Organizatorji dogodkov Hangtime Agency sporočajo, da je nedeljski koncert zasedb Grima in Ultar v zagrebškem klubu Močvara odpovedan. Odpovedana sta tudi koncerta v Beogradu in Novem Sadu ter tudi 40 drugih nastopov skupin po Evropi. Zapletlo se je namreč pri vizah. Izjava banda:

»Dear followers of the Grima cult, sometimes even the biggest and oldest spruce tree can't withstand (in)human acts. There is a point where we have to bow down and accept what cannot be changed.
After 4 months of non-stop efforts from everyone involved behind the scenes, the best we got is a 30 days stay in the Schengen area. We have applied for a 90 days arts science visa, which we have been granted in past years, but not this time, the reasons have not been communicated to us.
We did everything we could do, Asgaardian Events and even Les Acteurs de L'Ombre Productions helped us as much as possible, but all we got are these 30 days for now, which we shall use to the fullest.
Our first show will be on the April 25 in Switzerland and the last one will be on the May 22 in Paris. Any other show will be cancelled. There will be no further rescheduling. We will be happy to see each one of our cultists at these shows. We won't have any other Central European tours in the near future, except a few festivals next year, which we are already negotiating with.«

Novembra se bodo tudi Benighted in Baest skupaj odpravili na evropsko turnejo. Kot posebni gostje se bodo karavani pridružili Coffin Feeder. Nam najbliže se bo turneja Beast Against Beast European Tour 2024 20. novembra ustavila v graškem klubu Explosiv.

Portugalski black metalci Corpus Christii so posneli live video za komad Behind the Shadow. Posnetek je nastal marca v okviru turneje Trident of Death European Tour, na kateri so Portugalci promovirali aktualni album The Bitter End of Old.

Veljaki norveškega black metala Satyricon sporočajo, da se po petih letih zatišja naslednje leto končno vračajo na koncertne odre. Poleg koncertnih aktivnosti, ki bodo sicer osredotočene na festivale širom Evrope, zasedba že pripravlja material za novo ploščo, ki bo nasledil zadnjo izdajo Satyricon & Munch. Izjavo banda si lahko preberete spodaj:

»We are pleased to confirm that we will return to the stage for the first time in five years in the summer of 2024. We will be focusing on the European festival run and have no touring plans outside of that currently. At the moment, we are working on a new album scheduled for a May 2024 release. The art exhibition and album “Satyricon & Munch”, was an intense and all-consuming project for the record books, but it is history now and we have been working on all these new things behind closed doors for almost a year. We’re delighted to soon share it, we really look forward to playing both brand new and old songs for you, and once again being able to hear you sing, scream and chant as the army you are. We will publish all dates once they have been confirmed and approved to publish. This will be great!«

Avtor fotografije je Marko Faletič.

Ameriški heavy metalci Night Demon so objavili video za komad The Wrath z aktualnega albuma Outsider.

Zasedba se kmalu odpravlja na evropsko turnejo Outsider 2023 European Tour, na kateri bo aktualni album odigrala v celoti, poleg tega pa predstavila še nekaj svojih največjih klasik. Nam najbližje se bo ustavila 12. septembra na Dunaju, sicer pa lahko preverite celotno turnejo na priloženi sliki. Na turneji jih bodo spremljali belgijski speed metalci Speed Queen.

Izraelski orientalski metalci Orphaned Land se po večletnem zatišju vračajo na evropske odre. V sklopu turneje The Motocultor Festival European Tour 2024 je zaenkrat potrjenih nekaj datumov, ki jih lahko najdete na priloženi sliki. Z Izraleci se bodo na turnejo podali še Azteca, Royal Rage in Ring Of Gyges.

Poleg tega naj bi band kmalu napovedal izid live albuma/DVD-ja ob 30. obletnici delovanja, pri čemer naj bi sodeloval z orkestrom. Več informacij za zdaj še ni znanih.

Ameriški stonerji Nebula napovedujejo plošček Livewired in Europe. Ta zajema devet pesmi na vinilu in tri dodatne bonus komade na CD-ju, ki so bili posneti na Švedskem in Nizozemskem v okviru bandove letošnje turneje Transmission From Mothership Earth European Tour 2023. Tracklista:

na vinilu:
stran A
Man's Best Friend
Down The Highway
Out Of Your Head
Highwired

stran B
Giant/Clearlight
Full Throttle
Aphrodite
Messiah
Let It Burn

na CD-ju:
Man's Best Friend
Down The Highway
Out Of Your Head
Highwired
Giant/Clearlight
Full Throttle
Aphrodite
Messiah
Let It Burn
Transmission From Mothership Earth (bonus)
Let's Get Lost (bonus)
Warzone Speedwulf (bonus)

Portugalski black metalci Corpus Christii in Psaalm (Liber Null) so posneli live video za komad All Hail (Master Satan). Posnetek je nastal marca v okviru turneje Trident of Death European Tour, na kateri so Portugalci promovirali aktualni album The Bitter End of Old.

Iz tabora britanskih modernih metalcev Asking Alexandria sporočajo, da so bili zaradi zloma noge bobnarja Jamesa Cassellsa primorani odpovedati preostale nastope v sklopu njihove evropske turneje. Na tem mestu Jamesu želimo čim hitrejše okrevanje, spodaj pa si lahko preberete tudi izjavo banda v celoti.

»After seeing another specialist here in Estonia it has been advised that James rests his broken foot. Playing drums is just not an option for him at this current time.

Pred časom smo že poročali, da so melodični death metalci The Agonist iz Kanade odpovedali nastop na letošnji ediciji festivala MetalDays. Sedaj pa je iz tabora zasedbe tudi odjeknila vest, da je uradno prenehala z delovanjem. Več si lahko preberete v spodnji izjavi:

Dear friends, it's time to make a very difficult but necessary announcement.
We have decided that The Agonist as a band, has come to an end. Much deliberation and care has been put into making this decision, and unfortunately, given the circumstances, this is the conclusion that makes the most sense for the band and us as individuals.
There are many factors that led to this decision. It is a mix of personal, financial and industry related issues, but in the end the 5 of us are no longer able to agree on a way forward that would benefit The Agonist business as a whole, while respecting each member's personal lives and wishes.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the fans for coming out to the shows, buying our merch, and supporting us over the years. Nothing is more satisfying than connecting with our fellow human beings via the gift of music. It is the number one factor that has always driven us- to make you, the listener, feel something. In the end, we know that we've accomplished this together.
Some members of the band will continue to work on music in various ways, others will focus on personal projects and family. We kindly ask you to respect their privacy on this particular matter and encourage you to follow them on their individual social media accounts to support their future endeavors.
Vicky Psarakis will be carrying on with her band, Sicksense. They have a new EP coming out this summer and she will be playing 2 live shows with them in Montreal, in June.
You can also directly support her by following her on Patreon and Twitch.
Simon McKay is currently looking to join a new band full-time, while offering session work for studio and live gigs. Also, keep an eye out for new music coming soon from his solo project.
Chris Kells will be focusing on his career as a videographer. Since 2015, he has directed all of The Agonist's music videos, as well as many other established bands.
Danny Marino is currently writing music for 2 new projects.
Pascal "Paco" Jobin will be releasing new music with his project Leading the betrayed.
Our US-based merch store with Sound Escape Agency will remain open. We have also put together an EU-based store for our European fans. Inventory is final and there will be no restocks. Proceeds will go directly to the band to help us pay off our remaining debt.
Once again, we thank you and we love you.
»We will survive. At the end of the tunnel there's always a light.« - The Agonist

Švedski progresivci Soen se konec septembra odpravljalo na evropsko turnejo, ki bo nosila ime Memorial European Tour 2023. 29. septembra se bo zasedba ustavila tudi pri naših severnih sosedih, in sicer na Dunaju. Več informacij o celotni turneji najdete tukaj.

Po tem, ko so pred kratkim turnejo odpovedali White Ward, je ista usoda doletela blackened death metalce 1914 iz Ukrajine. Upamo, da se stvari umirijo in nas bo zasedba lahko obiskala letos poleti na festivalu Črna Loka. Sledi bandova izjava za medije:

»Many of you could have been noticing a recent wave of European tours cancellations by UA bands. Unfortunately, 1914 is not an exception here. With heavy hearts we must inform you that we cannot play for our fans this April and have to cancel our upcoming tour.

Just to make it clear, it is still a 'wartime' on the territory of our land, and this specific time makes it impossible to leave the borders by the men of a conscript age. How could we travel last year? It was possible to get a special permission from the state authorities for the artists to leave the country and do shows and other activities in order to aid the country and spead the truth about unprovoked and brutal war started by russia. There were some irresponsible people who used such permissions to leave the country and never come back, and after it became public and went through a media - the state authorities stopped granting the special permissions for the artists by artificially overcomplicating the process of getting all the necessary documents, by enlarging the list of the documents and making it impossible for bands to obtain what is needed. This affected a lot of different bands in UA.

Last couple of weeks for us were in a constant fight with that new stupid system trying to show that we had a positive experience of returning back home after foreign tours, trying to display the value of such tours for our country benefit, but no matter how hard we tried - we couldn't break that system and it made impossible for us to go and play this time. We want to apologize to our fans, other bands, promoters, but currently we are powerless here. We will work hard to be able to get to our other shows this year, maybe the ice will melt and we will see some easement in the future, but currently we just did everything we could.

Міністерство культури та інформаційної політики України - Thank you for nothing!«

Koncert zasedb Loudness, Grey Attack in Thola, ki bi se moral zgoditi 15. aprila v ljubljanskem Orto Baru, je odpovedan. Dejansko je odpovedana celotna evropska turneja. Tukaj pojasnilo banda:

»We are very sorry that we must announce, the European Tour of Loudness is cancelled. We discussed multiple options back and forth in order to find a solution.

However, we can’t perform the tour under the circumstances given.

We are very sorry for everyone, who looked forward to these shows and hope to be back as soon as possible.«

Organizator koncerta pa še dodaja: »Kupnina vstopnic bo povrnjena na mestu nakupa.«

Konec aprila bo gothic blues rock izvajalec King Dude pod okriljem društva Earsplitter ponovno obiskal Ljubljano. Za to je izbral soboto, 29. april, v kviru svoje Acoustic European Tour pa se bo ustavil v Menzi pri koritu. Več o dogodku najdete v našem Napovedniku.

Princ teme Ozzy Osbourne sporoča, da je zaradi zdravstvenih težav primoran odpovedati evropsko turnejo. S tem se verjetno tudi za vedno poslavlja od koncertnih/festivalskih odrov. Več si lahko preberete v spodnjem sporočilu: