Umeå metal act Plector has announced that their forthcoming album "Punishment day", due out October 31 via and currently streaming in full at SoundCloud, will be their last. The band's final show will be at the Discouraged Festival in their hometown on September 15 alongside Moloken and Khoma.
(Moloken, Terrortory) is branching out from their usual genre preference to release a new album from Umeå garage-rockers Johnny Electric. Entitled "Communication radio highway", this will be the 2nd album from the band and it will be released on vinyl only this coming March 15.
Moloken's upcoming album "Rural" is now available for streaming in full -- preorder here: http://www.discouragedrecords.com/shop/
Moloken's first-ever official video. The band's new album "Rural" comes out November 25 via .
The first official sample from Moloken's much-anticipated 2nd album "Rural", due out November 25 via . Look for a video for the song "The titan above us" to be posted online soon.
The new Moloken album "Rural" is mixed and ready to be mastered, but it will not be out this month like previously announced. Instead, the release is being pushed back to November while artist/animator Kenny Lindström (Bring Me the Horizon, Totalt Jävla Mörker, Logh, Norma Jean, etc.) finishes up hand-drawing the artwork and the band works on a new video Standard Film Team. More details (and hopefully samples) when I get 'em...
Swedish prog/crust/metal champs Moloken report that they have finished recording their new album "Rural" and will be releasing it on August 27 via with a European tour to follow in support. In other news, the band's excellent full-length debut "Our astral circle" will be getting a South American release in May via in Ecuador and in Mexico.
Moloken reports that they are done recording their new album and have sent it off to Sven Engdahl for mixing. No title or release date yet, but they do reveal that it is seven songs long.
Ok, here's another band that Moloken is touring with (dates posted here, but check myspace for the latest -- they are playing at Ungdomens Hus in Uppsala tonight). This Gift is a Curse aren't just tourmates though, they're also on Moloken's label who co-released the group's new self-titled EP in cooperation with TGIAC's own imprint . The association makes good sense too, as both bands play dark, sludgy metal, though TGIAC forgoes the technical wizardry that makes Moloken stand out. Instead, we get brutal repetitive riffs, far darker melodies and a heavier dismal crust vibe. Problem is, the recording on the EP sounds like they scooped out all the low end and buried the kick. Listen to the part on the intro of "The big sleep" where it's supposed to hit like a ton of bricks and it comes off more like a tap on the shoulder. Even stranger, this was recorded by Tomas Skorsberg at the famed Sunlight Studios which is normally a mark of high quality. I suspect that This Gift is a Curse are more than adequately crushing in-person and the songs themselves are good, but I'm having a really hard time getting past the recording.
This Gift is a Curse - The big sleep
Norrland crust/metal/prog act Moloken, a 2009 favorite, are touring Scandinavia later this month and one of the bands they're playing a string of dates with is Finnish act Radar. Generally speaking, I'm not too crazy about their style of post-metal, but the new EP they recently sent me has a pretty cool 3D cover and the included glasses allowed me to properly view Robyn's video for "Don't fucking tell me what to do", so that's gotta be worth something -- hence this post. It's kind of weird, in the space of a month of so I got a whole bunch of new music in a similar vein and, again -- while not being a huge fan of this stuff, was pleasantly surprised to find it all to be of above-average quality. I already covered Kausal who might just be the best of the lot, but Radar are pretty decent too despite one major piccadillo: I don't care if you want to sing cleanly or scream harshly, but please don't try to do both. 99% of the time it sucks and Radar are no exception. Individually, they do fine with each style... when performed together, it's way corny. That's why I'm posting a track with purely melodic vocals for fellow discerning listeners -- you get the heaviness and the glory and none of the distracting bullshit. RIYL Khoma!
Oh, and those Moloken tourdates:
09/15 - L'Orient, Linköping (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/16 - Sugar Bar, Stockholm (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/17 - Ungdomens Hus, Uppsala (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/18 - Ungdomens Hus, Oskarshamn (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/19 - tba, Karlskrona (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/23 - Nuclear Nightclub, Oulu (FIN) w/Radar
09/24 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä (FIN) w/Radar
09/25 - S-Osis, Turku (FIN) w/Radar
09/26 - Kuudes Linja, Helsinki (FIN) w/Radar
09/29 - tba (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
09/30 - tba (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
10/01 - Garage, Oslo (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
10/02 - Fru Lundgreen, Trondheim (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
Radar - Where others were honest (I'm a lie)
Drummer Martin Niemann (ex-Marvins Revolt) has decided to take a break from music and has resigned from his place on the throne for Danish heavy rockers Rising. Jacob Johansen (Anchorless, The Fashion, ex-Lack), who has already previously sat in with the band back in late 2009, will be taking his place. As for the future, the band has cancelled their show with Moloken on May 21 and will instead debut the new lineup on May 28-29, in Göteborg and Malmö respectively, their very first Swedish dates. Otherwise, the band plans to work on their debut full-length for next six months or so and will be touring Europe in September.
The vinyl edition of Moloken's excellent "Our astral circle" album is now available for preorder from : http://www.discouragedrecords.com/shop
The Vile Noise webzine has a new interview up with Swedish act Moloken: http://www.vilenoise.com/interview-with-moloken-progressive-sludge-metal-from-sweden/
(Moloken) has announced the signing of three new bands and here is what they have to say about them:
Ghamorean - Terra ruina
Umeå blackened death metal unit Ghamorean's new record "Terra ruina" is currently beeing mixed and planned to be released this fall.
Plector - Dark & spiteful
Death metal trashers Plector from Umeå's debut album "Dark & spiteful" will get a proper release late summer with digipak cover.
Bingo - Ett grindslagsmål i två delar
Grindheads Bingo's (Umeå) debut album "Ett grindslagsmål i två delar" is finally re-mastered and ready to hit the pressing plant. Expect a release during the late summer.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Brothers of End - Beats for you (Rasmus Hägg remix)
02. TALK 1
03. Haust - A final effort
04. Rasmus Kellerman - Five years from now
05. Echo Is Your Love - Playlist song
06. EL-SD - Walking sideways
07. TALK 2
08. Axe - Harm
09. Khoma - From the hands of sinners
10. Zeigeist - Bunny
11. C.Aarmé - Assuan
12. TALK 3
13. The Fine Arts Showcase - This is the day
14. Sonic Ritual - Early graves
15. Death By Kite - Pills
16. Susanne Sundfør - O master
17. TALK 4
18. Simian Ghost - Star receiver
19. Moloken - Untitled III
20. Darkthrone - I am the graves of the 80s
21. TALK 5
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.