Swedish progressive rockers, Moon Safari recently announced their long-awaited new album Himlabacken Vol. 2.Ten years in the making, their 5th studio album will be released on December 6th through Marquee Inc. in Japan and worldwide on December 8th through the band’s own Blomljud Records Inc.
Moon Safari are now pleased to share the video for album’s second single “Emma, Come On.” You can see video here:
The band had this to say about the track: ”Do people still have posters of their favourite artists or movie stars on the walls in their room? This song is about celebrity worshipping, the slightly unhealthy kind. All dressed up in swirling moogs and guitars, as if Genesis in the mid ‘80’s kept one foot in their past and didn’t care for airplay. Which celebrity poster did you hang on your bedroom wall?”
About the making of the album: “It took us ten years, for a million different reasons. But we’re not dead yet. We return with what we know is a worthy comeback album, filled with our own special brand of symphonic rock cultivated over 20 years as an antidote to the long, dark winters of northern Sweden, with those trademark vocal group-inspired harmonies, uplifting melodies and soulful romantic lyrics that our fans have come to expect. With the addition of ex. Black Bonzo drummer Mikael Israelsson to the band we’ve totally revamped and boosted the low end of our sound, tightened it up, and that attitude shift is felt through our entire arrangements.Tying it all together is the mix by the great Rich Mouser. He’s been the go-to guy for the big boys in the genre for many years, and now we understand why. The mix is clear and punchy, booming and never flat. It just sounds expensive, and we couldn’t be happier. You’ll get almost 70 minutes of this heady brew, spread over nine tracks, with zero fillers. And of course there’s the obligatory epic. The whole thing is a banger, and we’re immensely proud of it.”
Track Listing: 1. 198X (Heaven Hill) (3:55) 2. Between the Devil and Me (10:38) 3. Emma, Come On (3:19) 4. A Lifetime to Learn How to Love (8:28) 5. Beyond the Blue (2:12) 6. Blood Moon (5:44) 7. Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse (21:03) 8. Forever, For You (10:08) 9. Epilog (3:22)
Moon Safari is: Petter Sandström – Lead and Backing vocals, Acoustic Guitar Simon Åkesson – Lead and Backing Vocals, Piano, Organ, moog. Pontus Åkesson – Lead and Backing Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitar Sebastian Åkesson – Backing Vocals, assorted keys, percussion. Mikael Israelsson – Backing Vocals, Drums, percussion, keyboards, piano Johan Westerlund – Lead and Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar
Special guest performance by Jamison Smeltz – saxophone on “Forever, For You”
We are excited to announce our upcoming 4th studio album, MANNEQUIN releases 2nd February 2024 on limited edition double orange vinyl, digipak CD, digital download, and streaming. We are now taking preorders from our online merch store at www.kyrosmusic.com
Alongside this exciting announcement, our new single ‘Ghosts Of You’ is available to stream *right now* on all platforms.
We’re also excited to announce that we’ll be heading back out on the road next April alongside Azure. and Leoni Jane Kennedy and hitting up Brighton, Reading, London, and Southampton. Want us to come visit your town? Let us know below
“Our upcoming album, ‘Mannequin’ is like peeling back layers of paint on an old canvas. With each track, we’re exploring the masks we all wear, the stories we tell ourselves to get by.
This album is a real heart-on-sleeve affair for us and it’s probably the most ‘us’ we’ve ever sounded. It’s about what happens when the facade cracks and you’re left with nothing but the truth. Nothing but your true self. We can’t wait for everyone to hear it and perhaps see themselves in it, just like we do.”
And for our new single, Shelby goes on to say:
“This song captures that haunting feeling of chasing the elusive. A theme that carries through a lot of our songs and especially my writing these days. That feeling of seeing remnants of someone or something that once was. The contrast in styles, mashing inspiration from 90s New Jack Swing with progressive rock and big band elements mirrors the feeling of not knowing how to front yourself.”
The Affinity Oeuvre is the 4th Aethellis release and features a collection of instrumentals and songs with lyrics that reflect the challenges people have faced in the past few years. The music styles are eclectic as well, ranging from prog-rock to new wave to pop to jazz fusion; the diversity being representative of the diverse situations people have experienced recently. The latest Aethellis release differs from the previous three as the spotlight is on guitarist/vocalist Mark Van Natta, both compositionally and vocally. Ellsworth Hall and Erik Marks still contributed to the album, however, adding their signature composition styles.
Tracklist 1. Anandia 12:36 2. Affinifunk 03:26 3. Pathdancer 05:28 4. Dreams On Pause 03:40 5. Do Like I Do 03:15 6. Chicago News 03:35 7. Another Car 04:23 8. Let Me Be Me 03:33 9. The Stennis Compromise 02:09 10. Why Do You Keep Fighting 05:03 11. RIP 04:32
Aethellis is:
Ellsworth Hall – Keyboards, Vocals, Guitar, Drum Controller Mark Van Natta – Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboard Erik Marks – Bass
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Ellstudio, Timonium MD, USA Portions recorded at the Van Natta home studio, Cockeysville MD, USA
16th November 2023: Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett will release his new studio album The Circus And The Nightwhale on 16th February 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the center of it, The Circus And The Nightwhales 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.
The Circus And The Nightwhale is Steve’s first new music in over two years. It follows the beautiful acoustic LP Under A Mediterranean Sky from January 2021 which rose to No. 2 in the UK Classical chart and, in September of that year, his metallic masterpiece Surrender Of Silence, which hit the UK Top 40. His 2023 live album, Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton, reached No. 2 on the Rock & Metal Chart. Steves’s new LP promises ballads, blues, blistering progressive rock… and healthy measures of theatre and fantasia.
Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan, and Denmark, the line-up for The Circus And The Nightwhale includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass, and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming, and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums), and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drum stool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The new album will be available to pre-order from the 1st December 2023 on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray media book (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high-resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh.
The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. People Of The Smoke
2. These Passing Clouds
3. Taking You Down
4. Found And Lost
5. Enter The Ring
6. Get Me Out!
7. Ghost Moon and Living Love
8. Circo Inferno
9. Breakout
10. All At Sea
11. Into The Nightwhale
12. Wherever You Are
13. White Dove
Summing up the Circus And The NightwhaleSteve says: It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy, and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?
Steve is currently on tour in North America, continuing his Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights run. Next year he will tour the world extensively, including a brand-new UK tour under the name Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo, and that will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
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’.
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