live at ProgStock 2022) Time Has a Way (Live at ProgStock 2022)* *CD & Digital album only
Spooky Action at a Distance is available in the following formats:• Limited 2CD Digipak* • Digital album* • 2LP Gatefold vinyl 180g**
*including 3 live bonus tracks from ProgStock 2022 **including 2 live bonus tracks from ProgStock 2022
Spooky Action at a Distancefinds Pattern-Seeking Animals more confident than ever, approaching new soundscapes and topics, showcasing their evolution, and commitment to pushing their own creative boundaries. John Boegehold explains, “Because this is our fourth release in less than five years, my intention was to shift gears and not go over ground that’s already been covered. In addition to using different sounds, textures and musical styles, we approached the vocals, especially backing vocals from a fairly different angle. In addition, the album was recorded, mixed and mastered at a different studio with a different engineer than our previous three releases.” The different approach is not only noticeable in production and sounds, but in the lyrics as well. “The subject matter of the lyrics include a Norse king contemplating life while being conquered, an aging seeker on the path toward enlightenment, aliens hunting down humans trying to evade capture, the life of a conflicted soldier before and after WW1, a pregnant teenager leaving a bad situation at home, a reluctant hero victorious in her final battle and a guy’s girlfriend who leaves him because of his conspiracy theories.”
About Pattern-Seeking Animals: Pattern-Seeking Animals (PS-A) is a pioneering force in the progressive rock genre, consistently pushing the boundaries of musical exploration. Having already left an indelible mark on the genre since their self-titled debut in 2019, Pattern-Seeking Animals weave captivating narratives into an eclectic soundscape that pushes the boundaries of creativity. Hailing from the lineage of the influential Spock’s Beard, Pattern-Seeking Animals features John Boegehold (keyboards and production), Ted Leonard (lead vocals and guitar), bassist Dave Meros, and the dynamic Jimmy Keegan on drums. Formed as a conduit for Boegehold’s visionary compositions, the band has evolved into a driving force of progressive exploration, crafting music that is both intricate and immediate.
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